2018 Cards: No Stamps Needed. Two Birthdays and a Retirement

While I started my cardmaking journey by stamping, there are so many more paper options now that have great textures and images that I often just use the papers and diecuts in my cards. Don't get me wrong, I will always love my stamps! 

For the Dream Big card ( for my son's 25th birthday which I still can't believe!) I used a paper from the DCWV "Confetti" stack, a diecut I cut using the "Graphically Speaking" cartridge from Cricut, and a foiled transparency from Michaels as my main pieces. 

I cut the "Dream Big" die from gold metallic paper and layered in on a black printed scrap. The card is Onyx metallic Stardreams, layered with the foiled transparency and a panel from the birthday sentiment page of the "Confetti" stack. 

I used the same birthday sentiment paper and the foiled transparency on this Crown Card. 

I layered the crown using the printed paper and a solid pink paper.

Bad lighting I know. I layered a scrap of the transparency on a panel of the pink paper, added a torn scrap and strips of gold scraps. 

You need neither stamps nor a cutting machine though if you want to make cards! For this Retirement card, I simply cut the sentiment out of a page of sentiments in a stack by Craft Smith ( $5 Hot Buy at Michaels!) which coordinated with papers from the "Eclectic" stack by DCWV. I cut the foiled base panel to size and then trimmed and layered the sentiment panel as shown. Finished with oversized self adhesive rhinestones. 

Cards can get expensive. Have you priced them lately?! But between the $5 Hot Buy stacks which Michaels has regularly, 40-50% off coupons and/or sales on stacks at Michaels and JoAnn's, you can easily whip up a LOT of cards for a fraction of the cost. 

Cardmaking: Cupcake Birthday Cards, First Cards of 2018

I've been easing back into the creative world with the New Year, but January always starts off fast with several birthdays, including a big one for my son later this month. 

The first card  is for a couple whose birthdays are a day apart, so I made them a joint card with one birthday cupcake for each.  The other is for my brother in law and the colors and style worked for him so easy peasy. 

I stashbusted my paper supplies and used one sheet each of :

• Flocked damask paper
• Acetate sheet with gold script
• Antique gold glitter paper
• Gold and white foiled paper
• Black cardstock, matte and metallic

Along with:

• Foam dots 
• Self adhesive acrylic rhinestones
• Coordinating washi tape

I was a Girl Scout so "make new friends but keep the old" is a thing with me and that applies to tools too, so for this one I used my "old" Cricut Expression I've had for years (while I've acquired other machines) but it still works like a charm and I bought those cartridges for a reason! I used an image from the Damask Decor cartridge. Not going to lie , I dream about a black Cricut Explore Air 2 machine (hear that Cricut people...just sayin') . 

I cut the base layer cupcake in black matte and the top in the white and gold foil paper . I like layering images using foam dots, and offsetting them slightly for depth. 

While the images were cutting, I cut my panel layers, and layered as shown: 

Once my panel was finished I attached it to the card base which I'd cut from metallic black cardstock , and then attached the cupcakes, finishing with a self adhesive gold dot. 

The second card followed a similar process, I just changed up the paper combo a bit.