A New Project

Life has a funny way of changing, doesn't it?
My last post on this blog was in January 2018 after Christmas. I fully intended to make more cards and post them here but I got distracted by a sale at Walgreens on photo developing and I developed an entire year of photographs (2015)!!! I typically only develop a month or two at a time but this was a really good sale!
So I spent the next few months working on a family scrapbook for 2015 and forgot all about blogging about the pages I made. After all, this blog is about all the things I create, not just cards. But I forgot.
At the same time, my husband and I decided to sell our rental house and use the proceeds to fund a really exciting project.....a new house on the land we live on now!
The real estate market was so hot, our house sold in a week for the full asking price! We closed at the end of May 2018.
This new project, building a house, requires that we move out of the house that is currently in the spot where we want to build, tear it down, and build the new one.
The point? I had to pack my craft room and put it in storage. So sad. But so exciting because in the new house, I designed a 20 x 16 foot craft room! Such luxury it will be since for the last 3 years I've been using a 7 x 8 foot room. So crowded!
But, again, back to the point: I had to put all of my craft supplies in storage. So I won't be making cards or scrapbooks for a while. Well, unless I find another way.....
But really, most of my energy for the next year or so is going to be concentrated on building the house so I won't be updating this blog. (Although there is always crocheting........)
Instead, I am going to start a new blog all about the journey of building a house ourselves. I already have a couple of posts just waiting to be written about our progress so far. So hop on over to my new blog and follow our craziness as we move out, tear down, and rebuild. It should be fun, right? (Enter suspenseful dun, dun, dun, music here).
The new blog is called The Ashby Journey of a Thousand Steps or How to Eat an Elephant...Ashbyphant....One Bite at a Time......
Ok, the title is still a work in progress.....but it'll be something like that.

Card Challenge Junkies challenge #1 January 2018

I joined a FB group called Card Challenge Junkies which is a group that encourages card making cards with certain criteria that must be included. This is the first card I made:

The challenge was to use a sketch that was provided. The sketch showed a circle, rectangle and sentiment. Once those things are included, I was free to interpret the rest of the card however I wanted. For this card I used:

Stampin' Up! Secret Garden stamp and die (flower)
Tonic Studio circle dies
Stampin' Up! Just a Note stamp (sentiment)
Stampin' Up! decorative square punch
Scrap papers I had left over from other projects
Spectrum Noir alcohol markers (for coloring the flower)

I am still pretty new at coloring with these markers. They are alcohol based so they take longer to dry giving more opportunity for blending the colors. The way I colored the flower on this card is actually my second attempt. Here's the first:

I was trying to make the petals of the flower look curved in the light. It was an ok attempt but I liked the other flower better so I used it. I'll try this again another time.

I needed a birthday card for my brother-in-law today, so I decided to follow the same sketch as issued in this challenge, but I changed it a little:

Supplies:
Stampin' Up! Giggle Greetings stamp set
Stampin' Up! You Make Me Smile stamp set
Stampin' Up! decorative rectangle punch
EK Success Memory Pencils
FSJ Cocoa Powder Ink Pad
Scrap papers
Unbranded decorative square die

I don't get much practice making masculine cards so it's hard for me to not add a flower here and there, so I used a marker and added dots instead. lol

Christmas Cards 2017

I made three different cards for Christmas 2017. Usually, I design one card and make 50-75 of the same card for everyone on my card list. This year, however, I needed two different cards for church activities in addition to personal cards to send to family and friends.

The photo shows all three designs I made this year. The card on the left was for a Relief Society Leadership Christmas party. I have already written about this card in the post entitled, "RS Leadership Invitation". You can search for that blog post in the menu on the right side of the screen.

The card on the right was for people at church who need a little extra love from the RS Presidency (Leadership of the women's group in my church). These are widows, people who needed assistance from the church, or people who suffered a major loss this year. Or for people we just wanted to show that we care and are thinking about them. 

 Supplies:
Georgia-Pacific 110 lb Premium Cardstock for the card, tree, and sentiment bases
Stampin' Up! Creamy Caramel Ink
Stampin' Up! Baroque Motifs stamp set (background)
Just Rite Clear Gift of Faith Sentiments
Generic Christmas tree stamp
Sizzix embossing folder
Creative Memories Oval Cutting System
Want2Scrap Self Adhesive Bling (tree decorations)
Acrylic Jewel (tree topper)
Generic 1/8" Cream Ribbon (12")

Tips: I stamped the Baroque Motif first and then embossed the card base. I also stamped the tree and sentiment before cutting them with the oval cutting system. Ink the edges of the ovals before attaching to the card. Tie the ribbon all the way around the card front before attaching the sentiment. Use pop dots to adhere the sentiment so there is room for the ribbon to run behind it.

The last Christmas card I made this year was my personal one. Now that Christmas is over and everyone has received the card, I can write publically about it. 

I wanted to make a tri-fold card because I hadn't ever made one. One of my goals in my cardmaking this year is to try more creative folds.

Supplies:
White cardstock
Stampin' Up! Sounding Joy Stamp Set (sentiment on front)
Stampin' Up! Evergreen Stamp Set (trees)
Just Rite Nativity Sentiments (Bethlehem town)
SonLight Impressions Star stamp
Stamp Oasis Hope and Love stamp (sentiment inside)
PSA Nativity Stamp
Stampin' Up! Night of Navy Ink Pad (sky and sentiments)
Stampin' Up! Garden Green Ink Pad (trees)
Versamark Ink Pad (star and nativity)
Ranger Gold Embossing Powder (star and nativity)
Fun Stamps Hologram Embossing Powder (front sentiment)
Comotion Clear Embossing Powder (inside sentiment)

The clear embossing powder I used (see supply list above) got bumpy when set. I thought maybe I was melting it too long but even when I removed the heat gun right when it started melting, it was still bumpy.  It makes kind of a neat look, even if it wasn't really what I was after.

My hope was to make the inside of the card look like a forest opening up to the wonder and golden splendor of the nativity scene.

I took the photo at this angle to try to get the camera to pick up the silver embossing on the trees. It looks like frost!

If you have any questions about any of my cards, please leave a comment!

Sounding Joy Christmas Card

Here's another Christmas card I made around 2011, 12, or 13....or sometime in there. I wish I'd kept better track of which card I made in which year, but that is what this blog is for, going forward.

This is another Stampin' Up! Christmas stamp set that is song lyrics with a stamp layered over them. The lyrics are in the shape of a star.

Supplies:
SU! The Sounding Joy stamp set
SU! black ink pad and embossing powder
SU! Festive Flurry snowflake die
SU! Beautifully Baroque embossing folder
Sizzix Snowflake embossing folder
Spellbinders scallop circles die
Creative Memories circle template
1/4" black velvet ribbon
1/2" Tinsel ribbon
Black cardstock (card base and scallop circle)
Green cardstock in 3 different shades (snowflake, ribbon and sentiment backgrounds
White cardstock

This is an A2 size card (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Evergreen Christmas Card

Every year, I make Christmas cards for my family and friends. I've been doing this for about 25 years with this year being no exception. My cards for this year are almost done but I am not going to post photo`s of them until after I send them out to everyone so the surprise isn't spoiled! haha

But I want to post them! So to appease myself I'll post a couple of cards I've done in the past. Each card will be in a separate post to make it easier to find them later.

Here's the first one:

 

I can't remember which year I made and sent this card. I wish I had kept track of my cards over the years in a small album so I could have a record and so I could see how I improved over time. Hmmm, I might have to try and make that happen.

Anyway, I think I made this card around 2011, 2012, 2013....sometime in there.
Supplies:
SU! Evergreen stamp set
SU! Perfect Polkadots embossing folder
SU! Hunter ink pad
SU! Old Olive ink pad
SU! gold embossing powder (star and Merry Christmas sentiment)
Fiskars paper edgers
Bazzill hunter green card stock
Gold card stock
White card stock
1/4" cream ribbon
Decorative corner punch (inside card)
Cream paper (inside card)

Tip: I couldn't find a decorative paper that I liked to mat the tree on so I took the Old Olive ink pad directly to the paper and created the mottled look I wanted.

I love the layering of the lyrics to Silent Night over the outline of the tree. This is one of my favorite SU! sets.

Harvest Blessings Card

I have a drawer in my craft room that is full of card parts. Fronts, bases, embellishments and other pieces that for whatever reason haven't been made into a card.

 I've been trying to work through this drawer as I have time and make these pieces into useful cards.

One of the things in this drawer are some Thanksgiving cut outs my friend, Laurie,  cut on her Cricut last year that I was supposed to use on a card and never did.

Well, this year, we were poking around in her Cricut files for die cuts for a different project and found one labeled Harvest Blessings. She cut it out in black and also cut out an orange background for it. She decided she didn't want to use it so she gave it to me where it's been sitting on my desk for a month now.

Finally, last night I decided I would make something out of it. This motivation may, or may not, have anything to do with the fact that I am going to her house on Wednesday and she may, or may not, ask me if I ever made anything out of that die cut. lol.
So I rummaged through the drawer of card parts and came across those cut outs from last year and some Fall themed paper and this is the result:

I even colored the pieces from last year with my Spectrum Noir markers that I am learning to use (note the shading on the turkey!).
I am going to take this with me and show Laurie. I'm sure she'll be impressed! ha!

RS Invitations Christmas 2017

This is an invitation I made for a Relief Society Leadership Christmas party:

Supplies:
Elizabeth Craft Designs Holly Flourish Stamp
SU! Ornament Keepsakes Stamp
SU! Real Red Classic Ink Pad
SU! Wonderful Wreath Framelits Die (joy)
Darice Embossing Folder (snowflakes)
Spectrum Noir markers (DG 3,4 & CR 11)
Red & White twine
Want 2 Scrap bling
DCWV Glitzy glitter card stock
Recollections card stock (white is 3 3/4" x 4 3/4", glitter is 4" x 5 1/4", red base is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4" to make an A2 size card)
Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen
Art Glitter Dries Clear Liquid Glue

It's a pretty straight forward card. Stamp the images and color the holly.  Emboss with the folder. Die cut the sentiment 'joy' from glitter card stock and glue to card front. Tie a bow in the twine and glue on. The bling is self-adhesive but you can add an extra drop of glue if you want to make it more secure. Highlight the ornament with the shimmer pen. Glue all the layers together and you are done!

Tip: I used SU!'s Top Note die to cut out the middles of the glitter card stock to use in another project. I didn't want all that glitter paper wasted where it'll never be seen because you only need the edges for the mat.

Happy creating!