Making a Card Kit Your Own

Don’t be afraid to use a card kit as the starting point for your creativity! Why would you use a card kit if you already have everything you need and you are perfectly capable of creating your own cards from scratch? Sometimes, it is nice to have most of what you need already selected and gathered together! If you are like most everyone I know, you already have a lot on your plate, and you may not always feel like that creative spark in glowing. However, it can feel so good to put yourself into doing something creative. Grab a kit, and with a few touches you’ve made it your own!

Layers on a card creates dimensional interest

Building layers adds dimension and interest on your cards.

 

This card was made from a Crafter’s Companion kit which featured layering pieces for two or three types of flowers. Each of the floral layers is smaller than the one below it. I used foam squares to add even more dimension.

By tearing and inking the edges of the text paper layers, it looked totally different than leaving the paper naked. Follow with a solid color paper for the matting, with inked edges, and you have added interest.

After die cutting the “Thinking of You,” I realized the letters were thin and looked too small on the card. So instead of looking for a different die I decided to cut one or two more and glue them together, one on top of the other. It was rather tedious, but it worked out. I forgot to keep the paper cutouts that were to dot the i’s, so I used small pearls. Perhaps the way I personalize my creations is not by planning, but by fixing my mishaps! In the end I was happy with it, and hope the recipient was, too.

I am sorry that there are not more photos, showing the layers, but I had not intended to write a post. Yet we need reminders that it is okay to start with a kit, a sketch, whatever gets us doing instead of just thinking! Why not think of a kit as inspiration?

What have you “fixed” that ended up personalizing a project even more than you planned?

Cheers to Your Artful Adventures!

KS

CalvinBall 2019

Let the fun begin! There is unique challenge going on for scrapbooking, card making, and many other crafty ventures! In previous years it was hosted by Get It Scrapped, but has now moved to ScrapHappy. It was inspired by the comicstrip Calvin and Hobbs, and the game “Calvinball” mentioned in it. The rules are ever changing, and everyone keeps track of their own points. Creating, sharing, camaraderie, and smack talk are all part of the fun.

birthday card

The red is my tablecloth!

Today, I grabbed an unfinished card kit I still had from Creative Memories (Blossom kit and Blossom stamp set D1649), and with just a couple of additions, I was able to grab all the points possible today!

If you want to come join us, you can get all the information at ScrapHappy.org. You don’t have to create something everyday to earn points, you earn your points as you create. So if you only have time to create on the weekend, that is when you do it!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Charlotte Paper Pack, Springtime Wishes Stamps

Here is a sneak peek at three of the cards that will part of the new set I’m working on from the Charlotte paper pack. The paper pack will only be available through the end of April. These cards are also part of a new One Sheet Wonder I’m working on, and I will have that up as soon as it is finished.

Charlotte Paper Pack and Springtime Wishes stamp set and Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts.

Charlotte Paper Pack and Springtime Wishes stamp set and Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts.

 

To tell you the truth, I really struggled with selecting which sheet I was going to use out of the Charlotte pack. I finally decided to use a sheet that neither side would really be the star of the show, and outshine the embellishments I wanted to create. The Springtime Wishes stamp set and Thin Cuts were what I had in mind.

The matting has been done with an additional sheet from the pack, instead of using a sheet of solid color card stock. This way, the sheet I am using also is a double-sided print, and allows me a choice for the matting!

The flowers and leaves were stamped with the Springtime Wishes set, and then I simply sponged some color from the centers out.  I just received word that the corresponding Thin Cuts set is sold out. So I’ll take that into consideration as I finish up this set of cards to show you!

Remember that the Buy 2, Get 1 Free Stampaganza is now in full swing at Close To My Heart. Get the details in this post about the Stampaganza event.

Charlotte Paper Pack and coordinates

Springtime Wishes Stamp Set

Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts, sold out.

Until next time…

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

 

 

 

Stamping for All Occasions

Sentiment stamped when you know what you want!

Sentiment stamped when you know what you want!

For some reason, it seems like I never have enough birthday cards! Sometimes it seems like I could just get by with a ‘Happy Birthday’ stamp and leave it at that. Just kidding! You know I couldn’t do that. Yet it brings up the question of selecting greetings if you are trying to make up a batch of cards in advance. How do you decide what and how many to make of your greetings? Actually, you don’t have to make it such a hard decision!

One way to deal with this problem is to go ahead a make a bunch of cards and leave off the greetings! When you find a stamp set that has a lot of different greetings or sentiments they usually tend to be a similar size. That makes it easy to make cards and just leave off the sentiment, and stamp it later! Then all you have to do is have the stamp set easy to find, grab your ink pad and stamp an appropriate sentiment!

Here is an example of using this technique, using a double-sided, printed paper.

  • Cut the paper to fit the front of the card. Cut a strip 1″ to 1.25″ wide. Make sure your strip is large enough for the sentiment if your stamp set has larger stamps. You could also use the busier side of the paper for your bottom strip, leaving plenty of space to stamp above the dividing line of your papers.
  • Now you can use both sides of the paper on your card, and coordinate the top and bottom.
  • An additional strip was added from coordinating paper on one card, and some shimmer trim on the other. I love shimmer trim! It has an adhesive side, and quickly jazzes up a project!
  • Next, add any other embellishments. The flowers and leaves were made using the Springtime Wishes stamps and Thin Cuts.
Bottom section is left blank, to stamp sentiment on later.

Bottom section is left blank, to stamp sentiment on later.

If you want to stop here, you can put your cards away, and keep you stamps and an ink pad handy to stamp an appropriate sentiment as needed.

NOTE: When using this technique, you’ll want to leave the area to stamp as flat as possible. Don’t add layers and layers with paper and adhesive, because you’ll want to make sure you get a good image when you stamp. These cards only have the printed paper on top of the card base. When ready to stamp, open your card out so that you are stamping on as few layers as possible!
The bottom has enough space to stamp a variety of sentiments, as you need them.

The bottom has enough space to stamp a variety of sentiments, as you need them.These flowers have a bit of colored pencil in the centers, as well as a little pearl accent.

 Sentiment stamped when you know what you want!

Sentiment stamped when you know what you want! Green shimmer trim and little pearl accents finish off the embellishments.

 

ctmh stampaganza, buy 2 get 1 freeHere are a few great sets you may be interested in because of all the occasions they will cover. Plus, Close to My Heart is having their Stampaganza during the month of March. It’s a buy 2, get 1 free. You all know the rules… the free one can’t cost more than the one’s you purchase. But this would be a great time to stretch your dollar for purchasing some of the larger sets.


Close to My Heart, D1646 - Finding Words

Close to My Heart, D1646 – Finding Words


D1525 Casual Expressions, Close to My Heart

D1525 Casual Expressions, Close to My Heart


C1633 - For Family, Close To My Heart

C1633 – For Family, Close To My Heart


C1605-Happy to Be friends, Close To My Heart

C1605-Happy to Be friends, Close To My Heart


ctmh b1504 sending love stamp set

B1504, Sending Love

 

This could also be a great time to share stamping with a friend. Make up a few cards and help her get comfortable with basic inking and stamping techniques. Then she could use a set of greetings and an ink pad to take this idea home. What is better than a new crafting buddy? You can’t convert everyone to enjoy your favorite hobbies, but you never know who will find out they enjoy sharing in a fun pastime with you!

Be sure to come back to see another One Sheet Wonder this week! We’ll take one sheet of printed paper to create a stack of cards! Links to products used today are below, for your convenience. But first….


make it monday-pink logo

It’s Make it Monday!  Alison, over at AlisonDayDesigns.com, is prepping for Easter. Remember it comes kind of early this year, March 27th! Hop on over and see what she’s doing!


Here are some quick links to the main products used on today’s cards:

Kaleidoscope paper pack

Springtime Wishes stamp set

Springtime Wishes Thin Cuts

Green Shimmer Trim

Finding the Words Occasions stamp set

Until next time…

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Twelve Days of Christmas Cards

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