Today’s cards (5-30)

Hi all!

Well, I’m at the end of the train this month for GCD Studios.

Heidi’s been challenging the design team all month on the GCD Studios blog to make something inspired by these fun dolls.

My first thought was to make a cute nesting doll card. That seemed a little too obvious so I decided instead to make  nested cards. I’d somehow incorporate a smaller, blank card onto a larger card. That way, the recipient will receive a card from me, as well as a blank card that she can give to someone else.

I ended up making two nested cards.

Here’s my first attempt.

The small panel with the butterfly is the mini card. The yellow patterned paper from Melody Ross’ Artsy Urban collection acts like a pocket. I only adhered adhesive on three sides of it so the little card could be slid out.

And here’s my second attempt.

The flower panel here is the second card.

Rather than putting a sentiment inside the big card, I put a sentiment inside the mini card. It serves a dual purpose, working as a sentiment for the recipient of the little card as well as the big card.

With this one, I adhered the mini card with a small piece of two-way tape. The recipient just has to pull the mini card off of the big card.

That’s all for now.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back again soon.

Card Creations Blog Hop

Hi all!

It is that time of the year again. The latest installment of Card Creations from Paper Crafts magazine is here.

Volume 8 to be exact.

And I am thrilled today to be tvaking part in the Top Ten Blog Hop to celebrate the issue’s release.

I’ve got a card to share with you, but let’s first talk about the issue.

If you don’t have the issue yet, stop. Run. Get yourself a copy of it. If you can’t find it at your local craft or book store, you can find it here in the Paper Crafts and Creating Keepsakes store.

The issue is jam packed with cards for nearly every occasion. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, friends, you name it. It is one of my favorite issues each year. I love it even more this year. That’s because everything is FRESH and all new. Not a single project in it appeared online before the issue came out. Not a single one was on a blog. Not a single one in an gallery. I can honestly tell you guys that this isssue with all that freshness and newness truly inspired me. I found so many of the projects swoonworthy.

Ok, ok, so you get the point. Enough gushing about the issue.

For today’s hop, Cath and the rest of the Paper Crafts gang really outdid themselves. They picked 11 of the hottest collections from CHA-Winter and paired the gals on the hop with them.

And, hee hee hee (imagine that in an evil, happy, giggly kind of way), duddddde. I got paired with Jenni Bowlin and got to use her Homespun collection. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Here’s what I came up with.

Every single ounce of the patterned paper here is from Jenni Bowlin’s Homespun collection. The butterflies are also from her. The letters are from Doodlebug.

What more can I say but that I love those papers? So. Dang. Pretty!

Leave a comment on my post here today and you’ll be entered in a drawing through Moxie Fab World to win Jenni Bowlin’s Homespun collection, as well the other 10 collections that Cath and the rest of the Paper Crafts crew love.

Be sure to hit the blogs of the other gals on the hop to see who they were paired with and what they have done with the goods. They are:

Rae

Betsy

Teri (that’s me!)

Jess  

Maile

Kim H.

Latisha

Julie

Maren

Kim K.

Debbie

Also, be sure to leave a comment for Cath on Moxie Fab World. Cath will take all the comments left on all the blog stops (as well as Moxie Fab World) and pick one winner at random to win all 11 of the collections. Yes, all of them. Say you hit every blog and leave a comment, you’ll be entered in the drawing 12 times.

Comments will be accepted until midnight on Sunday, May 30. The winner will be posted on Tuesday on Moxie Fab World. The winner must contact Cath via email through the Moxie Fab World blog.

Wishing you all the best of luck.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Playing with Paint challenge (5-27)

Hi all!

I thought I would do things a little different around here today.

Yes, there will be a card. But let’s first talk challenge.

I want to challenge each and every one of you to grab a bottle of paint and somehow use it on a card or another paper crafting project.

It always excites me when I post something and see so many of you want to play. Yes, guys, I really am a geek like that. 😉 So yesterday, I was pretty much over the moon when many of you commented on my post on the Paper Crafts blog about Faux Stitching with Paint, saying that you were going to try it.

I thought I would sweeten the deal to get you to do it and throw out this paint using challenge to you. You have until midnight E.S.T. on June 2nd to post a project using paint on it in some way. Share a link here so I can check it out and add your name to my list.

You can enter as many projects as you want. I’ll write your name down once for every project you make with paint. So, yeah, the more projects you make, the more chances you have to win.

After the deadline passes, I will pick someone at random to receive a packet of goodies.

And, remember, you just have to use paint. If faux stitching with paint is not your thing, I challenge you to use paint in some other way. Consider painting letter stickers, swishing paint on the edges of your project, stamping with paint or even painting an entire piece of cardstock.

You can also try out this cool masking technique I used on today’s card.

Hee hee, meet today’s card. 😉

And here’s how I did.

1. I started with a sheet of letter stickers and a piece of cardstock. (You’ll notice I am using different letters for show here.) I applied them to the piece of cardstock.

2. I brushed paint liberally all over the cardstock, including over the letter stickers.

3. I removed the letter stickers so the white part was exposed. Pretty cool result.

Ok, so that is all for now.

Go play! Have some fun. Get painty fingers! 🙂

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Go-to Challenge #2 (5-26)

Howdy all!

How is your day going?

I have two cards to share with you today. I know. You have been waiting, right? (Kidding.)

Anyway, meet #1.

And meet #2.

Both use a whole lotta products from Little Yellow Bicycle.  Oh la la. So many fun things from them.

Myself and the rest of the Go-to-Gals decided this month to use their products for our Go-to Challenge #2. In case you are just tuning in, we recently started doing a monthly challenge amongst the six of us to use a product we love and go to town with it. We post the challenge results on the last Wednesday of the month.

Click on the blogs of the other Go-to-Gals to see what they came up with this time:

Maren

Kim K.

Kim H.

Jess

Betsy

I can hardly wait to see what the gang came up with.

By the way, I’m over on the Paper Crafts Connection blog today showing off the faux stitching with paint technique I used on my XOXO Love Tree card in from the new issue of Card Creations 8. Believe me when I say that it’s like crazy easy to do. 😉

Leave a comment over on the Paper Crafts blog , and you might win some fun paints to play with at home.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today’s card (5-25)

Hi all!

Dum. Dum. Dummmmmmmm.

Meet today’s card.

This one features woodgrain stickers from Studio Calico. The Reminisce sticker is from them, too.

The “happy birthday” strips were created with a stamp from Papertrey Ink’s Birthday Basics set. And the orange strips are tape from Pink Paislee.

The mustard looking  jute is from the stash of mine.

That’s all I have for ya. Be back tomorrow.

Thanks for taking peek.

By the way, check out the Paper Crafts  Connection and Moxie Fab World blogs this week. The gals (and Matt) are celebrating the release of Card Creations 8 all week long with giveaways and peeks from the issue. I’ll be joining the fun on Wednesday on the Paper Crafts Connection blog. 😉 Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Today’s card and a funky flowers tutorial (5-23)

Hi all!

Meet today’s card.

The green patterned paper is from Jillibean Soup. The sentiment is  a stamp from Papertrey Ink. And the flowers are my own funky little creation.

Here’s how I made them:

1. Cut a long strip of fabric to start with. This fabric here is just a fat quarter folded over and cut.

2. Rolled the fabric repeatedly in a circle and then placed it on a circle cut from cardstock.

3. Cut a really long piece of string and started wrapping it over and over around the fabric circle, pulling it tightly as I went. When finished, I tied it in the back.

4. Finished off the flowers with leaves cut from cardstock and with buttons. I threaded the buttons ahead of time and used Glue Dots to anchor the buttons down.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back later.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today’s card (5-18)

Hello all!

What’s up?

I have one card for you today so I invite to sit back and take a peek.

Meet today’s card.

Seems to be my week of playing along with challenges. The Phone Book challenge from Jess yesterday. The Fun with Fabric one on Moxie Fab World today.
I don’t always have time to play, but I’ve been in serious need of a creative shot in the arm. Both have provided just what the creative doctor ordered.

I again rolled the flowers here from fabric scraps. The ruffles were also creative with fabric scraps.

The patterned paper, scalloped border and sentiment label (with sticker on top) are from Studio Calico. The pearls and the leaves (plucked off of paper flowers) are from Zva Creative.

That’s all for now. Be back tomorrow.

Hope your day is filled with goodness.

Today’s card (5-17)

Hello all!

Meet today’s card.

I owe this one to the one and only  J. Wit. and her phone book challenge.

I rolled the flower here myself with a long scrap of fabric. I used a circle punch as the flower’s base. I lathered it up with a whole lot of adhesive and then rolled the fabric right onto it.

The patterned papers here are from Studio Calico. The words are from Technique Tuesday’s Mama= Love set by Ali Edwards. And the phone book pages are from an old phone book. 😉

That’s all for now so I’ll be back later.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to stop by.

Publishing post follow-up (5-16)

Hi all!

I wanted to do answer a few questions that stemmed from my “More publishing tips: What not to do (5-5)” post.

Sara asked:

I am wondering if you could answer one more question. If you’re project is chosen to be published, do you then send in the original? And if so, do you receive your original back in the mail after it’s been photographed for the magazine. Thanks for your help!

Hi Sara! Yes. Once your project is accepted, Paper Crafts will ask you to send in the original project. The editors always send acceptance letters. In them, they ask you to mark your accepted project with Y to return it or N to not return it. If you choose for them not to return it, they will send it on to some worthy cause (like Operation Write Home). In some cases, they also give projects away on their blog. By the way, you’ll receive a copy of the magazine your project is published in no matter what.

Other magazines have different policies. Some require you to send postage and envelopes to return your projects. Some do not them. It’s best to check with them before submitting if you want your project back.

Jann asked:

If a card refuses to stay propped up (where the crease is at the top opposed to the side) what do you recommend to help it stay propped for a photo?

Aww. This is a problem I have faced many times.

One thing that has worked for me is to place a candle votive cup behind it. That sometimes helps. If that doesn’t work, I’ve been known to slap on a small piece of HandiTak between the card and the votive cup. It will usually hold the card in place long enough to get a picture.

Jann also asked:

Another question is what size card do you recommend creating for photo submissions? (inch-wise dimensions, like 3×5, 4×5.5″?)

Any size you can dream up. The big thing is being able to resize the picture so that no side is bigger than 550 pixels when you submit.

The cards I submit most often are 3 ¾” or 4” squares, 5 ½” x 4 ½” (or vice versa) and 3 3/8” x 5 1/2”. That said, I’ve submitted cards much bigger and much smaller before.

Andie asked:

So hey, when are you going to turn your handwriting into a font…

No plans at this time for this chicken scratcher.

Charlene asked:

This is priceless!! What about ChiaPoms in our pics? That’s allowed right??

LOL! Probably not a good idea, despite how gosh dang cute our pups are.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Please, if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m happy to try to help.

Today’s card (5-15)

Howdy!

Hope you all are off to a pleasant weekend.

I have just one card to share with you today so meet today’s card.

This is one I whipped together last week.

I seem to really have an interest in blue houndstooth prints right now. This one here is actually paper, unlike the blue houndstooth in yesterday’s post. That one was on a clear bag.

Anyway, the tag and papers are from GCD Studios. The scalloped border is, too. The string and eyelets are from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be back tomorrow.