Dad's Birthday Card

I love digital stamps. They allow me to create something quickly and get it out in the mail pretty quickly and some days, that's just what I need!

I'd been dealing with some nasty allergy & asthma issues and didn't have much energy to create an elaborate card for my Dad's birthday. I wanted to, but after getting a steroid shot so that I could breathe ... let's just say that there was zero energy.

Enter a fun and funky set of digital images by Bugaboo stamps. They have an hysterical old man image named Gus. He never fails to bring a smile to my face. I figured that's what Dad needed for his card too.

The image & sentiment are both digital stamps. Gus was colored with colored pencils. He's layered on dark blue from my stash and very old polka dot paper from my stash of Creative Memories paper. All of that is layered on top of a white card base. Relatively quick and easy... especially when you need that energy for breathing. ;)

We Survived the Mayan Apocalypse

A friend of mine asked me to do the decorations for an awards banquet. Little did I know that she had come up with the craziest theme - "We Survived the Mayan Apocalypse". How on earth was I going to decorate for that? Well, we decided to use a lot of Mayan calendar images as decoration pieces and of course how better to survive a Mayan Apocalypse than by have a volcano with a sacrifice ready to enter said volcano. So, once I finished the Mardi Gras decorations (notice I said finished not put away) I started on creating for this event.

 

I made a volcano, complete with "flames" out the top, Mayan chief and sacrifice victim. This was the vignette that I created for the banquet. It was a hit and got people in the spirit of the event. It was in a great place so that you had to pass by it on the way to the food.  

Poor Barbie, being drug off my Ken to be sacrificed into the volcano.

The volcano took me about a week to create. I started working on it in the garage but it got so cold that I was afraid the grout I was layering on to make it look more realistic wouldn't dry. So inside it went and good thing too since the temps dropped pretty low.

I think the "chief" approved of my calendar center pieces. These were at the center of each table along with some other goodies.

Our "hosts" for the banquet.

I survived decorating for the Mayan Apocalypse!

Not just cards

While you my think that card making is my main focus, and usually it is, but that's not what I've been spending my time on these last few months. As either part of the Hospitality Committee or as Chair of the Hospitality Committee for a local service organization, I spend a lot of time planning, creating and executing events & decorations for those events.

I spent a lot of time in late November and early December working on our Christmas Luncheon & Installation. It think it came out pretty well.

Table settings. Programs stamped and I tied all those ribbons myself. My fingers were numb!

I make cupcake thrones each month for our birthday girls. December is not exception - December birthdays need a little extra love and attention.

We also played a fun game drawing a Christmas themed image on a paper plate ... while on top of your head. Lots of laughter!

One of our most recent events was a Mardi Gras party ... on a snowy Oklahoma night.

My wonderful Hospitality Committee members - better known as the Hopsitality Honeys, came over to work on decorations and party favors for our little event a few days before Mardi Gras. There was lots of fun & laughter, lots of glue guns and we even got a little bit of work done!

 

Hard at work. LOL

The decorations came out great. Lots of color and each piece was very individualized.

These were the table favors. The little goodie bags were cut with my Cricut, as were the Fleur-de-lies. The committee used a variety of bling pieces to decorate the bags. We filled them with candy like you'd get if you went to a parade and some Mardi Gras beads - of course!

Our center pieces were made using empty wine bottles with decorated masks peeking out from the top. We added cool wired star garland to the bottles and some fun glittery stuff poking out of the top along with the masks.

A couple of table shots.

I found this wonderful mask while traveling and dragged her home. So thrilled she made it in one piece! I added some fun decor mesh around her head to make it pop more. Man, that stuff is tougher to work with than I thought. The cool fleur-de-lis fabric under the mask belongs to one of my committee members. Very pretty in real life. This was used as part of the backdrop for photos of attendees, along with about a million balloons. I've named her Marie Laveau. ;)

Ten days later I had another function. How do you decorate for an event with the theme:  "We Survived the Mayan Apocalypse"? Ya, I was up in the middle of the night trying to come up with stuff for that one. Stay tuned for that tomorrow. 

A few more cards from the last few months

Still trying to play catch up  with things I created during my long blogging absence.
Here are a few more cards to hopefully spark your creative side.

This is the anniversary card I created for my daughter & her hubby's 2nd anniversary. The card base is Riding Hood Red. The white piece was cut using Tim Holtz Alterations die "Brackets" and then embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder by Stampin' Up!. The die cut pieces were all cut using various sized of the Labels Collections framelits by Stampin' Up! The flower image is by Penny Black and I believe that's one I picked up at Hobby Lobby. It was inked using Stampin' Up! markers in Riding Hood Red and Old Olive. The edges of the white die cut layers were inked very lightly with Riding Hood Red. The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! set: Whimsical Words (Sale-a-bration set from 2012) and is accented using 3 black adhesive rhinestones. The ribbon is by Stampin' Up! also.

Another birthday card! The card base was embossed with Stampin' Up!'s Hound's Tooth embossing folder. The ribbon is by Stampin' Up! and is in Raspberry Ripple - one of the "in colors" for 2012 - 2014. The images are all from the Stampin' Up! set Everything Eleanor. The label was stamped in Basic Gray ink and cut out using the Apothecary Accents Framelits while the flowers were stamped in Raspberry Ripple and hand cut. The label was popped up using dimensionals and the flower centers are the large pearls from Stampin' Up!.

Here's the birthday card I made for my sister back in January. The card base was in Riding Hood Red (what is it with me and red card bases lately?). It's embossed using Stampin' Up!'s Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. The layers were cut using the Labels Collection Framelits by Stampin' Up! The image layer was from Naturals card stock and the layer was lightly inked using Basic Gray ink and a touch of Crumb Cake ink. Southern Splendor image (lady in hat) by Stampabilities. Background stamps by Stampin' Up!: French foliage - writing, droplets & postmark. Happy Birthday by Stampin' Up!, Elementary Elegance (sale-a-brations 2012). All images were stamped using Basic Gray ink. 

Take some time to get your pinky inky today.

                                

More cards from October 2012

As promised here are a few more of the cards I made last fall.

This little gal is one of my favorites to use for Halloween cards. If you've read the blog for any time you'll see I pull her out each Halloween and try to find some new way to use her. She's from the Greeting Card Kids set from Stampin' Up! The paper is all Stampin' Up!: Polka Dot Parade and the green piece is from my stash.. The large purple scallop was punched out with the large scallop by Stampin' Up! and then run thru the Spiderweb embossing folder also by Stampin' Up! The yellow circle behind the scallop is So Saffron card stock and was embossed using the Square Lattice embossing folder. My little pumpkin sitting witch is colored with colored pencils, cut out and popped up on dimensionals. The scallop spider web is also popped up on demsionals.

This is the Halloween card I made for my oldest niece. She's crazy about her 2 cats so it seemed appropriate. The stamp is by Stampin' Up! - Frightening Feline, stamped in black StazOn. The image was then die cut using the Window Frames collection framelits by Stampin' Up! and then inked using Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight. The next layer was cut using the next size up of in the Window Frames collection and sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl. The final die cut layer was cut from Hollow's Tooth & Scaring Bone designer paper by Stampin' Up!. The card base is black, embossed with the Fancy Fan embossing folder by Stampin' Up! and sprayed with Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl.

My last card for today is another Halloween card. I only sent out a few this year. Like I said, life was a bit nuts at that time and card making got put on the back burner.

This card was created using a stamp by Inkadinkado and I believe it is called Haunted Chateau, although there is no name on the stamp. I picked this one up at either Hobby Lobby or Michael's. The image was stamped in black StazOn and inked with Wisteria Wonder around the edges. The glow around the "chateau" was created by inking with Pumpkin Pie ink and Daffodil Delight ink, both by Stampin' Up! It doesn't show up well in the photo but the moon, and the tree got a little bit of icy Stickles added to them as did the grave stones and the walkway. The black die cut piece was cut out of black glitter paper and cut with the largest framelit from the Labels Collection by Stampin' Up! The card base is purple paper from my stash and I used the stamp Wonderfully Worn  by Stampin' Up! in black.

BTW, today is my Daddy's 84th birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!!! I'll show you the silly card I made for him later this week. 

Take some time to get your pinky inky today.

I'm baaaaaaack

It's been along time since I've posted. Sorry about that. It didn't help that I had a pretty nasty computer crash in October either. Life is what happens when you're making other plans and that happened at our house.

It's been a busy time here with lots of changes, ups & downs and all the bits & pieces that make up life. Over the next few days I'll be posting what I've been up to for the last 6 months and hopefully even have a few new things to share with you.

October is a busy birthday month in our family and we have several friends that have had major life events in October as well. Here are a few of the cards that I made during October of 2012.

The above card was created for a couple of my nephews and one of my nieces. I saw the basic idea on Pinterest and knew I had to give it a shot. So very much loved making these. I giggled the whole time I was rolling up the $$$ to make the candles. The embossing folder is an oldie but a goodie - Happy Birthday by Cuttlebug. Papers are from my stash. The Happy Birthday Stamp is from Stampin' Up! set " Wacky Wishes".  Ribbon is from Stampin' Up! in Early Espresso.

Unfortunately I needed several sympathy cards in October. This one was created using Stampin' Up!'s Bigz Autumn Accents die cut - the maple leaf section. Cut in Pumpkin Pie card stock, embossed with Swirl embossing folder by Cuttlebug. The leaf is inked using Walnut Stain by Tim Holtz. The button is from my stash with a scrap of ribbon tied thru the holes. The background was created using  the stamp " Distressed Background by Stampabilities (one of my favorites), stamped in Walnut Stain by Tim Holtz. The brown label was paper from my stash punched with the Modern Label punch and the sentiment label was punched on a scrap of white using the Modern Window label. The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Phrases stamp set by Stampin' Up! All pieces were attached to the card base which is a medium brown from my stash.

This card was created using Crumb Cake card stock as the base with corners rounded using  We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile corner chomper tool. For my money it's the best corner rounders on the market. I used the 1/2" side. The images were stamped on white card stock that had been sponged using Pumpkin Pie ink and Crumb Cake ink, both by Stampin' Up! All corners on the sponged piece were rounded using the We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile corner chomper on the 1/2" side. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black ink by Stampin' Up! The set used was by Clearly Inspired by Paper Inspirations. I'm not sure if it's still available as the copy write date on the set says 2006. I got mine at my local Hobby Lobby some years ago. The leaf image is from another set: Encouraging Words by Stampendous. This is one of my go to sets for Sympathy cards. I picked this one up some years ago at Hobby Lobby also. Ribbon is by Stampin' Up! in Early Espresso.

Stay tuned for more of my October cards tomorrow.

Take some time today to let out your creative side and get your pinky inky.

Normal

Hi Stampers ~

It's almost Friday and the weekend! I'm looking forward to getting this week over. Can't really go into much detail about it but it's been a stressful week. Since it's been so stressful I did what any paper crafter would do... I made a silly card. It's for my Mom (ssh don't tell). She hates doing laundry so I'm always on the look out for silly laundry themed things to make her laugh. She's had a tough week too. Hopefully this will get a giggle from her.

None of what I used was by Stampin' Up! *Gasp* I know, I know, I sell Stampin' Up!, but I have other company's products too and sometimes I like to bust out my other stuff and do something a little different.

• The stamp is from a company called Viva Las Vegas. 
• Image was stamped on white from my scrap stash.
• The words are computer generated using the font Remington Noiseless.  
• The image was stamped in Basic Black ink by Stampin' Up!, colored with pencils. 
• The inking/aging was done by sponging onto the paper with Tim Holtz ink in Vintage Photo. 
• The mat is from my scrap stash.
• Card base is brown paper from stash.