Mother's Day Cards

I haven't posted for the last few weeks and I'm feeling a bit guilty about it. My goal when I began this blog was to post once a week. That shouldn't be a difficult goal to achieve but sometimes life just seems to get in the way. I'm disappointed to say that I have recently become a victim of the current economy. On April 30th I lost my job after 8 and half years. To say I am disappointed and scared would be a huge understatement. Initially I thought it might be nice to be at home and have more time to create but I seem to have lost my mojo. It's not surprizing I guess given the circumstances.

Anyway I have a couple of items to show today. First up I needed to send a "thank you" card with some money to my aunt. She let me borrow a few dollars and I just didn't feel right not paying her back. Since I know it's not a smart idea to send cash through the mail I thought I would make a small money holder to enclose the cash into.

The card is one I received from a swap on a painting group that I no longer participate in. The paper for the money holder is called Polka Dot Parade and is made by PaperTreyInk.

I also made another holder and sent it to a friend using a previously made card. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it out.

Next I have the two Mother's Day cards that I made for my Mother-In-Law and my own Mother. In order to keep things fairly simple I used the same layout for both of them and just used different colored papers. The Designer Paper is a booklet that my husband picked up from one of the big craft stores. I think it was Michael's but I can't remember for sure. The booklet is titled Flowered "Handmade" Papers & Vellum and is manufactured by Hot Off The Press. The stamp is from Mega Mixed Messages by PaperTreyInk.

Well I think that's it for today. My husband took a vacation day yesterday and we spent some time in Manchester, NH at the Creative Keepsakes Scrapbooking Convention. It was a very nice day and we picked up a couple of new items to play with. Hopefully this will be the push I need to get back into paper crafting and posting once a week.

In the meantime, please wish me well in my search for a new job!

-Janice

No Projects This Week

With the warmer weather arriving in New England I have been spending my free time outside. We have started our garden, already planting some spinach, broccoli and a few herbs. We have completed our Spring clean up and spread the Lime on our yard. This weekend we dug up an area of our yard that has/had been overtaken with weeds. We will complete this process in another area of our yard next weekend and then plant new grass seed. It's very exciting as I have waited all winter for the nicer weather ... and it's finally here! I love being outside and pretty soon it will be time for camping season. YEAH!

I have been trying to stamp but ended up making more of a mess than anything else. I also considered trying out for a Design Team call that Lauren Meader posted but I decided that she has a very agressive schedule and I don't think I'm quite ready for it yet. I will, however keep trying and maybe apply to a Design Team in the future.

Thanks for reading and I'll be back with a paper craft related post soon.

-Janice

Happy Easter

Phew, it's been a busy week around here. I have three cards and two baskets to show you today!

The first card was given to my mom with the yellow basket. The card measures 4"x4". The stamps are all by Studio G and were purchased from the Michael's $1.00 bin. The images were colored with Copic markers in the following colors: G29, R32, R35, R39, Y06 and Y08. The beak of the chick was done with a Red Spica pen. I also double stamped the chick and used foam to make the image "pop".



The second card was given to my sister with the purple basket. This card also measures 4"x4". The image is by JustRite stamps using the 2" round stamp with 15 pt Times New Roman font. I used Copics to color this image as well and added a Clear Spica pen for the water and Martha Stewart Yellow Barite glitter to the center of the flowers.



The third card was given to my in-laws. I can't remember the exact measurements of the card but I think they were 5"x4" and the images were all by Studio G. I colored the images with Copic markers again and used the foam adhesive to "pop" the jelly beans. The buttons were tied with DMC floss, all of which I already had in my stash.



I made the baskets by creating a template first. There were a few versions of the template before I came up with one I liked. Each baskets was made using Bazzil card stock and "Happy Easter" image is from Studio G. I first stamped the sentiment with colored ink and then over-stamped it with Embossing ink and clear embossing powder. I liked the end result and so did my family. The bunnies which filled the basket are proped up on irredescent easter grass and were purchased from a Cracker Barrel Country Store. They play three different tunes when you hold them in your hand. Too cute!



Everyone loved their gifts today! Yeah! I hope you all had a fantastic day as well.

-Janice

Kids Cards

I wasn't able to complete these cards in time to post last week so I decided to just hold off until they were done. The next birthday's on our calendar are for Joshua and Abbey, twins who will be 4 years old this Friday. They are the youngest children that I have to make cards for and subsequently I don't really have any appropriate stamps.

The first card was made using a flower border by Nana's Kids card pack by Die Cuts With A View. The butterfly sticker was a freebie that was included with Papercraft Magazine. The pink cardstock was embossed with D'Vine Swirls and a Cuttlebug. Isn't it cute?

The next card was inspired by a layout from Papercraft Essentials Magazine. The polka dot paper and animal cut outs are from Nana's Kids paper pack by Die Cuts With A View. The inside flaps were edged with Memento Desert Sand ink for some dimension. The Partytime stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. The writing was done by hand with an Ultra Fine Point Black Sharpie marker. I was pleased with the end result.



I hope the kids enjoy receiving these cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Janice

Additional Info & New Cards

First off I need to say that the cards I made from the previous post were inspired from the book "Susan's Journal of Paper Engineering Secrets" by Susan Cobb. I should have included this information in that post but frankly I was way too tired to go find the book that night!

The first card I'm posting today was inspired by a sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. The flower and button have not been secured to the card yet because I'm still not convinced they are the right element for the card. I also plan to add a sentiment once I figure out who I will send the card to. I just love the purple swirled paper I used on this one but I can't find the name of it. Sorry.



The second card was something I came up when I got frustrated making the first card. The multi-colored paper is called "The Goods" from American Crafts and I'm pretty sure I got it at AC Moore. This is a double-sided paper with the back, or reverse, being solid orange. It's a really nice paper.


Now I'm trying to make a box without using someone else's template. I know there are plenty of free templates and even templates you can buy on the internet but I thought I could figure it out for myself. I must say that it's coming along pretty well. I just wish I could have found the specific paper I was looking for. Stay tuned ...

Make time each day to be creative.

-Janice

Weather and New Cards

Well it's been an interesting week for weather up here in the NE. Last Monday we got over a foot of snow and this weekend the temp has been in the 50's! Tomorrow it's supposed to snow again. Ah well, I guess this winter's way of saying 'it's not Spring yet'!! LOL I was able to get outside for a while today and soak up some sun. It was so nice even though I was cleaning dog refuse from the yard. Probably a little too much info huh? :)

Anyway, my dh picked up this book a while ago and I found several cards that I wanted to try my hand at. I don't think they're too bad for a first try but I will definitely make some changes if I make them again. I really simplified this from the original instructions but am still very happy with the results.




This second card was one I really struggled with. It took me a while to find papers that I felt went together well enough for this one and the diamonds weren't as easy to cut as I thought they would be.




I still need to add the sentiment to each of these but since I'm not sure exactly what occassion I will use them for, I figured that part could wait until later.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy my latest creations!

Take time each day to be creative.

-Janice

Valentine Cards

Sorry I missed last weeks post, I was under the weather which is saying something considering I live in New England and it is winter!

I don't usually make holiday cards but I became inspired by all the beautiful Valentine's Day cards I was seeing. So I decided to make a couple; one for my mom, one for my sister and of course one for my husband. I wanted them to be simple and I really wanted my husband's card to be more "manly". Here is what I came up with:

I think the red card was nice for a man. Just red, white and black, no pink! I saved the pink for the "girls" in my life. Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts. All of the heart shapes were made with a Cuttlebug die, the ribbons were purchased at AC Moore and the red flowers were purchased at my LSS.

Thanks for letting me share! Make time each day to be creative.

-Janice