Card Hop: Happy Thoughts

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique.  We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

June‘s hop is devoted to basic card folds; featuring drapery/curtain fold, peek-a-boo fold or double-z gate-fold.  And we’re adding a twist of using double-sided paper.   We hope this gives you lots of ideas and will inspire you to try these card folds yourself…and pull out that double-sided paper as well!    If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown
• May-World of Watercolors

We have an amazing sponsor this month, Candy Spiegel.

Please take a moment to check out all the crafty goodness on her blog, Candy Scraps.

And the awesome prize this month is four stencils from Elizabeth Craft Designs:

We  really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today.  While you are encouraged to comment at any time, only comments received by  Friday, June 23, 2017 at 8:00pm (EST) will be eligible to win.   The winner will be announced on Sunday,  June 25, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday.

And speaking of winners, the lucky hopper from last month is SUSAN ELIOT; picked by Random Name Picker.  Congratulations, Susan!  Please get in touch with last month’s sponsor, Jodie Park, to claim your prize.

You should  have arrived here from Jodie’s Blog. If you’re visiting  here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don’t miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on  each blog.

 

Flamingos always make me smile, so I thought this would be the perfect card to cheer someone.

I started by cutting black cardstock 4 1/4 x11 and scoring it at the 5 1/2 mark. Then I cut flamingo paper (by Doodlebug) 4 1/8 x 5 3/8.

I used a centering ruler (by Tim Holtz) to find the center on the side of the paper and marked it with a pencil.

Then I cut a slit at the mark about 1 1/2″ into the paper, as shown. Then, fold each corner back.

I added flamingo brads a friend gave me and then adhered it to the black card base.

Finally, I stamped “Happy Thoughts” to the front and it’s ready to send!

Now  you’re off to visit with Debbie. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by.  See you next month with another technique!

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• Jearise
• Amanda
• Card A Day Challenge Team
• Lisa Frederick
• Sandy Bell Hentzel
• Jodie Park
• Candy Spiegel
• Debbie Rumrill Bonczek

A Handmade Christmas

When my kids were little, I started a tradition of making them something special that was just from me. When I married my husband, I extended the tradition to include him. This year, I added my son’s fiance to my list.

Over the years, I have made my children personalized ornaments, albums, mirrors, calendars, posters, mugs, frames and more — all featuring photos I have taken. This year, I wanted to do something a little different. Since I am learning how to sew, I decided to make them each something from fabric.

For my son, I cut up a sweater I found at Goodwill featuring embroidered hula girls. It is so him. But, since it was a girl’s sweater, I added it to a pillow for his couch. He loved the fabric I chose and didn’t notice the imperfections in the sewing!

I figured my daughter has not gotten a new pillow since long before she moved out of our house four years ago (I was right, by the way). So I bought her a new pillow and made her a super-soft flannel pillowcase to go with it. It was a tough project … I waited in line for 2 hours to get the fabric on sale on Black Friday — only to discover that it would not work for the pillow. So, I went back to the store and started over. The pillowcase was supposed to take an hour to sew … it took me six hours, including a few times of ripping out the seams and starting over. The good news is she loved it and I now know how to do a French seam!

My future daughter-in-law received a sewing machine for Christmas, so I made her a mason jar pin cushion to go with it and filled the jar with a variety of twines, ribbons, fibers and lace. Although this is a fabric project, I actually used paper-crafting supplies to make it. Check back on Thursday for a tutorial of this project.

But, it would not be Christmas without at least one paper-crafting gift … so I made my husband a calendar on a clip board. This is a brand-new system from Doodlebug. They come in a rainbow of colors, but I kept this one simple in black and white for him. (He had been wanting a clipboard to provide a smooth surface to write on on his desk. I thought this would be perfect.) I included all of the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries he needed to know, along with some of the crops I will be attending, hunting seasons and gun shows in the area.

It was a wonderful Christmas with my kids and their significant others. We had tons of presents, plenty of Mexican food and lots of laughs.

The Foxes of Autumn

I have a thing for foxes lately. I cannot tell you why or what caused it, but I am suddenly really into foxes.

So, when I my challenge for my card swap club was to make an autumn card, I took this adorable paper from Doodlebug and ran with it …

The papers are from Doodlebug’s Friendly Forest collection. I also wanted to use the Mini Doodle-Pops 3D Stickers, as well. Since they come with four different animals in each package, I made four slightly different cards.

I used dies from Tim Holtz to create the postage stamp behind the animals and the leaves. And the Hellos are dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

What do you think?

Celebrate Fall

Welcome Fall! I love fall. It is one of my favorite times of year. I love those crisp, cool evenings and mild, sunny days. The sky seems bluer and the sun seems brighter in the fall. And then Mother Nature offers a generous treat as leaves turn orange, yellow and red. It is beautiful!

So, when we were asked to make a fall project for this month’s Elizabeth Crafts Designs’ Designers Challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to bring some of those fall colors into my house with a banner.

This banner uses BRAND-NEW TAG DIES from Elizabeth Crafts Designs. The dies come in pieces so you can make dozens of different tags out of the same set of dies. I chose to use Tags & More 3 — Leaves to make the banner.

The banners are easy to use and I wanted to give you step-by-step directions to show you how. 1. Cut cardstock 4×5″. Tape outer die onto cardstock with removable tape (I use Washi Tape). Run it through die-cutter. 2. Remove first die and lay on leaves die — matching holes and making sure it is even. Tape it down and die cut it. 3. Use scissors to trim the edge of the die-cut portion off. Then use a paper trimmer to make the rest of the tag the same width. With this system, the tag can be any length.

4. Use the circle die (included in the package) to cut holes on each side of the tags. This is where they will attach to each other.

5. To create a back panel to provide color behind the leaves, cut a piece of cardstock (or paper) 4×2″. Tape the curved die and die cut it. Then adhere it to the back of the tags.

6. Use a variety of colors and patterns to repeat the tags, so they look like this. (I used paper from Doodlebug’s new fall line Friendly Forest).

7. Cut out a variety of photo corners, flowers and leaves from the die set and adhere as shown. I also added some strips of paper. Coat fall Peel-Offs with Elizabeth Craft Designs Silk Microfine Glitter and color with Copics. Cut out designs and adhere as shown.

8. I painted chipboard letters and included those, as well. I used brads to cover the hole in the flowers, but you could also paper or a gem.

9. Tie tulle (May Arts) to first and last tags at the top. Also use it to connect each of the tags together.

10. I decided to go back to my finished banner and add hangers. I used a Crop-A-Dile and decorative eyelet, but you could also use the circle die to make the holes, if you did it before the tags were all decorated. Then, attach twine (May Arts) to the tags to serve as hangers.

Here’s another look at my completed banner … I love it!

 

The Harvest

I love Stampavie stamps … especially those by Sarah Kay.

For this one, I colored in Copics and then layered it on papers by Little Yellow Bicycle (yellow) and Doodlebug (browns).

I cut out a mini tag (Lifestyle Crafts) and added a ladybug stamp by Hero Arts. I used a bit of Distress Ink and some fiber from We R Memory Keepers and attached with a 3D dot.