Retro VW Bus Birthday Card

I made this birthday card for my elementary through high school bestie. We graduated in 1971, and still manage to stay and in touch and meet for a long chat-fest a couple of times a year. Boy, we have had some fun times over the years, and I just love her to bits.

The graphics images came from Creative Fabrica, and I altered them in Affinity Photo.  Used my Starcraft Solo to print-2-cut the images.

Happy #69 Patty!

Learning Affinity Photo, after 20 years of using Photoshop

 I've been using/learning Affinity Photo now for over a year. I previously used Photoshop for well over 20 years, but was using an extremely old version. I no longer am able to use it, and refuse to pay monthly when I'm not a professional. I'm a crafter, so mainly use it to prepare photos and graphics for personal use and cutting with an electronic cutting machine.

I recently decided to try a couple of new techniques. I was able to do this in my cutting machine software, but wanted the ability to use brushes and text w/ swashes (ligatures). So, I headed over to YouTube and watched a tutorial for the text/swashes. 

I had seen a card (on Pinterest?), and decided to recreate it.

The hearts were made from the heart tool in the program. I changed size and perspective, and added the little balloon ties on the bottom. I used a water color brush to color them in, and a splatter brush on the background.

The text tutorial used the font "Hello Honey", which you can find personal limited usage of on dafont.com. In order to utilize the swash you will type your wording (no capitols; it won't work on a capital letter). Select the first letter of the word, and while it is highlighted, go to the top and select fi (You can also find it under the Typography heading in the Character panel). It means standard ligature (don't ask, I'm not a linguist). Look under All Alternates and select the one that looks like a leading swash. It will attach to that first letter. Then select the last letter and do the same. It's pretty cool how it works. Depending upon what font you use, your choices may be different. Haven't figured out how to add more than one swash, however, But, that's for another day.

I copied one of the balloons for the inside sentiment.

For the balloon string I typed a letter and did the swash, then rasterized the type and erased the letter, duplicated it and put the two pieces together.

I know that's all a bit too much for lots of people to deal with, but I'm just sharing in case someone is interested in knowing the details. Ya think this was just whipped up, but these things take so much more time than any of us imagine.

Have a great day, all!

Happy Graphicing! (new word?)

 

50 Years of Wedded Bliss

My sister and brother in-law recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. I made them this card. No pattern. Just added elements I thought they might like.

My Starcraft Solo cutting machine cut the small details of the doily with no issues at all. I used some preprinted canvas as the background and another smaller piece behind the top photo. All photos, the pink hearts and the photos were prepared first in Affinity photo, as was the little Happy Anniversary label. All were cut in the Solo using the print-2-cut technique. And, along the bottom of the card is some corrugated paper edged with lace.

The inside was also done with print-2-cut.

We celebrated with a family meal at the Brigantine Restaurant. It was a wonderful day.

Many, many more, Bob and Terry

Mario Brothers Birthday Card

This is a card I made for my grandson's 8th birthday. Like most kids his age, Mario Brothers is a big deal. The theme paper was purchased on Etsy.

This inside pop-up is a die set by Karen Burniston, called Photo Collage Pop-Up (1098). Also, I always give him alphabet cracker treats when he comes over, and write something different each week. So, I added a few photos of his treats on the background.

A little video to show the pop-up a bit better. So much color in this one that it's hard to see the dimension.

Mamma Mia! Here we go!

Halloween Houses - Scary!

 I made two Halloween houses this year. The first was the Bewitched Cabin from the Haunted Forest SVG Kit by SVG Cuts. It was really fun to make, and so satisfying. I added a changing color battery-operated tea light inside that changed the colors of the windows that were covered with colored vellum. There is a full step-by-step tutorial to help you assemble it. The roof comes off so that you can insert the tea light inside.

The second house was designed by Dreaming Tree. 

This one is so whimsical and just darling. It's called the Ghostly Guest House, and can be found at Dreaming Tree. There is a full tutorial to help you assemble it after you cut it out with your personal electronic cutting machine.

There was one thing I would do differently than the tutorial, that will make it much easier. Here is my suggestion. When putting the two side towers on the roof it is suggested in the tutorial to put them on after you have assembled the roof onto the house. I found it difficult to maneuver the tabs through the house. I recalled that when watching the tutorial Leo mentioned how strong the roof was after he completed it. So, as an alternative, I found that putting the towers on prior to attaching the roof onto the house works much easier, and does not alter the integrity of the roof/house assembly. So, here you will see that I have assembled these towers directly onto the roof, which is quite strong/stiff on it's own.

After the roof is completed, you can merely glue it onto the house structure (make sure to center it front to back). There is plenty of area for adherence, so there is no worry about it coming off. And, it will also hide the tabs of the towers so they won't show from inside (which you never really see anyway). There is a little door on the back that opens and closes with a little Velcro tab so that you can insert a tea light.

Please go try both of these houses. They are so fun, and you will be delighted at the result.

Don't go to the Haunted House alone!!!

Happy Halloween 2022

These small cards with gumby monster attached were made for my grandson's school mates. This was a free A4 card that I matted with black. I then added a small tag on the back (print-2-cut).

Happy Halloween!

Shutter Camera Box and Shutter Card

This was a really fun Project. I had made the Box Camera from SVG Cuts on another occasion. I had also made a separate shutter card. (posted below) I then had the idea to combine them, as cameras already have shutters. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Love the way this one turned out.

I made this box as a birthday gift for a good friend.

The small circle where it says "Oh Snap" has clear acrylic.

This is the first Box Camera I made with no shutter. This one has clear acrylic in the shutter area as well.

And, here's the shutter card by itself. Made for another friend's birthday. The pattern for the shutter card is a freebie from SVG Nation. There's a YouTube tutorial for assembly.

Made some little inserts on the inside. Just having fun trying different things out.

Smile! It's your day!

Fall Tags, 2022

The next yearly SCAL/ECAL/CREATE challenge is here. We were asked to make three fall-themed tags. I know I've said it before, but these challenges are not a competition, but just a fun way to share ideas.

My first tag was a little leaf wreath. I cut out mini leaves of assorted colors and types, and added a few acorns. I used a Happy Thanksgiving tag from one of my digital element packs.

Tag day 2 had me making an Autumn Gnome tag. This was my fave of the three. This was originally designed as wall decor, at 16.6" tall. I reduced the size to only 4.5" tall (3" wide), and it turned out so darling. Those leaf vein pieces were, at most, 1/32" wide. This cut file comes from Dreaming Tree. You can find the cut file here. There is a detailed assembly tutorial available.

And lastly tag day 3. No pattern for this one. Lots of print-2-cut and digital elements. Also a good amount of foam squares for dimension. Love that pumpkin spice!

And, that's a wrap for this fall's tags. We will be having our yearly Christmas tag challenge posting beginning December 1st. If you have a cutting machine (pretty much any one) and use either Scal, Ecal or Create software, join us and share your projects. We are constantly learning from each other and have a great time. eCal, SCAL & Create Users

Pumpkin Spice - The Spice of Life!

Easter Egg Luminary (60s version)

I loved making this Easter Egg Luiminary from SVG Cuts. It was so interesting. It seems a bit complicated to make at first, but just following the tutorial will show you how easy it really is. There's no guessing what gets glued to where, especially if you're using patterned paper panels. 

There are small tea lights that I set underneath where there is a hole. They are battery operated and constantly changing colors. You can see some of the colors the petals changed to in the following photo.

There's a larger panel around the bottom edge (five total panels), so I saved it as a png file, took it into my photo editing program (Affinity Photo). I designed the panel with a tie dye pattern, and put a different word on each one. When I finished, I opened it up in my cutting machine software and traced it. Then did a print-2-cut.

Thanks to Mary Bonk of SVG Cuts, who designed the egg so intuitively. I loved attaching the panels by an entire triangle, rather than regular tabs. It helped so much. It also helped that my egg had patterned paper, so there was no guessing when matching the triangle areas for gluing.

The top notch on the egg were individual images. I cut two of each (the ones with wording needed to be flipped and the words re-inserted so they'd print correctly). I got a very thin dowel and used floral tape to attach the floral wire.  I inserted it from the bottom into a small hole I made in the top. I glued the bottom of the dowel to one of the edges in the bottom to stabilize it, and let it dry thoroughly. The top of the dowel just barely came through the top hole. I cut the images using print-2-cut, and then cut the floral wire as I added the images so I'd get them at the proper height.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this. I'm sort of in love with it. It's so cheery that I get a little smile each time I look at it.

PEACE OUT, FRIENDS!

Mini Wallet Album

This mini wallet album was designed by Lori Whitlock. I made it for my niece's birthday. This was really a fun project to make, and used svg files and my new Starcraft Solo cutting machine (so cool!). I love the way it folds so efficiently. Many folios like this end up bulging and being too full to lay flat. But, this is compact and closes so cleanly. It is closed with an eyelet closure and twine.

I believe there are 17 photos in the wallet, but could be more if made like the cut file intended. There are mats for placing the photos, but I chose to put my photos in various frames that I put together in Affinity Photo. I then cut them using Print-2-Cut.

The digital paper I printed is B-Side from Basic Grey. I printed it with my wide format printer onto white A/C cardstock.

The accordion flaps fold into the wallet, the photos being placed on both sides.

Most of the photo frames came from the same B-Side digital papers/elements, and a couple from other paper packs.

The inside bottom flap has two pockets for which I made two tags with photos on both the front and back. Again, I designed these in Affinity Photo and p2c.

Ephemera was inserted from the same paper pack.

I will definitely be making this again. It's easy, fun and turns out just darling. You can find the cut file at Lori Whitlock Wallet Mini Album and the video tutorial on YouTube at Wallet Mini Album.

Hope you get a chance to make this fun project.

Pack a Lot of Fun in One Small Wallet!

Cards for June (Thank you, Father's Day and Birthday)

Here's a simple thank you card that was designed in Affinity Photo, Pretty simple. I made a few extras to have on hand.

The first is a birthday lemonade stand box card, the pattern coming from SVG Cuts. I used a shimmer pen on the lemonade and lemons. A fun summertime card!

Here's another box card, this one for Father's Day. This one came from Simply Crafty SVGs, and it's called Garage Workshop Popup Card. 

And, a thank you card that was made from some digital paper, and simply laid it out, added clouds and printed it out. Very simple.

Enjoy!

Sweet New Baby Card

I designed this card, and love how it turned out. And, as simple as it looks, it took hours to figure it all out. The bird image is printed directly on the inside of the card, a second copy of such being cut as a print-2-cut and placed over the one printed on the inside to give it dimension. It took some figuring out to get the ovals of the front of the card placed correctly and the pink inset oval. And, the text-on-a-curve on the front. I designed the card with images from Creative Fabrica.

Finally, I made this envelope and added another image from the same grouping as the previous ones. It was also done as a print-2-cut.

Welcome to the World, Eloise!

Orchid Gatefold Card

This beautiful Orchid Gatefold Card came from Dreaming Tree. I made it for my sister-in-law, whose husband passed. It was very satisfying to make, and I love the matching envelope.

It closes with the band with attached orchid.

You can find this cut file by clicking here: Orchid Gatefold Card

With Deepest Sympathy

Easter Treats!

I had so much fun making some Easter goodies for the grandboys. Firstly, I made this large Easter egg from the Sunshine Hobby Works' (no longer in business) Rooster Egg, having left off the comb, beak, wattle, tail, etc. I then made the Cracked Chick from Simply Crafty SVGs, leaving the bottom off and attaching it as a handle on the top of the egg.

Secondly, I inserted a simple little treat holder I made for their Easter egg. This was originally designed as an Easter bunny napkin holder by Dreaming Tree. I redesigned it as a Tootsie Roll Pop holder.

Next, I designed and made each of the boys a dexterity puzzle. There are about 12-13 layers around the edges. I just learned today of another way to do this, so I'm looking forward to trying it for a shaker card or dexterity puzzle in the future.

Finally, I made each of the boys a t-shirt using an Easter-related image.

Considering that all of the above items, as well as Easter socks, candies and some Peeps bandaids fit into the egg, it's a pretty large container, measuring, I believe, around 9.5" tall in total, with the opening across shown below being approximately 5".

Happy Easter!