Thanks, Karen G.

A while ago, Misty (a cardmaker for OWH) made a Facebook page for anyone who wanted to trade supplies they no longer wanted. I responded to a post from Karen about some clear Christmas stamps. After a FB flub with messaging, they ended up going to someone else, but Karen was kind enough to send some other goodies my way. Today I got an envelope with Christmas themed papers, a pack of cross embellishments, and a set of alphabet stamps. What a nice package of fun items to play with! Karen, thanks so much if you read this!!! I hope she likes what I sent her in return. :)

I got right to work this evening on the papers. They were so cute and just needed to be made into cards pronto. I have a little room left in my box for Dixie and I wanted to fill it with more Christmas cards, so these fit the bill.

Here are the 17 cards I made! I was so proud of myself for using up all of the paper in one sitting (minus the itty bitty useless-sized scraps). I don't know the manufacturer of the paper if you're wondering, sorry.



I'm saving the crosses until I get the Swiss Dots embossing folder because I have a design in mind to use them that requires that particular folder. I'll be sure to share when I make them. And the alphas, well they're very versatile, so I'm sure they'll be used soon, too!

You can make cards anywhere - Part 2

Last week marked my second week of staying at a hotel for business in a row this summer. As a teacher, I never realized that I'd travel as much as I do. It's nice to learn so much at conferences and workshops, but I'm often surprised at how much I miss being at home in my routine. I decided to pack a little bit of that routine with me and planned to make some Christmas cards and some kid baseball cards while I was in Baltimore. I managed to make a little over thirty cards in between my workshop responsibilities, eating dinners out, and lounging poolside with my co-worker. It was a great way to cap off my evenings. :)

You can make cards anywhere

Alright, I'll admit it once again. I have way too many craft supplies. Sometimes, it feels like I have so many I couldn't possibly be crafty anywhere but at home. This week, however, I'm on a business trip and I knew I'd have a lot of down time in the evenings that I would want to fill with something fun and relaxing. I didn't have a lot of time to plan ahead, so I grabbed a ki memories kit a friend had given me and pulled some coordinating papers I liked. I remembered the sunburst tutorial that I never had a chance to try.

My question was how much to do at home and how much to take. I always wonder that with kits. I have such a desire to finish cards I start that kits are hard for me if I do too much. I can never manage to save the easy stuff for the assembly time! I decided to eliminate any stamping and use of my large paper cutter on the road. So, here's how I broke it down:

At home, I cut cardstock for the background to A2 size and cut the patterned paper down to 3 by 4.5. I also chose some coordinating flowers, brads, ribbons, and rub-ons to pack.

On my trip, I continued to cut the patterned paper. I cut the rectangles in half so they measured 1.5 by 4.5 and then cut them on the diagonal to make triangles. Next, I inked the edges. Then I assembled the sunburst and added embellishments. I was just going to make fronts, but I picked up some cardstock here and cut it down to make the bases tonight.

So, here are the 24 cards I have so far. There won't be too many more finished while I'm here because (gasp!) I didn't pack enough ATG tape. I've used about a roll and a half, but now I'm nearly out and didn't bring any more back ups. There's not even a Michael's nearby or I'd go buy a pack. :( Lesson learned- always, always, always bring two or three times as much adhesive as you think you need!

You too can be crafty on the go! 24 sunburst thank you cards. :)

Kid cards

While on vacation, my mom and I were shopping. What a surprise. ;) At a dollar store, Mom noticed some Cars stickers she thought I could use for OWH and I loved them. They're puffy and have a hologram sparkle effect. She also spotted some basketball hologram stickers that change images when you tilt them. I've been working through these packs recently and that's created a kid card trend around here.

The stickers.



Some Cars cards. Aren't the stickers cute?



Some basketball cards. I used some grunge-style number stamps to make the backgrounds. I bought the stamps at Big Lots and never managed to get the entire set of ten. (Anybody have 0, 1, 3, 5, 8, 9 that they want to part with?) Since they're aren't that many numbers I can make, I thought of using them as a background. I've noticed other people stamping their backgrounds and I realized that I never do that, so I thought I'd try it out.


Last night, I made these 5 cards in two hours. All use some kind of sticker- hologram Cars, felt ice cream, and regular with clear backing dino and truck. Check out the tire brads on the truck. I <3 them!