Card Inspirations Part 4

Hi! How is everyone doing on their cards today? I have been making them up a storm, and good thing, because I need to get these mailed out soon in time for Christmas!

Today I'll show you a set of 3 cards that I made using Kristina Werner's cards as inspiration. In her project A Year in Cards, she featured these 3 cards.

Hers are on the left, my versions are on the right:

Here is a closer picture of the first card I made:

First, I folded green cardstock into a card. I added a red felt strip to the back of the green polka-dotted square and pop-dotted this onto the bottom of the card base. I next added a wreath cardstock sticker to a red circle, then added this to a white scalloped circle base. I added this to the top left part of the green polka-dotted piece. When I secured this piece, I only added a pop-dot to the back top part of the wreath, and some tape runner to the bottom. This was because the green polka-dotted square was already pop-dotted, and I wanted the top of the wreath to be level with it. Next, I simply stamped "Season's Greetings" along the top right edge of the green polka-dotted piece. Done! So, on this card I used her sketch, a sticker instead of a photo, words stamps instead of an image stamp, changed the colors and didn't add the brads.

Here is a closer picture of the 2nd card:

On this card, I chose 3 colors that I just love together...pink, turquoise, and red! With some white accents, I just love this card!

First, I made a card base out of white cardstock. I added a piece of turquoise cardstock (just a bit smaller than the base of the card) to the top of it. Next, I added a cardstock sticker of a present to a piece of pink cardstock just slightly larger, and faux stitched around it with a white Uniball gel pen. Then I cut a piece of red scrap paper slightly smaller than the pink square, scalloped the right edge of it, and pop-dotted it to the card top where I wanted. I pop-dotted the pink cardstock piece with the present on it to the red. I used Versamark to stamp my words under the present, then using white embossing powder, heat embossed it to make it stand out and have texture! I then faux stitched around the entire piece of turquoise and I was finished! On this card, I used her sketch, changed the colors, the words and the image.

The last card is really a fun card to look at up close, because of the dimension of Santa behind the scalloped hole!

Here is a close-up of the card:

And here is a picture closer up of the dimension you see better in real life:

On this card, I folded the red cardstock into a card that is horizontal looking, but actually opens on the right side. I cut a piece of creamy scrap into a strip for across the front. Along the right side of this I cut out a scalloped circle with my punch. On the first part of the cream strip, I stamped 2 trees and a little reindeer. I pop-dotted this piece to the card front. Next, I stamped the image of Santa on white paper, colored him in, and punched him out using the same scalloped circle as I made the hole with. I adhered him exactly in the same position, only I attached him right onto the red cardstock. So....he is inside the hole. Using a white Uniball gel pen, I faux stitched along the bottom edge and the top edge of the creamy strip. I figured out where I wanted the red and white gingham ribbon to lay, then I cut a slit along the folded edge of the red card base to fit the width of the ribbon. I slid the ribbon through the hole, tied it into a bow (or knot) and I was done. On this card, I used her sketch, changed the images, the colors and the way I made my image inside the hole.

Fun, simple and you can use these as your inspiration!
Watch for my next post and next card inspiration.....
Happy Card Making!!

Card Inspirations Part 3

For today's post, I am going to give you 2 examples of cards I was inspired by, by Kristina Werner. They are both made with a Kraft cardstock base. I love using kraft cardstock as a base because of it's versatility in using color with it. If you've never tried it before, I think you'll like it!

The first is hers, next is mine:

The first thing I did after making the card base, was to round the corners on the right side. Then, I stamped 3 different snowflakes on white cardstock, using 3 different colors of ink for them. I cut around them ....carefully....and pop dotted them on my card base. I used a black Slick writer to draw with, and made hanging strings for the snowflakes, not making them straight, but making them a little loopy...gives them some character. I stamped Happy Holidays on the bottom right corner of the card. Now....I wasn't done yet either. Next, I took Stickles in colors to match my ink, and glittered them little snowflakes to make them Dazzle!!! Here is a close-up of their brilliance Ü:

So, on this card I used her whole sketch, replaced ornaments for snowflake stamps that I had, and changed the word....to one that I had.

Here is the 2nd set of cards I have to show for today's examples:

Again, first is Kristina's and second is mine:

The reason I made this card is because I had this left over piece of Kraft, and when folded it was this long, skinny shape. Perfect for her card she made! I easily rounded off the 2 bottom corners, glued down 3 graduated sizes of buttons with glue dots, and added a ribbon scarf for the little man. Since my ribbon was red, with white snowflakes on it, I decided to go a bit further and add some red and white snowflakes to my card, too. Then I added some little tri-dots of white to fill in some more. Done!

Now, this is definitely a card that you can make, too.....even your kids can make them up for their friends and family! And doesn't pretty much everyone have some buttons ? Ü

Fun, simple and you can use this as your inspiration!
Watch for my next post and next card inspiration.....
Happy Card Making!!

Card Inspirations Pt 2

For Part 2 of this Using Other's Cards for Inspiration, I made this smaller sized card Kristina did. This card was a fun one to copy, because the card is a trifold, and I don't usually make this kind. Here is Kristina's and next to it is mine:

You can see more in these pics of the style of the card:

See the window on the front fold, well that one was a bit of a challenge for me. I actually cut out a circle from paper, laid it on top, then cut it out carefully. I don't have a circle cutter (really, I know, I can't believe it either....it is on my Christmas list though!), so I improvised.

First I took my piece of paper, and folded it into 3 sections. I didn't measure, didn't try to be exact. I used a stamp and Versamark to stamp the image all over the front of the card and used some clear embossing powder on them to make them shine.

Next I cut out the front circle, as I metioned above. After cutting out my circle, I cut out another circle from a piece of paper slightly bigger than the hold and used that as my pattern. I traced this onto a piece of patterned paper, and cut it out with a pair of scalloped scissors. I needed to have a hole in the middle of this scalloped circle, to lay over the hole in the front of the card. So, I laid down my pattern of the smaller circle on top and cut it out with scissors. I glued down this scalloped circle over the hole. Now, I faux stitched along the inside edge with a white Uniball Pen.

For the second flap, the one that you can see the image through the hole in the cover, I measured the space and cut a piece of white paper to fit it. I stamped my image, added some Stickles for berries, and faux stitched along the edge.

On the cover, I added a piece of white satin ribbon. I marked where I wanted my ribbon, then along the edge of the card, I made a small slit with my scissors. I threaded the ribbon through the slit, and then tied my ribbon into a bow.

Done!

Fun, simple and you can use this as your inspiration!
Watch for my next post and next card inspiration.....
Happy Card Making!!

Using Other Cards as Inspiration

How many times have you sat down to make a card and.......nothing. You have got no mo-jo? No ideas come to mind and you're in a rut and can't get out of it? One thing I do is to go to other handmade cards I've saved from friends and family, magazines, online galleries and sites to get ideas from.

If you've been in my store and asked where I came up with an idea, sometimes I will say that I got them from online, and I really did. Okay, I can come up with some nice things on my own too, but I get in a rut here and there also and need some ideas! This post is about that...how I take someone else's sketch idea....or color idea....or wording....whatever, and use it as inspiration for my own cards! For this purpose I have taken ideas from Kristina Werner and used them to make my own cards...using HER ideas!! And she has some very nice ones, too!! Some are simple, some are more complicated. The thing is here, to see how she made her card and how I took her idea and used it. You can do the same thing. Look at hers, look at mine and come up with your own. You can do it, really, it's easy!

For all of the cards I will be posting in this series, I used scraps of paper I had. Only 2 sheets of paper were actually cut to be used as cardbases, because I ran out of big pieces.

Here is the first card I'll post today:

This is hers: This is mine:

I used her card as a sketch idea. I used a kraft cardstock base, put the green square on it which has the top left corner rounded, then underneath the piece of snowflake strip, ( I scalloped the edge of it before adhering). The word NOEL is made using chipboard letters. The snowflake is a punch, a brad is in the center and I pop dotted this piece. "Joyeaux" is handwritten on a small piece of coordinating green aper and pop dotted to the green square. On the left side of the card , I rounded the corners to match the rounded edges on the green square and the scallops underneath. Faux stitching (done with a Uniball pen) finishes the edges off!

See how I used her ideas? I used her layout, the word NOEL and her faux stitching. Fun, simple and you can use this as your inspiration!

Watch for my next post and next card inspiration.....

Happy Card Making!!