Crazy for You

I love locks and keys and the hinges on doors. I grew up in houses that didn't have the locks and keys we use today. We had skeleton keys for every door and most keys worked in every door-so why bother to lock anything??

So for this card I wanted to make door hinges-at least that is what I started to conceive. I think these look like hinges-but they aren't the ones in my head. I used my score-it board to fold over the flap on the side. If you look really close, the top hinge has a score-it mistake I ended up covering with paper that looks painted like a door. I only had a small piece of this card stock and had to preserve or change my colors.

I rarely make square cards-they are costly for postage. But this one would not have looked as good had it been a long card and most definitely would not have worked as an A2. The hinges wrap around to the inside-luckily I didn't think it needed to be covered inside-it was very neat and tidy. The rub on was from a sheet left over from some other project. I would have used a stamp but was just too lazy to walk up the stairs. I made this Christmas Eve. Still not in winter mode.

You Make Me Dotty!

I still am on a Valentine kick! Pink and black were just born to go together but something caught my eye in the scrap bin-spring time green. The hardest part of making this card was getting the ribbon and ric rac to lay flat and let me get a knot in them. I said many bad words.

The base of this card is Bazzill washboard black and two misc. scraps layered on. I punched a medium circle and popped it. The heart-a bit primitive-was free hand cut. Tied a few more scraps and it was done.

Just a few swipes of a Colorbox chalk ink in Alabaster white for a distressed look made a big difference-it went from okay to pretty neato-at least according to a 10 year old. She said-You really like to do that, don't you? Yupperoo.

Overlaid Message Trees

I recently took a Hero Arts class. This was the first time I tried stamping on acetate (transparencies or overheads). I think the directions for this card were backwards. We were instructed to stamp on card stock for the trees in two different colors and then line them up across the card on top of the red card stock.

The acetate overlay was then placed over the top and then we stamped words on the acetate to line up with the tree shapes. It made much more sense to me to stamp the words on the acetate overlay where I wanted the trees and then position the green trees under the overlay-to line up perfectly. As you can see, I did it according to the written instructions with the kit-and it didn't turn out great. But, hey! I tied that bow pretty good for a change. It was easier to work with than grosgrain ribbon. Maybe the clue is the finer the ribbon the easier to tie!

I am going to make more of this type of card because its so neato-but I will try my way instead and see if its easier and neater too. Either way-hubby says he has a whole box of laser printer transparencies I can have as they never use them at work anymore! Can you spell FREEBIE???

Missing and Confused

I should be making Christmas cards-but I am not in the mood. I don't know why as I have all the bits and pieces laying out on the table. Maybe it's the lack of snow-maybe it's the lack of sunshine. So I decided to make valentines. At least that is what this started out to be but ended up a more everyday card. I have the damnedest time tying small bows. My hands go one way the ribbon usually ends up in the cat's lair. What is the secret to bows?

I love using rub ons when I am in a hurry or rut. This might have said I love you or you are the one-but I decided to make it a card for anytime. Maybe at Valentines Day, I will make Halloween as it seems I am so out of sync right now. All of the papers came out of my scrap box-I have avowed to use up the scraps as much as possible because its getting way too full. So is anybody missing me tonight? Nope.

The Frosty Trio.....To Warm Your Heart

I totally CASED this idea. I just love the simplicity of it and it was so much fun to make. Under this paper and card stock (the sides are plain blue-and there is duplicate set of snowmen on the back) is a simple Styrofoam block. I glued the paper all around and then carved out a hole for the tea light candle on the top. I then cut out a square the same size as the sides, making sure to match up the stripes. I punched out a circle for the paper to fit over the candle and then punched another circle to fit over that but used the square piece and made the outside about a 1/4 inch all around to form a ring. Glittered that up really nice and tapped it down. Cut off two stripes from the leftover red card stock for a border.

The snowmen are so easy-just one inch circles, which I drew goofy faces on. Hand cut some carrots for noses and then glittered the faces for reflections of snow. The other side snowmen have rosy cheeks, so you can decide if your snowmen are just getting warmed up or are truly frozen! The blue half circles which the snowy guys are poised over - is just that-one large circle cut in half!

Now remember-you CANNOT light this! You will make a bad mess, a bad smell and its very dangerous. Its just a cute thing for your desk, dinner table or a place setting. Enjoy!!

Santa Does NOT Have Conjunctivitis!!!!!!!

I was supposed to be making Christmas cards this week-but for some reason, I started making Valentines. I knew I had to make at least one card using a SU set to stay in my Yahoo group. So I went digging in the bin in the bedroom-and found glitter rub ons. And a remnant of black Bazzil washboard card stock. Dug some more and found this Santa and the words stamps from Stampin' Up. Still I wasn't sure how the black card stock was going to look, until I laid it out. Interesting, I hummed to myself. Certainly not traditional. So I assembled and stood back-and I liked it! I really really liked it!

I showed it to hubby who barely looked. So if it doesn't have blood and war and bombs, he just isn't interested. Oh, it didn't look like a football either. I knew there was one person who would tell me the truth. My niece Kayla who will be 10 next week will either love it, hate it or give me another idea. I met her for supper at Bob Evans (20 minutes to get water-two hours to get and eat a salad?). And we went over my whole new stash of cards I had been working on. I let her keep the one I was unhappy with because she liked it. She said she was inspired to go home and create herself. And this card got the thumbs up!

Now, just to clarify-Santa is not suffering from some awful eye infection-its just the reflection off the Stickles. SO he isn't contagious and is safe to visit the kiddies this weekend!

Have a wonderful holiday season with all your loved ones. I am hoping to find a tofurkey to roast with my rutabaga and watch basketball all day and maybe go for a run if the weather isn't icy.

Velvet Valentine

I always mess with stuff. There are times I take stamp camps and other pre-set ideas and make them my own. I don't like being like the rest of the class. I have no idea what this was supposed to look like. I was "late" for class and everyone else was done. So the instructor just gave me the pieces to take home and put together later. I know for a fact there was no grape distress ink in the class and that was the first thing I did with my edges. And I also added acrylic enhancement to my stamped heart on the tag. I love this velvet like paper and have it in many colors and even some that is already embossed. Its maybe 1.99 a sheet but you get so many uses from it! This card is so old fashioned and feminine. I bet my gramma would have loved it.