Friday, January 25, 2013

The third set of greeting cards I did from a kit last weekend was Bo Bunny's Cambridge. This is one of the easier kits -- all card stock is pre-printed and pre-folded. Envelopes included. You punch out the die-cut paper and die-cut chipboard and match them up with the cards. Rub-on sentiments included. Just follow the instructions, and you are finished in no time -- great for one of those no-brainer days.









Of course, with ANY greeting card kit, you can embellish any way you wish -- inking cardstock and/or die-cut edges, adding brads, bling, ribbons/twine, or anything else you wish (or subtract to detract from) the card.  Anything you want to make the cards fitting for your tastes and purposes.  The main idea with card kits is to have fun!


Since today is Friday, I will add in the last of the cards I made last weekend.  

I had bought these foil thingy-ies earlier last year, but hadn't the foggiest idea what to do with them. I bought them because I liked the designs.  The past several weeks, I had been thinking about them and possibilities.  So, last Monday (holiday here in the US), I got one set out and started really looking at them.  You know, we really should pay more attention to the packaging when we purchase things that catch our eye!  The packaging told me exactly what these shiny foil things were -- they are so cool!  See photo below (here again, a slideshow feature would be great):

These are 2-D foil Birds and Flowers Gallery Decoupage by dufex limited. Each item is punched out of the backing sheet and adhered on top of each other with adhesive squares. This one is Hummingbirds and Flowers. With some of the birds, there are three levels.
Another view.


Blue Jays and Flowers.  Again, 3 levels from the base. Even the flowers have a second level. 



You can see the multiple layers on these birds (Juncos?) and Lilacs.
  
 Top view. The lighting I used still shows the layers.

These designs are too large for greeting cards -- they are 7½ inches long.  Ideas?  I guess I could frame them.


I had so much fun with the birds, I decided to work on the Butterflies package.
The Butterflies are much smaller, so I was able to use them on greeting cards.  Here is the first completed Butterflies 2-D foil decoupage card (there are 2 sets in each package).  I used background and layered paper from the Life's Journey designer paper pack by K&Company.  Added on a light pink ribbon, and done.  Didn't want to do too much to the card for fear of detracting from the butterflies.




Side view of the Butterflies.  Look at the layers!

 Another view.
 And a close-up of the view from the front.  Again, very enjoyable to put these together and fairly easy. 




Here is the second set of Butterflies from this kit.  I used a single sheet of paper from the Glitz Pack by Afternoon Muse for the background paper, added a green ribbon, and Blue and Green Rhinestones from Kaiser Scrapbook, and done.  

Again, these Butterflies have multiple layers. Notice the wings on the top layer of the Butterflies.

And a side view.  For this one, I just put a little sliver of mounting square under the top two Butterflies bodies and then folded the wings up slightly for a different effect.  Very cute!


I have several more kits -- 2 different Sailing Ships and one on Horses, and will enjoy working with them.  They are all the perfect size for a greeting card.

I picked up these foil decoupage kits at Urban Scrapbooking in Edmonds, Washington.  I believe she still has some in stock if you want to try your hand.  They are fun!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

We are still discussing Greeting Card kits and the variety that are available.  This set is Card Making for Dummies South Seas kit by Creative Imaginations.  Now, I'm no "dummy" as I've been doing cards since 1993.  But you never know what new tips you can learn from a card kit.  Besides, I liked the designs of this kit and knew I would use some of the cards this year.

For this 10-card set, they provided all the printed cardstock prefolded. You punched out die-cut paper trim/matts and die-cut chipboard. Some kits will have the die-cuts and other bling numbered. I will match up the cardstock, envelope and numbered die-cuts, bling, etc., and have them all ready to go so I just go down the line making the cards. Simple, and less messy.  This kit did not provide adhesive, but did provide a set of rhinestones used on the cards.  No punching, cutting, trimming or ribbons -- but the layouts are pretty cool and I can use some of these ideas on my own cards.

 











I like this 4 seashells tile design.  I really need to use this layout in my own cards.

Come back tomorrow -- I still have two more sets of greeting cards that I did this past weekend to post!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

My sister got me started using Copic Markers last year. Do you use Copics? There is a color chart of them on-line: 

http://www.copicmarker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/358_Color_Family_Chart2.pdf 

Previously, I posted the link to a blank Copic marker chart so you could color in each matching number as you buy your Copics. This chart gives you all the colors for easy reference. Unfortunately, we cannot pin it (Pinterest).  I am listed on Pinterest under Carol Edholm.


I have a wide variety of designers and manufacturers of scrapbooking papers and bling that I enjoy. Today, I want to tell you about one of my huge favorites -- Teresa Collins. My husband and I were first introduced to her line about 5 years ago. We took a travel journal class at one of our local scrapbooking stores (unfortunately, this store has since closed as the owners retired and did not have a buyer).  The kit we used was a Teresa Collins kit. Loved it!  So much so that we bought the Bind-It-All machine, and keep a stock of book covers and binding wire on hand so we can do more travelogues.  I am putting together a scrapbook from when my husband fell seriously ill 18 months ago, with a lengthy hospital stay and his recovery.  I am putting together a book of my 50th Birthday  last year -- party at the local zoo (you saw the handmade invitations last year), friends and family coming in for visits after, and oh so much fun (and very little work done) for a month!  Over the years, we've done travelogues to Kansas (2008 -- college graduation gift a 12 X 12" scrapbook of her life from birth to this college graduation) and two small vacations in 2009 (Yakima and Sequim, Washington) -- these were small travelogues (5 X 7" books).  Our vacation in 2010 to Canada was a large 12 X 12" travelogue.  These are loads of fun to do! We are currently working on gathering material for a travelogue for our Alaskan Cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary in 2014.

Keith and I took another class from Teresa Collins herself in August 2010.  She is an entertaining teacher and she clearly loves her work. We took the class at Benjamin Franklin in Bonney Lake, Washington (about an hour's drive south of our home).  I even won a door prize!  She did another class at BF a couple of months ago, but we were not able to attend; her classes sold out quickly.  If you have a chance to take a class from Teresa, do so -- you will not regret it.  This Bonney Lake craft store is well stocked with Teresa Collins supplies, so we make a trip down there 1 - 2 times a year just so I can get my Teresa Collins fix (and my husband is just as bad as I am in picking up items)!


The college graduate with 3 of her buddies (she is second from right)!

 A page in the travelogue with the signatures of the Frontier flight crew, including the Pilot and Co-Pilot. They all enjoyed signing!

Erin with her 12 X 12 Life Album. She loved it -- and had forgotten about some of the fun events the photos showed.  Isn't that the purpose of these albums?


Another store I love to visit is Scrapbook Nook in Kent, Washington.  We only get down there once or twice a year.  They used to be well stocked with Teresa Collins goodies, but the past two times we visited (last spring and this past weekend), their stock was pretty weak in this area.  However, if you are a big Bo Bunny fan, they have loads of her goodies!  When we visited this past weekend, we picked up what we could of Teresa Collins, a few items of Tim Holtz and several more items from the Bo Bunny line. Could have spent way more dollars, but we are trying hard to stick to a budget (so we can go on our cruise next year).   When you are in the area, be sure to stop in at Scrapbook Nook -- tons of goodies to take home!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

You all know I enjoy doing card kits when I don't feel up to being creative, or just feel plain tired.  Over time, when I am at scrapbooking stores, I always check out their supply of card making kits, and pick up the ones that appeal to me and can use the cards throughout the year.  When I get in the mood, I pull out a kit and go to work.  (This is also great for when I need a quick card for a birthday I almost forgot!)

This past weekend, I pulled out the Anna Griffin Birthday Floral and Butterflies card kit (Think I bout it a year or so ago.).  It contains 15 cards.  They are shown below -- I cannot find a way to do a slideshow feature on this blog site.

If you do card kits, you already know that each card kit is different, depending on the manufacturer.  This is my first Anna Griffin.  The kit contained all folded cards with matching envelopes.  There were 15 papers to put on front of cards and another 15 smaller papers if you wanted to mat.  There were 20 foil stamped card sentiments (all birthday), bows in pink, ivory and gold satin (already made -- yeah!), and foam squares.  I only needed to punch out the 30 two-layer die-cut roses and butterflies.  There were no instructions on how to put the cards together, so my creative juices had to wake up anyway!

Below are my 15 cards (sorry about the lighting).  Enjoy!

















Even though the lighting is not very good for these cards, it shows great shadows so you can see the 2-D effect.

Some of our friends and family members will be the lucky recipients of these cards over the next year or two.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

I love to use my tri-fold greeting card design for special events. Today's tri-fold card is a wedding card for a lovely young lady in India and her soon-to-be husband.

Front of card with counted cross stitch Rose. Used some metallic red and green in outline and stitching (light green).  Standard dark red brad and Gold Kaiserscrapbook Rhinestones.


Close-up of Rose stitching.


Inside front flap of tri-fold card. Small red Rose (close-up below). Stock flowers with Silver Hero Arts Gemstones glued in center of each. The chipboard "Always and Forever" sentiment is from Narratives by Creative Imaginations. The tri-fold card stock is red; did not put additional background paper on this side.


Close-up of small Red Rose. Again, used DMC Metallic red and green threads for outline and design enhancement.


Second flap of tri-fold card. Used Doves in Double Hearts stickers (Dazzles) from Best Creation. I used copic markers for coloring. The corner Dazzles are from Wedding & Anniversary Dazzles set by Hot Off the Press. Stock pale pink shimmer ribbon tied in a bow. Sentiment is from Love rub-on "quote stack" by DCWV.  If you cannot read it, it says "Love is the Golden Thread that Ties our Hearts and Souls Together" [Mother Teresa]. I edged this piece with Ice Jade ink from Color Box chalk Cat's Eye ink set.


Inside the second flap:  A third counted cross stitch Rose, Yellow this time. Still used DMC Metallic Pink for outline. The Dazzles border and roses are from the two above mentioned Dazzles/stickers sets.


Close-up of Yellow Rose.

 

Center of tri-fold wedding card.  Sentiments are from Cardmarker's Love Card Quotes by Hot Off the Press.  "Only from the heart can you touch the sky. Rumi" and "with best wishes on your wedding day." I used Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink by Tim Holtz around each sentiment.

All counted cross stitch Roses were stitched with DMC cotton floss and DMC Metallic thread on 14 count light green aida.  The Rose designs are from the Jeanette Crews Designs, One Nighters, 44 Roses chart.  I've used many of these roses in various special occasion cards, and they have all made the card look great!

All paper used on this tri-fold wedding card are from the 6 X 6.75 inch "Devotion": Iron Orchid designs paper pad by Creative Imaginations.