Happy Birthday with Music

My sister-in-law is an accomplished pianist, and music is a big part of her family's life.  For her birthday, I knew the music from SU Newsprint DSP would be the perfect background for her card.  Since I love the combination of black and red, I used SU Riding Hood Red for the flower and the lattice accents.  I sponged the edges of the flower that I made with some gold paint from my stash.

Stamp:  SU Curly Cute; Paper:  SU Newsprint, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Ink:  SU Riding Hood Red; Accessories:  Martha Stewart Lattice punch, Spellbinders Peony die, gold paint and brad from my stash.

Super Bowl Thank You

Although we now live in North Carolina, my husband and I grew up in Wisconsin.  We watched the Super Bowl with some friends who are also from Wisconsin, and we were all ecstatic that the Green Bay Packers won!
I made our friends a thank you card using the Packers colors and some of my favorite Cosmo Cricket designer paper.  Let's hope we can celebrate again next year!

Funky Fold Butterfly Birthday

UPDATE:  My card won an "Honorable Mention Cup of Tea" for The Shabby Tea Room's Challenge #44.

I had to make a birthday card for someone in our card club, so I thought I'd use my latest favorite DP, Mariposa by DCWV.  Since I love to find different folds for cards,  I used a "funky fold" video to make this card.  I am entering this card in two challenges, The Shabby Tea Room's Sketch This, and JustRite's Friday Challenge 046.

Stamp:  JustRite Just A Note;  Paper:  DCWV Mariposa, SU Marina Mist and Ruby Red;  Punches:  Paper Shapers 1-3/4" circle and 2" scalloped circle; Ink: Tsukineko Rocket Red Gold; Accessories:  Prima flowers, ribbon and green pearls from my stash.

Think Spring "Thinking of You"

     JustRite Friday Challenge 046 involved scoring, so I decided to make a step card, using the directions I found on Dawn Griffith's blog.  Since we are having a terrible winter (three snow and ice storms so far), I decided to use springtime colors.   I used a piece of DCWV's Mariposa designer paper for the background and cut out some butterflies from the same paper.  Not only did I have to score four separate times in order to make the steps, I also decided to score the green side panels to add a bit of texture.

Stamp:  JustRite Just A Note embossed with SU silver emboss powder; Paper:  Wausau Textures CS, DCWV Mariposa; Punches:  SU Scallop Trim, Paper Shapers 2" scallop and 1-3/4" circle; Accessories:  Flowers from ACMoore.



What a Great Way to End 2010!

Can you imagine how thrilled I was to open an email from Pals Paper Arts and find out that my card was selected as one of the Best of the Best for 2010!  Wow!  What a honor to be chosen from over 2,913 participants in the PPA challenges!  Check out the PPA blog, scrolling down to May. I'd like to thank Gina Shaw and all of the PPA DT members whose blogs are a constant source of new, creative ideas!

Lush-cious Thank You Cards

For Christmas, my daughter gave me some designer paper and other goodies from the Lush collection by My Mind's Eye.  The papers are in my absolute favorite colors of red and black--although judging from the cards I've made, you would think that pink would be my favorite color!  I decided to use the papers to create thank you cards for all of the Christmas gifts I received.

UPDATE:  My card was a Top Three Pick for Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #33!

Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge #33 was to create a card with black, white, silver, and sparkle!  The inspirational photos also featured touches of red, so I chose one of the flocked Lush papers as my background and then added some bling.

Paper:  Lush by My Mind's Eye, SU Basic Black, red paper from stash; Stamp:  SU Elegant Thank You embossed with Ranger Silver Embossing Tinsel; Punches:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles; Accessories:  Me and My Big Ideas Rhinestone bling, Lush rhinestones, Reflections silver flowers, and Wilton silver foil doily.

I made several of these thank you cards to send to family and friends, including my daughter who gave me the paper. 

Paper: Lush by My Mind's Eye; Stamp:  SU Curly Cute; Ink:  SU Cajun Craze; Punch:  SU Decorative Label (love that punch); Accessories:  Ribbon and button from Michael's.

I decided to look through my stamp sets to find a stamp that I had not used in quite awhile.  SU Cause for Celebration not only had a clever thank you stamp but also a butterfly stamp.  I sponged SU Very Vanilla with Stazon Red ink in order to separate all of the different patterns.
Paper:  Lush by My Mind's Eye, SU Very Vanilla; Stamps:  SU Cause for Celebration; Ink:  Stazon Red;  Punches: Marvy Uchida scallop ovals; Accessories:  ribbon and glitter (on butterflies) from Michael's.

Thomas the Train Happy Birthday

My grandson celebrated his third birthday today.  His parents planned a "Thomas the Train" party, and I found the perfect chipboard designs with which to make a card.  Even though we had a lot of snow (see photo of our house below), we had a great birthday celebration.

It started snowing around 7:00 p.m. on Christmas and snowed all night and part of the next morning.  We had not had snow on Christmas in North Carolina since 1947!  According to our trusty measuring gauge (a ruler), we had about six inches of snow at our house, enough to cover the lawn, shrubs, trees, and house!

One Last Card!

My daughter bought me some Fancy Pants Christmas paper (which I used for an anniversary card).  I've  finished all of my cards and finally used the Fancy Pants paper to make a Christmas card for my daughter and her husband!  Merry Christmas!
I entered this card in the Wee Memories Challenge #36, Colors of the Season.

Last Minute Christmas Cards

This year I made several different cards for my family and friends.  I used a variety of Christmas papers, stamps, dies, and of course, bling! 

Red and White Christmas

Update:  My card was chosen as one of the winners of Craft Your Passion Challenge Blog Challenge #37!

The challenge this week at The Shabby Tea Room was to create a Scandinavian Christmas card.  I have a huge stash of Christmas papers, stamps, and ribbons and two new toys--a Cricuit cartridge that cuts snowflakes and a Spellbinders poinsettia die.  I decided to make a criss-cross card using a variety of red and white papers, a lot of glitter, rhinestones, and yards of lace and ribbons!  I also found a SU brad in my Valentine's stash that was a perfect topper for my snowflakes.  I then hand delivered the card to a special paper-crafting friend in my neighborhood.  Enjoy!

I also entered this card in the following Christmas challenges:  Craft Your Passion Challenge #37,  Paper Playtime Challenge #30,  Sugar Sweet Paper Treats,  Christmas Card Challenges #3,  Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog #49, and Critter Sketch Challenge #45.