Marty (hubby) came home from work one day last week with a beautiful box of homemade cupcakes from a coworker’s wife. He asked if I would make a “cupcake” thank you card, because these little gems were seriously worth a homemade thank you card!
I had this old StampinUp Birthday Bakery hostess stamp set that seemed just the ticket. I love the sentiment, “If you are what you eat, eat something cute!”
And how amazing are these cupcakes?!?!!
I was inspired by a very similar card I CASE’d (technical stamping term for “copy and share everything”) from Splitcoaststampers.
I kept it pretty simple because I felt the sweet bakery treats should be the showcase on this card.
I have several birthday girls on my list this upcoming week. Marty (hubby)’s Aunt turns 92 young years young, and I have a wonderful cousin and a sweet niece all celebrating their special days.
I love, Love, LOVE this Stampinup Butterfly Basics stamp set! It is appropriate for young, old, and everything in between. It has so many complimentary pieces to create fun collages. And it works so nicely with the Butterfly Thinlits to add an extra pop of WOW.
Hopefully it will be a bit more Spring-like next week when these are received by the birthday girls. After all – in our part of the world we Spring Ahead into Daylight Savings Time this weekend – Woohoo!
I saw a card done by Heather @ HandcraftingwithHeather and thought I would use it as inspiration, but I just so loved how she did it that I practically CASE’d (copied) it completely. I changed it up a bit, but be sure to check out her beautiful creation here. (CASEing is a huge compliment in the stamping world! And such a great way to get your creative mojo flowing when it is waning) 🙂
I did try it two different ways, one with a purple (Blackberry Bliss) border and one without. Which way do you prefer? Clean and Simple (CAS) or with the border? I should have tried one more version without sponging the edges with the Blackberry Bliss ink and keeping it all white (Very Vanilla) for even more simplicity.
What I love about this stamp set is it gives you everything in the one set to create a million different versions, colors, and distinctly different (or similar) cards. Many times I use a number of sets together, but for this it was just this set and the thinlit to cut out the butterfly. I only used three colors on the front of the card, carried to the inside, and even on the envelope: Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, and Hello Honey.
So Happy Friday! Happy Spring Coming Soon (fingers crossed), and Happy Birthday Aunt Francie, Sarah, and Dawn!
A very special little lady reminded this past week that her birthday is coming soon, so I wanted to come up with a fun, unique card for her.
I was inspired by a cute idea I saw done using circle framelits in fun colors with a die cut greeting by Mayuri at Candles in the Garden. Once I made my card and checked the link to credit, I realized I hadn’t even come close to doing Mayuri’s design justice! She used a beautiful inlaid technique on her card which I may have to try some time.
For my card, I cut multiple sizes of circles using the StampinUp Circle Framelits and layered them on top of each other on black paper. I then cut out two layers of the word “happy” from the StampinUp Hello You Thinlit Set. I covered “happy” with a glossy layer of Crystal Effects to give it a little more pop. I then stamped “@birthdaygirl” from the StampinUp So Social Stamp set and added a few sequins for embellishment.
For some reason this card reminds me of the song, “Come on Get Happy” with the psychedelic Partridge Family bus colors, and it makes me smile. (I know – sometimes I’m living in my own little happy place…) 🙂
I had so much fun making this birthday card, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I must give credit for the inspiration to Justin Krieger at jkcardsonline.com.
StampinUp Whisper White Cardstock for the Base
Watercolor paper
Vellum Paper
StampinUp Celebrate Today Stamp Set
StampinUp Balloon Framelit Die
Jim Holtz Distress Inks: Broken China, Salty Ocean, Peeled Paint
Versamark Ink
White Embossing Powder
Silver Embossing Powder
White Linen Thread
Foam Adhesive Tape, Glue Dots, Snail Adhesive
Directions:
Cut the Whisper White Card Stock into 4 1/4 x 11 and fold in half at 5 1/2
Cut watercolor paper to 4 x 5 1/4
Brush with clear water, then watercolor with distress ink colors
When dry, sprinkle with droplets of water, dab dry
Cut Balloon Shape out with framelit die, and reserve cut-out for inside of card
Adhere foam adhesive tape to back, and affix to card base
Cut three balloons from vellum
Emboss with Celebrate Today stamps
Adhere to card using glue dots discretely behind embossed dots and words
Stamp Happy and Birthday with VersaMark and heat emboss with silver
Adhere balloon strings
Adhere balloons and strings to inside of card
Wishing anyone with a birthday today or this week a very happy day!
Isn’t that the truth? I daresay no family is perfect, but isn’t it wonderful when we are blessed with friends that are so special they are like family? Our “chosen” family.
I just got back from spending a wonderful week with one of my “friend families” and had to make a special card to thank them.
For this card, I used StampinUp’s Painted Petal stamp set. Instead of just stamping the flower onto the card stock, I wanted to give it more of a loose “watercolor” kind of look, so after inking up the stamp, I spritzed it lightly with water, then stamped the flower image. I like the effect. Then I just mixed a bit of water with some ink and flicked it on with a paint brush for the random speckles. I’m also loving the stitch embossed effect that the Lil Inker Designs rectangle framelits creates and achieved on this somewhat CAS (Clean and Simple) design. And dang it, I just couldn’t help myself and had to add a couple of tiny pearl embellishments. 🙂
Happy Friday to you and your families – the ones you were assigned by birth – and/or those you chose!
Today is my brother’s birthday, and this is the card I made and sent to him. He is a purist and likes simple and uncomplicated things. He is also a deep thinker, so though this card may not be a “stunner” in the creative artistic sense, I think it is perfect for him.
The StampinUp Moon Lake stamp is stamped onto white paper. I then overlaid it with vellum that I stamped the sentiment on and stitched it to the white (so you can lift it to see the boat and tree clearer – kinda symbolic of the message if you get my drift). I added a few clear star stickers to embellish just a bit, framed it up with black and then blue card stock and adhered to a white card base.
I’m thinking of my brother today and wishing him a year full of simple, uncomplicated pleasures and happiness. I love him dearly.
Isn’t it true? It’s the “little things” that mean so much!
Next week at this time, I will be in (hopefully) sunny, warm Florida with one of my besties, Janet, celebrating “the little things” that have sustained our friendship for 40 years! And seriously – I’m not sure how that is possible when I am [ahem] barely past 40, but Janet is my oldest – really meaning “longest” together – friend.
I can’t wait to just spend time with my sweet friend doing the “little things” that have sustained our friendship through the ages, miles and miles, and extended periods of separation (Janet lived in Alaska for about a million years).
Janet is my sister and her family is my family.
My hubby, Marty, gave me the BEST birthday gift this year. He’s sending me off to spend time with someone I hold so dear. And I can still hear the squeals when I called her on New Year’s Eve (my birthday) to tell her the good news. And we are going to get to celebrate her birthday, which is just a few days after my visit.
We will talk, walk, laugh, likely cry, eat, drink, reminisce, reflect, discover, and just “BE.”
No matter how much time or space has separated us, we have always enjoyed “the little things” that make life and our friendship so precious.
So this card I created is dedicated to my Janet.
It is made from the Stampin Up Sheltering Tree and Hello Life Stamp Set. It is clean and simple (CAS), because the message is so powerful: Love the little things – for they are what make up the greatest joys in life.
Wishing you a wonderful day filled with many reasons to celebrate “the little things.”
Time to get HAPPY! Right? Enough whining about the cold! 🙂 I’ve made the turn and thank so many of you for your support and great tips.
And it is Friday!
What’s making you happy today?
A while back I wrote my Top 25 List of Things that Make me Happy – and those are still tops and all still apply, but today in particular, let’s see…. What is making me happy today?
A good hot flash to take the chill off (just thought I’d throw that in there, because my guys say it is all I ever talk about – – – AND it makes them crAAAAzy!)
Spoonfuls of molasses with black pepper, warm salt gargles, steam vapor, hot team with honey, lime jello (and all the other tips and home remedies you all supplied over the past few days… I tried ’em all!)
Hearing a “ding” on my iPhone that means I’m getting a note from one of you!
Mars Pizza delivery (it’s our Friday dinner tradition)
Movie night – will I get to pick – and will I stay awake?
The gift of another day – to be happy – and maybe make a few others happy too!
Marguerite’s Mom’s Cure for a Cough: A spoonful of molasses covered in black pepper
While on the couch this week, I caught a great video tutorial for this watercolor technique by Kristen Werner.
I love how clean and simple it is – a technique I strive to excel at that I often struggle with.
The challenge this week is to make a card where the sentiment is the focal point and to keep it clean and simple.
I used the Stampinup Happy Life Stamp set, watercolor paper, some Tim Holtz Distress Inks and assorted sequins for this card.
So as I am writing this post, a song is running through my head and making me smile. Music is so remarkable like that – right? Almost everything reminds me of a song. Can anyone relate? So who remembers this one? Kinda silly, but hey – c’mon get happy! 🙂
It doesn’t happen often, but this head cold has got the best of me right now. I have a whisper of a voice (and for those that know me well know what a challenge this is for me – you know – my quiet, reserved nature… NOT!). My throat just aches, and I am so sick of honey lemon cough drops I could throw up, but they help soothe and quiet the hacking cough. My stuffed up ears are cracking and popping, and I would like to poke holes in them to release the pressure. What a whiner – eh?! Good thing I don’t get sick very often!!
I spent most of the day snuggled with Mikey on the couch watching the snow fall and binge watching crazy stuff on television between cat naps.
I was glad I had this card made and photographed and ready to go for the Friday Mashup Challenge (#193) for today’s post.
The challenge is to:
Create a project with the “Triple Layer Technique” (For my card-making friends, you can check out a Tutorial HERE for this technique)
Create a project that’s “Floral”. (I decided lemons with leaves were kinda “floral” – ok – maybe a stretch!)
or Mash it Up! and create a “Floral Triple Layer Project”.
I decided not to add a sentiment to the front of the card since it already has a lot going on, and this is the simple inside:
For my card, I used Stampin Up Old Olive and Very Vanilla Card Stock, the SU Love Life Stamp Set (same one that had the cute little bird I featured here), the SU En Francais Background Stamp, and had fun with the technique and challenge. I colored the lemons in with a Crushed Curry Marker and the leaves with Old Olive, and some thin black lines and some accents with a white gel marker. I finished it off with a button and some twine.
I really enjoyed the technique of triple layering, and besides being much easier than it looks, there are so many possibilities and variations you can do with this.
So it’s Friday night – though you are reading this sometime after 6:00 am EST on Saturday. (If you haven’t caught on yet, I schedule my daily posts for 6 am EST, but I typically write them the evening before.) 😉
And for this particularly exciting Friday evening (as I am fighting off a head cold that is trying to get the best of me and a little bit of a sore back – did something at the dang gym – grr!), Marty and I ate Chinese take out (I indulged in my favorite 8-treasure rice from Jimmy Wann’s and a nice glass of Red Zin – my first all week!) in front of a warm fire… and I got to pick the movie.
I rarely even care what is on television, but I love to pick a movie on Friday evening for some reason. ( I know – really exciting stuff – eh?!)
So, as I write this, I am not only sniffling from the nasal drip of this cold, but from literally bawling my eyes out.
I know – a little late to the game on this one – eh? But – wow – what a beautiful story…
Ok – maybe a little mushy, a little cliche, a little predictable.
But also so life affirming, thought provoking, and a reminder of how precious life is.
A story that shows us how we need to discover that a good life does not mean we have to be famous or accomplished or published or world-renown ….
One of my favorite lines is when 16 year old cancer patient, Hazel tells her boyfriend Gus, an 18-year old young man who is dying and disappointed that he didn’t do something greater with his life:
“You say you’re not special because the world doesn’t know about you, but that’s an insult to me. I know about you.”
My BFF, Jill, and I have often said to each other throughout the years, “What’s it all about?”
I think it’s about loving…
Loving life – and the people that are in our life…
And isn’t that enough?
So what a coincidence that I had made this (yet another – been on a crafty kick this week) card with this crazy little bird that I can’t even tell you what colors I used, because I kept combining and mixing and blending a million colors until I liked it, from the SU stamp set called – of all things – “Love Life.”
the creative life in between 