Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Tea Bag Folding Baby Cards

Yes, I know I'm a little card crazy but these are so dang fun! Every sheet of paper I look at I wonder what kind of card I could make from it. It also frustrates me that there is such a limited supply of non-gender papers out there for babies. That makes it really hard for me to have a stash on hand for the unknowns. I hope you like these.

This set of cards is designed from the same fold, but with completely different looks as to how you put the pieces together. I alternated yellow ducks and yellow gingham squares then mounted them on yellow dotted paper. I used the Texana Designs "Congratulations" stamp for the sentiment.
This design is teabag folding using a kite fold. Again I tried to stay with the peach and greens so that it could be used for a baby boy or baby girl. I found printed scrapbook paper that had teddy bears in quilted squares. I used those as my top layer of the medallion and a coordinating scrapbook paper for the back layer. A matching brad and mounted on a coordinating mat was perfect. I can't decide if I like the monochromatic peach card or the contrasting green and yellow card. One has the Texana Stamp embossed in white on it, the other uses the Class A Peel sticker sentiment. Both are lovely.

This medallion uses still a different tea bag fold. I love this fold because it is so versatile. This sample has both arms folded down, but you can fold only one arm down or don't fold either down. They are put together the same way, but each look different. I ran out of time so I didn't make samples of each of those. The patterned paper has baby umbrellas on a pastel yellow. And again used the Congratulations stamp from Texana designs to finish the card. This kit is available in pink, blue or green.

I made instructions and kits for each of the designs above for a craft show this past weekend. I have some left. If you are interested in purchasing a kit for the card, please let me know.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Texas Shaped Iris Folded Cards


With a little help from Jimmye Sue at Texana Designs, we developed a card kit with a Iris Folded Texas shape. We used the wonderful stamps from Texana Designs, "Stamps with a Texas Flair". We made some that are blank for you to personalize. We made some that wish you a "Merry Texmas". I hope you like them. I just love the way that the paper changes the looks completely. I created card kits so that anyone can do it!

I was even more thrilled that my mom sat down and helped me make her Christmas cards. She's always been crafty, but left the paper crafts to me until this year. Way to go mom! See all nine below. She suspects she will have difficulty deciding who gets what.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

We have just returned from a long weekend at the ranch visiting my folks. It was sure nice to go home for a bit and even nicer yet to be of assistance. This year Jillian and I helped Mom (aka Nana) decorate the big tree for our first Christmas at the ranch in their home.

This year instead of giving my mom handmade Christmas cards, I showed her how to make make iris folded cards. We made enough for her hand delivered cards on Friday. I have pics but not ready for posting yet. That will be the next entry.

Have a great week!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Blue Christmas Trees



How many blue Christmas trees have you seen? I love the elegent look of these cards. I tried various bling and accents. Gonna have a hard time choosing which I like best!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

More Christmas Tree Cards





Just look what happens when you keep the same style, but change the paper. Everything seems to change. I used the same technique as described earlier in my Green Christmas Tree Post. This time I used my corner punch for the mat and used coordinating paper for the large mat. The light colored tree is made from Heidi Grace papers that are shimmery and have some sparkle. I added red rhinestones to finish off the project. Then I came across my favorite Christmas paper from last year by Daisy D's and had to try my hand at it again. The bold paisleys really change the look of it. I used my Gelly Roll Stardust pens to add some glitter to the paper. I did not have rhinestones, so I bought red pearls to put on the tree. They look sharp too!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Iris Folded Cards

Oh man, I forgot how fun and easy iris folding is. I used my Cricut to cut out a Christmas ornament and then used a generic iris fold pattern from Circle of Crafters website (get pattern here). I used my corner adorner punch for snazzy matting. And one large bling for some sparkle. I love the way they turned out. I may have to make a few more. I made up about 6 kits for the local craft show this weekend. We'll see if anyone else likes them as much as I do.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

See the Perfect Bow?

Here's two samples from one of my tea bag folding kits. I used my fork to tie a perfect little bow. I'm just so proud of myself! Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Ribbon + Fork = Perfect Bow

Pam shared this trick with me some time back. I didn't believe it could be so easy to tie a bow until I finally tried it. She found it online somewhere one time, but neither of us could find it again. I like to give credit to scraplifting when I can, but if not, let me just say "this is not my original idea". The fork, ribbon and pictures are mine.

I've tied lots of bows, but not many as uniformly as I can with this technique. The fork makes a small bow, but I've modified the technique using a wide tooth comb or anything with equal space tongs. Folks may laugh when they see a fork and a comb in my scrapping tool kit, but once they try this... they stop laughing.

Have fun!



Thanks Pam for posting this YouTube demo

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Green Christmas Tree Cards


Yep, I'm at it again. Christmas is just around the corner and I've been making cards. I just love these tea bag folded Christmas trees.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Wedding Layouts


I love to create wedding layouts. I have some more that I need to work on. I thought if I posted one it would motivate me to finish the others. Check back and I'll add a few more pictures in the near future.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Craft Show

We are back home from the craft show. The day was beautiful and the sales were pretty good too. It was good to visit with the shoppers, some familiar faces and some new ones. I had super help at my booth with my mom and my dd. Thanks to both for all the support. Thanks also to the support behind the scenes (you know who you are). And get this, our booth took 3rd place in the creativity/decorating prize.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

More Squish Book Kits



I am pulling together the last of my kits for the craft show this weekend. I thought I would post two other squish books I've got. I had to borrow football pictures from a co-worker for one sample, and I love how it turned out.

If you are in Eldorado, come by and check out the booth.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Here Comes a Squishy Halloween

I have been at the squish book creation table again. This time I am using the Imaginisce Hallowhimsy collection of papers and stickers. Now I just need some fun spooks and goblins pictures to finish the book. Less than 2 weeks to wait! But who wants to wait that long... maybe I'll print up some photos of my dd through the years. Halloween has always been one of her very favorite holidays. Check back and see if I update the blog with the finished project.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Photo Cards

I am getting ready for a craft show next weekend. My sweetheart has taken some of the best butterfly pictures I've ever seen, so I thought I'd make up some note cards. Hope everyone else likes them as much as I do ;) If not, I'll have to be sending lots of hand written notes. Back to the job at hand...

Monday, October 13, 2008

Great Weekend

It was a long weekend for my school kid. She stayed up way too late Thursday night making me a birthday card. She even composed a poem for me as she looked to Robert Service's poetry for inspiration. She's a keeper.

Friday was my day. My dd even helped organize my scrapbook room. We got all of the cardstock paper sorted and stacked neatly. And lots of the patterned paper sorted by categories. There's still lots to do about organizing, but that one thing was the top of my list. Now if I can just keep at it!

My mom came in from "far left Texas" as my sweetie calls it. She was here Saturday and Sunday. There never seems to be enough time, but we did enjoy our time. DD has a birthday next week, so we did a double celebration on Saturday.

Now the long weekend is over and it's back to the grind. Maybe I'll be able to crank out more scrapbooking now that I can find the paper.

See ya soon!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Stamped Calendar

I finally finished one of the desk calenders tonight. I stamped, embossed and painted unique Texas images, sometimes added bling or brads, matted the image, added a printed monthly calender and used the bind-it-all to create a flip desk calendar. I purchased an acrylic clear easel for display purposes.

My plan was to give it to my mother for a Christmas gift, but I loved it it so much I didn't want to wait. So, I added three more pages for 2008 and gave it to her early. I know she will enjoy it every day.

Idea, inspiration and instruction from
Jimmye Sue Mitchell of Texana Designs

Stamps from Texana Designs
texana.designs@yahoo.com
www.texanadesigns.com

Painted with Twinkling H20s
www.luminarteinc.com

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Kite Fold Cards

I love making tea bag folding cards. I found a bunch of cool sites online by doing a google search for "free tea bag tiles".

The thanks card tiles are were printed from www.masikatiwebdesign.com. I added a little bling and a glittered brad, centered it on a circle then a square and added a sentiment all on a white card.


The boo card tiles were found on Heather's Tea Bag Tiles -> Larger Tiles -> Halloween. I printed different jack-o-lanterns and alternated them between plain tiles. I added orange and purple bling and a brad. I used the Cricut to cut the shadowed sentiment.

If you don't know how to fold the tiles, do a google search for tea bag folding instructions. There are great sites available. Thanks for sharing.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Like Father, Like Son


I wanted to use that great school papers from My Town Papers. I found a picture of my dad's football team from 1960 when he was a senior and one of my brother's sophomore year. I thought they would go great on the layout. I used my SCAL to cut an eagle and used the Cricut Colors to outline the eagle. I stamped a fighting eagle from my collection of stamps from Texana Designs. I love the simple clean lines of the layout.

I will be showing off some of my layouts and creations in Eldorado in a couple of weeks at a craft fair there. If you are in the neighborhood stop by the 3rd Annual Schleicher County Nurshing Home 2008 Bean Cook-off, Saturday, Oct 25th, 8 am - 5 pm at the Schleicher County Nursing Home Court Yard.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Mothers and Daughters


Last weekend I finished an 8x8 layout for a circle journal that I'm participating in. The theme of the book was "On Being A Girl". I didn't only want to honor my daughter but also our maternal line. I was able to compile five generations of mothers and daughters into one photo. I played with photoshop and added all sorts of fun elements to the photo. It took lots of time, but turned out much better than the composite photo I did of my dad and five generations of men. That one was my first attempt and I didn't add any photoshop embellishments to it. I may have to go back and redo that photo when I have time. The color choices for this layout were a stretch for me. The album owner wanted greens, pinks and purples so I went the extra mile and tinted the photo when I had it printed at Costco. I hope she likes it when the circle journal finally gets home again.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Eldorado Eagles Word Book

Here is a sample of a class kit that I have put together for the Eldorado Eagles. It is using a custom word book from Heart of Texas Studio, customs papers & stickers from My Town Papers and custom stamps from Texana Designs. Not shown is the green and white Eldorado Eagles ribbon I ordered from Ribbon Warehouse. I love the creativity of the people around me. Thanks for the inspiration and products Pam, Marie & Jimmye Sue! Keep up the good work!