GETTING PUNCHY.........

I love my punches. No if's, and's or but's. Well, there is one small "but"...... But I do not have the imagination to come up with the cool punch art that a lot of the talented ladies out in the blogsphere have (and will) come up with. This card is a case of one of those very cool ideas. I found it here. I used the retired Ski Slope DSP. I made this for a friend for her birthday and I hope she enjoyed it. I love the retro look the linen thread on the lampshade and the "wallpaper" in the background gives it. I could be walking into a parlor of yesteryear. I did try to stamp the sentiment (from Stem Sayings) directly onto the DSP, but it did not show up very well at all. So, I stamped it on the Whisper White cardstock and cut it out, placing it over the failed sentiment and raising it with Stampin' Dimensionals. I really need to practice my whiskers --- I did terrible trying it freehand.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!

This card is one I made for my mother's birthday. As you can see, I have once again used the Because I Care stamp set. I just really love that flower. The DSP is from the Lap of Luxury pack. The colors are so elegant --- Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla and Concord Crush. I wanted to make another Double Display Card (see my first attempt here) and started with the Pretty in Pink base. After cutting and adhering all of the little and big DSP rectangles, I cut out the butterflies using the Beautiful Wings embosslit die. Although you can barely tell it, the little pink butterfly on the left is mounted on top of a Basic Gray butterfly. Both butterflies are embellished with the basic pearl jewels. I also used the pearls on either side of my sentiment, which is from the retired Watercolor Trio stamp set and was punched out with the Oval punch and placed on top of the Modern Label punched piece of Concord Crush. This was then placed onto the card with Stampin' Dimensionals. I think it turned out pretty nice --- better than my dark, dreary picture shows it. And like all good mothers, my mom loves stuff her kids make for her (even if the kid is as old and decrepit as me).

Happy Birthday, Mom!!! We love ya!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!!!!!

A good friend of mine is celebrating her BIG 4-0!!!! And the cool thing is that her birthday, November 12th, is the same day as my daughter's. Pretty neat, huh? This is the card I did for her. I Case'd it from Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty, but for the life of me I cannot find it on her blog to link it direct (but here is the link to her home page). The card itself didn't take very long to make after I finally figured out what images I wanted to use and where I wanted them placed. Each square is punched out with the 1-1/4" punch. How much easier can it get?

I used soooo many new and retired sets to come up with this. The stamp sets I used were Beary Best Friends (the gift bag - retired), Aviary (the birdy in the cage - current), Just Believe (the flower circle and the leaves - current), Priceless (the butterfly - current), Hip Hip Hooray (the balloons - retired), Every Little Bit (the gumball machine - current), Bitty Birthday (the birthday cake - retired), Word Play (the "Wish Big" sentiment - current) and Punch Potpourri (the flowers that were punched out and placed on Stampin' Dimensionals - a current Level 1 Hostess set). The "C" was stamped with a non-SU! stamp, but it worked "Just Rite" for this. The DSP used on a couple of the squares (the numbers and the stripes) is from the Celebration pack. That is where the colors I used are from - Real Red, Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz and Bashful Blue. The base is Bashful Blue with a Pear Pizzazz layer that holds the squares. You can't really tell from the picture, but the "i" in "wish" is dotted with a sparkly rhinestone --- cause every girl should get some bling for her birthday.

With all of that on the outside, I wanted to jazz up the inside a little, too. It has a Real Red and a Pacific Point layer underneath the Whisper White layer that has a sentiment from the It's Your Birthday set (retired) with a few flowers punched and added to the bottom corner. The sentiment was placed using my handy-dandy Stamp-a-ma-jig. I tried to keep the card as flat as possible, since it needed to be mailed, but I added an extra postage stamp just in case it was a little heavy from all of the layers. I really needed to do a WOW project, because Cindy is one of the most talented stampers that I know. Check out her blog here.

Cindy, I hope you had a great day and will have a marvelous year!!!!

Here's to you!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

While I was on vacation at the beach (good times, good times), I had a birthday. Now, if we must get older, celebrating it at the beach is just the ticket. But, be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. So lookie what I had waiting for me when I arrived back. If there is anything that I like as much as making cards for people, it would be receiving cards. It just brightens your day, know what I mean? So, drumroll, please......

This first one is from my friend and SU! sideline, Cindy Blekas. This link here will give you the card details. She is a whiz with DSP. And the inside is just as pretty as the outside. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but she topped the cupcake with Dazzling Diamonds. And she is an ace at making bows, too. Love it!!!!

The next one is from Cindy's sister, Debbie Naylor, who just happens to be my upline. This is a WOW!!! factor card. Check out this link here to see how she did this. Pretty cool, huh? I love how she placed the bow on the corner. I think I may be CASE-ing that touch very soon.

Now, onto the card from Sherri Gough, another friend who is also my sideline. Can you tell that she knows my love of bright colors and punches? She also added some Dazzling Diamonds to the flower center to give it a little bling. This card just makes me smile...

Another friend and sideline, Debbie Williams, sent me this gorgeous card. She doesn't have a blog, but she sure needs one. I just love the colors and the satin ribbon is too die for. Did you see the little pearls on the side? Such a nice touch.

This last one is from a non-SU! friend, Rita Johnson. She made me card using a picture she took herself in her front yard. Did I mention that she is an artist? Check out the work she has on her blog --- it is amazing!!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, either by mail or by e-mail. They were all appreciated.

Now, onto my next year..............

AN ODE TO BIRTHDAYS

I love birthdays, as you can probably tell. The majority of the cards I do are for birthdays. And you must admit, whether you are looking forward to your birthday or would just rather skip that day all together, receiving a card from a friend brings a smile to your face. I like to be that smile giver. I love to hand make my smile giver tools. Sometimes a card takes me hours to perfect and, then again, sometimes it can just flow out in a matter of minutes. This card was one of the latter examples. I try to keep them simple when they have to be mailed and SU!'s DSP helps do just that. The main panel is a piece of DSP from the Sweet Pea paper pack (retired). I love this paper. The colors are great and some of the designs, like this one, can stand alone. All I did was add a piece of ribbon, a punched out label and --- wa la --- a birthday card to be proud of (or so I think). This one was done for a friend of mine that lives plumb across the country in Washington state. I hope she had a great day and at least had a little smile for her card.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TONYA!!!!

I had to make another birthday card for another friend who is turning another year older. As a matter of fact, Tonya is the one who started me on this Stampin' Up road by dragging me to a party. I'm not sure whether to thank her or not, but I will use my addiction to wish her Happy Birthday.

I used the sketch that was the challenge for the Little Debbies this past weekend. Cindy picked the sketch from here. I love the sketch and they show some great examples, too. I wanted my card to be bright and festive, so I pulled out my Sunny Day Simply Scrappin' kit and chose this DSP to help me out with color choice. The stamp set is Party Hearty and I used my markers to color directly on the rubber. Behind the cupcake, the white was too much for me, so I used my Color Spritzer to splash some color on it. I ran the outside along my stamp pad to create a "border". To get everything lined up just so, I took advantage of my Stamp-a-ma-Jig --- great tool, if you don't have one. You can't really tell by my picture, but I used the textured cardstock out of the Sunny Day kit for the Tempting Turquoise layer. It is finished up with some silver brads, ribbon and little flower buttons (out of the Playgound Designer Button set). To make the buttons look "attached", I cut thin strips of cardstock & ran it through the holes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TONYA!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day!!!

Happy First Day of Spring!!!!!!

Finally!!! I am so glad this winter is over. The first snow was pretty, but it all got pretty tiresome after awhile. And we didn't get it near as bad as our friends in Northern Virginia (Hey, Cindy B. & Debbie W.). But this weekend has restored my spirit and warmed my soul.

And Happy Birthday to Linda!!!! Today is my sister-in-law's birthday ---- but I will not tell you which one. I thought I would use one of the challenges that my Stampin' Up group (the Little Debbies) has started doing. Of course, this is not the current one, because I am always a step or two behind. But better late than never, I always say (of course I do, since I am always late). This was a sketch challenge posted last week & I just fell in love with it. Check out the link here. Here is my take on it:

I used the Sweet Pea DSP and the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt Pieces out of the Occasions Mini Catalog. The stamp set I used was Of the Earth, which is a Level 1 hostess set in the current "Big Book". The sentiment is from the Well Scripted set, also in the mini catalog (but I am really, really hoping it will make it into the next "Big Book").  It is all on a base of Pretty in Pink. Quite springy, don't cha think???

Thanks for looking & I hope everyone is having a great First Day of Spring!!!!