Paper craft catch up time

Good thing I didn't make a New Year's resolution to stay up to date here since that still isn't happening.

I made these notebooks for two of my knitting friends, something to keep in their knitting bags where they can make notes of their projects. There are a variety of messages on the bottom of the pages. They were adapted from a Connie Stewart tutorial available here. Thanks to the Posh Paper Lady on YouTube, I learned that my guillotine paper cutter from when we had our business (if you're near my age, think of the paper cutters that teachers had access to in elementary schools, those scary but efficient devices) would cut chipboard which I used as the covers. My We R Memory Keepers Cinch Bookbinding machine (shown below) was used to punch the holes and close the spiral binding on the notepads. The die used on the front is Knitting Supplies 99150 from Memory Box.

This singing mouse can be opened to reveal a sentiment inside but will fold to fit into an A2 size envelope. This was hand-delivered to a friend. The directions are here, at Frenchie Stamps  I changed the heart she used to a songbook, using a stamp called Sheet Music from Finnabair. 

Next is a watercolor card front, made with Ai (Art Impressions) Water Color stamps. The trees, bench, grasses, and sleeping dog are from various stamp sets. This is part of a lesson in an online course from Sandy Allnock.

My front door looked so bare after putting Christmas stuff away, I knew I wanted something there but not necessarily something about Valentine's Day.  I bought the red wooden plaque, framed in white with the two-tone hanging cord at Joann's on Christmas clearance. The "hello" is galvanized metal that I "painted" with white pigment ink from a stamp pad. It didn't dry completely without smearing so I set it with hairspray which seems to be working. I placed the word on black paper and traced a shadow outline. There are two welded hangers on the back of the word so gluing it flat onto paper was out of the question. I used foam adhesive squares from Gina K that happen to be black. I attached the black paper to the wooden plaque with removable double-sided tape. If it doesn't remove when I want to change things out, I'll patch and paint. It was an inexpensive project.

My younger son's birthday was this past week. I could not come up with a theme for his card so I used a bit of everything. The old fashioned man is from a stamp set called Dude from Impression Obsession. I used many stamp sets to fill the card front with phrases and images. It wouldn't be everyone's taste, especially the few cuss words, but it was funny for him. By the way, my son has been an adult for two decades now, the words did not corrupt him. 

2019 Christmas Cards

I made 26 of these Santa with various finishes as cards. Each Santa had 57 separate pieces, not including the candy canes or gifts. This is a Tim Holtz Colorize die. Tim has announced this month that newer Colorize designs will have fewer pieces. Whew!

This card was for my giraffe loving niece, made with My Favorite things stamps and dies called Giraffes on Ice.  

This card used Honey Bee's House Builder Base and their Gingerbread Add On dies. 

These are called Impossible Poppers. They don't break open nor do they have a top that is removable. Instructions are here, at the Paper Pixie's website. I filled these with a variety of Hershey kisses. 

 

My great-nephews and great-niece get cash at Christmas. Here was this year's money holder design.

The gingerbread is on a belly band, holding the card closed.

Slip that off and here is the sentiment from Inky Antics Holiday Dough & S'mores

The gingerbread man was made using a Stampin' Up punch

Inside is the cash pocket

And one more message

The next five are from Christmas Selfies by MyFavorite Things

 Spellbinder dies named Poinsettia Pieces

 Two more Tim Holtz dies, Hanging Ornaments and Santa's Helper

And Ho Ho Deer Circle by Simon Says Stamp, the Merry Christmas greeting is a Tim Holtz die cut

I enjoyed making all of these cards but learned an expensive lesson. I knew the Santa cards were going to cost more to mail because they were square. I bought card blanks with matching envelopes labeled as being 6" square. That would have cost me 85 cents per card but the envelopes were actually 6 3/16" square which boosted the cost up to one dollar per card. I mailed 15 of them from inside a post office. A postal clerk applied the stamps and placed them in a mail bin. My receipt stated that they should arrive in two days. It took over 2 weeks for seven of them to begin reaching their destinations, the final eight never did. 

Other than that bad experience, the holidays were good and the cards were fun to make.