Friday, December 25

Christmas Cards 2015

Merry Christmas, crafty friends!  What crafty gift did you get for Christmas?!?!  Let me guess... a new die cut machine?  Stamps?  A complete set of your favorite markers?  I'm sure whatever it is, you're all set for 2016.

I made a good bunch of handmade Christmas cards this year, but I forgot to take pictures before I sent some of them out.  This year's cards are a lot bigger than usual - 8.5 x 5.5.  Then for my card base, I used double sided designer card stock (Martha Stewart).  The card fronts are made with the Anna Griffin Mix and Match Christmas Frames Embossing Folders.  I love, love, love this and I'm glad I bought them from HSN last month.  Then I accentuated them with Stickles.  I forgot how fun Stickles are to use.  I have tried several ways to store my Stickles, but now I keep them all in my Artbin Bottle Storage Satchel.

Now on with the cards...


Like I mentioned earlier, the card base is one piece of double sided card stock (Martha Stewart).  When I cut my cardstock, I make sure the designs I like is showing right inside and out.  The pic below is one of my favorites.  The added accents are the die cut white card stock and reindeer on the left, and the sentiment on the Christmas tree on the right.


For this card, I adhered snowflakes adorned with Dew Drops accents.  I inked the sentiment a little bit, then dotted some Stickles around it.


When you open the card, this is what you'll see.  I adhered snowflakes accents here too.


For this card, I accentuated the embossing with Stickles and bling.


Then on the inside, I adhered more accents.


Now, with leftover materials from the big cards, I made this smaller card. I added snowflake and sentiment accents on the front and on the envelope flap.


Inside, I added a poinsettia accent and adhered a die-cut white card stock for the message.



I really had fun making these cards.  If my DH liked them, they must be good.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the holiday weekend!

'Til next blog...

Thursday, December 24

Tinker Christmas

Hello crafty reader!  I'm sure by now, your trees have tons of gifts under the tree - some of them especially crafty.  I was looking for the one crafty gift for myself, and I think I have found the one I really like.  I will discuss that in another post.

But for now, let me share with you my craft projects this Christmas.

Decorating wreaths has become a tradition in Tinker Planet.  This year's wreath is nothing fancy.  Just like last year, I adhered pine cones and bling.  I finally used up my pine cone stash from the yard, and the bling is from leftover decorations from a wedding at the hall where I wash dishes.




Part of my crafty Christmas tradition is making handmade ornaments.  Last year, the "main ingredient" of my ornament was scrap staples.  This year, I'm using leftover lumber ticket material from work.  It's white thin sheet of plastic - very durable.  I'm not sure what it's called, but I do know I can create a lot of things with it.  Actually, I have made a quick retirement banner with it in July (click here to see).  

With Sizzix dies (probably retired), I was able to make the following:

Snowflake Hanging #2

Snowflake Hanging 3-D #2

Snowflake Hanging 3-D

Starburst, Hanging

Start 10-Point 3D

And of course... cards!  I wouldn't let the holiday season pass without making any Christmas cards.  I'll share all of them on my Christmas Day post.

'Til then... enjoy your Christmas Eve!

Saturday, October 31

Halloween 2015

We never really celebrated Halloween growing up in the Philippines.  I remember just reading about it in books or seeing it on TV.  So when I lived in an American community, I can say I appreciate Halloween more than most people.  Back in Japan, I like to make Halloween crafts with my Japanese students and take them trick-or-treating.  Oh yeah.  I like to dress up too.

I didn't carve my first pumpkin until I moved to the US.  I love to carve pumpkins that I even bought a good set of carving tools.  I like to light them up with candles outside on the porch.  I'd decorate too, and dress up.  But for the past couple of years, I was just too tired from work to do anything Halloweeney, though I still made sure to make halloween treats to give to the kids.

Not this year.

I searched for my pumpkin carving tools and worked on 7 pumpkins in one night.  Yeah.  My arms hurt that night and the following day, but it sure was worth it.  All designs carved here were patterned from Cricut die cuts.




This is the biggest and most detailed of them all. 






Of course, I had to make one for my band IDK



Then comes the treats for the kids.  Nothing too fancy, but with lots of goodies inside!


I used a couple of $1 stamps by Inkadinkado, garnished with some bling.



I may have not decorated for Halloween, but I sure was a Crying Comic Girl during my band gig that night.


Hope you had a fun Halloween... 'til next blog!

Friday, October 30

WCMD Card 29

Before I show you my last project for World Card Making Month, let me share with you my second batch of WCMD cards:


Now let's end this with a bang...

Sooo... I got too excited playing with the Anna Griffin Cuttlebug 12" Gatefold Embossing Folder Set - I decided to make another card set to give to a dear friend for her birthday.  For this set, I went for quantity.  So the design of the cards is very simple.  I also used another set of Anna Griffin 6x12 embossing folders, also bought from HSN last year.

Before I show you the cards, here's how I bundled the set:


I made a decorative strip using a Martha Stewart deep edge punch, then wrapped it around the stacked cards.  I had a big flower in my stash, where I attached a flower made with wood chips right in the middle.


For the cards, I used the same color card stock for the inside.  I also used the same color card stock as base of the sentiment (Tim Holtz).


For enclosure, I attached a piece of mounting tape, leaving one side unpeeled.  





The corners of the card stock inside were punched with Marvy Uchida Double Notch punch.





For this enclosure, I just used a round mounting tape.

 








If you noticed, I position the sentiments to go along with the design of the embossing.





You can say I was in an embossing spree.  I really like playing with the 6x12 embossing folders.

I'm proud to say I was able to make more than 31 cards in this year's World Card Making Month.  My planet had a feast... and after a feast comes a lot of mess to clean up.  Now that's another story, because there's Halloween still I've yet to make some projects for.

'Til next blog!

Thursday, October 29

WCMD Card 28

Hello crafty friends!  Here's the last couple of cards from my latest Anna Griffin card set.  I used the Anna Griffin Cuttlebug 12" Gatefold Embossing Folder Set, and also the Anna Griffin dies.  I could have cut the ends of these cards to match the embossing, but I got lazy.




I am really fond of the layers for the sentiment for these two cards.




'Til next blog!