Christmas card designs for 2012

My friend Sharul came over and we made a few Christmas Card designs for this year.  She is going to give the ornament punch card to her in-laws.  I am thinking of making more of the stocking punch cards for this year's Christmas mailing list.

Update: several of my green inkpads dried out and will not give me solid impressions.  This is because my home is very dry during December.  Afterwards, I bought Ranger's ink refresher for $5 in a spray bottle.  This is a money saving tip for those times when the inkpad is just dry and does not need to be reinked.  It may also prolong inkpads for which you don't have a matching reinker.

Juan's custom camera case

   
I made a custom camera case for Juan. Juan seemed happy with the finished product made to his specifications.  It is designed to be used with the case on. Lense cover and viewing front opens selectively. His right hand fits in the right side of camera case (stretches) to fully operate all buttons & dials.  It's also water resistant.
The strap is covered in cushy double layered neoprene. It is machine embroidered with Juan's name.  Embroidery already has a stabilizer backing, and was easy to sew.

It took almost 2 years, because I had to learn about sewing neoprene and had to test several snaps, reinforcement materials, and lots of ribbons and binding materials.  There were a LOT of trial and error!

It uses 3 mm neoprene, Pellon super heavy duty stabilizer (reinforce body), heavy duty snaps and regular sew-on snap for one-side (the original heavy-duty snap was too strong).  Button holes for strap connection were reinforced inside.  Button hole stitching had to be hand reinforced.  The machine will not feed properly on satin stitching due to stretching of neoprene.  All exposed edged were enclosed in ribbon or binding mostly by hand.

I am never making another project requiring intricate sewing using neoprene.  It's fine to make simple bag-type covers for a laptop or a iPhone using neoprene, because it is just one seam and does not have to accommodate differently shaped pieces and different stretch and stiff properties.

Re-purposed Thanksgiving cards

Hello, I needed quick Thanksgiving cards, but was all out of them. I re-purposed existing thank-you cards.

The only additions were the turkey stamp in bronze embossing, then cut to fit inside existing squares, and the "Give Thanks" greetings.  I stamped 3 pumpkins in light color on the last card as a background.  Hope this will give you some ideas on re-purposing cards made for other occasions.  Jennifer. ;-P

Father's Day Card, Sailboat Stamp

Hi, my friend Cami came over and we made 8 father's day cards.  She wanted a sailboat design.

The left two cards use Inkadinkado sailboat stamp $8. Right card uses Stampin' Up! sailboat from Uncharted Territory set $20 (retiring as of May 31, 2012). Quote stamp is also from Uncharted Territory.  It reads, "Life is [an] uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time. Leo F. Buscaglia."  I liked this quote and bought this set for this quote. The "Happy Father's Day" word stamp is from eBay $4.50, Double D Rubber Stamps. The stamp fits comfortably inside a 1 inch circle punch. This is layered on a Designer Label punch (Stampin' Up! retired) cut piece in ruby red or cocoa.

I used the Top Note die to cut cardstock in white, bashful blue, and pacific point (can cut all 3 layers at once).  Next I stamped the sailboat on the white cut piece. Then I layered the white on top of the pacific blue cut piece, carefully lining up edges, and cut both sheets together on my paper cutter. Then cut off the top and bottom of just the white piece above and below the sailboat (see photos).  Then assemble all 3 layers (bashful blue at the bottom, pacific point next, then white with sailboat on top).  Attach the scallop trim cut from ruby red cardstock.  I used stamp-a-ma-jig to fit the quote below the sailboat after assembly.

I need to make 5 more cards to break even on all stamps used ($32.50).  Supply cost per card is about $1 and uses 1.5 sheets of cardstock. Benefit in excess of supply cost is $2.50/cd x 8 = $20.

All Supplies & Stamps/Dies used:
Stamps: Inkadinkado sailboat $8, Stampin' Up! Uncharted Territory $20, Double D Rubber Stamps "Happy Father's Day" $4.50.
Dies/Punches: Stampin' Up! Top Note die, 1 inch circle punch, Decorative Label punch, and ScallopTrim Border punch.
Cardstock: white, bashful blue, pacific point, ruby red (scalloped trim), cocoa (card base two left), old olive (card base right), and vanilla (inside writing sheet).
Markers: Bermuda bay on sail (left card) and water; pacific point on boat; bashful blue on sail, water, and cloud (using chalk); old olive on sail (right card); ruby red on flag and sail trim; and yellow on sun. Also used white gel pen to highlight boat and sail.
Other Tools:
Big-Shot machine, stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner, black inkpad, tape, pop-up tape, and paper cutter.

Update - Sketch Challenge

Here are two new designs using marina mist and daffodil card stock.  The colors match a knitting needle case I am making for a friend.  Also, I wanted to try a different color scheme using a blue-yellow theme.  Additional cards designed by Stampin' Up! demonstrators in California. They meet with Annette Wen, my good friend, teacher, and demonstrator in Palo Alto, California.  Photos sent by Annette in Oct 2011.

Sketch Challenge

Card with string, vertical lamb.

This is my first sketch challenge.  Annette Wen, my good friend and demonstrator, posted this challenge in October 2011. http://www.stampinwithannette.blogspot.com/2011/10/demonstrator-stamp-n-chat-card.html  I am just now posting my card photos that I made last year.  I used the Hand Knit $15 stampset from Stampin' Up! which will still be available in the 2012-2013 catalog. I made 12 cards and recovered the cost of this stampset.

Sketch template

Card with ribbon, horizontal lamb.

Punches: Decorative Label $17, Modern Label $17, Scallop Trim Border $16, Boho Blossoms $17, and 1/16" circle punch $9 (or push pin).
Accents: silver glimmer cardstock, white 1/4" ribbon, white 5/8" organza ribbon, baker's twine cherry, and wasabi brads.
Cardstock: daffodile, wasabi, and white.

The flowers are silver glimmer cardstock punched using Boho Blossoms punch.  The wasabi "frame" for the lamb is created by punching out a 2nd piece from wasabi cardstock using Decorative Label punch. Then cut it into 4 pieces & stick it to the back of the 1st white Decorative Label piece.  I learned this trick from reading my friend Lynda Lee's blog!  She's an M.D. and loves to stamp.  http://stampingdoc.blogspot.com/

Mother's Day card using Triple Treat Flower stamp & Lots of Punches!

Hello, I copied a Christmas card my good friend Annette Wen sent me to make a Mother's Day card.  My friend, Cami came over this week and we made 19 cards together.  It took about 30 minutes per card, which is kind of slow for batch processing. But since these had beads and they were "art" cards, the time wasn't too bad.  The basic materials are cheap, but the design uses many expensive punches.  To save money, you can buy just 3 new items, the Triple Treat Flower stamp $9, 5-Petal Flower punch $17, and Fancy Flower punch $17 for a total of $43.  All other elements are optional and can be substituted with other punches, dies, or stamps you already have, or just eliminated.

Mother's Day card using Triple Treat Flower stamp and lots of punches

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Triple Treat Flower $9 and "Mother's Day" stamp from Anna Griffin.
Punches: Stampin' Up! 5-Petal Flower $17, Fancy Flower $17, 1-3/8" Circle $16, 1-3/4" Circle $17, Bird Builder (for leaves) $17, Modern Label $17, and Decorative Label $17. ($118 all punches)
Cardstock & Ink: white flower embossed in tangerine, regal rose flower stamped in rose red ink, regal rose circle, various greens for leaves, label, circle, greeting stamped in black ink, and ivory card base.
Accents: turquoise seed beads, gem glue, white glitter glue, daffodil pom pom, and orange ribbon.  
Tools: tweezers for bead, embossing heater, embossing inkpad, and tangerine embossing powder.

And here are some variations to the Mother's Day design and Annette Wen's original card.

Matching orange ribbon & circle.

Uses leftover scraps from projects.

Finishing up some WIP fall cards.

I finished up work-in-process (WIP) cards from a few years ago that had been gathering dust in my projects box.  These are quick cards that are amenable for batch processing.

Creepy Crawly spiders hang down from a gold  wire.

Chocolate scallop square 1.5" punch for layering

Batty for you on inside 

The Halloween card uses Batty For You stamp set and 1-3/8" Circle punch from Stampin' Up!  Leaves card uses rub-on for greeting and a partial die-cut leaf. Three leaves are framed in 1.5" chocolate scallop squares.