Sunday, May 29, 2011

Welcome baby boy

My friend had a little boy so I made this card for them.  I love apes and monkeys so voila!

I'm playing along with two challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge:  "A sentiment/card for a male"
Do you Stack Up Challenge Blog:  DYSU Challenge 21: ANIMALS *roar*


Bottom safari paper is from a stack.  I glued a ribbon to the top.
I stamped Curious George on blue paper.  The sentiment is a stamp I just got from Ocean State Job Lot for $1!  (It has a onesie on it but I just didn't ink that part.)
I smudged blue ink on the paper for texture.  The buttons are stickers.  And then I punched out the branches with my Martha Stewart punch.

Thanks for swinging by!

Invitation Envelopes on sale

I just stocked up on invitation envelopes (3x5ish) today after a trip to Staples.  They were only $5 for a box of 100.  Good deal!!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Happy Birthday to a sketch challenge

Mojo Monday has a nice sketch that I wanted to play along with for a birthday card.



I started with one of my scrapbooking kits  The three layers of paper were in that.  I glued them on brown card stock.
Circle sentiment is:  "Wow Flowers" from Stampin' Up!  Added a SU! jewel in the center.
I cut the leaves with a Martha Stewart punch.
Three jewels on the top right were in my stash.  
Simple but I love brown and blue together!

Thanks for swinging by!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Teddy Bear picnic

Allsorts Challenge Blog has a teddy bear picnic theme going on and as soon as I saw it I decided to make a card using a stamp I have never used before.  I received it as a hand-me-down and tucked it away til now!  I laid in bed last night thinking about possible layouts and woke up knowing what I wanted to do.  I love when inspiration hits!  I wanted to make a one layer card that was like a painting.

After making this card, I checked in with some of my favorite blog challenges to see what was going on.  (I only follow 16 per my google reader and I can't believe that my card qualifies for a 3 other challenges!)

Stampin Sisters in Christ wants us to do a card with tea, coffee or a pot on it.  They have a GREAT devotion to go along with that theme that discusses the journey of a lump of clay to a beautiful tea cup and how our lives are like that.  Go take a read if you have a moment!
Gingerloft Challenge wants us to use a tree!  How lucky is that!  I used one tree stamp over and over on this card.
Sew Many Challenges said anything goes.  So voila!  Here is my card:


I started with white card stock and stamped the bears in Chocolate Chip ink from SU!.  I created a mask (stamped them again on scrap paper, cut them out, lay it over the original image) before stamping my trees.
Tree stamp is from SU!  (It's the same tree that I used in my previous post.)  I used Garden Green SU! ink.  I colored the trunk brown with Crayola colored pencils.
Next using a sponge rubbed in green chalk, I colored in the grass and the trees.
I rubbed a sponge in blue for the sky.
I colored the bears with colored pencils too.  Just regular ones, not water color.
I added the sentiment last after stamping it on blue paper that matched the sky.  Cut it out and glued it on.

I really love the way this card turned out.  It makes me happy to look at!
Thanks for swinging by.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Male birthday card

Here is a birthday card for my brother-in-law.  He's older than my husband so I added the wise owl for fun.  :o)  (And he really is a wise and intelligent guy!)

I had a couple ideas when I sat down to make this card but ended up going in a totally different direction.
I stamped the blue background with oak leaves from the Stampin Up! (SU!) set called "Lovely as a Tree".
Added a layer of brown with the staples.  Staples are an easy way to embellish a male's card.  This is my first time using them.
The tree in the center is also from the SU! set "Lovely as a Tree".
The owl is from SU! hostess set "Cute by the Inch".
Happy birthday is just an old hand me down I received.  But I punched it out with the word window punch from SU!
Lastly the ink is all done with SU! Chocolate Chip brown.

My only beef about this card is that I put the brown square on a touch crooked.  But I noticed too late. Oh well... at least you know it's hand made.

I'm participating in two challenges with this card:
Allsorts Challenge blog wants us to use at least three stamps.
Annabelle Stamps wants us to use squares.

Thanks for swinging by!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Birthday in beautiful purple

Stampin Sisters in Christ had a great devotion about beauty so I recommend you click over and read that especially if you have daughters.  I like how their theme came from that (as they always do - so clever!) and this week it's anything beautiful!  So I used my butterflies, flowers, jewels and glitter.  Another beautiful thing on this card is the yellow top note die cut made with my beautiful Big Shot!  I love that tool and I love that shape!

Do You Stack Up wants us to use the color purple this week!  Easy for me since it's my favorite color.  

I'm entering this card over at Sentimental Sundays too because they have an "anything goes" theme.  As usually, they have free sentiments you can use.  


I started this card by looking at my embellishments and knew I wanted to use the daisy.  The yellow and purple came from that.  I just found cardstock that matched the best.  
From there I went thru my birthday folder with die cuts and stickers and found this awesome Happy Birthday die cut.  I added the glitter to beautify it!  
The butterflies are from Annabelle Stamps which I won on a challenge a little while ago (before this blog).  They are clear stamps and stamp really clean and crisp!  I am really happy with them.  I chose SU! Rich Razzleberry ink because if you look carefully in the confetti behind the sentiment, there is dark tones there.  (Click on image to enlarge.)  
I added glitter glue to the butterflies and it smudged the ink a little so I colored it in with colored pencils and now you can't tell. 
Lastly, I added 3 jewels on the corner and that's about it!
A birthday card for a beautiful friend - perfect theme for her!!

Thanks for swinging by!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Mother's Day card

Mother's Day is quickly approaching and my cards are going to be late this year since my son's first birthday was on April 30th and I was focused on that party forever!  M-day seems a little early this year or maybe I'm losing track of time in the worse way!
Well I worked away today inspired by the layout over at Mojo Monday.

Here's what I came up with:


I started with the floral/paisley patterned paper and went thru matching die cuts.  I love scrapbooking kits!! (which I received from my MIL).
I layered the polka dot paper then the floral, trimming the edge with funky scissors.
Used the SU! oval punch on the background for those die cut hearts.  I used a hole punch then added the baker's twine.  It was my first time using it and I do like the look although not the texture - so stiff!
QUESTION:  What do you use to hold that stuff down?  Also how do you keep it from bending the paper?  I need bakers twine tips!
The Mother's Day sentiment was a freebie from Netty's Cards.  She has beautiful circular sentiments which I really love.   I shaded it with pink chalk after printing it on white cardstock. Then I used pop dots behind it to make it stand out.
The striped layer and "hugs" were ready made die cuts.
For the tag, I trimmed the end and attached it with a brad.
The final step was rounding the corners with a punch to soften the look.
That was it.  Just lots of layers on this card.
Thanks for swinging by!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Thank you card

My son's 1st birthday was yesterday.  (Click here for the post showing the invitations.)  Not only was it a party for him but a surprise 60th for my mother-in-law.  She loves the east shore of Maine so we did a lighthouse/beach theme for the party.
Here is her cake along with my son's.  My SIL got them from a local bakery.  Amazing! 


The whale was my inspiration for my thank you cards.  I made a whale tail out of paper and cut it out.  I held it in place with reposition tape then brushed dark blue chalk all around the edges.  When I was done I lifted the paper off giving this effect:

I stamped the waves and sentiment in blue ink and that was it.  Clean and simple!
I'm playing along in two challenges: GingerloftChallenge "Under the Sea" and Less is More has a themed challenge: thank you or congrats.  So this fits well!  Thanks for stopping by!