Men’s Valentine’s Day Mini Envelopes Card

I have seen several similar cards to this one, so I don’t know who to give credit to for the idea, but I decided to change it up a bit and make it more manly. I doubt there are very many men looking to make Valentine’s Day cards for their gals, so even though I would prefer to cover another card in lace, ribbons and roses, I guess it wouldn’t be as practical to all of you ladies out there :).

I made my mini envelopes with a McGill punch and used some brown patterned papers like sand, wood and stripes, made a mini note (a small rectangle of paper) and stamped “I love you” on it. I also cut a bunch of little tiny red hearts for my top envelope. The only part that takes a little bit is to punch, score, fold and glue the little envelopes. I used the Tim Holtz Paper Distresser on all 4 edges of the card and then inked those edges and also the flaps of the envelopes with Walnut Stain Distress Ink just to set the edges off a little. Enjoy!

Shabby Window Handmade Birthday Card

I wanted to make a window card, and ended up getting a little bit destructive this week :). I used some nice bright cardstock from a kid’s collection. If I’m correct (since I’ve ripped most of my cardstock pads apart making various projects), this paper is from DCWV Nana’s Kids Stack. I chose a huge polka dot pattern and a striped pattern.

I used various stamps, a small swirl, a Happy Birthday and a Celebrate! stamp and also some Ranger Distress Ink Pads, Shabby Shutters & Dried Marigold, along with Tim Holtz’ paper distresser to add that nice rough edge to the window, corner, and mat for the Happy Birthday panel on the front.

View the video below for all the instructions:

Card With Handmade Paper Beads

Sometimes it’s kind of fun to mix elements from another craft into a current craft you’re working on. There are so many uses for paper, and a fun one is to make beads from it! There are so many beautiful scrapbook paper designs that your options are fairly limitless.

The beads on this card are made from cardstock, so you can use about any thickness of paper for your beads. If you use a cardstock weight paper, you will of course have thicker beads than if you use a scrapbook paper.  I used the Bead Maker Template from Hot off the Press, but if you can make a long thin triangle, you will be able to make your own beads. The template includes other shapes of beads too, but a long, thin triangle will get you  a basic bead.

You can see just how easy it is to make your own beads by watching my video below. Enjoy :).

P.S.: Kids love to make these beads and you can coat them in Mod Podge and use them for jewelry!  The Mod Podge will give them a glass-like appearance and add to their durability.

Thanksgiving Blessings Handmade Card

I have seen these pumpkins made before using various punches, but they are so easy to make on your own! I used an Easy Ovals Template, but if you are good at cutting freehand, or have a small oval object to trace around, that works great too.

I used some lace, a Thanksgiving greeting stamp, gold embossing powder, a small piece of brown ribbon and a small piece of brown string. I also used Staz-On ink to stamp with because the paper is slick. (Regular ink usually smears and/or takes a long time to dry on shiny surfaces.) The beautiful pearl cardstock for the card is from DCWV’s Luxury Stack. Enjoy :).

Decorative Tile Handmade Card

This is a fun handmade card I made using a striped background paper, gold paper, glitter paper, and a decorative tile print. I enhanced the tile using Clear Rock Candy Stickles.

I dried the stickles with a heat tool (2-3 minutes), then glued the layers of papers together and placed a Heritage Glimmer Brad through the center. Then all of that was placed onto the top left card and attached using Craft Zots.

At the bottom, I used gold Happy Anniversary peel-off stickers. Get your copy of the tile below by visiting the Decorative Tile Card page.  (I printed it at 3″ x 3″ for this card.)

Polka Dots ‘n’ Buttons Card

I love polka dots, so here are some more this week too :). I used just a few things to make this card, making it sooo easy: polka dot paper, small buttons, ribbon, chipboard and glue. The buttons added a bit of cuteness and dimension to the card. This chipboard is some I’ve had for a long time, I think it’s from K & Company, but of course you could use a variety of other things like stamping, stickers or die cut letters. Enjoy!

Paper Cutting Techniques For Cards

You probably have lots of the big patterned papers in your stash — you know, the ones that are just too busy to work well in your scrapbooks. Well here’s a fun technique that you can use on those big patterns and make a delightful card!

Simply choose your paper and mark with a pencil around the pattern that you would like to cut. After you have removed the parts of paper that you want, proceed to cut tip of flowers petals, swirls, paisley patterns, anything that you can pop up from the design. Then add glue to the back of your paper, none on the cut parts of course, and simply place on the front of your card. Re-fluff the cut pieces, and you’re good to go 🙂 A few bling jewels could add to the look, or just leave it the way it is! An easy card with no tools except for a good craft knife!

If you want to see an example, simply follow along in the video below.

Girl’s Flowery Card

Sometimes you just have to use Princess colors to make a girl feel good! So this week, the card has classic pink & purple with flowers and a touch of bling with Stickles.

For this card, you will need  eyelash yarn, a chipboard tag, small flowers, stickles, a border punch and a piece of embossed cardstock, glue and tacky tape, along with your card and pink piece of cardstock. Come follow along in the video below!

Thinking of You Card

Well, all the craziness of the holidays is past now for the most part and regular life is starting again. The kids are pretty much all back in school and everyone else is back to work. So, back to an everyday card for this week :).

This simple card can be made with any paper you have that has a design that can be cut out. So think flowers, paisley, stars — I’ve even done this technique with airplanes for a boy’s card!

All you need is cardstock, patterned paper, scrapbooking brads (I used tropical jumbo, medium and mini brads), scissors and glue. So grab a cup of coffee and here we go!

How about a thank you card for all your Christmas gifts?

The gifts have been given and received, now it’s time for thank-yous! This week, I have a simple thank you card that also works well for other occasions. You can see on the right hand picture, I made one for a bridal shower. So it can be fun or elegant, whatever works for what you need.

I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder, chalk, a Fiskars Edge punch, adhesive jewels, Cotton Candy Stickles & a bright pink Sakura Glaze Pen. Enjoy!