My Cards and Tags: Formula for Quick and Easy Tags

If you're ever on a time frame and need a super quick little note or tag for someone, I use a never-fail formula.  I cut a rectangle or square of patterned paper, tear a piece of coordinating fabric, stamp a sentiment onto a solid colored paper,ink all edges, then sew the sentiment square to the fabric with a sewing machine.  I add a flower, hot glue the fabric to the patterned background, punch a hole at the top and add ribbon or yarn.  And if that's not fast enough, you can even have some squares of paper and fabric pre-cut and pre-matched so you can grab, sew and go.

When I made the tag pictured below, I tied it onto a candy bar and delivered it.  Candy or chocolate sentiment stamps prove ever-handy because they will instantly match your goodies.

 

My Cards and Tags: Halloween Divas

I know it's not even June yet, but if you've tried to submit seasonal projects for publication before, you know that you always have to be thinking at least 6 months ahead of reality!  Over the past few weeks, I've been ghoulishly creating Halloween cards and jewelry.  One of my favorite tricks (or treats, ha, ha) is to combine Halloween stamps with everyday stamps to create fresh scenes.

Take these two witchy women, for example.  They started out as a stamp of ladies from the fifties.  I drew capes and used bat wings and witch hat stamps to "Halloween-i-fy" them.  Ditto with the bakery background.  I added Halloween images to the pastries to continue the theme.

This is a great way to save money on stamps as well as force yourself to look a little outside of the box.  I'm constantly looking at my stamps and trying to figure out if I can deconstruct their components to use for something else.

My Cards and Tags: Royal Tidings

Here's a card I made with some of my favorite new paper lines from Authentique and Fancy Pants Designs.  I went with a royalty theme.

And a little closer:

My Other Creations: Die Cut Boxes

From the electronic ease of the Cricut to the old-school method of cutting shapes out by hand with (gasp!) scissors, die cuts and templates have their place.  While I'm not one to crank out 80 boxes or 150 thank-you notes at once, I do enjoy throwing on a good die cut shape from time to time.  I'm not loyal to any one system; I go with the die shapes I like.  I'm particularly fond of small boxes which are ideal for little treats. 

Here's a box I made with a die cut box from Lifestyle Crafts.  I used a Sizzix layered flower die cut for the floral topper.

Here's another one I made, also from a Lifestyle Crafts die cut.  

 

My Other Creations: Ophelia

I am endlessly inspired by literature, Shakespeare being no exception.  And how tragic is Ophelia??  Pining away for the distracted Hamlet until she goes a little loopy and falls or jumps into the river.  Not how I'd want my life to pan out.  In any event, I wanted to pay homage to her, so here she is.  Her head and arms are made from Sculpey Clay, her hair is made out of yarn, and her clothes are a mix of chiffon and organza that I stretched and ripped and sewed at angles for shape and texture.  Her wings are made from dissolvable paper that I colored and stitched before dissolving.

Here's a full length shot of her:

 

My Other Creations: House Pet

This was one of the first little monsters I ever made.  Here he is, curiously checking out the camera:

I decided that as one of my earliest monsters, the least I could do was to build him a house.  Here he is in his new digs:

My Cards and Tags: All-Star You Tag

This is a tag I made out of My Mind's Eye paper (love, love, LOVE that company), a Tim Holtz number, fibers, yarn and a tag die from the Lifestyle Crafts Tag It Kit.