Evergreen Version One

It is getting to be that time of year that I am starting to think about Christmas cards.  I enjoy this process of making them and consider a hand made card a mini gift to each person.  My mom ordered the stamp set Evergreen from the holiday catalog and until it makes it to her house I thought I would play with it a little bit.  Turns out this won't be my card this year but I wanted to show you 2 versions of Christmas cards made with the Evergreen set.

The base is just a standard premade kraft card base.  The tree is a 2 step stamp.  I stamped it in gumball green on very vanilla.  The overstamp is with SU shimmer paint.  The DSP is from the holiday catalog as well it is Festival of Prints.  I love this DSP and I almost overlooked it on page 20.  It is 48 small sheets (6 1/2 by 4 1/2") for only 6.95.  Do you have DSP anxiety?  Sometimes I do....you know that feeling the first time you cut into that beautiful huge 12 x 12 sheet.  These little beauties are great...almost like using up scraps.
I matted the tree in cherry cobbler and tied some baker's twine with a mini jingle bell (from last year's catalog).  The word Joy is cut out on the big shot with the joyful sizzlit I got on the SU clearance rack.
I used the small star from the set in versamark to add a little something  to the bottom of the card.
I hope you enjoy this little card and maybe get some inspiration.  CASEing makes the holidays easier!

Happy Birthday Gwen

Here is another October birthday card.  This one is for the Queen of crafting my friend Gwen.  Seriously Gwen and I have attempted just about every craft together....our motto "we can make that".  There are a few  crafts we won't try a second time....like mosaic tiling a cement bench.  Gwen taught me how to crochet and even flew in to help me with a project one time.  Can you tell how much I miss her?
I hope...wait I know she will enjoy this card and the cute nugget jar (check out this video from Kay Kalthoff) to make one for yourself.  I had to use sticky strip instead of glue dots but your patience will pay off.
Another twisted card with the Orchard Harvest DSP and Perfectly Preserved stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today

Pumpkins moving forward birthday for Holly

Another birthday-this time my cousin.  I am so in love with the SU stamp set Moving Forward.   This card took inspiration from this card on SCS.  The pumpkin is from the loaded with love accessories.  Colors are soft suede, old olive, pumpkin pie and rich razelberry.  Another benefit of this stamp set is that $3 is donated to the Ronald McDonald House with every set purchased.  This little bike reminds me a little of my new bike which has a cute basket on the front.  Have a great day that hopefully involves some stamping!

Party this Disney Way for Owen

It has been a wonderful way of life as we travel with the military.  In each place we make fantastic friends but sadly we must also move on.  In a digital age it is much easier to keep in touch but nothing beats getting a card in the mail to remind special friends they are not far from your thoughts.  This card is for my son's BFF at our last base.  For his birthday the family went on a Disney cruise...something we has on our wish list for this year also but a change in assignment came along first.  I did some searching for Disney on SCS since I don't have a Disney stamp I used color and punch art to convey the Disney idea.  Owen is 5 so he got 5 crisp ones on the inside.  The stamp set used is Party This Way.  Colors are real red, daffodil delight and basic black.
I only meant to add one punch art Mickey balloon but......wouldn't you know after i heat embossed the black balloon I messed it up....so never fear...we all make mistakes and that it what inspires even more creativity...trying to hide a mess up.  Minnie's bow is 2 hearts from the Owl punch and some bling.
I hope you enjoy this card.  I know a lot of people with Oct. birthdays so check back tomorrow for another b-day card.

twisted card tutorial

I  first saw this video on the SU demo website but it is also available on You Tube.  Thanks so much to Kelly Gettelfinger for this great video and card.  I've made 3 so far and learned a few lessons along the way.

When I cut the base CS I cut it and do NOT pick it up....simply rotate to score.   When I cut the DSP I have the CS piece close by for reference....remember to score it in the same way as the CS (i.e.  top right to bottom left).  Whichever pattern is on TOP will be the one that is the pattern for the larger piece.  If you are using a DSP with a definite direction you may want to take a little time to make a pattern piece of extra CS to help cut it out.  I hope by watching the video and taking these hints to your craft table you will have great success with this fun card.

Here is an example of a card I made using the  template pieces.  Because this paper was directional (not SU).  I wanted it to be straight so I just traced it and cut it out.  This is a card for a precious little boy Nathan who I learned about on Catherine Pooler's blog.  He is not much younger than my little guy and is fighting cancer by welcoming the spirit of Christmas early.  If you have a chance send him a Christmas card to brighten his day.  Thanks for stopping by.  I have been busy creating so keep checking back to see what's new on my craft desk.

SUO challenge entry

A while back I saw a great idea on Heather Summers blog for making clouds.  I made a tag similar to this not long ago for a boy baby gift and wanted to make an improved version with some current product.   The challenge this week on SUO challenges to make something with texture.  I love the texture of this tag with the chevron embossing folder, the sewing and the dimensional nature of the clouds and the sun.  The sun uses the new smaller scalloped circle from the holiday catalog.  I hope you enjoy it and make sure to leave a comment if you have any questions.

thanks for looking

Fabric Gift card holder tutorial

Hi everyone-thank you so much for your interest in my little project.  I made another and took pictures along the way.  With making a second one I worked out a few bugs and hope you will enjoy making some of these for your holidays.  If you are a beginning sewer don't worry-I'm no expert.  And for you that are experienced-please don't laugh-remember you were a beginner at some time too :)
The pictures are pretty self explanatory but here are the basic steps.
1.  Cut 2 pieces of fabric and one piece of batting.
2.  Pre-sew your ric-rac trim and the hair band closure to one piece of fabric.
HINT- whatever hangs over the edge above the fabric will end up INSIDE the piece.  Whatever is below the top edge will be on the OUTSIDE
3.  Sew the layers together rights sides together with batting on top.  I did a zig zag then a straight stitch on the inside of that
HINT -leave a small opening on the side to be able to turn it tight side out
4.  turn right side out and top stitch around to close the opening.
5.  turn up a small amount to make the pocket and top stitch that

6.  sew on the button and finish with a 1/2" circle of DSP.

Have fun with it and remember you can click on any photo to make it larger.  I'm posting one more project today and then I'll be back tomorrow with the twisted card tutorial/hints for success.
Have a great day!