A passel of project pointers!

Soooo excited for tomorrow mornings' tutorial this week. It's something a bit different this week that I know that people will just love. In addition to a very cute project, I have collected as many fun ideas as I can think of to help people set up their own 4th of July card making party.

I have such a warm fuzzy in my heart, thinking of how many families out there could make card making for the troops a part of their holiday traditions. I know that I want it to be part of mine, always.

Without further explanation, please stop by Stars & Stamps ... And do watch for comments, I am hoping that they explode with even more card party ideas!




A shot of my OWH table from an ETM crop last year. Hoping for a repeat of this event at a crop in July. . . Can't wait!

June - Express The Moment Cards

Have you ever tried a monthly kit club? I'm still designing cards every month for Kim at Express the Moment. ETM is a local business... It's always good to support the local business owners. :) In addition to the monthly kits, Kim always has other good online sales and the occasional warehouse sale and great deals on things like bulk supplies and Bazzil cardstock. I invite all you unfamiliar people to check it out, or find ETM on Facebook.

What do I love best about getting a monthly kit? Well, Kim hand picks all of these great products for us. Matching papers, embellishments, ribbons, buttons, brads, punches, stamps and more. Each monthly kit is different and features products from different companies like My Mind's Eye, Authentiqe, Basic Grey, Echo Park and more. Kim has great taste. I never know what is going to show up each month, but I know that I will always have fun with what I get. Considering that each kit has plenty to keep me busy, the price of just $24.99 is way less than what I would spend at the craft store if I went there to shop. (Thanks, Kim!)

Here are the cards and 8x8 page that I created with this month's kit. The adorable papers and embellishments by Echo Park this month are awesome. It was like returning to my childhood. Spirograph and View Master were some of my favorite toys. Who knew they made paper about these things? Super cute picks, Kim!

No kit comes without inspiration. This month includes a page of card ideas from Page Maps . . .I was more than happy to follow along.

8x8 June Page

Card Chatter

A shameless plug to once of my favorite new Close To My Heart stamp sets. There is a fantastic new collection of "Card Chatter" sets ... This one is called "Card Chatter - Sympathy" which is a favorite of mine because sympathy cards can be especially difficult to make. It's so hard for me to choose a nice sentiment for a Sympathy card! What a delight..you can definitely make much more than just Sympathy cards with this set... Just look at these phrases...




I madea few CAS (clean and simple) cards with them this morning, using only a matching base and ink, an embossed layer and one stamp each.




See the little cart to the right here? My Store is still open for the shopping of CTMH goodies... Feel free to browse around and see if you can find anything fun! There is a really great special on off-season papers and embellishments now too. If you check out the "while supplies last" section. :) thanks for stopping by!

To Arms!

Hey friends... Our Heroes need us. Sandy has noted a shortage of Any Hero cards for Operation Write Home. I'm going to do my best to make one for every other card that I make today. Need inspiration? I'll be using some of the latest sketches from the Stars & Stamps blog.

Here is sketch #125 and my first hero card of the day... The sentiment stamp is from a set by Stamper's Best that I just love for making hero cards with! Check out their OWH collections at Stamper's Best!

The sketch:





And the card:




It's rainy and chilly outside today. A good weekend to catch up on laundry, chores and a few cards. :)

Hello!

Not gonna lie, I saw the cutest advertisement from Hobby Lobby (I do love Hobby Lobby... too bad the closest one is 300 miles away...) with a ceramic tea pot that had this saying on it. It's been in my head as a card idea ever since.

Good thing I had this little Dustin Pike tea party spider to go along with it... I poured a lot of love into coloring and embellishing this image for the card!

Supplies used:

• 4x5.25 scrap of DCWV paper from the Sweet stack
• Nestabilities scalloped circles and a 3.75" circle cut with Cricut
• I printed the sentiment on my printer
• The inside scalloped circle is pierced
• I used Doodlebug flocking on the body of the spider
• I used Liquid Glass  on the shoes, nose, teapot and teacups (I love this stuff!)
• I used a little paper flower and a brad for the flower on her hat.

A few questions... do you think that pouring so much love into this little lady will help me get over my fear of spiders? Do you think that spiders would have to spend twice as much money on patent leather shoes, since they have more feet? Have you been able to read the card without singing this song in your head? :) Perhaps a blast from the past... this is from one of the first albums that I bought as a teen...circa *cough* 1984 *cough*

Happy Thoughts

Well well well... Could it be a little card making? I have some time off coming up. None too soon. Sometimes what a gal needs is a little private time with her paper and glue to make the world a better place. I've worked on a card today for a friend and wanted to share.



This card is nearly all Close To My Heart... I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to make the pieces. I'll give you a list...
Two purple bases, "oval 5" cut at 4 inches.
One patterned paper, "oval 5" at 4 inches. (Sonoma)
One purple "layer" of "oval 5" at 4 inches.
Two cream "oval 5"s cut at 3.75 inches for inside mats.
A 2.25 x 5.5 inch strip of cream colored paper - I used a Martha Stewart border punch on each side.
A .75 x 5.5 inch strip of purple striped paper. (Sonoma)
A purple "oval 5" cut at 2 inches and cream at 1.75" for the sentiment.
One more cut at 1.5 inches for the back.
Flowers cut on cream and purple - three 1 inch flowers and one 1.5 inch flower.
One "branch" cut at 2 inches.

Here are a few more photos for details.



The cream parts of the flowers were topped with "layer one" of the same flowers. I added some little gemstones to the centers.



I used the "Card Chatter: Sympathy" (D1476) stamp set for the sentiment, stamping with Olive and Smokey Plum. I also used one of my favorite tools... A Clear Star Gelly Roll pen to add a little bit of glitz to the "happy thoughts."



To connect the card, I used some small strips of purple adhered between the layers of papers. It's ok to use long strips, as the paper cover them up. Longer strips will also give these tabs more strength. Try two cut at 3 x .25"




Don't forget some "Crafted With Love" (B1399) on the back. :)

Going to enter this one in a challenge over at Stars & Stamps for differently shaped cards. . . At these measurements, this card fits perfectly into an A2 size envelope, and wouldn't they make pretty love you, miss you or anniversary cards for our heroes? I think I will make more in other colors next week!

Thanks for stopping by!