Husband Has a Birthday Coming Up!

My husband celebrates his birthday on Groundhog's Day.  Last year, I made him a cute little Copic-colored groundhog card.  I have covered a lot of his hobbies for birthdays and Father's Day in years past, so, I had to put on my thinking cap to come up with a theme I had not used before.  I do realize that some year, I will have used them all, but in the meantime. . .  

I've had several Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp sets involving Retro transportation themes, and I've wanted to use them for a long time.  I thought this was the year to do it!  Before I began really focusing on John's card, I happened to see a really feminine card on Pinterest using a little piece of "notebook" paper torn from a spiral tablet with butterflies and flowers.  Those lovely nature items, though beautiful on this card, would not do for a man, of course, but the torn notebook paper stuck in my mind, and my creative juices began to flow.

Throughout our long married life (we celebrated our 50th this year!) whenever we travel, whether it be via car or our motorhome, John always keeps track of his mileage, how many miles to the gallon he's getting, what's the cost in one area of the country vs. others, etc.  First, I thought I'd do a notebook page entitled Travel Log with gas mileage calculations jotted down.  Then, last night in a half-awake state, I thought, "I know, his log will be a entitled, Road Trip to a Birthday! and its notes would involve the use of 365, as in 365 days in a year to each birthday, traveling one mile per day, gas mileage for the car, etc.  My stamps chosen had a retro 1950's gas attendant, a Route 66 road sign, and it also had a tire tread stamp that I thought would dress up my notebook page.  

Next, came the search for just the right paper.  I, of course, wanted paper that would lean toward a masculine look, and I wanted it to be colorful.  After a bit of time, and making quite a mess, I chose the star paper in dark charcoal, red, golden yellow, and white, and the rest of the design flowed easily from there.  I hope John likes his card. . .it looks like it came from a late 1940's or early 1950's magazine!

And, the inside view:

Recipe:  Stampin' Up cardstocks: Basic Black, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Whisper White.  Pattern:  Queen & Co. - Magic Film-Stars.  Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous: Road Trip.  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black.  Stampin' Up punch: Spiral Border. Size: 5-1/2" x 6".  Inside: EK Corner Pumch: Victorian Frame Corner Slot (modified). 

Thinking of You. . .Get Better Everyday!

My brother's wife, and my sister-in-law, recently had surgery.  All reports are that everything went very well.  She is recovering nicely and has even returned to work part-time.  She does have several months of further medical procedures, so it will be awhile before she is totally back to where we would like to see her.

I have to tell you, since Christmas, I have been slow to get back in the cardmaking saddle, and I seem to be running behind with everything.  Just so is Diane's get well card, which will now be a thinking of you and continue on the road to recovery card.  I will try to be better about getting a little card dropped in the mail throughout the coming months as well!

So, I'm sitting here at my craft table and what to do?  I started surfing the Pinterest "network" to see what might inspire me.  I thought I'd like to do a gatefold card or something a bit more interesting.  I remembered seeing ones that used an interlocking closure with nested layers of framelits, but couldn't remember how that was done.  I did a search on various sites for ideas, and found numerous cards and ideas.  I liked the look of using the Stampin' Up Labels framelits better than most other shapes.  My search also jarred a memory, way back when, of seeing a card done with music paper in pinks and blacks. . .a lovely combination.

I made my card using the interlocking Labels framelits as shown on one of the Pinterest cards found.  Away I went, colors and ideas in hand.  When I finished, it looked really great when closed, but was difficult to open.  I felt like I was going to tear the cardstock when trying to open it.  I figured if I felt that way, Diane would be afraid to read the verse inside for fear of ruining it.  Not good!   

I decided the card would look just as good with a flap-type closure, and I have actually made this style in the past several times, but without nested die-cuts.  I did a little cutting on my third pink layer and a little gluing.  It now has two bottom die-cut layers cut through the middle and attached identically on each side of the card front and meeting in the center.  The two smaller top layers are adhered to the cardbase only on the right side and are loose on the left side forming the closure flap over the center gatefold.  

To finished off my card and fussy it up a bit, I added some elegant butterflies using several types and sizes with a vellum overlay on floral stamped butterflies and pearls.  I was pretty pleased with the finished product.

And a peak at the inside complete with verse.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up papers: Pink Pirouette cs, Basic Black cs, Very Vanilla cs, Vellum, Modern Medley dsp.  Stampin' Up Stamps: A Little Greeting (sentiment), Papillon Potpourri (butterfly underlays).  Stampin' Up Ink: Pink Pirouette.  Memento: Tuxedo Black.  Stampin' Up Dies/ Punches:  Labels framelits, Elegant Butterfly.  Martha Stewart Punch: Three Butterflies.  Stampin' Up Pearls.  Inside: EK punch: Victorian Corners.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

Another Wee Niece Has a January Birthday!

As mentioned earlier in the month, I have two birthday nieces in January, and they are both in the same family!  My second little niece is going to be two this year!  I made her new sister a baby card earlier this month as well, though she was born in September.  (I was a tad late welcoming her to the world.)  This new little sister got a cute little giraffe card, and while searching for just the right giraffe for that card, I came across this pack of zoo animals going to a party.  I thought it would be just right for Paisley's second birthday!

My method for coloring my digital images is to find the paper first that I think will go with my digital image, and then, the coloring seems to fall in place.  So, I settled on this cute glittery polka dot paper in pastels, and chose to bring out the pinks in the paper since the card is for a wee girl.  

I just bought the Stitched Curved Rectangle STAX from My Favorite Things, and knew the largest would work out perfectly for cutting out my little animals.  I was super happy to see that my large corner punch fit the curves on the rectangles perfectly to use on an underlay mat.  I also recently bought some Cottage Cutz word dies that I had been dying to get my hands on, so, I was equally anxious to try out the happy birthday words on Paisley's card.  I hope Paisley finds her card as much fun to look at, as I had fun making it.

And the inside:

Recipe:  Paper - SU: Whisper White cs, Strawberry Slush cs.  Darice: Pastels Patterned cs, DCWV: Dots, Stripes, and Plaids Stack.  MFT die:  Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX.  Martha Stewart Large Corner Rounder.  Stampin' Up Punch: Scallop Edge Border.  Cottage Cutz Word dies: Happy, Birthday.  Digital image: unknown.  Copic marker coloring.  Queen & Co. Pink Twinkle Goosebumps.  Stash: 7/8" Pink Satin Sheer ribbon.

Welcome to My Newest Great Niece!

My little niece, Adelyn, was born at the very end of September, and I fully planned to get a card made and sent off with a gift right away, because I so love making baby cards!  Somehow, here it is in the middle of January and I'm just finishing her card now!  Yikes. . .what happened???

Some months back (imagine that), I decided I wanted to make a baby card with a little giraffe on it.  First, I was going to use Stampin' Up's Zoo Babies, but then I saw a card on Pinterest with a cute little digital image giraffe that was paper pieced.  I tried to find that giraffe, but the card was made about four years ago, and the company was no longer in business.  Just the other day, I did a Google search for giraffe black and white illustrations, and that search found me many cute giraffes to choose from.  I love, love this little girl giraffe that I chose, and when I found the papers that I ended up using, I knew just what I would do with my coloring for this cute little creature!  I'm pretty please with the end result, and I hope my niece enjoys her baby's little card as well.  I'm going shopping tomorrow for a gift card to tuck inside for something that's just right for Baby Girl Adelyn.

Card inside greetings:

Recipe:  Stampin' Up cardstocks: Whisper White (base), Daffodil Yellow, Pretty-in-Pink (ret.).  K&Co.: Susan Wright Spring Blossom Specialty Pad.  Spellbinders die: Romantic Rectangles. Giraffe Digital image: Thingkid.com Coloring Page.  Copic markers.  Elmer's Craft Bond Spray Adhesive.  Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  WRMK Corner Deco Chomper.  Stash: organdy scallop ribbon/ yellow glitter heart button.  Ribbon tonal color change with Copic RV-11.  Handmade Fishtail Flags with computer-sentiment - Tempus Sans ITC 14 Bold.  (Inside: WRMK Corner Deco Chomper.  EK Medium Scallop Corner punch.)   Size: 6" x 5-1/2."

Belated Wishes Little Niece #1's January Birthday!

Two of my nieces, who are sisters, have birthdays in January.  The oldest is first, and she celebrated her sixth birthday.  I had in mind to make a birthday card with balloons on it.  I don't have any dies to cut out balloons, so I decided to use my Spellbinder Ovals to imitate a balloon and found a good idea on Pinterest of using the owl's feet from the Stampin' Up Owl Builder Punch for the balloons "blow-up valve."  What a great idea. . .it worked perfectly!

I have seen numerous cards that have tied balloons to a bicycle die cut.  I thought it would be a great idea to tie my birthday balloons to the handle bars of the old-fashioned, penny-farthing bicycle from Stampin' Up's 2014 SAB Feeling Sentimental stamp set.  For some reason, finding just the right papers for my card became my next challenge.  After much indecision, I finally settled on October Afternoon's Cakewalk birthday papers for the major portion of the card's designer papers.  

I am pretty happy with the way this little card turned out, but just after I finished creating the card front, I realized the card will be late.  Evidentally, I entered the wrong date for Taylor's birthday in my date book.  This forced me to come up with just the right inside birthday verse acknowledging and sending belated birthday wishes.  I hope Taylor likes her finished card inside and out!  (Hmmm...do you suppose that's where the phrase better late than never came from?)

Recipe:  DCWV 12x12 Cardstock Stack (kraft).  DCWV Glitter Red.  October Afternoon: Cakewalk-Paper Straws (diag. stripe)/ Sugar Stix (ray collage).  BoBunny Double Dot: Buttercup Dot.  Carta Bella: It's A Celebration/ Candles (backside).  Pinecone Press: Sweet Plaid.  Stampin' Up Very Vanilla cs.  SU stamps:  Feeling Sentimental (2014 SAB); Happiest Birthday Wishes.  SU Ink:  Mossy Meadow.  Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Scallop Squares ;  Spellbinders Ovals (balloons);  SU Stars Framelits.  SU Owl Builder punch: feet.  Stash:  Gold Metallic Twine; Glitter Brads.  Distressing: Colorbox Chestnut Roan.  EK Corner Punch: Medium Scallops.  Size: 5-3/4" square.

Long-Time Friend's January 2015 Birthday!

A long-time friend, who was my youngest son's so very excellent child-care provider, has a January birthday.  One of her favorite pastimes, and a means of exercise, is riding her bicycle.  I see many Facebook posts of her many bicycle adventures, taking beautiful pictures as she ventures out on her long rides with friends.  She has offered me a bicycle to enjoy a bike adventure with her, one that she says I can ride with my bum knee.  I should make a New Year's resolution to do just that.  Who knows Holly, you may yet be surprised!

With these adventures in mind, I had just the theme for her birthday card. . .one that certainly includes a bicycle.  My sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner blog), made a wonderful card that I absolutely fell in love with several years ago.  I decided I would just have to re-create this card for Holly.  My card remains true to the original design, because I certainly could not improve upon it one little bit.  It also comes at just the right time, as my creative mojo is waning right now just having created TWO masculine cards right off the bat to start the 2015 cardmaking year!

The entire paper line used is from the My Mind's Eye - Follow Your Heart: Be Amazing 6x6 paper pad.  It uses bits and pieces from over six different papers in the stack. . .quite a collection!  The bicycle stamp/ die is Pedal Pusher from Papertrey Ink.  I hope Holly enjoys her card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Thanks, Heidi, for letting me borrow your design. . .I still love it as much as when I saw you making it two years ago!

Recipe:  Stampin' Up cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla.  My Mind's Eye-Be Amazing 6x6 pad.  Papertrey Ink dies/stamps:  Pedal Pusher.  Stampin' Up stamp:  Tiny Tags.  Stampin' Up Punch: Jewelry Tag.  Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up: Summer Starfruit, Basic Gray, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral.  Stampin' Up Seam Binding Ribbon: Calypso Coral.  May Arts: Twine.  Stampin' Up: Brads.  EK Card Creators Interlaced Corner Punch (inside), Size:  5-3/8" square.

Birthday Brother-in-Law #2

With my two brother-in-laws having the same birthday date, I had to get busy designing TWO masculine cards.  I don't know about you, but telling me I have to make a masculine card immediately throws me into a sense of panic.  The fact that each year starts out with my two very first cards for the year having to be masculine really throws me into a panic.  Okay, I have one down and am pretty pleased with it.  Now I have to make brother #2 a card too!

I really didn't think I could top my first card, and that added even more stress, but I'm actually equally pleased with card #2. . .SURPRISE to me!  Since all brothers in this family, including my husband, are very handy with tools, from cars, to building, to cabinetry, to plumbing, to electrical, to machinery, they have talent in it all.  So, I decided to stick to hand tools for brother #2 as well.  I used the very same stamp set, Totally Tools, again, and I used a background stamp, Tool Shed, as well.  I bought these two sets of stamps several years ago at the same time, and as mentioned in my post for brother #1, had never used them!  Stampin' Up retired them, making them unavailable for purchase, about three years ago.  I am really happy that I finally dug them out and used them as they went well with my theme in mind.

With my second card, I decided to try making it using the Encore Gold Metallic stamping ink, purchased through Stampin' Up and add gold foil as one of my underlying layers.  I stamped the Tool Shed background stamp onto SU's Night of Navy cardstock.  From there, I built out my underlying layers to determine the size of my card, which turned out 4-3/4" x 6" in size.  I used the Totally Tools stamp set, stamping with StazOn Black onto gold foil to make my tools with gold metal.  I also stamped the tools onto Copic paper and colored the handles in the blue theme.  I fussy-cut each set of tools out, trimming down the handles on the gold foil and adhere my Copic colored handles on top.  I am very pleased with the results.  Don't you love it when it works out the way you had it envisioned in your mind!  I hope Jeff enjoys the results of his happy birthday card.

Recipe:  Cardstocks: Recollections-Cap Code (blue pack), Stampin Up-Night of Navy, Gold Foil.  Darice Core'dinations-Dark Blue Plaid.  Stampin' Up stamps:  Tool Shed (background), Totally Tools, Happiest Birthday Wishes (sentiment).  Ink: Encore Gold Metallic, StazOn Black, Memento Tuxedo Black (stamps to be colored with alcohol-based markers, i.e. Copics/ SU Blendabilities).  Copic markers.  Recollections-Screw Brads (colored gold with Copics).  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

First Card - First Birthday Card for 2015!

My first two cards and first birthdays for the 2015 year will be masculine cards!  My husband's two brothers celebrate their birthday on the same day ~ January 5th ~ though one has been celebrating his birthday several years longer than the other.  No, they are not twins!

For the first card, I will be using a stamp set that is one of the first that I ever purchased from Stampin' Up and is four years old, is now retired, and I have never used it!  Wow. . .now that is terrible, because I actually really like this set called Totally Tools.  It, however, was only available in wood stamps, and I do not like to work with wood stamps, because I have a terrible time getting my image lined up exactly where I want it.  Do you suppose this is why I took so long to use it?

I was going to make a antique automobile card for Joe, because he builds antique cars, but I could not find the right image to fit his 1949 Chevy Business Coupe, so I just couldn't get my creative mojo going.  As you can tell, this gentleman is very handy with tools, so my mind went in that direction when I remembered the Totally Tools stamp set. 

I pulled out the set, and then I promptly looked for some Pinterest directions on how to unmount your wood block stamps to turn them into clear-mount stamps.  There are several different directions out there, but I went with the one that microwaves the stamp/block for about 10 seconds.  This loosens the glue on both the foam mounting and the acrylic images that are mounted on either side of your wooden block.  After peeling both off, gently, there is still enough sticky to adhere the acrylic to the stamp foam and trim off the excess acrylic that probably is hanging over the edges of the foam.  No need to separate the rubber from the foam and then have to remount the rubber onto new (and expensive) foam.  To get your now foam stamp to adhere to your acrylic block, the directions I found indicated to sparingly use Tombow glue on the acrylic, smoothing with a foam brush or your finger and let dry for one to two hours.  Then, tap it on your jean-covered leg to remove the excess stickiness, and you are now ready to use your new foam-mounted clear stamp.  I did not follow these glue instructions, as I usually place two-side, removable poster tape on my clear stamps to keep them from falling off the acrylic block when used.

My card uses mustache paper as Joe has that bit of facial hair.  I used a dotted embossing folder on the circle which holds the tools to represent pegboard, which is often used on a garage wall to hang tools from.  I thought that made it a bit more authentic.  I colored my tools with Copic markers to coordinate with the copper-colored foil paper used and fussy-cut them out when finished.  I'm pretty please with my results, and I hope Joe enjoys his card.

  

Recipe:  SU Basic Black cs (base), Kraft cs. Echo Park Times & Seasons/ Spiffy Mustache.  DCWV Cardstock Stack: Foiled/ Copper.  DCWV Everyday Essentials/ Gold Grid.  SU stamps: Totally Tools.  TPC Studio stamps: Greetings.  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  Dies: Spellbinders/ Circles LG; Lifestyles/ Nesting Circles. Sizzix Medium Dot Embossing Folder.  Copic markers.  Colorbox Chestnut Roam distressing/ sponging.  Size:  5-1/2" square.

Happy New Year!

 It has been a very busy year in cardmaking for me in 2014.  I composed 123 blog entries with over 123 cards made and added to each post.  Whew!  That's 32 more blog postings than in 2013.  My goal for 2015, or New Year's resolution for cardmaking, is to post as many or more.  We'll see if I am able to live up to the "more" part of the resolution!

For all my friends and family and for those who have visited my blog in the past, or will visit my blog in 2015, I wish you a wonderful, happy, and blessed New Year!  Thank you for visiting me, and I hope to see you often in 2015!