"Gereedschapskist"

These instructions, which are in Dutch, are for a very cool looking toolbox - gereedschapskist - which was featured in a Dutch card magazine this month, ***Hobbyzine***. The designer's website,***Ellis in Scrapland*** , shows her toolbox, which is really cute.

I will share my toolbox and the American instructions once I have it all worked out.

The Dutch instructions for the box are as follows:

1. Snijd en maak 1 grote en 2 kleine bakjes volgens patroon. Beplak bij het grootste bakje alleen de bodem met papier en plak de flapjes van de steuntjes binnenin het bakje vast.

2. Beplak de kleine bakjes aan de binnenkant met papier

3. Het grootste bakje: meet aan de korte kanten de volgende maten af: 9 mm van de onderkant en 8 mm van de zijkant, zet op alle 4 hoeken een potloodpuntje en pons gaatjes. Pons ook gaatjes op 1 cm van de bovenkant, in het midden van de korte kanten.

4. Snijd voor het hengsel een strookje zilverkleurig karton van 27, 1 x 1 cm en maak vouwen op 7 cm van de uiteinden. Pons gaatjes in de uiteinden, op 1 cm van de kant. Zet het hengsel met splitpennetjes vast aan het grootste bakje.

5. Pons gaatjes in het midden van de korte kanten van de kleine bakes en in een bakje een gaatje in een lange kant op 1 cm van de rechter zijkant (bedels).

6. Snijd van het zilverkleurige karton 4 stookjes van 8 x 1 cm en vouw en plak ze dubble. Pons in elk strookje een gaatje in een uiteinde op ongeveer 0,5 cm van de kant. Zet de strookjes met splitpennetjes vast aan het grootste bakje, zet een klein bakje aan de strookjes.

7. Stempel het beertje met de gereedsschapskist, kleur het en snijd het afdrukje tot een rondje van 6 cm. Stans een papieren en een kartonnen Nestabilities, net iets groter dan het afdrukje. Plak ze op elkaar en plak het afdrukje erop.

8. Snijd 2 stukken blauw karton van 13,2 x 5,5 cm en maak in allebei een vouw op 1,5 cm van de lange kant. Pons in het midden van de lange kant. Pons in het midden van de andere kant 2 gaatjes (in een deel), leg beide deksels los op de gereedschapskist en teken de gaatjes op het andere deel af. Pons de gaatjes en plak beide delen aan de gereedschapskist.

9. Hang de bedels ieder aan een klein stukje lint, leg de uiteinden op elkaar en prik er met de punt van een schaartje een gaatje in, steek een splitpen door het gaatje in het lint en door het gaatje in het kleine bakje van de kist.

The DASH

I heard a powerful story at the memorial service of an acquaintance in late April. The story is called "The Dash" and you have probably heard it. I am pasting it below in case you haven't read it yet --- it seems hard to find on the web and I think it is important enough to be able to find easily.

I decided to send it to my cousin who is recuperating from neck surgery - I am sending her frequent cards and trying to come up with new things to send is a little difficult. I do not want to be too cheery, too morose, too anything. She isn't going to "get well soon" - she has a long recovery. She doesn't need - or probably want - "sympathy" and I am tired of saying "thinking of you" so I am now trying to come up with other card ideas to send in between those semi-generic ones. This is one of those "other" cards.

I really like flourishes and rhinestones; this card has both :) The design is simple and a little understated, but it came together better than I hoped it would. Inside I printed the story; here is the card:

And the text of "The Dash" is:

There was a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He read the dates on her tombstone from the beginning…to the end.

He noted first came the date of her birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash stands for all the time that she spent alive on earth… and only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

It matters not, how much we own; the cars….the house…the cash.

What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard…are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be re-arranged.

If we would just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real and always try to understand the way that other’s feel. We’d be much less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

So, when your eulogy’s being read and your life is being rehashed…would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

Quite a bit to think about. I now think about my "dash" often - am I living a life that is worth speaking of? Thinking of? Mentioning? I am not sure I am. I struggle with issues of hopelessness and worthlessness on a daily basis and have to really work at not being suicidal most mornings, so do I think my dash has meaning? No, I do not. I think maybe my dash is too long; that I have over stayed my welcome on Earth.

Birthday Cards - Janet and Anita

Two of my friends, Janet and Anita, had birthdays in the last couple of weeks and I made cards for them.

For Janet's card, I used a cool technique that I first saw on Becca Feeken's Amazing Paper Grace blog (***Spirit of Christmas***). I really liked the look of the woven ribbon through the frame. I do not have any Spellbinders' Nestabilities, but I do have a Cricut Expression and am armed with Paint.Net, Inkscape, and SureCutsALot and a whole of time. So I can pretty much make anything I want to cut. And I did! I created the half round scalloped frame, and the oval scallop frame with oval frame to layer on top. I also use MS Word and Excel to do some of my designing - with the PrtSc button (Print Screen) and Paint.Net, I can get those images into the creation process as well. I will make a post about all I do to make anything I want to cut.

Anywho--- I made the cutfiles and was able to create this card:

For Anita's card I had seen this card on a blog by ***Colien*** from Brabant in the Netherlands. While I have now seen them all over on ***SplitCoastStampers***, at the time I was just seeking them out on the European blogs that I follow. And I was really impressed with the look of the cards. I made up some ***directions*** for how to make them. I am still not sure how the Google Docs system works, but I have uploaded the directions --- they are a pdf file and include a diagram of your cardstock with measurements and folding directions. Good Luck! Here is her card:

I decorated the center diamond with the scalloped border punch by Martha Stewart - although this is usually a place where I would have used the Cricut and cut files! I was pleasantly surprised that I could use and *actual* punch that I had purchased with good old cash!

Sympathy Cross Card

A friend of mine from one of the places where I volunteer lost her husband rather suddenly from cancer and so I came up with a sympathy card at the last minute. I used my Cricut Expression and adapted an SVG cross that I had stored on my computer to the circumstances.

Once again, I know I got the idea for the original cross from someone else's website yet I didn't record where (I know how horrible that it of me), and I had to re-design it for my card --- it wasn't fitting on my card correctly and had once set of "humps" missing, but it still is NOT my design. I do appreciate immensely all the people who share their files on the web and feel horrible that up until now I haven't kept better records of where I have gotten my files. :(

Here is the card I made using a yellow pearlescent base and pearlescent white for the layered crosses. I used pop-dots between the layers of each size cross. It went card base (yellow), then a pearlescent large cross, pop-dots, a pearlescent large cross, pop-dots, and a small pearlescent cross. Making 3 layers of paper above the cardstock and 2 sets of pop-dots, yes it was thick --- but I like it this way. You could achieve a nice look using just one layer of a large cross and a small cross also, forgoing the pop-dots. I know some people (my sister included) do not like the dimensional look of many current cards. My card looked like this:

It is VERY simple in the picture. At first, I did not want a lot of frills, but after I made it I realized that it needed a sympathy verse and some peel-offs. So I did dress it up, I just didn't get a picture taken before it was sent :(

I am sharing a ZIP archive that contains the jpg image of the card, the SVG file, and the scut2 file for a 5x7 card.

Sympathy Cross Zip File

If you have seen the original cross file on the web somewhere and can send me the link - or are the original creator - please contact me and I will give you the credit that is definitely yours!

Corinne's Birthday Cards

How sad am I?

Didn't I mention just the other day that it was Corinne's birthday? Didn't I have her birthday card sitting on the counter waiting to be mailed? But, did I get it in the mail? ummm, that would be a no. It remained on my counter until I saw it this morning. So I added one of my belated cards and am planning to take it to the post office this morning. Ahhh, the pleasures of a drug-induced brain fog!

Here is the birthday card I made for her (it is a 5" x 7"):

And here are the images (front and inside) of my belated card (which is the smaller 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" size):

Hopefully they will get to her rather quickly. :)

Easel box with simple card - for Joanne

Hoi allemaal! (Hi everyone!)

A friend of mine (Joanne) had asked me about making easel cards - (gemaakt kaarten easel) - and so I made an easel card box and simple card to show her as a how-to. It was really fun to design and make!

Here is the box:

I used the "recipe for friendship" quote:
RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS
I have a little recipe that isn't hard to make,
But you must always start as soon as you awake.
Take a great big mixing bowl and fill it with a smile
Mix half a cup of sunshine with good deeds to last a while.
Add a pinch of work and play,
a pinch of thoughtfulness and care.
But don't bake it in the oven,
just spread it around everywhere


The card was VERY simple and I used the BigShot "Top Note" die available from Stampin' Up because I knew she had it and I like how this die turns out when making the easel cards --- although it makes the smaller, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cards (I usually work in the 5" x 7" size):

A really nice quote/poem/saying - in Dutch

gisteren is verleden tijd
morgen is een mysterie
vandaag is 'n geschenk


which translates, according to Google translate to:

yesterday is history
tomorrow is a mystery
today's a gift

Linda's Friend Card

This is a new folded card that I learned (meaning I reverse engineered) from a website I found from somewhere in Europe, and not in English! I can't find the link right now and I feel horrible about that. From now on, I will be better about keeping track of where I get my ideas and techniques. I am calling it a "Double Sided Fancy Folded Card" just because that is how I think of it but I am sure it has a "real" name somewhere.

Anyway, I figured out how to do this card and was quite pleased with the results. The directions, with American measurements, are as follows (I have a Martha Stewart Scoring Board, which I highly recommend):

I HIGHLY recommend trying to make this card with scrap paper at first - and since it only needs a 12" by 6" piece, you really have 2 practice pieces (from a 12" x 12") to use before you try it with your "real" cardstock --- use them both!

* Start with a 12" x 6" piece of cardstock
* Score down the middle, lengthwise at 3"
* Score down the sides, vertically at 2 1/4" and 9 3/4"

OK, stay with me, it gets a little tricky and involved here.
* Mark the 4" and 8" points on the top and bottom of the cardstock
* on the center score line, measure in from the left 2 7/8" and make a mark (this is 5/8" PAST the vertical score line)
* again, on the center score line, measure in from the right 2 7/8" and make a mark (this is at 9 1/8" measured from the left edge of the paper) You should again have this point be marked to the inside of the vertical score line.
* SCORE from the points you just made on the center line to the outside 4" marks - there should be 4 (four) score lines made.

Here is how your paper should look:

Now you need to start folding the paper. The green lines are MOUNTAIN folds --- the paper pushes up towards you. The red lines are VALLEY folds --- the paper folds away from you. You can see the paper goes in some tricky ways. This makes the card fold in this really cool way but also give you, the folder-er, a little bit of a headache. Basically you want the center part to point upwards while the sides fold up and out with the part in between folding inward.

I hope these instructions are as clear as mud :) If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. You can always email me at alittlefaithwithsomehope@gmail.com

~~~gemaakt door Stina

My cousin Corinne - Get Well Soon!

Hoi!

My cousin Corinne had neck surgery yesterday --- a rather scary situation --- and is now doing okay. However she is on complete bed rest and immobilized for quite some time. I think she is in a neck brace for 6 weeks and can't lift anything for 6 months! And this is a very active woman! She is an animal woman - owns a pet sitting business as well as having a full time job. She plucks hay bales around as if they weighed nothing and moves around barns and pastures and plays with dogs and so forth all day long. I cannot even imagine how difficult the next few weeks and months are going to be for her.

Plus, today is her birthday!

So I made a Get Well card for her - a card with a saying that I found on the web and reminded me of my uncle Glen - her step-father. The card says:
"Hope you feel something similar to the way you did previous to the way you're feeling now."

The card:

I plan to keep sending her cards throughout her recovery. So I need to come up with some new ideas :)

Cards for Bonne & Cathy --- Envelope Easels

I was making a card for my good friends and decided to try my hand at an envelope Easel card --- which meant I had to figure out how to make envelope easel cards! So, I first attempted to make them with "scratch" paper which for me is always ORANGE paper since I am rarely using it and yet have a large quantity for some reason. :)

Once I figured out how it was going to work, I realized that the envelope part would look really cool as vellum. Anyway, I ended up doing TWO cards (kaarten in my new language of DUTCH - which I am trying to learn), one in yellow and one in purple. The yellow one I made for my friend Bonne and the purple for Cathy.

I did the yellow one with a heavy vellum and the purple card was made with a vellum from Disney's Tinkerbell collection that had stars on it --- I really liked how they turned out. However, it took A LOT of attempts to get the envelope to turn out correctly, so many attempts I am embarrassed to admit it.

The yellow one is here - I used daisy stickers as accents:

This is the purple one:

As you can see, I have shown you the easel card as they appeared when the envelope was closed and then again once the card had been removed from the envelope. I liked that the card was easily displayed on top of the easel, sort of over the envelope part.

I really like the heart shaped pearls that I have used to hold the easel up. I got these from a friend in Denmark - they are called "hjerte selvkoebende" and cost 12,00 Kr (about $2.30). MaryAnn, my friend, gets them at her local grocery store and has been very kind to me in sending me them quite often. I have never seen them at any of my local stores or anywhere on the internet.

I have also started attaching a small "how-to" sticker to the bottom of these cards to show how the easel card should be set up since these cards are not popular in America and it is a bit tricky to figure out how to display them. When I give one to a person, it is usually the first time they have gotten an easel card. I got the image from the internet, here it is:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hebban een mooie dag verder!

Flag Day Card for Keris - June 14th

I make a card for my niece for each holiday and enclose a dollar with each card. I do this because I received such a card when I was little from my Nana and I remember the excitement of both getting mail and of receiving the dollar! The dollar was also always a new, crisp dollar bill --- so I try to save up the crisp-est ones I can find for my cards to Keris - although I am not sure she notices. I do think she saves most of the money :)

I saw the inspiration (OK the card I pretty much copied exactly) on Becca Freeken's Amazing Paper Grace's Blog: Pledge of Allegiance. Becca does amazing work! I am very inspired by her use of ribbons and her YouTube video taught me (FINALLY) how to make a bow the same way each time!

Anyway, for Flag Day, here is the card I sent:

Inside, I wrote a little blurb about the adoption of the "Stars and Stripes" as our country's Flag on June 14th in 1777, the history of Betsy Ross's design, and the current specifications and care of the flag today. More information about the flag can be found on Wikipedia on these pages:

Flag Day (United States)
Betsy Ross flag
Flag of the United States