2012 Birthday for Hubby!

My husband will be celebrating his birthday in a few days on Groundhog's Day.  I bought Papertrey Inks die/ stamp set with airplanes specifically for my husband, who used to fly in his younger years, and we even owned a small plane. . .this, of course, was before children and before John's company was transferring him all over the country for his job and we had to sell the plane.  I just love the little whimsical bi-plane I chose to use for his card. 

For my husband to remind him of his flying days! 

(used Papertrey Ink stamp/die set).

And My Journey Continues...!

I have been making cards for two full years now, and I still feel like I have not found my own personal style.  I think this because I like a lot of styles from whimsical to vintage, but maybe, it is a forever evolving process, and eventually I will find myself sticking to one style only.  I wonder though, as I like variety and doing something different all the time; otherwise, one can tend to become bored.

I still feel very much the novice, especially when I visit other blogs and see what wonderful things others are creating!  This is a very stressful thing, creating a blog to share my work!  I am definitely a little shy about doing that...it's taken me over two years to even contemplate such a thing!  But, as you can see, if I'm going to do, I do it thoroughly...that's for sure my style!

This post brings an end to my blog journey of my cardmaking history 2009 to present, and...I am ALL up to-date!  This journey of making my blog has caused me to revisit my cardmaking memories and realize not only what a fun and interesting a process it has been, but how much I have learned and how much more I have to learn!  It isn't only the cardmaking that's been fun and interesting, but the wonderful people and friends I have met and made along the way.  So many have been willing to take time to share and teach me things I didn't know.  Thank you everyone, and a special thanks to my sister, Heidi (My Lil' Scrap Corner), who will always be my mentor, my sister, and my friend...Love you, Sis!

Christmas 2011. . .Snowflake Cheer

This is another card whose original design was by Angela Kelley.  Once again, I have enlarged this card by adding two more layers to the base:  the light blue cardbase and the soft moss green snowflake pattern.  Again, I think the two new color layers enhances the card, but certainly does not take away from the original design.  This is such a restful card, soothing in its quiet presentation.  I hope that my good friend and her husband enjoy it and know that it was made and sent with thoughts of our long-time friendship in mind.

Christmas 2011: Love those Mittens!

I love this next design made by Angela Kelley.  I have enlarged the card by adding to more layers and with the added bonus of more color:  a new soft lime green cardbase with a red mat layer next, and then the front of the card.  I really like these new layers, I think it adds a lot more color to the card and brings out the green and reds in the mittens better.  The mittens were cut from a patterned piece of paper with mittens all over using a Spellbinder circle die.  Such a great card, and I thank Angela for her original design.

Christmas 2011: Snow Flakes Falling

This next card was also a design by my sister Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner).  Again, I needed to make the card larger, and it came a 5-/4 inch square.  I added the BoBunny Double Dot layer and enlarged the snowflake paper by cutting it in half and spreading it open under the center belly band.  I also added the Scalloped die cut under the snowflake circular sentiment, offsetting it just a bit.  I think my changes added to the card's design, but yet it retains the flavor of the original design.

Christmas 2011: A Card for Son & Wife

Mark & Ginger's card evolved and original design kit by my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner.  Once again, I enlarged my card and made it square. I added a new card rose red base, added the teal snowflake layer and added the doily lace border.  The rest of their card is composed of the pieces in the card kit.  Isn't that just the cutest idea of clipping the winter clothing to a knotted clothesline.  The winter clothing was fussy-cut from a pieces of scrapbook paper.  

A Son's Birthday in October, 2011

My youngest son, Mark, birthday is in October.  I like to make cards that focus on who the person is. . . .by depicting their job, their hobbies, their travels, etc.  Mark is a builder of homes, and takes after his Dad in being able to repair anything.  One difference from his Dad is that he builds homes from scratch, and that is something that his father has never done, though he can do some pretty major home repairs as needed.  

This was my second birthday card ever for Mark, and I had found these cute little metal tool embellishments during my travels in California and I had to buy them for future use.  They, of course, were perfect for Mark.  I loved the colors on Mark's card and the way it turned out.  One thing that may not be clear by the picture is that the aqua patterned paper just below the tool rectangle mats actually has raised and embossed tools, which is pretty cool-looking on the real card.

Anniversary #7 in September 2011

September brought Don & Michele's anniversary...this was #7!  I think since I could not spend a lot of time on Mark & Ginger's card in July, my psyche told me to go overboard for Don & Michele. . .LOL!

I was definitely thinking vintage as well.  I made the crossword puzzle in Microsoft Word, using a table with many tiny squares colored and not.  The word sheet behind the crossword is actually all the questions by number that relate to the actual crossword, which I made up and printed in Word as well.  I also placed the crossword, questions, and answer key (upside down) on a sheet of cream paper and enclosed in an envelope attached inside the card for them to complete on their anniversary...a tad easier than trying to figure anything out on the card front's crossword!  I found the vintage circus tickets online; they happened to be for a Sunday, their actual anniversary day ~ I was stoked!  But, they were the wrong color for my card color scheme...so I put them in PaintShop Pro and changed the color to peach!  Lots of computer challenges...but lots of fun to do!  I love combining computer skills with cardmaking though I don't like make digital cards!  Somehow they don't have enough 3-dimensional layers to them.  I use the computer for the sentiments most of the time instead of stamps, for typing my poems and verses for the inside the cards, and for making my own script paper, things like the crossword, papers with words, etc.

(original inspiration from a card in a cardmaking magazine.  I should have written the information down at the time I thought I might make something like it to give the original author credit. . .I apologize for that lapse.)

September 2011: A Birthday Follows Mine

It was time to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law whose birthday follows mine by just one day.  And yes, again, she would get a Copic-colored card.  I found this little Magnolia stamp that looked like Tilda was lounging back, low-key on a summer afternoon.  June lives in California territory where the sun still shines warmly and brightly in early September, so I thought she was perfect.  I colored Tilda's clothes to match the My Mind's Eye belly band that my little image looked like she was sitting on.  Love those corals, browns, tans, and greens.  I was pretty sure June would like her card very much.

(Heidi Gonzales: My Lil' Scrap Corner design: enlarged, modified and add-on to make it more me.)

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).