Category: card making

A Simple Thank You

On By lindaIn card making, Uncategorized8 Comments
As we officially head into the holiday season, the Dream Team are challenging all of our followers to be especially “Thankful and Thoughtful” during the month of November. Link your creations with this theme on the Dream It Up! blog using the Inlinkz tool and the end of this post. Our “thanks” to you is providing you with the opportunity to win the stencil of your choice, and a bonus stencil of our choosing could be yours for using Dreamweaver product(s) in your artwork.
I hope you enjoy my post today. There are times I tend to over-think a project or struggle to come up with a new idea when all that is required is clean-and-simple. I struggled to come up with a creative approach to use this Dreamweaver Pine Cones Embossing Folder and finally settled on clean-and-simple and love it!
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I used some Fall-colored card stock as matting for the embossed tag. I tore some of the tag bottom off so it fit on the card better then placed it in the embossing folder and ran it through the Vagabond. It embossed so beautifully on the manilla tag that it required nothing else but a little “Thank You” to go with this month’s theme.
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The detail that comes out in the embossing is amazing!
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I layered up the mats on the card front and wrapped a piece of May Arts ribbon around the top mat and inserted the tag with adhesive on the back to hold it in place.
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I love the simplicity of this card – how about making a set of four or five and wrap as a gift for a special someone? They make cute little Thank You notes.
I thought you might like a flashback to one of my Dreamweaver guest designer posts from last year. I came across this adorable little Christmas decoration when unpacking holiday decorations this week. Here’s the link for the how-to information: Quick and Easy.
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By the way, the Dream Team are very thankful when our followers are thoughtful enough to leave us a nice comment on our posts! Here’s the “A” team lineup for this week.
Don’t forget to link your creations with this theme on the Dream It Up! blog here: An InLinkz Link-up

Creating perfect layers

On By lindaIn card making, Scrapbooking, tutorial, Uncategorized, Xyron24 Comments

10487465_10203247648726859_5415453188514283000_nlinda_mug_2014I’m so happy to be back with the Xyron Design Team! As you all know, I LOVE my Xyron and it’s so easy to work with products that I already know and love. Our first post for the new team came up rather quickly and we were presented with products from Perfect Paper Crafting and Xyron.

I had no idea what Perfect Paper Crafting was all about – especially their Perfect Mini Layers rulers. It didn’t take but cutting a couple mats around a photo before I realized I really needed these tools! The Perfect Mini Layers rulers are very easy to use. They’re all well marked with easy-to-read measurements.

They have a little edge that grabs the paper and then all you need to do is run a nice sharp craft knife down the edge. A perfect straight mat edge each time!

I started by putting Xyron Double-Sided High Tack 1/2″ Tape on the back of my photo and adhered it the paper I was using for the mat. Placed the ruler against the edged of the photo and used a sharp blade to slice down the edge.

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I was able to build up the layers in matting and with so many width choices it was easy to do.

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This beautiful paper is DCWV and I used several papers to layer color and pattern. All embellishments came from the pack; they were made by cutting out quotes and phrases and using punches to make some flowers.

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The pieces for this layout were so quick and easy to assemble by using Xyron to evenly distribute the adhesive on all the small pieces. That old Karen Foster corner punch was used to make pieces to stack along a border strip as an added decorative element.

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The punched scallop circle serves as the background for the flowers. I used Xyron Adhesive Dots to stack the flowers then finished off with an Adhesive Dot for the flower center and sprinkled with a bit of glitter.

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This layout came together so easily and I really like it. It’s the perfect photo of my brother and our cousin Liz. Just two fun-loving cousins sharing a moment at a Father’s Day gathering.

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I also used the Perfect Paper Crafting Mini Layers rulers to create this quick little card. The mats were extremely easy to cut and create with the rulers – even in calculating the larger spacing on the top and bottom of the center mat. After the mats were assembled and the ribbon tied, the entire front was passed through the Xyron 5″ Creative Station and placed on the folded card – Ta Da!

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Be sure to hop on over to Xyron’s blog – Ain’t She Crafty and the Perfect Paper Crafting blog for so many more tips, techniques and projects using these fantastic products!

Quick cards for the New Year

On By lindaIn card making, tutorial, Uncategorized, Xyron8 Comments

Linda_Neff_mini_mug_shotEvery year I always miss someone or two or three on my Christmas card list. I’m sure that never happens to happen of you! My solution is to send a New Year’s card and include a little family newsletter. That way it looks like I haven’t forgotten them – I just choose to wish them a Happy New Year!

I made these cards from left over Heidi Swapp Christmas papers and embellishments. Who says you can’t use Christmas paper for other occasions? Without the phrase Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, these papers are just lots of pretty prints!

This set of cards came together really quickly: using a paper trimmer, a couple of punches, some Distress Ink and my trusty Xyron Creative Station.

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After gathering all supplies I cut simple rectangles to fit my standard A2 cards. I punched some borders with a Martha Stewart border punch and used a Fiskars hexagon punch to create some coordinating hexagons. I also used some of Heidi’s Believe Banner Delights as added elements. I just played around and did a quick layout of designs before inking all edges with Ranger’s Black Soot Distress Ink.

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I don’t seem to own a ‘Happy New Year’s’ stamp so printed my sentiment on white cardstock. I punched some with a Marvy scallop circle punch and trimmed out the others with the paper trimmer. I used my Teresa Collins Stapler to add some detail to one of my sentiments before attaching it to the card.

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All my card pieces are run through my Xyron 9″ Creative Station. I like to use this size when I have lots of pieces. I can line them up before shipping them through so adhesive is not wasted.

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Then the fun begins – peel and stick! So easy!

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These are the finished cards so now I only need to type up the newsletter and pop them in the mail after Christmas! This makes me feel like I’m actually ahead of the game.

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