2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 8 | Silent Night (of Reflection)

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We're down to the crunch. Are you ready? I mean, really ready? Not just ready with the shopping, is anyone ever really done shopping? The answer is no. If the answer were yes, we wouldn't have Boxing Day Sales; or Boxing Week Blowouts; or New Year's Door Crashers. We're never done.

Then there's the decorating, maybe we're done. I'm about a third of what I normally do, and I'm pretty done for this year. Every year, my husband and I argue about the placement of the tree and the arrangement of the furniture. Then every year he finally moves stuff around, and I find a time when there is no one in the house and I decorate the tree, and usually the entire upper floor common areas (living room, dining room and kitchen), then every year he comes after it is all done and tells me how "cold and soulless it looks" and I respond with "No, honey. It's perfect." and the rest of the family ooooos and ahhhhhs and that's that. That's our fun tradition. This year, I decorated the tree and the front entry way. That's it, because this year, I don't feel like doing the rest.

Then there's the cooking and the baking. If people know you're a baker, there's never an end in sight. There's always one more person who could use one more loaf of something, and if you do it for a couple close friends or coworkers you have to do if for everyone, because it's the season of giving, right? RIGHT?? So yeah, I don't bake - unless I'm sad.

Finally, the cards (I know there's more, but this is getting long). Are you done the cards? I am. Most of my Christmas supplies are packed right up and put away. I've found that the more cards I send out the fewer I receive in return. I can't be the only crafter to have experienced this. Perhaps this is just a side effect of the additional beauty we put out in world; who knows?

For today's card I created a Silent Night Shaker, featuring stamps from Lawn Fawn's Winter village, along with the Say Cheese Again die and some snowflakes from the Mini Stitched Snowflakes dies.

I stamped the images with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink and coloured them with Copic Markers. I used double-sided adhesive from Darice (this is that really thin stuff) to create my shaker window, which is filled with various snow-looking stuff from my stash (it's older, so there are no labels, but if I had to guess I would say I got it at Michael's crafts).

I adhered the shaker to piece of dark blue patterned paper, then mounted the lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

(Also, the point of my super long story above, was to take it easy. Christmas is only a day. One little day in the whole year and you are only human.)

Floral Thoughts Thank You Shaker

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a super fun shaker using a new die, let me tell y'all: I had my doubts about this die. I haven't had the best luck with dies from Recollections, but this one impressed me. It's definitely the most intricate die that I have and it worked pretty well.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

If I had to remake this card, I think I would do something to make the text in the middle stand out a bit more, but live and learn, right? Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but just one of those things that I would do differently. Hindsight and all that.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you have't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Fairy Shaker Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn "Fairy Friends"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a fun shaker card that I made for my little daughter's friend's birthday. I wanted this card to be bright and fun because once again it's cold and yucky here in Calgary. We get these waves of nice weather and then it goes back to dreary and lemme tell ya, I'm pretty done with this. The warm weather is nice and it starts to melt then it freezes completely and everything is just an ice rink. Not fun.

Or you can watch in HD over on YouTube!

Check out the video above for the full tutorial on how I made this shaker, as well as all the Copics used and how I just couldn't stop embellishing it at the end. Honestly, I just couldn't stop myself!

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think!

Happy Heart Day Series | Unbearable Without You ft. MFT "Up in the Air"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I love sets that can be used for multiple seasons - a good set that can be used any time of year is probably one of the best investments a card maker can possibly make. Today's card uses just such a set from MFT.

If you are in the market for some new sets or are just setting out, I would recommend taking the time to find sets that can be used for multiple occasions. This will get you the best bang for your buck.

To begin, I stamped the bear from MFT's "Up in the Air" set four times with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock.

I used Copic markers to make two look like pandas and the other two to look like little brown bears. I then fussy cut them out - without leaving a border and used my black marker to edge each of them.

I used two of my square dies to cut frames from some red paper - though it wasn't quite the red I envisioned so I used a Copic marker to darken them up a bit.

I filled each of the little shakers with red heart confetti from Recollections and adhered them to the front of my standard A2 sized card base. I then ran each of my bears through my mini Xyron sticker maker and placed them on the front of each window to make them look like they were peeking out.

Once they were all adhered, I realized I had not stamped my greeting. Normally I would have stamped the greeting before adhering my elements in place, but I just got so excited about the card coming together that I completely forgot.

I tried to peel up each of the windows, but that wasn't happening. Luckily I was able to put the card base in my MISTI and stamp the greeting a couple times to get a good impression and made a mental note to do the greeting first. If I didn't have the MISTI I'm not certain it would have turned out well.

So let that be a fun little lesson - always do your stamping before adding dimensional stuff to the card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | From Santa Shaker ft. Lawn Fawn

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

It's the fifth day in my Happy Holidays Series for 2017, and today I wanted to share a super fun card all dressed up like a gift with a shaker tag.

You may have noticed that many of these cards are based on Lawn Fawn products. You aren't wrong. Not only does Lawn Fawn take up easily half of my stash, these stamps are so interchangeable that it's hard NOT to use them.

To begin, I used the tag die from "Tag, You're It" to cut out two tags from from 110lb Copic friendly cardstock. I then used a small rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut a window in one of them. On the back tag, I stamped the pine tree from "Critters in the Forest" and added a few decorations. Then coloured that with Copics.

On a scrap of paper I partially stamped the Gnome from "Gnome Sweet Gnome" and added the Santa hat from "Hats off to you". I cut him out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut and coloured him with Copics.

I used Mowed Lawn Distress ink to add green to the frame of the top tag and then added my acetate to the back. I used a single layer of foam tape and filled my shaker with chunky glitter from Recollections.

For the back panel, I wrapped a piece of cardstock with some Christmas wrapping paper and added the ribbon. I adhered that to the front of a standard A2 sized card base then adhered my tag in place. Finally, to finish off the card I added a bow with a length of the same ribbon.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Hello Halloween Series | Shaker Tag ft. Clearly Besotted "Good to be Bad"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

As I wind down the Hello Halloween Series for this year (there's only a couple left!) I wanted to share a tag I created using Clearly Besotted's "Good to be Bad" stamp set. Tags are a fantastic way to use the smaller stamp images that would usually feel lost on a card. It can still be used for a card, just the tag would be the focus and more of the patterned paper we've all been hoarding can be seen on the front.

To begin, I stamped this witch from Clearly Besotted's "Good to be Bad" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 85lb Toner Grey paper. A while back I did a paper comparison that included this paper and I was surprised to see that despite how thin this paper is I can still use Copic markers. You can see that comparison here.

I then fussy cut her out, with no border. I die cut two tags using Lawn Fawn's "Tag You're It" die set and then used a small scalloped rectangle to cut a window out of one of them.

I stamped the greeting from the same set and used Skor Tape to attach my acetate for the front of the window. I went around the edges with Candied Apple Distress Ink and added my witch to the front.

Normally when I make shakers I double up on the foam tape so that all the little bits have a lot of room to shake, but for this one I used some chunky glitter from Recollections that didn't need as much room, so I only used a single layer of foam tape; this worked out well as I didn't want as much bulk for such a small piece.

If you find that your shaker bits are sticking to the edges of your foam tape you can use your powder tool to un-stick the sides before you remove the paper backing. If you don't have a powder tool, you can use a soft paintbrush and some regular kitchen flour and it works just as well.

I hope you like today's tag and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This tag is for:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Not a Card

Hello Halloween Series | Fall Shaker ft. Lawn Fawn "Pumpkin Spice"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

It's the first wintery day here in Calgary. The snow is blowing and falling and it really feels like a regular fall for this area. Of course it will be summery again by Friday but that's the sort of thing that happens out here on the prairies.

In an effort to spread warmth, I thought I would share a fun shaker. Yep! More pumpkin spice! YAY!!

To begin, I used my outside stitched rectangle to remove my window from a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. From that piece I stamped the mug from Lawn Fawn's "Pumpkin Spice" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink; then coloured it with Copic markers.

I also stamped a bunch of the little shakers and cut them out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut. I cannot tell you how much I love this machine.

For the front panel I sponged Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge Distress inks to colour the panel, when it comes to creating that fall red this is my favourite combination. I splattered that with clean water and blotted it dry with some paper towel. Then I set it aside to dry completely.

I then stamped my greeting using Lawn Fawn's Black Licorice ink for the first and last part, and CTMH Autumn Terracotta ink for the "Pumpkin Spice".

Once that was done, I put together my shaker card. Instead of having all the shakers at the bottom, I glued a couple of the to the back panel of the window. So now, even when the card is upright there's still something there.

Finally I adhered my mug directly to the front of the window, then mounted the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More

Anything Goes

Hammy Birthday | ft. MFT's "The Whole Herd"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

If you've followed me for any length of time, you know that I love doing shaker cards. I literally have dozens, for all occasions. Well not really for Sympathy cards because that would probably be a bit inappropriate - but then again, maybe not. Depends on the personality of the family. But I don't have any for that. Yet.

Today I thought I would do a simple CAS Shaker that works for any celebration. This one happens to be a birthday, but it could be swapped out for something else. Just depends on what you put inside.

To begin, I stamped this sweet little pig from MFT's "The Whole Herd" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a piece of 110lb Copic friendly cardstock. I then coloured and fussy-cut him out.

Next, I cut the window for the front of my shaker. Normally I would toss that inside piece, but this time I saved it and stamped the gift, hat and cake from Lawn Fawn's "Party Animal" stamp set and coloured those with Copics. I also adhered a few sequins to the back part of my shaker area, so that it would still look a little festive when the card was just sitting upright.

I doubled up my foam tape to get a good shake and adhered the front panel to a standard A2 sized card base.

For the greeting banner, I prepped a piece of black cardstock with my powder tool and created my own phrase using CTMH's "Etched Alphabet" and heat embossed that with white detail powder.

Finally I added a few sequins across the front of the panel and that was that. Easy-peasy!! If I were to re-create this card, I think I would add waaaay more shaker bits and probably glue a few more sequins to the inside of the shaker area. But live and learn, right?

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar; you can also follow me over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp

Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More

Challenge #261

Birthday Shaker Card | ft. MFT "Magical Unicorns"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I have a super fun shaker using MFT stamps, Lawn Fawn dies and a greeting from Clearly Besotted. While I try, and believe me I do try, to keep cards completely within the same brand, sometimes it's hard. I don't have a lot of MFT dies, so any scene I create will either be flat or will have to have something from another company. And while OCD tells me this is important, my creativity says "go wild"!

And really, why shouldn't we? Why limit ourselves, when the thing we are looking for is right there?

To begin, I used my two largest of Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Rectangle" dies to cut a border and inner piece for my shaker. I then took the inner piece and used two of the "Stitched Cloud" border dies to create the fluffy clouds that lay out my scene. With the left over pieces I used the three stitched cloud dies from Lawn Fawn's "Spring Showers" die set.

I then stamped one of the unicorns and the castle from MFT's "Magical Unicorns" stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them in with Copic markers. I used Spun Sugar Distress Ink to add just a touch of shading to the clouds and the background, otherwise it would just look flat. No one likes that.

To set my scene I used one of the cloud pieces on the back part of my panel, laid out the clouds and the castle. Any pieces that were hanging over the edge of the panel, I just trimmed off. This makes the scene look continuous and more natural (as natural as a unicorn running through the clouds can be).

I prepped the front cloud piece with my powder tool and stamped the greetings with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. The "Happy Birthday" is from Clearly Besotted's "Beautiful Friends" set.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't have a lot of greetings that say Happy Birthday, so I find myself going back to the same ones time and again. It would be nice if more of the sets included a birthday greeting, or maybe I just need to be getting my hands on some different sets.

I doubled up my foam tape and used my powder tool along the edges in hopes that my shaker bits wouldn't stick. Not sure it worked this time around, but I assure you it does help.

Finally I mounted the entire piece on a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Not Quite Halloween Shaker | ft. Clearly Besotted "Good to be Bad"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

I know it's not quite Halloween, but really, when has that ever stopped me? Sometimes the set that's calling isn't right for the season, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. When I got the "Good to be Bad" set from Clearly Besotted, I couldn't possibly resist!

To begin, I stamped and masked these three ladies, starting with the centre. I then used CTMH Whisper ink to create a smokey background.

I used the smoke clouds from MFT's "Magical Dragons" in the same ink to create a tone on tone pattern.

I then used the second largest of my oval dies to partially cut the oval and fussy cut around the three villains. I used the same oval and the largest oval die to create a black frame to go around the shaker opening.

I removed the masks and coloured the images in with Copic markers.

To create the shaker, I used various confetti and sequins in yellows, oranges and red to make it look like fire. As with any shaker card you have to double up the foam tape to get a really good shake.

As this is the first time using the chunky glitter and small shaker material, I used my powder tool around the edges of the foam tape to make sure that nothing sticks.

I mounted the entire piece on a standard A2 sized card base. Finally I used a glitter pen on the crystal ball and on her broach and covered those with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of you own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Hello Halloween 2016 | card 2 Ft. Simon Says Stamp (again)

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I decided to create a shaker card. Something that I don't think has been up here since Christmas 2015, maybe something in the spring? I don't even know.

I had this idea in my head, but was super worried about trying it out because I've never done a partial die cut like this before.

To begin, I stamped the dog from Simon Says Stamp "Trick or Treat" stamp set on 110lb Copic-friendly paper and masked him off, I then used an assortment of pumpkins from Lawn Fawn's "So Thankful" and MFT's "Witch Way is the Candy" stamp sets.

For the partial die cut, I made two little marks on the edges of the panel right above where the pumpkins are, I then placed my die and lined up the cutting plates so that only the upper portion of the die would have the pressure as it went through the machine. After much breath-holding, I removed the die from the piece and saw that I only had to bring the cut down a tiny bit! I then used my Cutter Bee scissors to fussy cut out the rest of the piece around the stamped images.

Next I masked off all the images again, and used Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire, Forest Moss and Gathered Twigs to create the ground and the sky. I used Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves to create the background sky that will be behind the shaker. I would normally have used Dusty Concord, but I was away at a retreat and didn't have it with me. I used a size 10 Round watercolour brush to splatter clean water over the piece to make it look distressed.

All the images are coloured with Copic Markers.

To create the pouch for my shaker I used the Fuse Tool from We R Memory Keepers along with an old 12x12 scrapbook page cover. I used a variety of sequins and some foil leaves as the shaker material.

Everything was put together and adhered to the top of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss out on any new posts, and toss me a line in the comments section below, I love to hear from you!

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:

Halloween Inspiration

Sunshine Shaker

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

I've had this design in my head for a little while now and it's just been itching to get out. So when these two challenges came around (and at the same time!) I was very excited.

I can't wait to share this with you, so let's just dive right in!

This card is a great collaboration of companies that I love! The stamped chameleon image is from MFT's Polynesian Paradise coloured with Copics and then fussy cut out.

The sun and clouds were die cut using Lawn Fawn's Spring Showers dies. The branch and little flowers are die cut using Spell Binder's Cherry Blossoms dies.

The sequins are from Doodle Bug and the paper is from my stash!

To add colour to the background and the sun I used Distress inks Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Gathered Twigs and Spun Sugar.

I created the shaker part using the We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool and an old 12x12 scrapbook sleeve.

I think that about covers the buffet of products used in this card, it was really great to just sit down and play around.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:

Photo Inspiration

and

Time Out Challenge:

#61 Inspired by Words

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine"

Anthony J. D'Angelo

Little Birthday Shaker

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are all having a great day.

When I began this card, I had originally planned to make a Valentine's Day card. However, things don't always work out the way we planned. Which is one of the things I like best about art and card making. I enjoy when a project seems to take on a life of its own.

It doesn't mean that the original plan was a bad one, it just means that the creative gears took it in a different direction. The plan is still there in the back of my head and perhaps I will still make a Valentine's Day card that is similar, but for now I have this lovely birthday card.

To create this card, I began by using the stitched cloud boarder as a mask and sponging upward to create the clouds. I worked from the top of the panel downward. I then used the grassy boarder die to create another mask, and sponging with green to create a grassy area. 

I used Mowed Lawn and Bundled Sage to give the illusion of depth, unfortunately I think there was a bit too much of a difference in the colours. 

After the panel was dry, I used the heart balloon die to create the area for my shaker, I saved the cut out piece so I could put it behind the window to make the balloon look clear. I used the fuse tool to create the shaker pocket. 

I stamped the girl with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her with copics. 

The balloon string is a piece of black baker's twine.

I hope you all like the card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

MFT Sketch Challenge #266

Stinkin' Cute Shaker

Okay, so this doesn't really count as a card, but it's so "stinkin' cute" I just couldn't resist.

Oh, right and WELCOME TO VALENTINE'S DAY 2016 SERIES!

I created this with the Ready, Set, Snow die cuts from Lawn Fawn and the Stinkin' Cute skunk. I will warn you now; I love this little guy. I promise you can expect to see him in many future posts. 

I used distress inks to colour the background as well as the shaker frame and I popped up the front on a piece of fun foam that I die cut. I'm going to have to play around with the glue because this did not stick together as well as I would have hoped. Strange that it never happened on any of my other shakers, just this one. 

Copic coloured (adorable) skunk in heart sequin shaker with heat embossed greeting. 

Winter and Holiday Card Series 2015 - Card 20

I have another two-way shaker today, this one featuring snowmen. I loved this card so much I made three variations of it in different Christmas colour themes. 

The first two also have snowflakes stamped directly onto the acetate in white StazOn ink. StazOn is the ideal ink for stamping on acetate as it will dry and not smear. Dye and pigment inks will not work because they are unable to absorb into the plastic as they would with paper. The trouble (I find) with the StazOn white ink is that the pad needs to be refilled prior to each use. For that reason I tend to avoid it, however I feel it was a little extra something that this card benefited from.

Two-way green and red shaker with coordinating snowmen, accent ribbon and embossed greeting.

Here is the same card in red and gold.

And again in blue and silver 

Winter and Holiday Card Series 2015 - Card 16

I've done dozens of shaker cards in the past, but when I saw a technique that removes the bulk of the card I just had to try it. This card is a two way shaker, meaning that open or closed you can see the shaker.

Having less bulk in a card allows for easier mailing and a reduced risk of getting damaged while being tossed about in the postal system.

Any card maker with experience in shakers will tell you that there is nothing worse than finding out the time (potentially hours) put into making a shaker card was all for naught because of postal damage. While I personally love the dimension that a traditional shaker has, this technique is far more mail friendly.

Two-way shaker card with copic coloured winter penguin skating on glossy ice with Christmas twine accent.