Birthdays

 

Foiled and hand-colored card

 

I continue to bring in cards to the food bank where I volunteer weekly. Since we are past Mother’s Day, I’ve focused on birthday cards. Every day someone is having a birthday!

Watching a card maker who has fantastic videos, Natasha Foote, I’ve learned new techniques to use with my cards. Natasha encourages everyone to use what they have when recreating cards they see online—you don’t have to buy the latest dies, inks, or patterned paper. I appreciate this approach as I have neither unlimited funds nor space to store regular purchases of card making accessories.

So, focusing on using what I have, including those pieces that don’t turn out as hoped, these cards are going into the food bank this month.

Embossing folder and paper

Two cards were made using my foiling machine and an embossing folder.

 

Unfortunately, embossing with foil didn’t work well. By trimming the bad pieces, I was able to make two very nice cards.

  

 

 

 

 

Employing the same embossing folder in its intended use--without foiling--and adding some inks, this card came out very nice.

 

 

Using both pieces of a card front with a balloon cut, I was able to make two cards that I really like. One card uses the empty space, and the other uses the piece that was cut out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another way I use what I have, is to recycle pages from my daily calendar into cards. Using dies to cut a nice edge and adding some embellishments, I love the way these cards turn out. I figure anyone can use a pick-me-up card now and then.