Coffee Gift Card Holder

How many of you need cards to send gift cards to people this Christmas season?  I know I do, but I always find more time during the year to make one than I do during the holidays!  This is a simple card I made to hold a Starbucks gift card, using CTMH's 6x6 kraft flap cards bases.  The flap is usually designed to be on the outside--check out these other projects of mine here and here to see a few of these pretties in action.  But for this card, I decided to tuck the flap INSIDE using a bit of adhesive at either end, in order to hold a gift card.

 

I made the card coffee-themed, since I was giving a Starbucks card, naturally.  I used a Fiskars coffee themed clear stamp set that featured various mugs and coffee beans, stamped in cocoa ink.  I then used scraps of the Stella paper pack from CTMH and cocoa cardstock.  I paper pieced the little heart on the cup--so cute!

 

 

 

This is the inside view--you can appreciate the flap, which I stamped with the coffee bean border from the set.

So cute and easy--no need to cut extra flaps or create a whole new card!  Love that!

No Paper Trimmer Required, Part II

 Here today with another simple card idea that requires NO paper trimming! (if you missed the first installment, check out this blog post here ) I found a pack of these adorable felt embellished cupcake stickers--they were in a clearance pack at Michaels.  I have used them throughout the year to be a focal point for my cards, but lately, I've been tired of having such a large stash on hand...so I thought of a way to use a LOT of them at one time without any paper trimming required.

 

 

You'll notice the sentiments of the two cards are slightly different--both are stamped inside and out with lagoon ink using the Card Chatter Birthday stamp set from CTMH

After making a handful of cards like these, I have a nice birthday card stash and my cupcake supply is now used up :)

See you again soon!

Very Merry Christmas Cards

Back again today with a few Christmas cards I designed using CTMH's October Stamp of the Month, Very Merry Christmas.  I was excited to receive this stamp set for free as a part of participating in a hostess club from Jen Patrick--thanks Jen!

 

 

This first card (above) features the beautiful ornament from the set--I stamped it in red and decorated it with left over red glitter gems from the Pear and Partridge WOTG kit, some glitz glitter gel (I tend to reach for that with EVERY project these days!!) and some red baker's twine.  I popped the ornament up on foam squares for some dimention, too (there is a Cricut cartridge that cuts this shape out, but I just went low-tech and used my scissors as I do not own a Cricut...yet!).  The background features a technique I learned for the second card in this post.  I used olive ink and stamped in 2nd generation.  One thing I learned is that I prefer the look of a more script-style font for the background, because you don't have to line it up quite as much if the font is sort of on an angle, unlike this font! (see third card in this post to compare)

 

 

 Similar card here, just using some patterned paper instead of a stamped background--just as cute!

 

 

I am simply in love with these mittens (these also coordinate with a Cricut shape...but again, I cut out with scissors)!  This card features the stamped 2nd generation background in olive ink, this time using "Warmest Wishes" sentiment from the set.  I paper pieced the mitten cuff and then popped the mittens up on foam squares on top of a red baker's twine bow.   Two little glitter gems and some glitz glitter gel (cuff) dress it up!

Hope you got some inspiration today!  Hope to see you again soon!

Santa Bags

These adorable Santa bags were my neighbor Christmas gifts last year.  They were made from a kit from this CTMH consultant, Mandy (she cut them out using her Cricut with the Art Philosophy CTMH cartridge).  They were super easy to assemble and then I simply glued on the white boa (included) around each edge.  I filled them with white paper "grass" and Christmas chocolates--assorted Lindt truffle balls if I recall, my favorite!  They were a hug hit, especially with the kids!

Neighbor Gifts

This year, I plan to bake cookies and deliver them to a few neighbors in decorative tins--that is because we have about 3 neighbor friends at this point in our new home!  Back in Maryland where I used to live, we had about a dozen or more neighbor friends and so thinking up cute neighbor gifts around the holidays was always a challenge for our budget. 

 

These are some of my FIRST stamped card sets that I made about 4 years ago for our neighbors.  I basically stamped very simple images onto colored cards and tied them together with some ribbon and a cute little gift tag.  

 

 

 

The tag stamp is from CatsLife Press and is a wood and rubber stamp (one of the few I own)--it is punched out with a coordinating circle punch.

 

These card sets were fun to make, easy to mass produce, and super affordable!  The best part is that they were very warmly received and worked beautifully with everyone's diet around the holidays!!

Pear and Partridge Christmas Layout

Yesterday I posted the Pear and Partridge Card workshop--see here if you missed that post.  I told you that I used the leftover scraps and some of the ribbon from the kit to make my Christmas scrapbook layout for this year.  Here it is (click on photo to enlarge):

 

 

I stamped my favorite Christmas stamp image from the kit, and then added some red gems, the ribbon and the zipstrip (from the patterned paper edge) for my title about Christmas.  I plan to add photos after the big day, of course!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pear and Partridge Christmas Cards

I had a lot of fun with my crafty friend and neighbor, Gaenor, the other day creating these Christmas cards!  I used CTMH's Pear and Partridge Workshop on the Go kit, so I can take absolutely NO credit for the design and composition of these cards (although I did take some liberties with the directions,  so my cards are not EXACTLY what was prescribed)! 

 

 I completed 15 cards (5 each of 3 designs) all in one sitting (approx. 2 1/2 hours). 

 

Here are all three designs, lined up for you:

 

 

This card design actually should have had some ribbon like the others, but I wanted to save some for my Christmas scrapbook layout (did I mention that I had left over scraps from this kit, enough to make a double page layout spread?  Very cool!).  I added glitz glitter gel over the ornaments to make them sparkle (not included in the kit).

The best part of the kit, in my opinion, was learning a new technique (for me)--that is, making a background out of a text stamp.  It is basically done by stamping the sentiment in "second generation" over and over again. "Second generation" stamping is when you stamp once in your ink pad, then stamp onto scrap paper and then directly onto your project without reinking.  What results is a soft, muted image, great for backgrounds! (I changed out the sentiment for this design card--I loved the Christmas specific one, and not the "happy holiday season" one).  I also used my glitz glitter gel ontop of the presents to add some pizazz :)

 

 

 This next one has my most FAVORITE Christmas stamp to date--love this stacked sentiment design!  And I masked it to make "A Merry Little" to be in red ink like the directions suggested--very fun!

Although I plan to send out photo cards this year to friends and family like we usually do, I thought these would be nice to have on hand :)  They were fun to do and with everything predesigned for you, it was a great project to do with a friend so you could chat!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Stamp Card

I am starting to gear up for Christmas around here!  It is funny how us crafters are usually one holiday ahead in the artwork department (otherwise, I've always been a stickler for NO Christmas decorations, music, movies, etc before Thanksgiving).  I have lots to show you this season, so check back often for lots of updates and inspiration!

 

This is a Christmas version of one of my favorite "go to" card designs that uses my favorite punch--the stamp punch from Creative Memories (if you haven't seen this design before, check out my previous blog post here--it is inspired by Jen Patrick).  What I love about this design is that it is a GREAT way to use up coordinating paper scraps and random embellishments!  Sometimes I ink each punched out shape, but here I did not.

 

 

 

 

The sentiment is also a favorite of mine this holiday season--it reads "There is no greater gift at Christmas...than to have everything you want before you open the gifts"--it is from CTMH's Christmas Chatter stamp set.  Love that!

 

So simple and yet fun--a great little card to pop in the mail to someone special :)

Isaac's Thank You Notes

Thought I'd share a quick post today showing you Isaac's birthday party thank you notes (see this post for Isaac's birthday invitations if you missed that).   I used a simple card pattern from Wishes, a CTMH how-to book (retired). 

 

Thought it was cool how the two card variations seem different, but really it is just rotated 90 degrees! I like how the star turned out (feel free to click on image to see in more detail)--I stamped it in creme brulee ink, rolled it in red, and then added a layer of glitz glitter gel on top of the final image for the shine and sparkle. 

Sentiment is from Fiskars thank you stamp set, star is from Outta this World (CTMH).

Hope you have a creative day!  Thanks for stopping by :)