Orange Butterflies and Flowers

Here is the card that I created using the leftover patterned paper from Friday's card.

Materials needed:
Flower Shop stamp set (#130942)
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set (#115370)
Sweet Pea patterned paper (#117161) retired, 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Whisper White card stock 2 3/4 x 4 1/4" plus extra from stamping flowers
Coastal Cabana card stock
Chevron Embossing Folder (#127749)
Modern Label punch (#119849)
Word Window punch (#119857)
Pansy punch (#130698)
Brights collection brads (#119470)
Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430)
Brayer
Tangerine Tango ink
Coastal Cabana ink

1. Using Tangerine Tango ink, white card stock, and the Chevron embossing folder, do the color and emboss technique found here.
2. Stamp 3 flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set in Coastal Cabana ink. Punch them out with the Pansy punch.
3. Choose a greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and stamp on white card stock with Coastal Cabana ink. Punch out the greeting with the Word Window punch. Punch out the Coastal Cabana card stock with the Modern Label punch. Adhere the greeting on top of the Coastal Cabana modern label.
4. Adhere the embossed card stock to the left hand side of the patterned paper. Adhere 2 flowers on top of that. The third flower adhere with Stampin' Dimensionals offset over the other flowers.
5. Choose Tangerine Tango brads from the brights brads collection and use to attach the greeting on the right hand side of the card.
6. Adhere the card front to a card base.

Foot problems

I've been having lots of trouble with my foot lately. I blame it on 25 years in the classroom. I was not the kind of teacher who sat down all day. My hubby tells me that I'm still hyperactive! After the doctor took pictures, he said that I have tendons and ligaments that are stretched and inflamed. In other words, it hurts when I have to stand or walk for very long. I had to wear a boot for 3 weeks but that didn't help at all. The doctor decided to put me in a cast so that I could have no flexibility at all. He didn't want me moving my foot. This picture shows the creative work the tech did on my first cast. The dr. wanted my cast changed every week. When I went back for cast #3, I had a huge sore or ulcer on the back of my heal. It was 20cm by 8cm. My whole foot was very swollen also, even up to above my ankle. They couldn't treat that in a cast so back in the boot I went. The swelling scared me a bit so I've tried to  keep it propped up and put ice on it.

That was a week ago. I went back Friday for the dr to look at it. The sore is healing but slowly and the swelling is down a lot. He put a miracle medicine on it called Prisma. I am to leave the bandage on for 2 full days. Then I change it and put more medicine on it. Repeat until I see the dr. again this coming Thursday. I asked him if we would go back to a cast then or what but he just said that we will have to wait and see.

It's kind of hard to sit at my craft table when I'm trying to keep my foot up so I hope that I don't get behind on my cards and blog. So far, so good. The dr. said that if this does not take care of my foot problem, the next step would be surgery. I DO NOT WANT SURGERY! I had surgery on my rotator cuff last Nov. I will not have another surgery right before the holidays so if it comes to that, I will wait until Jan. I am praying that it doesn't come to that! I am not a good patient! My dear, sweet husband can attest to that!

Hope you have a great Sunday. Worship in the church of your choice.

Orange and Blue

I don't know if the oranges make this card fall or if the blues make it spring. I know most people think of butterflies in the spring but the monarch butterflies come through our area in the fall, usually September. The butterflies on here aren't monarchs but they do have the orange that monarchs have.
I did use several items that SU has retired but I'm sure you can find other things similiar.

Matterials:
Sweet Pea patterned paper (#117161) retired  3 x 5 1/2" & 1 1/2 x 5 1/2"
Whisper White card stock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"
Coastal Cabana card stock 2 x 5 1/2"
Tangerine Tango card stock scrap
Sycamore Street 1/4" ribbon Tangerine Tango (#130812)
Flower Shop stamp set (#130942)
Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set (#115370)
1 3/4" Circle punch (#119850)
Pansy Punch (#130698)
Modern Label punch (#119849)
Word Window punch (#119857)
Stylish Stripes Embossing folder (#132174)
Tangerine Tango ink
Brayer
Stampin' Dimenionals (#104430)

1. Cut your patterned paper at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" first. Then Cut that at 3". This way the top and bottom pieces will match.
2. Score and fold your white card stock at 1 1/2" and 5 1/2". Adhere the patterned paper to the top part of the card. Use the 1 3/4" circle punch to cut half of a circle from the top left side of the paper, cutting all the way through the patterned paper and the card stock base.
3. Stamp 3 flowers from Flower Shop with Tangerine Tango ink on white card stock. Use the Pansy punch to punch the flowers out or your scissors to cut them out.
4. Adhere one flower to the front of the patterned paper, just right of center. Use Stampin' Dimensionals on a second flower and overlap it slightly over the other flower and the bottom edge of this section of the card.
5.  Click here to see the link on coloring and embossing at the same time. Follow these instructions to color and emboss the Coastal Cabana card stock with the Tangerine Tango ink and the Stylish Stripes embossing folder. Adhere the embossed card stock on the inside of the card, even with the top  fold. This will cover up the back part of the circle you punched out earlier.

6. Add Stampin' Dimensionals to the back of the third flower. Adhere it to be seen through the circle "window" of the card. (Caution: If you place it too high, the card may not fit in a regular card envelope.)
7. Adhere a 6" piece of tangerine tango ribbon across the smaller piece of patterned paper, wrapping the ends around to the back. Adhere this smaller piece(1 1/2 x 5 1/2") of patterned paper to the bottom section of the card. It will be easy to see how the pieces fit together if you cut this as I suggested in #1.
8. Stamp your greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes with Tangerine Tango ink. Cut it out with the Word Window punch. Cut out a piece of Tangerine Tango card stock with the Modern Label punch. Adhere the greeting on to the Modern Label punch. Adhere this on top of the ribbon on the bottom section of the card.
9. Add a greeting or write a special note to the inside of the card.

Dahlia Birthday

Materials needed:
Raspberry Ripple card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
International Bazaar patterned paper (#126920) 4 x 5 1/4"
Perfect Punches stamp set (#120516)
Regarding Dahlias stamp set (#130327)
Satin Stitched Ribbon Raspberry Ripple (#126846)
Raspberry Ripple In Color ink
Candy Dots - Regals (#130932)
Extra Larger Oval punch (#119859)
Stampin' Dimenionals (#104430)
Whisper White card stock
Daffodil Delight card stock

1. Cut card stock and patterned paper to dimensions above.
2. Stamp dahlia on white card stock with Raspberry Ripple ink. Use scissors to cut out.
3. Stamp greeting on yellow card stock with Raspberry Ripple ink. Punch out with extra large oval punch.
4. Adhere adhesive to the back of ribbon and press on to the bottom of the patterned paper about 1" from the bottom edge.
5. Place Stampin' Dimensionals on the back of the dahlia and place the dahlia on the left side of the card, slightly overlapping the ribbon.
6. Adhere the oval greeting to the right side of the card with adhesive.
7. Place adhesive on the back of the patterned paper and adhere to the card stock.
8. Place one Candy Dot to the top right of the oval.
Adhere the card front to a card base and add a greeting to the inside of your card.

Christmas Gift Box

I have a few people who I give handmade greeting cards to each year at Christmas. This year I made some sets of cards to use for the silent auction at our Operation Christmas Child annual kick off luncheon. In the past I've made paper boxes for the sets but I felt like I wanted some sturdier boxes for the auction. I decided to decorate some of the small shirt gift boxes that you can find at almost any store.

Materials needed:
1 Shirt gift box for each set, these were 7 7/8 x 10 3/4 x 1 3/4"
       make sure that the lid fits on top of the bottom easily
1 12 x 12 " sheet of heavy patterned paper for each box, I used paper from Be of Good Cheer (#126896) for the Christmas cards and from Kaleidoscope (#115680) for the All Occasion cards.
1" Rose Red Grosgrain Ribbon (111846) for the all occasion
1" of a beige ribbon for the Christmas
1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Daffodil Delight (#120928) for the all occasion, Real Red (#109034) for the Christmas set
Simply Scored Scoring Tool (#122334)

1. Score the patterned paper at 1" on the ends and at 4" on the sides. Also score the sides at 2". Fold the scored lines.
2. Add adhesive to all sections of the scored paper. Add extra adhesive to the center. Place the lid of the box carefully in the center of the paper and fold the paper around the edges. The long sides will fold into the inside part of the box at the 2" score lines. The shorter sides will not be completely covered to the edge.

3. Cut 40" of the 1" and the 1/4" ribbon. Place adhesive on the back of the 1" ribbon and then press it around the entire edge of the box. Line the ribbon up with the bottom edge of the lid. Leave the end loose for the time being.
4. Place adhesive on the back of the 1/4" ribbon. Press it in the center of the 1" ribbon that you've put on the box. I tried putting the 1/4" ribbon on the 1" ribbon before putting it on the box and made a big mess, so I think this way works better. At least it did for me.

5. To finish out the end of the ribbon, wrap the 1/4" ribbon behind the 1" ribbon. Fold both of them together. Add some adhesive to the folded edge and press down against the box.
6. The boxes that I found were white so I chose not to decorate the bottom of the box.

I placed a sheet of white tissue paper on the bottom of the box and used another sheet crumbled up on the side to prevent the cards from slipping.
7. I cut a piece of 12" scrap paper 1 1/2" wide and wrapped it around the cards. I added a piece of tape to hold this together. When you give a gift of cards, be sure to include envelopes that fit. It's always a nice added touch to stamp the corner or the back flap of the envelopes with a stamp from the sets that you used to make the cards. This gives it a nice look to the envelopes.

The paper that you see on the bottom left hand corner of the boxes is not needed for a gift box. I added a description of the contents since these were for a charity silent auction. 

O Come Let Us Adore Him

Here is a very simple Christmas card to do. Even though it's simple, I think that it has a powerful look.

Materials needed:

Come to Bethlehem stamp set (#120591)
Basic Gray card stock
Night of Navy cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Night of Navy ink
Top Note Bigz die (#113463)

1. Stamp the image of the Wise Men in Night of Navy ink on basic gray cardstock.
2. Stamp the saying in Night of Navy ink above it.
3. Run the Night of Navy card stock and the Top Note die through the Big Shot machine. Watch where you place the die so that it will be centered.
4. Adhere the frame from the Top Note to the top of the basic gray with the images stamped on them.

Triple Trees

Materials needed:

Old Olive card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"
Patterned Pines stamp set (retired #116525, hostess set)
Night of Navy Top Note cut out left from Monday's card
Green background patterned paper 3 x 3 3/4"
Epic Day This and That Washi tape (#131269)
3/16" Corner Rounder punch (#119871)
Gumball Green In Color ink

1. Adhere the Top Note die cut left from Monday's card to the center of the Old Olive card stock. 
2. Stamp the 3 trees from the Patterned Pines stamp set in Gumball Green ink on the green patterned paper.  Use the Corner Rounder to round the corners of the patterned paper.
3. Tear a piece of Washi Tape about 4" long. Press it along the bottom edge of the patterned paper. Wrap the ends around to the back & smooth out the corners. Adhere this on to the Night of Navy cut out piece.
4. Adhere the card front on a card base. Finish with a Christmas greeting on the inside.