Easel Christmas Card

Here's the card I came up with for my Hobby Lobby class last night... one of my regular attendees had asked last week if we could do a Christmas card so what you see below is what I came up with...

I started with a StampinUp package of coordinating designer prints and chose a few to work with... I then went through my extensive stash of solid cardstock to find a few colors that would serve as the card bases.

The panels on the card front were cut and embossed using the Scalloped Coved Rectangle (ST0089) dies from Cheery Lynn Designs...

I generated it from my computer (using either Word or PowerPoint).. duplicated it in the software program so that I was able to print out a sheet of about 12. I then cut the sentiment out with a nice large (2"x3") oval punch that I was fortunate to find on one of my bargain hunting trips to Ross... I then lightly inked the edges of the oval and popped it up on dimensionals and placed it in the center of the two coved rectangles which were glued flat (both to each other and the card front... no dimensionals... BTW, I found the sentiment I used on the front at one of my favorite on-line sources (quotegarden.com) ... It reads, "There has been only one Christmas... the rest are anniversaries." Don't believe I've ever heard that before but I really liked it... so did my students... I'm sure I'll be using it a lot more in the future...

I tied a small bow for everyone from some white sheer ribbon... added a glue dot to the backside of the knot and stuck it to the top left edge of the oval.

Not too easy to see in my picture, but on the inside of the cards are label holders that I cut with my Cuttlebug/Big Shot using a die that has several sizes of labels... I cut it from shimmery, pearlized silver cardstock (Colorbok). I had some very narrow white ribbon that was just threaded through the holes and then folded to the back of the dp that the label holder was attached (label attached with dimensionals). This was so that it could serve as the "stop" for the card front enabling it to stand alone and open.

The inside sentiment (in the label holder) is a stamp I had... but it didn't fit into the "window" opening of the label so I recreated it on my computer ... choosing similar fonts and colors as what was shown on the stamp back but sizing it to fit in the opening. The envelope was lined in pretty typical fashion except that I had this cute little holly punch... two leaves and 3 berries... I punched the left side of the envelope flap and then glued two very small pieces of pearlized red and green to the inside of the flap so that the colors showed through the holly and berry "windows"... THEN lined the envelope as I normally do, which covered those small scraps entirely...

On the lighter sheet of dp used on the inside of the card (which holds the label and still left room for a hand-written sentiment), I used one of my Fiskars corner punch/embosser combinations...

The little treat box you see in the foreground was made using a StampinUp die I recently purchased. It was made using the same dp papers for the "drawers" and a coordinating solid, lightweight cardstock for the outside ("sleeve"). I even stopped at Walgreens before class to get a couple bags of Hersheys nuggets... four fit pretty snugly in the drawer...

That's all for now...
May not post again til Friday... we'll see...
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Blessings and happy crafting,
~Kathy

Another Fun Fold Card

Here's another fun fold card I did after watching a YouTube video showing the technique. This cardstock already had a lot of "bling" to it... The finished card (closed) is shown here in the top right photo, corner detail of the inside panels is in the photo below that, and a closeup of the paper is below that... again I used two of the French Scalloped Flair dies from Cheery Lynn Designs to create the pink "frame" and layered that on top of a piece of pearlized cardstock that's ready for the sentiment or hand-written note. The diamond-shaped piece of pearlized cs on the front was run through my crimper, a small flower-shaped jewel glued on top and a piece of ribbon tied around the whole card. Hope you like it!

There are so many gorgeous papers and cardstocks out there... some already "glitzy"... it's so much fun to take one 12"x12' sheet and turn it into a unique card like this that the recipient will think you spent hours on!

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and happy crafting!

~Kathy

Folio Card with Two Pockets

I found this cute folio card in one of my cardmaking books... and thought I'd share it with y'all... I've written an instructional sheet with diagrams that you can download to try one yourself.

I created my first one from coordinating MS (Martha Stewart) cardstock I found at my local WalMart last year... This design uses one whole 12"x12" sheet (preferrably two-sided) and then a 3"x6" scrap of coordinating paper for the "spine" that holds the front and back together...

You could really get creative with the closure using buttons and thread, latches, etc. I just used some sheer white ribbon tied around mine. You can also attach the ribbon although I just tied mine around the card and it can be slipped off and then slipped back on without actually untying it.

I did put another piece of coordinating paper on the center inside panel... it is about 5-1/2" square. I used another sheet from the MS pad so that the colors coordinate but this is strictly up to you. I then added another piece of cardstock that I die cut (using French Scalloped Flair - ST010 from Cheery Lynn Designs/Dies Direct). It has a computer-generated Thanksgiving quote from Erma Bombeck printed on it (found here on QuoteGarden.com), so this card had absolutely no stamping on it at all...

The pocket design allows you to include goodies for the recipient... you'll see I've added a CD to the left pocket and a bookmark in the narrow pocket on the right. Hope you like it...

You can get the instructions by clicking here.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

~Kathy