Welcome, Baby!

I made this card a while ago and never posted it so today seems the perfect time to do so. While the real card went to a co-worker's sweet baby girl, I am using it today to send virtual wishes to Jennifer McGuire and her family. Welcome to the world beautiful Lila Grace! Here's my card:

The inspiration for this card came from a Carter's onesie which I purchased as a baby gift. Love that I was able to create a card that matched the gift and so did the new mama!

For my card, I cut down my cardstock to measure 4.25 x 8.5 inches and scored it at 4.25" to make it a square card. There's something I love about square baby cards! Next, I stamped the herringbone pattern with Technique Tuesday's Storm Cloud ink. (I am so disappointed that they no longer make this perfect shade of grey ink!) For the image panel, I cut and embossed the white cardstock using a Spellbinders die. Then I stamped the elephant and sentiment using the only baby stamp set I have -- a baby BOY set! I used a masking technique for the sentiment to make it appear on two lines. I know plenty of people cut their acrylic stamps but the though of doing that makes me break out in hives! LOL! Finally, I stamped the background on a scrap, punched out the heart and adhered it using foam adhesive.

You can hop over to Jana Millen's blog to see the other cards that were made to welcome the world's newest little stamper!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Stampin' Up! (pink);

Stamps: Hero Arts for Basic Grey (Dash Pattern/Oxford): Inkadinkadoo (Baby Boy);

Ink: Technique Tuesday (Storm Cloud); Stampin' Up! (Pink Piourette);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Scalloped Squares Large); EK Success (Corner Rounder); Stampin' UP (Heart punch).

Blogging My Heart Out & A Card

The fabulous Stephanie Howell pours her heart and soul into her blog posts on a regular basis. This week, she challenged her readers to do the same.

In less than a month, I will turn 50. There. I said it. But saying it doesn't make it seem any more real. Fifty always seemed to be the age of my mother and her friends. But, now that my mother is 80, I guess that's no longer true. Maybe the fact that my mother acts much younger counts for something. Maybe. Maybe the fact that my daughter thinks I should get style advice from Seventeen magazine counts for something. Maybe. Most days, I wake up wondering how 50 got here so fast. But then there are days when I wake up and my body feels every day of it's almost 50 years. And then some!

Turning 40 was no big deal to me. I embraced my 40's. After all, those were the years where I could go out without carrying a Peter Rabbit diaper bag. They were the years where I could run to the store without getting a sitter. In my 40's I became confident enough to stand up for myself and speak my mind. They were they years when I finally realized that reading was something I did for pleasure so I didn't have to finish every book I started. (Sadly it took my 40 years to figure out that last one!)

I remember my co-worker, Elaine, who I met at my first job out of college. I was 22 and she turned 50 just a few short months after I met her. She could never say the word "fifty." Instead she stumbled over the "f" as if she head a speech impediment. It became a running joke and for the weeks leading up to her birthday, we all talked about her turning "f-f-f-f-f-f-fifty"! Now that it's my turn, I am not making any jokes!

I know I should be looking forward to my fifties. After all, these will be the years when our mortgage is paid off, college tuitions are a thing of the past, and an empty nest may mean more time for date nights and scrapping! Yes, I should be looking forward to my 50's. But, for now, I am going to relish in the fact that I still have another 25 days left before I have to check a different box on a survey, be solicited for membership by AARP, or be considered an antique by wikipedia!

If you made it this far, I will quickly share a 5-minute card i made using washi tape from Target and a Papertrey Ink stamp. Here it is:

Three strips of washi tape and a stamped sentiment. It doesn't get any simpler than that. And maybe that's why I should be looking forward to my 50s because they are the years where, just maybe, life gets a little simpler!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White);

Washi Tape: Target (solid; dot); Bella Blvd. (stripe);

Stamp: Papertrey Ink (Think Big Favorites #2);

Ink: Memento (Black)

Club CK Mother's Day Card

I don't buy my mom a Mother's Day gift. Instead, a few years ago, I decided to enroll her in Netflix. Keeping those movies coming for the year is her every-occasion gift. No more shopping for another blouse or something that she has to dust makes us both happy! It's the perfect gift for a retiree! But since I didn't have something to wrap up for her on Mother's Day, I wanted to make her card extra special! When I spotted Kim Watson's Mother's Day Card class on the Creating Keepsakes forum, I knew it would be perfect. I didn't have time to make the card "live" with Kim but there are detailed instructions to make it on your own. Here's the card:

It really is more like a min-album. I ran the twine through the tag so that it stays attached to the card when it is opened. Here's a closer look at the front panel:

Note that I didn't have my sewing machine threaded so I used a rub-on for the zig-zag stitch. For the papers, I chose a mix of old (Cosmo Cricket Everlast and Girl Friday) and new (October Afternoon Farmhouse). The tag is part of the Martha Stewart collection that is sold at Staples. Love the grey accent!

Once you untie the bow and open up it up, this is the panel you see. It's my first time using a doily and I think I am hooked. The doily was white so I antiqued it a bit with some distress ink. added the "love you" stamp, punched heart and yellow floral rub-on to the journaling card before adhering the kraft flower.

Finally, here's the inside of my mini-album/card:

I printed the photos using a Vintage Photo action in Photoshop Elements and then added some washi tape for a pop of color. Another kraft flower, more elements stickers, some stamping and a hand-cut banner finish off my project.

I thik this design would be great for graduation or anniversary cards as well!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: October Afternoon (Farmhouse); Cosmo Cricket (Everafter; Girl Friday);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink; Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday;

Ink: Technique Tuesday; Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Letters: American Crafts Thickers; Studio Calico

Misc. Embellishments: Flowers (Maya Road); Buttons (Crate Paper); Tag (Martha Stewart); Label Stickers (October Afternoon); Rub-ons (October Afternoon, Hambly) Doily (Wilton); Twine (My Mind's Eye); Chipboard (Studio Calico, Crate Paper).

Wild About Washi Tape!

So I broke out the washi tape I found in Target's office supply aisle and I am hooked! Thanks to the washi tape and the pop of color it gave, this card came together in 15 minutes! Here it is:

To create, I cut my cardstock to a standard size with the fold at the top. I cut patterned paper to measure 3 3/4" x 5" and black cardstock to measure 3 7/8" x 5 1/8. Next, I stamped my background image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. After layering the image over the black cardstock, I added the washi tape, twine and chipboard letters. Since I was mailing the card I used regular adhesive to affix this panel to the card. Here's a closer look:

I originally wrapped the twine around the card three times and knotted it. When I cut off the ends, I felt that it needed a little something else so I took the tail and made an additional knot on each of the other two lines of twine.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn;

Stamp: Hero Arts (Formula Fun);

Ink: VersaMark;

Embossing Powder: Stamp 'n Stuff

Embellishments: Washi Tape (Target); Twine (Martha Stewart)

Local Color

I am OFFICIALLY tired of Christmas! There, I said it! It's true that I LOVE Christmas. It's my favorite holiday of the year. But, working on my December Daily all Spring and then posting those pages here on my blog has really started to affect my Christmas spirit...I mean scrapping mojo. That's why this weekend, I took out the brightest papers I could find and scrapped a NON-Christmas layout. Here it is:

To create this layout, I used a sketch from Valerie Salmon's "Got Sketch?" blog. The layout also fits Kelly Goree's Old, New Borrowed & Cool challenge.

• Old: American Crafts Margarita patterned papers, flairs and rub-ons; SEI and Me & My Big Ideas letters; Little Yellow Bicycle buttons and Stampin' Up! scallop circle punch. (Yes, I really shopped my stash for this layout!)
• New: Elle's Studio Tags.
• Borrowed: Valerie Salmon's sketch.
• Cool: Colorful banner made from twine and scallop circle punch.

Journaling reads: Upon returning from our shore excursion, we came upon a group of street performers dancing the flamenco.

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper, Rub-ons, Flair Buttons: American Crafts (Margarita);

Letters: SEI (Grapefruit); Me & My Big Ideas ();

Journaling Tags: Elle's Studio;

Embelishments: buttons (Little Yellow Bicycle -- Zinnia); twine (The Twinery -- Pink Sorbet );

Tools: Stampin' Up Scallop Circle punch; Spellbinders Nestabilities (Lotus Pendants);