Lion Little Girl Birthday

I saw this cute punch art lion made by Kim Score (link to her blog below), and just had to try it!  It was so simple and fun and I'm sure our granddaughter will love it as she loves all zoo animals.

A2 Card Base
Pink Pirouette, Really Rust, More Mustard & Apricot Appeal CS (SU)
White & Black CS
Green Striped Paper (SU)
Pink Passion ink pad (SU)
Rusty Hinge Distress ink pad (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Spun Sugar Distress ink pad (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Well Scripted stamp set (SU)
1/2", 3/4" & 1-3/8" Circle Punches
Eyes & Nose: Owl Punch (SU)
Small Oval Punch (SU)
Tail - Leaf Sizzlit Die (Sizzix)
Black and White markers

Click here for Kim Score's blog.

Embossed Birthday

This is a super simple card using an embossing folder I forgot I had.  Once again, I was looking for a masculine birthday card idea.  Just changing the only color in the card could easily make this a feminine card.  I used glossy card stock for the embossed piece then inked it with a distress ink and applicator.

Supplies:
A2 Card base: White CS
Brocade Blue CS (SU)
Glossy White CS (SU)
Birthday embossing folder (ProvoCraft)
Chipped Sapphire Distress ink pad (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Navy 3/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (Michael's)

Thanksgiving for the Adults

This is a super easy, but time consuming card - 3 leaf stamps and 9 circles per card (I made 13 all together!).  I also used Old Olive cardstock, which is a rare color in my cards.

Supplies:
A2 Card Base: Very Vanilla
Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive CS (SU)
Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust & Old Olive ink pads (SU)
Espresso Adirondack ink pad (Ranger)
Leaf Stamps (WeAreMemoryKeepers)
Heartfelt stamp set (SU)
1" Circle punch (EKSuccess)
5/8" Cream Twill Tape (Offray)
Square Brown brads (JoAnn's)

Thanksgiving(For the Little Kids)

For the grandkids, I have my long list of "cards to make" divided into "little kids" and "teenagers" and these are the Thanksgiving cards for the little kids.  I've discovered from my three step-daughters that their kids like the 3"x3" cards because they fit better in little hands.  Plus I have to make no less than five different variations!  For this card, I changed the mat colors.

ELEGANT EGGPLANT

RICH RAZZLEBERRY

GARDEN GREEN

EARLY ESPRESSO

OLD OLIVE

Supplies:

3" square card base: Very Vanilla CS (SU)

Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Garden Green, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie CS (SU)

Give Thanks stamp set (SU) (I used a stampamajig and marker for the partial sentiment)

Rusty Hinge Distress ink pad (Tim Holtz/Ranger) (sponging on card fronts)

Espresso Adirondack ink pad (Ranger)

Garden Green, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie & Chocolate Chip Markers (SU)

Teen Birthday

As always, masculine cards are a challenge for me, especially the teenagers in our family.  It's hard to believe my great-nephew will be 16 very soon!  I still remember the occasion of his father's 16th birthday (and shopping for roper boots and Wrangler jeans for him - he was one fine looking young man!)  This is a pretty simple card to make.

FRONT

INSIDE



Supplies:

A2 Card Base: Early Espresso CS (SU)

Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy & Very Vanilla CS (SU)

Striped Paper (Glitz Design)

Alphabet Stew stamp set (SU) - Front

Alphabet Soup stamp set (SU) - Inside

Espresso Adirondack ink pad (Ranger)

Labels Framelits (SU)

3/8" Not Quite Navy Taffeta ribbon (SU)

Square Lattice embossing folder (SU)

Masculine BirthdayVersion 2

This is version 2 of yesterday's card.  Original design by Laurie Schmidlin (see her card here).

FRONT

INSIDE



Supplies:

See yesterday's post for the rest of the supply list

French Script Paper (Canvas Corp.)

Very Vanilla CS (SU)

Dots on a Line embossing folder (Sizzix)

Masculine BirthdayVersion 1

I saw Laurie Schmidlin's card (see it here) and really liked the angled front on her card.  This is my first version of her card:

FRONT



INSIDE

Supplies:
Card Base: A2 Black CS (Michael's)
Kraft CS (Michael's)
Striped Paper (Glitz Design)
Distress Stripes embossing folder (ProvoCraft)
Be Happy stamp set (SU) - Front
Terrific Tags stamp set (SU) - Inside
Tea Die Distress ink pad (Tim Holz/Ranger)
Black ink pad
Punches:
Squares: 3/4" (SU), 1-1/4" (SU), 1-3/8" (EKSuccess)
Circles: 1/8", 1/4" (Fiskars), 1/2" (SU)
Tag Punch (SU)
Photo Corner Punch (SU)
Round Tab Punch (SU)

3"x3" Envelopes

This is sort of a long post....

I very often need to make 3" x 3" square envelopes for all of our 13 grandkids' cards.  Decorative paper can be costly and I rarely find anything in my stash I'm willing to use for envelopes.  I also don't like using copy paper for the envelopes. 

I've always believed in supporting small town businesses to keep their doors open, and the folks at our small town newspaper, the Pioneer Press, go out of their way to keep their office supplies reasonably priced.   After figuring in the cost of gas for my car, I now buy all my A2 envelopes and printer cartridges from them much cheaper than at the big box stores (and it's a drive of a few blocks rather than 225 miles!). 

So, I asked Thomas at the Pioneer Press office if they sold paper heavier than copy paper.  He pulled out a package of 24 lb. paper.  I bought some to try it.  When I got home, I discovered that 24 lb paper is bond paper, which we used as our letterhead paper in the law offices!  It cut, scored and folded perfectly!  So, I now have the perfect paper for envelopes.  The 3" square envelopes ended up costing me 5 cents each (2 envelopes per sheet).

So, if you have to make small envelopes and prefer a nicer paper, try bond paper!

Thank you to Thomas and Dawn at the Pioneer Press office for always going out of their way to make my crafting affordable!

Layered Leaves

I started stamping and cutting out leaves, and I had no idea what I was going to do with all of them - this is how they ended up in a card:

Supplies:
A2 Card Base - White CS
Nature's Vein stamp set (CTMH)
Sentiment: Holiday Seasons stamp set (Inkadinkado)
Background: Forest Moss Distress ink (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust & Always Artichoke ink pads (SU)
Espresso Adirondack ink pad (Ranger)
Sentiment: Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (ProvoCraft)
1/8" Rust Holiday Ribbon (Michael's)
1/8" Circle Punch
pop dots for sentiment

Butterflies - Again!

Lately I seem to be on a butterfly binge!  Thank you to Glenda Jones for the original idea for this card.  I saw it and just had to try it.  I used two colors for two looks.  I hope you like them!

Supplies:

A2 Card Base

Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry or Not Quite Navy CS (SU)

Elements of Style stamp set (SU)

Sentiment: Elementary Elegance stamp set (SU)

Rich Razzleberry or Not Quite Navy ink pad (SU)

Beautiful Wings embosslit (SU)

Framed Tulips Embossing Folder

Rich Razzleberry or Not Quite Navy 3/8" Taffeta ribbon (SU)

Bisque Liquid Pearls (Ranger)