Dollar Frame Creation

Some time ago, I bought this frame at Salvation Army. SA is my go-to place to find discarded items that I can breathe new life into. The frame had never been used and only cost me one measly dollar....just one dollar!

  I removed the back, glass, mat and the word "home".

 There was a thin sheet of styrofoam under the mat just to raise it up a bit, which I liked.

 I found a sheet of flowered scrapbook paper and glued it on to a piece of cardboard under the styrofoam. I printed out the verse on my computer then cut it out, using a rectangle die... but you could just cut it out with scissors too. I cut a slightly larger rectangle out of gold metallic cardstock, glued the verse and cardstock together and added some foam dots to the back to get a raised effect.

 For the bottom window, I used my Bigshot to cut out the vine and flower die cuts. I glued them into place and added some little metal centers.

This made a great gift for a dear friend!

Here's where I'll be sharing:
Happiness is Homemade   What's for Dinner   Nifty Thrifty Sunday  That DIY Party  Amaze Me Monday   Mix it up Monday  Make it Pretty Monday  Cooking and Crafting with J and J   Busy Monday  Keep it simple Monday  Show and Tell   Warm Heart  Tasty Tuesday  Dagmar's Home  Delicious Dishes  Talk of the town Waste Not Wednesday   Thrifty and Vintage Finds Share Your Style  Create it Thursday Creatively crafty  Full plate Thursday  The Handmade Hangout    Foodie Friday   Friday Features  Home Matters  Dare to share Sat   Saturday Shuffle  Saturday Sparks  Hello Fall linky party Wordless Wednesday
  Image-in-ing 

Cutting out the middle man...

Recently, I discovered some very inexpensive cutting dies for cardmaking on Amazon. I did some research and found that they are shipped directly from China.

I was hesitant because of the price but decided to order one and check out the quality:

When it arrived, I was very pleased with the quality and it cut beautifully. It was very comparable to the high-priced brand dies I have. Can you believe the price includes shipping!
The only drawback is how long it takes to get here from China (on a sloooow boat) lol. Four or five weeks......but heck, I'm not in any hurry and at these prices, I can buy several.
Next, I ordered this one that I had seen selling name brand on Amazon for $14.36.

Again it cuts well! these are sturdy, metal dies...and the direct cost for this one - $3.54.

 The package is only a vinyl envelope which concerned me at first but I have purchased many, many more and nothing has come damaged.

So if your not in a hurry for great dies and stamps this is the way to go!
Any questions?

Heres where I'll be sharing:
Happiness is Homemade  * Sundays at Home  * Sunday's Best * Smell good Sunday * What's for Dinner  *  Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Family Joy * That DIY Party * Busy Creative You *
 Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J * Show and Share *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday *Show and Tell *  Warm Heart * Totally Terrific Tuesday *W.A.Y.D.2018 Blog Hop * Tasty Tuesday * Dagmar's Home * Delicious Dishes * Inspire my Creativity * Talk of the town* Waste Not Wednesday *  Thrifty and Vintage Finds  *What's Cookin' Wednesday  *Share Your Style * Create it Thursday * No rules Weekend * Creatively crafty *  Full plate Thursday *  * The Handmade Hangout * The Pin Junkie * Friday Frenzy * Anything blue Friday * Foodie Friday  * Friday Features * Best Friday Features *  What To Do Weekends * Home Matters * Ultimate Pin Party * Dare to share Sat. * Saturday Shuffle * Saturday Sparks *  Best of the Weekend *

One Equals Four!

 The fact that I love papercrafts is an understatement.
 I  always have new ideas popping into my head quicker than I can make them and Pinterest is like an addiction for me! My friends and family even save the cards they receive for holidays and birthdays for me because I like to challenge myself to see how creative I can be. (And I hate to see those beautiful cards thrown away).
Recently, in one of these goody bags, I found a pretty card in shades of purple. I wanted to see how many cards I could make using parts of this one.

Inside of the card:

card1. I used the top part of the front of the card.

card 2. I used the upper right corner of the inside. I cut the corner using a curved die and added a small flower from the back of the card.

card 3. I used the bottom front of the card and added the "Thanks "sentiment from a scrap of pale green cardstock.

card 4. I used the small piece that was left as an edge panel.( I know, that was really stretching it!) lol

 One card equals four!!...let me know what you think.....

Here's where I'll be sharing:
Happiness is Homemade  * Sundays at Home  * Sunday's Best * Smell good Sunday * What's for Dinner  *  Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Family Joy * That DIY Party * Busy Creative You *
 Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J * Show and Share *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday *Show and Tell *  Warm Heart * Totally Terrific Tuesday * Tasty Tuesday * Dagmar's Home * Delicious Dishes * Inspire my Creativity * Talk of the town* Waste Not Wednesday *  Thrifty and Vintage Finds  *What's Cookin' Wednesday  *Share Your Style * Create it Thursday *  Creatively crafty *  Full plate Thursday *  * The Handmade Hangout * The Pin Junkie * Friday Frenzy * Anything blue Friday * Foodie Friday * Foodie Friday and everything Else * Friday Features * Best Friday Features *  What To Do Weekends * Home Matters * Ultimate Pin Party * Dare to share Sat. * Saturday Shuffle * Saturday Sparks *  Best of the Weekend *

"Give Thanks" Card

 I love the Fall colors against the rich blue shade of this card. I painted several sheets of watercolor paper and cut out the leaves, using leaf dies and my Big shot machine.

 I used two sizes of the "Lattice Rectangle" Spellbinder die. On the smaller one, I stamped and embossed the "Give Thanks" sentiment.

 Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Here's where I'll be sharing:
Happiness is Homemade  * Sundays at Home  * Sunday's Best * Smell good Sunday * What's for Dinner  *  Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Family Joy * That DIY Party * Busy Creative You *
 Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J * Show and Share *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday *Show and Tell *  Warm Heart * Totally Terrific Tuesday * Tasty Tuesday * Dagmar's Home * Delicious Dishes * Inspire my Creativity * Talk of the Town  * Waste Not Wednesday *  Thrifty and Vintage Finds  *What's Cookin' Wednesday  *Share Your Style * Create it Thursday *  Creatively crafty *  Full plate Thursday *  * The Handmade Hangout * The Pin Junkie * Friday Frenzy * Anything blue Friday * Foodie Friday * Foodie Friday and everything Else * Friday Features * Best Friday Features *  What To Do Weekends * Home Matters * Ultimate Pin Party * Dare to share Sat. * Saturday Shuffle * Saturday Sparks *  Best of the Weekend *

Weekend Snapshots * Wordless Wednesday * Image-in-ing *    Floral Friday Fotos * Saturday Silhouettes *

Happy, Happy, Happy!

I love using Avery Ellie-Ments sentiment dies! They're big and make a bold statement on the front of your cards.

Avery Elle-Ments Simply Said Happy Dies

I cut the "happy" sentiment out three times on the front of a piece of green card stock. Then I applied a piece of turquoise card stock to the back of the negative cut, to show through the cut out. I can keep my " three happy words" to use on other cards.

Next, I used the Paper Smoochy Balloon die to cut out some contrasting balloons and attach them together using twine. 

Paper Smooches Balloons Die

Then I adhered them to the card using some foam dots

 for a three-dimensional effect.

I'm using it again this year for Father's Day cards..

This happy sentiment could be used variety of occasions:
birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation and the list goes on!

Here's where I'll be sharing:

 Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday * You're gonna love it Tuesday * Tasty Tuesday * Delicious Dishes * Inspire me Tuesday * Talk of the Town  * Waste not Wednesday *  Thrifty and Vintage Finds *Moonlight and Mason Jars * Before and After Wednesday * the Alder Collective * You Link it, We Make it * What's Cookin' Wednesday  * Create it Thursday *  Creatively crafty *  Full plate Thursday * Throwback Thursday * The Handmade Hangout * The Pin Junkie * Anything blue Friday *  Friday Finds * Foodie Friday *  Photo Friday * Friday Features * Party Palooza * Floral Friday Fotos  *  What To Do Weekends * Peace, love Link up Fridays *  Saturday Sparks *  Five star Frou Frou *  Best of the Weekend *  Happiness is Homemade  * Sundays at Home  * Sunday Crafters-noon *  Nifty Thrifty Sunday *

Lovin' my Big Shot

The Big Shot is the greatest thing to come down the pike in card making!
 Just lay down a piece of card stock, top it with the die, wind it through, and voila, you have cut outs!

There is such a variety of cutting dies available these days that it can become addicting. Sometimes I purchase from Amazon but Tuesday Morning is my favorite place to shop for dies. It's hit or miss and there may be only one of a kind but it's worth it. They sell them for about a third of the original price.

Recently, I cut some flowers out of watercolor paper for some cards I was creating. With watercolor, you can mix any amount of colors, a few or a lot.

 

Because the flower dies in the package come in different sizes, you can layer the petals to create a three-dimensional flower.

This is my finished card!

which lead to more cards...

The possibilities are endless!

Here's where I'll be sharing:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Sundays at Home * Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday * You're gonna love it Tuesday * Tasty Tuesday * Delicious Dishes * Inspire me Tuesday * Talk of the Town  * Thrifty and Vintage Finds *Moonlight and Mason Jars * Before and After Wednesday *the Alder Collective * You Link it, We Make it * What's Cookin' Wednesday * Wordless Wednesday * Create it Thursday *  Full plate Thursday * Throwback Thursday * The Pin Junkie * Anything blue Friday * Friday Finds * Photo Friday * Friday Features *  Foodie Friday * What To Do Weekends

Reusing the discarded

I seem to have this knack of seeing a new purpose in things that would normally just be thrown away...like this huge Whitman's sampler box. We receive several of these every holiday season at the facility where I work from customers.

This box mesures 24" by 15".   
I cut poster board and made section dividers of different sizes to hold my small cutouts for cardmaking.

 In a glance, I can choose what I need to make a quick card in just a few minutes. This holiday season, I'll be on the lookout for a few more of these!