Birthdays and more Birthdays!

Sunday afternoons--peaceful, serene, early fall. Good days to make the cards I need for some upcoming birthdays! I have several in the next 2 weeks, and no 'ladies' cards in my stash! What's up with that? So that was today's project:

I got this little stamp set--Happy Moments (Stampin' Up!) a few weeks ago, and decided it would be perfect for these cards. I stamped the packages, and cut them out with my rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders) die, then airbrushed the background with my Copic markers and Air Brush System. LOVE this effect when you leave the image in the die and get the white border! This is probably the first time I have ever done a card with this few colors!

The white panel is punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, and the purple ribbon was from Michaels. They had a great sale on ribbon when I was there yesterday--and if I had known it was double-faced satin ribbon, I think I would have gotten 2 rolls of every color!

I added Stardust Stickles to the ribbon tie on the package, and a dot between each 'for you' on the punched border.

(OOPS! Got one of my markers upside down!!!!!)

I hope you enjoyed your Sunday as much as I enjoyed mine! Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Y'all! It's nearly Fall!

We're getting a little nip in the air these past few evenings in Ohio--and I am so looking forward to AUTUMN! I love all the seasons, but I have a special fondness for fall, with pumpkins, cool evenings to snuggle under a quilt, bonfires, football--and all the beautiful colors the trees start turning!

I'm not sure who gave me this little stamped Tilda, but she just was crying out for some leaves to jump into--I hope these are enough! She's colored with Copic markers (colors listed below), and I gave her an airbrushed background with some leaves and a basket (Stampin' Up!), and grass (Stamps by Judith).

Tilda is popped up from the background with some thin dimensional squares (Scrapbook Adhesives), and I added a little bit of a shadow under her feet just to ground her a bit.

I hope you're enjoying some cooler weather, too, after this hot, hot summer! Thanks for stopping by!

Knit 1, Purl 2

I have a very dear friend who lives in the Atlanta area, and we tend to 'enable' each other in our crafting hobbies. Cathy got me back into stamping--so I got her back into knitting! So when I saw this great little Karen Lockhart image (available at Ellen Hutson's store)--I just HAD to have it! I love love love her images, and they are great fun to color!

I'm not sure where I got the large eyelets, but they worked great to add some yarn to the card.

I found some great coordinating stamps in the new Stampin' Up! catalog in a set called "Hand Knit", which worked perfectly to finish off the inside of the card.

I don't have the list of Copic markers I used, but the papers are by GeorgiaPacific (white) and Prism (brown and kraft).

Sweet Birthday Wishes!

Friends, I apologize for neglecting my blog the past few months--life has been a whirlwind getting ready for my son's wedding! I'll be posting pictures of the invitations and programs, and all the other things I made for the wedding, in a few weeks.

For today, though--here is a sweet little card I made for my dear friend's birthday in July. Once "Tilda Holding Lilacs" was colored (Copic colors listed below), I masked her off and airbrushed a light sky background, and a pale green ground. (Still practicing with airbrushing, but I'm getting a little more comfortable with it!)

I used a grass stamp from Judith Stamps to complete the scene, and highlighted the lilacs and the area around Tilda with Stardust Stickles.

Hope you enjoy seeing this little card as much as I did making it!

Christmas All Year Long--June

I am so amazed how fast this summer is going by! Yes, I know it's just the very beginning of the summer 'season'--but golly, it seemed like I just did my May card! But that might be because as of yesterday (drum roll, please!), I finished all the invitations for my son's wedding! YAHOO! Now that doesn't mean that I am done with my duties as 'vice-president in charge of paper items' for the wedding--I have a list of things yet to do. But the invitations were the biggest, and I'm so happy how they turned out! I'll post them in a week or two, after they've gone out in the mail.

BUT--you didn't come here for that! You came for the Christmas All Year Long Blog Hop! Hopefully you've gotten here from Cheryl's blog, and you've seen some wonderful creations already! If not, and you'd like to start at the beginning, hop on over to the Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year Long Blog, and you can follow the list from there. Amazing creations await you!

My card started out one way, then Tilda changed her mind midway through. She does that to me a lot. And doggone it--she is so cute, I'm a pushover for letting her have her way! Candy Cane Tilda jumped up to the front of the line this time, and requested a holly card--so I've used a Cuttlebug holly embossing folder on red cardstock, and highlighted the design with white Colorbox ink. I added peppermint stripe and red dot ribbon, layered to make a band on the background.

Tilda was colored with Copics (see the colors at the bottom of this post), and I did some highlighting and dotting with a Sakura Stardust pen. I 'hope' the picture shows the sparkle this pen gave the card!

The green layer was a holly border punch by Fiskars. I've had it forever, I think, but never used it much. I'm glad I remembered it, because I love this look!

Many thanks to Deb, who runs our Magnolia-licious Yahoo group, and to Diana, the owner of Magnolia-licious Store. Between these two ladies, we have tons of inspirations at our fingertips, and a fabulous source for all our Magnolia stamps. Thank you ladies!!!!!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop--your next stop is Jessica's blog, and her cards are simply adorable!

I love reading your comments on my cards!

Christmas All Year Long--May

Excuse me--have you seen the month of May? Mine seems to have come and gone so fast, I didn't realize it! All of a sudden, it's time for the Christmas All Year Long Blog Hop--even though it seems we just did this for April! Guess it is true that time flies when you are having fun--and I've been really enjoying the spring weather despite all the rain.

If you're doing the blog hop, you should have arrived here from Cheryl's blog . But if you've landed here purely by lucky chance, perhaps you'd like to start at the very beginning, at the Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year Long blog.

I gave myself some extra challenges on this--to use my new Copic air brush system, and to use my Cricut. I air-brushed the background of my circle with Y000--afraid to use too much color too soon, since this is the very first time I've used it. I left it in the Nestabilities die that I cut it in, so I could have a white rim to the circle. After I got Tilda colored, I added random dots with Sakura Stardust gel pen, and I used the Sakura Glaze (clear) pen to add some shine to the labels on the package.

The snowflake behind the image is cut with the Cricut using the 'When It's Cold Outside' cartridge. I outlined the circle and the edges of the snowflake with Stardust Stickles. Corners were added with the punch from Stampin' Up!, and gold pearls. My cardstock was from Georgia-Pacific and Prism, and the Christmas print was from Basic Grey. The Copic markers I used are pictured below.

Many thanks go out to Deb, who owns the Magnolia-licious Yahoo group, and to Diana, the owner of the Magnolia-licious Store --they keep us inspired, connected, drooling over new stamps, and set up with a great place to order them from! Thanks ladies!

Your next stop on the Blog Hop is Glenda's blog -- and she always has such beautiful cards!

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment or a question--I'd love to hear from you!

Busy Busy Busy!

Wedding invitations. 'Nuff said?

My son gets married at the end of the summer, and when I said I'd make the invitations, he dubbed me the 'vice-president in charge of all paper products'. Then told me I was working for him. My reply? "Honey, you can't afford me!" LOL

But it's been fun working on this project. YES--it will be posted here eventually--but not until the invitations have gone out in the mail later this summer. All 150-175 of them!

I've been cutting and pasting and more cutting and more pasting. SO GLAD that I got an ATG tape gun a couple years ago--I'm going thru tape like crazy. Last night, I went thru nearly 4 rolls. And each roll is 36 yards long!

Then there are other projects to follow the invites--programs, place cards, menu cards, table numbers, rehearsal invites, shower invitations, and thank you notes. And I seriously couldn't do this if it weren't for my Cricut. I'm cutting more things on there than I ever would have dreamed, and it's saving me so much time.

This has been a labor of love, and I've enjoyed making everything--so hang in there with me and there will be pictures eventually. And a few cards that have been planning themselves out in the back of my mind, just waiting to be made!