Christmas in May

No surprise that I am giving cards to my family for Christmas (sorry if you didn't know that...) so I'm trying to create themes for each set. I finished the collection for my in-laws this afternoon so here we go! Think about who you're giving the cards too and choose a theme for that person.

I started by picking out black and white paper.

The thing that I choose to keep the same for each card in the set was the "initial". I did a set for my mom with ABC (her initials) and just a D for my in-laws! Since the background was just black and white, I used a light purple with a pink and yellow paisley backing. My father-in-law is never going to write a card anyway...

I measured the cards and cut the paper to fit piecing together the scraps and such to make the most of the paper I was using!

Here are some of the samples of what I came up with...

Two more Scrap Cards

So my cousins are getting married next week and I couldn't decide on a gift so I decided it would be fun to make a card! Their wedding invitation was black and red so I went with that! I had a lot of red scraps so I followed much the process of my last card.

I had a thicker piece and glued a thinner piece in the middle.

It looked pretty cool against the black card.

 The happy couple are M and B so I cut them out of red paper and then decided I didn't like the color so I colored them in silver...

The stamp also shows up really well on the black paper so I thought it looked cool.

I had a lot of free time one day so I made a card to save for my "Thinking of You" collection. I had an hour to kill one day and walked into a shop where I saw a hand towel that said, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about getting out and dancing in the rain." I was feeling pretty down so it hit home right away... I started with blues this time because of the rain.

The card before quote...

And here goes the quote!

I wanted to have something for the inside so I made raindrops and a puddle... Who doesn't want to dance and jump in puddles?

I think that quote is going to be one that gets me every time...

Hey Cutie. You look MAGNIFICENT!

I've had a lot going on over the last couple of days and as anyone who reads this will see, I may be posting cards but they're going to be connected to my emotions as well. If you've ever known someone who died or someone who was dying, you know how much last words mean and how they will never be forgotten. On a trip, I looked out the window and saw a blackbird fly out of a field. It was pure and beautiful and I have not been able to get that picture out of my head. So for all of the memories of last words...

The field was green so I picked out lots of different patterns and shades of green. Scraps are perfect for this type of project so I save long pieces a lot because the design is so neat!

Glue the strips to a larger sheet of paper. It's up to you how to do it but working with thicker pieces and thinner pieces you should try to balance them.

The shortest piece determines the size of your piece so don't pick any that are too small. Glue the square onto the front of your card.

My creativity does not extend to drawing things so I found a picture of the type of blackbird I wanted for my card and cut it out of black paper.

The front of the card turned out much like I imagined and I can't wait to send it to my family!

I know most people hate dandelions but I have found them so comforting in the last couple of weeks that they are my new card logo. I signed my name up the stem- as my husband says, just in case I ever want to sell my cards...

Mother's Day Craft Idea

So today is my mom's birthday and next week is Mother's Day making my life forever hard trying to come up with two useful and creative gifts at once... When I was a kid, we always gave Mom flowers for Mother's Day but now that my brother is in San Diego, I am in Boston, and my mom is in Atlanta, it's 1-800-Flowers job and that's impersonal and kinda expensive. Plus, my mom just sold her house and doesn't need any new plants until she has some new digs so... I had to be creative.

I had previously made the cards for all of my mothers and grandmothers (some in-law) so I just added the envelopes!

First, decide how big of an envelope you want to make. Since I was fitting mine to a card that had already been completed, I used a credit card to measure for my coupon and envelope. Choose your paper and liner (optional).

Cut the paper into an envelope shape. You can open another envelope as a template or free hand it. The bottom flap will be glued to the two side flaps so you need to make sure you can fold it together. Cut and glue any liner that you may wish to include. Put glue on the flaps and fold the bottom piece up. 

The coupon is up to you. Since we live far away from our moms, we decided to do a "dinner" coupon. Be creative and pick something that works well for the recipient. I chose plain pink paper and then backed it in the bright block paper. 

I chose to glue the envelope into my card. Once the glue on the envelope is dry, slide in the coupon!

Write a special note on the flap if the envelope is glued into a card or on the front if it is a "free-standing" envelope!

Here is the completed card for my mom. A simple way to give a meaningful gift! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

~eLiz

For Amanda...

Who knows if this will go anywhere but for now, I have my camera and new creations of cards every day so why not try blogging and working on my craft...

I may try to post on Pinterest when I have step-by-steps but for now, I am simply frustrated by the lack of good "Thinking of You" cards on the market. My family has had some tragic events lately and I spent hours looking for the right cards to send to a family who found out their  4 month old daughter has SMA www.averycan.blogspot.com and will not likely live to see her second birthday and a man with stage four cancer in to many locations to count. Neither are religious and there is no "get well soon" to be said. So lost, I began to find silly quotes to make my own cards.

From my first collection of "Just Because" Cards: Just Remember... If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

If you have ideas for quotes, please post them! I'll work on trying to take step by step pictures to upload but my process is mostly finding pattern/color combinations that I like and stacking them! 

~eLiz