Friday, September 30, 2016

Fall Coffee Card

Today's card is a celebration of National Coffee Day yesterday and National Cardmaking Day tomorrow, the best of both worlds! This card also represents the name of my blog, "Stampin' Cafe by Lana"! I love coffee and cardmaking and the two just go together!

This card is a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inch, top folding card. The base is in Early Espresso and the orange layer is Pumpkin Pie, both from Stampin' Up. The background is stamped with retired Stampin' Up pumpkin and leaf stamps, but you could use anything you have that is fall themed. I chose pumpkins because my favorite fall drink is a pumpkin latte!

The cup is cut in Early Espresso using the Love You a Latte Cricut cartridge, <Cafecup2> at 5 inches. I cut a 1-1/4 inch wide strip of a patterned paper and wrapped it around the cup, securing it in the back with adhesive. The round "caffeine addict" stamp and the "Coffee is always a good idea" stamps come from Sugar Pea Designs.

I plan to enjoy a pumpkin latte this weekend! I'll be back next week with another fall themed card. Thanks for taking the time to visit today.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Super Hero Cards "P.J. Masks"

"Cat Boy" Super Hero Card

"Gecko" Super Hero Card


"Owl Girl" Super Hero Card
My granddaughter is a BIG fan of P.J. Masks! While these cards are not exact duplicates of the Catboy, Gekko and Owlette characters, they are close enough that my granddaguther was excited about them! They were all made using the Paper Dolls Dress Up Cricut cartridge, plus I also used the Create a Critter cartridge for Cat Boy and Owl Girl's heads. All card bases are the same, 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, top folding.

I will try to give you as much detailed direction as I can so you can recreate these characters. There is a lot of piecing and trimming involved, but with a little time and patience, you can make these cute little characters for a P.J. Masks fan in your life! If you would rather purchase a PDF of these directions, I have separate digital PDF files for each character/card at a nominal cost at my Etsy Shop - Stampin' Cafe by Lana. This makes it easier for you to download it instantly and not have to contact me and wait for a response.

Cat Boy/Catboy Super Hero:
1.  Cut a Paper Doll body from ivory cardstock, at 4 inches, p. 29, Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge.
2.  Cut the Superboy costume at 4 inches, p. 56
3.  Cut mask, boots, belt and emblem at 4 inches, p. 56 (cuts are proportionate to doll size)
4.  Cut gloves at 4 inches, p. 57
5.  Cut head from Create a Critter cartridge, cat2 on p. 38, at 1-3/4 inches.. Trim as needed to fit head of paper doll.
6.  The light blue accent pieces on head, sleeves and boots will need to be hand cut. You can cut the boots out again in the contrasting color and cut off the boot tips to make the contrasting boot tips.
7.  Cut a tail using a 2 inch circle punch and attach to back of doll.
8.  To make eyes, punch 2 circles with a 1/4 inch circle punch. I used one of the inside cut-outs from the mask to make the eyeballs, cut in half, and made black dots with a marker for the pupils.
9.  Nose is a 1/4 inch circle punch.
10. Cut out background building at 4 inches, p. 56. Trim to fit the card. Add yellow pieces behind window openings for lights.
11. I used a star embossing folder from Stampin Up to emboss the card base.
12. Black strip was added at the bottom to resemble a street.
13. Greeting is from a retired Stampin' Up Sale-a-Bration stamp set called "Hello."

Gecko/Gekko Super Hero:
1.  For this one I cut the paper doll body out of green cardstock at 4 inches, p. 29
2.  Cut the costume at 4 inches, p. 56.
3.  Cut mask on p. 56, once in green and once in white.
4.  Cut boots and V-neck for costume, p. 57. Cut the V-neck twice in a lighter color green. The second cut will be for the head piece.
5.  Hand cut knee patches and toe pieces, or cut boots out a second time in the lighter green and rim off the toe portion.
6.  For the face, punch out a 1-3/4 inch circle, cut in half. Nose is a 1/4 inch circle punch.
7.  For the eyes, take the white cut-out pieces from the white mask and insert those into the green mask for the eyes. Take the green cut-outs from the green mask, cut in half, and add to the white pieces for eyeballs. Use a black marker to make dots for pupils.
8.  Use what is left of the building you cut out previously for this card, adding black behind the windows, or use yellow for lights.
9.  The green geometric paper used on the card is envelope paper from Stampin' Up in Emerald Green. I also used Emerald Green for the character.
10. Greeting is from a retired Stampin' Up set called "Itty Bitty Banners."

Owl Girl/Owlette Super Hero:
1.  For this one I did NOT cut out a paper doll body. I cut the Supergirl costume at 4 inches, p. 57.
2,  Cut owl on p. 25 of Create a Critter cartridge at 2-1/2 inches. Trim to form more pointed ears and round the bottom to form the head.
3.  Add a 1-3/8 inch circle, cut in half, to form the face. Add a 1/4 inch punched out circle for the nose.
4.  Add a 1-3/8" circle in the same pink color behind head/ears to form rest of head.
5.  Cut mask and emblem, p. 56. Cut mask a second time in white.
6.  Punch out a flower in a coordinating pink color of a different shade (I used Rose Red for the body and Melon Mambo for the wings) to form the wings. Cut in half, trim as needed, and attach to back of body and behind arms.
7.  Attach mask to face, Insert white cut-outs from white mask to make eyes. Use one of the cut-out pieces from the pink eye mask, cut in half, to form the eyeballs. Use a black marker to make the pupils.
8.  Punch out a small white heart to attach to the emblem on her chest.
9.  Fold legs back to resemble a flying motion.
10. Cut buildings on p. 56 at 2-1/2 inches and trim to fit card front. Attach white pieces behind windows if desired.
11. The heart paper is Pop of Pink DSP by Stampin' Up.
12. Greeting is from the Hello stamp set, a retired SAB set from Stampin' Up.
13. I added a piece of the same pink color (Melon Mambo) to the bottom of the card below the buildings and the greeting, and attached small pink punched out hearts to the upper righthand corner.

Well, there you have it. I realize this is a long post, but I hope I have enough detail for you to make your own super hero characters. There was a lot of trial and error involved, so if I can save you some of the error, that is a good thing!

Have a good week. I will be back next week with a new fall card for you!

Friday, September 16, 2016

Scarecrow "Hello" Card


To celebrate the upcoming fall season, I made this sweet little scarecrow card! I had so much fun bringing him to life and adding him to this card.

The card base is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches, top folding, in Mossy Meadow. I then added a layer in Crumb Cake that I ran through my Darice "Foilage" embossing folder.  I made the piece 1/2 inch shorter than the green cardstock so the green would show below giving the illusion of the ground. The leaves are die cuts from Lawn Fawn, "Small Stitched Leaves", cut in various fall colors.

The scarecrow is made from the farmer on p. 68 of  Cricut's Everyday Paper Dolls with the changes noted below. The entire scarecrow is made with Everyday Paper Dolls and the Create a Critter 2 Cricut cartridges. I will list all the cuts below so you can easily recreate your own scarecrow.

Scarecrow "Recipe":
All the following cuts are from Everyday Paper Dolls:

Paperdoll body from ivory cardstock cut at 4 inches, p. 28, cutting off feet and hands (Ouch!)
Overalls in denim blue cut at 4 inches, p. 68 on blackout setting
Shirt cut from plaid paper at 4 inches, p. 68, on blackout <shift> setting
Hat cut from kraft cardstock at 4 inches, p. 68, on headwear <shift> setting
Rake cut from brown cardstock at 4 inches, p. 68, on Accessories 1 <shift> setting
(Note: When you cut the paperdoll body at 4 inches, cut everything else at that size and they will be proportionate to body size. If you want to make your scarecrow smaller or larger, just keep the settings all the same size for all the pices.)

Create a Critter 2 cartridge:
"Straw" hands, feet and hair cut from light yellow cardstock at 3 inches, p. 56, cut on Accessory <shift> setting (Note: These are cut at a different size than the rest of the scarecrow because it is from a different cartridge and 4 inches ended up being too large.)

For the face:
Eyes - 2 circles cut in black using a 1/4 inch circle punch
Nose - triangle shape snipped off a corner of orange cardstock
Hair - cut from the same cut as the hands and feet (see above)
Band on hat - hand cut in orange cardstock
Leaf on hat - from leaf dies as above
Small flower on hat - small flower punch

Blackbird is cut from the bird on p. 36 of the Create a Critter2 cartridge, cut at 1 inch. I cut it twice, once in black and once in orange. I snipped off the beak on the black one and layered it on top of the orange bird to create the orange beak.

Yellow flower on the hat is a small flower punch (two layered together) from a Martha Stewart punch. Patches on overalls are hand cut squares in orange, with added faux stitching in black ink.

Leaves are all from the same leaf dies as mentioned above. I inked the edges in coordinating fall ink colors.

I used a fine tip black journaling pen to outline some of the detail on the overalls and hat, and added stitch lines to the eyes and patches on his overalls.

The "hello" greeting is from Endless Birthday Wishes by Stampin' Up, and is stamped on one of the larger leaves from the leaf die cuts.

Helpful Hint: If you mess up the face like I did on my first attempt, you can cut off the head from the body and attach a 1-3/8" circle for the head instead. That way you don't have to start over with all your cuts! 

I hope you like this week's card and that you make a little scrarecrow of your own!

Friday, September 9, 2016

A Little Happy - Candy Corn Card


When I see candy corn and candy pumpkins appear on the store shelves, I'm happy! I LOVE fall! It's my favorite season, along with everything that goes with it! I love the cooler weather, the colorful leaves, the pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and everything pumpkin and spice! So what better to start off fall than a jar of candy corn?! It just makes me happy!

The only candy corn stamp I have is an old one from Stampin' Up with the smily face on it, but if candy corn makes me happy, then why not have a happy candy corn, right? I used an older jar stamp from Stampin' Up, although they have some cute new ones now. I stamped the jar, then stamped the candy corn inside, and colored in the candy with markers. I cut out the jar by hand and added some black and orange baker's twine to the lid. I popped it up from the rest of the card with dimensional dots.

The colors I used are tangerine tango and daffodil delight, with a little flag in a black patterned paper. I used the Bundle of Stitched Shapes (SSSD111412) dies to cut out the card front and the orange and white striped banner. The stamps are two combined from the Perfectly Wrapped stamp set from Stampin' Up. Card base is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches in white, side fold.

Fall is almost here! Go forth and eat candy corn!


Friday, September 2, 2016

Camera Embossed Card

Camera Embossed Card
It's been a busy week and I haven't had a lot of time for card making, but here is one that was very simple to put together, no stamping, just embossing and adding precut pieces! Finished card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches.

I recently made a trip to Tuesday Morning and found this cute camera embossing folder by Darice. I embossed the black card front and just added some precut pieces from a SN@P simple stories pack that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. It is Disney themed but works well with other applications, like this card!

I will probably use this for a birthday card and I thought I could print out a sentiment for the inside like, "Hope your day is picture perfect!" Or, it could just as easily be a congratulations or encouragement card.

I plan to get back on schedule next week and start some fall cards! I hope you'll come back and check them out!