Birthday Cards with Ice Cream DSP from Stampin' Up...

Over the weekend, I worked with the Designer Series Paper called "Ice Cream Corner" from Stampin' Up AND the Sheetload of Cards for June 2021 by Call Me Crafty Al. Surprisingly, I completed twelve. How cool is that?!!

Four in corals...

Four in teals...

Four in purples...

This morning, I made envelopes to match the colors in the cards. Now, I've got a LOT of birthday cards for my stash. That should keep me in business for the rest of the year. Oh happy day!!

Paper Pumpkin February 2020, Lovely Day

 My first "official" paper Pumpkin kit arrived last week. I dived in almost immediately. My kit was sent on the second wave and because of that, I saw LOTS of inspiration in the Paper Pumpkin Facebook Group from mid-month on. All nine of these are what is supposed to come out of the kit. I did cut all card bases in half so, there are potentially nine more I can make. THEY will be "alternatives" since I've used up all the die-cuts and foil stickers...

 I did this one first, adding the strip of razzleberry between the two pink background papers. I also cut the pieces down so there would be a white border all the way around...

This one had a slightly colored background that we stamped the flower over. I added more color with a paint brush and the enclosed Rococo Rose ink spot. I colored in the center with a yellow colored pencil and then added Glossy Accents to that same center and added glittery Nuvo drops to the berries...

 This one I colored in the cake with my Prismacolor Pencils, doing my best to match the card base. I maybe, did it ok? It's not a perfect match but it'll work. :)

What a BEAUTIFUL and fun kit this was! I can't wait to work on alternatives...

Update: 3-29-20 A couple alternatives using the stamp set and altering the enclosed envelope...

Update 4-6-20 Completed these alternatives this past weekend. More of the stamp set, Copic colored, inserts from envelopes as background paper, vellum, LOTS of bling and a layered "smile" die-cut. NICE!!

Birthday Candle Card...

 I was working on these cards back on February 21st... wait, what?!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN that was two weeks ago?!! Good grief Charlie Brown! Anyway, I found a card on Pinterest that intrigued me AND, I actually knew the cardmaker. How often does that happen? So, I did my best to CASE it. I had a couple other prototypes that I asked advice on from Seongsook's Stampers. This was the final product. I also, with my Geli-plate and acrylic paints, did my best to make matching envelopes. Pretty spot-on, right?!

 

The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up set called "Perfect Pennants". The paper pieces are from a 6" x 6" paper pad by DCWV called "the Birthday Wishes stack" from 2012. Both I've had for ions. I absolutely love cards with birthday candles on them. They just make me smile. SOOO, party on peeps...

 

A Day with Avra...

 On my visit to Columbus last week, I had a play date at Avra's. These are the cards I had partially worked on there. I FINALLY unpacked here and put them all together yesterday(noone has ever said I'm a speed demon... LOL)

 

 This is a die that Avra owns. I don't remember who's it is. Once die-cut, I also used it as a stencil so ended up with TWO cards from one blending session. I used Distress Inks...

 

This is from I set I own from Sugar Pea Designs called Bring on the Cake. Die cutting all those tiny, tiny pieces was time consuming BUT, the final result is A...MAZ...ING!!! I just love it...



Happy birthday cake...

Today is the Zack attack's birthday!!!  Woot, woot!!  He's twenty years old!  How is that possible?!!  I'm only twenty-nine... :)  And even though these cards were not given to the Zack attack, I felt there should be a blog post on his birthday.  AND, I'm scheduling it to go live at the same hour he was born.  Did you know Zack was born ON Patriot's Day?  In Boston?   A true Bostonian, just like his mama.   Happy birthday Zack!  I'm hoping you enjoy the card you did get...

 

I actually made these cards (plus two others like it) when I had a crafting weekend with friends at my home back in January.  Kim and I stayed up 'til an un-Godly hour cranking out card after card.  At the time I made these, I swore I'd never make any more.  There were SO MANY little pieces and lots of different steps.  However, bringing a big smile to a friend's (or relative's) face on their birthday, was worth all the extra time.  I waited so long to post these because I wanted the recipient's to get their card BEFORE they saw it on my blog... :)

Birthday Cards...

 I've had this 6" x 6" pad called "The Birthday Wishes Stack" made by DCWV for over a year.  I've used random pieces of it occasionally but I thought I'd make an effort to get it gone.  The cupcakes are a set of dimensional stickers made by Sticko...

 

 On this one, I embossed the red piece with the "Happy Birthday" embossing folder by Cuttlebug...

 

On this one, I just used the papers from the pad.  One of these two will become Zack's birthday card but I can't decide which one I like best... how about you?

Make a wish...

Looking thru my future Operation Write Home box last night, it seemed to be lacking in the birthday department.  I made ten of these... five for OWH and five for me.  I used a stamp set by Stampin' Up that I've had for over a year... ouch!

 

As a New Year's Resolution, I decided to make up monthly envelopes with a list of goals for the month.  The objective was that each month, I'd use either what was IN the envelope, what was suggested ON the envelope, or both.  I only made up envelopes thru June as I was afraid I might go looking for something I KNEW I had but had forgotten had been delegated to an envelope.  I'm off to a good start, don't you think?

 

One bright birthday...

 As I was preparing my box for shipment to OWH, I realized I needed to make several more to actually FILL the box.  There are too many cards for a Medium Flat Rate box but not enough for a Large Flat Rate box... go figure!  So, I went to Pinterest and found this (see HERE) and LOVED it.  I've had this embossing folder forever but have never found anything that made sense to use it on.  THIS is perfect!  I made eight, but three are staying in my personal stash...

All the paper is from my Scrap folders, except the black which is from a Recollections paper pack.  The sentiment is also Recollections which I probably found in the dollar bin at Michaels ions ago.  The sentiment has brads and is popped.  The color combinations you could do with this are endless.  I however, am very partial to the rainbow... :)



Happy Birthday...

This is a card I CASE'd from our own Pam Tetreault whose work I truly admire... 

 

I am dedicating this group of twelve to my Aunt Georgia who passed away yesterday afternoon.  She was the first cardmaker I ever knew.  All through my childhood, I would look forward to her Christmas card that arrived every year with it's greetings to our family.  I was always in awe of her attention to detail and craftmanship.  But more amazing to me was learning she made hundreds of the same design for her extensive Christmas card list.  Rest in Peace Aunt Georgia, and know these balloons are floating away to our deployed heroes in your honor...



Happy Birthday Ernman!!

About three weeks ago, I got an email from my friend Barb of a card she was making for her daughter.  It was SO cool that I had to try this for the Ernman's birthday, which was yesterday! I couldn't post this until today when I actually gave him his card.  She passed on a tutorial she followed on Split Coast Stampers which you can see HERE.  I struggled a little with the placement of the papers and closing up the box everytime she flipped it around.  I wish my balloon paper was going the other way but, oh well!  The great thing is, now that I've done it once, it'll be a piece of cake next time.  HEY, a piece of cake!! 

 

Happy Birthday Ernman!!!

Happy Birthday Mom...

I loved how happy this card looked when I was making it for my Mom's 80th birthday (which is today, btw) that I decided to make a number of them as back up birthday cards for my own stash.  I made them over the weekend and got her's in the mail on Monday.  Of course, I couldn't do this Blog post until after she had received hers... just in case she ever looks in on my work.  I have a few displayed in my studio and everytime I look up at them, they make me smile.

 

I was watching an episode of Dr. Oz this past week and they did a segment on the color yellow and why it makes us smile.  I thought it was fortuitous that I had made these yellow cards and the color Dr. Oz chose to highlight, was yellow.  Btw, the reason yellow makes us happy is because we relate it to the sun and light, when we are less fearful...

Mom's birthday...

 

This is a selection of cards that I made and put together for my Mom's 79th birthday... which is today!  You may recognize these from previous posts.  ALL are using up scraps.  I don't really know if she sends many cards but she should be able to use these up in the coming year.  I've sent her two birthday, two thinking of you and two no sentiment...

 

My mom is a quilter and I thought these all had a quilted feel to them.



•♫♪ Who's the leader of the club •♫♪

•♫♪ That's made for you and me... M...I...C...K...E...Y.... M...O...U...S...E •♫♪

 

 

Ahhhh... the memories! 

 

So, here is my first card of the New Year made especially for a child... yay!  ALL the papers (including the black) are from a scrap pile that Ronni sent me in mid-December.  Ronni, really?  How could you have parted with these?  They are fantastic!!  Well, thank-you so much and keep your eyes peeled for more creations from that pile.  It's a challenge.  They seem to multiply in the night... :)

 

Rainbow birthday...

I originally saw this on Pinterest awhile back.  It appeals to my love of rainbows.  Recently, it was CASE'd by a fellow cardmaker on the OWH facebook page.  I thought I had to have a teardrop punch to do the candle flame.  It was Ronni who pointed out that the bird's wing on the Stampin' Up bird punch is the same shape.  THANKS Ronni!!  Now I've got an easy card to make when someone's birthday creeps up on me too quick... :)

What a Hop!!

I was completely overwhelmed with the Memorial Day Blog Hop.  It was incredible!  Not only did I get ALOT of love on my post... wow!! But I saw SO MANY incredible things on all the other blogs I hopped to.  It took me three days to visit everyone and there is no doubt in my mind that I'll be visiting them again and again...

One of the blogs I visited, The Efficient Crafter, had this tutorial on "Assembly Line Cardmaking" that just blew me away!  The whole ride home from New Jersey to Massachusetts, I was cutting in my head; thinking of zillions of combinations while I was driving.  So, the first thing I did this morning was this...

Is that cool, or what!!  I did have to replace the third middle piece with a navy blue piece because I couldn't figure out how to get the sentiment to show up on the patterned paper.  In the tutorial, she turns that piece around and stamps on the back but the back of my paper was a stark white color and I didn't think it went with the cream color of the patterned paper.  It certainly gives me "food for thought" for the next time around.

And the next time around was... this afternoon! ...lol

This was one of the combinations that was running thru my head on the drive home.  This is SO festive to me.  I really, really like this tutorial and will definitely use it again...

What better food than cake?

Continuing with the Be a Rebel Challenge... this is #3, "Food as your Focal Image".  What better FOOD is there than cake?!!  This image is watercolored.  Each one of the circles was hand picked from my stash of pre-punched circles.  This was one of the first cards I mass produced so I used to punch all my patterned paper into these two sizes of circles.  Then I realized I had enough circles cut to make a thousand cards... and I'll probably never make a thousand of these cards.  I've learned ALOT since I did these...

Virtual Card Making Party...

Paper piecing... my first ever attempt!  And this was actually pretty easy.  This challenge is called Be a Rebel and is for the Virtual Cardmaking Party taking place today and tomorrow.  The first challenge at 8am this morning was to make a card for a child and "piece" different papers from a stamped image.  I used some REALLY small pieces of scraps that I have no business still hoarding... but hey, they came in handy for this... :)

Happy Birthday Zack!!!

Today is my baby boys' birthday.  He is seventeen.  HOW did that happen? (I'm only 22... lol)  And although he is off on a cruise to the Bahamas with his father and his best friend, I just had to make a card to post on my blog.  His favorite color is green so I rummaged thru the scrap pile and came up with this.  Happy Birthday Zack!  I hope it's everything you wish it to be...