Finished My ABC's

For the past 26 days I have been making a card a day inspired by a letter from the alphabet. Most of you have been following along on Facebook but for those of you who haven't, read here for how my journey began. 

This is my recap of the Alphabet Challenge. I have all the cards I made posted here. Some of them are for sale! There was a sweepstakes to win free cards, but that is over now. Thanks to all those who entered and thanks for reading now.

Alphabet
This card is made from
school supplies.
NFS

Buttons
Buttons are handmade from clay.
Background is embossed.
NFS

Chevrons
"Life of the party"
One of a kind
$3.00 Purchase online here.

Diamonds
Background made from diamond
stencil. Balloon is 3D
NFS

Emboss
Black card stock is embossed
& colored with metallic ink
NFS

Flowers
Original illustration printed on
card stock.
First 4 are FREE!
$2.50 Purchase online here

Green & Glitter
Hand stamped colored turtle.
Glitter accents added by hand.
NFS

Hearts & Hexagons
Background is embossed.
NFS

Ink
All one of a kind paper.
"make a wish!"
$3.00

JLiB
Original graphics.
"May your birthday be filled with enough
joy & smiles to last the whole year."
NFS

K-card
Sentiment spins as card opens.
"I'm here for you... just as
you've always been there for me."
NFS

Leaves
"our roots say were sisters, our
hearts say were friends."
NFS

Marriage
Woven ribbon with bow.
M is also for Mr & Mrs.
NFS

Numbers
3 & friends are 3D mounted.
Extra large size, 5x7
NFS

Ocean
Real shells!
"Gather Life's Little Treasures"
NFS

Peacock
Background is embossed. Gold glitter
card stock and metallic ink on feather.
$4.00 Purchase online here

Quilt
Baby blanket created with patterned
paper and drawn on stitching.
$3.00

Ribbon
Fun patterns & textures
"happy birthday"
NFS

Stars
Handmade button stars along with
some bling on handmade paper.
Signed & numbered, one of a kind
$4.00

Thanks
Hand dyed lace is one of a kind.
Sentiment is designed & printed.
NFS

Umbrella
"You make me happy when
skies are grey."
NFS

Vellum
"My heart skips a beat"
Heart vellum over entire card.
One of a kind.
NFS

White space
Blue music paper is hand made.
"Congratulations" is stamped
NFS

X's & O's
Football themed card with
handmade chalkboard paper.
NFS

Yellow
Fun & funky with hand done
glitter accents & one of a kind
handmade flower.
NFS

Zebra print
Embossed neon zebra paper with
metallic zebra ribbon!
"go WILD"
NFS

Purchasing Directions:
Not sure how to purchase cards? Click on the price below the card you wish to purchase. A new window will take you to my online store powered by Storenvy. Payments go through this website which uses Paypal. If you would like to claim a free card, simply click on the word free under the card. You will go through the check out process but will not be charged for the card. If you get multiple cards, shipping rates may apply. If you have any questions, please email me at jlibdesigns@gmail.com

K-card

Going along with my Alphabet Challenge, I chose to do a k-card for the letter K. These cards are a neat take on a pop out card where the center image rotates as you open the card. These can be tricky to make because things need to line up precisely. There are two parts to this card. The front is similar to a standard card where the paper is folded in half. The second piece has an accordion fold. That's where the rotation comes into play.

 

Once I got the card all set up, I chose my main image and text. I decided to go with a StampinUp! stamp where the sentiment would apply to a few different card giving situations. I paired it with a wildflower silhouette stamp that I love.

To set off the cool blues from the center image, I chose a rich brown color pallet for the background. I used a stamp from the same set as the wildflower to create a background pattern.

I wanted there to be plenty of space on the inside of the card to write a message. I decided to color the inside with a nuance to a lighter, creamer brown. This way any pen or pencil will show up on the background.

 And here is the finished card!

Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow the rest of the Alphabet Challenge on JLiB's Facebook page. Catch up on past cards in the Alphabet Challenge photo album. Not sure what the Alphabet Challenge is? Read about it in another blog post, here.

Alphabet Cards - 26 cards in 26 days

Today I am starting a card making challenge for myself. For the next 26 days I will be creating a card each day. I am going through the alphabet in search for inspiration. Each day will be inspired by a letter. 

To start things off I thought it would only be appropriate that A be for alphabet. The alphabet is the starting point for most things we learn and we spend a lot of our learning time in school. And in the spirit of back to school time, this card has a school theme.

Almost all the materials used for this card are things you would by for school shopping. A piece of notebook paper was torn out and cut to size for the background paper. I used the Cuttlebug to emboss a flourish along the side of the paper. This adds a little bit of flare to the otherwise plain paper. Plus, I don't know about you but, my whole notebook was filled with doodles so this was a fun way to represent that. I also used an index card which was cut to have a decorative edge. The letters are placed on a post-it note. A green paper clip and metallic staples give the finishing touches to this card.

Be sure to keep up with my Alphabet Challenge on Facebook!
Read the latest post in the Alphabet Challenge for the letter K, here.

1 Product 4 Ways

For as long as I can remember I have created all sorts of things with unexpected materials. As a child my ideas were grand but my building materials were not. Toilet paper rolls and masking tape will only get you so far. As I grew up I earned the trust of my parents to use better materials such as hot glue and real scissors (not the rounded corner kind and more importantly left handed scissors).

I have a good eye for seeing things at more than face value. In my card making I am always looking to up-cycle paper products. I also like to use unexpected materials as embellishments. For these graduation cards I use some confetti I purchased for only $1.00! Confetti makes the perfect embellishment for cards because they are shinny. Shinny things make any project look expensive and special. The confetti is also thicker than paper so it adds a little bit of dimension. This, along with the reflective surface, create texture for the card.

Another great quality about the confetti is its reputation. Confetti is exclusively associated with celebrations. Although you may not realize at first that the card you are looking at is made with confetti, your subconscious will recognize it and make you feel excited. On some cards it is easier to see that confetti was used. This card I used black confetti on black paper. This way, some of the confetti could fall into the background and let another piece of confetti be the focal point.

This card captures the moment of excitement when the
caps are tossed into the air at the end of the ceremony!

Black and gold are used to create this sophisticated card.
The typography is layered and angular to show excitement.

All of these graduation cards are for sale in my online store. There you can find more graduation cards and custom options. Congratulations class of 2013!

Typographic Trifecta of Trends

I'd like to start by just jumping in and saying that I love chevrons! I seriously cannot get enough of them. And I'm not the only one. This has been a rapidly growing trend that I see being used everywhere.

It's all about color and right now its all about mint green. This color has swept the fashion world and is being applied to tops and bottoms alike. I think its beautiful but I wasn't sure my fair complexion and auburn hair would pair well with it. My solution to pulling this color into my wardrobe was to grab some mint green jeans :)

And the latest trend is the ombre. I have been hearing this word all over the place but mostly in beauty trends like hair and nails. I've always just called a color transition a gradient or nuance.

I like keeping up with trends in all facets of my life. With my card making I thought, I should bring all of these trends together and make one super trendy card!

I started on the computer in Adobe Illustrator. After playing on the computer for a little bit I got the chevrons just the way I liked them with the colors assigned to create a smooth ombre. Now I just needed to add the text. This is always the hardest part for me. I decided to go full integral with the text and build the chevrons with the sentiment. They were looking a little wimpy so I bulked them up by doubling up. I added a thin boarder that is the color of the bottom chevron. This helped hold everything together. It also shows the ombre off by using more color comparison points on the card.

Once the design is complete, it gets printed using my trusty office jet printer on bright white 110 lb card stock. Voila! It doesn't get any trendier than that!

Want this card for an upcoming birthday? Order it online here.

Thinking Green

I really enjoy celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I always wear green and I do my best to be festive. I don't usually make cards for the occasion but this year I felt very inspired. Maybe because they weather has been so nice lately, and its never nice in early Spring in Oregon.

My assistant/best friend/dog friend and I were outside the other day and I got a great idea! I decided to put actual clovers in my St. Patty's Day cards. I've seen people put dried flowers on cards but I've never done anything like that before. So, I wanted to try it and it worked, and I just love how the card turned out!

Meeka helped me pick out some clovers and I brought them inside. On a sheet of bright white card stock I put down some double stick tape to help hold down the clovers. I arranged three of them on the page and then went over the top of them with packaging tape to seal them in. After I got my featured image done, I worked on the paper cut outs. I knew I wanted something that resembled a Celtic knot. Lucky me Cricut had the perfect image for me to have cut out. The corner pieces were made from a square die cut that I cut on a diagonal. I was originally going to have the knot inspired background set squared up with the card. It just wasn't working, so I turned it on the diamond and I loved it! I hope you do too :)

March Newsletter

                  

I am so excited to start sending out a newsletter! I am still getting use to all of this so bare

with me if photos display wonky or don't display at all! I decided to do newsletter to better
communicate with you. I want to be able to share the latest news, products and sales!
I hope you enjoy the Inaugural eNewsletter!

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Read this step by step article on how
I create baby cards for a boy & a girl

Easter cards are in the making.
Shop for birthday cards here!