Have a Rockin' Birthday!

Hello, and happy hump day! This week is flying by for me. I recently signed up for a graphic design course at the local community college, and between that and my volunteering, I am becoming one busy girl!

Nonetheless, birthdays must be celebrated! This card is for an uber-hip friend that's really into music. She travels all over the country to see bands play and writes articles about it so naturally, I had to make her a rock star card.

The cardstock is all by Bazzill. I drew the star shape in Illustrator and cut them out with my Cricut and the Sure Cuts a Lot software (which is living up to its name!). I love being able to draw my own shapes and cut them out. The starry foiled patterned paper is by Die Cuts with a View. The purple striped paper is by Echo Park and it's actually Halloween-themed on the back. I love it when I can use holiday papers for non-holiday purposes!

The rock star image is by A Muse, and he's one of my favorite stamps. I couldn't find an appropriate sentiment in my collection, so I actually printed this one onto the cardstock using my printer. I was amazed at how well the paper took the printer ink, and I'll be doing that more in the future.

The finished card measures 3 5/8 inches by 8 1/2 inches and fits nicely in a #10 business envelope.

Have a great day!

Simon Sees, Part 2

Happy Monday! Did everyone have a good weekend?

Hubby and I spent the weekend in the biggest little city in the world, taking in the bright lights and the clink-clink-clink of slot machines. Despite all of the distractions though, all I could think about was coming home and stamping!

I whipped up this cutie using leftovers from another card. I always make a few focal images at a time and pick my favorite for the card I'm working on, and occasionally, the extras are cute enough to be made into cards themselves. That's what happened with this little guy.

I used this sketch for inspiration:



All of the deets can be found here, except for the ribbon, which is from Michael's.

Have a great week!

Happy "Bee" Day!

Today is my mom's birthday, so of course I had to do something to commemorate the occasion. She HATES celebrating her day with a passion, but I think I managed to find a safe solution to let her know I care.

I got her a dozen roses, and then made a custom flower pick to go with it. I freehanded the bee on black cardstock, then added the yellow stripes over the top. The wings are punched circles that I drew outlines on in black pen, and then glittered with baby blue Stickles. I wrote my note with a white Uniball Signo pen (love that pen!), so it would stand out on the black cardstock.

I'm hoping that she'll be able to show off the flowers at work while secretly knowing the occasion.

Have a bee-utiful weekend!

One Last ATC. . .

Here's the last as-yet unpublished ATC from my collection so far this year. This one features a petunia stamp by Karen Lockhart. The patterned paper is part of the Botanique line by American Crafts, and I drew the dotted border on the orange cardstock myself.

See you soon!

To A Deer Friend

One of my friends is away at camp this week, so I thought I'd send her a little mail. I love this little deer (who's actually a Rudolph, but shh! don't tell!) and the silhouette trees provide the perfect backdrop for him. I had tried masking him and stamping the trees behind him, but I didn't get the detail that I had wanted. So, I ended up stamping him on a separate piece of paper, trimming him out and attaching him to the tree panel.



Just for fun, I also decorated the outside of my envelope to match my card. I just stamped Rudy again on the outside, and colored him with my Copics (keeping a Post-it on the inside to prevent bleed-through to the back).

Hope she likes it!

Cat's Pajamas Customer Blog Hop!

When Alma at the Cat's Pajamas posted that they were doing a Customer Blog Hop, I jumped at the chance. They've been one of my favorite stamp companies from the beginning, and the fact that they're made here in California just sealed the deal for me. Plus, could their stamps BE any cuter???



I dug up one of my old favorite fellas, Simon Sees, for this "29 again" birthday card. The sentiment is from one of the clear sets, and it worked perfectly for my friend's 30th birthday.

The patterned papers are from All My Memories (Swanky Design 3) and Scenic Route Paper Co. "Stripes Cabernet and Cream," and the stamps are of course by The Cat's Pajamas. The sketch is from here.

See you soon!

A Forest Wedding

In a couple of weeks, DH and I are lucky enough to be guests at a commitment ceremony for two of my good friends. This clever couple is doing it as a weekend-long celebration at a local campground, complete with a progressive dinner one night and a potluck for their wedding meal.

In keeping with the outdoorsy fun theme, I thought I'd make up a card to match. I used the A Muse Pine Tree Silhouette stamp that I won for this card (thanks A Muse!), an A Muse sentiment from the Everything's Rosy release, and some wedding chickies by Denami Design. The card is topped off with some ribbon I bought in 2005(!) that I finally finished off. Love using supplies I already have--the hoarding has got to stop!



Best wishes for a beautiful day!

Christmas in August. . .

I know, I know, Christmas in August? I don't know what to say, except that A Muse's new candy cane paper is cute and I had to play with it for this month's A Muse Challenge, "Stick to the Pattern." I also hadn't played with my row of houses in a very long time and Tracy's Sketch Challenge was calling me and a card was born!

Can you see the glittery Diamond Stickles on the roofs and snowbank?



All items by A Muse, except for the pearls from Queen & Co. Thanks for looking!