Something for a little girl...

One of my daughters-in-law, for whom I make cards as part of her Christmas gift, asked me to include more cards for kids. I haven't gotten around to doing too many so far this year, and now I'm going to have to do a little scrambling. I want to make enough for those families of mine who have little ones who still go to birthday parties. I made one today to get that ball rolling.

If you're like me, you not only have some kind of electronic cutting device, but you also have a 'manual' one. I love my Big Shot. And while I'd like to have almost everything put away in my craft room, I love having my Big Shot out where I can just plain use it. Some of my favorite dies are from My Favorite Things. Quality and variety (you should see my wish list...). And their stamps - more of my favies.

Today I used the sketch from MFT's Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge. When I happened to look at it, I knew right away which stamp I wanted to use as my focal point. And hey Darnell, it's a NBUS!!  Here's the sketch:

And my card:

In my world, it works really well for a little lady. All the stamps are from MFT, and there's even a bit on the flower; x's & o's. SU black ink, and all the papers are various scraps! (except for the Bazzill base, of course). A bit of copic marker on the nose, and under the glitters, and the cupcake paper was highlighted with an SU light green marker. One pink pearl from ZVa Creative. I cut the scalloped border with my Cameo, and embossed it with a LC folder. The darker pink part of the flower was cut with a Sizzix die, and the lighter pink has been punched with an ollllldddd punch. That's it. Happy dances everyone!

Another birthday card

Next week is my dear son Tad's birthday. And yes, that's his real name, his whole name (not Thaddeus). He is absolutely wonderful. Dear child, and the kind of son every mother hopes her son will grow up to be. I could gush all day, but I'll end all this gushing by just saying that Tad is a blessing.

So I made a card for him. And I like it. 

I popped into CASology earlier this week, and came up with ziltch. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Then a little something...nah.... Today a ping  went off. Got it. It fits! It'll work. I can play along with CASology!!

This is my darling son's birthday card:

It's a matchbook!  The bottom part kept popping open, so it looks a little lame. So much better irl...another bad photo *sigh*. And here's the inside:

The 'striker' part of the matchbook covers the very bottoms of the candles. If I were having a better photography day, I'd show you that part. But, it just isn't working for me. 

I cut a strip of kraft into a 4x11 panel, and scored on the 1" and 5" marks, then folded it into the matchbook shape. Blue (and it's more of an aqua color than the photo shows...darn it all!) letters cut with MB Parker alpha dies. MME enamel dots. Unknown candle stamps, could be HA...Memento and Studio G inks. Random scrap of yellow cardstock 'flames' and a touch of stickles. Wplus9 inside sentiment. And that's all. Happy dances everyone

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNELIE!!!!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Hannelie,

Happy Birthday to you!!

Just a note to let you know that you're being thought of, and wished the very best on your birthday, dear friend! Hope you have your favorite dinner, and enjoy your favorite flavors of cake and ice cream too. And here's hoping that you get lots and lots of new crafting supplies as presents!! God's richest blessings to you today and throughout the coming year.

For all you who haven't visited Hannelie's blog, you can find it here at Desert Diva. Please stop by and wish her a very happy birthday!

And naturally, it wouldn't be a birthday without a card. So of course, I made one just for this very auspicious occasion. It was inspired by this card; a CASE of one of her awesome cards.

It was a tough choice. All of Hannelie's cards are amazing. But this one caught my eye today, and I was able to make one that I'm hoping Hannelie will enjoy.

If you want the supply deets, shoot me an email, and I'll divulge them. 

One for Avery Elle's Challenge

So much to do yet today, but I did have a few minutes to make a card earlier. Wanted to play over at Avery Elle's challenge. Nina Yang has the most fun sketch, and I just had to give it a shot. 

 

Nice, isn't it?!

Here's my card:

I found half a sheet of yellow card stock in my scrap box, so thought I'd use it. In fact, all the papers are scraps! Yipee!!  AE sentiment and stars stamps, and by punching the same reds and yellows, I made my own bling using Glossy Accents! SU ticket punch. And StazOn white ink. Gotta run. Happy dances everyone!

No jinxes here!

Love it when the mojo stays. When those cards that you picture in your head actually turn out well! Am liking this one, which you'll see in a minute (that is, of course, unless you skip reading and go right to the card...). Have you visited the wondrous and brilliant Jackie Rockwell's blog lately? She's got something really fun going on over there at Rockwell Designs. She says, and I quote:

"I'm making my way through the Pantone Fashion Colors for Spring 2013. If you'd like to join me please click on the badges...to play along in a current or past color challenge! New challenges will be posted every 1-2 weeks. All challenges run until September 22, 2013."

This is the third (at least I think it is...) time I've played along. And this time I'm using the colors from the Grayed Jade challenge.

Dear, wonderful Jackie is offering a free blog header to the winner. Can you just imagine???!!!! A design by Jackie on your very own blog?! You've just got to give it a shot. I did:

While not quite exactly the color from her palette, it's pretty darn close. Other than the white Bazzill card base, each and every other single thing on this card is a leftover. (Ok, ok, the stamps are kinda, sorta newish...) AC scrap of dp, a scrap of gray, of my own interpretation of grayed jade, and of white. AE stamps (love those!), and a hunka chunka ribbon out of the ribbon scrap box. That's it for now, but who knows, with baseball on in the background, I might go for one more! Happy dances again!

Back in the Groove...

Oh it's so nice to be back in the craft room. And I plan to stay here alllllll day. Later this afternoon, the Cubs play, and since the family room is right next door I'll be able to listen to the game while I craft. It's going to be a good day! I've found that with baseball on in the background, I can craft like a crazy woman (just watch now...I've probably jinxed it!). Lol.

There are a couple of challenges I wanted to play along with. One is the very fun 10 Minute Craft Dash, and the other is a 'new to me' challenge - Sweet Stamp Shop's Use What You Have Challenge. Last night, while looking for a piece of dp for another challenge (which I hope to get to next...), I found a scrap of black and white striped paper. Then one giant PING went off in my head! The whole card popped right in. This morning after checking out all the wonders in blogland, I got my stuff together and set to work. Whenever I play along with the TMCD, I do at least one dry run. With a timer. Took me more than the allotted 10 minutes. Pooh. Tried it again and what do you know, just under! I re-gathered my supplies and made sure everything was in place. Set the timer and worked my little fingers off...for 9:49!!!!!! The hard part was getting those darn stems under the flowers. I would have finished with a bit more time to spare, but I decided at about the 9:00 mark, it needed some bling. Thankfully, the bling drawer was open, and the diamonds were easy to find! Six little blings later and I'm done on time!! Woohoo!!!

Love this color palette! That Paulina comes up with the most fun combinations! And if you haven't played along with this one, I highly recommend it. It gets your adrenaline and your creative juice flowing!

If you've visited me before, you know how much I love using up what's on hand. So I think that this challenge is a pretty darn good fit. (Shout out to Judy for letting me know about it). First here's my desk with the supplies I used:

You know what makes me happy about this photo? The fact that I still have more of that striped scrap to use on a future card!! Nothing brand new here. In fact, some of these goodies are, well, practically ancient...like the ribbon (I've been hoarding saving that for a special project...). So what did I make???? Let's look, shall we?!

Under 10 minutes??! Yep. I gathered all my supplies and put them where I knew I would use them. Like the die...it went right over by my Big Shot along with a scrap of white. Pulled the scrap of ribbon from on top of that little striped box at the top right of my photo. Got my inks out and opened, stamps loaded onto the blocks, and the black and the striped scraps ready to cut. The only thing I had to scramble for was the bling, and that didn't take very long. Boom 9:49 minutes later, and I'm done. Didn't even break a sweat! I had a blast. The rose looks really pink here, but it isn't. IRL it looks pretty close to what Paulina's got posted. Now, go and check these two challenges out, and play along!!! Happy dances everyone.

eta: well, looks like I missed the deadline for the UWYH... next time though....!

Whew!!

Yesterday afternoon, DH and I took our son, dear dil, and little Kelly to the airport. BooHoo! We so enjoyed their visit. That Kelly....! Her mom & dad timed their visit  for us all (plus our daughter & family here in town) to celebrate the little one's 4th birthday. Very thoughtful of them, and very fun for us. When she was coming down the stairs on her birthday morning, I happened to be waiting there. I said "Happy Birthday Kelly", and she said: "Awwww...Sanks Gwandma!" It's going to be one of those memories...you know, the kind you keep in your heart always! She's a bundle of energy; something DH and I aren't used to on a daily basis anymore. So naturally, we're exhausted. But in a good way. They live in the Phoenix area, and we generally only see them once a year now. But we sure make the most of it when we're together.

So that's pretty much why I've been out of blogland for the last 8 days. The next couple of months are shaping up to be in-and-out too...up next is grandma's drive to Madison to watch kidlets when the new baby is born! Grandchild coming by this time next month. I'm hoping for the 15th. My son, this sweet little family's daddy, was born the day before my dad's birthday, and I thought it would be nice to carry on that tradition by having this baby born the day before mine! One can always hope. After the new baby comes, we will be having visitors from Phoenix; Dauphin,Manitoba (hmmmm....I wonder who....??!!); and Minneapolis. It will be a blast!

And before I get too long winded, and bore you all to tears (or is it already too late to say that?), I'll get down to business. Now you all know I'm sure, that Neat & Tangled is celebrating their first birthday, right? Well, it's been one whole month of nothing but fun over there. Pop over and see for yourself! And I decided to join in once more, and play along with their "Let's Eat Cake!" challenge. They've offered a couple of free digis which I used on my card. Come on and play along!

My take:

I started with a Bazzill base, and used my new Wplus9 dies to cut a circle out then backed it with a scrap of aqua which had been run through my Big Shot using a LC embossing folder (that was a NBUS, Darnell!). I printed out the sentiment and cake on pink, yellow and white scraps, and then used MFT flag dies on the sentiments. The cake was done with a bit of paper piecing using the white, and some dp scraps. The flower is from HL, and the "glow" above the candle, and sequins are all from N&T. They make the most luscious sequins....And that's it for now. Happy dances everyone!!

Happy Belated Birthday Marybeth!!

When Joyce emailed me to ask if I wanted to join in the surprise birthday blog hop for Marybeth over at Marybeth's Time for Paper, I jumped at the chance! After all, Marybeth is one of those very special people in the card making world. She's first of all, a kind, generous, sweet, and very thoughtful person. You just have to read her posts to see that! And then there are her cards...Oh. My. Goodness! So many descriptive adjectives come to mind when I think about her cards, but I've managed to narrow it down to just two that pretty much exemplify her cards: beautiful and elegant. It's always a good thing to pop over to her blog and see her exquisite creations. If by chance, you've never had the opportunity to visit her blog, (and I can't believe that you wouldn't have...) be sure to go; you will never, ever, never be disappointed. Her cards are as lovely as she is.

Hey Marybeth! Happy (belated) birthday!! Joyce and Cathy organized this little hop to let you know how much you mean to all of us out in blogland, and I'm delighted to be a part of this. Sure hope you enjoy this hop, and God's richest blessings to you in the coming year, and always! Happy (belated) birthday Marybeth!!!! 



Here's the master list of participants in the hop, and if there are any problems with any links, just head back to Joyce or Cathy's blogs and you'll find the next name on the list. Oh!, at some point, be sure to stop over at Marybeth's blog and leave her some HB wishes too!!

Joyce

Cathy

Ally

                       Bev < you are here

Bonnie

Carol J.

Carol S.

Christina

Darnell

Helen

Jeanne

Jill

Kara

Kelly

Kim

Lisa

Nancy

Renee

Sharron

Sue

Tracey

Vickie

Naturally, I made a card. What's a birthday without a birthday card?! In doing so, rather than CASing one of her cards, I tried to capture a bit of Marybeth's style. Here's hoping I succeeded!