Psalm 69:30 Fan Fold Card

I really enjoy fun fold cards, and I was thrilled to see this fan fold card file posted in my Silhouette Card Making and Paper Crafts group by Nicky Viner. The original file is a bit taller than I wanted for my envelopes, so I resized the file to fit an A2 envelope. 

The verse I chose for this set of cards for the shut ins at my church is Psalm 69:30. The full verse reads: I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving (NIV). Isn't that a fitting verse for this season of Thanksgiving when we should be especially mindful of thanking God for all our many blessings? I love the quote: "Our lives should be full of both thanks and giving." Both should be motivated by all God has done for us in Christ. 

I chose some fall-colored papers for these cards:

Here's what the card looks like when flat: 

I added a panel to the back for a message:

Here's the size difference between the original file and the resized version I made:

Challenges I'm entering: 
 

Cut It Up (cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com): Thanks or Thanksgiving (1/1; ends Nov. 16)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with option of fun fold

Anything Goes With a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #45 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold Top Pick Winner ll/25; I chose the Whale Done SU! stamp set as my prize; stamp set arrived 1/7/23

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks/Thanksgiving (2/5; ends Nov. 21)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of fall colors (5/6; ends Dec. 4)

The Diva's that cut ....paper!: Birch Press for an "Anything Goes" November (die-cut-divas.blogspot.com): ATG using die cuts (including those made on cutting machines like my Silhouette Cameo 4) (3/4; ends Nov. 30)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with option of words of thanks 6/8; ends Dec. 2)

Thanksgiving Place Card

I recently had the joy of hosting a woman from my Bible study and 4 of her daughters for a fall-themed paper crafting session at my house. I had several types of cards for the girls to assemble as well as 20 place cards for them to decorate for their Thanksgiving dinner (I had asked their mom ahead of time how many people they would need place cards for). I had some chipboard elements and some Thanksgiving stickers I had printed and cut out using my Silhouette Cameo as well as some die cut leaves, pumpkins, etc. the girls could use to decorate their place cards. Their mom told me that she isn't very crafty, and this was a blessing to her girls. It was a lot of fun, and I'd like to do more of these sessions in the future. I have so many craft supplies and would love to share them! 

I used a cut file on my Silhouette Cameo for the place cards and the layer for the names. I made a few sample place cards to show the girls including one below for my grandson Sawyer. He was born in July, so it's his first Thanksgiving! I used the Cremona font in Silhouette Design Studio to spell out his name and then sized it to fit on the front of the place card. I thought the phrase "You're the cutest pumpkin in the patch" fit him perfectly, so I adhered that to the place card and added a bit of twine to it. 

Here's the back of the place card:

Side view: 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Paper a la mode challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com): Thankful (I'm definitely thankful for Sawyer! He's brought so much joy to our family since his arrival!) Winner 12/2/22; Sponsor Jan's Digi Stamps; emailed Katrina on 12/3/22; copied on an email to Jan on 12/4/22

Outlawz Challenges: Monthly linky

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com): ATG with optional twist of Journal page

Word Art Wednesday: ATG

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG with optional twist of words of thanks

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends Nov. 20)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks/Thanksgiving

The Corrosive Challenge Blog!! (corrosivechallengesbyjanet.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends Dec. 3)

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends Nov. 16)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (1/3; ends Nov. 17)

You Are SUB-Lime Fun Fold Card

My youngest child is in the Navy's nuclear power program. The Navy's nuclear program is a very intense, challenging course of study, and my daughter has made it through the first two phases of the program and is currently in the last phase where she spends her days on a decommissioned submarine learning the hands-on jobs she'll be doing once she enters the fleet. My husband and I are so proud of all her hard work and perseverance, and with the program ramping up in intensity, I wanted to send a special card to encourage her. Never mind that I just sent a care package with homemade chocolate chip cookies, a Thanksgiving card, a painting to remind her of our trip to Petoskey last time she was home on leave, and a dish towel with the state of Michigan on it along with icons for the various cities (like tulips for Holland and cherries for Traverse City). I can never send her too much encouragement, right? You moms out there understand, I'm sure! 

I have been wanting to use this cute submarine digi I won recently from Pretty Cute Stamps. One of the sentiments that came with the digi was "Have a SUB-lime day," so that gave me the idea to modify that to "You are SUB-lime" using the Antonio font in my Silhouette Design Studio software. Emily really is SUBLIME! She's brilliant, kind, beautiful, and caring. (And of course I'm not at all biased!) Seriously, though, she has a beautiful heart and looks out for everyone around her. 

The idea for this card design came from Rae Burnett, one of the DT at the Creative Creases Challenge. Her card for challenge #45 featured this Half Star Card design (using beautiful snowflakes). You'll want to check it out here: Stars, Illusions and Creases | Wild West Paper Arts. It's absolutely stunning!

I followed the tutorial Rae linked on her blog and then created a cut file for the card elements using my Silhouette Design Studio software. I chose cardstock with an ocean theme and adhered it to a base made with white cardstock. Then I printed a few of the submarine digis in different sizes to see what worked best and colored the sub using a silver metallic marker and a Copic marker.  I ended up fussy cutting 3 portholes from another printed copy of the submarine and using foam tape to pop them up on the submarine after adhering the tiny pictures I printed for the porthole peekers. The pictures had to be extremely tiny (.75 inch circles if you can believe it!). I chose the following pictures: our family dog Smoose (he's a 125-pound Harlequin Great Dane that Emily picked out for our family from a shelter in 2020), Emily on the day she graduated from Nuclear Power School (phase 2 of the program and a huge accomplishment), and Emily's best friend Noah giving a thumbs up. I thought those pictures would lift her spirits. She really misses both her dog and her best friend. I plan to use this half star card design again in the near future for my shut ins because it's such a fun, unique design. 

Front view standing up:

Lying open:

View from above the card. You can see the "half star" from this perspective:

First side view:

Second side view:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Anything Goes With a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #45 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold. Thanks for the inspiration for this card design, Rae!

TIME OUT Challenges: Challenge 226 -- Words: My daughter has both a good head and a good heart! C5

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with option of fancy folds or cuts Top Rocker November Week Two

Challenge – Dare 2B Artzy Blog: Non-birthday

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Thinking of You

 

Snowman Slimline Christmas Card

This month at The Outlawz Progressive Challenge, participants were given this adorable snowman by Wink, Wink Ink. We were gifted both the black and white and pre-colored versions of the snowman, and I chose to use the pre-colored version for this slimline card.

After using the print and cut feature on my Silhouette Cameo, I adhered the snowman with foam tape to pop him up a bit. I chose some snowflake dies and die cut a variety of dies out of various shades of blue. I added a few pearls and then die cut the Merry Christmas sentiment using silver glitter card stock and a Lawn Fawn die. 

For the inside of the card, I used an A2 snowflake embossing folder and ran the paper through twice to cover the entire panel (the downside of slimline cards for me is that most of my EFs are for A2 or A6 cards rather than slimline cards). I heat embossed the Stampin' Up! Merriest Moments "Thinking of you this festive season" sentiment using Versamark ink and silver embossing powder and then die cut it using a Spellbinders die. I added a die cut snowflake by the sentiment to finish off the inside. 

A close up of the embossing:

Close up of the snowflakes:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Tuesday Color challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-tuesday.blogspot.com): monochromatic blue with twist of snow

Outlawz Challenges: monthly linky

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com): Christmas or ATG (1/3; ends Nov. 24)

Order Now to Save 40% on Fifty Blitzday Products plus Weekly Sketch Ch – MFT Stamps

Grab Some Cocoa, Put On Some Holiday Tunes, and Play Along with a Very – MFT Stamps

Progressive freebie challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-freebie.blogspot.com)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG 

ABC Christmas Challenge: X is for Extra Special 

Ellibelle's Corner (simplyellibelle.com): ATG 

The Paper Shelter: Bling (I used silver glitter paper, pearls, and silver embossing)

As You Like It Challenge: Favorite Non-traditional Christmas colors and why: I love blue and silver as a Christmas color combination because it's so elegant! It's a nice change from green and red. (1/3; ends on Nov. 23) Random winner 11/24/22. Lawn Fawn sponsor. Emailed AsYouLikeItChallenge@hotmail.co.uk 11/24/22. 

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends Nov. 17)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends Nov. 25)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge (trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (1/5; ends Nov. 17)

Art Impressions Blog (artimpressionsstamps.blogspot.com): Diamonds and Pearls (1/2; ends Nov. 23) Random winner 11/24/22. Emailed Feedback@artimpressions.com on 11/24/22 regarding my stamp set prize. Leah emailed me back and said I could choose a stamp set of my choice, so I chose the "Catastrophy" set, and it shipped on 11/30/22.

Word Art Wednesday: ATG

The Corrosive Challenge Blog!! (corrosivechallengesbyjanet.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends Dec. 3)

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with embossing; optional twist of wreaths (1/3; ends Nov. 23)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends Nov. 17)

Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero: November Challenge | Hero Arts: The Great Outdoors

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of fall colors (3/6; ends Dec. 4)

The Diva's that cut ....paper!: Birch Press for an "Anything Goes" November (die-cut-divas.blogspot.com): ATG (2/4; ends Nov. 30)

Happy Little Stampers: Christmas Challenge: ATG Christmas

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

Birthday Fun Fold Card

The idea for this fun fold card came from Beth McCullough's blog here: Search Results for “peaceful deer gift card holder” (stampingmom.com). I made a cut file for the card in my Silhouette Design Studio software and used the colors from Double Trouble's Thing 1: green, yellow, and orange. I also added some doodles to the front to follow the theme at the Passion For Markers Challenge. I am really bad at doodling though and covered up some of them with the "Sending Birthday Blessings" sentiment because I thought they looked like a kindergartner drew them😂! I'll have to work on my doodling skills! 

I used Copics markers, Wink of Stella, and an orange glitter marker to color the images stamped from Stampin' Up's Fond of Autumn bundle. I die cut the images with the dies from that bundle and popped up a small leaf and acorn with foam tape to give it some dimension. The sentiments are also adhered with foam tape. I die cut my friend's name using a Gina Marie Designs die. 

Instead of a gift card, I put a coupon for a free lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in the pocket:

Side view: 

Close up of the black doodles I added around the stamped image:

Back of the card when opened: 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Passion for Markers (promarkerchallenge.blogspot.com): Add some doodles  Random Winner 11/8/22 3 digis from the Paper Shelter and Top 5 Winner, also (Emailed choices of digis on 11/8/22; digis arrived 11/15/22)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends Nov. 8)

Crafty Gals Corner (craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com): Halloween Colors (3/3; ends Nov. 9)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with optional twist of the colors of autumn

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/10; ends Nov. 9)

Festive Friday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-friday.blogspot.com): Christmas, animals, food or drink or birthday

Outlawz Challenges: monthly linky

Crash your Stash challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-stash.blogspot.com): Floss or twine (the coupon has twine tied to it to pull it out of the pocket😃)

Twisted Thursday Challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-thursday.blogspot.com): ATG 

Crafty Catz (craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of 3 or more layers

Anything Goes With A Fun Fold for Creative Creases #44 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends Nov. 17)

Allsorts challenge blog: Sparkle and Shine (I used Wink of Stella on my yellow flowers and an orange glitter marker on the berries) (1/3; ends 11/10)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 11/17)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG (1/8; ends at the end of the month) Top Rocker November Week 1; Front Porch Winner 12/4/22: 3 Connie Fong digi stamps. I chose: Christmas Gnome Stack, Snowman and Birdie Friends, and Purrfect Kitties 12/4/22

Double Trouble Paper Crafting (doubletroublechallenge.blogspot.com): Thing 1: green, yellow, and orange; (1/4; ends Nov. 20)

Happy Little Stampers: Birthday Challenge: ATG Birthday

Give Thanks to the LORD Gap Cards #SUYSNov2022

Last month I heard about a monthly program called "Sheet Load of Cards" by Call My Crafty Al on YouTube. Each month, Crafty Al provides a template for viewers to make a set of cards using only a few sheets of 12X12 patterned card stock and some plain letter-sized card stock for the main details of the cards. I make a lot of sets of cards for various groups of people, so I was intrigued by this idea and loved the way Crafty Al economizes on paper usage in her templates. I was able to use this month's Sheet Load of Cards template to create a set of cut files in my Silhouette Design Studio software so that I didn't need to cut and/or score each sheet manually. I had to resize the template slightly since the cutting area in the Silhouette software is slightly smaller than 12x12, but reducing it to 97% did the trick!

This is what's called a "Gap Card" because the bottom isn't directly connected to the top. There's a small strip cut out of the card base (which I plan to recycle and use for a sentiment strip on a 5X7 card), and the bottom part of the card is then connected to the card base by 2 elements: the rectangle that spans the two halves of the card and the circle with the sentiment on it. 

My Silhouette Cameo did most of the work for these cards: card bases, matting strips, patterned cardstock strips, and a print and cut of the sentiment circles. I used a Gina Marie Designs die to cut out the doily behind the sentiment circle, and I added some twine that was adhered to the doily die cuts by the foam tape on the back of the sentiment circles. I created the word art in Silhouette Design Studio but in hindsight wish I had chosen a different font for the "Give thanks to the" and "for His love endures" parts of the word art. Originally I had the verse sized a lot bigger, and then it was easier to read. Once I sized it down to fit on the doily die background, those parts became much more difficult to read. I'm thinking about doing another set of cards using this pattern now that I'm designed the cut files needed, and I think I'll have a die cut or stamp on the circle (or maybe a one-word sentiment like "Thanks") and put the main sentiment on the inside of the card.

If you'd like to try this card design and make your own "Sheet Load of Cards," here's a link to the video with the pdf download: November 2022 SheetLoad of Cards | Debut & FREE Printable | Split Panel Cards #SLCTNov2022 - YouTube If you play along, you can use #SUYSNov2022. 

Side view:

Close up of the verse:

Front view:

Each of the 6 different designs (the instructions make 3 of each of these 6 designs):

My November Sheet Load of 18 cards:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge -1st to the 25th every month: Give Thanks or Encourage a Friend (1/5; ends Nov. 25) Top Three Pick 12/1/22

The Diva's that cut ....paper! (die-cut-divas.blogspot.com) ATG (1/4; ends Nov.30)

Crash your Stash challenge (theoutlawzchallenges-stash.blogspot.com): Twine or floss (2/3; ends Nov. 14)

https://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Thanks or Thanksgiving (1/5; ends Nov. 9)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (ends Nov. 9) Top 3 Honors 11/9/22

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with optional twist of the colors of autumn (1/6; ends Dec. 4)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Thankful/Blessings/Grateful (1/3; ends Nov. 13)

{Cupcake Inspirations}: ATG (1/3; ends Nov. 12)

Double Trouble Paper Crafting (doubletroublechallenge.blogspot.com): Thing 1: ATG Thing 2: Linked up with your partner Cupcake Inspirations😃(1/4; ends Nov. 7)

Dream Valley Challenges: Dies and/or Punches (1/3; ends Nov. 12) C10

Pop Up Book Cards

I love fun fold cards, and when I saw this design in a FB group, I immediately checked out the instructions for it on Lisa Curcio's blog and created a Silhouette Design Studio cut file for it. If you'd like to find some inspiration for fun folds, check out her blog here: Blog - Lisa's Stamp Studio (lisasstampstudio.com). I'm already working on converting another one of her fun folds into a Silhouette Studio cut file and will undoubtedly find several more to try. 

I had some pretty fall papers I wanted to use, and this card design is great for that! I made one thank you card for a friend and 3 thinking of you cards for some hospice patients my cousin visits weekly who will hopefully enjoy a lovely seasonal card. 

The sentiments are from Stampin' Up! sets: "thank you" is from Fond of Autumn and "thinking of you" is from Ringed with Nature. The die I used to cut out the sentiments is from the Potted Geranium bundle. I used my MISTI to stamp the sentiments. It's great to be able to restamp in the same place, especially when using textured paper like I used here that sometimes doesn't get a clear impression the first time. 

Inside the cards, I embossed a panel using Paper Studio's leaves EF for the thinking of you cards and then used a die from SU!'s Fond of Autumn in the thank you card. All 4 cards have chipboard sentiments on the panel I left blank for a message. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with embossing (twist of pumpkins) 

TIME OUT Challenges: Thankful (one of the cards is a thank you card) C5 (ends Nov. 1)

Anything Goes With A Fun Fold for Creative Creases #44 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold

InspirationStation (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): Pumpkin photo inspired the use of these pumpkin design papers

Through The Craft Room Door (ttcrd.blogspot.com): ATG (4/4; ends Nov. 8)