Warmest Birthday Wishes

*This is my second post for today. To see the pennant banner tutorial, please scroll down.*



This has to be one of my favorite cards I have ever made. I love all things felt and those fuzzy mittens turned out really cute, didn't they?   I made sure to save the pattern I drew so I can make more of these cheery little mittens later on. The red felt is glittered - hence the little speckles in the photo.



I made the card for my stepmom's birthday a couple of years ago. When I saw the latest Moxie Fab World Challenge: Fabulous Felt, I knew I wanted to repost it.



Another one of my favorite cards with felt is this happy little tree.  (Anyone else remember watching Bob Ross?)



The tree was a ready-made creation by Basic Grey, but I still think it's adorable, especially all dressed up with these papers and ribbon.

Supplies - Warmest Birthday Wishes Card (felt mittens)
Paper: Stampin' Up! (Bashful Blue), Bazzil Basics (white).
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy).
Button: Papertrey Ink (Spring Rain).
Other: Stampin' Up! (linen thread), red and light blue felt, white embroidery floss, computer fonts (Honey Script, Times New Roman).

Supplies - Sending Birthday Wishes Card (felt tree)
Paper: Stampin' Up! (Bravo Burgundy, Chocolate Chip, Autumn Vine DSP, Naturals Ivory), Basic Grey (Indian Summer - Acorn.
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits).
Ink: Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip).
Ribbon: Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip), rick rack.
Felt Tree: Basic Grey (Indian Summer Woolies).

Cards with Gray

Whew, it's been a long time since I posted cards. In honor of Moxie Fab World's Gray is the New Black Challenge, here are a few oldies that never made it to the blog-o. All feature the color gray, of course. Enjoy your day!





Supplies: You Make Me Wild Card
Stamp: You Make Me Happy.
Paper: (Basic Grey, Basic Black, River Rock) Stampin' Up!, pattern paper by HOTP.
Ink: black StazOn.
Accessories: ribbon, Thickers by American Crafts.

Supplies: Celebrate in Style Card
Sentiment printed with computer.
Paper: (Basic Gray, Going Gray, Very Vanilla) Stampin' Up!, Amy Butler Lotus mat pad.
Accessories: gray ribbon, Kiwi ribbon, Amy Butler Lotus Faded China Purse, rhinestone brads.

Supplies: Fly Fishing Card
Based off a template from kaboose.com: http://crafts.kaboose.com/fish-card.html.
All supplies Stampin' Up!
Notes: The fishing line is a paper clip that I reshaped. If you look closely, you'll see that I stitched it onto the card at the top of the "water line" and at the top fold of the card. I made the water waves by wrapping strips of paper around a pencil.

Make Today A Play Day

I made this a while ago for my super cute kiddo. My boys are my favorite people to craft for. They love anything I make, regardless of how it looks, so there's no stress to impress - I just relax and enjoy creating for them.

I bought several items from this cute monster line by Daisy Bucket Designs to make cards for my boys. Monsters are right up their alley, and I know they'll gladly use any leftover scraps for their own projects.

As for the polka dots, since this critter is just as round as can be, polka dots seemed like the way to go.  This is also my entry for the latest Moxie Fab World Challenge: Finding Inspiration in a Layout.  The featured layout uses various size circles to frame the focal image.  See the connection?  (I hope I made it clear enough - LOL!)

Take care. Hope you do something fun today. :)

Supplies
Cardstock: (Basic Black, Orchid Opulence, Perfect Plum) Stampin' Up!.
Patterned Paper: (Wasabi Dot) Bo Bunny.
Stamp: (Play Day) Daisy Bucket Designs.
Ink: (black) Staz On.
Watercolor crayons: Stampin’ Up!.
Decorative Scissors: Provo Craft.
Punches: (1” and ¾” circles) EK Success.
Other: watercolor paper.

Letterpress Chairs

Dusting off the L Letterpress today. I've wanted to try embossing with it for a while. With traditional dry embossing, you can see the image on both the front and back sides of the paper. Using a letterpress plate with letterpress paper, however, means that the debossed image is only visible on the front. The back is still as smooth as ever and could easily be written on.

Aside: I'm sure I'm butchering the lingo on this. When I see what I would call embossing, I see people use the terms blind embossing, dry embossing, impressing, depressed image, etc. If any of you know the correct use of these terms, please share! I'd love to know.


Part of the charm of letterpress is its clean and simple style. When I hold letterpress paper in my hand, I immediately feel the difference. Even a blank sheet is elegant. There's no need to fuss it up with patterned papers and embellishments.


I made today's cards to play along with the latest Moxie Fab World challenge: Three Cheers for Chairs. As always, it's fun to stretch myself and try something new. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all from Lifestyle Crafts).
Printing Plate: chair from Damask -> Everyday collection.
Ink: yellow.
Paper: A2 flat white.
Tools: Letterpress starter kit, Big Shot.

You Are My Favorite Thing

These were my Mother's Day cards this year, but they'd be great all occasion cards, too. Hope all you mommies out there enjoy some extra hugs and pampering this weekend!

ETA: This is my entry in the Moxie Fab World Card Creations: Favorite Occasions Week All Occasion Card Challenge. Good gravy, that's a mouthful of a title. ;-)

Supplies
Paper: ("How Sweet It Is" Yummy Stripe Paper, "Cute" Engaging Gingham Paper, "Cute" Beautiful Blooms Paper, "Be Happy" Gleeful Paper, "Life Is Good" Serene Spots Paper) by My Mind's Eye -> from the Quite Contrary line -> Jack & Jill collection, (Buttercup Dot) Bo Bunny, (Kraft) Stampin' Up!.
Other: "Favorite Thing" Title by My Mind's Eye - > from the Quite Contrary line -> Jack & Jill collection, sewing machine, ivory thread.

Lucky Me

I love waking up to an inbox full of happy news. :) Hop on over to Moxie Fab World and check out the latest contest winners. Recognize the wedding dress? Teehee.

I'm flattered and excited - Moxie Fab has terrific prizes! Can't wait to see what crafty goodness lands in my mailbox.

Hope you have something to smile about this morning too!

Wedding Dress

I don't remember playing with paper dolls when I was a little girl, but maybe I should have - this was fun. I drew a dress shape onto white cardstock, cut it out, and covered it with lace. I added a sweet little snip of satin ribbon to accentuate my curvy bride's tiny waist (we all wish, right?) and adhered the dress to coordinating textured cardstock.


I fought - I mean, really fought - the urge to add a sentiment, a pearl embellishment, something. But everything looked too busy and took away from the dress. The more I look at the card, though, the more I'm glad I left it alone. My husband calls this the polka dot effect. I went through a craft phase where I loved embellishing with polka dots. I'd keep adding just one more polka dot until I had way too many and the card looked like a mess. Sometimes you just gotta know when to stop adding things and let it be, you know? :)


This card is for Moxie Fab World's latest challenge, Diggin' On Doilies and Lace. A girl I started babysitting when she was seven years old is getting married next weekend (whoa! time flies), so I've got "bride" on the brain. Hope you've got something happy to think about, too. :) Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper: I think the aqua paper is from The Paper Company. I bought it at JoAnn's but don't have the sticker. White is from Bazzill Basics.
Ribbon: American Crafts (Funhouse Blue).
Punch: Stampin' Up! (3/16" corner rounder).
Lace: Simplicity.

Proud Daughter

See that beauty? My dad made it. Yep, he's pretty awesome like that. :)


Even better, it's a puzzle! My stepmom (Meme to the boys) painted those beautiful animals.


The animals all come out of their cubby/layers and the ark can still be assembled, so the kids can enjoy playing with the animals separately too.

I think my dad did Noah proud, though I'm pretty sure my boys won't be trying out this ark in the bathtub.


In other crafty news, my stepmom has taken up cardmaking too! First she began machine embroidery (with a truly drool-worthy set-up) and is now branching out from working with fabric to working with paper.

I absolutely LOVE stitching on cardstock. Can you imagine how long it would take someone like me to replicate this by hand? It would never turn out as nicely, either. *sigh*


Meme's card fits the current Moxie Fab challenge: Fun with Floss, so my stepmom said I could enter her card for her. (Meaning that she get the credit, but since she doesn't have a blog, I'm posting for her. It gives me an excuse to brag a little too, and I kindof like that.)


Meme used a machine embroidery pattern that she purchased for the card. She told me which one, but of course I forgot. I'm trying to make sure I post her card before the challenge deadline, but I'll be back with an update on the pattern as soon as possible.

Give Thanks

I made this card a while ago (obviously) but hadn't yet posted it to my blog. Thanks to a nudge from Moxie Fab World's latest challenge: Fun with Floss, here you go. We can give thanks year-round, right? :)

I paper pierced the border and sentiment, then hand stitched them using embroidery floss. The orange leaf is solid chipboard decoupaged with orange patterned paper. I traced and cut the shape of the taller leaf out of More Mustard patterned paper, painted the chipboard brown, then layered the chipboard shape over the patterned paper.

Supplies
Paper: Bazzill Basics, Stampin' Up! (More Mustard Prints), Scrapworks (green leaf print and orange dot print).
Accessories: Stampin' Up! (chipboard leaves, button, 3/4" circle punch).
Other: embroidery floss, paint.

Moxie Fab Winner

Guess what! This card was one of the challenge winners over at Moxie Fab World. I'm flattered. The other winners obviously took a long time creating each of their cards - I'm not quite sure how my card with rub-ons snuck in, but I'm sure happy about it. Plus Moxie Fab contests have prizes - tee hee! Can't wait to see what lands in my mailbox.

That's my happy news for the day. :) Hope you've got something good goin' on too!

Top o' the List

Hey, guess what! Go HERE and see whose card is featured smack dab at the top of the list. Not that they were posted in any particular order, but still. :) This was my first time playing along with a Cards challenge. I'm flattered.



Supplies
Paper: Stampin' Up! (kraft), Bazzill Basics (white).
Ribbon: Stampin' Up! (red gingham, linen thread).
Other: buttons, red thread.

Old Country Snowflakes

I love the clean, simple, cheery look of this card. The snowflakes have the slightest touch of glitter on them, as if the colors and sweet patterns weren't enough to catch my eye.

This card is also my entry for the latest Moxie Fab World challenge. Cath has the best inpiration photos, so even if you're not a die hard paper crafter, stop on by!

Supplies
Paper: Bazzil Basics.
Rub-ons: KI Memories (Good Tidings).
Ribbon: Stampin' Up! (Old Olive).
Punch: Stampin' Up! (3/16 corner rounder).