Horse Silhouette Birthday Greeting

My daughter-in-law celebrates her birthday, tomorrow, a day before my husband and sister-in-law. She is selflessly helping me prepare for a surprise party for my husband, rather than have us focus on her. I especially wanted to make her a card to wish her a very happy birthday. I chose a horse silhouette sticker and matted it numerous times with coordinating background papers. I added a lock and key for hardware, and softened it with an organza orange ribbon. I used more of the coordinating background papers and added a definition of a birthdday and a birthday sentiment. To add a bit more definition, I added two chocolate mini brads. Hope she likes it!

Frazzled Birthday Cat

My sister-in-law and my husband (fraternal twins) will celebrate a very special birthday this weekend. My sister-in-law loves cats, especially her own cat, Blackie. In honor of her birthday, I chose this frazzled cat for my stamped image. I left the cat uncolored except for big taupe colored eyes. To add a little glitter, I added shiny black photo corners and a glittered birthday present die cut along with a glittery cord tied in a bow. To finish off the card, I added three different colored jumbo brads that pick up the colors of the die cut to add a little warmth to the rather neutral card.

Take Ten Challenge - May 2009

One of my favorite magazines, Ten Take, has a challenge quarterly, where they give you a template to work from and you create and send in your own interpretations. The card above, A Bird's Hello, is one of the cards I will submit. Below are several others I will send in as well.

Congratulations

One of my husband's staff is celebrating twenty years of employment. They are having a surprise luncheon for her, tomorrow. My husband asked me to make a card for the ocassion. I love this image "Butterfly Girl" by Paperbag Studio. I split a too small piece of designer paper and placed in opposite corners, to stretch it, and and matted the image on brown cardstock. I finished the card by added a green/wine colored ribbon, some pink flower stickers and a variety of buttons. I like the softness of this card and hope the recipient does, too.

Parisian Birthday

I made this card for my husband's Executive Assistant. I love the iconic Eiffel Tower and the French girl on a Vespe seems to go well with it. I stayed with purples and blues, dusted the tower with blue chalk, and added rhinestone flower gems and a bit of lavender twill tape to finish it off. Mai oui!

Fairy Tale Birthday

I made this card for my husband's youngest niece's birthday. She is a pre-teen, so I did not want to make too juvenile of a card. I love this fairy sticker that I bought in the gift shop at Art Museum in Bennington, VT, where Grandma Moses paintings are on display. The flourishes, flower brads and a lady bug seemed appropriate. I chose a soft mauve card stock as the background and tied it all up with a gingham pink bow. I hope she likes it!

April-May 2009 Stamplers Sampler

The April/May 2009 Stamplers Sampler is finally available on newstands! I submitted and was chosen to be published for their annual "Celebrations" issue. I am deeply moved when looking through the other entries to find myself among the very elite card makers of our time. I think I got very lucky, but none the less am estatic! Below is the page with my card. Mine is in the lower right corner entitled "Happy Birthday."

Easter 2009

This year, I have to different cards to send to friends and family. I made a lot of cards last year, but did not have time to write notes in them and send them in a timely manner to everyone, so, I saved them for this year. Fast forward another year, and I have to make some new cards to send to those I did send last year's card too! So...below is the card I made last year. I fell in love with this stamp when I saw it. I just loved the simplicity of the duck family and its representation of spring. I chose Lemon Chiffon card stock and after stamping the duck family, colored it in with soft chalks. I chose various background papers from my stash to mat the image and finished with Happy Easter as the sentiment.
As for this year, I selected a beautiful stamp from Artistic Outpost, and stamped it in Sienna ink on various soft pastel colored card stocks. Since the stamp has such a beautiful border, I chose not to add another mat, beyond leaving a quarter inch around the stamped image. I contrasted each image with another pastel card blank and decided to add a chocolate satin knotted ribbon and some copper or brown brads for dimension as an embellishment. Though the card does not say "Happy Easter" I think the birds and pastel colors emulate the Easter season.