Recycle Pretty Wrapping Paper To Make Your Cards

I recently received a wonderful birthday gift from my brother, Patrick, and his wife, Margaret.  Margaret is very crafty and has a great color sense.  She had wrapped the present so nicely.  The frog teapot, tea cups and sugar and creamer were all wrapped separately in brightly colored tissue paper.  The box containing everything was wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper and finished off with an expertly tied and embellished bow.  It was truly a gift just opening the present!  My dining room table was covered with bright colors from the tissue paper and then there was the lovely wrapping paper and ribbon.  Of course, you just can't throw out this wealth of goodness.  

However, this is what I think about everything and I am quickly running out of space to put all the "goodies" that come into my daily life!  Which leads me to my epiphany that I'd like to share with you.  Why not use the wrapping paper from the gift to make a thank you card  or a card set for the person sending the gift?  

I chose to wrap 2" squares of plain white card stock with the wrapping paper.  Then, I made the designs on the two cards I have to share with you below. 

Here are close ups of each card:

Birthday Card Using Graphic 45 Bird Song

Okay, so no posts for three months, then three posts the same day!  What can I tell you, except that I am erratic.  I guess I'll have to add that to the disclaimer in the sidebar.

I "lifted" this idea from a Graphic 45 post "Bird Song, Happiness Card."  I changed the bottom of the card and did not use the happiness phrase or the bow because I wanted to use it for a birthday card for one of my best male friends.  I used a chip board bird piece with G45 staples brads instead of the phrase and ribbon.

To go to the Graphic 45 site for the pdf instructions for the original click HERE

 Front

Back

Tim Holtz Tag for January, 2013

The craft room is still a mess.  However, thanks to my friends, Joanne and Terri, I have the Tim Holtz tag finished and ready to post on his blog!  And it is not even the last day of the month yet!  My friends and I called a meeting of the Tres Loonies and decided to do a tag a month as part of our projects this coming year.  Don't you just love fresh resolutions in January!  They are so new and full of exhilaration.

First Post of 2013 -- What Happened To The End of 2012?

Hi There. You might wonder about the gap in posts, or not, since I'm an irregular blogger at best.  First, there was Kristkindl Markt the last weekend of November.  This is the Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ's annual event.  I'd been making cards to sell for several months, my friend, Marie, came from San Francisco to help and one of my best friend's sister in law, Laura, shared the booth with me.  Laura is the one that got me started as she had the booth for many years before I got involved!  She is quite talented as you can see from some of her lovely baskets shown in the pictures.

 Here I am with Laura, you can see her baskets and my cards.

This is Marie. 

I made the display board in the background with the new G45 Nutcracker Sweet paper as a colorful background.

After the big push for Kristkindl Markt, there isn't much left to tell of my December.  I got sick, went to bed for three weeks, went to doctor's appointments, and missed Christmas.  Fortunately, it comes around every year, so I can start looking forward to next year.  

2013 seems to have started off better!  I didn't craft ANY in December and when I first visited my craft room in January it looked like this

I think the first resolution of the new year is to organize the craft room!  I've been talking to my favorite handy man for hire about building some shelves in the closet so I can store paper.....now where did I put his information?

Finally Finished Ladies Diary Project

As you've learned if you've been stopping by occasionally, I really don't do well with deadlines!  Most people would say the last statement is grossly understated!  

Anyway, my sister in law, Margaret, had a birthday a while back (in June) and I've been working on something special for her.  First of all, some of the delay had to do with waiting on just the right paper from Graphic 45.  I knew "The Ladies Diary" line was what I wanted to use.  Then, I needed just the right project.  Teri, the owner of Scrapbook Unique, helped me out with her stupendous talent and offered a fabulous class.  Then, it was up to me to finish the rest: I needed to design a card and a money enclosure card and embellish the project.

I'm pleased to report the gift was sent to Margaret at the end of October!  AND, I attempted my first video.  Please be kind when you view the following.  I am not a professional and do not know what I am doing!!!!

Here is a picture of the finished Ladies Diary Altered Book I sent to Margaret.

A close up of the embellishments for the title.

A closer look inside.

The "Common Book" included in the Altered Box.

Front and back of the "Common Book."

First page of "Common Book." Note the left side is the inside of the front cover. Teri used the frame technique here to give a nice place for a photo or a certificate, diploma, etc.  The whole project is full of nice touches like this.

Here is the birthday card I designed to match the Altered Box. 

I lifted the idea from the very talented Jim, the Gentleman Crafter.

You can see his original design on his blog post from October HERE

Here is the inside of the card.

Pop 'N Cut Halloween Card for a Friend

Halloween is gone, but not forgotten.  If you've read some other posts here, you know I'm a BIG fan of Karen Burniston--the queen of pop up cards.  She has a new line of Sizzix dies out called Pop 'n Cuts and my friend Joanne and I were "hot to trot" to get our hands on the base die so we could try it out.  Then, Karen and Shelly Hickox (Stamptramp) started playing around with the concept and came up with a modification called the "floating floor."  The following is a pictorial of the card I made for my friend, Joanne, in this new style.  My undying thanks to Karen and Shelly for the great ideas and inspiration!

Front of the card.

Inside of the card.

I cut the Tim Holtz die, put the figures in two rows with the tree in back.

Then, I glued the bats to the background of the top piece.

The graveyard die cut piece was glued to the Pop 'n Cut circle.

Back of the card.

The link to Karen's very creative Pop 'n Cut with Floating Floor card is HERE

The link to Karen's template for the floating floor is HERE

The link to Shelly's fantastic Pop 'n Cut Happy Holidays card is HERE

Details for my card:
I used Echo Park Chillingsworth Manor CS.  
The skeleton on the front of the card is a sticker from the set as is the saying on the back of the card.  
The two skeleton heads are stamps from Dyan Reaveley's line--Dylusions Stamp Set "Dependable Dotty."  I just masked the teeth so they would stay white, then sprayed with some of her sprays. I have my good friend, Terri Satomi, to thank for loaning me the stamps.  She has ALL Dyan's stamps and I'm still building my collection!
The hats on top of the skeleton heads are from and Inkadinkado mini set: Classic Hats 60-30453.
On the inside of the card, I used Tim Holtz's Decorative Strip die cut Halloween Shadows and his On the Edge die Graveyards.

Follow Up From July Stamp Event

Hello.  I have a lot to catch up on and thought I should at least post a follow up from the Stamp Show the Tres Loonies attended in July.  Yes, I know it is October and before you feel the need to ask me about my lack of calendaring abilities, let me inform you that I reside in a peculiar space time continuum.

Anyway, in the post from July, I promised to share Joanne's card that placed second in the Mirror, Mirror category.  Here is her rework so you can see the punch line that is quite hilarious.  I love her card!  And, the coloring is great!

 Here is Joanne previewing the entries in the contest at the show.

Here I am on Saturday, with the winning prize: $100 in show dollars!

Spending some of the the show dollars at the Lost Coast Designs booth. 

I think Terri has the picture on her phone of all three of us when we first got to the show.  I can't seem to find it in my group of pics!