Tag Archives: greeting cards

My almost final card for 2013 is for another daughter’s birthday. (Still one more to go before the end of the year.) I’ve been wanting to use the Tri-shutter fold for a while now, so that was the easy part. Choosing paper wasn’t as easy. I wasn’t able to get anything specific for this (oh, the ideas I have,) so had to go with what I had. (Yep, need to use the wonderful stash on hand.) I was happy to find something with shoes on it in the stack (I love,) Kellerkurtz & Company by Paper Studio. (All my girls love shoes. So does their mama.) Anyhow, I started with shoe paper and just started adding pretties that I thought she’d like.

The card base is from the Old World stack from DCWV. I liked the combo of the red and neutrals. (They are generally her faves.) To make the Tri-shutter, cut the 12×12″ in half (6″x12″), then score on the short side at 2″, 4″, 8″ and 10″. Accordion fold the card and crease with your bone folder. (Look familiar? Same as Double Z card, up to this point.) Then open, and cut (on the long side) between the 2″ score and the 10″ score at 1.5″ inches from both long edges. Then refold with your middle section going the opposite direction as your top and bottom ones. Re-crease with your bone folder.

You may choose to mat different places or sizes than I did (measurements above). They aren’t all standard, but I had my reasons. I rounded the corners and inked the edges of the mats, and inked the card base too.

The embellishments on the front start with a metal flower from Queen & Co. with a flat back pearl center, and 4 small tags from a printable from Eclectic Anthology, attached with a “Love” brad from the Prima Engravers collection. The stamped key is from Prima Engravers collection. It is heat embossed and has a flat back pearl also.

Inside, the “31” number tiles and gemstone with a shoe on it are both from Paper Studio. I took the postcard from a printable from The Graphics Fairy and added the Scripture verse to it and printed it out, then stamped it with Birthday Wishes from Inkadinkado and Flourishy from Recollections. It is mounted with foam “pop” squares on the Kraft card stock (from Recollections). The “Cherish” and “Memories” stamps are from Studio G. All the above are stamped in Rich Cocoa from Memento. The flowers are from the same Prima set as the key and are stamped in Bright Pink Stampabilities dye ink.

On the last page, the chandelier is from the same stamp set as “Cherish”. It is heat embossed, and it and the shoe are blinged with “diamond” gems. (I had every intention of putting these shoes on the front and the others on the back, but mis-glued and didn’t want to start over. Shh. Don’t tell her.) The bookmark and the pocket for it (cut from another bookmark) are a free printable from Janet K Design. I Mod Podged the  bookmark so it would hold up better. The red bling is from Queen & Co. Everything is inked in, you guessed it, Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Tim Holtz.

I think I was getting predictable this week, but it goes to show you that you can reuse the same paper stacks, stamps, inks and even embellishment packs and get totally different looks from them. You don’t have to have a lot to do a lot.

What is your current go-to–whether that be paper stack, ink, stamps, punches or whatever? What do you find yourself grabbing time after time?

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This afternoon, my only daughter left at home and I started nailing down details for ThanksGiving dinner. We will have 29 people at our house, so we have to pre-think the logistics a bit. She commented that we should get the place cards done today, so it wouldn’t be a last minute rush. My girls enjoy doing things like that. I’m glad.

I told her I had a few new little stamps for Fall/Thanksgiving, that I’d picked up from the dollar bins, that we could use. So we started designing.

We worked together, but I was also working on other (Christmas) projects, so she did all the stamping, inking and gluing. (I made the name labels, cut and scored.) So THANK YOU Shekynah, for all your help making some great place cards for this year’s table.

The card base is dark brown card stock (Colorbok) cut 7×3.5″, scored and folded in half. The mat and label are cut from Ampad Earth Tones card stock. The mat is 3.25″ square. The Harvest-Give Thanks and Be Merry stamp, and the pumpkins and leaves stamps are Studio 112 (2 different mini sets). Edges are inked in Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz Distress Ink,) and corners of the mat punched with Tonic Studio ticket-tag punch. I typed all the names into a table in Pages on my computer, (with the rectangles a bit larger than my punch,) then printed them and punched them out with the EK Success Photo Labels punch. All layered together with my ATG gun.

I was actually pretty impressed with how fast these all went together. I told her, “Wow, if we can do these this fast, maybe we could make homemade Christmas cards.” 🙂 She agreed. She likes to make cards.

So much for having all my cards for the year (except that one last one for the very end of the year) done last week. But we had a great afternoon doing it. And it took far less time to make all those cards today than the one card that I will be sharing with you next week. Well, actually, the one next week took a lot longer design time than the design and making of all of today’s cards.

See all the cards I’ve posted.

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Some of my earliest memories are of my father typing. My dad was a pastor and when I was a child, when asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, I’d reply, “I’m going to type, type, type, and work, work, work and shut the door and not let anyone in.” Evidently I remembered the times when dad needed some peace and quiet in our home with 5 children, but I wanted to be like him. 🙂

Thus the inspiration for my card for my dad’s birthday today. My dad is also an avid reader, so the “book page” background was a natural too.

Inside I included a few other goodies that remind me of him or seemed to go well, the car 3¢ stamp, bicycle, and compass gem with “Enjoy the Journey” stamped. I also had to color the bicycle seat red (just because.)

The front paper mat is from the same stack I used on the last card, Heirlooms from DCWV. I cut the corners of it and the inside mat with the ticket punch from Tonic Studio. (Yep, I must’ve had it before I did the tags on the last card. It is a double punch–tag and ticket.) Card base is Recollections Kraft card stock from Michael’s. Card stock for stamps and interior is from Ampad Earth Tones (from Walmart). Edging in Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Stamping with Rich Cocoa from Memento, (I think. See previous post.) Christmas Green is only dark green I have, a Stampabilities pigment ink from Hobby Lobby. Most of the stamps are Stampabilities from Hobby Lobby: Typewriter and “TYPE” from Typewriter set, 3¢ car stamp from Time & Travel set, bicycle from Vintage Outdoor set. “Enjoy the Journey” is from Recollections (I don’t see a name on it). “Memories” is from Studio G. “Happy Birthday” is from Hero Arts Many Birthday Messages. The Compass brad is from the Prima Engravers collection. The wood buttons are Hobby Lobby (see last post.) I tend to not mention ribbons, but they are usually from Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnn’s.

Again, being a man’s card, I didn’t heavily embellish it (even though I know this one will be saved.) I love that it so represents my dad, and hope he enjoys it (and doesn’t open his internet until after he opens his card today.)

I’d love to see the men’s cards you’ve made.

See other cards I’ve made and posted.

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I’ve finished the last (3) of the cards for a while. (One left for this year, at the very end of the year, and I’m not making it ahead of time, because she lives here and crafts with me.) 🙂  I can only share one today though, because the other two haven’t been given yet, and are both to people who may possibly see these posts. So stay tuned.

Today’s card was a fun one to make. It’s a twist and turn card, that is easy to do but creates a unique, fun shape and design. It just opens normally, (but people wonder and try to do differently.) 😉 I put tags in both pockets, but it is great for a gift card too. I’ve also seen it online with a large die cut on the front, rather than using it as a pocket.

The base is a simple half-sheet of 8.5×11″ card stock, cut 4.25×11″. (I used Recollections Kraft from Michael’s.) Score on the diagonal. Lay so the length is horizontal, then fold left (large) side up and crease with bone folder. Then score in half vertically, fold and crease with your bone folder.

Need a visual?

I matted all 4 sections with “pretty paper”. The lower mats are cut from 2 pieces, each 2×5.5″, cut on the diagonal from top left corner to lower right corner. If your paper does not have any directional pattern to it, you can use just one piece and use the 2 cuts, 1 for the front, one for the inside. My paper had direction, and I wanted 2 different designs, so 2 pieces. (And yes, I wanted the Bingo board to go sideways, so you could better see what it is.)

The upper mats are cut from 2 pieces, each 4.5×4″. The cut is made on the 4″ side at 2″ (the middle) of the left side down to the lower corner of the right side. You will use the top part of this piece. You can use plain (instead of patterned) paper or card stock on the inside if you’d like to put your sentiment there. I put my sentiments on the back of my tags.

I also chose to mat the left of the inside of the card. Typical you may not do that, but if you’re like me and want to, you’ll need a piece 5.5×4″ and will need to cut off the bottom and the right side at angles. (I don’t have measurements, I just marked and cut it to fit.) And I chose to make tags for the pockets. I believe they were 2.125×4.25″ and cut 1/2″ over and down on the diagonal–or maybe I had my Tonic Studios tag (angle) punch by then and used it. The mats for them were 1/4″ smaller in length and width.

I matted each place with a different patterned paper, as my emphasis was numbers. The receiver and their family continually joke about age, so the sentiment on the back side of the tag in the front pocket was “It’s just a number! Happy 57th.” (The other tag has our signatures on the back.)

The papers I chose are from DCWV Heirlooms stack. Edges are inked in Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The embellishments are: Bingo number, brown buttons (in a glass bottle, so cute,) and Clock gemstone from Paper Studio. The stamps (on the left inside) are from 3 different sets, and stamped in Rich Cocoa from Memento. (I think. If not, they’re also Vintage Photo) Pocket watch: Stampabilities “Time & Travel” set, “Time” and clock: Fiskars “Journey” set, 36 and #25 with flowers in urn: Kaisercraft “36” edge stamp.

Hope you enjoy my fun little “Numbers” card. If you make (have made) a Twist and Turn card, I’d love to see it.

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Our daughter’s card was my design challenge this past week. I knew I had to use the buggy stamp set for the baby card. Grandma’s card came together pretty easily, although I did change it at the last. But I didn’t know at all what I was going to do for this one, except I wanted 2 things, a different fold to it and to make it Victorian-y–I had new tea pot and birdcage with bird stamps I knew were “her”.

I began with the double Z fold card foundation from a damask looking card stock (Old World collection from DCWV). (See scoring measurements at this post.) Next I began looking through my printable downloads, and decided rather than just matting the sections of the card, to add some elements instead. The card on a card and tags just grew from there.

The front has a card on the card, with a teapot (Michael’s–Timeless Traditions) and sentiment (Fiskars–Latte Love) stamped inside (and colored with my Copics). I also aged the paper with Antique Linen, (Tim Holtz Distress Ink). Pink ribbon and flat back pearls finish that part.

In the first opening, I cut out the tags from this printable, from Astrid’s Artistic Efforts, Freebie page. I stamped the birdcage, birds (Stampabilities–Vintage Outdoor), and sentiment (Inkadinkado–Birthday Wishes), and colored with Copics, added the key (7 Gypsies,) ribbons, flower (Paper Studio), and gems.

The next opening got 3 stamped and colored roses, a narrow side pocket (cut from printout) for 2 tags (also printouts), that I dressed up with some ribbon and pearls, then aged the backs with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, and signed.

Here’s the whole card opened out.

I loved working on this card, and probably could have continued dressing it up. But it was a card after all. 🙂

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