Celebrate Your Birthday

 This month I had a stamping class where we made Birthday Cards.  I used Best Year Ever papers from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  I just love the colors in this collection!  They are bright and cheery, just what we need this wintery, cold time of year.  I just love this card, maybe because of the colors and pretty papers, but also because of this cute little "critter" guy!  So, come on, Let's Party on with some birthday cards and a gift card holder.

This next card features more papers from the same designer collection.  I cut the papers into thin strips to resemble candles and cut out the flame using the top of the leaf from the Secret Garden thinlits!  The star cut-outs at the bottom are part of the Mini Treat Bag thinlits.  This is a quick and easy card to make if you don't have many rubber stamps.

Next up is a gift card holder to match either one of these cards.  Although there are many ways to make a gift card holder, I used the Envelope and Trim thinlit. 

Here is a photo of what it looks like on the other side.  Cute papers, right?

Let's not forget the all-important birthday cake!  This is made using a set called Big Day.  You could give this card to anyone, especially a guy that's in your life.  Sometimes it's hard to come up with a card that is fit to give to our male friends and family members.

Last, but not least is this Birthday card made with the Four Feathers stamp set and thinlits.  I love the colors in this card, the sparkle in the silver paper and how it all came together.  I used the Gorgeous Grunge set for the background and just added some strips and extra sparkle.  This card could also be used as a unisex card. 

I love to look online at different sites and on Pinterest for ideas on what to make.  Today's cards were made using ideas from Stamp with Amy K, Jan McQueen, Stamping With Sandi, Kay Kalthoff and Amy O'Neill.  

At the end of each stamping class, I always ask the ladies which card that they like the best.  This helps me to know what colors and styles of cards that people like to make.  In this class, every one of the cards got equal votes from different people.  Which one would you choose?

Eiffel Tower Frame

Remember the clock frame project that I posted in November?

Well, I offered a class to my stamping students to make this project.  If you'd like to visit that page and read more about it, you can click here.

For this new class, I took out some vintage papers and some of them had the Eiffel Tower on them.  I added another color, the Hello Honey to the soft reds and blues and let my students make their project however they liked. 



This is how my new frame turned out!  I added some more "towers" to my project to give it a cohesive Eiffel Tower look and changed up some of the embellishments and sayings. 

We had so much fun making this vintage frame.  Everyone's came out a little different depending on the papers that they chose, but they all looked amazing when they were done.

Here is a close- up of the center panel.  I wish that I had cut the papers so that the Eiffel Tower was more to the left, but I didn't think about that ahead of time.  Because I didn't want to cover up the Tower, I trimmed off part of the clock and moved it more to the right side.

 For the side panels, I added a couple of new words like Bliss and Amour to go along with the theme.  Instead of flowers as accents, I used butterflies in all of the panels.  It was fun taking out and using some of my old vintage stamp sets.

Which frame do you like more- the Clock frame or the Eiffel Tower?










 
I've never been to France, but I love things with the Eiffel Tower on them.  One of these days, I must go see it in person. 

I guess the Eiffel Tower at Disney World doesn't count, right?

Happy New Home

 This week I made some Happy New Home cards for a couple of my friends that are moving.  I saw a similar card online from The Dining Room Drawers and decided to use some sewing and painting on my card! 

So I stitched down the papers with my sewing machine for a unique look and then took out some watercolor paper and painted the "sky" color for the background of the house.  I colored in the house and cut it cut along with some clouds out to give the card a bit of dimension.  I love the happy colors on this card.

Of my friends just bought a new home with some woods in the backyard.  She said that in the summer she would like to have a fire pit and have friends over for s'mores.  The other day I saw this photo taken in Boston this winter by Fox 13's Paul Dellegatto.  I sent it to her saying that she doesn't even need to wait until summer!  Let's do some shoveling and have those s'mores in the snow.

Valentine Hearts and Baskets

 This year for Valentine's Day, I made some little baskets for each of my family members.

I used the new Berry Basket die to make the baskets and then filled them with little candies and goodies for each person.  For the girls I made vintage fabric hearts for them to hang in their rooms.  My daughter likes pink so I made her a pink heart.  I stamped little "love" messages and put those in their baskets as well.  

For my daughter-in-law, I made a peach vintage heart for her basket.  I enjoyed picking out the fabrics to make the hearts with.  I sewed assorted pretty ribbons and embellished the hearts with fancy stitches from my sewing machine.  Then I added some embellishments such as a yo-yo flower and some vintage buttons to complete the look.  The hearts can be hung or used for decoration.  

I had so much fun making them that I'm sure that I will be making more of them.  Maybe I'll make some for the spring craft fair!

Here is a close-up of the vintage heart in peach colors.  What do you think?  Shall I make more of them? 

To finish off the Valentine dinner, I baked some mini heart pies. I used pie crust as the base, cut them out with a heart cookie cutter and added some jam.  Then I topped them with another heart, brushed them with an coating and added some sugar topping.  I made some of the pies with cherry pie filling and although they were a little messier, I liked those the best!

 And yes, Lisa (my sister), I did make them myself!

Teal Valentines

Who says Valentines always need to be pink or red?  I made these Valentine cards and candy favor using Soft Sky and gray mixed in with my pinks this year.  A new trend in card-making is to add a decorated strip next to your banners.  You can use a punch out or a embossing folder.  For both of these cards I used the Happy Heart embossing folder and then trimmed them along the edges of the embossed hearts.  I got the idea for the card on the left from Cindy B at Stamps, Paper and Ink.
 

I just love the little fishy stamp from the Hey, Valentine stamp set.  I saw this idea online from Allison Okamiksu.  I added some google eyes in the glasses frame for the one fish, and it really made the card come alive!  Then I made a favor with candy hearts to match the card. 

Have you ever used colors other than pink or red for your Valentine projects?

Butterfly Cards

 One of the pretty new things in the Stampin Up Occasions catalog is the Butterflies Thinlets.  For this card I cut out a couple of butterflies, one in Pink and the other in Crumb Cake and layered them to give a shadow to my butterfly.  I also used the new stamp set, Butterfly Basics, which give the card a slight collage look to it.  I saw this pretty card online at Stamp with Sandy. 

When you are using the Butterfly die, be sure to put a piece of wax paper in between the die and the cardstock.  This makes it a lot easier to remove the butterfly pieces.

Another pretty butterfly card that I made using the same stamp set is this, So Sweet of You card.  I used the Gorgeous Grunge set for the background and then added a 3D butterfly, again with cardstock behind it for a shadow.  I saw the idea for this card from Melissa Davies. 

 When I was making the Sending Wishes card, I layered the butterfly pieces two different ways, one with the pink butterfly on top and the other using the Crumb Cake for the top layer.  Which do you like the best?

Painted Petals

 I had seen a project online that was made using the pretty designer papers from Stampin Up called Painted Blooms.  So I went down to my "craft room" and took out some 5 x 7 frames that have been waiting for just the right project to be used.

I added the fancy die cut butterfly and then a couple of tags with a saying and some embellishments.  Then I found the perfect pink ribbon to be used as a bow to finish it off.

Here is one that I made using a black frame.  It gives it a completely different look.  Which one do you like better?  

Of course, no project is complete without some cards to go with it!  I sponged onto the Irresistible Yours designer paper from the Sale-a-Bration catalog that had glossy flowers on it and then wiped off the ink.  One card has a bit more ink on it than the other.  I think I like the lighter colored one.

I wanted to make a second card using the Painted Petals stamp set, but I wanted it to look different than the first cards.  So I stamped the stems and added some punched out flowers for more of a 3-D look.  Then I decorated a little notebook to go with it.

And to finish it all off, I made a little magnet using the new stamp set, Better Than Email.  I used the same flowered paper as the notebook to give it a coordinating look.

Do you like the Painted Blooms paper projects?  What would you make using them?