You're Amazing!

I love sending out goodies to my crafty friends.  Somehow, I end up with a HUGE pile of extra stuff, stuff I don't use, or have duplicates {triplicates?}  So, instead of it hanging around here, I'll send a goodie package out or have a giveaway.  On Instagram, I've met SO many new people and one of them lives in Colorado so it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to send her stuff; I've sent her a package already and it was the first one she'd ever gotten!  She was so grateful she made a video and everything.  How cool is that?!? I made this card to send with my next goodie package for her.

It's an odd angle, but you need to be able to read the word

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Foam Board {from the Dollar Tree}
The Ton Bold Amazing Greetings Word Plate Dies
Navy Blue Card
KaiserCraft Wandering Ivy, 6.5" x 6.5" pad, #PP1033

I am in LOVE with this sentiment set from The Ton; I've already got a few other projects in the works using the dies.  It's fabulous!  I started this card by cutting the words out of foam board; the cheap stuff die cuts much easier than the expensive stuff and I snagged a few white and black foam core boards from my local Dollar Tree.

I've made these cards before {here is my first try, and my second, in case you are interested.  The first card I made goes into greater detail about the technique and there is a link to the Jennifer McGuire video that I studied} but I don't think I'll ever get over how cool they look.  Choosing the wandering ivy paper for the word and the background paper was an easy choice; every piece of paper in that pack is so pretty!  I cut out the word "amazing," used the cuts to

Another weird angle but
you can see the foam

cover the foam board, then carefully placed them into the voids left by the die.  For me that's the hardest part about making these cards and I can get a bit obsessed about ensuring the letters are placed as close to perfect as I can get them.  Then I take my photos and realize that the card is SO far from perfect -- but like I always say, mistakes are part of the charm of handmade, right?  Then I cut the word "you're" out of the foam board, covered that with navy card, attached those cut letters, and I was done.  My tip for you - if you've never made this kind of card and want to give it a go, use a word die that is welded together so you don't have to fuss with individual letters.

Now I'll be packing up some goodies to send out along with the card.  I hope she likes this bunch of goodies as much as the first batch and I'm happy to report some other crafters have sent her some stuff since I sent her my care package.  I say that the crafting community is the most generous and kind people around; what other artists encourage people to copy them?!  None that I know, yet we post instructions, either written or video, to show people how we created our projects.  Now that's sharing!  

I hope this gives you the push you need to attempt one of these incredible cards - they are so much easier than they look.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon.  Christi. 

I am entering my You're Amazing! Card in the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday - #354 -355, Anything Goes
Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -M, Anything Goes
DL Art Monthly Challenge - Anything Goes
Sparkles Monthly Challenge - #108, Use Dies or Punches
The Color Sisters - M, #59, Color Palette 

Cardz TV - #67, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

A Few Thank You cards. . .

It is one of my New Year's Resolutions to make {AND send} more thank you cards.  This Christmas I got some totally unexpected cards from a couple of my Blogger friends and, since I sort of coasted through the holiday, I decided to make them some thank you cards.

Both of the cards.  They look better in person, trust me :)

What I Used to Make my Cards:
White Card Base
Basic Grey Patterned Paper, Sultry Vogue*
Pink Cardstock {Core'dinations Pastels}
Hero Arts Stamp & Cut, Thanks, #DC152
Homemade Dots {see below}
Wink of Stella, Clear

*Basic Grey closed its scrapbooking section in 2016 so I highly doubt you'll find the paper I used to make the cards, but there are plenty of beautiful florals out there - bet you have some in your stash!  

I had a blast making these cards and they were super easy!  I just trimmed the patterned paper, attached it to my white card base and then embellished.

Since there are two cards, I'm calling this one "Pop Out" and the second card "Dots."

This is the second "pop out sentiment" card I've made.  If you'd like more information on making this type of card check out this post I made in October.  It's got detailed directions and a link to Jennifer McGuire's blog post on how to make these beauties. I used clear Wink of Stella to give the "thanks" a bit of sparkle; you can't see it in the card above, so here is a close up:

On to the "Dots" card.  As I stated above, I made these dots myself.  I hope you like the card and find a chuckle in the saga explained below.

I used Perler Beads to make my dots.  I bought a huge package of them from Amazon {I ended up giving a bunch away because I had SO many} and being I had never used them before, I had fun experimenting with them.  I also learned a few things; make absolutely sure you use parchment paper on your cookie sheet, you can literally bake these things for hours {yes, I forgot about them, but you'll see why in a second} and they won't burn.  I had the oven set at 350 degrees and they baked for hours!  I had originally timed them at taking about 45 minutes to bake; well, no worries about forgetting them! Lastly, you can cut the beads in half to make smaller dots, which is what I was doing when I got a nasty gash in my finger, hence forgetting about the beads baking.  I'm healing up though and no trip to the ER was needed.  I was nervous when I cut myself

Another look

because I am due for an ER visit; I seem to average one every six months or so and it's time. All in all, I'm glad I used the dots, I'm glad I made them smaller and I'm really glad that my finger is healing just fine.  Come to find out that Perler actually sells mini beads {and there are other companies who make the same type of beads}, so all that could have been easily avoided.  Eh, story of my life! {hehehehe}  

I am very happy with how the cards came out, even the dots.  I just bought some new dies {and have even more on their way!} and I intentionally purchased some larger word dies so hopefully I'll find some time, most likely once Valentine's Day is over, and get to making some more of the "pop out" cards.  They are really fun to make.  I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by! Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Thank You cards in the following challenges:
Craftaholics R Us - Patterned Paper, #2
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Patterned Paper
Through the Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes
Cuttlebug Mania -Flowers
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - M, Anything Goes
Scrap From Your Heart - M, Flowers, #17

Angie's Thank You Card

I am lucky enough to live about 30 minutes away from a fantastic pain clinic.  I've been a patient there for about 5 years and have seen staff, including doctors, come and go.  Throughout all the upheaval, I've been blessed with awesome people.  I've been treated with respect, dignity, and my medical treatment hasn't suffered a bit.  The office manager, Angie, told me at my last appointment that she was leaving, sort of.  She'd probably be popping in (she travels from Utah) occasionally and as soon as her husband finds employment, she'd be back at the clinic full time.  I really grew close to Angie and I decided I wanted to make her a Thank You card for all her help (I don't do this nearly enough - it's going to be one of my resolutions!)

Anyway, there was this technique I'd seen where the sentiment literally pops out at you.  I thought I had pinned it, but couldn't find it, so off to Jennifer McGuire's blog I went.  If you want to try something new, Ms. McGuire's is the place to go.  She has a TON of cool techniques on her blog. If fact, I got lost checking everything out! But I did find the technique I wanted to try; it's from 2013's Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember event, and as always there is a fantastic video - Jennifer named the card An Autumn Hello.  

Here is my version:

What I Used to Make my Card:
Water Color Paper
Distress Oxide Ink in Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet
Distress Spritzer
White Card Base
Matching Color Cardstock (I used Mint Green)
Thanks - Stamp & Cut from Hero Arts, #DC-152
Little Things for Lucy's Cards, Jewels, Ice Cube Mix, #LBJ03

I first made my Distress panel using the Oxide Inks on a piece of watercolor paper, smooshing the inks about and spritzing them with water (if you aren't sure how to play with Distress Oxides, feel free to take a look at my Pinterest Board - there are a lot of different techniques out there!)  Once the panel was to my liking, I set it aside to dry overnight.  Since I am die cutting the paper, I want it to be thoroughly dry or it will rip.  Trust me on that one. 

The next day, I chose where I wanted my "Thanks" die cut to be, and cut the word out of the panel.  Be sure to keep ALL the INSIDES of the LETTERS - you'll need them! I set my word aside and made a stack of paper with the mint green card.  I made two stacks of three sheets each and glued them together with a glue stick, just as Jennifer did in the video.  Well, when I put the die and paper through my Big Shot, all of the extra glue smooshed out of my stack and got everywhere.  I should have let them dry overnight as well! Eh, nothing a few about ten wipes couldn't clean up! So I cut "Thanks" out of both stacks and then glued them together.  I decided to give them a bit of time to adhere to each other, so I took the afternoon off. 

For some reason this looks much lighter than the card is.
The card above is true to color.

Later, I attached the water color panel onto my white card blank.  I adhered my original (oxide inked) "Thanks" to the mint green stack, and then carefully placed that back into the spot created from the initial die cut.  This is where you need the little "innie" pieces - you then have to glue the "innie" cut outs onto the card. I didn't take this into consideration, and the next time I make one of these cards I will use a larger die but it really wasn't that difficult at all.  I used a toothpick and a straight pin to work the pieces in where they belonged.  I am very pleased with this card - it looks very difficult to make, but was easy (my favorite kind!)

Before I go, I want to remind you all that Halloween is literally around the corner.  It's my very favorite holiday, but can be a horrible event for your fur babies (black cats can be at GREAT risk - if you have a black cat, please keep it indoors for this one night).  Please keep them safe inside, preferably a room away from where you will meet trick-or-treaters.  Some pets don't like the door bell (my Mew freaks out!) so we actually sit outside and distribute the candy so no extra doorbell stress.  Finally, absolutely NO CHOCOLATE for dogs - it's deadly! 

Thanks SO much for reading this all the way to the end! I hope you enjoyed my card and got inspired to try something new of your own ~ Fondly, Christi

I am going to enter Angie's Thank You Card in the following challenges:
Allsorts - #435, Sentiment in Focus
Just Us Girls - #413, Wild Card Week, Word Cut Dies
Less is More - #348, Watercolor
My Time to Craft - #355, Die Cuts Only
Creative Friday - #189, Die Cuts/Punches
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Use Your Dies
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge - Use Die Cuts and Punches