Tuesday, December 24, 2013

December catching up/Merry Christmas

Hi Bloggers,
Been busy the last month or so. As some may know, my hubby had a couple of surgeries which left him in great need of recovery. I had to learn some medical things, being a nurse, etc. We are hoping the upcoming surgery planned for Jan. 7 will help these challenges come to an end.

Hence, there have been no posts showing what I've been making. In between fixing meals, doing extra laundry, changing dressings and lots of etc. I have made a few cards. I would like to show some of them to you and maybe you can try some if you haven't done so already.

This was a birthday card to my good friend. It is the file folder style with the insert. I glued to scrapbook papers together for the double sided look. For directions on how to make this using the envelope punch board, see videos on YouTube.

Playing around with a small paper stack that I have. The strip on the right side was made using the camilla embossing folder. The banner was made using the painter's tape technique. Using your ink pad, swipe it across the sticky side of the tape. Then apply it to cardstock. It leaves the shabby look with the ink. Using different colors if you wish, you can make designs of your choice.


The background of this card uses an embossing folder, I think it's called textile. The flower parts are punched out of irridescent card stock. The cross is first cut out using the lattice die from Stampin Up. It comes out in a square shape. The cross then is cut away from the square. Some silver lacy ribbon was tied on the corner.

Watching a Ustream show of Gerriann Armstrong one evening she did this technique on some cards. An area is masked off with painter's tape or sticky notes so only part of the card is showing. This area is then colored by blending ink and stamping into it. I liked the whole stamp of the little girl so took away the mask and then stamped her. A sheer ribbon was added to her skirt.

I wanted to mail a few cards to someone and the smallest express box from the P.O. was too big. So got out my envelope punch board and a box of Kix cereal and made my own box. Since then, the flap and inside area has been covered with decorated scrapbook paper. To learn how to make a box using the punch board, just do a search on YouTube: envelope punch board box. Should take you to several videos on the subject.

On a day at a friend's house, we made these 3 cards.  The top left card uses the "Pretty as a
Tree" stamp set from Stampin Up.  The right one also uses SU stamps, but not sure the name of the  set. It is a gate style folded card. An oval was cut from the middle. The same shape for the bird to sit on in the inside. The yellow one uses the same lattice die as the card above with the cross. This time in yellow and the whole design is used. A die was used to cut out the shape, the lattice glued underneath and a piece of vellum under that. Ribbon was tied around at the bottom.


This is a card that can hold things like money, gift cards or other cards. It uses 1 sheet of 12 x 12" card stock, double sided. It is folded in such a way that it has pockets on the inside and also on the outside back. The Stampin Up edge punch was used to dress up the front fold. Stick on pearls and an embellishment with the cardinal were added along with a ribbon tie to hold it together. Sorry don't have the source for folding directions.
My third daughter had a birthday in Dec. so she received this card. I had made a similar one and given it to a friend earlier in the year and my daughter had said she wanted one like it. So hope she liked it. The stamping on the right side was embossed w/ hologram embossing powder so it sparkled. The green strip was punched using a fiskars edge punch. The leaves are from a Martha Stewart punch. The flowers are from a Sizzix die.

One day at a friend's house I made this card. The inside and backing are a gold cardstock. The flourish is stamped. Fairly simple card but o so pretty!!!

A neighbor gives her kids gift cards so wanted me to make her some holders. This is what i came up with using scrapbook papers glued together, dies, punches and the envelope punch board.

Next photo shows the inside of them using various stamps, dies and punches. The bottom shows the method I used to hold them together. Since I didn't want to use a glue dot or brad to take up needed room, I punched out stars and leaves to use to bind them together. Since my friend was going to keep the cards on the original card that came from the store,I had to resize the holders to accommodate the larger size.

I hope you enjoyed the photo show and will try maybe a new technique or just revisit one you haven't done in a while. Most ideas come from videos on YouTube and can easily be found in some version. There are a lot of talented people out there who share their talent. Thank them for that.

* * * * * * * * *

Matthew 1:21 "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

The angel was speaking to Joseph telling him of what was to happen. His fiance, Mary was to have a baby boy who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. This baby will grow up to be the Savior of mankind. We celebrate this baby's birth at Christmas as the most precious baby ever born. I pray that if you haven't asked Jesus to be your Savior, that you would not put that off. It is the most important event in your life.  May you have a blessed Christmas and remember the reason for the season.
Hugs,
MEg :)








Sunday, November 10, 2013

Quails, file folders & such

Hi Bloggers,
Another beautiful fall day here, but gradually getting cooler all the time. We had some cute little visitors on our deck today. They didn't stay long as I had no food!  Our neighbor fed some last winter so think they are hoping he will do the same this year.




Last week I taught my very first class at our local scrapbook store. Since I had recently gotten one of the envelope boards, I did my class using that great new tool. Mine is the version from We R Memory Keepers. Since this one has come out, Stampin Up has also made them available to their customers. In the class we did 3 file folder type cards and one project making a pocket w/ a tag to use on cards or in scrapbooks. These are another fun way to use the envelope board other than just making envelopes. These projects are inspired by Kathy Orta, Kathy Long and Patty Bennett. Below are my take on their projects.
First was the Staggered Card. There are 2 tabs on the top made w/ double sided cardstock. Paper is My Mind's Eye-Winter Wonderland collection. The snowflakes are cut from dies from Impression Obsession.
This the the Gate Fold style card. It opens in the middle w/ the tabs staggered again so they overlap each other. One side is the blue dot and reverse is gift images. The outside is the dot so panels are applied with the gifts showing. Paper is My Mind's Eye-Winter Wonderland collection. Stamp/Tag is unknown manufacturer.

The third card is a Pocket style with an insert included. The paper is from Authentique from the Festive collection. The music shows "O Christmas Trees" sheet music with the pretty cardinal at one corner. This card will use about 3/4 of a sheet as you use one length for the card and then one corner to cut out the bird section. The die on the front is from Spellbinders Vintage Floral Motifs I think. The greeting on the die cut is from a Papertrey Ink set.
Here is the Pocket w/ Tag. I used scraps from the other cards for this one so the tag & back of the pocket don't really match or co-ordinate :).  This could be made any size really to fit your need of a pocket whether it be a card, scrapbook page or other project. The front of the pocket is made separately from the back. The back is inserted & glued on. Then the tag just slips in & out for a message or photo to be seen.
These project ideas were taken from Youtube videos. Check out the videos done by the ladies mentioned above. They are good teachers and make it easy.  So hope you will give them a try.



Here are two cards I recently sent. The pink one is a birthday card to a friend I have known for about 25 yrs. It is the swing card which was shown in a previous post. The dot embossing folder is from Stampin Up as is the Framelit die which makes the shapes shown.
The purple one is a get well card using an embossed front w/ the side punched out using the Blossom punch from Stampin Up. The punched out part is on the inside to decorate next to the fold. Silk flowers & sheer ribbon finish it off.

Our verse for today-
James 1:25
"But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does."
James does not pull any punches and tells it like it is. That is the way God wants us to learn about Him. He does not lie and does not want us to either. God wants a two way relationship with Himself so we must hear the Word and then be a doer of that Word. This is a freeing relationship. May you be blessed from God's Word and from the crafts shown today.

 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Group cards again

Hi bloggers,
This week was a double dip into creativity with paper crafts. Monday night was one group of stampers. Tuesday night was the regular stamp club which I've belonged to for almost 20 yrs. It's a good time to get together to see what others are making and get to make some yourself. I even remembered to take a picture of all of them before I gave any away. So here goes.....




Here are a couple of the paper craft items. The little green guy was made from a cut-out from a Silhouette. (One lady in the group usually brings a project cut from the Silhouette. She is very good at using it.) The little basket is a covered half of envelope. Both contain goodies so guess who gets them? The grandsons of course.

Shown is the card that I contributed to the group on Monday night. Duplex navy and white cardstock, light gray cardstock, light slate cardstock, Martha Stewart Deco Fan punches and a clear stamp set (manuf. unknown) were used in the making.


This is Tuesday night's creations. We each brought supplies and ingredients to make something. They were distributed at random so we didn't know what we were going to get. It was fun to see what we could do with what we got and also what the other person did with what we brought. You might give this a try in your stamp group. It was the first time we had done this and I think everyone enjoyed it enough to want to do it again.
These are the cards I made using a Martha Stewart punch (leaf vine I think) and tree stamp from PSX.
Such fun with just a little paper, punches, stamps and ink!! Doesn't take much to make some people happy!! Ha Ha Ha!! But that's very OK!!!

"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!" Luke 1:45

We know that He will never go back on His promises, and there are a lot of them in the Bible. God never changes and is true to His word for eternity. Praise the name of the Lord!!

Blessings to you and yours,




Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Birthday cards

Hi bloggers,
Last weekend was the time for birthdays. So cards need to be made. One for 4 year old grandson, one for 6 year old girl in our church and one for son in law. Hopefully will be able to get them uploaded so you can see them. The twist flip card is not new to this blog, but colors are a bit different. As is the swing card.  Also file folder card done in a slightly different way. All fun to make. Hope you enjoy.


Swing card was made using Stampin Up framelit die. Twist card used 2 Martha Stewart punches. File folder card used 2 Stampin Up punches, 1 Martha Stewart punch and corner scissors unknown manufacturer.
Give these techniques a try if you haven't already.


  • John 1:16 NIV

    "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."
     
    Isn't that the truth? God just keeps blessing us from His love for His children. Thank Him for His blessings to you today.
     
    Wishing you blessings from His riches.
     
     

Monday, September 23, 2013

Cards for groups

Happy Monday bloggers,
It is officially autumn in the northern hemisphere. Our temps. have surely reflected that by going down a bit and causing some of us to go to long pants once again. We'll be optimistic though and not put the capris away quite yet.
Our stamp club had a "10 minute" card evening last week. Everyone brings ingredients for the group to make a card or project in roughly 10 minutes. This is always fun as you bring home various cards or projects to add to your collection.

Top picture is my contribution to the group. Two stamps were used for the large panels stamped in green and sponged with brown. The leaves are a Martha Stewart leaf punch in two colors of green.
Bottom picture is the collection of the total group and what I made and brought home. The little project in the middle is a little pocket in which a treat may be enclosed.

Later in the week I met w/ a couple of friends.It was my turn to present some projects. There were a few techniques that I wanted to share so we had plenty of things to make.
This shows 3 of the cards we made: twist flip, framelit swing & double blossom card. These can all be found on youtube videos. France Martin has a good vid. on the twist card. Don't remember who showed the other two. The Framelit card used a Stampin Up die to make the shapes. The double punched card uses the Blossom punch from Stampin Up along with the Modern Label punch.

Since I have recently obtained one of the envelope boards, have been making file folder cards. No, not envelopes, but cards!! Although I have since made an envelope just to say that I did! There are many different ways to make these so there is one style to fit your purposes.They can be formatted to vertical or horizontal, all even, staggered edges, with a pocket, etc. Decorating is another varied technique. Do as much or little as you wish with whatever supplies you desire. If you have an envelope board, give these cards a try.

Ephesians 1:3 NIV

[Spiritual Blessings in Christ]" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
We have so much to be thankful for that we are blessed with even though we may be going through rough times. God is still in control and blessing us. Jesus gives us the hope of the future. The Holy Spirit gives us encouragement. 
Wishing you many autumn blessings today!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Switching seasons

Hi bloggers,

By the calendar, summer is over, schools have resumed and fall schedules are starting to begin. Summer camps are a lovely memory and new experiences in fall programs are anticipated. Churches are gearing up for the weekly youth activities which is a very important aspect to ministering to the children and young people. Here the weather doesn't know that summer is supposed to be over as the forecast for our temps. today are to be around 100 degrees, also hot for the rest of the week. We've had some lovely thunder and lightning storms this summer, one which caused a large fire just outside of town for over a week. But God is good and no one was badly injured.

1 Peter 2:9-But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Praise God that we can be His children!

I wanted to also share some cards I've made.

The black and white one is a Twist Fold card that several people on YouTube have shown. One in particular was France Martin in her version which is a bit smaller to fit in a regular card sized envelope. The other one was one I made when playing w/ my punches.

This next photo is of the cards made at a gathering on Monday in a group that is starting up again after taking the summer off. Everyone brings a project and enough "ingredients" for each person to make that project.
As you can see, there are 6 cards, an envelope and a little apple candy holder. The part to the "apple" were cut from a Silhouette machine. Am not familiar with the workings of that particular machine, but it makes some fun things. The envelope was made using the We R Memory Keepers envelope board.

This is the day of remembrance of those who have fallen. May we never forget.
Hope all is well with my readers.
Blessings to you all.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Sketch book

Hi bloggers, There has been a request to post pictures of the sketch book I made using Kristin Werner's design. This is a place to keep record of ideas for card or layouts either one as there are both portrait and landscape formats. For directions and a downloadable page insert, visit Kristin's blog on Feb. 20, 2010.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Cards created

Greetings bloggers, I hope you are having a great week. As usual in this part of the country, summer is very evident w/ the higher temps. Makes us glad of the cold in winter, yea right!! Anyway there are a few cards I would like to post. The MOJO Monday blog is one I take a look at for card sketches. They have a new one each Monday. If you are ever in need of a design, check them out. The first two cards are taken from MOJO 305 sketch.




The next two cards are ones that I was experimenting with what I had.


The last one is one I made at a friend's house.


Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name (Heb. 13:15).
Praise His name!!
Have a great day.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
– Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)
 Keep moving ahead, looking forward and to God for guidance. 

Friday, July 19, 2013

2 Samuel 7:29
"Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever." 
It is good to give the credit to where the credit is due: to God Who is our provider. Give Him the thanks and He will bless. Worship Him this weekend with a sincere heart.
 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Happy Thursday,
Almost through another week. Feeling lots like summer with the usual July heat, keeps us busy watering, etc. Love the flowers all in bloom.
I have been asked to post some  of my cards so will put up some pictures of some I have on hand. The pictures are usually taken right before I send them off or give them to the recipient so their name is also in the picture for ID. So found some that aren't labeled yet.



 Some were made with other ladies and some on my own. The bottom picture is of 2 cards I made with 2 other ladies so I do not have all the components and tools with which to make these. That is the fun part of sharing with others. It also increases your ability to create something different from what you would normally do.

Another organization idea that I have been doing is to make a sample of my punches, embossing folders, dies & inks so that I don't buy a duplicate. Since I don't have many, this doesn't make a very big book so easy to take when shopping.




Hope this is an inspiration for you. Getting to "play" with paper with my friends and make fun things is a blessing. Hope you have a blessing today.