Jason's Birthday Card

Hello everyone.

Do you struggle with masculine cards?

I know I do and I have decided that I'm going to overcome

this problem.  I needed a birthday card for my daughter's boyfriend

and I wanted to do something a little different.

I put my mind to it and this is the card I created.

I started out with a die cut circle in a piece of card stock and 

a few coordinating colors of Distress Inks.

After some trial and error, I finally decided on these 3 large 

 intersecting circles.

I simply moved the circle "stencil" around and inked it with 

the Distress Ink and an ink blending tool.

Once they were the color I liked, I fussy cut them leaving a small outline around

them.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is 

from Biblical Impressions

and I stamped it with Timber Brown Staz On Ink

using my MISTI stamping tool, to be sure I got a clear, crisp impression.

The tag behind the circles is a manila tag covered with a piece of 

deli paper that I used alcohol inks to create. 

(See how here)

I used ATG tape to adhere the tag to a brown piece of card stock,

then trimmed the extra from the sides.

The circles were adhered on top of that piece and it was all 

adhered to a white card base.

The sentiment is from the 

Lovely Greetings Set 

from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

I stamped it with the same brown Staz On Ink as the sentiment on the front

of the card.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog today,

and that you'll come again soon.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Card with Kit and Clowder Image

Hi blog friends!

Have you ever heard of Kit and Clowder?

I have heard a lot about their online classes on one of the blogs that I follow.

They have classes teaching all kinds of coloring techniques,

I know they have some free ones if you'd like to check them out.

I'm on their e-mail list, so I was sent an e-mail before Mother's Day

offering a free digital download.

This beautiful floral image was what they were giving free and I

loved it.  I had already made my Mother's Day cards, so decided to 

use it for some birthday cards.

For this card I colored the flowers with colored pencils,

then cut a circle with a die, stamped the sentiment
(Happy Birthday from Biblical Impressions)

and adhered it to the circle area of the image.

I added a few sequins and the card was done.

For this card, I colored the image, then cut the center out to

make it into a shaker card.

I adhered some clear acetate to the back of the panel,

put foam tape around the hole, added some sequins and micro beads

and covered the back with white card stock.

For the sentiment I heat embossed the "happy"

with white embossing powder onto a piece of vellum,

wrapped it around the front panel and adhered it to the 

back of the panel.

Inside I stamped "birthday"

with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

The sentiment stamps are from the

"Big Scripty Words" set from Lawn Fawn.

I love that I can size this digital image to whatever size I want

it to be. I also love being able to alter the image and do something

a little different with it.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to,

I hope you've been inspired in some way.

Until next time,

go try something different to stretch your images.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Simple Spring Card

Hello and happy Spring!

I hope you are having some nice spring weather

in your area!

Today I've got a simple spring card to show you.

I stamped 

"Tulips"

from Biblical Impressions

twice onto white card stock 

and colored them with my 

Fantasia Colored Pencils

I fussy cut one full image,

the other I cut the flowers and some of the

leaves then layered them onto the full image

with foam tape to give dimension.

You can see some of the dimension in this picture on the 

flowers and leaves.

I used scraps papers cut and layered 

onto a white card base for

the background for this simple, but lovely 

image.

I love the simplicity of this card.

Thanks for popping in today,

I hope you'll stop by again soon.

Until then

create something beautiful.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

3 More Cards

Greetings fellow crafters!

Today I have the last 3 of the Easter cards

that I made.

For this card I used 

Cross With Flowers from 

Eureka Stamps

I stamped it with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

and colored it with colored pencils.

I used Distress Ink to add a little color around the

image.

I inked the background for this card with 

Distress Inks and stamped the grass with 

Field Grass Right

from Biblical Impressions.

I cut strips of brown card stock to make the basket.

I wove the strips then used ATG Tape to adhere it to

a piece of card stock.  I then trimmed it into the basket

shape.

The eggs were stamped, colored and fussy cut, then adhered

with Mini Glue Dots to the card.

My last card is a shaker card.

I stamped the Happy Easter onto the card base,

then added the shaker window over it.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you've been inspired in some way.

Until next time:

Enjoy being creative!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Somebunny Loves You

Easter is on it's way!

Hi all!

Do you make and send Easter cards?

I haven't really in the past, but this year I'm

trying to send out more cards and thought

Easter cards were in order.

Here are a few that I made that are similar.

This one is a shaker card and I think it turned out cute.

This is "Daydreaming Bunny" from 

QKR Stampede.

Another shaker card with the same bunny.

The grass under him is
"Field Grass Right"  from 

Biblical Impressions

For this card, I used Distress Inks to make the 

background inside that oval cut out.

I have stamped
Somebunny Loves You

 from QKR Stampede inside these cards.

And last, I made this card.

The sky and ground were sponged with 

Distress Inks

and I used the Field Grass stamp again to 

stamp the grass, also with Distress Inks.

The bunnies were all stamped

with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, 

colored with colored pencils and fussy cut.

The sentiments were also stamped with 

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink.

I hope you enjoy my cards and will 

think about making some yourself.

Come again soon and see some

more of the Easter cards I have ready to 

send to some family and friends.

Until next time:

Get Creative!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Valentine's Cards

Hello!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't always send/give Valentine's Day cards,

but this year I am.

I saw this idea on Kristina Werner's blog and

was inspired to try it.

I cut pieces of watercolor paper into squares.

I then taped them down to a board.

This helps prevent warping of the paper when

it is wet.

I cut thin strips of tape to make the "cross bars"

You can use masking tape, painter's tape or Washi tape.

Just be sure that it isn't too sticky and you'll be able to 

remove it easily without tearing the paper.

I then used Distress Inks to paint them.

I smooched some ink, in the colors I wanted to use,

onto an acrylic block and mixed with some water.

Once they were completely dry I removed the tape

and cut the pieces down to the size I wanted.

This watercolor piece I embossed 

Swirl Heart from Biblical Impressions

with silver embossing powder and matted

it with a silver metallic paper that I found

at Hollo's Papercrafts

I printed all the sentiments for the insides of these

cards from my computer.

I matted the sentiments to mimic the outside of the

cards.

I love these mini crazy birds from

Tim Holtz.  I colored them all with 

colored pencils and cut them with the matching dies.

The heart was hand cut and I wrote 'Love You' 

on it with black pen.

I cut a slit in the birds beak to hold the heart.

This one was heat embossed with 

glitter gold embossing powder 

and mounted onto 

shiny metallic silver card stock

that I got at Hollo's

I used "I Love You" from Eureka Stamps

for these next 2 cards.

This card I watercolored the entire piece with one 

color and embossed "You're Huggable" onto the 

panel and added that adorable bird.

I simply stamped this heart, fussy cut it

and put it through a slit in the bird's beak.

I heat embossed this "Scribble Heart" from

Biblical Impressions onto a watercolored panel,

then layered it onto Matte Silver Metallic Card Stock

from Hollo's

This final card I used a piece of card stock for 

the front panel, added the crazy birds and heart,

it needed a little something more and the gold ribbon

worked perfectly to pull it all together.

I love how these Valentine's cards turned out

and I hope the recipients like them as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by today,

if you come again soon, you will see

what I made for Valentine's treats to go with

some of these cards.

Until next time,

make something fun!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Cards for the Card Drive #3

Hello!

More cards for the card drive today

You can see that I love heat embossing.

I heat embossed several ornament images with

silver embossing powder and went from there.

I created several different cards with these 

embossed images.

The center one above was fussy cute and adhered

to an embossed card base with foam tape.

The others were matted with card stock and adhered

to embossed silver card stock.

This one has Washi tape on the sides and 

although it doesn't show very well, there are

dots of red Stickles around the ornament.

For these I used silver thread and embroidery floss

to add bows.

I like the long skinny ornament at the side of these cards.

A little Washi tape adds a pop of color.

The ornament images are from 

Eureka Stamps and

Biblical Impressions

Thanks for popping in.

More cards in a few days.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Autumn Greetings

Happy Autumn!

I'm not crazy about the fall time,

I don't like the cooler weather,

but I do love the colors of fall.

The trees are so beautiful and the leaves on the

ground are so pretty.

The card I have today is kind of a mash up of a

 cards that I saw on blogs.

This is kind of how inspiration works for me.

I see different techniques and designs and end up 

combining them into something that I like.

For this card, I started with a piece of white card 

stock.  I used different colors of Distress Inks to 

cover the front of the card stock.

I then found all the leaf stamps that I had,

 and stamped them onto the 

colored card with brown Color Box Chalk Ink.

I used 2 rectangle layering dies to cut the

 window in the card.

The outside was adhered to the card base.

The frame was layered with craft foam and card stock

 cut with the same dies to give dimension to the frame

around the window.

I used the frame as a guide to adhere the inside piece

to the back of the window.

I used a piece of acetate that was from some packaging

that I saved to cover the frame and adhered the 

colored frame piece on top of it.

I used a variety of sequins in the shaker window

as well as a few acorns and leaves that I stamped and fussy

cut.  I then stamped the sentiment and fussy cut that

and adhered it to the front of the shaker area.

For the sentiment inside I used a stamp that I borrowed 

from a friend.  Sorry there was no company name anywhere

on the stamp.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you are enjoying the beauty of autumn.

See you again soon.

The supplies I used are:

Darice Embossing Essentials Nesting Rectangles

Inkadinkado Autumn Foliage Stamp Set

Large Skeleton Leaf (#90312) Biblical Impressions

Leaf (#3901)  QKR Stampede

Open Maple Leaf (#10501) and

Lg Open Oak Leaf (#10402) from

Eureka Stamps

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Give Thanks

Hello!

I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Today I have a Thanksgiving card to show you.

The other day I was trying something new that didn't

work out for me and I had a few of these pumpkins,

so I decided to make a Thanksgiving card with one 

of them.  This is what I came up with.

I cut the pumpkin and the vine/leaf 

from some paper that I had in my stash

using a die and the Cuttlebug.

I used a bit of Distress Ink to tone down

the orange and white of the pumpkin

and give the leaf etc. a little variation,

then I glued the pieces together.

The striped panel is a scrap I had in my stash.

The "Give Thanks" is part of the 

Give Thanks stamp

(#34109) from Biblical Impressions

The entire stamp reads

"Give Thanks

to the Lord"

I masked off the part that I didn't

want to stamp before I inked up the stamp, 

removed the mask and then stamped directly onto

the card with 

Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink

The card needed a little something more,

so I added some bronze colors sequins

using Ranger Multi Medium Matte adhesive.

I left the inside of this card blank for the time being.

I may stamp a Thanksgiving message or write 

a personal note when I use this card.

I'm glad you stopped in today.

Come again soon,

you never know what you'll find on

Kristie Kreates.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Caring Hearts Card Drive

This is the 7th year that Vera Yates and her crew

have organized the 

Caring Hearts Card Drive 

This card drive is near and dear to my heart.

This will be the 3rd year that I will be helping to 

distribute cards to 

Brothers of Mercy Nursing Home and Rehab Center

and 

Sacred Heart Adult Care Home

where my Mom lives.

Many people in nursing homes and assisted living

centers don't receive many cards and visitors.

This is one way to bring some cheer into their lives.

When Mom receives her cards, she has been thrilled

to show them to me and tell me where they came from.

They are always a big hit in the dining room where the

residents find them at their places.

They share them and compare them and are so 

excited to receive them

Be sure to follow the link above and see how

you can help with this card drive.

Here are some cards that I've made to send in for the

drive.

(click on the pictures to see them larger)

I stamped this cute snowman

(Skinny Snowman from QKR Stampede)

onto white card stock and also a piece of 

Post It paper to use as a mask.

I covered the snowman image with the mask

and used my MISTI stamping tool to 

repeatedly stamp the Holiday Wishes sentiment

onto the card.

I'm sorry I don't know what set that sentiment

is from.

On this card I stamped 

Patchwork Holly

from Biblical Impressions

and used the same process as above to 

stamp the Holly Jolly Border 

from 

CAS-ual Fridays

This one I used 

"Holly" from QKR Stampede and

a border stamp from 

Holly Jolly Borders

I colored the images on all the cards with

watercolor crayons.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you will join me in donating to

this very special

card drive.

Come again soon,

you never know what you'll find on

Kristie Kreates.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Give Thanks

Hello all!

Today I have a fun technique to show you and 

a couple cards I made using it

I started by covering a piece of card stock with 

double sided tape.

Here you can see where I have removed the top half of 

the release paper and still have 2 pieces covered.

I had chosen 4 different fall colors and cut strips of

card stock in different widths.

Once I removed all the release papers, I started by laying

down one of the strips on an angle.

I then laid down more of the strips.

I decided to follow a pattern with the colors and 

continued applying the strips until the entire piece of 

card stock was covered.

And at this point, my camera died.

So I will have to explain the rest without pictures,

but I think you'll understand what I did when you look at

the finished cards.

Once the card stock was covered, I turned it over and

trimmed the extras off the edges.

I then used a die to cut out the pumpkin with orange

patterned paper and embossed it with a matching 

embossing folder.

I did the same thing with a piece of green paper,

then I cut the stem and leaf off and glued it to the 

pumpkin.

I also used Distress Inks to add a bit of shading and

highlighting to the pumpkin and the leaf.

Then I used the same die to cut the pumpkin out of the 

center of the striped piece.

I used the same technique with the leaf die.

I used foam tape to adhere the striped panel to the card

base.  I then put glue on the back of the pumpkin and leaf

and glued them to the card bases through the die cut opening

on the striped panel.

Here you can see from the side that the leaf is sitting 

down inside the die cut space.

I stamped the

"Give thanks"

onto a coordinating color with

Brown Color Box Chalk Ink

and fussy cut it and adhered it over the

pumpkin and leaf with foam tape.

The give thanks is part of the 

Give thanks stamp (#34109) from Biblical Impressions

The entire sentiment reads

"Give thanks 

to the Lord"

I masked off the part of the sentiment

that I didn't want and stamped the part I needed.

I love how these 2 cards turned out,

I think they will make great Thanksgiving cards.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you will give this technique a try.

You can use any kind of paper to make the stripes,

plain colors or patterned papers, you'll be surprised

how easy it is and how great it turns out.

Come again soon,

until then have some fun trying something new.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

and you may find better prices elsewhere.

I am in no way promoting any particular site.