A Record Birthday!

My daughter's birthday was yesterday. She had told me she was digging orange and blue, and she recently picked up a record player at a local thrift store and has been having fun with it. She is a big fan of music in general so I was excited to try using this cute gloss-accented paper from the Mod Retro DCWV 12x12 pad. The card is 5x7 to accommodate the whole "title" of the record.

I used a long retired set, Life Is Beautiful, for the pretty flowers behind the Curly Cute Happy Birthday greeting. Colors are Tangerine Tango and Midnight Muse, same as the one I posted yesterday.

Here you can see just how glossy the record portion of the paper is. What a fun stack. I need to use it up on lots of cute cards and pages!

Happy 14th birthday to my girlie girl!

Love, Mom

Supplies Used:
Stamp Sets: Curly Cute, Life is Beautiful
Card Stock & Ink Colors: Tangerine Tango, Midnight Muse, White, Mod Retro stack (DCWV)
Other: square brad from stash

Orange and blue all over!

Today is my baby's 14th birthday. She requested an orange and blue card as orange is her favorite color and we had been talking about color pairings. Yes, we are nerds like that. Anyway this is NOT her birthday card, it is the card I made first. I had intended for it to be her card when I started out, but then I gave it some thought and decided the butterflies were great but I had an idea that fit her personality better. Stay tuned.

I feel like a broken record but forgive my color tweaking and variances that may occur!! I tried taking photos in different spots today of 3 cards and there may be some bright ones and some not so bright. I don't claim to be a photo editing expert. Anyway, this card measures 5" x 5". Midnight Muse and Tangerine Tango are the colors used, along with a large Mod Retro pad from DCWV that I picked up too long ago to just be cutting into it now! I used a ledger paper, orange graphics, and houndstooth from the pad to cut the butterflies. My daughter also digs houndstooth in a big way, which led me to this pattern choice. She actually came into the living room while I was working on this card and watching Downton Abbey (Season 2 now available on Hulu!), and asked if it was hers. By then I knew it wasn't and told her so. She said that was too bad, she liked it. :) I'm glad she did but I think she will really like her actual card! 

The back piece is Midnight Muse card stock stamped with the retired-too-quickly Wonderfully Worn background stamp in Midnight Muse ink.Since it is narrower than the card stock piece, I had to stamp it twice. With the spotty pattern, it doesn't show too much but the more noticeable part is covered by the punched borders. I used the Elegant Butterfly punch to make Jenni Bowlin-style butterflies. I punched each of the patterned papers twice. I attached with glue down the center of the body and popped the wings on Stampin' Dimensionals, and added 4 of the Basic Rhinestones from the attached rows for the bodies. The border is punched with the retired Eyelet Border punch from Midnight Muse and Tangerine Tango, and wrapped with a black ribbon from my stash.

I decorated the inside! I so rarely do this but it was just such neat paper I needed to keep going. Matted the Mod Retro ledger paper on Tangerine Tango and accented with a punched Midnight Muse butterfly. There is a punched houndstooth butterfly glued to the back of the card just for fun, also.

I hope you enjoyed this card, it was a lot of fun to make and I hope to find a recipient soon! I've hinted a couple of times at the "theme" of the birthday card, see if you get it right! Next post!

Becca

Supplies Used - All Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Wonderfully Worn
Card Stock: White, Midnight Muse, Tangerine Tango, Mod Retro stack (DCWV)
Ink: Midnight Muse
Other: Elegant Butterfly Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Basic Rhinestones, ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Stamp A Stack Sneak Peek!

Stamp A Stack July 10th and 14th! Who's in? Here is a sneak peek of one of the cards we'll be making.

New toys! I just can't get enough! :) If you are in the GF area and would like to attend please contact me and I will send you the details.
Becca

Another Daydream Monogram cutie

A co-worker and his wife just had their first baby - a little girl. I needed a pink, girly card - stat! I had the bones of the card as it is pretty much a direct copy of the monochromatic greens in the last post but with one little added frill. I used my Color Coach to find the match to the new In Color, Primrose Petals - come to find out, it is a mono match to Pink Pirouette! Here's Part II of the previous post.

I need HELP with my photo editing! I can't seem to get decent light at home. Maybe I need to take all of my blog pics at work?? Sheesh! Anyway this is the same supply list as the last post with the exception of the colors and I also used the Boho Blossoms punch and a Basic Pearl. And off she goes!


Here are a couple more shots of the thank you card:

See? Exact CASE of my own work. I really like Pink Pirouette but it is such a light color, it is kind of hard to use. I'll get over it - seems to pop well with deeper colors and away from white.

Thanks for stopping by!
Becca

Daydream Monogram Thank You

I mentioned that my stepdaughter graduated. Well, that means a lot of gifts and many thank you cards in return. I made a small stack of these cards for her to send to her well-wishers. Just so happens they are the colors for the Dynamic Duos color challenge! Wonder how that happened... Anyway I wanted to use my new toys and this design helped me achieve a few different goals this week!

I took another photo but the light is hideous and the angle was wrong and it was just an unfixable disaster AND I was out of daylight, so I will post this card again with some other color combinations and letters I played with today. I managed to smash in 4 new items from the 2012-13 Stampin' Up annual catalog - the Floral Framelits, Adorning Accents Edgelits and matching embossing folder, and the new Daydream Medallions stamp set, along with my trusty Broadsheet Alphabet. Love this design. I thought it might work for the Stamp A Stack we have planned but if we have 20 people trying to make 4 of the same design at the same time, even using 2 Big Shots, it will just turn into Armageddon and we don't need that. :) So I used the medallions and framelits again and came up with a more multi-user friendly design. Now I can't wait for the big event!

I've been aware of Dynamic Duos and this is just their 8th challenge, and it is a great one. I'll be playing again! I keep trying to do more complicated things and the simplicity suits me well.

Thanks for stopping by.
Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Daydream Medallions, Broadsheet Alphabet
Card Stock: White, River Rock, Always Artichoke
Ink: River Rock, Always Artichoke
Big Shot items: Floral Framelits, Adorning Accents Edgelits & Embossing Folders
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals

Papillon Sympathy

Wow, I have been busy. Almost 3 months since my last post?? Whoops! I have been busy crafting, but also with family, the end of the school year, my stepdaughter's graduation, more family... and a funeral. My great aunt passed away last week at 84 years of age, and we will miss her terribly. She was so fun and funny, and she could (and did) beat the pants off of anyone at a card game. I made this card in duplicate - one for her daughter, and one for my grandmother - her last living sister out of 9. I don't usually make sympathy cards. I have decided that I need to get over that and make them myself as a labor of love, and in this case it was a good experience for me.

I am so thankful that I ordered Blessings From Heaven. There are so many nice sentiments and a good pair of sympathy stamps. The Bible verse is on the inside along with a small butterfly. I made 2 additional white panels to layer up the card for a simple but sweet presentation.

I used the more realistic large butterfly from Papillon Potpourri for this design. I stamped it once on the card panel and once separately for coloring and punching. The Elegant Butterfly punch actually cuts inside the lines of the image, and cuts off the antennae, so it made sense to make a 3-D image. I colored the butterfly with muted yellows and oranges and popped it up on Stampin' Dimensionals. The coloring isn't perfect but I didn't want it to be. I have to say that I much prefer the new ink pads to the previous! There is a learning curve but the black is BLACK and not blue like my old one, and the lines are crisp.

It was a nice surprise to attend the prayer service and see that the family had chosen a bulletin with butterflies on the cover. My aunt was a wonderful woman. Since she had Alzheimer's that was quite severe, we have been missing "her" for several years, so now we celebrate her freedom to a body that knows no sickness and a mind that is once again sharp as a tack!

More projects will post later!
Becca

Supplies used:
Stamp sets: Papillon Potpourri, Blessings from Heaven
Ink: Basic Black (NEW!!)
Markers: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip
Tool: Elegant Butterfly Punch
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals, SNAIL

My husband's birthday

My husband turned 50 this week. Today is his party, so what better time to post his card - aside from the actual day, of course?

I  used some retired Blueberry Crisp DSP, which I prettied up with a black flourish from Baroque Motifs. I am going to be SO SAD when that stamp set retires. It really is one of my favorites. I cut and notched a strip of Not Quite Navy, punched a piece of Very Vanilla with the Decorative Label Punch, and added a 3" 50 that my friend graciously cut for me using her Cricut. Thanks, J! I mounted the decorated panel on a Pacific Point card base.

Since my husband shares his birthday with his mom, we went to her house for the weekend. Of course, there was cake. My sister in law picked it. Isn't she sweet? :)

On his actual birthday, we went to the new Japanese steakhouse in town. We sat at a teppanyaki table and got the whole show. It was SO FUN, we all had a great time! I had never been to this kind of restaurant before. I know the manager so he assured me we would get one of their very funniest chefs. I doubt it would have been much less of an experience with any of the other staff but I appreciated it! The waiter was fun and friendly, too. Highly recommend. My stepson had his friend make another fun cake. (No cake duty for me at all this year! Thanks, guys!) Hubby watches A LOT of Western movies. He likes cowboy stuff. See where this is going?

I laughed so hard I thought I would cry. 5?? LOL! :) There is a 50 on the side of the cake. Nicole made a Guiness cake. So, it's a kid cake on the outside and a grown up cake on the inside. It was so good and so rich and my piece was way too big! I felt bad not eating it all but what I finished was fabulous. If you need a baker in town for a special event, I can pass on her card! My stepson got him a Toy Story card that plays "You've Got a Friend In Me" - which also said Happy 5th Birthday on the front but he added a zero. Awesome.



Anyway, this is still a paper crafting blog so here is another shot of the card I made. I didn't want to be mean, I didn't want to make fun, I just wanted something nice that still had big black numbers. :) And in case you are wondering, NO I will not be 50 any time soon. I still have a long way to go until I hit 40!

Thanks for looking, hope it made you smile!!

Becca

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Baroque Motifs
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Card Stock: Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Blueberry Crisp DSP
Punch: Decorative Label Punch