2011 Daughter-in-Law Copic Birthday Card

By July and August, I was really getting into this now Copic coloring.  Ginger, my daughter-in-law, was going to get a little Magnolia stamped card colored in Copics just as everyone seemed to be getting.  This little girl was sitting on a humongous cupcake with fluffy white frosting made with Flower Soft.  You are going to love her little yellow boots with cherries printed all over.  I also thought I would try something a little more difficult and use black for her hair.  It was not perfect, but for my first attempt at this difficult blending job. . .not too bad.  (I was getting braver after attempting my sister's little pinafore girls in purples. . .another difficult color to blend.)  My little cupcake girl was all done and was ready to be delivered to Ginger's door with her birthday gift.

A Mom Birthday in August 2011

It was soon to be my Mom's birthday in 2011.  I had been working on my Copic Marker coloring skills during the spring and early summer and I wanted to color an image for her birthday card.  Wouldn't you know it. . .once again I was thinking of vintage.  I found a British online site that was nothing but vintage images to color ~ Whoopsi Daisy.  Oh my gosh, I loved so many of them!  There are three things I do like about digital images rather than stamps:  1) they are a lot cheaper; 2) when you buy them you don't have to wait for them to be shipped, you can use download and use them almost immediately; and 3) you can size them smaller and bigger. . .whatever suits the particular project you are doing.  I really love this little girl delivering a birthday present, and here she is on her finished card:

Mom is Not Feeling Well (July, 2011)

My Mom has not been feeling well for at least a week, but she thinks she might be on the mend.  She pretty sure its just a touch of the flu, but we worry about her catching anything, especially colds,  with her asthma.  I thought I would send her a little get well card and show her that I'm still working on my Copic coloring, which I learned while visiting her just this past Spring.  I had just finished this little C.C.Design digital image, which is appropriately named Heidi, my sister's name.  I had a little problem with one of the boots, but was able to make it look like they had laces.  Here is my little Heidi boots and all sitting in the flowers of her garden.  I know Mom will appreciate the card as she started to learn how to color as well.

(Heidi Gonazales: My Lil' Scrap Corner) design: enlarged and modified to add a little me).

An Anniversary in July 2011...

My son and his wife celebrated their fourth anniversary in 2011.  It was hard to believe that amount of time had already gone by.  I wanted to make them a card, but had a very limited time as my husband and I planned to do some motorhome traveling to the coasts of Oregon and Washington.  I barely got this little card off by the skin of my teeth, as that old saying goes, before we left.  It was one of the simplest cards I ever made up to that point in my cardmaking journey. . . and definitely meets the clean and simple card style.  Even so, I'm sure Mark and Ginger appreciated my efforts on their behalf.

July brought Mark & Ginger's anniversary...love you both!

A Belated July 2011 Birthday

My sister's birthday is in July, and my husband and I were busy traveling in our motorhome to the coasts of Oregon and Washington; therefore, my crafting table was clean. . .LOL!  But, I also missed time to make a birthday card for my sister, who has been my mentor in my cardmaking journey.

When I got home, I thought I would make and send her belated birthday wishes.  I had a cute little vintage digi of a girl holding a scrapbooking book in her arms and I thought this would be perfect.  I started looking through my papers and found a pretty lavender floral piece, that I decided was what I wanted to use.  And then I realized, purple is the most difficult color to work with in blending and application per my sister.  I decided, oh well, I might as well try it and see what happens.  She was right, but after much tweaking and re-tweaking I final got my image to where I was at least satisfied.  I loved her little white lace on her pinafore and her dress edge.  I decided to make them white with a violet edging and then stickle them to give them sparkle.  I was pretty please with her when finished.  I was hoping Heidi would think so too.

2011 Birthday for a Son-in-Law!

A vintage John Deere for my son-in-law Don's birthday in July.  Don used to drive a tractor as a teenager when he worked on a farm, and he has had a bucket list to own his own John Deere when he retired to acreage.  I thought I would fulfill his bucket list by given him a card with a vintage John Deere of his very own.

I found the very image.  I colored the Farm Power words in gold with my Copic markers to suit the color scheme I had chosen.  I also colored the screws gold and made my own script paper with facts about tractors as its subject...such fun!!  He loved it!

Recipe:  Paper:  Bazzil cardstock-chocolate; AdornIt/ Vintage Groove Collection-Vintage Polka Dot Green-side 2 (green paisley); MME-Brown Stripe/ Tractor Drawings; Script paper: homemade computer-generated; Core'dinations Glitter paper (frame).   Image: from John Deere website.  Spellbinders Pinked rectangles. Martha Stewart Edge punch. Pinking shears. Machine stitching. Recollections screws (Copic colored).

July 2011. . .A Sister-in-Law Birthday!

I have a sister-in-law who married into my husband's family about a year after I did, and she and I are very close in age.  We started a friendship many years ago as our husband's (the brothers) were employed by the same company and we both moved to the California Bay Area.  In those early years of our marriage before moving around the country separated us by many states, we had lots of fun and laughs.  

I wanted to send her a little birthday card showing off my new Copic marker coloring talent.  As she is a shipmate by marriage as well as our husband's sharing the same company employment, I thought this little Magnolia stamp of a sailor girl was appropriate.

Birthday 2011 for Daughter Dear!

I'm was REALLY enjoy making those vintage cards about the time my daughter's birthday rolled around in June of 2011.  As I'd said previously, I think I love the nostalgia of it all...a reminder of a simple time and place.

As I was searching for vintage images for John's aunts card earlier in the month of June, I came across one with a purse full of Forget-Me-Nots that I absolute loved.  My daughter has always liked this weed as her Dad calls them.  We have them growing and increasing on the bank in the front yard, and he is not happy about that.  He is threatening to go out and use RoundUp on them.  I actually like them during the several months they are in bloom, but they are rather stringy when finished. . .so I understand his point of view as well.  But, thinking of them when in beautiful, blue blooming abundance, which they were at the time I made my daughter this card, it gave me inspiration, I think.  I know she will truly enjoy her card and may even see a little humor in it.

And, I made this little poem for her inside verse letting her know how much she is thought of and loved each and every day of the year.

Sister-in-Law's June 2011 Birthday

My sister-in-law, Thelma, has a birthday in June, but I just missed it.  She is my husband's youngest brother's wife.  Since I am really getting into this hobby of cardmaking, I thought I would like to send Thelma one of my homemade cards.  I had quite a stash of cards built up by now and in looking through them, I found just the one that I wanted to send to Thelma, because it suited her and the fact that the card was a belated birthday wish.  I also knew I could not start from scratch and make one right then that I thought would suit her any better.

So, Thelma got one of my woodless-colored pencil little girls who seems to be standing there with a flower for peace-offering because she is late getting her birthday wishes off.  I love this little girl image with her wispy little red hair and her jaunty little flowered hat.  We called Thelma on her birthday to wish her good wishes, so I know Thelma knows we were thinking of her.  But, this little card will remind her that it is true!

 (Heidi Gonzales - My Lil' Scrap Corner  design: enlarged and modified)

2011 Aunt's Birthday #90!

When my 96-year-old mother-in-law heard what was planned for Aunt Joanie's 90th birthday. . .a birthday card shower, she asked me if I would make a second card and mail it from her.  I was only too delighted to do this for her.  As I had already accumulated lots of ideas from her son about her hobbies and favorite things throughout her lifetime, I was intrigued by the fact the Aunt Joanie loved root beer floats, and was tickled to be treated with one even to this very day.  I thought this would be a fun idea for her second card from Alice.

Again, I went online search for a vintage photo involving root beer floats.  I saw numerous ones, but really like this old ad for a soda fountain shop encouraging you to come in for a delicious, creamy, and cool float!  From the image, I chose the colors of my paper.  I had the black and gold ribbon in my stash and thought it would be great to use, and I was off and running from there.  Here is the card that came together as my vintage creation.

This is the little verse that I composed all about root beer floats and the temptation to have one.  By the time I finished I think my mouth was watering. . .LOL!

Birthday 2011: An Aunt is 90!

My husband's Aunt Joanie was 90 in June 2011!  I must say, my husband's family has long-living genes on both his mother and his fathers side of the family. . .at least for the women!  Aunt Joanie is his father's sister and she lives in the Midwest.  Her son and daughter wanted to shower her with cards by having as many friends and family send her cards as possible.  I am sure she will receive over 50 or more for sure as my husband's family is quite large!

I decided vintage was definitely the way to go for this lovely vintage lady.  I had a favor I wanted from her son before I got started.  I asked him to send me an email listing as many of Aunt Joanie's favorite things or hobbies and that she enjoyed throughout her lifetime.  When he told me she loved to dance and that she and her husband often went dancing in the 1940s and 1950s especially, I knew I had my theme.  I searched on line for vintage colored images of couples dancing and found just the right one.  Here is the card I created from the information and the image on hand.

  

Father's Day 2011 . .

I absolutely loved this card...saw it in a 4-year old Cards magazine.  I think it really struck a cord with me because my husband LOVES watermelon.  A Kansas boy at heart. . .what better thing to have than ice-cold watermelon on a hot summer day!  

I was pushed for time, what else is new, and needed an idea NOW...and there it was on the cover!  I just had to lift the idea and figure out how to make it since I didn't have any way to make watermelon seeds and I wanted our children's names on the rind (which the original card did not have).  I was at a crop and a friend, Sheila, graciously found a Cricut cartridge that had a shape similar to seeds in her stash, and she cut out the seeds for me...and I ready to go!

(I apologize for not been able to get the name of  the original cardmaker to give her credit.)

2011 Birthday: Mom-in-Law is #96!

My mother-in-law, Alice, was 96 on her birthday in June 2011.  I made this little card with her in mind when I was practicing coloring with woodless-colored pencils (Progresso Koh-I-Noor purchased from Michaels).  I thought of her at the time, because I think you very well might have found ladies wearing just such hats in the year of her birth 1915!

This card slants toward the vintage "simple and clean" that I'm not even sure really exists as a style of card.  I used the paper-piecing technique on her hat and the hat band. . .that was a lot of fun!  I think making vintagey cards brings on a bit of nostalgia for a simpler place and time.  Her is Alices birthday card, and I hope she enjoys the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

(Heidi Gonzales design that I modified and tweaked a bit to say "me.")

Butterflies on Mother's Day 2011

I just hate it when there is no time!  But, salvation is at hand.  I remembered the card I made for John's sister and that I tuck away the knowledge the it would make a great Mother's Day or birthday card.  Aha. . .now is the time to use it.

I brought up the digital image I had scanned of the previous card before I sent it off in the mail so I would know exactly what to pull out of my scrapbooking stuff.  I was delighted to find that I had already put the glitter sparkles on the butterfly wings, which meant it was dry and ready to use.  I got busy with the papers and embellishments, and voilà, here is my mother-in-law's card.  I know she will enjoy it.  She is always tickled to get any mail, but especially my cards she says.

A Vintage Mother's Day 2011...

John and I are both fortunate that our mothers are still with us.  His mother will soon be 96, but she is still alert and very much with us!  My mother never likes to tell her age and looks at least 15 years younger than she really is.  We have been thought to be sisters...good for her, but not sure it is for me???  

Here I go again with vintage thoughts for my Mom.  I bought and downloaded some images from Iralamija on Etsy, and I loved the vintage cake and cupcakes images, so I decided to use one for Mom's card.  I'm found some lovely My Mind's Eye papers that I thought were just right in both color and look for a vintage card and the image.  I hope Mom loves her card!