World Card Making Day 2018!

Did you even know this was a thing?
Me neither.  At least, not until last year when my Aunty hooked me up.  ;) Thanks, Aunty Crafty (see what I did there?).

World Card Making Day is the first Saturday in October, every year.  Who knew? Lots of stamp and crafting companies have big sales to celebrate! The card makers of the world, unite (let me say, they are often found in groups, so uniting isn't a great stretch for them, ha) and celebrate the joy of paper crafting.  I would add, that these people celebrate every time they get mail, so they're really good at it! Everyone in the world can send a handmade card in October.  It doesn't have to be as gorgeous as mine (stop, I'm blushing) you can knock something up with markers and construction paper.  It's the thought that counts.

It's not news to the regulars around here that I make cards.  I fit into all of those card maker stereotypes.  I also love crafting at home, in the quiet and sometimes I celebrate when there isn't even any mail.  However, I have to admit, I love sharing my insane love of paper and ink and pretty things with others who understand me. I also love introducing people to the craft and teaching them all about it.  That could just be the teacher in me who loves to boss people around.  Lol.

Anyway, you didn't come here to hear me rant about how much I love the smell of freshly trimmed cardstock in the morning.  Oh, how I love it.  You want to see some cards... right?

My First Shaker Card

I will admit that I practiced this before I did the real thing. Nope, I'm not going to show you the disaster that preceded this triumph.  This was high pressure, as I wanted it to be just right and (of course) things didn't go exactly to plan.  However, I'm very pleased with myself.  I used Lawn Fawn's Year Two stamp set for the sentiment and the Dare2BArtzy Soccer stamp set for the "1".  I performed a bit of stamp surgery... it's okay I used anaesthetic... to cut the number away from the hashtag.  It fits back together perfectly and I have used it in both forms since making this card and it's all fine.  Chill.

The background is a patterned paper I bought about a decade ago (no, I don't know the name of the paper pack or where I bought it). The shaker elements were an assortment of sequins from various places that I just had in my stash.  Most of them were from my local discount variety store.  For the acetate part of the shaker, I used an old overhead transparency.  My mum brought home a big pack of about 200 from her work, instead of throwing them in the bin.  I have enough acetate to keep me busy for a LONG time.

Here is the coolest thing about this card... and proof that you really can just use what you have at home.  See those big silver discs in the shaker... those are from a shirt I bought a few years ago, and when they started falling off, I realised I could use them on my cards as embellishments.  So, I saved them.  Then, I started cutting more off the shirt.  It was ruined anyway.   No one will ever know.  Except you and me.  But you're not gonna tell.

I used a rounded rectangle die and a stitched circle die to make the white card panel (using Neenah Solar White cardstock).  Inks are from the one and only Catherine Pooler: It's a Girl and Party Dress.
That's that.  Yes, there is a lot to making this card.  It's so worth it, though.  I used 3M foam tape and Ranger multi-medium matte as my adhesive.
If you are interested in making a shaker card, check out these tutorials. I found them all very helpful!
Catherine Pooler makes a shaker card (10 minute video)
Another Shaker card with Catherine Pooler (7-8 minute video)
Justine Hovey's shaker card (6-7 minute video)
Kristina Werner's shaker card tips (6-7 minute video)

Phew... now for Card #2.

Baby Boy Congratulations Card!

Inspired by this pin

My Mum asked me to make a card for her to send to some friends of ours who have recently become grandparents.  So exciting! She wanted Blue for a Boy.

I used a circle punch and cut two circles.  One from blue card stock and one from blue and white wrapping paper I had in my stash.  I then held them together and cut a triangle shape from both circles using scissors.  I decided the blue and white paper looked a bit odd, so I used an ink blending tool to lightly cover the paper in "Something Borrowed" ink from Catherine Pooler.  This way the paper looks like a two tone blue pattern.  I adhered them off set so the solid blue looks like a trim on the patterned pram/buddy.  I used an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug to emboss a polka dot pattern on a white card panel that was half an inch smaller than my card base.  Then adhered my circles to my card panel and was about to adhere it to the card base when I decided it needed more.
I used the same ink and blended a border onto another white card panel that was an eighth of an inch larger than my main card panel.  I die cut the word Congratulations three times and stacked two of them on top of each other.  I ink blended the third die cut using the same ink, but made it darker at the bottom of the word so it looks Ombre.  That's what I was going for anyway. I then adhered the blended die cut on to the other stacked ones.  Then glued it onto the card under the circles.  I used white buttons for the "wheels" on the "pram".  This one was easy, but had a lot of steps.

Fuurrinally, some Kitty Cards! 

For Aunties' Day this year, I received a set of cat dies!  Puurrty! I also had some cat die cuts that good ol' Aunty Crafty gave me.  So, these were used to make some fun and (I think) gorgeous cat cards.  I used a swipe stamping technique on these cards so my dots would look like little balls of wool or at least look textured.  This technique is demonstrated by Jennifer McGuire in this video.  I was also inspired by the cards on this blog post.  Check these out! Excited much!

The beauty of these cards is that apart from the cat dies, you can use dot and circle stamps from pretty much any other stamp set you have.  You can use bakers' twine, string or yarn along with the cat dies or a stamp that looks long and twisted.  Almost any sentiment would work well, or a cat pun sentiment if you have one.  I love these cards and I will definitely be making more of these.  I would dare say they could be mass produced.  :)

It's simple enough, choose your colour scheme and go a little nuts, or keep it simple.  I stamped onto a card panel and adhered that to my card base, but you could make it an almost one layer card if you like.

Comment with pictures of your own cards for this World Card Making Day.  Remember, it's the thought that counts!

Happy Card making.