Belated Birthday Card

I made this card for a special peep of mine who's birthday slipped by in the blur of my summer.  I found this cute sentiment from a stamp by Victorine Originals and hopefully it makes her smile and forgive me for the delay. 

She always oohs and ahhs over my crafting and makes me feel so special to the point that I get embarrassed.   Oooooh the pressure this creates!!  I hope you like what I came up with for you Crafty Peep D!





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Happy Father's Day!!

What a perfect Father's Day here in the northeast today!  Last minute the other night my hubby decided he wanted to do brunch with his parents at a restaurant near the ocean today.  I was surprised when I was still able to get reservations for all of us and even more surprised when we had our choice to eat outside.  Gorgeous I tell ya!  Temps were just right, light breeze was just right, and the view of the old sailing ships at the seaport museum was an added plus.  Oh and the food - yummmm!  We went for a little walk around the water after we finished and I can't remember the last time we had such a relaxing and completely enjoyable time out.  The best part is that we all ate so much that we are still full even now at dinner time - so no cooking for me tonight, yay!  LOL!

I made my hubby a card for Father's Day and was careful to make it 'masculine' since I gave the poor guy froofy fluff on our anniversary card - and he loved it!  I used a new stamp that I received in a recent swap (thank you Kimi!!!) and dragged out my poor neglected Prismas - oh how I miss my babies!!  I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't colored anything in a couple months.  The paisley paper is K&Co.  I also (finally) tried the stenciling option with my Nesties....ooooooh boy do I LOVE that!  I'm gonna be doing this on lots of stuff now because I just love the little extra it gives my project.

I also made my father-in-law a card for today using another couple of stamps in the same set from Kimi.  I love this sentiment.

I am loving this stamp set but I'm too lazy to get up right now and see what the set is called or who makes it so if you need to know just ask and I'll let ya know later, lol!

I hope all the dads out there had a great day too!


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GIBBS Happy Mail Swap!

According to USPS tracking, the box of goodies I sent to my secret swap partner, Lisa, is sitting on her door step right now, YAY!!!  So it is safe to post my pics ; )

I made all 5 things that she posted in her wish list, not realizing that I only had to choose a few of the items.  Yep I'm a goober I guess, but that's a good thing for her, eh?  LOL!!

The first thing she asked for was a perpetual calendar.  I decided to make a magnetic one and I used a metal dry erase board for the base that I painted matte white.  The day markers are metal rimmed tags that I also painted, then glued onto magnets and covered with punched out numbers that I had printed from my computer.  The month labels were printed from my computer too and then backed with magnet sheets that I cut using my nesties.  I stitched the calendar grid to help with alignment and bordered the entire thing with flourishes cut with my Silhouette.  Extra calendar pieces fit nicely into one of the Stampin' Up! tins that I had stocked up on this winter when they went on clearance. 

I was kind of timid when designing all of the swap items for her since I am not totally sure of her style, but I know she likes purple (her scrap room color) and butterflies so I went with those hoping to play it safe.

I hope you like it Lisa!!



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Birdie Birthday Card

After fighting off a migraine all week (and not winning a couple of the days) I finally finished my birthday card for Dustin Pike's current It's A Party challenge.  What made the brain pain even worse was that I had my fancy schmancy new Prismas sitting on my table all lined up purty and staring at me the whole time just waiting to be played with.  I used my first two images that I was finally able to color for the card and WOOHOO how I love these pencils!  I used odorless mineral spirits with them and I'm amazed at the blending effect.  I did figure out some tricks to the blending and shading while coloring these images, but for me these are really so much easier than the Copics and Bics that I've been struggling with.  I think I've found my favorite coloring tools!!

For the card I decided to try the swing design that I have seen so many times and it totally amused my 5 year old, lol!  It is really such an easy pattern I'm not sure why I've never tried it before.  Paper is by K&Co (recognize it deb?? heehee! ).

CLOSED CARD VIEW

OPENED CARD VIEW

"SWINGING" CARD VIEWS

Another fun challenge in Pike's Playground!


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Sympathy Card

Sympathy cards are never easy for me to make but I wanted to make a really nice one for a long time friend who just lost his brother and his dad.  I found inspiration from a beautiful friendship card by Linda's Works Of Heart and some really nice sentiments at Imag-e-nation.com.  I used Creative Memories papers from their Nancy O'Dell Hummingbird line - oooooohboy! you have to try these because they are just GORGEOUS!!  The frame design around the front sentiment was a freebie from  The Graphics Fairy.

Special friends deserve special cards and this one is filled with lots of love.

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Happy Valentine's Day!!

Two more last minute cards, both with more irresistible images from Dustin Pike.  I added the sentiment in the bear's heart with a font called A Red Bucket. 

I used a couple of my QuicKutz embossing folders for the backgrounds, Nesties for the inner mats and flower and also a QK nesting flower die for the large petal flower, colored the images with my BICs, added a touch of StarDust Stickles and then popped up both images with some foam tape for dimension (which seems to be my current addiction). 


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Birthday cake bear card

I took a break from shoveling and chipping ice and was able to sneak in a birthday card for my hubby (and just in time!).  I have such a hard time making "masculine" cards - how do you make a card and NOT use pastels or butterflies or ribbons or lacy borders or bling or cutesy images??  I tried to at least stick with darker colors (which look much deeper and richer in person) but I could not resist this Dustin Pike image - too stinkin adorable!  He's colored in with my BIC markers.  I also finally used my fancy schmancy new Spellbinders Labels Eleven dies - woohoo!  LOVE these!  Both the bear and the mat are pop dotted for some dimension.

Oh, I also snuck in a touch of Stickles on the candle, but at least I resisted glitterfying the entire cake!  LOL!!



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Secret Santa Banner and Card

My daughter needed a Secret Santa gift idea for a friend at school so I suggested a banner.  Her immediate response was "Great idea mom!  Can you make it for me by tomorrow?"  LOL!  I showed her a few ideas and she loved the Magnolia papers and the accordion fold rosette thingies so we went with those mounted on cutouts using my Spellbinders Labels Four - these may be my absolute favorite nesties!   I cut out the letters using my Silhouette and the Oklahoma font.

She also asked me to make a card.  I showed her a bunch of ideas and she picked one of my Bellas - yippee!  I LOVE coloring these and adding lots of Stickles for sparkle.  I used my Season's Greetings Cuttlebug embossing folder with some gold mirror paper for the background.  Nothing says 'holiday' like sparkly and shiny!

It does make me sad that my daughter is not a crafty kind of girl, **pout**, but she does appreciate what I create and I always get a "You're the bestest mommy!" when I come through for her, LOL!

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Nesties Storage

GIBBERS do it Old Tool Style is the theme for another of the GIBBS3 items. Tammy said she needed a good way to store her small collection of Nesties so I figured I would make her a storage solution like what I currently use, and since Nesties are not electronic they count as "old tool style", yes?

First, I have to say that I totally and completely love love love my Nesties! I have 16 sets right now and another 8 of the QuicKutz version. Storing these babies can be tricky because some are so small and I always want to be sure I am not missing any (if you could see my messy scrap space right now you would understand, LOL!!).

I like to have my storage solutions designed to be portable whenever possible, and of course expandable, so I am a big fan of binders. I used a small 7"x9" binder from Staples that I used to store my CuttleBug embossing folders in before I switched to a desktop organizer (topic for a future post!).  I cut cereal boxes to size, covering them in pretty K&CO papers, added pre-cut 4"x6" magnetic sheets and used a punch to make tabs to write the names of the sets. I tucked each page into the sheet protectors that go with these binders, trimming just a bit off the tops to expose the tabs for easier grabbing. When Tammy needs more storage she can easily add additional magnetic sheets on the back of each page.  For the binder cover I cut the label with one of my Nesties and then used one of my old alphabet stencils to add the title in marker. I don't think I've used my alphabet stencils in a few years, definitely not since I discovered die cutting systems, lol!

So it is a little bit of a stretch for "old tool" interpretation but I think it works: 1) Nesties are a manual cutting system, no electricity; 2) I used a hand punch to make the tabs; 3) I hand stenciled the label for the cover. In my book that qualifies!

I know this storage system works great for me because I can slip the sets in and out as needed, I can keep track of the individual pieces along with which sets I already have (I am always confusing myself when I'm out shopping trying to remember which of my sets are the Large set or the Small set) and best part is that I can just grab the binder and take it all with me when I go to a crop.  I hope this helps Tammy with her organizational quest, but if not, she can always send it back to me to use because I need to make Volume II for myself - I am about to outgrow my original binder when I purchase one more set, lol!!

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