Just a note...

I made my sister a set of notecards for her birthday. They are pretty simple, but my mom always said "you can never have too many blank notecards". That was always one of the gifts we gave teachers as end of year gifts, either blank notecards, or a pretty set of paper plates with matching napkins. The note is from the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge, and the cut outs down the side is from a punch (I can't remember what brand...). Simple but effective.

Cupcake Birthday Card

This cupcake card is from the Wildcard cartridge. I was a little disappointed that this card didn't have a liner, but that was easily fixed by just gluing a piece of paper (the blue polkadot paper) to the inside of the card, and then trimming the edges. I coloured the flame in with a red glitter glue, and used clear glitter glue to go over some of the patter on the "icing" portion. I hadn't looked at the Wildcard cartridge much before, but I think it might become a "go to " cartridge!

Blue and Grey - variations on a theme

At my new job, I work with the Sales team. One of our sales staff wanted to send out congratulation cards to local business leaders who had received recognition (she needs 50 in total). Before I knew it, I opened my mouth "I make my own cards!". I said that I would make a sample over the weekend, and she could let me know. Since these are going to some highfalutin' peeps, I wanted to keep the card somewhat conservative. So I picked the grey paper, but also picked the blue up, just in case. I liked the blue better in the end, but gave the choice to the rep. She picked the blue card too. Now, I just have to get them made...I know what I'm doing tomorrow!!

It's all about the b-bling b-bling

I didn't think I would get another challenge in, but here it is. The challenge from www.mypinkstamper.com was glitz, glamour, and glitter. A dragonfly might not be all that glamourous, but I couldn't do much more for glitz and glitter. This card will be for a baby naming ceremony we have this weekend, so it is a kid friendly card. The dragonfly was made with blue shimmer paper (shadow), blue glitter paper (body), and vellow glitter paper (wings). The ribbon has shiny metal circles, and while it doesn't show up in the picture, the writing on the bottom was written with a purple glitter gel pen.

Summer Theme Challenge

Another NSD challenge from www.mypinkstamper.com. The challenge was for a summer theme. I've done fireflies (from Stretch your Imagination). I used a yellow gel pen to highlight their rear ends, do dots around the edges of the card, and I wrote "simple joys" ate the top. The yellow didn't show up too well when it dried, so I had to go over it a few times, which changed the look a little bit.

Fireflies were one of my favourite things about spring/summer. I can't even remember the last time I saw one now. Do you think our kids/grandkids will believe us when we tell them that there used to be bugs whose rear ends lit up?

Pink, Black and Green Challenge

This was for the "Pink, Green and Black" challenge over at www.mypinkstamper.com. I like these challenges, because I'm using things that I don't normally use. I picked up this set of Japanese inspired stamps months ago, but hadn't yet figured out when I would/could use them. The fact that these cards are just "because", no person/event in mind, it's actually a lot more freeing!
I used the blender pen and chalk to colour this in. Funny thing - I lived in South Korea for a year (15 years ago), and as a souvenir, I bought a traditional Korean outfit (a hanbok). It was made a bright green top and bright pink bottom - it wasn't til I finished the card that I realized how similar it was.

Incorporate a tag challenge

First of all, the artistic looking black band with silver swirls is not part of the design...I just set the card on top of my computer when I took the picture!!
Another of my new toys - watercolour pencils and a water brush. That's what I used to colour in the butterfly. I stamped it, and cut it out.
I really love the clear stamps on a stamp block. My mom and sisters and I started doing stamping years ago, so all the stamps were the red rubber on wood blocks. With the clear cling stamps, I can make my own stamps. I took flowers from various sets, and mounted them all together to make a flower collage, stamed that with versa watermark ink, then used transparant embossing powder.
The tag is the circle from "A Child's Year" cartridge, and I used an irridescent green/blue ribbon. Granted the tag isn't hanging from anything, but I was trying for a more ethereal look. The stamp says "dream".

Anything Cupcake

So this is why the blog refers to my procrastinating.... Today is national scrapbooking day, and over at MyPinkStamper (www.mypinkstamper.com) Robyn is hosting a whole day of challenges.
So my choice is the following...challenging myself with a new hobby that I really enjoy, or the groceries, the laundry, the housework...hmmmm. Decisions, decisions.

So the first challenge was "Anything cupcake". This is my first attempt at using a blender pen and chalks (to colour the cupcake). Not too bad. Definitely better than what I've been trying to do with markers. This is also the first card that I have just made for no specific reason, so yay! A spare birthday card on hand!!

Mother's day card and gifts

I made my mom 6 blank cards for mother's day. Since she retired a few years ago, she has taken up quilting as a hobby. So when I saw this pattern at Splitcoaststamper. Aside from having to cut the squares (note to self, a 3/4" square punch would have been worth the money). they were actually quite quick and easy to put together. The bottom card is the actual card that I made for her.

Happy Brthday, dear Nay-nay

Tomorrow is my handsome nephew's first birthday. Hard to believe how fast the year has gone. The nickname I like is "Nay-nay". that my niece (his sister, who was just 18 months when he was born) called him, or "Nay-no" when she tried to use his whole name of Nathaniel. I knew that I wanted to have the monkey, and to put a party hat on him...the pinwheel was a spur of the moment addition, as it was on the same cut as the party hat (all from Create A Critter). I thought about using pop dots for the cake, but thought that in his little destructive year old hands, it might not last long on the card :)

Too funny

I made this card for dh's cousin's birthday. I know the bird is from Create a Critter, and the lamb is from Just Because cards...I can't remember where I got the rabbit from....I ran the lamb through the Cuttlebug. The writing beside the bird in brackets says day. The inside of the card says "Hoppy Bird-day 2 Ewe!".

Now that the party's over...

I've been making cards, but not able to post them until after the events. My sister got married yesterday. A lovely day, and a lovely wedding. I'm exhausted though, after all the prep in the days leading up to the wedding, and the day itself. The couple on the card was cut from "Stretch Your Imagination". The wedding was very Victorian in theme, and I think this caught it nicely. The dress was embossed with the "Victoria" Cuttlebug plate. I used a plum coloured shimmer paper for the shadow layer, because their colours were purple and cream, and it was just such a Victorian looking colour.
Best wishes to Becky and Craig.