Saturday, September 28, 2013

A "Belated Birthday" card.....and a "FREE" envelope file!!!

Hello everyone!!!  About ten days ago I made this card, but did not want to post it until my friend had received it.  Her birthday was back in July, but I'm afraid that my creative juices were not kicking in at that time due to my cancer and treatments and it was her big 50....so needless to say I was feeling VERY guilty and I got to thinking about the old saying, "better late than never" and that got my creative juices kicking in and this is what I came up with!  Here is a front view of the card.


And here is a view of the inside (in Photoshop I blocked out the personal message to her).


Now for some notes on the making of this card.  First of all, I want to mention that the card is 5"x7" and and in order to make a "portrait" 5x7 card I would need at least a 14" piece of cardstock which I don't have!  So, I used Becca Feeken's (Amazing Paper Grace) "Becca Bit" called "Piecing Card Bases" and I just love that concept as you can even use letter size papers if you need to.  You can find it here...just scroll down to the video tutorial.  Thank you so much for this Becca!  Now, do you see how tiny and delicate the "Belated Birthday Wishes" is?  Well, that was done using black vinyl that was cut with my Silhouette "Cameo"!!!  Needless to say, I will start using the vinyl more often for sentiments, etc. as it cuts like butter with the "Cameo"!!!  The lamp post is a really nice file from the Silhouette store that I just purchased and it is named "Vintage Hanging Shop Sign", Design ID #18385.  I only used the lamp post.  I made the actual hanging sign using one of the stamps from "Borders & Journaling Boxes" by Studio G and I made a "mat" to stamp it on using my Silhouette "Studio Designer Edition" software and the message on it was hand written by me using a while gel pen.  The "chains" holding it are made from some silver trim that I purchased from Walmart.  The banner is also a file from the Silhouette store called "banner 2"...I could not find a design number and I think maybe it was one of the free files that came with the "Cameo".  Don't you just love the patterned paper I used on it?  It came from a Recollections paper stack called "Garden Florals" and there are 240 sheets of patterned papers, 60 designs and four sheets of each.

Now....onto the "free" file.  I designed an envelope for 5x7 (A7) cards that can be cut on letter size papers....of course, if you have a piece of 12x12 paper and a cutter that will cut that size, you can use the 12x12 size papers.  Because I designed this to cut on letter size, the envelope file is five separate pieces as well as the liner.  I have a lot of paper that is letter size that I need to be using, plus for those individuals that can only cut letter size or even A4, they can make their own "large" envelopes too!  I used my file to make the envelope for this card and I want to let you know that I only cut the envelope front using the patterned paper....the other pieces (the flaps) were cut using 24# white printer paper.  If you would like the file (I included Studio as well as SVG formats), you can download it here.  Enjoy and I look forward to seeing you again soon!!!

Finished Card Size:  A7 (5"x7")


Supply List

Papers: Bazzill and Recollections "Garden Florals" Paper Pad
Stamps:  "Borders & Journaling Boxes" Studio G
Inks:   Tsukineko "VersaMark Watermark", Tim Holtz "Vintage Photo"
Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", Ranger "Heat It"
Accessories:  Stamp-n-Stuff "Detail White Opaque" embossing powder, Recollections "Pearl Stickers", me and my big ideas "icon" (bling), Martha Stewart "Classic Butterfly" punch





Thursday, September 12, 2013

Hey y'all............I'm back!!!!

If you wondered what happened to me, I've been busy for the past couple of weeks with company.  My youngest son, his wife and my two grandsons came from Alabama for the Labor Day weekend and it was such a short visit but we had a really good time!!!  The day after Labor Day I had a follow-up appointment with my gastroenterologist, who had done an endoscopic and colonoscopy procedure on me on August 19th and I got really good news................he said that if all of his patients were like me he would be "out of business" and he will see me again in ten years!!!  Then a couple of days later my oldest son came to visit for about five days and we a very nice visit...but for right now, I am "companied out"...LOL!

So enough about all of that and back to crafting.  Yesterday morning I got an email from You Tube directing me to a new Silhouette video "How to Create Layered Cardstock Stickers" and I decided to play with it and this is what I came up with!


I used a file from Miss Kate Cuttables.  It was the free file from August 25, 2013 called "Pretty Bird on a Branch" and I thought it would make an adorable layered sticker and it did!  Also, I did not use sticker paper...I just used some "white smooth" Bazzill.  I did make a separate eye and I used Inkssentials "Glossy Accents" on it.  I also used Stamp-n-Stuff "Star Dust Transparent" embossing powder on some of the flowers and heat set it.  The little flower on her cheek is actually "nail art" and I finished the flowers off with gold half pearls in the centers.  Oh, I see so many possibilities with this. You can watch the Silhouette video here, so go have some fun!!!!  See you again soon!


Supplies List

Papers:  Bazzill "Smooth White"
Ink:  VersaMark "Watermark" and Stamp-n-Stuff "Star Dust Transparent" embossing powder
Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", Ranger "Heat It"
Accessories:  "Gold Rhinestone Stickers" from Michaels, Fing'rs "Nail Art", Inkssentials "Glossy Accents"