A Pawfect Birthday!

My Favorite Things' New Best Friend stamp set is so cute.  My friend. Nikki, celebrated her birthday a little earlier this month.  Nikki has two pretty Maltese dogs and although the dogs on the card are not Maltese babies, they are adorable and I knew she would enjoy the card.  The white cardstock was layered on a piece of MFT's Razzle Berry cardstock.  The background paper is MFT's Tiny Checks Brights.  I even had twine to match the pinks on this card.  Have a great day!

Bless You Jars

Yesterday was Cricut Sunday and we had a great get-together.  Nikki taught us how to make the "Bless You" jars pictured here.  Nikki painted the jars, gathered all the supplies we needed and cut the vinyl for all of our jars.  All we had to do was weed the words and adhere them to the jar.  Nikki had a variety of embellishments available for us.  She even had extras if we wanted another!  I did take an extra as I plan on making one of these jars with Sydney the next time she is here.  It was a very fun and productive afternoon.  And to make it even better, Jenny appeared for the afternoon, too!  Thank you, Nikki, for such a fun class.  Have a great day everyone!

Celebrate

I created today's card after seeing the design on the Internet.  The embossing folder, Stampin' Up's Lovely Floral folder, is very pretty.  Add the little pearls to an embossed piece of cardstock and it becomes very elegant.  The little tag was created using the retired Hostess Set, Express Yourself.  I used dimensionals to adhere the little tag and then added a white twine bow under the corner.  The splash of color is a new cardstock color for SU, Highland Heather.  It is a pretty purple.  This could be a birthday or anniversary card.   And depending on what sentiment you put on the tag, this card could be used for a variety of occasions.  How easy and pretty, too!  Have a great day and weekend!

Bluebirds Are Back

Today I am sharing photos of the bluebird that sits on one of our Shepard's hooks in the backyard.  He is just so pretty!  A bluebird sits on the Shepard's hook almost all day.  The nesting box is across the yard and it does have a nest in it.  (The photo is not that clear, but he is looking in the nesting box and I took the picture from in the kitchen.)  It is as if he just sits there to keep an eye on the nesting box.  Whatever the reason, nature sure shares some beautiful creatures and I am more than happy to admire and watch them!  Hopefully, in not too long, there will be little baby bluebirds hanging around!  Have a great day!

Pretty Mum

Not certain the flower on this card is a mum, but that is what it looks like to me.  I wondered if it was a zinnia or a dahlia, but I decided to call it a mum!  This is another flower from RG Studio 360's Bold Bloom digital set.  The sentiment, Many Blessings, is from RG's                  stamp set Special Day.  RG "splatters" his cards.  I just have not had much luck splattering.  The splatters turn out to big or too many.    I decided to try to lightly splatter this card and it  turned out pretty good.  A little silver twine and a few sequins complete the card.  Have a great day!

Parrots

Rather than a birthday cake, Sydney requested cookies.  Jen took her to Cookies By Design in Schaumburg.  Syd saw the parrot cookies and that is all she needed.  When they brought the cookies home, Dexter was very curious.  The cookies were tasty and adorable!

In keeping with parrots, today's card is one I made a few weeks ago.  The little guys are from Clearly Besotted's Some Birdie Loves You stamp set.  The parrots were colored with alcohol markers, adhered to white cardstock and layered on Real Red cardstock.  The striped paper is retired and I used one of those stripes on which to stamp the sentiment.  Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Sydney

Yesterday was Sydney's 14th birthday.   When she was here a few weeks ago, she had so much fun making Jen's gift box and cards, I decided her birthday card would include the cute images she had used.

Those images were from Clearly Besotted's Fluffy Flamingos and Some Birdie Loves You stamp sets.  The box card die is from Lawn Fawn.  I also added images from Sunny Studio Stamps and My Favorite Things.  The little 1 inch square acetate boxes from Clearbags.com fit three Dove Promise chocolates.  The boxes were tied with ribbon and tropical bird tags.   It was the perfect day to spend in Mark & Jen's sun room decorated with tropical birds and real ones, too!  Have a great day!

Feel Better

Today's card is one I made for Jenny.  The stamp set is Bed Rest          from My Favorite Things.  The pattern paper is also from MFT Stamps and looks good with SU's Pool Party cardstock.  After coloring and piecing the matching blanket on the image, I cut it out with the Scan N Cut.  I adhered the image to a circle which was cut with MFT's Wonky Stitched Circle Stax Dies.  The long-retired Stampin' Up Scallop Border punch, one of those items on which my money was well-spent, created the edge.  Pool Party twine and adhesive dots complete the card.  Have a great weekend!

Anniversary Blooms

A while back, RG Studio 360 released a new digital stamp set, Bold Blooms.  The set has flowers and sentiments.  The set is only available as an online class.  By purchasing the virtual class, I had access to the video the day it first aired and whenever I want to view it.  After downloading the set, I pulled it into Word and made the set three different sizes.  Now that it is saved on my computer, I will have access to the set whenever I want to use it. 

Today I used two of the roses which I colored with alcohol markers. (The picture on the right is the flower section of the stamp set.)  The sentiment is from RG's Boho Classic stamp set while the background paper is from Wild Rose Studio.  I have made some pretty cards with the flowers in this set.  Have a great day!

About The Dies

I know that lately I cut out most things with the Scan N Cut.  But sometimes, just using dies can make really cute cards.  And here is one of those cards.  The white layer and the picture frame were both created using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle Frames.  I used Stampin' Up's foam strips to adhere the frame to the white layer.  (The frame was created using two stitched dies nested together and cut at the same time.) Even the candles and flames are dies.  They were cut from MFT Stamps' Birthday Candles.  The flames were brushed with a Zig clear glitter pen.  While typing this, I cannot recall which set I used for the sentiment.  I do know I cut it out with MFT's Word Frame dies  Have a great day!

Ice Cream Day

Yesterday was National Ice Cream Day and I had the perfect card.  It really is a quick and simple card.  I used Avery Elle's Sweetest stamp set for both the images and the sentiment.  After stamping and embossing the images, I used alcohol markers to color them.  My Scan N Cut quickly cut them out for me. This card would have been cute even if there was only one ice cream treat on it!  Have a great day!

Smile

I am finishing up the week with another tropical card.  But today's card has neither flowers nor pineapples!  Instead, it is a cute card with a cute dolphin and little crab.  The little ocean creatures are

 images from Sunny Studio Stamps' Oceans of Joy.  The word "SMILE" is a die which I received as a gift from MFT Stamps.  I used coordinating papers for the background and the word.  I used a border punch to add a little interest, punched out of the same paper as the word was cut.

On another note, Sheryl's birthday is Saturday, not today!  Have a great weekend and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Birthday Pineapple

In keeping with the tropical theme, today's card was made for my friend, Sheryl, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow.  She made me a delicious cake with pineapple frosting for my birthday.  A pineapple card would be the perfect thank you/happy birthday card for her.  The images and sentiment are from RG Studio 360's So Sweet.  Happy Birthday, Sheryl!  Hope everyone has a great day!

Hibiscus Thinking of You

This is turning into a week of tropical cards!  Today's card was created using RG Studio 360's new digital stamp set, So Fab.  After printing and coloring the images, I put that page into the Scan N Cut and I used two of those images for this card.  After putting the card together, I added the twine and SU rhinestones that I colored using one of the same alcohol markers.  RG is coming up with some nice stamp sets.  And then so is My Favorite Things!  Have a great day!

Flamingo Shaker

One of the get well cards I made for Jenny was this tropical shaker card.  The flamingos, flowers and leaves are from Sunny Studio Stamps' Tropical Paradise set.  Making shaker cards using the adhesive foam strips from Stampin' Up makes it much easier to create the shaker.  Just remember to brush the inside rim of the adhesive strip with embossing powder.  This will stop the sequins from sticking to the circle rather than shaking around.  The sentiment is from Pretty Pink Posh. The green stitched circle was created using My Favorite Things' Wonky Stitched Circle STAX dies.   Fun card to make!  Have a great day!

Gift For Jenny

Jenny had surgery last week and Syd stayed with us for a few days.  While she was here, she worked on a "DIY" gift for her Mom.  I had a really nice box that I purchased from Close To My Heart years ago.  When the boxes were discontinued, I purchased a few extra.  Syd decorated one of the boxes using flamingo paper I had (Close To My Heart, too) and cardstock.  She did all the measuring, cutting and decorating for the box.  (Jen likes flamingos so the paper was perfect.)

Inside the box, are ready to assemble thank you cards.  I stamped and embossed parrots from Clearly Besotted's Some Birdie Loves You and flamingos from  Clearly Besotted's Fluffy Flamingos.         . Syd colored them all using alcohol markers.  She stamped and cut thank you circles and added embellishments to each card pack.
To complete the make your own thank you notes gift, she added twine, glue pen and really cute Scratch 'n Sniff ice cream treat postage stamps.  When Jen is up to it, she has all the pieces to create hand-made thank you card.  And when the box is empty, I am not sure who is going to get it!!!!  Have a great day!

So Sweet

Today's card was created using another RG Studio 360 digital stamp set, So Sweet.  After cutting out the images, I colored them with alcohol markers.  This was another of those fun cards to create.  I did "practice" coloring the pineapple a few times before the one on this card!  Have a great weekend and enjoy today's weather!

One More!

Today's card was created by my friend, Sheryl.  I had to post two pics of the card so you could get the full effect.  Love the colors.  Love the style.  And the giver is pretty special, too! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, America!

I made this cute 4th of July puppy card a couple of weeks ago.  I used Avery Elle's Furry Friends for the puppy.  The little hat and pinwheel are from Sunny Studio Stamps' Stars and Stripes stamp set.  Cute card and my post for the Fourth was ready way in advance.

Then RG Studio 360 released this week's free digital download, Freedom.  Needless to say, I had to create with the set~~especially since it was a hot air balloon.  A few years back, John and I would crew for our friend who owns a hot air balloon.  As a matter of fact, it was annually on the Fourth of July at the Eyes On The Skies Festival in Lisle, Illinois.  We had a lot of fun on those weekends.

Hope you all have a great and safe 4th of July!

Continuing with the birthday cards I received, these cards were created by my friends, Kathy Z. and Cherie.  If I had to guess, I would say that Kathy's card was created using Stampin' Up products and Cherie's is for sure My Favorite Things Stamps.  Love them both~~cards and friends.  Have a great day!

Birthday Cards For Me!

Last week I celebrated my birthday and this week I am posting the beautiful cards I received from my talented friends.  Today's cards were created by Nancy and Kathy W.  It is so nice to be card-worthy!  Even nicer is being card-worthy of such pretty cards!  Have a great day!