Simple Thanks

Hello and Welcome!

I am finishing up this week with a simple thank you card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches.  I am very excited to be going on an annual girl's trip this weekend and Friday cannot come fast enough! San Antonio here I come!

So here is today's card...

I used some darker colors for this card, but I think it makes for a mature look.  I had a hard time deciding on the sentiment, but ultimately went with a simple "Thanks".  I think the colors and the simple flourishes could really be used for so many different sentiments.  Perhaps I'll keep playing with this layout and see what happens on the next card!

Here is the sketch for Freshly Made Sketches this week...

Supplies Used: Jack and Jill by Lori Whitlock cardstock, SU linen thread, SU Crumb Cake ink and SU A Big Thank You stamp set

Keep Austin Crafty!

Christmas Greetings!

Hello and Welcome!

I am sharing today what I think may be the last of my Christmas cards for the year! Boy has it been exhausting, but very, very fun to put together by hand the majority of this year's cards.  I am hoping to finish up a few more tags for presents and gift bags, but this should round out the Christmas card creativity. 

I pulled out my trusty Alpine Adventure set and got to work.  I was inspired by a sketch and color challenge today as a starting point for the card.

And here is the finished product...

In the second photo, you can see both cards that I made today.  The only difference is the rounded edges on the second card.  I think I am a fan of the straight edges, but the hubby said he liked the rounded...so you just never know!!

Supplies used: BoBunny Merry & Bright Collection cardstock, Alpine Adventure die cuts and stamps, Garden Green & Early Espresso ink and Recollection bling in green (for extra Christmas cheer!) 

And here are the challenges that inspired me today! 

CAS(E) this Sketch!: #300

The Paper Players #422: A Color Challenge

Keep Austin Crafty! 

Friendly Birthday

Hello and Welcome!

Well the weather has turned very wintery today, so I took that as an opportunity to snuggle up in my craft corner and make today's card.  I purchased a few new craft goodies recently and I am excited to share them on this birthday card. 

I went with a birthday theme today for a friend's December birthday.  The colors in this week's Sunday Stamps were the perfect combination for this card.  I'm not sure this photo is doing the colors justice, but the early espresso, soft green and powder pink are making for a simple, sweet card.  I stamped the background in early espresso rather than add an extra layer of cardstock.  New ink pads in powder pink and fresh fig helped to create the perfect sentiment and stamped flower underneath the silver button embellishment. 






I would like to support the following challenges with this card:

Freshly Made Sketches #366

Sunday Stamps #193

Simon Stamps Monday

B" is for Birthday

Keep Austin Crafty!

Just Believe...

Hello and Welcome!

I am sharing a project today that was really inspired by this week's color challenge at The Color Throwdown.  When I saw the colors I couldn't wait to use them for the card/tag project that I had in mind for the wrapping of some gift card sets for my girlfriends.  I say card/tag because they are about the size of a card, but only flip front to back rather than open like a card.  Maybe the pictures will be able to describe that better :/

Today's Card

Front of card

Back of card

And shown together

So hopefully from the pictures you can see that you simply flip the card over for the sentiments.  I am planning to punch a small hole in the top left corner to run the ribbon through and tie them around the gift bags.  They measure 3 1/2" x 5", so there was plenty of room for stamping and bling but still small enough to (hopefully) attach nicely to the gift bag.  

I stamped all the images in black ink and the shimmering gray paper actually turned the ink to a sort of gray.  It came out quite lovely which I'm thankful for because at first I was a little skeptical of using the black ink.  It didn't seem quite festive enough, but I used what I had and I love the result.

Here are the challenges that I was playing along with for today's project:

The Color Throwdown

Just Add Ink #436 "Sketch"

 

Keep Austin Crafty!   

Tag it Up!

Hello and Welcome!

I am excited to share today's project mostly because I can't wait to give them out! This weekend I will be hosting a cookie decorating party for my daughter and her little friends.  She is super excited and I am too! We have all the cookies ordered and we have purchased enough red and green sprinkles to last a lifetime (she doesn't think there's enough).

I was wondering how everyone would transport their cookies home and what better way to do that than in little treat bags with homemade gift tags! So I've made a small variety of tags and then re-created enough for all of our guests.

So here are the three tag styles for our "Christmas Cookie Extravaganza 2018"

Here are two of the tags adhered to the treat bags with ribbon attached.  I went ahead and hot glued the ribbon and tag to the bag.  It will be as easy as dropping in the cookies, tying the ribbon and off everyone goes with their yummy treats!

Aren't they the cutest?!? The supplies used were across the board from the SU Alpine Adventure set to the Sizzix oval framelits.  The banner tag I actually just handcut rather than use a punch.  It probably took much longer to measure out, but it achieved the same look! 

Don't forget to check out my first Christmas tag post here.  

I'll be submitting these lovely tags in the following challenges this week: 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Gift It

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Keep Austin Crafty! 

Let It Snow Tags!

Hello and Welcome!

Today I am sharing a fun project for creating some simple Christmas tags.  Who needs store bought tags when you have all the supplies to create your own!  I have plenty of uses for these wonderful tags, so I hope to continue updating this post as I create some new designs.

The color scheme for these tags are navy, grey, white and silver.  The tags measure 4 1/4 in width and were shaped using my Fiskars paper trimmer.  Rounding the edges gave them a finished touch.  The snowflakes are die cuts and stamps from the SU Alpine Adventure set and stamped in Dapper Denim.

The color scheme for these tags make for a more formal look, so I thought they might be the perfect tag to package my recently finished gift card set (see post here).

Today I was inspired by two challenges as a starting off point...

Just Add Ink #435

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Let It Snow

Keep Austin Crafty!

Just keep it simple...

Hello and Welcome!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving.  The family and I had a wonderful day and I am so very thankful that I was able to spend the day with the people that I love!

I am back today to share a simple "thanks a bunch" card.  We are having some beautiful weather today and it has inspired me to play with some bright colors and keep it simple.  I completed two cards and I thought I would complete a few more to make a card set as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law.

Here are my two cards...

And shown as a set so far...

The sentiment "Thanks a Bunch" is stamped on the inside with black ink.  I think this is the first card I've made with no sentiment on the front and at first I thought "hmmm...it definitely needs something", but the more I thought about it I figured I would just let the beautiful die cut flowers take center stage.  

Supplies used: Jack and Jill by Lori Whitlock and Recollections for the card stock, flower die cuts (came in an Amazon pack so I don't have any details), and Recollections bling stickers

I am entering this card into the following challenges: 

Tuesday Morning Sketches #480

STAMPlorations November 2018

CAS-ual Fridays CFC -#213

11.23.18 8:48pm update: Ok somehow I managed to finish off two more cards today (Thanksgiving Day = one tired 4 year old who spent alot of time coloring and painting her own handmade cards today)!  I changed up the backgrounds and added a partial sentiment on the front.  I changed the inside to read "Thanks for your Thoughtfulness" and thought the "A Note Of" comment on the front added the perfect touch.  Now all that's left is to package these goodies for Christmas!

Keep Austin Crafty!

Sleds Away...let's try this again!

Hello and Welcome!

For today's post, I decided to share a re-do of the "sleds away" project from my previous post.  I wasn't totally in love with my project initially and then I saw a very similar card posted prior to mine that looked 210 times better.  So I'm going to give a shout out to Windy Ellard for her wonderful inspiration on the two-tone sled and I have given it a try below. 

So here is my re-do project...

I am so in love with this second version!  I guess some days my creativity comes and goes and it's nice to be inspired by others with new ideas.  The moose paper just makes me smile and I think it all just came together so nicely.  I used a plethora of supplies for this card from my BoBunny Christmas paper to my SU Alpine Adventure die cuts to my Christmas sentiment stamps from Michaels.  I popped the sled as well which really helps to highlight the beautiful cut out.   

Keep Austin Crafty!

Sleds Away!

Hello and Welcome!

I'm back today to share a quick project using some sketch inspiration.  I'm continuing to work on my Christmas stash and thought this little card would be perfect to share with my daughter's teachers.  Assembly went pretty quick and that's always a good thing when you need to make a few versions.

Today's inspiration comes from the team at Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is the sketch...

And here is my card...

Trying my hand at a little photo decoration! 

Supplies Used: BoBunny Merry & Bright Christmas collection paper, SU Alpine Adventure, SU Early Espresso ink, and a lovely strip of red sparkle paper (treasure find from my mom's paper goodies)
Keep Austin Crafty!

More than a Card!

Hello and Welcome!

Wow!  It has been entirely too long since I have had time to retreat to my crafting corner.  I can't complain too much though because during my blogging hiatus the family and I enjoyed a wonderful few days on a Disney Wonder cruise.  The days leading up to the cruise and the days on the cruise also meant I was in need of some much needed R&R upon our return.  But I'm back and ready to craft!!

I am getting back into the swing of things by working on a few projects for the holiday season.  After a few years of hosting, I am taking a break and leaving the Thanksgiving cooking to my mom and mother-in-law.  To say "thanks" I wanted to do something more than "just a card" or "just a bottle of wine", so I thought I'd combine the two and came up with these wonderful wine labels.

Didn't they come out so cute! 

Supplies used: Fall background paper from Hobby Lobby, Hampton Art clear stamp set, SU Early Espresso ink, Craftsmart Chocolate Brown ink, SU copper twine

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs: Give Thanks/Autumn Colors

Simon Says: Thanks/Thanksgiving

Tuesday Morning Sketches

The first two are new challenges for me this week, so hopefully I have linked everything correctly!

Keep Austin Crafty! 

Christmas Stash

Hello and Welcome!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Austin saw some beautiful weather and it was a great time to be outside.  It's always good to get a little sunshine! 

I managed to find a little time to work on some more Christmas cards for this year's stash.  Again, my Alpine Adventure set to the rescue!  I was inspired by this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.   

Here is the sketch...

And here is my card...

This card was interesting to make because it's the first one that I went ahead and started preparing to make several copies.  I thought I would make these for my daughter's teachers because I loved the clean lines of the sketch, so I measured, cut and stamped the pieces for three cards.  Once I got the first one together (pictured above), I already started seeing changes that I would make to the next one.  I do love how it turned out, but I will have some fun seeing how the same pieces can be put together differently just to make each card a little unique.

Keep Austin Crafty! 

Happy Birthday Blues!

Hello and Welcome!

Two posts in one day!  That is a first!  It was a beautiful sunny day and I think the sunshine coming into my craft area just inspired me to keep creating!  So here it goes...

I finished up a birthday card for my brother-in-law that will need to get in the mail ASAP.  I struggled trying to craft up some masculine colors for my card, but in the end I just went with lots of blues.  I used this week's sketch from The Paper Players as a jumping off point. 

Here is the sketch...

And here is my card...

I thought the contrasting blues went well with the wood background.  I popped the "Celebrate" die-cut to make it look more like a banner sitting on the twine.  This is the first card that I've made that will go to a guy, so I didn't want to add too many bows or bling...that was hard!! 

Supplies used: Jack and Jill by Lori Whitlock cardstock, Sizzix birthday framelits and stamp set, SU Dapper Denim ink, SU linen twine, Recollections embellishments

Keep Austin Crafty!

Welcome Home!

Hello and Welcome!

Happy Thursday!  I hope everyone enjoyed a spooky Halloween evening!  Ours was a little rainy, but that didn't stop us from gathering a year's supply of candy in one bucket!  The sugar rush eventually wore off and we went to bed tired and happy!

Today I am featuring a simple housewarming card to send to a dear family who just relocated to North Carolina.  It is a new adventure for them and they do not know anyone in the area.  I wanted to make sure they knew we were sending some love from good 'ole Austin.

The stamp set is another one of my yard sale finds and I have been looking forward to using it.  It is actually a four house stamp, but I managed to ink the first two for the front of the card and the second two were inked for the inside of the card.  I thought the houses were just perfect for the occasion.

Supplies used: Jack and Jill by Lori Whitlock cardstock, Sizzix square framelits, SU Early Espresso ink, SU linen thread

Keep Austin Crafty!    

A (brief) break from cards (Part 2)...

Hello and Welcome!

I'm back today with a post highlighting some of my favorite pages from last year's Disney Cruise scrapbook.  I had always wanted to make a real and official scrapbook from one of our family vacations, but somehow time was always getting away from me (figure that!).  But after last year's family cruise, I knew that I had to find a way to put those wonderful memories on paper.  So I bought the Disney book, the Disney paper, the Disney stickers and the rest is history.  I can probably say that my love of paper crafting started with this project, so I'm excited to share some pages.

I'm debating putting another one together for this year's cruise.  It is definitely a great keepsake, so I am sure I will decide to go ahead with another one.

Meeting the Mouse! The mouse ears & bowties were made with a Cricut.

Pirate Night! Specialty Disney Paper made this page one of my favorites!

Family Pic with Mickey! The buttons were a Pinterest find and I love them!

Keep Austin Crafty!

A (brief) break from cards (Part 1)...

Hello and Welcome!

I am back today with a brief post highlighting a non-card paper project.  The family and I will be heading out on a Disney Cruise soon and I am so excited! Truth be told, I can't tell who's more excited...me or my 4 year old!  This is our second Disney cruise, but the first with just me, my husband and our daughter.  Last year we went all out with our whole extended family.  While it was extremely fun and way easier than getting everyone around in Disney World, I am looking forward to having some quality time with my little family.

I'm sharing this project because last year I totally dropped the ball on "door decorations" and this year I was not going to be left out of the party! Who knew that "door decorations" were even a thing on a cruise, but they definitely are with Disney.  So here are my Mickey Mouse (hubby's), Minnie Mouse (yours truly) and a "mini" Minnie Mouse (my baby) door decorations.  The "mini" version still has princess and Lightning McQueen stickers to come so I thought I'd take the picture before that fun began ;) This was a simple and quick paper project!

Supplies used: Black and Brick Red cardstock, Cricut cutting machine for all shapes, white CraftSmart paint pen and 3M Single-Sided laminating roll (no machine needed!)

And don't worry, we have our matching shirts too!

Ever been on a Disney cruise?! Share your "must dos" below! And check back tomorrow when I share some of my favorite pages from last year's scrapbook!

Keep Austin Crafty!

Jingle Jingle

Hello and Welcome!

I had so much fun creating today's card and I am so excited to share it!  I am still working with the wonderful goodies I collected from my mom's craft room and her stuff is awesome! I thought the wonderful, sparkly paper paired with the beautiful plaid background came out beautiful.  The Alpine Adventure bundle is really going a long way and as expected I have been able to create some beautiful cards for this holiday season. 

I am submitting this card to two challenges today...Tuesday Morning Sketches and Just Add Ink.  For the Just Add Ink challenge, I chose to work with Bows and Bling. 

Here are the challenge details...

And here is my card...

I started with a 5" x 5" green cardstock base.  Most of the background paper was the result of rummaging through scraps, so I don't have any details on the paper colors, etc.  I am always amazed by the things you can create from simple scraps.  The die cuts and stamps were all from the SU Alpine Adventure bundle and stamped in SU Early Espresso.  Add a little bling to the present die cuts and presto! one beautiful holiday card! I even had a little fun and stamped the envelope!  

Keep Austin Crafty! 

Fall is in the Air

Hello and Welcome!

Well, it has been a busy week and I cannot say how excited I am to be back in my little crafting area!  It is nice to take a break and let my creative side take the lead for just a few minutes.

I did have the chance this week to rummage through my mom's card making supplies and I think I was able to come up with some fun and new ideas.  I have been looking forward to actually making a "fall" card with dark oranges, browns and reds, so that was my goal for this week.  I kind of skipped directly to making my Christmas cards and completely forgot about the beautiful (and peaceful) colors of fall.  So here it goes...

I was inspired by two challenges this week.  The layout for the card came from the team at Freshly Made Sketches and the color inspiration came from The Color Throwdown.

Here is the sketch and color palette...

And here is my card...

Well, if that card doesn't say, "come enjoy a nice cup of coffee on this cool, crisp morning" then I don't know what will...haha! 

Supplies used: Sizzix Woodland Textured Embossing folder, Sizzix pumpkin spice framelits, SU Seasonal Layers, SU Early Espresso ink, and SU Metallics Sequin Assortment (bling, bling!)

This card was so fun to make and I hope to see you again before the week is up for another card creation! 

Keep Austin Crafty!