A VERY Scrappy Father's Day Card & Re-runs

Do you recall my CASE of blog friend, Ila, on May 21st post? Yep, the Karen Foster dp on this card was the 1" x12" scrap from those 6 cards. I cut the strip in half, and created a card around it. The repeated "Happy Father's Day" is computer generated. Is there an award for using an entire sheet of 12"x12" and NO teensy scraps even thrown away? The square tile is EK Success, the brads are DCWV, the red-orange cs is BAzzill, and the card base is Magenta cs. After I finished the card I thought it was...well, what rhymes with scrappy? My mom saw it today and really liked it (aren't mom's great? But believe me, even though she told me I sang beautifully when I was 5 yo, I'm not trying out for American Idol!)

These last two cards are a re-run from my previous post (below Blog candy contest post). I changed the sentiments; "happy birthday" is AC and "Congratulations" is BG. I also distressed the yellow cs and the AC dp with black ink.

Blog Candy Contest

My Blogoversary is coming up on June 1st. To celebrate 1 year and 1,066 hits (even though 692 were probably me checking to see if you left me a comment) I am having a contest.

There will be two prizes, so there will be two winners! You must link your entry to this post by midnight on June 7th.

My twin daughters, Julia & Kathryn, were born June 7th (they will be six years old, how did that happen so fast?), so it is only appropriate that each of them will draw a name and I will announce the winners on June 8th.

Julia contest: Create a gatefold card. It can be a traditional down-the-middle gatefold like mine from my previous May 27th post or it can be different like my May 24th post. Use any sketch you like. The only criteria is it must be a gatefold card!

Kathryn contest: Create a unique card using some of patterned paper scrap from a previous card. Take a picture of both cards (or link each card)...keep in mind the cards may not be identical!

So don't just sit there, get going! To win this blog candy, I want to see the eye candy you have created!

A Father's Day Card

I found this Basic Grey rub-on "Happy Father's Day" and thought this might be a good time to use it :)

I also went in my cards & envelope packs drawer and found this set of DCWV card set I purchased at GASC 3 years ago. The blue is pretty close to the AC dp blue. The brown cs is Bazzill and the yellow is SU! Barely Banana. I started with the rub-on, layered it on the brown, and the rest of the card fell into place. It seemed a little dull, so I added the belly band and punched out a circle from the dp. I used a MM black mini brad to tie in the black of the rub-on. Ahhh, that's better! The BG rub-ons has a "Congratulations" about the same size. I may duplicate this card with that sentiment now.

Congrats card & Cuttlebug

Yep, still using this original 12x12 AC dp that I first used on my April 19th and April 20th post. I am going to try to keep making cards with this one sheet of paper so I don't have to put it away in the scrap bags. I made two of this card.

I also used a sketch from Julee of Poetic Artistry blog. She creates some wonderful sketches! She posted this one a while ago, and I thought it might work well with these scraps :)

Do you believe in signs? I do!

I just HAD to have this Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder...after all, paisley is hot hot hot right now. It was back ordered but finally arrived in the mail :) Then I realized with all the dps in my craft room, I did not recall having any paisley paper.
I needed to make more father's day cards for Greenberry's Coffee & Tea (they sold the ones I posted earlier lickety-split). So I pulled out my large ziplocs of masculine dp scraps and large ziplocs of other12x12 masculine papers. (I sort my dps mostly by manufacturer, but also by theme...baby, floral, masculine, graduation, school, christmas, valentine's, etc.) I leaned the bags up against my accordian file of scrap papers (which is on the floor behind the door in my craft rooom) and went to bed. The next day when I tried to open the door to my craft room, the bags had fallen over and partially blocked my entry into my craft room. Guess what paper was facing up? Yep, the last ziploc bag had this paisley scrap (3 @ 3"x12") at the back. It was a sign!

This is ds cs by Signature Suite. The burgundy is the opposite side of the paisley. I ran the burgandy strip through the Cuttlebug paisley embossing folder. S.S. must have white core, because it came through a bit. I like the effect since the dp already has a distressed look. I eeked out 4 cards from those 3 strips of scrap! The punches are SU!, the metal embellies are from the SU! silvers kit, the base card is DCWV, and I alternately used brown or blue grossgrain ribbon from my jar of scrap ribbons.

I prepared all 4 cards to go to Greenberry's. The plan was for 2 to go to the store in McLean and 2 to go to the Leesburg store. DH offered to take the cards to McLean for me (he had a meeting in McLean). He saw this card and said,"I want one like this!" What a sweetie! So guess what? The Leesburg store is only getting one of these :)

Two Sweet Girls & A Scrappy Card

Here is Julia at horseback riding therapy. As you can see in the picture, she LOVES it! Can you see the rain in the picture? I think it is cool how the camera captured the rain.

This is Kathryn's version of horseback riding therapy. Kathryn loves carousel horses, but she has no interest in actually riding a real horse. She loves to watch Julia ride :) And here is my scrappy card. I had this scrap of daisy dp by Chatterbox. It is actually a different scrap than the daisy dp scrap I used in my May 18th post. These flowers are purple and in the previous post they are more of a cornflower blue. Amazingly enough, I did not have to trim this scrap. Don't you love when that happens? I looked at the scrap and thought...hmmm...purple...and I remembered that I bought a card set of long purple cards at GASC three years ago. Tracy and I went and the first booth we stopped at we both bought lots of stuff! It was the DCWV booth, and we both purchased card/envelope packs and several packages of mini brads in a variety of colors (which you see me still using quite often!) The purple prima is by MM, the sentiment is a CI rub-on, the green cs and mini brad are DCWV. And I used my "birds & swirls" embossing folder by Cuttlebug.

A Lauren Card!!!!

Yesterday afternoon I went to check the mail box and I saw this beautiful envelope (right). Completely hand drawn...can you believe it? DH asked me if I was ever going to open it because I sat and stared at the envelope for so long! You see, this is no ordinary card. This is a hand-made card from Lauren. Yes, THE Lauren. Lauren Bergold! Lauren, author of "...the GOOD blog names were taken..." Lauren on the Caardvarks design team. I carefully opened the envelope and admired the card. Cue DH, "Are you ever going to actually read what she wrote inside?" I don't know how long I sat and admired every detail she put into this card. I am fascinated by each of her creations, but they are even better IRL. Eventually I did read what she wrote, and her note was as lovely as this card. Thank you, Lauren! I LOVE my card :)

Now that you all know where I live, you are welcome to see this card IRL. I must insist that your hands are clean, than gloved before touching my Lauren card. Admission costs to see the card TBD at a later date.

Classic 4 square card

I am using some more of my ds origami dps by Hanko. I cut a small cluster of flowers from a scrap of the red floral and glued to the vellum tag envelope. Okay, back to my craft room to make something new (I hope.)

I C.A.S.E.d Artfully Ila & went "Old School"

I started blogging June 1, 2007. (HINT HINT HINT...blog candy coming soon!) I was inspired by my friend and former co-worker at Memories, Tracy (http://smallsmackerels.blogspot.com/). While perusing her blog and trying to figure out how to navigate blogspot, I decided to give it a try. I am not so very computer literate. I can design a simple spreadsheet, e-mail, surf, and buy stuff online. Now I can upload pictures (at first DH did that for me!) But as my computer expert husband likes to say, "I think this computer thing is gonna catch on." So now I can blog simplistically. I don't know how to do blog rolls or change a header, and I'm okay with that for now :)

Anyway, I soon figured out how to leave comments for people and go through their comments to create my own "Favorites" of blogs I wanted to check regularly. One of the very first blogs I found was Ila's blog (http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/). Please check her out! Each of her cards should be framed and hung on a wall. Ila colors her images beautifully and she often sews on her cards (wish I could do that!), and generally just has the nicest little details and embellies.

In an attempt to CASE Ila, I purchased the same Karen Foster dp right after I saw Ila's card ( http://artfullyila.blogspot.com/search/label/Father's%20Day) and she said I could CASE it. Thanks, Ila! I went in my drawer of card sets w/ envelopes and found 9 Magenta cards that are 7 1/4" x 5 1/4". I figured to get the max out of my dp, one dimension had to be 4" and the other 6" or less. That would make 6 cards total with only a skinny strip of scrap (yeah, you know I'm gonna try to make a card with that scrap later!) So then I planned the rest of my measurements. I stamped the truck 6 times on scraps. I thought about colored pencils, but knew it would take too long to make all six. So I chalked! Then I went old school and pulled out my corregated papers. It is nice to use old supplies...geez, how old is this stuff? Corregated paper was one of my first purchases, along with chalks (I think I even bought them the same day at Michael's in 1999 or 2000.) It makes the card really 3D. Ila probably used a paper crimper and regular cs? I never invested in a crimper. It's not that I don't like the tool...I just did not think I would use it much and couldn't justify the cost of the tool.

So yes, I made 6 of these cards. One is going to my dad and one to dh's dad. The rest to Greenberry's. Now I need to make something for dh...he's not really and "old truck" kinda guy, kwim?

A different Color Combo

I wanted to use up this particular DCWV card base (it can be difficult to match, so when I come up with a card, I try to go for it!)

I used SU! "celebrate" on two of them, but stamped each sentiment with SU! "Pumpkin Pie".

Inspired by a fab blogger...

I was inspired by "Stampin' Gal Val" (http://valeriestangle.blogspot.com/2008/01/flower-fusion.html) to use both the square frame dot stamp, leaf stamp, inks (purely pomegranate, old olive), ticket punch, and felt flowers (all SU!) My base card and mini brad are DCWV, the sentiment stamp is a foam stamp (I don't know the manufacturer), and the dots above and below the sentiment is a clear stamp I ordered from Joann's (online) by Sassafrass Lass.

I am LOVING my Cuttlebug Embossing Folders!

Yes, I used "Birds and Swirls" again. I bought it because it is so pretty and I thought it would be nice to use for cards for my grandmothers, who really like birds. But I didn't think I would actually use it so often! For the "get well soon" (AC rub-on) card I found this scrap of SU! dp from a previous project. I knew it would coordinate well with the Groovy Guava Bazzill I had out from the cards I posted yesterday (Secret Garden). The scrap of dp was large enough that I made two cards like this.

I also had this scrap of daisy dp (I don't recall the manufacturer) left over from when I taught at Memories. It was long enough to glue vertically, so that's what I did...using up the scraps! The blue cs is DCWV. I chose markers from my SU! Many Marvelous Markers in an attempt to coordinate with the daisy dp. The stamp and ribbon are both SU!

Secret Garden

I opened up a pack of papers from SU! called "Secret Garden". It is composed of 12x12 Bazzill in groovy guava and 3 shades of green AND two patterns of ds dp (4 different patterns total) and cs stickers. On the cover is a card I CASED (most similar to the top left card or bottom right card), but I changed a few things...I used guava instead of green, I did not stamp on the guava, I used a different sentiment, and my ribbon is from Michael's and not SU!

I needed something quick & simple because Greenberry's has been super busy with all the rain we have had lately and all of our cards (mine, Tracy's and Amy's) are selling super fast :)

Muy Caliente!

Are you thinking you must be at the wrong blog? Maybe you are thinking I am posting a RAK? No and no. I actually designed and made this card. It doesn't look like a June Houck card, does it? I climbed out of my box for this one. I was inspired by the current {Caardvarks} challenge which is to make a card that is HOT! HOT! HOT! As soon as I saw this challenge I remembered that I had two of these "red pepper salsa" cs images in my craft room...and I knew it was time to find them. I have had them for YEARS. They came on cs samples at XPEDX, my favorite place to buy cardstock. My Supreme friends and I would take a field trip once in a while and split the cost of a ream. The sample books are free, and perfect for using as layers on a card. But they put pictures on some to keep people from just taking the samples and not buying the reams of cs. I knew this picture would come in handy one day!

Unfortunately the pictures were taken by me, and I have no idea why they look so blurry. The card is really cool (or do I mean hot?) IRL.

This is what I did:

I found a 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 card by Magenta (olive green). I then cut the red linen sheet down to 5 x 7 and cut black cs at 5 1/8 x 7 1/8 to layer. Then I cut out the "red hot salsa" oval from one sheet and popped it up on foam dots. I got out my Me & My Big Ideas alphabet stickers to spell "U R HOT"...I was inspired by a valentine card I made earlier this year that used a chipboard conversation heart that said "UR HOT", remember that?

I felt like the bottom left still needed a little something...should I cut or punch a heart? I tried to channel card diva and blog friend Lauren Bergold (http://llaurenb.blogspot.com/). Her cards are amazing. She is so creative! I decided on the black Bazzill Bling prima. Then I thought, "what if I draw my own chili pepper and use my new SU! "Build a brad" that I just got from Sue yesterday?" I drew a chili pepper on red cs with a CM black marker. I cut it out, placed on cream cs and drew and colored the stem.

Happy Birthday cards

I started these cards months ago, then realized I did not have enough green Bazzill to layer! I searched our local store before it closed (AFSC) and Michael's and ACMoore, but no luck. All the shades of green I own and not a one was close enough to compliment the green I had used in the die cut flower AND the green in the dp.

Before AFSC closed in March I did purchase some of my favorite Creative Imaginations dps and a pack of Bazzill cs made to match with the CI dps. I forgot about it, and when I was making the photo boxes (two posts down), I saw it. I removed the shrink wrap to see all the Bazzill colors, and I saw this green. Not quite the same, but certainly close enough. Wahoo!!!

I used my QuicKutz Revolution die to create the flowers, and I purchased this sheet of dp at AFSC, but I no longer recall the manufacturer's name.

I went to play at Sue's yesterday (http://www.welovetostamp.com/) and I used one of her SU! stamps "Happy Birthday" and Old Olive ink. This morning I mounted each card front on a white DCWV card and used dimensionals for the birthday sentiment. Now they are all in my little greeting card basket at Greenberry's Coffee & Tea waiting for someone to purchase them :)

Trying out more Cuttlebug embossing plates

I made several versions of this card this past weekend. I changed the SU! punches used and used different AC rub-ons "get well soon" and "for you". The papers are all SU! and the grossgrain is from Michael's.

Bitty Board Books

I purchased these SU! On Board Bitty Books. I have been working on them for the past few days. It took me A LOT longer than I thought, and I am glad there are finished. I painted the chipboard first, then cut the dps (Creative Imaginations). I painted the edges of the dps before running through my xyron. Lastly I added some school pictures of two cute girls :)

The Last Mother's Day Card this year

I needed to make more mother's day cards and I had no plan and little time. I had no sketch or plan in my head; when that happens I go with the classic 4x4 square mounted separated by a strip of cs (or in this case, ribbon) and a sentiment. I also just received my Cuttlebug "birds & swirls" embossing plate, so I had to break it in. You know I love my box of DCWV cards. I'm on box #3 (or is it #4?) I have A LOT of this pale yellow, so I knew I had to try to use that first. I also have a DCWV mat stack, which has been used a little so I wanted to try to use that also. This green I found in the mat stack worked well for me. It still seemed a little blah, so I added the prima and a DCWV brad. My SU! order just arrived yesterday afternoon, and I had ordered the Pretties kit. I have been all out of white primas, so the timing was perfect! The ribbon is Michael's and the ink is SU!. Oh yeah, I also used the SU! horizontal slide punch on the edge of the card to slide the ribbon through.

Teacher Appreciation Week & Sue and Sue

My CTMH friend, Sue (http://stampgirrl.myctmh.com/), designed these cards and portfolio. I made them for the best speech therapist in the world, Heidi. We love you, Heidi!!! (J&K's speech therapist.)

My SU! friend, Sue (http://www.welovetostamp.com/) , designed the tin w/ cards, the 3x6 cards, and the "notes" spiral. I made the tin of cards for teacher extraordinaire, Mary. We love you, Mary!!! (Kathryn's pre-school teacher, but Julia's kindergarten teacher this year. I know, I know; how lucky are we to have Mary TWO years in a row?) The 3x6 cards and dark chocolate M&Ms (go ahead and grab a tissue to wipe the drool off of your keyboard) for Miss Joy, who I have mentioned before, IS a JOY! We love you, Joy!!!

Last, but NOT least, is for a terrific kindergarten teacher, Donna. We love you too, Donna!!! (Kathryn's kindergarten teachers are Donna and Joy.)

Recycle!

Tracy (http://smallsmackerels.blogspot.com/) and Amy (http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/) are my partners in crime. They provide me with hand-made cards to put with my own and we sell them at Greenberry's Coffee & Tea Co. in Leesburg, VA and McLean, VA. We are amazed at the selling trends. Sometimes we have cards that just seem okay, but they sell. We probably get hung up on what we know is no longer trendy in the stamping/scrapping world, but the general public is not aware of those trends. For the most part, EVERY card sells eventually, even if it has to sit in the basket for two months. This is a great way to use up product we are no longer excited about and get "cash to buy new stash".

This card is one I made with ds origami papers. The flowers are Jolee's. I put it out last July & August and it did not sell. I pulled it and it has been sitting on my craft room table since September. The sentiment in the bottom left hand corner was "An invitation" using an Anna Griffin stamp. I'm guessing the sentiment is why it did not sell. So yesterday I cut another blue rectangle and glued over the original, then used AC rub-on "For You". I'm dropping off 20 cards for the basket today (7 are Tracy's!) and let's see if it will sell now :)

K&Co. box of cards & envelopes

Michael's had their K&Co. boxed cards & envelopes 40% off last week. There are 24 cards & envelopes (5x7); 4 each of 6 designs. I love K&Co. papers, so I thought I would try these cards out and add sentiments and embellies.

I added 2 primas, a DCWV mini brad, and QK Revolution die ("for" from "just for you") and QK Tangerine w/ shadow font (using Bazzill cs, of course!).

All of the cards in the box are pretty, but the cs weight is lighter than I expected. I like a nice heavy card (80 lb. or greater), so if you like heavier weight cards too, be forewarned :)