Card Catalog | I Tri and Craft

June 12, 2014
by Dawn Marie 4 Comments

Star Wars Birthday Cards

I had an older brother who loved Star Wars, so I too, loved Star Wars.

When you are the youngest sibling and your older sibling becomes obsessed with something, you will go one of two ways. You will either loath it or love it. I went with the latter option.

We watched, we played with the action figures, ate off the dishware, wore the underoos, slept with the stuffed animals on the sheets, and reenacted our favorite scenes. When you love Star Wars, you always love Star Wars. It doesn’t fade with time, it actually gets stronger.

As a result my siblings and I have passed on this love to our children. My eldest son could name all the main characters before he was two.

But let me clarify something, while we all love Star Wars, we are not fanatics. I do not know all things Star Wars, nor do I know the names of obscure characters or their back histories. We’re not that bad.

Thanks to the internet and media there is now a ‘holiday’ for Star Wars. It is May 4th, why you ask (as if you don’t already know), because when you say “May the Fourth” it sounds like “May the Force“. I know, I know, geekdome at its highest.

As a result a SVG company (SVG Cutting Files) hosted a May the Fourth blog hop, and I received some fun Star Wars cutting files from them. (The hop was only the one day, so you can no longer participate or receive the files, sorry).

I used a couple of files to make some birthday cards for my Star Wars loving nieces.

One of my nieces also loves Hello Kitty, so the Hello Kitty Yoda was perfect for her. Both of my nieces, and everyone, loves Ewoks, so I made my other niece a card with the cute little Ewok.

I had intended cut out her name on the front, so that the inside color would show through, but I was having some major operator errors that day. I kept doing it backwards, upside down, etc. When I messed up with the last piece of cardstock, the night before I needed them, I had to improviser. I cut a rectangle out of the inside color and used the negative of her name.

Inside the Hello Kitty Yoda I phrased the ‘happy birthday’ sentiment just the way Yoda would.

You can actually translate words from Ewokese to English and back. Ewokese doesn’t have words for every English word, but they have enough. However, they do not have a phrase for “Happy Birthday” or anything close that I could use to convey that message. So the sentiment on the front of the card translates to “wow! Gee Whiz” or “Oh My Goodness!” as a way to show excitement.

In a similar design as the Yoda card, it just says “Happy Birthday” inside.

The girls loved them, and said they would keep them forever.
Happy Crafting

June 3, 2014
by Dawn Marie Leave a comment

Handmade Cupcake Birthday Card

I have always enjoyed making my own cards.

I would like to think my card making skills are improving as the years go by.

Here is the wonderful thing about blogging….I get to share my cards with everyone! And you don’t get a say in it 😉

Here is my latest creation. A birthday card I made for my mom’s best friend.

I love the way this clear sticker paper looks like glass. I keep trying to find more things to make with it.

Happy Crafting

May 12, 2014
by Dawn Marie 19 Comments

Hand Made Floral Cards for Mom

This month’s Silhouette challenge had to involve flowers. With it also being the month of Mother’s day I decided to combine the two topics.

This year I made three mother’s day cards and one Grandmother card (but the Grandma one doesn’t have flowers on it).

All of these cards were made with the help of my Silhouette Cameo.

The first card I made was a shape in the word MOM, but I replaced the O with a heart. I added a layer of floral scrapbook paper and to give it more depth I cut out a two layered flower which was attached with dimensional foam tabs. Because of the font I used for the letters, there wasn’t a whole lot of room to write inside the card, so the sentiment is a simple “Happy Mother’s Day.”

This was my first shape card and while I am pleased with the results, I won’t make the Ms so thin next time.

I came up with this next card after seeing the quote “There are two gifts we should give our children; one is roots and the other is wings” on-line while looking for mother’s day quotes. Turns out my mom has had this quote hanging in her house for decades….and I had no idea.

I used a champagne metallic paper for the top layer and on the inside of the card. I used Silhouette’s print and cut feature to write the sentiment and cut out a frame that matches the one on the front of the card. I used different colors for behind the butterflies and the tree. I only had the machine make a cut on the outer edge of the butterfly wings, so they just pop out a little.

The sentiment on the inside says “Mom, Thank you for giving me roots to grow and teaching me to spread my wings and fly. Happy Mother’s Day” While this one was probably the easiest to put together, it is my favorite. I think it is elegant in its simplicity.

When I decided to make a floral themed mother’s day card, this next card is what I had in mind. I wanted to make a vase of flowers on the front of the card. The tulips would have been too difficult to put together if I had made them any smaller, and at that size, only two would fit in the vase.

In the end, two was the perfect number, because it didn’t clutter up the card. I used pre-printed mother scrapbooking paper for the background and a silver sketch pen for the faux stitching. For the “Mother” banner I used the champagne metallic paper and the print and cut feature. I tried using sketch pens, but it just wasn’t the right look.

I originally had thought about using velum or some kind of clear paper for the vase, to give it the look of glass, but then you could see the floral wire in the vase, and all the hot glue. Not a pretty sight.

I still didn’t like the vase, just made with plain paper, so I used the sketch pens to add some dimension to it. In the Designer Edition there is a sketch feature that allows you to fill in shapes, or change lines, to make the shape look more hand drawn, which is what I did to the vase.

I am very pleased with how this card turned out. On the inside it says “May all the love you give to others come back to you on this special day. Happy Mother’s Day”

I didn’t want to leave the Grandmas out. So I made this card too, although it doesn’t have any flowers on it. I also made one in different colors. It is very cute, but thick, so it doesn’t really mail well.

Inside it says “Only the best moms get promoted to Grandmother. Happy Mother’s Day”

Happy Crafting

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!