Swappin' Sistahs Card Swap - My turn for torture!

Note: We have a "name" now - we are the Swappin' Sistahs. I'll try to add this into my post titles from now on! :)

It was my turn to send the supplies this month so I headed to my LSS and picked up 2 SEI sets of paper and embelishments. I was the December sender (he he, that rhymes!) so the ladies got some extra supplies as a cheery holiday surprise!

I made two cards! Up first is this one - I used paper and acrylic brads from the SEI Winter Song collection and a stamp from the G Studio (AKA Michaels $1 bin). The scalloped edge comes from the special blade I picked up for my Fiskars rotary paper cutter. Even though I plunked down $40+ for a nice Purple Cows Cutting set (the freestyle mouse) I still prefer my rotary cutter. It probably has something to do with my poor dexterity and obsession with straight cuts! ;)

You might notice that I actually layered my card. Impressive, no? I used my new Cuttlebug die to cut out the intricate squares and made them into stickers...using the Xyron Create a Sticker 250 this time. :P While the paper is part of a Christmas collection, I really don't feel like the card is overly Christmassy. Thoughts?

The second card is also a thank you card, noticing a theme yet? The card uses paper and embellishments from SEI's Moravia collection which also came from my LSS. I actually had a dream that lead to this layout. (Don't ask, it's better that way!) I resisted the urge to put this on a solid background and went with the "subtle" pp approach. It's not too patterny and it seems to ground the lines under the copper panels well.

With the exception of the G Studio stamps (again, Michael's $1 bin) and embossing powder, I didn't add anything from my collection. I did cheat a little though. I used ribbon that I had from the Moravia set...but not ribbon that I sent out to everyone. Is that really cheating though? :) Also, I'm admitting to a cover-up mission. The oh, so, cute button embellishment is covering my crappy stamping/embossing job on the Thank you image, where there were supposed to be flowers there were roundish blobs. But I meant to do that! ;)

Hope you enjoyed my cards now head on over to the others' blogs so you can see their wonderful creations!

Belinda

Ren-Yi

Laurie

This month is Ren-Yi's turn to send out supplies and I can't wait to see what she's going to challenge us with!

Fearless four card swap!

Here it is. My "card". Boy howdy, there's a lot on this beast! (Ok, for me, this is a lot of stuff on one piece of paper!)

I, being the queen of thrift, only added things that I got at garage sales or on clearance. I also decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to try my hand at making a sheet card for someone.

Here's what I did...I used the fun glittery polka dotted paper on the top and bottom. the strip on the bottom is a bit wider, it's to help ground the card. Then I cut out two of the brown dots that were on the edge of the page, I used these, with the blue brads, to "attach" the ribbon that says "Thank you" on it. Because the ribbon was very light (in color and weight) I used the plain white ribbon I received to up the opacity of the ribbon. Otherwise, the blue paper made it too hard to see what was written on the ribbon. (I guess, since I was using the ribbon as my sentiment, it was important to be able to read it!)

I accented the back with some of the cut out glittery dots and the super cute metal flower I had been given. All of it was carefully designed with the pocket fold in mind! I popped the card into its new home and carefully attached more "thank you" ribbon to the front. I used a huge flower with a bright pink "dot" of a brad to hold/hide the ribbon's end. To seal the card I used a piece of double sided tape that I destickified with my finger. (I wanted it to hold the pocketfold shut, not permanently attach it to itself!)

After all of that hard work, I defaced it by writing on the back and sent it to Laurie and Steve as a thank you card from the NY Marathon!

Be sure to check out the other's crafty surprises!

Laurie

Belinda

Ren-Yi

December is my month to send out the supplies to the other girlies so I'm looking forward to what they do in their next swap posts!

The first of many "card swap" posts

I am happy to bring you the first of many card swap blog posts. Laurie, Belinda, Ren-Yi, and I are now on a crafty adventure! Laurie and Belinda are exhilarated and enthused. (Of course, they've been entering card competitions!) Ren-Yi and I are just frightened! (But eager, we did agree to this!) So, here's how it works: each month one person sends the same supplies to the other three people and we all post our creations using the same supplies. This is month one, I promise nothing.

So these are my cards. I recently bought an embossing tool and some buttons so I used those on the cards for the first time. Oh, and thanks to my CutterBee piercing bug, that is real stitching on the lower card. :)

I like the one with multiple buttons better. I used a nice blue and green pattern with the buttons and actually sewed them to the paper (the glue was failing me). The one with the star on would have looked better if I had used an embossing powder that was visible to the human eye. But, hey, I'm calling it a "creative decision" and chalking it up as a "learning experience". In other words, I'm not going to emboss on paper that has already been glued to the card anymore!

The supplies we were sent (that I wasn't smart enough to photograph) were 2 6x6 patterned papers, a green paper star, a length of blue ribbon, and some green and yellow square brads. I didn't use the ribbon or brads and I have a sliver of paper left. I may be posting another card soon! :)

Hope you are enjoying this little adventure of ours! I know I am!

Steph

The blog list, so you can see what the others have created for your viewing pleasure!
Belinda
Laurie
Ren-Yi
Stephanie