We Did It! End of Summer School cards

Welcome back,
My summer is flying by! Next week is the last week of the summer school program. It was 5 weeks long. The urge hit me to create mini thank you cards to give to the staff to mark the end of the program. I had so much fun creating these cards. They are almost too cute to give away!  :)
Take a look:

Each card is 3.5 inches square. I simply like this size, there is no reason I chose this size.

 I found the "YAY!" die cut free on the Cricut Design Space this month. I sized it to fit the cards, and I sent it to my cutting machine.  I cut out 30 copies out of black cardstock, and 12 copies out of my Neenah white cardstock all the same size.

Then I dug through my stash of old backgrounds that I have created from past projects and found a handful of beautiful backgrounds that I just didn't know what to do with! I really fell in love with some of the alcohol inked backgrounds that were a bit busy with odd color combinations.

With a background in mind, I used my distress inks to attempt an ombre effect on the YAYs. Some I used one color (pink and left the rest white), others I used two or even three colors, The blending on some created additional in between colors. I covered them with versamark ink and chose a sparkly or glittery heat embossing powder and heated them with my heat gun. Several of them took two coats.

I then took 3 black layers and stacked them together with glue and left them to dry. Once dry, I glued on the heat embossed layer on top and let them dry again.

I just purchased a set of the perfect layer rulers from We are memory keepers. I LOVE THEM! I can mat anything now at a one-sixteenth of an inch! I never could do that before! The tiny black border helps bring the card together! I finished each card with a "We did it!" up with foam tape to give a bit of dimension to match the die cuts that I printed from my printer. I didn't have a stamp for that particular sentiment. I created envelopes for each one.

I entered this card into a challenge:

THE PAPER PLAYERS - CELEBRATION PP400

 I cannot wait to give them to my co-workers. Thanks for stopping by! I hope my mini cards inspired you! Enjoy your nice weather!

Lucky find at Marshalls!

Hello,
I am enjoying my summer. I love the three days weekends. (yes, I am teaching summer school again...uuggh) BUT! I am determined to get some crafting done! I decided that I was getting a bit disorganized, and I needed to cut white card panels and have them on hand ready to go. I needed a container of course? What do I store them in?

Jennifer McGuire recommended more clear storage bins. Why not run to Marshalls, and take a look around!  I may just find the perfect thing?! Well, I did! Take a look!

I found what I think was a storage container for the cupboard for gravy packets. It fits perfectly for card bases....three different sizes too! I used red cardstock to separate my watercolor paper from my Neenah Solar white cardstock. Then I cut thick craft dividers a bit taller so I can label each size. 

In my head, the back section is the card base size. The middle section is the dark mat size. and the front section is the light panel size. A majority of the cards I create are A2 size. I do other sizes once in a while, square mostly, but I try to stick with A2.

I am switching my storage from this way. Man, that was 2014?! Time flies in the craft room!

I may have to run back and purchase another one for my birthday and sentiment panels for the inside of the card. hmmmm. It was only $5.99!

Thanks for stopping by, I would love a comment! It would make my day!

Jennifer McGuire CASEd!

Hello and welcome back,
I am totally enjoying my summer vacation. I have been crafting, I just haven't been FINISHING projects very well. That being said, I started searching videos for inspiration. Because I love Jennifer McGuire, I dove into her older videos. (2015). I found one that was very straightforward, and totally outside of my usual designing. I didn't need a specific type of stamp set, like many of her videos feature. Here is a picture of the cards from her blog. Click HERE for the post.

The simplicity of the design and the easy supplies helped me get back on track. I was able to focus, design, start, and finish these cards in a couple of hours. It felt good to see cards all the way through! Here is my versions. Take a look:

I didn't get as clean of images as she got, but I like my cards just the same. to be honest, the artsy flowers are the ones that came out the best!  LOL I love the purple too. (of course I do) More to come! Thanks for stopping by.

Summer is Here!

Hello!
I am so excited! My 2017-2018 school year is over! I closed up my classroom, and summer has begun! Let's not mention that summer school begins in a 12 days, but I have time to get inky!
As I mentioned recently that I purchased a REALLY nice camera, and I have been playing with the setting on it. I have to go back and redo some recent cards that I completed, but had snapped with my cruddy camera. Take a look:

I love the wildflowers from Tim Holtz, and I am just starting to play with the distress Oxide inks. I was going for a more MASCULINE look for birthday wishes. I don't like giving the men in my life pretty frilly girly cards. I do struggle with more man-ly colors! I never have been able to embrace the browns in my stash, but I like it with orange! (left card) I need to do some more exploring!

I noticed not many cardmakers use fibers, or twine on their cards. I LOVE them! So much easier than reaching for sequins and dots sometimes. Just my two cents. NO challenges today. I need to get inky!
See you again soon!

Inspiration from Nicole Spohr

Hello, and welcome back!
I stumbled across a set of cards that took my breath away a few weeks back. I absolutely had to try the same technique and make some similar cards. The problem was I didn't own all the needed items for it.

So little by little I have been either creating the needed items, or buying them on my budget. Here are the cards that had me so inspired.  Click here for the blog post by Nicole Spohr. Here is a image from her blog.

Aren't they beautiful? Here is my take on them.

I am very pleased with my versions. I needed birthday cards, not thank you cards, To be honest, I do not own many floral stamp sets. I had to make due with one random Stampin' up! flower, and leaves from a layering Altenew set I have yet to figure out. (too many layers, and not enough similar inks).

 I entered the blue one into a few challenges:

• Avenue 613 card challenges - Mainly Blue
• Happy Little Stampers - Anything with Dies
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use more than one stamp

Thank you for stopping by, I would love a comment, it would make my day!