Handmade by Shay

Wishing you…

Sharon — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:50:00 +0000

Today’s greeting card is one I made for my Aunt. I heard she was having foot surgery so I thought I’d wish her a speedy recovery. It was very easy to put together after freehand stamping the messages (no guidelines) and cutting out the butterflies by hand.

Warm Fuzzies

Sharon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:25:31 +0000

Today was full of trial, error, and failure. I had this great idea for a pretty, simple card that didn’t turn out at all. Here are my tries:

I ended up using stamps from the same collection with different colors, a cute message, and a grass sticker.

Blue & Green Hello

Sharon — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:51:34 +0000

When I started this card today the only thought I had was to weave some ribbon that I’ve had for a while. This led me to add some flower rub-ons using similar colors. I still had a lot of white space so I decided to stamp another flower and simple message using more blue and green. The final touch was matting the green onto blue and mounting it to the cardstock. I owed a friend of mine a note so I decided to use it for her. My handwriting is bad enough so I added some green lined paper to the inside of the card and wrote in blue ink. I hope she likes it!

All you need is Love

Sharon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:45:34 +0000

Today’s card was quick and easy using a single stamp, pearl embellishments, and an orange heart. Side by side is the inspiration and my version.

Valentine’s day is around the corner! If you’d like a free handmade card, check out my love and friendship Flickr set then contact me with the card name, your name, and your mailing address.

Thanks!
~Shay

Green Birthday

Sharon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:40:36 +0000

Today’s card is dedicated to my brother who had a birthday on January 26th. Love you, bro!

Stamping tip: To create a straight and centered message, draw pencil lines with a ruler and begin stamping in the middle of the word. Don’t forget to remove the pencil lines when you’re done!

Love, the Master Key

Sharon — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:45:51 +0000

I spent some time the other day flipping through magazines and stealing ideas. Today’s valentine is inspired by this card:

I started by pulling from my scraps all the different colors I wanted to use: black, red, white, pink, silver. I got lucky when I came across this quote: “Love is the master key that unlocks the gates of happiness.” I knew then that I could finally unwrap this fantastic key to my heart paper. It took me a while to visualize the end product so I started by making the card from black cardstock.

I started trimming my key paper because I knew I wanted to cut out at least one of the keys and use the backside for the upper left square. I also trimmed some red polka dot paper and began lining things up.

I wanted to use the scalloped edge so I trimmed down and inked the quote square.

I also cut out silver hearts, a key, and trimmed and inked the key background block.

I laid everything out on the card and realized I needed a bit more silver. I pulled out some silver glitter tape and saw that some of it was already punched perfectly for this card! I was finally ready to glue things down.

For the inside of the card, I added pink lined paper for easy writing and a little lock for the key.

Don’t forget about my free valentine offer. If you’d like to send a valentine, comment on which one you’d like and contact me with your name and address.

Cheers! ~Shay

Love Ya

Sharon — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:36:04 +0000

This is another design experiment. I wanted a more masculine valentine’s card but liked the design of this one.

Here’s the example and step-by-step photos:

And the final product:

Sky is the Limit

Sharon — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:07:51 +0000

*This post was written on January 2 before I had access to the blog.*

I’m keeping things quick and easy this week with another card from my SEI kit. Here’s the example:

I thought it was another great card for the new year because the sky really is the limit when it comes to creativity and imagination. I also really like the design because I am totally looking forward to spring and nicer weather. The flags and pinwheel really remind me of that. Here are the photos of my steps:

Technical specs: to create the pinwheel, start with a square piece of cardstock. Make cuts at the corners toward the center on all four corners. The piece I used was 2.5″ square so I made my cuts 1″ long using my paper cutter. After you’ve made the cuts, bend one part of the corner and secure in the center. I used glue dots before poking the brad (and flower) through.

Here’s my final product:

Here’s to blue skies and unlimited creativity!

~Shay

Your Voice

Sharon — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:18:15 +0000

I’ve had these music stickers for a while and with the thoughts of Valentine’s Day I finally found a good use for them.

You’re Sweet

Sharon — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:07:38 +0000

At the beginning of the month, I got in the mail my January SEI kit. I decided to use the design ideas with different papers. It’s an experiment that only worked out so-so on this card.