Cards for Soldiers; Part 5

It's been fun sharing my bits & pieces into cards posts with you. This is the final installment in "Cards for Soldiers." Let's jump right in...the first card (above) is a butterfly I used many times. I simply matted it a couple times, added eyelet/ribbon, and now it's a card.

The rest of the cards are all windmill cards. I used this windmill to teach many classes of heat embossing. The process that got me hooked on stamping! I chose background cardstock colors by the colors in the patterned piece of cardstock. Using the gold embossing powder on the patterned cardstock didn't show up nearly as well as the black, but I just couldn't throw it away. Stamps: retired TAC, current AMuse Studio - sentiment.

Cards for Soldiers; Part 4

Today's cards are some of my favorites. I just love butterflies! The next two cards are very similar...the original was created for a swap. I made up too many parts, and they hung out in a clam-shell plastic container until now. Coupled with some adhesive, eyelets, pop dots, flower & ribbon. Ta-da...cards.

The next card is 90% of a card I created for about 7 classes I held in other's homes. It was a huge hit. It had been so many years, I missed adding the royal purple piece of cardstock behind the flower. Oh well, I like it anyway.

This little adorable penguin guy was attached to the patterned paper...applied to a project, removed and stuck to the inside of a plastic clam shell container for about 4 years. I found a piece of red cardstock already stamped with what could be snowflakes...apply two precut pieces of black cardstock...making it look like it goes across the whole card. Awww...I love it!

Sometimes reading every word of swap rules is very important. The small part of the next card was created for a "new stamps" swap. I was so excited, and stamped away...once done with the entire group of card fronts, I grabbed the paper for an address to mail them, and read the fine print. New stamps was accurate...BUT, they had to be from the catalog...not, from the current multi-month promotion. I was crushed! 

To create the flower piece: I punched a circle from a post-it to mask the flowers. Then rolled over the rest of the piece with a brayer and Kaleidacolor ink. Removed post-it, and colored the flowers. I love how it turned out. I don't recall what the original card looked like, but when I find one (since they didn't get mailed), I'll share it with you.

I have enough cards for "Cards for Soldiers; Part 5"...coming next week.

Cards for Soldiers; Part 3

Thanks for coming back! I have some more cards to share with you - made for our soldiers to send to their friends & families. This weeks cards are all similar. I intended to use this reindeer for our personal Christmas card. Until I started making them, and realized it took forever for each one. Some ended up as cardfronts for a swap...others stayed in a drawer until now. The first one is stamped on kraft cardstock, not my favorite. This was a completed cardfront, I trimmed a little of each side and put on the green cardstock...voila DONE!

 I also tried glossy cardstock - which I normally love, but didn't like the coloring on this one. It wasn't a cardfront, but pieces...I put them on the red piece and added them to the kraft card.

The three following cards are what I ended up duplicating over & over. Regular cardstock, masked and stippled reindeer, glaze gelly pen on nose and ribbon around Rudolph's neck. The first two, are almost identical...I applied the ribbon to the back of the kraft cardstock; flipped it over and realized it was upside down. Oops! So I had to re-do it correctly (in my mind). Errors can be covered up or used.

After making up a number of these at the crop, I ran out of words; but still had reindeers. I'm glad I had a piece of the patterned paper (pre-cut of course)...and I like this card better. Stamps: retired TAC.

I'm not done...come back next week for another group of cards.  :)

Cards for Soldiers; Part 2

I'm so excited to share some more cards that I made for soldiers to use. The crop I attended is recurring about 4 times a year. I don't make all of them, but have a great time at each one that fits my schedule. The card above is made with an ATC (talked about last week), I added the flower and eyelet, a couple pieces of sampler cardstock and pop dots. I really like how this one turned out! Stamps: retired TAC.

If you attended TAC's Seminar one year in Kansas City...you may recognize this ATC. I know I stamped that tag and attached that ribbon at least 100 times! It all started with the colors of the ribbon - about 5 years ago. As my only background stamp available...I really love the psychedelic flower! If you like it too, scroll up and down and watch it move. LOL Stamps: retired TAC, current A|Muse Studio (psychedelic flower).

The ATC on this card was for a swap. A friend at the time was very into making them, and hooked me up with her group of people. The theme was teddy bears...and I really stretched it. :) The flower didn't seem appropriate for the background, so it's plain with some ribbon & pop dots.  Stamps: retired TAC.


The next two cards, are very similar...trying to keep them masculine looks boring to me, but Tim says they are correct. As a retired Navy guy, I trust his judgement on what is and isn't masculine for a card.

I soooo L O V E the ship collage stamp! I found a whole page of these, so I tore a few out and mounted them on pre-cut black cardstock. Added eyelets (Tim says "I really like those rivets you put in the cards"), and done. I distressed the edges with an ink pad (Tim approved activity also).

More coming next week...

Cards for Soldiers; part 1

 On May 5th, National Scrapbook Day, I attended a crop that supports some of our soldiers. Many people did scrapbooking, I am going thru a bunch of stuff that has been sitting around for the past 2-7 years in my craft room. I took parts & pieces of past projects and made cards. I had very limited supplies with me. Then donated the cards to be sent to the soldiers to use. I had a blast!! I found what I should have been doing during all the soldier crops!

I'll post some cards today, and show you some more next week. The card above is the oldest amongst the bunch. And I actually found it done, and did nothing more to it. The dragonfly and sentiment are on the inside of the card. The square hole was punched out after the front of the card was stamped. Stamps: retired TAC (The Angel Company).

The next two cards are similar. I found a pile of cat ATC's (Artistic Trading Cards 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") made a few years back. They are fun, quick and use less supplies than cards. These were spares from a swap. I didn't think of taking background stamps with me, so I reused this same one many times. Slapping pre-made ATC's on cards is great for cards on the run. The whole piece with the cats & gold ribbon on kraft cardstock is the ATC. Look how it seems to change with each background color. Stamps: retired TAC, round background is current A|Muse Studio (background).

I did the same thing on the next two cards. Found ATC's (butterfly, floral paper, black border), and created cards. The glittering had already been done. I grabbed pre-punched tags, and pre-cut & scored cardstock. The solid burgundy piece of cardstock in the lower card is from a cardstock sampler. The yarn was pre-cut for a class I did a few years back, and re-appropriated for this card. Stamps: retired TAC, current A|Muse Studio (sentiment).

Check back next week, for another group of cards created from bits & pieces!

Red Hat Cards

A group of friends get together and celebrate their Red-Hat-Ness...I join them as a Pink Hatter (I am not old enough to wear a red hat). Each month we bring birthday cards - here are a few I've made. Most of the supplies are from my retired TAC stash.

Flowers in August

I had created a couple of cards to share with my customers in September. Unfortunately, TAC closed their doors in the end of August. I was so disappointed and put the two cards in a drawer. It took me months to even want to look at them again...but they surfaced. And I'd like to share one with you now.

This card uses one of my favorite Nina B Designs stamp sets that came out in the last TAC catalog...Beautiful Lace. I used Bazzill Smoothies cardstock, and the Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals" die. Check out Nina B's blog; Crafting in Croatia.