Swirl Thank You Card

This is the last card (so far) for my gift for my sister's roommate. I would like to end up with 12 cards total (2 of each of three so far) but I want to make them fancy so I am still searching for ideas. So far, I am happy with the results but I  continue to struggle to make them as fancy as some of the cards made by my favourite bloggers.  I am waiting for my Nestabilities to  arrive, seems the eBay seller goofed and sent them to the wrong address, GRRRR!

This is a gatefold card. I used 5.5 x 8.5" card scored at 2 1/8" on both sides. The overall card still measures 4.25x5.5" closed. The background paper is retired Designer Series Paper (DSP). I used the directions HERE to cut the celery scalloped frame for the main image. The next layer is striped DSP. The focal image is 'thank you' stamped in perfect plum on vanilla CS. The swirl is stamped in pale plum with a Perfect Medium pen on the dots which were then dusted with purple Perfect  Pearls. It is hard to see but gives the card a soft pearlescent look. The Perfect Medium has a fixative in it that keeps the Pearl Ex on the paper without a sealer. The corners of the vanilla panel have perfect plum and celery eyelets. I think I may go back and add a ribbon under the celery panel and tie it at the side of the card. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Recipe
Paper: Pale plum CS, celery CS, vanilla CS, Designer Series Paper-retired
Stamp Sets: Sincere Salutations, Carte Postal
Ink: perfect plum, pale plum
Accessories: Scallop Punch, perfect plum and celery eyelets

French Flair Merci Card

This is another card for a gift for my sister's roommate. I really love this little card. I didn't really like making envelopes for them though so look for a post soon with my directions for making a 'display' envelope for your custom sized cards. The display style shows off most of the card as soon as the flap is opened. It can be adapted to any size card.

This is a specialty trifold card. Go HERE for instructions for the layout. I made the card from pale plum CS with retired designer series striped paper. The bottom two layers are perfect plum and pale plum CS both stamped along the edges with the flower bouquet from Carte Postal in the same colour ink as paper, both were punched with the ticket corner punch. The top layer is very vanilla stamped with the French flair background stamp in mellow moss. 'Merci' from the same set was stamped in perfect plum on pale plum CS, punched with the word window punch. I reinserted the punched CS into the bottom of the punch to cut off the excess. Brads were added to the corners of the perfect plum panel and the 'merci' was adhered using foam dots. The card was adhered together according to the tutorial. I had a lot of fun putting this card together, I love interesting folds!

RECIPE
Stamp Sets: French Flair, Carte Postale
Paper: Designer Series Paper, pale plum CS, very vanilla CS, perfect plum CS
Ink: Mellow moss, perfect plum, pale plum
Accessories: ribbon-unknown, pewter brads, foam dots

All My Thanks Card

This is one in a series of cards I am making for my sister's roommate who just got married. This is a called a tent fold card I believe. Either way, it is a fun and easy fold to do. I started with a perfect plum 4.25" by 8.5" card folded in half with the fold at the top. I stamped Baroque border in Versamark and embossed with gold EP. I stamped French Script in mellow moss on mellow moss CS and edged it with gold marker.

I have a special technique for edging CS. The marker has a chisel felt tip. Take a scrap piece of CS or thin chipboard and gouge out a groove in the tip.  Hold the CS in the air and flex it so it will stay stiff. Align the groove with the edge of the cardstock; it will ride along the edge as you slide the marker down the paper. This gives you a nice even gold edge. TIP: hold the marker at a 45 degree angle to the paper for best results. the back will have little or no gold on it, repeat on the back if desired.

I adhered the moss panel to the card so the overall dimensions of the card would be 4.25x5.5". Next I cut a strip of pale plum CS slightly shorter than the width of the moss panel. I trimmed it so it would line up with the gold edge. I punched the label from perfect plum. I stamped the thanks stamp and cut the center out, adhering it to the punched label. After adhering the label with foam dots, I realized the label looked a bit boring compared  to the gold on the rest of the card so I used a thin tip gold paint marker to enhance the edge. Last, I added 3/8" gold ribbon across the bottom of the moss panel. My next posts will show more of the cards that go in the set. Have a great weekend!

RECIPE
Paper: Perfect plum, pale plum, mellow moss, very vanilla
Stamp Sets: Designer Label, French Script, Baroque Border
Ink: mellow moss, Versamark
Accessories: Gold EP, Gold ribbon, Label punch, gold chisel tip paint pen, gold fine tip paint pen

11th Anniversary Card

Do you find it hard to make manly cards? Me too, even if it is only for my DH. You think it would be easier knowing someone for 11 years! Yeah I know, 11 year anniversary...  known him 11 years... doesn't add up. In case you are wondering, I was not a mail order bride ;) but we did get married very quickly after meeting, less than 6 months, so I guess technically I have known him for 11 and a half years!

This card is basic, an easy layout, definitely masculine but I managed to add embellishments anyway. I thought it was a neat idea to use the tape measure twill tape cut at 11" to represent 11 years of marriage. I wonder how long it will take for him to notice. I started with a card base of River Rock, then added 2 pieces of ticket corner punched Designer Series Paper. I glued the twill tape over the seam. Then I stamped the square from Frames and Flourishes in Blue Bayou ink on the same colour paper and cut out the center.  I used foam dots to lift the frame up over the twill tape. The foam dots are SUPER sticky ones sold by Jody at her blog. The dots have the same adhesive on them as red line tape!! She also sells lots of other cool sticky stuff. I stamped 'cherish' from Lexicon of Love with Night of Navy ink on Vanilla CS, punched it with the oval punch and distressed the edges with navy ink to help it stand out. I realized you couldn't read the details of the stamp after punching it so I stamped it in the inside as well. It looked a bit boring so I added three brads to the bottom. Hope it inspired you to make some great man cards!

 RECIPE
Paper: river rock, vanilla, Designer Series paper retired
Ink: night of navy, blue bayou
Stamp Sets: Frames with a Flourish, Lexicon of Love
Accessories: Oval punch, foam dots, twill tape, black brads, 1/16" hole punch

Purse Card Holder and Matching Card Sets

I made these for a craft sale and they didn't sell, oh well. At least I get to blog about them now! Instructions for making these are here. It is very easy to follow Andrea's directions. The only thing I changed is switching the order of adhering the side pieces of patterned paper to the cardstock base. They are two different widths, she has the wider paper adhered first and the narrower second. I prefer the wider paper on the outside (adhered second) so when you look at the purse from the front, the 'sideseams' are as far from view as possible. A small detail but sometimes the beauty is in the details. I tried another small variation with one and wished I hadn't so I won't even tell you what it was!

Inside are 4 cards with envelopes, one from each set are pictured. You could fit a lot more than that, at least 8 I think. They are all a bit different, the pink ones are all verse-less, the plum ones have various verses on them, general sentiments anyone can use. In retrospect, I think the pink ones are a bit too plain, I had intended to stamp the pink pirouette card base with a background stamp but forgot. Even so, these are very elegant and a great gift. I find that everyone I know LOVES getting sets of cards as gifts from me. It would also be great just as a gift bag for any type of present, not just cards. They are pretty strong and would be even more so if made with double-sided cardstock instead of Designer paper.

I would love to get comments on what price point these should be set at. I guess you need to know the area because prices vary depending on where you live. I live in Mount Albert, a small town, partly rural suburb of Toronto. We are about 1 hour commute right to the centre of the city, the north edge is only about 30 minutes away, less in good traffic. I have heard of some gals getting $6-10 for one card in exclusive boutiques in tourist areas or big cities while others sell their cards for $2 or less in rural areas or on Etsy.com because of the high level of competition for sales. At the craft sale, I set my cards at $4.50 each or 5  for $20 so I figured this set priced at $22.50 was fair. All cards included some type of embellishments, like ribbon, rhinestones or buttons, not just paper layers. Leave comments below or email me!

RECIPE
Paper: Designer Series paper, the plum one is retired, the pink and red is Bella Rosa, currently available; pink pirouette, riding hood red pale plum and  confetti white cardstocks
Stamp sets: Sincere salutations, tiny asterisk from Rough Edges Alphabet, French Flair, Blossoms Abound
Ink: versamark, pale plum, chocolate chip, old olive, certainly celery
Accessories: tab punch, chocolate ribbon, gold cord, silver cord, white and eggplant grosgrain ribbon, flower punch, scallop punch, gold EP, stipple brush, red line tape, glue dots.
ALL BY SU! except stipple brush