Pop Up Birthday Card for my Dad

I wanted to make a tactile card for my dad who is legally blind, so put the pedal to the metal... err, how about the fingers to the keyboard and metal to the paper (as in the blade on my machine cutting paper) and created this wonderful Happy Birthday pop up card. I dug through my files for the perfect card that I remembered seeing somewhere and found the svg file by one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Penny Duncan. If you've never heard of her you don't know what you're missing because she is one VERY talented lady! Hop on over to her blog when you have a chance and just drool over her art. She's also got an Etsy shop where you can purchase some of her products and collections.

Dad can see outlines and shadows, so I used a dark background cardstock layered with light shadows. The embellishments are from K&Company and were chosen because they bring back fond memories of camping  with my family as a kid (lantern), how my dad provided direction for my life (compass), how he was always doing something with his hands, sometimes requiring cleaning fluid to clean up; and 49.... well it's just there!

Wedding Shower Card

This card was made for my niece's wedding shower this month. I was so happy when my prize package from Cathy Lynn over at Ink, Thread and Paper arrived just in time to add some embossing and the perfect embellies. I was having fun playing with my new Spellbinders Nestabilities Lattice Rectangles dies from Stamping Scrapping and needed something to cover up a little boo boo at the bottom. Well combine half of a scalloped square die cut from the clear Bigz die I got from my best Stampin Up! gal Shelly May. The sentiment is from a retired Stampin Up! hostess set Occasional Quotes. The big red heart is cut using a Sizzix die called Tipsy Hearts. I made the pin with red and black beads. (Note to self:  make a list of everything while making the cards so you don't have to keep jumping up and running to the next room to find out what it is!) Ok, I promise to get more organized in the future and make those really nice lists at the end of my posts showing all the ingredients, but hey, I'm lucky to get this far after making 150 cards for my whirlwind Operation Write Home project while working full time outside the home, taking care of four dogs and three cats, a husband (well actually HE is the one who does most of the work around here while I play!) Oh and one last thing..... I won another prize from Market Street Stamps! I can't wait to play with the fun products in the kit! Ok, now you can look at the wedding shower card...

Using up scraps from my stash

I've been creating up a storm the past couple of weeks and finally made my first goal of 100 cards for a church ministry. The two below are a couple of my favorites, possibly because I love that paper was actually designed after some fabric that I have in my stash. Sorry that I can't tell you what brand it is, but I won it and it was unmarked. It has been great being able to use up scraps of paper and ribbon knowing that someone would get such pleasure out of receiving each card with a handwritten note by someone at the church. Don't you love that ribbon slide on the bottom picture? Would you believe it's metallic cardstock cut using a new die set that I got on sale over at StampingScrapping. The sentiment, oval and label punch are from Stampin Up. The ribbon is seam binding.

Linking up to these challenges:
Pollycraft Monday Challenge Favorite Things #125
Mojo Monday 226
Hotshot #3
Operation Write Home February ODBD
Stamping Scrapping February Flower Challenge

Christmas Cards I've Made

I'm just about done making Christmas cards and wanted to share a couple of them with you. The first one is extremely clean and simple (CAS) using only one piece of cardstock embossed using my Cuttlebug, a bow and a brad and some tape to adhere it to the front of the folded cardstock. The second got a little more involved and took much more time to punch all those little branches and get them lined up, but I love the way it turned out. The last one is super fun because it's in three parts. I got the instructions for it on Julie Davison's site and found all kinds of tutorials that I want to go back and try. The snowman stamps and the sentiment are from Stampin Up. What really makes this card special is the custom die that I used for the outer circles. It's called Embroidery Anglaise Circle and can be purchased here by itself or with matching stamps. Cindy at StampingScrapping has some awesome custom-designed matching stamps and dies and also has a TON of other products in her store. The Merry Christmas sentiment on the white card with the branches is from the matching set of stamps. She even gives discounts to subscribers of her Yahoo group. Disclaimer:  I am not getting any compensation for telling you about her store, I just personally LOVE it and wanted to share the love! Ok, back to the cards.... enjoy!

Vinyl Sunflower cut to cover an "oops!"

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! After working at the Farmer's Market yesterday I spent most of today cutting out decorative covers for 3 x 5 spiral notepads. I sold one yesterday that was kind of a test product and decided to cover the rest of the two packages of a dozen each that I had bought at SAMS. Tonight I'll assemble some of them while watching the traditional Memorial Day specials on TV with DH. Speaking of DH...

My wonderful husband has caught on to the way crafters think. He wants to sell an old stereo cabinet that we bought second hand a few years ago and thought it would look better if we could cover a bad spot on the lid. The lid is pressed board covered with a vinyl laminate similar to contact paper, so when he accidentally spilled some scented oil on it the chemicals ate a hole about 3 inches in diameter in the vinyl. Kinda makes a person wonder what's in those scented oil plugins, huh? I pulled out some vinyl, fired up my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot and Voila! No more ugly hole! I forgot to take a before picture, so just use your imagination and I think you'll agree that the after picture is much better. Oh did I mention this thing has an 8-track in it??? If you're looking for one and live in the area we're participating in Berryton's city-wide garage sale (which is funny since  we don't live in the city, but they'll have maps to all of us rural folks's homes.) We're doing it the first two weekends in June. Good thing DH is done with the school year because he's got a lot of work to do to get ready!