Critter Sweaters + Visions of Sugarplums in July!

Christmas in July!  I usually don't get around to making anything for Christmas until about September.  So, yay!

Not only is it Christmas in July - it's also Visions of Sugarplums in July!  

You know what that  means, a challenge or two and prizes!  Woo Hoo (or HoHoHo)!

To kick off Visions of Sugarplums, I created this fun Hinge Card featuring Critter Sweaters from Sijmon Says Stamp.  Adorable critters, right?

Here's the inside - so pretty with the embossed snowflakes.  You can also see a little bit of the envelope.  If you want to see how I made the custom envelope, you can watch THIS VIDEO.

Here's the video for the Sweater Critters Hinge Card:

Please link back to this challenge.  The winner (random selection) will be announced Sunday, July 28th.  Link your picture below.

Looking forward to seeing your Christmas in July creations!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sweet Dreams Tag Book

Hi, there!  I just had the best week and half!  I'm sure you've already guessed that I had Louisa.  More on that a little later...

I've wanted to make a tag book with sleeping Louisa pictures for a long time.  Speaking of a long time, I started the tags a few weeks ago and just finished them up today.

The tag dies that I used from Pinkfresh Studio are just gorgeous and the little bunnies from Mama Elephant are just adorable.

When Louisa was little bitty, they lived in Denver.  I was flying every other week to Denver.  When it was time for me to go home, they would drive me to Union Station to catch a train to the airport.  Louisa would always fall asleep.  I took many adorable photographs of Louisa as I was getting out of the car.  

In the picture on the right, she's about a year and half.  At that point, they lived in Savannah.  This was the first time, Louisa flew with me to OKC to stay for awhile.  She never slept for long on the plane, but she was so sweet!

This little square tag was made with a slide die from The Stamp Market.

Here's another bunny.  Cute and sweet!

This is the  most recent sleeping picture of Lousa.  Lauren sent it to me a couple of weeks ago.  It's harder to get a picture of her sleeping now.  She only takes one nap and she seems to be sleeping a little lighter during naptime.

While Louisa was here, I took a lot of pictures and made her a tag book to take home and share with Mommy and Daddy.  I never dreamed it would be such a hit.  

The tags were so simple - just cut rectangle cardstock pieces, glued on the picture and wrote a few words.

Louisa absolutely loved going through the book and she could "read" the words, because she knew exactly what she had done.  When we got out of the car to meet her mommy and daddy, she ran to them with the tag book and made them look through it right then!

So glad you stopped by!

Z Fold Window Pass Thru Card + Video

Birthdays are always fun!  They're are even more fun when everyone can get together.  My daughter's birthday and my mom's birthday are one day apart, so we tend to celebrate them at the same time.

I made this card for Lauren.  I sent it to her in Wichita, because we didn't get together until a week after her birthday.   So I thought a paper hug would be fun!

I'm calling this card design a Z Fold Window Pass Thru card.  The Z fold part of the card is pulled through the opening of the base card.  I like making cards that are a little different from the standard fold.

I think this mouse kind of looks like he's opening his arms for a hug.  The mice are simply colored with copics and a couple of Staedtler Fine Liners for the little details like eyes, noses and glasses.

I've got a video below on making a Z Fold Window Pass Thru Card.  It's not hard at all!




Thank you for stopping by!

Unicorn and Rainbow Pop Up Card + Video

Unicorns, rainbows AND a pop up!  How cool is that?

I have to tell on myself.  When I was designing this card, I could not figure out the pop up part.  I glued the tabs to the rainbow and glued it to the card and 

IT. WOULD. NOT. POP. UP!

I took it off and put it on about four million times.  Pulling my hair out ensued.  While that may be a slight exaggeration, it was still frustrating.


Then an accident happened.  I got the angle right and it popped up!  Who knew an angle could be so important.  If you're thinking that I should have known, I bet you're a math genius or an engineer.  Or at least it makes me feel better to think so!

As long as it took me to figure out, this was still a fun card.  And now I know how important that angle really is.

The background on this card is made with Copic inks.  I used my refills and a small paintbrush.  I really like the subtle color.  

Here's the video on the unicorn rainbow pop-up card (including that all important angle):





Thank you for stopping by!

Straight Line Frames + Video

So, I have a cute story about why the matching game I made for Louisa is called "Silly Goose Ball."   She's always been a funny little girl and I would often call her "Silly Goose."  Then one day, I said "Goof Ball" instead.  Louisa started saying "Silly Goose Ball"  any time she thought she was being funny.  So now we use "Silly Goose Ball" for any of us being funny.  No telling what people think when they're not in on the joke!

When I saw the silly goose part of this stamp set, I knew I had to make something for Louisa.  Plus she loves animals and the puns are fun.

The idea for the Straight Line Frames started with this card.  This image is a strong image, especially in bold colors.  I couldn't decide what it needed.  I let it lay around awhile and then suddenly I thought maybe a couple of stars would be the finishing touch.  Well, the stars were close, but the card still didn't look finished to me.  It hung around some more and then AHA!  a Straight Line Frame.  

When I finished stamping the animals on Louisa's cards, I didn't think they looked finished either.  Especially the smaller animals that didn't fill up as much of the white card.  So, I thought what was good for the critter card would be good for the Silly Goose Ball matching game.

Each animal has a slightly different Straight Line Frame and instead of stamped stars, I used tiny die cut hearts.

I made these mini note cards too.  This is an old stamp set that I totally forgot about.  Woodware isn't even in business anymore.   I wanted to see what they would look like with words incorporated into the Straight Line Frames.  I really think they turned out super sweet!

Check out the video for tips and to see how easy it is to draw straight line frames.  
Well, darn this video has some issues.  Why isn't this easier?  GRRR!  Looks fine in my software!  It's not quite so irritating if you watch it small.  GRRR, again!

Tri-Fold Window Cards + Video

Hi, there!  This is a Louisa weekend coming up, so I'm looking forward to seeing her.

I've got a couple of crafts for her to make.  We made tulips a couple of weeks ago and she had so much fun using scissors and a hole-punch for the first time!

These tri-fold window cards were a lot of fun to make.  I've got a video (below) with a couple of tips (especially how to hide the tab).

I love the plaid stencil on the front of this one with that fun turnabout showing through the window.  The colors are soft and pretty.

Here you can see the turnabout stamped and then cut to fit the flap.

Have you created with any of the turnabout stamps?  Such a cool idea!

The inside is actually the leftover piece that makes the window from the front.  

Adorable kitties steal the show on these!  I couldn't decide how I wanted to color the kitty, so I colored it up a couple of different ways and then used both of them to create cards.

I think the kitty might be jumping up to catch a butterfly and then 

he caught it or maybe the butterfly caught him!

This one's fun with all the sequins and the silver embossed grid panel.  It's so weird - in this photo it looks like there are some blue sequins.  Reflecting light, I guess - there are no blue sequins!

I really love corny puns - I love mew cracks me up!

Here's the video with some tips on making tri-fold window cards:



So glad you stopped by!

Mini Floral Stamps Ideas #3 + Video

 I've been having fun with my mini floral stamps again.   I finished these up while Louisa was taking her naps last weekend.  

This time I've added distress ink into the mix.  All fun, easy ideas to incorporate into your creations.  You can see the video with tips below.

Talk about getting your money's worth - I've used these butterfly dies a lot!  I love the butterfly covered in flowers with a little milled lavender distress ink blended on the edges.

I heard someone say " Quit using unicorns, already!"  Well, no.  I think this unicorn is adorable and I'm going to continue coloring unicorns as long as I want to!  So there!

Seriously, though.  this is cuteness!  The mini floral stamps in the scallop tag are covered with a light layer of cracked pistachio distress ink.  I really like the flowers showing through, so I used distress ink in lieu of distress oxide.

The unicorn is colored the same colors as the flowers - love the stripes and pink hooves!

This is another stamp that is pure cuteness!  I love the tea theme and those mice are adorable.  You can barely see the distress ink on the teapot and cup.  It's spun sugar and the light pink is really pretty.  

You can probably think of stamps you could decorate with mini flowers.

My favorite mouse is the little one asleep with his little round belly.  

Here is the video:




Thank you for stopping by!  Have a lovely week.