You're in my thoughts, in my heart....

This month we made this easel card in class.  It was a hit, so I thought I'd share it with you.  The card is Real Red and is cut 4-1/4" x 8-1/2".  You score it at 4-1/4" and 2-1/8".  That makes the fold you will see in the second picture below.

You also cut a piece of red cardstock 4-1/4" x 4-1/4" to be the front of the card.  I layered designer paper from the Celebrations pack on that (cut 4"x4") and the freehand cut a white heart.  I ran it through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and layered it on the card on the right, letting it run off the card at the side and bottom and cut those off.  I put the sentiment from Word Play on a white piece and layered that on red cardstock.

Here is the side and inside view of the card.  I stamped a sentiment on the inside white piece of cardstock, and layered a red heart (punched out with our Large Heart punch).  Again, I let that heart go off the paper on the side and bottom to match the front heart.

You then glue the front to half of the folded front which forms the "easel".  This is a neat layout to stand on a table or on the food tray of a hospital patient.  Neat, huh?

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can make your own easel card.  Come back soon!! Smiles, Laura

Ornament Acorn....

I made this card recently with a birthday sentiment and liked it so much I revised one of my October classes to include it.  Isnt' he a cute fellow. France Martin showed how to make him on her blog and wanted to try it myself.  The acorn is made using Crumb Cake punched with the Ornament Punch.  The cap and stem are  made using the large oval punch punched from Soft Suede.  I ran the cap through the Square Lattice embossing folder to give it some interest.  I used the small oval punch and Early Espresso CS for his mouth.  And I cut the little fellow some bangs from Soft Suede.

The card itself is Soft Suede and layered with Crumb Cake that I've run through the Square Lattice embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Seasonal Sentiments set in the Holiday Mini. 

I stamped the leaves behind the acorn in Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight using a leaf in the Day of Gratitude set (also in the Holiday mini).  I colored his cheeks with a finger dauber using Regal Rose ink and put a white dot in each using the White Gel Pen.  His eyes are black brads and his nose is a GLimmer brad in Old Olive.  I would never have purchased these cute glimmer brads but Stampin' Up! gave each attendee at Regional a pack of them.  Isn't SU the nicest!  I used them on this acorn fellow and today ordered the Glimmer Brads in all the colors they come in.  I LOVE them!!

I hope he's inspired you!! Thanks for stopping by today.  Smiles, Laura

Too Long!!

Yes, who knew I'd be away from you so long!  I'm sorry.  It's been a busy time for me.  I've had a couple of classes to design and prepare for, we had Homecoming at our church, I designed a new brochure for our church, my sister came for a visit, and the list goes on and on.  So my blogging has fallen behind.  But I have a couple of neat cards to share with you today.  This first one we are making in one of my October classes.  I love how it turned out and it was a hit with my ladies.

I used Crumb Cake for the card itself, with Vanilla on that for the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the Seasonal Sentiments set in the Holiday Mini and is stamped in Soft Suede.  Then I put four 1/4" strips of colors down the side of the vanilla CS.  I used Soft Suede, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight for the strips and for the leaves.  The leaves are punched using the Two-Step Bird Punch.  They are glued onto 1" Very Vanilla squares.  Then those squares are mounted onto an Old Olive scalloped square that I cut with the Scalloped Square Duo Die on the Big shot.

 I wanted you to see this close-up.  I used the piercer and the mat pack to punch little holes around the vanilla squares to give the card some dimension and interest.  Neat, huh?  One of my ladies, Elizabeth, put her leaves in a circle and I thought they looked very nice that way, too. 

 I told my ladies that this is a good layout to use in any color scheme and with anything in the squares; that it would look great as a winter/Christmas card.  So I came home and made one using different colors and snowflakes in the squares to show them. 

Here is that one.  For this card, the card itself is Sahara Sand with Whisper White for the sentiment.  That sentiment, too, is from Seasonal Sentiments in the Holiday Mini.  I chose Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze and Bashful Blue for the 1/4" strips and for the squares for the snowflakes.  I cut the snowflakes using the Northern Frost Decorative Strip in the Holiday Mini using the Big Shot.  This snowflake is the smallest flake on the strip.

 Here is a close-up of the scalloped square.  I cut this one from Elegant Eggplant CS and stamped the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant ink, too.  In the center of each of the snowflakes, I glued one of the Basic Rhinestone Jewels to give the card alittle shine. 

I needed a swap for a group I'm swapping with and my husband selected this sample from a couple I showed him, so I made these for my swaps.  I was pleased with the layout in BOTH color schemes.  Just shows you when you find a good layout you like, make it in several themes for several seasons!

Thanks for stopping by again today!!  More later.....  Smiles, Laura

Let's think fall.....

With the long hot summer we've had, it is surely time to start thinking fall.  In fact, we had 48 degrees here one morning this week, so fall is beginning to peep her face out.  I am participating in a challenge swap where they give you the card requirements and you have to make a card to send to just one person.  For this challenge, we were given this card (below) and told to change three things about it. (It just so happens it is a card by me that I made for an earlier swap.)  

So I got busy yesterday afternoon to make my card for my challenge partner. I wanted my card to look fall-ish, since I'm anticipating fall now!   Here is what I made:

The card itself is Pumpkin Pie and the front layer is Cajun Craze.  I embossed the Cajun using the Square Lattice embossing folder, same as the original sample.  I put a scalloped square using the new Scalloped Squares Duo Die for the bigger square on here.  The sentiment is from the Seasonal Sentiments set from the Holiday Mini.  It has four wonderful sentiments in the set for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines.  The little tree is from the Trendy Trees stamp set.  The base of the tree was stamped in Crumb Cake and the leaves with Cajun Craze.  

I punched the leaves using the Two Step Bird punch.  The leaves in that punch are SO versatile.  They are punched from Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  I added the wide striped Pumpkin Pie bow. 

So what do you think, comparing the two cards?  I made quite a few changes, but can you tell it is the same layout?  I hope so!!  And I hope I wasn't supposed to just change THREE things, because I changed more.   Oh, well, I hope my partner likes the card!

Smiles, Laura