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.

happy belated st. patrick's day!

I hope you had an amazing green day on March 17th!! I did!! The week before I was able to help the kindergarten kiddos create a sparkly shamrock. The one below is what I created as a sample. Love the glitter!! Everything in kindergarten is better with glitter.

I was able to pin Kira down long enough to paint her nails for the occasion. She complained the entire time but she looked great on Monday!!

A blurry picture of my nails. I have been having some major issues with my nails splitting and breaking so this is as long as they have been in weeks. As the week went on, I lost three of them to me just being a plain klutz! 

We were trying to find a craft to do with the kindergarten class that wasn't too simple they were bored but also used skills they will need all through life and have meaning in their education. We had beads but could not find a craft to make them work so off to Pinterest we went. Heading to Pinterest sounds pretty easy doesn't it?? Not if you are inside of the classroom!! I had to go into the hallway to get the WiFi service. It was worth it though. I found an amazing idea for a leprechaun popsicle stick puppet!! 

I went home and got the templates and brought them in the next day to pick up paper and find out what we wanted the kids to do. There are a ton of pieces that had to be traced and cut and then put together. We had to keep in mind attention spans and time restraints! I ended up cutting out the small pieces of the buckle and belt on the hat, the face (circle punch) and the hands. The rest of the little guy I traced onto the green paper and the red beard for them to cut.

Here he is!! I attached him to the stick before I attached his legs therefore the large stick between his legs. oops.

The kids did so great!! Look at a couple of them after the completion and put into their leprechaun traps. They had fun!! Not sure if we'll do it again or not next year.

I am trying my hand at coloring with Gamsol and colored pencils. These images are part of my practicing. I enjoy coloring this way and will continue to hone my skill. I am a bit too cheap to invest in Copics. I picked up this kit from Simon Says Stamp and I am happy I did!! 

I used the duck to create a birthday card which I was trying so hard to get into the mail, that I forgot to take a picture of it. duh.

But I did remember to take pictures of the other cards I created!!

I created the background myself using a Studio G $1 stamp and some inks that I have. Inside I added a strip of washi tape at the top along with the sentiment and the stamped border. The shamrock is popped up to add some dimension.

The frog on the front of the card is on an action wobbler. I have had these for a bit of time. They were a generous gift from my amazing Alien friend and I was FINALLY able to use them. Here is the frog in action!!

I totally forgot to get a picture of me in my shamrock tee and shamrock headband. There is always next year!! Hope you wore your green and didn't get pinched!!

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.

monster high layout

I had the pleasure of working with some very girly papers and such for a friend of mine. She was going to cut my hair and I was creating the following layout for her in exchange. I had to first figure out the whole Monster High thing. My Kira has not gotten into them so it was a total learning thing. Plus the specific request was for a Clawdeen Wolf. Worked out pretty well as she is dressed in purple and pink!! Right up my alley!

Here is the completed layout in all of its glory.

I used Bazzill paper and some fun specialty papers from Michaels to complete this layout. The bling I had. I did have to purchase the tiger print ribbon but it was for a good cause. I tied the tiny bows myself. I have an amazing tool to help me do that. I used my Sybill (Silhouette original) to cut the title as well as her name. I used a font which was pretty close to the Monster High one. Thanks to my friend Bobbi for helping with that!! 

The layout is inspired by a PageMap and for the life of me now I cannot remember which one. But those are always a good place to start!! The claw print on the other page as well as Clawdeen and the skull head are all images I pulled from the internet and printed out on photo paper. I didn't like how it looked on regular cardstock at all. I then cut out the images to use. Clawdeen came out so darn cool. She looks like a sticker!! I used a couple of my Fiskars border punches (one on each page) and more bling!!

Happy to say that she did love these pages. Her problem now is to decide on using them for a birthday celebration or for Halloween pictures!!