Neat Ideas

The white of this card pushes down into the "diaper".
This is a Twist Easel. It lays flat in a 4 1/2 square.
Another that pushes down into the card.
Black Magic. Stamp in white and colored with pencil crayons. Because as we all know color doesn't show up on black.

In Groups #8

In Groups #7

In Groups #6

This first card is actually by one of my cousins. I really love the idea and thought I'd share it.

In Groups #5

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In Groups #4

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In Groups #3

And again.

In Groups #2

More grouping.

In Groups #1

These next posts are some cards I've made in the past year. Just a few different techniques and card in general that I really like. Enjoy!

Top Note Purse

This card uses the Top Note die from Stampn'Up! Just cut it out, trim the edge smooth and fold it over at about a quarter and it just makes the perfect looking purse. Add some ribbon and brads and what ever all embellishments you want. Awesome!

Reverse Stamping

This was made with just one stamp. I stamped the bird on the paper then stamped it on plastic wrap then carefully lined up and pressed onto the paper to create the reverse image.

Iris Folded Fan

The fan on this card is an Iris Fold. Small pieces of paper attached to the back of the paper in stair step layering to make the fan look. There are many many different Iris patterns out there but this one is simple and still looks great. I've done a hat as well but there were nearly 52 pieces of paper to layer which made a large baldge on the back of the page.

Tri-fold Split

This is one of my favorite folds but I find limited in use. One piece of a large page with two horizontal cuts with reversed folds in it. It closes to a regular card size for easy mailing.

Jacob's Gate Card

This is a Jacob's Gate fold. I don't have the dimensions right in front of me now but if anyone wants them let me know and I'll post them later. It's one piece of yellow fold on itself with a feature picture stamped and placed in the front so that when the card is closed the picture is centered and the sentiment is behind/inside.

Ink Resist Bears

I chose this card to show because of the brayer technique I used for the white bears. The paper is actually what is white. I used a Verse mark pad to stamp the bears and used a brayer to roll blue ink on to the paper. The Verse mark resisted the ink showing the bears in the original white.

Bought Card 3D Pop-Up

This is such a simple idea and all you need is three to four of the same bought card, scissors and dimensional foam glue squares. Layer one is the original card. Layer two is (in the card) the lighthouse, sand and water. Layer three is the lighthouse and sand. Layer four is just the lighthouse. There is a dimensional square in between each layer.

Milk Carton

A milk carton. I saw a die cut for this paper craft in a catalog and figured out how to do it myself. This is just my rough draft with no embellishments on it, in fact I took it apart for future copies. If anyone wants the dimensions, leave a comment and I'll post them in a later post.

Booklets

So here is picture #1. These aren't cards but they are a paper craft. Books made from one large paper, cut and folded to make little booklets. I made the blue one first in NC and the yellow in MN a few years later.

New Direction

I will continue to post updates of our family happenings but I am going to start going in a new direction in general with this blog of mine. I have looked at many other ladies blogs of their cards and ideas and I have decided that over the next few days I'm going to post some of my better card designs on my blog.

Now a short family update. Not much has been going on over the last month and a half. J is finishing up with this years ASYMCA class and he and O are both signed up for a summer class. I and J's teacher have been working slowly with him on doing things with out Mommy right beside him. So far he's doing well with it. The hope is to make going to kindergarten an easier transition. Yes, in just two short years he will be off to kindergarten. It's too bad that he'll start here in the desert and we'll have to move that summer but at least it'll be summer and only kindergarten. O is showing her independence more and more. It is nice since she spends and hour and a half in day care four days a week and loves it. She could walk her self there if it were allowed for a two year old to do. As for E, she's just doing what babies do, grow and watch the world go round. She and J have their usual check ups in a few weeks, shots too, ick. As for Big E and myself. We're just going with the flow. Nothing too new with either of us, just the day to day life that we all now and love.

That's all for now, hope everyone out there is safe and sound. Love to you all, God bless.

J