Last but not least the last three cards that I created for the box set. I have posted similar cards on the blog this year, so please check the instruction for making the cards there.

Here are the three remaining cards:

 

What a wonderful gift idea this is. A box filled with eight handmade “Thank You” cards and I hope they will bring a smile on someone face…..

Sometimes it is the little things in life we should treasure and enjoy. So if you like to give a gift of Thanks to someone and would like to know how….Please feel free to contact me….

A Rose of Thanks

This is another one of my favorite designs. So simple, but so impressive, don’t you think?

A base of white 8 ½”x5 ½” cardstock was folded in half, with the fold on top. I used a template to trace the scalloped edge on the front of the base. With scissors I cut along the edge and created this wonderful scallop. I adhered a piece of design paper 3”x5 ½” on the lower front of the card, covering the scallop. Then I trimmed the access away to recreate the scalloped edge. I layered a piece of cocoa cardstock (edges rounded) and a piece of design paper (also rounded edges) about ¼” smaller than the first piece. Both are glued to the card. I cut out the colonial white tab with the Cricut, stamped the sentiment in chocolate ink on it and used my piercing tool to create the border. Two pieces of ribbon are attached to the tab and decorated with little brads. The little roses are created from 1” circles. 


I stared rolling from the outer edge toward the inside, glued it to the center and place a little pearl in the middle. The leaves are free hand cut from green cardstock and placed underneath the roses to complete the card…..I would love to get this card

Patchwork Thanks

Here is another great design from the new “Make it from your Heart” book from Close To My Heart. 

This time I used sweat leave card stock as my 4 ¼”x5 ½” card base. (Fold on top). I stamped the stitching around the card with chocolate ink. I used six 1 ½” squares of different design papers and cut them on a diagonal. I inked the edges in chocolate and rounded four of the corners. The tricky part was to get the triangles line up correctly and spaced evenly. I placed a piece of burlap ribbon in the middle of the card and adhered Thanks tab to it. 
A leftover piece of burlap ribbon, a piece of brown ribbon and some hemp were used to create to bow in the upper left corner….

A Flower Thank You

Isn't this another nice way to say Thank You? The design is from the new “Make it from your Heart” book from Close To My Heart. If you haven’t seen it yet….let me know. This is a wonderful inspiration for your pages and card designs. All measurement and instructions are in it and for only $ 7.95 (plus Tax+SH) it is a great investment.

The base is a regular white 4 ¼”x5 ½” piece of card stock. I used a 4 ¼”x5 ½” piece of desert sand card stock for the front cover. It was inked around the edges and I stamped with vanilla pigment ink the letter design on it. I stitched around the card with chocolate embroidery floss. The Close To My Heart ruler is a great tool to get the holes all lined up correctly. I used card stock pieces of light blue, Indian corn blue and holiday red to create the middle part of my card. I embossed two of the pieces with stripes and sanded them down to show the white card stock core. I also sanded around each piece to get the distressed look.

I placed the light blue piece first, and then the darker one followed by the ribbon. With foam dots I added the red card stock piece on top of everything else. I used the stamp set “Just for you” to stamp the outline of the flower on a white piece of card stock. The pedals are stamped in different colors and cut out. All pedals are attached with a glue dot on the tip of the pedal. The middle is then covered up with a round medallion and a big brad. I placed the two green leaves (they also come with the stamp set) under the flower and another Thank You is done.

Heartfelt Thanks

To create this card, I used a white card stock as my 4 ¼”x5 ½” card base. (Fold on he left). A piece of Indian corn blue card stock was embossed and sanded and glued to the left side of the card. A matching blue design paper piece was cut about ¼” smaller than the card and also attached to the base.  A ribbon with bow is covering the seam between the two papers. A dark grey card stock as placed with foam dots over the ribbon. I stamped the heart in a bright red on a piece of white card stock. The sentiment was stamped in Indian corn blue underneath the heart. I edged the piece with the blue ink and attached it to the grey base. A couple of sparkled round up this design….

A Butterfly Thanks

If you follow my blog, you might have seen this card in a little different way before. I just liked the combination of colors and the decor  Instead of the original 6x6” size I went with the regular 4 ¼”x5 ½” card base in colonial white card stock.

And again, I decorated the front with some paper that I had left from last season, stamp a swirly border in chocolate ink around the paper and adhered it to the base. I placed a piece of Desert Sand, Chocolate and Bamboo card stock to the center of the card. Each piece of card stock was cut about ¼ inch smaller than the one below. 

I used the small flower stamp from the Card Word Puzzle stamp set to create the background on the bamboo paper. This time I attached three paper flowers. They came in white and I used a sponge dauber and Tulip ink to color them in. A big brad finishes them off and I adhered them with a couple of glue dots to the card. The butterfly was cut out, inked and adhered to the card with a couple of glue dots along the body of the butterfly. Pearls define the body on top and two foam dots give the wings support to stay up.

A Box Full Of Thanks

Before we get to see the next Christmas cards we will do in class in November, I thought I share this little project with you. A very nice neighbor of mine saw some of the cards that I have made in the past and she had the idea to surprise a friend of hers with some handmade “Thank You” cards in box. She asked me if I could do something like this for her and here is what I came up with:

The Box

I created this lovely box from two pieces of 12x12” grey card stock. (Thanks Tresa Black for this idea) I decorated it with some Close To My Heart paper, added a piece of sweat leaf card stock around the box and adhered the ribbon to it. The front is decorated with a dark grey piece of card stock and a white piece cut about ¼” smaller than the grey one. I found the perfect sentiment to go on the front and stamped it in black ink. The flowers are cut from the new Artiste Cricut Cartridge from Close To My Heart. 

I had the Cricut cut them in different sizes from Smokey Plum card stock. These are so great to make and easy. I rolled them up from the outside in and adhered them with a couple of glue dots. To make sure nothing comes apart, I added some extra liquid glass in the middle. Once the glue was set I decorated the flower edges with Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel from CTMH. A few free hand cut leaves in green and the box is done….Love it!

Christmas Ornaments

This card base it the same one that I used for the Christmas tree card. A piece of design paper from the Pear & Partridge paper pack from Close To My Heart cut at 4” x 5 ¼” and edged with some chocolate ink. A piece of red 8 ½”x5 ½ card stock is used as the base for this card (fold to the left) and a piece of 3”x4” colonial white card stock for the sentiment.

I stamped the sentiment and the branch, which goes along the top of the colonial white piece, in chocolate ink. The stubble texture tool and olive ink was used to create the sprinkles throughout the card center. I had my Cricut machine cut out the ornaments in 1 ½” and 1 ¾” from red card stock. I stamped stars and other decorations on them with watermark ink and embossed them with white embossing powder. I used the new metallic markers from Close To My Heart to create the tops of the ornaments and for the final touch; the all got decorated with a sparkle. I placed them with foam dots on the card.

Here are some samples of the same card ides, but with different papers. I also changed the way on how I attached the ornaments. I used ribbon on one card to have the ornaments hanging from the card and in another card I used a row of pearls instead the ribbon….many many ways to alternate the card design. Have fun playing around with it and sent me a picture of it. I would love to see what you came up with…

Ink It Up!

Here is a very good example that shows you how to use the new Close To My Heart markers. You will also see in this video the big difference between the "regular" water based inks and the brand new pigment inks...have fun watching

A Christmas Tree

The design paper I used in this card is from the brand new Pear & Partridge paper pack from Close To My Heart. A piece of red 8 ½”x5 ½ card stock is the base for this card (fold to the left). The design paper was cut at 4” x 5 ¼” and edged with some chocolate ink. The Christmas tree was stamped with topiary ink onto a piece of matching topiary card stock and cut out. The sentiment and the Christmas package were stamped in cocoa ink onto a piece of 3”x4” colonial white card stock. 

I colored the package in with some color pens and used the stubble texture tool with olive ink to create the little sprinkles. I rounded the edges and adhered it to the top area of the card. The tree was adhered with foam dots to the left lower corner of the card. Sparkles are places randomly on the tree and your card is done.

Stockings on the mantel

Here another example of reusing your old stamp sets. This beautiful mantel with stockings is too cute to pass on.

I used a white card stock base with the fold on top. I cut a piece of cocoa card stock at 4”x5 ¼” and placed it in the center of the card. The design paper was cut at 3 ¾”x5” and also placed in the center of the cocoa piece. (Remark: during my class, two of my ladies used a fringe scissor and one cut right at the edge of the cocoa paper, the other did it on the design paper. Both varieties were great and made the card even more interesting). Next I stamped the mantel and phrase in chocolate ink onto a piece of colonial white card stock. The stockings are stamped in ruby, olive and topiary ink. 
I still wasn't quite pleased with the design. I added the little centerpiece on top of the mantle. But still, something was missing. I used the black stubble texture tool that comes in the set of four texture tools and the olive ink to create the little sprinkles you see on the detailed photo. 

This was the missing piece. I adhered the finished piece to a piece of cocoa card stock, cut about ¼” bigger than the colonial white one. I centered the piece with some foam dots on the card and added a bling in red to it.

From My House to Yours

I know this is way too early to start with you Christmas Cards you might think! Well, since our card classes are once a month, we have to start a little early to be ready to send them out in early December.

Don’t we all have left over papers from previous Christmases at home? Well this time I used some newer Close TO My Heart stamp sets as well as some retired once, just to show that there is always a use for everything.

A red card stock base along with a 4x4” piece of Christmas paper starts out this card. I first cut a piece of ribbon and made a bow at one end. I adhered the ribbon with a couple of glue dots to the card. Now the design paper and both layers of red and white card stock are centered on top of the card. I stamped the house in black StazOn ink so I could color it in with my watercolor pens without smooching things. The phrase came on one stamp and I decided to split it up and stamp it on three little pieces.

So many greetings from my house to yours ….

A Word of Sympathy

Sometimes it is hard to find the right words to comfort someone. A beautiful handmade card with a wonderful phrase might just do the trick. Sadly I had to create a card like this last week. A very nice neighbor suddenly past away and some of my neighbors including us decided to give the family left behind a word of comfort in form of a card and some monetarily help.

Here is what I think turned out to be a wonderful solution:

I used one of Close To My Hearts Kraft Die-Cut Cards (6x6) as my base. I decorated the front with some paper that I had left from last season. I stamp a swirly border in chocolate ink around the paper and adhered it to the base. I placed a piece of Desert Sand, Chocolate and Bamboo card stock to the left side of the base. Each piece of card stock was cut about ¼ inch smaller than the one below. I used the small flower stamp from the Card Word Puzzle stamp set to create the background on the bamboo paper.

I had my Cricut machine cut out three sizes of the flower pattern from the Philosophy cartridge (1”, 1 ¼”, 1 ½”). They are inked at the edges and a brad is holding them together. The butterfly was also cut out and inked. I adhered it to the card with a couple of glue dots along the body of the butterfly. Pearls define the body on top and two foam dots give the wings support to stay up. I stamped the phrase on a piece of bamboo card stock and adhered it to the card as well.

I glued the ribbon to around the backside of the front piece so when the scalloped edge would close the card, the ribbon could go around it and hold it tide. The inside was simply decorated with a piece of white paper for some personal notes and another phrase.

Instead of having the dollar notes lying loose in the card, I created a little pocket on the right side of the inside. This way the notes could be neatly tucked away. Still visible, but not falling out once the card was opened.

I do like this design very much and I think it will work great on other occasions as well

A wreath of leaves...

Sometimes we create all these wonderful cards and have so many papers left. What can you do with all the leftovers? When I prepared my class for the gift card holder, I ended up with many sweat leaf green paper strips. So I decided to give my Card Club Members a little thank you note.

I used a 3 ½ x 7 piece of the sweat leaf cardstock leftovers and folded it in half. The Close To My Heart stamp set “Remarkable Wreath” (C1473) was just the right one for this project.

I stamped the base stamp (branches) in chocolate ink first. The leave part needs to be stamped twice, since the stamp comes in a half circle. I used Autumn Terracotta, Olive and Cranberry Ink to create the leave colors. Simply use a sponge dauber for each color and daub the color in a stripe pattern onto the stamp. Stamp on one half of the base wreath and repeat with the other half.

The Thank You note was also stamped in chocolate ink and cut out. I adhered it with some foam dots to the card and my little “Thank You” note was done.