Oops! It's Past Your 9th Birthday!

Hi there! It's been a while on the old blog-o. Knock, knock...is this thing on? My in-laws were here over the weekend and the Little Guy started school yesterday. The regular busy routine starts again.

I'm back today to share a card I made last week for our friend, Joshua. I felt so bad because we missed his birthday party last Sunday. The day was overwhelming because my 5-year old niece, Alexa, broke her arm above the elbow and had surgery. We found out my second cousin, Matias, was killed in Denver. I was so distracted by all the tragic news that day, I totally forgot about Joshua's party.

I had begun work on this for the CARDS magazine blog when they were asking for star-shaped cards. I didn't have a chance to finish it by their deadline.

The template for this card comes from Kristina Werner when she created it for the Hero Arts blog. You can find the template here. The patterned paper is from The Boyfriend line by Cosmo Cricket. I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut the 9 from Cosmo Cricket paper and several times from kraft cardstock in order to make my own chipboard. The sentiment comes from a retired Stampin' Up set. The original sentiment read "Oops! It's a hare past your birthday!" I just removed the word "hare". I was too lazy to take a new picture, but I added a "th" after the 9 so it reads "9th".

Thanks for stopping by.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Birthday Banter (SU!), Background Basics: Woodgrain (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Kraft, The Boyfriend (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Chocolate Chip (SU!)

Tools: Silhouette

Other: star card template (Kristina Werner), twine, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M)

Cards For "Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards For Kids" Blog Hop

Hey there! I was happy to participate in the Cards for Kids drive hosted by Kelly Marie of Lawn Fawn. The Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards for Kids blog hop starts today. If you want to start from the beginning, start here.

I choose to make cards for Kennedy and his family (13 yr old brother, Kaleb and mom, Kristen). Kennedy is 6 years old and was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) earlier this year. You can read more about CML here. He is such a cutie! I can relate to 6 year old boys, since my son Kalino just turned 7.

I made Kennedy a card with some cute aliens from the Greetings, Earthling set by Stampin' Up. If he's like my son, he'll get a kick out of the wacky aliens and the "Greetings' Earthling!" flag. I used my Copic markers to do all the coloring. I'm very new at using Copics and have less than 2 dozen colors so far. They are fun to play with!

Next, I made this card for Kennedy's brother, Kaleb. The stamps are from the Everyday Button Bits set by Papertrey Ink. I used my Copic markers to color in the bike and add "spokes" to the button wheels. I sponged over some Hero Arts clouds that I cut out with my Silhouette.

And finally, I made this card for Kennedy's mom, Kristen. I used the Papertrey Ink set, Everyday Button Bits. I also managed to incorporate some baker's twine on this card. The paper, buttons, and ribbon are all from Papertrey Ink.

The next stop on this blog hop is Tanis and her blog Card Confessions. Have a good one!

You Are Groovy!

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a groovy-licous day. I made this card for Cath's latest Moxie Fab World Challenge: Signs of Peace. I love seeing the peace symbol in fashion and decor. Last week, one of my nieces' birthday gifts had peace symbols all over it.

My card was inspired by a pillow I saw in an ad for Big Lots! this week. Inspiration can come from anywhere, right?

Since I didn't have any stamps with peace symbols, I used my Silhouette digital cutter and this downloaded peace symbol icon to cut out my peace symbols. I used a circle punch for the circles. For the sentiment, I downloaded a free groovy 60s-type font. I choose this one called Disko from dafont.com. To add more flower-power to this card, I added a flower-shaped brad from Making Memories.

Tip: This type of card is a great way to use up smaller scraps, which is my never-ending mission.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: none

Paper: Matte brochure paper (Xerox), Basic Black & scraps from SU!

Ink: my printer

Tools: Microsoft Word & Disko font from dafont.com, Silhouette & peace symbol, Modern Label punch (SU!), 1" circle punch (SU!), 1/16" hole punch (Fiskars)

Other: flower brad (Making Memories), foam tape, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

You Make Me Happy

Hi everyone! I'm back from our family vacation in New Mexico. That was a good 2 weeks. Our time was split between Albuquerque and Taos. My parents and 90% of my relatives live in Taos. My dad is undergoing radiation treatments in Albuquerque, so we spent more time than usual in Albuquerque. My sister and her family live in Albuquerque, so we stayed there several nights.

I took some crafting supplies and some pre-stamped and pre-cut odds and ends for the nieces to play with after Kalino's birthday party was over on August 1st. They had fun customizing some mini notebooks and they made cards. I also joined in the fun and created this card with a design I cut from my Silhouette months ago. I should have faux stitched the design before I put it on the card with foam tape, but I made my job a little harder. I threaded the button with linen thread from SU! and attached it to the card with a Glue Dot.

Here's a picture of 2 of my nieces at work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Your Best Birthday Yet

If you haven't noticed, I really love my Silhouette digital cutter. Here's another design made using the Silhouette. I made this card for one of my nieces who celebrates her birthday in less than 2 weeks.

I also made this card for Cath's Moxie Fab Card Style Week: Let's Do Clean and Graphic challenge.

Birthday Wishes, Kalino!

Today, my favorite Little Guy turns 7! Yikes, where has the time gone? He'll be in second grade at the end of the month.

Today, we're having his Star Wars themed birthday party at my parent's house.

I used my Silhouette to cut the Hero Arts birthday wishes design. I used this card by Kristina as my inspiration to fill the candle and letter with scraps of ribbon. The number 7 stamp is a Martha Stewart stamp. The stamped and embossed So Saffron half circle was a scrap on my desk. Oh, the continuing saga of cleaning off my desk! It will never end.

We'll I didn't get a chance to finish making invitations for Kalino's party, but here's my starting point. I downloaded several free Star Wars fonts and just used Picasa to write on top of the photo.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dad, Thinking of You

Hola! We arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday. My parents picked us up at the airport. We spent the night at my sister and brother-in-law's house. While it's great to be back in my home state, our trip to New Mexico is bittersweet. On one hand, we'll be celebrating Kalino's birthday in Taos with all his cousins on Sunday. I'll get see all, but one of my siblings, but I'll also see my cousin and uncle that are feeling the huge loss of losing my Aunt Christine in early June.

I'm also sad and nervous that today my dad has to start radiation treatments in Albuquerque. He'll have to live there Monday - Friday (120 miles away from home) for over 8 weeks. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer almost 7 years ago and had surgery. The radiation is a precautionary step since his PSA numbers have recently started climbing. 

I made this card for him. I used the 100th sketch from Clean and Simple. The sentiment is from the Men of Life set by Papertrey Ink. I don't know who made this lovely paper, but it's been on my shelf for over a year.

Have a lovely day!

WHOO Loves You? - Another One

I'm in a mad-rush to finish packing to get ready to fly out first thing in the morning. We're off to New Mexico.

Here's another card made from just the scraps on my desk. I love this owl sticker. He is on a square of stamped woodgrain. I ran the card base through the Big Shot with the Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impressions plate. The sentiment is from the WHOO Loves You set by Hero Arts.


Thanks for stopping by!

With Sympathy

The week is flying by. I've got a million things to do before we fly out to New Mexico next week. I've got to get to the mall today to buy the Little Guy some shoes. The shoes he used for school are worn out! He's got flip-flops and Iron Man sandals, but he needs some closed toe shoes.

This card is another item from my desk-cleaning last week. Months ago, I had already stamped the Wallpaper Flowers stamp from Hero Arts, embossed, and colored it with colored pencils. I added the pearlized Dew Drops to each flower and add a scrap of pink patterned paper to the bottom. The string is an upcycled item from some packaging. I don't have that many sympathy sentiments, so this one looks too petite for the scale of the card. The other one was too big, so I had to use this one. Well, I've got to run!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Wallpaper Flowers (Hero Arts), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)

Paper: kraft, kromekote, pink designer paper (SU!), card base (CA Paper Goods)

Ink: VersaMark, Basic Black (SU!)

Tools: Heat tool

Other: white embossing powder, Dew Drops, string from my stash, foam tape (3M), colored pencils (Crayola)

WHOO Loves You?

Hola Chicas! Here's my 3rd card this week made from items already on my desk. No new paper was cut for this card; even the card base was already cut. Everything for this card was in the "archeaological dig" that is my desktop.

I used the Woodgrain Impressions Plate from Papertrey Ink on the base of the card. I love woodgrain! I stamped the tree branch and sentiment from Hero Art's WHOO Loves You stamp set. The frame is a layered element from a digi kit I printed and cut months ago! The little owl is from a set I bought at Michael's last year. The fiber on the card is many years old.

Our friends flew back to Austin this morning, so the Little Guy was sad. He asked me to wake him up at 6 AM so he would have time to visit with them more before they drove back to the airport.

Thanks for stopping by.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Whoo Loves You (Hero Arts)

Paper: Kraft, Matte Brochure Paper (HP)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Woodgrain Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Copic markers, fibers, foam tape (3M)