Lever Card

Last Wednesday I was honored to be the guest tutorial author on Split Coast Stampers (SCS).  I was so thrilled when Beate said she wanted to feature my tutorial for making a Lever Card. It was my first time EVER and gee, how exciting!

 I've seen a good many of these cards on Pinterest and various blogs, but it seems almost all of them are cut using a program on their Silhouette machine.  Since I don't have that machine, I wanted to figure out how to make a lever card without the program, just cutting it myself.  I did find one blog that gave a pattern to use, but again, I wanted to figure out the "math" of it.  My stamping friends kid me about this (**Hi, Janet**) because I'm not into "patterns" for cards, but "the math" of measuring them myself.  If you want the complete tutorial, you can go HERE to see the complete tutorial on SCS.  Today I'll just share the pictures of the cards I've made using the Lever tutorial.

This first one is the one I showed in my tutorial.  I chose it because of its brightly-colored card stock and designer paper. 

Front:

 Opened:

                                     

This card uses the stamp set Storybook Friends and Happy Hour.  Love this one!!

 Opened:

 This one uses the Oh, Whale! set and well, you've seen how much I use that set and these colors and this designer paper.  LOVE it!!

Opened:

 This sample uses the Need for Speed and Daring Adventure sets.  I'm SOOOO going to miss Need for Speed when it retires at the end of the month.  I love this set for making cards for my husband!

 Opened:

The car is supposed to look like it's zooming to the front of the card.  Hubby says it looks like a Nascar race, so the cars should be different colors.  Whatever....

OK, sometimes I don't post too often, but today you got 4 cards in one post, so I hope this makes up for absent days.  I just wanted to show them all to you at once.  And be sure to log into SCS to get the tutorial for this level card.  It takes a bit of precision in cutting to get the lever to work properly through the card front's window, but you can do it!!  Have fun and email me your samples or upload them to SCS's gallery.

Thanks for coming by today.

Smiles, Laura

Masculine cards...

I have two masculine cards to share with you today.    Both cards use Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit card stock.  I also used designer paper from the Print Poetry Stack on both cards.

For this first one, I used Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla card stock.  I punches out the cupcake from both Crumb Cake and Summer Starfruit card stock.  I ran the crumb cupcake bottom through my crimper to make it actually LOOK like the bottom of a cupcake.  

The sentiment is stamped from the Make a Wish stamp set, using Midnight Muse ink.

For this second one, used the single stamp Basic Label from the Assortment 3 group.  I cut that using a die from the Apothecary Accents Framelit.  Inside I stamped sentiment from the Make a Wish set.  I finished it off with two brads.

Neither of these cards is complicated, nor time consuming.  They are respectable cards suitable to send to a man for his birthday.  Sometimes that's just what you need!
Smiles, Laura

I'm on a roll with the Swallowtail......

Yes, I'm still having fun with the Swallowtail a la Carte stamp!!  I decided this time I wanted to color it.  I stamped it onto Pool Party card stock using the Midnight Muse ink.  I layered the Pool Party onto a Muse mat and put it on a Lucky Limeade card.  

Here is a bit of a close-up of the butterfly.  I colored it using my aqua painter using Limeade, Marina Mist, Pool Party, and Midnight Muse inks.  Finally I added a bit of white stripes using my white gel pen.

The sentiment of this card is from the SAB Vintage Verses stamp set.

Don't worry; I have more cards made with this stamp and will be sharing those in the future.  Love it!!
Thanks for visiting today!
Smiles, Laura

Another Swallowtail card....

I've told you before how much I love the Swallowtail a la Carte stamp.  It's so versatile to use in many ways.  I have several cards I've made to show you.  Today I want to show you a card I made which I think would be appropriate to send to a man.  It's not so colorful as some others you see.

This card is made using Midnight Muse card stock.  I layered it with white cardstock and then topped that with Crumb Cake.

The butterfly was stamped using Midnight Muse ink.

 I used a sponge dauber with Crumb Cake to rub a bit of color on the darker parts of the butterfly.

 I stamped the sentiment using the Essentials stamp set from the Spring Mini onto Crumb Cake card stock. I cut it into a flag or ribbon shape.  I layered 3 ribbons under it and used a glimmer brad to attach it to the card.

So while there is ribbon and a glimmer brad on this one, I still this because it's a rather neutral card, it would be appropriate for a man.  Hope you like it!
Smiles, Laura

Yes, Father's Day!

It's hard to believe that it isn't that long until Father's Day.  Well, OK, about 2 months from now, but if you want to start on your Father's Day cards, today's post is for you.  Some of my customers do not send Fathers Day cards because their fathers are deceased and they say their husband isn't their father.  Well, how about our sons and sons-in-law who are fathers to our grandchildren?  I always send a Fathers Day card to my son thanking him for being a great dad to my grandchildren.  I also send cards to my brothers-in-laws thanking them for being good fathers to my nieces and nephews.  We all have someone who could LOVE to receive a Happy Father's Day card!

This card was made using a color challenge I saw online, the Color Throwdown color challenge #230. It uses the colors you will see below.  One change I made was to use Whisper White, rather than Very Vanilla.  

My card itself is made using the Marina Mist card stock.  I ran the front of the card through the Big Shot using the Lattice Squares folder and sponged a little Soft Suede around the edges.  I cut a rectangle of Lucky Limeade to go on that.  The "ribbon look" down the side is Cajun Craze, run through the Big Shot using the Chevron folder and sponged with suede ink.  

                                         
Here is a close-up of the watch.

I stamped the watch three times in 3 different colors.  I stamped it first on this 2-1/2" circle using Suede ink.  I stamped it again in Cajun Craze on a scrap and cut out just the band of the watch and glued those onto the original suede watch.  Then the third time I stamped it with Marina Mist and used the 1" circle punch to cut out the face of the watch.  I used dimensionals to pop up the face onto the watch.

And below I added the stamped sentiment from the  Best Dad Ever stamp set.  I LOVE this set because it has several great sizes and different fonts used for the words in the set.  It's one of my "go to" sets.

Finally, I added three blue brads at the bottom of the card, to give it some more texture and dimension.

My brothers-in-laws will be getting this one in June.  I hope it has inspired you to get started on your Fathers Day cards--and to think of men who would love to receive one!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Smiles, Laura

A card for Judy...

My niece-in-law's mom has had surgery recently for breast cancer. We all are praying for Judy and her doctors that her surgery was successful and that she will have no more cancer.  I made her this card the other day to send her, to let her know she's in my thoughts.  Of course any breast cancer card must have a pink ribbon.

This card opens in the middle (you will see that below) so I put this "diamond-shaped" front on it.  I had to use the silver shimmery cardstock, since it's shaped like a diamond.

 Here is a picture of the card opened up.

I hope Judy feels our prayers and knows we are all pulling for her!

Smiles, Laura

Get Whale Soon....

We have so many friends who have had surgeries or been ill recently.  I needed some card to send out.  I made this cute little card using the new Oh, Whale! set.  My classes loved this one!  The card is Marina Mist, layered with white.  I used some designer paper from the Sycamore Street collection on the white to look like the sea.

I cut a smaller piece of white card stock and ran it through the Cloudy Day embossing folder for the sky.  Below that I attached some Marina Mist and Baja Breeze "waves" I had cut using the Large Scallop Edgelit .  I popped up the front two of those, so I could put my little whale behind them.

The whale is stamped with Sahara Sand ink and cut with the Happy Whale Clearlit die.  I "fussy-cut" the spout that was stamped in Marina Mist.  I added some rhinestones to it to look like sun sparkling off the water.  I also used a rhinestone for the little fellow's eye.

 Here is a close-up of the whale and spout.

And of course I stamped "Get Whale Soon" at the bottom.  Don't you think this is a get-well card that could cheer anyone up!

Thanks for visiting today!!  I'd love to hear what you think about this one, so leave a comment!
Smiles, Laura

Mini Take-Out Box....

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter!  We sure did.  Here are a couple of pictures from our church.  One was taken after the Maundy Thursday service when we stripped the sanctuary of everything, signifying Jesus' impending crucifixation.  The other is of our sanctuary on Easter morning when we celebrated Christ's resurrection!  What a difference a few days make!!

This is such a beautiful season!!

Back in January, I saw this cute little mini take-out box made with the Peal Cone Die on Dawn Olchefske's blog and knew I HAD to buy the die and make one. Hers was made from crumb cake and decorated for Valentines.  I wanted to make a spring-like one that could be used for Easter favors or candy.

  Here is how mine turned out.  This is a view of the top. 

I used the Delicate Doilies Sizzlit to cut the white for the top---to look sort of like a mussie-tussie (I hope I am remembering that name correctly). 

I stamped the same flower from the Secret Garden set in Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango.  Thankfully, there is a coordinating die to cut them out.  I also stamped the leaves from that same set using Wild Wasabi and also used the die to cut it.  

OK, now to making the box.  You cut two of the petal cone shapes from 2 pcs. of CS (5-1/2” x 6”).  Fold in half down the center score line. Match up top score line (below the circular cut) on 2” mark on cutter and score.  Move that scored line to 3” mark on the cutter and cut the end off.  Cut from the bottom up to score line on both pieces.  Add sticky strips on both  bottoms on one piece and on side tabs of both pieces for closing.  Fold up.  Add ribbon for tie/handle.  If that confuses you, go to Dawn's blog to view her video for making the box.  Here is a link to her blog: 

 Here is a view from the side.  I stamped the sides with a SAB stamp that is now retired, but any flower stamp on the sides would work nicely.

I hope you like this little box and will try one!  It's a perfect size for some M&M candy, for some of those bite-size candies in your favor brand, or even for a necklace of pair of earrings as a gift.

Thanks for stopping in today!!  Come back often.
Smiles, Laura