Another Thank You Card Idea

Hi everyone.  I certainly hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are all ready for a visit from St. Nick.  I have been so busy myself with decorating and baking that I have not seen my craft room for weeks.  Of course, it is also covered in Christmas decor.  My tables are filled with snowy villages or presents that are wrapped and waiting to go under the tree.  Usually I place them under it as I go but since I keep little Jackson, now 15 months, I cannot do that unless I want to re-wrap the gifts over and over.  He is talented at tearing the paper off!  I have so much fun with him.  It is really nice to have a little one around to see all the decorations.  His eyes light up and a big smile comes upon his face.  Too cute!!!

I did realize that I never shared the thank you cards I made for my husband's charity sponsors.  I mailed these out after taking lots of photographs but forgot to do the blog about them.  For today, I wanted to post the photo of the card so you can see what it looks like.

Many of the techniques used on this card are ones I really enjoy using.  The fireman and girl were made with the owl punch.  I have to tell you I punched so many of them as well as all the owl figures that I made before that my punch wore out.  It sticks now when I use it.  While I am going to continue to use it some and work it on some wax paper to help, I went ahead and ordered another one so that I would be ready for the next owl card.  

I chose to make the people for this one but about half way through I decided I was absolutely out of my mind.  There were so many little pieces to be put together I thought I would never finish.  I also decided it just took way too long to complete the 85 I had to do.  Next year I will have to start the thank you's prior to the event, especially if I want to do such a detailed one.  

I want to wish you all a very happy holiday season.  I am going to try to get my craft room organized and back in order for the new year.  That's my hope.  I have a really cool card to share with you in January that I made for my youngest daughter's boyfriend for his birthday.  I think you will really like it.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  See you on January 6, 2014!

Lots of Sorrow

 

It has certainly been a somber week here in Arizona.  We have watched as a wildfire has destroyed a community and taken the lives of 19 brave wildland fire fighters.  I think it is easy to forget the dangerous job that these men do.  Like all fire fighters, they are willing to enter places most of us would not venture and are willing to lay down their lives for others.  It saddens me that it takes such a tragedy to remind us how important these brave souls are and that we should say thank you to them for the sacrifice they are willing to make.  

As a fire fighter's wife, my heart breaks for the families of these 19 men.  While they may not have been members of my husbands department, all fire departments treat each other as one family.  They are truly a close knit group and the loss of any is devastating to all of them.  This has been overwhelming.  There are no words to describe the grief and sorrow.  This event hit close to home for us as one of the 19 was a good friend of our oldest daughter.  His death has been extremely hard on her.  We are there for her as well as all members of our fire family.  

I do hope you understand that the priorities for this week have shifted and while I am trying to get some crafting done, my family must come first.  One good thing is I was asked to make wedding invitations for my oldest daughter's friend.  It has given me something to focus on other than the grief.  

I will keep you posted on how we are doing and will hopefully be posting some new cards before long.  I have to say I have walked through some dark times in my life filled with grief, sorrow and pain but this is one of the worst.  I ask that you keep Arizona and these families in your prayers.  Thanks for all your support. 

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!!!!!!

And We're Off!!!

Hello everyone and a big Happy New Year to you all!!!  I have really missed blogging and spending time with you all each and every day.  It is also nice to get back into the craft room and play with all my stuff.

My family had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a Christmas Eve dinner with some of our family, spent Christmas morning with our girls and their guys and had all our other family over for Christmas night to play games and have dessert.  It was a lot of fun.  My husband and I also did something different this year.  We always do a Christmas breakfast so that our girls can have one meal with us.  Then we just eat sandwiches or something easy for dinner.  Well this year, we went out to dinner.  Now I did not do this to support businesses being open.  The restaurant we went to is one of our favorites and we went because one of our favorite waitresses was going to be working.  We wanted to visit her and spend time letting her know how much we appreciate her.  It was truly a nice experience and I think it will become a tradition for us as long as the restaurant is open.

The biggest excitement for us over the holiday was celebrating our youngest daughter, Kaitlyn.  She finished all her pharmacy tech classes as well as her externship meaning she is an official licensed pharmacy tech.  But the most exciting thing is she got a job in her field.  We are so happy for her and know she will be a success.

Now onto the card.  Since Kaitlyn was going to be starting a new job, she had to give up a job she has had for 2 years.  She wanted to give a few of the people she had worked with a thank you card for all their support throughout her schooling.  Today's card is the one I made for her to give out.  So let's get started shall we.

 

I started with a base card of Daffodil Delight cut at 4 1/4" x 11", scored at 5 1/2".  Next I cut Whisper White card stock to be 4 1/4" x 5 1/4".  Along the 4 1/4" side, I used the retired eyelet border punch and punched the pretty border you see.  I edged it with Daffodil Delight ink.  Once it was completely decorated I attached it to the base using runner adhesive.  I lined the one straight edge up with the top of the card as I was attaching it.  The background on this card was made using the Daffodil Delight ink and a daisy stamp I picked up a couple of years ago at a local craft store.  

 

For the greeting of this one, I used the Perfectly Penned stamp set.  I inked the stamp with VersaMark ink and then with Daffodil Delight ink.  I heat embossed it using clear embossing powder.  I love the overall look of this stamp set.  

 

For the focal point of the card, I took a scrap of Whisper White card stock and stamped more daisies on it using the Daffodil Delight ink.  I used my colored pencils and colored in the petals with a golden yellow and the center with orange.  I then cut the daisies out using my small scissors.  I added some Dazzling Diamond glitter to the tips of the petals and an orange puffy dot sticker to the center.  To attach it to the card, I used a dimensional.  

Well that is all I have for today.  I will be back tomorrow with another card to share with you all.  Please stop by and see me.  Thanks for dropping by today!!!

A Fancy Thank You

Happy Friday everyone!!  I hope your week has been a good one.  I know that for my sister it has been rough so I am sending wishes for a great weekend and a better week next week her way.  We all have those weeks and I guess it was just her turn.  I enjoyed many things about this week.  I got to go to lunch with one of my favorite aunts and had a wonderful time, and I got to be creative.  Thanks for all the special requests this week.  It was a great inspiration and got my mind back on track.

Today I want to share with you a thank you card I made for a dear friend to send to the host of a dinner party she had the pleasure of attending this week.  The only requirements she had for the card was to be sure it said thank you and she wanted 2 specific colors:  gold and black.  I had recently purchased a new stamp set from Stampin' Up! and it seemed like it would work perfectly with this card.

Fancy don't you think?  I started with a base card of Brushed Gold card stock cut at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 4 1/4".  I then added a layer of Basic Black card stock cut to be 4" x 5 1/4".  I sprayed this piece with my champagne shimmer spray and then attached it to the gold using runner adhesive.  

The focal point of the card is this beautiful medallion made using the new stamp set Daydream Medallions and a framelit set called Floral Frames.  The medallion set consists of 5 sizes of medallions.  I only used 4 in my design here.  I started by stamping  2 of the medallions on the gold using Versa Mark ink and sprinkled  black embossing powder on them.  I then heat embossed these and set the gold card stock aside.  Next I took a piece of black card stock and stamped the 2 other medallions on it using the Versa Mark ink.  This time I used a gold ice embossing powder on it and heat embossed them.  I then pulled out my big shot and the floral frame framelits.  I found the correct size to fit around each medallion and ran these through the big shot to cut them out.  Once they were all cut out, I layered them on top of one another using runner adhesive and added a gold brad to the center of the stack.  It is attached to the card using runner adhesive.  I love love love this medallion!!!!

For my greeting, I turned to the stamp set called Perfectly Penned.  I stamped the greeting directly onto the black card stock using Versa Mark ink and used the gold ice embossing powder to heat emboss it.  Since it would be shiny, I did not feel it needed more to enhance the look of it so I left it alone once it was embossed.  

For my inside greeting, I used a simple saying from the retired stamp set Whimsical Words.  I stamped the greeting with Versa Mark ink on gold card stock and heat embossed it using black embossing powder.  I then used the same floral frame framelits and found one that would fit around the saying.  Once I chose it, I also took out the size above it.  I found the coordinating medallion stamps for these.  I stamped around the saying with the stamp using the Versa Mark ink and heat embossed it with black also.  Then I stamped the other medallion onto black card stock and heat embossed it with gold ice embossing powder.  Once these were embossed I cut them out with the big shot and floral frames.  I layered them on top of one another using runner adhesive and attached it to the card using the same adhesive.

I had never made a black and gold design before and I was truly pleased with how it came out.  I liked the overall elegance it seemed to have once completed.  I hope you like it too.

Well, that is it for today.  I hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend.  I will return on Monday with another card to share with you.  Please come back to visit me then.  Thanks for dropping by today!!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister in law Becky today.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday!! 

There always seems to be so much to do during the week of Thanksgiving.  There's cleaning and cooking and decorating - all important and all take time.  So it is hard to find time to sit and work on cards.  However, I had a huge task to do with my cards.  I believe I shared with you that I had submitted a Thank You card to my husband's charity committee for review.  As it turns out, they liked the card and asked me to make several for them.  As we are heading towards the holiday season, there will be lots of opportunities for them to say thank you.  So while cleaning and cooking and decorating I have also been working hard on these. 

 

This is one of my craft tables.  It is loaded with cards to finish.  I just need to add the ribbon and the logo and they are done!  Of course, this means I have to work extra hard today as I also have to empty the craft rooms of my tables so my dining room table can be moved into it and extended fully for tomorrow.  I am tired just thinking about it.  

 

Here is a closer shot of the card just in case you do not remember what it looks like.  I really enjoy making these.  The design is always so unique and they do not take any longer than a regular card.  Each one is designed basically the same.  The DSP is the only thing that changes.  I will add the logo to the empty step and the ribbon above the scallop circle.  I will be happy when these are finished.  

Well I am off and running again.  I will be sharing some of the Thanksgiving cards I made this year again tomorrow.  Be sure to stop by if you have time.  Thanks for dropping by today.

Biten By the Love Bug

Welcome to Friday!!  Yes we have once again reach the end of a week.  I want to send out a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my father-in-law, Bob.  I hope he has a wonderful day.  We sure wish we could be with you!

I would usually share the card I made for someone on their birthday.  However, just in case it did not reach him by today, you will have to wait until Monday to see it.  As I told you yesterday, I did spend the day looking through my older stamp set which have retired and sure enough I came across one that I wanted to play with.  The color scheme for today are all available colors from Stampin' Up!.  So lets get started on the card.

 

The base card is done in Rich Razzleberry.  Layered on top of that is a piece of Basic Black card stock.  I started the actual card front by taking a piece of Whisper White and punched all the corners using the Scallop Trim corner punch.  I then added some doodle dots (I love saying that) to the loops using a fine tip black marker.  Then I punched out a modern label in Basic Black.  I got down my handy Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, which by the way is still available in the SU! catalog, and stamped "thank you" on a scrap of Whisper White.  It was punched out using the word window punch and layered on top of the modern label.  I decided where I wanted it placed on the white and used my runner adhesive to attach it. 

 

Then I used one of the cutest hostess sets I have ever seen.  It is retired but I still like it too much to just let it sit on the shelf.  The set is called Love Bug.  This little guy is probably my favorite stamp in it.  Don't get me wrong.  The others are cute too.  I stamped this little guy using Staz-On black ink so that I would be able to color him immediately.  I colored his little shoes with a Basic Black Su! marker as well as his antennas.  I then used my Rich Razzleberry marker to color in his body.  

I added the Dazzling Diamond glitter with a two way glue pen that I zigzagged on the card.  This card is so simple and could be used for all occasions and made in any color you like.  This is another one that I left blank inside so I could write my note.  

I wish you all a very pleasant weekend and hope you will come back on Monday to see my birthday card for my father-in-law.  Thanks so much for dropping in today and have a wonderful weekend.  See you Monday!

Charity Begins At Home

One of the most important traits we want our children to have is the knowledge that it is better to give than to receive.  We always want them to remember that there are so many others who do not have one thousandth of what our girls do.  Growing up in the age of reality tv, I really think that we have an overwhelming responsibility to teach our children to be giving.  They are seeing so much selfishness on those reality shows!  Well I am truly one lucky lady.  My husband is one very involved person in the community.  He serves on the charity board of his fire department and runs all kinds of charity events throughout the year.  I love to help him and really love when our girls come to help too.  As we are in the season to remember and be thankful for our blessings I hope everyone takes time to give of themselves to help others.

So what does all of this have to do with making cards?  Well, one item I worked on over the last day or so is a thank you card for my husbands charity committee to use.  He asked me to design one so he could share it at their meeting today.  I am hoping they like it and will want more.  Anyway, I thought I would share it with you today too.

 

I chose to do a side step card mainly to be different than anything else they may have seen.  I used Real Red for the base card and went from there.  I used one of my all time favorite DSP's with the little cherries on it.  It is so old I cannot even remember the name but I love it.  The "thanks so much" stamp on the 1 3/8" circle is from the retired set called Eight Great Greetings and is stamped using Old Olive ink.  I layered it on the 1 3/4" scallop circle in Real Red.  This side is finished off using a piece of Old Olive ribbon tied in a knot.  The " Thank You" on the bottom is from the stamp set Curly Cute which is available in the catalog.  The logo of the charities is printed out on card stock and punched out using the designer label.  Then I created a border for it using Old Olive.  Let's look at the last piece of this card.

 

The "You Always Do The Nicest Things" is from the retired stamp set called Happy Greetings.  It is stamped in Real Red.  Now the cute little fire fighter stamp is from a different company.  I know SU! use to have a set of stamps all themed with fire fighter images.  When it retired, they did not make a new one.  I really wish they would.  I have been unable to locate one of the old ones to buy.  Anyway, he is stamped in Basic Black.  Now I thought about coloring him but decided against it.  I did not want to take away from any of the details on him.  This layer of Whisper White is attached to a piece of Old Olive and then adhered to the card.  When making a card like this, you just need to remember to only apply adhesive to the area that will actually be attached, not all the way from top to bottom.  Otherwise you will have one sticky mess.

Well, I will let you know how the board liked the card.  I will be making these to donate to them and am really looking forward to it.  Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to drop in tomorrow!!