Kristy's Birthday Card and Card Set

Hi folks, as promised I am back with another card set I gave away this week. For this one I used the sketch from the August issue of Sheetload of Cards . I used papers from Stampin' Up Maine Blueberry pack that I won in the silent auction at the Crop for Cure back in May.

Basically, I used three different punches for the edges (yes, the faulty EK Success punch which will be replaced was used and I had to hand trim the scallops) and six different sentiments. Since dearly beloved's sister is a police officer, I figured I would leave half of them without little flower images so she could more easily use them for male co-workers/friends if need be.

















And this is her actual birthday card. I used the CTMH Originals Left Frame sketch and more of the Maine Blueberry paper.




Details:
finished card sizes: 4.25 x 5.5 inches
sketches: August 2009 Sheetload of Cards, CTMH Originals Left Frame
papers: Stampin Up Maine Blueberry, CTMH New England Ivy, white cardstock
inks: CTMH garden green, indian corn blue, new england ivy, key lime, heavenly blue
stamps: CTMH Just Because (D1327), TLC (D1364), From Me To You (D1247)
ribbon: blue grosgrain from stampin up
tools: cuttlebug, nestabilities small and large ovals, EK Success Border Punches Binding Edge, Scallop Diamond and Parisian.

Shout Out To Sheetload

The August 2009 issue of Sheetload of Cards is out. Have you checked it out yet? If not, then go to their site to download your issue.

They are sponsored this month by Sweet n Sassy Stamps so there are gorgeous examples in this issue.

I have already used the sketch for a card set I made for my dearly beloved's sister. That post will be coming up soon! I must say, I do find Sheetload to be a great resource when I want to make a bunch of cards with the same layout.

Christmas in July - Part 3

And the last five cards from this post.

Christmas in July - Part 2

As promised/threatened, these are individual shots of five of the cards from the previous post.

Christmas in July

Okay so I am REALLY late in finishing these cards. I started them for my APRIL Christmas Card Challenge over on SplitCoastStampers and I am just finishing them now.




This is a group shot of all ten of the cards. I used the sketch from the December 2008 issue of Sheetload of Cards .

The papers are all from the Aspen Paper Pack from Close To My Heart.
The stamped snowflakes are from the following CTMH stamp sets:

• d1244 Snow Friends
• d1171 New Fallen Snow
• d1317 Feathery Flakes

The sentiment is from Verve Stamps Poinsettia Christmas

The inks are Twilight and Outdoor Denim from CTMH.

Hope you enjoy this little taste of Christmas in July.

The next two posts will be individual shots of each of the then cards. Or you navigate to them here and here .

The cards that didn't fit into the box

I admit it - I overdid it. These four cards did not fit into the gift card box I made. So, they will either stay in my stash to be used when I forget to make a card or they will be gifted to someone as part of another card set. I'm thinking I should make another gift set - I had TWO packages of the "That's Amore" paper.






Again, more of the same layout. Just switching up the papers and images/sentiments.

Phew, you can breathe a sigh of relief! That's it for this little craft project. Aren't you glad I have a day-job and don't get to craft this much ALL THE TIME!

tee hee hee....warning...I have a ton more cards to make over the course of this weekend. But I'll probably have to stagger those posts otherwise I won't have time to make the cards!

The cards that went into the box - the top folds

Have I worn you out yet? Yes, more of the "That's Amore" cards for my dearly beloved's sister-in-law.

Again, same premise as before.





I think this will make a nice set of cards that she can go to in a pinch when she needs a card for some occasion.

The cards that went into the box - the side folds

Okay, I apologize in advance for this and the following post but, what do you do when you have 12 cards to post? One big post? 12 Separate posts? So, I'm breaking this up into three posts.

Turns out 12 cards plus their envelopes DO NOT fit into the card box from my earlier post. At least, not when you pop all the panels up on dimensionals! So, my dearly beloved's sister-in-law will be receiving only 8 of the cards I made.

This post has the four side fold cards. As you can see, the cards all use the same basic premise (from the March 2009 Sheetload of Cards issue actually).






Details:
Papers from CTMH "That's Amore" Level 2 paper pack

2 coordinating pieces of DP: 4 x 5.5 cut on the diagonal
Sentiment panel: 2nd Largest Labels 4 Nestabilities Die
Inks: Blush, Chocolate
Embellishments: ribbons, brads, gems, flowers from my stash

Sentiments and Images: are all CTMH. I think I counted 29 acrylic blocks in use on my craft table. The stamps are still there and I'll try to update this post with the actual stamp sets used when I put them all away.

update: these are the stamp sets that were used:
Be Yourself (D1349), Treasure Life (D1306), Moments (D1210), From Me To You (D1247), Just Because (D1327), Friendship Word Puzzle (D1258), Best Wishes (C1318)

Shout Out To Sheetload

So if you haven't checked it out yet, the June issue of Sheetload of Cards has been posted.

If you regularly follow my blog, you will see that I have done bunches of cards using these lovely sketches since discovering this handy ezine.

Directions are included in the magazine to do just one of the monthly sketch - or a whole bunch! Great for building your stash -- or getting a head start on those Christmas cards!

Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

June Sheetload of Cards with Carl

Aren't social networks little tattle-tales? I saw something tonight that I am very happy to say spilled the beans on a co-worker's birthday tomorrow. Phew! The June issue of Sheetload of Cards came to my rescue for a quick card sketch to use.



And, lucky for me I had visited Deserres and Michael's yesterday and picked up some masculine looking papers. I stamped a couple of Carl the Cupcake (from Stamps and Smiles), coloured him with my watercolours (my prismas are on their way as of May 27th) and cut out and popped up the second image. I did the edge of the blue panel with one of my EK success border punches. Inside the card I stamped the sentiment "A little cupcake told me....it's your birthday!". Said co-worker should not be eating REAL cupcakes as he is recovering from some cardiac episodes from the last year... and is only in his mid-forties!

So, I think I did pretty good for a quick masculine card. I really need to try to keep a few on-hand.

Shout Out to Sheetload

So have you had a chance to check out Sheetload of Cards yet? It is an ezine published monthly with truly awesome sketches, highlighted by the projects featured.

This is the cover of the May 2009 issue


You crafty folks out there who avidly follow "Markie's Mom" Faith will recognize her as the featured artist on the front cover. I have already used this awesome sketch for a couple of regular A4 size cards but have not yet done the little scrapling and card combo. As Jenn suggested when she saw this, the little scrapling would make a perfect bookmark (with a magnetic closure). So, I am sure I will be making a few of those. I'm thinking they would be great to mark favourite recipes in my vast collection of cookbooks!

If you check out the post Labels in my sidebar and look for sheetload, you will see the cards I have made using various of the sketches.

For My Mom

This is the card I made for my Mom for Mother's day. It uses CTMH paper and Verve sentiments. Another of those flowers from Zellers! The sketch is from Sheetload of Cards.


Anyhow, I seriously thought of making this a funny card instead. At some point in the future I still might - maybe for her birthday in June. See, everyone who sees me and my Mom ALWAYS comment how much I look like her. And the older I get, the more I hear that comment. Mind you, I tower over my shortie Mom. So, I had thought of crossing out hope and writing {KNOW} and crossing out little bit and writing {LOT}. I have some of the doodlefactory stamps in their larger sizes and smaller sizes and think I could play that up with using two of those identical stamps. Or maybe by playing around with some of my digi-Anyas. Anyways, I'll be toying with that idea.

Now, the other thing I made for my Mom is a memory book. It has both old and more recent photos of her with each of her children and grand-children and, of course, with my Dad. I'm going to TRY to add it to my blog (or this post) as a slideshow. We shall see how that goes momentarily.

Update - well, I was able to add the slideshow on the left sidebar. Alternatively, you can check it out on Picasa Web Albums here . I think.

If only I could figure out how to put the slideshow IN the post itself.

More Mother's Day

Two more mother's day cards - neither of which is for MY mom. That one will be in the next post.

The first one is for my dearly beloved's Mom. The sketch is from Sheetload of cards, just expanded to be a full size card. Paper is CTMH, stamped images are Verve. After taking the photo, I decided the flower image needed a little something so I outlined the flowers on the stem.



This second card went to my brother's girlfriend and I believe I used another sheetload of cards sketch here as well.


Papers are CTMH and the sentiment is Verve. Edged with my EK Success Diamond Scallop border punch. The panels are nestabilities die cuts done on my cuttlebug. See those Zellers flowers cropping up again? Speaking of crop - I made these two cards at the all day crop I attended on Saturday and just put the finishing touches on the 2nd one at home on Monday.

Why are masculine cards so hard to make?

My dearly beloved has a friend from high school with whom he STILL plays DnD. He's been absent for several months now but is finally going to be there tonight. His birthday was a few days ago and this is the card I made for him. So instead of it going in the post, it gets delivered in person!

But boy, I do find masculine cards so very hard to make. What do you mean I can't use ribbon?


Anywho....this paper pack from CTMH comes to the rescue for masculine cards. I will definitely have to get some more on my next order. The Sketch is from the May 2009 issue of Sheetload of cards. I modded it a little to do a 4x5.25 inch card instead of a 4x4. The balloons and sentiment are Verve. The little tags were cut with my cuttlebug.

I know, kinda plain and ho-hum but....next time, I swear I'm using duct tape!

Get well soon...or else!

So dearly beloved asked me why I was giving our neighbour, who just had shoulder surgery, a scary bear on his get well card. Well, I REALLY needed an excuse to use this digital stamp and I know my neighbour will crack up when he sees it! I just love this image - it is a digital stamp from The Greeting Farm - from their designs for House of Mental (totally love that company name).

Just printed the image twice, coloured then cut one of them out to pop up on the other. The sentiment was cuttlebugged.

The sketch is from the April 2009 issue of Sheetload of Cards. There is a link to their site on my left sidebar.



AND....I got more new stamps today. The latest Verve release! This company is so cool. They included a "Smile" stamp to say thank you for the order. How nice is that?

Hoppy Easter

This is the Easter card I sent to my brother and his girlfriend. I love this little bunny from Pink Cat Studio. The sentiment is from the same set. I do think that yellow and purple are my favourite colour combination for easter cards. There is something so happy about those colours. That and the crocuses that are now peeking out from the flower beds in my front yard are yellow.

The sketch is from the January 2009 issue of Sheetload of Cards. The papers are from my stash {of scraps!}.

Mr Bunny was coloured with my CTMH markers using a blending pen.

Another April Family Birthday

My Mom's eldest sister celebrates a birthday on Easter Sunday and I was inspired to make this card in celebration. The sketch is from a sketch from Sheetload of Cards (see the link on the left side-bar).

The paper and ribbon are all CTMH. I had an excuse to use my new EK-Success border punch for the cute edge on the front flap.
Those little flowers on the right are a find for $.75 at Zellers (for a pack of four) and they worked just perfectly with the colours on this card.


I used one of my nestabilities circles to draw the semi-circle on the inner panel and then simply cut it with my scissors -- which have since gone MIA in my craft room (more on that later).


And here you can see the sentiment stamped on the inner panel. This one is from Verve Stamps. I love the flourishes on these birthday sentiments. I'm going to work on conditioning my non-CTMH acrylic stamps so they pick up the ink from my CTMH ink pads a little better. I believe it was on SCS that I was reading (maybe from Beate) that you could do this with a pencil eraser. I will let you know how that goes.

So...I liked the card and hope my Aunt does too!