Cartwheels In My Mind

SEI greetings

 

I love to get new art goodies and was really excited to get the SEI Jocelyn collection.  There are so many great patterned papers in a huge variety of colors.  I loved the turquoise and orange papers and made 2 quick cards using that color combination and a few punches from my collection.  Although I wouldn't typically think of turquoise and orange as a fall color combo, when I added a little brown and some kraft paper, it really gave the cards a fall feel....and I see more fall projects using this combo in my future!

 

 

THANKS to SEI for sharing their amazing products with us.  I can't wait to see how some of the other Cartwheel girls use their stash!!

 

A New Addition.

We are so happy to share that one of our newest team members, Katie Haddox, had her baby! Baby Riley Jack Haddox arrived on September 29, 2010 and is beyond adorable with his full head of hair and sweet little face. :)

(photo from Katie's blog...you can read more about Riley here.)

To help Katie and her family celebrate, a few of us made baby cards for them...

Cheryl's Card:

Marcy's Card:

Cindy's Card:

Amy's Card:

Elizabeth's Card:

Rebekah's Card:

Katie, we're so happy for all of you and can't wait to see all the handmade projects and photos inspired by him. :)

Nice to Greet You.

It's time for all things spooky with Halloween in just a couple of weeks and with that in mind we crafted some greeting cards to help share the creepy and kooky excitement. 

This month I asked Danielle Flanders to join me in some card making since I have admired her work for a while. She absolutely outdid herself...love all the details on her cards!

 

Here's what Danielle had to say about making the card...

I decided to use 2 small Jenni Bowlin die cuts as the base of this card! So, I first decorated the front and then stitched them together on the left edge to create the card base. The feltie on the front is a Pink Paislee Doodad from the new Hocus Pocus line! Papers are Pink Paislee - Hocus Pocus and Sweetness, buttons are Jenni Bowlin and twine is from Studio Calico. I decided to create my own sentiment with vellum and my printer! Glue Arts has a vellum adhesive that is wonderful and that is what I used to attach it to my page.

 

Danielle's comments...

When I was looking through my stash, I found this polkadot paper and some banner stickers, which both reminded me of a party! (The polkadots reminded me of sprinkles!) My daughter's birthday is 2 days after Halloween, so we often have a Halloween themed birthday party for her and she loves it. I used a Melissa Frances resin frame, backed it with Hocus Pocus paper by Pink Paislee and added the Hocus Pocus stickers and metal badge. To create the curled paper, I cut skinny strips of paper and wrapped them around something really small...the point of my embossing stylus. The smaller you make them, the better they will stay because the large ones uncurl relatively easy. If you really want them to stay, you can wet the paper, curl it and let it dry overnight. Of course, with the dimension, this card may have to be hand-delivered....but I think the recipient would be delighted

Danielle's blog has so many more fantastic projects.

When it comes to Halloween I usually embrace all things cute so here's my take on "spooky" cards...

 

Various punches helped me make a Halloween night theme...and a little foam tape for dimension helps the witch fly past the moon.

 
These are little 3x3 cards to include with gift packages I'll be mailing out. Spritzes and splotches of black mist grunged up some cute orange gingham and the little office tag allowed me to use the jack-o-lantern image as an added detail.

Hope seeing these cards helps you get inspired to send some tricks or treats.

 
 

Kitschy Digitals Week, A Card Set

I have been a Kitschy Digital fan for awhile now, collecting up my very favorites designs from Danielle's great kits. When I saw the Calico Dream kit last month I had to get it right away...those patterns just spoke to my 1976 heart.  

I decided to make a little stationery set using the kits elements to design a flat note card...I printed it out on textured cardstock...

 

Altogether I made a set of four with matching seals...

 

And packaged up the set to giveaway...

 
I definitely will be turning to these patterns time and again...thanks Danielle for such great inspiration!

I'm actually giving the set away to a Cartwheels reader...please leave a comment on this post if you'd like the cards sent to your house. I'll pick a random winner on Sunday afternoon.

Nice to Greet You.

Maybe it's just me, but when the seasons begin to change I am drawn to a whole new set of colors. When fall comes around I love all things orange, brown and olive green and they tend to make their way into my projects along with other symbols of fall. 

That is what this edition of Nice to Greet You is about...fall colors and themes being incorporated into everyday greeting cards.

I used falling leaves to send a birthday sentiment...

 

And then a apples help decorate a thinking of you card...

 

This month I asked Lisa Truesdell to help me with the theme. I have always been a big fan of Lisa's work...she just comes up with the best details! 

Here are the fantastic cards Lisa put together with such great fall colors... 

 

 

Seeing these makes me want to go make more cards...and I'm hoping you're feeling inspired to start using fall colors too.

Nice to Greet You.

Have you bought your pencils? 

Is your backpack all ready?

It's just about time to go back to school and I have a few cards to help your kids and their teachers start a great year.

Last year I started giving my son's teachers a little "Happy First Day of School" gift and these are the cards going along with this year's presents.

 

Since I can't draw to save my life, I Googled "apple drawing" to find some clip-to trace.

 

I have a card ready to send with my son Mac on his first day of 7th grade.

 

I also made sure there was a little extra love on the back of the card.

And my husband is a junior high teacher too so I can't forget him. 

 

Hope this has helped give you some ideas of what you can sneak into a backpack or lunch box on the first day of school.