Welcome Fall

It it beginning to feel like fall in the air-we even have started to see leaves changing.  I can't say I am sorry, the Summer raced by as usual.  I loved that this year just wasn't as hot as it can sometimes be.  Really nice weather hardly in the 90's.  I don't like to be hot let alone humid.  After this Summer's snow in June in Park City I think I was even more excited for pumpkins and falling leaves.  This year we have seen a lot of spiders and one really creeepy snake in the bushes.  My two least favorite critters...moving on.  I have been making fall themed cards and started on Christmas-this year I am going to send some out instead of just wistfully look at the pile of beautiful patterned paper and fun stamps!!  Plus I have been super motivated by an organizing class on line and as I have been studying my space/studio I have been trying to concentrate on how I work-which mostly is just a mess, I have everything out where I can see it and go thorough things.  And it has been fascinating to me to read about others and how they organized their rooms etc.  I basically know that I am a digger sort of organizer.  I like baskets that I can quickly put things in and retrieve things from-but I am also a person who organizes by theme and color.  Some people had studios to die for all matching furniture and great organizational items. I am far from there-but I am working on using what I have until I can have my fantasy craft area-which includes of course the fantasy elf who puts all the paper away at the end of every session...it is fantasy after all.  I love to have great coordinating paper to work with and enjoy searching through the stacks at my local scrapbook store for fun treasures.  Part of my goal has been to use up my paper and I have done pretty good- I am now down to the last stragglers who don't match with anything-remember the days when companies were trying to out do themselves in the colors that didn't match with anything but there own line?  I have a few of those floating around.  I think we should have a challenge, like the horrible Christmas sweater challenge only with the worst paper we have that we can't seem to match with anything challenge?  I bet we could see some really special cards made up!  I have decided that some of that paper is destined to be donated to schools who don't care what it looks like, they are just happy to have it! 

I got way off track there I wanted to say that I have been inspired by going through all my patterned paper and organizing it-I found some old favorites and some new favorites and have been even inspired to create-I still really like coming home with some new supplies and putting them away and imagining all the fun I am going to have creating with them!  I just got a new die from Die-Namics
from My Favorite Things.  It is blue prints die # 16 and makes tabs and mini pennants I can't wait to play with that-I have been forcing myself to finish a few other projects though before I immerse myself in my new die. I think new things inspire us right?  We come home with our bag of goodies and start creating-I love it!  Welcome Fall, the end of Summer and the beginning of pumpkin everything! 

Wedding Card/Gift Card Holder

I have been working on a design for a while and I think I have finally come up with something that I think will work pretty well.  It is always nice to have a card that does double duty and I think that a wedding card should do that.  In the time when most wedding gifts have been reduced to a nice 2.5 x 3 gift card I wanted to be able to give the gift card but also write a quick note of congratulations!  I used some great wedding paper and used my new Sizzix die little bag-love this die!  You are going to see lots of little things coming up made from this die....  I also made a couple of birthday cards. I am admitedly a plain jane kind of card maker.  I really like fun folds but I like my cards to fit in 4.25x 5.5 A2 envelopes so there isn't an extra postage cost.  Plus I don't like to waste paper. 

So for this birthday card I made a belly band which holds the card shut because it opens from the bottom and has a surprise inside (ok peeking out)  I have seen all this fun cards with floating parts and thought balloons would work well. I embossed the front and added the belly band just for embellishment.  My next birthday card used this darling girl from Pure Innocence holding the giant cupcake.  I guess I may never "grow up" when it comes to cupcakes.  I enjoy making them and especially using them in fun cards.  I fussy cut her dress and colored the rest of her with copic markers adding the sentiment wish big.  I embossed the front of the card with a tiny dot and cut the pink and orange papers out of spellbinders dies.

 I know that we are in to zucchini season not strawberries but a zucchini thank you card just didn't work for what I wanted here... So the sweet strawberries it was.  You can never have enough thank you cards on hand. I seem to have this love affair with embossing folders, don't I?  I just like the dimension and finished look that it gives to cards.  I guess it is like those fancy edged scissors that we all used to by-only now it is embossing folders.  I guess once you make cards you really start to collect items. Copic colors, stamps, dies, paper, the list is long and probably varies for each of us! My last card is also a thank you card and uses a sunny watermelon on a wait for it-black embossed panel.  The black makes the watermelon just pop.  Yes I considered my other favorite polka dot... I am already obsessing about fall and Halloween cards and working on a whole slew of gift card holders.  I just love the packaging that finishes the gift. 

Bendi Cards

I have had so much fun making these bendi fold cards!  I saw them posted on various blogs and Splitcoast stamper and I had to play around with them.  I love fun folds in card making it just is a fun element to add dimension and pizazz to cards.  I also happened to get a Cameo Silhouette for Christmas and now with ease can cut many variations like this little fence which I absolutely love!  I am ready for fall.  I love pumpkins and the stamp from My Favorite Things Pure innocence is just darling.  I colored her with Copic markers and fussy cut her clothes.  Gave the pumpkin a couple of extra layers and some good old 3D tape to give it even more dimension-  I shrunk down a little wheel barrow and added more pumpkins with some ink and pen work for embellishment, a tiny acorn and some small leaves and my outside was done.  The inside sentiment was easy and a few more pumpkins and I was done.  I am working on a Halloween one for Inkblots class and I can't wait.  I have been collecting various fun elements and trying to stay within the 4.25 x 5.5 card size (can be difficult for me...) I am almost there and will be posting more photos soon!