A Trio of Echo Park Happy Holiday Cards

Hi there!

I'm popping over to share some cards that are up on Lori Whitlock's blog today.  For these cards I turned to her super cute Happy Holidays Mini Themed paper kit that she designed for Echo Park and several fun Christmas card files.

For this set of cards I wanted to focus on a few of Lori's many fabulous interactive card files she has available. These cards may look ordinary on the outside, but they have a nice surprise inside for the lucky recipent who opens it. I thought they would be perfect for occasions when you're wanting an extra special card for a teacher, a minister, a best friend... The list could go on and on.  :)

For this card, I switched it up and paired the cutout opening of the card with one of Lori's super cute ornament shapes.  I cut one ornament & scalloped circle out of the patterned paper and another ornament and card base from cardstock.  By cutting doubles I was able to sandwich baker's twine between them for a suspended ornament effect.

I then was able to lightly trace that ornament onto my card inside for perfect stamp placement of a hidden sentiment (sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink's  Holiday Lights set).  Then after I was done I just erased my pencil lines.  ;)

 

For this card I paired Lori's pop-up present card with one of her fun holiday titles (for extra pop I added a shadow).  I love how this paper collection had a present themed patterned paper to carry out the gift theme.  :)  I kept the inside pretty starightfoward--I really liked the impact of her clean and simple design!  

For this card, I used one of Lori's earlier reindeers for the cover to matching the inside of her latest reindeer pop-up card.  I wanted to soften the look of the patterned paper which seemed a bit distracting in the background so I layered it with a piece of vellum which I stamped my sentiment on with Stazon ink (sentiment stamp is part of Papertrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #8 stamp set). 

At first I just had the reindeer inside, but it felt unfinished so I added a mat for a handwritten note and a few stickers from the collection's sticker sheet.  It was just the extra something I was looking for.

 

 

Phew!  Are you still with me?  That was a long post today.  I hope I've inspired you to try your hand at some of the many 3D cards out there.  ;)

For these cards I used the following shapes which are available to purchase through Lori's Shop:

Reindeer Pop Up Card
Circle Flower Card Kit
Christmas Present Pop Up Card
4 Holiday Titles
Winter Icons Set 2

Reindeer (Silhouette Store)
Christmas Ornaments-Simple (Silhouette Store)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  :)

Lori Whitlock Winner & A Quick Holiday Project

Hi there!

 

Just popping in real quick to announce the lucky winner of the $10 gift certificate from Lori Whitlock's Christmas Countdown blog hop last week!

 

Using www.random.org to help me select, the winner is...

 

Kristine in WA  November 20, 2012 9:03 AM

"I love the inclusion of the mittens!!! Such a cute project."

 

Yay!  Kristine, drop me a quick email so I can get you your gift certificate.  ;)

 

I also have a little project to share that I made a couple months back using a Silhouette pillow box shape found here and some very old American Crafts Christmas papers, Poinsettia flowers by Making Memories, a little tag by Sizzix and a sentiment stamp by Papertrey Ink.

 

I thought it would make the perfect packaging for a last minute holiday gift card.  :)

 

Thanks for stopping by and for all your sweet comments left.  They truly brighten my day!    Check back Friday for some fun Christmas cards that I made for Lori Whitlock. 

 

Thanksgiving Wishes

Hi there!

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! 

I thought it was the perfect occasion to share a little turkey card I made in response to CARDS November publication calls.  I ended up trying to include several challenges in one by using their sketch, color scheme and turkey requests all on one card.  :)

Hope you have a great day surrounded by loved ones and enjoy your holiday weekend! 


 

Lori Whitlock's Countdown To Christmas Blog Hop

Welcome!  If you are hopping along today you should be arriving here from Lisa's blog.  :)

Today I have a fun countdown garland to share using lots of Lori Whitlock's great cutting files and This and That Christmas papers & matching embellishments that she designed for Echo Park. 

I designed my project with a 12 days of Christmas theme.  Each stocking or mitten was cut twice (once out of patterned paper and once out of cardstock) and then sewn together to form a pocket to hold a different small treat each day. 

Please excuse my poor photos... We have been having terribly dark, yucky days here in the Pacific Northwest this week and I had to pull out every lamp I own to get these photos, but I was determined not to use my flash.  ;)

 

Each stocking and mitten can fit a small candy cane, pencils, stickers or other small trinkets. In hindsight I would have made them a tiny bit bigger to accomodate even bulkier items. Currently the stockings measure 6.5" long and the mittens measure 3.75". 

I used small natural clothespins which I took apart and stained with ink for a bit of a rustic feel.

I had so much fun decorating each one uniquely and having an excuse to use almost every paper in the collection! :)

For this project I used the following cutting files which are available for purchase at Lori's Shop:

Advent Mittens
Poinsettia
Christmas icons set 2 (holly)
Christmas icons set (stockings)
7 Labels (tag)
7 Labels 2 (bracket frame)
7 Labels 3 (bracket frame)
9 starburst seal set
Simple Borders
3 Eyelet Borders
3 Borders

...And these shapes which are currently only available at the Silhouette store (but look for them coming to Lori's shop soon):

Winter Tree (snowflakes only)
Simple Christmas Tree
11 Hearts
Snowflake

For the phrase on my tag, I also used Echo Park's 12 days of Christmas cutting file.
 
In honor of the blog hop, Lori is offering the shapes I used plus many, many more on a great 30% off sale!  Yay!!!    Lisa Bell has been hard at work adding many new holiday shapes to Lori's online store so it won't be hard to get up to $15!  My favorites from the new releases can be seen here, here, here & here.  Oh I could go on and on.  :)

 

And if that all wasn't enough, she created these awesome shape files which she is offering as a free download when you visit her blog through November 24th.

 

But that's not all...  Lori has also generously shared a $10 gift card to her shop which I am able to give away to one lucky person.  Just leave a comment on my blog by Saturday, November 24th at midnight Pacific time and then check back here on Monday to see if you are a winner.  :)

 

Visit my fellow teammates blogs for more great holiday countdown ideas and chances to win!  Your next stop is Amanda's blog.  :)

Lori Whitlock
Natalie Graham
Corri Garza
Joy Dickson
Lisa Bell

Mendi Yoshikawa (You are here)
Amanda Jones
Christine Ousley
Lisa Barrie

Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

 

My Mind's Eye Colorful Christmas Cards

Hey there!

So I'm still in a bit of blogging slump, but I thought I would pop in today to share a couple Christmas cards I made awhile back (OK, a long while back) using My Mind's Eye's Colorful Christmas collection, circa 2009. 

I still adore these papers!  I LOVE bright colors and this line made my heart sing when it came out.  It was another one of those lines that I couldn't resist getting a second pack of when it went on sale after Christmas so I am really sort of swimming in it.  I have a fun layout to share later this month also using these papers.  ;)  (other supplies used include the Tree and Holiday Cheer Label stamps by Hero Arts, Snowman stamp by Unity and Season's Greetings stamp by Autumn Leaves).

Also, a bit of enabling...  I always have a hard time not buying myself a few early Christmas presents this time of year with all the awesome sales so I thought I would share a couple that caught my eye... 

Little Shoebox is having a warehouse sale that seems to be their best yet.  My local scrapbook stores don't carry their papers and I didn't have any of these particular collections so I was excited to pick up a box! 

I also have a pretty hefty cart full of goodies over at 2 Peas In A Bucket... They are offering 25% off on any order over $50 (including sale items) which is the best sale I've ever seen for them.  I'm just waiting and hoping they get one last thing in by Friday when the sale ends before placing my order(the promo code is DDKP25). 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

An Echo Park For the Record Jewelry Box

Today I have another holiday gift idea being featured over at Lori Whitlock's Blog.  Yay!  :)

For this one I transformed an inexpensive unfinished wood jewelry box that I found at my local craft store.  When I say inexpensive I'm not kidding--I think at Craft Warehouse it retailed for $4.99 and they have many of their unfinished wood items on a constant 40% off sale so it was actually under $3!  Such a bargain!  :)

I started by taping off the mirror with painters tape and painting the entire piece with black acrylic paint.  I won't lie... Around the mirror is not perfect.  The painters tape did it's job well, but with the nature of mirrors it is reflecting the unfinished wood on the underside that I am unable to get to with a paint brush, but unfortunately I ended up having to accept it.  One step that I didn't do after this, but I wish I had is adding a coat of Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic spray.  I think this would really help the box hold up more to knicks and scratches.

Next I set to work covering the box in Lori's beautiful For the Record 2 Documented papers that she designed for Echo Park.  I am in love with the colors in this collection!  To give the inside a finished look, I lined the compartments and drawer with different patterned papers from the set and I love the extra splash of color it gave the project.  As a last minute thought I finished the piece with a set of flourishes which I diecut from white vinyl and applied to the inside mirror.  I love how the mirror reflects the flourishes and gives them a shadowed, dimensional look.

 

For the flowers I diecut the petals, chalked the edges with my favorite Colorbox Chalk ink and then took the edge of my paper piercer and sort of ruffled the petals by gently rubbing my paper piercer edge on them like you would with a pair of scissors and a piece of curling ribbon.  They were looking so flat coming right off my cutting mat and this really brought them to life.  ;)

 

Another tip I would suggest is taking the back hinges off the box (in back) while you paint and cover the piece with your papers AND resisting the urge to put the box together until it is completely done.  I found that as I added the lace border around the edge and the blue patterned paper to the inside frame that every little extra layer added to the bulkiness of the piece and affected the box's ability to close smoothly and lay flat when closed.  If I had waited until the very end, I think I could have created new holes based on these layers without stripping and enlarging the holes that were already there.

To create this box I used the following cutting files designed by Lori Whitlock which can be found in her shop:
14 Labels
3d Flower Set
3d Flower
3 Eyelet Borders
Flourish Set 5
Round Doily

And this Silhouette shape by Echo Park:
Echo Park Flourish

I hope you've enjoyed this project!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

A Basket Weave "Thankful" Fall Card

Sorry for my lack of posts...  I took a mini break as my daughter was recovering from the flu over the weekend and I thought I might be trying to come down with something myself, but it appears to be a false alarm.  ;)

Yesterday I worked on finishing a set of cards that I started two years ago!  I used Basic Grey's Indian Summer collection to cover a 12x12 sheet of paper with 1" wide patterned paper strips into a basket weave.  I have done a few times since, but this had been my first time experimenting with it and I learned that glue is your friend when you plan to diecut the finished paper, otherwise you will have a lot of confetti on your hands and the basket weave will fall apart before your eyes. 

After finishing the 12x12 piece, I wanted to get as many cards out of it as possible so I diecut 6 bracket shapes using a Sizzix's "Top Note" Bigz die exclusive to Stampin' Up. 

Anyway, that's about as far as I got two years ago, but yesterday I decided I was tired of seeing them go unfinished and I set to work to making a set of cards.  I don't know about you, but sometimes coming up with an idea is the hardest and most time consuming part of making a card so every once in awhile it's nice to make multiples while you're already at it.  I figure I will send out a few to my different grandparents for Thanksgiving and keep a few extras on hand as thank you cards.

The leaves were diecut using Sizzix's Tim Holtz Mover & Shapers Mini Tattered Leaves set.  I finished it off with some low profile Papertrey Ink button dies cut from their blank coasters (to make them easier for mailing) and one of their recent Think Big Favorites #19 stamp set for the sentiment.  Now I'm wondering what took me so long to get these done!  LOL!  :)

Thanks for stopping by and for all your sweet comments you've been leaving!  They always bring a smile to my face!  :)





 

 

 

 

An Echo Park For The Record Recipe Box

Hi there!

Today I have a fun recipe box being featured over at Lori Whitlock's Blog that I made as a holiday gift idea (and as a personalized gift for my little sister--shhh, it's a secret).  ;)

I had so much fun making this project extra special knowing that my sister loves to cook and that this could be a keepsake for years to come.  I think this would also make a wonderful gift filled with your favorite recipes for a bridal shower or wedding gift.

I decided to create it using Echo Park's For the Record Tailored papers (also designed by Lori).  In addition to Lori's many shapes, I also used Echo Park's Silhoutte cutting files that coordinate with these papers (the flower, flourish and label) for the top of the box.

I bought a plain wood box at a local craft store which I took completely apart and chalked the edges with Colorbox's Fluid chalk ink in Chestnut Roan--I love my chalk inks so much that I own the re-inkers so I got the pad nice and juicy before brushing all the edges with it.  I love how doing this made it easier to hide small imperfections when the paper size varies slightly from piece to piece.

I used Lori's tabbed cards and stretched them to be a perfect fit for my wood box.  Doing this warped the original tabbed card image ever so slightly, but never something you could tell unless comparing side by side.  I ended up cutting these twice, once out of the patterned paper and another time out of cream cardstock to make the dividers extra stiff. 

Before stitching the two layers together, I made sure to run each patterned paper card through my printer (by attaching them temporarily to a piece of paper) to print the labels for each tab. It saved time by running all the left side tabbed cards at once and then changing the margins to do all the middle tabbed cards, etc. 

 Upclose Shot of Group 1 (you can click on images to view larger)

 Upclose Shot of Group 2

 Upclose Shot of Group 3



As you can see, I had so much fun finding and using all of Lori's food related shapes on this project.  I love how well these papers worked with the theme and how everything fell into place once I got into the full swing of it!

Here is a complete list of the shapes I used with Links to Lori's Shop (and a few links to the Silhouette store for those shapes that will be available to purchase directly in Lori's shop soon):

Recipe Box Icons
tabbed cards
5 Simple Borders
2 label shapes
Antique Doily
3 Mason Jars
Cupcake and Stand
‘cooking’ utensils
Fall 2 Set (pie)
Pumpkin and Corn set
Tomato and Carrot
Apple
Teapot
Teacup
1 page layout kit (cherries and "sweet" word)
Echo Park tabs and labels
Echo Park flourish and shadow
Echo Park flower

Thanks so much for stopping by!  ;)



A Whale Shaped Baby Card

For my last baby card to share this week, I turned to some of my favorite basic Doodlebug papers from their Petite Prints collection and another darling cutting file on my Silhouette: A Whale by Rivka Wilkins.

Once again I wanted this card to perfectly fit an A2 sized card AND I wanted to incorporate those adorable little splashes without having them fall off so I created a shadow around the whole piece and sized it to be 5-1/2" wide by 4-1/4" high.  I then separated them out and cut two of the shadows in the white cardstock to form the front and back. 

 

Before adhering my patterned paper whale to the card I created my own custom sentiment on the computer and temporarily adhere my whale to a piece of printer paper before sending it through the printer.  To give my baby whale a little extra something, I added glossy accents to the water drops and eyes.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all the sweet comments left.  They really do mean so much to me!   Make sure to check back tomorrow for a fun Holiday Gift idea I made for the Lori Whitlock team.  :)