10 Minute Christmas

I thought I would just do a quick post showcasing a few of the cards I made for giving away this year. I really left it until the last minute, but I set aside 1.5 hours tonight and managed to make 24 cards! That's actually less than 4 minutes a card! I probably could have made more, but I hadn't bothered to check how many I'd need.

I've done designs like this before, but it's just such a sharp and quick design that I had to do it again! I also made a small dent in my pattern paper collection. I used a sentiment from PTI's Stylish Sentiments: Holidays, an ornament hook from Take a Bough, and an interior greeting from Inside & Out: Holidays.

My two big tips for making a card this simple:

1. Be sure to use a high quality, thick, and bright white paper for the card. It really makes all the difference! I used PTI's white paper. For layered cards I generally use any office store's bulk cardstock brand for my card base, but if it's a one layer card you're making, use the good stuff!
2. Use dimensional tape- I can't stress this enough! Having that little bit of dimension adds the right amount of interest to something that would otherwise be too flat.

The cards are all the standard 4-1/4x5-1/2. I used a 1-3/4 circle punch.

FLT171 Simply Wonderful

Hi crafty people! Do you have Christmas burnout yet? I sure do, so I decided to make something else. This isn't necessarily for Valentine's Day, although it could be used as a Valentine's Day card. I didn't start out with the intent of making this card for anything special rather than just to make it and experimenting with stuff that I haven't seen for a while.

I used Stampin' Up! products of Delicate Doilies, Flirtatious Designer Series Paper, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, and a few punches with a couple of embellishments. My sentiment is from Friendly Phrases.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

FTL 171 Merry Christmas

I had a lot of fun with this sketch.... and I love how these slightly non-traditional colours worked out!  This card truly became one of my favourites  of 2011

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Kraft, Early Espresso
*Pattened Paper:  Unknown
*Images:  Hero Arts Very Merry Christmas
*Ink:  Brilliance Coffee Bean
*Tools:  heat tool; Perfect Layers
*Embellishments:  clear embossing powder; Petaloo flowers; unknown brad covered with Glitter Ritz glitter

FTL171 Christmas Blessings

This is my take on FTL171. Happy holidays! Supplies: Stamps - Sweet 'N Sassy Cocoa's Christmas; Paper - Bazzill, Bo Bunny; Ink - Memento; Misc - Copic markers, Rhinestones, Foam Squares

171! (and a pdf)

Good afternoon everyone!

Just figured I'd do a bit of housekeeping before posting this week's sketch. This will be the last sketch of 2011. With holidays and all the busy-ness associated with them, it's just easier for everyone to take a break until the new year. Sketches will resume January 6, 2012.

Secondly, here's the latest collection of sketches in pdf form. I noticed the site was a tad slow, but be patient and it should work. Go here for the download. And remember, if you want access to the previous collections, just click the "pdf" label on this post, and it will bring the rest of the posts up that have the links.

Finally, here's the sketch.

I had a lot of fun with this one. And although I could have easily made a holiday card, I have a few birthdays that I needed a card for, so I went with that. I actually made two cards. The first has a masculine vibe, it's for my paternal Grandfather, it's his 77th birthday today.

The second is for my maternal Grandmother, it's her 86th birthday on Monday. I always remember her whistling to the birds that would come by her garden, so I thought the bird was a nice touch.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Harvest Berries, Happy Trails, Birthday Basics
• Paper: White, Kraft, Vintage Cream, various Stampin' Up! patterned paper
• Ink: Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories, etc.: Circle Nestabilities, Pop Dots, Chocolate Polytwill

Measurements:

• Card: 4-1/4x4-1/4
• Frame: 3-5/8x3-5/8
• Each Patterned Panel: 3-1/2x1-3/4
• Outer Circle- 1-3/4

As always, feel free to play along by leaving a link to your post! Have a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for dropping by!