Close To My Heart

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Washi Christmas Card

Since Washi tape seems to be so popular these days, i thought I'd try and create a card using it. Perfect timing too considering I'm in such a time crunch. A day after Christmas and I'm still trying to get the last one done. So here goes my quick and easy Washi Christmas card using a variety of Christmas themed designs. I believe they are most Recollection brand tapes. I used Cricut Winter Wonderland cartridge for the sentiment.


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Tree Card

In a time crunch, simple and fast have to be it. Here I cut a tree using Cricut's Merry and Bright cartridge, some leftover paper again from Simon Says Stamp December 2012 card kit and embellished it with some red rhinestones from Recollections.


Snowflake Christmas Card

Next year I should know better and start making these Christmas cards early. Now I understand why the Christmas kits start going out around September/October! It's a couple of days before Christmas and I'm still cranking out Christmas cards for some friends and family! Fast and easy cards are the goal now as I strive to get these to the recipients in time for Christmas.

I used a snowflake design from Cricut Winter Wonderland cartridge, some leftover paper from Simon Says Stamp December 2012 card kit, and stamped using Stamps of Life lights4Christmas stamp set. I used some white glitter on the sentiment so it looks nice against red card stock.


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Season's Greetings!

I've been slowed down lately so I only managed to do another Christmas card using Simon Says Stamp's December 2012 Card Kit. I still have a handful of paper left from that kit to possibly make 4-5 cards so I'm trying to go along and finish as much as I can. Christmas is around the corner and I'm probably already late in sending these out. Here's another one I made today. I used a Silhouette design card layout for this one. I embossed the center piece of white paper and used Cricut embossing folder with snowflakes design as a background for the trees. I left the bottom part out so I can stamp my sentiment there.


Teacher Birthday Card

It was my daughter's teacher's birthday last Sunday and I thought we'd make a card for her. I used Sizzix Framelits Die Set from Stephanie Barnards's Stamps of Life. I used My Mind's Eye as my base card and some DCWV scraps I have to layer both sides of the flap. I inked the edges of the sentiment piece with Tim Holtz Marigold ink to add some effect to it.

I am in love with these Sizzix Framelits. They are so cool and you can make a nice card in minutes!

Welcome Eric!

A friend of my husband's recently welcomed a baby boy and he asked me to make a welcome card for the little one. Here's what I made using a design from Silhouette.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Martha Stewart Craft Station

One of the deals I've scored last Black Friday week at Amazon was a Martha Stewart Crafts Station. I wasn't really planning on buying one, nor was I even aware of its existence but the deal was too good to pass. I read the reviews, watched some YouTube demo videos and decided, what the heck I really want one too. I ordered it on Monday and by Tuesday it was already waiting for me at our doorstep. I was so excited with my new toy!

I've been using it all week for card making, and so far I've only used the sizing template. I have to say I was very disappointed with it. First of all, the blade that came with the craft station was dull. I have to exert so much effort and run it at least twice to get a good cut. That was a big disappointment. I have a Cricut paper trimmer that's at least 5 years old and the blade's still working fine. Second is the light box feature. Sure it's cool to have light underneath but it does not really work on most card stocks. I've tried different brands of paper, card stock, and if it's not white, you won't even see the sizing guide. There is also no indicator on where the blade sits, or when the slider stops so getting an accurate cut is a bit tricky. I always came up a little bit short on my cuts and that part was frustrating.

However, there are also some things I love about it. I love that it looks like it's built with quality in mind. The tempered glass surface sure makes cutting easier, and you don't have to worry about scratches and the likes. I love all the interchangeable templates, though I have yet to try them all. I also love how easy it is to snap on and off the blade housing from the ruler, and add the stamping guide. The templates that came with the package all look useful, I'm hoping one day I'll have the time to try them all. Overall, for the price I got this for, I really can't complain much. Lucky I got it on sale, because if not, I probably wouldn't spend more than $50 for it.

Christmas is Around the Corner!

It's December 1 already and I'm just starting to make Christmas cards! I know I'm late but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Here's what I've completed so far, and I used Simon Says Stamp's December 2012 Kit. Yes, you read that right. I bought the December 2012 Kit a long time ago in anticipation of this year's Christmas cards, and I love their kit. I have completed 6 cards so far and I still have enough supplies to probably do another 6-8! I actually have this year's December Kit and Holiday Special but I guess I will be saving some of those for next year!



 



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Friday, November 29, 2013

Missing You Mom

I sent a care package to my family a couple of months back and thought I'd sneak in a handmade card for my dearest mother. I miss her so much and I hope the card made showed her just how much I wish she's here with me.

I used some of the materials from Simon Says Stamp's January 2013 Card Kit. The stamp came from that kit, and I also used some of the leftover white woodgrain card stock. I used some other border stamp to add a decoration underneath, and beside it I placed a pop up flower die cut from my Silhouette Cameo. I also did scallop borders on the red piece of card stock I used to accent the white wood grain card base.


Loads of Sweets for My Sis

It was my sister's birthday a couple of months ago and I knew from the very start what kind of birthday card I was going to make. Given that she loves sweets so much, I wanted to give her a card overloaded with lots of sweets and goodies. Her love of sweets is what inspired me to make this design.

I used Darice's embossing folder to emboss the white card stock with candy theme, and I used my Silhouette cameo to make the birthday cake. My sister loves Vanilla so I made a cream colored card stock as "cake base". I also used the Silhouette to make a scallop edge on the card. Lastly I used pop dots to make the cake stand out.

I'm hoping she can 'eat' her heart out with this super sweet birthday card!


Masculine Birthday Card

As if thinking of a creative card design isn't hard enough, I have to come up with a masculine birthday card design. I have to admit it took me quite some time, and even then at the end of the day I wasn't quite sure if this was good enough or not. A very close guy friend of mine had this birthday last August and this is what I came up with.

I used regular cream colored card stock, embossed dark brown Bazzill card stock with Cricut Happy Birthday embossing folder, added a strip of the same cream colored card stock with embossed Happy Birthday on it, making it look like it just flowed from the brown area. Then I used the most "masculine"card stock I can find as a background and die cut a scallop square. My friend is an engineer so I figured a card stock that looks like graphic paper was quite appropriate. I then stamped a birthday cake and attempted to color it with my Spectrum Noir markers. I'm also new to this so my coloring is far from even being right nor perfect. At the end of the day, what matters is my friend loved the card, and the time and effort I put into it.



Gift Birthday Card

One of my co-worker's birthday was coming up and I decided to try my new found hobby and create a handmade card for her instead of sending her the usual store bought ones. I'm sort of already getting the hang of it, learning some new tips and tricks on stamping, inking edges and making tags. I used mostly scrap paper from my scrapbooking projects. I inked the edges of the gift body, and embossed the 'ribbon' part just to add some texture to the card. After that I stamped "Happy Birthday to You" on the gift tag to make this card look as realistic as a gift box. I used some orange (same shade as the ink edge) twine to tie that together.


Card Kits

As I got more into card making, I saw sites like Simon Says Stamp and thought I'd try one of their card kits for practice. It's a pretty nice luxury to be able to have these kits, as all the materials you need are already included. This was my first try so I pretty much followed everything on their instructions. It was so much fun to be able to create a real card using really nice and heavy card stock and very unique and artistic papers. It was also through this that I got introduced to the world of stamping. And as they say, the rest is history!
Below is a card sample from Simon Says Stamp's January 2013 Card Kit.


There's Always A First

I've been into scrapbooking for a long time now, I'd say at least a decade, but I've never really blogged about my previous work/projects. It's always been a hobby of mine, but since I work full time, more often than not, long periods of time would go by when I don't create anything.
Couple of years ago I had a baby and I wanted to document as much as I can about her life through scrapbooking. In the process, I stumbled upon card making. And as if finding the time to scrapbook is not hard enough, now I have a new hobby taking up more of my time - card making.
It takes a whole lot of creativity different from scrapbooking to create a beautiful card that you can feel confident in sending to someone you know. I've been trying my hand at card making for a few months now, and below are some examples of what I've created so far.
my very first hand made card - a sympathy card for a neighbor done with leftover supplies from my scrapbooking projects

a simple card using Cricut Creative Card cartridge - gave this as a going away card to a dear friend of mine who decided to leave work


a simple thank you card using my Silhouette Cameo - gave this to my sister in law  

using Cricut embossing folder and Cricut Disney Tinkerbell Cartridge - I gave this thank you card to my sis in law who gifted me this Cricut cartridge

a simple Happy Birthday card made out of my Silhouette Cameo 

Still trying to get the hang of this new hobby so please bear with my 'crude' designs. Hopefully the more I make the better I can get. And that I'll have time to remember the supplies I used and keep blogging. Thanks for stopping by!


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