Anniversary Swirl

     Well, I'm still behind but I do have 1 card done ;- ) It's an anniversary card for a dear friend's (who I've known since 2nd grade and is my son's godmother) son and daughter-in-law.  I used the oval card in Cricut's Wild Card cart  (6 1/4 in. if you cut the envelope to fit a 12 in pice of paper) for this card and welded my own Happy Anniversary from the Plantin SchoolBook cart on the Gypsy using the Wisteria paper from Basic Grey adding a gem from Hero Arts for the dot in the  i and a flower from Creative Charms. In the nothing comes easy category of my life lately,  my Xyron was jammed, but fortunately the LetraTac came through for attaching the sentiment (see posts here, if you want to know more about LetraTac.)  To cover the window, I cut the blackout option and cut it in half, using only 1 oval here.

     On the inside, I made a digital sentiment using LDJ Jilligraphy font from Lettering Delights. You can find them at the affiliate link on my side bar. I also added a line element from Print Shop, which is what I laid it out in. I cut the sentiment with an oval nestibility and inked it with Distress Inks Peeled Paint and Concord Grape. The swirls are from the same Oval card in Wild Card, under the icon button and I used the Gypsy to reverse one of them. I added pearls to the ends.

     I made the matching envelope as well. I used the remaining oval, cut in half, in place of the envelope liner (I had a mail carrier to beat and waste not, want not ;- ) I might have blinged it up some if I wasn't in a hurry, but I do like the simplicity of the way it turned out, so maybe all in all it was a good thing. The green paper is Bazzil from Archivers.

     I will probably make, the now belated anniversary card that is left, the same, possibly in different colors. It will depend on what I find when I dig through the mess I made in my studio. I also will have to make a belated birthday card. She is such a good friend, she will understand and will probably get a call and maybe that will just be all she wants. She isn't a card sender, herself. Then I'm on to my next crazy bunch. I'm sure that I'm already running behind. >.< I know I need to make 2 groups to go out to the college students I send to.  I wanted to get them out before Halloween and I haven't updated my total to include the new freshman, so I don't even know how many I need to make. Though, I do know what I'm making. For the ones I sent to last year I have a design picked out and the new ones will get the same design I sent last year, ha ha!

  Thanks, as always, for stopping by. I'm glad you came.  Please feed my ego with a comment or ask any questions you might have ;- ) Have a blessed and creative day!
     

Celebration card for an Anniversary!

     Today's card is for my neighbor's anniversary. I had picked up Cricut's Wild Card cart from Menard's when they had them for $4 after a mail-in rebate. Great deal! On this cart they have a tri-fold card and envelope that was meant for New Year's Eve called Celebrate, but I thought it would make a great anniversary card. On the internet I found a few places where people had listed the largest sizes you could cut the envelopes on a 12x12 piece of paper and the corresponding size card to cut. You can find a list here at Obsessed With Scrapbooking. So for this card, I cut it at 5 1/2 inches from black Core'dinations cardstock. I cut the liner items with gold metallic cardstock and the icon (cork) from kraft cardstock and stamped it with Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamp then clear embossed it.  I attached the cork with pop dots. The pattern paper is Confetti from Paper Pizzaz. I found a label shape I liked on the Storybook cart (the Thank You image page) and cut it out in red and a slightly smaller  one from printer paper ( I used the Gypsy to get the sizes I wanted) that I had already printed their names on. The font I used is Tango. I attached this with pop dots. In order to keep the card from popping open, I made a band to slip over the card and attached the sentiment on it. I cut the sentiment from Lyrical Letters. Cutting it at this size makes it very delicate and prone to tearing, so it had to be pieced a bit and I used the LetraTac I had mentioned back on this post to attach it. You can find it online at Dick Blicks here. I get nothing for this, I just think it's cool.

     This card wasn't meant to be a gift card holder, but since I was going to cover the front and giving them a gift card, I decided to cut slits in it to hold the gift card. I cut a piece of the pattern paper to cover that at the bottom and used a piece of the same paper as a mat for the sentiment. I created the sentiment digitally and the font is SNF Infinity from Scrap N Fonts. Currently Scrap N Fonts is having a Dollar Sale. You can find their sale here.

     Since I added the band, the envelope won't close right, but I thought I'd show it here anyway.  Cool envelope, huh ; - )Sorry, I hadn't realized it was out of focus or I would have retaken the photo during the day >.<

     Well, thanks for stopping by and spending some time with me today. Please leave a comment, so that I know you were here. They always brighten my day ;- ) Have a wonder-filled week!

Two quick cards

     Well, I was down to the wire on two cards. It was a busy week and then I hadn't been feeling well, causing me not to get these two cards done earlier. So, here I was needing to get them done, before the mail carrier got here. Fortunately, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I had picked up some note cards from Studio g in the Dollar Bin at Michaels', that had pre-cut windows. I'd also had on hand an assortment of embellishments that I've picked up over time, when there have been sales at Michaels' and JoAnn's. These are from JoAnn's Craft Essential 's line.  The front is embossed with Divine Swirls. The stamp, showing through the window of the anniversary card, is from Stampabilities. It was stamped with Big and Bossy and embossed with gold metallic embossing powder. Hint: Use a dryer sheet to wipe the area where you are going to emboss before you stamp to reduce the amount of powder that clings to unwanted areas. I wish I would remember this the ahead of time, every time ;- ) I colored it with both yellow gel and yellow glitter pens to make a champaign look and went over the glasses with Diamond Glaze.  Used my heat tool to speed drying.

  
     The inside sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo.

     The birthday card follows the same formula, only the stamps are from Hero Arts, made for Archiver. I embossed it with Swiss Dots.  Hint: I had to run it through twice and doing this would cause a section of the dots to de-boss, so I lined it up, to be the area where I would put my sentiment/embellishment. Always plan ahead - an interesting concept for me ;- ) OK, it was a happy accident the first time, but my pickiness, made me do this one a second time and I did it intentionally that time, so there!

It's really more red and maroon than pink.

     For quickie cards, I think they turned out pretty good. Kind of like the less expensive line of cards, but still with that homemade touch. We all have those times when we are out of time. The anniversary couple's daughter has a birthday this week and I need to make a unicorn card for her. So, they will get the full custom treatment then ;- ) As it turned out, it was good they were fast. I didn't just have to beat the mail carrier, but get to the post office before it closed, because I was out of stamps and traffic was horrendous because of a parade. Some days nothing is easy ;- )

     Thanks for stopping by, during your busy summer (if your north of the equator, like me.) Please leave a comment because the fuel me. Have a Blessed Sunday!

I'm finally back!

     Well, after getting some party clean-up done I ... have created ... a ... card ... (and there is a sigh of relief).  Toady's card is an anniversary card for a woman who was my high school English teacher, way back in the day. So, I made a card with kind of a  retro 60's feel, to fit her day, not mine (well I was close) ;- ) I used Core'dinations Black Magic with a light pink core, but the pink is hard to see in the photo.  The embellishments are from me & my Big ideas, Ellen Krans edition of Soft Spoken. I used gel pen to color in the "O".

 
     The inside sentiment was done digitally, with Print Shop using Harrington font. I embossed a stamp from Inkadinadoo's spring mini assortment with clear embossing powder. The hearts and "Love Birds" are part of the same embellishments as on the front.

     What would I do differently? I would space the heart didn't have to go over my name ;- ) I might change up the inside embellishments to vary the card. On the front, I might raise the the whole line of embellishments and stamp a sentiment underneath. I also might use a darker red core of Black Magic.

     Our party went well and the weather was wonderful. Not too hot, a bit overcast (which is good, since we don't have much shade in our yard) and no rain. We had about 45 people or so. My DH forgot to snap any photos, probably too busy playing volleyball, esp. since my DS had been talking volleyball smack the day before and there were reputations on the line ;- ), so here are a couple of photos of the food from last year (basically the same, only the table clothes have been changed.

     Makes you hungry, doesn't it? You didn't even see the desserts. If your ever in the area at the end of June, you should stop by and join us. You'd be very welcome.

     Our new puppy did wonderfully, though he was exhausted before it was half over. He now has a name. It's Shadow. Though I still fell he needs a middle name and that one isn't clear yet. The other day, he was Shadow the Pirate because he he said "Arrrgggh" to me. So we made it, "Talk like a pirate day," here. Here is a recent picture of Shadow.

     He will get his first days of having a neighbor let him out, this week because, we have Vacation Bible School at our Church and that will put him in his crate for longer than 3 hours. It's good for him to get a trial at this, while he's little though.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a note if you have time. Your comments me a lot to me. Have a wonderful week!

Using the flower bouquet.

     I wasn't sure I was going to get today's card posted. I got a notice from my online photo company that they are going out of business, so I've been busy editing photos, to get some printed before they close. They are going to transfer all of my photos, that are stored on their site,  to Snapfish, but I like the quality of this company better and they were cheaper. I've gotten a large batch done,  and I have until April 4th.

     I made today's card using the flowers I made with flower soft, a number of posts ago. You can see them here. I purchased the lacy mat, the cone for the bouquet and the ribbon from Flowersoft. Custom Crops has them in different colors. I colored the pearls and  rhinestones with copics (E11 Barely Beige & Y17 Golden Yellow and B05 Process Blue & R29 Lipstick Red).  The sentiment is from Cricut's Storybook Cartridge. This is an anniversary card for a friend of mine that I've known since grammar school. She is my son's Godmother.

The inside was done digitally on Photoshop Elements 3, with a free brush called Valentine Clip Art 3 (to make the beautiful heart.) I think it's found here. If not, there a number of other cool free heart brushes at this site, including vol. 4. (I got it a long time ago, sorry.)  The font is from Scrap n Fonts, called  SNF Classy Charm.  They are having Dollar Days right now, too. Lettering Delights is having a contest for the Silhouette, electronic diecut machine, on their site. Their link is on my right sidebar. The 2 small flowers are stickers from Jolee, that a friend gave me for my birthday. 

     What would I do differently? The bouquet could have used 2 more flowers, but I decided this after I had glued them in and made it too difficult to add more. I meant to do more inking, but I always remember after I've glued the piece down. Why is that? What would you have done differently? Well, I have another boy birthday card to do. thanks for stopping by and sharing your time. Please share your thoughts as well. I truly appreciate hearing from you. Have a blessed weekend ;- )

  

Happy Anniversary!

     Sorry, I've been a bit awol, but I've been working on cheat sheets for my SVG files. That can be very time consuming. Today I did the updates to my Gypsy and my Imagine. I didn't have the problems some people reported, except the time I did the Imagine, it stayed on the "Restarting Imagine" screen forever without doing anything. For awhile, I even worked on the card for today with the Imagine and finally at one point, it told me it was done with the upgrade. Go figure.  The card today, I'm sure you guessed is an anniversary card. I used the Imagine cartridge, Better Together. I was inspired by a number of images and put them together for this card and came up with the inside sentiment. All cuts and paper are from the cart.

     The stamp on the front is from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment inside was added digitally after printing the paper on the Imagine. This was a new accomplishment for me, since I only printed the pattern, the size I needed it. I got it placed right on the spot, the second try. Woo Hooo! There is glitter and gel pen on the front, but it didn't show up well, in the photos and I used layers and pop-dots.

     What would I do different? I think a frame, around the tan patterned mat, on the front would look nice. Maybe in a darker brown. I'd inked it with a light color, but maybe a darker color would look better. Otherwise, I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out.

     I was able to purchase Cosmo Cricket Glubers at Archivers today, but haven't had time to play with them, as usual. Hopefully, soon. I want to try to make the daffodils, that Penny Duncan showed on her blog first. Click here to see her tutorial. They say spring, to me and I need spring!

     Thanks for stopping by today and sharing a few moments with me. I love to get your comments, and to know you were here. Have a wonder-filled day!