Recycle Handmade Cards - Bless it Forward!

If you like to hang out here at my blog, chances are you have a pretty large amount of handmade card fronts. You probably have friends who send you lots of beautiful cards too. Don't store them in a box. Give them new life and
Bless it Forward!

You can even make a great gift by collecting a few cards and make this card organizer, which is an envelope box covered with paper.

Check out this video to see how I made some low-profile tabbed dividers, to organize the cards by category.



Thanks to all of you who played my Great Greetings Game. Congratulations, Carolyn from Florida!

Great Greetings from The Angel Company (A Must-Have for Making Cards)

There is really something special about a handmade card. I love to ponder how many people have been blessed by the card ministry I help with. As I was getting these card designs ready to bring to church tonight, I was mindful of making the inside as meaningful as the outside is beautiful. Cards with insides sell far better than ones without. (The exception is Thank You's. They are OK plain.)

Coordinating the inside of a card is even easier to accomplish with some of the new sayings sets, like Great Greetings from The Angel Company. With coordinating fonts and heartfelt sayings, your cards will really have that extra sparkle. (Click the link for ordering information and to see a larger image.)

There are phrases that work great together, as well as greetings that could go with TAC's other word sets. The "May all your wishes come true" phrase could be added to almost any birthday set for a fun gender-neutral inner greeting. Here I've worked my Semi-Hand Stamped magic for a quick and easy card.

Another trick I sometimes use is to print the inside from my computer. Click here for the document I use.


Cleverly Coordinated
You've heard me say how much I love our Ordinary Greetings set as well. (Click here to see how I cut it apart to make it even more versatile.) It is a perfect companion to Fishy Friends, since they both have a curly, but not-too-cutesy font. There are so many cards you can make with just those two sets.

Tip: to get the little waves, I flipped over my scallop scissors. Isn't that fun?

This thinking of you card is just right for summer, with its little lobster. The images work great for kids' cards, but I think they work for big people too.

It's your turn:
How about a little challenge? Check out the Ordinary Greetings and Fishy Friends sets and leave a comment with your favorite or most original greeting that could be used for the outside and inside of a card. I'll pick a winner and send them ANY $20 SET FROM THE TAC CATALOGUE! It could be Great Greetings or any other set. Wanna Play?

Edited: We have a Winner! Congratulations, Carolyn!

Love & Laughter Paper Covered Frame

This easy project is one of my favorites, and perfect for so many occasions. This one went to my friend for her 40th birthday. We love being surrounded by photos of friends or family that bring love and laughter to our lives.

It's no surprise the stamp set I used for the phrase on the tag, Love and Laughter, was a best seller for The Angel Company last year. It too, is good for so many occasions.

To see the technique I used to miter the corners, see this post.

For those of you following my Twitter Tweets who asked about my studio, here is a look at how things are shaping up. Now, keep in mind, this is a work in progress. I seem to thrive in a messy--I mean, creative, environment. My biggest challenge is to put my things away (and to try to find them when I have just thrown them in a pile.) My strategy with my room is to create a place for everything, use a uniform color scheme and inexpensive storage vessels, and to use labels to make sense of it all. Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you that are struggling with organization too. (You might want to also check out this post for some of the pictures I used for inspiration.)

Studio

Wall-E Winged Pop Up Card

This cutie reminds me of Wall-E the robot and features a set from The Angel Company called Robots. It was inspired by a Miss Moxie card kit I got from Trudy Osborn and another winged pop up card made by KellyRae Cooper.

We made this card at my Crafternoon Catalogue Tour and last weekend at the Mile High Angels Summer Celebration. There are some really cute new TAC stamps, so grab a set and try this fun card. It would be great a variety of images.

Basic Measurements and Folds
Center Pop Up Piece: 3x11, scored at 5 1/2"
Base: 4 1/4 x 9", scored along the 9" side at 1/2, 2, 4 1/2, 7, and 8 1/2"
Winged Piece: 3 3/4 x 6, scored along the 6" side at 1 1/2 and 4 1/2

Assembly

1. Mountain fold all pieces.
2. Adhere the 3x11 piece together, forming a 3 x 5 1/2 piece of double thickness.
3. Cut an 1/8" slit along the center fold of the base piece.
4. Slide the pop-up piece through it and fold the 1/2" tabs up and adhere together, sandwiching the pop-up piece between them.
5. Slide up the center pop-up piece and adhere the "wings"
6. Decorate as desired and use the new We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper to round the edges. You can go through several layers at once!

Have fun and post a link in the comments to a picture of your creations!

Christmas Carol Holiday Game- Free Download

I love the idea of
Christmas in July!
It's the time when I start cooking my ideas for the next holiday. Here's a fun one that will keep your family busy and it makes a great gift. Everyone is looking for ways to give heartfelt gifts and I think you should add this one to your list!

The game is called
Convoluted Christmas Carols
and the object is to read the very wordy description and guess which Christmas carol it is. I just know that you and your friends and family are going to have so much playing this (my Bunco girls and Angel friends all did!) that I made up these printable free downloads for you! (Scroll down for link.) All you have to do is print the carols out on cardstock, cut out and decorate. There is also an answer key and some printable answer sheets too! Find a cute box to decorate (mine is from Creative Memories tape runners) and you've got yourself a very fun little gift! Enjoy!



Christmas Carols

ChristmasCarolsAnsSht

Inexpensive Vase for Floral Centerpiece

Or maybe a quick and easy
Thinking of You Gift . . .
I am in the midst of busy summer craziness, but I made a little video to show you how to turn a recycled bottle into a gorgeous and thoughtful little gift.

I just read Regina Brett's 45 life lessons and one of them reads,

"Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special."

So go pick a flower from your garden and make someone's day!

Mini Scrapbook for a Thank You Card

This is a thank you card for my daughter's piano teacher, but it's more than that. It's a little memory book that I hope she will put up on her piano to remind her of Katie. (She and her husband are moving to California.)

This was super easy to put together. Use a 12x12 and pull out your Scor-Pal. Score along one side at 4" and 8", then turn it 90 degrees and cut at 6". Accordion fold and adhere the two resulting panels end to end (one panel completely covers the other). The best part? It fits into the new Wal-Mart envelopes! This would make a great Father's Day card!

EZ Dahlia Gift Card Holder with No. 10 Envelope

This is the perfect way to present a gift card and it's so easy to make! If you missed the instructions on how to make the cute flower petals using a heart-shaped punch, check it out here.

The flower center is from Hello Sunshine, which is only available for a few days, so get it quick!

If you haven't made one of these cute enclosures before, you might be surprised that there's a plain old #10 envelope under there! Grab your Scor-Pal and check out the easy instructions, below:

Easy Dahlia Flower Card with Tutorial

Do you have a ton of end of the year cards and gifts to give? Here's an idea:
Special Doesn't Have to Take Forever!
I made this easy dahlia flower with a circle and heart shaped punch. Check out the video here:
EZ Dahlia Card Tutorial

One of the things that makes this card easy is that it's Semi-Hand Stamped. If you hang out here, you've seen this idea before. Check out these past posts that start simple but have added sparkle:

Pre-Printed with a Personal Touch
Keep an eye out for notecards on clearance and make them more personal with hand stamping or added embellishment:
Cards As Gifts
Quick Card Keeper

Inkjet Printable Notecards
Invites or Thank You's for a Baby Shower
Notecards for a Teacher

Dressed-Up Gift Bags
Boo Bags
Fall Floral Bags

New Card Size with a Flat Ribbon Trick

I get some of my basic card-making supplies at Wal-Mart and I noticed they replaced their A2 envelopes with a new size that will accommodate a 4x6 photo.

This got me thinking about using my 12x12 papers and cardstocks for card-making, since 4 and 6 are multiples of the standard 12x12. (I love it when paper is used most efficiently!) I cut two 4.25 x 8.5 pieces from a standard 8.5 x 11 (the all-time most economical cardstock size) which leaves some scrap for making your focal points.

The white piece is folded at 6.25 and the colored pieces (the red one is 4.6) are adhered under the folded flap.

I used my DIY Border Punch technique to pretty up the edge and also a Flat Ribbon Trick, which I learned from my friend Carol from our church card-making group. It uses ribbon the most frugally and you always have a flat and neat looking knot. It's such a great trick, I made a Brilliant Inkling Video to show you how to do it!

I think I'll like this new card size. What could be better, at Mother's Day or any time of year, than getting a card with a snapshot of a smiling grandkid or three? ;)

Brilliant Inklings
[bril-yuhnt ingk-lings]

- noun

1. a YouTube series of under 2-minute videos
2. a quick tip to add sparkle to your paper crafts

To see all my video gems, click here.