Sympathy Card

This is my first attempt at a sympathy card.  I wanted it to be kind of simple, because I didn't think it would be appropriate for it to be flashy.  I made the butterfly from Wall Decor and More and put it over an embossed paper that I had embossed with D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.  I added some fabric ribbon from American Crafts for a little pop of color.

The inside has the sentiment With Sympathy from Calligraphy Collection.  I spent so much time and paper trying to find a size sentiment that wasn't too huge but also wouldn't rip when I took it off the mat.  It's still a little bigger than I wanted, but that's ok.  I may stick with more stamped sentiments on sympathy cards from here on out.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
My Craft Spot- Hope is Rising
Krafty Girls- Anything Goes

January and February Birthdays

I've decided to group birthdays by every couple of months, so there aren't just post after post of birthday cards. So here are January and February 2012.

 I made two of these cupcake cards for two different sister-in-laws that have January birthdays. You can see that I put a cupcake on the outside and also cut the words for the inside of the cards.  My cardstock here was Paper Studio.  The cupcakes paper that I put on the front was from The Paper Studio.  It was a 6x12 paper pad, but I can't remember the name.  Something about celebrating, I think.  I used my new Cuttlebug with the D'Vine Swirls envelope on the green cardstock.  The cupcake was cut from Simply Charmed and I used Icicle Stickles to decorate the frosting.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was cut from Calligraphy Collection.

Obviously, we also had a very special birthday this year- my youngest SIL turned 16!  I cut this card mostly using Cricut Craft Room.  The cardstock and patterned paper are both from Paper Studio.  For the car, I used Craft Room to hide the frowny face that appears on the Smiley Cards car. I also used the Craft Room to weld together the words "Sweet Sixteen."  I used the Doodletype cartridge for "Sweet" and Jasmine for "Sixteen."  I was really pleased with the colors on this and the way that it came out.  This may be one of my favorites so far.

Last, but not least, is a card made for my brother-in-law.  I don't really make cards for males very often, so this one was kind of a challenge. I mean, an adult male doesn't really want something cutesy.  I can use Simply Charmed or Create a Critter for my husband, because he loves me so he doesn't mind.  In the end, I went online for inspiration.  I finally found a card here: Happy Place for Jen and made a few tweaks based on what I owned.  I didn't use the cricut for this one, just plain old cardstock, paper that I got in my Provocraft 6x12 Celebrations pack, and an EK Success medium corner rounder.  The stamp is from Paper Studio, called Everyday Expressions.  It has many different words that can be put together to form the sentiment that you want.

Thank You card

I consider my pup, Sophie, as part of my family.  It was important to me to find her a good groomer, because she is terrified of the groomer and I needed to know that she was in good, loving hands.  It took three times, but we finally found that right at her vet's office.  Everytime she sees Sophie, she acts excited- even if we're there for a vet visit instead of a grooming visit.  I always leave her a tip, but had been thinking for awhile that I should send her a thank you card to let her know how much I appreciate how nice she is to Sophie.

Well, when I took Sophie in for a trim two days before Christmas and she came home with a goodie bag full of rawhides as a Christmas present from her groomer, I decided it was fully time to get on that Thank You. 



The purple cardstock is Paper Studio (what a shock!) cut to the regular A2 dimensions.  I had just gotten a Cuttlebug for Christmas (I'm lucky to have a husband who supports my craft addiction...um, I mean hobby...) so I thought it would be a good time to test it out.  I got out my Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder and ran it through on the Provocraft cardstock.  I thought it looked like bubbles from a bubble bath. 

I cut the dog, brush, and shampoo from Paper Pups.  As you can see, I cut the main image out in one color and then filled it in with other colors.  The orange, red, and pink pattern on the bathtub is patterned paper from the Classics stack from KI Memories; the rest is my regular Paper Studio cardstock.  I colored over the yellow and pink in the brush and shampoo with some Sakura gel pens to make them shine and colored in the dog's eyes with a Fiskars gel pen to define them better.

The "Thank You" was cut from Calligraphy Collection.  I love the fonts on that cartridge.

Inside, I glued in a picture of Sophie, in her Christmas bandana from being groomed, chomping away on the candy cane-shaped rawhide.