My First Easel Card

If you're at all familiar with the cardmaking world, you've probably heard of easel cards by now. If not, go to Splitcoaststampers and do a search for "easel". It seems everyone is doing them right now.

Well, I've not been one to just blindly follow everyone into the "latest and greatest". I looked at them and thought they seemed quite impractical. After all, how would the recipient know how to fold it right to get it to stand up?

Finally, after seeing dozens of beautiful easel cards, my curiousity was piqued. I broke down and looked at the tutorial on Splitcoastampers. I was surprised at how self-explanatory they will be for the recipient, and especially how very practical they are.

A lot of us cardmakers pour our time into making the perfect birthday card, but I've often wondered how many times it ends up filed away somewhere (hopefully not the trash can, but you can only save so many) when the recipient only got a few moments' enjoyment out of the design I labored over for hours just for them.

Well, this solves that dilemma. The recipient can display this little card on their countertop, or even their coffee table if they so choose. It can become a little display of its own. It's perfect for someone in the hospital, nursing home or even someone who is sick at home long-term and could use a little end table decoration to cheer them.

Do I have you convinced yet? :) Yes, I am in love with these cards!

So let me share my first-ever easel card with you ...



Supplies: stamps (Sarah Kay), Elegant Word Art by Bethany, Recollections ("Love"); ink (BIC Mark-Its, Versamark); paper (American Crafts, Paper Reflections); MS PATP Iron Gate Fence punch; Nestabilities Labels 8; ribbon (grosgrain and unknown fabric ribbon); clear embossing powder; dimensionals

I love this Sarah Kay image! It reminds me of my sister and I when we were kids. We were always best friends, even though we did fight on occasion. But fights were not the norm for us, and we are still the best of friends years later. We also happened to grow up in the Holly Hobbie generation, and these little girls remind me so much of her!

I chose the sentiment, "Family ties are bound with love" because the older sister is tying the younger sister's bonnet. Isn't it adorable?

I also finally discovered the best way to choose colors for an image -- pick the patterned paper first! Too many times I've colored an image and then couldn't find any paper to match it. But this time I grabbed the paper that I wanted to use with it and then found matching markers to color the image.

The image is cut out and popped up on dimensionals to give it a little "distance" from the ribbon that acts as the grass. (By the way, that ribbon is a perfect stand-in for a flower-strewn meadow. My friend got a bunch at a thrift store and shared a few yards with me. Thanks!)

Here is a side view so you can see the easel part:



It rests on the paper lace I've attached to the bottom card layer. I only added adhesive to the middle of this paper lace so that the card would have the points to "catch" on when you open it up.

I made my card a standard 4-1/4 x 5-1/2". At the end of the tutorial, there are instructions for adapting it to this measurement. Most of the other easel cards I've seen have been square, but I didn't want to pay extra postage since this one will most likely get mailed instead of hand-delivered.

I hope you enjoy this little card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Lace Borders with Iron Gate Fence border punch

I mentioned the other day that I had purchased the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Iron Gate Fence punch, right? I also mentioned that I LOVE it! This punch is worth every penny I paid for it because it is the embodiment of my style.

So, what can you do with it?

Obviously, you can do the usual "punch around the page" thing. You can also use them strictly as border or corner punches. Those are all fabulous, and I'll probably post a picture of those at some point, for reference. But let's kick it up a notch.

How about double-sided paper lace with a ribbon in the middle?

The smallest ribbon you can use for this is a 3/8" ribbon if you want it to look exactly like mine. You could try a 1/4" ribbon, but it might not tuck exactly right. Feel free to try it and report your results in the comments!

At any rate, let's talk about how to do this, and then I'll show you a bunch of examples and then a bunch of math figures.

For the 3/8" ribbon, you need to start with a 1" piece of paper in whatever length you need. Punch both long edges with the border punch, and it should look like the lefthand part of this picture:



For the 3/8" size, you could work with it as is, but you will have to trim for the other sizes. So let's just assume we have to. See the righthand part of the photo? That's what you want it to look like when you're done trimming. It might sound tedious, but it's actually very quick with a craft knife. Just be careful you don't tear the intricate design while you're trimming!

Then you're going to take your 3/8" ribbon and weave it through the remaining border. Check out the first two options with ribbon below (I inluded the first one just to show what it looks like beforehand):



You get two completely different looks, depending on which part of the design you thread the ribbon through.

But what if you just want to adhere a ribbon down the middle of a strip (like the very last example above) and not worry about weaving? Well, for a 3/8" ribbon, you'll start out with a 1-1/2" strip cut to your desired length. Again, you're going to punch both long sides with the border punch. Then simply attach your ribbon down the middle.

I know I mentioned before that I'm a "math geek," so you know I had to sit down and figure out what size the paper should be for each length of ribbon up to 1". So here it is ...

For threading through
start with 1" for a 3/8" ribbon
start with 1-3/8" for a 1/2" ribbon
start with 1-5/8" for a 5/8" ribbon
start with 2" for a 3/4" ribbon
start with 2-3/8" for a 7/8" ribbon
start with 2-5/8" for a 1" ribbon

No threading
start with 1-1/2" for a 3/8" ribbon
start with 2" for a 1/2" ribbon
start with 2-1/2" for a 5/8" ribbon
start with 3" for a 3/4" ribbon
start with 3-1/2" for a 7/8" ribbon
start with 4" for a 1" ribbon

I hope this has inspired you. Let me know if you try it and use it on anything. I'd love to see your projects, and I'll try to use these pretty laces on some cards in the near future to share them, too!

NEW Designer Handbag Template

Before I begin, please understand that I'm using the term "designer" very loosely here. :) Just the idea that I would create anything with a "designer" look is laughable, but I didn't know what else to name this.

So ... Here is my newest creation using a template I designed that I'm calling Designer Handbag Template. And I'm offering it FREE by e-mail (since I have no idea how to attach a Word document to a blog, or if that's even possible).

But first, let's take a look at it:



I modeled it after my mom's last purse that I fell in love with at first sight. When she decided to quit carrying the purse, she offered it to me. In my opinion, her purse was the cutest I have ever laid eyes on. I have no idea where it came from originally, but she got it from a yard sale. (See, I come by my thriftiness quite naturally!)

Here you can see my paper creation side-by-side with the bag that inspired it:



It's not an exact replication, but I kept enough of the details that I love. Also notice how big this is. It's approximately 6" wide, 6" tall and 3" deep. You can fit a lot in this bag! Just ask my daughter who confiscated it as soon as I was done taking pictures ...

For this size bag, you need two 12x12" sheets of basic cardstock and two 8.5x11" sheets of decorative paper.

But, of course, everyone likes pretty packaging for their cards, so I shrank the design to be a holder for 4.25 x 5.5" cards, too. Here's the smaller version:



It's an inch deep, so you can fit a gift-sized stack of cards in it. This size uses one sheet of 8.5x11" sheet of cardstock and one sheet of 12x12" decorative paper.

I used a wet adhesive to attach everything since this was my experimental purse, so you'll see it buckled my paper just a tad. I won't be using wet adhesive on these in the future, or at least not as much wet adhesive. :)

One thing you'll notice I changed on this smaller one is the use of Nestabilities Labels 8 for the part that holds down the purse straps. It's much more decorative than the regular old square I used on the first one, and I'll be making them all like this from now on.

So, how do the two compare size-wise? Well, here's a look at them together:



Before I forget, the purse handles are NOT original with me! Lauren Meader posted these awhile back on her blog, and I thought it was the most awesome idea ever. I bookmarked it for future reference, and I finally got around to using it.

As I said, I'm offering the purse template for FREE by e-mail. Just drop me an e-mail (sophia_regina77 at yahoo dot com) with "Designer Handbag Template" in the subject line, and I'll be happy to send it out to you. Please let me know if you make anything with it - I'd love to see them!

I Challenge You Wednesday: Silk Flowers

It's time for "I Challenge You Wednesday"! I chose the challenge this week, and I decided my friend and I were going to use some of the silk flowers we've been collecting from thrift stores and such. :) We both have quite the stash, and mine just about doubled after a recent trip to my parents' where I got daisy bushes for $0.50/bush.

So here are my cards featuring silk flowers:



Supplies: stamp (Studio G); Sizzlets tag die; CB fleur de lis embossing folder; EK Success fleur de lis border punch; paper (ATD Serendipity, Making Memories, Paper Reflections); ink (SU Chocolate Chip); flowers (Michaels fall line).

I was going for a masculine sympathy card here. I needed one for our church member who just lost his mother. I figured brown and fleur de lis was about as masculine as I was capable of at the moment (since I was in "silk flower mode"), so this is the result. I really, really like this one! The picture doesn't do it justice because the colors are a little washed out.



Supplies: stamp (PSX); papers (Making Memories, Paper Reflections); rhinestones (Darice); Nestabilities Labels 8; ink (SU Chocolate Chip); flowers (thrifted silk).

This was actually the first card I made. I LOVE daisies! When I pull apart silk flowers to use on cards, I try to save the centers. They tend to be very lumpy, so I cut the back "stick" off this one to make it lay somewhat-flat.



Supplies: paper (Paper Reflections); MS PATP Eyelet Lace; CB Swiss Dots embossing folder; flowers (thrifted silk).

I don't have enough centers for all the flowers I pull apart, since there are sometimes 7+ layers to each flower. So here I created my own flower center by punching out a circle and running it through my Swiss Dots embossing folder. Then I popped it up on a dimensional before adding it to the flower. This card measures 5x5".



Supplies: stamp (Inkadinkado); papers (Paper Reflections; ATD Serendipity); EK Success fleur de lis border punch; Nestabilities Scallop Circles; ribbon (unknown); flowers (thrifted silk).

I love the color combination on this card, which was completely inspired by the patterned paper. I love it when supplies I've gathered from 15 different manufacturers (slight exaggeration) over a span of nearly 15 years all falls together into a coordinating card. (Yes, the ribbon dates back 15 years!)

I've had the sentiment stamps for awhile. They came with a whole set of circles in the vein of JustRite stamps. I've been wanting to try adding them to the center of a big flower for awhile now. I like the effect!



Supplies: stamp (Inkadinkado); paper (Paper Reflections; ATD Serendipity); MS PATP 3-Dot; Nestabilities Scallop Circles; flowers (thrifted silk).

This card is so bright it might just hurt your eyes! :) I love how cheery it is, though, and I love how the patterned paper made me use a color combination that I probably wouldn't have come up with otherwise. I think this will be a birthday card for one of my teen-aged nieces.

I was going to make a larger variety of cards to include more colors, but my time got cut a little short, so I didn't get the chance. Maybe I'll do more later! :)

In the meantime, check out my friend's blog to see what she came up with this week!

Flowers for Mommy

Here's another "sneak peek" today, but that's all I'm saying right now. :)

This card was inspired by my four-year-old daughter who came up to me the other day - in the middle of winter - and asked why the flowers she picks for me in the summertime eventually die. I'm not sure what brought that up, but her mind works a million miles a minute and she comes up with the most fascinating questions.

So I made this card, that I thought might be cute to give to my mother for Mother's Day since I remember picking flowers when I was little, too! :) If I come up with another card I like better for Mother's Day, this could always be a "sending you flowers to brighten your day" type of card.



Just like yesterday, I used some of my newest paper from Tuesday Morning on this card. I also used the same border punch technique around the oval. And I used my new MS leaf punch for the first time!

If you look closely, you can see the centers of the flowers are the green glitter brads I made awhile back.

I had a lot of fun with this card!

Get Well Soon

We've had a death in our church family, so my stamping time will be a little limited the beginning of the week here while I help with the funeral and coordinate the funeral meal. I have a pile of things in the works to share, but most of them need a few finishing touches, or they're for our weekly challenge that I'm going to share on Wednesday. So today and tomorrow I'm sharing a "sneak peek" of sorts, since these were finished and just waiting for the right time to share. It's still not completely the "right time" which is why I'm being a little mysterious, but here you go ...

Today I thought I'd share this child-oriented "get well soon" card I made. I had a lot of fun with this one!



This is the first time I tried out the concept of using decorative edging around a curved shape, and I'm hooked! If you're not sure what I'm talking about, basically you punch a strip of paper with a border punch. Add a good, strong adhesive. Then cut almost to the point between each design. Then you can curve it around almost any shape. The idea isn't original with me, but I can't remember where I first saw it.

I used two of my newest papers on this because I really needed to cut into the first sheet so I could give myself permission not to hoard them. Really, I have 25 sheets of each. I don't know why I feel the need to conserve ... :)

I got the wide satin ribbon at Tuesday Morning. I am in LOVE with those wide satin ribbons, and they had a lovely assortment of colors for $3 a spool (10 yards on each). I have limited myself to four colors so far - gold, pink, burgundy and red.

Did you notice the dew drops in the corners? I love the freedom to use as many of them as I want, since I now have enough to make around 800 cards ... :)

Ridiculously cheap dew drops at Michaels

I'm sure most of you are familiar with "dew drops" that are used on cards. Some places sell them as card "skittles". I've even made my own in the past from a glue stick and hot glue gun (thanks to Lindsay Weirich for the idea). But a few gals on Splitcoast mentioned finding a product in Michaels that was the same thing as the dew drops you can buy, except they're clear.

Most of them found these "dew drops" in the floral arranging section, since that's one of the uses listed on the packaging. I looked several times and never found them at my Michaels - until today. As I was looking at the new MS PATP punches (admiring the iron gate punches!), I saw a clip display of these for $5.99:



They didn't come in that jar. I wanted to get a picture of the packaging before I tore into it, but in my excitement to count them, I forgot and tore into it anyway. :) That jar is a recycled peanut butter jar, and it's not the 18-oz size, either. It's bigger. But that is the hang tag from the package sitting right in front of it. They come in a clear plastic bag with this hang tag attached to the top. (Unbeknownst to me, my son had put a red paper in the jar. They're really not tinted pink when you buy them.)

With my 40%-off coupon, I got the whole package for $3.60. I couldn't wait to get home and count them all because I knew there were several hundred of them in there. (Yes, I'm a math geek and always have to figure out the unit price of everything I buy.) Imagine my surprise to find, not just a few hundred, but a few thousand of them in the package! 3200, to be exact. Umm, I think that's about four lifetime's worth of dew drops ...

At any rate, once you do the math, you can see that you're getting 100 of them for $0.11. How much are the colored dew drops you can buy at craft stores? How about 100 of them for $9.49? Don't believe me? Go check it out! For that price, I'll gladly color them with my BIC markers to have just the right shade for my project! (And that only takes about two seconds for each one.)



I got a few dew drops as a thank you gift with an online order I had placed last year, so I pulled them out and put them side by side. There isn't one difference, except for the color, and even some of the expensive dew drops are clear anyway.

This probably isn't quite as cheap as making them with hot glue (or is it?), but since it requires no effort and no mess, I was interested. :) Besides, these won't stick together in a bottle like some of my hot glue dew drops have done.

Anyway, if you want to look for them in your Michaels store, check out the hang tag in the picture. It's a brown kraft-type paper, and they are packaged in a clear thick plastic bag. Here's the information from the front of the label:

"Decorative Accents, Net Wt. 12 ozs."

And the back label:

"Item #72079, Acrylic Discs, Panacea Products Corp."

It says you can use them for florals, crafts, parties and weddings, so your store might put them in one of those sections. It's worth a look!