Scene with Make It Crafty Images

Back in April I was asked to make a birthday card for a teenager who loves horses.  This young lady has long blonde hair so that made me think immediately of my favorite images from Make It Crafty. I love coloring the flowing hair like Sweet Stephanie's. I also found the Exquisite Unicorn worked well as Stephanie's horse. To complete the scene the Crooked Picket Fence was perfect.

After merging the images in Photoshop I colored the scene with Copics. To keep the layers flat the Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles fit the scene and made a nice frame.  The card itself is aqua cardstock and the background layer was actually a scrap of designer paper I had in my stash.

The red flowers and leaves are from a stem of silk flowers.  I removed the plastic centers and replaced them with pearl brads from the bridal department at Michaels.  The small ivory roses are Prima.

I was pleased with how it all came together and I understand the young lady liked her birthday card, too.

Project Parts:

Images:  Make It Crafty

Paper:  Cardstock and designer paper scraps

Tools:  Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles, Copic markers, Spellbinders Grand Calibur Die Cutting Machine

Embellishments: Silk Flowers, pearl brads, Prima roses.

Thanks for stopping by today. I've come down with a nasty summer cold so I'm not creating much. But I think I still have another card or two to post later.  I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the weekend.

My Brother's Birthday Card

This weekend I had the rare pleasure of celebrating my brother's birthday with him.  Over the years we have lived far apart or the date landed during the middle of the week.  But this year the stars and moon came together in the right sequence and we were able to get together with his wife, our mom and stepdad, my hubby, and friends.  This also gave me the fun of seeing his face when he opened his card. 

Once again I made a sketch from one of my own photos then colored it with Copics.  I'm having so much fun with these and they are quite the surprise for the recipients.  My brother is very low-key and the raising of his eyebrows with a surprised "oh" was enough for me.  Plus the fact that he kept the card sitting up in front of him all through dinner.  In other words, he loved it!

He loves sock monkeys and I found this sentiment online, which so typically describes him, too, especially the part about his expression never changing.

This is the sketch before I colored it. 

This is the photo I used for the sketch.

It's been a great weekend here and I hope yours was, too!

Now for this post's question to contemplate......

What world record would you most want to establish if you could?

Birthday Card for My Brother

Still a classic....................

............ after all these years!

My brother loves motorcycles.  He rides a Harley, thus the orange and silver/black color theme of this card.  But I think he will appreciate this handsome digi of a vintage Norton that I found at Delicious Doodles.

No coloring here, but I did darken the image just a bit before printing because I wanted it to stand out against the silver and black.  I used the Cuttlebug Diamond Plate embossing folder on the metallic silver card stock.  The film strip is Spellbinders die. Odds and ends of brads and papers finish it off.

I think he will like this.  He is three years younger than I so I can get by with this sentiment.  But it is true of him anyway.  He is a classic and a great guy.  I love him a lot!  Happy birthday, little brother!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be hopping on when I can this weekend.  I have company and five weddings to photograph!  It's a miracle I got this card in today!  

Birthday Card for a Friend

A quick post tonight to show a card I made today for a dear friend who's birthday is tomorrow. (Lots of birthdays this month!)

 The focus is on the scripture, which came from Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection I.  The papers are from DCWV Latte Matstack.  I've had that stack for a long time but always forgot to use it! Now I have it out where I can see it and USE it!  The green card stock is Bazzill.  And the flowers are also some I've had for awhile and came from a set of Spare Parts by the Paper Studio.  They turned out to be the perfect colors! 

I used Memento Olive for the stamp.  My inspiration for this card comes from favorite designers like Becca Feeken and Betty Wright. They make such gorgeous inspirational cards.

Speaking of birthdays, today is my birthday and I have had a very nice day!  Lots of phone calls, lovely cards, and many emails and Facebook messages.  Thanks, everyone, for all your kind wishes.  It's hard to admit to this age ------ so I won't!  heheheheh!

Three Cards In One Day!

I made three cards today --- and they are all going to the same address!

First, for my niece-in-law, Anita, a birthday card ---- a very special one!  You see, last year I forgot her birthday, which was unforgivable because her birthday is the same day as mine!  

 I chose the image "Take Me Away" by Tiddly Inks.in hopes that Anita can get a few quiet moments on her birthday, even if it is just by looking at the card.  She is the mother of two little children and runs a daycare center.  She is one of the most patient and organized people I know!  The paper is all from the Basic Grey Wisteria collection, except for the metallic blue for the background.  I added lots of bling, lattice lace and a fabric flower by Prima. 

 The image is colored with Copics and the bubbles are spattered with light blue Stickles. 

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The second card is for Anita and Alan, my nephew.... and their new baby boy Cohen who was born in July. I haven't met my new little grand-nephew yet, but I will next weekend.  I love holding new babies!

 The image is a Sassy Cheryl digistamp .  I used a variety of patterned papers from my stash, keeping everything in the traditional boy blue.  Besides I like blue!  The white border is Martha Stewart lace punch and the beaded flowers were in the clearance bin at Michael's.  

 The image is colored with Copics, but on paper that I won't use again for Copics.  It bled too easily, especially with the darker colors. 

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The third card is for my grand-niece, Sienna.  She is Alan and Anita's four year old daughter and Cohen's big sister.  I made this card to make her feel good about being a big sister. She is actually doing great, and has started pre-school so she's feeling like quite a big girl.   

  Inside is a little note to her about being Cohen's big sister like I am her grandpa's big sister and that she will be a terrific big sister. I used Mo Manning's image "Helena and Henry". The card is made from more scraps  from my stash and distressed for texture.  The flowers are mulberry paper flowers and I haven't a clue where I got them.  Those and the center brads are things I've had for ages! The pearls are new, though, from Michael's Recollections.

I colored the image with Copics, of course.  I love this image! I forgot to mention in the other descriptions, but all of the die cuts are Nestabilities.  

All of the cards are neatly packaged and ready to go out priority mail tomorrow.  I'm not missing Anita's birthday this year!!

Thanks for stopping by today!  It is getting quite late so I'll say goodnight and sweet dreams.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

A Birthday Card for a Special Lady

This time of year brings lots of birthdays in my little corner of the world, so this weekend I've been working on several cards for these occasions.  Some are done and ready to mail so I thought I would share one of them with you today.  The special lady who will be receiving this won't see it for a few days, but since there are a few I'll just keep them all guessing.

There is no stamping on this card, but three different Nestabilities die cuts were used (one is cut in half and placed on the sides) and a butterfly punch. All of the papers are from the DCWV Mariposa stack.  That is one of my favorite dp stacks and I just want to horde it!  That's part of my problem, papers are so gorgeous I hate to part with them.  But it really is much more fun to share them in cards with people we love!

The image is from my collection of vintage postcards and greeting cards.  Some of them come from generous ladies who share their antique treasures on their blogs.  This is one that was shared by Bumble Button.  It's hard to see in the photo but I coated the image with crackle for more vintage feel.  This is such a beautiful image, the flowing sheer overlay on the dress and the lovely movement portrayed --- and those teeny tiny feet!!

Sideways view shows the double layers of the butterflies, the top being gold-flecked vellum that will pop up once the card is opened.  Otherwise I kept the card quite flat for mailing.

The sketch I used is from the magazine "Card Ideas for Paper Crafters".  I think it is still on the shelves, but it is full of great sketches, each with several cards made to show the versatility.  I often start with a sketch but end up with something quite different, though this time I stuck pretty much to plan.

Well, I've been writing this post between errands and phone calls, now I have to go pick up my freshly groomed dogs.  Thanks for stopping by! More birthday cards to come!

For My Aunt's 90th Birthday

On September 7, 1921, Lorraine Quinn was born in South Dakota.  Ninety years later she just recently celebrated 70 years of marriage with my uncle, Earl Anderson and the 55th birthday of their son Larry.  In two days my mom and I will be in Iowa to celebrate the 90 years of this wonderful lady's life.  She has been like a second mother to me so I often call her Aunt Mom. 

I wanted a very special card for her, something vintage and loaded with beautiful things.  Lorraine is probably my biggest fan when it comes to my cards and often keeps them sitting out for months.  I hope this one sits out for many more years to come.

First I have to thank Louise at Bumble Button for sharing so many exquisite vintage photos and images! This image came from a Jane Austen era post she did a few months ago. Though the era is before Aunt Lorraine, this beautiful face reminds me of her as I see her in early photos.  Also, there are so many goodies on this card, many of them pieces I've had in my embellies stash for a long time.  I found the crocheted lace in an antique store. Often my cards have lots of layers and fancies, but I think this might just be over the top for me.

 I have to give credit to a very talented cardmaker for the layout and inspiration, however, I forgot to write down the blog name.  If you recognize this layout please accept my thanks for the inspiration and my apology for not giving you proper credit.  When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for this occasion.   

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

Happy birthday, Aunt Lorraine!

Mo's DP2 Challenge #80 --- Pink and Girlie!

The challenge at Mo Manning's DP2 this week is "Pink and Girlie".  Mo has so many adorable little girl images and coloring them in pink comes so naturally to me, I guess because pink was my favorite color when I was a little girl.  For my card I used the image "Cupcake Princess Violet", one of Mo's latest creations that can be found here.

I used only one sheet of dp, a double-sided selection from the new Susan Winget stack at K & Company. There are so many gorgeous sheets in this collection.  The image is cut with the Nesties circle die and is placed on a pink vellum die cut using the new Beaded Circles Nesties.  The large flower made up of a pink silk daisy, a paper flower, and a small flower cut from the dp.  I punched three more small flowers from the dp and added my favorite leaves by MS punch.  The border punch is also a new MS punch around and is so pretty!

The image is colored with Copics.  This just might be a birthday card for my mom later this month. As I mentioned, I loved pink as a little girl, especially in frilly dresses.  I also had long blonde hair and loved to decorate cupcakes.

The inside is finished and ready for a hand written note or a stamped sentiment.  There is a piece of the pink vellum over the dp along with the border punch and a strip of the dp at the top.

Thank you for stopping by today. It is the beginning of a glorious week leading up to Mother's Day and I have plans to spend some travel plans with my mom over the weekend.  We've always loved our road trips. 

Be sure to travel over to the DP2 Challenge to seem the amazing pink projects by the DT. 

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge --- Celebrating Birthdays!

Any time of year is a good time for a birthday so this week Sassy Cheryl is celebrating that special day that each of us has.  As our family grows we have more birthdays to remember.  That's the real trick, isn't it, to remember them all?  Well, why not jump on board this week and make up a bunch of birthday cards?  You can never have too many on hand!

The card I made for this challenge is for a 4-year-old child, so I've left off the charms and ribbons and rhinestones and other bling.  That's not easy for me!!

I used some bright and fun paper from my stash, added some matching circles cut with my Nesties, and the "Make a Wish" from my Cuttlebug die.  The paper was pre-pinked around the edges so I made the card 5 1/2 inches square to fit it. 

But the real attraction is Chery's fabulous and fun image! That cake looks so creamy and yummy!  I just hope it gets to the table in one piece! There is still time to hop over to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog and play along.  You will want to see the fantastic projects by the design team, too!

Thanks for stopping by today. Now I'm off to get ready for the big game tonight! G-O  P-A-C-K-E-R-S ! !

Back In the Studio with a Card for a Guy

Oh my gosh! I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted anything! September flew by so fast I could almost swear I was in a coma for part of it! But today I have a guy card that I was asked to make. I am actually finding guy cards easier to do. The secret for me is to keep it simple and use lots of texture.  It also helped that the sentiment was given to me by the person commissioning the card.

I was inspired by a sketch from i {heart} 2 stamp.  It works so well for a masculine card.  The dark blue paper was run through the Cuttlebug with the argyle embossing folder.  The dark grey paper is a scrap of Bazzill textured card stock and the silver metallic has a nice linen-like texture.  The argyle ribbon is one of my favorites from the $1.00 bin at Michaels.  The flower is from the Paper Studio Spare Parts collection.  The sentiment pieces were computer generated. 

I like this card so much that I'm sure the sketch will be used again and again! 

Thanks for coming back and having a look after all this time!  I actually made another card today which I will post later.  It will be worth another visit and I know you'll want to try this fun project! 

Cards for 4-year old and New Baby Girl; I {Heart} to Stamp Sketch

My stepson has an adorable little boy who just turned four years old ...... AND he became the proud father of a baby girl on 8-9-10!  He is one happy man!  I am running late with cards for them (they live in Pennsylvania) but they are sweet enough to understand.

This is the birthday card for the four-year old.  He loves cars and trucks so this image from Mo Manning was perfect.  Leland isn't a red head, but I had already colored this, and the dp looks great with it.  The image is colored with Copics and the gold racing stripe is covered with Spica gold gel pen.  The rest of the car is covered with Spica clear.  Gotta jazz up the little hot rods!  I am also entering this in the "I Heart 2 Stamp" sketch challenge this week. 

I found these cute little smilie faces in my sticker drawer (yet to be organized) and love the way they look on the circles.  Along with the card Leland will be getting some books (he loves to "read" and just started pre-school.)  One of the books is all about BIG trucks like his "Pop pop" drives.

I don't have many chances to make cards for new arrivals so I couldn't wait to use this Mo Manning digital image to welcome Sydney.  I especially love that I get to make a PINK card.  The baby is colored with Copics and mounted on Nesties labels cut from Bazzill cs.  The card base is Bazzill cs with the Martha Stewart butterfly border embossing punch.  The punch is repeated on the inside with the darker pink as a border on the right side.  These gorgeous butterfly stickers are from Michael's Recollections collections.  It is so hard for me to keep a card simple, but this one comes close.

 Along with this card Sydney is getting a package full of pink one-sies, pants, little bitty socks and a bright pink jumper outfit.  Once I ger out of the "joy of pink" mood, she'll get more of a variety, like denim with little pink hearts on the pockets.  :-)

To my friends on the east coast, especially North Carolina, please keep safe as the hurricane roars by.  One of my favorite places is the Outer Banks, expecially the Hatteras Light House.  My prayers are for the safety of everyone out there.  My husband is headed to New Jersey and Virginia, so I keep praying they can clear the area before the weather gets bad.  Interestingly, this hurricane bears the same name as my dear Uncle Earl, who is the kindest hearted person you would ever meet.  In 1999 hurricane Floyd was notorious for damage along the southeastern Atlantic coast.  My dad's name was Floyd and, like his brother Earl, dad was kind and gentle, though a bit mischievous at times, I hear.  Let's hope this hurricane Earl has a quick change of heart and runs out to sea without doing damage. 

Thanks for stopping by!

A Card and Bookmark for My Aunt's 89th Birthday

My "bit of a break" has most certainly been much longer than I had intended.  I'm happy to be playing with my toys again, so I thought I would start with my aunt's 89th birthday card.  She is probably my biggest fan and I always love making something truly special for her.

This card doesn't have a stamped and colored image, though I do have plenty of them ready and waiting for just the right card.  The photograph is one I took of wild flowers along our road.  It was interesting to me that this little bunch resembled a heart.  I used one 12 x 12 sheet of K & Company Que Sera Sera double-sided cardstock.  The colors and designs are so beautiful! 

With remaining pieces of the dp I made this corner bookmark.  I've seen these in several and have been making quite a few as gifts and for the shop.  I almost always have enough leftovers from a card to make a matching bookmark.  The photo was printed smaller for this.

This is the back of the bookmark, with a birthday wish to make every day special for my aunt.

Other material used:

rhinestone swirls

Prima flowers

Basic Grey brads

heart charm

white mulberry paper

orange ribbon

shapes cut with Nestibilities

leaves from Martha Stewart punch

I sure appreciate you coming back for a visit!  You're welcome to comment and let me know you were here, then I can pay you a visit in return.

Have a blessed week!

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

I shared this card on Mo Manning's Facebook a few days ago and now I will reveal who I made it for, as the wonderful birthday girl has received it.

For the first time in 24 years I get to celebrate my step-daughter's birthday.  Confused?  Well, it's a simple story, really, and what is important --- and the best part --- is now.  Without filling in the details, Audrey became part of my life when she was 11 years old and I watched her grow to be a young woman off to college.  Things happened, 1600 miles separated us, then 24 years later Audrey found me on Facebook.  She also found that I now live about 70 miles from her.  We reunited a few months ago, I met her wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters, and we have spent hours and hours catching up.  Having her back in my life is truly one of my greatest blessings, for me and my family.  I'm so proud of her and love her so much!

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

(The image is Mo Manning's Penelope's Party Wagon, which I colored with Copics.  The DP, rub-on swirls, and butterflies are from K&Co Wild Saffron collection.) 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned!

A Different Kind of Card from Me

This is a busy time for birthday cards in our family!  And I've just added another July birthday to my calendar:  my son's girlfriend's birthday is July 9.  This is my first ever birthday card for her and I hope there will be many, many more in the years to come. 

This card has no Copic-colored images or even die cuts.  But I love the glorious colors of this art deco illustration from Joanna Sheen.  A special thanks to my friend Chrissie for the gift package and the inspiration.  JS illustrations are so versatile and fun! Behind the illustration are three scraps of cardstock embossed with different Cuttlebug folders.  The beautiful flowers are by Prima and the rhinestone swirls are from Hobby Lobby. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope your holiday weekend was full of fun and relaxation.

Two Special Birthday Cards for One Lovely Lady

This has been a very special week, having my husband home for more than a couple of days!  Today is his birthday and we've had a lot of fun times.  On Monday his partner, Sam, and his wife, Deb, will be here in Branson to celebrate Deb's birthday.  Deb is a great lady and I look forward to seeing her; it's been awhile -- too long!  I made two cards for her: one for Sam to give her and one from us.  Sam had me make their anniversary card, too.  Neither one has seen these cards yet and I don't expect them to be looking at the blog, so........

First is the card for Sam to give her.  I've been wanting to do a card in ivory and black.  The inspiration for the sketch came from "I (heart) 2 Stamp". The background dp is from my stash.  The bird and flower fabric is actually sheer gauze "ribbon" that I placed over ivory card stock.  The lace trims and buttons are from Making Memories.  The lily-like flowers are from the bridal department at Michaels.  I used a sentiment from my Printshop software and cut it out with the Nestibilities Label 9, backed with a larger one in black card stock.  Then finished with a touch of pearls.  I think Sam will like it.  More importantly, I think Deb will, too.

The second card from Jerry and me features a lovely sentiment, again from the Printshop software.  The card stock is Making Memories Chloe's Closet and is trimmed with Martha Stewart punch-around set.  The flowers are Prima and the butterfly is from Michaels.  Lots of pretty sparkle with the rhinestone swirls.  Deb's favorite color is peach, so I think this will fit the bill.

So, Happy Birthday to a very special lady!

Thanks for stopping by today.  It's a busy and fabulous Fourth of July weekend!  I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday!