random reflections

Happy Birthday Hannah and Caleb

Hannah and Caleb have a shared birthday. On January 30th, Hannah turned 2 and Caleb turned 7. It's the first year in many that we were not present for the birthday celebration. We did share the lighting of the candles and singing of "Happy Birthday" via FaceTime. When we were here in October I gave Sarah two sparkler candles from Paper Source in the shape of 2 and 7. A friend had told me about them and said they were what they used for each of their children's birthdays. I thought they were really cool, but it didn't turn out so well. As soon as Sarah lit the sparklers, Caleb jumped out of his seat and took off, and Hannah started to cry. There's no blowing out sparkler candles, so we just had to wait for them to die out! By the end, they were watching with some trepidation.

Thanks to Adam for the photos

 

We waited until we arrived on Saturday to give them their gifts and cards. Caleb is quite an artist, and wanted to know if I'd colored in the images in his card. I got a "Good job, Grandma!" response when I said I had. Hannah tried to figure out how to get the fairy off the card, but Sarah explained how the card was put together, and it survived the inspection.

Here's the inside of Caleb's card. Given the circumstances, it was the perfect sentiment. It's also from the Winnie and Walter set.

I purchased this Neat and Tangled stamp set ("Later, Alligator") with Caleb in mind, but expected to use it to make a card with a favorite expression of his, "See you later, Alligator." I was going to leave it with him when we go home. But instead, I used it for his birthday card, and thought the alligators would look cute holding the banner from Winnie and Walter's "Wish Big" stamps. During the Black Friday sales, I purchased a small set of the Picket Fence "Life Changing Blender Brushes." I have to say, ink blending is easier with them, although I ended up using a Tim Holtz "Distress Blending Brush" as well on the grassy area to add a bit of texture. All the cloud dies are from Papertrey Ink.

The minute I saw the December Hero Arts Stamp Kit, I knew it was ready-made for a grandma with four granddaughters. This card is a close CASE of one Nichol Spohr posted at the tune of the kit's release. The patterned paper is from an old Studio Calico 6X6 paper pad and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Balloon Bash."

Hopefully, you can seen the addition of the glitter pen to many of the stars on the patterned paper, and the Nuvo glitter to the wings. I also added a sparkly Amuse raspberry star to the sentiment. (It's funny how tilting the card makes the left side of the card base appear blue.)

Happy Birthday for Two Challenges

I'm back with a CAS birthday card for the current challenges at Seize the Birthday and Wednesday's Simon Says Challenge: Use Something New.

Sometime in November I purchased two dies I'd been eyeing for some time: the Pink Fresh Studio's "Dainty Blossoms" and the Noteworthy Frames. After Christmas I had time to play with them. Today's card uses only the "Dainty Blossoms," but I'll be back later with some cards using both dies. I love the way they look, but I must admit that die cutting the blossoms requires some time and patience even with a metal shim. I do not, however, regret either purchase. 

This card uses just two of the eight dies included, both die cut from metallic cardstock (which might have been one of the reasons they didn't cut so easily.) I adhered them to a white card and added a bow tied with beautiful silver cord that my friend, Michelle, gave me. The sentiment is embossed with Platinum embossing powder on one of Papertrey Inks "Skinny Mini Banners." I almost didn't order that set of dies, but I'm already glad I did. It was the perfect size for one of Simon Says "Tiny Words" phrases (another new purchase with a lucky blog win from Simon Says.)

It's cold and raining here, and we woke up to no heat. A heating contractor is due here in an hour or so, and I'm hoping it's a simple fix. We certainly don't want to leave the house without any heat while we're away for a week.

 

CAS on Friday: Christmas Card

The latest challenge on CAS on Friday is "Make a Christmas Card." I've shared a few of the cards I made, but haven't shared the ones I made using the tags for Tracey McNeeley's 25 Christmas Tags challenge. I spent the better part of a day right before the holiday turning some of the tags into cards. They've all been mailed now, so it's a good time to share. I'll be entering the first one into the CAS on Friday challenge.

The card I'm entering is the only card I made this year in non-traditional colors, and it's one of my favorites. 

The tag uses Papertrey Ink's "Warmest Wishes" set. I ran the beautiful Altenew embossing plate through the die cutter with Raspberry Fizz cardstock, mounted it on a top-folded white card, and added the tag. 

Here are a few more:

This card went to Hannah. Sarah set me the cutest video of Hannah opening the card and giving it a very close examination. My grandchildren are young enough that I don't expect much appreciation from them. Sometimes the card is destroyed in just minutes. It's the pleasure of making it that matters. In this case, the card was truly appreciated, and it survived the holiday season.

Using the Simon Says stencil "Falling Snow," I covered a black card with white embossing paste to create a backdrop for the tag created with Neat and Tangle's cute "So Foxy" stamp, Simon Says "Merry and Bright" and "Diagonal Stripes." 

This turned out to be another fave:

I die cut Simon Says "Diamond Pattern" from Blueberry Sky paper (PTI) and left the die cuts remain in place. I adhered it to a card made from "Spring Rain," and then added the dimensional tag created with stamps from PTI's "Winter Hills" and the "Tag Sale 10" die.

The next card uses the same "Diamond Pattern" die cut this time from Pure Poppy cardstock. In this case, I released all the little pieces to expose the white card behind the cute penguin tag stamped with My Favorite Things "Chill Wishes" and some more embossing paste with the "Falling Snow" stencil by Simon Says.

And one more:

The tag for this cards was die cut with PTI's "Tag Sale 4" and the beautiful holly (and die) are from Hero Art's "Happy Holly Days" which I watercolored with Zig markers. The bow was die cut with a die from Concord & 9th's "Mistletoe Card Frame." It's hard to see clearly, but the tag is mounted on Pure Poppy that was embossed with Papertrey Ink's "Tintype" Impression Plate. 

When I started making tags for Tracey's challenge I didn't expect to turn many of them into cards. In the end, I think I created 15 or 16 cards from the 26 tags. I ended up needing all of them so it turned out to be a worthwhile endeavor.

 

 

 

Papertrey Ink December 2018 Blog Hop

Today is the monthly blog hop at Papertrey Ink. I truly did not expect to get a card made for the hop, but found some time this afternoon to play around. I love the pretty inspiration piece.

Strangely, considering the number of Papertrey Ink stamps and dies I own, I didn't own a single Papertrey heart die. I found one by Concord and 9th, however, that seemed made for this challenge. The die itself is designed to cut the heart into a larger piece of cardstock, but I was able to fussy cut around the outside edge to create the heart I was looking for. I adhered it to my new "Shape Shifters Oval 4" die cut from a piece of Pink Peony Bitty Big patterned paper and then to a white top-folded card.

To replicate the pretty flowers, I fussy cut a group of flowers from the Make It Market kit, "Color Pop Florals," and then added a sentiment die cut from "Swoosh" in Hibiscus Burst. All in all, I'm happy to have my first Valentine made!

 

 

The Card Concept: Elegant Holiday

Despite the quiet nature of this blog, it's been anything but quiet around here the last few days. I'll be back later with a Me on Monday post, but wanted to get this elegant Christmas thank you card entered in The Card Concept's current challenge which closes within the hour.

I'm thinking this Floral Fantasy deer (Papertrey Ink) qualifies as elegant. I'm done with Christmas cards, but already have multiple thank you notes to write. I was delighted to find a "Christmas Thank You" sentiment in an old favorite from Papertrey Ink, " Signature Christmas."

The deer was silver embossed on Weathervane Cardstock, die cut, and adhered to a Smoky Shadow panel die cut with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles." The sentiment was embossed on vellum and then wrapped around the panel before adding it to a Weathervane top-folded card. Here's closer look.

This might be the first Christmas Eve ever that I don't have baking or wrapping left to do. Even the gifts going to Racine in early January are wrapped and ready to go! I'm planning to spend most of the day right here in my craft room, making more thank you notes and getting a start on the many January birthday cards that need to be made. 

 

Two Cards; Two Challenges

I had a few spare moments yesterday, and had a pile of new die cuts laying on my desk, calling to me. I took advantage of some of the Black Friday sales and two of the things I picked up were two dies from Poppy Stamps. The poinsettias are the same image, just two different sizes. I thought I could use the larger one for an entry into the current Color Throwdown which calls for red, green, white, and kraft.

I also used a Simon Says die that's been in my collection for over a year, and I could never come up with a way to use it. It worked perfectly this time, and I'm thinking it will see a lot more use now. From the start, I decided on a thank you card, since I hope I don't need any more Christmas cards. I think I have everyone covered!

I hope the gold center and a few gold sequins don't disqualify this from the Color Throwdown Challenge, but I felt like the card needed a little sparkle. Here's a closer look:

The second card uses the smaller poinsettias, and I think it's a good entry for CAS on Friday. Although the challenge says "Christmas Card," I'm throwing it in the ring since clearly it's a Christmas Thank You card. 

This card started with a premade 4-bar white card from Paper Source. The band of striped paper came from a 6X6 pad by American Crafts, but had no title for the pad. I think I picked it up a year or two ago at Hobby Lobby. 

All the diecuts were cut from Simon Says "Schoolhouse Red" paper and Papertrey Ink's "New Leaf." The sentiment was stamped with Papertrey Ink's "Never Enough Thanks." (That's certainly true! 

Off to finish up the preparations for hosting our duplicate bridge group tonight.

 

 

Happy Anniversary!

It's Matt and Betsy's anniversary. We'll be babysitting tomorrow night so they can go out to dinner to celebrate. Here they are last week at the Eastman Museum with their darling girls.

And here's the card I made for them.

The first step was to emboss Reverse Confetti's "Stitched Rays" onto Pure Poppy paper. I love this die and have used it many times in different ways. I adhered it to a white card base. Then I took a pre-cut white heart that was laying on my desk, and ran it through the die cutting machine inside Alexandra Renke's "Square Grid" embossing folder. This is going to be a new favorite for sure. The sentiment was cut in True Black with Simon Say's "Love You" die. After attaching the sentiment to the heart, I bumped it out with some dimensional foam circles. 

I'm thinking this would make a pretty good Valentine, too!

 

Time Out: Joyful

A quick post to enter a card in the current Time Out Challenge: Joyful. I spent part of last weekend turning some of my tags for the 25 Tags of Christmas Challenge into cards. I ended up liking quite a few of them, including this one.

I die cut the Simon Says "Diamond Pattern" cover with Pure Poppy and added it to a white card base. I love the the design of this die and the texture it gives without overwhelming the tag itself. The tag itself was die cut with Papertrey's "Tag Sale #4" and the greens and sentiment were stamped and die cut with Papertrey's "Sending Joy,"

I needed some holiday cards for friends who don't celebrate Christmas so this one is perfect. I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Christmas.

 

 

Mostly White

The current challenge at AAA Cards is Mostly White. I love white on white, and needed another holiday card so was anxious to create one for this challenge.

I started by die cutting Memory Box's "Bianca Snowflake." It's so intricate that even with a metal shim, it took several trips through the die cutter to get a clean cut. It was totally worth it though. I coated it with Nuvo clear glitter, but couldn't get a good photo of the shimmer, try as I might. 

After embossing the sentiment from Papertrey's "Floral Fantasy: Christmas" in rose gold, I adhered some fun foam for a bit of dimension before putting it on the white card base. Here's a closer look.

White is definitely the color here. We had the kind of stick-to-everything snow yesterday that coated every tree, bush and the lawn. It was really the perfect snow because it didn't effect the roads or travel at all. 

I'm also entering this into a new-to-me challenge: CAS on Friday where the challenge is to make a Christmas card. I'm always glad to find another CAS challenge to play with!

Happy Birthday, Greg & Color Throwdown Challenge

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Later this evening, we'll be celebrating with him at dinner. A week from today is my brother's birthday. Sadly, I won't see him on his birthday, but we'll definitely talk on the phone. When I saw the current Color Throwdown Challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for their birthday cards. Since their birthdays are so close together, I frequently make the same card for both of them. 

More frequently than not, my idea for a card at its inception doesn't correlate particularly well at its execution. This was an exception, and the cards turned out almost exactly the way I envisioned it. 

I'm guessing the majority of the cards for this challenge use these wonderful colors---silver, black, gray, and white---to create a holiday card, but I thought they were great colors for a masculine birthday card. All the design elements were stamped with Altenew's "Sohcahtoa" stamp set. The sentiment was embossed in silver from Papertrey Ink's ""Good Times."

I'm also linking this up with Seize the Birthday Challenge since any birthday card works, even if you don't use the "topping."