It’s official.  We know how to have fun at Creating Lasting Memories.  Our first Spring Fling on Saturday was 7 hours of non-stop card making excitement.  We made seven birthday cards and now have a nice supply (and absolutely NO excuse for not sending a card full of wishes).

The teachers were all good sports and wore these fun chef hats & aprons we acquired at CHA.  Check out Shari in this photo:

There was lots of good food to eat and plenty of chocolate. I don’t think they minded the hourly prize drawings either!

It was a great time for young and old alike.  Here’s Dottie with her granddaughter Jenn who was visiting from California.  What a treat to get to know her better.

I just want to say a special word of thanks to all 6 of my fabulous teachers: Shari Townley, Marti Arrell, Allene Fewell, Loye Rich, Chris Liles, and Bonnie Bremer.  You guys are wonderful, creative and so supportive.  I couldn’t have done it without you.

Watch for posts of their very creative cards.  I’ll try to give you some instructions on how they were made, similar to what I did after World Card Making Day.

Have a great week and be sure to take some time for ART.

Great Impressions Poinsettia

For those of you who like poinsettia cards, here is a beautiful layered one.  This card uses the Great Impressions poinsettia K40.  First stamp it on green using a watermark pad.  Next, stamp it twice on red shimmer card stock and once on red vellum.  Emboss one of the red shimmer poinsettias using Red Chili Pepper embossing powder.  Emboss the other two using Butter Rum opaque embossing glitter.   All embossing powders are by PK Glitz.  Cut out all three of the embossed poinsettias and layer them on top of each other.  For the  bottom layer, I cut out all of the flowers, but  for the top I cut out only some of the petals. The top two layers are adhered with foam mounting squares for some added dimension.  The Merry Christmas is an outline sticker.  We finally got in quite a few packages of these.  As a final “extra” I added some red rhinestones to the holly berries and outlined the leaf veins using a glitter pen.

As always, you can find all the supplies to make this card at Creating Lasting Memories.

Here’s a great card by Chris Liles, one of our fantastic, creative volunteers at Creating Lasting Memories.  She works on Fridays if you want to stop by and say, “Hi.” This card was made using pearlescent embossing paste and Dreamweaver stencil LJ896 (that lovely big flourish).  The card stock is Prism Classic Red.  You will need an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 for the base and one 4 x 5 1/4 for the top.  It is layered to Prism white cut 4 1/8  x 5  3/8.  The sentiment is Cornish Heritage Farms ML7008FUM Christmas Traditions.  This unmounted cling set has a bunch of seasonal sayings.  Chris stamped it and embossed with Red Chili Pepper embossable glitter from PKGlitz.  It was die cut with Spellbinders labels 3.  If I was making a lot of these cards, I would cut all the red top cardstock pieces at once, then emboss them all and leave overnight to dry.  But if you hate to wait for things to dry (I know how that feels too) Chris said it worked just fine to hit it with the heat gun briefly.  If you want to add a little more bling, put some clear or silver rhinestones on some of those dots and tie a sheer ribbon around the top.

As with all of these cards we will be featuring on the blog this month, you can find all the supplies she used at the store.  Happy holidays!

Three Wise Men

Our final card from World Card Making Day was designed by Allene Fewell.  The primary techniques were masking & coloring.  I personally liked the nice use of Stickles and the embellishments (especially the star).

The supply list:

3 Wise Men stamp set from Our Daily Bread

Bazzill navy cardstock, Prism white card stock, small scrap of gold card stock for star

Krylon gold pen

Stickles: golden rod, Xmas red, magenta, lime green, green

7″ sheer 1/4″ wide ribbon

1 small rhinestone (for star center)

4×6 post it for mask

Stazon timber brown ink, Brilliance pearlescent sky blue, Colorbox Catseyes: 2-3 browns, medium blue, and yellow-gold

Instructions:

1. Punch a 3 1/2″ circle from a post-it to create a mask. You will need both pieces (the circle and the outside of the circle).

2. On white 4 x 5 1/4 card stock, place outside circle mask and use a dauber to color moon using the Catseye yellow-gold.

3. Remove mask and stamp the Wise Men using Timber brown stazon

4. Now place the circle mask over the moon and use daubers to color the sky using Brilliance sky blue.  Lightly blend the Catseye medium blue around the edges of the sky.

5.  Using Catseyes, color the sand using the browns.

6. Color the wise men and the camels using watercolor pencils or markers.

7. Use the Krylon marker to add a gold border.  Tie sheer ribbon to bottom. Adhere to navy card stock base (8 1/2 x 5 1/2).

8. Stamp saying on a 1 x 2 1/4″ piece of white card stock with brown ink.  Color edges with Brilliance sky blue. Adhere to card front with pop ups.  Optional: Add two scrolls – these are from a Spellbinder die and cut with a Cuttlebug.

9. Stamp star on gold scrap using Stazon brown. Cut out and add small rhinestone to the center.  Adhere to card front with pop up.

10. Add stickles to star and wise men.

I hope you have enjoyed having these cards posted on the blog so you can make them (if you were unable to be with us on World Card Making Day) or make some more (if you were there).  It was a super fun day and I so appreciate each teacher who took the time to design and then teach a card.  You are wonderful!

embossed glittered tree

Linda Morgan came up with another fantastic looking card that is quick and easy to create.  You need a Cuttlebug to make this card.  The base is white 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 card stock.  Cut a mat 5 1/4 x 4 and emboss it in the Cuttlebug using the snowflake embossing folder.  Next, use your Spellbinder die to cut a rectangle and scallop rectangle, also out of white card stock.  The tree is from the Forest of Trees set by Flourishes.  Stamp the rectangle with clear pigment ink or a watermark pad and emboss with PK Glitz Azure opaque embossing glitter.  This stuff is incredible.  Looks like glitter yet embosses like embossing powder.  We carry it in about 20 different colors at Creating Lasting Memories.  Add a few crystal gems.  The “merry & bright” is from a Hero Arts Christmas clear set.  Stamp and emboss using the regular Azure embossing powder. Punch an oval and a scallop oval out of white or use a Spellbinder die.  A blue satin ribbon completes the look.  I’m sure the photo doesn’t show how much this card shimmers. It really is gorgeous.  Thanks Linda for a your beautiful card.

Glittery shimmery snowflake card

I love this card that Marti Arrell created and taught on World Card Making Day.  I’m not sure the photo does justice to the shimmer.  It really is just beautiful in person.  And it looks complicated but it really wasn’t too hard to do.  That’s the benefit of a great design.  Marti has a lot experience teaching classes so she knows just what to include to make the card stunning yet teachable to a dozen or so.  She even typed up all the supplies & instructions for me.  Bless you, Marti!

Supplies:

Dark blue card – A2 size

Lavender card stock 2 5/8” x 5 ½”

Medium blue card stock 2” x 5 ½”

White card stock 2 ¼” x 5 ½”

Lavender card stock for larger snowflake 3” x 3”

Medium Blue card stock for smaller snowflake 2 ½” x 2 ½”

1 white snowflake brad

Zig chisel tip glue pen

Art Institute Crystal glitter

Marvy Uchida Blue snowflake punch

Marvy Uchida Pink snowflake punch

EK Success snowflake border punch

Adirondack “Stonewashed” ink pad

Brilliance White ink pad

Clear gemstones

Tattered Angels Pearl Mist

Cuttlebug embossing folder “Snowflakes”

Hero Arts Clear set CL234 “Winter’s Butterfly”

Instructions:

Fold the dark blue card in half.  Run the front of the card thru the Cuttlebug with the Snowflake embossing folder.  Using the Brilliance white ink pad, swipe over the front of the card and distress the edges of the card.  Adhere the medium strip of card stock onto the lavender strip of card stock.  Using the snowflake border punch, punch both of the long edges on the white strip.  Using the Stonewashed ink stamp “a snowflake is winter’s butterfly” and a snowflake on the white strip of cardstock.  Using the snowflake punches stamp out the 2 snowflakes.  Cover each of the snowflakes with Zig Glue from the Zig glue pen.  Sprinkle with the crystal glitter.  Set aside to dry for a few minutes.  Once dry, hold both snowflakes on top of each other and punch a 1/8” hole in the center.  Add the while snowflake brad, but do not spread the “wings” of the brad”.  Lay the layered snowflake onto the 3 layered strips of card stock and punch a hole thru the strips of cardstock where you want to mount the snowflake.  Run the brad thru all the layers of the cardstock and spread the “wings” of the brad.  Adhere the strips of card stock to the center of the card.  Place clear gemstones in the center of some of the snowflakes on the card.  Using a very, very light mist, spray the front of the card with Tattered Angels Pearl mist.

A Welcoming "Doorway"

I just love interactive stamps like these “Door Ways” clear stamps by Art Impressions.  If you like line art and enjoy coloring, you would love these too.  The doorway is sold separately and there are seasonal sets you can purchase to embellish your doorway.   This card was designed and taught by Cathy Verzi, my right-hand “man” at the store.  She used the December/January set.  It comes with sayings sized so that you can stamp them inside your door.  The main technique is masking. Cathy prepared these a head of time by stamping and cutting them out of post-it notes.

Here is how to make this card:

1) On folded 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 white card stock, stamp the tree on the left side with black dye ink.  Cover the tree with a mask.

2) Stamp the wagon on the right and cover it with a mask.  Then stamp the shovel and cover it with a mask.  You may want to measure a bit so you are sure you left room for your door.

3) Lastly, stamp the door.  By using masks, the stamped images will appear to have depth, some in front and some in back.  Now you can remove the masks.

4) Stamp the boots and the lantern as shown.  Stamp the wreath on the door.  We also stamped it on a separate scrap of white, then colored it and cut it out.

5) Color the rest of your images.  We used chalk.

6) Using a mat and an exacto knife, careful cut three sides of your door and fold open on the hinged side.  Adhere the cut out wreath to the top of the wreath on the door to add a little more dimension.

7) Stamp your greeting on the inside. Because the stamps are clear, you will be able to see to line this up perfectly.  Open the card and stamp a couple poinsettias on either side of the greeting.

We finished this off by adding some white perfect pearls to the top of the boots and the snowballs.

Probably not a card you would want to make 50 of, but a few for special friends would be enjoyable.  And the fact that you can open the door to reveal the greeting is a fun thing for the recipient to do, don’t you think?

Our second card is a perfect example of the kind of Christmas card I recommend for mass producing.  A lot of people make the mistake of deciding to try card making for the first time by making their Christmas cards.  But there is nothing more boring and more likely to discourage you from ever taking up the hobby than to have to make 50 or 100 of the same card.  Especially if that card is complicated to produce.  Now, this ornament card is simple to create yet looks so stunning.  I could maybe make 50 of these without dying of boredom although your palm could get sore punching all those branches in one sitting!  The punch is McGill’s Pine Flourish (Martha Stewart also has a pine bough punch that would work).  You’ll need 4-5 boughs per card.  The ornament is a 1 3/4″ circle punch;  use glitter paper for extra zing.  The base of the card is Prism’s Herbal Garden Dark.  To that, layer a 4 x 5 1/4″ gold text paper.  Glue on those punched branches.  Cut a 5″ piece of sheer gold 1/4″ ribbon and tie it into a bow (arguably the hardest part of the whole card) and attach to the top of the ornament.  Add a gold string to the top – just make a loop and tape to the back of the ornament.  Then mount the ornament to the front using dimensional adhesive.  A single one word stamp completes the card.  Lovely!  Hopefully I don’t need to tell you that you can find all the supplies for all of these World Card Making Cards at Creating Lasting Memories in beautiful downtown Brookings, Oregon.  We also take orders over the internet; just email us your request and we’ll get that mailed out to you.  Thanks for looking.  And thanks, Ruth, for helping us make this card.

Fall tri-fold

We had a wonderful day Saturday making cards at our 3rd annual World Card Making Day.  Lots of good food, lots of good prizes, and some great cards.  It was suggested that I post the cards to the blog with instructions.  I thought that was a great idea so here’s the first one.  Although we primarily were making Christmas cards to “kick-off” the season, I thought one Autumn card would be nice. Shari Townley designed and taught this card using Little Yellow Bicycle’s new fall line Sharon Ann Autumn Bliss.  The design is a tri-shutter and you can view some really good instructions at Splitcoast Stampers Tutorial.  (Note: there is a correction to step 6.  The correct measurements should be “cut 2 pieces of patterned paper 1 3/8″ x 3 7/8″.)  We used a new Hero Art clear set for the inside verses.

Hero Arts Thanksgiving clear stamps for the inside

Shari made this easy to put together by having almost all of the pieces already cut.  And I think my favorite part was the little bird on the rafia for the front.  The bird is sitting on leaves that were cut and then embossed using the Cuttlebug. Adorable!  Thanks Shari for your inspiration and hard work.

Rafia and bird for the front

Oh my gosh, the best of intentions and then I totally forgot to post this.  Here is the second die reinker technique.  For this one, stamp and emboss your image (flowers are good) on pearlized card stock.  Believe me, you must use this card stock.  Nothing else works.  (SU! white shimmer is great).  The images also look great embossed in gold. Then grab your mister and heavily spritz the embossed image.  And I mean heavily.  There should be puddles of water on the paper.  Using a water brush, pick up some die ink and drop it onto a puddle.  It will fill in an embossed section with color.  So lovely to watch.  If you have spritized sufficiently, you will not have to “paint” at all.  Add additional color as desired.  When you are happy with the results, let it dry.  For the most intense color, let it soak in by itself.  Only use a heat gun to dry the paper after the water is no longer in puddles.  If you use the heat gun sooner, you will blow away the color, which is ok if you want a softer look.  Once dry, cut out the flowers and make a card.  Now wasn’t that fun?  You better stamp and emboss a lot of these because it goes so fast you won’t want to stop at just one (or two or three).