Nostalgic Easter Card

 Welcome to our Easter Card Class we had in March. I am a little late with my postings and my apologies for this delay. Sometimes things don't work the way you plan them and when your camera goes on strike it's getting only worse from there....
...I am still not happy with my pictures, but they have to do for now, before I get even more behind. Maybe it's time for a new camera? 

So, in March we worked on some Easter cards and this is the first of four. I won this lovely stamp set with the antique hyacinths and eggs from Anna Griffin and I thought they make the perfect starting point for our Easter cards.

The base is a regular 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" colonial white (cream) card. I cut a piece of 4" x 5 1/4" colonial white cardstock and die-cut a big oval shape in the center of it. The green cardstock is cut with the Cricut. I used an oval scalloped shape and run it through my embossing machine. 

To ensemble the card, first stamp the decorative corner onto the cream cardstock with the oval cut out. Adhere piece centered to the card base and layer the green cardstock with foam dots into the center of the oval cut out.

Next you need to stamp the hyacinths and eggs. I used sponge dabbers to add the ink to the stamp set. I started with the purple color and dabbed it onto the flowering part of the stamp. I dabbed the green in along the leaves and stems and finalize the pot with cocoa brown ink. Once all ink layers are applied I stamped the image on cream cardstock with a good amount of pressure. You have to work quick with the inks and in case a test stamping doesn't give you a good result, try huffing on the stamp before placing it onto the paper.

The eggs are inked up like normal and also stamped on cream cardstock. Now comes the fun part....fuzzy cutting! Yes, you have to cut around the flowers and eggs.

Now all that is left is to decorate the flowers and eggs to the front of the card. A little Easter greeting and this card is done.

A Year of Card Techniques ~ March Blog Hop

A Year of Card Techniques for March

This would be the time to start our monthly blog hop of card techniques, but due to some personal and technical issues we had to postpone this month’s hop into April.

We apologize for the inconvenience but we promise, our next hop on April 21^st will make up for it. Please join us in April for a brand new hop of techniques “Stamp Set Showdown”. Hop along and leave a comment at all of our posts because we love to hear from you.

Every month one winner will receive a prize for commenting on the blog posts throughout the hops. We will draw a winner on each Saturday before the next hop goes live and the name will be announced in the upcoming hop.

This been said, our February Blog Hop Winner is

Jennifer Earley …Congratulations!

Jennifer, please contact me to claim your prize!

We also will add another little incentive for all of you who will leave a comment on our blog hop posts…Some of our blog hop members (I am one of them) will draw an extra winner each month and give away one of their creations.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for April 21^st and if you haven’t done so already, check out our 

January “Shaving CreamMarbleizing” and 

February “So Sketchy” hops.

Thank you for your understanding and support. Please spread the word about our monthly blog hop of “A Year of Card Techniques” and we hope to see you back here often.

Sincerely

Claudia Henderson

Poppy Flower Step Card

Here card number three from February's card making class. Close to my Heart released this wonderful new Cricut cartridge called "Flower Market" and I have to say, this is my top favorite one.

The poppy flowers are only one of many pretty flowers that you can cut with this new cartridge. I flower is cut from 4 different colored cardstocks. The green is the base, followed by a brown (center of the flower), a red (main flower) and a dark red (3-d part of the flower).

I also cut the background piece of the flowers with the Cricut, the leaves seen on the left and the Happy Birthday ovals.

I created the cardbase with the stepper portion on the left side. I covered all steps and the front main part with red cardstock. Next I used a sponge to ad a little texture to the background piece. The poppies were layered together and then adhered to the background. I place the piece with some foam dots to the right side of the card. 

The phrase ovals are layered together and adhered to the back step on the left. I place the two leaves on the middle and front step, added a little bow and a few pearls and this card is done.

If you like to join me in one of my classes, contact me for more information. Stay tuned for more to come ....

A Sweet Doughnut Surprise Card

Here is card number 2 from our February classes. This card was a little bit more labor intensive, but it comes with a sweet little surprise :-)

First we created the window box that shows the doughnuts inside. We stamped four doughnuts on white cardstock and colored the doughnut part in different shades of brown (alcohol markers).

Next we stamped the doughnut again on design paper and cut around the glaze part. The glaze part is adhered to the doughnut part. The sprinkles were enhanced with some alcohol or white gel pen markers.

I prepared the lid part (blue striped paper) with the Cricut machine. I cut a rectangle and added three cuts on the inside the rectangle to create a lid that can be open. The poka-dot paper was also cut with the Cricut. I had a rectangle cut out with a scalloped edge and cut another rectangle on the inside of the piece. This left me with a scalloped edged frame and a rectangular piece. I also used a piece of acetate in about the same size of the poka-dot paper. 

The blue background paper is cut at 4" x 5 1/4" and is adhered directly to the card base. Now comes the little tricky part:

Once you placed the blue cardstock on the card base, take the poka-dot rectangle (form the inside portion) and adhere it in the center of the blue. Place all four doughnuts on top of the poka-dot paper. Don't have them hang over the edge.

Next we need to assemble the "box". Adhere the acetate to the back of the striped paper covering the entire lid opening. Place the poka-dot frame over the lid and adhere. The lid should open and close without interfering with the frame. 
Place foam adhesive squares or stripes on the back of the piece where the acetate is located. Just frame the opening which you can see from the acetate side. Now open the lid, look through the acetate and place the piece directly over the doughnut onto the card. The paper showing underneath the doughnuts should perfectly line up with the opening of the box. 

Now all that is left is to add the little tab to the side of the lid (scalloped circle folded in half), the matted oval with the Happy Brithday phrase and the string wrapped around the lid.

Last but not least, ad some faux stitching with a silver gel pen to the blue paper to create some interest. The inside is decorated with a phrase and some doodling. 

Have fun creating the card :-) and stay tuned for more to come....

Coffee for Two Card

Leaving a couple of crazy weeks behind I am finally getting back on track with my blog posts. We had a pretty bad storm going through Michigan this week. Strong winds took shingles of our and neighbors roofs down, trees got uprooted or split in half. And on top of this, we lost power twice....grrrrr. Well, at least we were lucky to get power back after 8 hours while others had to wait for days.

So here is a little coffee to perk you back up, right :-)
This is one of the cards we made in February's class. 

We stamped the two coffee cups first on basic white cardstock and used some alcohol markers to color them in.

The card base of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" is adhered with a piece of barn red cardstock in the same size. Next we added two pieces of design paper cut at an angle. The pieces are about 1/8" smaller on each side than the card base. The seam between the two angles is covered with a small 1/4" wide piece of golden mirri cardstock.

We used a piece of white cardstock cut into an oval shape to stamp our phrase on. The oval is adhered with foam dots to the card front. We bend the coffee cups over a bone folder to give them some rounder form. We placed a few foam dots in the middle of each cup and adhered them to the oval. Last, the stamp set comes with a steam stamp. We used this stamp and some chocolate ink and stamped the steam right over the cups. You want to do this last, since the placement of the cups is important on where the steam goes.

The inside of the card is rather simple. We used the same stamp from the front (the steam stamp) and stamped it in all four corners of the inside. The phrase goes in the middle and this card is done.

Love You Card

This is the last of my heart series cards that I made. Really simple, but I love it!

I still had a piece of design paper left from a previous Close to My Heart paper package. This page had not only graduating colors, but also this light circles on them. 

This paper was so pretty that I had to leave it just like this. I cut a piece of 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" from the sheet and adhered it to my cardbase. 

I placed my white die-cut heart on top to see how far down I had to stamp my phrase. I then stamped "Love You" in black ink directly onto the design paper.




I used a few foam adhesive dots to pop the heart slightly up. The flowers are added with glue dots and were formed a little by pinching them between my fingers. A few rhinestones are completing this card.

Sometimes less is more and in this case I think it is absolutely true. What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.

More Cards from the Heart

Here are a few more creations using this wonderful heart die and the matching flower dies. 

All design papers were cut at 5 1/4" x 4" and while the red design paper was adhered directly to the cardbase leaving a border of 1/4", the grey design paper was matted to a piece of pink cardstock about 1/8" bigger.

The first card is embellished with a piece of ribbon where I tied a knot at the right side. 
I also added my phrase on a little flag and added a piece of silver mirri cardstock cut in a flag behind it. 

The grey card has two banners with phrases add to it. I used my bonefolder to give them a little wave. I added a thin foam dot to one side and added two stacked on top of each other to the wave side.

A few bling for both cards and they are done.

Technique: So Sketchy - Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the "So Sketchy" hop. While we discussed  the way of simply following the sketch to the teeth last Friday, we will go just a little out of the box today:-) In case you missed it, CLICK HERE to get started!

No big steps like I said, just a little so all you beginners can follow with ease. Like I mentioned before, a sketch is just a guide and you can interpret in any way you want, but following it will make the start really easy for you.

For this card I went a little outside the box. I cut a piece of white cardstock at 3 3/4" x 4 1/2" and a piece of yellow cardstock at 4"x 5 1/4".

Next I used one of my flower stamps and stamped the image in black ink about three times in the bottom left corner. The first stamp far to the top of the piece, the second to the bottom right and the third time a little off and to the left. You can use any stamp you have in your stack for this example.

Now I cut a ca 1" stripe off of the bottom of the stamped piece. Don't throw it away, we need both parts! Next I found a phrase about 1/2" tall. I layed down my yellow cardstock piece, place the 1" cut off on top of it (loose, not adhered and leaving a small gap to the bottom and sides. I marked the yellow piece were the white top ended. Now I stamped my phrase in black and to the right just about these markings.
Erase your markings and adhered the yellow cardstock in the center of your cardbase. In my case I added an extra piece of grey cardstock behind the yellow one and then set it on to the base. The grey cardstock is just 1/8" smaller than the base.

Lastly, place foam dots on both parts of the white stamped cardstock and place them centered and with even gaps around the card to the yellow cardstock. You phrase show through between the two white panels. Decorate with a few sequins or other bling and this interpretation of the sketch is done. This finishes off our little series about the "So Sketchy" hop. I hope you will join me and my fellow blog hop members for this months hope. Just remember to leave a comment at each post for the hop and you might be this months blog hop winner. Leave me a comment if you enjoy these little extras every Friday. Let me know if you have questions or like to know more about specific cards or techniques. I love to hear from you. 

Cut It Out! - March Constant Campaign

Cut It Out!

Enjoy a 25%-off all thin cuts and thin cut bundles all month long! Yes, you heard right, 25% off all thin cuts from the current Idea Book and the Seasonal Expressions Book.

Thin cuts give you a fast and easy way to cut all kinds of shapes for your crafting. Choose from titles, sentiments, and a wide variety of shapes to stamp on, so you can get precise, dimensional shapes in no time!

How does it work? 

Purchase any current Thin Cuts or Thin Cuts bundles at 25%-off in March. 

Another super offer is available for all new consultants: Anyone who signs up in March will receive a set of Thin Cuts in their New Consultant Kit at no additional cost.

Remember, this offer is only available during the month of March! Have fun shopping and let me know if you have questions or like to see the products in person.