Party Animal...

Nathan's 4th birthday card.

Happy 3rd Birthday

I forgot Nathan's 3rd birthday card... ;-)

Cloth accent Birthday card

My son's teachers are having their birthdays this week, so I made them this card for the parents of the class to sign. I made 2 of the same because I was too tired to find inspiration for 2 cards (my mojo should be ashamed... >.<)
The idea to stamp on cloth came from my sweet friend Thienly from Mod Paperie. She has been on a cloth and burlap kick for a while now and I love the introduction of a different texture! :-)
The little heart tag is free floating, just held by the pin.

Live the life you've imagined...

I was talking with an old friend of mine (whose birthday was coming up) about the fact that Life is all about going after your dreams... and I immediately thought about this sentiment (stamp by Tim Holtz) for the birthday card... ;-) (sorry about the crappy pic, I can't get the lighting right on that one...)
The papers are from DCWV, the "Tradewinds" stack which has quite a few gorgeous papers with old world charm. A few of those papers look like fabric patterns, like the one I used for the tag, or the one used for the card base which reminds me of a chevron man shirt. There's also a pale and a dark woodgrain pattern in the stack.

I kept everything simple because this card is really about the sentiment, and I heat embossed it with gold powder for more pop. I stamped a clock at the bottom right, because life doesn't wait for you... and there's a barely visible "may your dreams take flight" (PTI) under it. The twine is from The Twinery.

Birthday Silver Doilies

I made this card for my grandmother's 90st  birthday. I was gonna go with bright florals when I remembered this stamps set I had been dying to use and hadn't inked yet, even though I got it at least 6 months ago! *shame* >.< Truth be told, when I got that set I had a card exactly like that in mind... Blue background and silver embossing...
I had a blast making this card, ideally I would like it even better without the sentiment hiding the background... ;-)
I started with grey cardstock that I sponged with different shades of blue and purple, I loved how it came out so much that I have already made several other blue backgrounds for other cards to come!... ;-)  -> If you ask me, it was well worth my smurf blue fingers!... (*note to self, use gloves next time*...) Then I used Versamark ink and silver embossing powder with my heating gun.

I am in love with that effect... Embossing has always been one of my favorite things to do with paper...
I think it is safe to assume there will be more blue cards with metallic embossing in my near future... Actually there's one coming right up!... ;-)

Purple & cork birthday

Yes, I know, it's been over 2 months of total silence and now I am posting twice the same day... *gasp* Don't panic, I am not going from one extreme to the other... ;-) But my kids will be back to school in 2 days and hopefully I will soon find my way back to my desk!! You have no idea how much I missed it... I am in total withdrawal...

This is a very late card for my friend's birthday, her favorite color is purple so I went quite heavy with it and kept it rather monochromatic. The leaf and butterfly are cut out of cork sticky sheets and then stamped. The sentiment is heat embossed in metallic copper.

Washi & Butterfly

I am trying to catch up with all the birthday cards I am late with.... >.< My motto when it comes to cards is "Better late than never"... ;-) I think it's always nice to get a card in the mail in the middle of the bills and junk mail, no matter when it finally arrives... ;-)
So, I made this card for my sister-in-law whose birthday just went by. I started experimenting with the Washi tape and then decided to play with the sewing machine...

I finished it of by cutting a butterfly out of acetate and then embossed it in a Cuttlebug folder, then sewed all the layers together.
Tapes are by 7 Gypsies and Up, stamp by PaperTrey Ink, and the twine is by The Twinery.

I like it, and like even more that it was a total experiment for me. Sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone, even if it seems daunting... ;-)

Cat in the birthday hat

My autistic son Noah is 9 years old today! :-) He loves Dr Seuss' books and videos so I was thrilled when I found this free svg recently via Pinterest! :-D  Thanks to The Lady Wolf for sharing her svgs with everyone. :-).
The paper in the background is from the new Birthday Boy mini collection from EchoPark, it came out as digital today so it was just meant to be... ;-)
Twine is by The Twinery, and stamp is PTI.

~Happy Birthday Noah!~ You're as quirky as Dr Seuss and I love you to pieces! <3 :-D

Birthday gift-card holder

With the "new (little) man in my life", there just hasn't been time for scrapbooking or making cards!... But one of Noah's teacher's birthday is coming up so that gave me an excuse to make a gift-card holder for the class to give here. Obviously I went with simple and old design, things have to be fast these days! ;-)

(And sorry I took the pics at night so the colors are off...)

I will find the time to scrap and make cards again one day, before he enters kindergarten, right? Right?...

Now back to thank you cards and birth announcements...

Tall birthday

My cousin is turning 40 in a week and I made her this card to accompany the new year's greetings... Since it's going to France I refrained from using brads or anything that would be a problem with the post office. The background is stamped with versamark and the medallion is embossed with copper powder. I love how simple it is and the color combo, even though ideally, I would have loved to add some brads and maybe some cream ivory ribbon with a bow somewhere... :-)

Fluffles and his sweater...

Well you know me and my Fluffles... I have a soft spot for the little fur ball...

This is a card I made for my brother whose birthday is next Friday.

Yes I'll admit, shame on me, I never made a card for my brother before, I am pretty much paralized at the thought of making cards for guys!! :-S... This is a very new venture for me, I made the 1st card for my Dad not that long ago! ;-)

I used my new Cuttlebug Argyle folder (love it!), added some white Brilliance ink afterwards, and then unfortunately I assumed my ribbon was thick enough that the glue wouldn't sip through... well it did a little bit but I had already finished the card when it became obvious... According to my hubby those little mistakes make my cards look more homemade, LOL! ;-)

Paper play birthday

A quick birthday card I made for my sister-in-law whose birthday is in 2 days, I doubt she'll get it on time but it's the thought that counts, right?...

I don't know why the color of the flower is off on my pic, it is much lighter in real life or I wouldn't have used it (yellow is NOT my color!). The sentiment is stamped onto gros grain ribbon. I love those papers by Making Memories and I wanted a simple card to showcase them.

Glittery birthday

A quick card I made for a friend whose birthday I just missed... Did I mention how behind I am in everything crafty (and not crafty too, LOL! ;-))?

The pic isn't really good because the sun is going down and I took the pic at my desk...

Happy 2nd birthday

This is the card I made for Janessa, the little girl with down syndrome and fighting leukemia, who is about to turn 2.

If you'd like to send her a card there is still a little time, check my previous post for info.

I have to confess that making cards for young children makes me as uncomfortable as making cards for guys! I never know what direction to take, I don't quite know how to make goofy or funny cards and don't have a clue what kids want to see on their cards (beside my daughter, but she is 7 1/2 already and easy to please since she's happy as long as I made the effort to make a card myself! ;-)).

So anyway, here I just used my dear Fluffles, colored with Prismacolor markers.

About 2 months ago a new Michaels store opened like 15 mn from my house! :-) I used one of their grand opening 50% off coupon to treat myself to some Prismacolors markers. I have been coveting Copics markers for a while now but I just can't swallow the $150 price tag! :-S Prismacolors markers are a cheaper version (of alcohol based markers) and for a beginner like me it is definitely enough! ;-)

This coloring was my 1st attempt at using them, and I can already see that it takes some practice to get the hang of it and get the shading right, but I'm looking forward to experiment more with them! I think this image is a little bright but for this card it works well since I wanted something cheerful. I added some stickles on some of the petals and the bee's wings and a few colored rhinestones at the bottom to make a little rainbow.

Birthday Carte Postale

This is a card I made for my Dad's birthday (which, ahem, was a month ago...)

I am still not very comfortable with masculine card so that is an area that needs more practice... ;-)

My dad loves to write and he's the one sending postcards to people when he goes on vacation so I thought "Carte postale" was the set to use, especially since I had found this paper with pics of old postcards. My attempt at making the paper look more vintage didn't go so well though since the distress ink I used was obviously too dark, but I like the end result nonetheless. The sentiment and bird are heat embossed with copper powder so it has a nice patina IRL.

I don't know that it is very masculine but I like those colors, and if you can't send cards you're not too sure about to your close family, whom can you send them to? ;-)

Giraffe window tri-fold

Lastly, the card to go with my niece's gifts for her b-day. She likes pink and purple, like any 4 years old girl ;-), hence the choice of color for the cardstock!...(and the addition of Stickles around the windows).

I colored the image with Kooh-i-noor pencils and baby oil. I was a little worried by the oil stains the baby oil makes on the paper but it almost completely disappeared when it dried and, since the panel is then glued on another layer, you don't see the stains that are on the back of the picture! ;-) I find it much harder to blend colors with oil than with OMS though.

Distressed masculine b-day

It's my Dad-in-law's birthday in a few days and I had to get out of my comfort zone and do a masculine card. *gasp* I think I have never done one so far, my poor Dad doesn't get many cards because I just don't know what to do... *shame*

So I decided to start with something that would remind me of a shirt's fabric and do a little distress too, thinking it would look more masculine if it wasn't too polished.

I haven't done anything in so long that I was a little nervous. Every time I try to sit down and make a card I stop quickly because I don't like where it is going. I hope the mojo will be back soon, I am tired of this!

This time though I was happy because, once I started, it came to me pretty quickly and easily! It might have been because I got an idea yesterday while looking in a catalog and it involves fabric squares... :-)

This card is slightly brighter in real life, the happy b-day saying is actually gold ink rubbed over a Cuttlebug embossing.

Flowery birthday

I made this card for my mother-in-law's birthday. I was not too happy with my lines of dots not being straight, but there was no time for do-over since it will arrive late probably already... Let's hope she doesn't put her reading glasses on when she receives it... ;-)

The thing looking a little weird behind the stamped panel and the flower is ribbons weaved through the paper... It's hard to see since the ribbon is sheer...

Quick gift-card holder

I told you the mojo took a vacation, he isn't back yet, but I had to make a quick birthday gift-card holder for one of Noah's teacher, in behalf of the class (the moms, I should say! ;-)). It's a simple tri-fold, the moms will sign on the right part, the left part is stamped with happy birthday and the middle part holds the gift-card.

Naomi's birthday (gel) card

After seeing Nichole's gel card with fishes (http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2008/04/4--introducing.html ) I just had to make my own version! (My card doesn't have a slider though).

So I used this concept for Naomi's birthday card, she's turning 7 in a week and is quite the beachcomber, always looking for new shells!...). I had never made a gel card before so, as much as it is old news for most cardmakers, it was pretty exciting to me! ;-D How cool is it that there are actually bubbles in the gel!? I had a lot of fun with this card and hope Naomi will have fun receiving it too. I was happy to stray away from princesses to tell you the truth! LOL!

I first cut the window with a punch but it was a little small so I used my Nestabilities. I glued the blue layer slightly off center so that I would get a tiny peek at the orange... The beautiful little wave at the top and the sand at the bottom are from Lizzie Anne's set "Shore thought", and the cute little seashells and starfishes are by Jolee's (love their stuff, and those are just too cute and perfect for someone living in Florida!! ;-)) My sister-in-law Christine, send those to me for my birthday among other embellishments... wait till you see the little palmtrees... ;-)

I didn't feel like using Stickles (*gasp*, what's wrong with me?) but wanted a glossy finish on my shells. I don't have crystal effects so I colored my shells with a versamarker and then embossed them with clear powder, the result was a little uneven but it actually goes very well with the shells giving them a bit of a "weathered" look IRL.

I had so much fun with this card that I will be making another one as soon as I get my hands on "By the sea" by Lizzie Anne. Right now it's on my wish list ;-) ... I already have part of the design in my head, I hope I don't forget before I get the set.

I actually bought a little notebook the other day to start writing down ideas! I think it's time to reach for it!....

(Click on the pic to see details)