Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow

Let it Snow, not really. I have no interest in there being snow now or anytime in the near future (or the future at all for that matter), but the two christmas cards I made this week have a bit of a snow theme so I figured it fit.

I decided to break out the old cricut. I have had this thing for two years. I begged my Mom to buy it for me for my birthday and I've hardly ever used it. I figured now was as good a time as any.

I went shopping at Michael's (oh how I detest the fact that I even stepped foot in this store) because I needed some glue. I browsed and found some really cool paper. Recollections has some neat new collections. I really liked their Mom's Diner collection and I thought their Salt paper from that collection would be perfect fora wintery themed card. I decided to pair that paper with a little polar bear I had cut out using my Joyful Expressions cartridge for my cricut. I also used my MS punch to create the little hills of snow.

I think it turned out pretty good. My husband said he likes this card the best out of all the ones I've made so far for the holidays. The one problem I'm having though is getting the sparkles to stick on the polar bear. I've tried a few different glues, my next thing is trying a spray on adhesive if I can find it anywhere. Excuse the horrible stamping job I did with the "peace" stamp. The card is just a prototype.






The second card was just a quick little try to see how things would work. It turned out alright. I'm not exceptionally thrilled with it. But it was quick to make. I am particpating in a card exchange that has about 20 people in it, so this might be the one I make for that exchange, just because it was super easy to do. I dont' want to spend hours agonizing over cards that a bunch of strangers are going to receive.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I can't believe that its not even Halloween yet and I'm busy thinking about Christmas cards. I figure I probably have about 50 to make, so mid as well start early. I wanted to go simple this year. After looking at a few of Emily's christmas cards over at Art From The Heart I thought I'm going to go super simple and do white cardstock. I also decided I was going to do solid colours (this of course might change if I found the right paper). The last requirement was to avoid the colour combos of Red and Green. I wanted to go with something different.

I initially tried out some cutesy cards with little polar bears and penguins and the like, but didn't really like how they looked. So I went out and I bought myself some new stamps from TPC Studios called Christmas Glamour. So far these are the two cards of come up with






Once again I apologize for the cruddy pictures and the even cruddier lighting in my house. The top one I made the snowflake with one of the ornament stamps. I stamped four major points using the entire stamp and the other four using the bottom half of the stamp. I also decided to go for a little big of a different colour for christmas and I used purple.

The bottom one if of course more traditional. I think it turned out really well. I like the simplicity of it. I like the red on white, and I like the sparkle that I used to frame out the ornament.

I have a few more cards that I'm going to try out making before I decide which one(s) I'm going to use as my cards this year.

Happy Anniversary

If you remember my last post I said that I was giving up on the sketch challenges that dot the papercrafting blogosphere and I was going out on my own and was going to use the sketches in my book the Joy of Cardmaking. I'm on the road to fulfilling my plan.

I went through the book and decided to start off with this sketch (excuse my awesome computer generated sketch making abilities). This is sketch on pg 168 of the book, that they've called Mother in Pink (they made a mother's day card as their example).

I chose this sketch because I needed to make an 6th anniversary card for my husband. So I wanted something simple that I wasn't going to go crazy girly with, but something that allowed me a little leeway to be creative.

And here is the result....................

I think it turned out really well. I chose a red colour scheme because of the whole "love" theme I had going on with it being an Anniversary card. I also figured red was a pretty neutral colour in terms of being masculine/feminine. I had a hard time picking a stamp to use. I decided on a Verve stamp from a set that I'd had lying around for a while and that I'd never used. I'd purchased it with the intent to use it for Valentine's Day but it worked just as well for this occassion.

The little twirly curly metal piece that I used is actually a paper clip. I have had a box of these silly things sitting around in my craft cart for a long long time. Every previous time I'd tried to use them they just never looked right and then I saw a sample card using them in this way and thought, ah ha this is perfect. I think it looks really neat.

Anyway I'm happy with the card. My husband thought it was great, which is all that really matters.

Paper: Ivory, Ruby Jewel (Paper Company); Vintage Tee (Basic Grey)

Stamps: Hundred Hearts (Verve)

Ink: Cranberry (Colourbox)

Other: Mini Silver Brads (Making Memories); Paper Clip (Staples); Wrights Ribbon

A New Strategy

I've been thinking about how to get myself motivated to actually enjoy my little card making hobby. I thought that doing sketches from places like Mojo Monday would help me, but I've found they've done the exact opposite. I've become overly critical of my cards because they just seem to be ho hum in comparison to some of the other cards that people post when they are particpating in the sketch challenges.

SO I pulled out a book that my husband had given me for Christmas last year. The Joy of Cardmaking. Its published by Paper Crafts. It has about 80 sketches in it. So I'm going to try to do a sketch a week (or maybe every second week - it really depends on whether or not my 3 year old decides she can have quite time). I'll post the sketch, and my card that I've made.

Maybe it will inspire someone else to be creative, maybe not. But I'm hoping it gets my creative juices flowing again.

Going to the Chapel........

We are headed to another wedding this upcoming weekend. It will be kind of fun because this weekend is also my 6 wedding anniversary. My husband has been given explicit instructions that he must, upon penalty of death, ensure that they play our wedding song during the dance portion of the evening ;p

Anyway so a card is needed. I thought about making another card using my baroque motifs stamps, but I've been using those a lot lately. I decided I'd try a heart card. I usually find anything with hearts on it uber cheeseball, so I needed some good inspiration. I found a card similar to the one I decided to make on splitcoaststampers, and off I went.

The bride has chosen blue and brown as her wedding colours, so I decided once again I'd use her colour scheme to make the card. I started out using brown as the dominant colour but it just looked way too harsh, so I switched it up to blue. The heart stamp I used also looked a little plain jane-ish so I jazzed it up a little bit with sparkles, because heck what bride doesn't appreciate a little sparkle on her day. Finished it off with some brown ribbon and a big old brad. I thihnk it turned out pretty good.

Paper: Recollections cardstock ( I can't remember what exactly the colour is, and once I chuck the packaging that info is long gone)
Ink: Bashful Blue (SU)
Stamps: Bold Heart (Rubber Stampede), Baroque Motifs (SU)
Other: Celebrate It Basic Brown Ribbon, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine glitter, SU Circle Brad