Inside Sentiment for Bold GRAD Card

Going to a grad party today and finally added the inside sentiment to the Bold Grad Card.

The svg is here.
The scut2 file for the card front and inside sentiment is here.

Bold Graphic GRAD card

I just love bold graphics - whether on cards, home decor or fashion. My sweetie and I went to Philadelphia last year as part of our vacation (if you ever go you HAVE to see The Magic Gardens at 1020 South Street. Oh my goodness!!! http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/) We saw the iconic LOVE graphic art at the fountains downtown, and I saw a little girl wearing a T-shirt with the graphic on GMA the other day, and it hit me that I could make a few cool graduation cards pretty quickly with this graphic. Hope you can use it. It fits perfectly on the front of a 5x5" square card, and I have already posted directions for making an envelope to fit this size card, as well as a recipe for homemade envelope glue.

The svg can be downloaded for free here.

Father's Day Briefcase Card

This one was so fun to make. I used a crocodile-look paper, but you could do it in black or brown plain paper or emboss it with a leather or croc-look embossing folder, too. The Briefcase measures 3½" x 2 1/8" closed, and is oh so cute! ; )

The svg is $2.50 USD. Please use the Donate button to order, and leave a note in the 'Purpose' line, telling me which file it is you are ordering. Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the svg and the scut2 file. Thanks so much for your interest!

Father's Day Card - 1955 Ford F150

This truck was manufactured the year my hubby was born, so I thought it would make a great Father's Day card for him. We would both love to have one - me for my woodworking/furniture building/concrete garden sculpture making, and him for hauling mulch and plants home from the garden center, as well as building supplies from Home Depot or Lowes for home improvement projects. The card opens at the top, and measures 7¾" x 3¼". The metallic parts are cut from silver paper, though you can't tell it from the photo. Fast and easy to put together; it only takes 4 colors of card stock: the black for the outline/body of the truck, the color of your choice for the chassis, silver or light gray for the metal parts, and white for the sentiment area inside the card.

The svg is $3.50 USD. Please use the Donate button to order, and leave me a note as to which file it is you want. Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the svg, the scut2 file, as well as directions on how to make a custom envelope to fit this card from a sheet of 8½" x 11" paper. Thanks a bunch!

Graduation Mortarboard Card

Here's a fun card I designed with a 3D mortarboard, complete with paper tassel. I am so proud of my little baby bug for the job it did cutting this tassel. The thing is like a false eyelash when you take it off the cutting mat. This card is for my niece...thus the school colors on the tassel.It was fun to make and goes together easily. The hat actually stands away from the card about 3/8", so you'll need to hand deliver this one - at the graduation open house! Hope you like it.

The svg is $1.50 USD, which includes both the svg file and the scut2 file, as well as assembly instructions. If you want to order it, please use the "Donate" button. Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the files. Please indicate which file it is that you want in the messages box on the Paypal page. Thanks a bunch!

A2 Envelobox for Embellished Cards Using The Martha Stewart Score Board

 

I have seen the directions for these before, but I have never had one turn out for me - always too skimpy in the gluing area - so I reinvented the wheel.

NOTE: I have marked the 6" line on my score board with a fine-tipped permanent marker, from top to bottom. This makes it so much easier to line things up. You will need to do this for this envelobox.

Materials:
Heavy paper or cardstock, double-sided if you want a lined-envelobox look
Double Stick tape
Homemade envelope glue - see this blog for recipe

1. Cut paper to an 8½" square.
2. Align top & bottom points at the 6" mark. Score at: 2 7/8", 3 1/8", 8 7/8", & 9 1/8".
3. Turn the paper 90 degrees, aligning the top and bottom points at the 6" mark, and score at: 3½", 3¾", 8½", 8¾", and 11 5/8". This last score is on the bottom flap. It will fold over to the inside of the box.
4. Cut out the triangles that were formed where the scores intersected, cutting to the inner scoreline, and cutting on the outside of the score lines. 
5. Fold on the scorelines. Apply double-stick tape along the outside edges of the bottom flap, going all the way to the tip. Lay the envelobox on your work surface, and while carefully holding the sides in place, fold the bottom flap up over the sides and gently press into place without pressing down on the taped tuck-in flap. Fold this tuck-in to the inside and press, adhering it to itself. 
6. Apply homemade envelope glue or double-stick tape to the edges of the top flap, and allow to dry if using glue. I'm not sure how well this glue holds, so you may need to test it, especially if you're mailing this envelobox.

How to Make a Lined Envelope for a 5x5" Card Using the MS Score Board

*These instructions make a nice lined envelope, but a quicker way to make one is to simply use a thin, decorative paper with  white on the reverse side from which to cut your envelope, using the white side for the outside of the envelope. Not as thick as a lined one, but still a nice touch.

Note: For ease of use, I have drawn a line from top to bottom on the 6" mark of my Score Board, using a fine-tipped permanent marker. I use this line all the time to line up parts of boxes that need to be scored, but are unable to fit square up against the side because of different sized pieces sticking out on the sides. Highly recommended. You will be using this line to make this envelope.

These instructions will produce a 5¼"x5¼" envelope that nicely fits a 5x5" card.

1. Cut an 8¼"x8¼" square of paper for the envelope.

2. Turn the paper wrong side up on the diagonal, and center the top and bottom points on

the 6" marked line. Score at 3⅜" and again at 8⅝". Rotate paper 90° and repeat scoring on the same numbers. Remove triangles where lines intersect, and fold all sides in on score lines.

3. I like to remove the overlap where the sides meet in the center of the envelope, but it isn't necessary. If you'd like to do this, open out the top and bottom flaps (all flaps are equal at this point, so choose which is top and bottom according to your paper if there's a pattern on it), and if your right handed, hold the tip of the right flap tightly in place over the left flap, insert a small sharp pair of scissors between the flaps and the inside of the envelope, and line up the blades with the 'V' where the two pieces meet and cut a straight, vertical line. Trim if necessary (it usually is.)

4. Fold up the bottom flap and adhere, being careful not get adhesive where it will stick to your card. I hold the envelope up to the light to see where my gluing area is. If you do go out of bounds with the adhesive, brush the offending sticky area lightly with cornstarch after sticking the bottom flap in place.

5. Brush a line of my Homemade Envelope Adhesive (see recipe on this blog), and allow to dry.

To fully line the envelope:

1. Choose a paper that complements your card, and lay it face up on your work surface. 

2. Lay your envelope back-side up on top of it so that the top corners match, and very lightly mark along the bottom edge of the envelope with a pencil. 

3. Slide envelope up 1" from this line toward the top corner, and draw a second line along the bottom edge of the envelope, and up each side. 

4. Cut out liner along these lines, trimming about 1/16 inch from the sides so the the liner is 1/8" narrower than your envelope. 

5. Slip the liner all the way inside the envelope and score, aligning the score line with that of the envelope. 

6. Fold the flap of the liner down so that it's back side is exposed. Apply double sided tape to the back side of the liner.  Fold envelope flap down and press to adhere. Adhesive should be applied only to the flap.

A partial lining can be done the same way by cutting it so that it ends an inch below the 'V' opening, but make sure the card doesn't show through your envelope where the lining stops. Learned this the hard way. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

Father's Day Vest Card

 

This was fun to design and make, though I seriously need to go get some manly paper. I had to search a bit to come up with these. I'd love to do a tweedy one with a menswear  shirting stripe and a wild tie. Some baby buttons would be cute for a button-down collar.  You could also place a vest pocket inside with a secret little love note. 

My buttons are a little off center, so I modified the pattern (dressmaker talk for "svg" and/or "scut2") that you can buy for $3.00 US below. Cut the vest outside with the paper face down. I also enlarged the lining so that you can insert the brads for buttons before fastening down the inside lining on that edge, so that the brad points are completely enclosed. There are holes included in the svg for the brad placement. The shirt has tabs at the top for slipping down between the top of the lining and the vest. If you attach the two front edges (where the buttons go) first, you can easily slip the shirt in place and run some tape along the tab to stick it down. The "shirt & tie" flip up for the sentiment area. The pocket handkerchief is one of the leftover points from cutting the vest points out. Send me some pix if you use this!

I changed the tie to a more modern look in the file, as seen in the photos of a card sent to me by a customer, Mindy, a Close to My Heart consultant. Love that dark vest!

The svg is $3.00 USD. Please use the "Donate" button to order, and leave a note in the message box as to which file you're interested in. Thanks so much!

Homemade Envelope Glue

Here's the recipe for the envelope glue I used in the Daisy card gift set. It smells pretty bad when you're making it, but has no scent other than a slight hint of the "flavoring" you use. I was amazed at how fast it dried. It dries shiny, so it still looks wet, even though it isn't.Took about 5 minutes to dry. I was a little worried about how ripple-y the glued edge was, but I stacked them on top of each other and put them under a couple of HEAVY books (Strong's Concordance was one, for those of you who know what that is - HUGE!) In the morning they were flat and crisp. 

Envelope Glue

6 T. white vinegar

4 packets Knox unflavored gelatin

1 T. extract of choice: vanilla, peppermint or cinnamon are good choices

Put vinegar into a small saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over the surface. Stir with a wooden spoon until the gelatin is fully dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Cool slightly before brushing a thin, even layer onto your envelope, being careful not to extend it past the area where the flap overlaps the envelope. Allow to dry. Clean brush well with warm water & dish soap.

Keep unused portion in an airtight, leak-proof container. It will "gel", so you will need to reheat gently in warm water to melt for reuse. (You could probably microwave it on a low power, too.)

Pie Crust Shaplies

This Shapely reminded me of a crimped pie crust. Hope someone can use it.

The svg is $1.00 USD. Please use the Donate button to purchase, and leave a note about which file it is that you want. Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the svg. Thanks a bunch!

Darth Vader Birthday Card

My son-in-law is a huge Star Wars geek, I mean fan. We celebrated his 30th birthday on Mother's Day, and I gave him this card. I think he was thrilled....He liked what was included with the card, anyway, if not the sentiment.

The svg for the 2-layer face is here.
The svg for the helmet-shaped card is here.

It was kindly brought to my attention that I couldn't sell licensed items such as good old Darth's head - oops! I should have known that, and thanks to Darthkat for letting me know. I hadn't sold any of them anyway, so...it's all good.

Daisy Card Gift Set

I posted about finding these little boxes at the dollar store a few weeks ago. I used them to make some gift sets for my mom and mother-in-law. Quite a few pix for the cards. Some of the designs are mine, and some are from Wanda at http://WandasCrafts.blogspot.com. She does beautiful work - thanks, Wanda! I made envelopes to match, and made some envelope glue that's lick-able (cinnamon!) Hope you like 'em.

Laura

Jesus Thank You

Bundle of Joy

OK - It was one of those sleepless, arthritic nights that I am getting somewhat used to. I awoke up around 2 AM, and almost instantly this little swaddled baby came to my mind, and then of course I couldn't wait to get to my computer to work on the design. The baby's face actually is cut from the blanket, and folded over to pop up beneath the layers of blanket. It is supported with two layers of 3D dots.

The svg includes the blanket pieces, the baby's head (no face - I used a stamp for this), the wording, the jumbo scalloped border and under-border, and the tiny flowers that are filling the 'e' and 'o'. The daisy swag is from my dressmaker's trimmings box, but you can find it at Joann on a ribbon spool in their scrapbooking department. It is made by Wrights, and is called "Daisy Chain". The svg is $1.50 USD. Please use the Donate button to purchase, and leave a note about which file it is that you want. Upon notification from Paypal of funds received, I will email you the svg. Thanks a bunch!