Birthday Humor

A friend's husband is celebrating his 70th birthday on New Year's Day. I think that deserves a very special card but still wanted to keep it light.

So in the tradition of making fun of aging, I decided to go with the black theme, complete with the black balloon boquet. The stripes are from a couple of different SU sets. The other images are all from Newton's Nook. I love this Winston stamp. With the addition of googly eyes he looks so puzzled and saying "how did I get to this stage already?" The strip of paper on the side is a b/w patterned vellum from SU over a strip of black.
The inside sentiment is done via computer.
Linking up to Tuesday Morning Sketches anything goes challenge.

Eye Chart

When I saw this sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch

I immediately thought eye chart. Maybe that is because my daughter is an optometrist. I created an eye chart for her birthday card so am applying it here as well.

I cut out the glasses with Cricut in pink and then backed that with vellum for the lenses. I used a little Wink of Stella on the lenses to make them look reflective.
Here is the card I made for my daughter

Star Wars

With all the big hoopla over the new Star Wars movie coming out tomorrow, I knew boys would love to receive cards from Send A Smile 4 Kids with that theme. I found some paper from Creative Imaginations.

The circles were punched out from the opposite side of the red background paper. The blue strip is another paper in the pack. Sentiment is SU.
I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Be Unique

I have been designing and making cards to send to Send A Smile 4 Kids who send them to children's hospitals for staff and children. I know how hard it is for teen girls when they are ill. They struggle with self image anyway. And when suffering a severe illness it is even worse.
I saw this quote at my local Curves. It doesn't have a credit so I don't know who wrote it. But I think it is so appropriate for a teen girl.

I did the sentiment on the computer. Sponged 2 shades of blue and added punched clouds.The birds on a wire is a Spellbinders die. I cut them with a brown scrap and then did one with red. Snipped out one red bird and glued it over the matching brown one. A little Wink of Stella on the red bird makes it shine. There was a little too much space below the sentiment so I added a strip of green cut with grass making shears and sponged on some darker green at the bottom. I am hoping this will inspire and cheer up a sick teen.
Also am submitting to anything goes challenge at Tuesday Throwdown.

Green & Glittery

I am done with Christmas Cards--all made, addressed and sent. But I decided to go ahead with the Christmas colors for some thank yous that I will need. I combined the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

and the Take Your Pick at The Kraft Journal

I still have all the wrapping supplies out and spotted this green ribbon. What an easy pick 3--all in one item.

The sentiment is Water Color Words from SU done with Certainly Celery and traced with Wink of Stella to add more glitter. I found a scrap of green plaid to back the sentiment. 

Gift Set

Seems like a long time since I have posted anything. We traveled to Texas to be with our daughter's family for Thanksgiving.
A friend asked me to make her some all occasion card gift sets to use for Christmas gifts for her co-workers.
Here is one with the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

The card base is SU Lost Lagoon. The DP is from Hobby Lobby but I don't know the manufacturer. Sentiment, punched flowers and seam binding ribbon are from SU. The turquoise swirl is a Tim Holtz die
.
Here is the sympathy card for the set. I didn't feel I could use the red dot for sympathy so just went with Lost Lagoon and Whisper White.  I just learned this faux silk technique, If you haven't done it, faux silk is stamping on tissue paper, wadding it up into a little ball, open back up and glue to cardstock with the wrinkles still in place. That is hard to see on the photo--try clicking on the photo to get a close up.

I don't have Lost Lagoon ink so I used tempting turquoise for the weeds which are an old favorite but I no longer remember who makes it. The turquoise was a little bright so I sponged on some Tim Holtz tea dye to tone it down and give it a little antique look. The sentiment is SU done in baked brown sugar.
Here are the other cards in the set, When doing a set, I think using the same papers give a cohesive look even though each card is a different design.

And a decorated gift bag to hold the cards.

Snowman Balloon

I love the cute character balloons from Clearly Besotted.

I used a Cuttlebug impression folder on Kraft Cardstock and then rubbed a white ink pad across the raised surface. The DP squares are from SU. The stripe was a little stark so I sponged on white to soften the edges. I stamped the snowman balloon on a scrap of white and fussy cut it, tied gold thread around the stem and secured that with a Martha Stewart punched snowflake.
Freshly Made Sketches sketch rotated was my inspiration.

And another one using the sketch as is

The recipient may need sunglasses for this bright yellow. The DPs are from SU. One is the backside of the other.

Tree with Lights

It is amazing how much you can get done before noon if you get up at 4 am. Between other chores and exercise class, I have made 4 cards. This one for the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I used Kraft cardstock and DPs from SU. Stamped the SU tree on an ivory oval. I colored in the circles with different color pens and traced the lines with gold gel pen. I think it makes them look like lights.A gold punched star tops the tree and anchors the bottom. I see now that I left off those 3 accents at the top. Can we just say those 3 trees lined up there in the upper right corner meet that criteria?

Hexagons

This is not the original card I had made for The Paper Players challenge

but I woke up at 2:30 this morning and this idea popped into my mind. So then I couldn't go back to sleep. Ugh! It is going to be a long day here. Do you do your best planning in the middle of the night?

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and sponged red along the side and bottom. Used a punch from SU to punch out gold and red glitter hexagons. Secured silver cord behind the red one and attached it with deminsionals. The sentiment is from SU.

Orange & Sparkly

Orange for Christmas? Hmm. When I saw this pick 3 challenge from The Kraft Journal, I wondered how I could incorporate orange on a Christmas card.

I went searching in my paper file and found an orange that had a bit of a glow to it. That just might work. My pick 3 became orange, top fold, stamped.

I stamped Stampabilities stars onto the card base with Versamark and then traced over them with a gold star gel pen. That kept them from being as bright as embossing powder would have been. I wanted them to glow but not compete with the glitter word. SU tree punch. Word dies from Ellen Hutson. Gold sparkle paper from SU. Inside I added a sentiment from SU Christmas Bliss and a punched out star.

So I think I made orange work well on a Christmas Card. Now I need to go clean glitter off my desk surface. Needles to say it did not all stay on the paper work sheet. There is new meaning to the saying "all women are born to shine". I saw that quote on a sign at my local Curves but don't know who said it.

Global Design Project

I have 2 cards for Global Design Project sketch.

They are a bit of a stretch on the 4 square design. Mine are more 4 rectangle.

I have been admiring the cards created in SU Christmas book with the window die. That is on my list but not purchased yet so I kind of created the look. I sponged soft sky on a piece of paper, stamped it with small gold stars from the SU Holiday Home set. Then I glued it to a larger piece of white cardstock and added 4 small strips of white to make it look like a window frame. I just trimmed the ends of another piece of white for the window sill. The cat is from a Newton's Nook stamp. I just cut out the cat and perched him on the frame. Dream is a die from Little Yellow Bicycle (found at Hobby Lobby). That is all glued to a green polka dot from my stash and an SU Whisper White card base.
The second card:

I am recycling the bird pictures from a card I received last year. This has a SU Mossy Meadow background with a white mat embossed with the wood grain folder. To make the 4th rectangle, I used a scrap of white stamped with a portion of pine branch from a Hero Arts stamp. I added some red dots in the pine branches. The Happy Holidays is from The Angel Company (now out of business). All tied up with a bit of raffia.

Sparkle Star

I love sparkle on Holiday cards. I almost feel sorry for the recipient who gets glitter all over their clothes when they open one.  So I went with lots for the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

Again with the Kraft cardstock and gold. I embossed with Sizzix star folder. Cut the tag from vellum. Embossed message from SU's Christmas Bliss. Die cut gold glitter paper star from SU stars die. Gold thread is from Joann's. You can barely see them but I punched out 5 little gold glitter stars and glued them at random for a little extra sparkle. And another little gold star is on the inside.
This is the inspiration sketch


I am amazed at how many people I know right know who are ill or have had surgery. I can't keep my stash of get wells replenished. So my twofer today is another get well. Same sketch with addition of stripes for Just Us Girls challenge.

The flower are created with SU's Painted Petals in Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery. The sentiment is PTI. The stripe papers are Lawn Fawn.

Aurora Borealis

I have been to Alaska but did not see the aurora borealis while there. I recently saw some beautiful pictures of it online and thought--I can do that with watercolors. Interesting where we find inspiration.
So here is my attempt at creating the Aurora Borealis.

I used Zig watercolor brushes and an SU aqua painter to create the background. The bear is by Memory Box and the gifts from an SU birthday set. The Santa sleigh is from SU's Holiday Home. Believe is a die by Little Yellow Bicycle. Card base and believe are SU's Blackberry Bliss.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

I also needed a get well card so did a twofer but kept more to the original sketch.

I spritzed watercolor paper with alcohol ink in SU Daffodil Delight. The flower cut outs are dies from Ellen Hutson. The sentiment is an old PTI. 3 clear sequins add a little bling. Card base and flowers are one of SU's oranges, not sure which one, maybe pumpkin pie.

Retirement

A former co-worker is retiring so I needed a card for him. I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

and the one layer challenge from Just Us Girls.

I used:  SU Baked Brown Sugar card base, Tim Holtz travel stamp and Stamplorations and SU grunge stamps. Inks: SU Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip, StazOn black, Stampabilities Orange.

Autumn Thanks

A new challenge at Always Playing With Paper has the inspirational sketch

And The Paper Players challenge is Fall Thank You cards
So here is my twofer--though this time it is two challenges not two cards.

I have to admit, I loved DJ's (who is guest designer for the challenge this week) card so much I pretty much CASEd it.The DP's here are from Stampin" Up from last year. They are called sweater weather. If you click on the picture for a close up, you can see the sweater texture in that orange. I made an "autumn moon" by punching out a circle in Kraft cardstock and sponging some orange on the border. The 3 tabs are from the same cardstock punched with SU Bitty Banner Punch. The thanks is cut from the orange DP with framelit die from SU. I die cut 3 words and stacked them to give more dimension. I thought I was done but something seemed missing. So I went searching in my embellisments and found the square gold brads and added them to each banner.
Oh, BTW here is DJ's card

Christmas Blessings

Christmas Blessings to The Kraft Journal for their challenge of "blessings".

I saw a blog the other day that used gold with Kraft. It was so beautiful but I'm sorry I can't find it now to link it up.. So here is my go at gold and Kraft. The gold dotted vellum is from SU. I think the tag may also be form Kraft but I  have had it a long time and can't remember. The angel and blessings are on one stamp from Hampton Art. I masked off so I could get the blessings in SU's Real Red. The word christmas is from SU also stamped in Real Red. I used colored pencils and clear star gel pen on the angel. The gold thread is from JoAnn's. There is one gold sequin on the tag to bling it up a little more.

Cheers

Even though the Penguins in Paradise from My Favorite Things are summer and tropical this one makes a cute Christmas Cheer image.

The DPs are strips from my stash. The sentiment is from More Merry Messages from SU stamped with Lucky Limeade and Pool Party. The snowflakes from a couple of different sets are also done with Pool Party. I sponged on some  Pool Party to make a little ice berg and then stamped the penquin on that and colored with colored pencils. Some glitter glue makes the ice berg sparkle. Looking at the picture now, I think the penguin is a little tilted. Maybe he has imbibed in too much Christmas Cheer. LOL!
The layout is inspired by the sketch from Case This Sketch

Thanksgiving

I don't send Thanksgiving cards. But since the craft show I am doing is really close to Thanksgiving I thought a few cards for the occasion might sell.
And The Kraft Journal challenge this week is Thanksgiving.

I started with a Kraft cardstock base. Ran it through Big Shot with a Tim Holtz woodgrain impression plate and sponged on a little brown. The green vine is a Tim Holtz die.  The little leaves are in a miniature's set that I found at a yard sale so there is no label. They are stamped in SU inks. Sentiment is The Angel Company. Inside I did a computer message and stamped the leaves in a border.

Curious Kitty

I was puzzled how to incorporate the colors mint, teal, pink, and white of the Newton's Nook challenge into Christmas theme. None of my Newton Christmas stamps seemed to work.

I finally decided on a birthday stamp and colored the packages in pink and teal. My cat loved to play with the ribbons whenever I was wrapping Christmas gifts. He would even try to untie the bow once it was under the tree. The mint is used in the background with a SU stamp border,too faint to read in the picture, but the border image says do no open until Christmas. The pink scallop is done with Fiskar edge punch. Then it is all tied up with teal/white twine. I think some little girl will love this card.

JOY

Lots of sparkly joy on my card for today's sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

The DP is Lawn Fawn's Let's Bokeh in the Snow. I love the look of bokeh but I seem to make a mess of it so love even more when I can find paper with the effect already done. Joy is a SU die cut from red glitter paper. That is centered over a vellum punched circle. The gold cord was a remnant laying on my desk so I grabbed it to accent behind the joy. Then 3 stars punched form gold, silver, and red glitter paper add even more sparkle.
Here is inspiration sketch

And a twofer today. My blog friend Cheryl sent me how to instructions for spinner cards. See her really cute Halloween one here. So I tried one using the same Tuesday Morning sketch inspiration.

Will this get easier after some practice? Don't try a definite orientated picture first. I had mine about ready to mount and discovered the tree on the back side was upside down. So had a do over. This certainly was not a quick and easy card. So I will probably save this one for the grand kids. They will like the spinning part. I think they will be impressed with Nana.

Oh, and thanks to Debbie for choosing my card last week as her favorite. It featured the bokeh paper in green.