fall cards

i find it very ironic that i began scrapbooking {as i know it today} by making cards. it was a great place to try new techniques and always possible to finish. given the size and amount of time they took.

for awhile i made cards when i was stumped on a layout. it was like a jump start to my creativity. whether i liked the finished product or not, it seemed to work well for me.

now, most of the time, i find myself making cards in a rush. i have been thinking that i need to take more time to make sets of cards. just to keep on hand. by making them so quickly and always last minute, i think i am creating a frustrating cycle for myself. i don't like the rushed and last minute feeling...and associate that with cards!

a few weekends ago, i took a morning to play with paper and make some new cards. i had some very vintage {laugh!} Pink Paislee papers that i had been hoarding....thought it was time to use them. also some papers i had from Making Memories from several years ago. one of those sale kits at Micheals that was too cheap to resist. throw in some brand new paper dies that i was dying to try out...snicker!snort!!



this one used the Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily. Martha Stewart Lace edge punch. a large heart from Marvy Uchida.

i tend to be extremely simple in my design when i make cards.



Cheery Lynn Italian Flourish. cut from Spellbinders metallic foil sheets, then cut in half. saw a project Jan used with this foil paper. fell in love at first sight, and bought a package for myself. i added another very vintage Prima jewel.



another Jan inspired card! cut from white cardstock using the Tim Holtz Autumn Gatherings die. i used Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs ink....as well as a few others from my stash. i wanted to keep a lot of the white base of the paper. the little wooden flower is a new product from Prima. wooden spool/buttons. LOVE these. i am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that Prima keeps making lots of these.



this is about as complicated as i get! the Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily again. an old die cut from My Minds' Eye. Memory Box Whimsy Circle cut from more Spellbinders metallic foil. some felt. twigs. leaf button from BoBunny and a pin from Maya Road. then some pearls.

this was my favourite from the bunch.

there was one that just didn't make the cut. even now. i'm not sure if it was the colours or the elements i used on it. i will probably throw it out. one day, for fun...it would be hilarious to have a blooper post. pictures of all my projects that i didn't like when i was finished.

i am trying a new technique with a Ranger melting pot, UTEE, ink and molding clay. in the process of learning, lets just say that the road to success is often filled with a few failures. or learning opportunities, as i like to think of them! good times.

then i am excited to finish my next class layout. having a hard time deciding which papers to use! i know. tough life, eh?!

quick crafts

i am such a procrastinator at times!

Kiara had her last day of playschool on Friday. i knew i did not have Thursday evening to finish her teachers' gift. i was impressed that i was on top of things enough to actually make her something! i was also proud of myself for getting it done ahead of time.

then i remembered there was a teacher assistant. in my defence, since April there has not been a consistent assistant in her classroom. a story in itself. sigh.

THEN i realized i had not made a card to accompany the gift. awesome. enter Friday morning.

this was paper i had left over from a card class last spring. i pulled it out because i did not give myself enough time to think of coordinating new papers!



standard card size. used my Martha Stewart punch around the page set. added some ink along the edges.



i misted 2 plain white Prima flowers with Sweet Clover TA glimmer mist. the bottom 2 were also plain white, but misted with Spun Sugar SmoochSpritz. one of my new faves is tulle. i use it whenever it looks appropriate!




this time i decided to stamp the AC Thickers with my newest Glitz stamp. music notes! it was also the one on my acrylic block at the time....left from my class the night before.

i was very relieved when the assistant who got this card was the same one who has done musical activities with the class. appropriate. lucky!

i'm not sure if the ribbon was part of a kit we got form Urban. or maybe as part of another kit i purchased. i am usually really good at remembering what ribbon i'm buying and why i fell in love with it. or what project/paper it was meant to be used with. this one? had to be in a kit! but i think Urban has several colour variations of this one. i really like it. apparently i will HAVE to have more! haha



the flower was punched from music paper and cardstock using my EKSuccess scalloped circle punch. i inked the edges. then scrunched each layer individually because i did not want each layer to have the same folds. funny how i can still be so picky in a rush! i've seen this type of flower on several layouts lately. finally i had my time to try it!


i just recently attended a Stella & Dot jewelry party. i was amazed i actually knew how to make the fabric flowers that they have to accompany their necklaces. they also double (or triple?!) as hair barrettes and pins.

Pat posted on the Urban Scrapbook blog that she is thinking of putting together a "flower" class. there are sooo many awesome flower techniques out there. add a comment on their blog or call the store if you are interested.


Kiara also loves to make cards. i wish i had taken photos of hers. drat!

last week she totally surprised me by cutting a spiral out of a scrap of paper she had cut from a large sheet of paper. i had no clue she was so talented with the scissors! i showed her how she can make a flower from the spiral. then she promptly cut several more and requested more flowers. as long as she is not cutting hair, camera straps or anything else inappropriate.....it's a good thing!

here are some photos of the gift we decided to give Kiara's teacher.



the scissors were inked, then covered in diamond glaze. they're from the Maya Road Sew Cute chipboard set.
the heart is the same i made for my 7Gypsies photo frame. heart punch my Marvy Uchida. then poked some holes to attach the cute pin.
rub-ons were some old ones i had been hoarding. "inspiring" was from Crate Paper circa 2007. it was the last word i had from that set! the white ones are Basic Grey....probably also 2007. they were designed to help with labelling photos or journaling. i can't believe i hadn't used them before. it is really not a good idea to save your rub-ons....they don't store well. at least for me.



the key was part of a package i bought at WalMart or Michaels last year. it was shiny silver. BUT i sanded parts of it with my Basic Grey file set. then i added caramel and latte alcohol inks. i love the little heart in the centre of the key.



here is the finished gift.

the banner was made from an old school atlas.

the frame itself was inspired by the new Fancy Pants roadshow paper. i loved how it looked like a framed chalkboard tablet. i painted the frame to make it look vintage. sanded. inked.

when i was done...i thought how neat they would look with just a set of 3 or 4 or 6 or 9 of them grouped together. but simple. just the painted frame. simple paper interior. each framing something different. great for a beach or memorabilia. Kiara needs some decor in her room. maybe this is the answer.


here is a very tiny sneak peak at my next class. it isn't posted yet. but it will be taking place at the end of June. i know i say this every month. BUT i had so much fun putting this one together. my challenge was to make it more masculine. no flowers. grungy. the last layout was ultra feminine. lots of flowers. butterflies. ribbon. pearls. this is a complete opposite!





in the end i managed to include NINE photos.

it also shows how you don't have to allow a theme paper to determine the theme of your layout. one of the papers is masculine, vintage and all about cars. i chose to emphasize the masculine and vintage. there is not a single car photo on my layout. one of my regular students is married to a fellow who loves cars. i am excited to see how hers will look with the car photos attached. hopefully her husband will also be impressed!


oh my goodness.

i have been busy.

back to work on another project.

can't wait to share this one with you!

Christmas Cards....again!

i made a pact with myself.

"must use all scrapbook supplies and not save for a special project"
i remind myself of it often.


time to pull out the papers and put them to use before they fall apart on my shelves! seems silly to not use paper because i love it too much.



i really love double sided paper like this for cards. the solid colour is light enough that you can still write your greeting on the inside. yes, i could have gotten more creative....but i had to whip these babies out quickly.




these all have plain ordinary white cardstock as the base.

these are card sets for a playschool silent auction. just like the ones in the previous post. 18 cards in an afternoon. not a bad record.

i am still trying to figure out  my own style. trying to see if i actually do fit into a style! i prefer to think of my work as the style of the month. at least it seems to sway and change like the weather here in Alberta.


did i mention anything about my card evening with the ladies church group? i designed 3 cards for the ultra low cost of $5 per set. it was done. i liked how they turned out. of course at that cost, the only supplies you get are for the cards and no extra stuff to take home. they also got a great deal because i brought many of my own tools to share....since not too many of them do this on their own. i cut out every sheet of paper including some decorative edges with my paper punches. everyone had the same stuff to work with.

here is where it got interesting.

if you think of everyone having the same supplies....then all the cards would have been identical.

nope! not this time.

a few cards were identical to my samples. but the majority were not.

i think it was AMAZING how these ladies {many who claimed to not be creative} managed to come up with very unique cards! the paper was double-sided, so that helped. i did bring an assortment of stamps. papers were trimmed a bit more, or cut with decorative scissors or folded differently....more or less ink used.

it was a fabulous reminder that making cards or scrapbook pages is an expression of the person creating them. there is no right way to do it!

celebrate!

they worked away. sometime chatting and laughing. sometimes being so silent that the only noise was paper being cut or folded. {did i mention there were 24 ladies in the room?}

i love that they left refreshed and happy. not once did i hear someone say that they did not like their creation. how wonderful that they felt confident enough to celebrate their unique styles.

it was inspiring and filled my creative brain with more ideas to keep them sharing and accepting themselves (and each other!)



it isn't just about the paper. it is also about the HEART.

oh joy!

here are the remaining four cards in the Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy! set.

i had created these for my daughters' preschool silent auction.










so, you think someone will want them? or will i get to bring them back home and get to look at them again?!

i have to say, it was tough to use up that old Cosmo Cricket paper that i had been hoarding. however, it did feel good when i finished the last card. just a reminder that the first cut is the most difficult....

240 cards + art

you read right. i think they filled their "quota" for the next 3 years! they wouldn't stop. they kept making more and more and more. to their credit i did take over the kitchen table the week prior because of some of my projects. i promised them that they could have the table for the entire day on Saturday. they made sure i lived up to that promise.

Sunday was the day of the big sale. this year, Aidan stayed to help out. he loved it! he now wants us to buy tables so that we can sell cards out of our garage this summer. so that we could take a bunch of money to the fundraiser next year. WOW!! he and Kiara have always enjoyed making cards. {when they stop enjoying it, or need a break then they stop and go do something else they enjoy} however this was the first year that he had the understanding of people buying the cards so that the money could be donated to the Stollery Children's Hospital. he had a bigger understanding of the process and the imporance behind the cards.



this was their table. next year i think i will need to request TWO if they make that huge quantity again.
we had about ten artists. in total we had 8 tables filled with cards and art. amazing.


we displayed each of the kids art with their photo and one of their favourite toys. i love the creativity he put into his cards. some were done one at a time like the space card and the snowboy card. others, like the heart on green paper at the back were done in a production line. the only time i needed to help him was if there were rub-ons or ribbon involved.


to help Kiara out we keep a lot of stickers for her to use. she really surprised me with the improvement in her use of stamps and paper punches. those red hearts on the owl card on the top right were done by her. she thought the plastic swirls looked like mouths...that got some interesting designs! she also loves layering.


soon enough Aidan will be asking for big cameras. check out those photos he took this summer. on. his. own. yup! Kris and i are still amazed.


Dr. Patch Up, the official Stollery bear came out to say hello. he was very proud of the hard work.
we have so much to learn from our kids. they were so excited when they saw someone choose one of their cards. truth be told, so were the parents! {of course we were excited when any card was taken home....but you know what i mean!}

post a comment if you would like to make a donation. i'd love to mail or drop off a card to you. and so would the kids! 

we are gearing up for next year. between the kids and the parents we are not short of ideas! haha!! this was the third year of the event. each year is a little different. the best part is that we have had more kids voice their interest for the next year.

she's at it again

more cards! this time they are for a silent auction. lots of them!!

i think my kids are wearing off on me, i am pumping them out like crazy. however, they are still winning. they are nearly at card #150. yes. 150 cards. the best part is that they ask to make cards. i think they average about 5 per day. amazing.
here are two of mine.




Kristian liked this one.




i liked this one.


we both like this one.


we also like this one.

yay for favourites!!

Christmas Cards

about a month ago i was asked if i could prepare and demonstrate some cards for a group of ladies. they want to have semi-formal evenings where they can relax, learn something new and not spend a lot of money. an environment where they can invite friends, family or neighbors to join them. with Christmas approaching, they thought it might be nice to start out with some cardmaking.

i keep laughing, because although i'm not really a cardmaker, i tend to be making a lot of these lately! truthfully it was cardmaking that got me started into scrapbooking as i have been.

anyways it was a lot of fun to prepare. their challenge was to create 3 cards that would cost no more than $5. in this instance, my time was totally volunteer and not paid.

as with any project i have a million ideas floating around in my head. honestly it is a nice problem to have....it's just tough to pick one idea and go with it! after a few weeks of thought and ideas....i had a sufficient amount of caffeine and sleep....narrowed it down to a few design ideas and went shopping!




Making Memories, Prima, Maya Road, Imaginisce stamp and glimmer mist. the edge punch is Martha Stewart lace.

Cosmo Cricket.




i cut the snowflakes out on my cricut. then glimmer misted them too.

i made two versions of this card, but they will be making the last one. pink is one of those colours that is either loved or hated by people. better to go with the blue and be a bit more traditional i decided!

My Mind's Eye patterned cardstock.  PinkPaislee stamp. the edge punch is by ek success called Parisian.

some of the ladies are veteran cardmakers. others are quite frightened by it. {i'm still trying to figure that one out!} i cut out ALL the papers to the correct size. then i used my edge punches on about 85% of the papers. edge punches are new to some of the girls, and i thought i'd leave some for them to try punching out. otherwise if they know how to use a glue stick, then they should be very happy with their results.

i am very excited and hope all my pre-planning has been worth it!

oh, and the cost? managed to get it to be exactly $5 per set of cards....not a penny more!!!

off to work on more Christmas projects.....falalalala...la...la...la....la....

another post of
SUPER SIMPLE CARDS


we have cards on the brain here at our home. my kids are making loads of cards and other art masterpieces to raise money for the Stollery Children's Hospital. you may remember this post from last year. they are at it again. i am soooo proud of my kids.


they are more independent with the activity this year, but i still can't be too far away while they are busy. so i started to do some of my own cards while they work. they are very simple and i thought i'd share this idea with you today.



this is some patterned paper from Sassafrass Lass. it's last years' paper, but i hadn't had a chance to use it yet.




with some detail scissors, i cut around the various pictures. this is also a great activity to do while you watch television.




some plain white paper became the card bases. a tiny rectangle cut out of contrasting cardstock. a fine tip black marker. add a pop dot to the back of the teeny pictures and voila! of course some bling is always fun and stickles is always ready to help me out.

Making Memories has this paper in the stores right now. those trees would be awesome against some kraft paper using the same technique.

My Mind's Eye has this paper too. the snowmen are adorable! i'm using them in another card project right now that i will share later this week.




here is the HOW-TO:
this style of card is pretty common. it is also super simple. very often each sheet of patterned cardstock has about 30 pictures or shapes that can be easily cut out. yes, that is 30 cards from one sheet of paper that will cost you a grand total of $1.25 (approximately!). the plain white cardstock is easy to come by in bulk or 35cents a sheet that will make 2 cards. get 2 or 3 different colours of coloured cardstock to coordinate with your patterned paper. that could cost anywhere from 35 to 75 cents. yes, if you are doing the math, one card will cost you 30cents. seriously. at this point you can afford to buy yourself 3 more items:

ONE:  1 awesome black fine tip marker (i have a zig writer....it has 2 tip sizes in the one pen....did i mention that it still works awesome after nearly 15 years? American Crafts also sells some great ones....get the SlickWriter in fine tip...trust me!) expect to spend $4 CDN.

TWO:   pop dots. some people use foam pieces and glue both sides with a glue stick. it works. but once you use pop dots, there is no going back! you can get foam tape from the dollar store. it is super sticky, and not as convenient as the pop dots....but it is definitely economical. i won't bore you with how many cards that $1 will get you!

THREE: any kind of glitter glue. even if it is from the kids section at the local craft store. however, stickles is great because it has a fine tip that doesn't easily clog and you can get the glitter in a fine area. it costs just over $4.


so, are you doing the math? total cost is about $17 for 30 cards. where are you going to find a deal like that?


for the greeting...that fine tip marker will be great. the stamp in the photo cost me $1.50 in the cheap bin at the craft store. you can get an okay ink pad for the same cost. if you are interested in stamping but aren't wanting to commit, Stampin'Up! has these little "stamping spots" where you get 9 coordinating colours for a low price. another option is to use your computer. type out the greeting in a fun or plain font, print it out in whatever colour, cut it out and paste it onto the card. whatever you choose, the cost will still be less than a dollar per card, as low as 50 cents per card. consider the new pen, pop dots, glue glitter, stamp and new ink pad a gift to congratulate yourself for your brilliance. suppose you do all that and you decide to never make another card ever again. wrap up all those little "treats" you bought for yourself and give them to someone who would love them. quite possibly a certain 3 year old will think she hit the jackpot. then again, i know a 30 something mother of two angels who would feel the same way.


the only better deal going is to NOT do cards at all. and what kind of friend does that?!

have fun!

thank you

back in the early days, i think i mostly created cards. like the other 99% of scrapbookers!

now, i only make cards when it's necessary. interesting.

to keep it interesting....i am trying to make cards for no reason. once in awhile. i do find it is a good creative outlet.



this one is for a friend of mine who is the most amazing hostess on the planet. move over Martha Stewart! i think i should make a set of cards for her. she also happens to be the queen of the mailbox too.

one of our new neighbors is turning 40 tomorrow....i wonder what creative card i can come up with for that? it would actually be fun to make 40 cards....wrapped in a box! hmmmm......might have a long night ahead of me!

happy weekend!

i also have a little album to share with you next week. my only regret is that i did not have my bind-it-all to put it together.....that would have been sweet.

a tribute

today we officially said good-bye to our first home.

a tough decision to sell. we owned it for nearly 11 years. the new owners took possession today.

we finally removed all of our possessions. cleaned. organized information that is only of interest to an owner of the property!

we loved that little house and wanted to make sure they felt at home. i planted a planter for them. wrote little notes about various appliances or plants or house parts.

the kids and i left them with a note on the blackboard in the basement.

the kids drew pictures.

i made a card....

wanting to make sure they felt welcomed.

when we moved into this home, our new neighbors were the ones who did this. which is quite a story! but the change of ownership was very much bittersweet. there was no way we wanted the new owners of our old home to feel that way themselves!

i'm holding on to the hope that they will be loved by our old neighbors.....my gut tells me that my hope is deeply rooted and not to worry!!!


this card was inspired by several projects that have been done lately involving houses. i designed this template myself. it was a work done from my heart. the colour choices. the style of home. part of me wishes i were the fly on the wall as they entered the house and walked around their home for the first time....

off to shed some more tears....

cards for teachers

here are the cards to accompany our teacher gifts for Aidan's preschool teachers....


his teacher LOVES kids. she has a great sense of humor. last year she was given a t-shirt as a gift from a student...."What Happens in Preschool, Stays in Preschool". love it! here is her card.

some SassafrassLass and American Crafts. you can also see the DewDrops on the flowers. the white pen is from Stampin'Up! and it is great.

he also has another teacher, or teacher assistant. she is also a qualified teacher. he loves her! she is very sweet and kind. here is her card.

i used a RiffRaff heart as a mask for some glimmer mist on the front. then i glued it on the inside. i also had some leftover hearts from Wilna's Heart Class. MayaRoad velvet flower. some Prima bling. and Making Memories letter stickers. i love how it turned out!


one of his classmates has a university student who was hired to assist him. he happens to be a guy, so the little boys are enthralled with him! we were unsure what to buy for him....when i asked Aidan, he suggested a "robot". big surprise! it is the same answer he has for anyone needing a present. however, i did have some robot paper that made my little boy happy!

CosmoCricket papers and rub-ons {"cool"}. American Crafts vinyl thickers. and my Shaylene inspired border!

{as a side note....Aidan especially loved the robot card. big surprise!}

all of the cards are six inch square. i also made my own envelopes for them. i had to use an entire 12x12 sheet! i'll share how to make these envelopes later. we just moved, so some supplies are still in boxes....somewhere in my basement! i could not find the envelopes and didn't want to waste my evening doing a search!! lol!

some simple spring cards on a budget

my friend Gail and i prepared a card workshop for our mom's group. we kept it simple. our mom's group meets for only an hour and a half, so we have a short amount of time to create something. we have done more complicated projects, but those days tend to be very rushed and hectic...not exactly the break we need as mom's.

i thought i'd share the projects. we made two versions of each card. i'm including my card and the sketches for both versions. we kept them similar, but different enough to allow the girls some ideas to add their own touches.

we chose three different colours for the base.

we used a Making Memories 6x6 paper pad for the patterned paper. {we love the paper. love the variety. but were disappointed with the way MM attached the papers.}

a few of the stamps that Gail has in her Stampin'Up! collection.

some prima got flowers. the new Robin's Nest dewdrops. maya road ribbon.

home made evalicious inspired button heart embellishments. some home made embellished pins.

{note: we have a very tight budget for these projects, and do what we can to keep the costs down. our goal is to keep each project under $5. the dewdrops and the ribbon were our extravagant purchases! i am not selling my home-made embellishments nor wish to profit off the ideas of others...the original button flowers sold by Eve and the pins sold at Paper Valise are very beautiful and still better crafted than the ones i made!}

Card Number One

i chose to distress the edges because the paper came off the pad so poorly. i made lemonade out of that lemon!

this second one was the sketch for Gails' card. she used the torn strip to embellish the front of the card....it worked awesome!

Card Number Two

Card Number Three

it took us an entire afternoon to prepare these three cards. it didn't help that we had 6 kids at the time! we had about 10 minutes to work at a time, before we were interrupted with some major thing. "she hit me!", "he broke this!", "i go poop!", "i'm hungry", "i'm thirsty", or they went running by with one child attached to a rope and being pulled along the hallway.... i think the third card took us the shortest amount of time, as the clock kept ticking and our kids became more demanding and bothering us more frequently.

we had a ton of fun the morning we presented these cards to our mom's group. they did a great job and most only needed an hour to complete them. it was rewarding to have a relaxing morning and leave with a finished project.

what is the best time of day for you to be creative?

are you able to work while your kids are awake?