2011 Cards

Now that 2011 is over, I can post the designs I used for last years' cards. My latest thing is to create a year's worth of two styles of birthday cards (one for women and one for men so when I send them to say my uncle and aunt, they don't get the same card) and an anniversary card.
This is the inspiration for my first card (from Archiver's):

I had some colored paper and matching buttons from a card I wanted to make, but couldn't remember, so I used them here. I think there were 4 or 5 different background colors and coordinated buttons. I cut the flowers from my friend Crista's cricut (I could cut 9 at a time-bonus!). The stamp set is from Stampin' Up!

The second set also came in a variety of colors...pink, purple, orange, turquoise and green. THey were simple, inspired by the brads I found at Archiver's:

I loved this anniversary card! It was inspired by this card (can't remember where I found it...saved it before pinterest was around):

The stam set is the same on I used on the first set of birthday cards from Stampin' Up! I layered some flowers and secured with a crystal brad. I used silver clips on my first few until I ran out of those.





I am done my 2012 birthday cards, and have my idea for the anniversary cards, so be watching your mailboxes! Thanks for looking!

Christmas Projects

Pinterest is this collaboration lover's DREAM! Thousands of projects that I can steal mimic!

First up in December, I made these fun donuts for Ryan's class for snack one day (I'm trying not to be THAT mom.):

My kids ornaments for this year are not from pinterest, but copied from some decorations I saw at my SIL's house last year:

This family ornament was from pinterest. Made out of sculpy, the lights are our pinky prints:

Card inspired by pinterest. I don't make my own Christmas cards, but I do make a few (10 or so) that I can use for gifts and thank you notes (as a teacher, it's good to have these on hand!):

I got a lot of these projects done when we went to visit my mom in NC the week before Christmas. It was a great setting t get them done! This was from pinterest. My friend Gretchen (who is great at sewig and embroidery) made one first (using fusible web and sewing the ribbon down) and was sweet enough to give me her ribbon to use. I was lazy and bought some fabric glue instead, but I'm pretty pleased wiht how it turned out!

Even cuter on my little model:

Finally, a little present for my in-laws. I finally found something to do with all the wine corks I've been saving!

New Home Cards

I have a lot of friends/family moving this summer, so I needed some cute new home cards. Here's what I came up with:

The stickers are from doodlebug designs. I dusted them with baby powder on the back so they wouldn't stick, and put them on the cards with pop dots. The paper is from Archiver's and I'm not sure about the stamp. I printed the inside with "...on your new home!" on my computer.

Very happy with the result!

Valentine's Day

The kids and I made these out of foam for Scott and their grandparents (I cannot get the picture to flip even though it is correct on my computer):

I got the idea from an Oriental Trading Company catalog.

I made this cute card to send to a few relatives:

Got the original idea from my friend Diane.

Working on 2011 Cards

Can't show them to you until the end of the year, but something new: I am signing and dating the back of every one!

2010 Cards

Last January, I posted about my great plan to make all the birthday and anniversary cards I needed for the year all at once. I couldn't ahow them then, because many of my readers would be receiving them. Now that the year is over I can share. Birthday card #1:


And #2 (which I realized I needed if I was going to send cards to husbands and wives):


Anniversary card:

And something many of you have already seen, our Christmas card:

I opted to make it this year since I couldn't get the St. Jude's cards from Target anymore. Might not be doing that again next year.

Now to figure out my cards for 2011!

Happy Father's Day

Made this card for Father's Day. It's a copy of something I got in an Eclectica monthly card kit, but I simplified mine a bit. Got manly colors for Father's Day.


It's really simple: Pick 4 coordinating patterned papers and a matching solid color for the card base. Punch 1 square each from the 4 patterned papers and round 1 corner on each. Punch the center piece from a solid (I think I used water color paper) and edge everything with a stamp pad or chaulk. Stamp your sentiment and assemble, placing the center piece on with a pop dot.

I think I will be making more of these for a variety of occasions in the future!

Christmas Craft

I like to make little crafty gifts for my girlfriends for Christmas. Usually it's because I find a cute craft and need an excuse to make it. It's also because I like to let my friends know how much they mean to me (without spending a ton of money!).

This past Christmas, I made monogram stationary:

It was VERY simple! I printed out the monogram on cardstock (I buy 110 lb 8 1/2 x 11 paper by the ream at the office supply store because I use it in so many of my cards. You can just cut any 8 1/2 x 11 paper in half to make two small cards.). Then I added some bling. Easy!

Invitation

Made this for a friend's brunch. I don't color in my stamping much, and I like how this turned out. May need to make her some thank you notes to go with it!


Paper & Stamp: Archiver's, Ink & Blending Pen: Stampin' Up, Fonts: Print Clearly and at mahogany.

Snow Day + 3 Hour Nap = Creativity!

Everyone stayed home today because of the snow and ice. Jillian took a three hour nap, so I finally got some projects done!

I am an assembly-line card maker. Every now and then I make a special, one-of-a-kind card, but mostly I mass produce. I like to find one card that I can replicate to send to lots of people or that I can make sets of to give to friends as gifts. I like it even better if it's a card that I can use for several occasions by just changing the sentiment.

So, my big plan for this year was to make all the birthday and anniversary cards I needed for the year in one setting (rather than make a few at a time and run out and be late getting new ones to the next batch of people).

This part of the post is kind of anti-climatic, because I am not actually going to show you the card...you will have to wait until your birthday (or anniverary)!
My other big project is a book of Christmas cards. A local scrapping celebrity used to do these and now that she's not, she sent a customer my way to do it. All I did was bind together all her holiday cards between two self-designed covers. I've never done this for myself (though I think it's a great idea) because I make a collage in the end of my yearly family scrapbook of my cards. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I'm working on 5 years worth of cards from this woman's sister.




If anyone out there is interested, I could do this for you, too! Cost is $25 for up to 25 cards and $5 more for each additional set of up to ten. Leave me a comment and I'll get in contact!

Thank You Cards

I am an assembly line card maker. I do not make really elaborate cards, but stick with a simple design that I can replicate in a large quantity either to have for myself or to give as gifts (or both). So when I saw this design in an Archiver's flyer, I couldn't resist!

BTW, you can find all sorts of creative card ideas at Archiver's website.

Here's what I made:

And a variation:

Supplies: Paper: Archiver's, Stamps: Hero Arts, Flowers: Prima, Crystals: Hero Arts & Mark Richards, Die cut: Your's Truly (Archiver's).
TFL!

Christmas goodies

Wow! From Halloween to Christmas. Can you tell I haven't had a lot of time (or energy) to be creative lately?

Here's some things I'm working on for Christmas:

First, the fleece tie quilts that Kellie introduced me to. Many kids in my life are getting one of these. They are simple to make, although, kneeling on the floor to cut them with my big belly right now is tricky. I need to find some Terps fleece to make one for Ryan and I.

Next up is the containers for Ryan's teachers' gifts. I've had these Chinese take out containers for awhile, but can't stamp or paint on them. Then I got the idea from Paula to do rub-ons. Now they are almost gone! We are going ot fill them with chocolates.

Then, there's Ryan's ornament for this year. I knew I wanted to make him something related to pirates, pandas, soccer, or fishing (all big this year). I saw this ornament in a Bass Pro advertisement...they had the kids make them one weekend at the store. Thought it was perfect!

And finally, some cards. I do not make my own Christmas cards anymore. Too many, and I like doing the St. Jude ones at Target because they are cute and money goes to St. Jude. I do, however, like to make a few to send gift cards in or as thank you notes. The paper is from Archivers, the flowers are Making Memories, the stamps are Stampin' Up (Warm greeting) and Hero Arts (THANKS).

Hope you are getting the chance to be creative too!

Clear Cards

Archiver's had a make and take many weekends ago, and one of them allowed us to try making a card with clear acetate (kind of like heavy duty transparencies). I had seen this, too, on Hero Arts blog (lots of great ideas here!). I got sucked in, bought some acetate and stayzon ink in white. Here's the result:


I stamped a variety of flower stamps (all from the same set by Hero Arts) in white stayzon on the clear, then stuck a smaller white card inside where I stamped "Happy Anniversary." This way I can still write a message inside. I also used a little bling in the center of the flowers.
TFL!

Anniversary Cards

I have not sent any anniversary cards this summer because I ran out of handmade ones and didn't get out to Hallmark (lazy, I guess). Finally had a few moments yesterday while Ryan napped to make these:


I bought the felt for something else that didn't happen, and then I saw this idea somewhere. Also embossed for the first time in awhile!

Some recent creations

When I find a card I like, I make a ton of them, and here's my most recent:





I got an idea for this one at the Paper Source in Georgetown. The card was a letter press card (meaning the image was pressed into the card). I just stamped it. Finally found one of the trendy new scallop punches from fiskars to make the top and bottom borders with. Made these in green, pink, and blue, so now I have a bunch just waiting for people to have babies!



Finally, a page that's been in my head for awhile. Took the picture at Little Georgie's this spring before picking Ryan up. He didn't realized I was sitting there in my car snapping away. The page came together after I found one to scraplift (I'll have to post that later).



I also did a bunch of work on my 2007 family album while away at the beach. Hopefully I will finish that up soon and get going on 2008. TFL!

Much talked about...

So I hosted a crop back in June and it's taken me awhile to catch up with the 3 or 4 other people who have already blogged about said crop. It was actually my National Scrapbook Day crop, but May is just too busy, so I did it when Kellie and I first had a summer weekend available. It was not as large as I had hoped, as a matter of fact, I had to cancel the second day of it due to no interest, but that doesn't matter.

You see, we had a ton of fun that evening. I do not even know all the silly things that were said, but you can check Paula's blog for more of that info. All I know is, people had fun, I sold a lot of inventory, and the chocolate bars were a big hit.
Plus, we did a make and take with the new tag maker. Cute little card.

And Jennifer discovered something else you could do with it. Cut a 2 inch strip. Feed it in from the bottom (as pictured below) and punch.

Then take it out, feed the other end in and punch again. When finished, it make a cute title or name plate.