Getting back to card making...

Hello Everyone!

Happy Tuesday to you.  This weekend, along with continuing to work on mini albums, I took some time to make a couple of cards.

 

My elder daughter asked me to make a thank you card for a professor.  She suggested a box card, and this is what I came up with.  She knew that the professor likes daisies, so I altered my fav "SVG Cuts" Autumn Box Cards file by changing out the pumpkins for daisies.  

 

 

 I love adding dimension to the daisy centers by forming them with my ball stylus and adhering them to the petals with foam tape to keep them popped out. 

 

 I added a bit of detail to the white petals and the outside edges of the centers with a yellow brush marker.  I also added a bit of Distress Ink to the embossed card stock trim. 

 

I needed a sympathy card for some special friends, and cased a card I saw on Pinterest.  The original was made by Cindy Gilfillan and posted in the SplitCoast Stampers gallery.  She used paint chips, rather than designer papers for a really elegant look.

 

I made this card a month or so ago, for a friend's birthday.  Looks a bit familiar, doesn't it? 

Hope you have a terrific rest of the week!

Elizabeth

It's Time for a Vacation!

Hello Everyone!

No, I'm not going on vacation.  Wish I was, but for the time being, I'm stuck here in chilly New England.  The current Frilly and Funkie challenge theme is "It's time for Vacation".  When I think of getting away, I often think of the coast of Maine.  It is one of my family's favorite spots. 

I created this coastal cottage to help me to dream of warmer, sunnier days to come.

I cut the house components with my Silver Bullet Professional digital cutter, using a cut file from SVG Cuts, Inc.  It was marketed as a Christmas file, and I've made it that way in the past.  But for this project, I think it looks like the perfect little beach cottage. 

I cut the entire house from the same piece of cream colored cardstock.  I added color to the pieces with Distress Paints.  I swiped the paint on the house piece in horizontal stripes to replicate siding. (I used Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, and Pumice Stone.) I enhanced this by drawing on and smudging stripes with a charcoal pencil. 

The roof was painted with black Distress Paint, and embossed with the checkerboard Tim Holtz Embossing folder. The porch roof was painted with Stormy Sky, and the door with Chipped Sapphire.  Everything was assembled using my favorite glue for dimensional pieces, Scotch Quick Dry paper adhesive. 

Every beach cottage needs wild beach roses, and I couldn't resist making some for mine.  Again using my Silver Bullet Pro, I cut the bushes and tiny little roses.  The roses were scaled at .3 inches, and the leaves are even smaller!

 I cut these elements with from white cardstock, and inked them with Distress Inks (Forrest Moss and Peeled Paint for the leaves) and Distress Stains (Worn Lipstick and Faded Lilac for the roses.)

I also added a bit of brown to the stems with a Bic marker, and yellow to the rose centers.  I shaped the roses using a round stylus and a cushy mouse pad.

I placed my beach cottage in my rustic little curio shelf in the dining room. 

Unfortunately, its neighbors are not feeling so summery!

 

Methinks it's time to pack away the snowmen!

I thank you for stopping by my blog today, and wish you a wonderful, craft filled weekend!

Elizabeth

I didn't quit art journaling!

Hi Everyone!

Of course I didn't!  I loved completing my 2014 Documented Life Planner!  I can't imagine not continuing this practice in 2015.  Thanks to the Art to the 5th  artists for continuing this challenge!
I am using the same Moleskine weekly planner that I used last year, and I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I found enough pre made index card (the ones that used to come in the photo storage boxes that I use to store my supplies) backgrounds to last for an entire year.

Here are my pages for the first four weeks:

 



 

 

I am enjoying this year's format, which includes a monthly theme (January is "facing the blank page"),  weekly art challenge (book papers, gesso, color wheel, and writing) and journal prompts. 

 

Today I also want to share a quick project that I made last weekend.  I discovered that making my own gift bags is a terrific way to use up my paper stash.  I used an SVG file from the SVG Cuts Happy Holidays collection to make this:

 

It was easy to cut, quick to assemble, and used 2 1/2 sheets of 12 inch paper.  This paper is from DCWV.  The bag is quite sturdy, and I was able to stuff it with candy and other care package items for one of our favorite college students. 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope that you are staying warm and finding time to do fun things!

 

Elizabeth

12 Trees Number 3, and some little gifts

Hi Everyone!

I'm back with another of my 12 Trees of Christmas.  This one couldn't be more different than yesterday's.

It's tiny!  And it's "Tim-y"!  Except for the ribbon, everything you see is from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology line.  The tiniest of the bottle brush tress fits perfectly in the glass dome.  I glued a shiny star on either side of the tree top, shook on some glitter, and added some Distress Inked ribbon to the bottom of the cork. 

This little project couldn't have been quicker or easier, and it is perfect to tuck into one of the many nooks and crannies that I decorate for Christmas.  If you wish, you could add a hanger and use it as a tree ornament or trimming for a special package.

In case you hadn't noticed, I just adore Christmas crafting, and in the midst of the season, I just can't seem to stop.  Fueled by cookies, caffeine, and Christmas joy, I spend every spare moment in my craft room.  Here are some projects I created this week to share with my co-workers.

This adorable barn gift box is from the Santa's Village kit from SVG Cuts.  It's so cute as is, I didn't feel the need to change it up at all.  I used one of Mary's (The owner and chief designer of SVG Cuts) tips, and used coordinating papers for all of the individual pieces.  It makes choosing papers super simple (especially since I had already used much of this Recollections stack from a couple of years ago, and didn't have too many pages left to choose from.) and gives my project a really cohesive look. 

My next project was really fun to put together:

I used a recently purchased Rosette set from My Scrap Chick to make the 5.5 inch diameter rosette.  I had never tried a "sewn" rosette, thinking that it would be  more difficult than gluing.  Boy was I wrong!  The PDF instructions were terrific, and using baker's twine for assembly was totally quick and easy, and I didn't burn even one finger!  I layered two sizes of dimensional star for a fun look.  I used my Silver Bullet Professional to letter and cut the Peace banner.  It's been a while since I have used my pen tool.  I'm going to have to bust it out more after Christmas.  Especially since SCAL cutting software from Craft Edge  just came out with version 4, which has some nifty drawing feature updates that I'm anxious to try out. 

And finally, this morning I cut and assembled four of these:

I have been having fun with these little boxes this year.  I saw lots of these little boxes on line and was lucky to find a cut file to use.  Because with my Silver Bullet and SCAL software I don't have to rely on dies,  I am not limited to specific sizes.  I cut these boxes at about 8 inches, so they would be large enough to tuck a little packet of home baked goodies into when assembled.  The other night, I cut them at 4 inches, so that the finished boxes were small enough to tuck into the girls' Advent Calendar spaces.  They were adorable in that tiny size, and I was able to fit several M&M's inside. 

Thanks for popping in today.  Stay tuned for my 12th and final Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas 2014 project soon, and more Christmas trees, too, of course!

Elizabeth

How about some Christmas projects?

Hi Everyone!

Happy Wednesday!  With the view from my craft room looking like this last weekend,

I couldn't resist working on some Christmas projects!

This is an SVG Cuts file that I altered by adding starry flourishes to the 'glass' panels.  I cut the file from black paper and added lots of Aged Silver Distress Paint to give it a metallic appearance.  I embossed the decorative panels at the top for some extra texture.  The roses are my favorite Penny Duncan Creations grungy roses, colored with Distress Stains before assembly.  I cut the roses and all of the Christmas Greenery with my Silver Bullet Professional.

Here is how they look from a different angle.  I love how precisely the Silver Bullet cuts tiny details.  Some of these evergreens have really fine needles and my Bullet handled them with no problems.  I cut all of the greenery from white cardstock and colored it with various colors of Distress Inks.   This piece is already on its way to decorate my older daughter's house. 

My next project is just for me:

 
I purchased this shadow box at Goodwill quite some time ago.  It was pretty hideous, but had great potential.  I painted it with a nice yellow green acrylic craft paint, dry brushed on a bit of darker green, and added some brown antiquing wax.  I gave it a good buff once the wax had dried, and I really love the effect!  The letters and the base for the vintage ornament wreath were cut with my trusty Silver Bullet.   I used some junk pieces of foam that were laying around to pop up all of the elements from the vintage newspaper background. 

I am very excited to find a place to hang this new piece.  It has all of my favorite Christmas things.  Joy, Green, vintage glass ornaments, (rescued from someone's trash pile!) vintage paper, and cardstock.  I just need to add a hanger to the back, and it will be good to go.

Thanks for stopping by to see some of what I've been working on.  Hope your week is filled with joy and good things!

Elizabeth

Happy Independence Day!

Good Day, Friends!

Hope you are having fun celebrating this day of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! 

I made a collection of eight of these crackers as party favors for the kids we will be spending the weekend with. 

 

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The cracker file is from the SVG Cuts Gingerbread Village kit, and I designed the cut files for the tag elements.  Everything was cut quickly and easily with my Silver Bullet digital cutter. 

I love assembling multiples of quick and easy projects like this, and the kids love the candy that I tucked inside them!

Happy 4th of July!

Elizabeth

Christmas Corner x five!

Hi  Everyone!

I'm back today with five Christmas cards.

For this card, I  used a Recollections paper pack that I picked up last year, along with some solids and one green print that I  recently designed myself.  The Holly Jolly text, as well as the digitally cut elements on the inside are from My Scrap Chick. 

Inside:

I had fun with the pop up element of this card, but found it a bit difficult to find the just the right element to place in the "window"  As always, I used my trusty Silver Bullet Pro to cut all of my elements.  I used embossing folders to add interest to the solid red card stock.  I think embossing assembled die cuts is a fun detail that works especially well for chunkier die cuts.

 This card was quick and easy to make with my Silver Bullet, Big Kick, and some Archival Ink in Red Geranium.

This card fold is fun to embellish, and very easy to cut and assemble. 

 I spied this cute card style on Pinterest recently, and knew I had to make one.  It is really fun, and has lots of embellishing possibilities.  I kept it to a minimum here, as almost all of my Christmas cards get mailed.  I like this red, black and cream color combo.  It is from a Christmas stack I picked up a couple of years ago.  

This card has space for writing a greeting on the left side of the card inside.  Otherwise, there is not much room for writing.

Speaking of cards with limited space for writing, I have no idea where I am going to sign this card!  That's okay, I have plenty of time to figure it out.  This is such a fun card to design that I can't wait to do another one.  I used Tim Holtz stamps and embossing folder, and my favorite Red Geranium Archival ink, along with some Distress Inks to highlight the embossed snowflakes. 

I used more goodies from my Tim Holtz card kit to make this card.  I did some "second generation" stamping on the top layer of a piece of corrugated cardboard.  

Just a simple stamped sentiment for the inside.

I think that this almost catches me up on my Christmas card goal.  I have really been doing well with making one each week, I just haven't been keeping up with blogging them.

Hope you all have a terrifically creative weekend!

Elizabeth

Five cards today!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you have had a fabulous week so far.  I am posting five cards at once today, because I have been such a blogging slacker! 

The banners and sentiment were cut with my incredible Silver Bullet Professionaldigital die cutter.  The sentiment was printed and cut using SCAL software.  I just love the ease and precision of making sentiments this way. 

Here is the inside, with another print and cut sentiment, and layers that match the card front.

This is the last of my series of split front embossed cards.  The balloon file is from SVG Cuts.  It was cut from white cardstock and colored with Distress Inks.

 

 

 

This was a quick and easy card using scrappy strips.  Two of the floral strips are leftovers from a painted journal page.  Usually I use card scraps in my art journal, It was fun to do things the other way around. 

I made the honeycomb cut file for this card, after seeing several cute versions on Pinterest.  I used Distress Inks to color the base layer on the card front, and the sentiment layer on the inside of the card.  The banner sentiment on the front and the inside sentiment were printed and cut using SCAL and my Silver Bullet. 

This card was an experiment.  I cut the card base with a window, and added a frame and matching shape and sentiment to peek through from the inside.  The double sided designer paper works really well for this style of card.  And guess what!  I added some bling!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Elizabeth

Lots of cards today! (Edited to change out the card I had already posted!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Folks!

 

I'm changing things up a bit this week, and sharing five cards at once instead of one each day.  Just trying to keep things interesting for myself.    

 

Blue cards make me think of my mom.  She Loves (yes, with a capital L!) blue. 

 

 

 Yes, it's another Valentine!  I love embossing.  It is such a quick and simple way to add interest to a clean and simple card.  The stamp is an oldie from Stampin' Up. 

 Another print and cut sentiment.

This was a fun card, with elements cut with my Silver Bullet Professional digital die cutter.  To make the card base, I used a shamrock from the basic shapes in my SCAL software. ( I used the "off cuts" to embellish the inside.)  I traced the horse shoe from an online graphic and added a shadow.  The larger shamrock is a freebie from SVG Cuts. 

 

Another St. Pat's card:

 

 This card started with a chipboard tag that I rescued from my husband's new shirt.  I added layers of vintage book paper, Distress Ink and lots of elements cut with my Silver Bullet.  You may recognize the shamrock element.  It was a test cut from the card above.  I really hate to waste anything!  I mounted the tag on a base of Distressed and embossed cardstock. 



 Here's a close up of some of the details.  I made the tag with chipboard, Distress paints and inks, and a set of metal alphabet stamps.  The little frame is made with hot glue.  I picked up some ModPodge molds at Michael's recently.  I colored this one with alcohol inks in greens with a touch of gold.

A layered print and cut sentiment finishes the inside.

 

And finally:

 I gathered some strippy scraps for this card.  I glued them to a base, and layered a die cut shamrock with shadow frame over them.  I finished off the card with some Distress inked dry embossing, and a print and cut label.

I repeated the print and cut label for the inside of my card.  I am really enjoying using Sure Cuts A Lot software to design and cut my cards with my Silver Bullet. 

 

Hope you enjoyed looking at my collection of cards today.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Elizabeth