Different Drummer Christmas Card

Each year I make traditional Christmas cards: Tree and Ornament cards, Santa and Sleigh cards, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cards, Holy Family cards, Wise Men cards, Baby Jesus cards.

The card to the left is one of those traditional cards. Embossed notes on red paper with a bracket tag on top  stamped with an image of a little drummer boy and colored with Copics. "The Little Drummer Boy" was a favorite Rankin/Bass Christmas Special from my childhood so when I saw this stamp a few years ago I had to get it.

I've been getting a lot of use out of my old Xyron lately adhering full card fronts on card bases made with Papertrey Ink Basic White.

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I made a set of 3 cards using the Little Drummer Boy idea in a new way. When I was working on the Rock Star Rosie Benefit I downloaded a drum set from the Silhouette Online Store thinking I would use it to make thank you cards for people drumming up support. I never made those cards so I used the shape to make untraditional Christmas cards. Wishing a Rockin' Christmas to a Little Drummer Boy. The guitar was created from an outline of a guitar in the Rock Out set by Stampendous using the method described in my Lazy Snipper tutorial.  I forgot to tell the machine NOT to cut the text in those guitar and wasted a piece of cardstock and more time than I was interested in losing. Is there an oops or undo button on the Silhouette SD?

The card fronts on these cards are from the DCVW Rockstar mat stack. Black and metallic magenta are not  traditional Christmas colors but I know a few people would probably be happier with these cards than the first card.

So what do you think? Do you know a drummer who would appreciate these cards?

drum_set_C20091009222859_2581

InLinkz.com

Happy Crafting,

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Click here to help my son pay his own way through scouts. Order Trail's End popcorn using code 79936evan674 and great tasting treats will be delivered to your door.

Lawn Fawn Delivers Added Value

I love freebies, don't you? Sometimes getting something for nothing makes us feel smart because we "beat the system". I rarely get these kind of freebies. I am not good with the discount day + coupon + rebate way of getting stuff for free. 

Sometimes getting something for free makes us feel good. Someone gives you something just because they are nice. In my Etsy shop I always add something to someone's order. Buy a stamp set get an inspiration pack of papers or tags or even die cuts that go with the set. Buy a card set get a couple of tags. 

I call it being generous, my former employer called it added value. I was part of the advertising creative department. I set ads for small companies that didn't have an ad agency or a creative person on staff. Companies were not charged for my services but they were always happy when they saw what I had created for them. I had added value to their ad space purchase.

I recently purchased my first set of Lawn Fawn stamps, Quinn's ABCs. I love outlined letters. I've wanted an outline font for years, ever since I saw a card by Kristina Werner where she overlapped the edges and colored just the overlapped areas. It was beautiful, like all her work, and I wanted to try it myself so I when I saw this set by Lawn Fawn and saw the price I ordered them.

When I opened the package I was pleasantly surprised at the added value, niceness, generosity of these lovely people. I got an extra stamp and a HANDWRITTEN note, that included my name. That impressed the HECK out of me (yes I am now heck-less).  

The particulars

Paper: Stampin' Up! (SU) blush blossom, Perfect Plum, patterned paper DCWV Rock Star Stack

Stamps: My Favorite things, Lawn Fawn

Embellishments: Buttons by SU, Small flower punch SU, Large flower cut with Silhouette.

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Happy Crafting,

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WOYWW and a Garbage Man Page

Most of today was spent in the garden. I moved the path and cleaned up a year of neglect and a day of bush removal. I did get 2 crafty things done today though. I finished a spread for "my lil Garbage Man" and I sorted all the cards that I've made but not sent or sold.

I was planning on having a booth at a local craft fair later this month but my son's initial first communion prep gathering is the same day and I will not be able to go. So I am putting the cards up on Etsy in packs just to clear the house. The packs are made from cereal boxes and can be made with the printing on the outside or raw with the greyish cardboard on the outside.

The envie full of Card Fronts and Recoverable Cards contains partial cards that just need to be finished. If I designed the whole thing I will sell it (or attempt to) if someone else did (these are from my days as a Stampin' Up! demo) I will donate them to WINGS (Women In Need Growing Stronger) for sale in their shop or to use in the program.

I have some questions about selling cards in packs and would appreciate your feedback.

1. How many is appropriate? 6, 8, or 10? Ten is the max I can fit in the boxes, with envies of course.
2. Would it be better to sell a variety pack, a pack of the same card, or a pack with a variation on the same theme (similar look with different sentiments)?
3. Would you prefer a printed or a raw package? I will offer customers the option of either just wondered what YOU want.

my lil Garbage Man

I have wanted to do this page for a long time but there really aren't any garbage truck embellishments out there - I looked. When I saw Allison's garbage truck card and found out that I could get this wonderful Richard Neuman image for myself I knew it was time to do the page. 

I printed out the image on Stampin' Up! Whisper White cardstock and then sprayed it with a sealer. I wanted to see if I could painted it and didn't want the ink to run. I used watered down ink on the dirt and decided I didn't want that effect for the whole piece. I moved on to markers. I used Regal Red and So Saffron because they went with the paper I had chosen so well. The paper is Gumballs from the Aged and Confused™ Sublime Collection™ by Basic Grey. The sealer gave the garbage truck a cool texture that I really liked for the subject. After I finished coloring it I took a step back and thought - this is entirely too clean. I fixed that problem by sponging on a bit of Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

I used a black textured paper or unknown origin behind the truck so it would pop. Then a bit of kraft cardstock and a bit of wood patterned paper from DCWV. I made sure the colors were represented on the facing page even if the textures were not. The chip board letter stickers were inked with black Distress Ink to alter their color, the green ledger paper just wasn't working. I have had the stickers so long that the sticky was no longer sticking so I used a bit of Scotch Scrapbooker's Glue. I love that there is a wide end and a very small end just perfect for detail work. I also like that the small end doesn't get clogged. Plus with this glue even thin paper doesn't pucker.

Well it's no longer Wednesday and I really need to get some sleep. I have to be alert tomorrow for parent/teacher conferences. And, the world needs more lerts.

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Happy Crafting,
Katie

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Click here to help my son
pay his own way through scouts
order Trail's End popcorn
use code 79936evan674
and great tasting treats will be
delivered to your door.

The Birth Control for Asthma

This is what the nurse at the allergist called Asmanex, and darned if she isn't right. I haven't been feeling good for the last several days and they gave me a prescription for the Asmanex inhaler and BAM. In one day I already feel better, not perfect but much better.

Plus the drug company, Schering-Plough, gives you the first one FREE. And if you are having trouble affording it you can contact them for help. I didn't look into that because the first one's FREE and I hope to have a job within the month. If not, well I may be calling that handy number on their website.

If I don't use the inhaler the asthma flares up and the allergies go all haywire.
If you don't use birth control and are sexually active you might get one of these in the mail.

This card wasn't made for a challenge other than, "Kate, you should really use some of these stamps and pattern paper scraps you have lying around here." It's been a long time since I opened the baby box and it's time I did because baby cards are fun. This one is really simple but was still fun to make.

So what do you have lying around that you haven't touched in a while that you could make into a card? I'd love to see what you come up with so link your creations back here.

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The card stock is Stampin' Up Certainly Celery. The patterned paper is ancient Die Cuts with a View (link is similar but not the same.)
The sweater, booties and bottle are all Rubber Stampede. The pin and duck are from an old foam mounted All Night Media set. The sentiment in the circle is by a Hampton Art stamp by Kolette Hall, I got from the Micheal's dollar bin. The
"Congratulations" sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration set Congrats (2009)

Now off to bed.

Happy Crafting,
Katie