Fabulous Birthday

Here is the 2nd design in my card set.  I was excited to use this set because I had just bought the coordinating dies. Baby button bits has been one of my favorites since it came out and I was super excited when the coordinating dies just came out in May!  I love this cupcake image and use it quite a bit either for baby or for birthday.

 If any of you were keeping up with my last set of cards I made a few months back, you might remember that I said that I used old sketches to keep things moving along. I did the same thing with this set and this is a semi-recent Mojo Monday sketch.

Rather than add a button on top, like the stamp set suggests, I used a rolled felt rose.  If you haven't noticed...I am just a little bit obsessed.  I added a little pearl to the center for some added interest as well as some glitter on the icing of the cupcake.  I paper pieced the cupcake liner which is one of my favorite things to do with this particular image.

The finishing touches are some ribbon folded in half with a button and twine cinching it in half.  I also used the new label and die from the Boutique collection from PTI. The coordinating phrases are for baby, but this birthday sentiment worked just as well.  A button and stitching at the top finished it off! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. When my husband saw this card he mentioned that it looked like it was for a juvenile girl, but I had intended it to be for any female. You will have to let me know what you think.

So Grateful for You!

 I have been super busy working on lots of cards that I am excited to share with you. I decided last week to make a set of cards for one of my friends for her birthday.  This is the first one that I made. I actually made two of each design.  I ordered Lovely Layers from PTI with the coordinating dies so I was anxious to start using it. I can tell that it is going to be well used/loved.

 I also used the new boutique borders die cut for the sentiment panel. It was originally made for the coordinating baby sentiments, but this one fit nicely, too.  I loved creating all of the different layers for the focal piece...I guess that is why it is called Lovely Layers! LOL!

No card set would be complete without a thank you, so that is what I started out with first.  I actually thought her birthday was this week, so I scrambled to get these done, but now that I know I have another week, I might make more. There are 20 cards in all, so I am excited to share them all with you.  I can't tell you how nice it is to create every day!!! It is great therapy for me!  Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I just read on FB today that Jen DelMuro is bringing SFYTT back on her Reverse Confetti blog starting this weekend! I am so excited. Her sketches are amazing and have been some of my faves since forever!!!  Can you guess where I will be?

P.S.S. I have officially posted more than I did in 2012 and 2011! Let's see if I can outpost 2010!

With Gratitude

 I needed to make 6 thank you cards for a fun reason the other day, which I will tell you about at the end.  I have been just a little bit obsessed with the "frame" series of stamps and diecuts from PTI lately. I have used them on quite a few projects and these were no exception.

I am also obsessed with felt rolled flowers as well. Thank goodness for My Favorite Things and their fabulous dies. I was trying to keep things simple since I was making six and all in all they look simple, but they ended up taking more time than I had thought.  The sentiment stamp is not from the same frame set as the actual frame. I mixed and matched and I can't remember which frame # they are.

Again, my photos are horrible and I don't know how to fix it.  So...I will get started with my story. First of all, I forgot to announce here that we are expecting another BOY!  I will admit that I was hoping for a girl SO BAD!!!!  Everyone knew it, too. So, when we found out we were expecting a boy one of my sweet friends threw a surprise "3 Amigos" Fiesta. Now, really I will have 4 Amigos, but since the last three are boys, she went with that, which I think is super cute! The guests were supposed to bring gifts for me and not for baby. It was a fun night to chat and laugh! So...I needed thank you cards!  There you have it! Thanks for fluttering by!

*Bloom* Banner

 I made a banner exactly like this one for my Mom for Mother's Day! I liked it so well, I sat down yesterday and made one for myself.  I have a bench directly below the banner which is now empty, but I will hopefully have time today to "shop" my home to get things to decorate it.

I know that you are probably sick of me talking about how my photos look, but if you look at my blog title photo and then scroll down to the post photo, you can totally see the difference. The two photos are exactly the same! If anyone knows how I can get this fixed, please let me know! It would be greatly appreciated!!!!
 I used some butterfly die-cuts from PTI as well as the coordinating stamp set "Butterfly Dreams" for this banner. You all know how much I love using black butterflies! LOL!  Each accordion medallion has some stardust stickles added to the edges for some sparkle and shine.

When  letter doesn't completely cover the center of the accordion medallion, I am always looking for a fitting way to cover it up. In this case, I used some rolled felt flowers, which went nicely with the "bloom" theme.

 The chipboard letters I used for this banner are from "The Paper Studio" found at Hobby Lobby. They were bare, so I used some SU! craft ink and a sponge dauber to turn them green.  I also didn't have a spare "O" on hand since I made one for my mom, so I just turned a Q into and O!  I find myself needing to do that a lot!

I made a large felt flower for either end of the banner. This is a detail that I did not add to my Mom's banner, but I will ask her if she wants me to make some for her. I am only "slightly" obsessed with all of the great 3-D flower dies that "My Favorite Things" carries! I only wish I would have bought them sooner! LOL! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I posted a baby ensemble HERE if you are interested!

My heart is *always* with you....Mom!

 I decided to get a head start on the two Mother's Day cards that I need.  I have been using this set quite a bit lately for some different projects that I have been working on and I knew that I could make it work for a Mother's Day design as well.  I absolutely adore the little house image and coordinating die.  Just the sentiment alone would never give it away that it is for a Mom, so I added the die-cut letters using a felt rolled rose as the "o". I thought it was super cute if I do say so myself.  I added a little pearl to the center. I think Mother's Day and pearls just go hand in hand.  The letters were die-cut using pattern paper, adhered to a second sheet of white cardstock that had also been die-cut and then I added glossy accents to the top.

I haven't really been getting too fancy with my layouts...I am thinking I need to participate in some sketch challenges a little more often. They always help me to get out of my rut.  Once I had the house die-cut and stamped, I added it to a circle with the grass and flowers all stamped out.  You can't tell from the photo, but there is a little dot of stardust stickles in the center of each flower.

I also stamped a little sentiment on the inside of the card, but I didn't photograph it. The final touch was some ribbon with the butterfly attached. I added some more pearls to the butterfly.  Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I hope my mom doesn't stop by here before Sunday!

Here comes baby in the baby carriage!

ETA: The baby carriage is from the Papertrey Ink set "Bitty Baby Blessings" and it also has a coordinating die.I have been working on two baby gifts this week and I was sick of sewing, so I sat down to make the coordinating cards. I made two identical cards, but obviously just photographed the one.  I happened to have a Mojo Monday sketch all printed out and waiting for me to try, so I used it.  I used some super old SU! paper for this design because it coordinated nicely with the fabrics I am using.  It's always nice to use up old stuff!

 I die-cut the carriage and then paper pieced the striped paper. Once that was done, I colored the rest of the image using my Copic markers.  I added some glossy accents to the bottom striped part of the carriage.  The finishing touch was to add some adhesive pearls to the handle and hinge.  I wanted to keep it sweet and feminine.

I made some rolled roses that I die-cut out of felt as well as the ric-rac at the bottom.  I had  alot of fun putting these cards together and hopefully I will get the rest of the items made for the gift ensemble. I have to have both of them done by Friday.  Thanks for fluttering by!

Reverse Confetti Release *Blog Hop*

 Can you believe it’s finally here?!! It’s the day you’ve all been waiting for—REVERSE CONFETTI’S VERY FIRST Release Day is today! To get things started, we invite YOU to hop along with the Confetti Crew and a few other talented stampers that are helping us launch this fabulous new stamp company! You can check it out HERE

The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti blog, and you should have made it here from  Dawn's   blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop, so you don’t miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you to see using Reverse Confetti’s first 4 brand new stamp sets! The whole list of hoppers can be found HERE

I hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with us on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more REVERSE CONFETTI inspiration! Now it’s time to hop on over to Laurie's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog. Celebrate the creative side of you! Thanks for fluttering by!