Texas Craft Connection

  I love creating masterboards from scraps of leftover papers. I used one for the background of this cute Summerween card. I added some blue glitter paper die cuts. The adorable ghost and sentiment is from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Boo Crazy Stamp Set. Tell me! Do you decorate for Summerween?

 Cardmaking 101 is a series I'm starting for anyone looking to get into the craft of card making. I'll be adding helpful references you can bookmark to use in your card making journey, so you can relax and enjoy the creative process! Let's talk mats. Mats can give your cards more visual interest and depth. Layering cardstock is the way to achieve this look. I'm including a couple of reference charts for the two most common sizes of cards, A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") and A7 (5"x7"). A2 Layering Mat Guide A7 Layering Mat Guide In case you get confused by all the marks on a ruler, here is a handy guide to help with finding the right marks for your project requirements so you can get it right every time! Here are a couple of examples showing the use of layered mats in cardmaking.   I hope you find these guides helpful! Be sure to bookmark this page so you can refer to it when you need it. Happy creating! :) ~ Pamela

  You are the avocado to my toast. This card was so much fun to make! My son went to breakfast at First Watch and brought me the silverware wrapper, which I turned into the sentiment. One of the avocados is a tiny shaker that is filled with little avocado shaker bits and glitter. I think this has to be one of my most favorite cards that I've made! Tell me... do you like Avocado Toast? The avocados are cut from dies that I purchased from Kat Scrappiness. The tiny avocado shaker bits can be found here on Amazon.

 This week's Craft Roulette parameters were the following: Project - Kid's Card Colors - Theater Element - Picture(s) Random - 1/2 and 1/2 I layered my card base with some rainbow gradient pattern scrapbook paper. I die cut a honeycomb using an A2 coverplate, but only used half of it to achieve my 1/2 & 1/2 parameter. The bear is die cut and colored with colored pencils. The cute little bee elements are from a MayMay Made It stamp set, which I fussy cut and colored with markers. To create a "picture" effect, I used a purple foiled frame  that I made on my Glimmer foiling system from Spellbinders and cut out with rectangle dies. The marble foil plate I used is from Altenew.  This was my 47th submission for Craft Roulette.

 I had so much fun designing and creating this mixed media birthday card. I love designs that involve colors and textures, so I was completely in my happy zone with this one. I used die cuts for the lettering. The background is ink blended using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo and Spun Sugar. I stenciled over the top portion of the back to achieve the small dots. The bottom portion is stamped using a water droplet stamp. I then finished off the bottom edge with a strip of washi tape. The butterfly and dragonfly are die cut pop up stickers. Drop me a comment and let me know what elements you like to combine for mixed media cards! Happy Cardmaking! ~ Pamela

I'm a little late in getting this posted but hopefully it will spark a little Irish inspiration for your creations! Hope you enjoy! ~ Pamela Both cards were designed and created by Thomas @texascraftconnection

Can you believe Valentine's Day is nearly upon us? Enjoy some cardmaking inspiration and let us know what you think of these sweet cards.

 I recently made these cute Santa Suit Christmas Cards. They are an easy project that is great if you need to make a bunch of cards fast. My card base is an A2 size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4"). I covered that in red cardstock. I used white cardstock with torn edges and embossed with an embossing folder to create the coat "trim". The belt is made with a strip of black cardstock cut to 2 1/2" x 4 1/4". The buckle is made with two nesting square dies, using gold foil cardstock. You could add a sentiment to the outside or stamp your favorite Christmas sentiment inside. I chose to leave mine blank, so I can handwrite a personalized message inside for my recipients.  No time to make cards? You can find these Christmas cards and others in our Etsy shop at: https://texascraftconnection.etsy.com . Thanks for looking! ~ Pamela

 If you're a cardmaker or papercrafter, chances are you have lots of dies, stamps, stencils, embossing folders and many other fun crafty supplies. I have been looking for a way to organize all of my collections, so I can utilize more of my tools in an efficient way. In the process of researching, I discovered a great app that is designed for organizing "collections". It is very easy to set up and use and even allows for syncing between all of your devices. You can also add "friends" if you have team members that need to access supplies too. You can find it in the Google Play Store here... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.altova.mycollections&hl=en_US The app is called My Collections by Altova. I set mine up by collections of dies, stamps, stencils, embossing folders, and Betterpress/Hot Foil Plates. I have storage boxes for each of these items. I assigned numbers to each package and then entered that number into the My Collections app. If y...

 Christmas is fast approaching and we have been busy making holiday cards! In a world of everything digital, we love to send handmade cards to loved ones and friends for a more personal touch. It's just such a nice way to let someone know you're thinking of them, especially when it's handmade with the recipient in mind. Here is a card I made recently for Christmas. I think it turned out pretty good. I tend to start out with a vague concept and then it just materializes as I craft. I started with an A2 card base and built my scene up with die cuts. I popped some of the trees up with foam tape for a dimensional look and also popped up the clouds over the mountain tops in the background. The cute little vintage van is hauling a tree from the tree farm to some lucky recipient. The sentiment strips on the side of the van "Delivering Warm Hugs" is from Spellbinders . It is from the Merry & Bright Sentiment Strips Press Plate and Die Set for use with the Betterpress ...

An A2 sized step pop-up card was the project I decided on after a bit of inner turmoil caused by the wheel parameters on  Craft Roulette . A deep breath and moment of silence brought me the ideas. Using a card style I learned from CardzTv  by Mary on YouTube I got started. The season has finally begun to feel and look like Fall so the colors came easy. We have just gotten and tried out the Trick or Treat die and I thought it was fun to use as window signage. We did the Boo-tique letters on our Silhouette machine to finish the signage. I used an embossing folder to get the brick work done. Vellum for the window that has spider webs and a ghost behind it. The pumpkins were cut using 2 different die sets as well as the cat popping up from the custom cut pumpkin. I used colored pencils on the brick and pumpkins for colors and textures.  I would say the card turned out pretty good. Enjoy.  Until next time... Thomas

This week's cardmaking challenge has the following parameters: Project - Must include a small bag Colors - Cornucopia Element - Must copy something from another member from the following week's contributions Random - Splatters I made an A2 size card in which I printed a faux vintage book page ground for the mat layer. I used Spellbinders sunflower dies to make the sunflowers, which covered the cornucopia colors parameter. I've had a cute little beach die set for a while now that I hadn't used, so I decided to transform the beach bag into a fall print handbag with adorable maroon tassels. The flip flops are the element that was copied and altered from another CR member to cover the required parameter. The flip flops, of course, had to match the handbag! Cute, huh?! For the sentiment, I just stamped a simple greeting and fussy cut it. Overall, I think it turned out pretty good. I hope you find some inspiration to make your own version!

What a day! I participated and also watched many others. Let me walk you through the card I created  I created this card using parameters provided by Craft Roulette   The first parameter,  Project,  was any card except a single fold A2. I chose a 6 x 6 side fold card.  Next, for  Colors was Mood Board. My mood was  towards Christmas Blue and White. Element was the next parameter, World. I used this parameter in the sentiment "to the world" that I printed in a matching color and used a rectangle die cut for it. The final parameter category, Random provided Star. My star is above the Rejoice of my manger scene die cut that I used from a bigger cut that I cut down and applied it to the large JOY, which is another die set. This card was a joy to make, yes, using the same word twice. I will be using the large JOY die set many times this season in several different ways. Looking forward to it and sharing with you. Thanks for hanging out.  Thomas...

 Happy World Card Making Day! We are celebrating with Craft Roulette friends on YouTube and participating in the challenge over there. Episode #235 Parameters for the challenge are: Project - Cannot be a single fold A2 Card Colors - Mood Board Element - World Random - Star This one took a little bit of brainstorming (which I love), but here is my contribution! I made a 6 x 6 card with a top fold. I chose pink, black and silver for my "mood" colors. I die cut stars from silver glitter paper and heat embossed "Hope your birthday is out of this world" in silver. How are you celebrating World Card Making Day? Leave me a comment and let me know! :) ~ Pamela

Craft Roulette Card Making Challenge - Episode #234 Parameters   Project - 6 x 6 card Colors - Rainbow (any or all) Element - Single Flower Random - Cloth I love mixed media, so I really enjoyed putting this card together. I used torn Toile tissue paper (you can find it HERE in my Etsy Shop ) to partially cover the background. The dress is die cut from patterned scrapbook paper, pulling in colors of red, green and yellow from the rainbow. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to vintage up the edges of the dress. The background of the card is subtly stamped with Speckled Egg using a chicken wire stamp. The sentiments are stamped as well using Black Soot Distress Ink. If you love card making or are new to card making, be sure to check out Craft Roulette! It is a fun group of card makers with a weekly YouTube challenge show. Everyone is so very nice and welcoming, so you'll fit right in, regardless of your experience level. Visit their website at https://www.craftroulette.l...

New Thanksgiving boxed card sets are available in my Etsy Shop . I love the sweet sentiments on these Thanksgiving cards. "May your Thanksgiving by bountiful with reasons to be grateful." and "Kindness sows the seeds. Gratitude is the harvest. Hope your Thanksgiving overflows with both." You can find them HERE .

Check out these cute Halloween cards that we recently made!