Christmas Gift Tags for the Holidays

This month's meeting we focused on making gift tags for use during the holidays.  It was decidedly different for us, but we came up with an assortment of tags and a method to merchandise them.

Sue brought a lovely and intricate pair of Poinsettia tags.  We brought the petals and leaves to life by curling them with our fingers or a stylus.

Carol brought a clever Santa suit tag. The surprise was the soda/beer can pop-top as a belt buckle.

Jean made some Poinsettias for us all and some other goodies to incorporate in our own gift tags.  We said they were worthy of hanging on our trees!

Bonnie brought kits for a Mason Jar full of lights gift tag and an embossed tag.

Dianne brought some gift tag kits that were quick and inexpensive, using scrap two-sided Christmas paper, double tags for some, and stamped embellishments to add some texture or design.

The clear bags were full of gift tags using many techniques, colors, patterns and texture.

We hope they bring pleasure to wrappers in this busy season!

I wasn't able to make this session, but was able to photograph the new cards in the basket.

This one must be from Bonnie.  I recognize her tree and grass die cut.  Her squirrel brad is

another signature motif.

Carol has used this embossing folder before.  Now, she has added a turkey of circles.

Very clever!

Sue has offered a kit with an overlay stamp.

Very lovely!

In November, we are going to create gift tags.

See you then.

September Gathering of the LR Card-makers

It was a full house!  And a full basket of cards to provide ourselves, neighbors and friends with note cards for early Fall.

Carol brought this fall colors theme.

Simple design with a background patterned paper,

choices for the die-cut fronds and washi tape 

and simple sentiments.

It especially fulfills the need for masculine cards!

Sue brought this tri-panel kit with a single large stamp.

The colors were Fall-ish to match the sunflower.

She found Ranger Archival Inks worked better on the large rubber stamp.

With a choice of mini-sentiments,

these cards cover many categories.

Dianne brought two designs on the same theme.

The embossing folder again had sunflowers.

A stem of leaves on a Kraft card stock die-cut

could be a sunflower or white asters.

Organza or gingham ribbons

added some additional dimension.

Bonnie made a kit with a bouquet of bright colors, our choice.

We stamped a border with a single, large rubber stamp.

Then used another single stamp for multiple stems.

The blossom choices were colorful

and everyone approached it individually, as usual.

Time for Lemonade

Take your pick!

I would have brought this card kit

for our August get-together 

except for a bum wrist.

Not able to turn the Big Shot!

August Cards

The crafters met Monday, August 14th without Jill or Beth and with Dianne in attendance but not able to craft due to a right hand bruised and swollen from a fall.

Sue brought a sampling of many-hued sunflowers.

The three step process started with white stamping,

then color, then the centers in darker hues.

Oops!

Can't get it turned over!

Carol brought kits to make a cute

summer dress card

in different small patterns and colors.

Bonnie's too is upside down!

But you can get an idea of her colors and design.

The hard part was fitting the sentiment

in the circle--

and choosing color combinations.

July Cards by the Card Crafters

We had another good session making cards--minus one of our members who was recovering from vacation.

Bonnie was first up with this colorful card design.  She used a new die cut called Swirly Scribbles by Stampin' Up.

Everyone enjoyed the color choices and, of course, each card was unique.

Sue was next with a window scene.

Again, in many color and pattern choices.

Other choices included a swing, a bike, a rake, some leaves and flowers.

We all enjoyed creating a scene for the window opening.

Dianne had a choice of kits: a sympathy card or a strawberry design.

It was about half and half on the kit choices--a perfect outcome for our basket.

The strawberries are made from hearts and embossed with a Dotted Swiss embossing folder.

The sympathy card was simple but elegant and understated.

The flowers were molded to add some additional dimension.

See you, Carol, and all in August on the 14th!

An Apron for Violet

Violet needed an apron for baking days with Grandma Didi.  Her Mommy and Daddy and Lily all have chef aprons.

I used some leftover fabrics from her cuddle quilt.

Of course, they are violet tones!

Can't show you the other side of the apron--or Violet!

Nothing under there!

She loves it.  Being bare and the apron.

But it didn't keep her out of the cake.

Happy  Birthday, Mommy!

A New Quartet of Anniversary Cards

July is an excellent time for a wedding--and we've had several in our family in high summer.  One in the mountains of Denver, another on the coast of Nantucket Island, one in Ohio, and one in Hawaii.

These cards are a variation on the June kit I took to our card-making group. I used the gray and yellow color scheme again with patterned paper, card base and outline matting.  The  paper flowers were from other sets of embellishments from my stash.

This one I like, but the blooms are too centered--and all the same size.

I added some dewdrops of pearls and sequins to tone down the busy background.

This version has a variety of sizes of paper blooms.

I kept this one simple with only the addition of some Wink of Stella on the leaves.

The background is more subtle, making the bee stand out.

This design has some more movement with the bee, the position of the blooms and the leaf stem (right) and leaf cluster (left) touching the banner sentiment.  The split end of the banner turns the eye right around to take in more details and, most importantly, not leave the card front.

This last card design is more striking in contrast with mostly white blooms and a stylized and high contrast pattern in the background.  The leaves are satin ribbon with rhinestone dewdrops I added.  The sentiment is heat embossed with silver.  The hummingbird picks up the green of the leaves.

All cards are on a stone grey base.

A nice quartet of anniversary wishes!

June Card Crafters Samples

We were eight this month with 4 kits to make.  Carol and Jill made it a little late, but quickly made up the first kit and caught up with the rest of us.  We had a new participant, Jean, who had some craft knowledge and wanted to learn more. The perfect place for her to be!

Bonnie brought this kit.  She die cut all the Sizzix sentiments beforehand.

We learned from Sue that wax paper may not be a good idea to use on die cuts.

Watch this YouTube video from Cheery Lynn.

Everyone had different background patterns and colors

but we all had butterflies and ladybugs.

Dianne brought this kit with paper flowers, bees and Avery Elle banner sentiments.

The kits had different patterned-paper and background solids

but all the choices were in the gray and yellow shades.

Carol brought this kit with embossed cross and paper flower

in a variety of patterns and colors.  She suggested they be

used for sympathy or confirmation.

Sue brought this lovely watercolor card in a variety of colors.

We punched the border and scored the trio of lines.

The flowers were from a set by Hero Arts

that is one of Sue's old favorites.

We filled our basket with new cards for sale to the community

and available for Outreach to use.  The kit makers received

$25 in proceeds for their donations of materials.

Next meeting is July 10th from 1-4 p.m.

A Trio of Daisies for June

June brings birthdays and anniversaries in my family.  Time for some sets of cards with a variation on a theme.

Original theme:

based on a memory of my nephew's June wedding

in Indiana with bridesmaids' in apple green

and meadows filled with wild daisies.

The reception was in a big, old barn

in the middle of a field--and a thunderstorm!

Brighter green and more colorful daisies

for a birthday card.

Mixing it up a little with some kraft card stock,

a gingham ribbon and a bird stamp.

Great way to make multiples without going into "production mode"

and keeping it fresh--as a daisy.

Very Unique Cards for May

We met today without a couple of members of our group.  One was recuperating from surgery and the other attending a funeral--we seem to have more of that year by year!

We made some very exciting cards today with pinwheels, hedgehogs and flowers on a trellis.

Dianne started out with a Mason jar cut from vellum and filled with pinwheels. The 6X6 inch cardstock pad from Paper Source was called Summer Fun with Gold.  It supplied double sided paper for the pinwheels.  Some twine and some pastel dots gave the card more texture and accent.

Sue brought a card which we lightly sanded!  The brick or wood background was embossed on a special paper called Core'dinations. The light sanding revealed the inner core color.  We used the wax paper trick for die cutting the trellis.  Sue had the leaves and flowers cut for us, but we spent a lot of time embellishing them with sequins and pearls.

Bonnie shared her joy in hedgehogs with this whimsical card.  We stamped the hedgie with a Penny Black stamp (Bonnie says Penny Black is the Queen of Hedgeghogs) and

used markers or colored pencils to accent him.  Some flowers, butterflies, a ladybug and 

more bees make the sentiment come true:  enjoy the little things!

Another fun session of creating, learning, sharing, chatting and concentrating!