Get Well Card Revisited

I am truly losing my mind I guess.  I shared the card I am going to talk about today back in 2012 but apparently did not explain all the instructions for it.  I described the background and the base card but did not put the instructions for the punch art character on it.  Then at the beginning of July, I posted the card again to represent the illness that was running through my family.  Thanks to one of my followers, it was brought to my attention that I failed to provide instructions on how to make him.  So today, I am going to provide them.  Now I am not going to go through the base card and the background or greeting.  I am just doing the punch art instructions.  Let me show you the card first, then we will focus on the punch art.

 

Here is the sad little sick puppy once again.  He is resting on his bed, holding onto his tissue.  This one just tugs at my heart.  It is so sweet!!  Anyway, let's just focus on the doggy.

 

Here is a closer look at him.  Below you will find the instructions for him.

1 3/8" Circle for head

Wide Oval for body

3/4" Circle for the paws (trim away 1/4 of the bottom and round out edges)

Modern Label for legs and feet (cut one label in half and round one edge of each piece for the haunches, punch out 2 labels and cut 1/3 off of each label and round out edges for each foot)

small heart from the retired Heart to Heart for the pads of his feet

3/4" Circle for the tail (cut off 1/3 of the circle at a slight curve)

1" Circle for muzzle; attach this with a dimensional

1/2" Circle cut in half for the eyelids, 1 punched out of black and trimmed into an oval for the nose

Circle from the punch pack for the eyeballs, I also punched this in black for eyes, I just trimmed them down to the size and shape I wanted

Ears were made by punching half of the 3/4" circle (do this along the edge), then line up the 1" circle over the top of punched hole to create ear

Punch pack circle for the thermometer (cut a thin white strip for the rest of the thermometer)

1 1/4" square punch in white for the tissue (mist with water and crumple up)

Well there you have all the punches needed to make your own little doggy.  Most pieces were adhered together using a 2 way glue pen.  The muzzle was the only exception.  The completed dog was adhered to the card using dimensionals.  I hope this helps those of you who want to give him a try.  Thanks to Kim Score for teaching me how to make him originally.

Stop by tomorrow to see what I have for you next.  Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Look Familiar?

 

Does this card seem familiar to you?  I am sure if you have been following my blog for awhile you recognize this one.  It is one of the get well cards I have made and let me tell you if fits my life the past week or so.  My youngest ended up at the doctor and is being tested for strep.  We are still waiting for the test results.  Her boyfriend had an infection that caused facial swelling but he seems to be doing better now.  A good friend of ours has a daughter fighting strep throat.  She has been running fevers as high as 106 degrees!  To top it all, my hubby is have his usual sinus problems and has been in bed all weekend.  

I bet it would not surprise you to know that I have not been crafting.  I am so hoping to be on the recovery side of all these illnesses this week so I can get back into my craft room.  I did want to share this one with you again since it is probably my favorite get well card I have made to date.  

I hope to be back with a new share for you in the next day or so.  Until then, please stay well and thanks for stopping by to visit.  See you later.

A Day at the Beach? I Wish!!!

Happy Friday to you all.  We have made it through another week and into a new month.  Soon school will be out and people will be planning on taking vacations.  One popular destination is the beach.  I love the beach.  I am not big on swimming in the ocean and I absolutely cannot surf, but I do enjoy walking in the sand, especially the wet sand and splashing my feet in the water.  It has been a few years since we have visited a beach.  Perhaps if we go to California this summer to visit my hubby's dad we will get to go.

Anyway, my oldest daughter showed me a really nice picture of a pelican recently.  I guess that got me thinking about the beach and also about a punch art character I had seen made by Ellen Kemper years ago.  I decided I wanted to give Mr. Pelican a try so here is my card I came up with for you.

 

Now I could not have my pelican all alone on the beach so I wanted to give him a friend.  But before we get into how I made them, let's start with the base card.  I used Pacific Point card stock to make this.  It is cut at 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2".  I added a layer of Basic Black measuring 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  It is attached with runner adhesive.  For my final top layer, I started with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Whisper White card stock.  Using my chalks, I created a sky looking scene on this piece.  Next I took a piece of Pacific Point card stock that was 5 1/4" wide and cut 2 strips.  I made the edges of these strips wavy to make the ocean water.  The final piece added is a piece of Crumb Cake which is also 5 1/4" wide.  I tore 1 strip of this for the sand.  I used a background stamp to add texture with Soft Suede ink.  The water and sand are attached together with runner adhesive and then attached to the card with the same runner adhesive.  Now I must tell you that I wanted to add some glitter to the water and sand but I forgot to do it.  I also could not think of what greeting I wanted to use with this one so the sky area where the greeting will go is blank right now.  The white layer complete with water and sand is attached to the base card using runner adhesive.

 

Let's talk about Mr. Lobster shall we.  He is fairly easy to make.  I used Real Red, Whisper White, and Basic Black card stock to do him.  His body is a large oval.  For the legs, I used the retired bat punch.  I punched the bat and then offset the punch and repunched it for the legs.  It works really well but you can do this with a 3/4" circle punch too.  The pinchers are a small oval that was punched and then one side was cut off.  I layered the large piece on top of the smaller cut piece and glued them so they were open.  The eyes are scraps of red.  The white of the eyes is the medium circle from the owl builder punch and the black is a 1/4" circle.  I drew on the smile and added white gel to the eyes.  All pieces were attached together using a liquid glue and the finished lobster was attached using dimensionals.

 

Mr. Pelican is also an easy character to make.  I used Whisper White, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango card stock for him.  The white pieces are all sponged using Crumb Cake ink and the Daffodil beak is edged with Daffodil Delight ink.  The beak and the body are wide ovals.  For the beak, I cut a strip off and, like the lobster, layered the small and large piece to leave it open as if he has his mouth open.  The body was punched and then tapered on one side.  The wing is a large oval.  While you cannot really see the neck, it is made using a word window.  The head was made with the retired butterfly punch.  Now if you do not have this, you can use a circle or an oval and shape it with your scissors.  I used only half of the butterfly for the head.  The eyes are a 1/4" circle punch.  The legs were made using the word window punch.  I punched it along the edge of the Tangerine card stock, inserting the card stock less than half way lengthwise.  The feet are from the boho blossom punch.  I used the pointy petaled flower and punched 2 of them.  They are trimmed down to make the feet.  

I hope you can understand these instructions.  I always hope to be clear but what seems to make sense to me may not to you so feel free to ask for clarification.  

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.  I hope you have fun and do something fun.  I will be back on Monday with another share for you to see.  Until then, thanks for stopping by to see me today!!

Another Easel Card For A Boy

Happy Monday to you all!!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a happy St. Patrick's Day.  I seemed to have a busy weekend.  It always seems to be busier than I expect but at least it was fun.   I did take a few minutes to craft something for you.

I had one more of my Tempting Turquoise easel cards left and I decided to complete it.  I did not decorate this one as much as some of the other ones but it is still cute. 

 

This is a photo of the card flatten to go into the envelope.  As you can see it is the oval easel card I made last week on the tutorial.  I did not want any of these to go to waste so I decided to use them.  

 

The card was themed to be for a boy.  That is one of the main reasons I did not over embellish it.  I used a stamp set called Dinoroar from Stampin' Up!  I love this set.  I wanted to do the stain glass technique on this so the dinosaurs are stamped onto acetate using StazOn Black Ink.  I then selected my glitter colors and using a liquid glue that dries clear, I added the glitter to the dinosaurs starting with my darkest color and working towards the lightest one.  I then took a piece of Whisper White card stock and used the second largest oval from the oval collection of framelits to cut an oval out.  I then used the same oval framelit on a piece of Basic Black card stock.  This time I placed the oval on it and then placed the third largest one inside of it so it would cut out a ring.  I used a little chalk on the white oval to add a hint of blue and stamped the word "roar" on it with Pacific Point ink.  I then attached the acetate to the black ring with runner adhesive and attached that to the white oval with the same runner adhesive.  The completed oval was attached to the card with runner adhesive.  

 

The greeting for the inside is also from the Dinoroar stamp set.  I stamped it in Pacific Point ink onto Whisper White card stock.  I cut it out using one of the framelits from the Apothecary framelits set.  Now I knew the framelit I was cutting it out with was a little too big so I trimmed it down.  I then sponged the edges with the Pacific Point ink.  I attached it to the inside of the card using dimensionals so that I would hold the easel up when the card is opened.

 

Finally here is the card all set up.  These dinosaurs just make me smile.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing these cards and I hope I have not bored you with them.  I shall be back tomorrow with another card to share with you all so please come back by to see me.  Thanks for dropping in today!!

Hopping into March!!!

Hi everyone and happy Tuesday.  I am amazed at how fast the year is going so far.  I also thought Easter was in April this year so imagine my surprise when I realized it is actually March 31.  I prefer holidays that always fall on the same date.  It is so much easier for me to keep track of and to plan for decorating and all kinds of activities.  Oh well.  No one asked me how the calendar should be so I guess I will just have to look every year.  Anyway, I realized I have not spent any time at all on Easter cards.  So I decided to sit down and make one to share with you today. 

 

Now I will admit this is probably not my best bunny ever but she is cute.  I started with a base card of Baja Breeze cut at 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2".  Next I cut a layer of Pink Pirouette at 4" x 5 1/4".  I ran this through my big shot using the Framed Tulip impression folder.  I attached it to the base card using runner adhesive.  It is a simple back drop for the card but works well.

 

I punched out 3 full hearts to use as balloons.  Of course you cannot really see the strings because my bunny hides them.  Two of the balloons are punched from designer series paper I bought at the local craft store.  The third on is punched out of Wisteria Wonder.  Before punching it out, I stamped my greeting onto it used a stamp set called Well Scripted.  This is a retired set but I love the lettering.  I stamped it by first inking it with VersaMark ink and then with Wisteria Wonder.  After it was stamped, I sprinkled clear embossing powder onto it and heat embossed it.  This way the greeting stands out more.   They are attached with dimensionals.

 

I had this small open area on the card front that looked a little funny so I decided to make a flower bouquet to fill it in.  I did this by first punching out green leaves from Garden Green card stock using my 2 step bird punch.  I punched 4 of the leaves and attached them to the card using my 2 way glue pen.  Next I used the scallop flower punch from the itty bitty punch pack.  I punched 5 of these out of Elegant Eggplant.  I attached these to the leaves using the liquid glue and added a small pearl to the center of each one. 

 

Finally we get to the star of out card - the bunny!!! I chose to make a white bunny by using Whisper White card stock.  I used Pretty in Pink card stock for the pink highlights and Basic Black for the eyes.  The dress is a piece of designer paper I happen to have in my stash.  The bow is made from Melon Mambo.  Now here is a list of punches to use for her:

Outer Ears - large oval punch

Inner Ears - Retired small oval punch; I brushed the edges with Pretty in Pink ink

Bow - small heart from the Retired heart to heart punch and the scallop flower from the itty bitty punch pack

Head - ornament punch

Eyes - wings from the 2 step bird punch; I brushed the edges of them with Bashful Blue ink 

Black of eyes - medium circle from the owl builder punch

Nose - circle from the itty bitty punch pack

Tongue - 1/4" circle

Cheeks - current small oval punch

Body -  owl builder punch; trim ears and feet off of the owl

Arms/Feet - small oval punch (current one); trim down for the arms and flatten one side for feet

Dress - 1 1/4" scallop circle trimmed 

For finishing touches, I added pearls to the bow and white gel pen to the eyes and nose.  I drew on whiskers and toes with a fine tip black marker.  I put a piece of white ribbon across the bottom of the dress and added dazzling details glitter glue to the dress as buttons.

I am pretty sure I have covered everything but if I left something out let me know.  I am glad you stopped by today.  I hope you come back by tomorrow to see what I have next.  Thanks again and see you all soon.

Here Comes That Famous Wabbit!!!

Hi everyone.  I am glad we have made it through another week.  At least my family seems to be almost all well.  True to form, I woke up yesterday morning with a scratchy throat and a runny nose.  I attribute it to the wild weather we had Wednesday.  I think its just a cold so it will go away in its own time. 

I did find time yesterday to get into my craft room and make a Bugs Bunny to share with you.  So let's just jump in and get started. 

 

I started with a base card of Daffodil Delight cut at 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2".   I added a layer of Basic Black to this with runner adhesive.  It is cut to be 4 1/8" x 5 3/8",  The final layer of the card is a piece of 4" x 5 1/4" Tempting Turquoise.  I ran this piece through the big shot using the chevron impression folder.  On the raised chevron lines, I used my 2 way glue pen to add glue and then sprinkled on an aqua glitter.  I wanted to make the background pop a little and thought this would be a way to do it.  I attached it to the black using runner adhesive. 

 

The greeting is from a stamp set I bought years ago at a craft store.  I stamped it using Tempting Turquoise ink onto Whisper White.  I then cut it out using the framelits itty bitty banners set and the big shot.  I used a pencil to curl the center and the edges of it and attached it to the card using glue dots.

 

Now for the star himself.  The colors of card stock I use to make my guy are Brushed Silver, Melon Mambo, Bravo Burgundy, Whisper White and Basic Black.  You can use a gray card stock for him but I like the look of the silver.  The base piece of his head is a 3" circle which I cut out with my big shot and 3" circle die.  I trimmed the sides in at an angle and made the top hair by snipping out little parts.  I traced the edge of the hair with a black marker to highlight it.  Here is list of punches used to make the rest of him:

Ears - large oval punch; you will need 2 silver or gray for each ear

Pink inside of Ears - full heart punch; I cut it in half and trimmed it to round the edges

Eyes - the retired small oval punch; you will need one white and one silver or gray for each eye; you could trim the large oval down if you do not have the retired small one

Black of Eyes - word window punch

Cheeks - wide oval punch; you will need 2

Chin - 1 inch circle punch

Mouth - wide oval punch; trim it to narrow on each side

Teeth - 1 inch square punch; I offset it from the card stock so that it punched a smaller rectangle

Piece above Teeth - 3/4" circle and curly label punch; punch out a curly label and set it aside.  You will not use it.  Then offset the 3/4" circle from the curly label hole and punch again.  If you do not have the curly label punch, you can punch a 3/4" circle and cut a little bigger that half.  Add the small indentation in the center and your all set.

Nose - the retired small oval punch; you will use only the tip of it for this.  If you do not have this, you can used a 1/2" circle in its place.

And there you have it.  I attached all pieces together using my 2 way glue pen.  Once everything was attached, I used a fine tip black marker to draw the lines above the nose and the one down the teeth.  I attached the completed bunny to the card using dimensionals.  

I hope you can understand and use my directions for him.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I am so happy I have finally made this fellow to share with all of you.  

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and I will be back on Monday with another card for you to see.  Thanks for dropping by today!!!!

A New Cat

Happy Wednesday!!!!  I hope you all are doing well.  My daughter is feeling much better and my husband is back to work so I think we are finally on a healthy path.  And to make my day even better, I get to spend time with my favorite little man, Jackson.  He is almost 6 months old!!!  It is hard to believe so much time has already passed and yet it is hard to remember a time when he was not here.  He is just too cute.  No promises I will make it into my craft room.  I plan on playing and having fun!!

Today I wanted to share with you a new cat that I made using punches.  My daughter Heather has a friend getting married later this year who asked her to be a bridesmaid in the wedding.  She wanted me to make a special card to give to her as a thank you.  She told me that one of her friend's favorite movies is Alice in Wonderland and a favorite character is the Chestshire Cat.  Now I had never made one of these and had not even thought about making one so this was a challenge.  Even though it is a first attempt for me, I wanted to share it with you.  Let's get started shall we?

 

I started with a base card of Island Indigo cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/2".  The layer on top of it is a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" piece of Pool Party.  I ran this through the big shot using the cloudy day impression folder.  I used my white colored pencil and colored in the clouds again like yesterday just to give them some contrast to the blue of the sky.  I took out a few scraps of Chocolate Chip card stock and ran them through the big shot using the woodgrain impression folder.  I used one piece as the tree trunk and the other two as limbs.  I did not measure these.  I just cut them free hand.  They as well as the layer of Pool Party are attached using runner adhesive. 

 

For the top of my tree, I chose to use the Gumball Green card stock.  I punched out several 1 1/4" scallop circles and layered them all across the top of the card.  I used runner adhesive to attach them down.  The rhinestones were then added to provide a little bit of sparkle to the card.  

 

The greeting comes from my Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  I stamped it with Island Indigo ink onto Whisper White card stock.  I punched it out using my small oval punch and brushed the edges with a sponge and Island Indigo ink.  It is attached to the card using a dimensional.  

 

Now for the Chestshire Cat himself.  I used Melon Mambo and Regal Rose card stock to make his face and body.  The eyes and teeth used Whisper White and Basic Black.  Normally I would list all the punches used but I am not sure I will remember all of them.  I am going to try.  There was a lot of trial and error with this one.  I know I used the large oval punch for all of his body and tail.  The ovals are layered onto one another and attached using a 2 way glue pen.  I trimmed them to get the shape I wanted after they were all attached. Both the face and the body are rather thick pieces to cut through so be sure to use a good pair of scissors.  I also trimmed the final oval on the body right under the face down to make it smaller.  The bottom of the tail was fine to leave because I would be gluing it to the body.  The front paws were made with the word window and boho blossom punches.  The word window made the arms.  I punched one of each color so I could also cut the stripes to glue onto them.  The paws are the scallop flower from the boho blossom punch.  I cut them down to be the size I wanted.  All pieces are attached together using liquid glue.

His head was made using the ornament punch.  I punched one out of each color and then trimmed them for what I wanted to use them for.    I kept the hanger part of the ornament for the top of his head and cut pieces out along the top and side to resemble fur.  The eyes are the medium circle from the owl builder punch and a 1/8" circle.  For the nose, I used the punch from the itty bitty punch pack and punched a corner of card stock.  It was trimmed into the shape I wanted.  The teeth are a piece of a 1" circle.  I punched it along the edge of the card stock and then trimmed the curve for the top.  I used a Basic Gray marker to draw the teeth lines onto it.  All other facial features were drawn on with a fine tip black marker.  White gel was added to the eyes.

Now I know I can improve him some.  While typing this I realized that I forgot one important component on him - his ears.  How could I forget his ears?!!!  Well I will definitely have to add those onto him.  I will have to make this fellow again and put him on a different card and share it with you.  

Let me know what you think of him.  I would really value any input you might have.  I appreciate you coming by today and taking a look at my cat.  Even though I am going to play today with Jackson, I will try to have something to share with you tomorrow.  Please come by to see it I do.  thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!!!

Revisiting the Iris Fold Technique

Hello to all and happy Tuesday!!!  I hope your week is off to a great start.  I have to spend part of this week getting all of our tax stuff gathered so we can go visit the accountant.  Not looking forward to that.  I guess we all have to do taxes though don't we?

Knowing I have such a task ahead of me, I decided to do a little organizing in my craft room today.  I happen to come across a couple of cards that I made for Easter.  I am not sure if I have posted these before so forgive me if I have.  I just thought they were cute and deserved to be seen again (or for the first time if I have not posted them priorly).  One will be shown today and the other one I will share tomorrow.  They both use the iris fold technique to make them and I knew I had not shared a card made this way in a while.  Anyway, let me show you the first one and we will get started!

 

I had to make this card larger than normal to provide room for the bunny.  It does fit on the regular size I make but it is edge to edge.  I started with a base card of Whisper White card stock cut at 7" x 10", scored at 5".  I added a piece of designer paper I bought at a local craft store that was cut to be 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" with runner adhesive.  The final layer for the front is the Whisper White that the bunny is created on.  It measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  

 

To create the bunny you need your piece of white card stock, a pattern, a craft knife and several designer papers that coordinate together well.  A light box is helpful too if you have it.  I use one all the time.  I place the pattern on the box and place the white card stock over it.  Using a pencil, I trace the image onto the white.  Once completed, I place the white card stock on a self healing mat and use my craft knife to cut the image (bunny) out.  You can set the cut out bunny aside and use it later but all you need for this is the negative piece.  Then you follow the pattern of layering that is on your bunny pattern to do the fold.  I search for iris fold patterns on the internet all the time and that is where I have found most of mine.  Once the pattern is complete I try to make sure the paper is covered with tape so the pieces do not fall off or slip.  I use sticky strip to attach the finished bunny to the card after the brads are on the corners.

 

I had to show you a close up of the brads I used.  They are little bunny heads.  Aren't they cute?!!!!  I bought these at a convention years ago and love them.  They do not attach the bunny to the dsp but are really just for decoration.  Even thought I use sticky strip to attach the bunny piece, I also put a glue dot over the back of each brad for more security.

That's it for today.  I am so glad you stopped by.  Please come back tomorrow to see my other cute Easter card.  Until they, thanks for dropping in and have a wonderful rest of your day!!!!

A Moonlight Swim

Hi everyone.  It's Monday!!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  My house was very quiet because my husband was working all weekend and my daughter was either at work or with her beau.  While it was lonely at times, I did enjoy being able to set my own pace and not having to worry about preparing dinner or anything else.  I don't know about you but when it is only me at home, I eat sandwiches or salads.  They are easy to fix for one and there are no left overs.

With all that free time, I only spent one day in my craft room.  I thought I would be in there more but it just did not happen.  I wanted to do some punch art for my share today and came across this really cool Christmas cards with swans on it while surfing on Pinterest.  I knew when I saw it that I would have to try to make the swan.  Patricia Diane Calvery is the original creator of this card and I want to thank them her for the inspiration.  Now let me show you my card.

 

I started with a base card of Pool Party card stock cut at 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2".  I added a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" layer of Whisper White to this with my runner adhesive.  The final top layer is Basic Black card stock cut to be 4" x 5 1/4".   This too was attached with the runner adhesive.  Now I was ready to start embellishing the front.

I started by taking a piece of Pool Party card stock and cutting it the same length as the black piece.  I cut a strip off using a pair of decorative scissors called small wave.  I adhered this to the black using the runner adhesive.  I punched a 1 1/4" circle for a moon and brushed a little Pool Party ink over the top of it.  I used the runner adhesive to attach it too.  I added rhinestones to the black sky to serve as the stars.  The final thing I did was add some crystal effects to the water to make it shiny.  This does take a while to dry so you will have plenty of time to make your swans.

 

To make these lovely creatures, you will only need two punches - the blossom builder and the full heart and Whisper White card stock.  The main body of the swan is the largest petal from the blossom builder.  I punched out 4 of the next largest, 3 of the next size down, and 3 of the smallest petals.  I set one of the small petals aside to use for the head.  All the other ones I ran through my big shot using an impression  folder called intricate swirls (not a Stampin' Up! product) to add design to the bird.  Basically I layered the petals and adhered them together with my 2 way glue pen.  The neck was made by punching out a full heart and then punching it again just offset from the hole.  I adhered the neck to the body and and the head to the neck with the 2 way glue pen.

The face of the swan was drawn on freehand.  I used my Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black SU! markers to do this.  I pulled a photo of a real swan up on my computer to use as a guide.  Hopefully they look alright to you.

I have yet to put anything inside this card.  I have not decided if I want to add a greeting for a specific occasion or just put a blank piece of white card stock in it so I could use it for whatever I want to use it for.  

Well that's it for today.  I am going to try to get back into my craft room today to work on something.  My husband is home from work though and he has a pretty busy schedule this week so today is really on of the only ones I will have with him this week.  Maybe he will take a nap!  Anyway, come back by tomorrow and see if I manage to have something for you.  Until then, thanks for stopping by today!!

AMENDMENT:  At the time of this posting, I was unaware that another card creator had made instructions for this also and had posted them on their blog for sale.  Her name is Valita Reynolds.  I would encourage you to visit her site and see her creation.  I have not visited it myself yet so I cannot link you but I am sure if you Google her name you will find her.  If you would like a more complete set of instructions she had hers for purchase.  I am sure the instructions would be a great help!!  I am sorry I was not aware of this at the time of the original posting.  Please accept my apology.  

 

Birthday Card #2 for the Week

Happy Tueday!!!  Happy Birthday to my husband's Uncle Charlie.  Put your feet up and relax today.  You deserve it. 

January starts every year with several birthday all in a row.  So it makes sense that I would be making cards for these days.  Now some of the cards I sent were made last year and posted so I will not show them again.  But some of them are new additions to the collection and deserve to be shown.  Today's card is one of the new ones.  Again the punch art character is one I made before for my punch art sample board.  I don't think I have used it on a card before but it works perfectly for this one.  I made the card for my ex mother in law.  Her birthday was this past Sunday and my daughter wanted a special card for her.  She has 2 great loves in her life: her schnauzer dog and the color red.  I used these as my springboard to get started on this one.

 

When I made this cute doggy for my sample board, I made it as a boy with glasses.  He looks very smart.  For this one I wanted to make a girl since her dog is a girl.  I chose to work with a retired color for this card.  I used Poppy Parade card stock as the red hue for this one.  Now if you don't have poppy, you can use Read Red or any red you like.  

I started with a base card of Poppy Parade (retired) cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  For the full layer on top, I used a designer series paper which is also retired.  It is cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  I adhered it with runner adhesive to the base.  I colored in the dots in the center of the flower patterns on the dsp with the poppy marker.  

 

Here is a close up of the dog.  This is a list of the punches used to make her:

 

Body - 1 3/4" circle trimmed flat for back

Head - 1 3/4" circle punched with 1 3/8 circle to get curve (you can also just trim it if you need to)

Ears - 3/4 inch circle - cut in half

Eyebrows - retired butterfly edge punched offset from butterfly hole - snipped a bit for hair look

Nose - 3/4 inch circle punched at corner of paper

Facial hair - wings from two step bird punch - snipped a bit for hair look

Eyes - 1/4" circle - white gel pen

Legs - modern label

Tail - retired horizontal slot punch

Bow on head - retired heart to heart punch and 1/4" circle punch - white gel pen

Bow on neck - small heart and itty bitty circle - white gel pen

All pieces were adhered together using a 2 way glue pen.  Once  dry, I attached her to a piece of Whisper White card stock cut at 3 1/4" x 3 1/2".  This piece was run through the big shot using the snow flurry impression folder.  I brushed the edges with poppy ink and attached it to a piece of 3 1/2" x 3 3/4" Poppy Parade card stock.  The entire piece was attached to the card with runner adhesive.  The doggy was attached using dimensionals.  I added a few red rhinestones to this just for pizzazz!!

 

The greeting for this one comes from the stamp set called Curly Cute.  I stamped it using the Poppy Parade ink onto Whisper White card stock.  I cut this out free hand and attached this piece to a piece of poppy using runner adhesive. I then cut around this free hand and attached to finished greeting with dimensionals.

All in all this is a fairly easy card to make.  I think it turned out cute.  Well that's it for today.  I will be back tomorrow with another share for you.  Thanks for dropping by today!!

Dapper Dog Returns

Happy Thursday everyone!!  Did you know today is Santa Claus' birthday?  Well it is so Happy Birthday Santa!!!!  I do hope the elves give Santa some time out of the toy factory today. 

Today's card features an old friend of ours, Dapper Dog.  Remember him?  I have made him with a top hat and cane, as a grilling chef, and as a pirate.  He is an easy punch art animal to make and it is fun to dress him up.  So I bet you know who I made him as for Christmas!!  Here is the card for you to see.

 

Doesn't he make a nice Santa?  I started this card with a base of Cherry Cobbler cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  Next I added a layer of Whisper White card stock measuring 4 1/8" x 5 3/8".  It is attached with runner adhesive.  For the top layer, I chose to use a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Always Artichoke.  I ran this piece through my big shot using the holly impression folder and then sprayed it with my champagne shimmer spray.  Once it was dry, I attached it to the card using runner adhesive.  

 

 

I will run quickly through the dog since I have made him before and do not want to bore you.  I started by selecting my card stock colors to use.  They are:  Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Basic Black and Champaign Glimmer.  The punches I used to make him are as follows:

Hat - blossom builder punch

Ears - large oval punch

Head - 1 3/4" circle punch

Muzzle - full heart punch

Arms/Nose - retired heart to heart punch

Body - wide oval punch

Feet - 3/4" circle punch (flatten on bottom)

Fur Trim - scallop oval; I punched this along the edge of card stock and cut it to fit

Eyes - 1/2" circle and the circle from the itty bitty punch pack

Eyebrows - retired horizontal slot punch

The belt and strip down the center of his coat are scraps of card stock and the buckle was cut free hand.  I used the Early Espresso to add features to his muzzle and feet, and white gel pen for the eyes and hat.  Dazzling Diamond glitter was added to all fur.  All pieces are attached together using liquid glue.  I attached the head and body to the card using glue dots and added the muzzle with dimensionals.

 

I wanted to give him a sack so I made one on my own.  I used Cherry Cobbler card stock for this.  The body of the bag is a 1 3/4" circle trimmed to the shape I wanted.  The top of the bag is from the stocking builder punch and is attached to the bag using liquid glue.  I added a piece of elastic silver cord to the bag because Santa's bag has to stay closed while he travels.  I wrote by hand the greeting using a gold marker and added some pretty red rhinestones to the background to complete my look.

Once one more day of the week and we will reach another weekend.  I am so happy you chose to spend some time with me today.  Please come back tomorrow to see what I have.  Thanks for dropping by today!!  

It's Inspector Raccoon!!!!

Hard to believe today is the last Monday of November.  We are officially moving towards Christmas now.  This is my favorite time of year.  I love the lights and decorations as well as the music and movies.  What always makes me sad is how fast it seems to go by.  I want to savor every minute of it I can.  But first things first - we have to finish November. 

I do hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I thoroughly enjoyed mine.  I did not however take part in the Black Friday shopping spree.  For those of you who did, I hope you got some really good deals.  I am not a fan of crowds and have found over the years that it is not usually holly jolly shoppers I encounter - it tends to be pushy people who really don't care about anything but themselves.  The poor workers are not always happy either but if I had people yelling at me all day I would be in a bad mood too.  So I removed myself from this scene years ago.  To me, there is no deal so great that I need to go and be pushed and shoved and treated rudely.  I hope for all of you who went shopping that your experience was a good one.

Last Friday was my sister in law, Becky's, birthday.  This year she was hired by one of the police departments in our state to be a crime scene investigator.  She has worked so hard for a long time going to school and volunteering at police departments, it is truly a dream come true for her.  I wanted to share the card I made for her with all of you today.  Now when I started this card, it was just a little idea in my mind but it came together really well.  Let's get started.

 

Meet Inspector Raccoon, crime scene specialist.  I started this card with a base card of So Saffron cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  I added a layer of Basic Black measuring 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" to the base using runner adhesive.  Next I used a piece of the retired color Poppy Parade card stock cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  I ran this through my big shot using a brick impression folder.   I attached it with the runner adhesive and went to work on the door.

 

Here is a close up of the brick and door.  The door is made using Soft Suede card stock cut at 2 1/2" x 3 3/4".  I put this through the big shot using the woodgrain impression folder.  I attached it to the brick layer using the runner adhesive.  I punched a 1/2" circle from a scrap of Brushed Silver card stock and attached it as a door knob using liquid glue.  The "tape" was made using scraps of So Saffron.  I tore strips for each piece and used a fine tip black marker to write "crime scene" on each piece.  I attached these to the door using runner adhesive.

 

You have seen the basic raccoon before on a couple of other cards.  I used So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette card stock for his colors.  The head is the ornament punch.  I trimmed the hanger piece off for the gray and trimmed a white one for the muzzle.  The nose and eye ball pieces as well as the jacket buttons are from the owl builder punch.  The ears and tail are made using the blossom builder punch.  The "mask" is from the bird builder punch.  The gray body and the coat are the wide oval punch.  Cut the coat one in half.  The sleeves of the coat are the retired small oval punch.  The hat brim is the large oval as is the white of the body.  The top of the hat is a 1 1/4" circle trimmed with a piece of a chocolate circle as the hat band.  The arms and feet are made using the word window punch.  Details were added using the black and chocolate Stampin' Up! markers.  All pieces are assembled using a 2 way glue pen and the finished raccoon is attached to the card using dimensionals. 

For the magnifying glass, using Basic Black card stock and Vellum Paper.  I punched a 1/2" circle from the vellum.  Next I punched a circle using the itty bitty circle punch from the itty bitty punch pack out of black.  I punched a 1/2" circle around this forming the ring of the glass.  The handle is a scrap piece of black.  The parts were assembled using my 2 way glue pen and attached to the raccoons hand with the same glue. 

This week I hope to spend lots of time putting away our Thanksgiving decorations and setting up all the Christmas stuff.  I am so excited.  I promise to find some time to craft though.  Come back tomorrow to see what I manage to come up with for you to see.  Thanks for dropping by today. 

A Cute Little Turkey

Happy Friday!!!  Well November is off and running.  I hope your first day was great.  I know that I shared a fish card with you yesterday but for today I am going to share a more appropriate themed card for this month.  I made one similar to this last year but have since made a few changes.  I think it is a much better version.  Let me share the card with you and see what you think.

Isn't he cute?!  Once again, the owl punch brings us another cute design.  I started this one with a base card of Soft Suede.  It was cut to be 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 5 1/2".  I chose to add a layer of Very Vanilla cut at 4" x 5 1/4".  I love how the vanilla looks next to the suede.  I knew I wanted some sort of background on the vanilla but really did not want to use another impression folder.  So I pulled out this little stamp set I bought at a stamp convention a few years ago.  It is autumn themed and had the 2 leaf shapes as part of it.  I stamped the leaves using VersaMark ink and heat embossed them with a copper embossing powder.  I attached the layer to the suede using runner adhesive.  The rhinestones were added to the card once the turkey and greeting had been placed.

For my greeting, I used a stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  I stamped it onto vanilla card stock using the VersaMark ink and again heat embossed it using the copper embossing powder.  I punched it out using the word window punch and layered it onto a suede modern label with runner adhesive.  I added a rhinestone to each end and attached it to the card using dimensionals.

Finally we reach the turkey!!!  I used only 2 punches to make him - the owl builder and the blossom builder. For the owl, I punched the body out of Early Espresso card stock.  The eyes were made using Whisper White and Basic Black card stock.  I added white gel pen to the eyes.  The beak is Pumpkin Pie and is made using the heart from the owl punch and the gobbler (I hope that's what it is called) is a Cherry Cobbler heart from the owl punch cut in half.  

For the feathers, I used the large, thin petal from the blossom builder punch.  I chose to use Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler and Cajun Craze card stock for the colors of the feathers.  I punched all of the pieces out and then brushed the edges of each feather using a sponge and the matching ink.  Then I used the matching Stampin' Up! marker to draw on the lines on the feathers to make them look more realistic.  Finally, I used my scissors and snipped each feather on the lines down each side.  This way I could flair the feathers again making them a little more realistic.  All pieces of the owl and feathers were attached using a liquid glue.  Once the owl turkey was made, I attached him to the card using dimensionals.  

Well once again we are at the end of the week.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I will return on Monday with another share for you.  Thanks for dropping by today and I will see you all on Monday!!!!!

A New Punch Art Subject

Welcome to a brand new week everyone.  I hope your weekend was a good one.  I know we were busy at our house with our pumpkins but as always, it was a lot of fun.

For my card today, I made a new punch art critter.  This was a challenge given to me by my daughter.  She went to Sea World earlier this year and brought home a picture frame with a shark on it.  She asked me to make a shark for a card and I have been pondering it ever since.  So this weekend I set to work on one.  Today I want to share what I came up with and see what you think.  Ready?

 

Now you may be wondering why my finger is in the photo holding the card.  Well the shark's mouth actually opens so get a picture with it closed, I had to hold it down.  Now let's start at the beginning.

I started with a base card of Night of Navy cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  To start the background for this particular card, I cut a piece of Whisper White to be 4" x 5 1/4".   I took out my pastels and chalked a sky background all over the card stock.  Once it was finished I took out of scrap of Marina Mist card stock and cut it to be 4" wide.  I used a pair of shape scissors called waves and cut strips off of this piece.  I layered them across the card stock and adhered them using runner adhesive.  Once it was secure, I added a glitter to the pieces using a white glue and a glitter I picked up at a stamp convention a few years ago.  Once the entire piece was finished, I attached it to the base card using runner adhesive. 

 

For the greeting, I turned to my stamp set called Perfectly Penned.  I stamped the greeting directly to the top of the card stock using Night of Navy ink.  I tried to center it as best as I could.  Now let's look at the shark with its mouth open.

 

All the large ovals I used for my shark were cut out using my Cricut machine and the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge.  I started by cutting two 4" ovals from Basic Gray card stock.  One of the ovals I left whole and the other one I cut in half.  The whole one serves as the main head of the shark.  I attached 1/2 of the white oval to this and the other half was attached to the gray half which allowed the mouth to open.  But we will talk more about the mouth in a minute.  The fins of the shark were punched out using the Petite Pennants punch from Basic Gray card stock.  I pretty much attached the side ones so they would fit on the card.  For the top one, I trimmed it to give it a little curve so it would look more like a fin.  The white of the eyes were punched using the large circle from the owl builder punch and the black part is the small circle from the itty bitty punch pack.  I added white gel to this part.  

 

For the mouth, I cut another oval using my Cricut out of Whisper White that measured 3 3/4".  I then cut a Basic Black one that is 3 1/4".  I layered the black to the white using runner adhesive.  Then using my white gel pen, I drew on the teeth and colored them in.  Once they were finished, I attached the top of the mouth to the half piece of the gray oval.  I scored the entire piece where the 1/2  gray ended on the white.  This would be my bend.  I bent it in half and attached the bottom portion of the white to the full gray oval.  All pieces were attached to one another using a liquid glue and runner adhesive.  The finished shark was attached to the card using dimensionals.

 

For the greeting inside the card, I used a saying from the stamp set Word Play.  I stamped it using Night of Navy ink onto Whisper White card stock and cut it out to be a 2 1/2" square.  I punched out the corners of the card stock with the edge of my 1" square punch and sponged the edges with Night of Navy ink.  I then took a piece of Marina Mist card stock and ran it through my big shot using the Top Note die.  Once it was cut out, I turned it sideways across the die being sure to center it and ran it through the big shot again.  The white was layered onto this piece with runner adhesive and the entire piece was attached to the inside of the card with the same runner adhesive.

Well what do you think?  I thought it was pretty okay for my first attempt.  I have a few ideas of some things I would like to either add or change so I will be making another one at some point in time.  My goal is to perfect it by my daughter's boyfriends birthday next month so I can give it to him.  

That's all for today.  I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and that your week gets off to a great start.  I will be back tomorrow with another share so please come by to see me.  Thanks for stopping by today!!

Trick or Treat Bow-Wow

It's Thursday!!!!  This week has gone by so quickly.  The wonderful thing about this week is I have had a lot of time to spend with my husband.  He is gone so much with his work and teaching that any time we can get is wonderful.

For my share today, I decided to make another Halloween card.  Although it might be hard to believe this card was inspired by my laundry.  That's right I said my laundry.  I was folding and hanging up clothes and happened upon one of my Halloween shirts.  On it was a very cute kitty.  Seeing this cat got me to thinking that so much of Halloween is centered around cats.  Now I like cats.  We don't own one because my husband is highly allergic to them.  We do however have a dog.  I realized I wanted to do something to bring a doggy into Halloween.  Of course that was all I needed to get me started on a card.  Here is the card I came up with:

 

Isn't he cute?!!!  I started my card by using a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock, scored at 5 1/2".  I added a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" piece of Basic Black.  It is attached using runner adhesive.  for my top layer I started with a piece of Basic Gray measuring 4" x 5 1/4".  I sponged it with a little Basic Black ink so it would dull it a little.  I punched a moon out of Very Vanilla using the 1 1/4" circle punch  and attached it to the card using runner adhesive.  I then used my XL big shot die that you use to make those beautiful rosettes and cut out a strip of Chocolate Chip card stock on the end with the picket fence looking boards.  I bent each slat on the crease just a little and brushed it with Chocolate Chip ink to add some texture.  I attached this using runner adhesive and trimmed off any excess that hung over the edges and attached the entire piece to the card with the same adhesive.  Then it was time to create the scene. 

 

For the greeting of this one, I used a stamp I bought several years ago at a local craft store.  I stamped it at the top using VersaMark ink and then heat embossed it using a Halloween embossing powder.  It is simply black powder with some orange glitter in it.  Next, I used the retired bat punch and punched a bat out of Basic Black.  I then added black glitter to it using my 2 way glue pen.  It is attached to the card with dimensionals.  For the pumpkin bucket, I punched a 1 3/8" circle out of Pumpkin Pie card stock.  I trimmed the top off to make it flat.  I then took a scrap of black and punched out a small oval using the retired small oval punch and then punched around that hole using the large oval punch.  I used a cartridge for my Cricut machine called Paper Pups and cut 4 bones out of vanilla card stock.  I brushed the edges of these with a little Crumb Cake ink and glued them to the bucket using a 2 way glue pen.  I then used the same adhesive to glue the handle on.  I added some orange glitter glue stripes to my bucket and attached it to the card using dimensionals.  

 

Now let's talk about the star of the card.  I was going to dress my dog as a pumpkin but thought a pirate would be more fun.  To make the dog body parts, I used punches.  I used the owl builder punch for the eyes of this guy punching them out of black and white as you can see.  I added a little white gel pen to them.  For the ears and nose, I used Early Espresso card stock.  The ears are made with the large oval punch and the nose is the small heart from the retired heart to heart punch.  Again I added some white gel pen to it for character.  His head, muzzle, arms, and feet are made out of Crumb Cake card stock.  All of these pieces were sponged on the edges with Crumb Cake ink.  The head is a 1 3/4" circle punch.  The muzzle is the full heart turned upside down.  I used my chocolate marker to add the line and dots to the muzzle.  The arms are made using the wide heart from the retired heart to heart punch while the feet are 3/4" circles that have been trimmed to be flat on the bottom.  I added some black marker to make his toes.

For the pirate outfit, I once again turned to my Cricut machine for help.  I used the cartridge called Paper Doll Dress Up for this one.  I used Chocolate Chip for the shorts, Cherry Cobbler for the shirt and Basic Black for the hat and mustache.  I did have to modify my pieces a little to make them look right on my dog.  I sponged the shirt with a little black ink and added black stripes using my black marker.  I added the cuts at the bottom of the shirt too.  The pants had to be trimmed down just a little.  I added some gold glitter glue to the hat to add some dazzle to it.  

Now I will tell you, I do not dress up my real pet dog for the holiday.  I husband would have a fit.  He thinks all those costumes for animals are just plain silly.  So it is fun to make cards like this one where I can dress up my animal.  

Well that is all I have for you today.  I am so glad you decided to stop by and spend a little time visiting.  I hope you will return tomorrow to see what I have for you.  Do something creative today and have fun doing it!!  See you tomorrow!!

Christmas Once Again

Happy Wednesday to you all.  I am still in that holiday mood which is really no surprise to me.  I love Christmas so much and cannot wait until it is time for the tree to be put up.  I am enjoying playing around with all my Christmas stamps too but have not decided on a particular theme for my cards this year.  I thought I would share one of the new stamps out of the 2012 - 2013 catalog with you.  I was really drawn to this stamp because they retired one similar to it.  So let me show you the card and we will get started.

Isn't this a handsome deer?  Well we will discuss him in a few minutes.  I started this card with a base card of Always Artichoke.  I cut it to be 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  I wanted to jazz up the edges of the card a little so I started by using a retired stamp set called Christmas Punch.  I used the snowflake trio stamp from it and stamp all the way around the card using VersaMark ink.  I added clear embossing powder on top of them and heat embossed them so they would look glossy.  Next, I added a layer of Cherry Cobbler that I cut to be 3 3/4" x 4 1/2".  I ran it through my big shot using the Northern Flurry impression folder.  I added some pearls to the snowflakes on it after I had placed the reindeer.  It is attached to the base using runner adhesive.  I also sprayed the entire card with my Champagne shimmer spray once all components had been added.  

The greeting I chose to use for this one is also from a retired stamp set called Four the Holidays.  I stamped it on Whisper White using the VersaMark ink once again and then heat embossed it using a gold embossing powder.  I used a piece of card stock measuring 1/2" x 3 3/8".  I brushed the edges of it with the Always Artichoke ink and attached it to the card using dimensionals.    Now on to the star of my card!!!!

Stampin' Up! use to have a stamp called Dasher.  I do own it and it is one of my favorites.  I was so upset when I found out it was retiring.  However, I fell in love with this one as soon as I saw it.  It is called Christmas Deer.  I started this part of the card with a piece of Whisper White cut at 2 5/8" x 3 3/4".  I stamped my deer onto it using the VersaMark ink and heat embossed it using the Early Espresso embossing powder.  Once it was set, I used a white glue with a tip to make fine lines and outlined all of the antlers.  I sprinkled gold glitter onto these and set it aside to dry.  Once dry, I edged the piece using the Always Artichoke ink and then layer it onto a 2 3/4" x 3 7/8" piece of Brushed Gold using my runner adhesive.  It is attached to the card using dimensionals.  I made sure to place it over the non - embossed area of the cherry so that the snowflakes would be visible.  

All in all this is a fairly easy card to create.  I love the look of it.  I am so glad I got to share it with you.  We are once again struggling with an internet problem.  While we have talked to our carrier more times than I can count, they have been unable to isolate the problem and fix it.  I do plan to continue to blog but if you happen to drop in and there is not a blog for that day you will know the internet went out and I could not post one.  Otherwise, please do check in because I plan to be here.  Thanks for dropping by today and I will see you all tomorrow ( I hope!)!