Search Results for: simple

Glitter & Tape Card Backgrounds

November 18, 2020 Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Quick Tips

Use fine glitter and double stick tape to create interesting backgrounds for your handmade cards! Glitter tape card backgrounds are an easy way to add pizzazz to your cards.

If you’re like me, you may not currently have tons of background papers, background dies, or background stamps at your disposal. And, if you’re like me, you may get a little sad when you feel like you can’t create the backgrounds you want.

Well, I have a solution for you. Well, you know….for now. And it’s kind of fun!

The Glitter

Recently, on my weekly Walmart grocery shop, I ran across some super fine glitter on the back aisle of the craft section. I grabbed a couple of colors and brought them home to experiment. I mean, I paid for them first. And then I brought them home.

They really are beautiful, and are just under $3 a jar. They’re stackable, as you can see in the video. But I have them in a single layer in a drawer.

Anyway, I’m not sure how I cooked up the idea (and I’m not saying I’m the only one who’s thought of this) but I thought that double stick tape combined with this superfine glitter would make a great background option. And it’s inexpensive!

The possibilities are endless. Go for tone on tone, with a glitter that matches closely to your paper color. Do stripes–horizontal, vertical, diagonal. Make a plaid design–all one color or multicolored.

Basically, you can just go nuts.

The Tape

In this video I’m only using two tapes. One is from Lawn Fawn….1/8″ double stick tape. I love this tape and use it all the time. The other is just office supply double stick tape on the disposable roll.

The only reason I chose those two is because that’s what I had! Use what you have and have fun with the results.

You could also incorporate metallic tapes like the blue tape I used on this card. I bought that tape from Hobby Lobby and it’s made my The Paper Studio. But I really wanted to exclusively use double stick for this video.

Watch the video below to see how I, on the fly, made a few backgrounds with very little effort.

So there you have it! Glitter tape backgrounds are a fun, easy, and inexpensive card option for birthdays, Christmas, New Year’s, and so on and so forth and what have you!

Hey drop a comment below and tell me how you successfully tame glitter in your card projects. I’m off to clean up the glitter spills on my desk!

Y’all take care!

“Remembrance” Challenge

November 13, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

The Monday challenge from Simon Says Stamp is Remembrance.

Well, hi!

Welcome to another installment of entries for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Blog Challenge. This week’s theme is Remembrance/Thinking of You.

Because I already did a “Thinking of You” challenge very recently, I decided to lean more into remembrance as the focal point for my challenge entries. And to be more specific, I wanted to work with old photographs.

My Sisters’ Birthdays

Because I have two sisters’ birthdays coming up in December, I figured I’d go ahead and crank out all three sisters birthday cards for this challenge. (The other one is in July, but why not do it now too?)

I found old photos from their birthdays on my computer and built the cards around their photos using similar color palettes for two of them. The other one seemed to have all pink in the photo so I went with all pinks for the card.

For this first one, I just layered paper in the background. Then cut strips of coordinating colored cardstock for the candles and glued them on randomly. The “flames” are a tear drop hole punch that I colored in with markers. The sentiment is perfect!

anna's birthday card remembrance challenge

Here’s that pink themed card. I stamped the cake layers as actual cake layers, but then used them vertically as candles on the envelop flap as well.

I used dies from Altenew (I have the matching stamps but didn’t use them) for the balloons on this card and envelope. The balloon strings are baker’s twine. Also, look at my gorgeous Mama! More on her later.

My Beloved Rosie

Unfortunately, on Easter Sunday this year we lost our beloved Rosie girl. She was hit by a car and passed away from her injuries. It was a shock and we all miss her terribly. She was the sweetest dog.

Each morning when I walk our other dogs, I pass the spot where we found her and spent our last moments stroking her and telling her it was going to be okay. Each morning, I see that spot and my heart just aches.

So I decided to make a sweet little remembrance to keep in my craft studio. It’s not a card, just a sweet little display of my Rosie…my shadow…my girl. Just to keep near me. It features two of my favorite pictures of her.

My Mother

My mother lost her battle with Alzheimer’s in June of 2016. If you’ve lost a loved one you know that you can go for periods of time and remember fondly with no longing. But then suddenly you get triggered by something, and you just have an intense longing to be with them.

This happened to me just a few days ago. I was having a rough, hormonal kind of day already. But I decided that, to help me get going into the holiday spirit for Christmas card making, I would listen to an old Christmas album that I grew up with. I listen to this album ALL THE TIME. But as soon as it started play, I just started balling.

I began to think of my mother and my childhood and how much simpler things were then. And I just felt that intense longing.

So when remembrance was chosen as a challenge topic, I knew I had to make something around my mother. She was just such an amazing woman and I miss her so much. Plus, I mean, she was just gorgeous!!

So these are my entries. And now I have two beautiful and touching mini memorials to keep in plain sight in my craft studio.

I’m off to work on some more projects.

Y’all take care!

“Thinking of You” Challenge

November 10, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge last week is the theme of Thinking of You.

Well, hi!

Here’s a new batch of challenge cards from the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog. The theme from the most recent posting is “Thinking of You.”

I don’t have a ton of stamps that imply that sentiment. In fact, I believe you are seeing all of them in the image above. The one on the truck is printed from my computer.

All of this challenge’s cards are pretty simple, and that was by design. I wanted to focus more on the sentiment so I kept everything else pretty clean.

I’ll list a close up image of each of the cards below, going from least to most favorite.

Thinking of You at Christmas

Using a greenery stamp from Sunny Studio and an ornament stamp from Stampin’ Up!, I created a simple layout. However, there was so much white space that seemed very empty. So I used an ink blending tool to create shading around the edges of the card. The sentiment stamp is also from Stampin’ Up!

Fall Tree

Four stamps make up this design and are all from the same Stampin’ Up! set (I have lots of Stampin’ Up! as I used to be a demonstrator). Patterned paper and metallic tape complete the design.

Fall Tree with Baker’s Twine

Same tree, stamped with darker leaves. And I added more patterned paper behind. The very simple design is completed with brown and white baker’s twine.

Pick Up Truck

This stamp comes from an inexpensive stamp set I bought on Amazon. It comes with various items that can go in the back. I figured the class blue truck with pumpkins would look nice. I used ink blending to create a ground of grass, and also added light blue shading for a hint of sky.

As stated previously, I printed this sentiment from my computer.

Watercolor Flowers

Another Stampin’ Up! stamp set and the sentiment is from them as well (although from a different set). I stamped the flowers using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto watercolor paper. I then used a very loose watercolor technique to color in the flowers and leaves.

This is my favorite of all the cards because the technique itself is so liberating. I love painting outside the lines and allowing the paintbrush to go…just….wherever. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable process for me!

Okay, there you go! A few more cards to add to my collection, ready to be sent to a friend or loved one who needs a little boost!

Make sure you check out my other challenge cards. I try to post entries twice a week on the blog, so keep checking back.

Y’all take care!

Holiday Ice Skates Card

November 5, 2020 Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Lovely ice skates bordered by snowy greenery for a beautiful holiday card!

My favorite cards to make are holiday cards, specifically Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But my all-time favorite is Christmas. I’ve loved Christmas since I was a small child! Creating a whole mood with a Christmas card is just so satisfying!

When I thought up the design for this card, I got so excited to make it! I’m not an ice skater, but I love ice skating. In fact, one of my very favorite Christmas movies, The Bishop’s Wife, features an ice skating scene that I just adore! (I just tried to find a link to that scene, but no luck…sorry.)

Anyway, I love the look of ice skates hanging with greenery. So cozy and vintage feeling. So I was very excited to shoot a video featuring that on this card. Other than the tiny laces and berries, everything went together very quickly.

Another beautiful look for this card would be to switch the card base to kraft paper and the ice skates to white cardstock. That would be beautiful and the snowy splatter would show up even more. Hmmm….I think I have something to go do right now.

Enjoy the video, and please leave me a comment and let me know your favorite Christmas movie!

Check out some of my other Christmas cards here and here.

Y’all take care!

“Have A Sweet Day” Slider Card

November 2, 2020 Handcrafted Cards

This interactive “Have a Sweet Day” Slider Card is an easy way to add a fun element to an already cute card.

Well, hi!

Welcome to my second interactive card video posted to the blog! Interestingly enough, my first interactive card video uses stamps from the same company! You can view that card video here.

I finally got my hands on the Lawn Fawn slider dies! I definitely will be using the curvy one in the future. But for now, I just used the straight die which works perfectly for this cute donut truck.

Lawn Fawn has many interactive dies from simple to complex in nature. These are the simplest and can be used with a variety of images. I chose to use an adorable food truck.

The Cruisin’ Cuisine stamp set (and coordinating die set) has been burning a hole in my stamp supplies just waiting to be used for a cute card! Remembering that I have a good friend who is a donut fanatic, I thought a donut truck card would be fitting.

I first found this stamp set through Sandy Allnock, who is an artist and paper crafter on YouTube. Amazing videos! Go check her out! Her truck is an ice cream truck and she hand draws her background with Copic markers. I opted for an easier route and used stencils, but I love how that turned out!

Watch the video to see the whole card come together, as well as find out how I covered up a mistake! I tend to make those a lot. 😉

Sunny Studios has a ton of cute stamps. You can see the blog post of the other card I made using their stamps here.

Thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite type of food truck is.

Y’all take care!

“Not a Card” Challenge

October 23, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Uncategorized

My examples for the Simon Says Stamp Not a Card Challenge

This week’s Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is “Not a Card.”

I have to admit that I was not excited about this one because I’m super focused right now on making lots of CARDS for my Etsy shop! So “wasting” time on something not card-related seemed like a bother.

But I actually had a lot of fun working on these projects.

Candy Bag Topper

Having recently cleaned out my candy, cookie, and cake stuff I knew I had some treat bags waiting to be used. Halloween candy seemed the perfect match for these, and timely.

I grabbed a notecard just a little wider than the bag and folded it in half. I stamped the front of the card with an old stamp set from Stampin’ Up! And I mean from back in the 90s!! It’s always been a fun set to use.

I filled the bag, placed the card over top, and stapled it in place. Easy!

Recipes

Okay, technically this is a card…but it’s not a greeting card so I say it counts!

Another oldie but goodie from back in my Stampin’ Up! demo days, this recipe card stamp is pretty cute and came with all the basic recipe category stamps too.

I stamped the main card stamp onto cream cardstock. Then I used the Main Dish stamp in the bottom right corner. I just did some simple colored pencil work….it’s too detailed to do much more.

This is a great idea for when you need to take a meal to someone. Why not share the recipe, if it’s one of your best? And doing it with stamps is more fun!

Planner Embellishment

I love, love, love my planner. Took me years to find one that works for me.

I thought it might be fun to embellish it a little. Not necessarily to make it pretty because I have come to be a firm believer in kind of a messy planner. Or should I say well-filled?

I just wanted to add a little visual to my upcoming week.

So for a youth campfire I added a flame stamp. For my daughter’s bone marrow donation day I added a gift stamp (what a gift she is giving! so proud of her!). For family game night, I added a confetti stamp in multiple colors. And for my day to work on Christmas cards, I stamped a little tree.

I actually think I may do this on a regular basis. Because I block my time off with highlighters and have some repetitive items, sometimes I forget which week I’m on. Having a visual reminder–“oh yeah, this is the week with the campfire night”–will be helpful for my brain!

Gift Tags

Can I make a confession here? I don’t do gift tags.

Why? Well we have this fun tradition I started a few years ago where I don’t label the gifts to the kids. I pick a different paper to represent each person each year and my kids have to figure out who is who! It’s really fun. One year I even decoy wrapped everything–I wrapped it once in the correct paper for that person, and then again in a “decoy” wrap to confuse them.

Yes, I am looney.

But really, they were getting too good at guessing based on what people had on their lists. I add extra padding, coins, etc., to throw them off base.

Anyway, I digress.

Even though these tags will not be used for the family gifts, I will have fun using these for gifts to friends. Die cuts used for some, stamps for others.

Christmas Card Log Book

And now to my favorite result of this challenge!

I’ve had this Christmas Card Log book for YEARS!!! I think I got it free. I know I’ve always hated the cover. Just not my style at all.

It happened to be sitting out on my stamp desk, and I thought, “Hmmm…can I make it cute?”

Answer: Yes. Yes, I can.

Many of the stamps I own I have had since the early 90s. I remember thinking when I saw the stamp of a blank card, “Oh, that’ll be fun to use!”

Yeah. I never used it.

But now I have! I really enjoyed just making this up as I went along. I made lots of little Christmas cards to adorn this new log book. Then I masked them off with Post-Its and did some ink blending around them. That really made them pop!

Now I’m excited to mark off who I’ve sent cards to and who have sent cards!

So there you have it. All five of my entries into this week’s challenge. And I have to say, these ideas were fun and pretty fast! While I enjoy making a beautiful card to send, it can take a while. It was fun to make some things that were quick!

Check out the last Simon Says Stamp challenge I did.

Matching Card & Envelope Challenge

October 21, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

My examples for the Simon Says Stamp Matching Card & Envelope Challenge

Well, hi!

Simon Says Stamp runs two weekly challenges. One is on Monday. The other on Wednesday. I’m going to try to make examples for those and post them here on the blog. You can link up to five entries for each challenge, and I think that’s a great way to get creative and have some fun! Plus, winning a $25 gift card is a pretty sweet incentive.

Last Wednesday’s challenge was to make cards with matching envelopes! Since I needed to add some inventory to my Etsy shop anyway, I figured this fit my needs pretty well!

My recent post on the We Go Together Wheel Card qualifies for the challenge as well. You can go read about it here. Shoot, I guess that makes six cards! Someone is gonna get left out! Oh well.

All these cards, minus the We Go Together card and the Bunny Love card, are currently in my Etsy shop!

Bunny Love

The first card to show you is a simple one that uses some…well…some cheap stamps I found on Amazon (see note below). The bunnies are a cute little grouping and I love doing simple shading above and below just to give a hint of a scene. A coordinating bunny stamped on the envelope flap completes the challenge! The inside sentiment says, “Somebunny loves you.”

(Side note: I don’t recommend the off-brand photopolymer stamps and dies on Amazon because they are not great quality. It was an experiment purchasing a few sets…an experiment I won’t repeat. I can use these stamps, but they have ZERO stick, so they won’t stick on their own to a block or stamp tool. The dies are not super accurate either.)

Typewriter Hi

The second card to share with you is this simple but very clean Typewriter “Hi” card. I worried when coloring this image that it would be boring, but I have to say that I love the open white space around the typewriter. And the way the black cardstock behind it sets it off against the patterned letter paper. The stamps are from Stampin’ Up!…all from the same set.

It makes a nice, clean lines card.

Floral Quote

Next I’ll share this more inspirational card. One of my sisters recently requested that I stock my Etsy shop with some cards she could send people at church. So I thought I’d take a spin in that direction.

To make this encouragement quote card, I used a very intricate die from Tim Holtz. It was a bit time-consuming to punch out all the negative space, and a challenge to glue down. But I really like the effect of the white on blue cardstock. I die cut some leaves and used sponge daubers to add some shading with a dark green ink pad. The quote is just printed onto cardstock from my computer.

I used the green cardstock that I die cut the leaves from as a stencil for making the coordinating envelope back. I used the sponge dauber and that same dark green ink pad to lightly swirl over the stencil.

I’m looking forward to making more of these, incorporating quotes from spiritual leaders as well as scriptures.

Santa and Reindeer

I saved my favorite two for last. I love the bright sky behind this Santa and reindeer card. I’ve really been enjoying using my alcohol markers to work with blending color. While I’m still learning, I find that each time I work with the markers, I’m willing to be a little more daring and use more and more contrast. I just signed up to take the Copic Jumpstart class from Sandy Allnock’s Art Classes site, and can’t wait to level up my skills with all her amazing classes!

The stamps for this card are from Stampin’ Up!.

Polar Night

Night scenes seem to have become a favorite for me with my markers. This night time polar bear scene was fun to create. When I look at it, I totally get the cold, snowy mood going! Simple masking for the bear helped created some depth in the scene. And using a white gel pen for snow in the air and on the trees really makes the whole thing pop!

The Matching Card and Envelope Challenge was fun to do and helped me get some inventory into my shop!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you got some card inspiration. I’d love to hear your comments on your own favorite ways to coordinate your envelopes with your cards! Or maybe you can do your own Matching Card & Envelope Challenge.

Y’all take care!

Halloween Moon Witch Card

October 6, 2020 Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Uncategorized

Making a card using “Copic” markers to create a moonlit sky around this cute little Halloween witch!

Why the quotation marks?

Because I don’t actually own Copic markers (if someone would like to be my wealthy benefactor here, I’m all in). I do use alcohol-based markers but I find most people are familiar with the word “Copic” more than the phrase “alcohol-based markers.” Moreover, if you’re into the whole manifesting idea, then why not just go ahead and say the word?

COPIC. There, I said it.

My Mentors

Having been recently inspired by my never-met-mentor, Sandy Allnock, I embarked on the slightly intimidating task of creating a background using only markers.

As you’ll see from the time lapse video below, I stamped only a witch and some trees. The rest is all marker.

I have to admit that I absolutely adored using non-traditional colors for this Halloween card. It was so fun to do something different!

Oh, and my other never-met-mentor, Jennifer McGuire, gave a great idea in one of her videos recently. She has oh-so-many stamps and gadgets that I just drool over. I’ve been fairly jealous of how many sentiment stamps she has.

Having only just recently returned to the stamping scene from a long hiatus, I seem to have a lot of, well, dated stamps. I really want some of those simple yet awesome sentiments.

Yeah, so anyway, Jennifer mentioned casually that you can “just print them out on your printer” if you don’t have a sentiment you want.

DUH.

Consequently, that opened up a whole new world for me, I can tell you! So I’ve been playing with that a LOT.

Please take a look at the time lapse video below to see how my card came together. Someday the blending will be much more smooth when I have those real Copics. But for now, I can be content with what I have.

Mostly.