Purses... to hold cards

I have to thank my friend Maggi for finding this purse idea; it is on another person's blog.
I used the pattern provided there and followed her instructions. I cut out the pieces for 6 purses and applied clear tar gel to all the card stock, letting it dry overnight before proceeding. I ran the colored card stock for the purse bodies and the straps through the cuttlebug to get the texture you see in the pictures. I cut a piece of black 12 x 12 card stock in the pattern of the purse for each of these to act as a liner that the colored card stock was glued onto. It was necessary to do this since the piece for the top and back of the purse had to be cut into sections so that it would fit through the cuttlebug. Here is the blog I got the information from http://theresasgottahaveblingblog.blogspot.com her Aug 29, 2010 posting.
On the left the body of the purse is a very light brown and the straps are dark brown. On the right the body of the purse is a medium brown and the straps are light brown.

Here are two more of the purses...
On the left I used rust colored card for the body of the purse and brown for the straps.
On the right I used a beige colored card for the body and dark brown for the straps.
My camera has been acting up... we are in the process of looking for a new one. Besides the camera 'freezing up' on us it also does not show the true colors of the items. When I look at these 2 purses with my eyes the colors seem different that what I am seeing in this picture. They look better in real life!!
And here are the final two purses...
On the right I used a red brick colored card stock for the purse and black for the straps.
On the left I used light grey card stock for the purse and stamped a snake skin over the entire piece with black ink before applying the clear tar gel. The straps were made using black card stock.
I really like how these turned out and am looking forward to filling them with about 5 or 6 handmade cards to give as gifts.
Next time I'm going to make the purse 2 inches wider and I'm going to experiment with something other than clear tar gel.

Completed the August challenge

Here is the collection of items that Bonnie gave us at our August 'shoebox' night. Now, our challenge, or should I call it homework, is to use these items to make something. Jane also brought something for all of us, but it isn't pictured here. It was a small slim gold colored box. You'll see it further on in this post.
I finally got inspired to use these items and create some 'stuff'. Well, I used all of it except for that piece of red and silver foil!!
The red corrugated paper in the upper left is perforated across the middle in a wave pattern.
Look at the background of this card and you'll see the diamond pattern piece that Bonnie provided us with. I layered that on top of a piece of black card stock that is slightly smaller than the grey card I started with. The 2 silver glitzy pieces were taken off another card that a friend of mine received and then saved for me to recycle. I added the black and white diamond pattern ribbon at the top of the card to coordinated with the background piece and add some interest.



It may be a little difficult to see, but this is the blue card with the diamond pattern. I attached a piece of blue vellum on top of the card before also attaching the sizzix architectural corners and the nestability flowers. I stamped the saying onto the blue vellum with india black ink. And I attached a pearl to the center of each flower.













The red corrugated paper that Bonnie gave us reminded me of waves... therefore, I thought of fish!! I embossed the fish with some embossing glitter and after applying the red corrugated paper to the top and bottom of the card I found this blue rick rack ribbon to add. I added some glossy accents in the bubbles above each of the fish.


This is the slim gold box that Jane brought to our August stamp night. The box is very slim and could be used to hold a gift card, cash, or maybe some stamping embellishments for a stamping buddy!!
The rhinestone applique was an item that Jane also gave us at Maggi's Stampin' Up party in September. The label is cut from a nestability die and I taped it onto the box before adhering the rhinestone flower.
I'm glad to finally complete all my challenges from our August stamp night. I'm sure Bonnie or someone will have more for us when we meet in October.

Christmas Cards for 2011

My goal is to finish my Christmas cards before the end of October... because I won't have time in November to work on them. It took a while to get my brain into the spirit of Christmas cards. I remembered a 'reverse nestabilities' technique that my friend Maggi showed me. Maggi found the technique on Stamp TV by Gina K. I went to that website and watched the video and was hooked. All but one of my cards shown in this post use that technique. My photos don't show off the dimension of these cards. The top 2 layers are attached to the card front using a foam adhesive to give the look of a shadow box.
In this card I used my 'newest' christmas stamp... and some decorative christmas card stock that I bought last year, but didn't use up. Another goal of mine is to "use" a lot of the "stuff" that I've been hoarding over the years that I've been involved in this crazy hobby of card making and mixed media.
The stamp I used for this card is actually larger than what you see through the layers, but it worked well for this reverse nestability card. I did use some watercolor pencils on the tree and the holly in the lower left corner to add just a touch more color. I used deckle edge nestabilities to cut both layers and the inside layer was edged with a gold krylon pen. A decorative corner punch was used on the outside layer. A piece of printed vellum on the bottom seemed a good addition to spice up the card.
In this card I used the same stamp used above. And, I used the same types of card stock, but I reversed the colors; in this one the card base is green and the inside layer is red. Also, I used a classic rectangle nestability on the inside layer rather than the deckle edge rectangle.















Here is that stamp again with different card stock than used in the previous cards I made. I still have more Christmas papers in my stash!!! I guess I'll be using them for my next years cards too.








This card is another using the 'reverse nestability' technique. I really like the look of this technique... can you tell.. I've made lots of Christmas cards using it! And once again I focused on using some things I've had in my stash for some time now..... the white snowmen trim at the bottom of the card and the snowman in the center of the circle. That snowman in the center is ribbon!!! It is a wide ribbon with about 3 different types of snow men printed on the ribbon separated by red and white checks. So I just cut off one of the squares, one snowman, for each card I made. The red card front was run through the cuttlebug with the snowflake embossing folder. After I did that I used my glitter gel pen to outline the snowflakes; it gave the card just the glitz it needed. I used the scalloped circle nestability for the red and black card stock.
I have quite a few nestability "left overs"... like the black scalloped circles I used on this card. But first, I ran my red card front through the cuttlebug with the snowflakes embossing folder and then I ran a strip of clear vellum through with a snowflake border. I used a glitter gel pen to outline the snowflakes on the red card and to apply dots in the scallops of the black circles. The cute snowmen faces were stamped with black ink and colored with markers before running them through the cuttlebug with the nestabilities scalloped circle.. just one size smaller than I used on the black card stock.

PHEW!!!! Done with 2011 calendars

Yup, MORE calendars, but now I'm done... I think!!
These are in the style of easel cards. I really liked the calendars I had made earlier using the cuttlebug embossing folder - numbers... so, I came up with another design idea so that I could use it again. The numbers adhered to the front panel of the calendar were cut from a cuttlebug alphabet die set. The saying on the base of the card was typed and then cut out using a nestabilities die. I found those large fancy jeweled brads at the Oriental Trading Company website.

2011 calendars AGAIN!

Here is another design in which I used the easel card style. This idea for a calendar came to me by way of the saying...'Take time to smell the flowers'. I remembered having this sparkly flowery paper and that's all it took to come up with this design. The flowers were cut from nestabilities dies and the butterflies from a cuttlebug die and embossing folders.

More 2011 calendars

I made a couple of calendars like this one. I have lots of decorative paper in various sizes.... it's about time I start using it and not worry about 'using it up'. The letters were created using a cuttlebug alphabet die set and then I ran them through a xyron sticker maker to apply the adhesive.

More calendars for 2011

I made several flip calendars where I created a page for each month of the year and then bound the 12 pages together using my Bind-It-All. I had purchased a pack of scrapbook paper that contained one 12 x 12" sheet for each month. I also purchased a set of ribbons that were printed with the various months. Using that paper, the ribbon, some cuttlebug embossing folders, and other embellishments I may have had laying around, I managed to make 8 different calendars. Here are pages representing each of the months.