1973 Flashback!

While doing some chores I always play music ... this time it was the '70's.  Halfway through the CD Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree" came on.  It made me wonder, whatever happened to the concept of yellow ribbons (which by the way started the concept for all the other colored ribbons) for our service men and women?  So I decided to make a card to honor that old tradition in hopes it will start again!

The background is paper from K&Company/E.K. Success from one of military packs.  The tree is from a set of stickers I found at Joann"s Fabrics and is also from K&Company/E.K. Success.  The yellow ribbon is from a pack containing a variety of different colored ribbons which I also found at Joann's Fabrics.   I folded into a bow to create the bow using a mini adhesive dot.

Personally to me this simple card says a lot ... let's bring back the yellow ribbons and let our troops know we want them to come home!

Cards for Sale!

I've been given the opportunity to try and sell some cards in a consignment store.  I wanted these cards to be clean, simple and very professional looking but with that defenite homemade look.  Here are three of the new cards that I thought would be worthy of selling!

The first card is an any gender birthday card using a "Picture Show" stamp embossed in copper on tan paper edged in copper ink and colored in pencil and highlighted with some ruby red "Stampendous Dot Sparklers".   The stamped panel is mounted on a metallic copper from "The Paper Company" which in turn is mounted on a white card over an antique gold "Offray" ribbon.  The text is a rub-on from "Die Cut with a View".

The second card is a masculine birthday card for those golfer's in your life.  The 3D golf club crest and banner stickers are from "K&Company/E.K. Success" which I found in the clearance bin at one of our local craft stores.  I mounted these on alternating layers of brown and green solid colored papers from one of the fall color pads from "Die Cut with a View".  The text is from "Mrs. Grossman's".

The third card is a sentiment card made up of various die-cut images.  The parchment background and the banner are done using "Sizzix" dies (cutting each one out twice, cutting one apart and then re-assembling them into 3D images) that were edged in brown ink before mounting on the card.  The flower bouquet is a pre-made die-cut from "K&Company/E. K. Success"; which I stretched by cutting the stem portion off the main bouquet and then attaching it lower on the card and hiding the disjointed connection with the banner.  The text is computer generated and printed on a clear address label from "Avery".  I mounted the die-cut images on a light olive green textured background paper from "K&Company/E. K. Success" to pick up the coloring of the leaves.

Thinking of You.

Here's another card I made using the Cricut.  I used teh Home Decor cratridge to die-cut some flourishes from bright green paper from Die Cut with a View; which were then used as teh stem and vines for the flowers.  From teh same bright green paper I created leaves using teh Rose Leaf Hand Punch from Martha Stewart/E.K. Success.  The flowers are 3D glittered paper flowers from Martha Stewart/E.K. Success.  The text is a gold sticker from Stampendous, as are the lines around patterned Die Cut with a View background paper.

This is a simple example showing how to combine various techniques or media (die-cuts and stickers) to create a quick and beautiful card. 



Working with what you have!

Recently a friend asked why I hadn't done any new "Sizzix" die-cut cards.  My response was that I hadn't seen anything new that I really wanted, to which my friend replied "but don't you have a bunch of dies already?"  OK, I have to admit that I do have quite a feew (as well as a variety) of diesI've collected over the years from Sizzix and so I went back and took a look at them.  As a result I came up with my first two fall/Thanksgiving card for 2011 using mostly "Sizzlets" dies.  I'm sure; however; that by now many of these dies have all been "retired" as is so often the story with things I hold dear.

The first card uses leaves die-cut from pale green, tan and burgundy paper using the leaf  Sizzlets dies from the Thanksgiving set and then edged with ink in darker versions of the paper color. The vines are from the large Sizzlets Decorative Flourish set cut from tan colored paper and lightly colored with brown ink. The pumpkin is  from the Thanksgiving set and was die-cut twice: once from orange paper and once from olive colored paper for the stem. The orange pumpkin was edged with a combination of orange and brown inks. The card itself is made with craft paper edged with brown ink, the panel is made using the Tim Holtz Baroque die on mustard marble paper from The Paper Company and edged with brown ink, while all the remaining papers are from Die Cut with a View. The various pieces were layered flat in overlapping patterns. The text is a sticker from Hallmark
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The second card uses leaves die-cut from pale green, pale yellow and burgundy paper using the leaf and leaf 2 Sizzlets dies from the Thanksgiving set and then edged with ink in darker versions of the paper color. The vines are from the Decorative Flourish set cut from olive colored paper for the stem. The pumpkin is from the Thanksgiving set and was die-cut twice: once from orange paper and once from olive colored paper. The orange pumpkin was edged with a combination of orange and brown inks. Other than the card itself; which is a piece of the Basic Grey Ambrosia Citrus (also edged in black ink) all the papers are from Die Cut with a View. The various pieces were overlapped and use various thicknesses of raised adhesive dots to create a 3D effect. The text is a sticker from Mrs. Grossman's.

An interesting side note: the day after I finished these card I received an e-mail from Sizzix advertising their new dies and guess what?  One of the new border dies more or less creates this same look.  Actually they have two new boreder dies with this type of theme: one for fall and one for Christmas.  Good thing is I don't have to buy the fall one!

Old Fashioned Feminine Birthday Card.

I love the look of aged antique cards with soft images of days gone byand I try to re-create some of these from time to time.  Here's one I did recently.

The card itself is made from a antique patterned beige paper from one of the many Die Cut with a View packs that I have; which I edged with brown ink and stamped a Inkadinkado flourish on in a light olive green ink.  The ribbon is an old K&Company ribbon over a deckle edged cut strip of antique gold paper from The Paper Company.  The 3D sticker (which I also lightly edged with brown ink) is from K&Company and was attached to a Spellbinder deckle edged die-cut and embossed background from more antique gold paper.  The sticker panel is attached with thin raised adhesive dots to create a shadow outline.  To finish the card I added Me and My Big Ideas mini yellow rhinestones to the stamped flourish.