Archives for January 2017

What Can I Do?

Jan

Hey there Pebbles friends and fans, Becki here. Can you believe it’s already 2017?!?! In some ways it seems like 2016 flew by and in other ways it seems like time moved so s.l.o.w.l.y. As a new year arrives many of us are making resolutions and “one little word” to focus on throughout the year. This year, I chose to focus on a phrase. The phrase I want to focus on is, “what can I do?” There are a LOT of ways I want to work this phrase into my life over the next 12 months. I created a layout that I will display in my office as a reminder of my goal.

I gathered patterned papers from a few recent Pebbles collections, a few embellishments (from the Spring Fling collection), and some cardstock. I chose light pastel patterns. I wanted this layout to have a really clean, light feeling.

I started by planning my layout with the cut files in the software for my electronic die cutting machine. Then, I cut the pieces out. I cut the word “can” out of the center of a white piece of cardstock and the rest of the words out of grey cardstock.

I backed the letters “can” with patterned paper. I added a piece of vellum over the yellow paper in the “n” to soften the tone of yellow slightly to match my other patterned papers.

I kept the embellishments on this layout to a minimum because I really wanted the focus to be on the words. The word “can” is the largest so it would be the main focus of the layout.

I added some machine stitching to add some texture and to keep the die cuts in place. I added three embellishment clusters on on either side of the title and one below the title/journaling.

I stitched all three embellishment clusters in place. The last step on this layout was the few sprinkles of gold ink at the top and the bottom of the layout. Once the ink was dry, I could hang the layout in my office as a daily reminder of my goals.

Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Spring Fling 6×6 paper pad SF733112

My Funny Valentine patterned paper 733330

Thankful patterned paper WF12-33427

Card Making and New Year Resolutions

Jan

4 Comments

Hi friends! It’s Wendy Sue here today, and I am excited to share a little project (combining my love of card making and new year resolutions) I’ve been working on. With the new year beginning, I, like many of you, have been re-evaluating my life, my priorities, and my goals. One of my resolutions, or goals for 2017 is to be more grateful…and not just passively, but actively. I’ve created a list of things I will work on to become a more grateful person, and one of the things on my list is to TELL people that I am grateful for them. I want to be better about expressing my gratitude for people and their actions, both large and small. One way I will do this is by mailing or delivering “thank you” cards regularly. To get started, I created a beautiful set of cards!

By clipping the cards onto this cute little clipboard and hanging it up near my desk, I will be reminded constantly of my desire to be grateful, and to express it!

Here’s a look at my cards and how I made them.

Start by cutting a 4″ x 5 1/2″ base from patterned paper:

Cut a 2″ x 5 1/2″ block of coordinating paper and adhere it to the top or bottom of the base:

Here’s one of my BEST tips: Use a small hole punch (this is the 1/16″ punch from We R Memory Keepers to create a little notch where I want the twine to wrap around my card:

See? Now the twine won’t slip and I can tie a nice bow without it sliding around!

Now add die-cuts or stickers to embellish (I always use plenty of foam squares for dimension):

Use a metal die or a digital die to cut out “thanks” or “thank you” or whatever sentiment you’d like. I will be cutting a bunch of these to have ready to put on cards.

After the sentiment is added, place the entire piece on a card (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) cut from coordinating cardstock.

Repeat the process several times. Attach the cards to a cute mini clipboard and hang (or place) where you will see it often and remember to express gratitude to those around you!