January 2012 Secret Pen Pal Cards

This is my version of Cathy Blackstone's creation. I had found it online some months ago and printed out the instructions with the patterns. First I created the card front and inside which says, " I think U R the cat's meow!". The cat's face was made cutting the oval using the Coluzzle cutting system; then I used Cathy's pattern for the ears. I ran the ovals through the Xyron Create-A-Sticker in order to have a good solid sticky surface for the pieces of ribbon used on the pieces. I then used miscellaneous buttons, gems, etc., to form the eyes and nose. The mouth was cut by hand. I hope the kids enjoy them!

The Never-ending Flip Card

The directions for making this card are in the April 2008 issue of "Scrap & Stamp Arts" which may be still available by ordering from the publisher: www.scottpublications.com.

Ever since I purchased the magazine, I've been looking at this card and still have not figured out how to make it come out correctly (with apologies to Loretta Rodger, the creator).

I finally was able to get a four-sided version done after working on it for over a day, off and on, because I got so frustrated! This is the front (easily done):



Then open it to see this, which Loretta called the first flip(again, easily done):



The second flip was very confusing to me and I ended up cutting through the leaves to make it "work".



And this is the third filp (back of the card), again easily done



In order to mail it to my mother-in-law, I had to make my own envelope (6.25x6.25 inches) which I made from an old calendar page. I'll need to make a mailing label and remember to add a long white strip at the bottom for the Post Office's encoding.

Last Chance Christmas Cards for 2011

November's Secret Pen Pal Card

This card was made using the Cricut lite Playtime cartridge and Design Studio. It took me many tries to get the layers to match in size as I couldn't use the default size on the card which measured 7" x 5". My four-year-old grandson "helped" me take the images off the sticky mat and he then scraped the left-over pieces into the trash can.

2011 Christmas Scrapbook

Today was all Donna's as Emily, when last heard from, is at the Mall of America and is likely never to return! All pages are six inches by six inches but I'm adding them to eight by eight pages to fit the size I'm making.

We had a choice of this set of pages:

or this one:


The other pages were really easy to make, too.

Secret Pen Pal Monster Cards

These are some of the cards I made over the last few days using Cricut's Wild Card cartridge. Everything was cut from page 71 of the instruction booklet included in the box the cartridge came in. I was trying to use fall colors except for the flowers.

Secret Pen Pal Smiley Card

This month I was able to make cards using the smiley face stickers I have been receiving from advertising mailings sent out by Junior Highlights magazine. The stems and leaves were cut on the Cricut, using the Walk in My Garden cart, page 100, and the border feature to get three flowers connected.

September 2011 All Occasion Cards

While Emily is still traveling around Alaska and the lower 48 with her family, Donna made all the cards for today's event:



I liked the above card so much that I ordered the stamp!




I had trouble getting this 'doily' card image to be completely stamped; on my first try, the outside lower edge and the middle were missing.








On the card below, we had to color in every single pennant and the black line with marker brushes!

MIsc. Cards

This is my version of a card on page 123 in the new Stampin' Up catalog which featured the stamp set "Every Moment".


I saw this card online on someone's blog about two weeks ago and really like the idea of using three different embossing folders.

2011 Christmas Card Gallery

Today's cards made by Emily (who is in Alaska and expected back soon)and Donna are below. I forgot to take my camera, so I had to rig up a "studio" to take the photos of the cards. I really like the first and fifth cards...

Woggy Frog Card

This is the latest card we are making to take to the pediatrics ward in the local hospital. We only need to make about 30 - 36 cards a month as the population is an average of six patients a day.

I textured the waves on the blue card by running the "ocean" embossing plate by Fiskars through the Big Kick; the frog is textured using the Sizzix embossing folder "Dotted Swiss" through the Big Kick. The frog and lily pad (cut at 3.25 inches) are from the Cricut Lite "Playtime" cartridge. I trimmed off the frog part because it would show when I popped the frog on a homemade Woggle. The wiggly eyes are 1 mm.