No joke....

Happy Wednesday all! I cannot believe it is the end of March already. Time sure does fly by. And in case you hadn't heard - Friday is April Fool's Day (and my friend Rachel's birthday), and a large scale storm is headed our way here in Maine. 6-12 inches of snow. Apparently no one told Mother Nature that spring officially started over a week ago! NO MORE SNOW PLEASE!!

So - today I will make you think happy thoughts with this colorful birthday gift card holder.

I will get the deminsions for you and post them soon. But in the meantime, take a peek:

I made the base of the card using red card stock and made a mat using black card stock, which really made the colors pop on this card! And I love how it uses circles everywhere. I punched the circles using various circle punches and cut off the edges of some, if needed. Above the sentiment, I cut a small piece of orange card stock and adhered 3 circles to the back and wrapped some ribbon around the base. I also took a small piece of ribbon and tied a bow (and adhered it with a pop dot.)

The inside of the card is where you make the fold for the gift card.

I punched the slot with the word window punch (I had to punch, slide over and punch again). I place a small piece of black as a mat here in the inside too to accent the circles here! Before I adhered the fold up, I cut a small piece of yellow card stock in where the fold would be to add some extra color behind the punched area. I added some sticky strip to the side edges and adhered!

To the top section I added a white mat and another small orange circle with a "for you" sentiment.

I hope you have enjoyed this updated version of a gift card holder. (perhaps the next time I make it - I will use the new embossed techinque that is all the rave, and emboss all the circles onto the black mat and then embellish it! Who knows!!)

Thanks for popping in today!

It's Friday.... It's Friday...

I am so excited that it is Friday! This week has flown by for me. I hope it has for you. I cannot believe how fast time is disappearing already this year. I hate it... slow down!!!

I have Spring Fever.... might have to have a fever day soon! What do you do on your Spring fever days?

Today I want to share another birthday card... I am loving this stamp set and coordinating punch for the cupcake from Stampin' Up! There is sooo much you can do with it!

I like bright colors for birthday cards. It makes them a little more easier to use for boys/men!

On this card I used some scrap striped paper and coordinating plain card stock. I used the cupcake punch to make the cupcake and stamped the jimmies on it. I punched the candles from a coordinating color and yellow for the flames! I ran some blue ribbon around the center and tied some red to accent it! In the lower right I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the punch bunch set (that I got for FREE thru sale-a-bration) and punched it out with the scallop square punch.

To top it off - I added 2 red brads to the upper right and adhered it all to the card!!!

I usually leave the insides if my cards blank so whoever uses it can write exactly what they want. (what do you do?)

I hope you have enjoyed this card! Tomorrow I am attending the Canton Cruisers Relay for Life Crop for a Cure event! 12 hours of scrapping fun!! I will be back to share some of the cards I will be working on!

Thanks for popping in!

To you from me.... with love

Happy Wednesday to you! We are officially on the downhill slide of the week. Kiddos, vacation is almost half over, make the most of it!!! Get outside and PLAY!!! Teachers, rest up and have fun!

Today I want to share another birthday card with you! This one is definitely geared towards girls! (The pink is a dead give-away!) :)



I make almost all my cards using a white card stock base. (I really like the white card stock that you can get at Walmart.) So on this card, I mounted pink paper to the white and then added an additional mat of baby blue. I also topped the blue paper with another layer of white but I ran it through the Big Shot using the swiss dots embossing folder to add some texture.
I stamped and punched the cupcake out with the Create a Cupcake set, from the Stampin' Up occasions mini catalog. I also punched a blue scallop circle (the large one), to set the cupcake on. I popped up the cupcake design with dimensionals and added a cherry to the top! I should have added some glitter to the cherry to give it some bling! I placed the scallop circle and the cupcake on a small piece of pink card stock and tied a ribbon around the opposite end. Adhering this piece to the right hand side of the inner mat, after I placed a pink brad above the birthday greeting, finished off the card.


All you would need to do is change up the colors and this card could be for a boy, or even an adult! I hope this inspires you to grab your stuff and get making some cards for all the birthdays you have coming up this year!

Stop by tomorrow for yet another card! Thanks for popping in!

Happy Happy Birthday

I had so much fun making birthday cards this weekend!! I follow a blog hop that happens on the 20th of every month. These ladies are fantastic creators and come up with some great ideas! Most of the cards I made are copies of what they posted!! :)

This card is made using the Create a Cupcake stamp set and matching punch from Stampin' Up! I knew the first time I saw this set that I had to have it! Everyone has birthdays and you can use this set for so many occasions besides birthdays!!!

The top is a muted red card stock and the bottom is some scrap polka dot paper I had in my stash. Between the 2 layers I added some white card stock punched with the scallop border punch. I used a brown mat with plain white card stock for the middle. I stamped the cupcake designs with bashful blue and chocolate chip onto scrap white card stock and punched them out with the punch. I punched the cherry out of red card stock and popped it on the top with a dimensional. I mixed and matched the tops and bases of the cupcakes. I added the sprinkles and the bow on the cupcake, using the stamps from the set.

I ran some brown and gold ribbon around the mat before I adhered it to the card.

To finish it off - I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from the stamp set to the front of the card! Presto Chango! Done!

Thanks for popping in today. Be sure to check back tomorrow for another birthday card!

Here comes the bride....

While I was surfing the internet looking for wedding invitations and cards.... I came across these and fell in love!

I had purchased the directions to make Lynn's owl box and card set (here) and when I saw these - I knew that they would be perfect for a little gift bag or something for the bride and groom!

I traced the small owl template and cut them out of brown card stock. I cut the "tux" out of black card stock. I cut a slit to make the lapels (folding them back) and added a white piece behind it to make the shirt. I added some black adhesive dots to make the buttons and a small white flower to the lapel. I added feet with the tab punch and adhered them to the back on the bottom. The eyes are punched out with 3 graduating circle punches, using white, a color and black.

The bride is made the same way, using the template for the owl and the dress. I used a scallop border punch for the bottom of the dress. I added some bling to the dress collar to resemble a necklace (those are fun to work with!). I also added some large rhinestones to the bottom of the dress for some shimmer. I punched 2 small hearts and adhered them together to make the ear bow and added another rhinestone to cover where I matched them up. I made the eyes the same way as the groom but I added eyelids, sponged with some color to represent eye shadow and cut a small strip of black to make lashes. I really think that the lashes make her!

Be sure to check out Lynn's blog to get the full directions to make her owls. She has many variations that you can make as well!

Thanks for popping in!

There's a wedding to be planned!!!!

No - not me! It has been 17 years for me and my wonderful hubby! My niece got engaged on Valentine's Day and her fiancee is heading to boot camp for the Air Force in March and when he gets home, we will be having a wedding!! I am so excited for them!

Today I played around with some invite samples for them to look at. Not really sure what they want but I found some cute things while I was surfing Splitcoast stampers website!!! (What a great site!) I know the colors are dark blue and white but I need to know WHAT shade of dark blue she wants!! :) So many choices!

This one I cased and thought it was simple and elegant

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I embossed the blue background paper. I am going shopping for a few more embossing folders, as I am having a great time using them with my new Big Shot! I stamped a heart (from the $1 acrylic stamps) with a light blue ink and punched it out with the large heart punch from Stampin' Up. Not sure if you can see the design on the heart, but it is a fancy swirl.

The next one I made was also cased from Splitcoast.

I embossed the blue background and ran the butterfly embosslit folder from SU and used the 3 largest on the card. I used dimensionals to raise them up a little. I also punched an oval and a scallop oval and pop dotted them in the upper right hand corner. I figured I could stamp something on the oval.

This last one is by far my favorite.

I knew when I saw it that I had to make one something like it! Once again I used a blue background on a white card. I made a second mat set with the white and blue. I punched the corners with the ticket punch (from SU!) and I used dimensionals on the middle mat set. The "bride and groom" are made from the large heart punch. I punched the white one for the bride and ran it through the Big Shot with the swiss dots embossing folder. I added some crystal bling to the front with glue dots. The groom was made with a white heart and a black heart. I cut the black one to look like a tux front. I added small black self adhesive dots ($1 from AC Moore) to make the buttons. Not sure if you can see it but I spritzed the card with my mixture of shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol to make it sparkly!

If you know of a great site to get ideas for wedding invitations, please share it with me!!! (or if you have made some - please share!)

Thanks for popping in!

Happy Humpday!!!

I am so happy that it is Wednesday!!!!! I have one more day of work and then a 4 day weekend!!! Yeah me!!!! But believe me..... today is an IV of coffee day! :)

Today I want to share a 2 page layout I worked on a week or so ago and never got around to posting!

My niece did a photo shoot with Ash (my daughter) a couple of years ago that we use for her official "school" photos. We try and do something each fall to make up for not ordering school pictures. (they are soooo expensive) This year they had a blast just going around and taking pics! Some of the pictures are in black and white and others are sepia.

I wondered how I was going to scrap these but I pulled out one of my handy dandy sketch books and - voila! I had a pattern to use!

I used some Stampin' Up DSP for background paper and coordinated the mats to match. I love browns and blues together.

I cut the title using my Cricut and the jasmine cart. Love this font.

The brown on the right is cut into small strips for the mat, to add some visual texture.

I know the lighting of the picture isn't the best, but I hope you can see it!

This is the full 2 page spread:

Thanks for popping in today. Please leave me a note and tell me what you think and share what you love to scrap about!