graduation cards

I had to make some graduation cards for several people this year. We knew kids from all ages that were graduating. My daughter and several of her friends were graduating from 5th grade, my nephew from 8th grade and a few others from 12th. I made several a similar card, but I changed it to match their school colors.
I made this top one using Brilliant blue, black and white. That is one color I'm going to miss as it matches several of our school colors in the area.
The graduation stamp is in the mini catalog and I colored it with markers. The graduation is in brilliant blue and the rest is black. The stars from the Starring you stamp set are in Brilliant in the top one and in black in the bottome one. I then punched out a large and small star and then popped them up using dimensionals. It was a fairly easy card, but fun to make.
I was really proud of my daughter at her graduation. She did really well. She ended up getting a presidential award along with several certificates and had one of her best report cards this year. So she was definitely a star that day. :)
Next I get to see my nephew graduate. He's going to be entering high school. I really can't believe how big all our kids are getting. Before we know it they will all be grown and gone.
So I hope you enjoy the cards and it gives you an idea of another type of card. Have a great day.

decorated bag - birthday

One thing I tried on the last couple of gifts I have had to give was decorate bags to put them in. You saw the bag toppers I made the teachers. This time I decorated the bag itself. This is just a plain white bag that I had on hand. I then cut some Razzleberry and Olive paper and made rectangles. I then cut a daisy out of saffron paper using my Big Shot. I love the Big Shot it is so easy to cut out stuff and works on a ton of materials. I then punched a circle out of razzleberry paper and placed it on a Build-a-brad and inserted that into the center of my flower. I then created a bow with my Razzleberry polka dotted ribbon which I think is great and fun. I also inked my edges up with Razzleberry too, but that's hard to see here. This is a bag I put my sister's birthday present in. She really likes the polka dotted ribbon, so I had to add some of that to the package.
so I hope it inspires you to try something fun too. Have a great day.

teacher appreciation gifts

One thing I made for each of my kid's teachers was a pack of note cards. Our kids are blessed with really good teachers and a great school.
Their teachers always get a ton of stuff, so I was trying to find items that they would use. I finally decided to make them a set of cards. I took a few packs of the gift notes and then made the different cards. I made each one different with different colors and somewhat different styles. Most were thank you or thinking of you cards. Some had glitter, some were diecuts, some were watercolored, etc. So different types. I then packaged them all in a little box and tied a bow around them to make it look like it all matches. I love it when things match by the way, so I thought that part was cool.

To make my box all I did was measure the envelope length and width add about a sixteenth to each side and then I had my bottom dimensions. I then put all the cards in a stack including envelopes and then measured the height. Once I got that dimension you add twice that to your measurement in each direction. For example if your cards measured 5x7 and your height was a 1/2" then you would cut your paper 6x8. That way you could have 1/2" for the top and 1/2" for the bottom fold or sides depending on which you are working on. That would also be your score line (score 1/2" in all directions). You do the same for the window sheet used for the top (except I did make mine slightly smaller so it would fit just inside the bottom). I wrapped it all with Melon Mamba polka dotted ribbon, which I thought went great with the top card.

Once I figured out all the designs they were pretty easy to complete.
I hope they enjoyed them all. I made different ones to fit different styles.
So that's my share for the day. I hope you enjoyed it.
I was going to post this last night, but my husband and I finally got a few hours of time together to actually eat dinner with no kids, so we took advantage of it. By the time was all said and done it was late. So I hope you have a great day today and enjoy the post. Blessings.

teacher appreciation than you cards

Besides the bag and the gift inside I also made each of the teachers a card that we put a nice message and a gift card inside.
I used the level 2 hostess set, Asian Artistry to make my cards. I also used the Melon Mamba polka dot ribbon to match the gift I made them. The cards were pretty similar as you can see, except on one I made the dragonfly not quite navy and one was razzleberry. Otherwise they were all colored with markers pretty much the same way. I had to make several sets so I was trying to keep it somewhat simple since I was making the gift, the card and decorating the wrapping too. Seems like I've had limited free time these last few weeks, so I did make similar cards to ease the process, but I did write different messages on the inside thanking them. Hopefully they all liked their gifts and they were useful to them. I'm sure they get a ton of small things, so hopefully our small gift was something they would like and could use.

I used Celery and Mamba for the flowers and the cardstock. It was a fairly quick card, but I thought was really light and fun and cheery, a good thank you I think.
My kids have had great teachers who really care for them, so I enjoyed making all these items for them.
So enjoy my share today. I'll post some of the sample cards I made next. Have a great day.

teacher appreciation bag toppers

I made some gifts for my kids teachers and I thought they would look even nicer in a decorated bag. So I had found these small bags at a craft store on sale and they matched our colors really well I thought. Since they were plain I decided to decorate a topper to put on top of the bag. It makes it look prettier but also helps keep the bag closed and keeps things from falling out.
I decorated these bags using the new Elements of Style stamp set in the new mini. I just love this new set and you will see several samples here shortly using it.

I guess I haven't out grown some of my childhood as I still like to color. :) To me it's slightly addicting and a stress relief of some sort.
I colored in this stamp to match the colors on the bags. For the purplish one. I used Lavendar Lace (soon to retire) and Elegant Eggplant for the flowers and then Certainly Celery and Old Olive for the leaves. For the pinkish one I used Pretty in Pink and Melon Mamba for the flowers and then the same greens. The purple is backed in Olive paper and the Pink in Celery. I thought they turned out really pretty. I also added a little tag using the little flower that comes with the set and punched it out with the circles and backed with olive and wrote their names on it to tell apart but I guess I forgot to take a picture of that. I tied that on with the linen thread.

I'll have to share next time (or over several times) as there were several items that I made for the teachers. It took me a while too as I had to make four sets, but my kids teachers work hard and answer a lot of emails for me as to how my kids are doing, so they deserve little extras here and there in my opinion. I hope they enjoy them and they are useful to them anyways. So here is my share for the day. I hope you enjoy it and it gives you an idea of some things you can do too. Have a great day. :)

mothers day faux suede card

I mentioned this card earlier, but just got the camera downloaded. We actually had to finally download it as we couldn't fit anymore pictures on the chip. My daughter has decided she wants to take up wildlife photography for her hobby, so needless to say my camera disappeared for a while. She loves wildlife and for an 11 year old isn't too bad. I'll have to load some of her pictures to show you. They will make some fun backgrounds for My Digital Studio creations.

This was the mother's day card I gave to my mom for mother's day. It was similar but different to the one in club. It again uses the same technique, but with different colors and more flowers. I even folded one to look like a bud. This technique is not very hard to do and inexpensive too as it's mainly paper. I do add some brads, but in reality they are optional. You could always add a smaller circle in another color if you wanted that third color contrast.
So enjoy another look at the same technique in another color scheme. I have more fun things to show you next. I was waiting for some events to be over as to not spoil the surprises. Lots more cool things to come, so check back. Blessings

milk carton bird house

I'm sorry but I'm not a very organized person. This is another item we made at club and I can't find who I saw this actual design from. I've seen several birdhouse ideas, but I'm positive there was one that looked pretty much just like this one. I really liked this one and it seemed simple enough for a large group to do.
If anyone knows, just let me know and I'll update. I keep saying I'll get more organized but it's just not working yet. We just have too much going on. I think I need to hire an organizer to set me up and then maybe I have a slim chance. :)

So anyways this birdhouse is made using the milk carton die. We stamped it with the wood grain background stamp in Chocolate chip. We punched a circle out of the one end for the hole. Used the scallop border to trim the edges of the top piece which is a Brocade Blue. Then punched a bird and leaves using the 2 step bird punch using bashful blue and certainly celery. We stamped the wing with the stamp set Vintage Vogue which will be in the new catalog. I used basic black marker for his eye. This one is made to set flat, but you could also punch a hole in the top with the cropodile and string a ribbon through and make an ornament out of it too. You could also crinkle up some strips of paper for fake straw to look like a nest inside. I ended up buying malted milk ball egg shapes to put inside as they looked somewhat like real eggs. I think most got eaten during class though. :) I guess I shouldn't expect chocolate would last long with a group of ladies . :) Oh well, we all had fun and got our chocolate fix in too. So in all it was fun night. I always have with my club ladies.
Hope you have a great day again today.

happy birthday flower punch card

This is another club card we did not too long ago. The card was originally inspired by a similar but different card I saw Lori Ryder post on our Stampin' Connection site (our demo site). I thought it was a cool idea and modified mine to this one.

To make this card we stamped the Tempting Turquoise paper with the set from the last mini called With All my heart. We then punched it out using the extra large fancy flower punch. The Whisper white piece is punched using the scallop trim corner and border punches. The stem is just a thin strip of Certainly Celery. The leaves are actually a 1 3/4" circle punched shape punched twice. First you punch out a circle then you feed a little less then half of the circle back into the punch and punch again. Voila, you have your leaf shape. We also took a bone folder and made lines down the center to give them some character. The saying is stamped in Turquoise and was from the Well Scripted set that was also in the mini, but really any set could be substituted. I then punched it with the wide oval punch and popped it up with dimensionals. This is all layered on Night of Navy and Tempting Turquoise papers.
It was a lot quicker to make then you think. It makes for a fun and somewhat bold and happy card I think.

So I hope you enjoy my birthday card for the day. I also hope you have a good day today. Seems like several of my customers are going through some harder times and I was trying to think of some ways to be a better encourager. Maybe you know some too in similar situations. How could you do that? I'm thinking about making some thinking of you cards or praying for you cards soon to send as soon as I can. Maybe even some thank yous to those who do a lot of work and don't get a lot of praise. Hmmm... I'll have to plot some more ideas. You'll have to share what you come up with too.

mothers day club card

I just realized I hadn't posted some of the items that we had done at club. This card is one we made for Mother's day. It uses the faux suede technique. If you enlarge the photo you might could tell better, but the purple flowers have a fuzzy texture to them. You get that look by separating the paper layers. We punched out 3 circles. Then you take your bone folder or similar type instrument and you basically rub it over the punch outs like you are curling ribbon. This will break down the papers until they start to separate. Since Stampin' Up! paper is solid core (meaning the color goes all the way through) when you pull the layers apart it leaves a fuzzy side, which is very soft. From a distance it has a resemblance to suede thus the name.
So basically we used the 2 step bird punch for the leaves, 3 circle punches, crystal brads for the centers of the flowers and then the stamp set Well Scripted for the saying.
I thought it a fun card to share. Since my sister is in this class too, I also made our mom another card using this technique but using other colors. I'll have to download that picture next to show you what that looks like.
This card uses a retiring color (lovely lilac) as well as certainly celery and whisper white. Lovely lilac is one I'll miss as my daughter loves purple.

For those of you that like some of the retiring colors I would recommend purchasing them soon. They have had a greater then usual demand for some of them. There are some already on back order and some they are trying to fill with textured paper. It won't be long that it will switch to while supplies last.

flores suaves blue butterfly

With my nature loving child, I pretty much love most sets that have butterflies in it, and I thought this one was really pretty. This set is called Flores Suaves. It is located in our spanish catalog, which also has some cool sets that aren't in the main catalog. You ought to check it out if you haven't seen it.

This card uses bashful blue, night of navy and whisper white. It also has a touch of Rich Razzleberry. I was hoping to catch a picture of the sparkles, but it's hard to get. I added little dots of glue and added dazzling diamond glitter to the butterfly and it's wings. It just gives it that touch of extra that it needed. If you look somewhat closely at the one without the flash you can see it a little. The butterfly is stamped twice once on the main page and then again on a scrap piece. I colored in the scrap piece and then cut it out and curled the wings some and popped it up slightly with glue dots.
I decided to use two different color ribbons as I thought it helped mesh everything together. The saying is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - a set I really, really like if you haven't noticed.

I hope you enjoy my share for the day. Have a great day.