More Creative Gift Wrap

After my last post, I remembered another time I needed to get creative in my gift wrapping.  My grandson was having his first birthday party.  I had bought him a very large stuffed animal and I did not have a box large enough.  I looked around my house and found a plastic toy chest I no longer needed.  Since his party theme was Super Wings, I just added some wings and a few details.  I love that the natural shape of the chest looks like a smile!  

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I was asked to make some boxes for decorations at the party, so this was what I came up with.  The "suitcase" was something I had created as a craft for VBS.  I just wrapped a box in kraft paper and used duct tape for the straps and handle.  Either of these would have also been good for gift wrap, but they were just decorations.

On the back of the boxes I used various birthday stamps to resemble postmarks/shipping stamps.

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Keeping with the theme, here is the card I made.  I made some cloud stencils and stenciled the envelope.

 

Graduation Cards

I had to make a few "quick" graduation cards.  (Quick for most people; hours for me.)  I have learned cardmaking is not my thing, but sometimes it is necessary.  At least for these I had already decided to make them just black and white so that saved me at least an hour.  ;-)

 

 

I always feel I need to put a little something on the back of a card.  I was too lazy to use my Silhouette just for one small thing, so I looked around for a sticker, punch or some other quick addition.  I ended up coloring blue number stickers black and jamming them on this punched shape.  I should have just cut something on my Silhouette.  LOL!

 

I made this one a pop-up.

 

 

 

 

I like to add a little fun to cards when I can, so even though you can't tell from this picture, I added and homemade action wobble to make this girl dance.

 

 

 

I made these last two on another day and remembered to cut images for the back.  :-)

 

 

 

 

Pastor Appreciation Bulletin Board - Flowers

A few years ago I did a bulletin board for Pastor Appreciation (found HERE).  This year I finally got around to replacing it with this one.  Once again I had church members write short notes of encouragement and/or appreciation to the pastor and his wife, only this time I used flowers instead of lambs.  This one was also inspired by various ideas on Pinterest (my best friend).

Although I did plan ahead a little more for this one, I still ended up rushing through the assembly.  I cut the flowers out a couple of weeks in advance and handed them out, but I had to wait for them to be returned to me before I could put it all together.  I decided the flowers needed to be inked so I did that last minute too.  Fortunately, I was able to reuse the cloud border from some previous bulletin board, and I made a similar shaped border for the bottom to resemble bushes.

Unfortunately, the photo is not very good, but I added two tiny butterflies and bent their wings to make them 3-D.  Except for the ones for the word "GROW", the flower stems and leaves were drawn after I had already stapled down the flowers.  (Definitely not the best way to do it, but I had to come back and add them later because I just ran out of time).

Card for Wanda

Since it is quite obvious that I am never going to catch up posting previous creations, I might as well start with the one from today while it is fresh in my mind.  I made this card for a friend of mine for a housewarming gift.  I was unable to make it to the actual party (over a month ago) due to being on vacation, so when she invited our Sunday School class over I thought that was as good a time as any to give her the card.  I have been working on the card off and on this whole time, trying to learn my Silhouette software.  I got very frustrated at times, but I'm glad I soldiered on and won the battle.  Most everything cut with the Silhouette Cameo would have taken MUCH less time to just cut by hand, but I was determined to learn the machine and software.  I would learn a little and then by the time I got around to it again, I had forgotten what I learned and would have to start over.  (Ugh)

After the frustrating part was over, I had great fun adding all the details.  As always, the end result was much different than my original plan, but this was one I was actually pleased with.

The door is huge for a reason.  That was the main feature in order to place a gift card behind it.  I "built" the house to fit the door.  :-)  The window design changed several times before settling on this somewhat plain one.  The shutters were from the hen house Silhouette file by Jillibean Soup.  The grass was a border punch, as was the window valance.  The kitty, wreath, flowers, and tiny butterfly were various punches.  I drew lines for siding and roofing (can't really see the roof detail).  The doorknob is a brad.  I got the inside sentiment from the internet and just printed it and added a punched heart.

The actual card is just the house.  The "sky" and "grass" were just used for photographing the card, but I really like how it looks so I might just have to recreate it as a scrapbook page.  ;-)  The card only opens at the door.  I went back and forth as to whether or not the entire house should be hinged.  I even made the back hinged, but I whacked it off when I decided it was too flimsy to open the whole house (and I didn't want to stay up any longer to add more support).  Decision-making takes way more time than any crafting I do.  (Sigh)

T's Birthday Card

I made this card for my sister's birthday.  She loves giraffes.  I cut an oval in the front of the card for the giraffe to peek out, and I stamped the front with a few different leaf stamps.  The monkey is from the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge, and the giraffe is from Life's a Party. 

 

My Little Crafting Buddy

This adorable card was made by my granddaughter.  When she comes over we like to play with my paper crafting supplies and especially the paper dolls.  Here is one of her first projects.  She was 7 at the time.   She made a card for a friend at church.  She definitely has the crafting gene.

Another Simple Card

This simple card was inspired by something I saw on the internet.  (I have no idea where or even what theirs looked like.)  This was for a wedding shower.  Once again I was in a giant hurry.  If I had had more time (and thought the couple would even care) I would have at least put centers in the flowers and maybe their names inside the heart.

Simple, But Funny

Nothing special about this card. I was just looking through my old pictures and ran across this. Looking at the simplicity of it, I'm sure I was in a giant hurry (most likely late for the birthday party) and threw it together. (Kids and teens, especially boys, only care what's inside the card anyway.) The car is the same Sizzix die I've used many times (especially for a 16th birthday). I just thought it was funny that in the picture I used he is wearing a life jacket. I used to have nightmares about running off a bridge into the lake. I guess I just wanted to make sure he was fully prepared for driving! LOL!

She's the Artist

Why is it that I've been crafting all my life (we don't need to talk about just how long that is -- trust me, it's a long time), but my daughter (who has some interest in crafting, but mostly can take it or leave it) can make beautiful cards like this? She is an incredible artist! It makes me proud and jealous at the same time (mostly just proud). These are pretty much her first attempts at cardmaking (other than just drawing pictures). I love them! She constantly amazes me with her many talents!

Ouch!

This one I did two years ago, but I liked it and I had fun with it.  I made it for my crafty sister who fell down the stairs and broke her ankle in three places.  I probably wouldn't have put this much time into a card for just anyone, but I knew she would appreciate it (and she's worth it).  The doll and clothes are Sizzix, as are the cell phone and glasses (I think).  The magazine was cut from an ad.  The chair and ottoman were drawn by my daughter.

This is rather morbid, but I thought it was funny.  I had to cut the doll apart to get the pose I wanted.  My daughter's boyfriend at the time saw the pieces and put them together like this.  I'm sure my sister felt like this during her recovery time.

Prayers for B

Does that butterfly look familiar?  This card was for a young mother at church who is battling cancer.  I like this pink and white version.  I'll probably use it again.

Thank You Card

A simple thank you card.  Scalloped circle is Spellbinders with inked edges and stamped sentiment.  Butterfly border is Martha Stewart.

Haley's Get Well Card

The monkey on this card cracks me up! Yes, he has five o'clock shadow. The more I tried to fix him, the worse he got! LOL! This card was for a little girl at church who had surgery. The card base is one of the box cards. The monkey is from New Arrival Cricut cartridge. I added googly eyes for fun. The vines were just cut from circles which were a Sizzix die I think. The leaves are also Sizzix. The monkey is just hanging freely from the vines (not glued down). The monkey on the inside is on a homemade version of an Action Wobble.

Jenni's Card

There's that butterfly again. I made this card for a lady at church who was going through a difficult time caring for her sister who was ill. The labels/tags are Spellbinders (I think). The embossed heart is a Martha Stewart punch. The card was DCWV Linen Closet collection.

C's Birthday Card

Another birthday card. This was for one of my sisters. We have a joke about the Easy Bake Ovens we got for Christmas one year when we were kids. I won't go into the whole story, but she ended up with the cute one and I ended up with an empty box (which was later exchanged for the "new" Easy Bake Oven which was plain and no where near as cute as hers). Anyway, this card was perfect for her. I spent WAY more time on the oven on the inside than I should have, but I had fun and really liked how it turned out. The girl silhouette on the front of the card and the card itself are from A Child's Year Cricut cartridge. The stove/oven on the inside was made by me using various shapes in Cricut Craft Room. I used clear plastic for the window in the oven door, a paper clip for the handle, and seed beads for the knobs. You can't tell it from these pictures, but I put Fun Foam on the stove base for more dimension. The cake is from Elmo's Party cartridge.

G is Driving! Yikes!

I made this card for my nephew's birthday -- you know ... the one every mother dreads! I think I got the map off Google maps. The car is a Sizzix die cut from a shiny plastic scrap of paper from junk mail. The headlights are cut from Crayola Stardust Paper I bought years ago at the Dollar Tree. I think I bought all they had. I don't know what I'll do when I run out of this stuff; I use it all the time. It's great for making faux lights. The boy is from Sizzix also. The license plate and "Happy 16th" are printed from Hot Rod Alphabet from Lettering Delights.

Versatile Card

I liked this card so much I've made it twice (with just slight variations) -- once for a birthday and later for a get well card. I got the background paper from one of the paper packs (couldn't tell you which one, but it was a long time ago). I think that is what I like most about the card. The butterfly is from QuicKutz. This is my go-to die for semi-quick cards. (No card is truly quick for me.) I just love this butterfly! I like to attach only the body and fold the wings for a 3-D effect. The grass is a border punch, which I inked a little for dimension. I also inked the edges of the background paper. The flower is a punch (my go-to flower punch) with two punches layered together and a flower brad in the center. The ladybug is cut from a border punch. I just used a Sharpie pen for the details.

Catch Up Time

Well, I've been extremely busy lately, so I'm going to try to catch up somewhat. I'll be posting some of the things I've made recently (if I can remember how). This first one is a quick card I made about a year ago for my pastor's mother who was sick. The fence is a Sizzix die and the flowers, grass and dragonfly are from various punches.