Using "Picture My Life" Cards to Make ... Greeting Cards!

Let's admit it ... Every once in a while, we're stumped for ideas. We sit staring at our luscious supplies, and ... well, nothing...

When that happens, I take a break and do a little cleaning up around my craft room. It always needs it. That impulse quickly leaves (*thank goodness!*) when I come across some sort of paper or supply that is crying to be used. That occurred yesterday, when I came across an unopened stack of 56 Picture My Life "Love Your Selfie" cards from Close To My Heart. Here is what they look like:

Who could resist these colors and happy sayings?

My younger sister Mary Beth's birthday is tomorrow (yup, I know ... better late than never), so I combined that cute bubbles (far left) with the saying on the right to make this card:

Isn't this adorable (just like my seeester!) 

If you'd like to order yourself a set of Picture My Life cards shown above, here is the LINK. You can also order that cute Shimmer Trim and/or Sequins from CTMH.

Happy Birthday, Mary Beth!

Cards from our Saturday Card Class at Scatter Joy Center for the Arts

As many of my "regulars" know, I have had the privilege of teaching card classes at Kathy Davis Studios since 2013, and for the past year at KDS's nonprofit off-shoot, the Scatter Joy Center for the Arts, in Horsham, PA. 

 

Much as I am to be the "scatterer" of the joy as one of its many teachers, I also receive an incredible amount of joy in teaching such fun students, many of whom have become Regulars.  I love you all! 

 

Our most recent two-hour class was held on Saturday March 12 and we took on "Happy, Happy Birthday" cards that I designed.  Participants were able to finish four of these five, and will work on the fifth again at our next session, on Saturday, April 23.  Let me show you what (and how) we made each card:

 

The first card we took on was a "masculine card" with a complicated fold that's really easy to make:

 

 

The paper used is Close To My Heart's "Urban" paper pack. I cut and supplied the silver metallic gears and the cut sentiment, using a Silhouette Online Files.  Here is a very basic tutorial for the fold. It's a lot easier to follow along in a class or a video, so do search YouTube for a great video.

 

 

We moved to another more complicated cut/designed cards, meant for a child in your life.  This file uses stamp sets from Close To My Heart that students colored using ShinHan markers and colored pencils. The paper pack is Penelope (believe it or not, it's not Regatta!), along with solids in Sapphire and Glacier.

 

This design is called a "Side Step Card"; the finished size is a standard A2 card (5.5"w x 4.25"h).  A cutting diagram is below.

 

 

 

Next, students prepped their watercolored papers for stamping flowers for the fifth card that I'll show later. While the paper dried, we moved on to cards three and four, which were both more basic and used the same stamp set:

 

 

This card coupled CTMH's Kaleidoscope paper pack with colored candles, and solid cardstocks in Pear, Thistle and Black.

 

This fun card used a strip of CTMH's Fundamentals paper (Thistle colored dimensional strip on the right), and dots done with a flurry of markers. Students had the option of putting Liquid Glass on the hat and candle flames, as shown.

 

...and for our last card, we ran out of time, so we'll pick it back up on Saturday, April 23.  Here is the pretty:

 

 

Care to join us?  You can enroll by going to www.scatterjoyarts.org

 





It's a BLOG HOP to celebrate the birthday of a great 16-year old!

Welcome to the very special celebration of the birthday of a VERY sweet 16-year old young woman. Her name is Emily (like my own daughter) and she is the daughter of my friend, Beth.

Over my 5-year (!!) course of blogging, I've met many, many crafting colleagues who I now consider friends.

Several of these are women who joined me in "Banner Hops" where we made special occasion banners -- Halloween, Christmas, and Spring -- for children at a long-term care facility where I used to work.

One of those women, Beth McGee and her young daughter, Emily, made beautiful banners many times, and generously donated them to the kids in need of special love. 

So when Beth asked if I would join with her in celebrating Emily's 16th birthday with a surprise card hop, I am all in.  I decided to make one of my favorite cards, a pop-up, to mark this special occasion and special girl.  Here is the card (front view, at top; side view next; and the back is the third image, below.)

If you're a long-time follower of my blog, you know I've made several of these cards. They're spectacular to receive, and often become real keepsakes. And they're really not that hard to make. If you'd like to see the template I've developed for them, just scroll down to the word-cloud (index) at the bottom of my blog and look for "pop-up cards". Click there, and you'll be taken to other examples, as well as the template.

WIN BLOG CANDY!!!

So now what's a blog hop without blog candy, right?

Last week, I taught a really fun class in which students made 7 Christmas cards using the beautiful CTMH White Pines Scrapbooking Program cards, CTMH Poppy Twine and CTMH Red Enamel gems.  One of the cards was a pop-up. If you'll be so kind as to leave a comment here on this post, and follow my blog if you'd like, one winner will receive the detailed printed instructions for the pop-up card, pictures of some of the pop-ups I've made, and the Close To My Heart products (mentioned above) I gave to my students to make the set!  The products have a value of about $15, and the directions are ... priceless, of course.

Again, the only requirement for my blog candy is to leave a comment on this blog post; follow my blog only if you'd like to.

It's time to move on in the Hop...

You should have arrived here from THIA's blog so your next stop is at JANIS's blog.  CLICK HERE to be taken directly to Janis's blog post.

If you came to my blog just to see what's up and would like to see more cute cards for Emily's 16th birthday, go back to Beth's blog at the start of the hop.  Beth (Emily's Mom) has GRAND PRIZE blog candy that you'll not want to miss!

Here is the full list of those celebrating this very special occasion:

1. Beth - http://thecraftyscrapyard.blogspot.com
2. Mary - http://cardztv.blogspot.com
3. Shawnee - http://sunshinycards.blogspot.com
4. Thia - http://bluemooncreation.blogspot.com
5. Ellen- http://www.cardmonkeyspaperjungle.com
6. Janis-http://pausedreamenjoy.blogspot.com
7. Jennifer R- http://www.craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
8. Rachelle-http://rachellescreativeplace.blogspot.com
9. Krystal - http://krystalklearcreations.blogspot.com
10. Cathie-http://mimiscraftcorner.blogspot.com
11. Connie- http://conniecancrop.blogspot.com
12. Maria - http://maria-linacreativedesigns.blogspot.com
13. Jessica D. - http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com
14. Georgia-  http://www.geritolgal2.blogspot.com
15. Julie - http://muddypawsinkyfingers.BlogSpot.com
16. Barbara - http://www.spotofsanity.BlogSpot.com
17. Jessica P - http://kissinkrafts.BlogSpot.com

Birthday Card Mojo

Hi CardMonkey Fans!

Yes, I said spine surgery. I had a discectomy at C5-C6 with
a fusion (plate/screws). To access the spine, the orthopedic
surgeon made an incision in the front right of my neck with
just a few stitches necessary. "Minimally invasive" surgery
is so much safer (no spinal cord involvement) and it's easier
to recuperate. The redness around the Steri-Strips is from an
allergy to bandage adhesives.  I DO feel much better now!

I had a "wee bit" of spine surgery last week which has knocked me for a loop. It has taken a lot of determination to get up the steps to visit The Paper Jungle and try to find some creative mojo. I'm doing fine ... though I'm in the "sleepy and weepy" stage that makes me just want to sleep the day away.

Luckily, I have many resources and machines that make my cardmaking easy. I owed a few birthday cards to a Birthday Card Club I'm in.  I found this sweet cut on the Silhouette Online Studio; cut out of CTMH "Smoothie" cardstock, I coupled it with some light seafoam green in a cardstock pack from Kathy Davis Studios.

Happy Birthday to Two Very Special Women!

Two of my dearest, and longest-term friends, celebrate birthdays within 10 days of each other. I made a 3-D Pop-up card (below) for each of them.  But first about them:

I first met Debbie as "Mrs. Donaldson," when she was to interview me for my second job after college, and the first in what would be the field of my choice: public relations in the health industry.

Debbie was the Program Coordinator for the Philadelphia Chapter of the March of Dimes, and I was applying to be its Communications Coordinator.  Debbie found herself located in Philadelphia when her husband, Tom, was stationed in the City for the Navy.  She hired me, and we had a wonderful time working together, and building a friendship as well.

Debbie, Tom and their beautiful family traveled the world with the Navy. They're now located back in Virginia, near their daughter Krista and her young family.  I hope we'll see the Donaldsons in 2014 on a visit, now that they're not too far away.

That's Mary Beth, second from left. She is hugged by Dani at left and her
son, AJ. Next to AJ is MB's daughter, Nicole. Out ice skating.

The other young'un is one of my most favorite women, my baby sister Mary Beth.  Mary B is the "new 50" this year -- you know, 50 is the new 30 -- because I swear MB looks more like a sister to her two beautiful daughters Danielle and Nicole than their mother.  Check this out:

She was always the most athletic of the sisters, for sure (check out this t-ball picture from a zillion years ago), but now, as climbs to the top of the halfway point to 100, she has taken on a new passion: running.  Can you believe this woman is now running half-marathons!!?  I admire her more than she can possibly know. While I spend marathon sessions on my butt making cards, she's out running hers off.  God bless!!!

... and happy birthday to you both!

I made these cards using Jillibean Soup's papers and embellishments from the Birthday Bisque line.  The template is my own, developed from the pattern provided free by http://extremecards.blogspot.com.  I love the celebration of a 3-d pop-up card, and am hooked on making them!  :)

 

KCC My Man Blog Hop -- Happy Birthday, Bernie!

Hey, girlfriends!
This "My Man Blog Hop" is being sponsored by the Krazy Crafting Crew and is hosted by a member, Katina Martinez's "Loving Life's Little Blessings"  ...

... in honor of those pesky men in our lives who support our cardmaking habits, but for whom it is so tough to make something masculine.

 

Will they like the glitter? Doubtful. The bling, the ribbon?  Negative. Men -- gotta love 'em, even when they cause a crafting challenge!

 

Well, today also happens to be the birthday of one of my best male friends, Bernie. Bernie is the hubby of my "sister" Star -- one of those women whose sisterhood you've chosen, not one of your blood but of your soul. Bernie is a wise man who married Star in 1979, the same year Star and I met as work colleagues. I rely on Bernie for a caring ear, warm hugs, spot-on judgment, and sense of humor. He's seen me through some fun times, and some tough times. Bernie, happy birthday -- and many, many more!

 

Bernie, this card's for you:

 

 

I made this card using almost all Close To My Heart products.  The base cardstock is Daisy White, then a layer of Champagne cardstock.

The shapes were off-cut squares that I cut from Laughing Lola B&T Duo paper. I rounded two of the corners using the new CTMH Corner Rounder.

The Happy Birthday stamp is one of the fantastic new M-sized stamps by CTMH, Heartfelt Birthday Greetings M1033, priced right at just $2.95!  I stamped the greeting using Exclusive Black Ink, and used a colored pencil from Prisma to match the blue in the Laughing Lola paper.

 

I hope you liked this card, and now it's time to move on to see other projects made for the men in our lives by other members of the KCC.  Your next stop is: ROBIN at Scrap and Chat.

 

Here is the entire line-up, in case you get lost:

Loving Life’s Little Blessings

CardMonkey's Paper Jungle

Scrap and Chat

Love 2 Create it all

Scrappin' My Stress Away

Precious Pages with Paula

So Many Crafts, So Little Time

 

 

Thank you for stopping by, it was lovely having you!

 

 

 

Card Kitchen "Celebrate" Card

Our family has an awful lot of occasions to celebrate this month. 

In our immediate family, we have three birthdays (my hubby, son-in-law and Dad)

... Mothers' Day for our three living Moms (me, my Mom and my daughter), 

... plus graduations: my niece Nicole and nephew Max graduate from high school; and my oldest niece graduates from Franklin & Marshall University (Lancaster, PA) with a music degree. 

I bet you're just as busy! This cute card could be used as an invitation, a congratulations card or a birthday card.

To make it, I used a design from May's Card Kitchen kit from Jillibean Soup. I removed one element from atop the tag, and cut the word "Party!" using a design from Silhouette America's online store. I popped it up in red (which photographs as pink) to give a little more zing. What do you think?  

Happy celebrations, whatever is on your calendar!!
  

Reward Challenge on PCI is Open to All!

Hey there, sunbathers!

Over on Paper Craft Island, those of us who are sitting out on the sand observing Season One have an opportunity to WIN a Reward Challenge, sponsored by PCI's own "Jeff Probst," Kimi.  

Kimi has posted details on the PCI blog (www.papercraftisland.blogspot.com) but here's the summary:  There are four children on Paper Craft Island, and one turns 10 next week. Our challenge, should you choose to join in for a chance to win recognition and a prize, is to make and link-up a birthday card suitable for a 10-year old girl.

Front (top left) leads into a booklet with computer-generated sentiments. I fussy-cut some of the images and mounted them on Action Wobbles for added fun. Some images are simply pop-dotted. Others are embellished with Stickles and/or Glossy Accents, and pearls (e.g., the cake on the back of the card).  There was a lot of attention to details on this card!

Ever ready for a challenge, I'll be linking up this birthday card I made for the "perfect ten-" year-old girl who is partying on Paper Craft Island.

I used a series of Stampendous "Changito" Monkey stamps for a booklet-style birthday card. I received some of these images in a stamped image swap, and I have some of the stamps myself. I colored the images using Copic markers.

Why not play along in this fun challenge? Jump over to PCI for more deets!

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Lined envelope technique - Easy, peasy!

Good morning!

Isn't this just the sweetest image?  It's a rubber stamp from the UK company, Lili of the Valley.

I colored it with Copic Markers, added a computer-generated sentiment and a sweet gingham bow onto this custom card size (4"w x 4.25"h) with a top fold.  I'm adding this card to a boxed set I'm making for a friend ...

...LOL, a friend who would be unhappy to find mice in her kitchen!  I hope she likes the card anyway.

Update:  Envelope technique

I confess I was dreading making an envelope for this odd shape, and I want to share with you an interesting technique to have a colored interior to match your cardstock, while leaving the exterior postal-friendly white.

I created a template on hot pink scrap paper, then went to my color copier (inkjet) and copied the template onto white cardstock, like this:

They're actually the same size ... the photo distorts it,
though my color registry is off on the copier. I like the lighter pink
for this card, so that's okay.

Cut and folded, with adhesive strips added for the end-user, here is how it looks with the card. Don't you love it?!

For the Friendship Blog Hop: A Notecard Gift Set

Hello, and welcome to those of you joining for the Friendship Blog Hop, sponsored by Jennifer at the Crafty Card Gallery.  I am so pleased to participate in this Hop because your friendship means the world to me.  Thank you to my followers -- long-time and new -- for your support and kinship!

I am Hop Stop #23 ... you're welcome to join in this hop at any point (including here!), and hop along.  If you want to start at the beginning, click the link above to go to Jennifer's blog. 

Jennifer asked the participants in this Friendship Blog Hop to come up with "anything friendship related."  So I've decided to show you a gift pack of notecards that I typically make for my non-crafty buddies' birthdays.  Here is a picture of all of the cards included in the gift pack:

The pack includes cards that my friends can then send on to their friends for a variety of occasions. There is one birthday card, one get well, and the rest are just general greeting cards.  Inevitably though, my friends won't mail these on ... maybe I should include two of each, so they feel comfortable sharing!

I pack the cards in a box (shown below) made from the Cricut "Tags, Bags, Boxes and More" cartridge. (Update: I used the CRAYON BOX image on this cartridge, 12x12" paper, "Fit to size" ... turns out it's a perfect size for 4.5"x6" cards!  Note that the bottom flap is not curved -- it's flat and tucked into the box. I just decorated it with a curve faux stitching.)  It is decorated with white gel pen faux stitching and Jolee stickers, and tied with a bow (not shown):

The full collection (half dozen) is shown at the top of this post. Here the cards are individually.  These have all been made using the Cricut "Just Because Cards" cartridge:




Black card, yellow paper insert;
colored pencils highlight the
word "BIRD".  Gem for eye.

 


Pink card, white Cuttlebug-embossed ("birthday") insert. Happy birthday Cuttlebug folder embosses the front.
Stickles accent the word "CAKE"









Blue card with gold Stickles, white cardstock liner, faux dotted with black pen; pearls
for sun's eyes





Grey card, pale blue paper insert;
Stickles accent the "water";
black pearl for eye



    

Metallic gold cardstock,
white paper w/rounded corners
for insert. Martha Stewart
double loops punch for trim.





    

Kraft card, white paper insert;
wings (and shadow) cut from
AC glitter chipboard. White
gel pen to highlight and for
flight line of the bee.




















BLOG CANDY:  What's a blog hop without candy?!  When I am not papercrafting, I am beading.  My favorite project to make and sell are "woven" beaded bracelets using Swarovski crystals, like the one shown here.  I've made one similar to this one (different colors, length) for the winner of my Blog Candy giveaway. Value: $35 sold in stores; priceless in that it's made by your very own CardMonkey!

TO WIN: Just two steps:  either be or become a follower, and leave a comment below.  Please be sure to mention a way for me to contact you, should you win.    UPDATE:  A winner has been selected by Random.Org.  Congratulations to #3 of 41, Sigrid of www.lovescrapreflect.blogspot.com.   Please feel free to leave comment(s) though, as you know I always ♥ them! 

This Hop is now over, so I will remove the line-up to conserve space. 

Let's meet next time over a cuppa'joe.  Cheers!

P.S.   Don't forget to stop back next week, when I will be hosting the Motions and Folds Card Hop (February 26).  There are 15 of us who have made cards with unusual techniques that you'll want to try!

p.p.s:  I know I've held you here long enough, but seriously, don't forget to ALSO post on my next message (scroll down).  On "Fairy Cut Fridays" I describe a craft I've made using Fairy Cut software. If you post there you'll be eligible to win a free FAIRY CUT SOFTWARE license ($99 value), drawn monthly.  Check out GLASS ETCHING on the next post down!



Foam Dimension Without Pop-Dots

Good semi-sunny Saturday, Friends!  Today I am in the Craft Loft making some birthday cards and using Motion and Fold techniques that I'll be showing during the Blog Hop I'm hosting in two weeks. 

(For more information on the Motions and Folds Card Hop, please click the icon in the right column. You'll jump to a blogsite I've set up for the preliminary information ... and you'll see list of participants as well as a tutorial I found by one of our Blog Stops, Sarah.)

In trying out new techniques, I've found a way to add pop-dot dimension when you want to raise the entire image, as I did with the flowers I'm using on a card.

Simply put, what I did was create a sticker from a small piece of paper ... affix it to a similarly-sized piece of foam (about 1/4" thick) ... and then cut the flowers using a Sizzix die.  Here is how I did it.




The paper snippet is about 3"x4" wide.



I ran the paper through my Xyron sticker maker.




...then cut pieces that were only as big as the flowers I am cutting. For these flowers, I used a Sizzix die that makes a card/envelope. There are flower embellishments as part of the die.





Nice dimension for the full flower!

 

... and one small piece of paper on foam cut all these embellishments!





Incidentally, I tried cutting this foam using my Cricut ... ugh, disaster!  I tried it a million different ways ... with transfer tape over it, with paper stuck on it, slower, less pressure, multi-cut, you name it.  I even tried cutting it with my Cricut Cake. NO LUCK!  If someone has figured out a way to cut this with an electronic machine (yes, you CAN fussy-cut it with scissors and patience!), please let me know.  Meanwhile, I did learn that die-cutting with it not only works, but works great!

Look for the card using these flowers (sneak peek at the top of this post) featured on the Motions and Folds Card Hop on February 26.