Junk Mail Christmas Card Upcycle

When  get the mail I try to open and dispose of everything right away.  Bills go in one spot to be paid, magazines go to the family room to be read, and junk mail should go directly into the recycle bin.  Every so often, something in the junk mail catches my eye and goes into the "crafty" pile.

A couple of days ago, we got a mailing from Consumer Reports - the typical "send a gift subscription" pitch that every magazine sends at this time of year.  Included in the envelope were two "postcards" to send to the recipient if you ordered a gift subscription.  I thought the image was very nice and decided to save the gift notice to make a card.

The first thing I did was to trim off the message at the top.  The remaining picture measured 3 1/2 x 5 7/8 inches and I trimmed it to 3 1/2 x 5 inches.  I trimmed different amounts from each side to keep the main parts of the picture intact (if I had trimmed it all from the right side the little red car would be cut off awkwardly, if it was trimmed all from the left side the house would be chopped off).

Since the 3 1/2 x 5 inch size was not proportional for an A2 card (normally the layer would be 3 3/4 x 5 inches) I set about finding a way to add a border to even things up.

I punched a scrap paper with this Martha Stewart border punch with a scalloped snowflake design.  The punch is called "Skylands Snowflake."

I liked the border effect but I needed to trim the image a bit more to make everything align properly.  I cut about 1/8 inch from the top and the bottom of the picture so it would center properly on a 4 x 5 1/4 inch mat layer (in dark blue here).

Once I had the sizes figured out, I decided to use some glittered cardstock for the border.  This is the Core Couture cardstock by Core'dinations.

I punched a section of the border on a scrap piece of the glitter cardstock.  Then I adhered it to the picture, centering the border design.

When I trimmed the straight sides the ends looked a little untidy.

I trimmed the edges so finish the curve of the border. 

I added some gems at the two ends to finish the cuts on the border and also added a few more with a slightly larger gem in the center.

I added Diamond Stickles to the rooftops, along a few of the land contours and on the snowman.  I left this photo dark so you could see the sparkle the Stickles create.

The blue mat layer is shimmer cardstock from The Paper Company.  The front and back are two shades of blue.  I had worked with the dark blue side right up until I was ready to assemble the card.  I flipped the mat over and found that the lighter blue was a better match for the colors in the picture.

The card base is white gemstone cardstock, also from Core'dinations.

Why not take a second look at some of your "trash" - there may be some crafting potential in the things you toss!  There were two of the gift post cards in my mail so I am adding one to the giveaway box for someone else to try an upcycle.

November Giveaway update...

Here are the updated contents of the box that one lucky reader will win at the end of the month.
in the box so far...

1.  2 sheets of the sticky paper I used for the glittered ornament card
2.  A new set of the same Inkadinkado Autumn Leaves stamps I used on the card
3.  An 18 inch piece of the brown leaf ribbon - enough for a few cards.
4.  A small bag of plastic gems like the ones I used on the crystal glass.
5.  Two pieces of the blue holographic paper I used for the fish on the wreath.
6.  A small piece of the white and silver mesh I used for the nets.
7.  The "gift subscription postcard" that you can use to make your own upcycled project.

All comments on posts in the month of November will be eligible for a random draw at the end of the month.  One lucky reader will receive the small priority mail box full of bits and pieces.

You can leave a comment on every post to increase your chances but please just leave one per post and make sure that you give me enough information so I can contact you if your comment is drawn.


The Thanksgiving Shopping weekend is drawing to an end - did you buy a little or a lot? (or nothing at all...)



Blitsy is celebrating their first anniversary and they have a huge assortment of  items on offer this week - some of them have been "blitsed" (sold out) but there are still a lot of bargains to be found.  You need to check back if something you wanted is marked "blitsed" because they sometimes add more items to a category and the item is then available to order again.


The Cricut.com deal for Sunday is a discount of up to 30% OFF all physical cartridges!

Don't forget about the Creative Memories "Stuff Your Stockings" sale - you can read all of the details in the post HERE.  The sale ends at 10 p.m. Central Time on Monday, November 26th (tomorrow).

Have a wonderful Sunday - there is talk that we may soon have snow here.  It is definitely much colder and windy - winter is arriving!


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Happy Monster Shaped Card for Halloween

There is definitely a nip of fall in the air and Halloween will be here before we know it.  Yesterday I started testing some new project files.  I have been using digital content that I have purchased over the years to create print and cut as well as regular cut files.  I have been doing digital scrapbooking for years and I have lots of papers and elements from Creative Memories and many other sources.

Creative Memories now sells digital content in a universal format (jpegs and pngs) in addition to the self installing sets that work with directly with the StoryBook Creator 4.0 program.  You can purchase these downloads and use them for digital scrapbooking in any program or adapt them for print and cut projects.  I chose this set of Classic Halloween Digital Embellishments.  I liked the little green monster shaped candy bag in the top left corner.

One of the things I like the most about using the Silhouette machines is the freedom I have to use my own images for print and cut projects.  I'll explain the step by step process in another post.  It is pretty simple to import an image into the Silhouette software and then trace it to create cutting lines.

I traced the monster (I called him Frank) and then created a shaped card.  The back of the card is blank but you could print both sides.  I was trying to conserve printer ink.  I don't have a 12 x 12 printer (but I hope to someday soon...) so I had to set the card up to print on 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  I filled in a few small monster images to use on another project along the side.

The cut was nearly perfect - I moved things around on my mat and I didn't quite get it back into perfect alignment when I set up the print and cut.

 I simply inked all around the front of the card with some "Mowed Lawn" seasonal Distress Ink - this hid any white lines and gave a nice bit of shading to the card.  (Distress Inks and reinkers are on sale this week at Blitsy).

I used some Black Diamond Stickles glitter glue to highlight the monster's hair, mouth and added small centers to the eyes.

 It's a bit hard to see the Stickles - here is another view.

I stamped the inside with a Studio G dollar stamp set (I collected these for a few years and stopped when I realized that I hardly ever used them.  I keep them in a binder and "rediscovered" them while sorting out my craft room).

I had to take one more photo with my spiky flower frog holding the card.  The monster seems to be immune to the pain of the spikes!

Have you started making Halloween projects?  I am planning to actually send some of the cards I make this year...

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Ninth Birthday Cards for the Triplets

Last Sunday, our triplet nephews celebrated their ninth birthdays.  Each year, I try to make cards with something a little different that might possibly get their attention before they open their presents.

While I was doing the summer shop hop to stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts I found these action wobbles.  These have been quite popular for a while but I never got around to ordering any online and hadn't seen them in the stores before.  They are made with two sticky discs with a plastic spring between the discs.  I decided to give them a try for the birthday cards.

 

Robert and Max are playing football this year - we got to see the second half of their game before the party.  I decided to put a football on the front of their cards.

Julian has been playing hockey and his team got all the way to the championships last year.  An ice skate was the right thing to wobble on the front of his card.

I found both the football and the ice skate on the Sports Mania cartridge.  The skate is on page 41 and the football on page 60.

I cut three layers for the football - shadow, blackout and base layer.  There is a separate layer to make the center of the football a different color but I didn't want to use it.

The cardstock I had on hand in the best color for the football was a white core by DCWV.  The cut edges always show a bit of the white with white core cardstock so they look better if you ink them.

Inking hides the white edges and also gives some dimension to the cut.  I used vintage Photo Distress ink.

I glued the top layer to the white blackout layer and then ran the footballs through the Cuttlebug using the mesh folder.  I thought the texture would add more interest.  Then I adhered the footballs to the black shadow layer.

I cut the same three layers for the hockey skate - and completely forgot to cut the layer for the blade!  It looked OK but I think some shiny silver on the blade would have been better.  That's what happens when you are doing three things at once!

The Action Wobbles come clearly marked with a top and a bottom.  I peeled the protective backing off the top side - you can get a good look at the spring here.

Then I flipped it over to adhere to the back of the football or skate.

Once it is stuck to the item you want to wobble, you just peel off the second protective layer and place the element on your card.

I used the Cuttlebug Number Collage folder to emboss a piece of red cardstock for the front of each card.  The numbers worked out to have a "9" placed very conveniently at the top right corner.  I tried dabbing the 9 with some white paint but I made a mess (too messy to even show you!).  Plan B - and actually a better idea - was to add Stickles directly to the "9".  The Stickles are much easier to control and glitter makes anything seem special.

The card is very simple - I wanted the wobbling action to be the main attraction.

Yes - it definitely would look better with a silver blade.  Maybe I should cut one and sneak it on to the card next time we visit!

I used a dark blue cardstock for the base so I needed a liner for the inside sentiment.

The star border seemed festive and fit in with the sports theme for "all stars" but I have a little secret...

The punch I used is actually from the American Girls craft line by EK Success (I don't know if this would be popular with the boys!).

Here is the inside of the card.  I cut the white cardstock at 5 1/2 x 4 inches and punched the borders.  The sentiment is from the Close To My Heart "Casual Expressions" set which coordinates with an oval cut on the Artiste cartridge.  I didn't want to add any more layers so I simply stamped it on the white cardstock.

The wobbles really give a lot of motion.  If there had been more time, I would have done a little video to show you how much they move.  I think the boys liked the action but it was getting late by the time they opened their cards and presents.

They each had their own cake - this year they were all ice cream cakes.  Delicious - luckily there were lots of family members on hand to share the cakes before they melted!

Today is the first day of school in our town.  I'll be heading to the bus stop for the traditional elementary school send off, "Breakfast at the Bus."  The weather looks like it might be rainy - keep your fingers crossed that the parents can get some nice photos!

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