Adorable Birthday Card

I made this card for my Niece Olivia's 6th birthday last month. I used Close To My Heart's new Originals book for the recipe. I actually copied the card exactly. I had planned to do a pocket card and had just gotten the book and saw this one and it was perfect. I used the More To Adore papers and inked the edges of all of them in Chocolate. I even inked the edges of the vellum in Hollyhock, but you can't really see it in the photo. The strip of paper along the top of the vellum was plain paper so I used the Adorable stamp set to stamp the dots and flowers in Blush, Hollyhock, and Chocolate.

The template for the tag was on a CD in the back of the book so I printed it off but it wasn't quite the right size since my card was bigger than the one in the book so I just used it to make a bigger one. The Happy Birthday is from the It's a Celebration set from Papertrey and the huge 6 is from the Solo "6" Set from CTMH. I used my Crop-a-Dile Big Bite to set the gromlet and threaded the CTMH matching ribbon through. The vellum pocket is just attached with four brads. I really like the way it turned out and it was easy enough. I hope Olivia liked it.




Recipe
Stamps: Solo "6", Adorable (Close To My Heart); It's a Celebration (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Chocolate, Colonial White (CTMH); Vellum (Stampin' Up)
Patterned Paper: More To Adore (CTMH)
Ink: Chocolate, Hollyhock, Blush (CTMH)
Accents: Brads (CTMH); Ribbon (CTMH); Gromlet (We R Memory Keepers)
Tools: Originals Book (CTMH); Crop-A-Dile Big Bite (We R Memory Keepers)

Have a great day,

Birthday Surprise

I totally copied this card from one Jen del Muro did in a different color. I just love this Birthday Surprise set from Verve stamps so I used it to make my friend Sherri's birthday card. I also HAD to use the new Copics I received for my birthday from Amy.

Recipe
Stamps: Birthday Surprise (Verve Stamps)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink); Blush, Crystal Blue, Black (Close To My Heart)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
Copics: B14, R81
Tools: Dew Drops (Robins Nest); Argyle Embossing Folder (Provocraft); Cuttlebug machine (Provocraft)

Have a great day,

Butterfly Thank You

I saw a frame made with this butterfly punch on Ali Edwards' blog and thought I could make a cute card doing the same thing. Instead of using random pieces of patterned paper I used the Stampin' Up Prints Pack which all coordinated. I added each butterfly with a dot of glue and bent them so they looked like they had just landed on the page. It was a quick and easy card that I plan to make again. It could easily be made with scraps of leftover patterned paper.

Recipe
Stamps: Frames and Messages (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Prints Pack (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Tools: Butterfly Punch (Marth Stewart)

Have a great day,

Masculine Birthday Card

I've had the Close To My Heart Star Struck stamp set and Good Times paper packet for a while and have been wanting to use it but haven't had the occasion. I've only been making feminine cards lately and haven't had the time to do a scrapbook page for one of the boys, which is the reason I bought it in the first place. Well, my friend Phil had his 30th birthday a few weeks ago so I had to make him a card quick so this is what I came up with. Everything is CTMH except the chipboard numbers.


Recipe
Stamps: Star Struck (Close to my Heart)
Cardstock: Colonial White, Chocolate, Sweet Leaf (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: Good Times (CTMH)
Ink: Chocolate, Sweet Leaf, Twilight (CTMH)
Accents: Garden Green Brad (CTMH); Chipboard Numbers (Bazzill)
Tools: Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug (Provocraft); 3D Foam Squares (CTMH)

Thanks for looking,

My birthday card...since we're on the topic of birthdays

No photos from my birthday since we didn't do anything. No cake either :( I just didn't feel like making myself one. I did get this awesome birthday card from Amy though. Notice it's purple too...my favorite. You can check out her blog for more photos and she tells you how she made it. Those are Close To My Heart rub-ons, not stamps. Cool eh?

Thanks for looking,

Connor's Fourth Birthday

Well, since I posted Hunter's birthday photos I should also post Connor's. He turned four when we were in Pensacola on July 1 (my Canada Day baby). And here he is, the birthday boy.

Since we weren't at home I couldn't make him a cake, so my MIL bought him a Cars cake (he picked it out). It was from Albertson's and was really good. Notice how they spelled his name wrong though :(


And the card I made him before we left home. I bought this stamp set specifically for his birthday card because he loves trains SO much.


Recipe
Stamps: Choo Choo Train (Close to my Heart)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink); Garden Green (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: Rough' N Tumble (CTMH)
Ink: Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry, Buttercup, Black (CTMH)
Accents: Gromlets (We R Memory Keepers)
Tools: Crop-A-Dile Big Bite (We R Memory Keepers); 3D Foam Squares (CTMH)

Thanks for looking,

Hunter's first birthday

Hunter's first birthday was back in May (yes, I'm WAY late on posting). First, here's a photo of the birthday boy with Nana, who was here visiting for a few months.

And the dragon cake I made. This was my first attempt at making anything other than your basic cake and it turned out pretty well, I think.

And the birthday boy with his cake. He had it EVERYWHERE and I had to give him a bath right away before he could open his presents.

And now, the card I made for him. I used my CTMH watercolor pencils and a blending pen to color the giraffe. Unfortunately I only have a few colors so I can't shade them or anything. I recently bought some Prismacolor pencils so I need to learn how to use them soon.


Recipe
Stamps: Nursery Bash (Close to my Heart)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink); Garden Green, Indian Corn Blue (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: Nana's Nursery Baby Boy (Die Cuts With a View)
Ink: Garden Green, Indian Corn Blue, Taffy-inked edges (CTMH); Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Accents: Dew Drops (Robin's Nest)
Tools: Watercolor Pencils, Blending Pen (CTMH)

Here's the card from Amy, Caelan, and Corbin (Phil too).
And the card from Shanira.

Thanks for looking,

My poor neglected blog

Well, it's been a few months since I've posted anything. I took the boys to the states and then to Canada for six weeks and had fully planned to post the cards I had made before I left, but I had very little time on the internet so it never happened. So, I'll be catching up posting a few things that I made several months ago since I haven't had the time to make much of anything lately.

Brian will be coming home from Iraq very soon (finally!), so I'll have lots of time to myself and to make more cards and maybe even a scrapbook page or two. I can't wait!

Cuttlebug Thank You

I made this card a few weeks ago for Amy and wanted to use my new Cuttlebug alphabet dies. So, I pulled out my Cuttlebug and used the Spots and Dots embossing folder for the card front on Wild Wasabi cardstock. I punched the circles out using my Fiskars circle punch, then cut out the letters using the Olivia alphabet. To adhere the letters onto the circles I ran them through my Xyron sticker machine...much easier than trying to glue them. Finally, I painted the chipboard letter "U" and used Stickles as polka dots. I used some foam squares to add some dimension to the letters "h" and "n" to make them stand out a bit.



Recipe
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Summer Sun, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Blue Bayou (Stampin' Up); White (Office Depot)
Accents: Chipboard (Heidi Swapp); Burgundy Stickles (Ranger Ink)
Tools: Cuttlebug; Olivia Alphabet, Spots and Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Circle Punch (Fiskars); Foam Squares (Close to my Heart); Xyron sticker machine

Thanks for looking,

Father Knows Best Cards

I absolutely love the Father Knows Best set from Papertrey. It has the coolest trees and they're great for cards for men. I have so many flowery, girly stamp sets that I could never use for a guy so this one is perfect.

The first card was kind of copied by one that Debbie Olson did. My mom is visiting and needed a thank you card to send to a man she doesn't really know. I had just gotten this set so I thought it was perfect. I stamped the tree and then stamped the circles separately and cut them out, then adhered them with glue dots so they were 3D. I could not tie the brown satin ribbon in a knot to save my life so I ended up doing a bow. I wasn't too happy with the results, but I finally just gave up on it. I have so many problems tying bows for some reason. My friend Amy has tried to show me many times, but it's just beyond me for some reason.

Recipe
Stamps: Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink); Thank You Messages (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink); Garden Green, Chocolate (Close To My Heart)
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette); Garden Green (CTMH)
Accents: Chocolate Satin ribbon (Offray)
Tools: Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug; Zots adhesive

The second card I made for my friend Tom's birthday. I used the other tree from Father Knows Best. I love that the set allows you to stamp the outline of the leaves in one color then the inside in a different color. I distressed around the stamped rectangle and the chocolate brown rectangle with sandpaper and then inked around the Happy Birthday sign with brown distressing ink. Finally I used a circle punch to punch out the corners of the patterned paper then added brown brads to each of the four corners.

Recipe
Stamps: Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink); Happy Birthday (Close To My Heart)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink); Garden Green(CTMH); Brown (Die Cuts With a View)
Patterned Paper: Mellow (Basic Grey)
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette); Garden Green, Olive, Brown Distressing Ink (CTMH)
Accents: Brown Brads (Making Memories)
Tools: Circle Punch (Fiskars); Sandpaper

Thanks for looking,

Garden of Life Birthday

I made this for my friend Simona's birthday, but unfortunately the post office is closed until Tuesday and her birthday is tomorrow...oops! I guess I should have made a belated birthday card :)

I used Papertrey's Garden of Life to make my background paper and then again for the three flowers around the oval, which I cut out. I used my oval Nestabilities and then added some Diamond Stickles to the center of each flower, with a little extra on the three around the oval. Aside from the Stickles, everything on this card is from Papertrey.

Recipe
Stamps: Garden of Life (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Berry Sorbet, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black Versafine (Tsukineko)
Accents: Lemon Tart ribbon (Papertrey); Diamond Stickles (Ranger Stickles Glitter Glue)
Tools: Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug


Thanks for looking and have a great weekend,

Papertrey Challenge Card

I made this card over a month ago for Brian's Aunt and totally forgot to post it. I used the layout from the Papertrey forum's first weekly challenge. It was a 6" X 6" card, which I love to make (especially now that I've got some envelopes to match). I used my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities to cut and emboss the oval, and then the Cuttlebug for the two flowers. I made one brown and one aqua mist and then swapped the petals. It took a few minutes to match them up to the right spot since they're all different sizes. I added a self-adhesive pearl to the center of each flower. The flowers on the right are velvet flowers from Maya Road.

For the rectangle at the bottom I just cut it using my papercutter and rounded the corners using a circle punch. I inked the edges with brown ink and used my Making Memories instant setter and slot punch to cut the slots and ran brown satin ribbon through.



Recipe
Stamps: Sentiments (Fiskars)
Cardstock: Chocolate (Close to My Heart); Stampers Select White, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Chocolate (CTMH); Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)
Accents: Velvet Flowers (Maya Road); Pearls (Hero Arts); Satin Ribbon (Offray)
Tools: Circle Punch (Fiskars); Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Flowers die (Cuttlebug); Instant Setter and Slot Punch (Making Memories)


Have a great day,

Cupcake Birthday Card

I had to make a birthday card for a friend's 4 year old son and I just happened to have gotten Papertrey's It's a Celebration stamp set which was perfect. You can never have too many birthday sets if you make a lot of cards. My favorite stamps in this set are the cupcakes. You can stamp different tops on them, but I decided to use Liquid Applique for this card. I heat set it and it puffed up to look like real icing. I added a rhinestone on top and my son told me it looked just like a cherry. He kept touching it and asked if he could eat it! Funny from the kid who doesn't eat anything (or course, he does love cupcakes...who doesn't!).



Recipe
Stamps: It's a Celebration (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry (Close to My Heart); Stampers Select White (Papertrey); White (Office Depot)
Patterned Paper: Nana's Kids (Die Cuts With a View)
Ink: Chocolate, Cranberry, Indian Corn Blue (CTMH)
Accents: Rhinestones (Doodlebug Design); Cranberry Ribbon (CTMH); Liquid Applique (Marvy Uchida); Foam Squares (CTMH)
Tools: Circle Punch (Fiskars); Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug; Heat Tool (Marvy Uchida)


Have a great day,

My first Papertrey RAK cards

We had a great visit with Brian last week. The three days just flew by and the kids and I loved having him back even if he did have to leave again so soon. We were lucky just to have the time because most people don't get the same opportunity. Now only a little over 5 months left. :( Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our time together. We only used his camera and he took it back to Iraq with him.

We also found out this week that we'll be moving to Ft. Benning, GA in January. We were supposed to stay in Germany until next June but things change. We were stationed at Benning almost 10 years ago and I'd rather go somewhere new, but I'm thrilled that Brian won't have to deploy while we're there. Plus, we'll finally be able to buy a house which I'm really excited about. I'll finally have a craft room where I can stamp! I won't have to use Connor's little plastic table and pull everything out of the closet any more.

So, I got my first two Papertrey RAK cards today. It's so nice to get real mail, other than bills. The first card is from Holly (graybune). She used the Boxes, Bags and Tags stamp set, which I love. I bought it last month but haven't had the chance to use it yet.


The second card I received is from Sheri (sheric12). It is adorable and she used the Little Lady stamp set. That's one that I still don't have but must get sometime. It is so cute. The ladybug is so cute on this card and the close up doesn't do it justice.





That's about it for me. Thanks for looking and have a great day,

He really is coming home!

I still don't believe it. Brian really is coming home!!! It was supposed to be today, but now he's not coming until tomorrow morning. Connor is going to be so excited when he sees his daddy. Even though it's only for a few days it couldn't come at a better time.

I made this card for someone in the PTI RAK group. I used the Polka Dot Basics set from Papertrey Ink. I love that set. On the purple paper I used Versamark ink and I was stamping at night and with the bad light in our living room I didn't think the polka dots were showing up. The next morning I saw them in the light and they kind of look pink on the purple paper. Not really the look I was going for, but oh well. The hello metal tag was white and I just inked it with the Papertrey Aqua Mist and added a Dew Drop.


Recipe
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Petal (CTMH); White (Office Depot)
Ink: Aqua Mist (Papertrey); Versamark (Tsukineko)
Accents: Aqua Mist Twill Ribbon (Papertrey); Flower Brad (Making Memories); Hello tag (Making Memories); Dew Drop (Robin's Nest)
Tools: Corner Rounder (EK Success)

Thanks for looking and have a great day,

A few more Easter cards

I forgot that I had a few more Easter cards. This one is my least favorite of the bunch.


Recipe
Stamps: Eastertime (Close To My Heart); Mixed Messages, Borders and Corners Circle (Papertrey)
Cardstock: Crystal Blue, Yellow (CTMH); White (Office Depot)
Ink: Petal, Blush, Sweet Leaf, Buttercup (CTMH)
Accents: Autumn Garden Sassy Strands (CTMH)
Tools: Circle punch (Fiskars); Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug; Corner rounder (EK Success)


This card I made for Brian. It's hard to make cards for men, especially an Easter one where I'd typically use pastel colors. He'd absolutely hate that and he actually doesn't even care if I make him cards, but I still do. He probably just throws them in the garbage, but I like making them.





Recipe
Stamps: Eastertime (CTMH)
Cardstock: Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo, Olive (CTMH)
Ink: Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo (CTMH)
Accents: Indian Corn Blue Eyelets (CTMH); Chipboard tag (Basic Grey)
Tools: Word Window Punch (Stampin Up); Crop-a-dile


Have a great day!

Awesome News Today (and Easter cards)

Great news today! Brian called me from Iraq this morning and told me he'd probably be coming back to Germany next week for some training for a few days. I've been around the Army long enough to know not to get my hopes up though. He called back a few hours later and told me to book the hotel because his commander said that it's a good time for him to come back. If he doesn't make it next week, then he'll most likely come back sometime in the next two months. He still has 6 months left of this stupid 15 month deployment, since I'm sure that General Petraeus won't be telling Congress today that our guys should come home early. Still, I won't believe it until I see him in person. I'm definitely not telling Connor (our 3 year old) because he'll be crushed if I tell him that Daddy's coming home and then he doesn't show up. He's been having a really hard time the past few weeks and just randomly cries for his Daddy and tells me he wants him to come home. I absolutely hate it but there's not much I can do about it. Anyway, I guess we'll see if Brian makes it back or not. I'm definitely not getting my hopes up (I'm such a pessimist...always expecting the worst).

Okay, enough about my life. Back to the cards. Here are the Easter cards that I sent out a few weeks ago. I pretty much just used the one stamp set (Eastertime) from Close To My Heart since it's the only Easter set I have. For the first card, since I didn't have anything to make grass from I just drew it and cut it out with my scissors.

Recipe
Stamps: Eastertime (Close To My Heart)
Cardstock: Sweet Leaf (CTMH); White (Office Depot)
Ink: Sweet Leaf, Blush, Crystal Blue, Petal, Sunkiss Yellow, Honey (CTMH); Iris (Palette)
Accents: Brads (Making Memories)

For the second card, I didn't have a corner slot punch so I just used a circle punch and it actually worked. I think I'll use a smaller one next time so the corners are more rounded. I also didn't have a stamp that said Happy Easter that was small enough for the card so I spelled it out with my Sans Alphabet (CTMH). I like that set but the letters are so small that they're hard to line up. Definitely takes some patience.



Recipe
Stamps: Eastertime , Sans Alphabet (Close To My Heart)
Cardstock: Petal (CTMH); Pink (Bazzill); White (Office Depot)
Ink: Sweet Leaf, Spring Iris, Petal (CTMH), Iris (Palette); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accents: Ribbon (Offray); Dewdrops (Robin's Nest)
Tools: Circle punch (Fiskars); Cuttlebug; Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Provocraft)

And a non-stamping card. It was a lot quicker to make and I like it almost as much as the others. I need to make more cards with just patterned paper and a few embellishments.


Recipe
Cardstock: Petal (Close To My Heart)
Patterned Paper: Nana's Kids (Die Cuts With a View)
Accents: Spring Buttons (CTMH); Rub ons (Making Memories); Stickles


Thanks for looking,

Babies, Babies, Babies

I have a few friends that have just had or are having babies sometime in the next few months so I get the chance to make baby cards and gifts. First is a card I sent to a family friend who just had a baby. I got the idea from Niki who won honorable mention for the Papertrey Guest Star Stamper (her card is much better though). When I made it I didn't have my Nestabilities yet, so I just used a couple of circle punches, my papercutter, and some scalloped scissors. I wanted to use patterned paper, but I didn't have anything that looked good so I stamped the watermark on the background blue paper instead. It's the first time I've done it and it turned out pretty well I think.

Recipe
Stamps: Mixed Messages (Papertrey); Sweet Pea (Fiskars)
Cardstock: Indian Corn Blue (Close To My Heart), Bazzill, White (Office Depot)
Ink: Indian Corn Blue (CTMH); Versamark (Tsukineko)
Accents: Buttons (Unknown); Baby RicRac (Wrights); Rub On (Scenic Route); Embroidery floss (DMC)
Tools: Scalloped scissors (Fiskars)


I made this baby card a while back for my friend Amy who had just found out she was pregnant. I'd just gotten my new Papertrey stamps, ink, and patterned paper that day so I had to play with it. I love polka dots, so the Polka Dots Basic stamp set is awesome!

Recipe
Stamps: Mixed Messages, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey)
Cardstock: White (Office Depot)
Patterned Paper: Everyday Blessings (Papertrey)
Ink: Aqua Mist (Papertrey), Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accents: Aqua Mist Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon (Papertrey)
Tools: Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Cuttlebug; Circle punch (Fiskars)



My friend Katie is having a baby in May and I had a baby boy stamp set that I wanted to give her. I couldn't figure out a good way to wrap it then Lisa Johnson came out with this tutorial for the Treat-a-Lope so I had to try it. I needed a bigger bag than she had made so instead of using an envelope I just used two pieces of cardstock and glued them together. It was really easy and looked pretty cool. I'll definitely be doing this one again because I like the way it turned out.

Recipe
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey); From Me To You (CTMH); Baby Boy (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Aqua Mist (Papertrey); White (Office Depot)
Ink: Aqua Mist (Papertrey); Iris (Palette), Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accents: Aqua Mist Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon, Aqua Mist Twill Ribbon (Papertrey); Flower eyelets (Making Memories)
Tools: Circle punch (Fiskars); Scallop circle punch (Marvy Uchida); Crop-a-dile

Thanks for looking,