Vintage Card on Crackerbox Palace Friday

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and I am sharing vintage looking card I created with some new Crackerbox Palace stamps I recently received. I really like the color combo of kraft and light blue. The light blue layer was sponged with brown ink through a Heidi Swapp plastic stencil, then embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I cut a kraft rectangle and stamped the beautiful Crackerbox Palace bush in brown twice. I rounded the corners and cut into 4 pieces, sponging all the edges. I attached the pieces to the front of the card and added a “blessed” sentiment with some pearls to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. The CBP website is being upgraded currently, but you can always email or call them if you want any of the stamps I share.

 I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at  Love to Create and Scrapbook Stamp Society.

My Turn for Designer's Choice Challenge at Repeat Impressions!

It’s another Designer’s Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built, Repeat Impression’s blog. It’s my turn and I have chosen a favorite color combo for the challenge theme: black and white and one more color.  After you make your card with those colors, you can enter it for a chance to win some awesome Repeat Impressions rubber! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards for this DCC challenge. 

Repeat Impressions has a whole line of stamps called Quartets here on their website. I chose Brewed Quartet because I have so many friends and relatives who love tea and/or coffee. I also chose red as my extra color in addition to black and white.  I stamped the quartet on a white square with black ink and paper pieced the one cup with red cardstock. I layered on a black square and then on a red square card for a CAS and fun card for someone special.

CAS Spring Card for Challenges

Have you noticed a theme in my cards lately? No snowflakes or snowmen allowed! I am sooo ready for spring and my choice of stamps, dies and punches reflect that! This card is a version of the card my daughter is making for a gathering of stampers in March called Madison Mingle. She wanted to borrow some punches for the idea and I experimented with those I own to help her decide which ones to borrow. I embossed the top white layer with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then punched the butterfly (Stampin' Up) and the flower (Marvy). Small pieces of brightly colored dp were placed under the embossed layer which was attached with pop dots to raise it. The "hello" is by Paper Smooches and is one of my favorite stamps currently. I added another punched butterfly and a couple pearls to complete the CAS card.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at 613 Avenue Create and Amusing Challenges.

Butterflies Flying out of my Card in a Box

I am having fun playing with the Card in a Box concept I have seen all over blogland! This one is a smaller version that would fit into an envelope slightly larger than an A2 envelope. Measurements and directions are available here. I love butterflies and used several of my punches and diecuts to make this birthday card for someone special. The largest top butterfly is a diecut from Memory Box. The midsize butterfly is from Stampin' Up and the smallest from Martha Stewart. I attached the middle butterflies onto strips of acetate so they popped up higher than the others. I used the negative of the SU butterfly over some polka-dotted patterned paper on the side pieces.

Here is another picture that shows the layers of butterflies and the base of the card  which was embossed with an embossing folder by Embossalicious:

My last picture shows the card folded flat to mail and the back where I can write my birthday message.

You will probably see more of these cards on my blog because they are so fun to make! I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Sister Act and the Punches or Diecuts challenge at The Stamping Boutique. 

Easter Card in a Box on Silhouette Sunday

Have you seen all the "Cards in a Box" all over Pinterestland lately? I made this one following this tutorial  using several Easter files from Silhouette America. To make the box is not hard to do at all, and with cutting files from Silhouette, this one came together very easily. I cut the eggs, bunnies and Happy Spring with my Silhouette Portrait.

This is what the box card looks like folded flat from the back. I cut another fun bunny face with my Silhouette and layered it on a pink piece that can be used to write a Happy Spring message.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Crafty Girls and Through the Craft Room Door.

Couture Creations Design Team Application Round 2

I am thrilled to share I have made it through to the second and final round of the Couture Creations Design Team Call! For this round we are to design and blog a new project featuring a Couture Creations embossing folder, our choice of dies and Core'dinations Cardstock if we have it.

I have a whole collection of Core'dinations cardstock since it is my favorite, and have chosen two kinds of Core'dinations Cardstock to create my card with. The card base is made with Core'dinations Vintage Collection, and the heart was cut from Core'dinations Gemstones Cardstock. I experimented with several different shades of blue Core'dinations Cardstock for the heart, and tried sanding them to highlight the embossing. Core'dination's core cardstock is perfect for that technique, but I decided I liked the Gemstone cardstock without the sanding the best for my embossed heart.

I embossed a 5 1/4 inch white cardstock square with Couture Creation's Butterfly Hugs embossing folder. I also embossed the heart (cut out with a Spellbinders Nestabilities die) in the Butterfly Hugs folder, as shown in the picture below:

I attached the heart to the white embossed cardstock with pop dots to raise it, and then attached the completed piece to the front of the card. The real magic of the card happens when you open it. Take a look:

The butterflies pop up and appear to be floating when the card is opened! The technique is called Floating Image and this is how you create this fun effect:

Cut two pieces of matching cardstock 5 1/2" by 6", and score each at 5 1/2" on the 6" side. Apply strong two sided adhesive tape to the two 1/2 inch tabs and line them up together. (I chose to make my card a 5 1/2" square card. If you wanted to create an A2 size card, cut two pieces of cardstock 4 3/4" by 5 1/2" and score at 4 1/4" on the 4 3/4" side. You want an half inch tab in the center of the two pieces.)

Next you will want to decide what you want to pop up when the card is opened. I chose to die cut a polka dotted butterfly with a beautiful large butterfly die from Cherry Lynn Designs, and two smaller butterflies cut out of white cardstock with a die by Memory Box. They are attached to pieces of acetate cut 1/2 inch wide and to the height you want your floating images to be. I chose to place the larger butterfly on a piece 2 1/4 inches high and the two smaller ones on a 3 inch acetate piece. Lay your pop up elements inside the card so they do not extend beyond the sides of the card as shown here:

When you are happy with the placement, remove the outer protective cover of the two sided adhesive on one of the 1/2 inch folds and attach the acetate strips and die cuts pieces. They will pop up and appear to be floating in the air. (As is the designer's prerogative, I changed my mind and placed the two smaller butterflies on one acetate strip in the finished card.) Remove the other adhesive cover and attach the front of the card to the back in the center as shown here:

For the inside of the card, I die cut Memory Box's Grand Happy Birthday on the top of a 5 inch square piece of white cardstock. I also cut out the negative of the Kaleidoscope Butterfly by Memory Box and attached the positive of the same butterfly in the opening.

I think the surprise of the pop up floating butterflies in this card would delight anyone celebrating their birthday. I enjoyed sharing this technique and my card with you, and thank Couture Creations for the opportunity to participate in Round Two of their Design Team Application process.

Roses and Vellum Dimension on Crackerbox Palace Friday

It’s Crackerbox Palace Friday and I am sharing a card that features Crackerbox Palace’s beautiful roses and a technique I call Vellum Dimension. This is one of the cards that will be in an article in Scrap and Stamp Arts in their October issue that I wrote about that technique. Normally I chose animal stamps with stripes or spots, but this card shows the technique can be done with any stamp with smaller areas of white. To achieve the dimension, you stamp on vellum, turn over and “color” in the flowers and leaves with a stylus on a thick pad being careful not to tear the vellum.  This stretches and whitens the velum so it pops out with great dimension. After completing the “coloring”, I attached the vellum piece to a floral frame created with an embossing and cutting folder by Cuttlebug. I added some pearls and rounded the edges to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. The CBP website is being upgraded currently, but you can always email or call them if you want any of the stamps I share.

I am entering this card in the Flowers challenge at Inspired by Stamping and the Anything Goes challenge at Creative Moments. 

Funny Sentiments and Coffee Challenges

Coffee is the theme of the challenge this week at Addicted to CAS and at Love's Rubberstamps, they want us to use a funny sentiment. This one isn't all that funny until you see the inside of the card:

One of the reasons I love Crackerbox Palace stamps is because so many of them are laugh out loud funny and I love to use humor in my cards. I know it isn't CBP Friday, but Vicky already posted this card on her blog, but I hadn't shared it here yet. When I saw the themes of these challenges, this card seemed perfect for them.

I created a 4 1/4" square card and popped the coffee monster circle above so the card still fits into an A2 envelope. I did a little coloring and this CAS card was done. Hope it makes you smile:)

What if? Wed. Sketch Challenge at Repeat Impressions

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for another fun sketch challenge at The House that Stamps Built and we are challenging you to make a card using the sketch below and link it up for a chance at some great Repeat Impressions rubber! For all the details on what you can win and to see the other Rock Stars cards using this sketch, please visit our blog.

I love this little girl named Wendy from Repeat Impressions. I paper pieced her cute outfit and colored the rest of her with my Copics. I used fun washi tape with arrows to create the lines on this sketch. I added the sentiment (from Repeat Impressions of course) in the shape of a flag to complete the card.

Here is the sketch for you to follow when you create a card for our challenge. You do not need to use Repeat Impressions stamps to enter our challenges, but you get an extra chance to win if you do!

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Love to Scrap and at  613 Avenue Create. The optional twist at 613 Ave. Create is National RAK Day and I will be donated this card to my kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids as my random act of kindness.

 

Funny and Feminine Bookmark Card

"It's a Girl Thing" is the theme of the challenge this month at Raisin Boat and at Come and Get It, they want us to use humor in our birthday cards. I was challenged this month at our local stamp club to make a bookmark and I made this card with a bookmark that is removable and closes with a magnet on the page you are saving in your book. You really need to click on the pix above or below to make it larger and read what the bookmark says- it will crack you up. I found it years ago on a birthday card and saved it to use it again on another card or bookmark. It is advice from Dr. Phil and ends with "You have no idea how freaking good I feel." Very funny!

I started both the card base and the bookmark by sponging lightly inside some stencils with ink. I stamped the amazing sentiment from Impression Obsessions on the side of the card front  The Dr. Phil advice was printed with my computer and I cut the border with a Martha Stewart border punch that also embosses. I added some sequins just for fun. This is what the bookmark looks like off the card:

Getting Krafty on a Snowy Monday

I love using kraft paper in my cards and so it was easy to come up with one to use for this week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp, "Get Krafty". I recently had a request to make some sympathy cards for sale, and this is one of the cards I designed. The butterfly punch, pokey pattern and stamp are all from Stampin' Up. I punched out the butterfly, poked around it with a needle and layered it with pop dots above the patterned paper below. The beautiful sentiment is from Crackerbox Palace. I added a  brown pearl to complete the card.

I am also entering this card in the Monochrome challenge at Open Minded Challenges.

Friend Card on Silhouette Sunday

The challenge this week at the Silhouette Blog is to simply make any project with our Silhouette cutting machines and their cutting files. When shopping at the Silhouette America store recently, I couldn't resist this sweet kitty and her mouse friend that she is sharing her umbrella with. I made a cute and easy friend card with it. I am fascinated with using the positives and negatives of die cuts, and I did just that on the inside of the card.

In addition to the challenge at the Silhouette Blog, I am entering this card in the From the Heart challenge at Creative Corner.

Punches and/or Die-Cuts at SAS4Kids!

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is Punches and/or Die-cuts 4 Kids. Create and link any card for a child using punches and/or die-cuts, and you could win one of our great prizes.

We have three very generous sponsors for this challenge:  The Cutting Café is giving their winner 3 digi or cutting files! Meljen’s Designs is giving their randomly picked winner 4 digis of their choice!  And Oak Pond Creation’s winner gets 1 image of their choice! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

My first card above features Teeny Mouse Hugs by Meljen's Designs. I think they are so sweet and decided they really love cheese, so I made them some with a punch from ek success and some yellow triangles. I printed the mice and cut them out with a circle die-cut from Spellbinders. I paper pieced them with different grey patterned papers and added a punched heart and some doodling to complete the card.

My second card is perfect for one of our boys! I picked out the one eyed monster from The Cutting Cafe's Bunch of Monsters, cut him out and attached him in the center of a bunch of circles I die-cut with my Nestabilities. I printed the perfect sentiment from the same set, and cut it out again with my circle dies. I added some googly eyes just for fun.

I am entering these cards in the Anything Goes challenges at Through the Craft Room Door and Crafty Girls Challenges. 

Couture Creations 2014 Design Team Audition

If you follow my blog, you know of my love for embossing folders and die cuts. Couture Creations has many unique embossing folders and other products, and they are having a design team call right now here on their blog. I would absolutely love to create with more of their fantastic products and this blog post is an audition for them. The tri-shutter card above is one I posted on my blog 1/14/14, shared at the January Stamp Club meeting held at our local Stamp Shoppe, and is going to be taught in my March in home classes. Here is how the card looks open: 

To make a tri-shutter card, you simply cut a piece of cardstock 5 1/2 inches by 12 inches. Score the cardstock vertically at 2", 4", 8" and 10". Make two horizontal cuts from the 2" to the 10" scores lines, 1 1/2 inches from the top and bottom. Crease the paper as shown in the template below - the dots are mountain folds and the dashes are valley folds. 

To decorate my tri-shutter card, I chose an embossing folder from Couture Creations called Uber, and several sets of stamps from Precious Remembrance Shop and CAS-ual Fridays. The sizes for the white embossed and stamped pieces for layering are: 5 1/4" x 1 3/4" (two for sides), 3 3/4" x 2 1/4" (one for center piece), 3 3/4" x 1 1/4" (two for top and bottom), and 1 3/4" x 2 1/4" (two for front and back center.) I stamped with several shades of blue to create this mono-chromatic fun tri-shutter card that would perfect for anyone's special celebration.

The second project I am sharing today features a technique I call Vellum Dimension and another awesome embossing folder from Couture Creations. I cut a round hole in the side of the white piece with a circle die from Spellbinders, then embossed the piece with the Nuevo embossing folder from Couture Creations. I stamped the tiger (from Repeat Impressions) with Ranger black Archival Ink on a vellum piece and set aside to dry for just a few minutes. I stamped the hello (from Crackerbox Palace), cut into a flag and layered onto a piece of torn washi tape. The circle opening is framed with a scalloped circle cut with more Spellbinders dies. 

To create the vellum dimension, turn the tiger vellum piece over and lay on a thick cushioned pad. Rub the back of the vellum with a piece of wax paper, enabling the stylus to move easier. Using the large end of the stylus, very carefully so as to not tear it, "color" the white parts of the tiger. The vellum will stretch and turn white as you "color" in the tiger and it will stand out with great dimension. Here is a picture of me starting the "coloring" with the stylus, and the completed tiger.

I taped the velum piece behind the white embossed layer, and attached the completed piece to a black card. This is the card I am sharing in Madison at the large gathering of stampers I am attending in March called the Madison Mingle. It is also being featured in an article I wrote on the vellum dimension technique to be published by Scrap and Stamp Arts in their October 2014 issue. 

I have been very honored this year to have eight articles published or soon to be published in Scrap and Stamp Arts. This center stair step card is going to be published as part of an article called "Not Your Average Everyday Stair Step Card" in the August issue of Scrap and Stamp Arts. Here are the instructions to create this unique center stair step card: 

*Cut card base 5” by 7 ¼” to make an A2 sized card when completed and folded.

*On back of the piece, mark 1”, 2”, 3” and 4” on both shorter sides of card. (These marks are later erased.)

*We are working on the BACK of the card so everything is opposite of what the front will look like. The picture below shows what it should look like from the back.

*From the BOTTOM LEFT, draw pencil lines from:

1 ½” to 3 ½”   on the ONE inch line  

2” to 4”    on the TWO inch line

2 ½” to 4 ½”   on the THREE inch line

3” to 5”   on the FOUR inch line   (see picture)

*Cut these lines with ruler, utility knife and cutting surface.

*From bottom left, SCORE DOWN from each inch line at:

1 ½” and 3”   (not necessarily the end of the cut line, so pay attention to the measurements for each line.)

2” and 3 ½”

2 ½” and 4”

3” and 4 ½”

3 ½” and 5”   

*Turn card over and Mountain Fold the first scored lines and Valley Fold the 2^nd (or furthest right of the score lines) to form stairs. Here is a template to illustrate these directions:

I embossed the completed blue card base with a snowflake embossing folder (Sizzix.) Then I stamped the Snowball Sequence set of snowmen from Repeat Impressions tumbling down and attached to each stair. I added some punched snowflakes (Martha Stewart) and a “Snow Much Fun” sentiment from Repeat Impressions. I cut the sentiment out with a label die from Spellbinders and added some gems to complete the card.

My last audition card is one I created for my kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids, my charitable blog whose mission is to collect and distribute handmade cards to children who are inpatient in eight children's hospitals. It was originally posted on my blog on 1/18/14 in this blog post.  One of the reasons I love designing cards with embossing folders is they make the cards easy to make, but still fun and unique. To create this CAS card, I started with a diagonally cut pink piece of card stock embossed with Couture Creation's Nuevo embossing folder. The red card base was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. The sweet heart sheep is a pre-colored digital image from Doodle Pantry which I printed twice, cut out the hearts and raised them for extra dimension. The sentiment is from The Artful Stamper.

Thanks to Couture Creations for this opportunity to audition for their design team, and for all of my loyal readers for sticking with me through this lengthy blog post. 

Stamping smiles, Karen 

All Heart Designer Choice Challenge at Repeat Impressions

It’s another Designer’s Choice Challenge at The House that Stamps Built, Repeat Impression’s blog. It’s Joyce’s turn and the theme of her challenge is “All Heart.”  After you make your card with a heart on it somewhere, you can enter it for a chance to win some awesome Repeat Impressions rubber! Please visit the blog for all the details and to see the other Rock Star's cards for this DCC challenge. 

Repeat Impressions has a whole line of stamps designed to work perfectly with waterfall or flip cards. I used the Heart Flip Set to create this sideways waterfall card that could be used for a wedding or Valentine card. I started with a base that I embossed with a heart embossing folder and rounded the corners. I stamped each heart piece and layered on pink and red squares with rounded corners. The last picture shows one heart and the perfect sentiment over a heart background also from Repeat Impressions of course. I had only done waterfall or flip cards with the waterfall opening from bottom to top, so I tried it this time opening from the side and am happy with how it turned out.

Visit the Repeat Impressions website here for directions on how to create a waterfall or flip card and to see their huge selection of flip stamps.

Stamping smiles, Karen 

Last Valentine on Silhouette Sunday

This is the Valentine I made for my son and his wife and it is in the mail to them. I started with a textured white cardstock and layered a heart I cut out with my Silhouette Portrait and a Silhouette America cutting file.I trimmed off the right edge and added the love (also a cutting file from Silhouette.) CAS but lovely I think.

I am entering this card in the All Heart challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Stamping and Silhouette smiles, Karen

A Card for My Daughter

Sometimes I see stamps and I just have to get them because they are perfect to make a card for someone I love. That was the case with both of these stamps from two of my favorite stamp companies. Of course, if you follow my blog at all, you know I design for Crackerbox Palace and love their stamps. The lady with the sun is one of their stamps, and I paper pieced her dress and sun, and colored the rest with Copics. The sentiment is a new one I won recently from DRS Designs and I just knew my daughter would love it. So do I! It is a perfect wish for anyone special in our lives. I embossed the golden card base with a new embossing folder from Darice. CAS card, but perfect for my favorite daughter who I am seeing tomorrow:)

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Crafty Girls and Delightful Challenges.

Stamping smiles, Karen

Swimming By to Say Hi!

It's Crackerbox Palace Friday and I am sharing a cute card that would be perfect for a special child in your life. I started with a blue card base and cut three rectangles of the same blue, rounding two of the corners. I paper pieced the submarine and water monster with patterned papers before attaching to the blue pieces. I stamped the perfect sentiment and raised all three pieces with pop dots when attaching to the card base.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. The CBP website is being upgraded currently, but you can always email or call them if you want any of the stamps I share.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Loves Rubberstamps and at Through the Craft Room Door.

Crackerbox Palace smiles, Karen

A Cold One for an Old One!

I learned a new fold at a recent class at our local Stamp Shoppe and couldn't wait to try it. It is called Reverse Gate Fold and this is the front of the card. I used a new set from Raisin Boat called Birthday Brewing which is perfect for a beer lover's birthday. Here are a couple more pictures that show the fold from the top and the back of the card:

I love to learn new fun folds! For this one, you start with a base card that is 9 1/2" x 4 1/4", and score at 2 3/4" and 3 3/4" from both sides. Valley fold the first score lines from both sides and mountain fold the two inside score lines. I paper pieced the beer stein on the front piece, and stamped the other beer stamps in black ink. I left the back right piece blank for a personal note to the birthday boy.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Loves Rubberstamps and Paper Take Weekly.

Stamping smiles, Karen