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.

A New Beginning

Card making has become an outlet for my creativity.  I usually prefer to make a card just once and I like to try all kinds of techniques.  I started out by stamping on the front of a pre-made card and that was it.  I've come a long way since that first card and now I create much more involved designs.  I joined some card making groups on Yahoo (more about that later) and have learned a great deal from these talented ladies and gentlemen.

The New Year's card above was made as a "swing" or "flip" card.  I used foil wrapping paper to cover each side and printed out two pictures for either side of the swing section.  Then I added a fancy gold ribbon around one edge and some curled silver ribbons to the gold.  The card is finished on both sides. 

Three tutorials that I found helpful are:
   Michelle's Rubber Room 
   Split Coast Stampers
   Sunflowers and Dragonflies