I {Heart} Card Kits, and Nature!

Hello bloggers! I've been feeling sorry for my neglected little blog, so I thought I'd pop on with a quick post before heading to my dad's to do a little housekeeping and yardwork. Summer's on the wane, and I want to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, even if it involves physical work. After all, it won't be long before the weather folks around here start talking about the "S" word. {shuddering at the thought}


My father-in-law's birthday was July 30 and it completely snuck up on me. (Honestly, almost every birthday this year either snuck up on me or passed me by, something I'm not proud to admit.) I found myself with about 30 minutes to create a card but almost zero guy stamps. However, I do have a lot of card kits, so I grabbed the "GUYS" bag where I found this beary cute kit from "Kate".

I chose this kit because I knew the bear would be super-quick to color. I used the papers in the kit, and found this great stitched ribbon & matching brads in my stash. A simple stamped & hand-cut sentiment tied with some floss finished it.

I am positive this is the fastest card I have ever made, thus reaffirming my love for card kits! ;-)

I'm hoping to see lots of my fine feathered friends while I'm working outside today, like this cheery goldfinch who visited the other day. (click on the picture for a close-up.)

Soon, his bright golden feathers will be replaced with mossy brown ones for the fall & winter. But we'll still have bright red cardinals to liven up the landscape!

Isn't nature beautiful!?!

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a great day!

DETAILS
Image: Stampin Up Under the Stars
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Martha Stewart
Copics: E25,E31,E35,E42,E57
Accents: ribbon (In the Loop), brads (Making Memories), floss (DMC)

Anatomy of a Card Kit

Wow, I haven't posted in -- *gasp* -- over two weeks!! But thankfully, my work life is calming down and I can begin to get back to the things that relax me, like stamping and crafting and such.

So you read a few weeks back that I'm hosting my first Card Kit Swap over on SCS. I am so excited because it's turning out better than I ever imagined!! To date, we have 19 wonderful swappers filling 48 spots ... and we're still open for more swappers!

I just think these cards kits are great, so I signed up to be in a Stamping Bella card kit swap hosted by DawnB. Let me tell you, making these card kits is a breeze, and it's really fun selecting the image, then choosing the DP, ribbon, and embellies to include to make it special.

But I noticed that a lot of newbies like me had no idea exactly what a card kit would look like. Michelle graciously provided a pic for my swap thread (thanks hun!) but I thought I'd include a few pics of my kits for the Bella swap here.

A basic kit usually includes:
- 2 stamped images
- 2 sheets of 6x6 DP
- at least 12" of ribbon
- 3+ brads
- something extra for pizzazz

I added another piece of ribbon, a snowflake brad, and some punches as my extras. EDIT: I also threw in some dewdrops and a few more punched shapes right before I mailed them!


I love this green and pink shimmery ribbon that I found at Michael's in the dollar bin. I think it compliments the Brooke Paisley and Brooke Stripe DPs by Making Memories. I wanted to use "non-winter" colors for this kit and though this green & pink combo worked nicely. You can see the snowflake brad too.



I thought some snowflakes would be nice, so I punched snowflakes from vellum and shimmery cardstock with a Martha Stewart punch (that I picked up, along with 3 others, at Walmart for $2 each!)




Just pop all of this into a ziploc bag and there you have it - a card kit! Easy peasy!

Soooo, now that you see how easy this is, pop over and join us in the Guys & Dolls Card Kit Swap! There's plenty of room and time to join in the fun!

Happy Creating!
Susan

Really? I'm hosting a card swap???

Yes, yes I am, and it's all Michelle's fault.

You see, I've wanted to host a card swap but always got hung up on a theme, so I just put that idea out of my head, and I've been content and happy just being a swapper.

Then I saw Michelle's post of this Card (great post name by the way LOL why beat around the bush, right?) made from a card kit, and I've been thinking about card kits all day. Why, I almost forgot to buy the kitties their special food (ie Fancy Feast) when I went grocery shopping and only grocery shopping today!!! (What's that? You saw me leaving the craft store too? Oh no, not me, it must have been someone who just *looks* like me. *I* just went to the grocery store!)

Then Michelle PM's me, poking me and prodding me while screaming, "Do it, Susan, do it!" and then she shoves me off the plank into the murky waters of Card Swapper Cove! (nevermind that I can't swim . . . really)

And so was born the Guys & Dolls Card Kit Swap over on Splitcoaststampers. Whoever thought of this card kit idea was genius!! What could be easier? (not swimming, I'll tell you that much).

So why not hop on over, have a look-see as to what it's all about, and join us in the fun and merriment?? (no poking or prodding or shoving . . . well, maybe just a little poking).

Happy Creating!
Susan