Monthly Archives: November 2012

Snow cute

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I admit to stalking craft products.

When Hero Arts announced its Decorate It! line for Target, a little penguin caught my eye. The stamp is part of a tag-decorating set, but I had a card idea for it. When the products debuted Oct. 21, I headed to my town’s Target. No penguin. I returned to the store a couple of times during several days, checking for the set while shopping for other things, until I saw them Oct. 29.

I was happy to have my penguin and put the little guy to work. I created a clean, simple design to allow the small image to stand out.

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Christmas from July

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Typically, when October rolls around, I’m thinking of ideas for Christmas cards. This year, I started in July.

I pushed myself to do it. Two Peas in a Bucket held a “Christmas in July” challenge. I created one trend-heavy holiday delight with a hand-cut chevron pattern, vellum, die-cuts and glitter. The color scheme of black, red and white is non-traditional, and that’s an approach I often take. In the coming weeks, I’m certain I’ll have cards with “retro” colors such as light green, fuchsia and turquoise (check out my gallery for past cards like this). I’ve already thought of a card featuring neon colors. I can’t wait to create that one!

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Cut for the happy couple

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When I create a card for a wedding, I take cues from the invitation, drawing from the color scheme and style.

I crafted the card below to congratulate the bride and groom, two friends of mine who had a beautiful ceremony and reception in Sycamore, Ill. The card follows their invitation’s modern, clean look in citrine and light gray. I added white and metallic dark gray to compliment the colors and used different textures of cardstock and dimensional adhesive to add depth. If you have a die-cut machine, a card such as this is very easy to make. No stamping or embellishments; just great, simple design.

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Wow! Retro!

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My husband celebrated his birthday recently, and I like to create his cards with a bit of humor.

Last year’s:

He’s a big fan of Apple. My trusty Slice Elite helped me with the cake and its stand. The candle was created with a punch, and I drew the logo by hand in bright-blue glaze pen.

This year, I took a different approach to the “neat toys” theme. I went back in time (the patterned paper did, anyway) and made this card that says, “It must be your birthday … because you’re getting cool stuff!”

Sometimes I struggle with creating cards for guys. It’s hard to put down the bling and glitter, and let’s face it, most paper-crafting products are geared toward women. Case in point: Are any of my arrow brads just black? No; they’re all in pinks and browns and covered in glitter. I colored one with black permanent marker and covered it with Glossy Accents for this card.

So when I find something like October Afternoon’s “Black Hole” paper, I know it will make the creative process easier.

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