A Taste of Ice Cream

Sometimes all you need to make everything in life feel fine is a scoop of ice cream. Sometimes you need more than one scoop.

Here's hoping that you aren't having a 5-scoop day.

The Fine Print: Supplies by Stampin' Up

Happier Day

I've shared this card all over the place today I might as well share it here as well, right? I made it for my friend's birthday. I ended up having to write in big fat Sharpie on the inside bottom (HB from Judy--very poetic words) since I didn't leave myself anywhere to write. I included the greeting on the back since I felt that was an important part of the card.

As you may have suspected these twist and pop cards are a bit thick. I put it in a smaller A2 envelope and put that in a bigger envelope. I then put 2 stamps on it. I was going to drop it in the PO drop box on the way to work but circumstances were such that I had the time to take it inside to check on postage. It would be kind of rude to send a birthday card postage due. They said due to its thickness it cost $2.67 to mail (on top of the postage already on the envelope) since it was considered a parcel. Well, now... I'm willing to bet if I had just dropped it on the drop box it would have gotten to its destination just fine on two stamps. 

The Fine Print: Everything except the card base and greeting on the back by Stampin' Up.

Poke Poke Poke

Let's all just agree that my shoulder hurts and not get tangled up in various details of how that came to be (because the answer is: hell if I know). My shoulder and I (and my hair because it likes to go on outings) went to the physical torturer person who made it hurt so good.  And not so good.

So while my shoulder and arm were trying to decide if they should work or not, I got this crazy urge to do paper piercing.... you know where you poke tons of tiny holes into a piece of paper?

 Close up of my insanity:

Yeah, not the best choice I've ever made, but probably not the worst either. In the end I got a great card out of the deal and my shoulder really isn't any worse for the wear.

The Fine Print: Kitty stamp from Stampin' Up, piercing template by Ornare, card base by A Muse Studio, and doily from my stash. You know what did make my shoulder worse for the wear? Kinesio tape! That stuff ate holes in my skin. 

S'up Saturday

Now that my mother's birthday has come and gone I can share with you the card I made for her. It is one of those twist and pop cards that look like you need a degree in engineering, but really you only need a patient teacher to show you how.

The Fine Print: All products by Stampin' Up except for the numbered washi tape.

I Could Totally Do That

Sometime last fall I saw this video for an interesting card design and I watched it. I thought to myself, "I could totally do that!" Except I didn't. Then my friend made me a card with that design for Christmas and that got me thinking about it again--I could totally do that.

Except, again, I didn't. Then a local SU demonstrator said, "Come to my class and I will teach you how to make that design." I said, "Now I could totally do that!" And I did.

So here it is in all its glory--the famous Twist and Pop card that is not nearly as obnoxious to make as you might think (actually I didn't think that because I watched that video so many months ago).

The Fine Print: All products by Stampin' Up cuz it was a SU person who taught the class and that's super okay because SU has some cool things as evidenced by this cool card. Party on. Oh, that row of nifty bling across the front of the card is from a Dollar Store. It's mega cool looking in real life but probably all the Dollar Stores in your area have been pillaged of that item because no one can say no to it. 

Shake, Shake, Shake It

So I made a shaker card the other day since I am an uber awesome shaker card making kind of person. Oh wait, no I'm not. I seem to encounter every type of problem available when I attempt to make one. My most common problem is that all my shaker card material sticks the edges of the foam tape and stops shaking. I have that with this card along with scarecrow failure (the original stamped one did work out so I substituted this dimension sticker one). I also couldn't find the original batch of shaker material I planned to use. It is what it is. Now I can say I made a shaker card this year.

The Fine Print: Harvest Hello from Stampin' Up, leaf die by Impression Obsession, scarecrow sticker by Recollections. Shake your groove thing!

More Meowing Monday

Check this out! Charles actually held still for a photograph. He probably thought he could hide in the sunlight but my camera thrives on way too much light. In fact, that's the only way it will take decent pictures.

So remember back when I made that Magic Card at a stamp class to refresh my memory on how they are made and then vowed I'd never make another one of them?

Well, I lied. 

The Fine Print: Tap punch and stamp by Stampin' Up "Pretty Kitty," square dies by Spellbinders, butterfly punch by Martha, ribbon and cardstock from my stash. 

What's in Your Pocket?

In a craft room in a galaxy far, far away and a long, long, long time ago I joined a pocket card swap. However, it was a specific form of pocket we had to make. The hostess gave us all a photocopied page of directions and samples that looked like it came from a magazine or idea book. Every one of us made a card in that design.

I kept the directions because it was an unusual design (in fact, does not show up on Google on pocket card image searches). You see here that the front of the card is folded in on itself to make the pocket. That front flap lifts up so you can stamp or write a brief greeting.  However, I rarely make it because I never know how to fill the pocket.

The swap I made this card for requires that you have something that can be removed from the pocket so I tucked in a gift card.  Well, sort of....

So that's the pocket card I learned way back when I was a newbie stamper. Here it is all these years later and the pocket still stumps me. It is rather like that card in a box as I never know what to put in that either!

The Fine Print: Botanical Blooms stamps and dies, bird punch, and nest stamp (from the "Take Care" set) all by Stampin' Up, light green designer paper by HOTP, circle grid paper by DCWV, and alphabet set from my stash. 

Tied Up with String

Sorry I haven't been by in awhile but I haven't been creating much lately. Unless you count creating a big mess! It's all for a good cause though. The cause being that my new craft room really needed an overhaul. I moved in and plunked down my stuff and called it good, which really meant, "Good enough for now."

Meanwhile, I do have this card for you to check out. I had to make a card with no stamping. My go-to non-stamping techniques are decoupage and iris folding. I thought it was time to branch out into some paper embroidery. This was a lot of fun to make but don't expect me to pick up needle and thread too terribly often.

The Fine Print: I have one book called Basics of Embroidery on Paper II, but this design did not come out of it. HA! Corner punch by Martha. 

What a Corker

I found this scan of a card I made back in 2012 and it doesn't appear I ever shared it with you, so today is your lucky day! It is an old technique where you use cork.

I heat embossed the image on cork and then colored it with chalk and a wet brush, or maybe Q-tip, or maybe a water brush.  You get the idea--I used a damp thingy not wet chalk.

The Fine Print: Image by Copper Leaf, cork by Magenta, faux brads by Candi, papers from my stash.How about that? Heat embossing and chalk all on one card! Whoo Whee!

Hark! Hear the Bells

Merry Monday's challenge this week is to use bells on our cards. I know I have little jingle bells somewhere but I'm not a fan of putting that much bulk onto my cards. That left me with.... well, nothing.

Nothing, that is, until I remembered a paper embroidery pattern I had.

Then, ta da! This card was born. It was totally fun to make. I haven't done paper embroidery for at least half a decade or more so extra kudos to Merry Monday for keeping me on task for Christmas cards and for getting me to revisit old techniques.

The Fine Print: I got nothing for you. I got this particular paper embroidery pattern from a class I took but I'm quite sure I saw it in a paper embroidery book once too. The paper, ribbon, and greeting sticker is all from my stash.

Not Quite Sure

Sometimes I think that there has to be more to life than buying catfood and putting gas in my truck. In fact, I'm quite sure of it.  I just can't quite put my finger on what that could be though.

The Fine Print: This is a modern remake of a card I made many moons ago. Stamped greeting by Stampin' Up.

It's All Good

I get together with this group of paper crafters who are a lot of fun to play with. In December instead of playing we go out to eat, distribute Christmas cards and little gift bags to each other. I always try to make an extra special card for them; something that is different from the norm.

This year after getting all excited about that experimental card I tried out I decided to use it for my design. This is the card I came up with, except that I switched up the designer paper on all of them. Here they are.

They turned out to be more time consuming than I had originally guessed (are you surprised?) but they were fun to make. However, I do want to caution you that these are a bit rough on your dies.

You can see here how it is now warped and no longer flat. It cuts just fine and I'm sure it will straighten out again after being used normally for a few turns. I know that kind of thing can get some folks' undies in a wad, but really it's all good.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up "Polar Party," dies by Spellbinders, designer paper from my stash (mostly DCWV). Party on!

Gettin' Fancy

Remember when I went crazy and tried some technique shown in a magazine? If not, you can refresh your memory here. After I made that rather square card I fussed around with design until I perfected the A2 sized version.

Or so I thought.  Later I discovered that I needed to dock 1/4" off that middle section because as it stands now it is 4.5" wide.  Oh, so close!  

Luckily I rarely use A2 envelopes, having received many boxes of A6 for free*, that the off size is a non-issue for me.  Good thing because I made a whole passel more of these--Stay tuned!

The Fine Print: Stamps by Taylored Expressions, circle dies by Spellbinders, corner dies by Cheery Lynn, snowflakes from Recollections and paper from my stash. *They throw out the leftover graduation announcements and A6 envelopes every year so every year I dumpster dive. 

Seas the Day and the Technique

Once upon a time in a galaxy not that far away, in fact, it was actually this one, I received a card and envelope all in one and declared it the coolest thing ever.  Back in those dark days you had to trace, cut, measure, and score all by hand without the help of machines or tools.

Now that we have machines, tools, and precise measurements already done for us I still declare this card one of the coolest things ever.  I just need to remember to do it more often.

The Fine Print: Pirate boy stamp by Lily of the Valley, greeting by A Muse Artstamps, envelope shape and notch tool courtesy of We R Memory Keepers, designer paper by Pebbles.

Diorama

This card is the reason I took the whole fancy schmancy card making class. This was actually a card class of its own so really I took two classes last Friday.

They called it an envelope card. The middle that is popped out toward you will fold back in so that portion of the card shuts. That smaller piece on the left is like a flap that goes over the shut card. It is a very neat design and was not as tricky as you might think.*

I didn't take a picture of it shut tight as we didn't decorate the outside of the flap or card in anyway but you certain could. We made a plain white version that isn't put together so we can keep that as a template. I don't know how many more of these you can expect from me, but this one was fun!

* No, wait! It was terribly difficult and there is no way I'm teaching you how to do it.  I learned my lesson over that with that card in a box!

The Fine Print: Paper by Graphic 45, fancy scrollwork by one of those electronic machines, fence punch by Martha, and spiderweb punch by either Martha or EK.

A State of Zen

I joined a swap that was all about doodling. I thought it would motivate me to try my hand at Zentangling. So now I've tried it.

I was told that it is very relaxing but I didn't have that experience. I just wished this stupid thing would get itself done and over with already.  I guess I don't have the proper patience for Zentangling.

So there you have it, my first and most likely last ever Zentangle card.  I would cross that off my bucket list if only I had one. I do have a bucket. I use it for cleaning up cat puke.

The Fine Print: Yeah total WYSIWYG* here. I got nothing else.  
* What you see is what you get

Out to Lunch

The other day my Nephew and his Friend stopped by for lunch.  Nephew had been making noises about "taking me to lunch" for a couple of weeks now so it wasn't that big of a surprise. In case you don't know his idea of "taking me to lunch" involves me driving and paying for it and listening to his plea for money.  I've been putting him off because I find his company and predictably tedious. However, this lunch was rather eye-opening for me.

Both kids are tickling 30 now and have been buddies on and off since grade school. I totally enjoyed the Friend's company. It was good talking to him. He talked of getting a better job and getting his life on track. We related various stories of car repairs and making decisions like buy groceries or fix the car. We had a long conversation about how many hours one had to work to be able to buy an $800 cell phone and all the other, better things $800 could buy. Friend and I discussed the value of getting a college education and how he could get back into the school I work at. We talked about friends who passed away.  You know, we discussed life.

Meanwhile Nephew sat off to the side making random movie quotes, commenting about the life of a Jedi, and talking about the upcoming Star Wars movie. Nephew asked me multiple times for money to buy a Jedi robe from a Halloween store. Basically he was the like annoying little kid trying to get attention from the grown-ups.  He was so out of touch and didn't even try to fit in.

Of course, Nephew has no practical experience on what we discussed. He has never held a job, never paid bills, never had to be accountable for his actions, and wouldn't know a responsibility if it bit him in the arse. However, he tried a stint in college and has had friends and family member pass away but yet he couldn't get his mind off the fantasyland of movies and Jedis and hitting me up for money long enough to join in our conversation.

As I said, it was eye-opening for me. I've known the kid was out of touch with the real world for quite some time but I had no idea how far out there he was. Nephew can no longer even relate to his own friend anymore. He's truly out to lunch.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Tim Holtz, school themed papers by the Paper Cut, apple punch by Martha, and apple brad from my stash. That cut is called a tri-shutter! Yes, I had help remembering that name.

Workdesk Wednesday #315

Here we are again at Workdesk Wednesday, not that I have a lot to titillate you with this week but I do have a desk. I got rid of that last little plastic bin up top and put my pencil cup up there instead. I'm still reaching over to the old spot whenever I need a writing utensil. I'm sure one of these days this old dog will learn a new trick.

I have a pretty random assortment of stuff on my desk. From left to right I have a little bowl of brads and pieces, some paper things I want to work on, my pretty pink sparkly princess supply box, that cat proof tape dispenser, my felted covered notebook, red white and blue papers and supplies for Independence Day card making, a pocket letter, some cards, my new A Muse catalog, some card bases, my friend's Big Shot platform (don't ask), and some more papery things.

I haven't played much so I don't have much to share, but I do have other people's things to show off. This really cool bokeh technique card I got in a swap:

And this fancy birthday card/present that my friend sent me. She says it is called a pocket card and is the latest rage. As you can see, it is an ATC pocket page with little cards tucked into each pocket. Since this is for my birthday behind each card are little crafting presents like bling, ribbon, fancy tags, and the like.

The Fine Print: Is this a coincidence that I just emptied out all my ATC sheet protectors or do you think my friend has been spying on me?  Stamps and punches on the bokeh card by Stampin' Up.

Slider Card: Blast from the Past

Over the holidays I tidied up my notebook of techniques, which had morphed into two notebooks, several file folders, and random piles.  While I was sorting them I came across an oldie but goodie: the slider card.

You pull the tab and the front middle section slides upward.  The focal image pops out at you and two spaces for secret messages are revealed.  One is on the tab itself and the other is below.

I made this card just like I learned back in the dark ages, where you slather the back of the patterned piece with adhesive so all parts stick and continue to do so once you slice it all up.  That makes the slicing and the scoring a bit more difficult because you are dealing with two layers.  Since that is how I learned to do it; that's how I made it.  Back in those days patterned paper was always text weight, never cardstock weight.  Well, nowadays that's not always so.  That means when I make another one I'll be sure to use patterned cardstock for the front!

The Fine Print: Hedgehog by Penny Black, Hearts and Heart Greeting by DeNami Designs, Pull by Hero Arts alapabet set, dies by Spellbinders and MFT.  Thank you Laura Zak for teaching me this!