My Father-In-Law’s birthday is this coming week, so in addition to a zillion other things on my list, I needed to create a birthday card for him. I “pieced” this fabulous digital stamp from Dustin Pike using digital papers from Jodiann’s  just released Christmas Be kit – I love the rich colors and textures and thoughtthey’d be perfect with Frosty. Frosty’s hat and scarf as well as his “soaking” mug all feature papers from Christmas Be (which is on-sale right NOW). I used gradient fills and layer masks to “color” the cocoa, marshmallows, carrot, and Frosty’s mouth and to add just a bit of shadow/depth to the paper pieced objects…and I thought blending with my copics was a challenge!  So here’s my digital image, ready for printing:

And here’s what I should have done – instead of leaving the background white, I should have used this fabulous crumpled glitter paper from Christmas Be – like I did for the sentiment – ah well – I’ll save this one- who knows he might appear on a Christmas card or two: Here’s the sentiment – I generated it in Photoshop – man I love that glitter  paper!Here’s the finished “product”: Once I printed Frosty and the sentiments, I used my corner rounder to trim the focal image and front sentiment – then adhered them to red mats made from red mirror cardstock (The Papercut).  My husband likes me to “keep it simple” when I’m working on cards for his Dad, but I did manage to sneak in a little bling.  After attaching everything to a blue CS base (DCWV), I added pieces of “coal”  – Black Bauble Drops from my friend Suzanne at Crafting-Connection and black glitter glue eyebrows (and you thought I just forgot to color those items in!).   I coated the marshmallows and the snowflake in Glossy Accents (Ranger) as Michaels and Hobby Lobby were both out of Judikins Diamond Glaze and highlighted the snowflakes with my white gel pen. Viola – one birthday card complete.

That’s all from me – today is errand day for Nadya and I – so now that she’s awake, I’m gonna give her a bath and we’ll head out!  Happy Monday everyone!

It seems I’ve been on a card-making roll lately – though several of them have been Sympathy related.  I didn’t want to post a couple of the cards until I knew they’d been delivered as the recipients visit my little home here in blogosphere.

For both of these cards I used my Lovely as a Tree set stamped in Basic Brown on Naturals Vanilla CS (all Stampin’ Up). The trees on the first card are trimmed with my Long Rectangle nestabilites, distressed/inked with Chocolate Chip dye ink, and matted with Baroque Burgundy (yes the retired one – that’s  the paper I had) CS.  The ribbon is sheer copper organdy and the dew drops (the glue dried clear) are from my friend Suzanne at Crafting-Connection. The sentiment is stamped with Basic Black Craft ink (also SU) directly onto the card from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Box of Cards, sprinkled with clear detail powder and heat embossed. The inside sentiment was computer generated – I used The Serenity Prayer as it holds special meaning for the people I sent this card to.  For the second card, I used my labels nestabilities to trim and mat the image onto Really Rust CS.  I added texture with my own blend of Flower Soft colors since I didn’t have any of the new Autumn Blend.  The ribbon and bow are sheer copper organdy. I followed a fabulous tutorial from Diana Gibbs’ blog to tie the bow using a dinner fork! The case base is also from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Box of Cards – I just love that set – it’s so easy to use; everything is precut, folded, and envelopes are included.  I’m so glad I grabbed them when they were on-sale! The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip and is also heat embossed.

This card is for a little guy who just turned 2! The stamp is the Cowboy Billy digi-stamp from Pink Cat Studios. I colored him using my Copic markers (I had to work on the skin tone and hair a bit since most of the time I’m coloring blondes!). The card base and DP are both from a fabulous “new to me” local store – Creative Stamp Impressions. They cut and package their own card sets (5 included per package), complete with envelopes. When I saw this set, I knew it would be perfect for this little guy or the Cowgirl from Victoria Case!

For the inside, I created the cupcake paper in Photoshop using an Overlay from Megadoodle Inspired and printing on white CS.  The sentiment (SU retired) is stamped in Real Red on White CS and both panels are matted with Real Red CS.  The card was well-received (I’m always a little hesitant with handmade – some people think it’s cheap and tacky), but the little boy’s Mom is having it framed and displayed in his bedroom. Hooray!

Oh oh and lookie what I got:

The little Fairy birthday card made the top three! Hooray!

It’s time for me to pack – my Mom and I are taking Nadya to visit my Nana.  Her birthday is Saturday and is the first one since my Papa died.  Unfortunately, Sunday is the 1 year anniversary of his passing.  He is in a far better place, but we didn’t want her to be alone – plus we wanted to visit her because she’s fabulous!  Add to the mix that today is our weekly swimming lesson and tonight is the final gathering of the local Mustang Club – well let’s just say we’ll be busy!  Have a fabulous weekend!!!

The one and only Kristine is celebrating her birthday this month – all month long! How is she doing that you might ask? By having her entire STORE on-sale for the WHOLE month – yup 43% off all month long! What’s not to celebrate?!?!?!

And if that’s not enough, my dear Bunny is also celebrating her birthday this month – yup you guessed it – another fabulous sale! 50% off her stores at DSO and DSV for the entire month, plus random retired products being brought back in the Blow Out category for 75% off – check each week for something new!
To further add to your shopping options, and to celebrate her first visit to America, our very own Mel (aka Melanie Ann Designs) is also having a 50% off sale for the WHOLE month.  What are you waiting for?