You've Heard of Christmas in July...

But how about the 4th of July in December? Funny twist, I know. Let's just say I am a little late posting my Fourth of July cards. Anyway... nothing wrong with spreading some patriotic spirit in the middle of winter! Enjoy!

Dreaming of Cupcakes

All the dieters of the world probably spend their days dreaming of cupcakes and other sweet treats. I know I do! I couldn't think of a more perfect way to say Happy Birthday than to let someone know its okay to indulge on their special day and give in to temptation! Life is all about enjoyment, right?

front of card

inside of card

Image from Riley and Company. Sentiments from Hero Arts.

We're Off to See the Wizard...

Being from Kansas, I can't help but love the Wizard of Oz, so when Riley and Company came out with their Wizard of Oz Riley Moose stamps, I just had to have them! My first Riley in Oz project was a photo tray I made for my friend's birthday. Her daughter is currently in a theater production of the Wizard of Oz, so it was a perfect and very timely gift.

As you can see I used all of the main characters and threw in a few extra surprises. As mentioned above, all stamped images and sayings are from the Riley in Oz collection from Riley and Company. All images were colored with Copic Markers and have a touch of Stickles glitter. I left a few of the slots blank so that my friend can add pictures of her daughter in costume.

A closer look...

The red slippers are my FAVORITE! These were made using red glitter paper and the Forever Young Cricut cartridge! I want some of these for myself!

Glenda the Good Witch is pretty in pink and full of sparkle!

Every story needs a villain!

Don't we all feel like this sometimes?

You just have to love Toto! This little guy was cut from the Everyday Cards Cricut cartridge.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with food, family, and friends! I certainly enjoyed spending the holiday with my family and giving thanks for everything I am so blessed to have. To keep the spirit of Thanksgiving going throughout the weekend, I thought I would share the Thanksgiving cards I created for my loved ones. All cards were created using the Hero Arts Thanksgiving stamps.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Outdoor Family Fun

The great thing about the Bo Bunny chipboard albums is that they provide a completely blank canvas that can be creatively styled to fit any theme, hobby, occasion, or person. My friend Brenda is the mother of two boys. She, her husband and her sons love to be outdoors. They live on a lake and go fishing together a lot and they often take family camping trips. For her birthday I wanted to give her a gift that she could use to fit those many pictures she already has. I covered the FAMILY album with different outdoor/fishing/camping patterned papers. Then added outdoorsy colored ribbons to the 3 rings and many fishing-related 3D embellishments, stickers and quotes to the pages to add character to the album. She now has a place that truly reflects her family where she can put some of her treasured family pictures.

Air Mail

 
I am admittedly a sucker for the Riley and Co. moose stamps. With a pilot for a husband, I just could not resist the Airplane Riley stamp. This is probably one of my favorite stamps, as it fits our lives so well, and it is versatile in that because the banner is empty, you can make it fit any occasion! This particular card is a thank you card. The stamped image was colored with Copic markers.

Happy Halloween!

I had so much fun making these Halloween cards for my nieces and nephews. Given that Halloween is only one day a year, I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on a stamp. I decided to buy only my favorite stamp and see if I could make two different cards. Though these cards are very similar, I am pretty happy with them. I colored the stamped images with my Copic Markers and then went over them with varying colors of stickles to add some sparkle.

I was really excited about trying two new products. On the top card, I used my new Crop-a-dile to put in the pumpkin-shaped eyelets. This is one of my absolute favorite tools. It is great for eyelets, brads, snaps and just general hole punching.

On the second card, I used the clear stickles to create a spider web and then, to give it dimension, I used the tiny dew drop jewels to give the appearance of a web in the morning light.

News-worthy Love

Shabby Chic was the style in mind when creating this card. I started with a basic pink card stock and used the Tattered Angels glimmer mist in pink and yellow to add a textured look to the background. The love tags were made using a stamped image that I cut apart into individual tag shapes. To keep with the shabby chic motif I used brown distressed ink around the edges to give the appearance of old newspapers. I finished each tag off with a eyelet and ran a string through to give a hanging look. To finish off the card I added the pearl and lace accent ribbon and then added the worn news print flower to correlate with the tags.

Beary Happy Birthday

Two cards, one image. I had so much fun coloring the first card, I decided to try it again. My husband was happy to see that stamps can be used more than once!!!! :-) The first card is an all purpose card that could be used for kid birthdays, boy or girl. The second is geared more towards a lady with the pink and the purple. The great thing about Copic Markers is that this can be colored to fit anyone's personality.

Birthday Wishes

Now if these little bunnies aren't just the cutest things, I don't know what is! I couldn't resist this stamp when I saw it on sale, and yet it was one of the many things I bought, not knowing what I was going to use it for! I came home really just wanting to color the image with my new Copic Markers. But once it was colored I found the Birthday Wishes stamp, and alas a birthday card emerged! The sentiment couldn't have been more PERFECT for the image!

At Last!!!!

Okay, life has finally slowed down enough (if only for 15 minutes) for me to blog my niece's final invitation choice. Like any true women (she's 10) she wasn't satisfied with the options she had, so she decided to customize her invites. Lauren chose 2 of the girls from 2 different invitations, and wanted me combine the 2 onto 1 invite. Now the funny thing is, the patterns and colors weren't an exact match, so I had to rework it a little bit to keep everything in sync. And as much as I would love to take credit for the awesome font choice, that was all my sister's doing. I left the invites for her to finish while I was on vacation. I thought this turned out pretty well. Lauren's goal was to channel Twilight and she thought these two girls looked like Bella and her friend. I am just going to take her word on that.... :-)

Sassy in Stripes

Last, but not least; the final edition to Lauren's birthday invite collection. This was one of my personal favorites. I loved the use of the different patterned papers in stripes and circles and the brown and pink color palette. Will this be the invite she chooses... ? (Oh, and you guessed it! This was made using the Forever Young Cricut cartridge!)

Pretty in Purple

Here is another invite in the Lauren's Birthday 2010 line. :-) Not a lot going on with the sample, but the pink space was left for the invitation wording. The girl was cut from the Forever Young Cricut cartridge. I added little jewels to the clasp of her purse and the center of her flower to make them pop. The final invitation will be revealed soon...

Fashion Diva

This sassy gal was my absolute FAVORITE! I chose a green, blue and purple striped print paper for this, and then found the Bazzil cardstock paper that matches. I had made several of the girls from this Forever Young Cricut cartridge, but had yet to use any of the accessory pieces, so I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate those. As you can see, I made four squares, alternating with the green and dark purple and then cut the accessories to fit in the boxes. I was able to tie the patterned paper back in with the shoes, which I might add, I would love to have in my own closet! Keep watching to see if this card was a winner for the birthday invites...

Simply Sweet...

Now this card is not a favorite of mine by any means. Tried to add flourishes, but they didn't turn out so well... However, since the idea of these was to show my niece examples of what her birthday invites could look like and to give her many different options to choose from, I went ahead and put this one on display. This invite was also created using the Forever Young Cricut cartridge.

Pretty in Pink

This week I will be featuring invitation samples that I created for my nieces birthday party. This one was an overall favorite with the adults, but not my 10 year old niece. Stay tuned later in the week to see how she customized the invitation samples to create her dream invite!
This invitation was created using the Forever Young Cricut Cartridge. I used a two different colors of the pink Bazzil cardstock, one for the upper part of the dress, and one for her bottom ruffle. I dry embossed the bottom half of the card with dots and added a pink printed paper from The Paper Studio to the top. I split the middle with an elegant plack ribbon to tie in the black of the mannequin. A paper punch and a Hero Arts You're Invited stamp finished it off.

Can you relate? I can!

Thought this card was a perfectly humorous way to celebrate a female birthday, especially the birthday of a chocolate lover! I loved the vintage patterned papers in contrasting patterns, but coordinating colors. All of this on a black mat, really popped. This card is sure to bring a smile to the faces of women everywhere!

Sophie's Spa Day

My mom treated my sister and I to a mini-spa day this summer. We had so much fun and it was a first for all of us together, so I ran right home to create a thank you card for my mom. I used the Riley and Co. Sophie Spa stamp to create this card. I added some glitter to make the water sparkle and added some little pearl earrings to create a more glamorous look for Miss Sophie.

A Stylin' Shower

So when your oldest, dearest friend gets married, it's only natural to throw a shower. My mom and I wanted this shower to be special and for her to know she is loved, so I was careful to create the perfect invitations and favors that were personalized with her wedding colors and style. Her colors are coral and black, which couldn't be more beautiful together, and worked well for paper crafts! Using the "Tie the Knot" Cricut cartridge, I cut a dress out of white glitter cardstock, then pop dotted it to the card. To finish off the seam between the patterned paper and coral cardstock, I used mini-pearls.
I also created a tag using the same papers and a matching zebra print ribbon, as a way to display the bridal registry information. This created a drop-in-your-purse reminder for shopping convenience.

As party favors for the guests, I created these favor boxes, also using the Tie the Knot Cricut cartridge. It was hard to find just the right size, but they turned out well and worked great with a little take home treat inside.

And of course, every good card maker has to go through trial and error to find the invitation that will look the best. Below is one of my favorites, but in the end, it didn't make the cut.

Hobby Trees for Father's Day

For lack of a better term I have dubbed today's entries "Hobby Trees". I have a dad and a step-dad with very different hobbies and interests. 

 My dad is a sucker for do-it-yourself projects and so it goes with out saying he loves TOOLS or maybe its the other way around! Either way, when I saw the tiny tool stamps I knew that putting them in the tree would help to create a great Father's Day card for him!

My step-dad is a sports nut. More specifically he is a KU (University of Kansas) sports FAN-atic! So in honor of him and his interest, I used the various sports balls in the tree to create a card that was perfect for him.

Now you can put about anything in these trees, its all about finding the tiny stamps and the right theme. I shop at Stamper's Ink for my little stamps as they have quite a great selection. The tree and the little stamps I use are by Judith. Again, lots of different options, themes and variety to pick from!

Circles!

Lately I have been playing around with circles! Circles are a fun way to add accents, but can be hard to cut! :-) For a Father's Day card I used a striped paper as a background over a brown mat. I was lucky enough to find a coordinating paper with circles already in the design, so I simply cut around several of the circle designs and overlapped them on the card in a unique eye catching design. Of course the covered chipboard letters finish it off.

Now believe it or not, there is a better way to cut those circles! You guessed it; it's the Cricut! Cutting all these circles did take quite a bit of paper changing to cut them in different coordinating papers. So while I had the machine going, I cut several more from each paper to use for a rainy day. Now I have a cute circle card, and lots of scrap circles ready to use when the need arises!