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Knights & Dragons Birthday Card
My grandson turned 7 on Christmas Eve, 2023, so another card was needed and since I was busy getting out Christmas cards, Paul took on the task of constructing the card! He was home recuperating from major back surgery so he was glad to help out. I made a castle card for Emma’s 5th birthday in September so all the details were on the blog post from that card- Beautiful Princesses.
So blue lettering means there is a link?
Yes, Sal, links are in blue as well as your words which aren’t a link.
Take a look at Paul’s card. I took a picture of the back because it shows his signature which makes it so special.
I purchased two additional die sets from Karen Burniston:
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I don’t see a Princess or a Mermaid on the card?!
No, Sal, but if you look at the knight die you see that his helmet is down in front of his face. The Princess/Mermaid set has a die with a face that perfectly fits the knight. Karen Burniston explained using the princess head die for the construction of the Knight so I knew ahead of time what to purchase.
Paul only needed me to pick out the cardstock and designer series papers and a few extra dies and stamps.
Recipe
- Base: Crumb Cake, 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2
- Inside Layer (X2), Green designer series paper , 3 3/4 X 5 1/4
- Front of the card uses the same green DSP but I made no measurements
- Castle Base (X2), Dark Grey, use a partial on the front and a full base on the inside
- Cut 3 long brick walls and 2 small walls in light grey cardstock and sponge with dark gray ink as you hold the die in place
- Do the same for the pieces you need for the front
- A moat and the pathway are fussy cut from designer series paper
- The sky is designer series paper stamped with birds from Stampin’ Up! ‘High Tide’ stamp set
- The inside ‘7’ on the shield is from Stampin’ Up! ‘Memorable Moments’ stamp set; the shield is fussy cut with a shape similar to the shield on the front
- To make the knight’s armor look shiny silver, Paul used a metallic silver sharpie
- The dragon looks to be cut from Garden Green with a front of Granny Apple Green
- For little pieces you need orange scraps, red scraps, white scraps and black scraps
- Additional Dies: SU Happy Birthday Thinlits die, SU Stitched Stars Dies, Layered oval die
- The lettering for Jax’s name on the flags is from the ‘i-crafter Ribbon Rosette Funny Add-on’ dies
I will put the youtube videos here for future reference. I hope to have a grandchild interested in making cards some day.
This post should conclude all my cards through December 2023. Now I can move on to journaling the ones in January and the January Shoebox event with Christine as our hostess so come back soon to see those.
Well, January 4 is Amber, January 7 is Joey, January 8 is Jonathan and January 9th is Emmitt, then I have two friends at the end of January.
Only Joey and Emmitt’s are new designs so you won’t be completely overwhelmed with posts.
Thanks for stopping by!
SAL, Send A Lot of love
Karen
Click on little Sal to go to Karen Burniston’s site.
He doesn’t want to be spotted!
Piano Birthday Card
Today I have a card for you that combines digital files, quilled roses and leaves, stamping and punches! With a plethora of tools why not?
Had you ever done quilled roses and leaves?
Well, no, but I decided to learn.
You could change out the music sheet to a Christmas song, use poinsettia flowers and a Christmas greeting for a unique Christmas card!
Or put the recipient’s age on the front to be very thoughtful.
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I started by downloading a digital file with the Happy Birthday song. I purchased it on Etsy from Karol the owner of Noteselection. I could size the file to what I needed by just shrinking 50%. It is a hair shorter on each side of 4 X 3 3/4. So 4″ minus 1/16 and 3 3/4 minus 1/16.
I saw the piano example at cat’sinkcorporated.blogspot.com which got my creative juices flowing!
Recipe
- Base: Black, 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2
- Inside: Basic White, 4 X 5 1/4, stamped with the birthday greeting in the ‘Quite Curvy’ Stampin’ Up! set and the notes in ‘Music From The Heart’ Stampin’ Up! stamp set
- Birthday Song: 4 (minus 1/16) X 3 3/4 (minus 1/16); Etsy download at 50%
- Piano Top: Glossy Black Cardstock, 4 X 3 3/4; hand cut a curve starting at 1″ up from the bottom right side
- Piano Keys:
- Glossy White, 10 keys punched with the word window punch, cut little bit off side for square key
- Black Glossy, 7 keys
- Use a tiny bit of glue on back of each white key. Start at 1/8″ over on white keys placing one key on the right side and one on the left and then fill in the remaining 8 keys.
- Layer the black keys on top of the white keys appropriately for a piano. Note: this is glossy paper and don’t try using a black marker on the edges of the black keys because it will smudge and get all over you and the white keys.
I suppose you have white keys with black smudges in your trash.
Yes, Sal, so the edges didn’t get colored on the next try. With the black on top of the white you can’t even tell. I should have thought of that to save some frustration.
Let’s look at how to make a quilled rose. I enjoy quilling videos by Meredith at ThePaperCraftery:
Meredith folds her roses forwards, Anu of ‘Crafts with Anu’ uses a 10 mm strip and folds backwards so the direction doesn’t really matter. I found folding backwards worked easier for me.
For the leaves I wanted to learn how to use a quilling husking (knitting) board.
These are the patterns I used for the small and large leaves:
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Did you have to order a husking board?
No, Sal, I did my usual of getting every quilling tool I could find on Amazon when I decided to learn to quill. I still have a few tools I haven’t used but overall I had what I needed when I decided to make this card. It did take a bit of practice but I guess that is why we have a trash can on the table!
SAL, Such A Lifetime of Learning
Karen
Sal has a link to Meredith’s site:
What do you call it when James Bond is in the bath?
Bubble 07!
Joy Meadows December 2023 Shoebox Event
December’s Shoebox Event spotlighted Joy Meadows as our hostess, after which we played Christmas games and ate pizza!
Joy had a snowflake birthday card for us to make. The snowflake was glued at the very top and opened up for even more ‘sparkle’! It fits a 6 X 6 envelope.
Here is a picture of the back so you can see the fold lines.
These are two of the products Joy used:
“This 12 piece thin metal etched die set, Snowflake Card Creator is designed by BiBi Cameron and is part of the BiBi’s Snowflakes Collection from Spellbinders. This die set features a large snowflake and its shadow that will cover a 6″ x 6″ card front. There is also a poinsettia, small blossoms, Holly, Fir, berries, and more.”
“This 31 piece etched die and clear photopolymer stamp set, Snowflake Wishes, is designed by BiBi Cameron and is part of BiBi’s Snowflakes Collection from Spellbinders. The stamp set features 27 stamps with a variety of sentiments that coordinate with the die sentiments and banners, believe, wishing, and sending. There is also an extra blank banner if you do not want the word above it.”
The top snowflake was cut from sparkly white glimmer paper and the blue (Joy’s favorite color) was another glimmer paper with a silver glimmer paper to cut accent pieces. Just lovely! Thank you, Joy.
Little Sal has a link to Spellbinders but these sets are also sold at Scrapbook.com for the same price.
SAL Share A Lot of warmth
Karen
. Why can’t a nose grow to be 12 inches long?
Because then it would be a foot!
Light Up Candles Christmas Card
Take a look at one more Christmas card that I would like to journal before moving on to birthday cards!
And it lights up when you press the little snowflake!
This was a kit that I ordered from…
Let me guess….. Teaspoon of Fun?
Yes, Sal! They offered a kit which included the stamp set, the light mechanism and the little jewels on the front. I purchased the ovals from them separately.
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Hero Arts for the stamp set and Pinkfresh studio for the ovals!
. “Combo also includes an EZ Press triple light (no wiring needed) and 3 candle gem light toppers. Each unit includes a CR2016 coin cell battery…”
Recipe
- Base: Thick Basic White, 4 1/4 X 11, scored at 5 1/2
- Layer: Poinsettia Designer Series Paper, 4 X 5 1/4
- Outside Oval: Basic White, 4 X 5 1/4, Stamp then die cut with the large oval die
- Inside Oval: Basic White, 3 X 4
- Inside Strip: Poinsettia Designer Series Paper, 1 X 4
- Greeting: From the Stampin’ Up! ‘Itty Bitty Christmas’ stamp set, Stamped in Memento black ink
- Bow: Red glitter ribbon, 6″
- Small snowflake mounted above the battery on the backside of the oval
- Adhesive strips: you will need adhesive strips on the back of the oval
Note: In the video Deb Valder used extra layers of adhesive strips for the oval to have room for the light mechanism. I used Stampin’ Up! adhesive strips and only needed the one layer, so hers must have been narrower in width.
It really helps, even if I just want to refresh my memory on how the EZ lights are mounted.
Click on little Sal in the computer to go to Teaspoon of Fun. The kit showed that it was out of stock but I called and talked to them since I wanted to have a class and they were able to order me two kits, extra EZ lights and the candle gem light toppers for those in the class that didn’t want the stamp set. They have excellent customer service!!
SAL, Stamp A Lot
Karen
So why do you always call me ‘little Sal”?
Well, Sal, ‘little Sal’, you are my gravatar, Big SAL is my closing greeting that I use for word play with an S an A and an L.
Silver Bell Ornament
It’s snowing this morning but I am not going walking in this winter wonderland. It is -7 outside and the wind is blowing so I will start the fireplace and post another Christmas card. Today’s card is a Silver Bell Ornament.
The dies are from Penny Black and Creative Expressions purchased at Teaspoon of Fun.
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I used brushed silver cardstock and red velvet cardstock.
Die cut your bell out of the middle of your 1st layer and you won’t waste the paper, though I did two bells and ringers so I could adhere them back to back for an ornament. I used a red sharpie to add the date on the ringer.
The layer on top of the silver layer is a foiled piece of DSP (designer series paper) from my stash of mostly Stampin’ Up! paper. It’s rather pretty even without the bell.
I put a small strip of snail adhesive runner on the layer and then patted it several times with my fingers so the oil in my fingers would make the adhesive less sticky and the bell would be easy to release from the card.
Recipe
- Base: 4 1/4 X 11, Score at 5 1/2
- Border: Brushed Silver Cardstock, 5 1/4 X 4, Cut the bell and ringer from the middle
- Layer: Foiled DSP, Designer Series Paper, 5 X 3 3/4
- Bell by itself: Brushed Silver, 3 1/4 X 3 3/4
- Inside Border Strip: Brushed Silver, 5/8 X 5 1/4
- Inside Layer Strip: Foil DSP, 3/8 X 5
- Bow (X2): Red Velvet Cardstock, 2 1/4 X 3 1/2
- Joy Greeting: Red Velvet Cardstock, 1 3/4 X 2, use double back adhesive before die cutting
- Greetings
- Outside Blessed Christmas Wishes, SU ‘Itty Bitty Christmas’
- Inside Rejoicing….., SU ‘Versatile Christmas’
- 8″ of silver thread for the ornament hanger
Thanks for joining me! Stay warm.
SAL, Snowing A Lot
Karen
With a Cow-culator!
Cuppa Love Christmas Card
It’s freezing cold here in Colorado and a perfect time for a warm cup of tea!
Your followers just left to go get a cuppa!
Maybe I should as well. We had snow yesterday, but today it is just clear and cold.
This card uses a lot of products. The focal point is from ‘Memory Box’. Memory Box is like a wholesale distributor, available to businesses not personal folks like me, so you have to find someone who sells their products. I purchased mine through Teaspoon of Fun.
There are two dies which cut out three images. At first I thought I had to cut out the ‘liquid’ in a separate cut and paper piece it in the cut but the second die cuts out the image to go behind the cup and the base of the teacup can be used as the ‘liquid’. I didn’t use the base in this card.
Ahhhh……. working smarter instead of harder.
For sure, Sal, and with creating numerous Christmas cards we need all the help we can get.
Last year your New Year’s resolution was to make Christmas cards each month. How did that go?
The usual! But maybe this year…….
Let me just list the crafting details in the recipe instead of explaining what I did and then putting in the recipe.
Recipe
- Base: Thick Basic White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, Score at 4 1/4
- Layer (X2): Early Espresso, 5 1/8 X 3 7/8
- Top (X2): Basic White, 5 X 3 3/4; emboss with ‘Snowflake Embossing Folder’, lightly sponge yellow around top of where the teacup will be placed
- Teacup:
- Basic White, 2 1/2 X 3, die cut main image
- Early Espresso ‘Liquid’, 3/4 X 2
- Real Red, 1 1/2 X 2, sponge the middle with white ink and cut out a snowflake in Basic White, 1 X 1, from Stampin’ Up! ‘Snowfall Thinlits Dies’ and adhere with a glue dot.
- Greenery:
- Pine Boughs, Garden Green, 3 X 2 1/2, die cut 2 with largest bough in ‘Christmas Staircase Thinlits Dies’; use one full bough on the left and just the two ends on the right. Tip: It is good to work backwards adhering the pieces on the front, starting with the greeting, then the sending and finally the teacup.
- Holly Leaf, Garden Green, 1 1/4 X 1 1/4, use the smallest poinsettia in the ‘Poinsettia Dies’ Stampin’ Up! set and cut off two of the petals to make a leaf. Adhere to the teacup and add a red jewel for a holly berry.
- Sending: Real Red, 1 5/8 X 3 3/4, apply double back adhesive sheet to the cardstock and then die cut with the Stampin’ Up! ‘Sending Dies’. I used the cut out for the ‘e’ in sending to dot the ‘i’ so it was larger.
- Greeting: Early Espresso, 2 1/2 X 3/4, punched with Stampin’ Up! ‘Word Window’ punch and stamped in Versa Mark with greeting from Stampin’ Up! ‘Poinsettia Petals’ and heat embossed with white embossing powder.
- Heart: Glitter Paper, 1 X 1, die cut with teacup die and paper pieced inside heart above the teacup.
- Inside Greetings:
- Verse is from Stampin’ Up! ‘Holly Berry Happiness’ stamped in Garden Green ink
- Merry Christmas is from Stampin’ Up! ‘Poinsettia Petals’ stamped in Real Red ink
- Flourish at the bottom is from Stampin’ Up! ‘Dashing Deer’ and colored with water color markers (NOT alcohol markers) in green, red, and brown to tie in all the colors. Color the back of your stamp, huff, then stamp.
Just in case you are frustrated with my Christmas card posts well past Christmas, think of how you can make this cup a Valentine card. Click on little Sal in the computer to see what Teaspoon of Fun shows on their site-(their site takes a few seconds to load so don’t think it isn’t linked).
SAL, Smile A Little
Karen
What do you call a lazy kangaroo?
Karen Decker’s November 2023 Shoebox Event-Foiled Cards
What fun! Using foiling to create Christmas cards! I purchased the ‘Merry & Bright’ foilable kit from Pink & Main which included toner card fronts in three different styles so – of course – I needed to make some of each style! The red foil is Pink & Main’s ‘Shattered Red Cheer Foil’.
When you foil, you have a left over piece of foil where there was no toner image and I used that leftover sheet and an oval die just a little larger than the inside oval to make a lovely border. If you look closely at the inside of this card you can see that the border around the oval is red foil with white images showing through from the cardstock (using the leftover piece of foil), whereas the strip at the bottom is white cardstock with the red foiled images just like the front. I added a little strip of red foil to match the border on the front. The greeting uses Stampin’ Up! red glitter embossing powder for a bit of extra sparkle with Stampin’ Up!’s ‘Very Best Occasions’ stamp set.
For the Merry Christmas I used a ‘poppy’ die. I cut it out of the red layer that I used on the front under the decorative toner sheet. I cut out two additional Merry Christmas Flourishes to layer with the red, which is so much easier than trying to pop up such tiny little areas.
.One of the toner card fronts was holly leaves so I used some green foil from Heidi Swapp which I ordered when I ordered the Minc machine before I learned about Pink & Main. The green foil is 12 1/4″ wide and more suited to scrapbook pages than small card fronts. The Pink & Main Cheer Foil is 6 1/4″ wide and much easier to use.
I purchased full black toner sheet card fronts to foil a layer to go under the foiled designer toner card front but found out it really wasn’t necessary. If you cut the foil exactly the size of the layer you want and center the toner card front carefully, you have a perfect border for your foiled front. I did that with the following card’s red foil strip at the bottom of the inside.
You can really see the ‘shattered red cheer foil’ in this picture.
and you missed a picture of the front?
Yes, Sal, and that card was mailed before Christmas. Can you imagine calling someone and asking them to take a picture of the front of the Christmas card you mailed them so you could post it on your blog.
This third card really surprised me with how effective the foil turned out. I used Pink & Main ‘Rainbow Cheer Foil’ which has little stars in the foil! It looks so much better than this picture but you get the idea.
In addition to the toner card fronts, the ‘Merry & Bright’ kit comes with several toner greetings and sheets of small greetings in black on white or white on black. The black is the toner so you can choose where you want the foil- a foiled greeting or a white greeting with foil around it. I cut the foil large enough to give a border around the greeting, foiled the greeting, using the black on white,and then glued the left over foil piece behind the foiled greeting for a nice border.
This last foiled card was an experiment. I had purchased Pink & Main colored toner sheets and used the left over foil sheet from foiling the card front with red holly leaves and then ran the left over sheet through the minc machine on top of a green colored toner sheet! It worked! I used regular red foil cardstock for the layer and a green card base. Gold foil card stock was used for the greeting and several gold jewels were used to embellish the front.
The inside greeting is from Stampin’ Up!’s ‘#Elfie’ stamp set. I used circle dies and gold foil cardstock to tie in the gold from the front.
Gotta make that inside match the front somehow!
That’s my stye, Sal!
Recipe Basics
Card 1 & 2-Vertical
- Base: Thick Basic White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4
- Black Transfer Sheet: 5 1/4 X 4, Foil in desired color with foil of same size and then die cut Merry Christmas Flourish; to pop up the flourish die cut two additional flourishes in Basic White. You’ll need 4 1/4 X 3 3/4 for die cut.
- Decorative Toner Sheet: 5 1/4 X 4, Foil 5 1/2 X 4 1/4
- Oval Outside: Basic White, 3 1/2 X 4 1/4, Sixth in Stampin’ Up! oval set
- Oval Inside: Basic White, 2 1/4 X 3, Third in Stampin’ Up! set
- Inside Strip: Use what you can form leftover foil
Card 3- Horizontal
- Base: Thick Basic White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4
- Decorative Toner Sheet: 5 X 3 3/4, Cut foil at 5 1/2 X 4 1/4, line up carefully to have a perfect border of foil
- Merry & Bright Greeting (3rd card): 2 X 2 cut of the greeting from kit, 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 Starry Rainbow Cheer Foil
- Inside Square: Basic White, 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 , Foil backing 2 1/2 X 2 1/2
- Inside Strip: Toner Sheet, 5 X 1 with foil of 5 1/4 X 1 1/4
Pink & Main has a subscription service for their foilable kits which I signed up for, so you will be seeing more foiled cards in the future! I am impressed with the quality of their products. Click on little Sal in the computer to go to their site.
Thanks for joining me for a foiling adventure!
SAL, Share A Love
Karen
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