Calendar Style Birthday Card

I made this card for my BFF a few months back for her birthday but just got around to uploading it. Sorry for being MIA for a while, my studies have been so super busy! I went away to present my research at a conference and although it was probably one of the best experiences of my life, it also left me very little free time for a while.

But I’m back in the game and super excited to share with you all my most recent creations, starting with the least recent haha!

I really wanted to showcase when my BFF’s birthday was which is the 29th of December so I printed out, stained and distressed a calendar that I found online.

I used some glimmer mist in Rouge and Cork using my technique on how to prevent paper from wrinkling after soaking it in wet media and letting it dry. You can find that tutorial here.

Once it dried, I stamped some swirls using Versamark and transparent embossing powder. You can see the glimmer mist underneath of it that way.

Then I just finished up the card by adding a gemstone over the top of the 29th of December because that’s the date of her birthday. And then I just embellished with a flower (I don’t remember what it’s called, an accordion flower? Somebody help!) I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo, but you can also use a Tim Holtz die to do that.

I mounted the calendar onto another piece of cardstock which I punched with a Martha Stewart doily punch just on one edge and then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. 

Finally I mounted everything onto a card with a pretty pink background I dug out from my scraps stash from DCWV Garden Tea Party Stack.

Share your comments below!

How to make vintage manly holiday cards tutorial

I made a series of vintage-styled Christmas cards that would be perfect for a male recipient if ever you needed a Christmas card for a dude or maybe just a manly female?

These cards deviate from my normal use of scraps to make cards as the only scraps I used were for the inside of the card for writing a message. However many of the embellies you may want to use for these card styles.

Tools you’ll need:

1. Christmas printed paper

2. Black cards and envelopes

3. Scissors

4. Glue/ATG gun

5. Paper cutter

6. Foam dots

7. Border punch – EK success film strip punch

8. Corner punch

I used a paper stack from Recollections called “Joyful Christmas“. I’ve really been enjoying a lot of the recollections prints, their Christmas collections are really quite well done, maybe better done than many other designer brands out there. So if you’re looking for a versatile paper stack where all the papers just match up really well, try a Recollections stack.

All these cards were made using black cardstock for the card base which I bought at Michaels.

I made three different card styles and 4 cards using just one sheet of 12×12 striped cardstock for the background of all 4 cards! To decorate the background pieces, I used a corner punch from Fiskars.

Style 1: 

I used a fat strip of border paper but then realized that it was too…cream-colored and blended in with the background color. So to make it pop, there was a paper in the collection that was black with white polka dots and I used 2 strips of the black to border the strip of cream. I cut V’s into the ends of the each of the border papers.

The “Joyful Christmas” stack has many sheets of tags and frames that can be cut out. Many of them  have holiday sentiments that just fit so perfectly for a card front. You can also make your own, but I really liked these tags that I didn’t bother making my own.  

style 2:

This card just has a fat band through the middle and a sentiment tag slipped into the middle of the band at an angle. I then cut out a glittery santa and used 3D foam dots to adhere it to the band. Super easy right?

Style 3:

Notice that the background of this card is a little different as it has a strip of red printed and glittered paper at the bottom. Go ahead, mix it up a bit!

For this card, I used my EK success film strip punch to punch long black strips of film to overlay the general card template of sentiment tag over background. Then you I used a “tis the season” sentiment on foam dots to add a sentiment to just above the middle of the card.

And there you are, 3 gorgeous, easy, simple and fast vintage cards for all your vintage needs! 

Have fun making these and please LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE if you enjoyed this tutorial!

Until next time!

Ribbon Card – Christmas style

So I have a whole bunch of scrap ribbons that I always feel too attached to to throw out. Plus it’s such a waste and ribbon is not cheap!

Sometimes, when I’m working on a project and there’s just a little bit that I need to snip off except that it’s not long enough for a new project…I would save it in a small zip-lock bag and then create a card like this!

just snip little V’s into the ends of each piece of ribbon. It’s actually better if the pieces of ribbon are different in lengths. Then just put together a few pieces of ribbons that seem to match together.

Use double-sided tape or an ATG gun to glue down the ribbon because wet glue will seep through the fabric of the ribbons and show through.

Here I’ve made a Christmas style one using scraps of Christmas-colored ribbon from other projects.

Then I used a spellbinders frame die and my sizzix big shot to cut out half a frame to use as a border and put a Christmas sentiment on it.

That’s it! So simple and fast! I think i finished this card in about 15 minutes! The hard part was cutting the ribbon by hand haha~

Bubbly Snowman Card

Today’s tutorial will be on how to make a fast and easy snowman Christmas card. If you’re pressed for time or need to pump out 15 of these in one night, this is the card for you! All of my stamps, embossing folders and papers can be replaced with anything you might have at home so you don’t need exactly the same ones to make a fun and spirited card!
I love to watch Kristina Werner tutorials on Youtube and this card was definitely inspired by her creative style. Hop over to her youtube channel to check out some of her techniques and tutorials as well!

What you’ll need:

1. card and envelope – 4 x 5 1/2 inches

2. printed Christmas cardstock in green and red – preferably with gittery designs
These are cut in the following dimensions:
Red: one rectangle of 3 x 2 1/2, and one strip of 1/2 x 4 inches, with rounded corners
Green: one banner of 1 1/2 x 4 inches

3. An embossing folder, preferably with a simple design like bubbles

4. Snowman stamp – I’m using the Imaginisce Snag ’em #003367
and acrylic stamp block if needed

5. One cream cardstock rectangle of 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches with rounded corners for stamping the snowman image

6. Foam dots

7. ATG gun

8. Green or red stickles

9. Corner rounder punch

10. Versamark stamp pad

11. Silver detail embossing powder – recollections

12. Heat tool

13. Silver marker

14. Rhinestones in red, green or silver

Instructions:

1. Take the folded card and putting only front flap of the card in the embossing folder and wrapping the back of the card around the back of the embossing folder, run the sandwich through your die-cutting machine.

2. Take the small cream cardstock rectangle of 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches and stamp the snowman image using versamark or your favorite embossing stamp pad. Generously sprinkle silver embossing powder over the stamped image over a large piece of scrap paper. Optional, before stamping, use a sachet of baby powder and cornstarch, or the EK success powder brush tool and generously dab powder over the front of the cardstock to prevent flyaway embossing powder. This helps to build a very sharp embossed image since embossing powder tends to stick to the cardstock in non-stamped areas. I always forget this step haha but you should do it because it’s good for you!
Using a prewarmed heat tool, hold the cardstock with tweezers (to avoid burning fingers!) and blast the image with the heat tool to melt the embossing powder. Set aside to cool for a few seconds.

3. Using green stickles, fill in areas of the stamped image where you feel it needs a little extra bling! I selected the snowman’s scarf and the little bird’s hat. Set aside to dry at least 30 min. Then using a tape runner, mount this stamped image on to the red printed cardstock rectangle to make a red frame.
Optional – apply 2-3 rhinestones in a line but apply them so that they’re asymmetrically distributed. Asymmetry will make the card look unique and stand out.

4. While your stickles are drying, assemble the embellishments for your card. Using your tape runner, tape the small red strip to the large green strip of paper (as shown) above.

5. Apply all the different pieces to your embossed card. Start with the Green and red banner, place it about 1/3 of the way from the bottom using your tape runner on the back of the banner. Do not attempt to run your tape runner across the embossed front of the card as it will deflate your embossed image. Then using foam adhesives, mount the image of the embossed and stickled snowman to give the card an extra level of dimension. Using your corner rounder, round the corners of the card. Finally, pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

And that’s it! Thanks for tuning in this week for this fast and easy Christmas card tutorial! I will try to post a new tutorial once a week and since we’re fast approaching the holiday season, I’ll be focusing on Christmas card tutorials! Many of my scrapbooking friends have already finished or are nearly finished their Christmas cards this year so for those of you who haven’t started, my tutorials will make holiday card making a breeze.

Please be sure to SHARE your creations and comment below if you have any questions 🙂