May must be birthday month

I have to say, May is the busiest month for birthdays. I should probably understand it since I have two kids born in late May and early June, but I still don't. I have been inundated with birthday parties, which means tons of cards to make (and tons of presents to buy). I don't mind the card part so much ;)

So I am not sure who I was making this card for, but the other day my eldest daughter informed me that she wants it for her birthday. So that worked out pretty easily :) I used Create a Critter (because I really don't have any other shape cartridges and because it is so darned cute!) and another color challenge from Splitcoaststampers.com
The colors used are soft suede, certainly celery, and tempting turquoise. The cupcake has pretty in pink, rose red, and lovely lilac layers.

Thanks for looking!

Time flies!

The little baby that came into our lives so unexpectedly and turned everything upside-down, is turning one in a few weeks. It's amazing how quickly time moves by sometimes!

So this was a quick little card I made for her. As my older kids pointed out, she will probably eat the card, rather than admire it. :)

I used celery, pretty in pink, apricot, and whisper white for this one. I just love this little lamb from the Create a Critter cartridge (and yes, my older daughter now needs a lamb for her collection) and I LOVE David Walker's font from Zooballoo which was used to make the word.

Thanks for looking! :)

Bumblebees make the sweetest pets.

So I almost got away with making just a card with the cricut today. As I was finishing the last touches though, my daughter walked in and saw the bumblebee on the card. 'Bumblebees make the sweetest pets, Mama!' So of course, I had to make her one to add to her 'collection'. Perhaps today I will try to get my cricut work done before she gets home from school ;)

Another color challenge from Splitcoaststampers.com. I just love those challenges, they give me the most awesome color combinations, and you can print all of the past challenges out for future reference. I almost always go to my cheat sheet when in a creative slump, and it picks me right up again. The colors were riding hood red (so glad it is coming back in the next SU catty), kraft (which will be called something different in the new catty, but is NOT going away), and summer sun (which will be gone come July 1st).

The Bumblebee is of course from my new Create a Critter cartridge, the only one that seems to get used lately. I really wanted to use one of the cute sayings from Stampin' Up!'s 'just buzzin by' stamp set, but I rarely use it and have it put away to sell so couldn't find it. There are so many talented designers coming up with cute pun stamps especially designed for this cartridge that I am not worried that eventually I will find the perfect saying. For now it is just generic ;)

Thanks for looking!

I've created little monsters...

My friend, Vicky, told me that my kids would benefit from my getting a Cricut machine, but I thought she was just trying to sell me on it. :)

Truth is, as soon as my 8 year old son saw it on HSN with me he immediately thought we needed to buy one. Even offered to use his allowance to get me one for a present. (I know, he is a very sweet boy)

The day the we took it out of the box, was the day my kids wanted stuff made. The day that the Create a Critter cartridge came in the mail, was the day I lost all control.

Every day each kid needs a new 'critter'. I haven't made them all yet, but I'm pretty sure that before my daughter is finished, I will have. She plays with them everyday, and puts on shows (that I'm not allowed to watch, sadly). I hear her in the other room, and I've secretly video taped her singing their 'theme song' (because the critters are super heroes and ALL super heroes have a theme song).

So I guess Vicky was right. My kids are having a lot of fun with it. Someday I will be able to make things with it too... ;)

Happy Birthday!

A wonderful lady that goes to my church is celebrating her 90th birthday at the end of the month, so her family organized a 'card shower' for the occasion. I've never really heard of a card shower, but the idea is that she gets 'showered' with cards from as many people as possible. I thought that was a really neat idea, so of course I'm going to send her a card too. I think it was supposed to be a surprise for her, but our pastor announced the card shower plan while she was at church. (oops!) I'm sure she will still love getting all that mail :)

So this card was a trial and error card. I used the 'Stretch Your Imagination' cartridge (had to get this one because I LOVE David Walker!) and used the card function to make the body of the card. I also made the frame that corresponded to the cake card (another really nice function of this cartridge) I wanted the cake to look layered, but the only layers for the cake line up with the actual cake image (so if you cut your card at 5 1/4 like I did and then try to cut out layers at 5 1/4 they will be way too big). So by trial and error (and lots of scratch paper) I did find out that 2 1/4 size will work perfectly to make layers for the inside cake image on the card when it is cut at the 5 1/4 size (which was how big you can make the card when you use the size to fit paper option with a piece of 8 1/2 X 11 paper).

So now that you are super confused because of all the numbers I just wrote... I used Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, and Pretty in Pink paper all from Stampin' Up. It was one of Splitcoaststampers color challenges a while back, and I just really liked them together. Kiwi Kiss isn't available anymore, but I think that Always Artichoke would work nicely with the other two colors as well. Baja Breeze is discontinued, but will be back as a new permanent color as of July 1st (so you'll be able to order it in a few months).

By the way, I'll just put this out there right now. I hate change. I'm sad to see so many of my favorite colors leaving the SU lineup. I am being a pouty, whiny, child about it.

Then, all I needed to so was stamp a greeting on the front. Glue down all those little layers, and the card was done! Pretty simple once I figured out all the measurements. Hope you like it (and more importantly I hope Betty likes it)!

Thanks for looking!

Teacher Gifts

We had a really interesting discussion at my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group last week. One of the Moms was telling us about teacher gifts. Imagine my surprise and shock when she said that teachers don't want to receive an apple shaped mug with '#1 teacher' emblazoned on it!

So, apparently I've been doing this teacher gift thing wrong this entire time! The main point was to give something consumable (it took about half an hour to explain what that word meant to my son, so I'm not going to define it here). So, since I have all this paper and all these envelopes lying around, I thought I'd make packets of cards. The teachers must have a need for thank you cards (to thank all the parents who give them #1 teacher mugs) so I decided that would be my gift this year.

Habits are very hard to break, so I did go with the apple theme. But I managed to branch out onto other kinds of fruit. Maybe next year I'll be able to move onto dairy or grains!

My daughter is a little aghast that we didn't buy her teacher something (I have raised material children) but I am hopeful that her teacher will be so happy not to get something I baked (because nobody wants that) that she will be thrilled with her cards. Maybe when she writes me my thank you note, I'll get my card back :)

All cardstock and patterned papers used are from Stampin' Up! and the fruits were made with the cricut machine using their Preserves cartridge.

Thanks for looking!

Ever had one of those years?

2008 sounds so long ago. Mostly because it was. Long ago, I mean. One day you are merrily making cards, planning workshops, and the next you are having a new baby, losing all track of time, and effectively sealing off your scrapbook room forever!

Now as I am preparing for my last baby to turn one, I am slowly dusting off my desk, and throwing myself back into what makes me happy. (Well, you know besides that whole parenting thing) ;)

So, if you have found your way here again by some miracle, or if you are here for the first time: Hi. Things have changed a lot in my own life, and on this blog. Welcome to the blog where I show whatever I want to without any rules. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy posting it. That is the whole reason we do what we do after all. :)