Fold 1, Fold 2, Fold 3

Surfing the web one day I ran across the Craft Creations Magazine.  They had directions for a Christmas tree using teabag folding titled "Tree Folds".

 

I changed the direction of the tree from the original and used silver cardstock for the base card.  The stripes of the left I cut from some fancy patterned Christmas paper that I had.  Originally the paper strip had no spaces between the stripes so I cut them apart leaving silver between each stripe.  I cut a tree pot from the same paper and I added a sticker star to the treetop.

The most work was finding a Christmas colored tile for the folding and doing the teabag folding itself.  The tile needed to have a border around the outer edges in order to recreate the look of the original.  One of the ladies in my card groups had the perfect tile for this card. 

A Sense of Humor

My nephew and I have a very similar sense of humor.  I've always sent him humorous cards and often cards that are somewhat off color.  I made him a funny card for Christmas last year and he laughed his head off.

You might recognize the foil paper from other posts.  I backed the picture with gold and covered the card front with the red before adding the backed picture.

 

I followed the same procedure with the inside and voila!  I just love this dog, lol!!!

What a Flake

Now I know I have snow on the brain, lol...another snow card!  Oh well, as long as I am enjoying myself!!!

Using my Martha Stewart "Snow Flurry" punches, I created two squares of glossy banner paper with snowflake edges.  Then I cut two blue squares and rounded the corners with a punch.  I layered them all on a blue base card.  The crowning touch is a "jeweled" snowflake for the center.

On the inside I cut a square of glossy banner paper and a smaller square of envelope liner (from one of my many saved lined envelopes) and again rounded off the corners.  I used the same edger on the blue square and attached to the card base.  I had a holographic snowflake in blue that I added to the center and I printed out "SNOW FLAKES" in a matching blue and glued those above and below the center.

Traveling Valentine

Card Making International (another card group) also held a Valentine card swap.  I did a variation of the card I made for my sister.

 

I used a piece of the same red carnation paper that I used in my sister's card and the same punch for the edges.  This time I used a pink button with the bow and a pretty heart decoration for the center.

If the Shoe Fits

Another swap for Card Crafts was to make a card with a hat or shoe.  I chose to do a shoe using Iris Folding.

I did the "iris folding" with the red section and finished the design by cutting out the gold sections and attaching them in place.  I used foil wrapping paper for my folding strips and black cardstock for the backing.  I added red foil to the outside edges of the card front and mitered the corners.  The "shoe" unit was then attached to the card base.

 

I decided to leave the inside blank so my partner could use the card if she wishes.  I fancy cut the top and botton of a rectangle of red foil with "Scroll and Dots"EKSuccess edger punch and attached it to the inside of the card.

The pattern I used can be found here.  It is small, so I imported it into Microsoft Word and enlarged it before printing.  It will be somewhat blurry so you may want to rewrite the numbers onto your printout. 

Sketchy Snow

 February's sketch swap for Card Crafts turned into another snow card.  I think I have snow on the brain since so much of the country lies blanked by continuous snowstorms.  My swap partner lives in Israel, so I hope she enjoys a change of weather...so to speak ;-)

Since a sketch card doesn't have to be done exactly like the sketch, you are free to improvise.  I decided to forgo the bird and make my central theme a snowflake.  The buttons on the sketch became snowflake ornaments.

I used a piece of glossy banner paper and embossed it with Cuttlebug's "Snowflakes" embossing folder.  After attaching this to the card front I then attached the blue strip of paper to the middle.  This paper was punched along each edge with Martha Stewart's "Snow Flurry" corner and border punch set.

In the center I stacked two differently sized punched scallops with Paper Studio punches.  On top of the two scallops I glued a single embossed snowflake made in the same way as the other embossed paper.  The snowflake ornaments were glued on last and pressed overnight to assure good adhesion.

For the inside I scanned a piece of "snow flurry" embossed glossy banner paper with high contrast.  I imported the scan into Microsoft Word and added the greeting.

Bitter Sweet

February brings mixed emotions to my sister and I.  We lost our mom on Valentine's Day eight years ago.  Both of us have found Valentine's Day extremely difficult.  This year I decided to start the healing process and celebrate my mother's life and not dwell on her death.  Baby steps...

I love to make cards for my sister and this is the one I made for Valentine's Day.

 

I used my new Martha Stewart "Hearts" corner and border punches and created the red and the white rectangles.  I embossed the white piece with Cuttlebug's "Swiss Dots" embossing folder and the red piece with Cuttlebug's "Heart Blocks" embossing folder.  I topped it off with a pretty ribbon bow held together with a heart button and placed a paper doily heart below.

 

On the inside I cut red carnation patterned paper to fit and glued it on one side.  To make the greeting I punched three hearts with an Anna Griffin punch, and then I punched around each of the hearts with a scalloped circular punch from Paper Studio.  I glued the circular part and the center of the heart down and left the "wings" of the heart loose.  I bent the heart wings up and wrote "I", "Love" and "You" on the centers.

In addition to the card, I included a bookmark I made using red cardstock, a piece of Valentine ribbon and the same Martha Stewart "Hearts" punch.

To complete the ensemble, I used another piece of red carnation paper and formed an envelope using "The Enveloper".

  

Here are some tutorials for "The Enveloper"...

   Paper Pressings 

   Sara's Blog

   Crafter's Companion Video Clips  

   You Tube 

Joy to the World

Another Christmas card I made this past season was created using a template from Time For Crafting.  I cut the base of the card from a piece of heavy gold cardstock.  I then traced each letter from a different Christmas patterned paper using the patterns provided.  I embossed the letters with Cuttlebug's D'vine Swirls embossing folder and then applied to the card base.  Finally, I covered the inside with a striped paper in Christmas colors.  The card is designed in such a way that it stands on its own on the base of the "y".

 

Butterfly Wings

Paper Embroidery (one of my card making groups) ran a swap a while ago and this is the card I made.

The theme was butterflies and all swaps must have embroidery.  I chose a beautiful pattern of Ann's Paper Art and used a purple/blue variegated and a silver thread to stitch. The finished stitching was matted on a blue background and this was attached to a purple card base.

I used a punch to make the butterfly.  I had a holographic folder (bought in a "back to school" sale) that I used for the butterfly.  I attached the body to the card and left the wings loose and slightly folded up.  Finally I attached silver corner stickers and a silver border sticker to outline the spaces between the corners.

I have more information on "paper embroidery" in a previous entry.  Just click on the link provided.  To find more "Ann's Paper Art" patterns go to Card Stitching.

Circular Punching

On the third color challenge for Christmas I used a Planet Punch template to create the main design.  I love these templates.  They make it so easy to space out your punches on different shapes.  If you look closely at the circle you will see that I used more than one punch.

 

As luck would have it, I just happened to have a ribbon with the exact color scheme as the color challenge!  I added a background strip behind the ribbons and a verse inside and my third challenge was finished!

Deck the Halls

Another color challenge led to the following card!

 

I used a circle punch to make the ornaments and a Martha Stewart punch "Branch"to make the "greenery".  I embossed the ornaments with Cuttlebug's "Swiss Dots" and Candy Cane Stripes embossing folders.  Next I attached the ornaments and greenery to the card, added a black "rod" of black paper, drew the lines for string and finally added a paper bow from the same black paper.

 

For the inside I scanned the front, added the greeting and some extra branches and I had a finished card!

Forestry

Just Cards (another card group I belong to) was issuing weekly color challenges and the last few had to be a Christmas theme but only a minimum of 3 out of the 5 chosen colors could be used.  The colors were non-traditional so this made the challenge doubly challenging!  Here is the card I submitted and I'm proud to say that I won the week's challenge!!!

I punched out 15 trees and 24 stars from the 4 chosen colors. I then used a circular punch and punched around each tree giving them circular frames.  I made a grid of lines on a piece of  white backing paper using the same 4 colors.  At every intersection I glued on a star and inside each square I glued on a tree.  The last step was to attach all of this to the green card.

Shiny Bauble

Another card group swap (Card Crafts) lead me to making a card with a Christmas ornament using the "iris folding" technique.  This time I cut the strips from some very elegant foil Christmas wrapping paper of green and gold.

I made the design on gold cardstock and then attached the finished piece to the card form.  I added a bow of gold braid and then scanned the card front.  I imported the scan into Microsoft Word and added a greeting.  Lastly I printed this on shiny brochure paper and glued to the inside.

I also made a different version of the card by using more of the foil wrapping paper both on the outside and inside and this time no bow.

Sketchy Christmas

If you haven't tried a card sketch yet you don't know what you are missing!  A card sketch is just that...a generalized sketch to be used as a jumping off point for your imagination.  You can make changes to the elements as long as your card resembles the sketch.  One of my card groups (Card Crafts) had a swap based on this sketch.

How you decorate and what theme you use are completely up to you.  Since it was close to Christmas I used that for my theme.

I cut the circle first and then used my Planet Punch template to line up the tree punch (Double Framed Christmas Tree) from All Night Media.  The greeting was done in Microsoft Word and the center piece for the circle was made in Kaleidoscope Kreator from a picture of Christmas "lamps".  A couple small punched trees  and two  stripes complete the card front. 

On the inside I added a triangle with a punch out to make a place to write a personal message.

There are many sources for card sketches and here are a few...
   Card Sketch a Day 
   Car Positioning Systems  
   Card Patterns 
   Creatively Yours 
   Inspirational Card Sketches 
   Card Positioning System 
   My Sketch World

Kokopelli Tunes

An "easel" card looks much harder to make then you'd think!  I made this easel card for a swap that went to India.  I wanted to make something reflective of the Southwest area since this is where I live.  I chose one of my favorite figures of Hopi Indian lore...the Kokopelli (Ko-ko-pel-li (kô kô pel´ lê).

Look carefully at the bottom edge of the top card (by the feet) and you will see a square purple brad head.  This is what keeps the card open when it is in an upright position.  The picture on the bottom section comes from the original picture.  I manipulated it in Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9. 

I made a frame to fit the picture and used my corner punch to create "photo corners".  The picture is fitted in the frame and the whole thing is glued to the front of the card.

I used a template from Penny in one of my groups to make my easel card.  She also has a label to add to the card so the recipient will know how it operates.

This view shows what the side looks like when the card is open.

Here are some tutorials for the easel card...

   Stampin Moments 

   Stamping is my Passion 

   My Stampin' Dreams 

   Stampin Stress Away 

   Flowerbug's Inkspot 

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Last year all my card groups kept talking about all the Christmas cards they had to make and how far behind they were.  Since this was in the summer I got to thinking that maybe I should get an earlier start this year.  I've decided to try and make my Christmas cards a few at a time over the months so I won't be so overwhelmed.  This is the first.

Look carefully...I typed Merry Christmas And Happy New Year from top to bottom and across left to right.  Each word changes color from red to green and back again.  I printed this on a sheet of glossy banner paper and then cut it to fit a tall card.  On the edge I used border punch of pine trees (Alpine Trails) made by EK Success.  To finish it off I used a green and red ribbon to tie it like a package!

Thanks for the Memories

Had lunch the other day with a good friend of mine (Bernie Baby).  It was so good to get out of the house and "shoot the breeze" and combine that with good food!  After getting home I decided to get out one of my favorite punches from Martha Stewart and make a thank you card.

I cut the top a little shorter on the leading edge and then punched out a white card that was the same dimension as the original top.  I then glued the white to the inside of the front and this edge has the darker color behind it when closed.

This is a scanned image (thus the difference in shade from the first photo).  This illustrates how the "thanks border" shows against the back page of the card.

I took a rectangle and punched around the edges as you can see.  I decided it reminded me of spirelli so I used a shiny bronze thread to wrap the the shape simply.  I attached it to the front of the card with glue stick.  I use glue sticks a lot.  To keep the paper from curling and to make sure the glue holds well I weight the card down with something heavy (usually a stack of books).  The amount of time I leave it to be "pressed" depends on the amount of glue and number of layers.

I did some "cutting and pasting and punching" and created an area on the inside to write a message. 

Kaleidoscope Capers

I had so much fun making my first kaleidoscope card that I decided to make another one for my friend Linda's birthday.  Her birthday is in the fall, so I chose a picture with pinecones and berries and fall colors to make a kaleidoscope from.

I was on a roll so I made another kaleidoscope card for another friend's birthday...Bernice!  Her birthday comes in winter around Christmas so I chose a picture of candy canes and Christmas ornaments.

On the inside of this card I did another kaleidoscope with the same picture but a different shape.  I saved this picture, imported it into Microsoft Word, added a message and glued it on the inside of the card.

The Envelope Please

I joined a swap a while ago to make an "envelope" card for exchange.  I chose an African theme because I had some cool looking "faux animal skin" cardstock.  

It is called an envelope card because the inside is made with several envelopes cut to size and glued together and to the card covers.

You can learn how to do this envelope card here...

   Dawn's Stamping Studio 

It's Raining, It's Pouring

One of the ladies from my card groups had a friend who was in need of cheering up and asked for us to help by making a cheery card.  I had a cut House Mouse stamp that I stamped and colored in with colored pencils.  I added a caption and mounted both to a card.  Easy peasy!

 Here are some tutorials for using your colored pencils...

   Practical Painting 

   Craft Stew 

   Colored Pencil Drawing 

   Elf Wood 

   Art Instruction Blog