Happy Birthday Jeanne

Hi Everyone!

Can't believe that it is already 9 PM.  The past 5 hours of this day really flew by.  We celebrated Jeanne's birthday tonight even though her birthday is tomorrow.  Marie made her the most awesome cake.  We found the inspiration for it on Pinterest. 

 

I used stamps from 2 of my favorite companies to create Jeanne's card, Denami Designs and Lockhart.  It's a small tri-fold card.  Here's the first panel.

 

 

As you can see in the picture "Mimi" has been shopping and is adding more packages to her stack of gifts.

 

Panels 2 and 3 show even more packages being stacked.

 

 

And here's the sentiment in the card along with the gift cards that are layered onto the card.

 

 

 Happy birthday, Jeanne!

 

Enjoy the day everyone.

Carol

 

Welcome Lucy Grace

Good Morning Everyone!

I thought I'd write a quick post before I do some major cleaning.  Since the card I made last night is sitting next to me I snapped a picture of it and decided to share it today.  I made it for a friend who is hopefully too preoccupied and busy to read my blog today.  If you are reading it, Janet, you'll get the real card in a day or two!

Yesterday my dear friend Janet became a grandmother for the second time.  Her daughter Emily and son-in-law Brian's second daughter was born yesterday.  Her name is Lucy Grace.  Sadie will meet her baby sister today. 

Here's the card.

 

I know that I used a sketch that I use way too often, but the side of the card is different.  It was inspired by a post by Vicki Boutin on the Scrapbooks and Cards Today blog at this link.

Congratulations to Janet and her family.

Have a wonderful day!
Carol

Birthday Gift Bag

Good Morning Everyone!

Cards, gift bags, gift tags, mini cards, and boxes - I've been making them all lately and I am having trouble keeping up with what I need.  Maybe it's because it's a season of milestones...one friend turned 70 and at the other end of the spectrum 2 babies have turned one.  Robbie and Jeanne have July birthdays.  Paula and Pam will turn 50 in September.  The 4th of July was a time to give something to Annie, Bob and Jan. 

Yesterday I spent a few hours organizing my supplies...again.  I updated the lists I keep of sentiments on my clear stamps, cut sample swatches of my embossing folders, cleaned and reorganized some of my drawers, and did my usual cleaning and dusting of everything in this little corner of my world. 

I bought a package of 13 blank Kraft bags and have been decorating them as I need them.  I finished a gift bag for the party I am attending later today. I'm very happy with the results. 

 

I used a clip art image as the pattern for my cupcake.  I ran the "cupcake wrapper" through my crimper to give it texture and to make it look more realistic.  The "frosting" is attached to the bag with foam tape.  I added tiny pearls to the frosting.  The candle is a piece of a straw and the flame is a dimensional sticker. 

 

Inside the bag is a gift box I made that is filled with thank you cards.  I have shared many of them with you. 

 

Have a nice day!

Carol

 

Under the Weather

Hi Everyone!

I purchased the Denami Design's Polka Dot border stamp at the West Springfield Stamp Show last month.  I knew it would be a stamp that I would use again and again.  When I saw this week's CAS-UAL Friday "polka dots" challenge I knew it was time to ink up my stamp and get to work.  I stamped onto pink. blue, and orange tag.  Then I used some cloud dies and cloud punches to create some clouds.

I created the sentiment for my card on my computer.  I stamped a
Denami Design's large umbrella onto my card and onto a scrap of yellow polka dotted Memory Box tag.  I fussy cut the top of the umbrella and adhered it to my card.  Then I added my clouds to the card.  The blue one is attached to the card with foam tape so that the umbrella is truly "under the weather. 

This card also meets the color combo challenge for the Summer Card Camp 2 online card class I joined on Monday. 

Enjoy your day!
Carol

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Good Morning Everyone!

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep.  I went onto my computer and saw this week's CAS-UAL Fridays challenge, "Polka Dots".  Now I really couldn't fall back to sleep as the lyrics to the song "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" crept into my mind.  I knew I had the perfect Lawn Fawn stamp that I could use to create a polka dot bikini for the challenge.  The stamp is from Lawn Fawn's "Swimsuit Season" clear stamp set.

I created the sentiment on my computer.  I stamped the bikini onto my A2 card and onto a scrap of yellow Memory Box polka dot paper.  I fussy cut the yellow bikini and adhered it onto the stamped image.  And that's my card.  Clean and simple. 

Have a great day!
Carol

DIY Jewelry Holder

Hi Everyone!

Instead of papercrafts, today I'd like to share a jewelry holder that my daughter Marie made this week.  She's been studying jewelry holders on Pinterest and asked me to make one for her.  I said I would be happy to help her, but knew she could do it on her own. 

We went to Marshalls where we planned to buy a frame before we headed to Home Depot to buy window screen, chicken wire, or possibly some other type of screening.  We walked around Marshalls and found a framed chalkboard which had possibilities, and then a frame with some metal "clotheslines" strung across it that also might have worked. 

Suddenly I spotted some herb gardens on the clearance shelf.  I picked one up and studied it and knew it definitely had "jewelry holder" potential.  I showed it to Marie who agreed that it might work.  It was only $6.00 so we bought one. 

We stopped at Home Depot on the way home to purchase a can of spray paint and some cup hooks.  As soon as we got home Marie gave the herb garden it's first coat of paint.  She gave it 2 more coats of paint before she was satisfied.  Then she screwed in the cup hooks and hung it on her bedroom wall.  (It also could have stood on her bureau, but she has more room on her walls than she does on her furniture.)

Here it is.

She plans to add more cup hooks.  She is storing some bracelets in the section where the herbs would have been planted.  I love it and Marie is pleased with it too.

Have a nice night!
Carol

We must ketchup

Hi Everyone!

I LOVE being on vacation.  For one week I have the time to do the things I enjoy without worrying about lesson plans or creating games and other activities for school.  It's too hot and humid to cook, bake or clean so I can spend my time doing some guilt-free crafting.

When we were growing up my sister Paula hated most vegetables, but especially disliked tomatoes.  She actually paid me to eat her tomatoes.  Paula is now and has been a vegetarian for many years.  She not only eats tomatoes and other vegetables, she actually grows her own.

Whenever I see a vegetable stamp or some vegetable patterned paper I think of Paula.  It was Paula that I was thinking of when I purchased "Vegtastic" from Paper Smooches.  Last night I used the tomato and one of the sentiment stamps from that collection to create this card.

The bushel basket was created with the large cling tea cup stamp from Hero Arts.  I used some of my Copic markers to color the tomatoes and then brushed a layer of clear Wink of Stella across each of them.  The single tomato is attached to the card with foam tape.

Have a great day!  I know I will!
Carol

Get Well

Hi Everyone!

I'm going to post one card this morning, but may be back later today.  As you know I love Lockhart stamps and the teddy bear I used on today's card was created with one of my favorites.  I stamped the bear on brown tag and again on a patterned pink tag.   I fussy cut the entire brown bear, but only the sweater on the pink one.  I used my Xyron X to adhere the sweater to the bear. 

The papers are from Lawn Fawn.  I used an Inky Antics stamp to create the sentiment.  The bear is attached to the card with foam tape.

I hope you have a "beary" nice day!
Carol

Birthdays and Thanks

Hi Everyone!

I am sitting here surrounded by some gift bags and boxes that I have created recently.  I wasn't sure which ones had and hadn't been photographed so I spent a little time searching through the pictures I have saved on my computer. Wow!  I have made a lot of thank you cards this summer and I have only shared about half of them with you.  There are also many birthday ones, a few sympathy ones and quite a few all occasion ones.  I have to figure out a system for keeping track of what I have and haven't posted. 

This card was created with a Hero Arts/Sizzix stamp and die set that is one of my favorites.  I also love the sketch I used to create the card.  It's one I must remember to use more often.

 

 

These cards were created with some 3 dimensional stickers that I picked up at Michaels YEARS ago.  I bought so many packages of them that I think they will last me forever. 

 

 

 

Marie's professor canceled classes for the day and I am on vacation.  I am hoping she'll hang out with me since her friends will all be at work.  We'll see.

 

Hope you have a great day.  I am hoping for a fun one myself.

Carol



 



Thank you and Get well

Hi Everyone!

When I am out and about I often stop into T J Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods to check out their gift sections.  Every now and then I find something for papercrafting that is at least half of its original price.  

I could tell that some of the 34 chipboard embellishments in the Me & My Big Ideas "Playmates-Icons"  set were possibly too large for the A2 cards I like to make, but figured I could use the largest ones on the scrapbook pages I make for my classroom so I purchased one package.  The embellishments have been sitting in my stash for quite a while, but I pulled them out recently and decided to use some of them on the thank you cards I have been creating. 

While the embellishments were out I couldn't resist using the whale because I have the perfect sentiment stamp from Denami Design to use with it.

 

Getting together with my cousin today.

 

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Carol



Thank you cards too

Good Morning Everyone!

It's just after 8 AM and I have already photographed more than a dozen cards.  Last night I finished the thank you cards gift I have been making for a first birthday party I'll be attending next Saturday.  I even finished the box which I will share in a future post. 

After I bought the K&Company Itsy Bitsy Baby Girl paper pad I looked at the papers and then pulled out embellishments that I have that coordinate with the papers. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you'll stop by again tomorrow to see even more thank you cards.

 

Have a wonderful day!

Carol

 

 

 

Thank you cards

Good Morning Everyone,

The other day I was thinking of how much I truly love creating cards.  I know that they are often similar in many ways, but I realized that really doesn't matter.  I create them to relax.  I create them as gifts which are usually received with enthusiasm.  They have become my "go-to-gift" because pretty much everyone uses cards.

A friend of mine has invited me to her daughter's first birthday.  I know that her daughter will be receiving more toys and outfits than she could possibly need.  So I decided to make my friend some thank you cards because she mentioned that she's going to need thank you cards after the party. 

I was thrilled to find a pad of K&Company's  8" x 8" Itsy Bitsy Baby Girl designer paper on clearance at Michaels.  I've used the borders and the tag embellishments from that pattern on other girly creations, but haven't had the paper until now. 

Just realized that only the pink patterned paper on this first card is from that collection.  There are tiny hearts on it that coordinate perfectly with the stitched heart stickers from Heidi Grace. 

 

I used a combination of sandpaper and kraft tag to create the "sand" on this card.  The 3 dimensional beach theme stickers were in my stash.  I thought they'd be fun on a summery thank you card. 

 

Heading off to work now.  Will post more cards this weekend. 

 

Have a nice day!

Carol

 

 



Lawn Fawn 4th of July

Good Morning Everyone!

One of my favorite clear stamp companies is Lawn Fawn.  Their stamps always produce a crisp clear image and I love the fonts that they use for their sentiments. 

I remember writing in a post a couple of years ago that I had never received or sent a 4th of July card.  That has changed over the past few years.  I still have never received one, but now I create a handful of them for a few friends. 

I own a few wooden stamps that work well for the holiday, but couldn't resist picking up Lawn Fawn's "4th of July" mini set.  I love the look of the font and thought the fireworks would be fun to stamp. 

I pulled out a variety of glittery embossing powders and some black tag.  I pressed the large and small fireworks stamps onto a VersaMark watermark stamp pad and sprinkled the embossing powders over them.  I deliberately overlapped many of the images.   My photograph didn't catch some of the images, but you'll get the idea.

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

Carol





 

Happy Birthday, Robbie!

Good Morning Everyone!

Twenty-eight years ago today at 8:43 AM my son Robbie was born.  He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and had beautiful brown eyes just like his mother, his maternal grandmother and his great grandfather on his mother's side.   Perhaps that's why from the moment he was born Robbie and I have had a very special relationship. 

I couldn't decide what theme to use for Robbie's card and cupcakes this year.  He suggested turkeys, but even though those birds continue to stroll around in our yard day after day, that was last year's theme.  His next suggestion was owls so I decided to use that idea. 

Thursday will be the 4th of July and we all have that day off so we decided to wait and celebrate Rob's birthday at our cookout.  So for today I just have his card to share with you.

 

I used the same pattern for the owl that I used for Robbie's valentine a few years ago.  The owl is attached to the card with foam tape.  The balloons hang off of the card, but since I am not mailing the card it's not a problem.  The owl's claws are tiny rhinestones that I colored with a Copic marker.

 

Happy birthday, Robbie!

 

Love,

Mom