Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas card 2010- A tree stands alone



This is my Christmas card for 2010. Now that hopefully most people would have received it by now I wanted to share it with you all. It took me a long time to figure out how I wanted to do this card and it went through several trials before this mechanism worked. I wanted my friends to open the card and have the tree stand up without having to hold it. The cover is medallion in garden green and the Merry Christmas is from all holiday in red punched out with circle punch. Satin real red ribbon tops the wreath. My DH thought it was confusing to open the card - feels like you're going to rip it- he said so I added the sign that says open in whisper white craft ink.



When you open the card there is a SU retired sentiment embossed with silver EP using versamark and my - yes photoshopped again!- picture of my three little not so wise men on the right.


I added a flap of cardstock in red that you fold back and you stick it on the oval and voila the tree stands up on its own.





This is how I envisioned everyone would see the card.

I die cut the X-mas tree using the big shot and the star from the matching tree decorations sizzlet in gold cardstock. I diecut 2 of the same star with the bottom slit and glued them together so they would lay flat on the tree. I also embossed the tree using the petals-a-plenty folder- it was hard to fit the whole thing as it had variable thickness so I had to run it back and forth on 4 sides to make it emboss- it would have taken a lot more time embossing individual pieces although it would have been easier- when you are making close to 90 of these, you have to cut SOME corners!

On some of the trees I did add some sparkle with the 2 way glue - making little dots in the middle of the poinsettia with red and others in the fine cosmos glitter pack.




THe bottom piece to stand it up needs really good taper so make sure you use sticky tape to make sure it really adheres. Unfortunately this piece almost always gets too deeply cut and I have had instances where it tore.







To ensure a good and long lasting mechanism so it could be opened and closed for many years to come, I added a strip of scot tape on the other side to make sure it held well.








The tree standing mechanism was really a tough one for me. I tend to be pretty good at engineering things but I had a really hard time- I thought of a picture stand type back and played with many different variations which all failed on one account or another. My MIL brought over some pictures she had developed at Costco and I saw that the closure on the envelope was done with adhesive tape and BAM! it hit me- I could use the same type of idea.


SO I punched a oval on the bottom of the card where I wanted the tree to open and stick and stuck a piece of packing tape underneath so that the sticky part would show on top - it's the same idea as the glitter window, remember that technique?- then I stuck another piece of tape where the sticky would touch on the side of the picture opened (see picture to the right- yes I know the tape is somewhat unsightly but I embossed the words and the tape is clear so it does not show SO terribly much). When you close the card this sticks to the sticky oval.





The thing that keeps the tree up is the sticky on this side that when you stick to the oval allows for temporary stick that keeps the tree up but you can unstick and close to store flat.










This was what the card looked like completed.












This is the detail on the tree and the ornament top.













This is the detail on the tree skirt- I stamped snowflakes using bliss blue onto premium copy paper- it is thinner so it flattens out better although it costs more than regular copy paper it is definitely worth it. I cut quarter sheets of it trimmed to line inside of dark cardstock cards to have a white writing surface too.
The extra real red CS was about 5 x 3 1/4 or so scored on one side with sticky tape on it to again really stick to allow for repeated play with the tree.

This sentiment is from Peaceful Season the level 2 hostess set from the holiday mini. I love all that elegant scroll work.
I'm going to make some birthday cake cards like this too to see how well it holds. I have not been able to find a way to make this mechanism work with a standard card without it flopping all over the place but I think it is worth the extra paper and postage- what do you think?
Happy Holidays!
Lynda













Thursday, December 16, 2010

To you and yours one layer card- well, almost


I really am trying to simplify my life and I guess it is reflecting some on my cards as well. The ideas of a simple one layer card especiallyf for Christmas keep coming up in my head. I also wanted to meet the SCS challenges this week: the CAS layout, the F4AFriday for a christmas card on a fly, and TLC303 to use sponging and then the color challenge of grey concord and marina mist. Thsis image(retired SU) came up to mind which I think is perfect in marina mist.
The base card is just 4 1/4x4 1/4 ( so that it could be mailed in the standard envelope). I scored te edges 1/4 " so that it would have a border without adding another layer. I then punched out a scrap piece of paper using the 2 1/2 inch circle punch and used the paper as a mask to stamp the image in arina mist. Then I sponged some grey on the bottom and some concord on top. Unfortunately some of the color rubbed onto the house image and it muddled it up a bit- and I really like the crisp white of snow on the house so I used the signo gel pen to add some white back over the roof line and in front of the house whern the snaw would be and a little on the trees where there were supposed to be snow too. I then stamped the sentiment in concord grape. I diecut a snowflake from the Northern Frost die ( actually it was a left over from another project but who would know?) and added a crystal jewel to the center then used 2 way glue pen to adhere the dazzling diamond glitter to it and some parts of the card, the roof, the snow and the trees to add a little sparkle. It is a simple card and one layer- if you don't count the snowflake that is.







Tuesday, December 14, 2010

One Layer Christmas Card- Medallion


This came out of a request by my friend Helen who wanted to use medallion for christmas in an easy to make card so this was what I came up with. Stamped the Medallion in Garden Green onto whisper white CS. Stamped the Merry Christmas from All Holidays set in real red onto another piece of scrap whisper white, punched it out with 1 3/4 inch circle punch and mounted it with dimenstionals. Added a 5/8 inch real red satin ribbon and it really is a simple 5 minute card that you can make on a fly. I thought you could add some red dots around the wreath but thought it better to keep it simple.

Monday, December 13, 2010

One Layer Holiday Cards


I was thinking about creating some simple one layer holiday cards and this is one I started to play with at my last workshop. I still love the Lovely as a tree set but wanted to make it more winter snow covered scene. I ripped a piece of paper to make the snow covered ground and stamped the image using versamark on top of it so that the bottom part of the stamp would be hidden by the "snow". It was stamped onto whisper white CS and embossed with clear embossing powder (but you could also use white if that's what you have) . I then sponged bashful blue- I think it had some celery in it from an old project so it had bluish green hues which was actually quite pretty.
I took sentiment Peace on Earth from Four the Holidays set and embossed with versamark with iridescent ice EP to make a simple wintery card. You could add a little gliter along the snow with 2 way glue pen if you want. Hope your day warms up!
Lynda


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Greeting Card Kids winter

I just can't enough of this sweet stampset- love the little girl- I have a picture of myself when I was about 7 or 8 with pigtails in a coat just like this one. The sketch is a challenge from splitcoast SC310 herehttp://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/card-sketches-f41/sketch-challenge-310-12-8-10-a-t514333.html. The base card is Artichoke. The image was stamped with memento black and colored in with copics except for the scarf which was pretty in pink marker. After coloring, I used 2 way glue pen to add dazzling diamonds to the trim. Layered it on artichoke as well.


I used the Deck the Halls DSP to layer, then added cherry seam binding ribbon to it on top then diecut snowflakes which I glittered with dazzling diamonds as well and added some jewels for sparkleas shown.


Layered the image onto another piece of DSP paper and voila! It literally took me 15 minutes to make it- the longest was getting the little chads out of the snowflakes after diecutting!
Enjoy!
Lynda

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A RAK from Tami- my version


My upline is so super supportive, when I meet my goals for the month, she sends me a little surprise. This month it was a white on white card that I thought was really cool but of course I had to do a variation of it to make it "mine"- wink wink- but the basic card idea is from her. Take shimmer white CS and stamp Always elegant on it in crumb cake. Emboss elegan lines with vellum CS then add pearl jewels and tear the top to add texture. Tie a vanilla seambinding ribbon around the cardstock and tie a ribbon . Tuna brad around the ribbons and close off to secure the ribbon (not using any holes to secure the ribbon. Stamp Mr&Mrs in crumbcake, then add a pearl. Secure onto ribbin with a dimensional.
I added a line of 2 way glue and sprinkied dazzling diamonds on the front edge to add a little subtle sparkle and easy wedding card.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Emboss Resist Foliage

The Technique lover challenge this week is emboss resist- one of my favorite techniques- . Here I combined it with the color challenge 300 from splitcoast using artichoke, cherry and pretty in pink with a little daffodil and cajun sponged in as well. The base card is artichoke. the leaves are stamped using versamark on white glossy CS using clear embossing powder and heat embossed. The cardstock is then sponged with variey of classic ink colors to blend and make the images pop out.

I had stamped a sentiment in the corner but it looked really flat- out of necessity as no punch shape would fit over my booboo- I tore it out which I REALLY liked. I then stamped the sentiment with versamark and embossed it with gold EP as shown.



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The other challenge was CAS96 for bows- I love mixing up the challenges and trying something different.
I auditioned the artichoke and cherry seam binding ribbon but the vanilla seem to fit better and less intrusive. I stamped the snowflake from snow swirled in artichoke and punched it with the 1/2 inch circle punch, and used the build-a-brad to make a custom brad- don't you just love it?
Mounted the torn piece onto the cherry piece, then I pierced the hole where I wanted the brad legs to go and used it to hold down the ribbon through cherry cardstock. I then mounted the whole thing on the artichoke base card and another easy card. Three challenges in one card whew!

Friday, December 3, 2010

It's almost snowing!


This is another card we made at my last workshop from a card I recalled seeing somewhere. This is how I made it - It looks tricky but it isn't. The base card is bliss blue . Emboss the sentiment from Four the Holidays with white embossing powder. Die cut the snowflakes using the shimmer white CS with the new northern frost decorative strip using the big shot.
Take a 1/2 sheet of vellum paper and fold and emboss the polka dot folder onto one side . Now I taped the back side near the fold to the back side of the blue cardstock so that the tape would not show on the front. Then I tore the vellum sheet to show the words and then taped the vellum where the snowflakes would be stuck on so the tape would be minimally visible. Then I stuck on the snowflakes. I guess I could have used


a dimensional adhesive but the parts were so delicate it was sort of hard to do. A lot of chads with the snowflakes but oh so pretty!
Falalalalaaaalalalala!
I love December! My favorite month of the year! Here is counting down to Christmas!
Lynda

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Workshop Holiday Bells and Boughs


I love this set- can you tell? I love the old fashioned look about it but it is still clean and modern. Best of both worlds. This is a case from Iliana Crouse that I used for my workshop which looks complicated but it isn't. It's also pretty easy to mass produce for the holidays. I took Always artichoke CS Base, added a layer of cherry cobbler and then a layer of Deck the Halls DSP. The DSP was cut 4x 5 1/4 so I could get 6 pieces out of the 12x12. I did cut from the edge so that every card would have the border white design going around which I thought was so pretty. Then I stamped the image in stazon black and used watercolor crayon directly on paper then used the aqua pens to dilute it out some and make it a little soft watercolored look and easy peasy image. Layered that on artichoke CS then on cherry. I then ran multimono in a thin layer around the edge of the cherry after it was all mounted, then a sprinkle of champagne glass glitter. Let it dry and it will not fall off mind you!
I then took 1/2 seam binding ribbon in cherry cobbler, made a bow using 2 rabbit earys tied together and then stuck it on with a little glue dot and it was the easiest card of the 4 that we made.
Enjoy! and Happy December
Lynda