Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today is my sweet little Nathan's 1st birthday!

Waow, where did that year go? One thing for sure is that there was way less papercrafting and sleep than the year before!... :-(

But he's obviously worth it, my little ray of sun, and I absolutely wanted to make a card for him today, even though all 3 kids are sick and so am I.

I was very proud of my clever gingham bear (whose purpose was to match the lovely ribbon...), until I remembered, halfway through the process, that Nichole (Heady, who created this set) made a card with a Copic-colored-gingham-look bear when the stamps set was introduced. Oh well... Guess it made its way into my subconscient... ;-)

I also tried to do a fuzzy brown bear with fun flock but I don't have a glue pad so it didn't go well... LOL

Now this isn't any ordinary bear, it's stamped 4 times actually, once on cardstock for rigidity, once on the gingham paper, then once on blue vellum to kind of give a more weathered look (didn't want a new bear, wanted a 1 year old bear ;-)...), then the last detail is the nose stamped on cardstock again. And then of course the bear is mounted on foam tape.The "one" is colored with markers and then I added a tiny higlight on each letter with my white gel pen (also on the bear's nose).

Now I wish you could have seen the smile Nathan gave that little blue bear when he saw it! Priceless!... HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN, love you to pieces!

The Love Boat

I love that card, simple and colorful. It's a mini that I made yesterday to leave on hubby's nightstand. The boat circle is on foam tape. Love the vintage carstock, also from PTI, with little flecks in the paper.

Pink, pink, pink...

Another simple card for "my soldier". I used scraps of paper I found while attempting to clear my desk, LOL! I just adore polka dots and gingham, and especially together.
I am not personally a fan of hot pink actually, but I think it makes for a happy card.
It would be perfect for a cold rainy day, wouldn't it?...

Lauren's butterfly

This is my 1st card with Lauren's new set "Flutter-by". If you read my blog you are familiar with Lauren's templates... what you might not know is that she's now flying solo and just opened her own business called My Time Made Easy (www.mytimemadeeasy.com). She sells templates, photopolymer stamps, and digital paper. This butterfly and sentiment are from her 1st stamp set, so I had to use them with purple, which is her favorite color, even though the card isn't actually for her, (it's for "my soldier" ;-))!

So for the details, easy background with Cuttlebug and DP, then a little flourish made with the Cricut Expression and a double butterfly. Stamped once on the same DP, added little rhinestones and some Stickles, then stamped on a piece of light blue vellum then cuttlebugged and glued over the 1st one that was raised with foam tape.

Now I am aware that butterflies look nothing like that in real life, with 2 sets of wings, but that's called creative freedom right?... ;-D

Condolences

This is one of those cards that don't photograph well (at least not in my crappy setting, LOL!), but I love it anyway because it's simple. The sentiment is heat embossed with silver powder and there is a tiny bit of silver also on the flower buds.
I love that sentiment from PTI, it reads: "Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us, to let us know they are happy."

Melanie's blog hop and my frog prince...

Melanie Muenchinger is celebrating two years of blogging and illustrating for Gina K Designs, and today she has invited 25 designers and YOU to join the party!

First hop through the following designers' blogs using every set she has created since January 2008, from the first to the 25th! Then go to Melanie's'blog to leave a comment for a chance to win a number of different prizes! So let's get hopping!

Here we go!

Just So Hippy-Charmaine
Just So Hoppy-Donna
What's in Your Tin 1 & 2-Donna
Hip Hop Accessories-Bee (you are here! :-))
Jumping for Joy-Barb
Cuddles and Hugs-Jessie
Little Tees-Cat
Just So Sporty-Pam
A Year of Flowers-Theresa
Say it with Flowers-Selma
Have a Cookie-Carolina
Tee Talk-Gabby
Hand in Hand-Ally
The Best Things in Life-Shannon, Sankari
A Charmed Life-Cathy
Wee Tees-Libby, Laura Jean
Arranged with Love-Selma
Sporty Accessories-Tina
Inspiration Mosaic-Jennie
School Sports Spirit-Melissa
A Year of Leaves-Geri
Hip to Be Square-Karen
Festive Frame-Linda
Tech Talk-Tech Talk- Lee


Finally, Nina and Jessica from the GinaK Senior Design Team have joined in, too!
You can also get in on the hop yourself and increase your chances of
winning a prize by creating your own project with any one of Melanie's sets and linking it in the Mr. Linky in her post, see full details here.
Hope you can join the fun! Enjoy your first hop of the year!

As for my card, it's pretty straight forward. I chose the little frog in honor of the new Disney movie "The princess and the frog" that I enjoyed with my daughter the other day. I made a simple pop-up inside with a little heart that says "kiss me".

Wishing you a wonderful NEW YEAR! May it be happy, healthy and peaceful! :-) <3>

Flowery vellum window

This is another card for "my soldier". It's a little hard to see on the picture but it's a piece of vellum cardstock that has been Cuttlebugged and then colored with Prismacolor markers, and affixed as a window on my card (so you actually can see the writing through the flowers). There's a tiny bit of glitter that doesn't appear on my pic, even though I took it in the sun... ;-)

Simple Holidays

A simple holiday card I made for "my soldier". The medallion is heat embossed with silver powder, and I used a silver sharpie for the dots on the cuttlebugged card front. The deep blue cardstock is from PTI and has this gorgeous metallic silvery shimmer (I took the picture with a flash to try to catch that shimmery effect). The stamp is from Stampendous and one of my favorite, this is all I wish everyone for the Holidays, Peace on Earth.

(as always click on pic for details).

Simple flowers for Soldiers' Angels

This is a special project for me for 2 reasons. First I LOVE this card because it is so simple! Making simple cards is actually a challenge, but they're my favorite! Second, this is the 1st card for a special someone: my "adopted soldier".

Soldiers' Angels (http://www.soldiersangels.org/) is a great organisation run by volunteeers, trying to make the life of deployed soldiers a little better. They have a lot of various team projects, and also give you the opportunity to "adopt a soldier". Basically it means that for the time of a soldier's deployment you agree to send them at least a letter/card a week and a care package a month. If you don't want to commit to this schedule or to a person in particular, there is also a "Letter writing Team" so check them out! :-)

I was lucky to have been assigned to a woman, because male cards are out of my comfort zone, LOL... So I suppose you will see some more simple (feminine!) cards on my blog very soon... ;-)

Holiday treats boxes

By now you know how much I love Lauren's templates (through PaperTreyInk until now, and soon through her own company My Time Made Easy). This one is called "Tucked away" and is perfect for chocolates and such. At first I was afraid it would be too small but you actually put more in there than I thought before it was assembled! I was able to squeeze 6 Ghirardelli squares and 10 Lindor truffles in the big size, (making sure to have a few that wouldn't fit in there, LOL!)... :-P Those are just so incredibly easy to put together and decorate, and it looks so much more polished than just giving the bag they came in!

Winter window

You know me, I don't make Holiday cards, it's way too time consuming... But sometimes you just need to make one... ;-) I had fun with this one, creating the window with a Nestabilities rectangle, and then using light blue vellum paper. I like the opacity it creates on the window like there is frost, but on the other hand as you can see, it makes it difficult to see through. So next time I'll try with acetate for a change...

Foil wedding card

Another "foil fun" card, this time for the wedding of my friend Catherine. The idea for the foil came from the fact that her wedding reception colors were silver, red and black. The middle is heat embossed with silver powder as well. A very simple card but I love how the light plays on it. :-)

Foil engagement card

My husband's cousin recently got engaged and this is the card I made. I used one of my favorite technique here, the kitchen foil embossed in a Cuttlebug folder, results are always stunning. The medallion is heat embossed with silver powder and the hebrew letter in the middle is then carved out, revealing the cardstock underneath. This letter means "life", I thought it was only appropriate for a couple starting a life together. :-)

Birthday Fold

A very belated b-day card for my sister-in-law (better late than never, right?!...), made using one of Lauren's templates (My Timeless Templates). I swear the colors aren't so ugly in real life(or so I hope!!)... ;-)

Wedding Planner

A friend of mine just got engaged, and I thought she might have fun jotting down notes about her wedding preparations in this little planner I made for her, using My Timeless Template recipes holder... :-) I made my own mini notebooks to fit inside the pockets. That's something easy to slip in a bag so you can add ideas when they come to you! ;-) (as always, click on the pic for a bigger size).

Air ballons birthday

Another card with the same easy basic layout, and with another PTI set, designed to be used with buttons! I am not really a fan of sewing buttons on projects so I just colored in the holes to match my epoxy buttons.. ;-) This one is for my Dad's birthday.

Tulips birthday

Thanks to a belated birthday gift, I got some new stamps... :-p... This is vintage picnic from PTI.

The basket is paper pieced twice (used the PTI wrapping and distress ink), and the flowers once. I like that it add a little dimension but very subbtle... the image is colored with Prismacolor alcohol markers. That one was for my Mom's birthday.

Toothfairy Tin

My niece just turned 5, and I expect she will lose teeth soon... so I made her a little toothfairy box to put under her pillow... I made a little "cup" for her tooth with a prima flower and added a little pocket to leave messages to the toothfairy... I used Melanie's tins stamps set and drew the tooth by hand. I think she'll have fun with that... ;-)

Belated birthday

A simple birthday card for my niece...

Strawberry briefcase

Yet another one with the same template, this time for Naomi. I used velcro instead of ribbon to keep it closed since she isn't so crazy about tying knots! ;-)