Scraps and Cards

I sorted through all my scraps this weekend and got rid of a lot of useless paper pieces.  Then I cut and sorted further until I was ready to create--this is what I did in just a few hours since everything was already sorted!

Origami Dress Card

It took me all afternoon, and my studio table looks worse for the wear, but I finished a card for a great-niece's birthday.  By making it with just her name on the front, it could be framed to hang in her room. It would be a nice decoration, because really, it is just too cute!!

amid the work space...

close up

I found the inspiration on Pinterest that lead to this blog, then I found a YouTube video to show how to fold the dresses. All the papers were from my scrap bin.  The dresses and background printed papers are by Chatterbox, card stock by Bazzill, letters were cut with QuicKutz Elizabeth font from a scrap of Wild Asparagus paper by My Mind's Eye.  All the trims were also scraps. The brads are Making Memories, the Hangers by Tim Holtz.  (I was SO excited to have a project to use those cute little guys!!)

If I was going to try it again, I would be sure to use really thin paper.  The line I chose was fairly light weight but I still had a little trouble with some of the folds.  The squares I began with were 3", and I would not go any smaller than that.  This card is 5X7, and it needed to be that big to get three dresses on it.

Fresh work from a clean studio!

It has been way too long since I updated here, but I have been busy creating!  This past weekend I uploaded several new items to the etsy shop, and since then I have done a lot of work rearranging things, both virtually on the shop and physically in my studio!

It still needs a bit of work, but after I finished cleaning it up I got excited about creating and made a couple cards-- apparently I was in a ribbon and button mood today!

Yesterday I sorted buttons.  Scads of them! Today I untangled a rat's nest of ribbons and fibers that had all been tossed into a plastic shoe box. Both elements were fresh on my mind, so I went with it! Paper scraps were by KI Memories and Crate Paper. Letters and paper heart from the Paperie.

It might be about time to ramp up the Valentine Card selection--guess that is what I'll work on next.  What is on YOUR table today?

New cards

It has been a while since I sat down to make some cards. My new granddaughter is due in a few days, and I needed to make a card for her, and while I was at it, I started on a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law, who loves getting a full year's worth of birthday cards to send to all the family members. It is times like this I am glad she has a fairly small family!

I saw a really cute card on Pinterest that was similar to this, and I adapted it to the product I had on hand.  It took two tries to get the rub on letters right since they are so small.  Ale is doing Makayla's room in pink and green, so I chose those colors. I was pleased with the end result--hopefully she will be too!  I didn't put any sentiment on the front, in case she wants to frame it to hang in her room.

 Paper by Chatterbox

Basic Gray Paper

 Crate Paper, Creative Imaginations (I think)

 Crate Paper, Creative Imaginations (I think)

Only a few cards left to make for this set, then it is on to Christmas cards!

Back in the Studio

Since I am not selling these, I didn't take much care with the photos, but if you click on the image, you should be able to enlarge it well enough to see the details if you like.  I am in the process of building up my own stash of birthday cards, and these were the first ones I made.  I am still working on trying to get rid of old craft supplies, so I rummaged around through many of my little bins to find the pockets and feathers.

I also had a package of 50 metallic smoke colored cards, and a package of 50 pale silver envelopes, both with a leather-like texture on them.  I printed out some "from the desk of tracy miller" insets for the fronts, and now I have a nice set of stationary!  Usually, if I write more than a brief note, I add pages of paper to it, so I wasn't worried about the smaller size.  I think they will be just right.

Birthday Card Production Mode!

Today I made 26 cards and two tins. Here are the birthday cards...

Birthday Variety Pack Eight cards/$24

Black Birthday with Candle stamp $4

Candle Flower $4

MME Blue Balloon B-day $3

Musical Birthday $3

Owls Birthday Horiz. $4

Owls Birthday Vertical $4

Pink and Green Flowery Birthday $4

Pink Cupcakes $4

Pink Poem Birthday Card. $3

Poem and Gifts $4

Slice of Cake Birthday Card. $3

SR Birds and Gift card. $3

SR Let's Party $4

Old Guys Rule!!

Here is just a sampling of the cards we just posted on the website! They are listed under birthday cards.

OLD V

Old Guys Hot Rod

Old Guys Cycle

Special Order

I got a special order today for a few cards--here is what I came up with. :)

Baby Boy shower card

For a baby girl

Baby Boy Card (Says congratulations on your new baby boy inside)

Birthday Card

Birthday Cards

"Do you have any cards with you?"

"No, what do you need?" was my reply.

"My brother's birthday is coming up and I need a birthday card."

So, off to the craft room I went, with nary an idea of what the man (27) was like. Here were my two offerings, she took the first one. (She is a younger sister and slightly mischievous, so I thought she might like the "You're how OLD?" sticker to rib her older brother a bit.)
5" square made from citrus green card stock covered in some old newsprint tissue paper I had in my stash. I added the 7 Gypsies tag and various other metal embellishments as well as the clock face. Inside is a sticker that says Happy Birthday mounted on black textured paper. I selected a black envelope for it and she said she had all sorts of ideas for a fun mailing label.

Creative Imaginations papers, American Crafts ribbon, and I don't remember whose sticker--I have had it in my stash for several years. This card is 6X6 with a white envelope that won't fit inside the plastic sleeve with the card. Oh, well. :)

Saturday's Bounty

In the spirit of using up my stash, I took a few odd size/shaped envelopes with me to the scrapbook store on Saturday. I have several different sizes of square envelopes, and even though they are more expensive to mail, I still like them a lot. So, the first two cards here are to fit both size and color of envelopes. I also just happened to have two tag-board frames with matching embellishment tags to go with them. I am sure I must have been inspired for some great project when I found them on the clearance table, but I sure don't know what it was now... so I had to come up with some new inspiration!
After inking the butterfly cut out, I bent it slightly in the middle, then taped both sides to the frame to lift it up off the card just a bit. The tag reads: "Memories are the key not to the past but to the future." Might be a nice condolence card?
The recurring blue and orange theme of the frame and tags used up the last of a sheet of clearance paper: it looked like they were made for each other! I love it when things come together like that!
The top card was somewhat of an experiment with a friend's border punch. I may have to invest in a couple of those with different designs, as I have found myself drawn to them lately. On that same card is an orange felt flower whose petal had been snipped off in the production process. The flaw is hidden beneath the tag. The bottom card took a bit of engineering to cut the window which reveals the blue die-cut swirl paper under the tag. The biggest challenge on this card, however, was getting that slippery satin ribbon to stay "nailed down" on the tag!
The top card has a transparency atop a light blue paper which is all attached with flower shaped brads to the main card. The flowers on the side were already glittery. The bottom card also has one flower from that glittery set between the pink silk and red velvet flowers. They are attached with a rhinestone brad.
This picture didn't turn out well for some reason--sorry about that. The top card is using scraps from a journal I covered recently. The text is actually a clear sticker that I put on blue paper, then matted with brown shimmery paper. This is elevated with foam tape over the ruffled brown ribbon trim. The bottom card is one of my favorites from the day, but that little pleated flower is not likely to be repeated on cards in the future--what a pain! The little tile in the middle of the flower says "you" to complete the phrase "Crazy 'bout YOU"
Can you tell I love using flowers on cards? I borrowed some flower punches to put under the buttons on the card to the right. Flowers on the left are silk, paper and velvet with a glittered brad in the center.

A Day of Card Making

Nestled in among a huge pile of my supplies and tools, I whiled away eight hours at the scrapbook store working to build my stock up so I could get some cards out for sale. The cards are all made from scraps--leftover pieces from other projects. I am pretty sure I could make a thousand cards without ever cutting into another whole piece of paper, but that doesn't sound very fun! :)
The frame (card on right), border and flower die cuts (card on left) were on a sheet of punch outs. Some part of me will always love those as they remind me of the paper dolls I used to get as a child. I am a little more careful with the die cuts than I was with the paper dolls, however. :)
These little collector card embellishments came in a little box with several different phrases. I went through the box, pulled out all the ones I thought I could make a card out of, and selected papers and other embellishments that would match. The next six cards are also using embellishments from that little box... The card on the top features a frame die cut that I had several of from when I worked at the scrapbook store. Some customer had torn the corners on the whole stack of them and put them back on the shelf. They were unsellable, so the owner said I could have them. The pile I started out with is slowly being used up--I think I still have 3 left.


I found some Martha Stewart embellishments (card on left) at Big Lots for $1.00 making them reasonably priced for my purposes. It would be hard to justify using a $4.00 embellishment on a $5.00 card... The card on the right features a sticker by 7 Gypsies and some dew drops embellishments. The brad in the center of the flower was leftover from an album class I took about 4 years ago!
These two cards use some butterfly die cut paper--the only "new" sheet of paper I cut into all day. There are several rows of the little glittery things on the sheet, and I have inked them to make them different colors. I justified the purchase by the number of uses I would find for so many embellishments! More dew drops add a bit of extra dimension. They are raised off the card with foam adhesive squares.
These last two cards were inspired by the embellishments. I found the old present 3D stickers and decided to coordinate with some purple papers--then found the word stickers to make it a multi-purpose card. The bird card is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but I think it is because I use so little solid colored card stock any more that it seems boring to me. :) The little brads in the centers of the flowers have a grid design on them, and both the brads and the leaves are items that have been hanging around in my supplies for several years.