Good Times Shared

Sometimes you might like to sent out a picker upper. Our third card of this months class is just to cute, not to sent out....

I used a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of smokey plum cardstock as the backdrop for this card. But before I adhered it to the center of the card, I used the brand new Quatrefoil Embossing folder (Z1926) from Close To My Heart to create a more interesting base.

Next I cut three butterflies (one bigger one and two smaller ones) from pink cardstock and from a piece of vellum paper. Before I adhere the butterflies to the card I used a glue dot to fasten the vellum butterfly to the corresponding pink one. Now they are ready to be placed on the card. A few pearl embellishments in the middle of the butterflies create the body. Bending the wings upward give the butterfly a more interesting look.

Two piece of cardstock, one pink and one white (the white piece is about 1/4" smaller) are adhered together, after I stamped the phrase in black ink onto the white piece. A few foam dots on the back and the card is ready to be sent out.

If you like to buy a set of this months card class, please contact me.

Stay tuned for one more card ... 

Sympathy Rose

Our second card this month was a Sympathy card. This rose stamp and the lettering background stamp are some of my favorite Close To My Heart stamps. You get so much use out of them since they are so versatile.

The card  size is a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" colonial white cardstock base. A piece of kraft cardstock 4"x 5 1/4" is inked on the edges in chocolate brown. The phrase was stamped onto it in cocoa brown and adhered to the center of the base.

A piece of colonial white cardstock was stamped with the lettering background stamp set in chocolate brown and inked on the edges. Once dry I adhered it to a bigger sized cocoa brown cardstock piece. Foam dot hold the assemble pieces to the main card.

The rose was stamped with StarzOn ink and colored in with shades of yellow watercolor pens. A few brown and tan rhinestones create a little sparkle in the middle of the rose.

A piece of brown ribbon was adhered behind the rose before I glued it to the main card with some glue dots.

Stay tuned for more cards to come....

Birthday Cupcake

This month we had two different Card workshops and you will get to see the first four cards in the upcoming days. The second set of four cards will be Easter cards, so stay tuned because there some very special Easter Cards to come.

But today we start with a Birthday Muffin Card. This card opens in the middle and the muffin as well as the Happy Birthday banner holding the card closed.

The muffin was cut out with the Cricut machine and our Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge. There are two parts to the muffin. The bottom layer is stamped with the corresponding muffin design that comes with the cartridge. I enhanced the swirls a little bit with some green and sparkle glitter glue. Make sure to let the glue dry all the way before you assemble the muffin. The top layer was inked on the edges and also got a little bit of glitter glue. Once both parts are dry, place the blue part with foam dots onto the bottom part.

The banner was stamped in Indian Corn Blue and Sweat Leaf Green. Once stamped, cut the banner out and put it aside.
The inside paper piece was stamped with a funny birthday saying before I adhered it in the center of the card.
Now you fold both sides back to close the card. The outside of the card was decorated with a light blue cardstock piece and a striped design paper piece on each side

First adhere the striped paper in the center of the light blue one. Then adhere the assembled piece in the center of the front panels. There are two panels and each will be decorated the same way. Use a black pen to indicate a little stitching in the corners.

Now place your Birthday banner on the front of the card. Make sure the ends are within the card base. Adhere two big foam dots underneath the Birthday part of the banner (the right side) and place the only on the right side of the card. One closure of the card is done.
Now take the muffin and dry fit it on the front of the card, above the banner and halfway onto the left side. Place another two big foam dots on the underside of the muffin so you can adhere the muffin to the left side of the card. Your second closure is done.
Both items should hold the card closed. You can embellish with more bling if you like....stay tuned for more

A thoughtful message

Last but not least a card for a few special and comforting words. Can you thing of a better way to show someone how much you care and think of them than with a handmade card and some personal written words

I used a colonial white cardstock base in 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" for this card. A piece of desert sand cardstock was embossed and centered on the front of the card. Followed by a strip of black cardstock and a piece of design paper from Close To My Heart.

I used the "Fabulous You" (C1533) stamp set from Close To My Heart to stamp the cardinal image in chocolate ink. Three amber gems finish this element. A few foam dots and the cardinal is attached to the front. 
The phrase was stamped in cocoa ink on a strip of colonial white cardstock. I cut in the flag element and adhered it with foam dots to the card.
Since the phrase came in two parts, I decided to stamp the whole phrase on the inside of the card as well.

This is it for this months card class. If you are interested in purchasing a set of the February cards, please contact me.

I am already working on next months cards and some pages for a crop I will attend on March 22nd. So stay tuned for more fun things to come...

Next month we will have two classes so you get to enjoy 8 different cards. Don't forget to come back here often and I will try to keep writing frequently...

  

You caught a bug?

I love my VW even so it isn't a bug, but this little bug was way to cute to pass on. A wonderful stamp set from "Taylored Expressions" gave me the idea for this card.

 The card base is 4 1/4"x 5 /2" and the front is covered with a piece of design paper. The center piece is created from vanilla and indian corn blue cardstock. The blue piece is about 1/8" smaller on each side. I attached the 3 flower brads to the blue piece before I adhered them together and placed them onto the front.


I stamped the phrase and one impression of the car onto the white cardstock piece and glued the piece on top of the blue one. 
A second car impression was stamped on an extra piece of white cardstock. I colored the second image in with alcohol markers and cut it out. This piece is attached with foam dots to the first image stamped.

The "Sending warm wishes" was stamped on a rectangular piece of white cardstock. I then cut in the little flag detail and adhered the white piece on top of a blue rectangular (Slightly bigger than the white). I cut the flag detail into the blue piece. The same procedure was done with the vanilla piece. 

A wonderful little card to cheer up some once day and wish them a speedy recovery. 

If you love the "Bug" and like to get your own set of cards, please feel free to contact me for you order.

And there will be one more card tomorrow to finish out February card class experience. If you have questions about the construction, measurements or products, please don't hesitate to contact me. I would love to hear from you.

Stay tuned for tomorrows card ...

Birthday Flower Surprise

Here is our second card from this months card club. A very special Birthday Flower Surprise:

 The card base is 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" in daisy white cardstock. The first layer is a piece of design paper from Close To My Heart enhanced with some flourish stamp impressions in chocolate ink.

A piece of indian corn blue cardstock was cut into size and embossed. The birthday phrases were stamped individually in indian corn blue , sweat leaf and chocolate ink from Close To My Heart.  




Both layers are adhered together and placed with foam dots onto the front. A little blue gem finishes the front of this card. 

 The inside of this card on the other hand is a wonderful surprise. When you open the card, a blue flower will unfold surrounded by sweat leaf green swirls.

The flower is assembled from 7 scalloped edged circles. All seven are cut and folded the same way and put into place with just a few glue dots. If you like a more detail instruction on how to create the flower, please contact me. It is a little bit to much to explain here. 

How do you like this flower card? More cards are to come in tomorrows feed, so stay tuned and check back tomorrow ...

In case you like to order the card kit for February, please contact me!

LOVE your Valentine

I am a little late with my postings this month, but here are the February cards of my card club.

Love is in the air and what can be better than telling your better half how much you love them?

 This card is based on a 4 /4" x 5 1/2" measurement. You need a longer strip to create the wonderful inside surprise, but the finished card will fit into a regular sized envelope.

I found some of this cherry patterned paper in a stack of retired Close To My Heart papers and I must say, I love it.

The front is decorated with Colonial White and red cardstock as well as some blue design paper form the cherry collection.

The real surprise awaits the recipient once they open the card. A pop up inside spells out the L O V E you are sending. 

The rest of the inside is decorated in read cardstock and blue design papers. Plenty or room to leave you own personal note.



 Here is a more detailed look at the step pop out of the inside.

If you like to know more on how to create this card or if you like to purchase the monthly card class set, please feel free to contact me.

Stay tuned for more coming up tomorrow...

A Bonbon for your Birthday - Part 2

This is part 2 of the Bonbon surprise box ...

To prevent smaller goodies to fall through the opening, use one of the two 1 6/8" squares and let it slide into the tube. 

Make sure it lays flat on the bottom.

Now you can place your own goodies into the tube. I put two of these delicious Roche goodies in the middle.

Now the same principle as earlier, to close the whole on the other end ...



 ... place the other 1 6/8" square on top of your filling and pinch the sides together as we have done it before on the other side.

Use the second ribbon piece to keep the box closed. Smooth out the ends and tie a nice bow on each side of the box. Trim excess ribbon ends.


Stamp your sentiment on the light colored design paper and adhere it to the sky blue cardstock. Place the set on one side of the box.

Arrange the little flower with a pearl and place it on the box.

Your little Bonbon surprise is ready to give away.

These boxes can be made in a various number of sizes and it is up to you what you would like to fill them with.








They are also great for Christmas or Thanksgiving decorations or any other occasion. They also make great seating cards with names on them....

If you like a set of these boxes or for some other occasion, please feel free to contact me. A sample of this box also comes with the January card kit. 

Make sure to turn in for this months workshop ideas...

A Bonbon for your Birthday - Part 1

This last project from our January Class is a little surprise, but a sweet one.

Materials needed for this project:
- a 7" x 6" piece of Close To My Heart "Frosted" design paper
- two 1 6/8" cardstock squares
- 1" x 2" cardstock piece in Sky Blue
- 3/4" x 1 3/4" design paper "Frosted" lighter side
- two pieces of ribbon
- a pink small flower and a pearl
- two Roche Chocolates for filling (in this case they fit perfectly in this box)
- sentiment stamp, black ink pad, adhesive, strong tape adhesive, glue dots

This punched design for the box is available on our Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge "Artiste". If you have one of the box punch boards that are available from other retailers you can use it as well. 
The paper is scored along the lines in four different place. Make sure your folds are nice and crisp. To make assemble easier later on, also fold the sides like shown in the picture on the left. The blue/ grey design you see will be on the outside of the box.

Fold your sides back down an bend the box along the folds in the middle. You will end up with a long rectangular box.

Place strong tape adhesive on the smaller end on one side (blue/grey design) and adhere it under the other side. Openings and sides should line up perfectly.

This is how your box should look like once you adhered the sides together. A long rectangular piece with a square inside.

Now we pay our attention to one end of the box. Squeeze the box together on the side folds we made earlier. The box should close automatically if you press all four middle creases together towards the middle of the box.

Don't worry about the ends yet. Take one of your ribbons and tie it around the middle folds so they stay together, like on the picture here...
Don't pull the ribbon to tight, otherwise you will rip the paper.  

Once you turn the end towards you, you can see a little opening. Now it is time to fold the ends carefully back, if they are not already there. 

Turn the tube around and this is how it will look like from the opening side. You could fill your goodies into the tube as is if you like, but if you use smaller goodies like M&M's, than we have to continue with the next step... 





... check tomorrows part 2 of the Bonbon box ...