Easy Custom Envelopes + Gift Card Holder + Sweet Girl and Kitty

Do you make odd sized or shaped cards?  I never think about the envelope until I have the card finished.  You should have seen me in the past, flinging open drawers, slinging out envelopes, pulling out my hair...  

I have a LOT of envelopes.  Seriously.  Drawers Full.  And still half the time, I've made a card that just WON'T FIT or is dwarfed by the envelope.

Solution:  Make envelopes.  Well, okay.  But.... (confession here), I really don't have the patience for that really cool envelope maker that I have stashed away.  I just can't figure out how to make envelopes with it that work for my cards.

Real Solution:  Make really easy envelopes.  Okay.  How?  Here's how: 



  The video shows how to make easy envelopes for small, large and shaped cards.  I use my score pad, but you could use a straight edge and a bone folder to make the scores.

One fun thing to make with this method is gift card holders.  We love books in our family, so this gift card holder has a Barnes and Noble gift card.  And see that little cat reading?  Adorable!  The kitty with the party hat is stamped on sticker paper.  It will be the seal for the back of the gift card holder.

This card is long enough for some envelopes I have, but it's too skinny.  So, a custom envelope it is.

This is another of my Agnes Richardson images.  I just love the sweet little girl and the black kitty.  You can download her below.

Download Agnes Richardson Girl with Black Cat HERE.

Dropbox seems to work differently for different people.  Either right click and save when image appears or click the download button in the top right corner.  If neither method works, email me and I'll send the files to you. 

Louisa made valentines when I was there last week.  We didn't make them until February 15th, but oh well...  I die cut some hearts and then printed unicorns on sticker paper.  I peeled the stickers for her and handed them to her.  

She really did a good job and had a lot of fun.  She made 6, which was just about right for a 15 month old.  I rubbed some baking soda on the back parts of the unicorn stickers that stuck out over the hearts to keep them from sticking to anything.  

You can see I also made envelopes the same way as I show in the video.  

So, go ahead and make those small, large and shaped cards.  Envelope?  I've got you covered.

Have a wonderful week!

Valentine Angels and a Meow

Valentines.  Angels.  They certainly go together.  These old valentines are so pretty.

I used these angels a couple of years ago on top of a fan-shaped candy box. 

You can see that I basically cased myself to create this card.  I love the box, so why not a card?

The download has the angels on white and also on gorgeous old ledger paper.

And if you love that heart rosette (isn't the gold and pink glitter so pretty?), I have a video from a couple of years ago on how to make them.  



The little bon bon box is also from that time.  You can see more about it HERE.  

You may remember me talking about how Louisa loves to "RAWR" and that I made THIS Valentine card for her.  Well, she also loves to "MEOW!"  

When she's here, she meows at the top of her lungs and follows kitty around saying "Hi, Kitty!"  When she saw me a couple of weeks ago, she asked, "Kitty? Kitty?"   I had to tell her No, that Kitty did not come with me, that he had to stay home.  So, I made this sweet black kitty valentine for my mom and dad to give to Louisa.  

You can download the Valentine Angels HERE.

Dropbox seems to work differently for different people.  Either right click and save when image appears or click the download button in the top right corner.  If neither method works, email me and I'll send the files to you. 


Happy Valentine's Day!

Easy No-Tabs Heart Box

Heart Day is coming up soon.  If you're still looking for a darling gift idea, I've got you covered!

This heart box is super easy to make, the printable is super cute and I have a video to show just how easy it is.  

Included on the printable (and in the video) is a bonus project idea:  a partial pop-up card.

I believe this partial pop-up is the way she was originally meant to be.  You could use it for a card or a place card for a valentine party or maybe a valentine cookie party.

I show in the video the basics on putting this together.  The download includes a back piece to make her more polished.  Then I added a white scallop writing panel just to dress it up a little more.

I thought this vintage image would also made a super cute heart box topper.  The box is large enough to hold three chocolates. 

I like the way this heart box goes together.  It works better for me than dealing with all the tabs that come along with most heart boxes.  The video included all the tips.

The download comes with a template for the top and bottom hearts for the box.  You don't have to use my heart templates to make a heart box this way.  This  method also works for heart dies or hearts that you have cut with your electronic cutter.

Here's the video:

Download Valentine Girl with Heart Box Template HERE.

Dropbox seems to work differently for different people.  Either right click and save when image appears or click the download button in the top right corner.  If neither method works, email me and I'll send the files to you.

So glad you stopped by.  Have a wonderful week!

Vintage Dog Valentine Printable

It seems like I make more cards with cats than dogs.  But these valentine dogs are adorable!  So...I couldn't resist making a Valentine card with them.  

When Louisa saw them, she said,"Hi, Dog!"  She says that a lot - every time she sees her dog, Percy, for sure.  

You can download the adorable dog valentine below.

I love the layers on this card.  The dogs are popped up, along with the middle of the large pink heart.  Another layer is created by popping the white heart one layer above that.  

The base layer includes that beautiful plaid and few hearts in pink and brown.  I guess you would call that brown - it's got a gray cast to it.

Just a little strip of plaid and a heart to decorate the inside.

Download Adorable Dogs HERE.

Dropbox seems to work differently for different people.  Either right click and save when image appears or click the download button in the top right corner.  If neither method works, email me and I'll send the files to you.

Whether cats or dogs, adorable is what counts!  What do you think?

Valentine Owl Tags

I could have titled this post:  Pink Only!    I've been in rather a pink mood.  What does that mean?  Cute, sweet, polka dots, and gingham, of course. Oh, and don't forget, glitter!

First up is that adorable owl - winking right at you.  I've had these pink gingham bags forever.  I thought it was about time to use them and this owl made the perfect tag.  She was so easy to make with my Cricut.  Love the pink and the wink!

I haven't quite decided what package this heart shaped tag is going to decorate.  I've had those heart dies forever too and hardly ever use them.  And I think they're such a fun shape, so I don't know why I don't pull them out more often.  

Whooo adores these little owl stamps?  I do!  Love the fun owl puns, too!

Here are the pieces to the last owl tag.

Easy is what this owl tag is - and cute, too.  One tip I have for this owl, (it just seemed to make it sweeter) is to put the right eye just a little higher than the left.  And add a little white to the eye.  

I poured some conversation hearts into a glassine bag and then folded the end over a little and then folded the bag in half.  

I wrapped the twine around and clipped on the owl.  

So that's three owl-ways fun owl Valentine tags.  They certainly satisfied my pink mood.  How about you?  What color is your mood today?

Tiny Glitter Heart Valentine Backgrounds

Hi, there!  Oh my goodness, it's been a busy last few weeks.  I wasn't  able to create anything or even take photos of things I'd already made.   We had to get totally new heating and air conditioning in our old 1909 house.  New units, new ducts.  What a mess!  We had crews in our house for 3 weeks and dust and plaster bits everywhere.  

But, I also got to do something fabulous - we had Louisa here for 4 days.  Here we are playing with homemade playdough, sitting at her mommy's old table and chairs.  We got to be with her every day for over a week.  Three days in Savannah, here for 4 days, and then back to Savannah for a couple of days.  Complete joy!  Our house seems to be missing a little something or I should say a little someone!

I finally got started on Valentines.  I've got to get busy, so I can get photos sent out to all my customers.   This one is designed for Louisa.  One of her first words is "Rawr!"  Totally adorable, shakes her head and growls.  It started with a little tiny stuffed lion that her mommy would show her and roar.  She started roaring and then would roar at lions in books.  When we were leaving from OKC Airport, there was a huge banner for one of our local collages who's mascot is a lion.  She saw it and "rawred" at the top of her lungs - seriously she was the hit of Will Rogers World Airport!

Love this adorable lion.  It's an old stamp from SandyLion.  I love the paper too.  It's not old - it's a new digital paper set.  It's listed below in the supplies. 

I decided I wanted to add a little sparkle and tiny pink glitter hearts were required.  Who knew that would be such a pain?  More about this matter and how I solved it later...

I made an envelope from 22 lb copy paper with one of the patterns from the digital paper set and cut a heart from sticker paper to use for the closure.  

I adore this vintage valentine!  I'm calling her French Valentine Girl.  Who knows if she's French?  I'm just going with the white wig being French...  She's ready for you to download below.

Of course, the background needed a little sparkle!  She got the heart treatment as well as a panel (frame?) of tinsel glitter.

Super easy to create the panel of glitter.  I really like using good old Glue-All and a paint brush for glitter.  The glue's not too thick and all these years has worked beautifully.  

The blue tape helps with the straight lines.  Just peel it off.

Okay, now for those pesky little glitter hearts.  I first thought I would try Sticky Embossing Powder. I couldn't get the glitter to stick to it at all.  (I don't want to say this product doesn't work, because I've seen videos where it obviously does.  Does the glitter have to be the same brand or something?  Anyway, it did not work for me!)  

Next, I tried Stick It Adhesive sheets which is a great product for sticking intricate die cuts to cards.  These hearts were so small that I couldn't get the backing off without ruining the delicate adhesive.

Then I remembered my Be Creative Tape.  The problem here is that it doesn't have release paper on both sides.  I tried freezer paper and that worked pretty well, but I still had problems getting the release paper off without ruining the adhesive.

So, what I finally did was adhere a regular piece of copy paper to the Be Creative Tape, die cut the hearts and glue the tiny hearts to the decorative paper, peel off the release paper and pour on glitter.  It worked!  Any other ideas?

The Be Creative Tape is available in various sizes.  I've linked this size below (which is really too expensive), but Simon Says Stamp has all the other sizes, too.  They have the sheets, too, which I think would be even better.

Download French Valentine Girl HERE.

I guess I'll have to post my Christmas projects throughout the first part of 2018.  I also know that I've promised a video from Visions of Sugarplums and I'll get on that too.  

Hope you had  a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!