Winter Birthday Wishes

For my niece's 17th birthday I made her a snowflake easel card. The card was a Silhouette cut file. I embossed the snowflakes. I used another cut file to make a snowflake frame for my image and my sentiment. Then I added some heat set Jolee's Jewels and imaginisce glam rocks to the frames. I used the digi stamp Flurry from Lacy Sunshine Stamps. She was colored to look like my niece and using Prismacolor pencils. I used an iridescent embossing powder on her wings and a white gel pen on the snowflakes/snow. Then I used copics to outline the image and create the background.

I would like to share at:
Lacy Sunshine Challenge North Pole, closes Dec. 6,
Love to Create get in shape, closes Dec. 8,
Inky Chicks easel cards, closes Dec. 9,
Just Inspirational Challenges snowflakes, closes Dec. 9,
Crafty Creations Challenge embossing, closes Dec. 10,
Crafting For All Seasons Tis the Season, closes Dec. 10,
Little red wagon things with wings, closes Dec. 10,
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge favorite color (blue), closes Dec. 10,
Creative Card Crew Happy Birthday with sentiment, closes Dec. 16,
Creative Moments anything goes/Winter, closes Dec. 17,

A Late 7th Birthday Post

We had Kaylee's 7th birthday party here in September but I'm just getting around to blogging it now. Now that our first snow has fallen, things should start to slow down here a bit as we all tend to hibernate inside more than out, at least until we get used to the colder temps.
She had a royal themed birthday party. Her invitations were a Silhouette cut file. I added two brads and some twine to the front to close the castle doors.

For party decorations, I saw balloon towers on Pinterest and thought I could make them. The most complicated and time consuming part of the whole party was cutting out the Bristol Board "peaks" for the towers. I should add here that my mother-in-law and the husband were tasked with making the peaks, thank goodness, or nothing else would have gotten done. It took a long time to get the diameter just right so that they would rest balanced on top of the towers. We covered them with wrapping paper to give them a more royal look and hung them from the ceiling with ribbon and 3M hooks. The chains were made by my little girls. So great that they can craft along with me now too! The crushed red velvet "carpet" was just a piece of cloth. These were supposed to be outside of the door, but it was windy and rainy off and on throughout the day so it was just safest to move them indoors.

We made a photo station using a removable, repositionable castle decal I found on clearance at Target. The bench is our shoe bench with a sheet draped over it. The hoop canopy is for over the bed but we cut up the back seam so that it could be separated and hung like drapery, again using removable 3m hooks to hang it and for the tiebacks. The balloon flowers were another Pinterest idea and hung on ribbons from the ceiling.

The 2 royal Princesses :) I took a picture of each child with Kaylee in the photo area and then used that photo to make them a thank-you card after the party.

Cupcakes iced with pinky-purple icing and trimmed with white icing made up the birthday cake. I was still adding the trim after the guests had arrived, so it wasn't as detailed as I would have liked if I'd had time to play and get really fancy. But the icing softens when I'm piping it on and I have to put the piping bag back in the fridge to firm it back up. Takes way longer than I allow...every time. I'll get it figured out one of these years, lol.



I had collected fancy dishes, jars, and bowls over the course of the year and bought a Disney Princess flat sheet from the second hand store to use as a tablecloth. Then I made a candy table with candies bought from the Bulk Barn and all my fancy dishes/vases and some small plastic tongs from the dollar store. I also bought character toothbrushes and toothpastes to send home with everyone to assuage my guilt over all the candy.

For the treat boxes, I purchased plan, white, take-out style boxes from the dollar store and used Silhouette cut files to decorate them with Princes and Princesses, customized to match the hair color of each of the boys and girls attending. I wrote their names on the back of each box too. Then when it was time to go, they stopped at the candy table, filled their own treat box and picked out a toothbrush and toothpaste.



Now you're caught up. Our next birthday party is in December and the planning is well under way.

The trend here seems to be parties that are somewhere else. And while I know it's great to have someone else do the planning and clean up and the kids have an activity to blow off some steam, I really like doing these things for my girls. It's part of my present to them. And we can do more and more of it together now that they are getting older and that's pretty special too :)

Bendy Card

Hello all, it has been awhile! And I'll have a Royal Birthday post for you soon! But first a card :)
I have seen some beautiful bendy cards out there and knew I wanted to try one. But I wanted to create just the right scene. Well when we got invited to a 7 year-old girl's birthday party that rides horses, I knew just what bendy card scene to create.
I used the digi stamp Gretchen with Jolly from Your Next Stamp. The rope frame is a Silhouette file, so is the bendy card. I cut out the bendy card pieces from kraft cardstock first and then cut the same size pieces of my dp's and glued them onto the kraft paper. The ducks and Happy Birthday ribbon are Silhouette cut files and I personalized the ribbon with her name. The cat is a freebie at From the Heart Stamps. All images colored with Prismacolor pencils and flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

She loved her card and said she was keeping it forever and asked her Mom a million and one questions about how I made it. I love little girls!
I'd like to share my card at:
Crafting By Design childhood memories, closes Sept. 23, ***Prize Winner!!!***
Shopping Our Stash who's who, closes Sept. 23,
Little Red Wagon shaped cards, closes Sept. 24,
My Sheri Crafts birthday, closes Sept. 27, ***Ooh-La-La Winner!!!***
Animal Friends Challenge animals, closes Sept. 30,
Decorate To Celebrate anything goes including 3D cards, closes Sept. 30, ***Top Honors!!!***
Your Next Stamp photo inspiration, closes Oct. 2

A Magical Birthday

Made a Star Fold Card for a boy's 7th birthday. I love this fold for boys. I used purple cardstock for the star and glitter paper for all of my accent papers. There was glitter everywhere, but at my age a little sparkle doesn't hurt ;o) I used the image Wizard by Tiddly Inks and colored him using my Prismacolor pencils. The little boy this is for has straight black hair and glasses so this is the perfect image for him! I made his jacket and scarf green because green is his favorite color. The star wand, crystal ball and frame are Silhouette cut files. I used a star punch for the stars inside the card and a glitter marker for my faux stitching around the sentiment. My Kaylee wrote the inside sentiment. I hope he likes his magical card!

I would like to share at:
Tiddly Inks Challenge boys, closes Aug. 16,
Crafty Cardmakers fancy folds, closes Aug. 18, ***Top 5!!!***
Little Red Wagon birthdays, closes Aug. 20,
Mod Squad Challenge masculine birthday, closes Aug. 20

Guest Sunshine Girl

I was chosen as a Lacy Sunshine Guest Sunshine Girl for Challenge #36 and it is an anything goes challenge, easy peasy. The Design Team, and myself, are using Eleanor and Pickles images but you are of course free to use anything you like. Heather has such an incredible imagination and mix of images in the Lacy Sunshine shop you are guaranteed to find something you'll love!
My little girls were invited to a Splash Birthday Party. So the perfect gift for a splash party...Sponge Bombs. Here's the instructions from the last time I made them. This time we had a family assembly line and I have to say it is so much nicer now that the girls are getting older and we can craft together. It's more fun than doing everything by myself and I love the help.

For the tag I used Eleanor Tubing Fun and colored her to look like the birthday girl. Since she doesn't wear glasses, I put her in a pair of cool shades instead. She is colored using my Prismacolor pencils and highlighted with a white gel pen and some purple Stickles. Purple is the birthday girl's favorite  color. Sadly I came down with a cold that morning and Daddy had to take the girls to the party. I got the sweetest message from the birthday girl's Mom that it was hands down the best present of the day and my husband told me she also cut the tag off right away so it didn't get wrecked. My little girls wrote on the back. It was a cooler day, we've had a rainy Spring, but they also had a hot tub that all the kids climbed into to warm up before heading inside. Lots of kids and lots of fun.

The finished product. Wrapped a roll of cellophane over the works and then curled some ribbons to finish it off.

Now it's your turn, challenge closes July 6th, join in the fun!



Birthday x 3

I know it's been a long time since I posted but we finally have some nice weather. It's amazing how busy you get outside once we can shed our Canadian Winter layers. The farmers are trying to get the seeding done in the fields after a wet Spring. We are just finishing up putting the garden in. And let the mowing and yard work begin. Not to mention the Spring cleaning going on inside the house. But it is nice to enjoy the warm sunshine.
My niece has triplets for siblings. I know I've already posted a card I made for their Mom and this is what I made for Brynn's birthday, one of the triplets. There are 2 boys and a girl, and the boys are identical. (I did make something for the boys too, but that will be a separate post).
For Brynn I made a pop up box. I followed the instructions in this YouTube video. I do not have a Scor-Pal so I replaced my cutting blade with a scoring blade in my paper cutter and used the same measurements. My bubbles and shell dp's were from my stash. The diecut dolphin, shells, waves and bubbles were Silhouette cut files. I wish I had taken a picture of my dies before I put them on the box because they can be hard to see in the picture. I used Stickles to embellish the shells and the waves. I attached the bubbles to strips of polka dotted acetate. The clear that I had was just too flimsy, the only plastic I had strong enough to hold the cardstock bubbles and still give a nice bit of movement when you open the box was the dotted, heavier stuff. Works in a pinch but I'll be on the lookout for some heavier clear stuff.
My mermaid is an image called Oceana and Nigel from Lacy Sunshine digis. I colored her using my Prismacolor pencils and highlighted with a white gel pen. I used some Liquid Pearls for her hair too. I love the way it turned out, especially when closed and there is no hint of all the lovely treasures hidden inside. But it took me a long, long time to make. I am very slow when I am making something the first time and all the embellishments take a long time too. It will be a while before I tackle another one. But my memory is short, lol, so it may not be too long after all.

Closed, all goodies tucked inside.

 The finished product, open.       

  Close up of  Oceana and Nigel.

   A pic of my layers and embellies.

I'd like to share at:

Flat Friends Challenge dies and/or punches, closes June 1,

The Squirrel and the Fox for the girls, closes June 1,

Whimsy Stamps two or more diecuts, closes June 4,

Open-Minded Crafting Fun fairy tale or fantasy, closes June 7,

Lacy Sunshine Challenge Blog dies and/or punches, closes June 8 **Winner Guest Sunshine Girl!**

Hillbilly Music

We went to a true country birthday party. One of the girls on my ball team turned 50 and held her party at her farm, in the shop. It rained all day so the country roads were very muddy. At least the shop was heated. Figured this might explain the images I've used.
My images were from Digi Doodle Shop which is sadly no longer open. I colored them using my Prismacolor pencils. Some faux stitching around both the outside and inside of the card for the frames. And I used Kraft cardstock as my card base. The big flower is a Silhouette cut file I used dp's for and distressed. The little flowers were from my stash. Brads make up the flower centers. The sentiments and musical notes were all created by me in my Silhouette program and run through the printer. The hat on the jug player is colored to look like a Saskatchewan Roughriders ball cap, our Canadian Football League team and Sharon is a big fan, as are almost all the people that live in Saskatchewan. It was a lot of coloring, but I'm really pleased with my "custom" project.

Front:

Inside:

I'd like to share my card at:
Aud Sentiments Challenge birthday sentiment, closes May 6,
Crafty Sentiments anything goes, closes May 6,
Seize the Birthday anything goes birthday, closes May 6,
Quirky Crafts starts with s (song, sentiment, stitching), closes May 10,
Crafty Boots milestone birthday, closes May 11,
Oldie but a Goodie hats, my dp's and brads are all older than 6 mos, closes May 13,
Eclectic Ellapu birthday, closes May 17

A Special Tooth Fairy Project

My oldest got her first loose tooth on Jan. 23. Her new adult tooth was already coming in behind it. I finally convinced her to let Grandpa use his magic string and pull it. So first we went to Grandma's quilt fabric stash and let her choose 2 fabrics to make her Tooth Fairy pillow. The blue glitter fabric she chose because it looked like Pixie Dust. The pocket fabric she chose because it looked like the Tooth Fairy had just poofed her wand. The ribbon she chose because she thought it looked like the bottom of the Tooth Fairy's dress. I cut two 7 inch squares of the blue glitter fabric. And the pocket was a 4 inch square. First I folded and pressed a 1/4 inch seam around all sides of the pocket and sewed them down. Then I sewed only 3 sides of the pocket onto the center of one of blue fabric squares. With wrong sides together I sewed 3 sides of the blue fabric and just across the ribbon on each side of the fourth side. Then turned right side out and stuffed the pillow. Just hand stitched the opening between the ribbon closed and our tooth fairy pillow was complete. I am so proud of it.

The tooth fairy also left a letter in the pocket. And a toonie. And her tooth.

The funniest thing of all was that she said, "Mama, the Tooth Fairy has craft supplies just like yours! Maybe she used your craft supplies to make my letter!" Maybe she did. Smart kid, have to be very careful.

I would like to share my project at:

Crafts 4 Eternity anything but a card, closes Apr. 11,

Quirky Crafts spice girls you color my world (fabrics), closes Apr. 12,

Country View Challenges new beginnings (new tooth), closes Apr. 30,

Just B Creative Crazy anything goes, closes Apr. 30

Craft My Life all crafts challenge, closes May 31

I checked everyone's rules very carefully, but if for some reason my project does not apply, please let me know and I can remove my link :)

You'd Need To Meditate Too

I cas-ed this card by Dafi. I just thought the colors worked so perfectly for a zen card. Can you believe this image was a freebie from Tiddly Inks? Her name is Solly Tude. This is for my niece's Mom, Erin's birthday. They are our neighbors now too since they also built a house in the country about 3 miles north of ours. She also has 8 year-old TRIPLETS. So now you understand the sentiment, lol. 

I colored her hair and yoga pants with my Prismacolor pencils. A white gel pen added the highlights. Her top and headband are paper pieced. The letters are Thickers. The rocker card and doily frame are Silhouette cut files. Love this image!

I would like to share my card at:

Tiddly Inks Challenge birthday, closes Apr. 1 ***Top 5!!!***



Your Carriage Has Arrived

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

My niece is 5 this week. She and my girls are all going to a Princess Ball the last weekend in March. It is put on by a group of volunteers that raise money for the Mother/Baby Unit at the local Hospital. They have High School girls come dressed as all the Disney Princesses and they decorate the banquet room just unbelievably in a Princess theme. There is a fancy supper, a little performance by the Princesses and a little dance with the Princesses. I have so far successfully avoided going all the years they've put it on. People would line up before 5am (in the Wintertime) for tickets and I thought that was crazy. And they would sell out! However, this is the last year and Grandma offered to buy the tickets and Daddy offered to go stand in line (at least it was indoors this time). How can you say no? And I know they will LOVE it. So a Princess/Fairy/Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach glittery card was the perfect fit for Marley.

I used Glitter Cardstock to make my easel card and carriage. Both are Silhouette cut files. It is very thick cardstock and I had to go over it a lot of times to actually get everything cut out. And that was with the blade on it's deepest setting. My image is Fairy Princess by Mo Manning. She is colored with Prismacolor pencils. Gold Stickles are on her wand and crown. The letters are Thickers and the flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts.

2 pictures, one darker, one a little lighter. It's tricky taking a picture of the glitter cardstock. 

I would like to share my card at:
Crafting With Dragonflies shaped cards, closes Mar. 19, (Hello wonderful ladies!)
Totally PaperCrafts shaped cards, closes Mar. 21,
Charisma Cardz birthday girls, closes Mar. 26,
Bronte and Bella's Challenge lots of embellies, closes Mar. 27,
Kitty Bee Designs things with wings, closes Mar. 28,
Emerald Faeries girly, pretty in pink, closes Mar. 31,
Eclectic Ellapu wings, closes Apr. 5

A New Baby

My cousin had a baby in December. But her shower isn't until April. Gave me lots of time to make a card. I used Bashful Buttons and Bows Boo by Lacy Sunshine. I colored her using Prismacolor pencils and added Diamond Stickles to her wings. Her sleeper and bow are paper pieced. I followed the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2. I created the rainbow background paper using my Silhouette program and used a similar pattern fill on the letters. The button flowers, leaves, butterfly and sentiment are all Silhouette cut files. I used twine in the button holes and foam dots to lift the embellies off the page.

I'd like to share at:

Aud Sentiments sentiment for a girl, closes Mar. 11,

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2, closes Mar. 12,

Creative Corner Challenges button up, closes Mar. 13,

Crafty Catz paper piecing, closes Mar. 14,

Pumpkin Spice rainbows, closes Mar. 14,

Lacy Sunshine use Spring colors, closes Mar. 16,



A Little Fun With Stella

One of my best friends turns 55 today. She has a great sense of humor so I'm hoping we're still friends after she gets her card ;)

I used the Bugaboo Stamps image Stella Calendar Months--January and colored her using my Prismacolor pencils. Stella does have Sharon's hair color. I paper pieced her dress in a lovely tartan dp and added red Stickles to her shoes. I mean a girl has to have some glam right? Glossy accents on the martini glass. The sentiment is my own.
I followed the sketch from the Stella Says Sketch Challenge 204.

I am sharing my card at:
Totally Gorjuss birthdays, closes Mar. 8,
Catch The Bug sketch 204, closes Mar. 9, ***3rd Prize Winner!!!***
Glitter n Sparkle add a sentiment, closes Mar. 9

Think Spring

It is not Spring here. In fact, just the opposite. It was so cold the last 2 days the school buses did not run. They will not run if it is less than -40 Celsius. Too dangerous. But I want to think Spring. So this little card was made using some pastel Springlike colors. I followed the sketch at From the Heart Stamps. The image is from their progressive challenge and is called Birthday Candle Birdbrain. He also comes with lots of great sentiments, but I made one of my own.

Papers were from my stash. I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils and added a faux stiched border. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I used my new paper crimper for the border at the top. Some pink grosgrain ribbon and a little green fork bow ribbon complete my embellishments. Although I use a potato masher, makes a little bigger bow.
I'd like to share at:

From the Heart Stamps February stamp of the month club, closes February 28,
Crafty Cardmakers birds, closes March 2,
Through the Purple Haze use pencils, closes March 2,
From the Heart Stamps sketch #55, closes March 3,
Little Red Wagon Spring, closes March 5

A Latte Birthday Wishes

Happy New Year to you all!

I saw a lovely shaped card that Shari made using a Grand Die and wondered if I could make something similar using my Silhouette. I used a rectangle and a scallop shape and welded them together. Then I replicated that shape so that I had 2 sides to my card and added a perforated line between them and I had a shaped card. Now it took some tweaking and I'm simplifying things more than they were but it worked. The scallop shape is also what I used for my mats so they worked out perfectly. Colored using my Prismacolor pencils to look like my friend Amanda and I at coffee. This is for Amanda for her birthday. I paper pieced the tablecloth. My image is called Thanks a Latte by Tiddly Inks. The snowflake flourishes were a Silhouette cut file that I added Ice Blue Stickles to the snowflakes. They are so sparkly, I love the way they turned out.

I would like to share my card at:
Moving Along With The Times girly cards, closes Jan. 23,
Totally Papercrafts paper piecing, closes Jan. 23,
Seize The Birthday birthday with coloring, closes Jan. 28,
Aloha Friday Challenges something new (my blue Stickles), closes Jan. 31,
Stampin' For The Weekend Happy Birthday, closes Jan. 31