Teacher Appreciation Gifts

This year to show appreciation for all the hard work and dedication to
my kids teachers I was stumped. I love both of their teachers and it is
hard to explain how much I appreciate all they have done this year.
Unfortunately, my husband lost his job and is still looking for another
so we are a little strapped right now. So I looked through my "stash" of craft stuff!

Found these Christmas baskets!! Bingo! A little spray paint, and a new flower and get rid of the bells!

This is what the basket started like... and
Presto!!! Now to stuff them with some of the handmade cards that are sitting in boxes in my craft room.
I like both flowers! Not sure which one is better. The teachers seemed to love their gifts. AND, the price was right - just the cost of a can of yellow spray paint! Right in my tight budget!!

Thanks for looking!
Have a great day,
Cathy

VERY Early Christmas Ornament Idea

Sorry that I keep sharing everyone else's ideas, but I can't help it!!! They are so darn cute! I love this idea for a Christmas ornament. How stinkin' cute is this idea?!?!?

It seems very easy to make too. Check out the easy step by step directions here, Muffin Tin Mom. Thanks to Michelle for sharing this awesome idea.

My idea is to make a bunch of these ornaments, but mail them out FLAT. In the Christmas card send directions on how to make them and add to a Christmas tree! I'll keep you updated on that idea!
Thanks for looking.
Cathy

Cheers to You Birthday Card

This is a quick birthday card I made up for a swap on SplitCoast Stampers. Wish I could say it was my design but it is one from an earlier swap. Loved it so much had to make one of my own. Don't know the original stamper's name, sorry, but I loved your work! Thanks so much for sharing.
This is the inside of the card.

Thanks so much for looking. Have a great day!

Cathy

Blank All Occassion Card

This is a blank card created for just about any occassion. The colors didn't come out very good on this one, not really sure why. Sorry about that, but it is pretty cute in real life! The ribbon is purple, and next time I might change that because there isn't any purple in the stamped flowers. But, overall I think it is pretty cute. The inside of the card has a little guy offering up some flowers! He is so cute.
Thanks for looking, have a great day.
Cathy

Birthday Card with NO FLOWERS

Had to create a birthday card with NO FLOWERS!! FLowers always seem to be the easiest to make. I had to dig deep in my creative-ness to NOT use flowers! This was my final project. I think it turned out pretty good. The ribbons at the top make me think of confetti!

I made a "hinge" type of fold on this one. It is also adhered down so the ribbon doesn't tear the paper.


I think it turned out pretty cute.

Thanks for looking.
Cathy

More Card Creations

I created a couple cards recently. This flag card was for a neighbor for Memorial Day. He served in the Marines and is a very proud American. He is a great neighbor!
This card measures 8.5 inches by 7 inches. I stamped a couple stars inside, with no sentiments. Unfortunately, I didn't get the stripe size just right. There are only 11 stripes, not the usual 13. Hope my friend didn't notice those tiny details!!
It was a big hit!

This "coffee card" was for a swap on SplitCoast Stampers. The only requirement were that the front had to have coffee on it somehow. No tea bags or tea pots allowed!! :-) This was a swap for hard core coffee lovers!!

Finally, this was a card for a different swap on SplitCoast. It was an all occasion swap, I decided to do a birthday or celebration card. Here I added 2 pictures of the same card because the embossed cupcake was difficult to see. The first card (hopefully) shows the cupcake with not so good colors. I used a previous card for inspiration.

And, this second card shows the colors much better. It looked better IRL! Hope this makes sense and you can see the details. I love embossing with folders and I used 2 different ones here. The background has circles, I thought it looked like wrapping paper.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Fabulous Flowers Card Swap

I needed a card for a Fabulous Flowers Card Swap. SplitCoast Stampers (my all time favorite stamping site- has the best ideas EVER!) has the biggest variety of swaps, and this was for one of them.
The only requirements were that it had to have a flower on it, 2 layers, and at least one embellishment. Buttons are my favorite embellishment, and seem to use them on all my creations!
I never know if the front of the card should have a sentiment on it or not. Here, I like the word Wonderful because it is in Close to Cocoa ink which matches the brown card stock. The card stock is from Michaels, not Stampin Up.

This was a "flip up" layout. I added a white card stock to write on. As I look at it now, I think there should have been something there. The pink shading adds a little dimension though.

Thanks for looking.
Have a great day.

Cricut Card Swap

I was involved in a CRICIT card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone (try not to use stamps on a card) and use Cricut cut outs. It was quite a challenge for me, but I liked it! My library of Cricut cartridges is not very extensive which (I feel) limited my choices. Of course my first reaction was to run to Michaels or AC Moore and purchase a couple cartridges, but the hubby said NO to that idea!!

While looking through my cartridges I spied an example of a card in one of the manuals. Walk In My Garden had a cute Thank You card that I copied, oops - of course I mean used as my inspiration!!! My other obsession right now is to use the embossing folders as as embellishment. The background looks nice and I tried to use the same folder on the middle of the larger flower. Finally I used Crystal Effects to enhance the middle of that flower. It isn't really that shiny IRL, but the lighting makes it look that way.

This was my final product, I feel it turned out pretty well. Thanks for looking.

Have a geat day.

Gift Card Holder Birthday Card

I made this card for my sister-in-laws birthday. This year we decided to give her a couple gift certificates so I needed a card that would hold a folded 8.5 X 11 inch piece of paper. We printed out a certificate so it was on a full sheet of paper. So this card is a full sheet of paper (8.5 X 11) folded in half. I wasn't used to filling up that much area on the paper so I used some Sizzix balloons and designer paper. Since yellow is my favorite color I HAD to use that! I think the front turned out pretty nice.

Inside the front cover I added a small pocket to hold the Outback gift certificate. Very cute, and the paper matches the yellow on the front of the card.I adhered the gift card holder at the bottom inside corner of the card. It was very cute and she loved the idea.
Thanks for looking.

Another Cuttlebug Card Swap

I love getting involved in card swaps on SplitCoast Stampers!! This is is one of my creations (very similar to a couple of my other cards) for a My Favorite Card Swap. For this one, I had to create 2 sets (different cards) of my favorite cards to swap with others. This one is so easy that it definitely is my FAVE!!! Gotta love the cuttlebug embossing folders!



This is my second set of cards. Since I had the cuttlebug folders out this was my second set of faves. The snowman had some extra details to work on but I love this little guy! There are dimensionals under the snowman to help POP him off the page.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Pink and Black Card Swap

Pink and black was the theme of my most swap on SplitCoast Stampers. I tried to use the technique where the Cuttlebug embossing folder is used around the stamped image.
Not sure if you can see it, but the center of the white card stock is not embossed. I loved this technique on the other cards I've seen while blurfing (that is surfing blogs!). This is my first try and I hope it looks pretty good.

There isn't any sentiment stamped on the inside, just a blank card.

Thanks for looking and any comments are welcome.

Have a great day.

Handy Manny Tools CARD

Check out this adorable card I discovered on SplitCoast Stampers. Wendy at Stamping Styles created this for her grandson. If you are familiar with the kids show Handy Manny, you'll appreciate the hard work put into this birthday card.

Enjoy! Have a great day.

Another Card Swap

I was involved in a black/white and red/white card swap on SplitCoast Stampers. It requires that the cards ONLY have black and white or red and white!! At first I couldn't think of anything to create, so I waited till the last minute to get started on these. They are due next week so my back was up against the wall to get them done.

I must have been in a "Cuttlebug state of mind" when I started this project. Both cards used embossing folders and no stamps!! Not exactly my usual creations! I think the red/white one looks like a wrapped present. There are dimensionals under the "Make a Wish" embossing. Turned out pretty nice.
My black/white creation was influenced by a card I saw while surfing blogs. I took some the stacked heart idea and embossed background from the blog. Unfortunately I didn't save the person's name or site, so I can't give the person proper credit, sorry. When I use black as the base for a card I usually want to put a white insert (to write on) inside the card.

This is the inside of the black/white card. And, details always seem to make the card better so I stamped little hearts along one side.

Thanks for checking out my latest entry, any comments are welcome.

Have a great day.

Male Birthday Cards

I was involved in a MALE Birthday Card Swap. It seems like I NEVER have any cards suitable for a guy. My cards always seem to have pretty flowers or more female colors on them. So I forced myself to make a couple cards for guys! Here are the results. Not sure how I feel about the frist one, but it is still cute.

Since I LOVE buttons as embellishments this is my favorite one! Pretty easy to make also. The inside is empty for a personalized message.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day.

Angel Card

This card was for a swap on Split Coast Stampers. There wasn't any specifics on the theme, just an any occassion card.
Yellow is my favorite color and all my friends are angels, so they seemed to go together. I like the way the yellow (kinda like a gold halo) halo goes along with the yellow background on the card.



Thanks for looking.

Christmas Card 2009

This is my Christmas card for this year. I've had it done for a while but didn't want to post it until I mailed them out and everyone received it. At this point I think everyone has it and I haven't ruined the surprise for anyone.
The black ink is much better in real life! I printed out the saying on the computer and just cut them out. Used the Cuttlebug embossing folder ot add the snowflakes in the background. Very easy to make.

For the inside, I added some snowflakes to punch it up a little. Pretty cute.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Holidays!

Awesome Winter Card

I love checking out YouTube for card making ideas. Found another one to share with my fellow crafters. This one is from starofmay, she always has excellent ideas.




Check this one out, hope it sparks your creativity!

Thanks for looking.

Valentine's Day Card

This is a very early Valentine's Day card. I was involved in a swap on SplitCoast Stampers and finished up a little earlier than expected.
I love pink and brown together so decided to make the card with those colors rather than the traditional red and white.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day.

Cuttlebug Folder Cards

I love this easy layout!!! It is so versitile and easy to create. This is just a couple of sayings that I've made to send to friends.

I love the Cuttlebug folders, they really spruce up everything.

Thanks for looking.

Act of Kindness Card

This was a card that I played around with. I like everything except for the TINY jewels at the center of the flowers. I think they need to be bigger.

Also, another idea would be to make a book mark out of the saying. The layout would have to go the other direction so the book mark would fit in a pocket on the front of the card.

Thanks for looking.