Christmas Card Inspiration

Making Christmas cards this year? Need some inspiration? I have a little for you!

You can make a couple of the above cards with the Christmas Subway Art from yesterday, or if you can wait until next week, I'll be sharing some more detailed instructions for making a few of the cards.

Want handmade cards but don't have the time to make them yourself? I have sets of Christmas cards available in my shop (check them out on the sidebar). :-)

Faux Border & 3D Butterfly {Thank You Card Tutorial}

 

Many times I create a border by layering papers. Sometimes, though, a simple card with no layering is all I need. I still wanted to add some dimension to this card, though, so I added a "faux" border and a 3D butterfly. It's really, really easy. Here's how you can make your own.

Start with a base card measuring 5.5x8.5 inches and fold/score it in half.
Cut a scrap piece of paper measuring 5.25x4 inches (if you'd like a thicker border, make this piece smaller).
Center the scrap piece of paper on your folded base.

Ink up a sponge or similar tool (you could use a cotton ball) with the ink of your choice.

While holding the scrap piece of paper in place, sponge/rub the ink onto the exposed portion of your base until it is entirely covered. Be sure not to let your scrap piece of paper slide around at all.

Remove the scrap piece of paper and you should have something that looks like this:

Your border is complete, so now we'll stamp the sentiment. You can do anything you like. Mine was "thank you" in this case. I used the same ink as the border.

Time for the butterfly! Cut a piece of white paper just big enough for the butterfly. Stamp the butterfly in the same ink. Use a 3D Crystal Lacquer and let it dry.

 I like to use this 3D Crystal Lacquer. You just have to be careful to keep the applicator tip nice and clean.

Next, cut out your butterfly.

Attach it to the card base using a dimensional adhesive (I use these).

Your card is done!

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Forest Birthday Card {For the Gents}

I sat here for a little while trying to come up with a more creative title...it just wasn't coming to me, so I went with descriptive instead. Can you think of any better titles? Oh well, that's not important. Let's get on to this card!


I'm on a bit of a card kick this week. It's really my favorite thing to do. You should see all my paper! I have to remind myself not to buy more too. I just love paper for some reason! Well, anyway, I digress...AGAIN. :-) Here we go:

This card has the perfect balance of masculine and creativity. My "creative" cards tend to be pretty frilly and girly, but I think this one has a nice balance. It's not boring but doesn't have too many embellishments. 


To make this card:


Start with a base card stock of 5.5x8.5 inches (I used my usual white) and fold/score it in half. You'll be doing it upright/portrait/hot dog style.


I added a little color to the front right side of my card with some ink and a sponge dauber. 

Cut a piece of craft or brown card stock or paper about the same size as the front of your base piece. Tear the edge, so part of your base (where you added the color) will show. Adhere to your base.

Cut a green piece of card stock 4.25x1.5 inches. Punch three holes in the right end of the card stock and insert brads. I use a little hammer to flatten the backs of my brads. They lay down nicer this way.

Adhere this piece to the craft or brown piece. I placed mine a little below center of the card.

Here's where your card may vary depending on your stamp. I'm not sure where this stamp came from, but I think it was probably Hobby Lobby or Michael's.  You could really use anything, but I like the kind of rustic feel of the trees.


Cut a piece of white card stock just larger than your stamp.  I believe it was 3.5-3.75 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall in my case. The yellow piece of card stock is 1/4 inch larger than the white piece (so if you're white piece is 3.5x2.5, I'd make the yellow piece 3.75x2.75).


Stamp the trees (or your stamp) in a similar green to the green card stock and then add a little color to the edges with the sponge dauber. Then adhere the two pieces together and add them to the card.


Stamp the "happy birthday" sentiment straight onto the craft/brown card stock and add some crystal lacquer. You could also emboss the sentiment to get the same effect.

Finally, cut two very thin strips of craft/brown card stock to line up with the "happy birthday"sentiment. My sentiment was actually pretty small, so I believe my strips were only about 1/4 of an inch wide, if that. I just cut the length to line up with where I stamped the sentiment, so you can guesstimate this a little bit then adhere to your craft/brown card stock.


I hope this provides a little card making inspiration!

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Ladies Birthday Card {Handmade}

 

I really like how this card turned out. It's colorful and girly, but not too young like a child's card might be. Cute, cute!


Here's a little on how to make it:


Cut the standard piece of 5.5x8.5 inch piece of white card stock and fold it in half to create a card 4.25 x 5.5 inches.


Cut a piece of yellow card stock 4x5.25 inches and punch/poke holes all around the edge. I have a guide to help me keep the lines straight and holes evenly spaced and just used a safety pin to poke the holes. Adhere to your white base piece.

Cut a piece of green card stock to fit inside the border you created with the holes. I think my green piece was probably about 3.5x4.75 inches. Adhere to the yellow piece.

Cut a piece of white card stock that is 3.25x4.5 inches. You'll want it to be 1/4 of an inch smaller than the green piece, so if your green piece was a different size than mine, you'll want to adjust the measurement of your white piece.

Stamp flowers in varying sizes and colors.

To add a little detail, I stamped flowers in different colors on a separate sheet of card stock, cut the centers out, and then adhered them to the flowers I stamped on the white piece.

I also stamped one larger flower cut/punched it out and then attached it to the smaller piece with a dimensional adhesive to give the card a little more dimension.

Finally, I stamped "happy birthday" with a small stamp, punched it out with a flower punch, and added some color to the edges of the flower with a marker. I also attached this piece with a dimensional adhesive.

There you have it! 

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Hippo Birthday To You {Boy's Birthday Card}

 

My little guy has become fascinated with hippos over the last couple of months. They're really not all that exciting, but he thinks they're cool. :-) Soooo, when I was looking through my stamps for a boy birthday card for May (not for my little man but for one of my little cousins), this one jumped out at me. What a cute little hippo!

See? He's adorable!

Want to make your own? Here are a few of the details of the card:

As usual, I started with a base of white card stock which folded in half created a 4.25x5.5 inch card. I cut a large portion of the front corner off at an angle. Then I cute two piece to fit on the front of the card-one slightly shorter than the other with the same angle. 

This part was a bit tricky, but with a little trial and error I got my angles right and layered my papers on the front of the white base.

Then I created the hippo piece. I cut a piece of white card stock just larger than my hippo stamp and then I cut a blue piece of card stock about 1/4 inch wider and taller than that piece. I stamped the hippo and then stamped confetti all around him (yes, I think it's a him) in different, complimentary colors to match the other colors in the card.

I also stamped a party hat, cut it out and attached it above his head. At first I tried just stamping the hat above his head, but it just didn't quite look right. I like how this turned out much better!

I stamp the "Happy Birthday" sentiment on a piece of white card stock just slightly larger than the stamp and then cut the two words a part. To create a border for these pieces, I cut green pieces of card stock 1/4 inch wider and taller than the "Happy" and "Birthday" pieces.

Then I attach them at angles to the front of the card. Cute, huh? I think the angles add a little character to the card.

Finally, to the give the card a little more dimension, I stamp the inner sentiment with confetti all around it which you'll be able to see even with the card closed since that corner it cut off.

And there you have it folks! A "Hippo Birthday" card for that little boy in our life.

I'm having a blast at these lovely linking parties.

Technique Tuesday {Kids' Cards}

I have a couple kids' birthday cards to share with you today for Technique Tuesday. They're both super cute!

This first card uses a simple layering technique. I cut individual petals and layered them to create a full and colorful flower. It's simple but leaves quite the impression. I love how bright and cheery it is!

The card didn't use a technique per say. I created the outline of a pickup truck and then layered on a window and tires. I used a circle punch for the tires, but you could easily cut out circles if you don't have a paper punch. 

The really cool thing about this card? I've got a template for you here to create a truck of your own. Although I didn't picture it here, I also made a version of this truck that was a magnet, so there's another idea for you. :-)

I'm having a blast at these lovely linking parties.

Handmade Gift Bags

I needed a gift bag yesterday and remembered seeing these newspaper gift bags at How About Orange. What a great idea! I whipped one up real quick but used scrapbook paper instead of newspaper. 


I won't give you a full tutorial since there already is one, but here's how I used scrapbook paper instead of newspaper.


In the tutorial you're supposed to cute a rectangle that's 15.5 inches wide by 8.25 inches tall. Since my paper was 12x12 inches I needed to make it a little wider. Here's how:

• Cut two pieces of paper 8.25 inches tall. One will be 12 inches wide and the other should be 4 inches wide.
• Score the smaller piece vertically 1/2 an inch over from the edge.
• I followed the instructions for scoring and folding the larger piece and applied it to both pieces before I attached them together, so i could use my scoring tool (it can only accommodate a 12 inch piece of paper)
• Fold the section of the smaller piece you scored first. Put lots of glue on that folded area and attach the smaller piece the the larger piece to create one big piece.
• Follow the rest of the directions in the tutorial to complete the bag.

I turned out pretty cute, and I think that it will be fairly quick to make the next time since I've got creating a larger piece of paper figured out. It's a great use for some of that paper I can't seem to stop myself from buying. :-)

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Woven Paper Birthday Cards {Use Up Some Paper Scraps!}

I saw something like the pin below and thought it would be an interesting technique to use on cards.

Source: google.com via Erin on Pinterest

I've been wanting to try this for a while, so when I was going through my paper scraps the other day, I decided to give it a try. It was just as easy as weaving a place mat with construction paper as a kid with a little more sophisticated look. :-)


I tried to match up similar colors and was able to make three different versions. 





Here are a couple close ups of the weaving.

These were fun to make and a good way to use up some of those paper scraps! I hope you're inspired.

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