On the Cover!

I've been crafting all my life and got into paper crafting in 2001; then in 2002 I started my own wholesale card business, Card-Blanc. For this reason I am an idea book junkie and subscribe to about every magazine in the industry. I LOVE looking at and drooling over all the gorgeous cards, scrapbook pages and home decor projects and I often think that some of my creations could be in these magazines and idea books too.

This past New Year's Eve I made a resolution to get serious and start submitting my work. For some reason, I had thought that I would be discovered or something, that someone would just stumble across my work and publish it. Right! After submitting some of my cards I got a call for one of my Thanksgiving cards to be published by Scrapbook Trends magazine! I was so excited and couldn't wait until November when I would actually see my first card in print. However, a couple weeks later, the creative editor of CARDS magazine e-mailed to say that she had seen one of my Halloween cards in my galley over at Two Peas in a Bucket and wanted to know if I still had the card and if I'd send it in for publishing! Wow, sometimes you can be 'discovered' and now I had two cards that would be published! Hot dog!

Yesterday I thought it was close enough to October to see if CARDS had come out with their Halloween issue so I went to Archiver's to check. Imagine my surprise when there on the shelf was the issue I went looking for and my card was on the cover! I could hardly believe it or contain my enthusiasm! Thank you Alisha Gordon for recognizing my work and having faith enough in it to put it on the cover!

Hooked on Early Bird

Oh boy am I hooked on this new Cosmo Cricket line called Early Bird! What gorgeous patterns and colors, and the retro images and fonts! I think I'll be playing with these papers for a while! Here's my first two creations...enjoy! Oh, if you got to get your hands on some of this amazing paper, get over to Archivers. If you rather shop on-line, http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ carries it too.

Fifth Avenue

I've been making projects with this line of paper from Making Memories for over a year now and I still love it! Some paper lines get old after a while, but this one, Fifth Avenue, has staying power. Here's just a sampling of the projects I've created. If interested, you can purchase the card in the first photo and/or a 6"x6" stack of these gorgeous papers in my Etsy shop at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/.

2 Sketches 4 You

This week I decided to try making a card based on a sketch from the blog site 2 Sketches 4 You at http://www.2sketches4you.blogspot.com/. I used Kazan's 21 sketch and came up with this fun card for mother's day. I was excited that I could make this lovely card with scraps, everything except for the embellishments came from my scrap box. Cool, huh? And those little birds...are they not too adorable? Those are manufactured by Maya Road and can be purchased at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/. So you think you're not that crafty or don't have the time to make cards, no problem, this card is for sale on my Etsy site at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Sharing the Love

Yes, Valentine's Day has now past, but I'd like to share with you the sweetest little Valentine I received from my son. He came home from school last Friday so excited about exchanging Valentine's cards and treats with his classmates that he sat down at his art table in my office and began crafting away. When he was done he came over and handed me the adorable Valentine card photographed on this scrapbook page. I included the one I made for him as well, the blue one. It's these little moments that make life so sweet.

Scrap Ribbon Card

I found this funky and fun card idea while blog hopping and I HAVE to share it with you! These days I'm all about reducing, reusing and recycling so I was so thrilled to have stumbled upon this idea on Jennifer McGuire Ink, web address listed on the right. She used ribbon scraps to make a fantastic card! I thought I'd try one too! Mine didn't turn out quite as adorable as hers, but it's cute and you get the picture, right? Even the smallest pieces of ribbon will work and it doesn't have to coordinate! How cool is that? Happy scrappin'!

Class Valentine's Cards

Are the kids ready for Valentine's Day at school? Did they pick out their packs of Valentine cards yet? If not, here's a super simple Valentine design you can whip up at home in a hurry. With some colored construction paper or scrapbook paper, cut into 2 1/2" by 6" rectangles. An 8 1/2" by 11" sheet makes four cards. Use a two inch scalloped punch to make the white part of the card. A circle punch, heart punch or scalloped scissors will also work. The foam hearts I used are a Target Dollar Spot item and I didn't even use half of them! They are self adhesive so they're easy for kids to use. You could use other types of stickers too. Then with a rubber stamp, add a Valentine sentiment. The sentiment can be hand written as well. I added my sentiment by running my card stock through the printer before I cut it. Use whatever you have on hand. Finally I added a button to each heart to give it a little more pizazz. Happy Valentine's Day!

Making Valentine Cards

Do you make Valentine cards for anyone? Do you help you child make some for their classmates? Maybe this Valentine's day you could roll up your sleeves and give it a shot. I've been having a ball making cards this season with all the gorgeous new papers available.

The above cards are made from a line called 'Heart Attack' by We R Memory Keepers. They are so bright, cheerful and full of inspiration. So perhaps its time to make a trip to your local scrapbook store or craft center and remember what it was like to make Valentine's cards as a child!

Ready or not...

here comes Valentine's Day. Do you have a couple cards for your sweetie and for a few of your closest friends? And what about your child's teacher? It's not to late to log onto http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ to pick up a few things. Cards like this are in listed along with some pretty little gifts. Enjoy browsing!

Paper-Playground Scrapbook Kit

So, now that I have some scrapbook kits from Paper-Playground, I thought I'd whip up a thing or two to show off. Here's a fun Valentine I made. If you like the papers and ribbon I used for this project you have to log onto http://www.paper-playground.com/ to see their January kit! It's gorgeous with it's winter theme and cool blue colors. I've got to have it! Look at those adorable Melissa Frances mini frames that come with it!

Sew Much Fun!

Recently, while shopping at my favorite place, my home away from home...can you guess where that would be? Archivers, the Photo Memories Store! I found these cool stitching cards from Bazzill Basics. They're called 'In Stitch'z and they come in a variety of sizes and a large assortment of patterns from flowers and winter snowflakes to borders for your scrapbook pages.

While I was stitching away last night, making the above friendship card I was hit with a memory of doing an almost identical craft as a child. Remember those lace cards with holes punched in the chipboard that came with shoe laces? These are just as fun to do now as when you were a kid! The difference in these stitching cards is you use them as a template to pierce holes in your greeting card or scrapbook page and then stitch the design directly on your project. It's 'sew' simple!

If you would like to give these a try, I'm selling the four templates picture above in my Etsy shop at http://www.cardblanc.etsy.com/ in the supplies section. Additionally, I'm giving the photographed card away in a drawing. To enter, add a comment to this blog entry now through November 28th and I will randomly select one of those entries. Please check back to see if your entry was selected.