It's a Dinosaur Birthday!

My second youngest grandson's birthday is the day after Christmas, so we try to make it as non-Christmas-like as possible!  This year he chose a dinosaur theme, and my husband carved out a dinosaur cake for him which I then decorated to resemble 

Arnie Argetinosaurus from the Dinosaur Train!

I made a dinosaur card for him using some stickers I found at Hobby Lobby.  Needless to say, his dinosaur-themed birthday was a big success!

It's a Box Card Christmas!

This year I decided to make box cards for my grandchildren so I could include a Christmas surprise!  I found that I could easily fit two gift cards in the box card and still get the "belly band" 

to fit around the card.

     My oldest granddaughter's favorite color is purple, and I found some striped paper in one of my Christmas paper stashes that had purple in it.  I punched out some light purple snowflakes to decorate the front of the card and added some faux rhinestones for sparkle!

For my oldest grandson, I thought these snowmen were appropriate!  I added glitter to the snowflakes and a simple "Merry Christmas" on the belly band.

My seven-year-old grandson also got a snowman card.  It was a good thing I had two sheets of this paper because I had a very hard time getting the snowmen to look right on each panel.

Since I was on a roll, I also made a box card for my sister and her husband's gift cards.  I found some retired SU Christmas paper and embossed the tree before adding a red star to the top.

The only problem with box cards is that they are too "fat" for the post office's sorting machines, so I had to mail them in bubble envelopes to make sure they arrived in one piece!

Paper Sweeties Christmas Sentiment

I recently purchased a stamp set with Christmas Sentiments from Paper Sweeties because I wanted to make a change from my usual stamped sentiment which is "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."  I chose "Christmas is a Time for Wonder" from the set, and using the sketch from the Paper Sweeties challenge, created this card for Christmas 2012.

I used SU's Whisper White and Cherry Cobbler card stock as well as SU's Snow Flurry die and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  I also used the Madera Corner die from Memory Box.  Although it's hard to see in the photo, I glittered the snowflakes with SU's Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The ribbon and faux pearls are from AC Moore.

I entered this design in:
     Paper Sweeties Design Challenge:  Sketch #2

     Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog:  #75 Christmas
     ABC Christmas Challenge:  Favorite Die  (Madera Corner die)
     Creative Belli Blog:  Christmas
     Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog:  Seeing Double (actually four of the Madera Corners)

It's 12/12/12 and Time for Christmas Cards!

It is 12-12-12 and I am finally starting on my Christmas cards.  I have to make seven cards, one for each grandchild, plus cards for neighbors, relatives, and friends!

Here is my "box" card for one of my grandchildren.  I am going to put a surprise inside!

November Birthdays, Part II

My daughter and my son-in-law (who are not married to each other) have birthdays on the same day.  They are both strong supporters of the colleges they attended, so I decided to use the college colors to make birthday cards for them.

My daughter went to Duke, so a blue and white card was in store for her.  I found a Spellbinders die that, when the various cuts in the design were folded, made an interesting design.  I also watched a YouTube video on how to use the word window punch on a longer sentiment!

My son-in-law went to Notre Dame, and I used dark blue and gold for his card.  He said to my daughter when he opened the card that he thought I was getting "pretty good at this card making business!"  I stamped a sentiment in green on one of the pull out tags and 

attached a gift card to the other.

And now it's December 1, and I have to start on my Christmas cards!