Riley Birthday Challenge

Happy Monday! I had a card to show you that I made for the Riley and Company challenge this week. The challenge was to make a birthday card. Perfect timing for me, the fall brings so many birthdays so I am in need of lots of birthday cards. And the challenge provided incentive to get some done instead of waiting to the last minute. Several of the birthday cards will need to go through the mail , so I kept the embellishments pretty minimal. I used paper from Basic Grey and Cake Riley is from Riley and Company and colored with Copics, I added some "card candy" and a tag that reads "celebrate" to finish my card.

We had such a nice weekend here, the weather was really nice. Kip and I went out for ice cream Saturday night and since it was so nice, he suggested sitting outside while we ate it. I agreed, by the time we were done, we were both a little chilly. It's the first time I have felt a little touch of fall in the air. Fall is my favorite time of the year and I can't wait until it is officially here!

Have a great day!

Samantha's Birthday Card

Good Morning! Samantha just celebrated her 10th birthday and I wanted to show you the card that I made for her. It was funny, a couple of weeks before her birthday she told me she couldn't wait to see what her birthday card was going to look like. She mentioned it again after seeing the card I made for her sister Jenna's birthday. No pressure, right? It does make me feel good though that they look forward to their cards and know that I try and find the perfect image for them. Samantha is like me in the fact that there isn't enough yellow and nothing can be too yellow! It is so hard too to find stuff for little girls in yellow. Pink and Purple? Yes. But yellow is a little harder to find. Other than crafting together, Samantha and I really enjoy cooking together. When she is here for dinner, we usually make something that she hasn't made before and I usually try and find a recipe for something that is new to both of us.  

I had my selection narrowed down to this image and another one that showed a girl painting. I wanted something that represented something that we do together and using an image from a company that she really admires. I kept going back to this one though because that confident look on that little girl's face reminded me of Samantha and she really likes Sassy Cheryl's images. Of course I colored her with a yellow chef's hat and jacket to personalize it even more. I added some yellow paper, yellow letters and yellow flowers that I had found a while back and decided to save for a "Samantha" card.

She really liked her card!

I am linking Samantha's birthday card to the Sassy Cheryl challenge since the challenge was to make a birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Elephant Birthday Card for Card Cupids

Happy May Day! I have another birthday card to show you that I will be sending in to Card Cupids. Our sponsor this month is Fresh Brewed Designs. I used the image Daisy's Cupcake for my card and our challenge was to use polka dots. Well, if you have read my blog at all, you know I am crazy about polka dots so this was a very fun challenge for me! Daisy is colored with Copic markers and I used papers from my stash and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I left the icing part of the cupcake white and then glued some multi colored micro glass beads on the top to look like sprinkles. 

We would love to have you join us on the Card Cupids blog this week for our polka dot challenge. Easy peasy and you could help brighten the day of a child. You can check out the blog too for other items that can be donated.

have a great day!

Riley Birthday Card

One of my blogging buddies, Peggy has a son in Basic Training. His birthday was this week and she wanted him to get as many cards as possible. I don't blame her, happy mail is good anytime, but especially on your birthday while you are away and working so hard. I decided to use this Riley stamp from Hanna Stamps. Somehow this guy made it to my house and has been sitting here a while and had never gotten inky. I colored the image with Copic Markers then used papers from DCWV for the card. I am not sure of the maker of the kraft paper though. I picked up a pack of it somewhere and can't remember where I got it! The Happy Birthday sentiment is from CTMH and was stamped with their Chocolate ink. I hope he enjoyed his birthday card.

The weekend is almost here! The bathroom project is officially completed and now it is time to start another room. I really want the crafting space done, but it is such an overwhelming project, I don't even know where to start. Maybe inspiration (and motivation!) will hit me in the next 24-48 hours. 

For the Birthday Boy

We were in Chattanooga this weekend to celebrate the birthdays of my two nephews. This is the card that I made for Silas, he turned two yesterday. For his gift, I got him an assortment of outside toys, including several that can be used in his little pool and/or his sandbox. I made the card using the Pool Party set from Hanna Stamps. I tried to make a card that looked like a pool so I used a green background to look like grass. The gray part is the pool decking and I embossed the entire piece with UTEE so that it looks wet. The water was painted with Twinkling H20 paints on watercolor paper. All the little swimmers were stamped onto a separate piece of paper, colored with Copics and then cut out and placed in the water. The water squiggles were drawn in using a blue Spica pen. All the shimmers and glitters didn't really show up in the photo, but the little ducks sparkle and the brads are glittered as well. I didn't have glittered brads in the right color, so I covered the head of the brad with a glue dot and then dipped it in green glitter from Doodlebug. This is one of those cards that looked much better in person where all the different elements showed up better. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, it was stamped in black ink and then I traced over it with a green Spica pen.

We just got home a little bit ago. May is always a busy month for us, but so far this month has been the busiest in a while. The first weekend my parents were here visiting, then Mother's Day weekend, the next weekend we were in Indiana, this weekend in Chattanooga and next weekend I think my parents are coming back! Fortunately I am off tomorrow so I can get caught up on laundry and other housework. To all my friend celebrating Memorial Day tomorrow, have a great day and be safe!

Cole's Birthday

By far, the hardest cards that I attempt to make are for teenage boys. I am okay with little boy cards and am getting better at cards for men, but those in-between ages are hard. I almost just went and bought a card instead of trying to make one! Tomorrow is my nephew Cole's birthday. As he turns fourteen, he is past the age of cute little dinosaurs, robots and trucks. I decided to use the Inkadinkado Rock Star stamp set. The image was stamped with Versa-Mark and then embossed with black embossing powder. The Happy Birthday was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink using the Martha Stewart Gothic alphabet set. After stamping the letters, I went over each one with a black Spica Glitter pen. I used two different patterns of DCWV paper, cut into strips for my background and added those jumbo silver brads to finish it off. What do you think? 

SPeaking of that Inkadinkado stamp set, that was a birthday gift from my friend Allyson. I have to tell you, this was the year of the stamp for me. I have tons of new stamp sets to show you over the next few weeks (or months!) so check back often.

Wishing You a Happy Birthday

Sorry for the quality of the photo, it was dark when I took this and this was the best I could do. The middle parts of my week are super crazy busy and it is usually dark when I get home and have time to craft. But I do have a quick post tonight. My Papertrey Anniversary set has arrived!! It is a nice set with several images and lots of sentiments covering a variety of gift giving opportunities. My cupcake base was stamped with CTMH Chocolate ink, the frosting was stamped with CTMH Watermelon, first stamped onto scrap paper then onto my panel here, and the cherry used CTMH Holiday Red. I covered the cherry with Glossy accents for the shine and dimension. The image was punch out using Marvy punches and added to the card with foam squares. To finish it off I added these metallic brads that came from Jo-Ann's. Have a great day!

Celebrate

Good evening! I had some trouble getting a good photo of this card. I normally only have crafting time at night but prefer to take pictures in the daytime but that doesn't always happen. I have been enjoying making these clean and simple cards. It's funny, when I first started scrapping and making cards, I had a hard time combining colors and patterns and filling up all that white space and now I am trying to do designs that have a lot of that white space.  For this card, I used the Inkadinkado cupcake set for the cupcake and the sentiment. The sentiment is stamped directly onto the card base using CTMH Kiwi ink. I think DCWV made that ribbon, it is from "the stash", so I am not completely sure. I used Liquid Applique on the frosting and Fun Flock on the flowers. I let the fun flock blend in a little with the Liquid Applique to give it a pinkish tint. Thanks for stopping by!

Spinner Card

Okay, so I am a little behind the times and this is the first spinner card that I have ever made. Well, I made one in a class when I learned how, but this is the first one I have done on my own. Kip's family is getting together tomorrow afternoon to celebrate his uncle's birthday. He has a slightly different sense of humor, so I thought he might like a card that included frogs in underpants! Both stamps are from Repeat Impressions and I stamped them with Memento ink and then colored everything with Prismacolor pencils. I am not sure of the maker of the patterned paper on the back part of the card, it was from my stash.

Speaking of my stash, I have challenged myself to use the stuff! You know how it is, you have stuff and just keep it for the perfect project and then you keep buying more stuff and never use the first stuff. I sorted my paper scraps a couple of weeks ago and have been slowly going through some of the other stuff as well. I bought Jenna and Samantha their own embellishment container and gave them some old die cuts and other things to use. Their mom always keeps them in art supplies at their house, but they love coming to my craft room because they have access to all my leftovers and I have cool tools.  Have a great rest of the weekend.

Granddad's Birthday Card

Tomorrow is my Granddad's birthday. I am posting this a day early for a couple of reasons; he doesn't have a computer so there is no chance he will see it and the other reason is a funny story. When I was younger, I would always call him on March 10th to wish him a happy birthday and when I got old enough to drive, I would always go and visit him on March 10th to wish him a happy birthday. I was like twenty five when I found out his birthday is really March 11th, not the 10th!! I asked him why he never mentioned that I always celebrated his birthday a day early and he said he thought that I just wanted to be the first one every year. So in honor of that, I am posting his card a day early. 

The card uses the TAC set Fore. I stamped the imaged in Memento ink, Rich Cocoa, I think is the name. All the paper is DCWV and those tiny, tiny little brads are from Making Memories. I thought the would look like little golf balls, lined up ready to be hit. I remember now why those little boogers have been sitting in my stash for so long, they aren't the easiest things to set! My Granddad has always been a golfer and still is even though he will be eighty four tomorrow. You would never know it though, he still thinks and acts like a much younger man. He used to let my sister and me hit golf balls in the back yard. Of course we never hit them that far but he would always put his hand up to his eyes, like he was looking far off in the distance, searching for our balls.

My mom's surgery today was a success. when I spoke with my dad tonight she was resting. Still in quite a bit of pain but the doctor said that the surgery went very well. She injured her knee several months ago in a car accident and it never has really gotten any better so surgery was her option at this point if she wanted to alleviate the pain. Hopefully this will do the trick. If you read this far, thanks for stopping by tonight and listening to me ramble about my family!

Construction Birthday Card

I needed a couple of boy themed birthday cards so I made this one.  I used stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps, stamped with Memento black ink and then colored with Prismacolor markers. I sponged CTMH Chocolate ink on the ground for the dirt and then cut out my images and then glued them down, the trucks are popped up with foam squares. The yellow paper was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I picked that one because it looks like little roads that the trucks could have made.These trucks make me think of my brother, when he was little he loved Tonka trucks. We spent many hours in the dirt and mud moving rocks from place to place with his trucks. I didn't have cars for my Barbies and he would get upset when they would end up in his trucks.

If you look on my sidebar you will see a listing for the Surfin' Oceans 11 blogger group. Check them out when you have time, there are some very talented people listed there. I have had so much fun with my other blogger group that I wanted to take part with another group. Of course belonging to the first group helped get me hooked on House Mouse stamps, so I can't wait to see what I learn from the new group.

I have a new toy! I go through so much adhesive and have been looking for a cheaper alternative for a while. I  found a couple of things that were cheaper but they were either frustrating to use or they did not hold my projects together. After a lot of reading on SCS, I decided to get an ATG-50 from The Tape Depot. It arrived last week. It is a little large but it is lightweight and not difficult to use. The first time I tried to use it, I loaded the tape backwards and it didn't work but after I loaded it the right way, it works like a dream. 

Masculine Birthday Card

So far, I am on top of this being organized for birthdays! This is one of the cards that I have made for a guy friend that has a birthday this month. He is very much a history buff and love old things. I knew that this watch would be perfect for a card for him. the stamp is from Rubber Stampede and the quote, I am not sure about that. I do know that I got it at Jo-Ann's and it came with a bunch of quotes about memories and for some reason I am thinking that it is from Cloud Nine Designs. The paper is from Making Memories and the brads are from The Paper Studio. Ink is Memento Rich Cocoa. I think I may go back and add some Glossy Accents over the face of the watch, I haven't decided yet.

Did your team win the Super Bowl? I didn't have much of a preference this year on the outcome, other than I tend to root for the underdog. I hope you have all had a relaxing and restorative weekend. The weather here has been glorious all weekend, in the 60s. However tomorrow it is supposed to get cold again. Have a great night!

Happy Birthday Kip!!

Quick post today because today is my husband's birthday. Happy Birthday Kip! This is the birthday card that I made for him. I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug folder, I knew I wanted a more distressed look so I made sure that my card stock from DCWV had a white core. After embossing, I went over the raised areas, lightly, with a sanding block. Changito was stamped with Palette ink and then colored with Prisma markers. I stamped the birthday message with CTMH Olive ink. I wrapped the bottom with some hemp around the bottom and bada bing, a birthday card for my hubby!

Birthday Cake

Hello everyone! I got this stamp back in the summer at the Scrapbook Super Center when we went to Gatlinburg. I thought that she was so cute holding that huge birthday cake. The stamp is pretty large and the Happy Birthday is a part of the stamp. Here, I trimmed around the image and then used SU word window punch to move the sentiment to where I wanted it. As you can see, I am still in the mood for polka dots. Actually this started as something else entirely. I was originally going to use the sketch challenge from SCS this week, and pulled out the paper I was going to use. The other was a floral print and every time I cut and positioned the flowers, it looked like she was sprouting them out of her head. Definitely a weird look. I ended up with this. I think it is a little pain though and I might go back and add something else. The stamp is from All Night Media and was colored with Prisma markers. All the paper is DCWV. I am going to go back to bed now. I have been there off and on all day because I am nursing a cold. Have a great night.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday. I usually struggle so much to make cards for men, but as soon as I saw this stamp from The Angel Company, I knew I had his birthday card covered. The name of the stamp is Train Collage. I stamped the image onto off white card stock using CTMH Chocolate ink. The birthday sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps and the brads are from Paper Studio. My Dad really likes trains and they play into several of my childhood memories of me and him. I remember when I was real small, he had an electric train set he would set up occasionally and I loved watching that train go around and around the track. I remember one Christmas Eve, we were on our way to my Grandmother's house and had to stop for a train, Dad rolled down the windows to hear the train and he sang "Silent Night". I actually had a tape recording of this somewhere. An album we listened to over and over and over again was Merle Haggard's "My Love Affair With Trains". I had misplaced his album and wanted to replace it and it took me forever to find that vinyl album, I combed every used record store I came across until I found it. Now it is available on CD and we both have it on our iPods. Thanks for reading my childhood Dad and train memories and Happy Birthday Dad!!!

I will be in Chattanooge for the rest of the weekend. I will post again on Sunday or Monday.

Happy Birthday Judy

I did get some stamping time today! I needed to make a card for my friend Judy's birthday. We are having dinner tonight with her and the girls but her birthday is really tomorrow. Judy thinks my stamping and card making is an illness that she just doesn't understand.

This stamp is from CTMH and is called Butterfly Kiss. It is stamped using CTMH Petal and Black inks. For the colors here I stamped off first and then used the second stamp for my image. All paper is from DCWV, the patterned paper is from the Far East pack and the purple is from the metallic pack. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo, one of their little dollar stamp sets. I also used a some decorative accents in each corner.

We are making progress on the bedroom! The bed isn't up yet, but most everything else it. We are both worn out. Hopefully in a couple of more hours of work and we can at least get the majority of it done. I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day!

Birthday Card

I made this card for the challenge this week at Stamp Something. The challenge was to make something for a birthday. I really liked this paper, the color is so pretty. It came from Target and was a gift from my friend Angela. The dots that make up the background image are the palest of yellows so I used that color as my accents. I used three different CTMH sets for the stamped images. Happy Birthday is from Seasonal Celebration, the gifts are from the Solo P set and the cake is from Holiday Jubilee. All are stamped with Palette ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils. The yellow eyelets are from Making Memories and the ribbon is from my stash. I have been using more and more supplies from my stash. I am trying to use some of the things I have collects and have been hoarding! I will try and get a picture of my new haircut posted in the next day or two.

Surfer Riley

This is a card I made for my nephew's birthday a couple of months ago. Before I realized that pictures look better if I am not looking down at the card! Riley is colored with Prisma Markers. The paper and cardstock is all DCWV. The orange brads are from Paper Studio. "Happy Birthday" was from a CTMH set and the letters spelling out Dude are from a Paper Studio alphabet set. The flowers came from the dollar bin at Jo-Ann's. I have had them for a long time. I actually bought them for the girls art collage box, and they use them as much as I do. I thought for this card they added a nice tropical touch. Cole really like his card, which made me feel good. He turned 13 and I really struggle with making masculine cards anyway, but for a teen-age boy it is even harder. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Angela!

Happy Birthday to my friend Angela! Her birthday is actually on Saturday but are celebrating a little early at work. I blame Angela for all my craft addictions! She is such a bad influence, if I miss the release of something new, she is very quick to show me what I have been missing or if I haven't discovered a company yet she will make sure I know all about them. Really, all kidding aside, Angela is a terrific person and I am so glad she is my friend. She is the first close friend that I have ever had that enjoys all the same craft things that I do. I am fascinated with how one person ends up in another person's life. It is interesting to me how someone can become an important part of your life and the random things that got them there. The things that led me to my husband, each in and of themselves seemed so disconnected but they got us together! But I digress...Angela and I met at work, I changed jobs to accommodate going back to school and we ended up as office mates.

Deets on the card...This is a stamp set from See D's that I got while I was in Gatlinburg (Angela is getting a different set as a gift, shh). I really like these stamps and now HL is carrying them! I stamped the bird using CTMH Chocolate ink. The papers are from an older DCWV pack that I have been hoarding because I love the colors and the patterns. The ribbon recycled from something else. Happy Birthday Angela!

Happy Birthday Zoie

My niece turned 10 last weekend and to celebrate we met my parents in Gatlinburg and they brought along my niece and nephew. We had a great time, but I am exhausted. This was the card that I made for Zoie. Since she has an unusual spelling for her name, she can never find anything that is personalized so I stamped background paper using her name and added some pink cardstock from DCWV. The letters spelling out her name are from CTMH Solo letter sets. I just randomly stamped her name using CTMH Bubblegum ink. The darling pigs and the Happy Birthday are from the CTMH set, Nursery Bash. I think they are just too cute. I colored the image with Koh-I-Nor pencils and used OMS to blend and shade. The cupcakes, I colored and then topped with Doddlebug glitter in pink, purple and green. The bling are rhinestones that I picked up at Target in the dollar area. When she opened it so said she loved the diamonds on there!

We had so much fun on our weekend away, but the most fun was of course going to Your Scrapbook Superstore. It is so overwhelming to go in there, if I had the money, I think I could have easily spent a thousand dollars. I don't even know where to begin! They carry so many things that I can normally only see online, and it is all right there to see and touch. It also begs to be taken home with me! I was good though. I bought a punch and a couple of small See D stamps sets, plus a few other odds and ends. I didn't find that much in the Clearance Store this time but I did manage to find a few things there too. Thanks for stopping by!