City Crafter Challenge Blog - Balloon Shakers

I was inspired by the challenge this week at City Crafter Challenge Blog.  I decided to join the fun using Balloons as the major theme and make this shaker card.  A bit clean and simple in design, but the sparkle in the shaker portion really pops in person.

On the inside, a simple sentiment.  My thought was to keep this neat and clean so that it could work for a masculine birthday if needed.  This card will go into the stash so that I can use it if needed.

I'm going to link the card up with the City Crafter Challenge Balloons.  Come join the fun!

Birthday Wishes

My husband jokes that it is birthday season for us, but there's a ring of truth to what he says.  I'm stopping in to share this masculine birthday card with you.  I paired a chalkboard stamped sentiment with some patterned paper to create a simple, yet effective card with a minimalist style for the dude who celebrated a birthday.

On the inside - a sentiment created from coordinating patterned paper from the paper pad.  One down, several more to go.

A Happy Birthday Card

Brandy shared this creation with me and so I get to share it with you.  This card was created using MFT's Die-namics Blueprint 26 die set.  She created the white cardstock patterned paper using Distress Inks and various sequins.   So fun,  festive and happy!

We're off to Flagstaff today to drop my daughter at NAU to start her college days.   Exciting,  bittersweet and joyful.   She's ready and I'm hoping these next years fill her with confidence,  knowledge and a strong sense of who God made her to be.

Andie for  

Simple Masculine Birthday Card

I had to rush a masculine birthday card together.  It's amazing how helpful some pre-stamped balloons can be in the process.  This worked to deliver the warm birthday messages and a gift.  I'm finding my mojo is off and I think it might be that we're preparing to send my daughter off to college.  The prospect of all my "chicks" not being home at the end of the day is daunting.  I'm working it, but the stress cracks show in odd ways - maybe slightly lower drive to create.

Ah well, I'll have a little more time to myself in the coming days too!  Always look for the silver lining!

Since this card qualifies, I'm going to link up to the City Crafter Challenge Blog.  There are certainly no flowers on this one, a bit unusual for me.

Another Birthday Shaker Card

I mentioned that I had a Queen and Co. foam shaker kit left over as a free prize at the CK Scrapbook convention earlier this year.  Brandy actually won the prize, but make a quick decision she wouldn't be using them anytime soon so she gifted two of the three to me.  I shared this card with you a little while ago.  I was pretty honest at the time that the kit comes with a few shortcomings - namely that the kit isn't precise.

This Foam Front Shaker Stars kit was a little better to get right - probably because there was only one way to bring the card together.  Still - That plaid patterned paper on the left is proof that the cardstock front provided in the kit didn't align with the die cut foam and so I evened everything out with a wrap around "binding".  I also die cut some additional stars and placed them on the front of the card to add a little more interest to the card panel.  The shaker element and sequins are all the same as the previous card.

All in all, I think the card fun and used it for my nephew's birthday - great for a young boy who isn't terribly interested in Auntie's card anyway?!  I'm glad I used this supply up and it isn't languishing away in the stash.  What supplies do you have sitting on the craft table on in your stash that you need to get out and use?  Let this be an encouragement - use up that stash!  You might be surprised at the use you can put those supplies to.  I was!

 

Happy Birthday Shaker Card

So, this is a little story about a free gift at the CK Scrapbook convention.  It is no secret that they give away a prize to all or nearly all attendees to their crop nights.  This year, one of the gifts that Brandy won was a set of Queen and Co. Foam Front Shaker Kits.  She kept one of the three and I took the other two.

I decided to use up this stuff in the stash.  This card was made from the Window Foam Front Shaker Kit.  We've been pretty honest on this blog - plugging the products that we love because we use them over and over.  In the case of this shaker card kit - I can say I was decidedly underwhelmed!  Everything comes precut - the foam pieces , a die cut cardstock window to use on top of the foam, everything.  My beef with it all is the fact that the kit isn't precise.  I will own my own kind of control freak when it comes to crafting - things need to be symmetrical and neat.  This was neither.  You can see if you look close the imperfection in how the cardstock die cut (here I colored blue to match the theme of my card) matches to the white foam that creates the shaker window.  You might say that this is because the die cut is upside down or rotated 180 degrees.  You'd be wrong as I tried my level best to get that sucker on there straight.  Also - the outside rectangles - the foam piece, the die cut cardstock front and the acetate to cover the shaker windows - all were different sizes.  This required a trimming of all to match - but I didn't discover this until the shaker was together so I couldn't simply use my paper trimmer.  You can see the slight "roughness" on the upper right edge of the card where my trimming wasn't so exacting.

The price point is pretty great - running around $2.99 retail.  Not terribly expensive and for the novice or someone who doesn't own dies to use to make these kinds of shaker windows - maybe worth it.  However, I have made many shaker cards in the past.  Though my fronts are limited to the dies I own, the end result when I die cut myself is that everything fits together as I make it.  This was unnecessarily complicated (for me) by the necessary trim/adjustments that were required.

Still, a cute card was made and I intend to use this to great effect on a masculine birthday card need that I have.  So, all in all worth it from a giveaway standpoint, but I don't think I'd even spend $2.99 to buy the kit if I saw it on the shelf.  I have one more kit to use and will try to make that work soon just so I use both up without having the second and last one sitting in the stash for too long.

Hope your week is going well and that you are finding a reason to use that stuff in your stash.

Manly Birthday Cards (Kinda?)

It seems like I've been nothing but busy.  You can see how this plays out in my card making.  Sometimes I get a little lazy.  Still, sometimes lazy can really pay off and I think these two cards are a good example.  I had a couple of male coworkers that I wanted to recognize their birthday but didn't want to spend a ton of time making the cards.  So, I turned to Pinterest and these cards were inspired.
The sentiment was stamped in black Archival Ink using my Penny Black Sweet Wishes stamp set.  The inside was a simple Happy Birthday from the same stamp set in black Archival Ink.  The watercolor wash was made using my Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn Distress Stains.  The soft applicator top allowed me to simply wash the color directly on the page.  I did let it dry very well before stamping with black Archival Ink using my Darkroom Door Trees stamp.

Pretty effective man card.  They both thought it was a lovely sentiment- short and sweet and required nothing in return.

Thanks for checking in with me today.  I'm hoping your July is ending with rest and relaxation.  My daughter is back at school and so it feels like the fall is here, though the temperature is still high!

Hey, I decided to link this card up with City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 272: Create a Masculine Birthday Card and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge Simon Says Anything Goes.  Come join the fun or be inspired.

A Shaker Birthday Card

Popping in for simple shaker card today.  I needed a birthday card for a coworker and hadn't used these stamps that I'd give it a try.  I followed Jennifer McGuire's Shaker Card video tutorial.  The balloons were stamped onto colored cardstock and fussy cut by hand (no die here!)

The glittery goodness in the center are all from Michael's Recollection brand.  I had originally bought them for use on my son's graduation cards, but decided to go a different way.  My one regret with the card was that I think there is too much shake in this card.  I could have used quite a bit less and still had a wonderful card.

This process was simple to execute and will definitely be an added weapon in the arsenal.  Give it a try.  It is really not difficult and does create a lovely visual presentation.

I've decided to link up with City Crafter Challenge Blog Week-272 Create a Masculine Birthday Card.  Come be inspired or join the fun!

Celebrating 90 Rich Years

I had previously mentioned that we took a trip up to Colorado to celebrate by grandfather, Bob's, 90th birthday.  It is such a rare and special thing to be in your mid-forties and still have active, engaged and independent grandparents.  My grandparents still live on their own, though there are some of us who wish they would allow more help with the daily maintenence in their lives.  Not going to complain though because my kids still have an active relationship with their great-grandparents.  Precious!

I made this card as invitations to the big shindig.  It needed to be simple because I had to make 30 of them.  Here's the details:

• The patterned paper is from the stash.  I'm going to admit to having that stack of paper for more than a decade.  Long story short- a local manufacture went out of business and had a garage sale.  All you could stuff into one bag for a low price.  I stuffed shrinkwrapped stacks of 25 pieces of paper into that bag- I probably have the majority of it in the stash to this day.  What was I thinking?!!!?  More importantly, why keep it this long? 'Course there's a big part of me that says- just for such an occassion. I know, right?!  It's a sickness.
• The cardstock is a mish-mash of scraps and cardstock from the stash.  Here's a tip- those scraps went further than I thought they would.  Other than the glue tape to put it all together, I made 30 cards for the cost of the pre-made card/envelope set (with a coupon $6).  Everything else came from the stash...  Not all yellows were the same card to card, etc.  But no one knows the difference because each person only gets one invitation.
• The nine and zero were cut using one of my ancient Quickutz Sophie dies.
• The sentiment was printed out on the computer and die cut with my Spellbinders Labels 17 dies.  I cut the dark blue carstock fram by die cutting the Labels 17 of the same size as the yellow cardstock and triming the last 1/2 inch.  

The inside was a Word file printout to provide the attendees the majority of the information needed to attend.  My grandmother was very pleased with the invitations.  It was truly my pleasure to make these and send them out.

I also made table decorations and I have pictures from the party to share. I need to upload and edit those photos and I'll make a post to show all the details.  I'm trying to get them together and a special post about my grandfather.  Hoping that happens this weekend... thanks for sticking with me.

Happy Birthday for My Man

I needed to make a birthday card for my hubby whose birthday is next month.  An extra day off is a perfect opportunity to let the creative juices flow.  I've even uploaded photos of cards from the scrapbook convention (my how time has flown).  I'm hoping to get to the blogging of those soon.  Additionally, Brandy forwarded a picture of a beautiful creation she made this weekend as well.  I'm telling you, creative juices baby!

This little card was inspired by the latest Mojo Monday sketch 295.  Given that round is just more feminine, I decided to go with the square look.  Additionally, since square envelopes are rare, I decided to alter the design and go rectangle.

I also decided to reach into the scrap pile and use up some of those scraps available to me.  This strip is quite old and there is little left, just the right fit for my card.


 I found a bunch of coordinating solids to fit the design.  Again, to make it a little more masculine I decided to forgo the flower and leaf motive.  Ms. Jessica over at Errant Scraps inspired the embellishment I finally decided on.  Her layout was just right and the rosette eye catcher fit perfectly- not to girly, not too plain and just the right depth for my design.  The pictures don't really capture the distressing done with my Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  The sentiment comes from my Titled Banners Sentiments stamp set.  The medallion is a 25 cent special in the bin at Michaels and the bird is from a Fiskars set, long stored in the Scrapbox.

I think I hit just the right note.  It will be a few weeks, but this one's ready and no rush will be needed.  He doesn't follow the blog, so it will still be a surprise.

Andie

80th Birthday Celebration

My MIL asked me to put together a save the date/invitation for my FIL's 80th birthday celebration.  What an honor!  I have been so inspired by Stephanie who blogs over at Burlap Kisses that I just knew that I wanted to incorporate burlap into the final product.  This is my final result.














The stripped patterned paper comes from open stock at my HL. I hand-folded the strip of brown cardstock after scoring the paper using my Score-Pal.  Brandy (brilliantly!) pointed out that I should have scored the 8 1/2 x 11 brown cardstock and then cut strips to 1 in.  That's why she's the best friend, ladies and gentlemen!  Needless to say, I only made about 20 of these cards and mailed them out a few weeks ago.  The sentiment was printed onto non-textured white cardstock using my computer.  I used the Word trick of placing text boxes with the images/sentiment inside. 

I use Office 2010.  The "lovely" Drawing Tools ribbon (in orange above) and the Picture Tools ribbon both provide the commands to manipulate the text boxes.  I'm a fan of moving them around on the page and printing a test version until everything is in the right place.  You can click and drag to highlight certain words and change the font or size to mimic any scraplifted image.  If you don't have a large variety of fonts on your computer, stop by Creating Keepsakes each Friday and download their free font over at Free Font Friday.  It may take a few weeks to increase your selection, but most word processing software come with a variety of fonts that can create a close approximation.
 

I use the same method to create this menu selection and instructions for RSVP that was adhered to the back of the Save the Date card.  My MIL, Pat, decided that since almost every single attendee was family who was already aware of the event she wanted to combine the save the date with the invitation and save a little postage.  The border came straight out of Word's Clip Art-another source of images that are free!

I found this YouTube video that explains text boxes using Word 2007.  I believe much of the instruction is similar and works for 2010.  The key here is to play around and make things work.  I find it easier to make several small text boxes that I can size and place with my mouse rather than one big text box with lots of different formatting.  Give it a try. It is a cost effective alternative to purchasing lots of stamped sentiments and gives you the flexibility to make your own invitations with instructions for your guests.

I've used this technique a couple times before.  You can see some examples:

Using clipart and words on a autumn card

Making place cards using Word and Fill the Page cuts with the Cricut

Using watermarked images to make a background

Using the text box color to make an image


I've entered this card in Our Daily Bread Designs (ODBDS) challenge- Make a card or project for the men.
 
Andie

The Man Card

The Man Card... you know, just like the Man Room or Manly Things.  We're talking about the ever elusive Man-centric process of gift selection, packaging and sentiment creating.  It can be difficult or easy, but nonetheless it must be ... say it with me... Manly. 

My man, Dan, is a particular challenge.  I've acheived adulthood without fully developing my Manly gift giving skills.  I always want to send that special gift with a homemade sentiment- if nothing else than to justify myhoard of scrapbooking supplies.  So, how to create a card that is all Man, yet contains just the right sentiment?  I've answered this question by going out on a limb and making cards for male co-workers.  Yeah, practice on those that can mock you- where and when you'll never know. 

This Enjoy the Journey card was inspired by a Michaels event earlier this year.  Brandy received a special invitation to a presentation at Michaels one evening with none other than the Rock Star of paper crafting, Tim Holtz.  Tim Holtz is one of Brandy's favorite designers to track on the internet.  How exciting to stand right there and seeTim Holtz give you ideas and suggestions in how to think outside the box.  Just what I needed for my Man Cards.  We both purchased Tim's book, A Compendium of Curiosities and had him sign our books. Inside this tips and tricks collection are a  large amount of inspiring ideas for roughing up your craft projects for the man in your life.  The truck in this card came from a Ranger stamp set that we won as a prize.  The image was stamped with a black ink onto a green cardstock and green Perfect Pearls dusted over the top with a paint brush.  This caused the image to blur and really added to the "aged" feel of the card.  The dark blue background paper was made using Tim's technique with alcohol inks, the ink applicator tool, and some glossy white cardstock.  The dark blue and dark green alcohol inks combined nicely to create the perfect accent for behind my car.

The Man card does not have to be complicated.  This very simple card was also made for a co-worker.  The truck was cut using the <truck3> image from Cricut's Heritage card.  The blackout was cut from a black cardstock and the truck cut from plain brown cardstock and inked on the edges.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was cut from the Wild Card cart.  Ink some fancy paper and away we go...

So, get crafting for that Man in your life. 

-Andie