Simple and Shiny

Andie and I have been crafty cohorts for over 16 years now (boy time flies when you are having fun) and one tradition we have established in that time is attending the Mesa Play All Day hosted by Shelby at Embellish It. 

This year Shelby's connection at Photo Play gave us each a free color page sheet.  These are high quality paper with images printed in crisp black toner, you can definitely Copic color these.  However, you can also foil them!  I chose to foil them.  I used my Deco Foil sheets and my Mink machine, but you could use a laminator.

These are so simple and quick, but the shine from the foil makes them quite nice.  These are going into the stack for donation to the holiday card drive at Scrapbook.com.

How do you make simple cards look special?

Happy Thanksgiving

I happen to have a November birthday.  This makes for a need for a set of Thank You cards right around Thanksgiving.  I was so delighted with the Spellbinders October Large Die of the Month which featured these fall inspired die cuts. 

The background was stamped with WPlus 9 Wild Mango ink using my Concord and 9th Barnwood background stamp.  The die cuts were made from white cardstock that I had Distress Oxide Ink blended and then die cut.  The photos don't do the color differences justice - they really have some depth because of the ink blending.

I doubly have reason to be thankful today as 21 years ago this morning my daughter Katie was born.  We'll spend the better part of today with family to celebrate the holiday and tomorrow is a small party with family and friends.  I feel so blessed by both my kids, but this is a momentous day for her and I will make sure she knows how blessed I am with her grown womanhood.  Happy Birthday, Katie.

Hoping your Thanksgiving Day celebrations are full of gratitude and joy.

More Spellbinders Deers

I stopping in today to share these photos of Christmas cards Brandy made during our recent trip to the Embellish It! Play All Day in Mesa, Arizona.  Brandy had some leftover pieces from this set of cards and wanted to use up the leftovers.  Rather than stamp a background, for these cards she used patterned paper in the background.

I took these photos in the lobby of the hotel where the Play All Day was held.  This wreaked havoc with my camera settings and I didn't realize it until the event was over.  Still, you get the idea that these cards were fantastic and so I'm happy to share the cards with you today.

Andie for 

A Set of Cards Using Nuovo Glacial Paste

I watched this video made by Amy with Prairie, Paper and Ink which was an experiment using the Nuovo Glacial Paste.  I was so enamoured with the final look I promptly placed an order with scrapbook.com (which is just down the street so I had my product the next day, yay!) and brought the supplies along with me to the Play All Day with Brandy.  I made the backgrounds for these cards that day and put together these cards a few days later (when I'd recovered sufficiently from our fun day out).

The pictures just don't do the glacial paste justice as the look is very shiny and satisfactory.  I ended up using some purchased sentiment strips to keep the decorations simple and effective.

In the end, a great set of cards that were a ton of fun to make.  They'll go in the stash for use this Christmas season.

Warm Winter Wishes - When Crafting Leads to Disappointment

High Hope's, BIG Disappointment.   I really love my Gina K Wreath Builder system and all the stamp sets that have been released with it.  That part of making this card went beautifully. The die cut is the Memory Box Snowman Circle Collage; which I am so very please with.  Where this card takes a turn is when I decided to try my new-to-me, Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder instead of my beloved go-to Nuvo Glacier White, fine detail.

Unfortunately,  I had done all the work including putting the die cut card top on the background or I would assuredly tossed these backgrounds.  On one card the embossing powder didn't even cover the snowflakes and I had to draw in the sentiment with my Versamark pen.

So disappointed.   I am donating these as part of a local card drive and I would like them to have turned out better.

What do you do when a craft item disappoints you?

Spellbinders November 2019 Card Kit - A Set of Cards

I get the pleasure of sharing with you this set of cards that Brandy made with her Spellbinders November 2019 card kit.  This card kit is packed with tons of embellishments and this sample of cards were made during our recent trip to the Embellish It! Play All Day (earlier this month).  So much fun!

Andie for 

Wishing You the Best Birthday Ever!

Just a quick post to share a quick card made with the Gina K Wreath Builder system.   This system has been around for a while now, but I have not used mine near as much as I should. 

I think this makes a beautiful card, especially when you need something quick, but want it to be special for the recipient. I made this card for my cousin's birthday. These are her favorite colors, so I know she will like it.  While I was at it, I made some other card fronts I  different combos so I have them ready to go in the future.

Have a great day.

? and Fabulous

One of the most important reasons I make cards is so that I can make something that I think is specific to the person and unique for them that no one else has and that is what this post is about.

So, Andie is having a milestone birthday and since I was raised that you do not discuss a women's age I will not be sharing that, suffice it to say whatever it is, she is fabulous!

While trying to decide what Andie's special card should be I came across this beautiful Goodness of Life stamp from Unity Stamp Company and just felt compelled to make it to celebrate Andie.

The card doesn't have fancy layers of embellishments or fun interactive pieces, but it does have a pretty classy looking lady, exuding celebration of life, very much how Andie does, and I made green (Andie's favorite color) the spotlight of the dress.

I used my Copic markers; which I reserve for the most important card making activities and blended the background with Distress Oxide inks. 

I am so blessed to have Andie as a friend and partner in crafty shenanigans. Here is to another ? year!

Andie edited to add:

I had to share this photo of the card on display in my front room where everyone can view this delightful creation and I can see it and feel Brandy's care and love daily.  Thanks my friend!

Spellbinders May 2018 Card Kit - A Set of Cards

Last weekend Brandy and I enjoyed the Embellish It! Play All Day in Mesa, Arizona.  This is an annual event that we have enjoyed for many years and this year was no disappointment.  The weekend spent crafting the day away in a local hotel.  Giveaways, a "class" with 2 two-page layouts as a part of the cost of the event, lunch with the group on Saturday and ambiance that can't be earned at home.  One of the projects that I worked on was to use a Spellbinders Card Kit from May 2018 that I won at the Scrapbook Expo earlier in September.  These are the cards I made from that fun.

In all, I made ten full cards from the kit and I still have papers and dies left over.  So much fun. 

Over the Rainbow - A Set of Encouragement Cards

As I have explained in other posts, I am trying to utilize my crafty stash more often by combining manufacturers and this card today is packed with that idea.

I love rainbows, I think they just make things brighter.  I have a few folks in my life that could use a little of that brightness, so I decided to make a few rainbows cards using the Over the Rainbow stamp set from Clearly Besotted, clouds from. Hero Arts card kit from quite a while ago, the Rainbow die and sentiment from Waffle Flower's Rainbow stamps and die set. The rainbow gets its brightness from being stamped in Electro-Pop neon inks from Gina K Designs and the black and white striped paper is by My Favorite Things.

This card is simple, but I think it packs a lot of punch.

Have a bright day!

Around and Around We Go

I have been on a mission to minimize my crafty purchases not only by using what I have, but by combining manufacturers and using up scraps.  This is not an easy task as I am sure most of you know.

A while back I bought what I thought was a set of dies from Altenew to cut circle frames, what I didn't realize is that it is only one die that cuts quite a few circles of different sizes at the same time.  Honestly,  I was disappointed, but it was my mistake so with lemons you are supposed to make lemonade,  right?  Anyway, I thought I could figure out a way to make the circles into rainbows,  didn't workout so the remaining pieces went into the die cut stash (yes, I keep die cuts that I think should be good for something at some point) for well over a year that is where they were.

Recently, while going through my scrap stash I cam across some 3×6 scraps of paper from who know what project.  These were the perfect size to make enclosure cards.  Looking for what to use on them I got into the above mentioned die cut stash and found those circles.  I married the two items by simply scoring the paper in half and gluing a circle from each color of the rainbow in different sizes on the front of the card.  To make it somewhat more finished a simple "hello" or "thanks" sentiment from Waffle Flower's Label Greeting stamp set and these are done.  I have no idea if they will ever get used, so for now they are in the finished card stash.

What do you do with your leftover scraps/die cuts?