Card a Day Blog Invitation!

I’m in the middle of moving, and almost all of my craft items are packed (EGADS!). In the back of my mind I’ve been thinking about how I was going to make a card with so little available to me to use… thankfully I had a bunch of scrap cardstock available, as well as some old “cut” scraps.

The card base is an ivory cardstock from Staples. (Cover stock actually, as I find that is the thickest my laserjet printer can print on).  The card is a 1/4 fold size (4.25 x 5.5 inches).

The blue card stock was embossed with Crafts-Too Embossing Folder “Daisy & Swirl”, and distressed by gently trying to rub a silver ink pad on top and rubbing gently with paper towel.

The red polka-dot paper was actually a scrap piece from another project I had cut a bracket frame out of (don’t you just love keeping scraps! They come in so handy!).

Now, if I would have had all my craft supplies available (even my Silhouette cutter is packed!), I would have made a better bracket shaped “You’re Invited” shape, but you get the idea of how easy it could be with just a couple of pieces of paper can inspire a neat card.

Here is an example of what you could change the card into with these “shapes”

Enjoy! And remember the challenge at the Card a Day Blog too!

Love You Card

Sorry for the delay in getting the first card of the year for the Card a Day Blog up! I’m in the middle of a move, and slept through my alarm this morning.

So, this is an example of what type of card you can do in under 1 hour, from design to finish.

I did it as a simple print and cut (but I cut it, as it was really simple).  I chose some plaid and plain hearts and a vinyl expression that touched me (thinking of hubby). Print them out and adhered them to a blue card base. I think you can see that the hearts are on dimensional tape, where the expression is just taped down with double sided tape.

Sometimes love is simple too, no?

Ahhhhhh Autumn!

Thanks for visiting from the Card a Day Blog. I get to start off September with a new theme, Autumn! Its more than just a new theme for me too, I also did a video tutorial, and I even did something inside the card!!!

Elements:

Card base: 4.25 x 6.5 inch side fold

Silhouette files:

Phrase (I separated and deleted the “is” from the is a Second Spring line):autumn is a second spring, fall flower - vinyl phrase by Kolette Hall

Background frame: 3 bird on branch cutout tags by Alaa' K

Leaves: leaves by House of 3

Screens before cutting/ printing:

The final results!

 

Don’t forget the challenge at the Card a Day Blog! You can enter one card per theme (we have approximately four themes per month), and have a chance to win a great prize! September’s themes are:

1. Autumn
2. Canadian Thanksgiving
3. Kiddie
4. Halloween

For more information on our challenges, check out more here.

Celebrate

Thanks for visiting from the Card a day Blog!

I made this card for my niece who is graduating this year, and I chose it for my post in the “Teen” theme.

The colors for my card are based on the ones she chose for her prom dress… white, pink and blue. Here is a picture of her in her Prom Dress!

She designed her dress with my sister, and the picture does not do credit to the work they did on it. My sister hand beaded a heart that covers the bodice… beautiful! There is also beading along the waistline.  To follow this inspiration in my card, I chose a white cardstock, embossed it with “garden scroll”, and sprayed it with Perfect Pearls. I made a pearl tag, using double stick tape and pink glass beads I bought at the dollar store. Note to self - sookwang would have worked better, but I was in a rush and ended up having to reinforce the tape with watered down glue.  The “Celebrate” embellishment was actually a tag that I cut down, I think the rhinestones just add enough bling . Sorry that the picture doesn’t show up as good as the card looks in person… sigh. I’m going to have to make a photo box to help me do better card pictures for my blog!!!

 

Visit the Card a Day Blog tomorrow, when Shirley Ross has more inspiration under the “Teen” theme!

F is for Father

Actually, F was my co-worker’s husband’s first initial… I had fun making this card for her family to give him (they were giving him money to buy his own IPad). I designed the card to look like it was a piece of technology (I hope!), with his initial and an APPLE logo attached to it. I also made a tab to simulate a closing tab of an IPad case. It is to scale in size with a regular IPad too! You could take the idea and run with it, by changing the wording around the border of the “screen”. As usual, lots of room for personal notes of love

On the inside I made a money holder by embossing a flap and gluing it onto the card. The white embossed piece of paper is just to guide the money out of the flap. I used Serif's Draw PlusX5 to make the inside signing insert... I find that program makes it just too easy to make a shape and then put wording around it. Silhouette Studio does an ok job at do that as well, although if the project is large, it bogs down the program significantly IMHO.

I hope you enjoyed the card! And thanks for visiting from the Card a Day Blog too!

I’m going to post a Father’s Day poem this coming week, so stay tuned!

Spring Birthday

Thanks for joining me from the Card a Day Blog, with the first card in our Spring theme! Spring is the season for new life, and this certainly rings true in my family - 5 birthdays! Needless to say I combined the themes!
I made this quick card trying to utilize the “rule of thirds” to balance out the composition. I started by raiding my paper stash to pick out some spring colors. Bright pink for my granddaughter, who will receive this card. Pale blue for the sky that is not so rainy anymore where I live (thank Heavens!). The HappyHappyHappy paper is from a Circuit pad “beyond birthdays” that I’ve had for a while.  The bird on a flower branch is from Silhouette Studio’s designer Rhona Farrer “House of Three”, called “House of 3 bird collage”. 
The card base is 5” x 7”. I glued the pink paper on top of it and trimmed it to match.
The blue strip of paper 2 3/4” x 6 1/2”, I wrapped and glued on the Happy Happy paper on the bottom third of the strip.
In Studio, I chose the bird inspiration and resized it and flipped it so it faced the way I wanted it to.
I made the Birth Day title and print and cut both items out. Here is what my screen looked like:

Once I had everything together, it was a simple glue or tape it to finish it!

I hope you enjoyed this card. Remember to visit the Card a Day Blog tomorrow for some more Spring inspiration from Jill! And don’t forget that you inspire us too! Join us in our April Challenge at the Card a Day Blog!

Ahhhhh… The Inspiration!

Today at the Card a Day Blog I am starting the new theme of Teacher Appreciation!  When I think of teachers, I think of how many of them inspired me to stretch my imagination, to look at things in different ways, and to really exercise my mind.  I wanted to create a simple card that would allow the sentiment on the front to take center stage… I think it worked, do you?

 

It is so simple to make this card, I know I will be making it again with other sentiments and cardstock.  I designed it in Silhouette Studio, for a simple print & cut (no time to do more cutting and layering… and wanted it super simple!).  Here is what my program looked like before doing the print and cut:

And the pieces before final assembling:

The card is 5 1/2 inches tall by 6 inches wide.

I cut the striped paper a scant 1/4 of an inch smaller (5 1/4 inches square) to allow the white cardstock to frame it. Then it was simply to glue the tag on, and glue the bow together and on…. Simple! 

I only wish that Studio made it simple to right click and find out the artist who I bought the shapes from… I’ve got thousands of shapes in my library, and do not have them recorded the way I should to give proper credit.  Once I get my craft room organized, I will be hopefully making my own shapes to share in SVG format for you all to enjoy!

There will be more inspiration for Teacher Appreciation tomorrow from Darla Haverstock… so make sure to visit the Card a Day Blog and join us in the April Challenge!

Lucky Me!

Today at the Card a Day Blog, the theme is St. Patrick’s Day! I always think of the pot of gold and Lepruchauns when I think of St. Patrick’s Day…. and then I think of what I feel so lucky to have found in my life…. true love!

Using three cut files (two called Pot of Gold, and one a basic heart) and Silhouette Studio, I made a simple print and cut to cover the card front and fold over to the inside, to reveal my “pot of gold”.

How I could embellish it… I’m kicking myself for getting rid of the Ferrero Rocher gold foil from the chocolate yesterday (would have been spectacular ripped into little bits and glued onto the “gold” in the pot. I’ve opted instead to highlight the heart on the card front with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic ™ . I tried to take a picture of how neat it looks, but sometimes pictures don’t do the final product justice…

Sometimes I think focusing on one thing to embellish does the trick, don’t you?

Enjoy! And make sure you check out the challenges at the Card a Day Blog!

Just because you’re my friend

Hi! Welcome from the Card a Day Blog, with the first of a new theme, “Just because”
My card began with a trip to the scrapbook store, as I needed a quick card for a dear friend, “just because” I wanted to send her some sweet wishes with a card she would like to even frame as a memento of our friendship.
The first thing I spied was a bucket of flowers marked 60 for $5. Who could resist!?! I found some neat leaves and chose earth toned flowers with a few different colors to contrast (purple, blue and green).
I then looked for and found a rub on set that matched the tones of flowers I picked out, that was suitable for a friend   I love the sentiment, because friends are like flowers to me…. just like sunshine!
Here is what I started with, the card base is 6 inches square, with a coordinating bazzil cardstock in pale blue.

The rub on was from Kaisercraft, the “Peachy Keen Collection”.
I picked out the flowers I wanted to use, and here is my tip… use a coordinating pen to make stems showing the flow of where you want your bouquet to be… it doesn’t have to be exact, and even if bits show later, it will be ok!

When gluing, go from “back to front”, I started with the leaves, then the top 4 flowers, the bottom 2 flowers, and ending with the central flower (the one with the rhinestone).

The best thing about this card, is that it was fast, easy and comparatively cheap to make.
I hope you like it!
Remember to visit the Card a Day Blog tomorrow for some more inspiration from Diana! Don’t forget to join us in some fun with our challenges ~ we love to be inspired by you too!


ENTER JUNE'S CHALLENGE:

It’s your birthday–so ‘tweet! Card

Thanks for visiting from the Card a Day Blog!
I do a lot of cards for my co-workers, and April is a month that catches up to me (we have over 7 birthdays in our department that month alone!). Digital cards are sometimes the best way for me to get something done on the spur of the moment. I always want to jazz them up a bit, so for this card I tried a new product for me – Golden Glass Bead Gel – which is sort of like Mod Podge, except thicker.
Here is my basic digital design I made with a picture from the Graphics Fairy.

I printed the card front, applied the gel thickly (bottom left), and waited overnight to see the results!

I learned that if I use this gel again, it would be best to use watercolor paper , or paper that you could stabilize and tape like you do with watercolor paper on a board before painting, so it will dry flat.  It did turn out textured and frosty though, and I’m happy with the effect.  I think I will definitely use this gel on gift tags this Christmas!

Welcome Spring!

Thanks for visiting from Card a Day Blog! Today I made a card to “Welcome Spring”. The little birds on a birdbath are actually a picture of a ceramic garden ornament I have in my back yard.
I took a picture of it, used CraftArtist to take out the background, and then printed it 4 times.
I then cut out the basic shape, and then the layers of birds to make the image 3-D when using dimensional adhesive tape or dots.  I Mod Podged the bottom area of the card front and attached a simple matted word art, and voila! A neat general purpose card to include a letter for someone special

Visit Card a Day Blog tomorrow for some more inspiration from Michelle from Paperthreads!
Don’t forget to join in on the fun too! We would love to be inspired by seeing your creations in our challenges!
ENTER APRIL'S CHALLENGE for Card a Day Blog!

You’re the Best!

Thanks for visiting! Here is my card made for the Card a Day Blog!

I had such fun making this card! And that is what crafting is supposed to be…

I was inspired by some free digital paper from Super Scrap, and thought how neat it would be to have a “chalkboard” themed card.

Looking around for inspiration, I came across a youtube video on making a Flip Card.

I designed the basic pattern I wanted with Silhouette Studio, with the intent of making an even border around the “swing” part of the card. It looked like this:

The dimensions of the card base, before folding, is 5” x 7 1/2”.

I cut it with a pale green cardstock, and then cut two inside pieces of contrasting colored cardstock. One piece was white for the “inside” and the other was a deep blue-green for the outside of the swing insert.

I glued them on their respective sides of the card base. Folded the card, and started decorating with a white jelly pen to simulate kid’s doodling! It was so much fun, I carried on making a pen border around the card and swing insert with a blue glitter pen. Inside the card it was easy to see where I could write the sentiment “You’re the Best! oxoxoxo “

I used a clear glaze pen to deepen the color of the “Thanks", and it really makes it pop out! The final card dimensions are 5 inches square.

I had such fun doing this card, I know I will do more swing cards in the future!

Spring Has Sprung! What a Ride Birthday Card!

Spring Has Sprung!
The designers at Card a Day Blog are joining together to do a Blog Hop! The theme is dimensional cards!
To join in....visit all the participating designers by visiting their sites, some are having prize giveaways...so make sure you pop in! Make sure you comment on all the blogs too, because at the end of the blog hop, they are going to send a list of all who commented on their blog, and we are going to do a grand prize drawing of all comments on each blog! The grand prize is your choice of a pdf pattern book, valued up to $20, from http://popupcards.com/shop-patterns.html ! Make sure to check back at Card a Day Blog March 23rd, to see who won!
So JOIN IN TODAY....comment on the main blog page, and visit the other hop pages and comment there too!

Now for my entry!
I’m so excited to be a part of the third blog hop from the Card a Day Blog! The theme of the hop is “anything dimensional” – I know that you’ll be inspired by what we’ve designed for you! Make sure to leave a comment on the participants pages, and the Blog Hop announcement post, and every comment will give you an entry for the grand prize of a pdf pop up book (up to $20 value) from popupcards.com!
Information on my blog candy is at the end of this post!
About my card:
Someone dear to me is turning 50 years old this year! She loves roller coasters and similar rides (and is trying to talk me into doing a some bungie jumping!) – when I saw the rollercoaster design from pop up cards.com , I just had to try to make my own design!
The card is made totally with my Sihouette Cutter. I used Silhouette Studio to design the card with some of the elements in my library.  The actual roller coaster was snagged by a google image search, but I did extensive adjustments to make the cross bracing larger, and therefore easier to cut IMHO :-)
The outside has layered elements:

1. Ribbon base
2. Bow base
3. Bow details
4. Bow center
5. Name

I used a ball tipped floral tool to add some dimension to the bows.
The inside is composed of a sentiment printed “base”, which I glued the roller coaster on:


I’m quite pleased with how it turned out!



Now for blog candy
On top of being automatically entered into the grand prize of the blog hop for commenting on my post, I’m also going to have a draw for:

A personalized card for you of this blog post (with custom “year” and “name”), so you can give it to someone too! 

The random draw for my blog candy will be held on March 22nd. Final entries accepted  until 12am March 22.

Blogger doesn’t forward your email to me when you comment, so to maintain your privacy, please just check back here on March 23rd to see who has won! The winner has until March 31st to claim their prize by contacting me after the announcement!