Playing with Yarns!

Yes. I’ve returned to my basket of yarns. When I recently reorganized and cleaned my craft room, I realized how many balls and skeins of yarns I had. All sorts of colors, weights and types. What a waste of storage space and beautiful yarns! I decided to use them or donate them.

When I was in the 9th grade (many moons ago!) I learned how to knit these slippers. It was the popular item to knit during the time. I’ve been knitting these slippers off and on ever since. They were made with white and solid colored yarns when I learned how to create them. They can be thrown in the washer and dryer and come out looking new again!

In recent years I’ve used the different varigated yarns along with a matching solid color. They look so different when completed. It is a bit tricky to lose count on the varigated yarns, especially when you get to the same color as the solid yarn.

If I make these for a girl or woman, I usually put a pom pom on the top. The guys get a bow or a simple braided knot on the top of their slippers. I’ve even adjusted the pattern and made baby slippers and smaller sizes for children. I’ve used the smaller scraps of yarns to create colorful slippers too!

My stash had several smaller balls of yarn. I know I could never find the exact same weight and color, so I considered these colorful scrap of yarn. I needed a new pair, so I started knitting a pair using these scraps. Each foot is different, but that’s okay with me!

Do any of you remember these slippers? Do you still knit them? I could not even begin to explain how to make these, as I found out recently when I tried to teach a friend. She just watched and followed along with her own set of needles and yarns. There are a couple of videos online that show you how to make these, but they were a bit different than how I learned. One was in French, so that isn’t helpful for most people.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I create as I sit and watch a movie or a ball game. Thank you for stopping by my blog! I hope you have a creative day!

~~ Vickie ~~

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Pretty in Pink Birthday Card for a Golfer!

Hello!

I hope all is well with you and you’re enjoying some creative time!

A special birthday card was requested for a female golfer. Yes, there are lots of girls and ladies that enjoy a good round of golf!

The only stamp or digital image I had for golfing was this little man that I’ve had for awhile and used a lot! I decided I would create my own golfing girl. I love the little girl stamps from My Favorite Things. You can see that this cute stamp has been used!

I wanted to fit a golf club in the girl’s hand, but decided a golf flag would also be appropriate. Since my customer wanted this card in shades of pink, this is what I designed!

The outfit and shoes on this stamp are not colored; I cut out papers and layered them on the stamp. This is a great way to use those little scraps of papers! This was a fun card to design and I love the challenge of creating something original! I love to mix and match stamps to come up with different ideas.

My customer said this card was perfect, so I am pleased that I have another satisfied person that gives greeting cards!

I hope I’ve inspired you to mix up your stamps and digital designs to create something new!

Enjoy your creative day!

~ Vickie

Creating Butterflies!

Hello & Thanks for visiting today!

Do you like butterflies? Many of my regular readers and followers know that I feature many types of colorful butterflies on several cards I create. I love them so much that I included one in my HorseMark Cards logo!

The easiest way to create a butterfly is by using a butterfly punch or  die. These come in many different shapes and styles and can be used with colored or textured papers to created interesting butterflies.

You can also place a die over the butterfly image on patterned papers to create a very different butterfly.  Place it over the same image or use it alone, either way works! I used this cute butterfly die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I added this pretty butterfly on the inside of the card. I added a solid base under the delicate butterfly to add some more dimension. Adding the little ‘fly dots’ makes it appear that this pretty butterfly flew on the card! It’s nice to open a card and also see something extra!

Another idea for adding a butterfly to your project is to use one of the many craft papers that feature butterflies. I like to fussy cut around the butterfly image. It can be layered on the same image to give it a different effect.

Many of the paper punches and dies of butterflies are smaller, so this is a great way to create several of them and use your scrap papers!

If you are going to give a card directly to your friend, instead of mailing it, you can also add some small butterflies on the envelope.  It adds a bit of fun!

I hope I have inspired you to create pretty butterflies for your projects!  They are perfect to include on many types of cards; note cards, sympathy cards, Mother’s Day cards, and birthday cards!  Butterflies can flutter anywhere!

If you would prefer to have me design a card, or two, with butterflies I would love it! Contact me at horsemarkcards@gmail.com and you will have your cards in a few days!

I appreciate you visiting my blog today!  Please visit HorseMark Cards on Instagram to see more card designs.

Enjoy your creative day!   ~ Vickie

 

Creating Paper Ornaments for Christmas Cards!

Hello Friends!

The first leaves have fallen from our trees, the mornings have started to be a bit cooler, costumes and candy are featured in the stores, and pumpkins are everywhere! And yes, there are Christmas trees with lights displayed in most stores. The holiday are coming! Many of us prepare for them a bit earlier than others, especially if we are creating handmade items. So, it is time for me to start creating some holiday cards!

It is a bit difficult to get into the holiday spirit when the sun is shining and we are still having warm days here in northern California. I needed to find a bit of inspiration. I started to browse through my Christmas papers and previous holiday cards I had created. Of course, checking for ideas online also got me into the holiday spirit. It’s amazing to see so many creative ideas and such talented people in our world! I would like to add a bit of my creativity to this festive season!

I had used my swirl die to create cards from old photographs and a thought occurred to me. I remember seeing some delicate, lace-like Christmas ornaments on a card I saw online. I didn’t bookmark it at the time, since I wasn’t in the Christmas mood. Anyway, I thought I would use this swirl die from Di-Namics along with a circle to create a Christmas ornament for a card. Since my swirl die was rather large, I added a smaller scalloped ‘ornament’, which has a shiny silver star in the middle. (My photography skills are still a work-in-progress.) This is the card I created.

Christmas card with ornaments created from dies.

Looking through my collection of dies to find other ideas for Christmas ornaments turned into a fun treasure hunt! These scalloped label dies from ‘Nellie’s Multi Frames‘ would make wonderful paper ornaments. These dies are small enough that you can use paper scraps! I layered some different papers together and I created these cards with them.

Christmas card with ornaments created from label dies

Christmas card created with label dies. Add gems to make them sparkle!

Since I create all the Christmas cards we send to our family and friends, I need to make simple cards. A card with a single ornament on the front would be a simple, yet nice card to send out for the holidays.

A Simple Christmas Card

I used many types of papers and soon found myself having lots of fun deciding what kinds of ornaments I could make. This was also a great way to use some of the paper scraps I have leftover from previous projects! Now I’m in the holiday mood, and keeping very busy creating cards! I know you are all creating wonderful projects for the upcoming holidays too! I’m looking forward to seeing what ideas you have for this festive season!

Thanks for visiting today! Enjoy your creative time!

~ Vickie ~

Fall is Here! You Need a ScareCrow!

YES! There is finally a chill in the air, at least in the mornings! Hopefully the weather will be cooler during the days too, and perhaps some much needed rain will follow! Pumpkins, recipes using pumpkin, autumn wreaths and other fall-related items can be found everywhere on blogs, Pinterest, Facebook, and so many other internet sites. (Visit Time with Thea for her wonderful ideas!) I love it all!

Today I am going to share another fall related item….a Scarecrow!

One of my favorite stamps I purchased from Craft Lounge, before they went out of business 😦 about two years ago, was a cute scarecrow. It made me happy just to look at him! I thought he would be perfect to feature today. I would like to share a card I created using this cute stamp and one of my favorite techniques – layering!

These are the first 4 steps I used to create a cute scarecrow card!

Once I stamped my scarecrow on white card stock, I used my pencils to give him some color. I always color my stamps when I intend to add a layer over them – they look better from a slight angle when the colors match. When I took this picture, I wasn’t sure what color shirt I would use, so it was not yet colored.

I stamped another image of the scarecrow’s head and colored it the same as the entire image. (There are two stamped, one was a bit too close to the edge….my bad!) I stamped both sides of the shirt on a scrap of tiny reddish polka dot paper. When I cut these images, I made sure to cut outside the lines of the image. It looks better once you layer it. This is also a great way to use up little scraps of your papers!

I added layers to my scarecrow and prepared the embossed base with baker’s twine.

I attached the polka dot shirt with Miracle Tape as I didn’t want it elevated. Foam squares were used to attach his head over the image; he seemed to come alive with this added dimension! Since I love polka dots and wanted to complement his shirt, I embossed the base of the card with polka dots. Using Miracle Tape (my favorite adhesive), I attached a small piece in the corner of my base to adhere the baker’s twine that I wrapped around to make a border.

Now for the fun part! The details! I decided he needed to be nestled in a bed of straw grass and have a couple of birds around him. I added him to the base of my card and he was ready to make anyone smile!

This adorable scarecrow is ready to make anyone smile!

This card can be created for a note of thanks or even a fall birthday! I can see this adorable scarecrow holding some balloons! He can be nested in a fall arrangement, perhaps next to those little pumpkins! (I always seem to think of scarecrows as male, don’t know why!) My mind is so busy with ideas on how to use this cute scarecrow stamp! What would you do with him?

You know I will be creating more cards with this cute stamp! Remember, I can also customize this scarecrow for you! Contact me at horsemarkcards@gmail.com and you can have your own scarecrow card in a few days!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit! I look forward to your comments! Enjoy your creative day! ~ Vickie

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