Hello, everyone! Welcome to MARCH and welcome back to the next installment of my "Old New Borrowed Cool" series.
As I've said before, I'm truly thrilled to be bringing this series to you each month as it's already proven to be such a fun process for me and I hope that you are playing along and finding it fun as well! Before I begin I want to remind you a bit of the premise for this blog series. Each month on the first of the month I'll be bringing you a new post that incorporates something OLD from my stash, something NEW that I might have just picked up and something BORROWED from wherever I can get it to create something COOL to share with you! It's as simple as that.
So are you ready to create something amazing?!
This month's selections were:
OLD: Scraps from my scrap bin - mostly from BoBunny's AdLib (one of my all-time favorites!) and Ranger's Stickles that have been in my drawer for ages.
NEW: Bella Blvd's Sunshine & Happiness and BoBunny's new Double Dot cardstock
BORROWED: A Silhouette SD from our community's Co-Operative Center. It's a wonderful resource in our town and I encourage you to check and see if there is one in YOUR area!
COOL: An adorable set of St. Patty's Day cards so that you can spread the luck of the Irish to all those you love!
You might remember in my January post that I did a layout listing some resolutions I hoped to keep in 2012. While I've been better at some than others (isn't that always the way?), one of the ones that I was determined to keep is "BE A BETTER FRIEND." I've been trying to do the little things like remembering birthdays, anniversaries and calling "just because" but one of my favorite things to do is send handmade cards for really no reason at all. It's my little way of letting them know I think of them on a regular basis and just how much they mean to me. I used the excuse of St. Patrick's Day to make up some "lucky to have you" cards, but I don't feel I even need to wait until then to send them! They'd be just as special any time of year.
Aren't they cute?! I know *I'd* love to get one in the mail and to me that's a sure sign they're going to be a hit! And they're super-easy to boot! Follow along with me and I'll show you how to whip up your own set in no time.
1. Start with a 5.5"x4.25" card base. (This is two cards from an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper).
2. Punch twelve 1.25"squares - three each of four patterned papers. Run the squares through your Xyron. (I used the mack daddy machine, the 5" Creative Station, but an X would work beautifully, too.) This makes it easy to keep up with the squares and gives them a nice even coat of adhesive.
3. Adhere the squares in three rows of four to the front of the card leaving even margins between them. I find this easiest to keep spacing by doing the corners first and then the middles.
4. Draw dashed lines with brown journaling pen as desired. I use a ruler to keep my lines nice and straight. (Some might say I'm a bit obsessive ;))
5. Punch 3 hearts out of green paper and adhere in the three upper left corner squares as shown.
6. Using the Silhouette, cut approximately 2.5" four-leaf clovers. (I made eight cards total and did this all at this step). Adhere the clover to the bottom right corner squares as shown.
7. Trace the outside of the 2.5" clover with green Stickles. Let dry completely.
8. Print out sentiments for the cards onto white cardstock. Trim into approximately 3.5"x.5" strips.
9. Notch the end of the sentiment into a banner using the corner of your square punch.
10. Adhere sentiment to card front as shown.
11. Punch four 1" hearts and adhere as shown at the right of the sentiment and over the 2.5" clover.
12. Finish card by threading a button with twine, tying in a bow and adhering to the center of the clover using a foam dot.
And there it is! Simple, right? So what are you waiting for? Show those folks you love just how much you care and be that better friend. I can't wait to see what you do!
Supply List: Bazzill and Bo Bunny Cardstock; Bella Blvd, Bo Bunny, My Mind's Eye Patterned Papers; EK Success 1 1/4" square punch and 1" heart punch; Colorbox/Clearsnap chalk ink; Silhouette; Zig Pen (brown); Xyron adhesive; buttons; twine; foam dots
