Upright Diamond Card, modified....

Recently another one of my cards was chosen for the weekly technique tutorial on Splitcoaststamper (SCS).  I was very flattered that Beate Johns would run another of my designs. (She has another one scheduled for February, too).  I thought I'd share the cards with you today.  You can find the instructions for making them on SCS.

I am calling it the Upright Diamond card, modified, because I've seen this layout on Pinterest, but the front of the card was a bit off to the left and taller, making it very hard to get it into an envelope. So I figured out a way to modify it to make the "diamond" lay toward the center more.

This first one is the one featured with the instructions on SCS:

 Opened:

 Made a smaller height--4-1/4":

 Opened:

 This one has the front off to the left of center a bit:

 Inside:

 Another smaller size:

 Opened:

 Snowflake one:

 Opened:

I hope you will look up the "how-to" instructions on SCS and make one of these yourself.  It is a striking layout!!
Smiles, Laura

Mary Ann's birthday card....

My sweet sister-in-law Mary Ann had a birthday recently and turned, well, we won't say how old (unless you can figure it out from her birthday card, hee hee) but it was a milestone birthday! Anyway, I wanted to make her a very special card.  I had seen a similar card on Pinterest and knew this was the card for Mary Ann!!

 I used this Cascading card layout before on m blog in the past, so I won't repeat them here again.    You can find them if you scroll back.

 I used a retired SU balloon punch for the colorful balloons.  And the "60" was cut with a non-SU die.

 The stars are punched from silver glimmer paper.  I cut strips on acetate from sheets and used glue dots to attach the stars to them.  This makes the stars "dance" and "twinkle" when you open out the card.

 I had some blue and green netting left over from some dance skirts I made in past years and just cut that and glued it inside the card to all "fluff."

 Here's Mary Ann with her card. I think she liked it!!  Doesn't she look YOUNG for, well, advancing years! Ha!  Love you, girl!!

Smiles, Laura

Mosaic Christmas Tree...

Today's card is made using the Mosaic Punch and Mosaic Magic stamp set.  I used 3 colors of green--Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, and Garden Green.  (Ed. Note:  I just realized I used Wild Wasabi, rather than Garden Green on this card.  Sorry!!)

The glitter decorations are punched  using the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack and the Silver and Red Glimmer paper. 

I haven't done it on this card, but the next one like this will have an embossed background to add some interest to all that white.  I did want to show this one to you today, so you can make one, if you like it.

Smiles, Laura

Hello you!

Today's share is a card we made this month in class that has sort of a different look.   It looks sort of like an envelope opening up. To make this one, I cut a piece of Island Indigo  5-1/2" x 8-1/2", and folded it in the center.  I marked the ends 1-1/2" from the fold and marked the open side exactly in the middle.  I cut from the 1-1/2" mark to the center of the open side of the card.  I used the new Envelope Punch Board to round the point.

I cut Pistachio Pudding 5-1/2" x 4-3/4", then scored the 4-3/4" side at 1/2" and folded it.  I marked 1-1/2" from each end of that fold line and marked the opposite side (opposite the fold) in the middle.  I cut from the 1-1/2" mark to the center mark on each end.

I put Vanilla inside and topped that with a piece of Venetian Romance designer paper.

 The flowers are from the Flower Shop stamp set, punched out using the Pansy punch. 

Thanks for stopping by today!!  I'd love to hear your comment on this one!
Smiles, Laura

Happy Birthday, Regina!!

Today is my friend Regina's birthday and I just had to make a special card to send her.  Here is the front of that card:

 This card has multiple layers.  On the front of the card is a smaller card.  This is the inside of that smaller card:

 When you fold that smaller card to the right, you see the left side of the card (shown below).  I decorated the back of the smaller card with "Make a Wish."

 If you fold that left side back, you finally see the inside of the larger card. 

 I like that fact that the recipient keeps on opening and opening, finding more good wishes and images.  I sure hope Regina likes her card and has a wonderful birthday!!

I'd like to say this card was my original idea, but my friend Janet Nunziato had this card layout as the program for our Smudge Bunch card club recently.  She told us how to make it and we all designed ours individually.  Here is the card I made at club meeting:

 Inside of smaller card on the front:

 Small card opened to the right:

 Left side folded back, to reveal inside the card.

As you can see, I made Regina's with the same stamps that I used on my original card, but I used different designer paper on hers.  I thought hers looked more feminine. 

Thanks for stopping by today!!
Smiles, Laura

Karen Burniston Class last night...

Last night Karen Burniston, the great die designer you all know, came to our little town to teach a class at Sandy's Scrapbook Store.  We were SOOO lucky to have her teach in our area.  

What a fun class it was.  Karen is a delightful person and her designs were wonderful!! 

We all had so much fun.  Here is a shot of Karen and Judy Thompson:

 And here is a picture of me Karen snapped and posted on her Facebook page today (Thank you, Karen!!)  Sure wish I knew more about Facebook.  Ha!!   But I digress...

A friend took this picture of me with my camera.   I'm showing the Autumn card we made.  Love it!!  We made 3 pop-up cards and a swing card.  (Karen, hope I have those terms correct!!)

 Here is Judy working on her card.

 Sharon Capps-Hill and Diane Gardner (Pam Winstead in the background) had fun, too. Sharon is showing the card with the chair inside.  Cute one!!

 Marianne Jones works on her Autumn card.

 We all were busy focusing on our cards. 

My husband loved them all!!  He rightly observed that they were a lot of work, but you know, Karen's dies makes it SOOOO much quicker and easier.    Here are my cards I made (designed by Karen, of course).

Christmas House (Front)

 Christmas House (Inside)

 Autumn (Front)

 Autumn (inside)

 Chair card (inside)

 Swing card (front)

 Swing Card (open)

Well, you can see by the samples what a great class this was.  Wish you could have been with us.  Karen had to drive back to Charlotte last night (about 2-1/2 hours).  We tried to get her to stay but she has a class today at the Enchanted Cottage.  I think she also has classes in Myrtle Beach and Spartanburg, SC this week and weekend before heading back to Texas.  I'm just glad we were lucky enough to have her teach us while she was out this way!  Come back anytime, Karen!!

Smiles, Laura

Hello to you....

Well, I cannot believe I've been away from my blog and you for 2 months!! Where does time go?  Since I wrote last, I've been on two week-long trips with family.  First in September my 3 sisters and I went on a trip to the mid-west with my dad.  He's 93 and wanted us to do this trip together.  It's the first time we girls have been on a trip with him since we were little girls, all at the same time.  Our husbands stayed home (Becky took her friend Dick) so it was just the 6 of us.  We had a great time. We rode on 4 different riverboats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, went up into the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and just generally ate too much and had too much fun!!   Here are some shots of us girls:
Looking out the windows at the top of the Gateway Arch:

 In a front-end loader bucket at the John Deere Pavilion:

In a former train station coverted to shops and restaurants (I forget which town):

On one of our riverboat cruises:

Can you tell what a great time we had!  I don't know if we'll ever get to do this again, but we sure enjoyed the time together.

In October, Dad had asked me to go on another trip with him to New England.  We traveled through 16 states on this trip and, if it was possible, I enjoyed it more than our riverboat trip!  Dad is so easy to travel with!  We saw beautiful leaves in upstate NY, Vermont, New Hampshire, gorgeous gardens at Longwood Gardens in PA, and had fun!
Dad and I at Longwood Gardens in PA:

At Portland Head Lighthouse:

On Cannon Mountain in NH:

 Friends Diane and Ernie Cantrell with Dad on Cannon Mountain:

 Dad with the organ keyboard in the West Point Chapel:

Doesn't my dad look GREAT for 93 years old!!  I hope I haven't bored you with these pictures.  Just wanted to share where I've been and what I've been doing since I wrote last.

OK, you've waited for a sample, so here is today's sample:

This is a card we made this month in class.  I used the Clockworks stamp set on it and the sentiment from Wetlands.  The card is made using Tangerine Tango card stock on Crumb Cake card stock.   I'm not sure if you can tell it, but I cut the middle out of the front Tangerine using the Labels Collection die, so that it interlocks over the Crumb Cake part. 

Here are two shots of how the card opens:

This would be a great card for a man--we are always looks for cards that are not so frilly for our men.

Thanks for stopping in today!!
Smiles, Laura