40th Birthday Card

Hello! I hope your Wednesday is off to a good start! Today I’d like to share a 40th Birthday card that I made.

I started with a white A2 card base. To this I added a yellow layer that I had run through the Cuttlebug for some texture.

The “the big 40” is cut from “Life Is A Party”. I wanted it as big as the card could handle! I used a slightly brighter yellow for the “40” and the sentiment circle; both were attached with pieces of dimensional foam adhesive. The two sentiment circles are created with a Creative Memories circle punch.

The sentiment punch is from Emma, over at My Creative Time. I’ve been using this particular stamp a LOT lately!

Once I had the card put together it just seemed to be missing something. I grabbed the Stickles and went to it! Once I was satisfied there I did a small amount of doodling with a white gel pen and called it a day.

I hope you enjoyed this project. Go and do something craft today!

Lori

Male Birthday Card

I have been having trouble creating “male” birthday cards recently. I picked up “Block Party” but had not cut anything with it. When I saw the grill it made me think of two of my brothers, because they both enjoy grilling. Today I figured I’d try the grill and see if I could use it for a birthday card.

The two cards are basically the same, but on the one above I cut the grill at 3.5”. The one below is 4”, and I think that just worked out better for the card. The cloud paper is from Imagine Hopscotch and the grass is from Plantin Schoolbook. I used two circle punches for the sentiment tag, while the stamp itself is from My Creative Time. I used some Stickles to jazz up the “smoke” and added a few dots of Stickles on the grill itself.

I attached the sentiment with a brad and did some stitching with a white gel pen. I also took a dark green pen and did some lines on the grass. It’s not my favorite part of the card, but it also wasn’t horrible!

Since my brothers live so far apart (one in Illinois and one in Oregon) I figured it was safe to send them similar birthday cards. Hopefully they don’t discuss that kind of stuff!

Hope you enjoyed this project. Do you have a hard time creating cards for men? Let me know your thoughts!

Lori

Birthday Card

Just a quick post with some (poor) photos I took of a few quick card I made the other day. I will hopefully get back to my regular schedule of blogging on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

This card was created with the Imagine. The images are from Art Philosophy and I filled them with “paper” from the Ancestry Imagine cartridge.

I normally make 2 versions of the same card when I use the Imagine if I can fit it all in on one page. It seems like a waste to not print/cut as much as I can get on a page.

I stamped “Happy Birthday” inside of the first card, but thought it looked good outside on the second. The first one I ran the top layer of the butterfly through the Cuttlebug to give it some texture. On the second I used some Stickles to add some detail.

I like how both of them came out. The paper for the base of the card is some paper from my stash…not sure but it might be a Bazzil pack I picked up cheap at Big Lots. The rest of the paper is from Imagine’s Ancestry. No guesswork there…they all go together!

Hope you have a crafty day….I am hoping to get into the craft room this weekend and get several projects done so that I can get my blog posts back on schedule.

Lori

Doorhanger ~ Art Philosophy

I told you I was going to be focused on this cartridge for a while! Lots of fun stuff in this one.

This project is the Doorhanger “box”. I’m not exactly what I’m going to use this for, but I thought I’d make one and get more familiar with the AP cartridge.

I cut the doorhanger with “Fit To Page” to get it as large as possible. I used the stamps that came with the AP bundle. I am not a big stamper, but I have been enjoying using the stamps that came in the bundle. The flowers take some practice. I seem to end up with a blob of hot glue in the center of the flower, so I just squirt some Stickles in there to cover up the dried hot glue and give the flower a nice sparkly center!

I should’ve used the heaviest cardstock that I could find, but instead I opted for a pretty double-sided cardstock that’s not extremely heavy. I think for this “box” to be really functional you’d want it on really heavy weight cardstock.

All cuts on this project are from the Art Philosophy cartridge, and all stamps used are from Close To My Heart (the Art Philosophy bundle). The small flower above the sentiment is 4 layers. I adhered the bottom layer to the next layer, then the next cream layer and then the top layer. I curled up the edges of the cream layer before I attached the top layer.

I curled the edges of this flower around the stylus for my Gypsy, which gives the flower a more opened look. I hope you enjoyed this project! Be sure to check back on Monday for a beautiful card that I created using Art Philosophy and my Gypsy!

Lori

Art Philosophy is in the HOUSE!

I could not resist. I bought it and after being creative with it on Friday, I can say that I’m GLAD I splurged on it. It’s cool…really cool. Please bear with me, because posts for a while will be projects from Art Philosophy.

When I opened this cartridge I thought it might be a good idea to try the “sample” project that all cartridges have in the front of the handbook. I’ve never done one of those before but figured I’d try it on this one.

The sample project is a birthday card. I followed all instructions from the handbook, but I made 2 cards instead of one. I figured as long as I was cutting it I might as well cut two. I only used one rose per card, though. I thought that 2 roses per card was a bit busy.

I will say that creating the flowers takes some practice. I have noticed that I’m getting better with them with each one I do. I have been referencing the blog Courtney Lane Designs by Melanie for lots of amazing tutorials and tips on the Art Philosophy cartridge.

I hope you enjoyed this project. I have been having trouble not being able to comment so I’ve switched my comment box to a pop-up. Hopefully that will eliminate the problem. Thanks to all followers and those of you nice enough to leave a comment. Remember that if you have a specific question just post a comment and I’ll try to help out!

Check back on Friday for another fun Art Philosophy project! Thanks for following my blog and leaving comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Lori

Teacher Card

I wanted to make a card for my son’s teacher for the last day of school so that we could show her our appreciation for a great year. This is what I ended up with! I used the Speaking of School cartridge. I embossed the apples and the background paper.

After I assembled the card I thought it needed a little something so I added the twine and the stickles to give the leaves and the stems a little sparkle. I used the green leaf paper for the inside so that we could write a note to her expressing our gratitude for her hard work all year.

I really like how this card turned out. I haven’t been crafting in a while, so it was nice to get back in my awesome craft room and get something done. I’ve also been working on baby shower invitations. Once I have some photos to share I will post them on the blog!

I hope you have a great weekend and find some time to sneak away to your let your creativity go!

Lori

Get Whale Soon!

I received a call from my son’s teacher that the class needed a “Get Well” card for one of the school secretaries that had an emergency appendectomy. The teacher asked if I could run out and buy one and bring it to the school. I told her no problem.

When I received the call I was on the treadmill, so I decided to think about this card while I was finishing up. As soon as I hit my 30 minute mark I had the entire plan in my head. I went to the Craft Room to grab “Create A Critter” and get to work.

Ooooooppps! Only I forgot that I had loaned CAC to a friend going to a weekend crop. Oh well, never fear…I have the GYPSY! I designed the card quickly on the G and put papers on mats. Because this card would be signed by the entire class I figured I would use one of the bigger 5x7 card blanks that I have in my stash.

I cut some blue and embossed it. I actually cut it wrong (my brain was in 4x6 mode) so I improvised and cut that in half and made it work! I added the whale, some stickles, and wrote my own sentiment since I didn’t have a “Get Whale Soon” stamp! I think My Pink Stamper may have some similar in her "Punny” series, so I may have to check those out!

Here is what I ended up with:

Now, let me say that the colors on my cell phone picture are not great. The card is bright yellow and the whale is a lighter shade of blue than it appears on the picture. Oh well…it turned out cute in person and you get the general idea, even if the photo isn’t the greatest.

Have a crafty day!

Lori

Thank You card

I used the Imagine to make a quick Thank You card. I decided to go ahead and print and cut 2 of the image that I chose so that I could try 2 versions of the card. It’s always good to have a back up Thank You card on hand, right?!?

I got the image from the Better Together Imagine cartridge. The card base and pink background are papers out of my stash that I chose after the “Thanks” image came out of the Imagine. It’s easier to match the colors once you see the print!

I ran the pink base through the Cuttlebug for some texture. Then when I laid the “Thanks” on there it just looked too plain, so I grabbed the twine and added that for some extra accent.

Keeping in my Stickles frenzy I used those to add some sparkle to the card. I went gold for one and diamond for the other…each have their own appeal.

This was a fast project to put together. If nothing else, the Imagine makes it possible to do a quick project. I (thankfully) have had NO problems with my Imagine. Some of the posts I’ve seen on different message boards are really scary. I don’t know if I got lucky or what, but I am really happy with mine. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to sit down and hammer out a project using the Expression. That machine is great. But, when I need a quick card and I don’t have time to do a lot of layers, the Imagine is perfect. I hope to play with the features of the Imagine more and more and start getting some more complicated projects done to share.

Go forth and craft….

Lori