Birthdays, Galore!

Since I am so behind with these cards, I'm just going to put all of the birthday cards I've made in one post! Summer is a busy time around here!

For this card, I used a Waffle Flower stencil and the Be Her stamps which I love. 

I added some sparkle to her bow with a Wink of Stella pen. No idea why I haven't been using one this entire time!

For this card, I again used Waffle Flower stamps with a stencil. These cards are simple but I love how they come out.

I forgot about this Colorado Craft Company ice cream cone stamp that I bought forever ago. I took out my copics and with this large picture, it was a great blending exercise. 

For my brother-in-law's birthday, I used the Harry Potter stamps I got from The Sassy Club. Hagrid is his favorite character, but he looked lonely so I added Dobby and Hedwig since Hagrid is a lover of all creatures. I used a Waffle Flower stencil with Gryffindor colors. 

For this card, I used a Lawn Fawn ice cream stamp to create multiple scoops. The background was created with Shaded Lilac, Picked Raspberry and Cracked Pistachio and I used the stamp to create my own pattern. I really like how this one came out, but it look a long time to make it look right. 

Father's Day, 2021

I am so behind on this blog! It doesn't help that every free minute I get, I usually spend it crafting instead of blogging, but my posts are starting to pile up so here we go!

Father's Day, 2021. I made three cards for the Dads in my life. 

This was for my father in law. I used the Waffle Flower Be Him stamp set that I love and I gave the elephant a book since he's a big reader!

I made this for my husband since he actually picked out this Lawn Fawn stamp for me in a store! I used a cloud stencil for the background and a very old Recollections letter stamp set for the sentiment.

This card was for my brother in law who was celebrating his very first Father's Day! I really loved this Hugs stamp set from My Favorite Things. I tried to create a scene with the cloud stencil again and mowed lawn distress oxide. 

Lots more to come!

Happy Anniversary!

Last month, my husband and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. I know once folks get married, they tend to only celebrate their wedding date, but we were together for eight years before we got married, so I tend consider this June date the more important one.

On our first date, we saw Disney Pixar's UP! so it's always been a very special movie for us. When I saw that Sandra from The Sassy Club had stamps from the movie, I knew I had to grab them. 

First, I covered the card with a rainbow background using my distress oxides: Wilted Violet, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral. I didn't like that though. It just looked too much, so I grabbed a stencil from Waffle Flower and tried to recreate the effect. I messed up a little on the top, but at that point, I wasn't going to start over.

I'm actually really proud of the Copic coloring that I did on these characters. They took me awhile to get just right, but I love the end result. I topped it all off with a CZ Design sentiment.

Hope you all take the time to celebrate the special people in your life!

Oh Mickey, You So Fine

In college, I had a second home with my best friend Kevin. His house was sort of like a safe haven where a bunch of us would retreat to when we needed a breather. His mom is one of the nicest I know and I loved to color with her. Long before Copics, I used to color with good old fashioned Crayola crayons and she'd have tons of Disney coloring books to choose from. It was so therapeutic and relaxing which is probably why I still love doing it today.

Kevin's parents are DVC members and I have so many wonderful memories of going to Disney World with his family. They were always the most fun vacations. So when I wanted to make something for his mom, I knew these Mickey stamps from The Sassy Club were perfect. There are no dies for these stamps so I had to fussy cut it, but I don't think it came out too bad?

I created the background with Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar distress oxide. I used one of the background stamps to create a border and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Muggle

My best friend Rachael's birthday is only a few days after my own. Every year, we have these great joint birthday parties that include roller skating to boy band music, bars and tiaras or karaoke. It's always a good time. Sadly, we haven't been able to do anything for the past two years, but I'm looking forward to next year. It'll be epic.

She is my fangirl partner and expert in all things Harry Potter. When I was still only a few weeks pregnant, we took a trip to Universal and even though I couldn't ride anything, I still had a total blast with her. 

Recently, I discovered Sandra of The Sassy Club and down the rabbit hole I went. There have been so many stamp sets I've purchased since then, but her Harry Potter sets are by far my favorite. The background was blended with Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. This set also came with footprints so I tried to recreate the ending credits of the third movie, but I think I was too neat with them. Either way, I'm glad with how it turned out. 

I have a few more stamps from The Sassy Club to play with (so many really....) so I'm looking forward to future cards!

 

Birthday Girls!

Ruby Anniversary

Last month, we celebrated my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary. 40 is the ruby anniversary (my mother-in-law received beautiful ruby earrings from Tiffany's!) so we "kids" wanted to help them celebrate. We decorated the house and had food catered by their favorite restaurant. (The same place I got married, funny enough)

For their card, I had a different idea in mind, but time got away from me and I had to come up with something quick the night before. I had just gotten the Simon Says Stamp Dandelion message set and I was itching to use it. The distress oxide background was created with Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold and Squeezed Lemonade. Then I embossed a small sentiment on black cardstock and called it a day.

Simple cards can be beautiful too!

 

Happy 71, Sailor!

This year, my dad turned 71. Last year, due to the pandemic, we celebrated his 70th birthday over facetime since he lives in a Veteran's home and they had closed the place to all visitors. This year, I thought we would be able to see him, but it was only through plexiglass and we weren't allowed to give him any of the presents or food we made him. Instead, a nurse collected all of our things and all we could do was wave. It was rough. While I am very grateful for the care he receives, the toll of this pandemic is starting to wear me thin. I'm hoping once the vaccine becomes more wildly available, normal visitations can resume.

For his card, I again created a distress heavy card. I love this sunset, but this time, I also created an ocean since my father is a Navy man. I used washi tape to create the horizon.

Sky colors: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire.

Ocean: Tumbled Glass, Broken China and some Black Soot in the edges

I also took a white gel pen to create the waves. The sentiment is from an old Penny Black stamp set which I believe I've used for him before, but doesn't make it any less true!

Hope that wherever you are, you're able to see and hold your loved ones soon! 

 

Wasn’t he a cute sailor?