Smashing birthday

Happy Monday!  Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, and since I know he doesn't read my blog I feel like it's safe to post his birthday card here today.  :)  We both really like comic book movies, so I thought this year I'd make him a mean, green, birthday card.  I bought the Superheroes set from Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons back as soon as I got my Cameo, but haven't had the opportunity to use it as much as I would like. Until now.

I cut our hero from cardstock and pieced him together- it was really pretty easy which is always a plus for me.  I used some 6x6 papers for my background papers and one of the chipboard buttons I've had on my desk as a top corner accent.

For the sentiment, I mixed together two stamp sets.  The "wishing you a" part comes from Joy's Life Everyday Occasions, and the "SMASHING birthday" is from Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs. 

I'll be entering this in Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons' challenge for this month, which just so happens to be superhero themed!

Birthday clipboard card

You all know that I can't resist a good "Inspired by Pinterest" challenge, right?  Well this week, that's exactly the challenge they're having at Krafty Girls.

For a long time, I've loved the look of cards or gifts that are made to look like clipboards, like this one over at Redheaded Crafter or this one from Stamp n Design, both of which I found on Pinterest. 

My card is just on an A2 card base with some background paper from a MME stack.  I cut the "clipboard" from kraft paper and rounded the edges.  The "paper" is stamped from List2Write by the Stamps of Life, and so are the check boxes and the check mark.  The words are all from Joy's Life stamp sets.  The metal part of the clipboard is stamped from Paper Smooches and cut with the matching die.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but that part is adhered with foam squares to give it some dimension.

Happy Mother's Day cards

It's Monday, and you know what that means- time for a challenge at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges!  Our theme this time is: Happy ________.  That's right, any project that has to do with happy anything will work!  I chose to make Happy Mother's Day cards for my mom and mother-in-law (and had to wait until after Mother's Day to post them!)

I made these cards using Wild Card, and cut the blackout of the scallop card at 5 inches.  I really wanted the base image of the scallop card, but after wasting a TON of yellow cardstock with it ripping or not cutting all the way through as I tried to adjust various settings, I just went with the blackout because it cut better.  I still think the card works.

The kraft circle and pink image were cut at 4 inches from Storybook.  I adhered them onto the card base and then put little pink pearls that I got from the dollar bin at Michaels in the center of each flower.  To finish off the card, I made bows from some off-white ribbon and glued them to the top of the card with glossy accents.

The inside of the card is stamped with sentiments from Joy's Life Everyday Occasions and Holiday Occasions.

 What kind of happy crafts do you want to make?  Check out some inspiration from the rest of the DT at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and then it's your turn!

I'm also entering these cards into the Fun Friday Mother's Day Challenge at Little Scrap Pieces.  

Inspired by Pinterest!

Although I've been adding to my Pinterest boards daily, it's been awhile since I actually sat down and made something that I'd seen there.  I get the idea that that might be a common phenomenon.  ;)  Since there's a "Pinterest Inspired" challenge going on at Cut it Up Challenges this week, it seemed like as good a time as any.

I took my inspiration from a card at Mariana Grigsby's Blog.  I don't post other people's pictures on my blogs, so you'll have to check out the link to see her original card.  She uses washi tape and a stamp, along with some rhinestones, to make a really pretty card.  I have the same sets of washi tape, which is why the card initially caught my eye, and I'm always looking for new ways to use it, so it seemed like time to give it a try. 

For my card, I used the shades of blue/purple washi tape set from Target.  I followed her instructions on how to layer the washi tape.  I wanted my card to be a "get well" card, so I stamped the sentiment from Joy's Life "Everyday Occasions." 

The butterfly is cut from Storybook.  I wanted something that was just a silhouette, and I liked this one.  I adhered it down and then drew the fly marks with a gel pen.  For a finishing touch, I decided to add my sparkle not with rhinestones, but with Stickles!

Happy Grandparents' Day!

Did you know that today is Grandparents' Day?  That's what my calendar tells me.  I have only one Grandparent left, and she lives across the country, so I don't see her very often.  I thought I'd make her a card to say hi.

I cut this card from Elegant Edges.  The card was cut at 5 inches using kraft for the Shadow feature and pink for the actual cut.  I adhered two of the shadow together to make the card.  The little bird that was cut out of the bottom corner shows up again in the inside.  :)

The branch and the little blue birds are from Wild Card.  The branch was cut at about 1.5 inches, and the birds were cut at about 2 and 2.25 (I think, I have to start writing these things down!)  

Here's the inside of the card.  I stamped the "happy" with Joy's Life Everyday Occasions and the "Grandparents day" with Lawn Fawn Jessie's ABCs.

Pinspired!

My Creative Time is hosting a Pinterest inspired challenge this week.  I love the My Creative Time blog.  I have a couple of her stamp sets on my September "to buy" list.  It's hard to pick only a couple though!

I thought it was the perfect time to make a card based on a couple of pins that I had pinned to my "Card Inspiration" board.  My pinning philosophy is that once I've tried something or made something based on the inspiration, I delete the pin.  That keeps my boards under control and keeps me seeing the things that I haven't tried yet- so if you want to see the pins, you'll have to follow the links here.  They've been cleared out of my board to make room for more inspiration!

Anyway, the two cards that were the inspiration for this card are found here at counterfeit kit challenge and here at just cards.  They were both cards that used a white background and colorful tags to spell out a word.

For my card, I also used the white base.  I borrowed the idea of embossing with Swiss Dots (I should clarify:  I used Swiss Dots, I'm not sure what folder she used.)  I adhered that directly onto the card, and covered the join spot with black polka dotted washi tape from Queen and Co.  I stamped "birthday" underneath that from Everyday Sentiments from Joy's Life Stamps.  The button is an extra one that I had.

The tags were all cut at 2 inches.  They were all cut from Plantin Schoolbook except for the blue one with the P on it, which was from Doodletype.  The white letters were all also from Doodletype at 1 inch.  I used some of my homemade twine to put through the tags.  After everything was glued together, I cut the extra off of the twine.  I kind of wish I hadn't, because I think it looked better when they were longer, but since everything was glued down I had to leave it.  Live and learn.

Back to School

Back to school time was always one of my  favorite times when I was a kid.  Weird, right?  I just liked spending the time with my mom and sister, driving all over for school shopping, getting new stuff to start off the year right.  This little card is for my mom, who still works at the elementary school that I'm a proud graduate of.

I cut the card base to A2 size.  The patterned paper is from the All Seasons 2 stack from Paper Studio.  I thought the crayons were perfect.   I cut the apple from Doodlecharms and the worm from Create a Critter.  See how I made a bite out of the apple?  Someone gave me a corner punch that is a kind of a backwards scallopy thing with a design inside.  BUT, if you make it so that the corner doesn't go in all the way, it just cuts a bite mark looking chomp out of it.  I made the twine with white yarn and a blue Sharpie.  I tied it in a bow on the front, which was much harder than it looks.  Then I stamped the sentiment from Holiday Occasions from Joy's Life.  

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
Cardz TV- School is cool
Cricut Chirp- A buzzing bug bow

I scream

I've got a delicious card for today.  This card was cut at 6 inches, to fit inside an envelope that I have.  It's a shape card cut from Birthday Bash.  I really liked the colors that were used in the handbook, so I made it the same colors, but added another blue to the back to make it a shaped card.  I had to cut the spoon handle off of the back because it opens from the top and the spoons were bumping into each other.  It's hard to tell from the picture (thanks a lot, camera phone) but there are glossy accents on the cherry.  

The sentiment is made from two different stamp sets from different companies.  The "you" and "me" are from the Everyday Occasions set from Joy's Life.  The "make" and "melt" are from Jessie's ABCs from Lawn Fawn.  I inked around the edges of the spoon and cup with blue ink for a little definition.  I am giving this card to my BFF, my husband.  I like to make him surprise cards to leave for him to find when he comes home from work. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Celebrate the Occasion- I scream for ice cream
Tuesday Alchemy- Ice cream social
Krafty girls- Get in shape (shaped cards)
Cooking with Cricut- BFF Bingo (I picked, stamp, ink, and die cuts)

You're so sweet

I made a whimsical ice cream card for summer.  It's an A2 sized card with corners that were rounded with my corner rounder.  I used my Cuttlebug Seeing Spots folder on the yellow paper.  The ice cream and the words "Thank You" are cut from Sugar and Spice Lite.  The cherry was cut from a wine color just like the words, which I covered with pink Stickles.  I used a gel pen to go over the texture in the cone.  The strip of paper is from an old piece that I've had in my stash for ages.   

Confused about why there's an ice cream cone on a Thank You card?  Look inside!  I stamped the words "You're so" and the exclamation point in Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs and the word "sweet" from Joy's Life Everyday Occasions.  It's in a wine colored ink to match the writing outside.

I plan to enter this for the following challenges:
Pause, Dream, Enjoy- Sweet Summer Treats
DL Art- Thank You Card
My Sheri Crafts- National Ice Cream Month

Birthday card

I love to have a stash of birthday cards built up. It helps for those last minute birthday celebrations.  I also try to make them neutral enough that they can be used for male or female cards.

This A2 card's main image is from New Arrival.  I assume they're supposed to be baby shower presents, but presents are presents!  Can you see the little bling on each bow?  I thought it added a nice touch.  I hand cut the Happy Birthday banner that was stamped with Joy's Life stamps.  That got some bling too.  

The final touch was the paper that was punched with the Threading Water Fiskars border punch.  

I will be entering this into the following challenge:

DL Art- Birthday with a present, circles, and bling
Celebrate the Occasion- Birthday card

It's your birthday...

It's no secret that my birthday is coming up.  I start reminding people 6 months before hand. Being a summer baby, I was pretty spoiled when it came to my birthday.  I never had to go to school on my birthday, so growing up I pretty much learned that your birthday is the day that you do what you want.  For me, that usually means relax and laze around all day.  Even now, I  take the day off of work on my birthday.  I just can't understand doing something other than having 100% fun on your birthday!  This card is in that spirit.  I imagined it as a birthday card from my yorkie, Sophie, telling me to kick back and relax on my special day.  She might have a little bit of an ulterior motive, though- when I'm relaxing, she generally is too.

I used Paper Pups to make the "relax" dog and the word "Relax" on the inside with the shadow feature under the main image. The Sentiment is from Joy's Life- I used a mix of Holiday Occasions and Everyday Occasions.  I made the banner that the sentiment is on from cutting a straight piece of paper and using a corner punch on the edges.  Isn't the background paper cute?  It's from the 8x8 Basics pack from Hobby Lobby.  Sophie thought that I should make more purple cards and get out of my comfort zone a little.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Tuesday Alchemy- Furry Friends

Celebrate the Occasion- Happy Birthday

In case you wondered, here's a picture of Sophie, relaxing in the craft room:

Mother's and Father's day 2012

One of my favorite things about crafting is surfing the internet and seeing the things that others have created, and being inspired by what they have done.  Seriously, many an evening is spent at my house with my husband renting some action movie and me sitting on the floor with the laptop, browsing google images or pinterest for hours.  Both my mother's day and father's day cards for this year were inspired this way.  (Like their birthdays, my parents and in-laws each got the same cards for their respective holidays.)

For Mother's Day, I was inspired by this card.  I love her idea of using Christmas cartridges for non-Christmas events.  Otherwise, my Winter Frolic cartridge will have to be dusted off every year when I make my Christmas cards and then never used for another whole year. 

For my version, I wanted to focus more on the pink.  I used a pink cardstock as the card and a pink patterned paper from KI Memories Classic stack.  I used my Tonic Studios corner chomper on the patterned paper.  The yellow ribbon is, I think, from American Crafts.  All of my ribbon is pretty much in jars and separated by color, and it isn't on it's spools.  But I know I bought a lot of American Crafts ribbon at some point, so it's a good chance.  The cut, like I said, is from Winter Frolic.  I left off the santa hat that the mom bird is supposed to wear, and I drew their eyes on with a Fiskars gel pen instead of using the cut.

I stamped the inside of the card with stamps from Joy's Life.  The "happy" comes from Joy's Everyday Occasions and the "Mothers" and "Day" are from Joy's Holiday Occasions.  I love these stamps because with just two sets, you have sentiments to cover every major event in life.  I LOVE mix and match stamps!

My Father's Day card was inspired by this one.  I have the Wild Card cartridge, and I should be using it all the time.  But I don't.  So I was searching around for ideas of how to use it practically.  Like the inspiration card, I used the Happy Father's Day sentiment from later in the handbook.  I like the cream background with the various colors of blue.

The sentiment on the inside, "Celebrate," is from Pink by Design's Scripted Year.  Perfect!

All the best

Wow, so Father's Day is my first holiday since beginning challenges, and it got a little overwhelming this week!  There are so many challenges about making a card for Father's Day!  To see the list of blogs I'm linking to for Father's Day challenges, look at the end of the post.  I think I did ok on this card, because my husband went way beyond his usual "oh, that's nice" comments when I showed him this one.  He asked questions about it and said a few times "I really like it." I might have even gotten a "wow."  ;) Cards for guys are hard, so it was feedback much appreciated.

I used Wall Decor and More for this card, because I wanted something that was masculine yet had enough flair that I wouldn't feel the need to bling it up too much.  I actually cut the layers three times instead of two- first I cut the main image with blue, then layered the shifted image (green) ON TOP of the main image instead of underneath it, then cut the main image again in white and only used the sails and flag to layer on top of the green.  The flag is colored in with a sharpie to give it a base of red underneath the burgandy stickles.  I tried about 100 different patterned papers with this card, and none looked as good as sticking it straight on the kraft color, so I added this green tag that I've had forever (I want to say it came with an old Paper Pizazz pack, maybe?) so there wasn't a big empty spot in the corner. 

I stamped the sentiment on the front with Joy's Life Everyday Occasions stamps.  I like these because you can be creative with the sentiment, and have it say whatever you want.  I can stamp "Happy Father's Day" on the inside with the matching Holiday Occasions set.  My husband really likes when there are sentiments on the outside and inside of cards, and clearly I like his approval on my masculine cards.   I even got to use my new brown ink (it's just the Hobby Lobby brand, but it's the small things that make life exciting).

Ok, here goes:
I'm going to enter this card in the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut- Father's day/Outdoors
Die Cuttin Divas- Father's day
Cardz TV- "So glad you're my dad" challenge
My Craft Spot- King of the grill/Father's day challenge
Celebrate the Occasion- Father's day
DL Art- A card for a man challenge

A birthday and a thank you

We just found out that a friend of ours is hosting a surprise party for his wife.  (The party was a few days before this posts, so no worries about ruining the surprise!)  I wanted to make her a card for her party.  I cut the cute monkey from Create a Critter, along with his branch.  I used some scraps of orange paper as a background. The flowery paper right behind the monkey is actually a scrap that I cut off of an old birthday card that someone gave me.  Have to be resourceful!  I stamped using Joy's Life stamps on the outside and wrote "GO WILD" on the inside with a gel pen.  I like the citrusy color scheme on this one.

Recently, my husband and I had to go out of town overnight so we had to leave Sophie with my sister in law.  We wanted to give her a thank you card for taking time out of her weekend to take care of Sophie.  I used a notecard that I already had for the card and all scraps for the paper.  I originally tried to cut the dog at 4.5 inches, but it was HUGE!  I cut it at 2.5 and it fit perfectly.  I cut the black and tan layers from the main image, and the green from the "solid" feature.  Then I layered the black on top of the green, and popped the brown into the correct spots.  I used my cuttlebug with the polka dot border from the "just my type" pack.  They got a little smushed when I put on my adhesive.  Oops.

Inside of the card, I stamped the dog tracks from the Pink by Design "Furry Friends" stamp set.  The sentiment is a wooden stamp that I was gifted by a friend.  I cut off the rest of the card because I already wrote in it.

Thanks again!