For a Very Special Little Guy

Being the girly-girl that I am, and being that I love flowers, and butterflies, and unicorns, and shiny squirrels, and being that my baby boy is 37 years old and my grandson is 13, I don't have very many occasions to make a card for little guys. (Whew, almost ran outta air there for a minute!) Therefore I don't have any (current) stamp sets that are appropriate. Soooo, to make a short story long, I had to use a retired stamp set to make this card. It's called Cool Kid, and it's a cool stamp set. I was sorry to see it go, because that super hero dog just tickles my funny bone!

My cousin's daughter had twin girls a couple days ago, just three days after her little boy turned three years old. I think he's going to make an awesome big brother, and will take very good care of his baby sisters. I know everyone makes a big deal about babies and mama, and sometimes older siblings can feel left out. So after I made the congrats card for mama and daddy, I made this card for the big brother. When he opens it, a big red star pops up, and it says BIG brother. I hope it makes him smile!

STAMPS: Cool Kid (retired), Kinda Eclectic, Back to Basics Alphabet (not shown)
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Real Red, Silver Glimmer Paper
INK: StazOn Jet Black, So Saffron, plus Real Red, Pacific Point, and Basic Black Stampin' Write Markers
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Circles Collection Framelits, Stars Framelits, Lucky Stars embossing folder, Real Red 1/4" Cotton Ribbon, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, 2" Circle Punch, 2-1/2" Circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Christmas in February

Yes, folks, we're are already thinking about Christmas, can you believe it? The monthly Christmas Club starts in February (to give us time to recuperate from last Christmas), and runs through the beginning of December this year. Every month we make a different set of cards. The choice of how many you want to make of the "card of the month" is entirely up to you! This was the card we made last month:

I figure out how many cards I'm going to send (and add a few more, because the list always grows by the end of the year) and then divide that number by the number of classes to see how many I need to make each month. This year I need to make 8 per month. Funny, when I started making cards a few years ago, I only needed 4 per month. How did it double in three years?!

I got my inspiration for this card from a similar one by Sharon Burkert. The wreath is essentially the same, but I changed the colors up a bit. Thanks, Sharon!

Stamps: Merry Minis, Daydream Medallions, Greetings of the Season

Cardstock: Naturals White, Cherry Cobbler, Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Silver Glimmer

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Gumball Green

Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka-Dots embossing folder, Merry Minis Punch Pack, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon, Dazzling Details glitter glue, Stampin'Dimensionals

Last Call for the New Year

Here's the final New Year's card....you can't see how purdy and sparkly it really is, unfortunately, because my camera just can't capture the glimmer paper in all its glory. And I'm pretty sure Santa isn't bringing me a new camera, because he brought me the new BBQ grill w/ smoker that I wanted. The old one finally died after almost 20 years, so it was time for a new one.

Now I know all you people in the frozen north can't wrap your head around it, but we grill year-round here in Southern California. It's a beautiful thing. We may not ever have a white Christmas, but we can throw some meat on the barbie whenever we want!

Northern folks:

Me:

Okay, now I gotta run to finish the cookie baking and candy making. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the SUO Challenges theme for this week. Ta!!!

Any Hero

In addition to Father's Day cards (and others), I'm making "Any Hero" cards to send to Operation Write Home. These cards are to the service members, thanking him/her for their service to our country. This one uses the new Land of the Free single stamp in the Summer Mini.  It was so easy to ink the stars with a Night of Navy marker, and the lyrics with a Real Red marker.  Sponging the edges of the mat, the stars and the stamped image with Soft Suede really gives the card an aged, vintage feel.

Stamp: Land of the Free
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Night of Navy, Autumn Spice DSP (retired)
Ink: Soft Suede Classic, Real Red and Night of Navy Stampin' Write Markers
Accessories: Finial Press embossing folder, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Night of Navy 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Star Punch, Star Punch (retired), Stampin' Sponges

A Fairy Happy Birthday

Click any image to enlarge

This is number one (of three) cards that I made for the Inkadinkado INKAfriends Gallery, as mentioned in my last post. I wanna get those free stamps! Free is good!!!

The Fairy is from the Inkadinkado Beautiful Fairies clear stamp set, and the sentiment is from Inka's Chelsea Sentiments. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, since I wanted to color with the Copic markers. After I colored the image, I went back over her wings and the star swirls with Shimmerz Blingz Pixie Dust, which I thought was an appropriate name for the shimmer and sparkle associated with a fairy!

The sentiment was stamped with VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria ink and heat embossed with Stampin' Up! Iridescent Ice EP. It really sparkles, as seen in the close up to the right (click to enlarge).

The star rhinestones that I used in the swirls are made by Darice and are available at Michael's.



Copic colors used >>>>

Cardstock: Whisper White, and bits from my scrap bag
DP: DCWV Sweet Stack
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Embellies: Star by Darice, photo corner punch by EK Success