Category Archives: Cards

Twelve Days of Christmas Cards

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My friend, Carol Cassel from Scrapbook Campus, wanted to offer templates/sketches for 12 Days of Christmas Cards. She wanted to have a variety of cards to go with her templates, so she enlisted the help of friends! Be sure to sign up to her list so you’ll get all the card ideas. The emails go out each morning, so if you’re just starting on day 5, you may end up getting your first email the morning of the 6th. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the first ones, as she will give access to all of them at the end!

Here is the card template/sketch Carol provided for Day 5. As you can see, these ideas can certainly be used for ANY occasion!
Scrapbook Campus-Card 05

 

After some consideration, I decided to use the idea from a graphic I’d seen which had three stockings on it. So instead of limiting myself to using the circles in the top section, I simply used the idea of three things. So here is what I started with, the card base and three little paper stockings. Now, don’t let little paper stocking stop you in your tracks! If nothing else, draw them and cut them out! That is an easy shape and they don’t have to be perfect!

Card base and three Christmas stockings

Card base and three stockings

 

I wanted them to appear as if they were hung up, so here’s what I did…Artful Adventures Christmas stocking card

  • Went to my stash and dug out darling little clothes pins!
  • Used a length of embroidery floss and made triple knots near the ends, so that I could hide glue dots attaching it to the card.
  • Hung the stockings. Placed foam dots beneath the stockings to adhere them to the card and give them support. This also allowed the weight to not be pulling from the string.

Now that I could see how low the stocking would hang, I could decide how much space I would have for the bottom section of the card. It wasn’t nearly as much as in the sketch, but that’s okay! It was just enough to add something. I don’t know about you, but song titles and lyrics often come to mind when I’m working on something, and this was one of those times. Once I decided on my phrase

  • I measured how much room I was going to have and simply typed it up and printed the phrase on my printer!
  • Then I cut it out to the correct dimensions and adhered it to my card.

Now for the envelope.

ScrapbookCampus-Envelop05

I used white as the base of the envelope, and attached the same patterned paper from the stockings, to the curve.

Adhered matching paper to the back curved flap.

Adhered matching patterned paper to the back curved flap.

If you already have envelopes to use, simple use a bit of patterned paper on the back to make it a bit more special! It’s an easy way to coordinate your card with envelope.

Now for the front of the envelope.  Many of us think of stockings hung up on a brick fireplace, so I decided to use the left portion of the envelope front to create a little indication of bricks. I grabbed out a colored pencil and made my bricks. I just roughly colored them in, not being too careful or perfect.

Since stockings were used in place of the circles on the card, why not use another one for the circle area on the envelope front? Since the envelope was white, I made the base of the stocking red so it would stand out. After adhering the stocking to the envelope, I also coated it with Glue N Seal, to create a smoother surface, and make sure it didn’t come off in the mail.

Brick and Christmas stocking on envelope

Here they are together. Thank you again to Carol Cassel from Scrapbook Campus for letting me provide a card for the 12 Days of Christmas! Sign up here so you can get all the templates/sketches. Carol is an expert using Paint Pro software and teaches classes. If you or someone you know wants help with Paint Pro, Carol is your gal!

Artful Adventures Christmas stocking card and envelope

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Jazz Up Printables for Unique Cards

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make it monday blog hop logoWelcome to another Make It Monday blog hop. If you came from Lisa Harris’ blog, you’re in the right spot! Isn’t her Santa’s Helpers Workshop brilliant? If you didn’t see her post, make sure you make it back to her blog!

Today’s Artful Adventure idea may come in handy, so take note! With all the printables that are available, why not use them to create something? You don’t even have to spend much time or effort on jazzing up a printable to make it unique. The point of using a printable is the fact that you should be able to just print it and be done. However, I’m not sure I could do that. I always want to add a touch that makes it unique and makes me feel like it a little more personalized.

The Creative Christmas Bundle has a number of printable items! Today is the last day the bundle is available for the special price of $29.99. I decided to use My Dream December digi kit by Margareta Carlsson. There are quite a few images to choose from in the kit, which is predominately red and white, with some pink and whites, as well. They are clean, crisp designs and I felt that any additions I made would be easy to spot.
Creative Christmas Bundle My Dream December Digipack

I simply printed out the image I wanted on nice printer paper. I usually try to keep a pack of presentation paper around for times like this, but I couldn’t find my pack! You usually get great color printing on presentation paper! Oh well, this will end up being more true to most of our lives — regular printer paper! The image was not resized, it is the original size of 3″x4″.

My Dream December image printed on printer paper.

My Dream December image printed on printer paper.

 

Next, I simply trimmed the image, and placed it on the card base to get an idea of how it would look. You can either use card stock, or make it easy on yourself and have a pack of cards and envelopes on hand.

Trimmed to add to a 4.25" x 5.5" card base.

Trimmed to add to a 4.25″ x 5.5″ card base.

Since I only wanted to print the image without resizing, it left quite a bit of border outside the image. I decided to dry emboss border lines in the white margins.

Scored using paper trimmer track and stylus.

Scored using paper trimmer track and stylus.

 

Dry embossed by scoring.

Dry embossed by scoring.

Gold ink was sponged in from the outer edge and gave more definition to the embossed lines.

Inked edges with gold ink; then adhere image to base.

Inked edges with gold ink; then adhere image to base.

I used Bonding Memories Broad Tip Glue Pen from Close To My Heart to adhere the image to the card base. The paper will not get all wet and wrinkled with this product, so it’s perfect for using since we are using a much lighter weight paper than card stock for the image.

To decorate the tree:

  • A glue pen was used to add a bit of glue for glitter on the star
  • Stickles glitter glue was added along the lines of garland
  • Rhinestones were colored with a Shin-Han Touch Twin alcohol marker
  • Puffy white paint was used to add a bit more dimension and a snowy look to the ground.
Glitz and glimmer added to printable image.

Glitz and glimmer added to printable image.

 

Printable image embellished to create unique Christmas tree card.

Printable image embellished to create unique Christmas tree card.

 

Remember this is the last day to get your Creative Christmas Bundle.

15 Designers, 15 Projects, 1 Low Price!

Bundle Details

Now onto the next stop on this week’s Make It Monday blog hop! Pop over and see what Beth’s got up her sleeve this week. She is showing us how she is using products from the Creative Christmas Bundle in her December Daily album. In case you’re not familiar with December Daily, it is an album created to capture the memories of each day throughout December! Yep, just like it sounds! But before you go, I have one last thing to share with you today!

CYBER MONDAY DEAL from Close to My Heart!arrow

For the first time ever, Close To My Heart is offering a Cyber Monday Sale on Monday, December 1, 2014.

There has never been a better time to buy Close To My Heart’s exclusive Cricut® Collections

20% off, TODAY Only

Whether you love scrapbooking, cardmaking, or creating 3-D projects, our four exclusive Cricut® collections make the perfect addition to any craft room! Sale starts at midnight (MST) on December 1 and ends at 11:59 pm Monday night.

Each bundle contains 3 stamp sets which coordinate with the Cricut cartridge, and each one has other items included, depending on which bundle you select.

PLUS, with an order of $50, you are qualified to get the stamp of the month for just $5; and also a C or D sized stamp set for $10. That means a savings of about $35!


CTMH December 2014 Stamp of the Month

Blended Ink Background Technique

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Welcome, it’s Make It Monday again! Today I wanted to share a background technique that is quick and easy and provides great results by blending ink.

make it monday logo

Kristie-Sloan-blended-ink-background_pin

It seems like every time I use this technique I use at least three colors. Today is no different. Supplies needed:

  • glossy card stock
  • ink pads (today I used dye based ink)
  • foam tipped daubers or sponge (I used my sponge rounds and cut them into 6 sections)
Minimal supplies for a background

Minimal supplies for a background.

So that you don’t cross contaminate your ink pads with a totally different color, be sure to use an applicator dedicated to one color. You don’t have to have one for each ink pad, but have one for yellow, one for orange, one for green, etc.

I like to start with the lightest color and apply it first. Just use your applicator and rub it on your ink pad. Then apply it on the glossy side of your glossy card stock.

Apply your first color

Apply your first color.

Next, you want to apply your second color, blending it up into the first color as you add it. You can use circular motions or just swipe back and forth.

Apply second color, blending it into the first color

Apply second color, blending it into the first color.

You may have already guessed, now you apply the third color! Again, blend it into to color you applied previously. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Remember it is going to be a background!

Apply the third color; again blending into the previous color

Apply the third color; again blending into the previous color.

A baby wipe can help you blend the color even more. However it will lift off a bit of the color as well, but can create a little different look.

A baby wipe can further blend the colors

A baby wipe can further blend the colors.

For the card I made with this background, I stamped a tree with Versamark ink, and then used black heat embossing powder. Because heat embossing will resist the ink, you can also emboss the image before you blend your ink onto the paper. Either way will work if you are heat embossing.

This was such a quick card. I used Bronze Shimmer Trim for even more pizzaz! And finished it off with a bit of bling from the Sparkles Brown and Tan Assortment. I already had the tree stamp, but it is very similar to the Always Grateful, Close to My Heart set.

A sunset background using the a blended ink technique

A sunset background using the a blended ink technique

 

 

make it monday logoI hope you’ve been enjoying the Make It Monday blog hops as much as I have! Did you land here from Digital Scrapbooking HQ? Melissa Shanhun always has great ideas on making memory keeping fast and easy. Today she shares how to use the new Project Life App for documenting a Week in the Life project. Next on the hop is Alice from Scrapbook Wonderland with a brilliant tip on using a postcard on a layout. Remember, to think broader than scrapbooks — think art journaling or mixed media, too!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to leave a comment.  You are always welcome to shop at my online Close to My Heart store if you are in the USA. The links for some of today’s products are below.

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

 

 

 


Easy Birthday Card with a Scrap of Patterned Paper

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A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

Often we’d like to make a birthday card, but really don’t have a lot of time. This birthday card went together rather quickly! The whole idea came from a scrap of paper! I knew the recipient liked orange and I saw this scrap of paper on my desk and thought it was close enough to orange. It is from the Chalk It Up Close to My Heart paper pack. I liked it because it already had some other colors and it would make my color choices fast and easy. The color along the left side is the decorative “zip strip” I told you about the other day. It is the extra 1/2 inch on one side of a patterned 12×12″ paper, which is a bonus decorative strip that coordinates with the paper pack.

Since I was in a hurry (and maybe a bit lazy), my plan was to just use this scrap and try to get as much mileage from it as possible. So I cut it into strips and then arranged them across the width of the card, and adhered them.

One thing I like about using clear acrylic stamps is the fact that you can pull them off the backing sheets and arrange them before you ever stamp them. If you don’t like the look you can move them around until you are happy, or entirely swap out the stamps. When you begin to accumulate stamp sets, it’s fun to mix and match. I decided to use the cupcake and candle from the Birthday set from the CTMH Cricut Artiste collection, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Build A Cake set.

D1618 Build a Cake

CTMH – Build a Cake, # D1618

CTMH D1529 Birthday_Artiste

CTMH, Birthday – Cricut Artiste Collection

I stamped the “Happy Birthday” on white card stock, in Lagoon ink to match the color at the left side. This helped pull the Lagoon color across the entire card. The white card stock was matted with at piece of Sorbet card stock to coordinate with the color from the scrap of paper I started with. The cupcake and candle stamp were stamped in `black and were colored with the Touch Twin alcohol markers in Peacock Green, Barely Beige, and Golden Yellow. Then I added some glue to the cupcake to and sprinkled with glitter to make the icing look like it had been dusted with sugar.

Glitter was added for a little sparkle

Glitter was added for a little sparkle!

I was happy with the way it turned out, and extra happy that it didn’t take too long! Isn’t it funny how inspiration comes in many ways? This was simply because I only wanted to use one scrap of paper I found on my desk! What inspiration will you find today? Come over and share it with us on our Facebook Group! Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures! KS       If you are in the US, please feel free to shop in my online Close To My Heart store. Here are handy links for the products in this featured project.

Base and Bling, More than Crafty Jewelry

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make it monday blog hop fall logoIt’s another Make It Monday blog hop! If you’ve come here from Alison Day’s site, welcome! Alison shared how she turned an inspiration prompt into a fall themed decoration perfect for her Canadian Thanksgiving today. She shows a lovely piece of home decor she has artfully created. Don’t forget to go back and see it if you haven’t already.

Don’t you love it when you can find more than one way to use something? I know I do! Previously, I introduced you to the quick and easy Base and Bling products in this post. But did you know you can use them for more than just accessories? Take a peek at this video and see more great ideas. Remember, I ALWAYS show you ideas because it can lead you to think of using things in new ways. This is another one of the the times that what was intended for one thing can lead you to use it in several different ways. I didn’t create this video, but why spend time doing that when I can share this one and I’ll be making something or looking for something else to share with you!

If you see anything for which you want more info, there are links below that will take you to my Close to My Heart online shop,

Here is a quick card made with one of the Base and Bling images. I will probably never use all the images for jewelry, so it’s fun to know they can work on other things! This image came from the Journey Style Sheet and was used with a piece of paper from the Chalk it Up paper pack, Black Shimmer Trim, and an arrow from the Chalk it Up Assortment.

base and bling card

base and bling journey style sheet image on card

Now you’ll want to go over and visit Connie Hanks from Clicky Chick Creates who has created fall banners in preparation for US Thanksgiving next month, but is saying “cheers” to her Canadian friends in celebration of Thanksgiving Day in Canada today! You’ll love her helpful hints regarding creating banners that have a cohesive look with their theme by the papers and textures you select.

See you next time!

Get your digital copy of the annual idea book here:

CTMH annual inspirations 2014-15

Right Click on the image to download your own digital copy of the Annual Inspirations Book.

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

 

 

Look at all the options for Base and Bling!