National Tartan Day

I'm the hostess this month for the CCEE Stampers.  Tomorrow is National Tartan Day.  I asked the team members to create a card using plaid.

I am a big fan of the Outlander series, both the books and the TV show.  National Tartan Day gave me the opportunity to use some stamps reminiscent of that series.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more plaid fun!  And, if you haven't read the Outlander series, I would recommend it highly!

Decorated Recipe Cards

CottageCutz has a fun series of breakfast item dies called Rise and Shine.  I decided to do something different with them today.  Instead of making a card using some of these die-cuts, I have created some decorated recipe cards.

Some time ago I bought a little kit for making a personalized recipe box.  Unfortunately, I never did anything with the kit; and it was still sitting in one of my craft cabinets.  When I saw the Rise and Shine dies, I thought I might be able to use them with part of the kit.  I pulled out three of the blank recipe cards and started there.

Looking through my recipes, I decided which ones could be used for this project.  I narrowed the choices down to Pumpkin Bread, Raised Donuts, and a Chocolate Cake.  I wrote the instructions out on the cards.

I then cut out the images from three of the Rise and Shine dies -- Homemade Bread, Coffee and Donuts, and Kitchen Chef.

Using various Copic markers, I colored the die-cuts and constructed the pieces.  I added a bit of clear glaze to the chocolate icing on the donuts.

All that was left was to adhere the various die-cut images onto the recipe cards.  

This was a really fun project.  At some point I may finish it!

CottageCutz dies used for these cards are:

More Than One Score Challenge -- Explosion Card

The Scor-Pal design team members are celebrating April Fool's Day by putting a surprise element in our projects today.  My card is a fun technique -- an Explosion Card.  When you look at the front, it appears to be a normal card . . .

Don't you just love those cute little Wizards from Kindred Stamps new stamp set, Students of Magic?!

. . . when you open the card -- BAM!

. . . a surprise!.

Lots of scoring on that inner panel.

After folding on all the score lines, the insert is glued inside to the top and bottom pieces.

CCEE1813 Fun Folds

For her last challenge of the month, Vicky picked one that is very close to my heart -- FUN FOLDS!  I love doing fun folds, so I was so happy to comply.  I used a technique I've only done once before -- a panel pull-out card.

Be sure to check out some more fun-fold cards on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Spring Basket with Bunnies

Today is my final opportunity to show off an Easter card on the CottageCutz blog.  I used one of the dies from the Spring/Easter release, as well as a basic shape die I recently acquired -- the Nested Wacky Stitched Rectangles.

To start my card I cut the Spring Basket images from a piece of white cardstock and placed them on my sticky board.  For some reason they look blue on this photo; but please believe me, they are white.

Using some Copic markers, I colored each one of the pieces.  The packaging shows the basket all in one color, but I wanted to make it look a bit more realistic.

I then cut the pieces for my card base:

White cardstock - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Purple cardstock - 4" x 5 1/4" and 3" x 4"
Patterned paper - 3 7/8" x 5 1/8"
The pale purple cardstock was cut using the second largest Nested Wacky Stitched Rectangle die.

I layered the patterned paper on the larger purple rectangle and adhered them to the white card base.  Then I assembled the die-cut pieces onto the pale purple die-cut piece and adhered it to the smaller purple piece.

This was then attached to the card base using large foam pop dots, and a small Easter greeting was stamped in the corner.  You can see how these foam dots, as well as the ones behind the chick and tan bunny, give the card some dimension.

Here again is my finished card.

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

Pinterest-Inspired Z-Fold Box Card

Once a month a member of the Scor-Pal design team looks for inspiration on our Pinterest board and recreates the project to make it her own.  My inspiration this month is a Z Box Fold Card created by Lyndsey on The Craft Blog.  This is her card.

To make my card I used a brand-new stamp set  from Kindred Stamps called Students of Magic.  Kindred Stamps has a large selection of pop culture stamps, including a single stamp called Owl Post, which is perfect for decorating the accompanying envelope.

This is my finished card:

I started my card by stamping and coloring the three young wizards in the stamp set.  After they were colored, I cut them out.

I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of brown cardstock into three panels:

1 piece 4 1/4" x 11"
2 pieces 2 1/8" x 11"

I scored the larger panel and one of the small panels at 2 3/4" and 5 1/2".

I then applied patterned paper (cut 1/4" smaller on both sides) to the various sections of each panel.

On the reverse side of the smaller panel I applied Scor-Tape at each end, as shown in the photo.

I then adhered this smaller panel to the larger panel, slightly above the bottom edge.

The other 2 1/8" x 11" strip of brown cardstock was scored as follows:  7/8", 3 5/8", 4 1/8", 6 7/8", 7 3/8" and 10 1/8".  I adhered panels of patterned paper to the "front" panels of this inner strip . . .

. . . and inserted it into the box.

I then cut an inverted scalloped circle from the same brown cardstock and added Scor-Tape strategically in order to adhere it to the front of the card.

I added a smaller circle of patterned paper and one of the wizards to the front of the circle and adhered the circle to the front of the card.  You can't see it well, but I added some clear glue to his glasses.

I cut two small strips of acetate, attached them to the other two wizards, and placed them "in the box."   Using stamps from a Just Rite set, I made the train platform sign and attached it to the back wall.

The original card had a sentiment on the small panel on the right, but I wanted to add something more appropriate to the scene.  So I Googled some free clip art and found some luggage and a bird cage.  The luggage I printed onto cream cardstock, and the birdcage I printed on a piece of acetate.  I cut them out with scissors.

Notice that I cut out two of the small brown suitcases.  When I adhered them to my card, I added the second brown suitcase with foam dots to make a little 3-D effect.  I stamped the owl from the stamp set, cut him out, and adhered him to the card above the suitcase.  When I adhered the acetate birdcage over the owl so it looks like he's inside the cage, it was a little difficult to see the cage.  So using a Faber Castell XS black pen, I went over the cage lines.  This made the cage a bit more noticeable. 

I then stamped the "Owl Post" image to the lower left-hand corner of my envelope.

And now my project was complete.

Note that the card folds flat to fit inside a standard envelope.

CCEE1812 National Goof-Off Day

Vicky has a fun challenge for the CCEE Stampers today.  She's celebrating National Goof-Off Day.  She says it's one of her "favorite days evah!"  She asked us to make a funny card . . . any kind of card, just so that it's funny.  I hope my card is funny enough for her.

For some more humor, be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog.