Jingle Belles - Look What Santa Brought Me

The Jingle Belles would like to start out the year by having us use something that we received or purchased for Christmas.  

Truth be told, this mini tryfold stamp/die set by Art Impressions was something I bought for myself before Christmas.  I had decided that I was going to make two of these, one for each of my children.  I followed the directions to make the actual tryfold out of cardstock and stamped the top and die cut it.  It took a little longer than I had anticipated because the stamps are not clear, but since I was able to use my Misti, I figured out how to get those subsequent layers in the right places. 

Trouble was, the last of the directions said to use a tryfold sealer to keep it closed, otherwise, as you can see, the layers just spring open and you can't really get the full effect of the depth of the scene.  So I had put it aside.  

The other thing I didn't like was being able to see what had bled through from my coloring with the small assortment of Copics that I have.  

So for this challenge I decided to come up with something else.  I cut the panels apart making sure that they were the exact size as each other with some trimming.  Then I scored each one 1/4" on both sides and added some score tape.

I cut two strips the length of the panels at about 1 1/2" wide, scoring at the 1/2" mark.  (I would change this for the next one taking 1/4" off the width because you only need 3/4" to add those panels.)  I didn't take a picture of the next step, but I carefully added each panel to the strips with the scored edge in the back. 

Perusing my work table I came upon an envelope with these little contraptions - flat LED lights from Ex Glow on Etsy that I had purchased for another project that, wait for it....... didn't get done.  

Using a standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card base,  I laid the light down with the diorama part over it to see where the light should be, cut out a little hole there with an exacto knife and added a little pocket to the back of that to be able to slip the light into it.  

Then I attached the diorama over the top of it and there you have it................

And it even folds flat for mailing though you will probably need extra postage for the bulk.

I am redundantly cheerfully happy about this.  

And, though I may need to buy new lights by next Christmas since these are already a year old, I at least have my kids cards done instead of waiting until Christmas Eve morning to finish them.  (Oh yes.  I hang my head in shame that I did that despite trying to be done by the end of the Jingle Belle season.  Luckily, I had saved out a couple of special cards from the ones that I made all last year that we were able to use.  And, although I did get our grandson's card done with another special stamp/die set that I bought just for him............I forgot to take a picture of it!!!!!)

So now won't you join me at checking out what all the other Jingle Belles got for Christmas and are sharing this time.  You can by clicking here.  

First Birthday

Earlier this month our grandson turned 1.  His mom and dad planned a party for him for this past weekend.  The invitations were so cute and they had a star theme going so I made him this interactive card with stars.  It's a spinner card.  When you tilt it, the star spins around the center circle.  Of course, he's too little to actually be able to play with it.  But it was fun to make and I think mom and dad had a little fun with it too!

All those cameras pointed at him, he didn't quite know what to do.  He didn't cry when we all sang, in fact he was so good the whole time we were all there. They had given him birthday cake on his real birthday and he actually did cry then, so he didn't have any at the party.  He had his own little snack.

It was a pretty long afternoon for him, but he was a trooper.  We thought he might fall asleep in the high chair after he ate, but he pushed through it. 

Grandpa and I gave him this tractor which he was more into pushing at this point.  His daddy had a tractor that was a bit bigger than this with pedals when he was a little boy and he loved it.  We actually bought this one at least a year before we had any grands in the hope that someday we would. It's just his size now.

"Look everyone!  No hands!"

With grandpa.

Our daughter-in-law's birthday was also this weekend and here is the card I made for her.  I tried in vain to get the colors right on the screen.  The card base is actually Bermuda Bay - more of a greenish blue and not so turquoise.  And the greens are much prettier IRL.  

Happy Easter

Waterfall for Little Sabrina

I promised another interactive card for my friend's other granddaughter Sabrina.  Her sister Vanessa recently had some emergency surgery and it was hard for Sabrina to understand what was going on and why her big sister was getting all the attention.  Her grandmom did a great job keeping Sabrina occupied and also helping to keep her mind off of things. 

This is the waterfall card I made for her.  She likes flowers and the color pink grandmom said - so she got pink flowers with some peachy ones too.

You can't really see the sentiment too well.  It says "The Earth Laughs in Flowers".

I hope the little one's enjoyed both of the cards - they were fun to make. 

For Vanessa

The 10-yr.-old granddaughter of a co-worker was recently hospitalized very unexpectedly and needed surgery to remove a cyst near her ovary and appendix.  Poor thing was in a lot of pain and this was scary for her and her entire family.  Thankfully the results were good and the biopsy proved to be negative so now she's taking it easy and recovering nicely. 

I wanted to send a card to her and her little sister so I asked grandma what their favorite colors were and if they had any other favorites.  She told me that Vanessa means butterfly and she happens to love butterflies and the colors pink and purple.  Her little sister Sabrina shares a middle name with her grandmother - Rose - and she loves roses. 

I decided to make them both interactive cards given their ages and I have finished Vanessa's card.  Hers is a Neverending card and it features the Strength and Hope stamp set.  The Melon Mambo butterfly is the focal point that you see repeated four times in exactly the same place when you do the folds.

The colors used were Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, and Pretty in Pink with some Pear Pizzaz for the leaves.  The little flowers are from another set which I'll have to check on the name of - e-mail me if you need that information and I'll be glad to look it up. 

The pattern for this card can be found by Googling Neverending Card.  There are lots of sites with directions as well as videos.  It's really not that hard.

I'm planning on doing a waterfall card with roses for Sabrina and hope to get to that in the next day or so.  This week is going to be a particularly busy one at school and I'm not looking forward to it.

On another note, I just wanted to share a picture that I took last Friday.  As I came up the driveway I saw this red flower and couldn't imagine what it was. It looked like it was coming right out of the wall in the mess next to the shed where he's been potting up the plants. 

Upon closer inspection I could see that HWNSNBP had left some amaryllis bulbs out and this particular one had decided to bloom - no dirt, no pot!

Some things are so resilient.