Birthday Cards

Here are a couple of birthday cards that I made recently using the Cricut cartridge "A Child's Year" (currently my favorite).

The colors and paisley pattern help to make this card fairly masculine!

And pink is always right for the more feminine card.
I also layered a couple of pieces of coordinating card stock inside the card and placed a strip of patterned paper off to the the side to "dress it up".

A Few Recent Cards

Matchbook Card

I totally lifted this card from Mary at Cardz TV.  She is so talented!!

As you can see, it opens like a matchbook and there is a treat inside.  I can envision all sorts of uses for this little gem!!

Mug shaped cards.

I'm really enjoying making these mug shaped cards.  I'm doing three at a time because I currently have three mats for my Cricut.  I've stamped the middle of the heart with "hello", "smile", and "thank you".  I really think I like the "hello" stamp best and it makes the card more versatile.

I've used a subtly patterned paper for the inside to write a message on and there is a little cup with steam coming from it to add a little interest.

Cupcake card

Here is a card I made because I needed a birthday card and because Mary at Cricut Cardz Challenge was having a cake/cupcake challenge. This is my first entry to a challenge (I'm a little nervous).

I made the card using the Doodle Charms cart and my recently purchased Gypsy. I made the cupcake a little small because I wanted the Cuttlebug birthday embossing to show. If I make this card again, I may make the cupcake bigger!
I'm trying to dress up the inside of my cards more. Sending this to my Mom for her birthday.

Kick Back Card

I made this card recently for the birthday of a dear friend.

Some elements are from the "Just Because Cards" Cricut cartridge, but I can't leave well enough alone and altered the saying from "just kickin back" to "just kick back" because that makes more sense to me!!
Then your message can read "and have a good birthday/retirement/trip/life/day/etc." : )

More Cards

Some cards I made recently.

And another.

And the last one.

Another Easter card.

Kind of a more masculine Easter card.

Easter Cards

The card I sent to my daughters had to be simple because one of them lives in Denmark and I was afraid to add much in the way of embellishments.

And the card I sent to my mother.

Thank You Card

A friend recently loaned me the book Ink Heart which I enjoyed very much. I had seen the movie so I was reluctant to read the book, but I am now looking forward to reading the two sequels.

Here is the thank you card I made for her. I used the cartridge Walk in my Garden to cut the flowers, pot, and sentiment inside. I also used the cuttlebug to emboss the pot with the swiss dot folder and dimensionals to raise the flowers and pot. I am really going to work on my photography skills. There is a shadow slanting through the bottom third of both photos and the color is way off. My apologies - I will do better in the future!!

Cards Again

I've really been slack about this blogging thing and I am going to try to do better!!

I made several Vday cards this year, but only took a few pictures.

This is the one I sent to Mom. The silhouette is from the Cricut cartridge A Child's Year.
I just made up the inside sentiment because I thought it was an ageless idea, spanning generations.

Today is JC's birthday.
I made this card for him and I totally lifted it from Mary at Cardz TV. She is an amazing paper crafter and I get many good ideas from her!!
Hmmmm - guess I'd better go make some cookies!!

Run Wild!!

Our daughters are visiting with us this week. It has been quite a while since we have all been together and we are loving every minute of it. They came to this area to run the Phoenix Rock and Roll Marathon with their daddy. Unfortunately, JC is suffering from a bum knee and couldn't run the race, but he enjoyed watching them on Sunday. We managed to see them at miles 6, 17, and 26. It is such a joy to have them here with us!!

Of course, they want to see what we old folks have been up to!! They've watched pickle ball, met some of our neighbors, and played with everyone's pets. Monday night we went to the Arizona Opry near Mesa. It is a very entertaining show. Today we went out to the Eloy airport to watch the sky divers. It seems that this is the largest "drop zone" in the world. Then we had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Borderline in the old town area of Casa Grande.

Unfortunately, they will leave on Friday and that time will arrive way too soon!!

We also keep dragging out all my paper crafting stuff. We've made several mini legal pad covers and cards. Here are some of our creations:

I love this intricately cut mat with the embossed paper. And the inside is so CUTE!!
They have really enjoyed picking papers and playing with ways to combine patterns and textures!!

Just look at how well this card turned out from papers the girls thought worked well together. I'm afraid they may be as addicted to this as I am!! Whenever we have any free time, they want me to drag everything out!!
I think they really like all my fun tools and gadgets!!

Sometimes simple is good. We stamped and colored the image above and matted it with torn paper. Then we chalked all the edges and found a leather looking paper for the background. The inside sentiment is understated and elegant. This is fun!!!

Cards

One of the new hobbies that I've been pursuing is paper crafting. I've done some scrapbooking, but never made any cards until I decided to take a class here at Palm Creek in Casa Grande, AZ. The only problem with the card class is that they provide everything and have most things cut to size and everyone makes the same set of cards. I'm learning techniques and getting some good ideas, but there is little room for creativity. I've been spending a lot of time on the internet researching the subject. There are a lot of sites to peruse and I've been getting some good ideas from that limitless source. I've also been collecting tools and doing some experimenting!! : )

We are going to a local (and very good) Mexican restaurant tonight to celebrate the birthdays of some new friends and here are a couple of cards that I made for the occasion.

The cupcake card with it's Happy Birthday message.

I love this turtle and the cute stamp I found at Michaels on the clearance rack (remember we're retired!!).

Then I found a site that showed how to take inexpensive junior legal pads and make really cute binders for them. This is my interpretation.
This is really a lot of fun but very addictive. I'll see you later - I have to go get more tools and stamps and inks and STUFF!!!