Diagonal Tri-Fold Card

I used 2 images and one of the sentiments from Sweetpea Plate #17 when creating this diagonal tri-fold card.
The basics of this card design are:
- a 3 1/2 x 10 1/2" piece for the base. This piece is scored at 3 1/2 and 7" with both ends folded to the middle
- then score each end of the base piece on a diagonal, with both scores performed in the same direction. At each end of the base these are folded to the front of the card. This is confusing and may be better understood by looking at some of the following pictures.
- cut a piece of decorative card stock to 3 1/4 x 3 1/4". This will be used on the front panel. Then cut this piece in half on the diagonal and adhere to the 2 triangles that are the front panel of the card.

The angel image I used on the front panel was stamped with india black ink onto a piece of card stock that I had sprayed with homemade color mists I created using water and pearl ex.
The angel image attached to the front panel is only attached to the upper left triangle of the card front. To open this card untie the ribbon and then flip the left side open.
When I created this card I taped the ribbon onto the card behind the image used on the card front. You wouldn't need to permanently attach the ribbon.

Now, flip open the right side and you can see how the card looks opened. I used another image and a sentiment from the same plate (#17). The angel image is a duplicate of the image used on the front panel... just in miniature form. And the sentiment is perfect for this card and for someone special... "We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another."
The miniature angel images were stamped with black india ink onto an alcohol ink created background. I stamped the sentiment with denim adirondack dye ink.
Here's another look at the open card so that you can see how the folds work to create this card. I think that if you google 'diagonal tri-fold card' you may find other examples of this design.
You can find these stamps at Sweetpea Stamps.

Easel Card

I'll bet you create cards pretty enough to display!!! Then here's just the card design for you... an easel card. I used one of the Ching-Chou Kuik images and a sentiment on Sweetpea plate# 20. After stamping the image on white card stock with black india ink, I painted it with Twinkling H2O's, and then trimmed around the image. I attached the image to a piece of decorative card stock that was cut to 3 3/4 x 4" . At this point I inserted a white snowflake eyelet in each of the corners. I threaded decorative fiber through the eyelets and tied in the back to secure. Then I attached this to a piece of pale pink card stock that was cut to 4 x 4 1/4". This is the front of the card and is attached to the base of the card as described below next to the picture showing a side view of this easel card.
On the inside of this card I used the sentiment "Do you believe...." which is also on plate# 20.
I stamped the sentiment on a small piece of the pale pink card stock with Raisin Adirondack dye ink and trimmed with decorative edge scissors. I layered that onto a piece of the same decorative card stock used for the front and trimmed with the same scissors. I placed a white snowflake brad just above the sentiment making sure to leave a little space between the brad and the paper. You don't want to attach the brad flat to the card since it needs to support the front of the card when you display as an easel as shown in this picture.
Here's a side view of the easel card to help you see how this card is put together and how it works.
This card happens to be 4" (across) x 4 1/4", but you could alter the size based on the size of the image you place on the front of the card.
There are basically 2 pieces to the card:
- 8 1/2 x 4"... this piece is scored and folded in half and then the top half is scored and folded in half again. This is the base of the card
- 4 1/2 x 4"... this piece is the front of the card. The bottom half of this piece is what is attached to the top 2 1/8 x 4" section of the base of the card.
A brad is placed anywhere from 1 to 2" up from the bottom of the base (mine is the white snowflake brad). Where you place the brad will depend on how large the sentiment or stamped image or decoration is that you place at the bottom of the card (in my case it is the saying "do you believe...").
To set the card up as an easel... when you open the card, flip/turn the front of the card so that the front bottom edge is resting up against the brad.
I hope this helps, but if it isn't clear just google easel cards and you'll find other samples that may help you to design this type of card.
Special thanks to my friend Maggi.... I received her Christmas card today... It was an easel card!!! So I copied the design.

Fantasy and Fibers with Sweetpea stamps

This image is from Sweetpea plate #21. This is one of the many Ching-Chou Kuik designs available.
I created the background for the stamped image using thin glossy paper and alcohol inks. I used 3 of the alcohol inks applying them next to each other on my felt applicator tool. I applied them diagonally across the glossy paper to create the subdued stripes. I then stamped the image onto the glossy paper using blackindia ink, trimmed the corners with a corner rounder, and applied a green marvy metallic marker around the edges.
I found some decorative card stock that worked well with the blues and greens in the background, cut it just shy of the size of the green card, applied the greenmarvy metallic marker to the edges, and punched a fiskars border punch on the bottom edge. The decorative card stock had an embossed corner that I had positioned in the upper left of the card. I used anexacto knife to cut around the middle two loops of the corner and then slid the glossy paper under it. After putting all the pieces together on the green card I wrapped the fuzzy fiber twice around the spine of the card and tied in a knot at the top.

Here is another image from Sweetpea plate #21. This wonderful plate contains 4 captivating images and 2 wonderful verses that can be used with these images or with any of the other wonderfulSweetpea images.
After stamping the image with black india ink I painted her with Twinkling H2O's and then trimmed around the image. I used a corner/photo punch in the lower left corner of the deep wine colored card. I cut a piece of lavender cardstock straight along the left and bottom edge, then tore a jagged edge diagonally, and punched the bottom left corner with the same corner/photo punch. I had some coordinating decorative scrapbook paper that looked great with this color combination. I cut a piece to fit into the lavender piece and again tore a jagged edge on the diagonal. It is difficult to see in this photo, but I ran a purple marvy marker around the 4 edges of the card and across the torn edges of the decorative scrapbook paper. I happened to have just a scrap left of the decorative paper so I slipped it behind the image before putting all the pieces together on the card front. I had the perfect fibers to add to this fantasy card, so I wrapped them once around the spine of the card and tied with a knot.

A Journal for Isabella

My good friend Sharon asked if I would create a journal for her granddaughter, Isabella. Lucky Isabella is going on a trip to Costa Rica with her family in January.... What Fun!!!
The size of the journal is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4". I cut the covers from mat board and painted them with various colors of blue (Isabella's favorite color) and silver paints. After they dried I used a set of acrylic stamps that appear to be various textures of snake skin. I stamped each side of the front and back covers using silver ink and then embossed with a sparkly type of embossing powder. I outlined the edges of each of the covers with Marvy Metallic Markers.... in blue, of course! Since I have loads of stuff on hand... I didn't have to look far for various embellishments to adorn the front cover. I bought the monkey a while ago... just because it was a good deal. And now, I had the perfect project to use it with. The metal letters for Isabella's name were silver, but I wanted them to stand out from the cover of the book so I colored them with alcohol inks. The letters used for 'Costa Rica' are brads; I cut the prongs off and used foam tape to attach them to the cover. The dragonfly and the keyhole are also brads that I cut the prongs off and then used glossy accents to attach.
After stamping and embossing the inside front cover I painted a grunge flourish and glued it to the inside. Then I found some metallic words that would work well for this journal. I colored them with the same acrylic paint I had used on the grunge flourish and glued them inside the front cover also.
I typed the information about when and where Isabella would be while in Costa Rica, and that the journal was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, and then printed it on yellow paper. I attached it to the first page of the journal along with the "Costa Rica" logo I found on the internet. I cut pages from bright blue cardstock to use for the first several pages of the journal.

I was fortunate to find a map for both areas in Costa Rica that Isabella will be exploring. What a great opportunity for her to visit this interesting country. After printing the maps, I mounted them on the bright blue cardstock in the front of the journal.







As I was researching the areas that Isabella would be visiting I happened upon some pictures of this volcano; it will be very near one of the resorts that she'll be staying at.
One of the metallic words I had laying around was "fantastic"; I thought it was a good choice for this page.




The inside back cover was also stamped with a texture stamp and embossed. These snake skin textures were fun to work with and seemed appropriate since Isabella is going to be vacationing in a rain forest.
Another grunge flourish was painted and glued to the cover as was a metallic word, "fun".
The pages of the book were cut from watercolor paper. Isabella will be able to journal her thoughts or draw pictures of her adventures.


And here is the back cover... nothing special here. The same acrylic colors were used to paint the back cover and once that was dry I stamped another one of my texture stamps and embossed.
The journal is now in 'Grandma's hands and will be given to Isabella just a few days before Christmas.. for her birthday.
I hope she enjoys it and is able to fill the pages with loads of fabulous experiences from her trip to Costa Rica.

Getting ready for the 'Holly Days'

I make lots of Christmas cards each year.... like about 75!!! For me, making all 75 exactly the same seems a little boring, so I like to make maybe 15 of each style, changing a little bit here and there to keep my interest.
For all of these cards I used the Christmas Holly stamp found on Sweetpea plate #12, and 2 of the fabulous vertical sentiments that are on Sweetpea plate #13. I also kept the color scheme basically the same - pink cardstock for the card, dark wine, deep mauve, or plum colored cardstock for the layering, white or light pink cardstock for the stamped image, and raisin Adirondack dye ink.
Also, for all of these cards (except the last one) I began by first stamping the vertical sentiment along the right side of the card and then stamped or placed the ribbon embellishment along the bottom edge. That way I knew how much space I had left for my focal point.
Quite some time ago, I had taken various colored sheets of cardstock and sprayed them with gold webbing spray. One those sheets happened to be dark wine, perfect for the color scheme of these 'Holly Day' cards. After stamping the sentiment and the holly on this first card I cut a piece of the dark wine cardstock to fit in the space left on the card front. I edged the piece of white card, that had been stamped with the Sweetpea holly image, with a gold krylon pen before attaching to the wine colored cardstock. After trimming the wine colored cardstock and punching all 4 corners with a decorative corner punch, I edged it with the gold krylon pen and then mounted the stamped piece onto it. Then I attached it to the card front.

Here's the second card... I mounted the holly stamped piece onto a slightly larger piece of gold cardstock and trimmed the gold to create an even border. Next, I mounted that piece onto a larger piece of web-sprayed dark wine cardstock. After using a decorative corner punch on all 4 corners of the wine colored piece I edged it with a gold krylon pen. I attached the piece to the pink card that had been stamped with the vertical sentiment along the right side, and a holly border stamp along the bottom of the card.






I had recently purchased a new decorative photo corner punch and wanted to put it to use. I cut a piece of the dark wine colored cardstock that was larger than the piece stamped with the holly image. I punched one corner, inserted the stamped piece, and trimmed the 4 sides to create an even border around the image. I edged all 4 sides with a gold krylon pen before attaching to a piece of mauve handmade paper. I trimmed the handmade paper with a straight edge scissors on 3 sides, but trimmed the right side with a decorative edge scissors. The vertical sentiment was stamped along the right side of the pink card and decorative ribbon attached to the bottom of the card.




Once again I started by stamping the vertical sentiment along the right side of a pink card. After doing that I attached the strip of decorative ribbon along the bottom of the card. I cut a piece of plum colored cardstock to fit within the newly created borders, but before attaching to the card front I trimmed the right side with decorative scissors and edged the entire piece with a gold krylon pen. I like the festive look that the krylon pen offers a card.
I cut a piece of gold cardstock slightly larger than the piece the holly was stamped on and layered both of those onto the plum cardstock. Can you tell by now that I like these color combinations???






I didn't use the vertical word stamp for this card. For the background I stamped versamark onto dark wine colored cardstock using a holly stamp that I have. I brushed gold 'powdered pearls' onto the card. The powdered pearls sticks to the ink and brushes off the uninked portion of the card. I edged both the background and the smaller piece with gold krylon pen. But before I attached the sweetpea holly image to the background I attached a piece of decorative ribbon vertically onto the background. The entire piece was then attached to a white card.

A 6-pack of birthday goodies!

I was rummaging through my craft area and found 2 of these 6-pack cartons that I had bought at a craft rummage a couple of months ago. An idea popped into my head and I was off and running. One of our granddaughter's has a birthday coming in November and this looked like a good way to 'package' her birthday gifts.


Alcohol ink seemed the best way to color this carton because the texture was somewhat glossy to the touch. After a few experiments with various colors of ink, I decided on these 4 (purple twilight, stonewash, pool, and silver). I used a felt applicator and blending solution to apply the inks to the surface.







I laid out my newspapers for this messy job and got to work applying the alcohol inks. In no time I was finished. It was easy since this carton folds pretty flat.



Here is a picture of the 6-pack carton after I finished applying the alcohol inks. Lizzy loves purple so this should be perfect to hold her birthday gifts. Actually, I like purple too!!







I pulled out some grungeboard letters and a couple of chipboard swirls, painted them with silver acrylic paint, and attached them with double sided tape to the side of the carton. I got out my fabric flower petals and Aileen's color mist sprays and kept spritzing on colors until I saw the colors I thought would look good. I attached one set of petals to this side of the carton with a rhinestone brad, and saved the other set of petals for the other side of the carton. I have some decorative ribbon, actually they are slightly padded fabric silver stars, and I attached to the bottom of the carton with glue dots.

I happened to have this purple embellishment in my stash, so I attached it to the side of the carton with some glue dots.








On this side of the 6-pack I stamped images and phrases from Sweetpea stamps. I used permanent markers to color in the images because they didn't show up well when I first stamped them onto the somewhat darkly-colored carton. I attached the second grunge swirl to the right of the handle, the puffy silver stars to the bottom, and another couple of fabric flowers to the right of the stamped images.
Ready to go!!! I wrapped various items with colored tissue and dropped them into the 6 slots of the 6-pack. Lizzy likes some of the shower gels and body creams available at Bath and Body Works; and they fit perfectly into this package. I think Lizzy will like it. I'm thrilled with how it turned out.
I have one more of these blank 6 packs left. Hmmm, what shall I do with that one??

Dive journal for Terri

I had made another dive journal for Terri before; it was for her recreational dive trips. This journal will be for her professional dive trips... when she is teaching students or has a client that hires her to dive.
I started with 2 pieces of mat board for the front and back covers. Before painting them with color I decided to paint them with gesso. I didn't know if this was necessary, but I had a bottle of gesso, so why not? It wouldn't hurt anything to have a layer of gesso under the paint.

The front covers were painted with lumiere paints and some acrylic paints. I just kept adding colors until I was happy with the finished look.
I brushed the edges of the covers with gold acrylic paint to get a finished look.
Both fronts and backs were painted with the same color combinations.

Here's a look at the completed journal....
After punching the holes and inserting the o-wires with the bind it all I was able to attach the letters to the front cover. The letters, except for the word 'with' are from Tim Holtz grunge board alphabet pack. I punched the word 'with' using my cuttlebug. I painted them with gold acrylic paint and attached them using my xyron. That letter 't' just fits on the cover!!!

On the left is the inside of the front cover. That is an actual picture of Terri while diving. I had typed many of the South Florida dive sites onto purple vellum and cut them into strips with decorative scissors. Some of them are attached to the inside of the front cover and there are more on other pages.
I found the 'scuba' logo on the internet and thought it appropriate to add to Terri's journal. On the right there is a plastic pocket; it is actually a badge protector. I punched it with the bind it all and included it in the journal. My intention was that Terri could store some of her diving business cards there.
The right side of this picture shows the first page. It contains a list of Terri's diving certifications... well almost all of them. She is also certified as a cave diver, so I may be doing another journal for her in the future so that she can document her cave dives in style.
I also found this 'cartoonish' representation of Terri that was on one of her dive buddy's websites.

On the back of the first page I attached some cute pics that I found while searching the internet. There are also more vellum strips with popular South Florida dive sites.
On the right side you can see the first of the journal pages. Each page contains the same info. It is data that Terri documents for each dive along with plenty of empty lines for jotting down any other information that she may want to remember.
This is the inside of the back cover. Like the inside of the front cover I attached strips of vellum that I had printed with some of dive sites that Terri has been to. And down the center of the cover I attached pictures of various sea creatures that she has seen on her many dives.
I'll be taking this with us when we go to Florida in November to visit Terri. I hope she likes the finished journal.

Frame It!!!!!

Here's a great idea for a gift... or, for yourself!
Start with this Magenta frame. I got mine from Sweetpea Stamps.
It is a square frame and has some depth to it. There is a core of foam between the front and back chipboard pieces.
You could color, paint, or stamp directly onto the frame itself, but here is what I decided to do....





I took an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of white glossy cardstock and applied alcohol inks (juniper, clover, sailboat blue, and silver) with a felt applicator tool. I applied glue to the frame and laid it down onto the back side of the glossy paper. I trimmed somecardstock from around the outside and using and exacto knife cut an 'x' on the inside of the frame. I folded the inside edges in and glued them down and then folded the outside edges in and glued them down also.


Now for the fun part...
I stamped a verse and a mermaid image from plate #3 onto white cardstock and colored with H2O's. I cut them out and glued them onto the frame in opposite corners. In the lower left corner I used glossy accents to apply a few small sea shells and micro beads. In the upper right corner I used glossy accents to adhere several pieces of colored sea glass and more micro beads.
Now, I just need to find a picture and frame it!!! Or, maybe I'll give it as a gift!!

ATC purse

This is a purse to hold ATC's. I created it for a swap called "What Women Want..."
I didn't have a template to create the purse, but used some measurements from 2 other items/templates that I had sitting around. I might do things a little differently if I ever make one of these again.
I used heavy duty decorative scrapbook paper for the purse. I inserted eyelets into the top and threaded a double strand of sheer pink ribbon through the eyelets to create the handle.
I outlined the flap with a gold krylon pen and then attached a pink rhinestone with a glue dot. Inside the flap I'll attach small pieces of velcro so the flap stays closed.
Here is a look at the inside of the purse. I created 6 pockets using light pink colored text weight paper.
I found some pink cardstock and cut pieces that would fit into the front and back inside. Before attaching them I stamped floral flourishes along the sides. I printed the phrases onto bright pink vellum and attached after placing the inserts into the purse.



Here are the ATC's that will go into the 6 pockets I created for the purse. I decided to go along the lines of a lighter theme vs a serious one.
There are tons of choices for this theme, but hopefully these will bring a smile to the person that receives it.
I already had the various background papers that I used for the ATC's. One is just a piece of blue cardstock, and the others are either pieces I had created or had received from others. The phrases were printed onto a sheer vellum and then attached to the ATC's using my xyron machine.

Post-It Notebooks

Check out the embellishments on the front cover of these notebooks....
I made them using clay and one of the Sweetpea stamps from plate #6. After rolling out the clay to approx 1/4" thick I pushed the stamp into the clay. Before baking the clay I brushed various colors of perfect pearls onto the clay using a small brush. I attached these great embellishments onto the front covers after the notebooks were bound.
To make the notebook I cut the front and back covers from mat board - approx 3 1/4 x 3 3/4".
I cut pieces larger than the covers from core' dinations cardstock. That is a cardstock that is a different color on each side, and when you sand one side of the cardstock the color from the other side will show through. I ran the core' dinations pieces through the cuttlebug using the script embossing folder. Then I sanded the piece so that the color from the other side of the cardstock piece would show through.
I covered the front and back covers with this embossed cardstock
I glued a piece of coordinating cardstock to the inside of both the front and back covers.
I bound the books using my Bind It All. Be sure to bind the front and back covers together before attaching the post-it note to the inside.
The great thing about this notebook is that when this packet of post it notes are used up you can just attach a new packet to the back cover of the notebook.

Altered Notepads

I made some altered notepads to be given as gifts. Once again I can't take credit for the idea... my friend, Maggi, had given me one of these and I just copied her idea. Thanks Maggi!!!
The front and back covers were cut from mat board and then covered with decorative scrapbook paper.
For these 2 notepads I used my cuttlebug dies to create the letters I attached to the front covers. The notepad on the left may be a little difficult to read... it says "make a list".


I used my bind-it-all to punch the front and back covers and to insert the o-wires.
The notepads used on the inside were found at Michael's in the $1.00 bins. I created 2 straps and attached them to the back covers. The notepads slip into the straps, making it easy to replace them when the notepad is used up.


Here are 2 more altered notepads I created. Once again I covered the mat board with decorative scrapbook paper and then added some embellishments . On the right I created a piece using my cuttlebug embossing folder and then framed it with another piece of metallic cardstock.
On the left I created an ATC size piece. The background of the piece is a multicolored watercolor type technique. I then stamped and embossed an image onto that adding a silver bead strung on some metallic thread. The ATC piece was then mounted onto a ribbon before attaching to the cover.
And here's a look at the inside of these 2 notepads. Once the recipient uses up the note pad, they'll be able to replace it with another. I hope that whoever receives these enjoys them.

Post It Note Booklets

I can't take the credit for this idea. I received one of these booklets from my friend Maggi a while ago. So when I needed some ideas for small gifts to create for a fund raiser some friends of ours are hosting, I thought these would work well.
Each booklet contains one of those 3 x 3" post it note packs. I cut pieces of mat board for the covers and then used decorative cardstock to wrap both the front and back covers. I used my bind it all and then added various types of embellishments on the cover of each.

Halloween Cards

Halloween is just around the corner and the Halloween stamp set from Sweetpea stamps is just the answer for some cute cards.
On these first two cards I added a few embellishments to spice up the cards. I found some cute little halloween colored pom poms and added some to these cards.
The small bat stamp that comes with this set is great as a background as shown in the orange card, or stamped in the foreground as seen in cards that follow.

Here are 2 more cards ....
Once I pulled out my halloween colored cardstock there was no end to the combinations of cards that could be made with this set of stamps.
I thought the 'happy halloween' stamp made a great background for the other images.
On some cards you'll see some 'doodling' along the edges. When I had a card that looked a little bare or unfinished I found that adding a little border with a marker worked wonders.
Finishing touches like ribbons or colored gems also added to the appeal of the card.

How about these 2 cuties....
On both cards I used some self stick 'halloween-colored' gems to add a little glitz.
The little witch looked good when I framed her with a piece of black cardstock. I used a ticket punch on the orange cardstock which gave me the perfect space for adding the colored gems. The orange ribbon provided the finishing touch for the card.
I combined the bat boy with some of the decorative scrapbook paper on the orange card. I used the colored gems in the 4 corners of the card.

Had enough yet???
Here's the 7th card I made from the Halloween set. Once I started I just couldn't stop!
On this one I used a combination of decorative scrapbook paper, 4 of the halloween stamps, and some markers to spice up the card.
How can Halloween be scary when this set of stamps is so cute???