Birthdays

Have just entered the busy birthday time - February and March then July, August and September seem to be the most predominant birthday months in our family.

Brenda (my daughter's mother-in-law) had her 60th birthday last week and I made her the following trio:

Here are some close-ups of each individual item:

Then it was my birthday. Thank you so much to everyone who sent me their best wishes - I do appreciate it.

NO - I did not make myself a card lol!! However, I did receive some lovely cards (and pressies):

Later this week it is my youngest grandson's birthday so I borrowed Karen's Ahoy Matey set and made him this card.

Must admit that the idea was cased from SCS but I did add a few extra details on to it. Inside I used the jumbo wheel with the map on it across the bottom.

Now have to start making the next batch of cards. These are predominantly male cards so no pretty flowers and glitter, boo hoo!

SBS Wednesday Challenge #7

This week Janet's challenge was a card using summer colors - light blue, light pink, light green and light yellow.

This is my take:

I have used (all Stampin' Up products):

Cardstock: Cool Caribbean. So Saffron, Whisper White, Petals & Paisley DPS

Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Riveting

Inks: Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery

Other: Ribbon

I have attempted to give this a summery floral feeling.

Experimenting with boxes, cardholders and double pocket bags

When time has allowed I've been trying out several tutorials I have found for the above. Here are some I have tried out.

Isn't this just so pretty? It's a Double Pocket Bag by Jenn Diercks

The tutorial is very easy to follow though I should have made Steps 6 to 8 a bit wider as I felt the base was not quite wide enough for it to stand up properly.

Uses 1 piece of 12x12 patterned cardstock or paper so quite economical to make.

This is my take on Cindy Lyles (Starlit Studios) card holder. It takes 6 cards and 6 envelopes.

This is easy to make and can be decorated in various ways.

These card organisers can be found at Dannies Designs. This link should also point you to her video tutorial.

I borrowed a friend's Scor-Pal to do the scoring and have now decided I must have one myself. It makes it so quick and easy. Was really happy with how these turned out though they are fiddlier to do than the other card holders but of course, hold a lot more and also make wonderful recipe holders.

Another must-have for making these is the Crop-a-dile.

SBS#25 Challenge No. 5

This was quite a simple challenge this week. We had to make a card using two different kinds of patterned paper. I used paper from Stampin' Ups Spring Fling designer paper series. We also had to use glitter but don't think this shows up very well in my photo.

Hope I'm not too late this time with my entry!!

Thanks for the ideas ... cased and copied

I find it really hard to visualise a card but I do know what I like and what I don't like, what colours appeal or not as the case may be (excuse the pun!)

If it weren't for all those talented people out there my cardmaking would come to a full-stop so thanks for sharing your creativity with me and allowing me to case and adapt your ideas.

Saw this card on Kristina Werner's blog and as I had just received my new square punches, had to try them out.

Couldn't exactly match the patterned CS that she used but think it looks pretty close.

Also had to use my 1" circle punch rather than the smaller (I think she used the 3/4") punch but it still gives the same scallop effect.

Kristina is certainly one very talented young lady.

Loved this card as soon as I saw it and of course, I could once again utilise my square punches! I was able to use the DSP in the small pallet of designer papers that was a special May offer from SU.

I didn't have the stamp set used in the original but thought that Garden Whimsy looked great on the front. This card was cased from Julie Buhler - http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/sparkly-sketch.html?cid=120133010#comments

I only case for my personal use and would never use someone else's original design to submit cards in challenges or to magazines etc.