Happy Birthday Ernman!!

About three weeks ago, I got an email from my friend Barb of a card she was making for her daughter.  It was SO cool that I had to try this for the Ernman's birthday, which was yesterday! I couldn't post this until today when I actually gave him his card.  She passed on a tutorial she followed on Split Coast Stampers which you can see HERE.  I struggled a little with the placement of the papers and closing up the box everytime she flipped it around.  I wish my balloon paper was going the other way but, oh well!  The great thing is, now that I've done it once, it'll be a piece of cake next time.  HEY, a piece of cake!! 

 

Happy Birthday Ernman!!!

Just saying hello...

I saw these Martha Stewart flower stickers the other day and just HAD to have them... you know how that is, right?!!  And they pair rather well with the "Just Saying Hello" stamp that belongs to Sherry.  When we get together, I stamp a gazillion of these to use at a later date (ok, it was probably closer to twenty than a gazillion but you get the picture).  In reality, I should just buy the stamp since I like it so much but I can't find it anywhere but eBay and I can't bring myself to bite the bullet.  So for now, stamping some when I see Sherry will just have to do...

 

The sticker is dimensional and on the card on the right, I popped the whole panel and sentiment with dimensionals as well.  The card on the left, I removed the little banner and added the ribbon instead.  That panel is not popped.

 

I looked thru my 6"x 6" pads for a paper to coordinate with the sticker and found this one in the "Everyday Flair" by My Mind's Eye.  It wasn't the pad I was planning on using for Raeanna's challenge but I was itching SO BAD to make a card and this was quick.

 

The patterned paper is embossed with my NEW Stampin' Up Arrow folder... I just love it!

  

Here comes the sun... little darling.

A few months ago, I had an overnight visit with Sherry in Ohio.  One of the things we experimented with was this starburst.  Sherry has some of the most wonderful pre-cut papers and I "borrowed" a few from her yellow and orange collection and brought them back to Jersey.  I made this shortly after I returned (minus the sun) and had it sitting on my shelf staring at me, day in and day out for the past three months.  I just couldn't decide what to put in the center.  As I was working on my Project Life last week, I stumbled across this embellishment from Creative Memories and it STRUCK me... it belongs in the center of this card!  I just love this, it makes me smile...



Christmas Challenge

I was so excited when I made these seven semi-Scrappy Backgrounds out in Ohio at the beginning of the month.  When I got back to Jersey, I made the two cards.  I don't like them and I'm not sure why.  That's why I stopped working on them.  NOW, it's almost the end of the month and I don't have my five done... :(  Any thoughts you can share would be greatly appreciated...

Just messing around...

Yesterday, I messed around with a couple of the items I got in my recent Stampin' Up order.  The banner die (wicked awesome!) and the chevron embossing folder (wicked cool!).  I wasn't thrilled with my color palette so I added the heart, the stripped paper and yellow circle to add some life to this piece.  I have alot of non-crafting to do today but I can't wait to get back in my studio and mess around some more... it's wicked fun!



Hexagon Die...

I received a Stampin' Up order last weekend with this lovely Hexagon Die in it.  It took 'til this weekend to crack it open.  The first paper I used was ripping as I took it out of the die but I salvaged it by cutting away the ripped part and placing it on top of this yellow one.  Here's a tip for those who don't know (or those who forget easy... like me):  Use wax paper between the die and your paper and it helps the piece come out of the die easier.

 

I'll have to play with this a little more and see what other cards I can make with it... 

Journaling Cards Re-purposed...

I was searching for cards on Pinterest that use washi tape and came across this one (see here) that re-purposed a library card.  I said to myself, "Self?  Why couldn't you do that with the abundance of journaling cards you have for Project Life?"  So, there you have it... a journaling card turned into a card for sending... :)

 

I added faux stitching around the rim, stamped the arrow in the top right corner and added dimensionals to the sentiment.  And even with using washi tape (which I have tons of) and using journaling cards (which I have tons of), I still have tons of both... what's the dileo?!!



A true love card...

This is a CASE of one of my own creations.  I went out of my element when I made a Valentine's card for my Ernman this year.  I liked it so much that I decided to CASE it for OWH.  It is labor intensive but doing eight at a time made it very worthwhile...

 

Here are the steps I took:

1. Cut white paper to 5.25" x 4"
2. Using Paper Piercing guide and tool, make holes around rim of paper for future faux stitching
3. Spray Red Smooch Spray (this stuff is impossible for me.  I can never get more than one spray at time before I have to pull up the nozzle for the next spray.  I have a few colors, same problem.  I will never buy it again until I KNOW the manufacturer has fixed the problem)
4. Spray Dylusions Cherry Pie ink spray (no issues with this... yay!)
5. Spray Shimmer Smooch Spray (same problem as #3)
6. Adhere 3 types of washi tape to left and right side
7. Partial stamp Tim Holtz background stamp to bottom left corner
8. Stamp "I love you..." and arrow
9. Add die-cut flourish to washi on left
10. Add 3 die-cut hearts
11. With a black Sharpie pen connect holes made in step #2 around rim of card to create faux stitching.  All 130 holes.  How do I know there are 130 holes?  Because I found myself counting them around card #3...
12. Attach card to black 5.5" x 4.25" piece. 

And there you have it.  Something completely out of my element...

 

OWH shipment...

This is my next shipment to Operation Write Home which includes the 18 Any Hero cards we did with the neighbor kids back in January.  Original post here.  It also includes 78 of a variety of cards for the troops to send home to their loved ones, including Mother's Day, well ahead of the deadline of March 31st... yay!

 

I rarely send seasonal (other than Christmas) because I can't count on getting them shipped on time for the deadlines.  However, I sent 17 Mother's Day cards in this batch because I was determined to use up some pink paper I had purchased three years ago for just this card.

 

Since beginning card making (now four years), I think I've learned, at least I hope I've learned, that I don't need to buy 20 sheets of the same paper to make alot of the same card.  I do like doing duplicates but enough paper for a thousand is a bit overboard, wouldn't you say?  ...LOL