Mother's Day--The Only Time I Choose Pink

I am not a fan of pink, which I'm sure you could surmise by the lack of it you see on this blog. For some reason, though, I choose this color for Mother's Day cards. I don't do it on purpose; it must be some sort of subliminal message the color sends out each year. Don't believe me? Check out the archive tab for Mother's Day. So why I chose Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, and Rose Red for my Mother's Day card this year? Who knows? My mother doesn't even like pink! I'm tellin' ya--it's a conspiracy!

This card was inspired by a reminder from a fellow demonstrator of what you can do with border punches to make cool frames for images or sentiments. Thanks, Dawn! I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch, centered it on each side of a 3" square piece of Perfect Plum, and this was the result! Easy and such a cool look! I created the mat for the sentiment by using the complementary Scallop Trim Corner Punch and a piece of 2.25" square Rose Red card stock.

I stamped "wonderful mother" from Well Scripted and used the butterflies from Great Friend to complete the focal image. That cool frame embossed into the Pretty in Pink card base? That was made using the Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot. It's available in the current Occasions Mini, which is only current through April 30. If you'd like to order, you can do so through my shop 24/7 button in the upper right of this blog.

The BIG 4-0 Card

George, a good friend of my husband's, turned 4-0 a few weeks ago. Bob asked if I would make him a card.

I don't have large dies that cut numerals for me, but long before I even knew what a diecut machine could do, I created my own stencil by enlarging some numbers on the computer to fit on a standard 4.25" x 5.5" card base. Now THAT'S old school!

I traced these onto some Celebrations DSP and cut them out, embossed a Bashful Blue piece of card stock using the Square Lattice TI Folder, and used my Stars #2 die to quickly add some stars. After I adhered all that to a Whisper White base, the card was ready to go.

George is quite the smartypants, so Bob gave him a copy of Radioactive Boy Scout along with the card. He also treated the office to Birthday Cake Pops from Starbucks. I think George felt properly embarrassed, I mean celebrated. Glad I was able to have a small hand in the festivities.

A Tisket, A Tasket

It's time for an Easter basket! When I saw Carrie Gaskin's card where she explained how she took her oval punches and made an Easter basket, I looked at my Petal Cone die and the scallop edged half circle that is created, and then I pondered the half circle flaps on the cone, I thought I had the makings of my own Easter basket WITHOUT the punches!

Here's how I made this sweet basket. I used Sahara Sand card stock and ran my Petal Cone die through the Big Shot. This gave me 2 scallop edge half circles and 2 half circles that I could cut away from the cone shape. I used Carrie's tip and created a basket weave look using my Sahara Sand marker and a ruler. Then I trimmed the scallop edge horizontally and removed 2 of the scallops. I punched holes in the scallops using my Mat Pack. To make the handle, I cut a rim off the second half circle and adhered it to the back side of the basket base.

Then it came time to make the eggs. I wanted not a round shape, but an oval, because eggs are more ovals than balls. I grabbed my 3-Heart Punch and punched out hearts in almost every color from the Brights collection, using the fattest of the hearts. Then I cut the heart in half and adhered half of it to the basket, arranging them so that they looked like they were laying against each other. Some Daffodil Delight 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, and the basket was complete!

I used a frame left over from cutting out a Top Note with the Big Shot and created some grass using a strip of Certainly Celery and my Paper Snips. The sentiment is from a retired set, Well Scripted. This was stamped in Pacific Point so that every color in the Brights collection would be used!

If you'd like to make this Easter basket card, join me April 16 at my monthly Stamp Camp at my house! Just leave a comment to RSVP or to inquire about details.