Easy Christmas Cards

Hello Everyone!  If you are feeling like you are running behind this year and are tempted to buy store-bought Christmas cards, don't do it!  If your friends and family are looking forward to your hand-made cards this year, I have an easy and pretty solution!  Here are 3 cards made easy by Creative Impressions:

This first card was created using a Pine Branch die along with Creative Impressions Christmas Ornament Felt Shapes (63121).   The Pine branch was adhered onto a white card stock panel followed by 2 ornaments.  The bows at the tops of the ornaments were created with Creative Impressions Mustard Thin Twine.  The word "Peace" was stamped at the bottom to finish the panel.  Finally, the panel was adhered to a burgundy card stock mat , then to a patterned paper panel and finally to the card.  The best part  is that the patterned paper isn't even specifically Christmas  paper.  Look through your stash to find the perfect pattern!

Now for our second card:  First I wrapped our Merry Christmas Twill Expressions Ribbon (80464) around the bottom of a white card stock panel to which I first added some red color around the edges.  Then I once again used a pine branch die.  The pine branch was adhered down to the panel over the Twill.  Holes were punched over my pine branch and our Metallic Light Bulb Paper Fasteners (90655) were added.  The "joy" sentiment was stamped, the white panel was adhered to a red panel, a patterned paper panel and finally the folded card.

Last, but not least, here is a card with no stamped sentiments as Creative Impressions Merry and Bright Ribbon Expressions says it all!

Again, starting with a white card stock panel, adhere our Merry and Bright Ribbon Expressions (80333) down twice, leaving a space in-between.  Cut a piece of our Celery Leafy Vine (70220) and adhere to the space using our Red Mini Round Fasteners.(90109).   Finally, create a poinsettia by using a White Glimmer Round (90907) a Red Medium Sheer Blossom (60603) and Sheer Leaves.  Punch a hole with a paper awl and thread fastener to the back of the card stock panel.
Add red ink around the edges of the white panel, adhere to a red card stock panel, a patterned paper panel and finally to the folded card.

Easy Peasy!  You still have several weeks before Christmas!

Susan

Christmas Joy!

Today's post is a Christmas card with a variety of textures.  I started with a Christmas background stamp embossed with clear powder on red card stock.  I rubbed several ink pads over the clear embossed words then buffed with a cloth.

A layer of cheesecloth makes red felt "Joy" visible on the red card stock as well as add some texture.

Creative Impressions embellishments used on this card:

Felt Shapes - Christmas 63120

Metal Frames - Antique Copper 84502

Twill Expressions - Merry Christmas 80464

Wishing you all a warm Thanksgiving full of love & family and a blessed Christmas.

Grateful for all of you!

I have a lovely card to feature today by our Guest Designer, Jan Francis.  Jan captured the feelings of us all at Creative Impressions so perfectly.  We are indeed "Thankful, Grateful and Blessed" by all of you and your continued support of Creative Impressions!  Here is Jan's card:

I just love Jan's cards!  She does such creative things to her cards.  Check out the two stitches on the right side of one of the card's panels.  She also folded down the top left corner of a patterned paper panel so that the other side was revealed.  All patterned paper panels were distressed using a distress tool and inked on the edges.  Of course our Autumn Felt Leaves (63100)  add just the right touch to our "Thanksgiving" themed card along with the two buttons ( Ecru 51008 and Dark Umber Brown 51007) at the bottom.

This card is also a great way to use up patterned paper and card stock scraps you may have saved (don't we all?).

May you all be blessed with a wonderful holiday!

Susan

Kids birthday? Creative Impressions to the Rescue!

I make two kids cards every autumn and I'm NEVER prepared.  I don't have a lot of "kid" supplies in my stash, but I can always make something for for my little with my Creative Impressions embellishments.

For kids I like to make a super simple card front with a big splash of color when you open the card up.

I just die cut some letters with card stock that coordiated with the background paper and picked balloon brads (Tropical Balloons 90611) to match.  

A simple pop-up mechanism can be created with strips of card stock, folded to make little boxes.  Secure to the back panel and fold the card together to secure to the front panel on the inside.

Hope Jack likes his "party in a card" for his 4th birthday!

Music Themed Album

Hello Everyone:

Today I am sharing with you an album I made to commemorate one of Josh Groban's more recent concerts.  For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a huge fan and have been to 5 of his concerts.  I finally decided to create an album using Creative Impressions embellishments and a ready-made G45 black album.  I will start with showing you a photo of the album spine with all the Creative Impressions embellishments:

I wrapped CI  Music Notes Printed Ribbon (80119) along with some Black and White Baker's Twine (80713) around the spine and inside of the album.  Then I added some Music Notes Shimmer Shapes ( 63200) to the ends of the Baker's Twine.  Loved how this turned out.

Here is the Front Cover and a few of the inside pages:

Hope you can see what a wonderful addition Creative Impressions embellishments are to any musical themed-project!  Happy creating!
Susan

Autumn Splendor!

Simple layers yield tons on texture on this Creative Impressions Autumn Card!

Here I've used Web Ribbon (70183), Felt Autumn Leaves (63100), Antique Copper Frame (84502), Antique Copper Fasteners (93001), and Autumn Splendor Twill Expressions Ribbon (80461), all from Creative Impressions.

I used a scrap of decorative paper that had some collaged fall colors.  I didn't want the felt leaves to get lost so added a layer of green web ribbon to make them pop.  I laid out the panel and then attached the web ribbon with a small staple just behind the places I would adhere the leaves.

I glued the leaves down with Alene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue.  They stick quickly and dry fast and clear.  Then I cut the word "autumn" from Creative Impressions Autumn Splendor twill ribbon.  When the word doesn't quite fill the space in the metal frame, I layer it on top of the same ribbon flipped over.

Hope you enjoyed this card and happy fall, y'all!!

Blossoms and Stitching by Jan Francis

Hello Everyone!  I'm back with another card by our Guest Designer, Jan Francis.  This is such a clever use of Creative Impressions Blossoms!

Jan cleverly used a flower punched from cardstock that she laid out on her card and traced around with a pencil multiple times.  Then she stitched the outline of the flower with purple thread and placed a light Purple Medium Sheer Blossom (60601) in the center of each stitched flower outline.  To finish, Jan added one of our White Buttons (51000) to the center of each one.  Love it!

We love the top folded card with rounded corners at the bottom along with a patterned paper layer and then the stitched white piece.  "Thinking of you" was stamped with purple ink, cut out and wrapped around the top of the card - the perfect finishing touch!

Hope you like Jan's card.  Try making one yourself with our Blossoms!

Happy Crafting,
Susan

Stitching on Felt Shapes/Creative Impressions Stitching Template

Happy Tuesday Everyone:

I have an easy tutorial today for Stitched Creative Impressions Blossoms ( Pastel 62201, Bright 62203 and Heritage 62202) as well as the Medium Felt Blossoms (62101, 62102 one 62103) and Leaves (Olive 62302) that were added to a store-bought plain pencil case for a little extra pizzazz!

I have quite the stash of embroidery thread as I haven't created anything with cross-stitch for many years now (paper crafting is my passion now).  It was time to pull the thread out of storage and create a new use for the thread.  I decided to try stitching on the Felt Blossoms to see what kind of outcome I would have!  I love it!

I started out by stitching some designs with different colors onto the Blossoms when I was watching tv at night.  I found it to be really relaxing, so I just kept on stitching away!  This is what I ended up with:

I just started playing with layering different size blossoms together.  As you can see, there are many different stitches used.   Of course there was still one thing missing to complete the flowers - Creative Impressions Buttons in different colors!  Now I was happy!

Finally, I laid out various Blossoms on my pencil case and began to adhere them to the case using basic stitches.  Again here is the final piece.

If you find that you aren't really comfortable with embroidery or you just need some inspiration concerning what stitches to use and where, not to worry!  Creative Impressions produces and distributes this wonderful Stitching Template designed by Kathy Shaw.  You will love this!

You can leave the five full templates included together like this - just place over the desired piece, place a pencil in the holes indicated, twist the pencil and voila!, you have your pattern perfectly placed on your blossom or fabric.

In this case I cut apart the template on the broken lines with scissors and I store them on a metal ring.

Here are a few more examples of choosing the desired stitch and placing it on your piece.

I know I will be creating a lot more projects with Felt Shapes and stitching - with and without the template.  Can't wait to get started on some more!

Happy Stitching!
Susan

Baby Gift Tags

A friend recently had a new grandson and I wanted to send her a gift.  As usual, I came up short when it came having kid stuff in my stash and, as usual, Creative Impressions to the rescue!

I used a tea stained tag that I had set to dry on the patio table on my deck.  It left an interesting stained texture, don't you think?  A simple pine tree brad fit the theme of my gift which was a onesie with mountain animals and trees.

I punched a heart from another tag to cove the back of the pine tree brad.

I layered punched hearts with this sweet little heart brad and layered onto the tissue paper.

1/8" organdy ribbon tied around gave a nice presentation to my gift for little Rhett Lukas.  Don't you just LOVE that name??

I just love how simple details make it easy to make something special for the ones you love!

The Fourth in the Series!

Today we are featuring the last of the four cards that we were lucky to receive from our Guest Designer, Jan Francis!  She has done a fabulous job with all of the 3 cards to date and the fourth does not disappoint!  Here it is:

This card has lots of glitz and glam!  All of the flowers were die cut from metallic cardstock to which she added our Metallic 3D Squares 90415 and Triangles 90660 brads.  So clever!  The flowers were affixed over some leaves cut from Glitter cardstock.

Before adhering the flowers, Jan wrapped our black 1/4" Grid Ribbon #70276 around the top of the card twice.  This gave some lovely texture to the card.

Finally, a die cut "Hello" was added to the bottom of the card.  Here are some close-ups of the card:

Thank you to Jan for sharing these lovely cards with us!  We hope to see more of her creative work in the future!

Susan

The Third of Four

You may all be asking - what in the heck does the "Third of Four" Mean?  Well, I am happy to share with you the 3rd card of the 4 total that our guest designer extraordinaire, Jan Francis has created!  Here it is:

This card absolutely "oozes" creativity!  The tag is cut from patterned paper and then from a piece of acetate packaging run through a dot pattern embossing folder to give it extra detail and dimension!  She adhered the tag over one of our beautiful Crepe Ribbons (Coral Peach 70124) previously adhered to the card front.  Then she made a lovely bow and attached it to the tag!  Beautiful!

The flowers and leaves were also die cut from patterned paper and embossed acetate.   Jan then used our fabulous buttons (#51012 Moss, 51004 Burgundy and 51017 Aqua)and sewed them to the centers of the flowers.

Finally, she die cut the word "Welcome" and  adhered it to the front of the tag!

Here are some close ups of Jan's card:

Thanks goes out to Jan again for sharing her wonderful card creations with us
Susan

Another Jan Francis Card for Creative Impressions!

Good morning Everyone!  I have another wonderful card to share with you created by our Guest Designer, Jan Francis!  We are so thrilled to have her creating cards for us!

Jan used multiple Creative Impressions products is such a clever way!  First, she laid a piece of Cork Paper (#89000 and #89001) horizontally across the background pattern paper.  Then she wrapped our Web Ribbon in Sand (#70189) around a piece of background paper placed vertically over the card background.  She added a cream die cut circle with a slightly larger one in brown over the top of the background.  The circle was enhanced with a die cut "happy",  a Star Creative Clip (#85032) and finally with a Metal Frame in Black (#84503) with the sentiment "Happy Birthday" placed inside.  Our embellishments really make this card "pop", don't you think?

Here are some close ups of Jan's card:

Love it!  Hope you do too!

Happy Crafting!
Susan

Guest Designer Jan Francis!

Today  marks the first week of wonderful samples I will be sharing with you over the next weeks from our fabulous Guest Designer, Jan Francis!  Here at Creative Impressions we always look forward to seeing what great ideas Jan has come up with.  Her latest creation certainly doesn't disappoint!

This first card has a sewing theme.  Jan has used our popular Antique Ruler Twill  (80486) which has been wrapped around the card.  She also sewed some of our lovely buttons in Aqua, Navy and Caramel (51017, 51003 and 51006) onto random places on the card.  What a great way to use patterned paper scraps with a B Line Designs stamp and our wonderful embellishments!  Way to go, Jan!

Here are some close-ups of Jan's card.

Tune in next week to see another one of Jan's fabulous cards!
Susan