Double Birthday Wishes

My twin nieces will be FIVE on Father's Day. It's hard to believe they're going to be going to kindergarten in the fall!! As I was sorting through sets I'm contemplating selling, I came across retired Wild About You and decided to ink it up to see if I still had any love for it.

I started with this card as inspiration (scroll down to see the card), but after I'd stamped each of the animals once, the thought of animals coming TWO BY TWO occurred to me, and it seemed like a subtle nod to the twins, so I went with it.

A LOT of cutting later (I think this card took more than an hour), I had the animals mounted on Whisper White and matted with returning former InColor Pink Pirouette. The colors for the animals include Perfect Plum, also returning (YIPPEE) Baja Breeze, So Saffron, returing Wild Wasabi, and Soft Suede. These colors, with the exception of Soft Suede, are part of the new Subtles Collection created by SU!'s Color Renovation. For the record, this card is 5" x 7".

I was also inspired by Teneale Williams' amazingly creative use of Party Hearty to create a banner, and this became a core element of my card.

The party hats from the set were stamped with Pink Pirouette and cut out. Then the circle "Celebrate You" from the set was stamped multiple times in each of the colors except Soft Suede. Using my 1/4" circle punch, the letters to spell "celebrate" were punched out and adhered to the now-pennants with glue dots. (If you scroll through Teneale's post, you can see a photo of these elements.)

I added the asterisk design from the center of "Celebrate You" stamp and tied five bows using 1/8" non-SU! sheer pink ribbon. I can hardly wait to send it to them! They'll be visiting Disney World on their birthday, and I'm sure that this year's celebration will go down in their memory as one of the best!

Anyone? Anyone?

Are you still out there? Has anyone even missed me? Probably not. Well, here's what's been happening. This week my computer and I have had issues. I couldn't get it to recognize the cable that allows me to download pictures from my camera to it, and it wouldn't tell me why it was having this little fit. Today, I tried again, and it was like nothing had ever been amiss. I don't get it. All's well that ends well, and you get to see cards galore over the next few days. Aren't you excited? Hello? Is anyone still out there?

Okay, here's the first card. My old boss texted and asked for a baby card in the same design as the one I made in honor of his firstborn. It's a tri-fold shutter card (still don't get why they call it that, but they didn't ask me), and this one was for their friends' new daughter. The nursery is done in pinks and neutrals with jungle animals. Okie-dokie.

And the little girl's name is Lyla, but her mother didn't want to correct my friend's wife when she sent an email and spelled her daughter's name incorrectly (what?!? then why spell her name the way you did and doom your daughter to having her name misspelled for the rest of her life? again, I was not consulted), so the card is created with her name spelled as Lila. I guess it could be chalked up to post-partem distraction.

So, I whipped up this card using some light cardboard, since I needed but did not have any 12"x12" card stock in a neutral color like white or kraft, some left over Pink Pirouette DSP from last year's InColor collection, and my retired Wild About You stamp set featuring jungle animals. The animals were stamped in PP and accented with Old Olive. I used Outline Alphabet (again retired) to craft the sweet baby's name (with an "i" not a "y" like her parents intended--argh!). The mom liked the card, I was told, even if her firstborn's name was not spelled as she intended. It's the thought that counts? She's more easy going than I was as a new mom.

More to come...

What Is It They Say About Elephants and Their Memories?

Is it true or is it a myth that elephants have good memories? As in, they remember things. I'm not sure, but this elephant seems to have a good memory for remembering birthdays of his friends, and being ready and willing to par-tay!

This card for today's Stamp-A-Stack features a bunch of retired stuff. Retired stuff still works, y'all, so it's getting put to good use! The set is Wild About You, the DSP is Cutie Pie, and the card stock is Purely Pomegranate. I loved this color {sigh}. This is a pretty straightforward design, but the little details of the ear popped up on a Stampin' Dimensional and the layered party hat in coordinating colors (from the current set Party Hearty) make it more special than your average greeting card from the grocery.

This card was originally intended for our monthly card making night at the Ronald McDonald House. I have a second that I'll show at another time, closer to when we go. The census at the House is always changing, and this month's residents are mostly male and older teens. At the advice of a fellow volunteer who is at the house weekly, we're postponing until there's a group there that might enjoy crafting more than this demographic. You gotta know your audience, and the guys just don't have the love for crafting! So some of the supplies will be put to good use this weekend at my house instead.

Happy weekend to you! My folks arrive from IN for the week, so we'll be getting some good face time with them in the next 7 days. Someone in our house is having a birthday, so we'll be going out to dinner and having some chocolate cake! Be sure to remember those in your life with birthdays. It really does mean more than you think to get a card in the mail.

Welcome, little Amos!

A friend of mine and his wife had their first baby a few weeks ago. I wanted to do something special for this event, but I was not inspired. I think it was because I don't have a "go to" set that I use for making this kind of card, so I was stumped.

I had this tri-shutter card base sitting around that I'd decorated with retired Autumn Vine DSP, and I began playing with it last Saturday to see what I could come up with that would honor this little boy's birth. The nursery's colors are green and brown. Check. I had seen a picture the proud papa had posted on FB where Amos was wrapped in a blanket covered with elephants. AHA! Wild About You was the set I grabbed and began inking!

The colors of the DSP were Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Sage Shadow, and Really Rust. So I stamped four elephants in those colors. I paired them with a sentiment stamp from a retired Hostess set, the name of which escapes me. "It's a boy!" was quite appropriate, and set the tone.

The other sentiment I employed in my design is from God's Blessings. I think it's intended for a wedding, but I like it for a new baby. For the proud parents, there's a new hand to hold, a new heart to love, and a new life to lead. What a joy and what a responsibility! I inked up each phrase separately and positioned them a bit more spaced apart than the original stamp design. I'm a person who revels in symmetry, so instead of using another verse on the panel on the other side of the little boy's name, I repeated the sentiment. I like how it frames his name, which I stamped using my Jumbo Outline Alphabet and then colored using my CC Stampin' Write! Marker. The other animals on the card are also from Wild About You, and I like how they complete the look and establish the theme.

I dropped this off today and got a text message several minutes later, exclaiming how fantastic it is and how he couldn't wait to show it to his wife. This is why I craft, friends! The opportunity that that little investment of ink, paper, and time afforded me to bless someone is the best feeling. Try it this week. Give one of your cards away, and tell me about the reaction. Spread a little love, friends...

ROAR!!! Another Wild One for You

This card was inspired by yawp on SCS. One of my readers suggested I peruse the galleries for inspiration, and I hope you can tell that it worked!

While yawp's card used some retired Halloween designer paper, I didn't have any of that, so I went scrounging through my stash to find some that would coordinate with the colors of Summer Sun and More Mustard that I'd chosen. I found several patterns that shared the MM color, and went to work. I adapted the design because I wanted it to have more texture, and the fuzzy felt Chocolate Chip ribbon really reminds me of stuffed animals. I really liked the little bit of paper piercing that yawp did, so I incorporated that element too. The head was stamped separately a second time, cut out, and popped up on a dimensional. I discovered by accident that I could make a fuller mane by tilting his head a bit!

This set is fun to work with, although kids' cards still aren't as easy to create as general cards. Still, it's fun to stretch myself, even if it's only a little by adapting someone else's layout, and produce something that would make a child smile. I hope the kid in you smiled too!

I WILL BE PRODUCTIVE TODAY...I WILL

Today is my day off. Each time this happens, an internal struggle begins the moment I wake up. Do I make the most of this day, or do I loaf? I want to pretend I have a good attitude about the commitment I've made to get myself in the gym 3-4 days a week and to pursue some other daily disciplines, but I gotta confess I was fighting myself to do the "right" things this morning. So I made a deal with myself: take your medicine and then you can play.

So I went to the gym, showered, and I spent some time in my prayer closet. Then I ate lunch, started a load of laundry, and got serious about creating a card for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack. I purchased the Wild About You set to use to make a child's birthday card, since this was one of my SASers' requests.

I scoped out the SCS gallery, and came across this card by tankgrl. I loved the parts of each that were popped up on dimensionals, but as I played with the layout, it just wasn't exactly right. I always tend to make things more complicated, and one of the things I want to strive for is a simplified style this year, so I experimented with two backgrounds and was thrilled when it came to me that I could use the tall grass stamp from the Inspired by Nature set. From there, the card went together in a snap!
I think the twine tied between the animals adds to the feel.

So, one down, 4 to go! One of the remaining four will use the Love You Much bundle, which will ship next week, so be on the lookout for some samples from that! If you're intrigued about what the bundle contains, just click on the Shop button in the upper right corner and go check it out! It's 20% off through the 31st.

One last thing: the new Spring-Summer catalogs shipped yesterday!!!