4th of July

Decided to make my sister a 4th of July celebration card.  I had seen some napkins and a few doodads I liked in Hobby Lobby and gathered them up for a cardmaking session.

I've always been fascinated by shaker cards but had never made one.  I decided that this was the perfect time to try one out!  Most of the online directions showed you how to make your own box but I've been saving plastic packaging covers for quite some time hoping to use them for just this purpose.  Out of 40+ sites with tutorials I found one that addressed this idea but oddly enough it wasn't for a shaker so I had to make my own adjustments.

I was going to attach the napkin piece as I did in a previous post but changed my mind.  I tried to separate the three layers but only was able to remove one layer so I decided to glue stick it to the front of the card.  This worked great until I handled the card for a while and I noticed that the top layer was coming loose at the corners.  Wouldn't you know it...it wouldn't come off when I wanted it to, LOL!!!  So...I slipped some glue under the edges and things were fine.  The glue stick worked fine so if you use it make sure you really have removed two layers!!!

I finished up the front with the doodads I got at Hobby Lobby and I used confetti red, white and blue stars for the shaker. The three stars are part of a garland and I attached it with brads.  I used double stick tape to attach "July 4th" to the shaker.

I carried to theme to the inside, added a verse and used some of the napkin scraps to make faux photo corners.

Let It Snow

What a winter we have had!  I live in the desert of southern New Mexico and we rarely see any snow in the valley.  Many times there is snow in the mountains.

December of 2009 brought us 3 days of snow...unheard of!  Of course it didn't last long but it was fun to play in!!!

From this vantage point I can usually see the mountains but not this day!!!

I guess the snow inspired my next card.  It is made with a napkin, eyelash yarn and snowflake Christmas decorations.

Here are some tutorials for napkin transfer...
   Split Coast Stampers 
   You Tube 
   Little Birdie Secrets 

The insides of my cards vary and I have more problems coming up with ideas for them.  One of my favorite techniques is to find a picture or graphic that goes with the front and then size it to fit the inside.  I import the picture into Microsoft Word and add text.  Sometimes I print it out on bright white paper and other times on vellum or tracing paper.  For this one I wanted the colors to pop so I printed on glossy brochure paper.  After gluing it inside I added some more shiny snowflakes with glue dots.

I had an extra napkin left so I decorated a CD front and back and added some more shiney snowflakes to make a hanging decoration to go with the card.  On the side of the CD with the advertising I first added a white circle before adding the napkin circle so that the words didn't show through.  I used stick glue to attach the layers.


I heated a large needle in a candle flame  and then poked a hole through the top and again through the bottom after reheating the needle.  Surprisingly it went through like butter.  I threaded thin jump rings through the holes and added the snowflakes in the same way.  I added silver thread to the top and a fish swivel and the other end  of the silver thread so that when the CD hangs it will swivel around in a breeze.