Christmas in July - Holiday Window Paper Card

Hello! Long time no post. I've been pretty busy lately, but I recently went on vacation for a week and had the chance to do some extra crafting, and get some posts ready - so look out for more updates soon!

I have seen so many wonderful tutorials on Youtube using this window die cut, so I thought I would give it a try - of course I had to add a cat! I really enjoyed making these and I can't wait to hand them out in a few months.

Resources:
Small Window - Poppy Stamps
Cat - iostamps
Martha Stewart punches (branch & present)
Tim Holtz distress ink

I also used Spellbinders Celebrations by Richard Garay for the pierced rectangles - they were the only pierced dies I could really afford, so I have been using them a lot lately!

 The inside I kept simple with some glitter embossing.

Scraps and Notecard Vintage Garden Mini Album

I wanted to make a quick and pretty book, so I decided to take some of the notecards that you can get at Michaels in the $1.50 bin and try my hand at making a mini photo album with them. It was pretty quick and easy! In making this, I decided I could use a lot of my scraps.

The front has one of the notecards and some left over fairies and roses; I used Tulip Diamond Glitter fabric paint to add the bling - I find using it is a lot cheaper than Stickles, and I can add color to it if I want. I used some pink camo duct tape for the binding. Inside, the waterfall is made from the cards, taping them on either side and mounting them onto an envelope. This makes a pocket! On the back of each one, I used some leftover papers and stamped and embossed them.

 

 

The tags were from papers I had from a scrap magazine - sorry, I can't remember which one! The pulls on the tags are made from a Martha Stewart corner punch, then cut out with 1 1/2" circle punch. The tags on the pocket side were all made from pieces I had leftover. The tags open up with paper on both sides, the album will hold about 30 pictures. I really like the way they turned out and think from now on I'll use my scraps from each project this way, that way I won't have a million lying around.

 

 

Tri-Fold 'Thinking of You' Shutter Card

This card came about since I wanted to try another new fold - I'm really happy with the way this one turned out!

The Prima Fairy Rhymes A4 Pad papers I used were too pretty! If you like this card and want to give it a try, search Pinterest or Youtube for tutorials. The ones I saw made it with 12x12 papers, but I really wanted to use the papers I had so I adapted it to suit my needs!

As usual, I did some fussy cutting and the 'bling' I used were from Michaels $1.50 craft bins. I used Tim Holtz' Scattered Straw and Tea Dye distress inks for the edges, and as always I used Martha Stuart Score Board, Fiskers Paper Cutter, and Elmers quick dry craft bond glue - I can't do anything without them! I also made the envelope out of scrapbook paper with my We R Memory Keepers (a life saver!).

12 Days of Christmas DIY Greeting Card

Here is part 2 of my Graphics 45 Christmas card set! This one is themed with their '12 Days Of Christmas' paper that is new this year. I made this card similarly to the last one, so refer to that post for credits.

With this card I also used Martha Stewart punches to create the fence and leaf stems. The door comes from Poppystamps, which is such a great resource.

This card also included a lot of fussy cutting which I love to do. Can't wait to give this to someone!

 

 

 



Cute (and thrifty!) Handmade Christmas Cards

I wanted to start off by showing off some of the cards and an ornament I made with the clearance I found right after Christmas; that is a great time to get great buys on holiday paper and supplies for the next year.

Here is a shot of everything I used. I hope it will feed your imagination like all of you wonderful crafters do for me.

The snowmen on all the cards are all from wrapping paper that I cut out several times and overlayed them to give them demension using foam tape. I ran all the pieces through the Xyron (my newest toy that I love!)  and backed evey piece on cardstock. The Xyron machine makes everything into an instant sticker - very cool! The trees in front and behind the snowmen are from clearanced Christmas cards - I just loved the way they looked, but the cards themselves were kind of plain so I backed them on card stock and added them to the card with foam tape. 

The backgroud is some Martha Stewart Christmas paper I got on sale at Micheals previously, and then some odds and ends from one of my many craft drawers. The glittered snowflakes and the plastic ones came from my local dollar store (but I never spend just a dollar there! hah), and the Merry Christmas' are from cardstock cut with design scissors and stamps I got from the dollor bin at Micheals and JoAnns a long time ago, but I just knew for the price they might come in handy someday. The Santa card was done the same way: cut out several images from the Christmas card and layer it for dimension.

Well here is my first post! I gave these out at work and they were definitely a hit. I hope it gave you an idea or two :) If you have any questions, go ahead and leave me a comment. Thanks for reading!