Card set and brown paper sacks...

Edit: Hi again, guess what? Carmen called in sick today so she couldn't come over to play. I swear this happens to us more times than not. Get well soon Carmen. And for those asking about the brown paper sacks......they sold out temporarily but I have oodles more in the shop now. :)

Hey friends, my friend Carmen is coming over today for some crafty fun in my Artsy Studio. I've really been wanting to build up my personal stash of cards so that's what I'm aiming for today. While sorting through some new papers to work with, I came across some fun new patterns from My Mind's Eye So Sophie line. I couldn't wait and had to create some cards.

I have so many fun cards posted in my blog archives so I'm revisiting some of my favorite layouts. The one below is a mixy matchy favorite so it's my inspiration for today's cards.

When I want to mass produce several cards at once, I choose my supplies first. I like to get all my goodies gathered up, trying to limit my supplies to just a handful of items. Today I'm using the So Sophie patterned paper, Medium Manila Parcel Tags, Go Cart Green Carnival Tickets, Linen Vintage Buttons and felt from Papertrey Ink, some cork craft sheets and a new product I'll be carrying in my Etsy shop. You'll see that at the end.
I start from the bottom up on my projects. Here, I've cut my base patterned paper to size and some long strips that I will die cut. Don't you love these colors? Kinda Fall colors but still vibrant.
Once I die cut my long strips with Papertrey's Small Scalloped Border die, I adhered the strips to my card fronts. I like to leave the ends hanging off the edges, then I simply turn the card over and trim with my scissors. I save the leftovers to reuse later, you'll see. :)
Next up, I worked on my accents. Using cork craft sheets and Papertrey felt and flower dies , I die cut lots of flowers. Man, those dies work lickity split.
I topped my flower dies with Linen Vintage Buttons and tied them up with New Leaf Baker's Twine. I stamped my Go Cart Green Carnival Tickets with images from Just the Ticket. The Medium Manila Parcel Tags were embellished with images from Fillable Frames #4.
Then it was time to assemble the cards. Here's a finished card, topped off with ribbon. I love how all the elements come together. By using tools like the Papertrey dies and easy to embellish items like my tickets and tags, it makes easy work for some cute cards.
Oh how I love to see a little grouping of cards like this! It makes sending snail mail so much fun.
Now for even more fun. I love all the dimensional doodads and elements that I add to my cards. I think they add so much texture and color. But it also adds bulk to the card which makes it hard to fit into a regular size envelope. I've been sending a lot of my cards lately in bubble mailers so that the card has a little breathing room.

Here's a fun new way to package cards that require something a little bigger than a regular envelope.....or perhaps you want to include a candy bar or notepad or some other gifty type item with your card. My new Brown Paper Sacks are just the ticket. For my cards today, I simply embellished the sack fronts with leftover scalloped snippets of paper, some more baker's twine and some Tiny Tags.
The cards slip in so easily and the little sacks look like wrapping paper. The Tiny Tags can be used to write the recipient's name or can be stamped with small sentiments.....or as price tags even.
I packaged up my cards all pretty like and will keep them in my stash for when I need a perfectly pretty card for that someone special.
I hope you enjoyed today's projects. I dearly love to sit down and stamp a stash of cards. The Brown Paper Sacks are now available in my Etsy shop too in packages of 10.

For those of you that missed my first Halloween kits, I made up some mini treat sack kits that are now available in the shop too. Enjoy!

And stayed tuned for photos of my crafty day with Carmen. :)