Birthday Reflections~

Jay's sister, the landscape architect, is having a birthday celebration this weekend, so I put together this card this morning after my morning coffee.

Finished card is A2 sized; 4.25" x 5.5"

My most creative moments are early morning compared to the late evening like so many of my partners in craft.  What time is your most creative?

V.~

Supplies:

Stamps: Reflections and Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches

Ink: Vivid! Coffee Bean, Straw and Olive, Memento Desert Sand

Paper: Neenah Natural White, Gina K Designs Chocolate

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: Corner rounder, Nestabilites Circle and Petite Scalloped Circle dies, Spiral punch, Tim Holtz clip, Tim Holtz ruler, Brown Satin ribbon, Mini brads, Distressing tool, Tim Holtz Foam Blending tool, Dimensional foam

Many Thanks~

 Thank you tins with Starbucks gift cards nestled inside.

 V.~

Supplies:

Stamps: Many Thanks from Word Salad by Paper Smooches; For You and Coffee cup images from CHF Kim Hughes sets no longer available

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Rhubarb Stalk

Paper: Neenah Natural White, Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea, Chocolate

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Other: "Band aid" tin (from my stash, origin unknown), Nestabilities Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies, Tim Holtz clip, 1" circle punch, Red eyelet, Caribbean Baker's Twine, Assorted ribbons, Dimensional foam

A Special Birthday~

Today while it was pouring buckets, here in what is usually sunny So Cal, I created this happy card for the daughter of one of my stamping friends.   She is celebrating a milestone birthday - Sweet 16.  A setback in her health has discouraged her normally upbeat spirit and her mom thought receiving cards from the stamping community might make her heart sing a little.  You can click here: 

Nothing is Impossible 

if you'd like to read a little more about her story.

The cupcake is a free digi-stamp from Paper Smooches and not something I generally use in my stamping repertoire, but Kim's cupcake image really was perfect.  I printed it at 75% scale after deciding 100% was a bit too large.  I picked up my Copics for the first time in ages to color the stripes of the cupcake liner, polka dots were added to just a few of the stripes to add interest and a tie in to the patterned paper strip.  A button cherry tied off with a bow completes the image.

I stamped "celebrate" from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler in black ink directly on the patterned paper strip.

One inch patterned paper strips of varying patterns from Jillibean Soup were used for the background. 

A pop of bright pink, a couple of staples and a spiral punched strip finish off the turquoise layer.

Supplies

Stamps: Paper Smooches

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea and Sweet Mango, , SU! Melon Mambo

Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup

Other: Nestabilities Circle and Petite Scalloped Circle dies, SU! Spiral punch, Corner rounder, The Twinery Pink Sorbet Baker's Twine, Pink button, dimensional foam

Spotted Owl and Twine~

A special young lady in our family is turning 15 soon and we are celebrating this weekend.  When I went to bed last night I was thinking about what to do for her card and a design like this popped into my head.  Luckily, I remembered it this morning! :)

Working with supplies I had on hand I created this fun card for her using patterned paper and die cuts. Another no stamping project.

The patterned paper was mounted to cardstock to give it a little more heft before die cutting the center out.  The scalloped ring was made by nesting a circle die and a scalloped die together and running through the die cut machine. 

A tip for keeping your dies in place is to use a post it note, just be sure the adhesive part is holding the die in place on your cardstock.  It is thin enough to not cause any problems and there is no residue left on your cardstock. Prior to seeing Stephanie from The Stamps of Life using a post it in one of her videos, I was using small pieces of tape.  A post it is much easier! Thanks, Stephanie!

 A baker's twine double bow is tied through the center cut out and the edge of the panel.  The panel is popped up on the base using lots of dimensional foam.

The numbers and arrow are cut from chipboard scraps and covered with the reverse side of the patterned paper.  They are adhered to a smaller die cut circle and a button added before adhering to the the center cut out space with dimensional foam.

Finished card is 5.5" x 5.5"

I edged the envelope flap with a small strip of another pattern from the same patterned paper collection.

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Pure Luxury White and Turquoise Sea by Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: Spotted Owl Soup by Jillibean Soup

Other: Nestabilities Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies, Cuttlebug Red Tag Alpha and Arrows

Lime green button, Caribbean and Denim Baker's Twine by The Twinery from Can You Digi It

I just recently hopped on the Baker's Twine train after a cute little spool sample was given to me at the CHA dinner in January.   I have seen it used for some time but I just wasn't quite sure about it, after all, I have tons of ribbon and other threads, and I wasn't really crafting much.....

Well, that darn cute little spool of Caribbean baker's Twine convinced me that I needed to make a purchase.  After waiting a week or so, contemplating, looking around at the different sources for the twine, I came back to Michelle and her store Can You Digi It because she was so kind to hand out samples.  And I just loved the teeny little wooden spools!  I just don't need a huge roll and didn't want it loose, so her packaging of 7 yards on a spool was the perfect fit for me.  She does sell the huge rolls, as well, if you are so inclined.  What I love about the small spools is that she has labeled an end with the color, brand and website.  I ordered one of each color and they now reside in a canning jar on my ribbon shelf.  The only thing I added to keep them from unraveling was small translucent hair bands around each spool.

Happy Wednesday!

V.~