Each year I participate in Cards for Cubs and encourage you to do the same. I’ve come up with a system to make as many unique cards as fast as possible. If I forget to list something, please email me saundralparker@yahoo.com, and I’ll try to figure out where I bought it..

It’s not too late to participate in Cards for Cubs, here’s their link: http://www.cardsforcubs.org If you aren’t familiar, Cards for Cubs gives encouraging and birthday cards for kids in foster care. I forgot to mention in my video that I focus on older girls as I think they benefit the most from encouragement, and I primarily make encouraging cards. You don’t write anything inside, as they are to be given to the kids from people working in the foster care system. We are there to provide cards. If you have a stockpile of birthday cards, I know they would appreciate them. The minimum number of cards you can send is ten and they ask to have them in quantities of tens.

The stamped lady images are all from Unity Stamps from their Angiegirl collection. I didn’t realize until today that they make Angie men, so I might add some men to my collection for next year’s Cards for Cubs. Here’s a link to find them easier..they have 117 stamps in the Angiegirl stamps. Link: https://tinyurl.com/22emz4pd

To make the process of making cards easier, I get all of the components I’m using out and put them in piles. On the left side of my desk is the stack of card bases from Michaels and Hobby Lobby. The card bases I wanted to use this year are primarily pink and navy blue, so I colored my girls so they all wear either pink or dark blue. I colored them on card stock and ran them through my copier and keep the originals to use again next year. This is a HUGE time savings. NOTE: Don’t use colored cardstock for copies as it changes the colors and makes them splotchy. I don’t know why, but cream colored cardstock created splotchy images…Only use white cardstock for coloring, is the lesson I learned this year.

I found embellishments that would look good on the card bases I’m using and put them in a stack along with sentiment stickers I got from Temu, links are below.

Sentiment Stickers: https://tinyurl.com/mry9cjdb

Butterfly stickers for envelopes: https://tinyurl.com/2nepr4rf

Flower stickers: https://tinyurl.com/ms5d4brp

Women fashion stickers: https://tinyurl.com/556tpukr I couldn’t find any of the vellum ladies fashion stickers online now, sorry.

To make tea dyed papers, I took an old, brittle book, and Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink and laid the ink pad on the book on pages that had only writing to ink them, and then sprayed it with water and used a blending brush to move the ink around, then let it dry.

I used a variety of ribbons and gem stickers to add to the cards.

Dollar Tree links:

Shiny gem stickers: https://tinyurl.com/mrxa2r6z

3d butterfly stickers: https://tinyurl.com/58j7zjea

Joann: Rose trim: https://tinyurl.com/4nuy45mb This isn’t exactly like the trim I used, but it’s close.

Spinning bird card: I took an A2 sized card base and laid a piece of patterned paper that is 5 1/4″ x 4″ on top and then laid a larger die over them near the center. Don’t attach the patterned paper as you’ll need to put string under it later. I put a small piece of washi tape to hold the patterned paper where I wanted it then die cut the sun shaped die out of the center by opening the card base when running it through my machine. Once the sun was cut out, I took a piece of gold string and glued the front and back of the bird to it. My stamps are specific to this kind of card but any image that can mirror itself like a tree, hot air balloon, butterflies link: https://tinyurl.com/39hbbm5z or dragonflies that are the same shape if you attach them back to back like this one, link: https://tinyurl.com/2abxnab5 will work. Color your image and cut them out then put them back to back to make sure they are the same shape and size and then put glue on them and run the string through the center of the stamps and make sure they are well adhered to themselves and the string. The string needs to be long enough to run through the center of the card from top to bottom. Then lay the string in the center of the opening under the designer paper and glue the designer paper down with the string laying taut. To make it spin, you’ll turn it a bunch of times and then close the card. When the recipient opens the card, the image will spin.

I used a Happy Birthday sentiment die from Temu on this card. Link: https://tinyurl.com/2s439tw2