Monday, June 14, 2010

Birthday Card

The card had to be red, white and black, had to have monkies and a drum. So here it is. The monkies cut from Cricut cartridge "Paisley", the photo corners EKSuccess, the drum cut from "Joys of the Season", Balloons from "Lyrical Letters" and background paper is BasicGrey "Tuxedo". All colors were done with Copic markers.
Again, BasicGrey is background, Nesties oval and heart and the "50" is from QK. Bottom was cut with Fiskars Deco Scissors. Happy Monday. Hugs

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Huggie Card - A Tutorial



Happy Saturday everyone, I do hope everyone will have a great weekend. Full sun, some cool breezes and lots of leisure time. I promised I would do a tutorial for those of you that had questions about my Huggie cards and especially those who do not have or did not want to use design studio. I kept my example as simple as possible so as not to interfere with the purpose of the tutorial. There are so many ways this could be done and if you are interested in doing some, take a few of my suggestions or all of them but most of all let your creative process take hold in this and make it yours. My first Huggie card was done with Design Studio "Alice was Here", see below, if you want to do the shapes for your Huggie, i.e. the cup and table top you are going to have to do it with Design Studio, pretty much no other way. The below technique will give you the same feel though and you do not have to use Design Studio to achieve it.

These are the essential ingredients, your card blank, mine is 5"X5" but it can be any size you desire, just remember that you will have to adjust the size of the huggie when you change your card size. A 1" X 11" strip of double sided cardstock and your embellishment. You will notch the strip 5" in at both ends, one notch at the top to the middle and one notch at the bottom to the middle. I then open one of the notches up a little with a pair of scissors to make it easier to close. Do not open up both notches as it will tend to pop open. Then score left and right at 3 1/4". Your card blank, when I created the card in Design Studio I had a problem with the folding of the pieces over the top, it looked bumpy because they are folding over 2 pieces of card stock, so what I did was create my card using a 5" square and a 4 7/8" square, the 4 7/8" square being the top that folds over, and this solved my problem and also gave my card some interesting dimension about 1/8" boarder on the sides and a nice peek a boo bottom to use decorative scissors or a boarder punch on. If you want the peek a boo bottom score your card top at 4 3/4".
Now choose your embellishment and begin putting your card together.

This is a close up of the enlarged notch, I did with scissors.

I embossed the front with the new Swirl Cuttlebug folder and used Fiskar Decorative scissors for the bottom boarder. This is how the Huggie looks before embellished. Now here is an interesting feature, you can use the Huggie in several ways, you can permanently attach it to the back with adhesive or you can use it as a slip, if you really want to get artistic you can notch the back 3 or 4 times and weave it through the back, giving the back some added dimension and style but you will need to cut a block for the inside of the card if you choose this way, to cover up the notches.
I choose to do one of the Cuttlebug butterflies as my embellishment, I cut it twice, embossed one of the butterflies with the same folder as I did the front, the other butterfly is just plain, I fold up the wings of the embossed butterfly and adhere just the body to the plain the butterfly, this gives your butterfly the feel of flight. When you are adhering the embellishment to your Huggie keep in mind you do not want to glue your notches together, so you are going to adhere it just to the outer side of the notch.
this is the first opening.
This is the second opening of the Huggie card. These cards lend themselves beautifully to initial cards so I added the initials of one of my dear friends. The card is done. Thinking ahead a little these would make wonderful Christmas cards. Enjoy the process. Hugs

Friday, June 11, 2010

Huggie Card

Good Morning. Well there is no "Alice" to this card, needed to do something different so I could keep the inspiration flowing. I have decided to call these "Huggie" cards, they look like they are being hugged closed. Once you get one under your belt the process is much quicker. This is a 5" X 5" card. Created using Design Studio, George, Lyrical Letters (love this hummer) and Winter Wonderland Cricut cartridges. Coloring by Copic markers, photo corners EK Success and patterned papers are all BasicGrey.
This is the inside, PSX Stamp for "Merci". Happy Friday. Hugs
P.S. I have received some emails and questions on the Huggie Cards, so stay tuned - tomorrow I will do a tutorial on how to construct these for design studio and for those who do not use design studio. Hugs

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Alice was Here

More Alice
Wow this is really a late post for me, but this took me 1/2 of yesterday and the rest of today to finish. This is a shape, sort of gate card created using Design Studio, George, Joys of the Season and From My Kitchen "Cricut cartridges. The card opens twice. There is also a slot in the saucer that the teacup slids into to keep it closed.
This is the second level of the opening, you then lift from the bottom up.
And here is the greeting. The papers are Paper Salon and Chole's "Black Current". The Paper Salon is "plates" and origally off white and blue, I recolored with the copics because it was not jellin with the rest. Inside it says "...to wish you a Happy Birthday!!" Hope everyone is having a good Thursday. Hugs

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

It's Late
















Continuing with my "Alice Theme", oh I love the White Rabbit. If you have seen the movie, next time you are in Barnes and Noble be sure to check out the "Alice in Wonderland" A Visual Companion by Mark Salisbury. Fascinating information and all those stills from the movie, also some interesting shots from the sets, showing how they did some of the more difficult scenes.
My friend Donna shared with me last week a blog I was not familiar with, so today I visited and oh my what fun, "The Oh Alice" blog, their challenge this week is "The Muchness" Challenge, mine Copic markers and inspiration, the two go together like peanut butter and jelly. So I decided to throw my card in the hat so to speak.
This is a 4/12"X6" card, the background paper is from a scrap so I am not sure who did this one. The ovals are Ellison and Nesties. The black oval on the front was embossed with the "Clock works" embossing folder by Cuttlebug. Photo corners by EKSuccess. The rabbit is one of my line drawings. Inside more ovals to carry over the theme. The banner says, "it's late, it's late but not forgotten, computer generated. I scanned in my finished rabbit and then printed him out smaller and cropped with a Nesties. All coloring done with Copic Markers. Happy Wednesday, Hugs

Monday, June 7, 2010

BBTB2-Challenge/Doodlecharms

What a sweet challenge BBTB2 has for you today, our sponsor and host this week "Sweet 'n Sassy" digi stamps. Please visit our BBTB2 Blog for a wonderful adventure in color and design.
I have so many "Alice" cards floating in my head, I find myself going back to the scenes with the mushrooms, I love what they did with all the different colored mushrooms and that became my inspiration for this weeks challenge. They were almost illumined.
This is a 4"X6" card, the background paper is BasicGrey. I used the "Sweet 'n Sassy" mushroom as my focal point, I then added my line drawing of mushrooms in the foreground. I doubled the sun from "Doodlecharms" in 2 sizes and 2 colors to give it dimension and it acted as my block for the sentiment, which was computer generated. I wanted a closure to give the illusion of a door for my "Alice" theme and used 1 part of a 2 part pant/skirt closure found in the sewing notions dept. of WalMart. Inside the card says, "She is at The Tea Party drinking a cup of tea in your honor. Happy Birthday." Happy Monday, Hugs

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Too Many Birthdays

Good Morning, hope your weekend is running smoothly. Temps are mounting here but it is a beautiful morning. I am so taken with Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", I do think it is the best one they have ever done. I pre-ordered it and for the last 6 days have watched all or parts of it. The inspiration in it is amazing, so you could possibly see quite a few "Alice" inspired cards. This one is 4 1/2" X 6". Cuttlebug "Queen of Hearts" embossing folder, photo corners by EkSuccess and misc. hearts, sentiment computer generated, black and white polka dotted ribbon trims it off. Stay Cool, Hugs

Friday, June 4, 2010

Pansies and BBTB2 Blog Hop Winner


Good Morning Everyone, Happy Friday. One of the first things I do in the mornings is go out and check on my fauna and flora, yesterday morning I realized a pansey had taken root and bloomed in a pot I had emptied of last years past blooms, I was so excited I grabbed my camera, the photo did not turn out that great even though I did post it, cause I love the pansies. I decided to do a line drawing. This is my subject of inspiration today. I found some 4" X 6" envelopes I liked at Wal-Mart last week and so this is a 4" X 6" card. The background papers are by Jolee and BasicGrey. The photo corners by EKSuccess. The oval is by Ellison. The butterflies are Martha Stewart.
Are you ready for my blog hop winner. Random.Org choose - Drummmm rollllll, Please. Number 14 - Sandy Bayles, you were chosen, please send me your address so I can mail out the 4X4 Post it Note Holder. Have a great weekend one and all. Hugs

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Father's Day

















This is another A-2 Gate Card with Bar and Notch closure. Using those scraps. The oval is Nestise and says "I am the twinkle in your eye. I am the song in your heart. I am forever thankful you are my Dad." The musical notes are by QK. The large star cut from Cricut Cartridge "Paisley". Misc. crystals. Coloring done with Copic markers and airbrush. Inside verbage is from "Hero Arts" calendar Stamp for June. Happy Wednesday. Hugs

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

A Gate Card - Thank You

















I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend. I love these gate cards because it allows me to use up my scraps. It is a gate card, I create mine by cutting an 8 1/2" X 11" piece of card stock in half on the horizontal, I then score both ends at 2 3/4" on my Score It board. I then cut1 patterned paper & 3 coordinating pieces at 2 3/4" X 4 1/4" and then trim just a bit off each side because I like a little of the white showing. On this card I used the patterned paper on the left side and coordinating piece on the right and then 2 more coordinating pieces inside. I adhere the right outside first, then notch it with my notching tool. The bar is cut from the StampinUp word bar punch and attached to the patterned paper with a brad. The patterned paper is then adhered to the left side. The two inside coordinating pieces are then adhered inside. I used my wonderful new photo corner "EK Success" punch that Carole sent to me, love these corners, I used 12 of them inside and out. I embellished the little flowers with crystals and used my favorite bee stamp on the outside coordinating paper. I used my gel pens on the bees. Happy Tuesday, Hugs