Sunday, July 7, 2013

10th Birthday fun and a cute money holder!

A few days ago, my youngest baby turned 10 - double digits!! It's hard to believe! I wanted to share the card I made him, and also a money-gift holder.

The card uses stamps and dies from PTI and MFT, and some fun, boyish patterned paper from Echo Park - A Boy's Life.

The "10th" and the patterned "birthday" are both popped up on foam adhesive (yes, I painstakingly cut little bits of foam tape for the small letters, lol). The "it's your day" at the bottom wasn't part of my original plan, but I accidentally cut the pattern paper block too short so that was my solution - a happy accident, because I really like how it turned out!


Here is the money holder that I made with PTI's zipper border die. I will show you step-by-step how I made it, below.

First I cut a piece of the PTI Hawaiian Shores striped patterned paper 7.5"x7.5". You could use any paper, patterned or stamped. I liked this paper and it worked great - a good weight, and it is white on the reverse side. I scored the paper at 2" and at 4 7/8". NOTE: when scoring, think about the direction you want the pattern to go on the final envelope.


Now I folded the 2" piece under, and then placed the zipper border on the other side (the single-layer side), just eyeballing it to leave some space to the edge and being very careful that it was straight! Then run it through the die cut machine.


This is what the piece should look like at this point. Note that I intentionally put the start of the zipper on the right side because my little guy is left handed. It probably doesn't really matter much, but I do think that for a right-handed recipient, the zipper would be a little easier to manage if it zipped from left to right. I also used my craft knife to cut open the little connected pieces on the first "tab" of the zipper, just to make it a easier to get started (without ripping anything).


I choose to embellish both sides of the envelope. On the zipper side I added a simple border with sentiment and the "pull here" stamping.


On the back, I used the new PTI Big Ticket Basics.


Now, fold up the inside flap and adhere on the two sides. Put the money in, and then add adhesive to the zipper flap, just below the zipper, and seal the envelope closed.


This is what the final product looks like. The recipient then gets to rip that zipper open and see the bills inside. This same design could easily be modified to hold a gift card, too!


Well, that's it. I hope the extra pictures were helpful! Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

A pair of Father's Day Cards

Today I'm sharing the last of the Father's Day cards I made this year, both for my husband - one from me, and one from the kids.

First, for the one from me, I used pattern papers from Simple Stories: Take a Hike 6x6 paper pad. This has some great masculine colors and patterns, which I paired with PTI's Canyon Clay, Kraft, Fine Linen and Dark Chocolate.


The top panel is on foam adhesive. I used PTI's Boutique Borders: Father and Birthday, and World's Greatest to put together the sentiment, and also Modern Wood Mats to coordinate with the Mat Stack 5 and Layerz cut out.   

For the card from the boys, I used paper from My Minds Eye: Follow Your Heart 6x6 paper pad (can you tell that I'm trying to use up more of this patterned paper that I've been "collecting", lol!?). The "DAD" is cut with PTI's Block Alphabet from Limeaid Ice. If you look closely, you'll see a tone-on-tone pattern that I stamped on the letters using Sketched Shapes (the large circle works perfectly, just line up the letter under the circle and stamp). I really like this little added bit of detail. Then I attached the letters to a Framed Out #1 die cut that I stamped with the frame.


The scroll is from Boutique Borders: Father and the "Happy Father's Day" is from World's Greatest, and the "You're the Best" is from Sunflower Bouquet.


Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Sending You Love, Dad

Today I have a Father's Day card to share. This is the one that I sent to my Dad. I used Pinterest for some color inspiration (this pin) and came up with Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, Spring Rain and Smokey Shadow. I reached for MFT's First Class Friend stamps and dies (a favorite go-to set, especially for masculine cards) and also incorporated PTI's Boutique Borders: Father.



The focal point label and the stamp are both popped up on foam adhesive.



And speaking of that stamp, guess how I made that? :)



The die cut is from MFT but I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on it. So just browsing through some stamp sets, I came upon Love Lives Here. I used one of the little house patterns, just centering the heart opening in the center of the stamp, and then added the heart from the same set. I love how it turned out! And so fun to come up with a new use for a stamp! 


I have two other Father's Day cards to share, so will try to get them posted in the next few days! Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, June 7, 2013

A Thank You for the Teacher

Are your kiddos finished with school for the summer? Usually mine would be by now, but they had a late start last fall due to renovations in their building... so they go through next Thursday! I told them last August when they were enjoying the extra time off, just remember - you'll be paying this back in June! ;) LOL! But anyway... I wanted to share a card I made for one of the teachers, to whom the class was giving a gift card. The main set I used was Teach & Inspire, with a little bit of School Time thrown in. The "you're the best" is from Tiny Tags 2. My colors are Pure Puppy, Limeaid Ice, Enchanted Evening and Summer Sunrise.


The chevron focal point was hand cut and then adhered with foam tape, after I added the pencil.


I added the Tiny Tag with a little brad.


Here's a tip - one of those things that might be obvious, but it felt like such a light-bulb moment when I thought of it that I wanted to share! I wanted to hand-stamp the apples for the background, but they just weren't turning out right. Then I thought to use my Hexagon Cover Plate die to create a sort of "stencil" to use as a guide to the apple placement. It worked perfectly! I'm definitely going to remember this little trick and use it again. I'm sure other cover plates would work too, to create differently-spaced patterns or for other small images!


Thanks for stopping by, and happy summer!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Congratulations, Graduate!

This is a graduation card I made for a fine young man, one of our scouting friends, who just graduated high school! I tried to match his school colors, a burgandy-red and gold, with PTI's Scarlet Jewel and Summer Sunrise - I hope they came pretty close. This is a 4.5"x7" card, sized to accommodate a monetary gift, with a special "pocket" treatment on the inside that I'll show you below.

I used Fabulous Frames, Block Alphabet Numbers and Alpha Blocks dies for the main focal point, with the sentiment from Celebrations. The "it's your day" is from Framed Out #3. The arrow pattern is from Mama Elephant's On Target, and the graduation cap is from There She Goes' ConGRADulations set, stamped and then hand-cut.


I added texture to the background burgundy in the frame with a texture plate, and the frame and number blocks are popped up on foam adhesive.


On the inside, I put the sentiment (from Birds and Blooms, snazzed up a bit with the cap stamp again) on the left side, to make room for the pocket on the right side.


To make the pocket, I first folded up a flap from the cardstock base (cut 7"x11", then scored at 4.5" and at 9", so that I had the extra 2" to be the base of my pocket). I cut the bracket using the Edger #1 die, and adhered it to the inside of the flap. Then I added some Summer Sunrise striped paper to the top of the flap, and edged it with a strip of Summer Sunrise cardstock, just to give the whole edge a clean and finished look. I use a piece of Scor Tape on each edge to adhere the flap down and create the pocket.



Good luck to all those with kiddos graduating this year (we still have 6 years in this house, lol)! And thanks for stopping by!


Saturday, May 25, 2013

PTI's May Blog Hop - Beautiful Bouquets!

I managed to play along this month with the PTI blog hop - yay! The theme is "Bouquet Builder", and Nichole provided some awesome color combos as inspiration for a floral themed card. I used (roughly) the second color combo, with a couple of minor switches, to end up with: Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, and for the leaves, Limeaid Ice and Simply Chartreuse.

I stamped a subtle background using Background Basics: Postmarks, and stamped the leaves from Happiness in Bloom directly over that. The flowers are also from Happiness in Bloom, but for something different, I layered the two larger ones with a Flower Fusion #4 as a center. For the smaller one, I just used a small circle die and stamped tone-on-tone from Sketched Shapes. A brad and buttons finish off the flower centers.



The sentiment is from Bountiful Banners. The banner and the flowers are all popped up on dimensional adhesive, and I custom colored some gems with a Copic marker to accent the banner.



Thanks for the great color combos Nichole, and thanks for stopping by!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Make it Monday - Paper Piecing

I'm sharing a card today to play along with this week's Make It Monday - Paper Piecing. I always like the look of paper piecing, but don't utilize the technique very much. since I needed a card for my nephew's upcoming birthday, I thought that Enjoy the Ride would be a fun set to use for this technique.



I pieced the car together using papers from Doodlebug's "Boys Only" 6"x6" paper pad. The car is popped up on my square card base, which I layered with Simply Chartreuse cardstock, Summer Sunrise and Limeaid Ice pattern paper, and a striped paper also from the Doodlebug line. I used a Fabulous Frames die to cut the frame from a piece of the Doodlebug paper - I thought the number pattern was appropriate for birthday theme.


Here's a close-up of the license plate, customized with Simple Alphabet. I just love doing this with Enjoy the Ride! :)



I'm really pleased with how this card turned out - I think it's bright, happy and fun, yet still masculine enough for a boy. I hope my nephew likes it too! I'm so glad that Melissa shared the paper piecing challenge this week - thanks, Melissa!

And thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

still in Birthday mode!

I haven't been getting any cardmaking done lately, but I realized I have one more birthday card to share that I made a while back. I love how this one turned out! Used Birthday Style, Background Basic: Birthday Fun, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday.



The balloons are all popped up on foam adhesive, and I used coordinating twine for the strings.



The front panel is embossed with the Striped impression plate.



Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

a Make it Monday Happy Birthday collage

I managed to play along with this week's Make it Monday challenge - collage elements! I am still in a birthday mood, so I used lots of PTI birthday sets, including: Boutique Borders: Birthday; Background Basics: Birthday Fun; Birthday Style; and Bountiful Banners. The color combo is Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest and Limeaid Ice - one of my new favorites for sure!


The sentiment banner is popped up on dimensional adhesive, and I added a little scalloped border strip using the heart border die.



Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Happy Birthday for a real party animal!

I've been in a birthday-card-making mood lately, so here is another one! I used that fun elephant and balloons from Tremendous Treats: Birthday, colored with copics. Background Basics: Birthday Fun stamped on the Summer Sunrise striped background, and a Super Star die-cut border complete the theme.







Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, April 1, 2013

quick happy birthday card

I love the new birthday sets that PTI released in March! For this card I used Background Basics: Birthday Fun, Wonderful Words: Birthday for the sentiment (and die, for the word "birthday"), and Birthday Style for those FUN balloons! This was a super easy card to pull together, and could be done in lots of color schemes, for boys or girls!





Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Alleluia, He is risen! Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Easter is one of those holidays where, if you ask me in January or February or so, I have grand plans of making and sending out lots of Easter card. Then it just doesn't happen! But I did whip one together quickly last night to take with us over to my mother-in-law's today, so at least this year wasn't a total loss. :)

I used PTI's anniversary set, Birds & Blooms again - I'm loving this set more and more, and can't wait to get the dies! The sentiment is from Verve Everlasting Life, and is on a Half & Half die-cut.


My color combo is Simply Chartreuse, Summer Sunrise, Spring Rain and Hibiscus Burst - I think it's just perfect for a bright, fun, spring card!


I colored the three little Kaisercraft gems with a Copic marker to match, and added them for a finishing touch.


Thanks for stopping by, and may you have a peaceful, happy and blessed Easter!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Blue & Gold invitations

Just a quick post to share the invitations I made to this year's Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet for our special guests from the church that charters our Pack! I kept these really simple, using Enchanted Evening and Harvest Gold, which I impressed with the Herringbone Impression Plate. The border is the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Doily Accents. The sentiment is from Fillable Frames Sentiments.


The panel is popped up on the white card base, and I added the blue brad to the pennant sentiment.



Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, March 29, 2013

a Birds & Blooms "Hello There"

I'm way behind on updates here! I wanted to share this card I made with the new PTI Anniversary set,  Birds & Blooms. This is the special set that can only be purchased with rewards points, but don't worry - you have until February of 2014 to accumulate the needed points and purchase it!

After playing around with it some, I found that the best way to do the wreath was to use the individual "single" stamps to fill in the flowers, rather than the "grouped" stamps, which I could never quite get lined up to my satisfaction. But the wreath is SO pretty with the ability to incorporate several different colors! My color scheme here is New Leaf, Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores and Raspberry Fizz.


I added a bird from Tweet Talk, colored with Copic markers and popped up in the middle of the wreath. The sentiment is from Framed Out #2. I used Spellbinders dies for the circle and border, and popped it all up on the card base.




Thanks for stopping by, and have a blessed Easter!