A Lucky Birthday Card!

One of my good friends and cardmaking buddies has a birthday in February. I needed to put on my thinking cap very quickly, there was no time to waste! I was going to be leaving for a four-generation get-together with my youngest granddaughter and my daughter to visit my mother in northern California. We really need to get some four-generation pictures taken while there.

In looking through my stash, I found a BINGO card in soft aqua, vanilla, and black. I love BINGO cards, so I decided with its colors, it would make a pretty feminine card. I also love to make a card style that I call vintage simple. I've named it this, because for me, it is a vintage card, but without an excess amount of extra fussy feminine this and thats that are often added. It was definitely time to breakout some fun, vintagey papers and embellishments and make a card using this style! I was excited to get started.

Between taking a peek at the Splitcoaststamper Ways to Use It challenge for the week...Button It Up, and finding our old DYMO Labelmaker about a month ago, my creative juices were beginning to flow! The challenge made it an absolute must to include buttons, as they would make perfect BINGO markers, and I decided to make the sentiment using the labelmaker and 3/8" black tape with white embossed lettering in a fishtail cut design. I have always loved that look! With the BINGO card, my color scheme would be Pool Party, Black and Very Vanilla cardstocks, along with several coordinating patterned papers.

I could not find just the right aqua flat buttons for my BINGO markers, so I decided to use clear buttons and adhere them to one of the patterned papers to jazz them up. With a dark aqua Copic marker, I drew dark aqua circles on my chosen patterned paper. I fussy-cut the paper circles and adhered the buttons in the center of the circles. Finally, I distress-frayed the edges with the sharp edge of a scissor blade. The rest of the card design fell into place quite easily, and I was really pleased with the results.

Take a peek below at my finished card inside and out. I love that perky triple-looped bow and the labelmaker tape sentiment! Don't you think my friend will be happy with her lucky birthday card?!

Ingredients: SU cardstock--Basic Black, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, SU Color Collection dsp (2014/2015/2016 - Pool Party Dots), Patterned paper scraps (3/ 3/4" x 4-1/4"). EK Victorian Corner punch. Colorbox Charcoal pigment ink (edge distressing). Pool Party seam binding ribbon. Black & White Baker's Twine. Dynamo Labelmaker/ 3/8" black tape. Stash button/ clear. Black/rhinestone trim (cut apart). Dimensional Foam tape (sentiment). Copic marker outlining (Bingo button markers). Chatterbox verse. Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

Our April Birthday Girl!

April brings the celebration of our youngest daughter's birthday, who is our third child of the four.  This lovely young lady has brought many wonderful times and loving memories to me and the entire family.  She is my gardener, who loves to plant my spring flowers in my oak barrels on the front porch, and always brings more planters and hanging baskets to make a colorful display.  So, now I will take the time to make her a special birthday card to celebrate her special day.

Jackie has a special friend, who is often glued to the nearest soft spot close her as she watches television, reads, plays video games, paints her toenails, or studies diligently to complete her R.N. program.  That friend is her kitty, Sphinxi, so I thought I would make a card with this little friend in mind.  I already had an idea for the card layout I wanted to use, and when I found a cute little digital image of a kitty peeking over a flower pot, I knew it would be just right.  We often find Sphinxi in the living room bay window peaking around the many houseplants while laying in the filtered sunshine (if and when available in our rainy northwest). 

I chose my paper colors knowing I needed to be able to coordinate these colors into the flowers in the pot.  My mind has also been on Easter cards, and I was working back and forth between Jackie's card and Easter, when I realized one of the vintage Easter digital images I was thinking of using would go perfectly with almost the same design and papers as Jackie's, so I tested the idea on the Easter card first, and it worked beautifully.  You will find that card post to my blog on April 1, entitled "Easter's Coming...Let's Get Started!"  Here is Jackie's card, and I know she will love the little kitty image!

Recipe:  Papers: Darice Kraft cardstock (base); DCWV Everyday Essentials; Jillibean Southern Chicken Dumpling Soup Coordinating stripe; Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana cs, Pretty in Pink cs.  Digital kitty image colored with Copic markers.  Spellbinders Ribbon Banners die.  Stampin' Up Dazzling Delights. Machine stitching.  Computer-made sentiment. Sponge distressed edges w-Stampin' Up Burnt Brown Sugar ink.  Vintage Bingo card and Tape Measure (colored with Copics).

Easter's Coming...Let's Get Started!

I've been working with digital vintage Easter images for the past three days.  I've found quite a stash of them, but had quite a bit of work to do on them to size them and get their background colorized to be able to use them in a frame without hiding the picture.  Out came PaintShop Pro to add an additional border around many of the images, but then I had to work with the background colors and images to clone the right textures and colors into the border to blend into the existing image.  I have finally finished all that grunt work and should be able to get started with some mojo to actually come up with a design, but I've had my daughter's birthday card that I need to get finished on in mind as well.  

While letting my juices mull on her card, I had a yen to use a BINGO card and I found a cute little kitty digital stamp to Copic color, so I pick the paper colors.  In the midst of finalizing her papers, I realized the one of my little vintage Easter chicks would be perfect with the same colors.  After finishing the sketch for Jackie's birthday card, I pulled out that little chick and realized not only would all the paper colors go just perfect, but Jackie's birthday card design would be perfect as well.  So, I decided to use it on my first Easter card to see how it would look.  I did some work on my Easter card's BINGO card and blended too images to make an EASTER bingo card, colorizing it, and a little tape measure I wanted to use, in PaintShop Pro.  I am really pleased with my BINGO Easter card, and I know the design will be cute on Jackie's birthday card as well.

Recipe:  Papers: Darice Kraft cardstock (base); DCWV Everyday Essentials; Jillibean Southern Chicken Dumpling Soup Coordinating stripe.  Lifestyles dies: Lace Circles & Circles.  Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive.  Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  Vintage Easter Chick image (Graphic Fairy).  Vintage Bingo card and tape measure (found online).  Colorbox Chestnut Roan sponge-distress edges.

September's Anniversary!

My daughter, Michele, and her husband celebrate their ninth anniversary this year.  Their tradition has been to take a vacation during the week in which their anniversary falls, journeying with their 5th-wheel camping trailer to see new and far away vistas.  This year, as they are living on the East Coast for the first time, they will be taking a trip through Pennyslvania, New York and up to Bar Harbor, Maine, visiting historic and camping destinations along the way.  Thus, I decided a card depicting this camping journey would be just right for them.  

I had an idea in my head, so I began searching online to look for a camping trailer stamp or die, but all the samples I found were on cards made several years ago and the stamps had been discontinued.  I decided to venture another direction, and I found a little online vintage trailer graphic, which I thought would be just right.  Its coloring was a little too dark, so I lightened the teal in PaintShop Pro.  The BINGO card in my stash was bright orange, so I scanned it to a jpeg and then re-colored it as well.  I also made it smaller to fit my card better.  The computer can be wonderful to find things just right for cards if you don't own a stamp or die that will do the trick!  I was able to find several camping graphics and even bought a few on Digi Web Studio, but I didn't end of using those this time around.

I do hope Don and Michele enjoy their anniversary vacation and my take on depicting that journey via this card and the little camping verse made for inside.

Recipe:  SU Always Artichoke cardbase; Recollections-Great Outdoors (stripe); GCD Studios-The Great Outdoors pad (tree scene). Free images: Vintage Camper/sign, Camping digis. Colorbox Chestnut Roan (distressing). Seam binding ribbons: Hug Snug-Serbin Brown (olive); SU: Island Indigo. May Arts twine. Stash: BINGO card (re-sized/recolored); Map (re-sized); buttons, pinking shears.

A Birthday Daughter Far Across the Miles!

My daughter, Michele, celebrates her birthday at the very end of June.  She is far, far away on the East coast and is planning a girlfriend birthday bash in Las Vegas to make it a birthday to remember.  I hope she has a GREAT time!!  

This is my daughter that loves to cook and is exceptionally good at it!  To be invited to dine at her table is always a treat that I looked forward to.  Now that she lives in West Virginia, I miss not only her company, but her lovely meals as well!  So, with this thought in mind, I thought I would make a card with cooking as its theme!  I found a little apron die from Cottage Cutz that I thought would do the trick. . .I hope she loves her card!!

Recipe:  Papers: Darice-Krafty cardbase; Georgia Pacific-White cs; Fancy Pants-Time-O-Spring/Gingham Dress (multi-color plaid); MME-So Sophie/Pretty Girl (SU-Wild Wasahbi sponged); Jillibean-Coconut Lime Soup (green gingham); Melissa Frances-Cherry; Gooseberry Patch-Cookbookin/Pantry (canister border); Ruby Rocket-Cook/ Medley (bingo card/ computer re-sized); DCWV rose mini dot. Dies: Cottage Cutz-Apron; Lifestyles-Scalloped Squares. 5/8" Green-yellow organdy ribbon (stash). SU Calypso Coral flower button. May Arts jute twine. Becca's Bowmaker. Edges distressed with Colorbox Chestnut Roan Cat Eye. 3D foam tape; glue gun; Scotch tape runner.

2012 Christmas Card for #4

I chose this little vintage snowman card for my son, Mark and his wife, Ginger.  I started this card also while in California at the Christmas Card Palooza.  Our instruction and original card design was Sara Moreno.  As I began to make this card, I decided it needed a bit more in embellishments and color, so I waited until we cropped at Mom's before finished it.  I decided to add a red mat between the kraft cardbase and the green damask.  I added the little snowman dimensional and gave him a popped snowflake on his hat and pearl buttons, as well as the two tickets.