The blahs are receeding

Well gang,

I alluded to my being blah and anxiety issues in my last post, but I am getting back on track. School is fixed-ish, we got through Christmas, there was some online stamp shopping... my copic collection grows. So I need to get back to crafting and sharing it with people. So I was inspired by the Sweet Pea One sweet Challenge (what a shock for you I know).

This image is ©Joanne Schempp's White Christmas and I was thrown for a slight loop in colouring because I really thought she had a belly button. I have since realized that is was just part of the dress and that maybe she should be more covered since it's snowing and all. Oh well, I still like how she is done. She is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, heat set then coloured with copics. The papers are Close to My Heart's Pear and Partridge, with the brads from last year's Christmas line. The poinsettias are from Prima. All of my favorite things!

My New Favorite

Let me tell you about my new favorite card fold. It is called the center step card. I was introduced to it through a card group I am a part of call "Copycat Cards" on Facebook. It is just a bunch of girls who post some challenges for everyone to do at their own rate, no prizes no pressure. Back to the card, I saw a picture and loved it. Instead of doing what normal people would do and google how to make it, I tried to copy it from the picture and made it WAY more difficult than it needed to be. Here is the picture of my first card. The image is from my long time favorite company Sweet Pea Stamps, you have seen so many things from them before on my cards.

 Looks pretty cool right? Well let me tell you about what a pain cutting all of the layers out were. I started with a 5 by 6 card base, then cut a 6 by 6 piece and chopped off an inch, except for a bit at the bottom. Then I repeated that process with the red and patterned paper, then attached the 2 pieces with 3d foam. It took FOREVER, but I loved the result. Then the engineer in me said "there needs to be a better way!" And there is.

Below is my 2nd and MUCH faster version. Above is my crazy little diagram, where the dotted lines (everything horizontal) is a fold, and the vertical solid lines are cuts. Does it make sense? So much faster, just a cutter and a little bone folder and a ruler, or a score board of some sort. You can make it any size, but I have been doing 6 by 6 finished. So start with 12 by 6, then the vertical cuts are 1 inch in from the side and lower edges and are 7 inches long. Then the center fold happens at 6 inches, the others are 1 inch apart.

I am very excited about this fold and have been using it like crazy!! I am also experimenting with other types of folds, so I will share things as I get better at them (hrm... star folds... yikes)