Easter Cards Evening Workshop

Last Thursday evening after work, I hosted an Easter Card workshop.  We met in one of the conference rooms in the building.  The ladies brought a variety of snacks to munch on while we made four different cards.  Eight ladies had signed up (one had to cancel at the last minute.)  The class ran from 5:30 p.m. til 8:30 p.m.  We had a great time, socializing and playing with paper and scissors!  Here are the cards we made that evening:

 

Easter Cards

I taught these two Easter card classes during lunch last week -- simple but cute!

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More Vintage Cards

Spent last night at my mom and dad's house, celebrating my mom's 86th birthday -- I am so blessed to have both parents to good health enjoying an active lifestyle.  Here's to many more birthdays!  
One of the cards I designed over the weekend was for my mom (see the birthday card below).  I have been loving the vintage techniques that I learned last month -- fun to look for trinkets, trims, and little embellishments to use on the card fronts.  I bought some upholstery fabric and some vintage-looking netting at the local fabric store (1/8 of a yard each -- the cutting counter ladies just love it when I show up with bolts in my cart and only need a small amount of each fabric!).  I ran both pieces of fabric thru my Big Shot cutting machine and made the flowers that are on the birthday card.  I gathered the center of the netting to give it a little "lift" off the bottom flower, added some pearls to the center, and voila! An antique-looking flower!  I also inked the edges of the trim to give it an aged look. 
The Happiness Always card below is for my sister and her husband's 35th anniversary.  I used some prima flowers and painted the edges with gold dabber paint.  I found a small metal lock in my stash of goodies and put it underneath the key that I stamped in gold and cut out with scissors.  Added little things, a few different color mats under the painted butterfly/floral image -- I like the way it turned out...the lock gives it a little bit "extra" pizazz.  I also put two crystals on the butterflies heads, but I don't think they are showing up in the picture very well.
The third card below is for a co-worker who has been home with back problems.  I painted/stamped the silver flower on top of a printed vintage-looking cardstock and added the distressed trim along the one edge.  I used the Big Shot to cut/emboss the butterflies by the flower.  I painted/stamped some butterflies and highlighted each with stickles glitter.  I then added a few buttons and the verse to complete the card.  
I also made a birthday card for my granddaughter Natalie, but didn't have time to take a picture of it before getting it in the mail -- happy 6th birthday Natalie!!!

 

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

What a great birthday this has been so far!  Becky brought in a coffee cake to the office and gave me one of the Spellbinder dies that I've been wanting since the first time I saw it!  She also gave me a clear acrylic picture holder that is perfect to hold up my cards when trying to take pictures --  Love it!!!  Phone calls from my parents, both my sisters, and emails from friends...and it's only noon! Haven't done much work today and it's already time for lunch -- all days should be this enjoyable!  It's great to get old!!!

Vintage Card Class

I took a Shabby Chic card class at Archivers earlier this month and absolutely fell in love with the look and the techniques learned!  We used paint instead of ink to get the "shabby" look.  We also distressed the edges of the papers, flowers, brads, etc. to give it the worn, vintage feeling.  Then we added some crystals, crackle paint, and shimmer paint to give each card some "wow" factor.

I played with some stamp collections I already had at home using these new techniques.  I love the way these cards turned out!  (They are more stunning in person, of course!)  I sent the brown poppy card to my nephew and his fiance to congratulate them on their engagement.  (congrats Brian & Mary Beth!!!)

Here are the cards I made using the Shabby Chic techniques:

Valentine's Day Card Workshop

Welcome everyone to my blog! I am excited about being able to share some of my card creations and ideas with all of you! I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for five years now and have come to love each and every one of their products! I just finished two Valentine's Day lunch workshops and one evening workshop. There were nine ladies that attended the evening class. We made four different Valentine's Day cards, learning various techniques. Here are the four cards we made Thursday evening -- each one is unique! We used the new heart border punch on three of the cards -- just love how crisp and detailed the borders look. And the candy heart cup is absolutely adorable! I can see lots of possibilities for these candy cup holders! Now to make my own Valentine's Day cards!!!