you say it's your birthday

I have been severely lacking in the making of birthday cards. I don't know why, but I have. Then comes a request to see my birthday cards and I have none to show. I mean... major eeek!!

I grabbed a package of prefolds with envies and went to work. I would like to say I whipped out the following twenty-five cards in a few days but it took more like weeks to get them all done. I did manage to get about twelve done to show and sell. The rest I finally completed last night. Next time don't try to create so many cards all at once!

New stamp set in action here (new as in sitting around forever and finally managed to drag it into the light of day) I stamped the honeycomb on the yellow hexagons with versamark ink to give the tone on tone look. The bee and the sentiment are both heat embossed with detail embossing powder. I added some glossy accents to the bees wings. The sentiment is raised with some foam squares.

Used one of my Spellbinder dies for the label to house the sentiment. Paper from a DCWV summer pack and a few blings for good measure.

Heat embossed sentiment. Fiskars border punch. Celebrate ribbon and foam squares.

Embossing folder (swiss dots) Spellbinders scallop circles, Studio G $1 stamps from Michaels, paper from DCWV and bling.

Pretty simple one here. I let the pattern paper be my sentiment.

Used a fiskars border punch to create this notebook look. White twine, bling and DCWV paper stack.

Stamp from a set I have had forever and have no clue who the manufacturer is. I didn't keep the backing paper.

Used silver detail embossing powder on this one.

This sketch/ layout was on the Operation Write Home FB page. I left off one of the elements as I didn't need a sentiment spot with this pattern paper. But I loved the look of the black matting on the next two cards.

Off to get the next group photographed for your viewing pleasure.

unofficial challenge

One of the scrapping groups I am a part of on FB tries to have monthly challenges to keep us all on our toes as well as keeping those creative juices flowing and not drying up. For some months there have been a few going on which is always fun. 

However, around Christmas time we discussed possibly doing a Christmas card monthly challenge. Many ladies thought that might put a few of us under too much stress/ pressure/ cardiac arrest. So we have an unofficial monthly Christmas card challenge. Make four Christmas cards every month if you are able. If you cannot, no biggie. If you can at least you will have that many cards done before the Christmas season hits again! Sounds good to me. And since I was done with my valentines, I had a couple hours to play.

I dug out an older holiday slab that I have had for a bit and grabbed a couple of patterns out. I like the blues and greens on these papers. I also did a gate fold card (I think that is what it is called) to test it out. I think I like it a lot. I cut the banner with my Cuttlebug using my Spellbinders dies. Heat embossed the sentiment with silver powder and added some silver pearls to the corner.

Inside I heat embossed in silver the sentiment. Still lots of room for a picture or a special holiday message.

Not too shabby and they didn't take too much time. I need to whip up a couple of adult valentines and some birthday cards. Off I go....

my little pony- rarity invite

I simply love a challenge!! Really really do. So when a friend of mine asked if I could create a My Little Pony birthday invitation which had Rarity on it, I jumped at it!! Sure why not?? Of course this was all said without having a single clue as to who the heck is this Rarity pony?! Kira never really got into the whole pony thing. She had them but they were gifts and were never played with that much. They found their way to our local Rec Center Preschool Play Group where they have been loved and loved by many children in the community. But I digress....

Not only is Rarity a little pony, nope she is a unicorn pony!! Okey dokey!! Off to the Silhouette store to find a file I could hopefully use to create this special pony. Giving up was not an option because my friend has THE CUTEST daughters who both enjoy ponies. I could not disappoint those little squeaks!!

I found a file with a pony and purchased it. Adjusted it to fit on the invitation and then hand drew into the Silhouette software the unicorn horn!! There was no way I was cutting all those horns out!!

The first photo shows Rarity in all her glory on the invitation front. I used Bazzill bling since what fun is a pony that isn't sparkly?? (no fun at all)

Here is the front after I had cut the sentiment with my Spellbinders.

And one with the flash so you can appreciate the bling of that paper!!

Backside of the invitation where my friend could write in all the information for this pony party!! I used a border punch and some of the purple bling paper for the stars.

And a pile of pony goodness ready for action!!

card organizer for mom

On one of my many blog ramblings, I found a card organizer tutorial here at Be Creative with Amy's blog. I thought it looked pretty and not too difficult so off I went! Some of the measurements were a bit off so I had to adjust here and there to make it work but it was a great jumping off point in this adventure!! Here it is before I added any decoration to the front.

These are the month dividers for the inside. I found a free calendar template that worked for me and printed and cut it to fit the dividers. Now mom can keep track of everyone's birthday, anniversaries and special occasions. 

Here is the front of the card organizer once I added my beaded flower. I cut the flower with a Spellbinders die and then hand stitched the seed beads into the center. I also spritzed the front with some of the Heidi Swapp color shine which added just enough pizzazz for mom.

Side view with the organizer all full up with handmade cards. There are 24 cards in there. Standard card size including envelopes. Yup, the lizard cards are living in there now. Along with a few others. Some of which I have already posted but didn't mention they were for this organizer.

what flavor would you like?

One day I was coloring in some of the Paper Smooches animals and my wonderful daughter had this idea that I should color them like ice cream flavors. hmmmm... sounded like a fun thing to do so I tried it. They came out so darn cute! I then put each cow on its own card. Very cute.

My best friend has a niece who loves cows but probably wouldn't be interested in the cards so I came up with a way for her to give these adorable little creations to her niece.

I used papers that accented each cows flavor. I used my Spellbinders dies to cut out the scallop circles. I found the burlap material/ paper at Michaels and it worked out perfectly!! I also picked up a 12X12 frame which just so happened to be on sale at the time!! 

I am now awaiting to hear how she liked the cows. They did receive my friends husband stamp of approval. That is a step in the right direction!! And yes I will post the cow ice cream cards soon. They are adorable as well!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

50th anniversary card

Once again my mom came up with a challenge for me. A 50th wedding anniversary card! The good news is that she did give me lots of time to do it. whew. I went off to Michaels to find some gold papers to work with. I had absolutely no plan in mind, I was hoping to be inspired. I brought everything home and sat it on my desk for a few days which was very good as my first idea wouldn't have worked at all and glad I waited. The end result is so much better than I could have imagined.

I started with some chipboard numbers and used my gold ink pad to make them gold. As you can see, my poor ink pad did not survive the adventure and needed to be retired to the circle file after I took this picture. And the gold was really not what I wanted. 

This is the inside of the card. I hand cut these banners, used some gold thread and gold seed beads to attach them to the card. Some gold brads finished the hanging part of the banner.

A better view of the banner.

Here is the front of the finished card. Love that gold paper. It was a dream to work with and the glitter was not falling all over the place. Always a good thing. I used some Heidi Swapp color shine in gold to make the numbers more gold and less blah. I used one of my spellbinders shapes to create the base for the 50 to live on.

Close up of the numbers.

Inside of the card. Oh so amazing. All the letters are a stickers which I cannot remember the brand but I did get them at Michaels.

Mom was pretty happy with the card and for that I am happy.

me happy

My package from Scrapbook.com arrived on Thursday evening. Just in time for me to start working on dinner and getting Kira ready for the Daddy Daughter Dance! So not fair. I had to wait some more before I could tear open that special box but I was rewarded with the lovely goodies shown below!!

I am so happy to have them here with me. But a bit sad as I had ordered an embossing folder that is sold out and they were not sure when or if it would even be coming back in. So they credited my PayPal account for it. Wondering why it took me to email them that something was missing before they did that. Shouldn't that have been an automatic once they packaged up my stuff and realized they could not send it to me?? Oh well, I shall survive and no more waiting!! :)

Winter Storm Nemo has hit us and continues to blow and snow on us. I am sure it will be stopping sometime. Until then we are snowed in and comfy. Poor hubby is out snowblowing the HUGE drifts. They are over the top of the snowblower!! Our neighbors plow guy got stuck when the snow fell behind him and he couldn't reverse out of their driveway! Another guy had to come and plow him out!! Of course that meant pushing snow onto our side of the driveway for hubby to have to move. Somehow that always happens to us. Next house we will not be sharing a driveway with our neighbors. 

Off to clean off the desk in the hopes of actually being able to scrap something today. We'll see!

smooches = thank you

At least it does to me and this great cow stamp!! The stamp set is from Paper Smooches. Love their adorable characters and the phrases. The stamps work amazingly well. Even for someone like me who is not that great when it comes to stamping. Good thing I have lots of paper to practice on!! :)

Yesterday on the Paper Smooches blog a lovely prize package was being offered up to a randomly drawn winner for posting a Thank You card. I do believe that smooches does equal saying thank you!

I made this card for a sample for my card party last month. I LOVE the cow. I mean seriously- how cute. And pink. Well what fun is it to color in a white cow?? Absolutely none. I used my EK Success colored pencils that I have had forever to color the image. I don't think I am ready for Copics. I certainly know my hubby is not ready for me to be into Copics. And neither is the bank account. I can see that becoming a costly addiction/ necessity.

I used paper from DCWV summer stack from eons ago. I like how the pink pops out from the other colors. I used my nesties to cut the cow out, popped with pop dots and a paper punch for the sentiment. A little bit of rick rack I had in my stash and there you go... a heartfelt thank you card.

I would love to win the drawing. Really I would. I have one package of their stamps. I NEED more. :) I have a rather large list of Paper Smooches stamps that I would give my firstborn to own. Seriously... they are that amazing. Check them out.

May your day be full of smooches!!

card order

Another card order from my card party that is complete! So very happy for that. I totally love making these cards but it feels so darn good when they are complete and I can get them to their new owners. Love that!!

These papers were from a Holiday stack I picked up a couple years back. Then Sybill got to cut out the Noel. A little sewing and bling and Merry Christmas to you!!

I love the springy-ness of this card and better still... I got to use some of my twill stash from eons ago!

A couple of criss cross thank you cards. I used my Cuttlebug for the present stamp and added some of my newly purchased bakers twine from K. Andrews website. It is lovely but feel I might have to hit up the Twinery for some other colors that she doesn't carry. I need a couple of pinks, a dark blue, light orange, brown and maybe a dark green. :)

Same card different color grouping.

May you always find the correct sentiment for your day!

for an eight year old girl

I made the following cards for an eight year old girl. Her mom made the request at my card party and I had a total blast making these cards for her. The little girl's favorite colors are green, orange and purple. I mean could I possibly choose a better color palette?? So much fun and the DCWV Nana's Kids stack was full of that deliciousness. Plus glitter which all girls simply L O V E!!

I colored the owls with her favorite colors since they are such cute owls!! They are from Paper Smooches and are so much fun!! They have a ton more sets of stamps that I would kill to have. Of course I would have to win the lottery or suddenly fall into money excess but they are fun to drool over and dream about.

I used my Spellbinders Nesties to cut out the images that I stamped. And did some embossing with my Cuttlebug. Totally fun cards to work on!

Here is another of the Paper Smooches critters that I have. So darn cute!! I used the scraps from creating the other cards to do the background on the chickie cards. Plus using my border punch and sewing machine. And no card is complete without some bling!!

This is the card box that all eight cards are stored in. I am very happy with how this set turned out.

May your day be full of bling and happy colors!!

making some cards

I've spent some time making cards lately. Mostly for gifts but a few for me! Go me. I had a friend in need of some thank you cards so my stash was completely wiped out and I had to make a few more to have on hand. This one I made to start filling up my stash... which I promptly sold. I'll need to work on them again. It was made from scraps on the desk and my embossing folders.

These next two are part of a set I made for the last Teacher's Luncheon at the school for them to raffle off. There are four of each design which I think is a pretty nifty gift. And again... I have given away all my thank you cards!!

This is a sketch that was used for the following two cards for the Christmas card sketch challenge group I am in. Yup... five more Christmas cards have been made! Woohoo!!

Instead of an image, I chose to create this fun pinwheel/ flower that I found in the Creating Keepsakes January/ February 2012 magazine under their Tips and Tricks. Pretty simple and looks lovely. I cut the circles out with my Spellbinders Petite Scallop Circle Large dies. I also used one of my embossing folders. The center flower is from a Doodlebug Christmas embellie pack I have had FOREVER!! I had four of them so I made this card four times. The fifth card is below.

I used the same papers and sketch, but switched it up a little since I ran out of the darker green to cover the card. I also used smaller circles and a bit of bling.

The sentiment on both is a Studio G dollar stamp.

Now I am off to make some birthday party invites since we waited until the last minute to figure out a party for Kira. She turns 11 on Saturday!! oh my word... I cannot believe she is that old already!

pirate and princess party at walt disney world 2008

When we took our vacation in 2008 to our favorite place on earth, we were so excited that they were having a special after hours event. Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party. Was it worth the extra ticket price? Heck yeah. Was it worth staying up until well after midnight? Heck yeah. Would we do it again? You better believe it!!

The empty the park out of the regular visitors which are easy to identify since they don't have a special neon colored bracelet on. Of course there were a few who lingered but once the employees spotted them, they were escorted out.

I pulled out my pictures from this wonderful evening of total fun and started working on them. And then realized I had to finish up my end of the year gifts so the rest of the pictures are now waiting to be scrapped... but I am getting there!

Once again I have turned to my beloved PageMaps for inspiration on all of these layouts. I am truly a fan of these sketches as they can be used in so many different ways and they never look the same twice!

For the evening, I had purchased a princess Mickey ears hat. It even had the tulle on the back!! My family opted to be pirates. Kira was Captain Pluto and daddy was first mate even though he did try to be Captain a few times! The crown eyelets I have had forever. I purchased the Mickey pirate Jolee's just for these pages as well as the Captain hat and ship brads. The pattern paper is from a package of pirate goodies I purchased as Hobby Lobby. 

These pages include our tickets so we can look back and marvel at how much money we spent that night. Thank goodness Alex was free!! I had to change the title of the party since I couldn't very well cut apart the "party" part from the "pirate" part and still make me happy. The times flier as well as the map of the park that had where the "treasure" spots and the character spots were are in the pocket on the right hand page. I added the word stickers to make tabs for easy removal. The Mickey and Minnie on the first page was another flier. I had a couple of those so I put them on the page so that you could see both sides of it. I also had extra maps so that is what is on the front of the pocket.

Great pictures and even better memories!! Kira LOVES Abu. And he is one of those characters that they didn't have out so she was thrilled to see him. As the line was moving closer and closer to him, the character wrangler was letting people know that Genie and Abu would be leaving but that Princess Jasmine and Aladdin would be coming out. Kira was ready to get out of line and leave. Seriously, she is NOT a princess kind of girl (if you couldn't tell by her choice of attire that night) Thank goodness there was a little girl in front of us who only wanted to see Jasmine so her mom was letting people by so they could be in the front of the line when she appeared. Worked for us!! The 'flowers' on this are the Spellbinders Moroccan Motifs which I added a bit of stickles to make them happy.

The group picture was one taken by the Disney PhotoPass people and you could add the little graphic to the print. Works for me!!

Here is what my desk looked like as I started working on the next page. Hubby and kids got me the Cuttlebug Mickey Pirate ship die so that I could use it for these pages. (So sweet to encourage my hobby/ sanity saver) I had never even opened it and once I did, I wanted to put it back. Oh my word!! The number of pieces I had to cut and paste and work together! Holy smokes Batman! I have a much greater appreciation for all of you who do this type of thing free hand or even with the help of a Cricut. WOW!! You are truly special folks and I loves you for it! And happy I don't have many of this type of die. :)

And here is the completed ship on the layout! I think it came out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself (and I do) Plus it adds just enough to the layout since the pictures are stinking adorable!! That's my mom hanging with Kira. She didn't want her picture taken with me but wanted to be with Nana. Works for me. The flag on the bottom is also from that Cuttlebug die. I added some dimension to the flag by adding pieces of cardstock. Looks pretty nifty in person.

And here I am!! Of course I went all Princess colors for this page. So much fun and we were so tired!! The park was getting ready to close but we HAD to get these pictures. I'm glad we stayed for them. So fun.

I have more pictures that are needing to be loved. Hopefully soon I can finish up these teacher gifts. I'm getting there but somehow there always seems to be someone I have forgotten about. I think I have them all covered, but who knows.