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

Reserve Card Supply

A couple of years ago I decided to make an effort to send out birthday cards to each of our niece’s and nephew’s. We only see them all once or twice a year so I thought it might be nice to put forth some additional effort to touch base with them.

Well the first year went by and I did make a solid effort. We even received a couple of phone calls thanking us for the cards! Kids can be so sweet. Unfortunately though I wasn’t quite perfect and I missed a few birthdays. The same thing happened last year too. No matter how good my intentions are I always seem to procrastinate and then either send out cards late or not at all. I recognize this is an area that I really need to improve upon.

As the New Year was dawning I realized that I needed to come up with a better plan for sending cards this year. Fortunately for me I discovered blogs and the concept of “blurfing”!

In January of this year I noticed that a lot of the blogs I visit discussed organization. I guess everyone’s New Year’s Resolutions are pretty much the same; exercise more, eat healthier, lose weight and get organized! However since most of the blogs I visit are craft related the theme was organizing your craft room or supplies and in some small ways organizing your personal schedules. My ‘DUH’ moment was when I realized that most card makers have a reserve supply of cards on-hand to give when appropriate.

While some people keep a reserve supply for last-minute giving I realized very quickly that if I made Birthday and Thank You cards in advance I would (hopefully) have one less excuse as to why I just couldn’t find the time to send out the appropriate cards. Some people have cute little bags, boxes or baskets that they keep they’re cards in. These are then organized with separators identifying what each section contains; Thank You, Birthday, Anniversary, Wedding, etc. The final tip I saw that really made an impression on me is that those with the ability to enter important dates into their phone or computers use that as a reminder to mail out cards or gifts.

The cards below are ones I have made to begin my reserve supply. The first two cards did not have a specific source of inspiration. I think the ideas are just a conglomeration of different embellishments I have seen other people use. The last card was inspired by a sketch I saw on the Cuttlebug Challenge website. I have not put a sentiment on it yet as I think it could be used for a variety of occasions. I will add the sentiment when the need arises.



Thank you for visiting again and thank you for listening to my story behind the creation of these cards.

Make time each day to be creative!

-Janice

Die-Cut Card

Well it’s been another busy week. We had more snow and this time the storm prevented me from traveling on business. While this should have given me more opportunity to be creative it just didn’t work out that way. However I was certainly glad to be able to stay home!

I mentioned in my previous post that one of the paper crafting tools we own is a die-cut machine. This card was made a few months ago using that machine. It was actually my husband’s idea and I think he executed it perfectly!

I believe this is the only card we’ve made where the entire front image was created from the die-cut machine. Hmmm, I think I’ll have to come up with a new design to add to our card reserve.

Make time each day to be creative!

-Janice