Hawaiian Inspired Birthday

My inspiration for this card came from two of the challenges on splitcoast, the sketch challenge and the free for all challenge. I don't always get a chance to make cards for the challenges and I wish I could since it gets the "creative juices flowing". The only thing stamped on this card is the sentiment, all of the other elements come from the Ice Cream Parlor Paper & Accents Pack. When I saw that the free for all challenge was called "Aloha Friday", I knew the colors from the ice cream parlor pack would be perfect and once I saw the sketch challenge everything just fell into place. The card base is a standard A2 card in whisper white card stock layered with a piece of blushing bride card stock and designer paper from the ice cream parlor pack. The scallop border strip was attached to hide the seam of the designer paper. I attached the flower accents to squares of whisper white card stock and layered the white squares onto squares of card stock that were the same color as the flower accents. Using the square scallop punch, I punch out four squares in whisper white card stock and attached the flower layers. The scallop squares were attached to the card with dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap piece of whisper white card stock with melon mambo ink and punch it out using the word window punch. I added rhinestones to each of the flower centers and to the sentiment for some added "bling".

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait, Marina Mist, Blushing Bride, Ice Cream Parlor Paper & Accents Pack; Ink: Melon Mambo; Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Scallop Square Punch, Word Window Punch, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Pink Cupcakes Square

I usually have a hard time using the smaller stamp images but if I can group the images together in a cohesive way I find it much easier to work with them. For this card I stamped the cupcakes 3 times and the sentiment once and punched them out using the 1" circle punch and mounted them to 1 1/4" circles that I had punched from the pink pirouette card stock. I laid out the circles on my grid paper to determine what size to create the square and then cut the card stock as needed. The white card square is cut at 3 3/8" and the pink pirouette is cut at 3 1/2" square. I pierced the layers before I added my circle images which were mounted using dimensionals. To get the images lined up I used my grid paper as a guide.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Pink Pirouette DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Old Olive; Stamps: Darling Dots, Birthday Bliss; Other: Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Crystal Effects, Grid Paper, Dimensionals

Monochromatic & Feminine Birthday

This is another card I made for one of my co-workers. I kept this card monochromatic and feminine by using the color rose red, adding ribbon, a scallop border and a rhinestone brad. This card could easily be changed into a masculine card by changing the color to blue or green. I would also change the ribbon to a strip of card stock and instead of a scallop border either no border or torn card stock with the edges inked to age it and maybe add a tied button or plain brad to replace the rhinestone brad. The next time you have an image that is gender neutral, try experimenting with colors and various design elements to see how you can make them work to be masculine or feminine.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Rose Red DSP; Ink: Rose Red; Stamps: Block Party; Other: Scallop Border Punch, White Taffeta Ribbon, Rhinestone Brad, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Dimensionals

Masculine Birthday Bliss

Masculine cards always seem to be difficult for everyone, including me. I have found that it is best to keep things simple when making masculine cards. This card is very simple but graphic at the same time. The colors make it pop even though it is simple. The hardest thing on this card was cutting out the sentiment!

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Jersey Shore DSP; Ink: Garden Green, Brilliant Blue; Stamps: Birthday Bliss; Other: Dot Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Single Cupcake

February is a busy month for me as far as birthdays go. In addition to my daughter and grandson, I make birthday cards for all my co-workers and 5 of them have February birthdays. I try not to have repeats and/or similar cards for my co-workers and sometimes its a challenge to come up with something new and different. This card was given to a co-worker that I usually make pink cards for but I wanted to give her something different this year. I really like this cupcake stamp because it can be colored or paper pieced very easily. I decided to color it to coordinate with my background paper but I could easily have paper pieced it. The background paper is from Basic Gray and is called "Cupcake", how appropriate.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Pacific Point, Basic Gray Cupcake Pack; Ink: Black, So Saffron, More Mustard, Bashful Blue; Stamps: Wagon Full of Fun, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Pacific Point Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Dimensionals

Pirate Birthday Card

Wow, how time flies, my grandson turned 3 years old this year! Last year he loved anything to do with "Handy Manny" so I made him a tool box card with all the tools from "Handy Manny". You can see that card here, I even have a tutorial on how I made all the tools. This year he loves anything to do with pirates, so he had to have a pirate birthday party. I had already purchased the pirate birthday kit that was on the clearance rack from SU, so the decorations and invitations were basically taken care of, all I had to do was create a pirate card. I don't own the "Ahoy Matey" stamp set so I created my own pirate using SU punches and paper. To create the sword I used silver metallic paper and the map is from a sticker I found. The 3 striped flags were actually from the pirate birthday kit, (the kit included flags to create cupcake picks) all I did was cut them smaller to fit my card front. The earring was created from wire that SU used to sell. I really think he turned out cute.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Black, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Silver Metallic, Rockabilly DSP; Ink: Black, Other: Wide Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Various Round Punches, Crop-a-Dile, Heart Punch, Gold Wire, Dimensionals

Baby Card

I made this card for everyone to sign for the co-worker of mine that is due to have her baby boy soon. The cards I posted yesterday were the thank you cards I made for her and I stayed with the same jungle theme for this card. I made the card larger than the standard A2 card since about two dozen people were signing it.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery; Ink: So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi; Stamps: Animal Stories, Wild About You; Other: Scallop Rectangle Clearlits Die, Dew Drops, Chit Chat Rub-ons

Thank You Cards

A co-worker of mine will be going out on maternity leave soon and we had a baby shower for her. We all put money in to get her a gift card for Babies-R-Us and I also made her a set of 8 thank you cards. She found out she is having a boy and is doing the room with a jungle theme so I decided to make the cards to match her theme. All of these cards came together very quickly and she loved them. For each animal I made the cards slightly different but they all work together since I used the same background paper on all of the cards.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Cream Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Tall Tales DSP; Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Black; Stamps: Animal Stories, Wild About You, Just Believe; Other: So Saffron Grosgrain Ribbon, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

The Perfect Pair

I made this card to give to my sister and brother-in-law for Valentine's Day. The boxer shorts are from a SU set called "On the Line" that was discontinued several years ago but I just can't seem to part with my stamp sets. The bikini underwear were created using the tag punch. The leg openings were drawn on with a marker using a 1/2" circle that I had punched from a piece of white card stock and then I lined up the circle with the points on the tag. To create the clothesline I used some black twine and mini clothespins that I've had in my stash for years.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Going Gray, Real Red DSP; Ink: Real Red; Stamps: On the Line; Other: Pinking Heart Border Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Full Heart Punch, Tag Punch, Rhinestone, Black Twine, Mini Clothespins, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon

Cute as a Bug

This was the card I gave my 3 year old grandson for Valentine's Day along with some candy of course. Chocolate candy is his favorite with M&M's being at the top of the list so naturally that is what he got from grandma and grandpa. The card is only the size of a note card from some supplies that I've had in my stash for some time now.

 

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi, DCWV Background Paper; Ink: Black, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Love Bugs; Other: Note Cards, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Silver Brad, Stickles, Dimensionals

Love Bugs

I gave this card to my son and daughter-in-law for Valentine's Day along with a small box of Red Velvet Cake Balls. I found the recipe for the cake balls here. The recipe says that you will get 45 - 50 cake balls but I ended up with over 80. It just depends on how large or small you make them. The card is only the size of a note card. I had some blank note cards that I had purchased a couple of years ago and I'm trying to use supplies that I own before purchasing more. This is just a quick and cute card.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Black, Real Red, Real Red DSP; Ink: Black, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Love Bugs; Other: Blank Note Card, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Black Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Stickles, Dimensionals

Owl Always Love You!

I made this card for my husband for Valentine's Day after seeing this card. I changed a few things but kept the same layout. I don't have the letterpress plates or the glass glitter so I improvised using supplies I have. The glitter paper is from DCWV glitter pack and the ribbon I purchased from Michael's a couple of years ago. The large black button I found in my button box and I added the corduroy brad. I also added a small heart, another branch and the eyelet border.

Supplies Used: Paper: Black, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, DCWV Glitter Pack; Other: 2-Step Owl Punch, 2-Step Bird Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Small Heart Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Black Button, Baja Breeze Corduroy Brad, Ribbon, Tombow Adhesive, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Happy Heart Day!

I'm so far behind this month posting cards that I've made. I still have several Valentine's Day cards to post but, since the others could be used for anniversaries, I'll post them after Valentine's Day.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose DSP; Ink: Black, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Happy Heart Day; Other: Flower Brad, Dew Drops, Dimensionals

Love Letter

Although I made this as a Valentine's Day card I think it could be used for an anniversary or a wedding. Again I stayed very monochromatic with this card. For the embossed background, I used a brayer and pretty in pink ink on the embossing folder. By using a brayer, you can control the ink on the embossing folder so that it only goes on the raised images. After embossing the white card stock I sprayed it with frost white shimmer mist to give it a little sparkle. It's very subtle but I think it adds a nice touch.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, DCWV Glitter Pack; Ink: Black, Various SU Pink Markers; Stamps: Festive Four; Other: Heart Blocks Embossing Folder, Small Heart Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, 3" Scallop Circle Punch, Pink Gingham Ribbon, Heart Charm, Frost White Shimmer Mist, Dimensionals

Sweet Valentine

This is the Valentine I sent to my daughter that was included with her birthday package. She received the package and now I can post the cards. I love the vintage images in the Greeting Card Kids stamp set. I kept the card monochromatic using only white and blushing bride but of course I had have the heart red. I colored the heart using an Atyou Spica glitter pen in red.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Blushing Bride DSP; Ink: Black, Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Blush Blossom, Red Atyou Spica Glitter Pen; Stamps: Greeting Card Kids; Other: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Oval Punch, Oval Scallop Punch, Scallop Daisy Border Punch, Pearls, Dimensionals

Daughter's Birthday Card

Now that my daughter received the package I sent for her birthday, I can finally post her card. Since I can't be there to bake her a birthday cake I made her a bakery of cakes. She is going to NYC for her birthday and visiting friends and hopefully having a wonderful time. I can't believe she turned 25 this year.

I've made a card similar to this in the past but instead of cakes images they were coffee cups. You can view that card here. If you would like to view the tutorial on how to make an awning card you will find it here.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry; Ink: Black, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Birthday Bakery; Other: Word Window Punch, Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Rhinestones, Pearls, Stickles, Dimensionals