Craft Break for Me

Punch Art Care Bears Tutorial

2013-07-28T15:28:00.000-03:00

Hello there,

I feel like I am visiting an old friend, reading back through my past posts. I cannot believe over a year has passed since I last posted. I must thank all of you who visited my site and requested a tutorial. This was one of the reasons I started a blog, to share my love of crafts with others. Well I have to say I would have liked to have been able to get this tutorial up right away, but I am in the middle of my night shifts so I am stealing moments and getting the tutorial done bit by bit.

I have been wanting to make templates of all of my punches for some time now, and that is how I started out. I punched out a bunch of tags and then proceeded to punch out a negative of every punch I have, including edge punches. I then took my laminator that I purchased about 3 or 4 years ago, because I just had to have it, and used it for the first time to laminate each tag to make it sturdier. Then I punched a hole in the corner and placed them collectively on a key ring. Now when I want to know what punch works best with a stamp I can lay it over and decide ahead of time. Also when deciding what punches I used on a punch art piece I can lay the template over top to find what matches.

So that is how I decided what punches I used for my Care Bears.

Ok, on to what you came for..............

Head - full heart punch
I used a corner rounder on the end to smooth it out

Ears - 3/4 inch circle punch and 1/2 inch circle punch in white for inside of ears

Muzzle - 3/4 inch circle punch in white with the heart from the 2-step owl punch in the color of your bear for the nose

Body - 1 3/4 inch circle with 1 3/8 inch circle in white for the belly

Feet - 3/4 inch circle punch with small hearts in the center, I used a darker shade of the bear color for the hearts

Arms - the large oval 1 3/4 x 7/8 inch punch

Next I chose a shade darker and sponged around all of the edges. This really adds dimension to the punched out shapes.

Then google search for different Care Bears and their body colors and belly shapes.

Not sure what center for the purple bear, but I just went through my paper stash and picked out different colors to use.

I have been having a difficult time deciding how to make draw the faces on, and found bear eye shapes that you can download and cut out on The Beary Scrap website. I think they might work. http://thebearyscrap.com/pages/printables.htm

Sorry it took me so long to get this tutorial up but I ended up working 2 shifts of overtime and today is my first day off. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Crafting, Tina

Care Bears Punch Art

2012-02-12T15:35:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
Ever since I was a child I have always loved the Care Bears. Not sure why, but I had a dream about these adorable bears on cards. So today I spent part of the day trying to find some punch art ideas of bears, but none of them were Care Bears. The Care Bears have a look about them, and no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find samples of them. So I did a google search for pictures of the bears themselves and thought I would make an attempt at creating my own punch art. Personally I think they turned out wonderful, and what a great way to use up scraps!! Here are some pictures of the ones I have finished and as I finish more I will be sure and post them too.

I haven't added any faces yet, I have been practicing faces to get them just right. Well I we got buried last night by a snow storm. I am sure most of you heard about it on the weather channel, well I worked all night and drove home in the aftermath this morning. The roads really weren't that bad, where they were plowed that is.

Well I hope you like these little guys, Happy Crafting, Tina

I finally added a tutorial to these little guys, here's the link to exact spot http://craftbreakforme.blogspot.ca/2013/07/punch-art-care-bears-tutorial.html

Enjoy!!

Matthew's Birthday Card

2012-02-12T15:28:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

It was my oldest son's birthday this past Wednesday, wow hard to believe he is now 22 years old. I bought the Totally Tool stamp set from Stampin' Up!, because he is an electrician. As soon as I saw this stamp set I just had to have it, I knew it would be perfect for him, and any other male cards that I may have to make.

I looked around all over the internet looking for inspiration to make his card. I had a rough idea of what I wanted but just wasn't sure. This is the card I ended up with. I saw a bunch of different ideas and took a little inspiration from each and created my own which is loosely based on 3 or 4 other ideas, and I sized it to make it a card. I covered the saying on each of the idividual stamps and just Versamarked the tool itself. I then used detail black embossing powder and heat embossed it. Next I used my Versamark marker and colored the areas I felt should be silver, and I sprinkled these parts with sterling silver embossing powder and heat embossed these parts. Next I colored in the other parts like the handle of the screwdriver, the tape part of the tape measure, and the hammer handle. I used a chain I had and attached it to a belt loop to make a "key chain" of sorts. I used the Happy Birthday greeting from the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set. I wanted more than just a sentiment and I found a great greeting inside of another birthday card. I printed it out onto a piece of vanilla cardstock and cut it into the shape of a tag. Next I punched a hole in the top and attached ribbon and slipped it into one of the pockets (along with gift cards in the other pockets). As you can tell from the photo, the gift cards have been removed. I didn't want to take pictures or post this card until after his birthday in case someone saw it.
I hope you like and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and ask.
Happy Crafting, Tina

Makeover Monday

2012-02-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,
now for some reason I had a difficult time trying to decide how I wanted to make this card all mine. I love these challenges, you really get to tap into your creativity. I tried making this card one way, but wasn't happy with it, and just kept fiddling with it until I finally came up with a card I was pleased with. So without further ado here it is.......

I know over at the Paper Crafter's Library, their inspiration was a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, but I really wanted to continue making my cards. Now looking at it maybe if I had made it a 5.5 x 5.5 card I would have had a littlemore room to play with, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.
I used the Cheerful Treat designer series paper and my eyeley border punch and created the decorative layer on the the bottom of the card front. I used my Sizzlits alphabet set "Girls are Weird" and punched out the letters and shadows for the word "Spring". I wanted another layer for the lettering and decided to cut out 1-3/8" circles and place the letters on top. I was going to place one letter on each circle, but there wasn't enough room, but lucky enough there was enough room for two letters on each circle. I stamped sentiments from the Best Yet stamp set, in Brilliant Blue Classic ink and sponged around the edges. I layered in a coordinating color and punched a hole in the top using my Big Bite. I used the Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine and wrapped the card and used the twine to attach my sentiment. The flower and ladybug are stickers that I have had forever, they are made by Provo Craft and are called Dandy Daisies.
I hope you like and until next time,
Happy Crafting, Tina

Makeover Monday Challenge

2012-01-31T15:21:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone,
Well here is another makeover Monday challenge card. I really like this card, and I find with all of the challenges this month it really gets your creative side thinking. My husband asked me if I had made his card yet, he has no idea I have been working on cards all month long.

I like the 4.25 x 5.5 cards that stand on end, so I kept my card the same as Tracy's that way, and used my corner rounded punch for the bottom corners. I used a light pink card base, and added the front making it a little smaller leaving a border of the pink around the card. I used my Spellbinder Classic Hearts dies and cut out hearts and went from the smallest upwards and layered them as well, and after gluing them together I sponged the edges with Cherry Cobbler classic ink. I liked the buttons Tracy had on her card, but couldn't get my bows just right so I just threaded it through the two holes and knotted it in the back. I used some decorative Valentine paper and using the eyelet border punch I created a decorative layer at the bottom and used Stampin' Up! ribbon to hide the seam. I stamped my sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and created a banner with a brad at the end, and adhered it with stampin dimensionals from Stampin' Up!
I hope you like the inspiration I got from this weeks challenge.
Happy Crafting, Tina

Another Makeover Monday Challenge

2012-01-28T18:57:00.000-04:00

Hello again everyone,

This is a pinwheel card, I found the pinwheel idea over on Andrea Walford's site quite a while back. I know the cards in this challenge use a sentiment as the large accent piece but I wanted to use this pinwheel idea. I used paper from the Cheerful Treat DSP pack and used the colors in the paper to pick out the colors for my cards. I love this little "magazine/file" holder for the cards. I will add a link to the site where I saw the directions for this holder, when I find it. I went through my stash of ribbon and couldn't find one that I really liked so I took my Creative Memories 12 inch decorative trimmer and made a border for the card. I used sentiments from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set for the cards, and Dear Santa stamp set for the to/from tag.

I hope you like and happy crafting, Tina

I am finally entering a challenge

2012-01-10T20:13:00.000-04:00

A Valentine's Card..........now this challenge was from Andrea Walford's site and is called Makeover Monday. The idea behind the challenge is that you take an example from another site and make it your own, using only the supplies you have on hand. As much as we all love to have an excuse to go out and buy a new paper or punch, if you are anything like me, you already have enough in your stash to sink a ship!! So I thought this challenge would be a good one for me. Now, anyone who knows me will not believe that other than the card bases I did not cut one new piece of paper. I opened up my boxes of scrap paper and found everything to make the card, actually I made 16 of them, because I can never make just one, you never know when you will need a card, or someone might ask for one.

I love the butterflies, they are an embossilits folder that I bought from Stampin' Up! I actually made Ladybugs to go on each card, but the red seemed too harsh against the pinks, so I opted for the butterflies.

I hope you like the card, and maybe, if I try and take part in more Makeover Monday Challenges, I can keep more current on my blog.

Have a great rest of the week, and Happy Crafting,

Tina

Angel card for the Holidays

2011-10-06T14:23:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone,
This is a little spin on a card I made a little while back. I just loved the angel and thought she would be perfect for Christmas cards, as well. So I decided to use Christmas paper for her skirt.

I started by using my Scalloped border punch and punched along both long edges of 8.5 x 11 card stock, this way you can do more all at once, and then I cut my paper in half.

Then I counted and marked every 8 scallops, and cut the card stock and this makes her skirt. To round the edges just mark the middle of the top flat side of the card stock and cut up the sides to the mark you made. Next take the extra-large oval punch and punch out a skin tone colored card stock and this is her head. I haven't added a face or pink for the cheeks yet.

I used the petal punch and using red glitter card stock, I punched out 3 flowers for each angel, added a yellow center and you have poinsettias. Using silver card stock, and my Creative Memories oval cutting system I used the smallest oval template and the blue and green blades and cut out the halos.

Next I ran the cardbase through the Cuttlebug with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder. I took sponge and Handsome Hunter and ran the sponge back and forth across the embossed surface until I had the color I wanted. I realized after that I could have udes my Brayer instead of the sponge to apply the color.

Next I centered and adhered the angel in place. I used the Merry Christmas stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, stamped in Real Red Classic ink and punched out with the Word Window. I layered with the |Decorative label and adhered the sentiment to her dress.

I added red glitter glue to the centers of the embossed images, and to a few centers I added little beaded red flowers, that I got at Michaels in the bargain bins. (they came in a sheet of 25 flowers for $1.50, and I got 20% off)

Enjoy and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a note.
Happy Crafting, Tina

A Beautiful Morning

2011-10-05T21:39:00.000-03:00

Hello there,
I was just going through my pictures that I took this week, and found this picture. I took it yesterday morning as the sun was coming up. I love how the sun reflects on the trees, I knew I had to get the picture as soon as I saw it, and sure enough, 15 minutes later it was gone. I hope you like the picture and that it makes you smile, especially with the rain and wind we have had last night and today.

These pictures were taken while I was standing on my front porch.
Have a great day, Tina

Coffee Thankyou Card

2011-10-05T20:56:00.001-03:00

Good morning,
With how busy things have been lately, with Chris being sick (he's better now), I had moved alot of my craft supplies upstairs into the middle of the livingroom. Well I spent all of this afternoon putting it all away! The house is back to normal now.
My mother in law wants me to make her Christmas cards this year, so I have been busy making those and I have a card request from one of the guys I work with.
He wants a card for one of the girls that we work with, she is changing rotations and we won't be working with her, except in passing.
So yet another dilemma, what type of card do I make for someone who is not a girlie girl? Well she is a good friend of mine so I got to thinking about things she likes, and what stamps and punches I have. Coffee, that's it, she loves her coffee. We like our wine too but didn't think he would like to give her a card about that, hehehe.

So I got thinking about types of coffee, espresso.......express, espresso my thanks? Yeah that works, now what? A coffee cup die cut and my card is starting to take shape. Hmmmmm perhaps a chalk board in the background naming different types of coffee? Ok now this I don't have so guess I'll pull out my computer and make one.

Well I have that finished, and I layered it with dark brown card stock, and sponged all my edges with Chocolate Chip ink. I had Chris cut me out some coffee cup die cuts with the cuttlebug and I like how you can swap the pieces out to give them more dimension. I used My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up to create the "chalkboard" as you can use all of the colors that Stampin' Up has and match your colors.

Here is a picture of the finished card......now on to more Christmas cards.
Happy crafting, Tina

Another Christmas card

2011-10-01T09:29:00.000-03:00

Hello again,
I know it's still a little early to be thinking of Christmas, but truly I don't think a week goes by that I don't find myself humming a Christmas Carol or thinking of how I want to decorate this year. Shoot and I haven't even decorated for Halloween yet!

This card is made with the Come to Bethlehem stamp set. I have always liked this stamp set and it was one I finally ordered, in my last Stampin' Up order. I decided to go with a silver and blue color scheme. I took a light blue card stock and used Versamark and stamped the three wisemen stamp on the card stock. Next I used silver embossing powder, and heat set it.

I bought this shimmer paper pad at Michael's using my 50% off coupon. I took the silver shimmer paper and cut it out 4 x 5.25 inches. Next I layered my stamped/embossed image. At first I cut the top layer 1/4 inch smaller but decided I wanted more of the silver showing, so I cut each of the top layers 1/2 inch smaller than the silver layer. I then wrapped ribbon around the card and placed it on the front of my A2 card.

I offset the top layer, more to the side, so you could see the sparkle and color in the ribbon. Added a sentiment, layered it, and used Stampin' Dimensionals to give some dimension to the card. I then added a sentiment to the inside. I think my mother in law will like this card too.

Happy crafting, Tina

Halloween Card

2011-09-26T20:24:00.000-03:00

Good Morning,
I have been working on this card this weekend and I really like how it is coming togather. I still have Chris helping me by punching and cutting my papers down to size. He doesn't think I have finished nearly enough for the amount of time we have spent on cards. hehehe Maybe he's starting to realize how much time actually goes into making cards.

I love how this card turned out. It took a little time and little trying this, and trying that, but I think the final product is really nice.

I took black card stock and used my scalloped circle template, for making clouds, and made white clouds on the black background, to create a nighttime setting.

Next Chris punched out a bunch of black owl bodies. I was going to make black owl silhouettes for the card and then thought I would like to have a bat "flying" by the moon. So we then punched out some yellow moons and I sponged them with So Safron. And using the scalloped oval punch I punch out along the edge of black paper and then finished cutting out the wing with the 1 3/4 inch Circle Punch.

Next I sponged the edges of the owl body and wings with white, to help them stand out better on the background.

I decided to add pumpkins to the setting, so another job for Chris. hehehe He punch out ovals in orange card stock and I sponged the edges with Dusty Durango and glued two oval to the back of the center oval, to make a pumpkin. I used my Creative Memories maple leaf punch and punched out some green leaves, sponged them in Old Olive and added them to the pumpkins.

The vines you see were punched from the Two Step Bird Punch. I stamped the sentiment from the Teeny Tiny stamp set, so glad I got this stamp set, punched it out with the Word Window punch and sponged the edges with Dusty Durango. I layered the sentiment with the Modern Label punch and attached it with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Hope you like and hope this gives you a little inspiration.
Happy crafting, Tina

Strawberry Hearts

2011-09-25T20:34:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone,
I have had Chris home all week, and have had him cutting paper, to try to keep him occupied but that is growing old I think. He feels better one day, does too much and then feels exhausted and tired the next, today is a tired day. So I have put him to bed and hopefully he'll get some rest.

I have been playing with my Square Lattice embossing folder, I really like impression it makes. It looks like wood or a basket. I am working on some bird houses that I think are cute, both 3-D and flat ones for cards, and I embossed them with this folder, but I'll show those another day when I figure out what I am going to do with them. I also used my Scalloped Border punch by Fiskars on the edges.

I used my Cricut and the Designer Calendar cartridge and cut out some hearts with red card stock. Then I used my Petals Punch, from Michael's, and punched out some white petals and green ones, and some yellow centers.

I ran the hearts through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Then I attached both a green and white petal and used the yellow for the centers, to make strawberries.
Next I took pieces of light brown card stock and cut it for the front of my card, and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Square Lattice embossing folder.

I cut strips of red card stock and used the Scalloped Border punch and punched the top and bottom edges, and added ribbon along the center. As you can see I ran out of one type of ribbon and had to switch to another.

I attached the strawberries to each card with Tombow glue, and added a ribbon and sentiment to complete the card front. I then attached the card front to an A2 size card base.

I used a yellow brad down through the center to hold the blossom together and Tombow glue for attaching the little pieces.

Here's a whole patch of cards. Hope you enjoy.

Happy crafting, Tina

Christmas Cards

2011-09-25T08:58:00.003-03:00

Hello everyone,
Well thank goodness for the ability to save draft posts. I have been working on four or five drafts and trying to get the pictures I need for each one as well. Then to find the time to get the pictures uploaded. Well I got up this morning and decided I would do that while everyone was still asleep. Well everyone is now awake and I have one post finished and here you go.....

My mother in law asked me to make her Christmas cards this year, to give out to the family. I had some Christmas paper that I received from my mom and I wanted to use it.

As always I love my Lovely as a Tree stamp set, and thought I would stamp some trees in Handsome Hunter green on some vanilla card stock. Next I wanted to add some glitter to the trees so I stamped on top of the images with Versamark. Now, I could have used my Stamp-a-ma-Jig, but I just eyed it instead. I then sprinkled Kaleidoscope embossing powder over and heat set it. This just adds a bit of sparkle to the card.

I then cut the trees 2 x 3.25 inch and layered them in red and vanilla, each layer being cut 1/4 inch bigger than the last. I took the pretty Christmas designer series paper and started cutting strips, 3/4 inch for the sides and 2 inches for the center. I centered the tree on the card about 1/2 inch from the top. As you can see, as I ran out of one type of paper I just switched it up and used what I had.

The insides are always a difficult decision of how to decorate or what to put inside. I saw on another blog, which if I can find it again I will add as a favorite site to look at, that she decorates the inside simply by adding a piece of card stock, sponged and then coordinating strips; I used leftovers. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Not sure what sentiment I am going to add yet, but I will let you know.

Happy crafting, Tina

Word Window Fence

2011-09-17T22:04:00.002-03:00

Hello everyone,

I showed you in an earlier post how to make the pumpkins shown in this card, well now I will show you how easy it is to make the fence.

You will need a paper cutter and your Word Window punch.

First cut strips of card stock, whatever color you want your fence, into just slightly less than 3/8th inch strips.

Next, feed each strip into your Word Window punch, like being demonstrated in the picture, and just punch one end. Looking at the card after I realized you could also just snip the ends into a "v" and make a picket fence, for a spring/Easter card, Mother's Day etc. The options are endless.

Next sponge the edges around your strips, space out your fence posts how you want them and then lay a strip across them, to "join" them together. See, and you though this was going to be difficult.

As you can see above I have made two little fences, I will just cut them in half and round each of the remaining ends with the Word Window punch. I space the long posts 1 inch apart and the short fence posts 1 inch apart, but you could make the fence any size you would like.

You can use these little fences anywhere you would want a fence on your cards. I spaced the two long posts and the fence posts all 1 inch apart, and just added dabs of Tombow glue to glue them together.

Happy crafting, Tina

Pumpkins made with Punches

2011-09-16T22:41:00.003-03:00

Hello again,

I just love it when you can get more out of your punches than just an oval or circle. Not only do they make even layering options, you can turn multiple punches into say....... Pumpkins!

For this project you will need the large oval punch, which I do not have but instead the second sized oval from Creative Memories and the red blade will give you the same size. You will also need the medium oval and I am using, yet again, my leaf punch from Creative Memories.

First punch, or cut, a large oval and two medium ovals out of orange and one maple leaf out of green, for each pumpkin you want to make.

Next I sponged the edges of the orange card stock with Cajun Craze, and the green maple leaves were sponged in Old Olive.

Take a small amount of Tombow glue and apply it along each side on the back of the large oval. Then take the two medium ovals and place one on the back on each side where you placed the glue. Move them around until they are where you want them. Further apart for a fatter pumpkin or closer together for a skinnier one.

Next take the maple leaf and place it on top. I used the Scribbles Swirls Sissix Sizzlet die to make the vines for the pumpkins.

These make a nice pumpkin for placing on your scrapbook pages or on your cards.

I will show you in another post how to make this easy fence for the background, and how to use your inks to get the background. Hope you are having a nice day.
Happy crafting, Tina

Making Penguins with the Two Step Owl Punch

2011-09-16T21:42:00.000-03:00

Hello there,
Well another week is almost over, but you know what they say......time flies when you're having fun, or are very busy. Hehehe Mike and I have been busy getting him ready to start work next week, and he is excited.

I know there are lots of places on the Internet that you can find different ways of making the most of your punches, but I thought if you came here to browse why not offer another example.

These are really very simple to make, just a few punches and snips with your scissors and you have a cute penguin to add to your cards.

Start by punching out the body and circle for the eyes in black card stock. Then using white card stock punch out the vest shape and circles for the eyes again. Then take a piece of orange card stock and punch out the feet at the bottom of the owl body. If you want to add a little heart to your penguin then just take red card stock and punch out the heart

Next use your scissors and cut off the feet and ears on the black body.

Take the orange feet that you punched out and attach them to the back of the body shape you now have.

Turn the body over, he's starting to come together. Attach the white vest and eyes, and a little piece of orange under the top of his vest, to make his nose.

I added the little heart from the Two Step Owl Punch as well. Tombow glue dries quickly and is great for attaching little pieces. The other tool you see in these pictures is my QuickStik, while watching video tutorials I would hear them mention this little tool. The end that you see in the upper picture has tacky putty in it, and it is great for picking up those little pieces that you try to get in just the right spot. I ordered it from the states, and I will try to find out what the site is for you. But I have to say it is a big help and for only about $5.00 it was a great purchase.

Hope you enjoyed this little penguin, and actually looking at him now, I think I would also sponge the edges of his body, to give him a little more dimension. Well I am off to play with some of my new Stampin' Up stuff, I have an idea for tomorrows post.

Happy crafting, Tina

Making Clouds with your Scalloped Circle Punch

2011-09-15T10:03:00.003-03:00

Hello again,
I just realized that I had said in an earlier post that I would show you how easy it is to make those puffy clouds that you see in the background of this card. It's funny how you can make such a difference in the look of your card with just a few simple "tricks of the trade", once you learn them.

These clouds are made by punching out about 7 scalloped circles. I don't have the Stampin' Up circle punch but I do have the Fiskars scalloped circle punch. Now if I had known when I purchased it that you end up with three holes inside of your circle I probably would not have paid the money for the system, but I have it now, so I am going to use it. Those little holes cover easily when you layer, hehehe.

Next using your snail adhesive apply a little adhesive and start gluing them together. Four on the bottom row and then attach three more to the top portions, you could add more to make it longer or less to make it shorter depending on the look you want. Just practice and you will decide what works best for you.

Then take a sponge and your blue ink, ink up your sponge and hold the template you have just made down on your card and start sponging around the edges of the scalloped circles. Move the template around and keep inking up your sponge, the more ink the darker the color, and as you get further down your card, use less ink and it will be lighter. Be sure to keep turning your template and moving it often after sponging small areas, to get the best effect. I bet this would look nice on a nighttime background by making puffs of clouds throughout the night sky.

Also a little tip, so I don't see these circles stuck together and toss them by accident, I used a piece of paper to sponge on when I first started to see how it turned out, well I kept this piece of paper, added a piece of Velcro to the paper and my template and I attach the template back to the paper when I am finished.

Hope this ideas helps you in creating beautiful cards,
Happy crafting, Tina

A Beautiful card for Fall Using Chalk

2011-09-14T16:17:00.001-03:00

Good morning everyone,
I had great intentions of posting this card yesterday but my friend called me and I went on a road trip with her to buy her new car. Here is a picture of her behind the wheel. So we headed out around noon hour and got back around 9 last night.everyone had to fend for themselves for supper, and all of my card making stuff was over the table. Oopsie, hehehe

Also my Stampin' Up order arrived yesterday, so I can hardly wait to get into that.

Ok enough of me, on to the card. I saw this card idea, and when I find out where I saw it I will give her credit, and I really wanted to try it. I think this would really be a nice way to add color to some of your really intricate stamps.

I added more layers then i usually do, but I really wanted to bring all of the colors together. I cut each of my layers 1/4 inch bigger than the previous one, and I don't know about you, but to make sure I have my layers cut just right, I write out the dimensions on a sheet of paper. You know what they say, measure twice cut once.
I used my Stamp a ma Jig for this project, and you'll see why as we go.

First I cut white card stock 4.25 x 3 inches, then using my Stamp a ma Jig I stamped one of the trees from the stamp set Lovely as a Tree in More Mustard. This is one of my favorite stamp sets and one of the first ones I bought. You can use the trees for so many possibilities.

Next take your chalks, and using a cotton swab, or even the cheap eye makeup applicators that you can buy at the dollar store, start adding dabs of color all over the tree. I chose greens for the base, where the grass would be, and then added greens to the tree foliage as well as yellow, orange and red. It isn't going to look like much to begin with.

Ater you have enough color where you want it, take your Stamp a ma Jig and line up where you stamped your tree and re-stamp over your chalking in chocolate chip. Amazing, huh?

Next I took orange card stock cut at 4.5 x 3.25 inches and sponged the edges with Cajun Craze. Yellow card stock cut at 4.75 x 3.5 inches and sponged the edges with More Mustard, and green card stock cut at 5 x 3.75 inches and sponged the edges with Old Olive. I just realized, looking at my posts, that I said Cajon Craze but in the picture an orange stamp pad is showing, I tried the orange first but it didn't show up well on the card stock so I switched and the Cajun Craze gave a much nicer effect.

I cut a 5 inch piece of Old Olive ribbon and wrapped it around the top card piece and attached with snail adhesive. Then assemble the pieces.

I wanted to add a little something more to the card, and I have a fall leaves punch from Creative Memories, so I punch out some leaves with my leftover coordinating card stock and sponged the edges as well.

I stamped a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, this is one of my new stamps sets I just received. Punched it out with my Word Window punch, and layered it with the Modern Label punch. I think it came out beautiful, and as I always do when making cards, you could easily have a dozen of these laid out and made in a short period of time, and I think they are a nice masculine card as well. And masculine cards always seem to be a little more difficult to make.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and that I have inspired you to try this on other stamps. Happy crafting, Tina

Layering Your Decorative Label Punch

2011-09-12T20:02:00.000-03:00

Well the guys are downstairs, amusing themselves, and I thought I would come and add the post I promised. It really is quite easy.

First punch out the decorative label, with the saying or sentiment attached. I find it easier to center it, as opposed to trying to stamp later.
Then punch two more punches in the color you would like to layer your label in. I chose blue because that is what I had sitting by my craft table.

Cut one of the blue punches long wise in half and the other short wise in half.

The shorter cut ones you will then cut out a piece from each corner, as shown.

Next apply snail adhesive to the back of the white label and adhere the short ends to each end and the long ones to the sides.

There you have it, a layered decorative label punch.

Hope this helps and until next time,
Happy crafting, Tina

Another Week - Easel Card #2

2011-09-12T17:24:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone,
I noticed in my post last night that pictures really would have helped to show exactly what I was talking about. So here goes.....

This is what your paper cut to 11 x 4.25 should look like.

This is the paper scored at 2.75 and 5.5.

Now fold along score lines and crease with your bone folder for a nice crisp fold.

Next assemble your card front, you can pretty much adapt any card front to suit this type of card.

Then attach a sentiment with pop dots, to give the card front a place to rest against.

And there you go, you have an easel card. Not too difficult. Next post I am going to show you how to how I outline, or layered, the decorative label punch.
Hope you're having a great day and happy crafting, Tina

Easel Cards

2011-09-11T21:45:00.001-03:00

Hello everyone,

I really like these types of cards. They are different, and so easy to make. Just cut your paper longwise, 11 x 4.25. Then take your card and score at 2.75 inches and 5.5 inches. Crease both folds in the same direction. Now you will have a flat base with a mountain fold on top. To the front 2.75 section attach your card front. and since most of my cards I make card fronts and attach this to that section. Another idea, as you can see in the Angel and Penguin cards in the gallery, is if you have a large element or or single image you can adhere that to the front of your card. In order to make this image or card front stand up, I add a saying or sentiment and attach it with pop dots to the base, to give your front a place to rest when standing. I will take some pictures that will help to explain this a little better, tomorrow. Any questions please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

The penguin is from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge. I added glossy effects to the lights around his neck. The angel was an idea I saw, I added a halo and thought she was perfect for an easel card. Hope these give you some ideas.

Come back soon, Tina

It's That Time of Year

2011-09-11T15:07:00.000-03:00

Well Chris and I "harvested" the cucumbers from our garden yesterday. We made 13 jars of mustard pickles, and I still had tons of cucumbers left, so I decided to try to make bread and butter pickles. I will let you know if they turned out. I thought it has been a while since I made raspberry jam, and I don't know why I haven't made any because everyone loved it, well we went to Costco and bought some raspberries and I made jam today. We are all going to Chris's mom's for supper, mmmmmmm and best of all I don't have to cook! Here's a couple pictures of some of the jams/pickles.

In front of all the jars are the cucumbers we had left over. Think we'll bring some tonight with us for Chris's mom. Hopefully we won't be too late tonight and I will add a description of another card. Have a great rest of your weekend.
:o) Tina

LadyBug Card

2011-09-10T23:25:00.001-03:00

I was sitting here trying to decide which card I would like to describe to you. I had the whole entry written and then my cat came and walked across my keyboard and erased it all. Good thing we love her. I just got up from my computer a couple of minutes ago, and decided to close my screen before I left it. I think it was a good idea, what do you think?? hehehehe

I think Freckles is feeling left out when I am on my computer.

Now on to the card.........

This lady bug is so cute. I saw a lady bug during one of my google images searches and thought, ''I could make that''. Like I have said, I don't have all of the Stampin' Up punches, but I have the circle maker from Creative Memories. So for the body I made 2 - 2 inch circles one in red and one in black, and for the head I used my 3/4 inch circle punch. I then took the red 2 inch circle and used a regular hand-held hole punch and punched out some small black circles, glued them in place on the body and then added crystal effects to each little black circle. You have to let it dry for a while. Once dried, I cut the red circle in half, to make the wings. I then glued them to the black 2 inch circle, and then glued the head in place. I sponged clouds on the 4.25 x 5.5 card base for my background. I'll show you in another post how easy it is to make the clouds. Next, place the ladybug on the card, I took my fine tip black marker and drew in the antennaes. The swirl, at the back of the ladybug, is a stamp I used from another stamp set I have. I used my "grass" cut craft scissors (you know the ones we all just had to have when we started) to cut the grass and used my cricut and one of the cartridges to make the grass on each side.
I hope you enjoy making these cute ladybugs for your cards. Leave me a note or link to your site, I would love to see your ideas.
Until next time, happy crafting, Tina

Time Sure Flies........

2011-09-07T20:54:00.000-03:00

Hello everyone,
the summer sure has flown by. I am sorry I have been absent, but between family issues and our whole renovation project, which is another story, I have not had much time for anything. Michael graduated from his Primary Care Paramedicine course, and we had a graduation party for both Matthew and Michael, last Sunday. This summer has been so busy and I have had no time for me, let alone my crafts. But like my blog name says it was time for me to take a "craft break for me", before I broke. So this week I have been busy making cards, I do have a craft fair to get ready for, plus it is my R&R time. On top of all the cards I have made, I also have about 4 more card ideas started, and though I cannot promise to be here every day, I am going to try to be here at least once a week. So be sure and come back often to see new cards ideas that I hope will inspire you in your crafting endeavors.
Here are some pictures I took of one of my craft tables with some of the cards I have been making. I will post the cards in my gallery so you can have a closer view of each of them.

Thankyou for sticking with me and hope you enjoy the cards and fun. I would love to hear from you with ideas for improving my blog, as I am new to this, or card ideas and techniques you would like to see.

Big smiles always, Tina