Elegant Birthday Cards

Happy Monday!  Today was a busy day here . . . trying to get reorganized after having been away for a couple days to play in the snow with my husband and our two little guys, and having a blast with a fun get together with my SUper Friends group, and doing all our regular school (plus now baseball season) routine entails!  Whew!

Anyway, I have a couple of special birthday cards I created recently to show you today.  These were created using the beautiful Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (one of the awesome free items you can select as a reward during Sale-a-Bration!!!)  Here they are:

The card base is Calypso Coral.  The Everyday Enchantment pieces were cut using the Pennants Die. and were pieced together to form an almost quilt-like border.  I used a strip of the beautiful new Baja Breeze Pleated Ribbon along the edge of the designer series paper border.

"Happy Birthday" and the image around it are from the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-Bration stamp set, and were stamped on Very Vanilla using Early Espresso and Pool Party, respectively.  The piece was die cut using the Label Framelits die.  Underneath that are some scallops of the Everyday Enchantment paper that were die cut using the one of the scallops on the Pennant die.  That, in turn, is layered onto a piece of Pool Party cut out using a larger Label Framelits die.  (Can you tell I just love the Framelits?  Seems like I've been using them on almost everything I've been creating lately!)

The 3D rose embellishment was created by punching several pieces of Calypso Coral with the Fun Flower Punch.  I used the same technique I showed in this tutorial.  The leaves were punched out of Pear Pizzazz using the Blossom Petal Builder Punch.  I used my Simply Scored tool to add the lines to them.

And, I couldn't resist adding a few Pearl Jewels for a little extra touch of elegance.

If you'd like to order any of the supplies I used to make this card, please be sure to visit my online store.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Hello Baby Bunny Card for Late Night Stampers Challenge # 161

I love this week's challenge over at Late Night Stampers and just couldn't resist playing along!  It's an inspiration challenge, and the inspiration piece is this scrumptiously-adorable cake:

I really love the colors -- I decided to go with Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla for my card.  And, I love the combination of stripes and polka dots.  I also think the lamb is adorable, but didn't have a lamb image that worked with what I had in mind, so I decided to go with the adorable baby bunny in an eggshell from the Everybunny Stamp Set.  Here's what I came up with for the challenge:

The dotted border above the card stock stripes is done with pieces of the different colors that I punched out with the small circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  I stamped the bunny image in Early Espresso Classic Ink, then punched it out with the 1-3/4" Circle Punch.  I colored it using Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo Classic Ink and a Blender Pen for the ears, shell and nose, and those colors plus Early Espresso for the baby bunny's scarf.  I layered that Very Vanilla piece onto a piece of Early Espresso punched out with the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle.

The bow is done using a technique by Mary Brown (to see her excellent tutorial for how to create this sort of bow, please click here).

Here's a close up of the bunny's coloring and the bow:

Although I made this as a baby card, this could make a fun Easter card as well -- just change the greeting, and all set!

Hope you'll play along with this fun challenge, too!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Everyday Elegance - Clean and Simple

Here's another of the cards we made at my Creative Connections class:

I CASEd this design from this beautiful card by the amazing, inspiring Mercedes Weber here (you'll want to see some of her other amazing creations while you're there!)  For my card, I changed the colors just a little bit.  I used a Pear Pizzazz card stock base.  I layered on some striped paper from the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper, which I had die cut using one of the Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies.  I then embossed the Pear Pizzazz card base to match the die cut layer using the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  (Best to do this before adhering the die cut layer, otherwise you might end up with some lines on your die cut layer from the edges of the Adorning Accents folder).

The "Hello" from the Elementary Elegance stamp set is heat embossed in the right hand corner.  I first stamped in Versamark, then used White Embossing Powder.

To create the flower, I punched two flowers out of the Poppy Parade floral paper from the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper using the Blossom Punch.  Then, I punched out another blossom using the Boho Blossoms Punch.  I distressed the petals a bit, then added a brad from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack through the flower layers to hold them together.  Here's a close up:

The two leaves were punched out using the Blossom Petals Builder Punch and Lucky Limeade card stock.  I used my Simply Scored to add some veins to the leaves.

Here's another similar card I created without the leaves, with the flower petals bent upwards a bit at the ends rather than distressed and with a greeting from the Kindness Matters stamp set.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Birthday Cupcake Card

Happy Monday!  I really enjoyed my Creative Connections class yesterday -- it is always wonderful to have some crafty time with great friends!!!  On Friday, I showed you one of the cards we would be making, and today I have another one to show you.  Here it is:

This card is on an Island Indigo base, with a layer of the Island Indigo heart paper from the Sweet Shop Specialty Designer Series Paper on the bottom of the card.  I added some Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon above that.  Then, I stamped the cupcake image from Sweet Cake in Pool Party on Pool Party Card Stock.  I cleaned the stamp, then used Real Red, So Saffron, and Early Espresso Stampin' Write Markers to color the cupcake image, and stamped that onto Whisper White Card Stock.  I fussy-cut the image, then attached it to the Pool Party layer using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I stamped the "Happy Birthday" greeting in Island Indigo on a strip of Whisper White Card Stock, then trimmed the ends to make the piece look like a banner.  This piece is attached to the Pool Party layer using two Stampin' Dimensionals on each side of the banner so it sticks up higher than the cupcake.

Then, for finishing touches, I added the littlest heart die cut from the Fashionable Hearts Embosslit Die below the greeting.  It is cut out from a scrap of Calypso Coral, and covered with Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details. I also used the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details on the cherry, and clear Dazzling Details on the cupcake frosting.  There are little dots of Dazzling Details around the edge of the Pool Party-stamped image as well.  Here's a closer look at the details (with apologies, not the best photo!):

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Go Fly a Kite!

Here's a fun card I created for my new Creative Connections Class coming up this Sunday:  

I used the Send Me Soaring stamp set from the Occasions Mini to create the kites and clouds on a piece of Whisper White die cut with one of the new Label Framelits.  The clouds and kite strings are embossed on the Whisper White and I sponged color around them.

The kites are stamped in Real Red, Pacific Point, and Tangerine Tango (from left to right), and I stamped their tails in the same color.

The card base is Tempting Turquoise, and I added another layer, which I had embossed with the Stripes Textured Embossing Folder, at the bottom of the card.

The ribbon is Tangerine Tango 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon.  I debated between that and Real Red Taffeta, but the polka dots won out!

Really looking forward to this class -- we'll be making this card, plus one other which I'll show after class (and possibly a bonus card as well!)

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you are having a sweet Valentine's Day!  Today, I wanted to share with you the maze game Valentine's cards that my boys and I created for them to give to their classes.

Timothy thought the little mouse from the Totally A-maze-ing stamp set was cute, and wanted to create a cheese maze for the mouse to go through using the stamps from the set.  Here's how that turned out:

We used a square Crumb Cake card base.  There's a layer of Real Red on top, which I punched a 2-1/2 Circle in to fit the maze.  I also embossed the Real Red with the hearts from the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.  I inked up the large heart background for the maze using the Rock n Roll Technique, with Daffodil Delight all over the stamp first, then Pumpkin Pie around the edges.  The cheese image was stamped in the center with Pumpkin Pie ink, and we added a few Real Red stamped hearts around the maze as well.  The mouse was stamped in Soft Suede and punched out with the 3/4" Circle.  I tied it to the ribbon (retired Dusty Durango Polka Dot) using Early Espresso/Whisper White Baker's Twine.  The "you're a-maze-ing!" image was stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White and punched out using the Word Window Punch.

Daniel wanted to use the maze image from the Totally A-maze-ing stamp set for his card, and this presented a bit more of a challenge, as it was necessary to stamp the image and then make sure it would line up with the maze game.  As long as you stamp the image so that it is pretty close to centered on the 2-1/2" Circle that goes on the back of the maze game, lining it up is no problem.  In fact, I have a couple videos to show you some tips and tricks for doing that -- and even had some assistance from Timothy in making those videos!

Daniel's card is on a Natural Ivory base, again with the Real Red layer (although this time embossed using the  diamond pattern from the Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plates).  The maze is stamped in Pacific Point, with a Real Red heart stamped in the center.  The flag with the greeting is also Pacific Point, and I heat embossed the greeting using Versamark and White Embossing Powder.

Here are the videos in case you'd like to create your own maze games -- these were fun to make for Valentine's and would make great favors for birthdays and other parties as well!

And, last but not least, I wanted to show you a couple quick and easy Valentine's I printed up for my boys to color.  I made these using My Digital Studio and the Crush on You Color Printables Designer Template:

I printed them out using my home printer and Very Vanilla Card Stock.  Very quick and easy!  In fact, if you haven't tried My Digital Studio yet, there's no time like the present!  You can get a free 30 day trial of My Digital Studio Express -- click here, select "add to bag" and then check out (if you don't already have a demonstrator, you can select me as your demonstrator, and I'll receive an email letting me know you've downloaded the free trial, so I can follow up with you, see what you think of it and answer any questions you may have).

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

You Light Up My Life Valentine

Here's another of the cards I created for my Valentine's and More Card Class this month.  I wanted this to be a more masculine Valentine, so used the Well Worn Designer Series Paper and the colors from that to create it.  This one is a gate-fold card, using the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set from the Occasions Mini.  Here's the front:

The base of the card is Cajun Craze.  The front flaps of the card are embossed with the Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Then, I decided to use the Heart Framelits to emboss a heart into the card base, too.  The first time I did that, I didn't have any paper in between the cutting side of the heart and my plate, and discovered that was a mistake.  For a few heart-pounding moments, I wasn't sure I would be able to extract the framelit from the plate!  A little patience, and some gentle prodding from my scissors, convinced them to separate.  And, ever since, to make this card, I instead line up the Not Quite Navy layer and cut that heart on top while the card base is embossed on the bottom.  That works!  No problems.

The gnome image and frog were stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White, and I colored them in using Blender Pens and Classic Ink.  The colors I used are Cajun Craze (hat and lantern), River Rock (gnome's shirt), Not Quite Navy (gnome's pants), Soft Suede (belt and ground) and Garden Green (frog).  I painted Gold Smooch on the gnome's belt buckle and then for the candle's flame.  

The greeting is partly from the Gnome Sweet Gnome set. I added the "life" from Fabulous Phrases in place of the "garden" in the original stamp.  I punched out the greeting with the Word Window Punch, and then layered it on a piece of Not Quite Navy that I'd punched out with the Modern Label Punch.  I added a couple of the silver Mini Brads on either side of the greeting.

Here's a look at how the card opens:

And, here's the inside of the card:

If you look carefully, you can see a bit of the heart-shape embossed around the white heart in the center and on each side of the front flaps.  I stamped the image on the white heart in River Rock.  The "be my valentine" greeting is from the P.S. I Love You Set.  It is stamped in Basic Black, and again punched out using the Word Window punch and layered onto a piece of Not Quite Navy, punched out with the Modern Label Punch.

Now back to finishing up my Valentine's for tomorrow!  Amazing how no matter how far in advance I start, there always seem to be things to do right up until the end!!!  Hope you had fun or are having fun preparing your Valentine's surprises as well.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Pretty in Pink Half Cut Valentine's Card

Here's another Valentine's card I created recently -- both for my Valentine's and More Class and for my swap with my friend Marlene.  This is a half cut card, and was inspired by this gorgeous card by Diane Vander Galien on Splitcoaststampers.  From Diane's card, I found Jackie Topa's excellent tutorial on how to make half cut cards, which you can see (after checking out the rest of my post, of course!) by clicking here.

Here is my card:

The card base is Pretty in Pink card stock, and I inserted a layer of Whisper White on the inside.  Both the front of the card and the Whisper White layer are embossed with the Tulip Frame Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  I sponged around the embossing on the Whisper White using Pretty in Pink.

The cupid image is from the P.S. I Love You stamp set -- as are the "from my heart to yours" greeting and the stamped image with the brackets.  I stamped all of those using Basic Black Classic Ink.  The cupid image was cut out using one of the smaller Heart Framelits.  Behind that, I added a piece of Whisper White that had been punched out with the Full Heart Punch and sponged with Basic Black around the edges.  (I was very excited to find out that the Full Heart Punch layers so nicely with the Heart Framelits!!!)  That was all layered onto another Whisper White heart that had been die cut with the Heart Framelits.  I squeezed Dazzling Details around that heart, and spread it evenly around using a paintbrush.  Here's a close up so you can see the layers and the sparkle a bit better:

For the embellishment on the bottom side, I punched out the stamped image that coordinate with the Modern Label Punch, then added strips from the Rhinestone Jewels on top of it.  I used the medium and small heart from the Heart to Heart Punch.  The medium heart is stamped in Pretty in Pink with the image from P.S. I Love You that is a heart made up from lots of smaller hearts.  The small heart is covered in Dazzling Details.  Here's a close up:

I finished the card with a couple of Rhinestone Jewels on one of the front panels, and some Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon tied together with the White Organza Ribbon.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Fancy Valentine's Heart Box

Marlene and I are swapping again, and now that I know she's received this, I can show you a Valentine's heart box I created for our 3D Valentine item part of the swap!  I've seen others making this type of box . . . and seeing all the beautiful chocolate boxes in the stores made me think these would be fun to make with the new Heart framelits, too.  So, I decided I had to give it a try.  Here's how mine turned out:

And the side view:

To create my box, I started with two hearts cut using the largest of the Heart Framelits out of Riding Hood Red Card Stock (you could also make these using the smaller framelits . . . I just wanted to have the scalloped heart for this box).  Then, I strips of Riding Hood Red Card Stock to create the sides for the top and bottom.  I used 1-1/2" strips, then scored the strips at 3/8" using my Simply Scored Tool.  I used Sticky Strip on the small part I had created with the score, removed the Sticky Strip backing, then cut about every 1/2" (you could do that in the opposite order if you were worried about getting adhesive on your scissors).  

I attached the side for the top piece close to the edge, then repeated the process on the bottom piece, but made sure that side was adhered a little farther into the heart so that the top would fit nicely over it when I put the two pieces together.

Then, I decorated the outside of the box, using the beautiful new Blushing Bride pleated ribbon and hearts I die cut from the Everyday Elegance Designer Series Paper.  I actually embossed the outer designer series paper heart using the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder.  I added a 3D card stock rose, made using the technique in this tutorial.  The rose is made out of Pink Pirouette Card Stock, and I rolled the petals tightly.  I also used some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds to make the petals glitter.  Here's a close up:

The leaves were punched out of Lucky Limeade using the Blossom Builder Punch, and then I scored the "veins" onto them using my Simply Scored Tool.

For the greeting flag, I trimmed a piece of Very Vanilla into shape, and stamped it in Riding Hood Red with the "be my valentine" greeting from the P.S. I Love You set.  I added Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamond around the edges.

The inside of the box was filled with several small heart shaped easel note cards:

I also adhered two Pink Pirouette hearts, which I had embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, into the box to line it.  Here's a better peek at the inside and at the little note-cards.  The note-cards were decorated with stamps from the P.S. I Love You Set and the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-Bration set, and a bit of Everyday Elegance Designer Series Paper.

Here's another, almost identical heart I created with a little variation on the rose:

 And, here's a close up of the rose:

I used the same technique to create this rose, but didn't curl the petals as tightly.  For this one, I used a touch of Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds in the center for just a little sparkle.

Hope you enjoyed these, and they inspire you to create some fabulous Valentine hearts and projects of your own!

- Michelle

Valentine's Kids Class

On Friday, I had a Valentine's Kids Class, and am really happy with how the projects turned out.  I am really loving the new Sweet Shoppe Designer Series Paper -- it's perfect for fun, playful Valentine's and birthday cards.  We created a card in the class, and a 3D heart spinner decoration.

Here's the card:

This is a 4.25" square card, with a Wisteria Wonder base, a layer of Calypso Coral, and then on top of that, a layer of the Sweet Shoppe DSP.  We used the Heart Framelits to die cut the heart in the center of the designer paper.  The owl is from the Fox and Friends stamp set, and was stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White.  The beak was colored using Calypso Coral, and then the image was punched out using the Heart Punch.  I added one of the Jelly Bean brads on the heart.  Then, for the finishing touch, tucked in a Pool Party flag with the "be my valentine" sentiment from the P.S. I Love You stamp set.

Here's the 3D heart spinner decoration:

This is created from four cardstock hearts, which I cut using the Heart Framelits out of Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder card stock.  Each heart was folded in the center, and then one half glued to another heart, until they were all connected.  The ribbon is from the Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment embellishment set, and was glued in the center of the hearts before they were all connected.

The hearts in the center of each of the card stock hearst are cut from Sweet Shoppe Designer Series Paper using a Heart Framelit that is two sizes smaller than the one used for the card stock hearts.  Then, I had fun decorating each of the hearts using sentiments from the Sweet Cake stamp set, rhinestone jewels, and hearts die cut using the new Fashionable Hearts Embosslit.      

My idea for this heart spinner came from Pinterest (such a great site for collecting and organizing things that inspire you!), and the original blog post that mine was inspired by is here.  

Stay tuned for more Valentine's projects tomorrow!

- Michelle

My Digital Studio -- Free Trial and My February Calendar Page

Have you heard the news yet?  You can get a free one-month trial of My Digital Studio Express!!!  This is a great way to test out the program and see how much fun it is to create great digital projects -- cards, scrapbooks, calendars, tags, and so much more!  Want to take advantage of this great deal?   Then head on over to my online store, add the My Digital Studio Express free trial to your bag, and you can download it and start creating amazing projects right away!

I also have my February page to share with you from the calendar I made for 2012.  Here it is:

The page is very simple . . . I wanted to keep the focus mostly on the photos of my guys!  The page uses background paper from the Year to Remember 2012 Calendar Template, and the "February" comes from that as well.  The banner is the Flag Punch, with a drop shadow under it.  Quick and easy to create!

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Please let me know if you have any questions about My Digital Studio.

- Michelle

Heart Shaped Easel Card

At my group's SUper Friends meeting last week, we made this heart shaped easel card:

 We started with a folded Poppy Parade card stock base, and another piece of Poppy Parade to make the card front.  Then, we used two pieces of Very Vanilla to cut the layers.  All pieces were cut with the new Heart Framelits. 

We stamped the Very Vanilla with images from P.S. I Love You (from the Occasions Mini) and Everyday Elegance (from Sale-a-Bration).  We used Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, and Early Espresso Classic Ink to stamp.  To get the lighter shade of Calypso Coral for the hearts behind the cupid, I stamped off on scratch paper once before stamping on to the Very Vanilla.

Here's the card open:

Side view:

and here's the view from the back, which shows how the base and card front connect:

Hope you like this project!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

- Michelle