She Is Extraordinary!

I made this "She Art" inspired card for my big Sis! She is officially retired today and I am so happy for her! She has put in years of dedication to her profession and I admire her strength and commitment. As this chapter in her life closes, I'm convinced that the next chapter for her will be extraordinary.

My older sister enjoys my handmade cards and especially cherishes the scrapbook pages I have created for her. My medium is definitely paper, but her craft is undoubtedly with fabrics. She is an extremely talented quilter and experiments with all sorts of fabric crafts. We love comparing how much the paper arts and fabric arts transition into each other often. Recently she shared a magazine with me that featured She Art using fabric and stitching. I showed her the canvas and paper She Art that I have created. So when I was making a card to congratulate her on retirement, I thought it would be fun to incorporate some She Art.

I used a Julie Nutting stamp to create the "She". Then I pulled in all sorts of mixed papers, washi tape, vellum and chipboard complements. I hope she likes her She Art card! I also wish her all the best in her future. I hope she gets to do something she truly loves and finds rewarding, especially since now she won't have such a highly demanding full-time job! Yeah Sis!!

Year Noted in a Box

As I was cleaning up my craft room I couldn't help but notice how my Birchbox boxes were piling up! I like decorating them to hold sets of coordinating cards and just happened to need a gift for someone. Lately Birchbox has been mailing out some really cute boxes in a hue of colors and patterns rather than just the kraft brown. For this box I did not need to cover it at all, I simply added a little sentiment to cover the Birchbox name. The colors and pattern of the box reminded me of the older Year>>Noted promotional papers. I also incorporated some of the gold foil stickers that were included with the special and some sparkly twine that was from a card workshop.

Outside of the box

Inside of the box I included a coordinated pen and some gold foil stickers to seal the envelopes.

 

The box contained a total of six different cards. The designs were inspired by a couple of workshops in the Wishes book.

 

For all the sentiments I used this newer stamp set from the Seasonal Expressions 2 book called Finding the Words. A great stamp set that does have about any phrase you are looking for!

 

I Like These Cards a Latte!

Treats of Friendship is one of the newest stamp sets found in the Seasonal Expressions 2 book. (page 15) It features images of a coffee cup, donut and tea cup. I love the quirky sayings and am finding all sorts of possibilities to use it!

Today I'm sharing cards using the coffee cup image, I like it a latte! I will share cards with the other images later this week!

This first one is my favorite! I used the Blossom papers, some of the new Boardwalk Washi tape for the sentiment, and some Glacier thick twine as a "cozy" for the cup. Soooooo cute!!!

I love the thick chocolate grosgrain ribbon on this card. It makes me think it might be a mocha latte!

Some more Glacier twine, Carnival Washi tape this time and don't you just love the drip of coffee on the rim of the cup. This is from the Junebug Puffies in the SE1 book.

Finally, coffee comes best in pairs! I was using up some older Year>>Noted papers and loved the softer colors with the cups. Just colored in the coffee bands and added a bit of Washi tape.

 

 

The Treats of Friendship stamp can be your one regular priced item in your cart that would then qualify you for the Deal of the Day! (C1616) $13.95

Peek~a~Boo Washi Tape

This card contains lots of on-trend products, especially the Washi tape! I made it in response to a creative challenge from the CTMH team to use Washi tape in a creative way. I liked the idea of cutting out a sentiment and having patterned paper and Washi tape peeking through from behind.

To make the banner I simply chose the shape on my Cricut and then in Design Space I chose my font for the hello and cut it out on the center of the pennant shape. For the background I chose random papers from various collections and grouped them with some gold dotted, lagoon heart and arrow Washi tape. Include the twine, gold shimmer trim and mini clothespin, this card is absolutely trendy!!

Year>>Noted Desk Calendar

Yesterday I held a quick class to create this handy desk calendar. The ladies had the opportunity to play with the Year>>Noted papers and stamp set. I cut a notebook shape from the Artbooking cartridge and stamped it like a piece of paper to write down New Year's goals or resolutions. {A great reminder of your goals throughout the year!} I ordered the little calendar's from Taylored Expressions and think they are a perfect size and nice readable font. The calendar is finished with a little banner and a puffie bird!

Dream Big

I love the trend of sparkly gold papers and embellishments recently. This month's special, Year>>Noted has a perfect color and pattern combination for adding such golden bits! It relates to several fashion trends in the retail stores also! My card today started with the sketch on Freshly Made Sketches. It is a very simple layered design on the upper half of the card, however I may have added a few more layers!!

As I mentioned earlier the papers come from the new Year>>Noted paper collection. You can see more about this special in the Current Specials tab at the top or click the image at the right. I used an older chipboard star that I covered with gold glitter paper. You can see just a little bit of gold dotted vellum in the background from an older monthly special. Finally, some gold sequin makes it perfectly polished!