Great Nephew's First Birthday!

So... Felix's First Birthday is today! 
This little guy is my great nephew and is just as cute as a bug! 

 My first and only creation was to be this card below.  Then, after I looked through the Cricut booklet, I saw the sign (shown above) and just had to make it for the party!

This shows just the sign I made, and the card...  we definitely will shower him with many gifts! 

Happy Birthday, Felix!  We love you!

Aunt's Birthday Card

I've posted cards made with this stamp and die cut set before.  I think this one has to be my favorite!  It's very possible that practice makes progress in this case. 

 I used thick white cardstock to die cut the oval piece.  It gives it more stability than regular white cardstock.

 This design gives lots of space on the back to add dimensionals to pop the design off the embossed design on the card base.

I used Stampin' Up ink colors:  Pool party and Daffodil Delight.  I used Stampin' Up! Watercolor pencils Bermuda Bay, and cardstock colors Pool Party, and Melon Mambo.  I also used two of my alcohol markers from Spectrum Noir to color in the balloons.

Wishing my Aunt a VERY Happy Birthday!

Birthday Card for a Little Boy!

We have a little boy in the family turning 2 in January!  I sent him the Elmo with 1 a year ago for his first birthday - a trend has started...  I'll see how long these cards are popular, then I'll move to something a little more 'grown up' when he gets there.

I've always seen the edge doodling on crafter's cards.  This was my first attempt.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I'll have to keep playing with this technique.

Got to LOVE Cookie Monster!!!  COOKIE!

Happy Birthday to you, Michael!

December Birthday - Late Posting! It's Busy at the Holidays!

My cousin's wife's birthday is almost mid-December.  Mom and I finished the calendars early enough that there was time for me to show her this set of dies and stamps I ordered from Papertrey Ink.

I've made this card quite a few times since I first bought the bundle.  Each time it's a different color set...  Dark Blues, Purples, Sky Blue as on this card.  My beloved Bermuda Bay...

 I saw this on Pinterest, and after some investigation I found this comes from a company called Papertrey Ink.  The stamp set is called Paper Clippings.  Scroll down on the page, and you'll find the two coordinating die sets.

The inside is a new stamp set available in just a few days from Stampin' Up!  You can find more information on my Stampin' Up! blog... Susan Vilar Stamps!

OMG! I saw it on Pinterest!

How many times have you heard that?  I know I say it a lot, and I hear others say it as well.  Fashion (not my thing), Home Decor (sometimes my thing), Recipes (DEFINITELY my thing), and crafts....  (almost always my thing)!

I saw cards made with this stamp set and die cut images, and HAD to have them!  I love anything fancy and scroll-y.  This really fit the bill.  The Happy has a really interesting flair to it, and the die cut is SO cool!

No excuses, right?  BUT this was my first try at it, and I've already got another one of these cut I want to use my alcohol markers on to see if it will make it glow.

Stay tuned... this will be used often, and it will look a lot better than this first try (even though I still like it).

HERE is a link to the stamp set, and scroll down for a look a the 2 sets of die cuts.

Black Birthday

It probably seems like quite a strange request.

I was asked to make a card for a birthday.  After asking my usual questions, I found this information:  favorite color - black, no frilly things.

Hmmmmm  

This is what I came up with.  I used the new stamp set "Number of Years" and the Large Number Dies that coordinate with the stamps.  I also really love the balloon punch!  I've used it so much already!

Stampin' Up has some GREAT specialty paper.  I used the black glitter paper, and the silver glimmer paper for the accents on this card.
I also carefully heat embossed the silver glimmer paper with black and used it to cut the "30".  It turned out really well!

Click on the link of any product below to purchase from my site!

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set

$27.00

Large Numbers Framelits Dies

$31.00

Silver Foil Sheets

$4.00

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$7.00

Heat Tool (Us & Can)

$30.00

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

First Birthday!

We have a family member celebrating his FIRST birthday today!

 Though we live quite far away, we send messages and packages his way often.

I made this birthday card for him.  Elmo is perfect for celebrating birthdays!

Dress Cards - Happy Birthday!

Again this is the Painted Blooms DSP.  There are just so many pretty patterns in this Designer Paper!

I have 2 wonderful friends that craft with me.  When we can, we get together once a week to work on whatever project we've got going.  It's a great time to connect with friends, and I enjoy making snacks to share.  I like to try new recipes, and it's even more fun to share them.

 My friend saw one of the dress Christmas cards I made last year, and requested it.  The problem with that was that once I sign and seal them during the year, I don't remember which card is which! 

 SO, with her birthday in June, and this beautiful paper, I made some dresses! 

Happy Birthday, my dear friend!  :)

Niece's Birthday Card

My recent fascination with the spinner cards led to this Birthday card for our niece.
She's a crafter as well, just starting out.  I knew she's really appreciate this card.

I used my 3 favorite happy colors - Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, and Melon Mambo.  Together, they just make me happy!  That was the idea for the birthday card!  :)

I took a video of the card, but didn't take a still picture!  RRRrrrrr   so here's a video clip. 

Birthday Card for my Dear Friend

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

We've been playing with these spinner cards for awhile now...  actually less than a month, but it seems longer because I've now made 4 or 5 of them.

It takes a little engineering, but they're SO FUN, and Ms. Kathy challenged us, and I always LOVE a challenge!

This butterfly spins all the way around the cut-out circle.  I didn't want the background to be plain, so I used the same honeycomb stamp on the background to blend the two levels of card stock.

Here's the short video clip I took of this card so you could see the motion of the spinner cards.  Fun,  Fun, FUN!! 

Happy Birthday Card - to Me!

Happy Birthday Card

So yes, it's TERRIBLY tacky to make a birthday card for yourself....  HORRIBLE!

But, I did it.

I saw a version of this card on Pinterest, and CASE'D it pretty closely.

Coastal Cabana is the base, and Bermuda Bay makes up the top layer.
The flowers are stamped in Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, and Crisp Cantaloupe.  I used another flower from the set stamped in Wild Wasabi to make the leaves.

This is the 2nd one I made.  The first one - I chose a center stamp that was too large.  This Birthday stamp fit perfectly!

I gave it to my husband and he finished it out and presented it to me at dinner.

Nephew's Birthday Card. Happy Birthday, Zach!

More Gorgeous Grunge!
I do LOVE this stamp set!

I used Zach's favorite colors - red and black with the addition of blue and gray just because red and black can be so dark.
I didn't intend this to be quite so busy, but this is how it turned out.... and he said he liked it. 

 

I used Pacific Point as the card base with a mat of black and the large happy cut from thinlits in black as well.  The ink colors - Real Red, Pacific Point, Smoky Slate, and Memento's Tuxedo Black.

Busy Busy Busy...  He won't get bored!!  :)

Card Refills for Mom (Part 1)

I was quite upset to find out that one of my very favorite stamp sets, Stippled Blossoms is retiring.  It is not continued in the Stampin' Up 2015-2016 catalog.

I guess Ms. Shelli didn't hear me when I told her this was my very favorite stamp set... and we had a quiet moment together with no one else around in Dallas.  Oh well.  I will continue to use it! 

 The last time Mom and Dad came to visit, Mom brought her envelope holder from a Christmas ago saying it was empty, and showing me how empty and lonely it was. 

 After some searching and thinking - the thinking part of the creative process always takes me the longest.  How do I want the cards to look?  What embellishments?  What colors?  Composition?  Placement?  Oh, so many thoughts!!! 

 SO, this is the first of two sets she received.  If you know the Stippled Blossoms set, you know it's a 2 step stamping set with a flower base, and the piece I used for these cards is actually the detailed top piece.

 All I did with these cards was to take the top piece and stamp it as close as I could with some overlapping going on.

 I used coordinating card stock for matting and stamping the Happy Birthday on the white card stock.  From each mat, I punched two flowers to add to the center piece.

 So now you've seen each of the six cards with its envelope flap stamped as well.  I left the individual cards quite large so if you click on them, you'll see a very large image indeed.

 I haven't yet mentioned colors.  Pacific Point,  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, Bermuda Bay, and Tangerine Tango.  I'm not sure why the Blackberry Bliss photographs so muddy.  It's quite a pretty purple in person.

As any stamper does, I am most critical of my work, and will make the mat pieces smaller next time I make a version of these cards so more of the background shows.  Just thought I'd put that out there.