Happy New Year!

Far sooner than it feels like it should be, 2010 is coming to a close. A lot has happened this year, from moving back to Canada after a short stint in the States, to being unemployed for the first time in my adult life, to planning a wedding, and marrying the man I not only love fully and completely, but respect and admire as well.

It seems fitting, therefore, to give 2010 the sendoff it deserves. My husband and I are hosting a New Year’s party tonight, with good friends, sparkling wine and, of course, a very loud and exuberant countdown to 2011.

When deciding on what to make for today’s post, I started to brainstorm ideas that reminded me of that one moment – the one where the clock has reached midnight, the sparkling wine is uncorked, and people are hugging and kissing while wishing each other the best in the coming year. After rejecting several ideas, I decided to stick with simple and elegant, resulting in the card above.

Materials:

·      Sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” black cardstock

·      Sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” white text paper

·      4” x 4” piece of silver wrapping paper

Supplies:

·      Computer

·      Printer

·      Paper trimmer

·      Bone folder

·      Scissors

·      Glue stick

·      Glue runner

·      Small star punch

Directions:

1.     Using design layout software*, create a letter-sized page with 1/2” margins. Place guidelines at 4” and 4 1/2” on both the x and y axis. Create a 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” text box and place it at the top right-hand corner of the page, at 1/2” on the x axis and 1/2” on the y axis. Write in the text “Happy New Year” in the font of your choice and resize it to fit the space. Centre the text both horizontally and vertically in the text box.

2.     Create a guideline at 5” on the x axis to create a 3 1/2” wide size guide for your champagne flutes. Place your flute images in the space (I used two of the blue glass of this image here – I flipped one of the glasses to create a mirror image).

3.     Print the page. Use the paper trimmer to cut the text side of the paper into a 4” x 4” box. Set aside. Trim the glasses so that they are in a small square.

4.     Trim the black card stock to 10” wide by 5” tall. Keep the 3 1/2” wide scrap. Fold the card stock in half to create a 5” x 5” square card.

5.     Use the glue runner to attach the silver wrapping paper to the front panel of the card and the white paper with the text to the inside right panel.

6.     Lightly glue the glasses image to the scrap of black card stock. Cut out the glasses separately, then carefully peel off the white paper from the cutouts. If the paper won’t peel off completely, try to get enough off so that you can’t see the white paper from the other side of the card stock.

7.     Glue the glasses on to the front of the card, overlapping them as shown.

8.     Punch four stars out of the remaining scrap of black card stock. Glue them to the four corners of white text paper on the inside right panel.

*If you don’t have design layout software, use text and image boxes in Word, making sure that the flute glasses image isn’t bigger than 3 1/2” x 3 1/2” and the text box isn’t bigger than 4” x 4” (including margins).

Card Tricks will be back on Monday with creative and fun ways to ring in 2011.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve! Here’s hoping that 2011 is fantastic for each and every one of you.

Happy New Year, everyone!

No post today...

Image by Photo8.com

As a result of multiple days of Christmas craziness* (including a Christmas Day that started out with fire!), I have not had a spare moment to work on a new post for this morning. Card Tricks will return on Friday, with an, appropriately enough, New Year's Eve themed post.

*Despite said holiday-induced insanity, Joseph and I have had a lot of fun with our family and friends, and have never appreciated their love and support more!

Happy Birthday, Wesley!

 

 Today is a very special day for a very special nephew – it’s Wesley’s 7^th birthday! To honour this special occasion, I made him a birthday card, featuring a little skating penguin (Wesley’s quite the skater) with a message for the birthday boy.

Supplies:

·      Sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” dark blue card stock

·      Sheet of 8 1/2 x 11” white text weight paper

Equipment:

·      Paper trimmer

·      Bone folder

·      Glue stick

·      Glue runner

·      Snowflake punch

·      Skating penguin stamp

·      Black ink stamp pad

·      Markers and/or pencil crayons

·      Blue glitter glue

·      Paint brush

·      Wax paper

·      Black felt pen

Directions:

1.     Use the paper trimmer to cut the dark blue card stock in half to get two pieces measuring 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” each. Trim the white text weight paper into two 3 3/4” x 5” pieces. Save the rest to use as scraps.

2.     Punch four snowflakes from one piece of the dark blue card stock. Save the rest of that piece for future projects.

3.     Spread the glitter glue on to the snowflakes using the paint brush (technique here - steps six and seven). Set the snowflakes aside until dry.

4.     Saturate the stamp with ink from the pad. If desired, do a few test stamps on the scrap white paper. Stamp the penguin on to one of the 3 3/4” x 5” pieces of white paper (centered near the bottom of the paper). Let the ink dry.

5.     Fold the other piece of dark blue card stock into a 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” card (technique here) using the bone folder.

6.     Colour in the dried stamp with the markers and/or pencil crayons.

7.     Write outside sentiment above the stamped penguin. Write the concluding sentiment on the other piece of 3 3/4” x 5” paper.

 

8.     Glue three of the snowflakes around the penguin. Adhere the last snowflake on to the other piece of white paper.

9.     Use the glue runner to attach the penguin stamped piece of paper to the front of the card and the concluding sentiment piece of paper to the inside right panel of the card.

This was my first attempt at stamping. It took me a few tries and I found I had to enhance the black ink on the penguin. I’m interested, however, in learning more stamping techniques and improving on the limited stamping knowledge I have so far. Can any of you give me any tips, advice, techniques, etc.? Drop me a line here and I’ll feature your input in an upcoming post!

See you on Wednesday, everyone!

Quick Tricks: Last minute gift tags

 

It’s Christmas Eve and there isn’t a gift tag in the house (and of course, none of the presents are wrapped yet!). Rather than fighting your way through the crowds to buy some, why not make your own? All it takes is some scrap card stock, a couple of punches, some glue and a just a few moments to spare. Not only will your tags be more interesting and pretty than the generic ones found en masse in the stores, but you’ll also be putting your own personal touch on each gift you wrap.

Supplies:

·      Scrap pieces of patterned and solid coloured card stock in coordinating colours

·      Coordinating ribbon

Equipment:

·      Tag paper punch

·      Snowflake (or any other festively shaped) paper punch

·      Single hole punch

·      Glue stick

·      Glitter glue (optional)

Directions:

1.     Punch an equal number of tags and snowflakes from your card stock scraps.

 

2.     If desired, spread glitter glue on the snowflakes to make them sparkly (not recommended if you don’t have time to let them dry!)

3.     Glue solid coloured snowflakes on to the patterned tags and vice versa.

4.     Punch a hole in each tag with the single hole punch.

5.     String ribbon through the hole and attach the tag to your gift!

I hope you and your loved ones all have a very Merry Christmas (or if you don’t celebrate Christmas, a wonderful holiday!). See you on Monday for a special card for a very special person!

Wrap it up!

Want a great way to impress your loved ones on Christmas morning? Dress up and personalize your gifts by making your own gift bags and matching mini cards. While this project requires patience, the wow factor of the resulting gift bag set is completely worth it!

Materials (makes one 10 1/8” h x 3 3/4” w x 1 7/8” d bag and one 3” x 3” mini card):

·      12" x 12" sheet of printed card stock

·      3" x 6" piece of matching card stock (either the same print or a coordinating one)

·      10" piece of coordinating ribbon (narrow width)

Equipment:

·      Cutting mat

·      Craft or utility knife

·      Metal-edged ruler

·      Pencil

·      Eraser

·      Glue runner or other suitable adhesive

·      Bone folder

·      Single hole punch

Directions:

1.     Using the template below as a guide, measure and mark guidelines on the reverse side of the 12" x 12" piece of card stock (make sure the design on the patterned side is turned the right way up before marking). If you don't want the pencil marks to show inside the bag, use two or more small notches for each line (as shown in image below template) or have a really good eraser ready to erase the lines after step two. 

Bag template

2.     Use the cutting mat, ruler and knife to score (use the flip side of the knife blade to score without cutting through the card stock or use the sharp edge of your bone folder) and cut the card stock as shown in the template.

Scoring using the dull edge of the blade

Cutting

3.     If desired, erase pencil marks.

4.     Fold at the scored lines. This will help make the edges crisp and will make it easier to shape the bag.

5.     Glue the upper overlap flap (put glue on the patterned side of the card stock) to the reverse side of the other edge, tucking the flap in to make a box shape with the bottom flaps still open.

6.     Holding the card stock so that the lower overlap flap is on the bottom, begin folding over and gluing the bottom flaps in place, starting with the left small flap and continuing to the bottom large flap (remember to tuck in and glue the lower overlap flap before moving on to the right small flap). Finish by gluing the top large flap in place at the bottom.

7.     If desired, make creases in the top half of either side of the bag by pinching together the corners and creasing the middle. This gives your bag more shape and allows for the top to be fastened together to hide the contents.

8.     Fold the small piece of card stock with the bone folder to make a 3" x 3" mini card.

9.     Punch a hole in the upper left corner of the card. Attach it to the handle of the bag with the ribbon. Trim ribbon, if necessary.

You can use the template to make your bags bigger or smaller as desired. Just keep the 2:1 ratio for the sections (the front and back sections are twice the width of the sides and the bottom flaps). Try playing around with different heights and designs. If you plan on using solid coloured card stock and decorating the bag with stamped images, stamp the images before assembling.

Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday! See you back again on Friday for more paper crafting!

Keeping it punchy

Care and maintenance for your paper punches

With the plethora of cards that I’ve been making lately, I’ve begun to notice that my paper punches are starting to, well, lose their punch. This, of course, caused some concern – punches aren’t cheap, after all. So, I got my research on, chose a punch to be my tester/sacrificial victim if things went wrong, and discovered a few ways to keep paper punches in perfect working order.

1.     Store punches in a dry place. Protect them from dust and moisture, which can cause rusting and other issues.

2.     If paper gets jammed in the punch, use tweezers to remove it. If the paper is too jammed to remove with the tweezers, put the punch in the freezer for 20 seconds. This will cause the metal to contract, making paper removal easier. Do not freeze the punches, however, or leave them in for too long. Freezing temperatures can cause the plastic casing to become brittle and crack.

3.     When the punch becomes dull, sharpen it by punching through some heavy-duty aluminum foil.

4.     Punch several times through wax paper to lubricate the punch when it starts to stick.

I hope these tips help your punches live a long and productive life! Come back on Wednesday, when we’ll return to the crafting for a cute and coordinated way to package up gifts. See you then!

Shimmer Set

Batch cards that sparkle and shine

Today’s post is part two in this week’s series on batch cards. These shimmery and glittery cards were made using materials that I had on hand: silver text weight paper left over from my wedding invitations, the extra red card stock from last year’s Christmas cards, silver wrapping paper that I had in my gift wrapping storage container and silver sheer ribbon left over from the pillows I made for my ring bearers.

I have a few more batch card making tips to pass on, based on my experience making these cards:

·      Glue runners (like this one) are perfect for attaching ribbon to card stock quickly and easily. As an added bonus, the glue doesn’t show through or change the ribbon’s colour at all, a problem I’ve had before with ribbons and adhesive.

·      To keep the ribbon looking neat, wrap it around the back of the front flap of the card stock so that the ends won’t show on the front of your card. If you want the ends hidden all together, line the card.

·      Add depth and texture by adding layers of paper, card stock, paper punch cut outs, glitter and other embellishments.

·      Line all of the cards together at the end. If you line the cards before you’re finished, you won’t be able to create peek-a-boo shapes or hide ribbon ends.

·      Sign up for Michael’s coupons. Since doing so, I don’t think there has been a single week where I haven’t got a coupon of some sort, usually one for 40 per cent off a regular priced item. This is a great way to stock up on the more expensive equipment and supplies, like card stock pads, paper punches, cutting mats, paper trimmers, etc. If you’re in the States, you can sign up on the Michael’s website. If you’re in Canada, sign up for coupon alerts on Flyerland.ca, since the Michael’s website will only send out coupons good for use in the States.

That’s all for today, folks. Next week will showcase some non-card projects that are perfect for use during the holidays.

Have a great weekend! See you on Monday.

Finding the right fit

Good morning, everyone! Today’s post is about the often overlooked, but so very, very important envelope. Your card’s envelope is a multi-tasker. Not only does it protect your card from damage, but it can also coordinate with the card to carry on the overall look and feel of your design.

All of the cards on this blog so far have been 4 1/4” x 5 1/2”. This size is the perfect fit for the A2 envelope, which measures 4 3/8” x 5 3/4”. See the chart below for other common envelope sizes used in card making. Remember to pick an envelope that's slightly larger than your card. Usually 1/8" to 1/4" added to the length and width will do it, depending on the thickness of the card.

Common card making envelope sizes:

Name	Size
Bar 4	3 5/8” x 4 5/8” (great for wedding replies or other small cards)
A2	4 1/4” x 5 1/2”
A6	4 3/4” x 6 1/2”
A7	5 1/4” x 7 1/4”
A8	5 1/2” x 8 1/8”
No. 10	4 1/8” x 9 1/2” (most common size used in business post, but also great for tall, skinny cards)
Square	Many different sizes available, including: 6” x 6”, 6 1/2” x 6 1/2” and 7” x 7”.

Most paper, craft and office supply stores usually carry most, if not all, of these sizes in stock. The former two are your best bet for selection – they usually carry them in multiple colours. Office supply stores will usually have a few sizes in white (and sometimes kraft), though occasionally they will stock other colours as well. Online paper stores are a good bet as well. If you live in the States, you’re golden for ordering paper and envelopes online at a low cost. If you’re a Canadian resident, however, make sure you check shipping and duty costs before ordering – sometimes these costs can be quite prohibitive.

Remember to check Canada Post and/or United States Postal Service postal guidelines if you’re planning on mailing your cards. Some envelope sizes (including all of the square sizes) are categorized as non-standard or oversized and will cost more to send.

See you on Friday!

The 12 cards of Christmas

One set of materials, 12 (or more!) different cards

Once again, it’s time to start gathering the addresses of your nearest and dearest (including, of course, your wonderful mail carrier, Hank… or was it Howard?) to send out holiday greetings near and far.

Creating cards in batches is a great way to make lots of one of a kind cards in an easy, efficient and cost-effective way. Using one set of materials, you can create several different designs with an underlying theme. You can also come up with one design that you love and use it for every card – it’s completely up to you.

Tips for making batch cards:

·      Clear a large work surface. By doing so, you’ll have enough room to put out all your equipment and keep it all within easy reach. You’ll also have room to spread out your cards so that you can work on several cards at once and see the overall effect of your designs.

·      Pick coordinating supplies that look great together. For this project, I used seven sheets of red cardstock (six sheets cut in half to make 12 cards, plus one left over for punching shapes), two sheets of printed 12” x 12” card stock (I ended up having about 1/3 of each sheet left over, which I’m saving for my next batch) and red glitter glue.

·      Save your scraps. You never know when that little piece of left over paper from one card will be perfect for another. Even if you don’t use them in this batch of cards, you can always use them in future projects.

·      Decide which tools and equipment you will need (paper trimmer, punches, bone folder, glitter glue, etc.). Have your other equipment nearby (but out of the way), just in case you have a stroke of inspiration and need another tool to create the look you’re going for.

·      Group equipment by use and set up little stations for each set (i.e. cutting station, adhesive station, etc.). This will let you keep track of your equipment so that you always know where it is when you need it.

·      Cut and fold your cards all at once to help save time. Group other tasks, too, like painting glitter (technique here - steps six and seven) and gluing layers.

·      Test your designs before you attach them. That way you’ll be able to see whether you like the look of your card before committing yourself to the design.

·      Stick to a couple design variations on a theme or make all your cards with the same or slightly different design to help aid in planning, and to make the process easier and faster.

·      Trust your judgment. When a card looks finished to you, it is. If you think it needs something more, test it with different embellishments until you find the one that you like best.

Above all, have fun. Put on some music, relax and enjoy the process. If you start to get frustrated, walk away and do something else for a while. Your designs will look better if you’re happy with what you’re doing. Besides, this is meant to be a fun project, not a chore!

See you on Wednesday, everyone!

P.S. The lovely creator of Heinous Hats is celebrating her birthday today. Happy Birthday, Caela!

Baby, it's cold outside

Over the past week, winter didn’t so much as creep up on us here, but swooped in with a vengeance. Everything is now blanketed with snow, without any days in the near future that haven't had at least a few centimetres of snow forecasted.

Although I’m not a fan of the cold weather (I’m barely warm enough in the summer sometimes, let alone the rest of the year), I love the look of the snow from inside my house – the drifts glistening in the sun, the snow-covered branches and the pretty little snowflakes drifting to the ground.

And so, here is a pretty little card dedicated to those beautiful little flakes of frozen precipitation. With a peek-a-boo liner and glittery snowflake cutouts, this card is elegant and easy to make.

Materials (makes two cards):

·      8 1/2” x 11” sheet of blue cardstock, plus an extra scrap piece big enough to punch out at least two snowflake cutouts

·      8 1/2” x 11” sheet of silver text weight paper

Supplies:

·      Paper trimmer

·      Bone folder

·      Snowflake punch (I used Martha Stewart's Alpine Snowflake Punch)

·      Blue glitter glue

·      Paintbrush

·      Piece of wax paper, approximately 8” x 8”

·      Double-sided tape or glue runner

·      Glue stick

·      Ruler

·      Pencil

Directions:

1.     Using the paper trimmer, cut the card stock in half so that you have two pieces, measuring 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”. Cut the silver paper so that you have two pieces, measuring 5” x 8”.

2.     Fold each piece of card stock with the bone folder to make two cards, measuring 4 1/4” x 5”. Fold each piece of paper into two liners, measuring 4” x 5” (technique here).

3.     On the inside top flap of each card, measure and mark the middle of the card vertically, about 3/4” from the edge.

4.     Using the paper punch, cut out a snowflake on each card, using your marked measurement as a guide.

5.     Punch out two additional snowflakes (or more, depending on how many you’d like on your finished card) from the scrap piece of blue card stock.

 

6.     Lay the wax paper on your work surface. Place the four snowflake cutouts on top (make sure you flip over the two that came from the cards so that the pencil guide marks don’t show). Using the paintbrush, paint the glitter glue on to the four snowflake cut outs.

7.     Nudge the glitter painted snowflakes to a clean spot on the wax paper with the end of your paintbrush. This will help prevent them from sticking. The wax paper will also help prevent sticking - I tried just using scrap paper before and found that, more often than not, the snowflakes would adhere to the paper, despite moving them to a clear area. Allow the snowflakes to dry completely before using them.

8.     Line each card with the silver paper (technique here). Be careful not to put adhesive on the liner in the place where the snowflake cut out will land, otherwise it will show through and be sticky.

9.     Measure and mark where you would like to glue the snowflake cutouts.

10. Using the glue stick, attach the cutouts to the cards.

Tip: Before gluing on the snowflakes, try playing around with different layouts until you find the one you like best.

See you on Monday, everyone!