April Birthdays...

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate during April so I've been busy making some cards...this card layout is totally "stamp lifted" or CASED from the very talented Risa! She made the cutest little elephant cards with Trunks of Love and the layout was divine. Here's my take: Stamps: Little Cupcake, The Angel Company Is anyone else just getting started on their taxes? Yikes...why do I always wait until the last minute - especially when my plate is so full? Well, I'm off to grab a cup of coffee and get busy. Hope you are having a super week! Blessings...

Cross Your Fingers...

and your toes! Yesterday I mentioned that I was one of 20 Guest Designers for the month of February...I can just feel the excitement building for this big event! In addition to that, The Angel Company is having a Guest Designer Dream Team call for it's current Angels and I've decided to apply. Here are my three cards and project...I hope you'll enjoy them!

This first card features Little Cupcake (R-2038) and Catelynne (V-851). I was tickled to find that the ribbon from the Penelope package (B-226) matched perfectly and this image colored up beautifully with my copics and White Caboodles cardstock (V-293). For an extra treat on this yummy cupcake, I touched it off with some Glossy Accents (F-610).

My second card - you can click on these photos for a larger view! I love how soft looking this came out. Of course you can never go wrong by pairing More Mimi (V-855) and Kraft (V-244) together. If you have ever hestitated to buy paper from The Angel Company, then you have been missing out on a beautiful thing! :)

Other supplies here are Ordinary Greetings (T-2881) and Give Praise to Him (T-3338). I used copics to color my moth and cut out the frame with Labels 1 (K-300). PS. That snippet of doily is the leftover from the top card which I picked up in the baking department of a local store.

My last card ... I love to mix pigment inks when I am embossing! Sadly, this is the first time this lovely flamingo (from Exotic Bird Colleges VT-3110) has seen ink - but it won't be the last! I wanted to stay away from pink and the colors in Winchester (V-835) guided my color choices: Jumbo Java and Ocean Depth Versamagic inks. I also inked up various stamps from Vintage Backgrounds (T-3224) and Fanicful Vintage (T-3232) in Versamark ink. When that didn't feel bold enough, I just quickly embossed it with clear embossing powder and bam! Lastly, my center panel just felt too dark. I tried different variations but I liked this best...luckily I remembered some burlap I had tucked away. I startled the art teacher at school when I asked her if I could cut some of her burlap in the stock room ... I knew it would come in handy though!

Phew. I hope you aren't too bored yet! I still needed a "wow" project for my DT application. I searched the Scor Pal (F-358) blog for some ideas and came up with this cute little coffee cup designed by Valerie. More Mimi (V-855) is just one of three of our double sided papers and was perfect for this project!

I used the stamp set Sending a Latte (T-3182) for the gift tag and topped it off with a damask image stamped in Burnt Umber Palette ink from the Damask Backgrounder (T-3276) set. I filled my cup with Coffee Nip candies and tied it off with a ribbon from the More Mimi ribbon collection (B-211).

So that wraps up my post! There is a lot of stiff competition and some wonderfully talented Angels out there - good luck to everyone!

And don't forget to visit Mischelle's Savvy Projects Blog for a daily post featuring a new stamp per day! Also, if you have never participated in a blog hop - you should! There is one coming up Feb 5 and there will be a prize for one Angel and one non-Angel so pull out your favorite stamps from The Angel Company and get busy! One of my friends won last month (it's a random drawing!) and I was blown away by her prize package...

Feeling Groovy!

Congratulations to Sheri! You won my blog raffle and I'll get it out to you as soon as you send me your address. Thanks to everyone playing along...I think the Halloween set will make the cutest tags ever!

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6

Mischelle started a challenge on her blog and over on the The Angel Company's Papercrafting Community...open to everyone by the way!


Visit The Angel Company's Paper Crafting Community

The challenge is called "That's So Groovy" and we had to use rainbow colors...and TAC stamps! Here's my submission - pretty bright, eh?!




Card Materials: all stamps from The Angel Company
Stamps: Little Cupcake
Accessories: DCWV blue, orange/black paper, Fiskers dots embossing plate, scor pal for embossing edges, Memento black ink, copics

Thanks for visiting!

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter

My daughter turns 14 today...sigh. Where oh where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday she was smiling up at me from her little blow up bathtub...

Normally I am the worst cardmaker for my poor family's birthdays...they tend to be one layered, no frills and made at the very last minute. I guess I figure they watch me make cards all the time so it's no big deal but this year I have turned over a new leaf! I really went all out on this card (don't laugh!) - sparkly dots, popped out flowers, ribbon and die cut shapes. And...the most exciting part of it all, my daughter noticed and said to me, "this is a really cute card mom!". I am stunned, speechless...

Last week, my friend Julie and I took a road trip to Angela's Happy Stamper here in the DC area. Honestly it's only about 30 minutes away but add the normal highway congestion and road construction and it turned into a grand adventure! It was so refreshing to see all the card ideas through out the store and I came home with some "treasures", but one sample with sparkly dots really caught my eye. Since I tend not to stamp evenly when I stamp randomly, here is my secret technique for lining up these dots:



I used the largest polka dot included in the Awesome Blossoms set - thanks Barb for reminding me of that stamp tucked in there!! This clear ruler really helped the whole process.

TIP: I find that it is important to reink the glue pad each time you start out using it. You get a reinker automatically when you buy the pad itself!

You can't really tell but the yellow and blue flowers are cut and popped out. That yellow flower intially began it's life as a green flower. All I can say is, what was I thinking?!



Card Materials: All stamps and papers from The Angel Company
Stamps: Little Cupcake, Awesome Blossoms
Accessories: Nestabilities Labels 4, Prisma Glitter, Essential Glue Pad, ribbon

More Birthday cards

Today is another wet and dreary day here in Northern Virginia! I started working on card last night and I can't wait to make some "me time" and finish it up this morning. I find most of my cards are made like that - a little bit here, put it aside, come back and do a little bit more, put it aside, and then the big finish! I guess I do it out of necessity because I do love to sit and make a whole card (or two!) at once.

Anyways, here are two more of the birthday cards we made at my class last week. A huge shout out of thanks to Juliet. Once again she helped me out with her computer skills. I found a wonderful bingo card template at Sharon Harnist' blog here...but I wanted some changes and Juliet came through for me.

Stamps: English Everyday Cuties, Little Cupcake from The Angel Company

And we made two masculine cards that day as well...unfortunately I stamped "happy" upside down on the other card so I won't show it here but we all got a good laugh because I left it was as a sample of "what not to do"...This card looks quite nice in real life because I white embossed the Victorian Elements on the dark brown texture of the Bazzill cardstock.

Stamps: Victorian Elements, Savvy Sayings, Fabulous Frames from The Angel Company

Have a great day - I hope your week is going well!

So, I should be cleaning...

but I wanted to post some of my cards that we made today for my Birthday card class!

Here's the full view of the Little Cupcake card, sweet and simple.

And to mix things up a bit, here is a more "involved" card using the beautiful Angelee Soar with it Collection from The Angel Company and the stamp set, True Beauty.

I wanted to show how versatile these stamps are ~~ we embossed and then just cut out the butterfly for this card.

Isn't this Labels 9 Nestabilities divine? I'm so happy that we carry a nice selection of Spellbinders dies now!

Well, kids are home in 30 min and I haven't even begun to clean house...better get busy!

eeck!

I didn't want to miss the chance to post today but it will only be a sneak peak of one of the cards we'll be making this Friday at my Birthday Card class... I'm so far behind! I'm still designing and cutting out cardstock as of today. My problem is that I have too many ideas and need to just settle down and pick a few. We will make 5 cards and I have some designed for men in mind and an option to make a child's themed card.

Little Cupcake is a perfect set for birthday cards...and did you know that The Angel Company rolled back it's price from $18.95 to $16.95? Gotta love that!

For my card I used our gel pens on the cherry and polka dots, and watercolor pencils blended with a Dove blender pen. This was so quick and easy - I had forgotten how easy it was to shade with these pencils! I also used two of the Bazzil monochromatic paper packs that we carry - this paper is so lovely that it can really give a card that "wow" factor!

Well, back to work! I have lots to do and can you believe that they are calling for more snow here? I still can't see my front or back yard...but thankfully the driveway and roof are clear.