Hidden Message Slider Card

Here's the card I sent to Joy of "A Place To Be Me" for August's One Card Swap. I wanted to try something new, but was stumped until I came across Michele's Hidden Message Slider Card posted on her blog, "My Simple Crafts". Michele had created the cutest sliding graduation card but I just could not figure it out. Being that I enjoy cards that move and slide and pop the most, I really loved this card. Did a search on the Splitcoast Message board and lo, and behold, found the instructions shared by Beate. (click on the link to the message board then scroll down to Beate's response for her link to the instructions)

For my card for Joy, I used a cut created using SCAL a digital bear image from Darcie Hunter and cut with Cricut, then chalked. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch, stickled and popped with some foam tape, and the rhinestone blings are from Photocraft. Sentiments are computer generated, font is DJ Doodlers, and rubber stamped flowers are from Dandelion Designs. Of course, I had to use Joy's favorite purple and my favorite pink! Pulling down on the tab at the bottom of the card makes the bear slide down to reveal the "hidden message" at the top of the card. Neat, huh. Looks complicated, but it's actually very easy! Hope Joy enjoyed her card as much as I had fun making it!

And if you think you might be interested in participating in the One Card Swap, pop on over to Teri's blog, "Big Ideas from a Little Girl" to sign up now for the month of September. It's really a fun swap and all it takes is one card you've made to participate and you too will have the opportunity to meet some of the nicest people ever.

August OCS and RAKs

Been getting a lot of "happy mail" recently and wanted to share...

I signed up for Teri's OCS (One Card Swap) again this month and was so excited to learn I had been partnered with Joy from A Place To Be Me! Her blog is such a fun place to visit because there's always something new... she has the cutest cards and projects and it's amazing how quickly she puts things together. I just love this Miss Anya card I received from her last week. Such an AWESOME card with a great color combo and embellishments! Joy used the "Out of Frame Technique" on this card to create the look of Miss Anya sitting in the nestie with her legs dangling...neat, huh. You can find the the link to the instructions for this technique on her blog. I'm gonna have to give this a try too. Thank you, Joy!

Next is a "Things I Love" Mini Envelope Book created and sent to me by my friend Patti Lee of Creations by Patti. All I can say is "Wow!" This little book is nothing short of AWESOME! All the stamping, cutting, crimping, gluing involved, all the attention to detail ... just amazing!

Here's the book opened...

The pages inside...

And these tabbed pages that slide out...super cool, huh. Thank you, Patti!

If you love this as much as I do, you can create your own with the tutorial Patti has posted on her blog. Thank you, Patti ... this is really a treasure!

And most recently, I received this lovely card, from my new friend, Kyoko of Cards and Tags Mania. I was lucky enough to meet Kyoko in person last month when she generously offered to share some of her very precious patterned papers with me. She is one of the warmest, sweetest people I have ever met!

Kyoko's card is my very first Magnolia stamped card...love the colors she chose for her and all the pretty layering. Really like how she accented her swiss dots embossed layer with silver ink ... can't wait to try that too.

And as if that weren't enough, Kyoko also sent along a whole bunch of Gorjuss Girls stamped images for me to play with! Thank you, Kyoko...you are the bestest!

It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful new friends I have made through this blogging network. Everyone is always so thoughtful and so generous in giving and sharing ... heartfelt thanks to all!

His Music Will Live On...

Okay, so this is not a card, but it was something I felt I needed to do for myself, to help me get through the shock and grief. I grew up together with the music of Michael Jackson. Rockin Robin, Dancing Machine, Thriller, Billie Jean... I loved it all. So when I learned of his untimely death in June, suddenly a part of me seemed to crumble away, leaving a feeling of sad emptiness. Adding a few of my favorite Michael Jackson music to my blog playlist helped some, but still the emptiness remained. I felt I needed to create something to help fill the void. I found this silhouette image of Michael and decided to try to replicate it with SCAL and Cricut. I was pleased with the result, and have decided to save it for when I finally get around to scrapbooking Michael's 1997 Aloha Stadium concert in Hawaii.

Happy Birthday, My Friend

This is the card I recently sent out to a new blogging pal, Patti Lee, of Creations By Patti. She is a multi-talented, super creative lady who makes the most beautiful cards and incredible projects ever. She never ceases to amaze me with what she comes up with! If you enjoy 3 dimensional paper crafts and things with an Asian flair, you will find so much to "ooh!" and "aah!" about at her blog.

I knew I wanted to do Patti's card in red (her favorite color) and with an Asian flavor. I found a pretty good source for free Chinese/Japanese characters online at The Japanese Connection, and chose to import the character for "friend" to Inkscape. Then I used SCAL and my Cricut to cut it out of Currency Gold cardstock.

To cut the circular window and frame, I used a circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities. For an added touch, I cut two identical frames, one in gold and one in red. On the red frame, I used a Fiskars hand held punch to punch tiny hearts on each scallop, then layered it over the gold frame so it would show through. I first saw this idea done on some super cute cards at Kreative Korner By Kelly. Such an easy and simple idea, but I love how it really adds a special something! (Thanks, Kelly!)

The two cute little girls peering from above the frame is an image from Whipper Snapper Designs. Colored them with Copics, cut out just their heads and arms, then used foam tape to pop them up over the frame.

Inside the card I layered red foil and gold cardstock cut with the Nestabilities Label Four dies and centered my character for "friend" so it would peek out the front window. Sentiments were cut using the Opposites Attract Font cartridge and then it was done!

Don't you just love it when you're able to use a lot of your tools to create a card? I used at least ten different tools to create this one. Ah, yes... justification for buying all that stuff I "really need"!