Happy Birthday Steph!!!

Time for a birthday girl's best wishes!!!  Hope you enjoy this BIG Beautiful Blossom and the new pretty Rumple Ribbon from the Spring Collection, and have yourself a FABULOUS day!!

 These great big roses are so flat they are perfect for cards and nothing says ' Have a Great Birthday' like Rumple Ribbon.

Happy Birthday Christine!!

Kanban are some of my most hoarded craft supplies and I pulled them out for Christine here!  I layered a damask from Kanban an one of their awesome toppers to start this birthday card for a fellow LoveBug team member.
Then, I added a bit of Momma's Mesh on the top to bring some yellow and brighten that black.  A couple silk leaves (I learned from Youtube to wrap the stems around a paint brush - really adds interest)  then a Tim Holtz rosette with a pretty cut out from the collection  Then, I needed just a touch to break up that rosette/leave area - rumple ribbon in simply black to the rescue!.
Hope you have a great day, Christine!!!

Stop over to the LoveBug page to see my co-team members beautiful creations, too!

Pinteresting...

Yet again. I used a card from pinterest as the inspiration to make a birthday card for this weekend.

I used My Mind's Eye for the peach/orange layers and Miraposa is that butterfly everyone knows. And goodies from my two favorite etsy shops - all the trim and that amazing black half back pearl trim from Paper Bag Lady. Those big amazing velvet BoBunny flowers? Closeoutgirl Stampin up punches and stamps & gold smooch Martha's butterfly punch Recollection's black flourish and big pearl brad from the bridal section Gold brad from My Mind's Eye The inside sentiment is from My Favorite Things

Here is the card that inspired me tonight:

Repurposing a punch

This oval punch set form Stampin up is usually used horizontally with a sentiment. I

love how they fit nice and even and give such a polished look to a card. Well, on Pinterest (you know...my new obsession) I saw a card very similar to this - and I love it!! So cool to let that punch work in another way. Pocket Silhouettes fit just right. Four of these for OWH came together quickly.

Pretty Triple Time

This triple time stamping style just doesn't get old for me. Stampin Up essential elements set used here. And the fork technique to tie the gray sheer bow (found at the dollar store!) Six of these in the OWH box.

Pretty Toile

Pretty toile is never wrong, and this strip from recollections layered nicely and a simple sentiment make for a great card for any occasion.

Sparkly Cupcakes

I used sketch #2 from Operation Write Home's blog. If ever the mojo gets stuck - head over here, pick a number and your favorite paper and just make a card. I used the amazing stamps from Kanban Fairy Cakes and the sentiment is from Stampin Up. The papers are from a coordinating loose paper pack from Recollections. I didn't snap a photo, but I ran the SU cupcake roller on the inside which I lined with white. A very simple Copic coloring, mostly because I didn't have enough to shade it properly and paper piecing for the bow. To finish it off I swirled some pink gel pen in the contours of the frosting. Ribbon is also SU. Four of these for the OWH box today as I hear my shipper needs 'every day' she can send right now.

Lovely Trees

Lovely as a tree – what an aptly named stamp set from Stampin Up. A girlfriend loaned this to me and she is coming to visit soon. She will probably take it back with her so I need to get busy!! This one is simple, pretty in blue or green. These will make a nice more masculine or at least not overly feminine card for OWH. I made two of the green and four of the blue.

Masked Purple

We all have a style that is predominant in what we create.  Though, I am willing to try lots of new techniques and products, I am, at heart, a monochromatic-low-fuss-crafter.  This card started with a 3x3 square of white.  I blocked off the edges and inked the entire surface with Stampin Up's Perfect Plum.  Next, with black, because I wanted it to stand out - I added the beautiful flower from the Creative Images set.

Some simple layers, seam binding from the bag lady on etsy, a quick sentiment and viola a super simple - super pretty card.  I made 4 of these for the Operation Write Home box.

Mom's birthday card

Here is a card I made for my mom’s birthday.  When you have a card maker in your family, the card you make for them is a bit daunting.  So I employed Google!  This card uses the Stampin UP Nature Walk set, which is my favorite du jour, for sure.

As with most easel cards the top portion is scored halfway – at three inches here.  And the card base is only applied to that lower third.  The designer paper is from SU and made a good base.  The next layer is a bit of my own design.  I used the bee, bird cage and flower from the stamp set.  I stamped each one randomly on the cream card stock.  To make it feel more designer paper – ish, after each set, i.e. I stamped all the bird cages with versa mark then brushed on a shade of perfect pearls.  Next I stamped the bees and brushed a second color of PP, finally the sprig that I covered with an olive green PP.  To set it I used a liberal spray of Smooch spray.  To finish it off I added some Tim Holtz tea dye to the edges.  I just hated to cover it all up, it was so cute!

The bird is embossed and stamped in green on a scrip background that also got some tea dye to the edges.  That is layered on the reverse side of the base DP.  A nice big satin ribbon helped ground that deliberately off center bird.  One pretty gold flower from Karla’s Etsy trim and a great smooth stone added to the center.  I don’t often get to use my big lush ribbon roses on cards, but since this one doesn’t have to go through the mail- I thought this was just the perfect finish to the bottom of this card.

Since easel cards show off the inside, I decided to bling it up.  My mom loves sparkly, what better card stopper than that thick shiny embellie from Michael’s?  The sentiment is stamped on cream with some Tea Dye, layered on chocolate chip, layered on a generous portion of white core paper.  I love to use that paper in an embossing folder and then run the emery board to show some of the white.  Of course, a bit more gold bling on the sentiment so it didn’t look so lonely.  All of that topped on a pearly finished green with some corner detail.