Who's Turning 40?

Hi friends!  I don't know how this happened, but for the last three Saturdays, I've had two fortieth and one thirtieth surprise parties to attend.  Crazy!  I shared this thirtieth card last week and decided to make a fortieth but in different colors.  It was for a male cousin, so I went with brown and black.  (I believe Color Throwdown had this as their color challenge last week and it stuck in my head.)  I embossed the gingham background in white on black cardstock.  Then I used chocolate chip cardstock for the mat, sentiment strip and numbers.  The numbers were matted with white cardstock to make them stand out.  I embossed the sentiment in white on the brown strip.  That's it!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Big Birthday Wishes (PTI), Gingham bg (MFT)

Paper:  Recollections white, black, chocolate chip

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  By the Numbers and Mats (PTI), white embossing powder, craft foam

Time Out #47 - Theme Challenge

Hi friends!

 

The Time Out blog has a new challenge, and this time around is our Theme Challenge.  The theme is Birthday with a twist of sponging.  You can twist if you want, but it's not required.  I chose to twist!

 

This card took FOREVER to make!  I tried to stamp with the Distress inks I used for sponging the main panel so they would match, but they don't stamp very well.  I tried so many things before I decided to switched inks.

 

So here's what I did.  I sponged a white panel with Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, and Peacock Feathers distress inks.  I saw someone use these three colors together (I cannot remember who right now) and loved the look of them.  Then I die cut the text block from that sponged panel.  The final version of the flowers were created by sponging those three inks again and die cutting them.  The leaves were inked with Pear Tart Memento Luxe pigment ink and Tide Pool and Coastal Cabana die inks.  These were the closest I could find to the distress inks.  Then I added enamel dots and Wink of Stella shimmer on the flowers and leaves.

 

It took a long time, but it was nice to sit and just play around with different supplies.

 

You can see more from the Time Out design team and our guest for this challenge, Rema, on the Time Out blog.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Embroidered Blooms (PTI)

Paper:  Recollections white

Ink:  Twisted citron, cracked pistachio, and peacock feathers distress inks; tide pool (Hero Arts), coastal cabana (SU)

Accessories:  Text Block: Birthday die (PTI), Beautiful Blooms II #3 dies (PTI), Turning a New Leaf  dies (PTI), enamel dots, Wink of Stella shimmer, dimensionals





Happy 90th Birthday!

Hello friends!

 

My mom's friend is celebrating her 90th birthday this week so I made a card for my mom to send to her.  I love Kay Miller's work, especially what she does with floral arrangements.  I went to her Pinterest page and found this card to CASE.  I followed it almost exactly so I could get the look I wanted.  Her photos are just so sharp and clear and her cards look so enticing.  This card is actually much prettier than it looks in this photo...much more vibrant.  I need to take some online camera classes!  Anyway I'm pleased with the card and I hope you like it too!  And thanks to Kay for the inspiration! :-)

 

It's back to work for me tomorrow, and I'm taking the Christmas decorations down.  I'm not ready for the holidays to be over...you?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Ruby Rose (PTI)

Paper:  Recollections white, daffodil delight, almost amethyst, peach parfait, wild wasabi, pear pizazz, brocade blue

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, copic markers, distress marker

Accessories:  Upsy Daisy dies (MFT), Fresh Cut Florals dies (WP9), Scallop Frames (Avery Elle), spritzer tool, white gel pen, Wink of Stella shimmer, dimensionals





Happy 50th

I went to a 50th birthday party for a male friend yesterday and had to make a card.  I don't know about you, but I have such a hard time with masculine cards.  However, this one came together rather quickly.  I used a layout from another card I made a while ago (are there not as many sketch challenges out there than there used to be?).  I usually need a sketch to get me going and I'm not good with them, so I sort of CASED myself.  I thought these colors were good for a masculine card.  The "happy" was originally inlaid, however I die cut it in the rust paper and it didn't show up very well.  I tried to pull it out, but only got part of it out!  So the black one just went over the other one.  I do like it better!  The black base was impressed with the linen impression plate too.  It's hard to see.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Paper:  Black, real rust, Zoology (Bo Bunny)

Accessories:  By the numbers and by the numbers mats dies (PTI), suffix style die (PTI), tipped tops dies (PTI), linen impression plate (PTI), enamel dots





Watercolored Numbers

Happy December folks!  Can you believe it's this time of the year already? 

 

My friend Cheryl bought me a Penny Black die a while back, and the other day she sent me a pin of a card from Pinterest using this die that I was inspired by so I got cracking!

 

I started with watercolor paper and distress inks in three colors.  Then I die cut the numbers from that paper.  I color blocked the background with similar colors.  The die was adhered with (many!) black dimensionals onto the black cardstock then that was adhered to the front.  A simple sentiment was all this needed I believe.  The hardest part of making this card?  Pulling off the backings on all those dimensionals!  LOL!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Quilled Elegance (PTI)

Paper:  Recollections white, black, barely banana, lavender moon, cool carribbean, Tim Holtz watercolor

Ink:  Squeezed lemonade, picked raspberry, and peacock feathers distress inks, Versafine onyx black

Accessories:  By the numbers die (Penny Black), dimensionals





Happy 85th Birthday Mom

Yesterday was my mom's 85th birthday!  Today we are celebrating at my house with just the grandchildren and my husband and me.  I wanted to make a special card for her and remembered I had this die.  I purchased it after seeing a card Jennifer McGuire created for the Summer Card Camp class from Online Card Classes.  I just had to have it, but of course, it has never been used until now!  I cased the card Jennifer created with a few changes.

 

The die was cut from white card stock that I doubled up for more stability (this die is very fragile).  The butterflies are attached at different places on the die, but I cut them off so I could place them elsewhere.  I covered the die with Versamark ink and Verdigris embossing powder.  I did this twice.  I ran a piece of card stock through an embossing folder and adhered it to the card front.  I cut another piece and embossed the sentiment on it then sprayed it with gold mist.  The butterflies were colored with copic markers and then embossed with a hologram embossing powder.  It's very sparkly in person.

That's it!  Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back tomorrow with a Just Us Girls photo inspiration challenge!  See you then!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Big Birthday Wishes, Women of Life (PTI)

Ink:  Copic markers, Versamark

Paper:  Neenah white

Accessories:  Butterfly Tendrils (Simon Says Stamp), Verdigris, hologram highlights, and gold embossing powders, Heidi Swapp gold mist, embossing folder, dimensionals



For My Niece

Hi everyone!  My niece's birthday was on the 12th and I'm just making her card.  I thought I would just use one of the ones I had on hand, but I thought she deserved a special one from her favorite aunt and godmother!  So when I saw this sketch from Unscripted Sketches, I knew I had to use it to make her a special card.

 

Maria loves green, so I went through my paper to find four different patterns with green in them.  I took a 4.25 x 4.25 piece of white cardstock and covered it with adhesive.  Then I started laying the strips of paper on top of it on an angle and trimmed off the excess.  I die cut the rectangle in the middle as well as another rectangle from white cardstock.  The decorative panel was adhered to the base, and then I inlaid the sentiment piece in the hole.  The flower was made with pink pirouette cardstock and I added a pearl in the center.  This is an easy card to recreate and I love the outcome, but my flower making skills need to be honed I think!  The MFT girls' flowers seem to so much prettier!

 

That's it for me today!  It was a busy weekend of crafting!  I'll have another post tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Recipe

Stamps:  Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Neenah white, pink pirouette, Indie Bloom (Basic Grey), Lively (Authentique), Beautiful Life (Echo Park)

Ink:  Versafine onyx black

Accessories:  Layered leaves and hybrid camellia dies (MFT), Spellbinders rectangle die, pearl, glue dots

 





Happy 30th Birthday!

My niece had her 30th birthday this weekend (where did the time go?), and I met her for dinner tonight.  I bought her a Pandora bead and needed a bag for it.  I just purchased these small kraft bags from Hobby Lobby and it was the perfect size.  I started by die cutting the numbers from grunge paper, covering them with glossy accents and fired brick distress glitter.  Love that stuff!  So glittery!  I added some washi tap and a flower I had sitting on my table.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Big Birthday Wishes.  

Here's the card I made previously that I gave to her.  Love how they match so nicely!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by!

 



I Think You're Awesome!

Hello friends!  My niece Maria is celebrating her 18th birthday today (her birthday is actually tomorrow, but the celebration is today!), and I wanted to make her a special card for this special day, Maria is a special girl.  She is in her first year of pre-med at the University of Buffalo.  She is very dedicated and a strong and level-headed young girl.  I so hope she can make it through all this education needed to be an anethesiologist.  I know she will try her hardest to make it!

 

So I created a fun card mixed with a bunch of different patterns.  The products are all PTI except for the pattern paper and cardstock.  The dp is from Bo Bunny's Hellow Sunshine collection and the cardstock from SU.  I started by cutting out the green frame using the Fabulous Frames die. Then I stamped the herrigbone pattern from Fabulous Frames on white cardstock with Cameo Coral ink.  The sentiment is from the We Go Together stamp set.  I think that one says it all!  Then I cut the bubble paper into a flag shape and die cut the numbers from Calypso Coral paper using the By the Numbers dies.  Another die from Fabulous Frames was used to cut the banner.  The sentiment is from Simple Little Things stamped in Cameo Coral. 

Here's the inside.  Another flag and the sentiment stamped in Cameo Coral from Signature Greetings II.

 

 And here is my sweet niece Maria.  Happy 18th birthday!

 Thanks for stopping by! 

Just Us Girls #112 - 3D Challenge

Happy Saturday!  Did you survive Black Friday?  I went out with my mom for a while in the afternoon, but didn't do any serious shopping.  I did go to my LSS and bought a couple of stamps though!

I'm here today with a new challenge from Just Us Girls.  This is our 3D/Template week, and our fabulous Andrea is challenging us to create a box and card.

My father-in-law celebrated his 80th birthday last week, and we gave him some gift certificates to some restaurants he likes.  I needed something to package them in, so this is what I came up with.

The box called That's A Wrap from My Time Made Easy.  I love this box!  It's so roomy and I love the way it opens (I didn't take a picture of it opened).  I used Creamy Caramel for the box and Cajun Craze for the base and wrap.  The dp is from the Timepiece Collection by Bo Bunny.  I love this paper for men.  I tied it off with Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon from SU.

The card uses the same papers (minus the Creamy Caramel).  The numbers were cut using By the Numbers die and Big Birthday Wishes stamp set from PTI.  I used an old corner punch on the two corners.

I used the Card Positioning Systems sketch from last week. 

Stop by the JUGs blog to see more inspiration from the girls.  Fabby stuff to see!  Here are links to their blogs.  Stop by and leave some love!

Andrea

Dana

Elise

Kathryn

Lynn

Maria

Pam

Vicki

Kim O'Connell, featured designer

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

Whoo's Having a Birthday?

My nephews Ethan and Kristoff had their birthday party yesterday.  Kristoff was 4 last month and Ethan will be 7 later this month.  My niece always has their party together because their birthdays are so close.  And she always asks me to make their invitations.  I, of course, always oblige!  Here's what I came up with this year.

I used Critters with Heart digital stamp set from My Time Made Easy.  I colored them in GIMP to match the dp from Cosmo Cricket called Boardwalk.  If you look close, you can see I added their ages on the wings of the owls....love that!  The top of the real red cardstock was punched with the birthday candle punch.  Love the sentiment too...perfect for a birthday invitation, don't you think? 

Now for their birthday cards.  I just used the same owls, but took off the numbers on their wings because I wanted bigger numbers on the front.  I used PTI By the Numbers dies for the numbers.

This one is Kristoff's. I used Real Red and Marina Mist cardstock here with the same dp used on the invitation. I just inked up the word "Whoo's" and stamped it next to the image. I used a circles embossing folder and the birthday candles punch again.

This is Ethan's card. Same theme, except different colors. Here I used Lucky Limeade and Tangerine Tango cardstocks. I think these are just too cute!

I couldn't let the inside just be plain!  I used PTI's Alpha Blocks for the first initial, then Fresh Alphabet for the rest of the letters in his name.   The owl was stamped in that spot because of a smudge!  Hate when that happens!  The sentiment and owl are from PTI's Wise Owl, and this was all stamped in Tangerine Tango.  (The green base looks different, but it's really the same Lucky Limeade).

The inside of Kristoff's was done the same way.  I used Real Red ink.

That's it!  Everyone loved the invitations and I think the boys liked their cards!  However, I think they loved what was in the gift bag more!  LOL!! 

Thanks for sticking with me on this long post!  I'd love to hear what you think about these!  Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Palette #19 - My Time Made Easy

Happy Sunday!  Are you cooling off yet?  It's getting a little cooler here, but it's still way too hot for me with no air conditioning in my house and no pool!  :-(

But maybe this will cool you off a bit.  The Pretty Palette color challenge from My Time Made Easy is a pretty subtle and cool color combination.

I just adore this color combination!  I picked up the patterned paper I used on my card a while ago at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, and that's where the inspiration for the color combination came from.  Here's how I used it on my card.

The digital stamp set I used on this card is Tending the Garden from MTME.  I colored it in GIMP using the challenge colors.  I printed out the image twice, and used the second one to cut out the watering can and flower to pop them up for more dimension.  I added some Star Dust Stickles to the flower center and the bee's wings.  I layered SU's So Saffron grosgrain and Basic Gray tafetta ribbons.  The bow was made using the Bow Easy tool (love that thinge!).  The layout was last week's Sweet Sunday sketch #126, and I'm entering it into the Trigger Tuesday challenge for the use of the yellow (and the little bit of black I have in there).  You can see more designs using these colors on the MTME blog and by visiting the blogs of the Pretty Palette team.

• Laurel Seabrook
• Lori Kalus
• Lynn Mangan
• Romaine Rancier
• Sharon Gregory

I hope you play along with us this week!  I can't wait to see what you create!  Thanks for stopping by today!



Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law

Just a quick post today to show you the card I made for my MIL's birthday. Her birthday is just 3 days after mine and always jokes that she had the month all to herself until I came along! I made this card really quickly today because I didn't think I was going to see her until Sunday, but we decided last minute to go out for dinner and then have cake later. I chose this paper from a K&Co. pack called Madeline. The side was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The doily is actually created with the Parisian Lace Doily die from PTI. I cut it out of white cardstock, then distressed it with Ranger's Tea Dye ink. The image is from Flourishes new set called April Showers. I stamped it on white cardstock, colored it, cut it out and embossed it with a nestie die, and then distressed it as well. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from a My Time Made Easy set called So Sentimental. The "Mom" sentiment is from another new set from Flourishes called Motherly Love. I die cut a Spellbinder's Fancy Tag for the sentiment. I added stickles to the tulips.

She loved the card and I hope you do too! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Elise - Our New Jug-Head!

Today our newest "Jug-Head" is celebrating a birthday....Elise Durenberger! When she joined our Just Us Girls design team, she dubbed all of us "Jug-Heads"! It was so funny! If you've ever visited Elise's blog or had the privilege of having a comment from her, you know she is a hoot! So we are celebrating her first birthday as a "Jug-Head" with a birthday blog hop. All the JUGs girls are hopping along with some other friends of Elise. Here's my birthday card for you, Elise! I was inspired by Kristin's card using these two patterns in different colors. I love yellow and gray, so I used the sand digi paper from the Serenity pack and saffron digi paper from the Darling Dots paper pack. Both are from My Time Made Easy.

The birdcage is from a Paper Makeup Stamps set called Tweet Things. The sentiment is from Tending the Garden from My Time Made Easy. The ribbon is saffron grosgrain from SU. The string is some crochet thread. I did some faux stitching and I don't like the way it came out. I pulled out my sewing machine, but the needle came unthreaded and I have such a terrible time threading it so I faux stitched instead! I added some Star Dust Stickles on the birdcage. The sketch is from this week's Mojo Monday.

You can hop along with us and end up leaving some love for Elise on her blog! Happy Birthday Elise! Thanks for birthday hopping with us!

Paper Makeup Stamps and Cardabilities

Happy Monday! Is that an oxymoron? I think so....but anyway, I'm here with a sketch from the Cardabilities blog where Paper Makeup Stamps is the sponsor this week! The sketch was really fun to work with, too!

I had the perfect stamp set to work with from Paper Makeup Stamps...Dandy Wishes.

I started with Cosmo Cricket's Pixie-licious paper that I picked up this week at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. Love the fun, bright colors! They are teasers of spring to come (I hope soon!). I paired it with SU's Rich Razzleberry cardstock...a great match. I used three scallop punches...one from SU, one from Martha Stewart, and finally one from EK Success. The flowers are colored with SU markers right on the rubber and stamped on PTI white, then distressed with antique linen distress ink. I sparkled it up with Star Dust Stickles. The sentiment is from Birthday Cheer. I punched some butterflies with a MS punch from the dp and added some purple bling to them. Some lime green dotted ribbon finished it off.

Feeling inspired by the great sketch? Well, maybe you'll be more inspired to play when you find out the prize PMS is giving to one lucky winner...a $15 gift certificate! We hope you'll play along on the Cardabilities blog this week!

I'll be back tomorrow with the March release from My Time Made Easy and a group post from the DT. Thanks for stopping in today! Have a great week!

Recipe
Stamps: Dandy Wishes and Birthday Cheer (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, rich razzleberry, Pixie-Licious (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: SU markers
Accessories: SU scallop and oval punches, MS and EK Success border punches, MS butterfly punch, ribbon, star dust stickles, bling, dimensionals

Happy Birthday Dad - Featured Stamper Challenge

Happy Sunday everyone! I didn't intend to participate in the Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS today, but I took a peek at Jellybean74's gallery and came across a card I wanted to CASE for my FIL's birthday. I hate making masculine cards, because I'm just not good at it. I NEED inspiration. I did, however, intend to use SU's Lovely as a Tree set. My girlfriend gave hers to me (she doesn't stamp anymore) and it wasn't even mounted! When I was peeking at the FS gallery, I came across this card and it is where my inspiration took me.I hate CASEing almost exactly, but I just had to! I used the same tree (it was perfect, so why bother changing it?), but stamped it in River Rock. The dp is similar, but mine is Pyrus from Basic Grey. I matted it with River Rock cardstock. The sentiment is from two Papertrey Ink sets: Men of Life and Father Knows Best. The ribbon is River Rock and I added a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware in aged copper.

The inside was kept simple. I used 1" squares and mounted them like diamonds, similar to the front. The sentiments again are from the same two Papertrey sets.

My FIL is a great guy and a great father. He's almost blind from glaucoma and I have never once heard him complain. He has been in pain quite a few times from the pressure building up behind his cornea. I worry about him when he's walking up and down steps, but he just yells at me and says, "What? I'm fine!" Men! LOL!!

Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your day!

Recipe
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree (SU), Men of Life and Father Knows Best (PTI)
Paper: Vintage cream, river rock, Pyrus dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Chocolate chip, river rock
Accessories: Nesties, river rock ribbon, hodgepodge hardware, dimensionals

My Dear Friend

Hi all! I totally forgot to post this little project I did last month for the birthday of my best friend, Maria. I had the card done a while ago for a JUGs challenge, so I decided to use a My Time Made Easy template to make a box for her gift to go along with the card. Here's the complete project.You can see the information about the card here (but I will say the sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps). The box is made from the template The Flapper from My Time Made Easy. (I'm always amazed at how big these boxes are when completed.) I used perfect plum cardstock for the base and barely banana for the flap. The dp is the same as the one on the card.I used the floral image from So Sentimental to decorate the front of the flap, and a pretty pink satin ribbon to tie it up.I used a nestie on the top of the box and a sentiment also from So Sentimental . I swirled some perfect plum in on the inside of the shape and added some Prima roses that I also used on the card. I placed a Pandora charm inside the box. Such a pretty presentation and Maria loved it! We had a good laugh, however, because I put the card and this pretty box in the most ugly gift bag I had on hand! She couldn't believe I did that! LOL!!!

I have some other projects and cards that I had forgotten to post that you will see on my blog in the next few days. But tomorrow I have a special Just Us Girls post for our technique challenge. Please stop by then. I'll have some bridal shower favors to show you on Sunday that I made for a friend's shower. Too cute (but I stole the idea from another friend). I also made my friend's wedding invitations that really were beautiful, if I do say so myself! So make sure you stop by often! Have a great weekend!