Happy Birthday Michael!

     My son celebrated his 30th birthday on Sunday. Saturday evening,my husband & I took him and his girlfriend out to dinner.  The color combination of the card I made for him was inspired by this card by Heather Nichols.  

     This was the first card I made using my Zipper Die.

        I did remember to take a picture of the hidden message prior to adhering the top potion of the card.

Of course my son didn't tell me what he wanted for his birthday. He is so hard to buy for. Although I didn't get him a gift card, I used my seed packet die to create a holder for the check I gave him.

 Since he was visiting overnight I quickly snapped a photo of  what the card looked like after he pulled the tab. (Sorry for the blurriness)

     Thank you for stopping by.

PTI'S March Blog Hop

I was very excited for this month's blog hop sponsored by PTI. For more information click here. Nicole's inspirational image had me wanting to use my Polka Dot Basic Stamp Set which I love but don't use nearly as much as I should. I immediately knew  what image I would use and what my background would be. I also knew I wanted to use some flocking powder I bought years ago but never used. The colors were obvious.  I figured I would play around with the rest of the card elements as I made the card.  The problem became finding the time to implement these ideas.  Thank goodness for deadlines.

 

   I used my inks and a dove blender to color in the Easter Egg.  The chick is flocked. I realized after I had flocked the chick, I should have really colored him so that the white didn't show through.  But not bad for my first attempt.

     Now I am off to make breakfast for our company, go food shopping after they leave, finish the laundry, and exercise.  Hopefully I'll be able to clean my craft room and finally look at all the beautiful cards later this evening.  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies: CS: Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold
Stamps : Scrambled Eggs, BB: Basic Polka Dots, (rubber stamps from my stash)
Ink: Versafine: Onyx Black, Versamagic: Sea Breeze; Colorbox: Canary
Dies: EGG, Sending You
Other: Aquamist Twill ribbon, Stampendous Lemonade Yellow Fun Flock, copic, dove blender, dimensionals.

Praying For You, Janelle.

Today I am playing along with a very special blog hop for a woman who has been very inspirational to me. Her name is Janelle.If you want to be inspired, read her blog. Laurie and Dana have organized a blog hop to let Janelle know that we are thinking about her.Here is the card I made for Janelle.

 An up close shot of the flowers & sentiment.

    The inside sentiment.

                            Janelle,
                                   You & your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope things are improving for you. May you continue to find strength & courage through your relationship with God!


If you would like to join us in sending a card to Janelle, please visit Laurie's blog soapbox creations.




Because these colors fit so nicely with  ColorQ Challenge #129  I am submitting this card.

 Thanks for stopping by.

Graduation Invitations

     A co-worker asked me if I would make some invitations for her daughter's graduation from Xavier University.  I made three samples for her to choose from. Of course I used Xavier's colors: dark blue, silver, gray and white.

    The first one is non-traditional as it doesn't scream graduation. I stamped the stars from Star Prints in Versamark on navy card stock, and embossed them with silver. I fussy cut the stars.(Usually, I use my Wishblade to cut the stars, but since I only had 3 to cut out, it was easier to hand cut them vs setting up my machine)

    The second card is more traditional bearing a mortarboard & diploma.This was their choice. I used my daughter's Cricut machine to make the cap. I doctored it up to make it 3D. The diploma stamp is a PSX rubber stamp I purchased back in 1999. It has seen many graduations.

     An up close shot of the graduation items.

   The last one is my favorite. I love the oval limitless layer die on this one.

         These should be pretty easy to make. Besides I only need to make ten. Thanks for stopping by.

Delicious! Yum! Cupcake

   Happy Wednesday! We have been having 80 degree weather all week in Cincinnati.  It has also been playing havoc with my exercise schedule.  Who wants to exercise in a gym when it is so gorgeous outside?
At least I have been walking at the park. The problem is I take my son's dog with me (I'm dog sitting) and he is sooooo out of shape, he can barely make the 1 mile loop.  I usually do 2 miles.
   Over the weekend we went to a birthday party for a 3 year old.  This is the card I made.  It is a case of this card by Lisa Johnson.

  The cupcake & sentiment is from Hero Arts Cupcakes. I fussy cut the cupcake and ran it through my Zyron machine in order to get the Prisma glitter to adhere to it.

  This was the tag I made to accompany the gift bag.

       Thanks for stopping by.

A Tisket, A Tasket, An Easter Basket!

       This is a simple Easter basket to make using a 12 by 12 piece of pattern paper. To begin cut 2 four inch deep lines at 4" and 8". Repeat on opposite side.

   Step 2:  Using a second piece of 12 by 12 matching paper, cut two 12 by 1 inch strips.  To make the handle sturdier, repeat step 2 using card stock. Trim off two inches from one of the pieces of card stock and one from the pattern paper.  (Sorry for the poor quality of the picture)

  Glue the card stock and pattern paper together. To make the handle attach the two 1" strips together. Lay aside.

Step 3:   Fold the middle section of the 12 by 12 pattern paper so it is standing upright.

   Step 4: Lift the corners of the left and right side towards the folded middle piece overlapping the two outer sides.. Punch a hole through all three layers. Insert one side of the handle between the two outer layers and the middle layer. Secure with a brad.  It should look like this.

    Repeat with other side. 

 

 Decorate top of handle where the two pices meet with a bow or flower.  I used the Loopy Bow die for my basket.

  Once again the completed basket filled.

 

  Believe me, the directions seem complicated, but this basket is very easy to assemble.  Without the bow, it should take no more than 15 minutes.  I did add a 3/8" strip to the inside edges of the basket ( before I assemble it) because there was print on one of the sides.

 I make these type of baskets for my adult children and fill them with just some small treats. The best thing is you can un-assemble the basket and reuse it next year, especially if the "kids" are only interested in the treats. (You have to remember where you put it too! LOL)

Thanks for looking!

Hoppy Easter

Believe it or not I do own some stamps from companies other than PTI.  This one is from Denami.
I can't believe how quickly this card came together. I knew I wanted to give some love to my pinking edge die.

  The Spring Moss dotted ribbon is a perfect accent for the Ripe Avocado.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Easter!

 Just a quick post today. I made another Easter card. I think I only have 3 more to make.  I finally used BB:Medallions. Love this set. Using the directions posted on the recent thread by Chinagrrl on the PTI forum about how to align stamps, my background came out perfectly. I used PTI Spring Moss ink and Versamagic Seabreeze.

     The little chick is from the Spring Fillers Stamp set. That little fella fit in the basket perfectly!

  The sentiment stamp is a no name I picked up at a garage sale. It fit into the Christmas Label die perfectly. Luck was also on my side as I had 2 of the little flower buttons in Aqua Mist.  Normally, I can never find the right number of buttons I need for a card.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope your day is going well and you are finding to crafting time.

He is Risen!

   I've had this idea floating in my head for several days now, but only found the time to make this card over the weekend. I've loved all the cute Easter cards I made with the Scramble Egg set, but wanted to do an Easter card with a religious tone.
 Several years ago I purchased a rubber stamp of a log cross from Art Gone Wild. The  image is perfect for sympathy cards.  I thought if I paired it up with the words He is Risen, it would work for Easter.

   The font is computer generated.The elements I used are pretty symbolic.  I stamped the cross on vellum with white Colorbox ink and embossed it with white embossing powder as a symbol of the Risen Lord. I used Copics to add color to the flowers. Kraft cardstock embossed with the woodgrain IP symbolizes the wooden cross our Lord died on.

  Here is the same version with some different colors.

I made 4 of these cards to send to my MIL as well as my aunts & uncles.  I know they will like the religious theme of the card.  Thanks for stopping by.

A CAS Birthday Card

  The past few weeks I have been making more CAS cards.  This has never been my style as I love to add lots of embellishments to my cards: ribbon, buttons, bling.  However, I think the peony in the new anniversary stamp set is so beautiful, it should be the focal point. Thus this card.

 

   I stamped the sentiment from Botanical Silhouettes in Scarlet Jewel..The butterfly was punched from a Martha Stewart punch.

     The peonies are stamped with Autumn Rose and outlined with Scarlet Jewel.

  

 This card was sent to my sister.  Usually she receives my cards with all the embellishments.  I thought it was time I exposed her to the beauty of a CAS card.  Yesterday's card  White Peonies was sent to my sister-in-law. I hope both my sister and sister-in-law have a Happy Birthday. I wish I could celebrate their birthdays with them but because we live in 3 different states, the cards will have to suffice.
Thanks for stopping by.

White Peonies

March is a big birthday month. I have 4 cards that I need to make for family/friends. Since I need to make a card for both my sister and sister-in-law, I decided I would use the new Peony stamp set.  Inspired by so many white peonies on Pinterest, I used Fresh Snow on Royal Velvet to make this card. 

     Making a background with this stamp is so easy.  Since there is no die to accompany the stamp set, I fussy cut the frame. (WAPITA)
     PTI dies have definitely spoiled me. I remember the days when I fussy cut everything. I used Sweet Blush satin ribbon to match the card base. Isn't the design on that button delightful?

  So if you are wondering who got this card, check in tomorrow as I show case the other birthday card I made using this same set. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by Betsy!

   I'm still in Easter mode. When I saw the treat packages made from the seed packet die on Betsy Veldman's blog when the DT revisited Garden Variety, I knew I wanted to make some. I thought this would be perfect to put in each of my granddaughter's Easter basket. This is what I came up with:

Quick & Easy too! I used Fillable Frame #10 to make the window on the Seed Packet die. I really like the versatility of the seed packet die. The stamped images are from my stash of rubber stamps. I used dimensionals to prop up all the stamped images. The polka dots were made using a Cover-a-Card stamp from Obsession Impression. Those M&M's are really colorful and make the packet pop!
Thanks for stopping by.

Easter Wishes #2

    I decorated my house this past weekend with all of my Easter decorations. This definitely makes the house feel more "springlike".  I started this Easter card over the weekend and was finally able to finish it.
The little bunny from the Spring Fillers fits perfectly in the oval limitless labels die. I didn't get a chance to use this cute image last year since I had split the stamp set and it arrived after Easter.

     Since I don't own the banner die (it's currently in my cart for my March release order) I made my own. I originally planned to stamp a sentiment on the banner, but it was too long. Instead I opted to use the little eggs and added some rhinestones for embellishments. The butterfly was added to give the card some more dimension..

 
    I have two birthdays coming up next week. I need to get those cards made and mailed.  thanks for stopping by.

     

Easter Chicks

     Every Friday my intentions are to do as much crafting as possible over the weekend.  But something always pops up and  plays havoc with my plans.  This weekend it was my vacuum cleaner. Died as I began vacuuming the family room. So instead of making some cards as planned, I spent the majority of the day researching vacuums and trying to see if it was worth getting my old one repaired.
    I did manage to get one Easter card completed using the Scramble Egg stamp set. At the last minute I added the little chick from the Spring Filler stamp set.

          Here's a close up shot of the chicks I colored using my Copics.  This summer I am hopefully going to sign up for a class to learn how to uses these markers properly. Both egg shells are propped up with dimensionals.

    I used the Christmas Label die with the Sweet Spring stamp set to create the sentiment. The flower is made from both Beautiful Blooms and Bloom Builder dies.

  

     I just love the bright colors on this card. I am so ready for spring.  Thank you for stopping by.  I have another Easter card in the works, so stop by tomorrow for more.

Supplies: PTI CS: Rasberry Fizz, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold, Hibiscus Burst, Stamper's Select White

Ink: Black, Haystack

Stamps: Scrambled Eggs, Sweet Spring, Spring Fillers

Dies: Christmas Label, Beautiful Blooms, Bloom Builder, Egg

Other: Copics, Rhinestone, dimensionals, pattern paper from stash.