Birthday Card - for Betsy

Yesterday was also Betsy's birthday - I work with her and am mentored a lot by her. I made a card, but the photos are not so good. Here are two images - only change is whether the flas was on or not. Neither captures the card very well.

Birthday Card - for Pam

Today my friend and Mexican train buddy, Pam, turns one year older =) No one needs to count the years anymore. I am sad because while I used to play Mexican Train with a great group of ladies from my Newcomers social club every month, I now work on game days =( Hopefully, we will be able to move game day and I can join the group once again!

Here is the card I sent to Pam:

Lois' Birthday

Today is my friend Lois' 48th birthday! I am now making these Tillandsia plant & crystal combinations --- love them. Tillandsias are also known as air plants - they do not need soil so are great to hot glue to things - such as this amethyst crystal:

I am using this card to send my birthday wishes:

This bow is made of a very shear blue ribbon.

Embroidered Dog

This embroidered card was made using a rather stiff floss - almost the texture of dental floss - so it makes the card 3Dimensional. I used a free pattern from the web.

I am giving this card to Lois, my physical therapist. She is going through a lot right now and I just wanted to give her a card as a little pick-me-up!

Birthday Card - for Ashli

Ashli and I have been friends since about 10th grade, although I met her in 8th - in middle school when my life sucked. Ashli was a part of the in-crowd; she was a cheerleader and Homecoming Queen. I was not in that crowd but was friends with some of the people in it - Ashli being the one whom I knew the best and liked the most. The in-crowd at my high school was affectionately knows as the "Bitch Clique." When they were all together, they sort of terrorized the school. It was a group of about 9 girls - mostly the cheerleaders - who all stuck together to put down and intimidate the other girls in the class. The popular boys did not have nearly the power or influence as these girls!

Ashli turns 40 on the 23rd!

Birthday Card - for Scott

This is the year my school friends and I all turn 40! Oh my goodness - are we really THAT old????

I am sending this card to a good friend from high school who now lives in Florida - Scott. Scott and I have had a weird up and down relationship from the get go. I met him in 8th grade and we went to a summer science school program between 8th and 9th grades together. We worked on a mouse & maze project - and wound up with a dead mouse that we buried in the front yard of the junior high in Petaluma!

Then, we were in almost every class together in high school. We were "just" friends but he wanted a whole lot more.Scott worked at McDonalds and totally feed my obsession with and love of Happy Meals - back when a Happy Meal was only offered sometimes - usually in conjunction with a movie release. I actually spent most of high school dating his best friend, but it was Scott and I who went out on dates. We use to go get all dressed up and head to San Francisco for dinners at fancy restaurants.

He turns 40 on the 22nd - Happy Birthday, Scott!

Mom Project - Card #20

This notecard is actually 3 dimensional --- the window opens to reveal the entire outside picture. The cat is glued down onto the card picture, sitting on the ledge. But the side of the window are creased and cut so that they can swing open --- it is cool.

So... this is the final card for the card holder -- you may notice there were 20 cards and only 17 openings, I sort of got carried away and couldn't cut it down =)

Mom Project - Card #19

Here is a sympathy card with the sentiment: "When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure." I get tired of just saying with my deepest sympathy or variations of that - this seems more uplifting.

For the card, the heart border punch is Martha Stewart; and I used Stampin' Up!'s half round punch to make the "holders" for the sentiment piece. I like this punch and the way it can look.

Tomorrow is the final card....

Mom Project - Card #18

Today's card is a little notecard that was to be accented by a square pewter decorative brad. I have a zillion of these brads and am trying to incorporate them into projects! Since I make all of my mom's cards flat (I prefer "lumpy" cards); I used a small stamp - from a Stampin' Up! set - to set off the accent.

The ribbon I used is a black lace from Stampin' Up! -- love this ribbon!

I embossed the pink cardstock using my Big Shot, then simply punched 1" squares from the black and pink cardstock to layer them and used 1/2" squares to set off the stamp.

Mom Project - Card #17

This thank you card is a horizontal split-front card - the opening lies along the center of the front --- the white square (which has a 3D flower punched on it) actually is glues only to the top half of the card and it opens up, to reveal a larger writing area inside. I like the design for when there is going to be more to say to the recipient than the usual "thanks!"

Mom Project - Card #16

This sympathy card takes advantage of a Creative Memories punch - the paisley punch, which I uncovered the other day. I like this punch and my mom loves paisley so I combined the punch with the paisley embossing folder I have from Sizzix.

Once again the picture is not great (this was a scan on my printer rather than a photo using my camera setup) but the card is actually a blue "Starry Night" paper --- I love this cardstock, it is midnight blue with specks of white scattered about reminding me of a star-filled night. I use it often and am running out =(

The sentiment - "In this time of sorrow, know that I am thinking about you...and that I care" might have been better if I had made it an outside/inside type ---- with the last part written on the inside; however, I have an aversion to inside sentiments. I need to get over that.

Mom Project - Card #15

This card does not show up very well - well it does not show up at all, really - but it is a white on white on white. Again, with a butterfly theme.

I got the idea for the shape of the edge of the card from Stampin' Up!'s new edgelits - but again I used my Cricut for the cutting.

There are pearls on the body of the butterflies and the white paper is shimmery in places.

"Sincere Good Wishes" was on a card I received recently and I really liked the sentiment.

Mom Project - Card #14

This birthday card is done with a lot of iridescence. The white paper is shimmery; the pink paper is shimmery and the solid butterflies are punched out of shimmery cardstock =)

The solid butterfly's are punches - I think it is a Martha Stewart punch. And I printed the background image on the paper (I do not buy stamps if I can just download the images and print them onto paper). The sentiment IS an actual stamp - a wooden block one with no indication of who made it.

Mom Project - Card #13

For this card, I again used my Cricut to cut the "Spellbinders"-type shapes ---- used a pink combination for the layering and a digital stamp.

Mom Project - Card #12

Finding cards that work for men is always hard - yet you do not need many of them usually, especially in my family --- there are very few men left! So, as I was cutting these shapes in brown for a masculine birthday card, I decided to make a set that were thank you cards, also. So that is what we have here.

Mom Project - Card #11

Life is a kaleidoscope of colors: intricate... unexpected... Beautiful.

I saw this saying on another card and just loved it. I now wich I had done the card in a variety of soft colors, not just my seafoam green quad colors, but I still like the card. Used my Cricut to do the "spellbinders" shapes.

At some point I will put up a tutorial about how I do these --- I use 3 program (PAINT.net, Inkscape and Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0) to capture just about any image and make it inot a cut file for my Cricut (an SVG).

Mom Project - Card #10

This is a really basic card that showcases Stampin' Up!'s products. I used their "Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die," the "Sincere Salutations" stamp set and even added some "Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint" sheen to the card (of course this is not visible in the picture).

To use the shimmer paint as a mist, I took an empty spray bottle, added a mixture of about 30% rubbing alcohol and 70% plain bottled water (maybe 1 Tbs of alcohol and 2 Tbs of water) then shook in about 5 drops of the shimmer paint. Once you shake it REALLY well, it works as a Glimmer Mist very well. Each time you use it you have to shake it - HARD - because the shimmer paint settles. But from one bottle of the shimmer paint, I have a lifetime supply of glimmer mist (unlike Tattered Angels really expensive mists). Any shimmer-y paint can work as a mist using this method --- even acrylic paints! Just remember to add the alcohol so the liquid evaporates on your paper more quickly.

Mom Project - Card #9

This get well soon card is done all in shades of blue --- I absolutely love this swirly ribbon but never think a card is "good enough" or "special enough" to use it on. I realized the insanity of this and have begun to use the ribbons I so enjoy; albeit a little at a time - you will notice I did not make a bow or use a whole lot - just enough for an accent.

My mom loves butterflies, so they keep reappearing on this card project!

Mom Project - Card #8

This another Double Dutch Gatefold card - this one just a note card: no sentiment. The top opens up and the bottom section opens like a double door - It provides a lot of space for writing/decorating.

Mom Project - Card #7

I made this card in two colors because I often think a card is good but then it does not go with the person due to the color combination. So here she had a choice in the color to send.

Personally, I prefer the green one.