Happy birthday, Joe!

Where does the time go? My nephew turned 20 this past week! He's a great guy, and always compliments me on my cards--but, of course, that makes doing the next card a little harder because I have to 'top' what I did the year before! LOL Or at least I think I do!

I had picked up this great Tim Holtz embossing folder of a crumbling brick wall--so I embossed a sheet of textured grey DCWV cardstock with it, and highlighted the bricks with Memento ink pads in 'Potter's Clay' and 'Rich Cocoa', to make it look more realistic. Then the Copic airbrush system to do a little 'graffiti'.

I didn't photo the inside--but the sentiment was computer generated: "The handwriting's on the wall--you're a year older!"

A fun card to do--and I know he'll love it!

Did you CELEBRATE today?

Did you? Did you get out your cardmaking supplies and celebrate World Card-Making Day? All around the world, cardmakers and crafters gathered together, or worked on their own, and made a card today that will brighten someone's day when they receive it!

Some of my favorite cards are not ones that look like they should be showcased in a magazine, or like they took years of artistic practice to make. No--my very favorites are ones that friends have made for ME. They took the time to cut, color, glue, whatever--and MADE me a card because they know that I will cherish it, and that I will truly value in the effort they put into it.

Is there someone waiting for you to make a card for them?

I'm definitely on a Christmas card roll, and I'm loving this paper pack from CTMH! From what I've heard, it's not available any longer, but the colors are just right for the Christmas mood I'm in this year.

This little snowman is one from a Penny Black clear stamp set--"Jolly Friends". Isn't he cute? I hadn't done a shaker card in a while, and I had to remember all the things I had used! But my Nestabilities (Spellbinders) came in very handy for cutting my frame and my label.

Both the label and the inside sentiment are computer generated (font--Androgyne), then air-brushed with E41 for just a bit of edging and definition. I once read that you should always "define the edges" of layers, and I think that really holds true.

The Copic colors I used are shown below, along with the Sakura Stardust gel pen for some hand-doodled snowflakes behind the snowman. My brads were from a pack in the Christmas section at Hobby Lobby (LOVE that store!).

So I hope I've inspired you to get some paper out and make a card tonight--it's not too late for the 'official' World Card-Making Day! But any day you can make a card to brighten someone's life is a day to celebrate!

Christmas Bells

Whether they are pealing out glad tidings, or jingling on the harness of a horse pulling a sleigh--the sound of bells makes us think of family, home, and being surrounded by love. That's the feeling I got when I saw this beautiful Hero Arts stamp, "Wreath with Bells". And what fun to color! It looks like it should take forever, but it really doesn't!

I decided on a gate-fold card for this, and a very simple setting since the image itself is busy. The paper is from a pack I purchased from CTMH, and the gold lines are sticker lines (Anita's Art Stamps). I cut the image out with my largest circle nestabilities die (Spellbinders), and left it in the die long enough to airbrush around the outside with E42. The I edged the circle a Krylon gold leafing pen.

I'm not sure where I got the sentiment for the inside. I have a 20-year collection of stamps, most of which are now unmounted from their original wooden handles.

The Copic colors I used are shown below.

I hope you enjoy this little card!

Too Cute to Spook!

My sister's favorite holiday is Halloween--and she always goes all out with her decorating, clothing--everything--despite the fact that with living out in the country, she rarely gets any trick-or-treaters. But she's always ready for them! Where I live, also out in a rural area, I call to make sure my friends' children are coming and that I'm ready for them--our highest number ever was NINE little trick-or-treaters! But I don't go as all-out in decorating for Halloween. For 'fall'--yes--my house is filled with pumpkins and quilts and candles, but it will stay that way until just after Thanksgiving.

I do love seeing the kids dress up, and I love it when people have their pets in costume with them--I've been guilty of that occasionally, myself! So when I saw this adorable stamp set from Inkadinkadoo, called "Cat and Friends", I snapped it up. After all--my dog Piper looks just like the pup in this stamp!

The background cardstock is a mix of Bazill and DCWV, and the designer paper is "Boo Crew Masquerade" by BoBunny. The tag is from a Stampin' Up! stampset called "Tiny Tags", and punched with the coordinating punch they sell. And last, the image and the scalloped edge matte are cut with Nestabilities dies. Copic markers were used to color this (color numbers pictured below).

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know you were here!

Christmas All Year-Long--September

Welcome to the September edition of the Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year-Long Blog Hop! I am leading off the Hop this month--so you're in the right spot to take a wonderful tour of some fantastic cards! Many thanks to Julie for setting the Hop up, to Deb for running the amazing Magnolia-licious Yahoo group, and to Diana of the Magnolia-licious Store, for bringing us all these wonderful Maggies to stamp with!

When I was little, waiting for Santa was just about the hardest thing I had to do. And when my boys were little--getting them to go to sleep on Christmas Eve was a real test of parenting skills! But no matter how old I've gotten, the impending thrill of Christmas Day, and the presents from Santa--yes, I DO still get presents from Santa!--are a part of the holidays that I would never ever want to lose. Doesn't everyone turn into a 5-year-old at Christmas-time, even if only for a little while?

My card for the Magnolia-licious Christmas Year-Round blog hop brings back those memories, with Santa watching over little Tilda as she unwraps her presents.

The Santa and the wording is from a set I got last year from Flourishes, and Tilda is, of course, from Magnolia. I love using an easel card for this setting! It was a little hard to photograph, though--the printed paper is actually a little more burgundy than brown, but it just didn't want to show up that way.

The Merry Christmas panel was cut with a Nestabilities die, and all the pieces were edged with a Krylon Gold Leafing pen.

Thanks for stopping by! Please feel free to leave a comment below!

Your next stop is the beautiful card on Glenda's blog.

Supplies:

Stamps: Unwrapped Tilda (#3002, Magnolia); Santa--I Believe (#72, Flourishes) Paper: Ivory (Beckett Expression Candelight); Garland (Tis the Season Collection, Studio 8 Paper Co.); White (Beckett Expression Iceberg); scraps for greens Ink: Black (Memento); Latte (Adirondack); Gold (Krylon Gold Leaf Pen) Other: Gold Robins's Nest pearls; misc. punches; red metal jewel dots; chalk for cheeks and holly on Santa Copic Markers: as shown below:

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!