Sunday, September 18, 2016

Do You Love Coffee?

Do you love coffee? I do - even just the smell of coffee! I offset my craving for ice cream by adding a heaping tablespoon of vanilla or coffee flavored ice cream to my morning coffee. It tastes so g-o-o-d!

Anyway, my latest card making endeavor makes use of the Hot Off the Press template called Sweet Treats Pockets.



One of the designs is a cup of coffee (or you can certainly call it hot chocolate or hot cocoa) and it has a darling pocket which appears as a sleeve to hold the coffee and there's the addition on the template to add a tag to the pocket, your milk froth or whipped cream, and even a straw.

Were you one of the people who knitted or crocheted with all the beautiful decorative yarns that came out several years ago? I didn't do that, but I've found that these decorative yarns are fantastic to tie on little tags for card making. My little tag on this card reads "Smile" and I love the red feathery yarn that I added. Here are some other colors in my yarn basket - waiting to be included in my next project.



And here's my finished card.


I hope you enjoyed my craft project for today!

Monday, September 5, 2016

I found a new creative outlet about a year ago and am having a wonderful time creating greeting cards and other lovely items from paper. This blog is to share my journey of card making with you and to discuss the products that I seem to be very inclined to try. I hope you'll follow along and comment on the discussions and view my "Blogger" Show and Tell.

The Cardmaker's Shop is a section of my Etsy Shop, TheSandlapperShop. However, here I'll be focusing almost exclusively on the art of making cards. Enjoy! I hope you'll also stop by to visit my shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSandlapperShop


Here's a card that I completed today. You'll see that I love fall colors.

Open View


Closed View


The die cut for the card is the Rounded Label Thinlits Fold-A-Long design by Jen Long and Sizzix. How about those orange polka dots? When the card is open in the center you'll see that it has a special shape that tucks inside and really calls attention to the theme of the card. I cut that section from a paper that has a bit of glitter and falling leaves and then stamped and added the image of praying hands in black ink. I couldn't resist adding the intricate die cut of a falling leaf.

Are you like me and amazed that die cuts come with so few instructions? I learned to visit some online shops that sell supplies and have found several that have video segments on how to use their products and examples of some completed designs. Yes, they get some of my business and I love their customer service. I look at techniques and examples, but I don't copy -  from there I create my own design.

A new technique for me today was to make the belly band. I didn't even know what they were called a few days ago, but this card definitely needed a closure. I found a few instructional videos on YouTube and it looked pretty straight forward. I cut a strip of chocolate brown so that it would overlap in the back, added what looks like a latch and a glittery paper button,and there was my first belly band! The top of the card was calling for some special attention and I added a tag for a greeting and tied it on with a raffia bow.

Is there fish on the menu? Last evening I created a fish card. The design I came up with reminds me of a tavern or fish market sign. Maybe the perfect place to stop for seafood in New England? It's inked and layered. The fish is paper cut in what is know as Scherenschnitte, a German paper cutting technique. I don't even know how to pronounce that, but I like the outcome. I also really like the saying that I decided went perfectly with this card.



Be sure to stop back to visit and see my next creations!.