World Card Making Day and a Giveaway!

Happy Thursday everyone! The card making world is abuzz  with preparations for World Card Making Day this Saturday, October 5th. Seeing as I've been known to make a card or two, I thought it would be fun to get involved. But how, hmmm...

And then it came to me. You guys all like a giveaway, right? And making cards? So let's combine the two!

Up for grabs is a $10 gift certificate to Caffeinated Papercuts and all you have to do is make a card and send it to me.

Yes, that's it.

I, in turn, will turn around and send in all of the cards, plus some of my own, to Operation Write Home.

For those of you unfamiliar with the program, Operation Write Home sends the cards we make to our troops so that they, in turn, have cards they can send to their families. It's a wonderful program that needs cards year-round, and the deadline for holiday cards is quickly approaching.

So, your mission this World Card Making Day is to make a card (or two...or ten!) that falls into one of the following categories:

• Holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.)
• General Fall (no turkeys, ghosts, or pilgrims please)
• Valentines
• General Winter
• Birthday
• Love
• Thank You
• Missing You
• Thinking of You
• Blank (no sentiment)

You will notice that Halloween and Thanksgiving are not on the list; the deadlines for those holidays have already past and they are not collecting them for next year yet.

There are also guidelines that Operation Write Home asks card makers to follow when creating these little treasures.  Please follow the link for the full list of do & do nots; I've highlighted most of them below:

• No glitter! None! Stickles or glitter pens that will not rub off can be acceptable and they suggest rubbing it against a sweater to be sure that it will not flake off. That said, I think it's simpler to just leave the Stickles on the shelf this time.
• A2 sized cards only and please include an envelope.
• Line cards made with dark cardstock. Often all our troops have to write with is a pencil and that will not show up on the darker cardstocks.
• Some dimension is ok, and loved. They ask that we please save the "big vintage buttons and deep 3D embellishments" for another time or to use on AnyHero mail that doesn't go through the post office.
• Use quality supplies. Computer paper or thin designer paper is not adequate for letterwriting when a hero might be using the sand as a “table” . . . so please use good, heavy cardstock for your card bases. Do not use foamies, ittybitty stickers, or gluesticks – they don’t hold up to the rigors of the battlefront.
• Card Recipients. Typically these are to adults, from adults, and they ask that we stay away from 'mommy' & 'daddy' cards and the like.
• No handwritten sentiments
• No storebought cards
• No photo cards

 Nothing too horrible, right? ;)

Giveaway details:

• make a card following the guidelines above
• send me the card - I need it to be here, in New York, by Friday, October 11th to make the holiday deadline!
• your name goes into the drawing for the $10 gift certificate to Caffeinated Papercuts
• winner will be announced Friday, October 18th here on the blog

Our mailing address is:
Caffeinated Papercuts
10997 Mariaville Road
Pattersonville, NY 12137

Since we all love crafting with friends, feel free to invite them to join you!
Tweet it: http://clicktotweet.com/SkH8d
Post it on Facebook by sharing this blog article!
Feel free to tag us on Instagram - @caffeinatedpapercuts - while you're creating; we'll happily share your creativity with everyone!

I cannot wait to see the beautiful cards you create! Feel free to give a shout-out in the comments if you plan on participating. Happy Crafting!

Not Quite 'Perfect'...

Ever have one of those ideas/designs that look fantastic in your head, but when you put it to paper...well...not quite so fantastic? That's what happened to me last night.

I'm trying to get caught up on thank you cards and had the idea of using a kitchen-y Itty Bitty Unity stamp with some matching paper I had. Instead of stamping the image in black (like always), I decided to change it up and use gray. I colored, I layered, I threw more embellishments at it to make it better. After all, when in doubt, add more embellishments!

The result:

Perfect? Maybe not...

  My reaction to the result: meh. I've done better, I've done worse. It's perfectly usable, I'm just underwhelmed by the result.

Even Liquid Pearls didn't really help

I tried the border punch to give it some pizazz as it looked quite sad just sitting on the paper. But then the holes were lost, so I filled them in with Liquid Pearls for some pop. It needed some texture, so I chose the crocheted ribbon to hide the edges.

Side view - I'm thinking my towel looks like a scarf. :/

So I ask you, my loyal readers - how would YOU redo this card? Help a fellow crafter out!

FWF Friday and a Coloring Contest Entry

Happy Friday everyone! It feels like I've been on the run all week and drooling over the pictures coming back from CHA. Instead of participating this time, Unity Stamp Co. stayed home and gave everyone a digi to play with for a coloring contest! Woo!

I, of course, immediately felt intimidated by all the beautiful creations popping up all over Facebook...sigh...but I pulled myself together and came up with this little lovely.

Flowers and butterflies...truly beautiful indeed

 I printed out the flowers and sentiment on a transparency and then set to work coloring with a mix of Copics (as I still only own 6! LOL) and Distress Ink Markers. Using the ribbon, I then attached the lovely striped shimmer paper to it and mounted the whole pile onto espresso cardstock and a kraft card base.

Side view to see more of the layers and under-papers

For the sentiment I used a scrap of light blue patterned paper leftover from a wedding invitation order. I dug through my brad stash and found this sweet little butterfly that is obviously on its way to visit those flowers.

Closer view of the papers and coloring

I think it came out alright, though it's probably not going to get me the coveted guest Design Team spot. If only my printer could print on watercolor paper! Ah well, it was still fun and I enjoyed playing with the markers this way.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday, Pink by Design!

Tomorrow Pink by Design stamp company turns 2 years old! The celebration has already begun on Pinterest where we're all Inking it Pink!

In celebration I unearthed a couple photos of projects I made with their stamps that I never posted. (Sadly, I have a whole stack of their lovely items that still haven't seen ink...)

Sentiment from 'Here Comes the Bride'

Some of you may remember this one from my shop last Valentine's Day. I salvaged some puzzle pieces and gave them new life with a coat of red paint. The sentiment was a perfect match (ooo, I kill myself!) so I stamped it in black VersaMark ink and then topped it off with some clear embossing powder for added texture and shine. They're easy to make quickly, but each one is still unique thanks to the puzzle pieces.

Sentiment from 'Here Comes the Bride'

This one was fun to make. I started with a big square card base, 6"x6" (oh yes, extra postage would be required) and added a layer of the pretty black & cream damask print. I think it was from a pad of...oh boy...no, it could have just been a single sheet from my stash. Have I mentioned lately that I love hoarding scrapbook paper? Anyway, I punched out and embossed two black 2" circles with my Big Shot then layered them on the card. I glued the first down right to the card, then popped up the second one to give it some dimension. On top of that went the wedding cake. I admit, that one isn't from PbD - it's one from the dollar bid. I stamped it on white card stock then fussy cut it out before decorating. Gel pens and Stickles made excellent 'frosting', don't you think? The sentiment is from the same PbD set I used on the puzzle card - it's really perfect for all things lovey-dovey. :) The edges got inked up and small red pearls added to compliment the colors on the cake. I popped that one up with foam squared, too. I went pretty dimension crazy that day, but it turned out really pretty. Sheer ribbon wrapped around the side was the final touch and I sold it at a craft show to a mother of the bride. She wanted something really unique for her daughter, and when I mentioned that it was OOAK she was sold! I love the thought that a happy bride & groom received this on their wedding day. <3

Oof...I'm being tackled by a toddler demanding food! LOL I'd better feed him something before he starts gnawing on the furniture...tomorrow I'm off to an all-day scrap crop! Yay for uninterrupted crafting time!!

Happy Crafting!

June Out of the Box Sampler and Giveaway Information!

Over on Etsy is a team called the Out Of The Box Sampler, or OOTBS for short. Each month small business on Etsy get their handmade items together and send them in to Michelle to package them up into boxes of absolute fun! There's a different theme each month and some months have a special box with a special theme, usually around holidays. June is one of those months with a special Men's Father's Day Sampler Box coming out today!

Seeing as I'm insane always looking for a new challenge, I signed up to create 100 special, limited edition greeting cards just for the Men's Father's Day Sampler Box. Seeing as they go on sale tonight, along with the regular June box of Hollywood Glitz & Glamour Girl, I thought now was the time to reveal what our cards look like! Ready?

 

One each of the color combos and sentiment stamps

I really, really love how they came out. The stamp set is from Unity Stamp Co. and is really perfect for any dude in your life. There are 5 sentiments with the set, so I used each one 20 times. I then scattered those across the 6 different background paper & shirt combinations I made, which you can see here. There were a few here & there that were a different combo, but you get the idea. Lots of cutting, inking, stamping, and more cutting went into these! They were then topped off with some very manly twine and layers of dimensional dots. Each box will contain one of these manly cards. I call them limited edition as I am OUT of the paper I used for all the backgrounds! So even if I do these again, they won't be the same.

Here are some close-ups of the various colors:

Brown stripes with ivory shirt & green diamonds with ivory shirt

Dark brown stripes with green shirt & yellow diamonds with purple shirt

Green plaid with yellow shirt and wood grain with blue shirt...and the shadow of me taking the photo!

You can see all the different sentiments used as well: the man, stud, my guy, father, my dad. I like how they would work for your father, husband, brother...really any guy!

One last close-up, this one showing all the dimensional layers:

The shirt, frame behind the shirt, and sentiment are all popped up

Have I convinced you that you simply must have one? Ok! Here's where you can go tonight, June 4th, to buy a box: OOTBS Team Shoppe. If you're curious to see what else is in the box, check out the list of participating business on the OOTBS website.

I know this is a really long post, but for hanging in there with me here's the fun part: we're almost to 100 'likes' on FB! If you haven't already, head on over to the Caffeinated Papercuts FB page and give us a thumbs up. Mention that you found us via the blog, it makes me feel warm & fuzzy to know that someone is reading it. :) Once we hit 100 'likes', there's going to be a GIVEAWAY! Woohoo! Who knows, maybe one of these cards will be in it...hmmm...

Ooo, baby's asleep! I'm off to craft - later!

Butterfly Note Cards

Finally, a chance to write up a post while the little one throws Legos at my feet...no, really, there went another one. Problem is that I've been crafting a lot lately but haven't had a chance to sit and share them. Ah that delicate balance...especially when using the laptop usually involves a very squirmy toddler wanting to use it, too. :/ Sigh.

Enough about that, let's talk about butterflies! I came across this card on Pinterest and loved the simplicity; the butterfly, the tone-on-tone writing in the background. Swoon. Of course I don't have a stamp that I could do the writing with so it got shelved but not forgotten. Then I came across this card showcasing a double stamping technique with acetate (aka transparencies). Major swoon. Still wanted my paper with writing, though...and then I walked through Michael's and found their new pads of Recollections paper. I might have squealed with glee. Just a little bit.

So what did I make? Take a look:

 Isn't it just adorable?? I really love how it came out. I made them smaller than the usual A2 size, these little cuties are 3.5"x4". Bonus there is that you can get three cards from just one piece of 8.5"x11" paper! Here's a closer look at the butterfly, acetate, and pearl accents (they needed a little bling).

So. Darn. Cute! I stamped the butterfly onto the patterned paper (look, there's the script I wanted!) then stamped it again onto acetate. I carefully cut the acetate butterfly out and used my bone folder to make the wings turn up. I just ran it along the body of the butterfly until it looked right. A little adhesive, and voila!

Of course, I couldn't stop at just one...

 

Hey, I had to try out all the colors! Besides, they would be lonely if they didn't have friends. Really.

Supplies are listed below, and they set of 3 amazing butterfly cards are listed in my shop. They'd like a good home, please!

Supplies: Queen & Co. pearls in Grass Green, Classy Red, & Sunflower yellow; Recollections Paper 'Habitat'; transparencies; Staz-on jet black ink; butterfly stamp; Versamark chalks

Happy Crafting!

Sparks Challenge!

I had some time before I had to post for the next challenge so I didn't smoosh this one in with all the others I posted on Wednesday. While I, of course, didn't win anything it's nice having inspiration coming from another source like a challenge.

Now then, check out this simple little card I made with some ribbon, Paper Smooches stamps, and...shhhh...an Itty Bitty stamp from Unity. Turns out I don't have any sentiment stamps from Paper Smooches. Oops. But isn't this stamp from the Potpourri collection awesome?? I love being able to build my own backgrounds!

Potpourri Collection from Paper Smooches, 'Happy Birthday' from Itty Bitty, orange grosgrain ribbon

I can see doing this card in lots of different colors with many different sentiments. How easy would it be to make it masculine or feminine?? Yes!

View from above

The Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is going on now! See what you get inspired to make.

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge - Coloring, part 2

All right, here's the baby boy card I made for the challenge. This one I can easily use and will probably give to the expectant mom due in July for her baby shower. So many little boys around these days!

I used the Lawn Fawn Plus One set for this card, too. It's just such a cute set! I stamped up the background then colored it in with my watercolor pencils using sweet little boy colors. (Look, you can see the gel pen stitching this time!!) I mirrored the colors for the stork's bundle and the stitching around it, then topped it with the sentiment flag. The teal twine is from Lawn Fawn's new set of goodies...it's really awesome to work with.

All right, I think that's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the Paper Smooches challenge!

Happy crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge - Coloring, part 1

Whee...now on from Easter cards to a different kind of spring time renewal: babies! Seems like many of my family and friends are having them at the moment. Not only did my sister-in-law make me an Auntie right before Easter, but a friend of the family is due in July as well! More boys for my little boy to play with, yay!

Of course, I had to start with a girl card just to get it out of my system:

I stamped the background using the Lawn Fawn Plus One set and colored them all in with watercolor pencils. I layered some green shimmer paper scraps around the edging to create a binding and have it look like a little baby blanket. I made stitching with a white gel pen, but you really can't see it. Boo. Next time, darker gel pen. The little stroller is from Plus One as well and I colored it up to match the blanket colors. So sweet and girly...with no girls to give it to!

Come see all the entries over on the Lawnscaping Challenge blog. I'll brb with my little boy card!

Welcome to the First of Many Posts Today!

Oh yeah, lots and lots of posts today! I'm entering several online challenges with several different cards...and each one needs its own post! Oh yeah, and most have a deadline of today...eeek! Ready for some creative overload??

First up is the CAS-ual Fridays weekly challenge!

It's all about what you'd find in your bunny basket come Easter morning. I came up with two different cards for the challenge. We'll start with my favorite of the two, and the one I actually gave to my sister & her fiance for Easter. Problem is, I'm not sure if it would be defined as "clean and simple". Any thoughts??

I love this card. I couldn't find a bunny die anywhere, so I wound up finding a template and making my own. That seems to be this year's theme; they don't make what I want, so I'm making it myself! I visualized the patterned paper as wallpaper and have them sitting on a table...the scalloped edge is the tablecloth. Get it? The bunny eyes are just brads with some coloring done to them so they look like those classic chocolate rabbits. Yum...

Everything got inked up and I wrote out the speech bubbles myself. Obviously this is why I took drafting in high school, right? ;)

Back soon with more cards!

Peep...peep...nom!

Wow, I have been seriously MIA...two craft shows in a month will do that I suppose. I come bearing a super-cute card, though! Seeing as Easter is right around the corner, I just had to make up some cards. Around here, nothing says Easter like yummy chocolate Cadbury eggs and loading up my Gram with Peeps! She adores the little sugary things almost as much as I adore coffee. I went looking for a Peeps pattern, digi-stamp, anything I could use to start a card with. What did I find? Nothing. Nada. Zip. So after saying a few nasty things about the industry, I made my own. So there.

Isn't he yummy?? I made a whole flock of these little guys (and some bunnies!) and brought them to my craft show Saturday as well. Several went off to good homes. :)

All of the paper was from my personal horde collection. I love square cards but loathe the extra postage, so I made this one 4.25"x4.25". Yup, still fits in a standard A2 envelope. Yes! I fussy-cut the Peep out after coloring him in with watercolor pencils, then gave him a sugary topping with some extra-fine glitter. The teal twine is the gorgeous new twine from Lawn Fawn. Love. It.

If by some chance you absolutely have to have one (and don't feel like making it yourself), I do have it up in my shop!

So, what are everyone's Easter plans? Please share!

Happy Crafting!

Say it with Conversation Hearts!

I was inspired by the Crafty Steals blog to try to make a card from a sketch...I think it came out rather cute:

After all, who says that conversation hearts are only for kids? A little paper punching, some ribbon, add a smattering of embossing, ink everything...tada! I simply used my own handwriting for the sentiments, in classic conversation heart red. What do you think? If you really, really must have one of you own I've got it up in my Etsy shop.

Ok, now I'm off to play with all the fun 'toys' I bought today...yay! The one nice thing about having a husband glued to the PS3 is that I get plenty of craft room time...mwahahahaha...

Happy Crafting!

Lawnscaping Challenge #26 Winter Wonderland

Where has the week gotten to?? We finally have snow here which helped with my inspiration for this week's Lawnscaping Challenge. Of course between snowshoeing, helping a friend build a deck (I was the only one he trusted to cut 45 degree angles on the miter saw - go me!), general running around, and spending some quality time in the craft room here it is Saturday already and I'm just sitting down to write!

So this week's challenge was Winter Wonderland, something that has finally happened around here! I was really excited about this one. My Christmas present to myself this year was a Sizzix Big Kick and a bunch of cartridges that were on deep sale on Black Friday. My husband was thrilled because then he had an easy time shopping for me this year...hehehe... I had picked up one of the snowman cartridges (cartridges? punches? someone correct me if my terminology is off, please!) and a snowflake embossing folder. Better still, the Lawn Fawn Ornate Ornaments stamp set that I have includes a snowflake stamp - perfect! Put them all together and see what you get:

Isn't he adorable?? I love how he came out. Here's how it started out:

What I used:

• white linen cardstock (paperandmore.com)
• purple striped scrapbook paper (my stash)
• brown cardstock (stash)
• black cardstock (bazzill)
• purpley/bluey cardstock, cut to 5.25"x4" (bazzill)
• orange metallic cardstock (paperandmore.com)
• white glitter cardstock (Joann's)
• ivory linen cardstock, measures 5.5"x4.25" when closed (paper and more)
• Memento Paris Blue ink
• dark gray rhinestones, two sizes (Michael's)
• clear Stickles
• silver Stickles
• Lawn Fawn Ornate Ornaments stamps
• Spellbinders snowflake embosser
• Sizzix snowman cartridge
• glue
• Zots 3D

Start off by making your card base. Emboss the purpley/bluey cardstock with the snowflake background and attach to the base card. Cut a piece of the white glitter cardstock to fit across the entire width of the card, then freehand cut it to make it look like a snow mound (I had this piece left over from cutting out larger snowmen). Attach it to the front of the card as well. Using the little snowflake in the Ornate Ornaments set and the Paris Blue ink, make some snowflakes floating down from the sky.

Cut out the snowman using the Sizzix cartridge. This is where the rest of the paper is used! You could probably use fabric for the scarf as well, but I loved this pattern for a scarf. To assemble and attach him I used glue on the scarf, carrot nose, and arms to attach them to the snowman. I then used the 3D Zots to attach the snowman to the card, putting him where I thought he looked cute on the snow mound. One last Zot for the hat right onto the card and he was assembled!

I then went back and decorated the hat with the silver Stickles and the snowman with the clear Stickles, just to give his snow some sparkle. Rhinestones for his eyes and buttons and we have a snowman!

On the inside I simple wrote "Thanks 'snow' much!" for a sentiment and the card was done! It was nice to build a snowman inside where it's nice and warm.

Have you built any real or paper snowmen lately? I'd love to see them!

Happy Crafting!

Coffee Note Cards...with Fabric!

Well, it had to happen eventually - a post about coffee! It has finally snowed here for the first time since October (yes, you did read that correctly...don't ask) which means my favorite caffeinated beverage now needs to warm my hands while it keeps me going.

This summer I came across some awesome coffee fabric. I was drawn to it because 1) its coffee and 2) the pattern is rectangular. Usually for fabric crafts this is a deterrent (I really cannot see a skirt out of this) but for paper crafting it's perfect!

I simply had to have it and make cards out of it. To prep the fabric I (shudder!) ironed it out and then cut out some of the blocks. I then went back around them with pinking shears (the funny scissors that cut triangles) so that the fabric wouldn't unravel once on the card.

That's it! Now it's time to make some note cards!

What I used:

• fabric cut with pinking shears
• white card base, final size 4.25"x5.5" when folded
• patterned paper cut to fit card front, 4.25"x5.5" (found at Joann's)
• chocolate grosgrain ribbon, 1/2" wide x 4.25" long
• blue cardstock (from stash)
• sentiment stamp, "how've you bean?" (Fiskars)
• StazOn Timber Brown ink pad
• 1.5" square paper punch
• adhesive
• Xyron machine
• ruler
• paper cutter
• scissors

Start by cutting the patterned paper to fit the front of your card. Ink up the edges, then attach to the card base using your adhesive. Ink up your sentiment stamp and stamp out a few onto your blue cardstock. Here's a good tip - stamp first, punch out second! That way you can line up your punch and make sure the sentiment is centered:

Stamp, stamp, stamp...

Punch, punch, punch!

Ink up the edges and then set aside to dry a little. Cut out your ribbon so that it fits the front of the card. I used my little Xyron sticker maker to apply the adhesive.

Nice and sticky!

Once everything is cut & dry, I ran the fabric squares and sentiment squares through my Xyron machine. They stacked nicely so that I didn't waste adhesive!

In they go...

All done!

Now, time to assemble. Attach your squares to where you want them on the card. Be careful, the fabric will try to stretch out of shape! Now stick your ribbon down, pop the sentiment square on top, and you've got a unique note card!

Have you ever combined paper with fabric? What was the result? Post your creations here, I'd love to see them!

Happy Crafting!