Let it Snow

This card makes for a beautiful show! It takes a little bit of effort, but the result is amazing.

I started by cutting the dark green paper to measure 4 1/4" by 11", or the length of the 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of card stock. I scored and folded the card stock in half. Then, I scored from one end at 4 1/4". I glued between the score lines and adhered the front of the card to the back. The scored area will be on the left facing up.

Next, I punched out 1 1/4" squares. Cut two each of three coordinating papers. Cut one square at 2 1/2" out of white card stock. Adhere four of the squares using two designs on the white card stock, alternating the patterns as seen in the picture. 

Cut a dark green panel at 3 1/2" square, and adhere the four-square on point. Take the two remaining design papers and cut them diagonally. Place them as shown in the picture to make a sort of a pinwheel. The dark green is left as is.

Cut a white panel at 3 3/4" square to make a frame, and adhere the previously dark green panel on it. Adhere the whole design onto the dark green card base.

The last thing I did was to stamp the sentiment and cut it out with a scalloped circle punch. I adhered that to the center, which covered up any mistakes with the paper meeting in the center! I also added the ribbon onto the left side.

Julie Davison, Stampin' Up! demonstrator, helped me with this design, and I couldn't have done it without her expertise!

I'm sharing this with:

Challenge #419 - Any Occasion 

 

Season's Greetings II

This card was fun to make. I started with a white A2-sized card base and adhered a strip of designer paper behind where the window will go. Then, I took both green panels and adhered a strip of red to what will be the inside against the designer paper panel. After that, I added double-sided foam tape to the edges that will be closest to the designer paper to give it some lift. I used glue on the opposite edges. The effect creates a bit of a shadow to give it some dimension. Next, I stamped the sentiment on a white panel and adhered it to the front of the card.

The paper is from Stampin' Up!.

I'm sharing this with:

Challenge #419 - Any Occasion 

 

Season's Greetings

This card is larger than I usually make. It is 5" by 7". I made one this large to accommodate the quilt "patch". I didn't have a one-inch square punch, so i used a 1 1/4" punch that I do have, which made the design larger than I desired. So, I rolled with it. Now, I have to see if I have an envelope somewhere!

The design is called a Disappearing Nine-Patch. I started with 9 equal squares and adhered them to a white piece of card stock measuring 3 3/4". I cut the design in half and the resulting two pieces in half. I arranged the pieces into a pleasing design and adhered the pieces onto another 3 3/4" white card stock. Then, I created two frames, one at 4" and the other at 4 1/4", and stacked them. I adhered the stack to the large card base and stamped the sentiment at the top.

All of the paper is from Stampin' Up!.

I'm sharing this with:

Challenge #419 - Any Occasion 

A Christmas Card

This card is similar to the ones I made for my father-in-law this year. This one is different, because the stamp that I used at the bottom didn't turn out well, so I cut it off and placed another piece of Stampin' Up! card stock in its place.

Inside is a sentiment that reads "Wishing you a joyous Christmas and many blessings in the new year." For my father-in-law's cards, I used the computer to generate a sentiment that he wished for me to say.

I'm sharing this with:

Challenge #419 - Any Occasion  

 

The Joys of the Season

This gate-fold card is different in that the two sides meet in the back, and a slender panel shows in the front. There is also a panel off to each side. All of the papers are by Stampin' Up! The sentiment is on the back.

 

I'm sharing this with:

Inspired By IB197 Color Challenge  

I'm inspired by the photo with the greens and red in the centerpiece.

 

Joyous Christmas

 This is a fun-fold card. The green on the back of the card extends around to the front where it is decorated with a green, red, white and taupe Stampin' Up! designer paper. The white portion covers the back of the card, and there is a red-framed sentiment that is positioned in the center on the front of the card.

I'm sharing this with:

Inspired By IB197 Color Challenge 

I was inspired by the greens and reds of the centerpiece and the taupe of the table and place mats. 

Season's Greetings

To quilters, this block is called the Disappearing 9-Patch. I have altered mine slightly to fit to the size of this A2 card by slicing off a bit from each side. To start, there must be 9 1-inch squares. Those are adhered to a 3-inch square of white card stock. Then, that square is cut into 4 equal squares of 1 1/2" each. Those are turned in such a way to create the design and adhered to another 3" square. That was adhered to a green square and then a red square as frames. And, all of that was adhered to the green card base. All of the papers are from Stampin' Up!. The sentiment was stamped at the bottom to complete the card.

I'm sharing this card with:

Inspired By IB197 Color Challenge 

I was inspired by the greens and reds (the flower arrangement), and the taupes (the table). 

 

***Update*** I got honorable mention in this challenge. Here's what the Inspired by... team wrote:

"The honorable mention, chosen by a DT member, of the IB197 challenge is this beautiful disappearing 9-patch quilted block card from Fonda.  We love all the colors she was able to pull from the photo and incorporating them into a 9-patch card is so beautiful.  What a great design to use lots of color and even scraps, so inspiring!"

Let it Snow

This card involved using scraps of Stampin' Up! paper from making other cards. I began by using an embossing folder to make the circle-filled background. 

I'm sharing this with:

Freshly Made Sketches

 
Inspired by...

I was inspired by the different colors of green, the brown of the table and the red, and the sketch.

 

Happy Holidays

This fun-fold card is a variation on the gate fold. I used Stampin' Up! papers for this card.

The sentiment is attached to the left side and is centered when the card is closed.

I'm sharing this with:

Simon Says Stamp: https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/ad630c609bf9482fbe06b4c1424b41c8 

The Joys of the Season

This fold requires two flaps where one folds from the left, and the other folds from the right. The sentiment is inside on a white panel which also allows for a personal message.

All of the paper is Stampin' Up!.

I made two different ones.

I'm sharing this with:

Simon Says Stamp: https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/ad630c609bf9482fbe06b4c1424b41c8

Blessings in the New Year III

This is yet another fun-fold card. I just love trying out different folds! Essentially, the card folds backwards, but there is a flap that comes around to the front, and the sentiment is attached there. The inner flap is decorated with colorful paper. The inside has a white panel where I can write a long personal message. 

Here is another card that is similar:

 

 

A papers are Stampin' Up!.

I'm sharing this card with:

Simon Says Stamp: https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/ad630c609bf9482fbe06b4c1424b41c8

Blessings in the New Year II

Here is another fun-fold card. It is a double-Z fold, the first being the large part of the card, and the second being the band that goes across it. All paper is Stampin' Up!.

The small white space is where to sign the card. A white panel could be placed on the back in order to white a longer message.

I'm sharing this with:

Simon Says Stamp: https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/ad630c609bf9482fbe06b4c1424b41c8

 

Blessings in the New Year

This is another fun-fold card. The belly band holds it all together.The front piece folds back on itself, and the back piece folds over the front. The inside is where the personal message will go.

The papers are by Stampin' Up!.

I'm sharing this with:

Simon Says Stamp:  https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/ad630c609bf9482fbe06b4c1424b41c8

Let It Snow!

This card is an interesting fold. The right side of the card is cut to the fold line and glued. I added a panel of embossed paper. The rest of the card is 4 1/4" square and holds 4 panels of different designer paper.

I added a banner and the sentiment circle on top.

The papers are Stampin' Up!; the sentiment and embossing folder are not.

I'm sharing this with:

The Alphabet Challenge Blog: https://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Season's Greetings: Another Winter Card

I don't know what this card is called, but describing it, I would say that it's a tower card with 4 appendages. It mails flat in an A2 envelope, but when it's removed from the envelope and "fluffed", it will stand on its own.

There are various places to find out how to make this card, and I'm sure it can eventually be found. I don't remember who I learned to make this from, but it's a nice fun fold card to make. 

I've used all Stampin' Up Supplies, except for the sentiment, to make this card.

I'm sharing this with:

The Alphabet Challenge Blog: https://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Winter Holiday Card

This is a never-ending card. It has 4 panels to show once you get the hang of it. I learned to make this from Julie Davison, a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. She had the directions on her blog, as well as a video showing the mechanics of it. It's a fun interactive card, and this is how it goes:

Opening the envelope, this is what you see:

There is a slit down the center, and you open it and push the panels to the back, and this is what you see:

The next thing you see is a top and bottom panel. You open that and push them to the back where you'll see this:

Now, you take the middle seam and push those panels to the back. Next, you'll see this:

The bottom part is where you would write your personal message. The next thing you do is push back the top and bottom panels to get back to the front of the card:

So, there are the four panels.

I used all Stampin' Up! supplies for this card. 

I'm sharing this card with:

The Alphabet Challenge Blog: https://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Fall Cards

I've made 18 fall cards! Here is a sampling of them:

These two are mini slimline cards. I made a total of 5 of these.

 Inside is stamped "Happy Fall from the whole Kitten Kaboodle!"

We sign our 4 cats' names along with ours.

So, Happy Fall everyone from the whole kitten kaboodle:

Fonda, Katie, Tulip, Bjorn, Tangerine and Phoebee! 

Birthday Cards

 I made a plethora of birthday cards. Some will go to my father-in-law, and we will keep some. Here, I am giving you a highlight of the 35 cards I had made. 

Right now, I am letting the paper take center stage, along with a small stamped or die cut sentiment. 

I'm in the process of making fall card for friends and family. They will be mailed out in November. I'll share them here when I finish with them. I stepped up my game a bit, and I'm happy with what I've done so far.

Christmas in Mass

I'm finally showing you the Christmas cards I made for my father-in-law.

I CASED the design from Amy Koenders whose work I like very much. Using her design, I selectively edited it to suit myself. Her design is here: https://stampwithamyk.com/2021/07/27/stampin-up-poinsettia-petals-cas-banner-christmas-card/

And, this is my design:

Being depressed for so long, I needed something simple, which meant that I wanted to Copy And Selectively Edit (CASE) something I'd seen. I thought this one was good for mass production, even putting it together in phases. It was a way for me to ease myself back into creating. 

I will be making simple cards, and I will not yet enter my work into some of the challenges I had in the past. I don't feel my cards are worthy just yet. In time, I may change my mind.
 

Halloween

I made about 13 Halloween cards. Then, my wife, Katie, and I put them in envelopes and sealed them up. That's what happens when I haven't made a card for awhile! I forgot to scan and share! Drat!

So...I'm in the craft room...finally. I also made 35 birthday cards and 25 Christmas cards for my father-in-law. I haven't mailed them off just yet. Before I do, I will scan them and share!

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with me! See you again soon!

Still having problems with depression

 

I have a dilemma

Dear Followers,

I don't know what to do!

Everyone who is using Blogger as a blog platform knows that the Follow by email widget is basically gone. Blogger is no longer supporting it, and its use will be gone in July 2021. This means that I will have no way of gaining new followers. At least, that's what I think it means. I only have 12 followers (from what I can tell), and I'm not necessarily looking for scads of new followers, but if someone wants to follow, I want to provide a way for him or her to follow me and read my content.

So, my questions is this: Does anyone know of an alternative way for people to sign up to follow my blog and remain with the Blogger platform? If there is no way to do this, then I have another question: What platform do you use or suggest I use as an alternative to Blogger? I want a platform that's free, but I will consider paying for an appropriate platform. I'm interested in what you're using, why you like it, what your fees are and anything else that makes it a great blogging site. 

Please help me figure this out, because I am lost. Thank you in advance.

Fonda

Bees Tag

 

This is a tag that I made using two different stencils and stamped with bees (Stampin' Up!). I used Distress Oxide Inks and, for the bees, Versafine Onyx ink. I used fabric as the fiber to put through the hole at the top.

I'm sharing this with:

Simon Says: Not A Card 

Tag Tuesday: Bees  

Just Us Girls Challenge #579 - Trend Week  

 

Ch#92 Anything Goes (option Kites)