Baby Rhino Shower Card

I cannot believe I overlooked posting this whimsical card.  It was definitely a challenge to come up with a baby shower card that highlighted a "rhino" theme.  I literally found one image that looked "cute" and inspired me to create this card which was surprisingly fun to make.  I never thought the words "cute" and "rhino" would go together, but this project changed my mind.

My neighbor's daughter is expecting her first child any day now and there was a shower for her last month.  They know they are having a boy and the nursery is being decorated in a rhino theme so that was my challenge.  Certainly there are a gazillion files for baby designs out there, but I wanted the card to fit into the theme, so after much searching, Miss Kate's Cuttables had the absolutely cutest baby rhino on the internet!!

Since I decided to have this little rhino peeking in the window, I had to make him a lot smaller and had no issues getting the tiniest detail with the Silver Bullet Platinum.

Look at those itty bitty toenails!!

And here it is assembled.

The window was cut from some my patterned paper stash and lined with acetate on the inside so

it looked like there was glass.  The writing was done with the pen tool in the Silver Bullet.  She sent me a picture showing it proudly sitting on top of the baby's dresser - just waiting for his arrival!

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Baby Cards - Celebrating a girl and a boy!

I love making baby cards and I don't get to do them often. So what fun to actually have one of each to create in the same month.  I had a great time trying to make them as special as I could.

The baby girl card was for the precious little granddaughter of my neignbors who have become such dear friends and welcomed me into their family. How lucky am I?  This is their second grandchild and first girl. Their first is her brother, Merritt, who I have spoken of here and who I love almost as much as my own grandson.  He has stolen my heart and so has his precious sister. They came over here when she was only a week old and I got to hold her while Mom and Dad took a break.  Good thing the grandparents were gone for the evening or I would not have had that much time with her!  It was so special.  I am not sure what it is about holding a baby, but it is truly the most wonderful feeling in the world.  I am so grateful to have been able to share in their joy and their lives.

 The cutting file for this card is from Birds Cards.  Her designs are detailed and cut beautifully.  I use the Silver Bullet Platinum to easily cut the detail out of card stock from the Paper Temptress White Diamond and Pop Tones.  The background paper is from Echo Park (I hit my neglected stash box!) and I love how it all came together.

Tried to capture the dimension of this card. The greeting and the 

baby buggy are sitting atop foam squares.  I used some adhesive lace to

border the buggy and make it more feminine.  I really love it!

I was in a bit of a rush to make the card for the baby boy so I only  have one photo - but it captures the spirit of celebration.  This is for someone special who serves on the board of Oceanside Boys & Girls Club with me and he runs a local Buffalo Wings.  He and his wife are expecting their first child, a precious little boy. We are all so very excited for them.

The design is from two separate designs from Miss Kate's Cuttables and her designs never disappoint.  The papers are from Paper Temptress and the patterned background is from my stash. :) (can you tell I am trying to utilize what I have??   Making a concerted effort...)

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Happy Easter Cards!

It was fun this past week to make a variety of Eater cards for grandchildren and friends.  I relied heavily on the designs from Miss Kate's Cuttables because they are great for "children" of all ages.

First up - cards for the granddaughters...

The designs are Fancy Easter Eggs from Miss Kate's Cuttables The solid card stock is PaperTemptress Mica that was run through an polka dot embossing folder.  Then I added sparkle pen to the dots in a diagonal pattern (in both cards)  I framed the sides of the cards with washi tape which was really fun.  I don't use it enough and it gives such a finished look.

You can see the sparkled dots a little better in the side by side.

And the adhesive pearls on the flowers added a nice little touch.

Then there is Carter - this was his first "real" Easter where he could actually have fun looking for eggs!

This card has a lot of dimension - I love that bunny face and added whiskers just because!  I love all of the bright spring colors.  The polka dot "o" egg (that makes up "Hoppy")

has dots colored over with a sparkle pen.

Not the traditional Easter basket, but he loves cars and trucks, so it was perfect. It was filled with bubble tubes, sidewalk chalk, an Easter book, a "sock bunny" and a few plastic eggs with little Rice Krispie treats inside!

My neighbors have a grandson who is 6 months younger than Carter, and they asked if I would make an Easter card for him.  Of course I was happy to do that!

These designs are from Miss Kate's Cuttables.  I added the "Happy 2nd" greeting and then used Glossy Accents  on the eyes to make them shine and Crackle Accents on the eggs to make the shells shiny and a little cracked!  This was fun and made in the early hours of Easter morning!

I had to include a photo of the carrot tops, cut with the regular blade and share the detail of

these pieces as it still blows me away when the machine can so easily produce such intricate cuts.

And I wanted to make a special card for my neighbors who are so good to me in so many ways.  This was incredibly difficult to photograph since the foil is so reflective, but I tried to get many angles to give you an idea. In person, it is really beautiful.  I plan to do a lot more foiling - the results are just too stunning not to do more of it!

The "Joyful Lilies" on the cross were printed on PT Neenah card stock

on a laser printer. (you need the toner for foil to adhere when it is laminated.)

This is gold spectre foil so it appears holographic as it catches the light. 

The sentiment is from Verve Stamps and was embossed with gold powder.

You can really see the colors in this photo.  It was stunning.

Tried to catch just the gold, but it almost doesn't look foiled in this picture.

I hope everyone had a happy and BLESSED Easter........

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Valentine Fun!

I hope everyone is feeling loved and special, especially today.

The best part about today, for me, is reminding my grandchildren that they are loved.  And making cards for them is a fun way to do that.

I relied on the images from Miss Kate's Cuttables again to create their Valentine cards.

First of all, Carter is totally into trucks - ALL BIG TRUCKS and the noisier the better. He loves trash trucks and dump trucks and bulldozers - well you get the idea.  So when I saw this file I knew it was what I had to make for him.  I hope he likes it!

This is the cute little "digger". I have glossy accents on the

deeper yellow to make it shine and colored little rocks

being picked up.  So much fun to make!

Here is a side view so you can see some of the dimension and shine.

And the final product - I love it!

As for the girls in northern CA, I am really feeling their age gap now when I make cards for them. I used to be able to make similar cards, but now with Kendra (16) and Haley (10), I cannot get away with two too cutesy cards!!  I need to be a little more grown up with the teenager; at least I think I do!

So Kendra's card is feminine and bright and a tad simpler. 

I love all of the dimension and sparkle in this one. I hope it makes it through the mail in one piece!!

I have just recently started adding sequins to cards. They are fun to play with and add a nice touch!

Haley's card is still cute and a bit more playful.  I don't know how many more years I can get away with that!

This little bee has double wings with a layer of vellum over them.

He is really cute in person!

I thought the marbled vellum over the hot pink gave this a bit of a fantasy look and added

to the floating format.

I hope all three of them have a GREAT day!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

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February 2017 - Carter is TWO!

Where oh where did January go?  The new year has barely begun and I am already a month behind!  Yikes!

I had the best of intentions and I blew it.  January came and went and so many things that I had planned/wanted to do just didn't happen.  I am not going to let myself label that a failure, which is progress for me!  Sometimes life just doesn't go the way you plan.  So you regroup and start anew. And that is what I am doing. It's a new year - a month late!

Happy February! I have been busy baking and card making and m eager to start sharing again. 

First up is the card I made for my rapidly growing grandson, Carter.  He is SUCH a delight and is full of the joy and inquisitiveness (and boundless energy) that are typical of two year olds.  He brings such joy into all of our lives.

His birthday was actually the beginning of the month, but I am playing catch up for a while. Forgive me.

So here is his birthday morning!  I think it is the perfect way to start a birthday - I would just add a nice LARGE cup of coffee (and would definitely stay in my pjs!!)

For his card I used a cake design from Miss Kate's Cuttables to celebrate this second birthday.

I ran the frosting layers through embossing folders to

give them a little interest and added colored brads to

the dotted sprinkles for dimension and interest.

This little greeting was all done on the Silver Bullet.  I used the pen tool with

Staedler fineliner pens (love them) to "write" the message and then

cut the little banner greeting out - all on the machine. Fun and easy!

I got this stamp years ago to put on the back of the cards

that I made my granddaughters.  Now Carter gets it on his cards

too.  I stamped this on a sheet of 2" square labels so I

have them all ready to go!

The only way to start a birthday!

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY DEAR CARTER! 

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More Summer Cards...

Seems like I have been making a lot of cards lately and trying to stretch my creativity while using what I have.  Now that the craft room is semi-organized, it makes finding things much easier and am trying to push myself out of my "comfort zone".  It's been fun to try new things and am going to continue to push myself to do learn new things.  It makes it much more fun to see what happens, especially when I don't over plan the card.  Am trying to let it develop as I go and really like these two, totally different cards!

This is a simple card - used dotted strips from Gina K, foiled them in blue and

cut and attached as borders.  Embossed vellum creates the background to the

"Celebrate" message from Miss Kate's Cuttables. Papers are from Paper Temptress.

Another shot of that shiny foil - love the look!

Another card using embossed vellum as the background (so easy).

This flower is from a stencil drawing and I used some iridescent papers (made by Folio - 5x5" squares that I have had for some time.)

They change colors depending on how the light hits them, which

explains the difference in color in the pics. Definitely hard to photograph!

I added pop dots on the flower to give it more interest and dimension.

I love trying new things and pushing out of my comfort zone.  Have more cards to post just as soon as I get the photos edited.  It's been a great month for card making and I hope it continues as I have more to accomplish!

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Birthday Cake Celebration!

You thought this was going to be a food post, didn't you?!?  Surprise!  No food here - not this time.  But there is birthday cake, made from beautiful colors of paper from Paper Temptress. :)

My youngest granddaughter is 9 today.

File is the Birthday Cake from Miss Kate's Cuttables. I cut out extra candles and stars to get" nine" on the cake, plus added the number "9" for one of the stars at the top of the cake to set off her ninth birthday!
It is a lot of detail cut and it all went beautifully thanks to the Silver Bullet Professional.

You can see how detailed the cuts on the candles are. Two of the layers were run through an embossing machine to get the swirled look.

I wish I could bake a cake that looked like this!

"Haley" is cut out of vinyl to help personalize it more.  Really happy with how it came out and hope she loves it too...

The vinyl cut beautifully and I really like that font.

This was a really fun card/cake to make and there are many things you can do with the design of the cake. I used all of the layers, but you could certainly simplify it, which is one of the things I love about making my own cards. There are so many ways to personalize it with "your special touch".

A side view to see the image attached to the card with foam dots.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HALEY!!!

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Happy First Valentine's Day, Carter!

This just popped up on my phone.  What a way to begin the day!!

Carter is 12 days old today!

I have to start this  post with an apology. I have a DEAR friend (who I hope will remain a dear friend after she reads this!) whose birthday is also today.  I had limited time this week - and didn't plan ahead well enough. :( So....... when I realized I had to make two cards this week and only had time to make one.......well new grandson Carter won out.  So my friend's birthday card will be fashionably late, but full of love nonetheless......  I hope she forgives me.

I had the great fortune today to deliver this Valentine card in person yesterday and bring him a special Valentine outfit (see above photo!) for his first "heart" day. (and you are right - every day is "heart" day when there is a baby involved...)  I spent a good part of the day with them and held him in between feedings and was truly in seventh heaven.  I am totally smitten with this little guy. He has stolen my heart, and it is quite clear that he has stolen the hearts of his Mom and Dad as well, and everyone who meets him. What a love bug!!

This is the cute Valentine Monkey from Miss Kate's Cuttables. 

Papers are mainly from Paper Temptress .

Also from Miss Kate's Cuttables

For his special card, I went back to the animal theme of the nursery and used the cute monkey from Miss Kate's Cuttables. I love her files and these animals are just TOO adorable.  A lot of her images have multiple layers, but they are fun and quite easy to put together. This one was no different.

Not the best photo - having a shadow problem for some reason!

This card is Mom and Dad approved. And hopefully one day it will bring Carter a smile as well.

Happy Valentine's Day.

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WELCOME TO THE WORLD! BIG NEWS!!!

It's been a pretty wonderful week in my life.  As I announced here many months ago, my oldest son and his were expecting their first child and have been enjoying the mystery of "what are we going to have?"  Well - the wondering is over and this special blessing entered the world at full speed - TWELVE days early!  and he - yes HE - is absolutely gorgeous and perfect in every way.  He was born Monday morning  (a week ago) and weighs a very healthy 8 pounds, 1 ounce.

An hour old.........

The world, well at least my world, is a much brighter place with the birth of Carter Jameson Bricker.  Don't you just love that name?   It is such a strong wonderful name.

Let me digress a minute.  I had been thinking about making a card to celebrate his birth and take it with me to the hospital.  But over the weekend, once I finally got an idea, I had to figure out what to do.  I wanted to make it with either a boy or girl theme, but had no clue which they were going to have.  So I decided to cut out a pink bow and blue bow that could be placed on the card at the last minute.  Successful idea!  And easy to implement. So late Sunday night (it never fails that I get a burst of creativity when I should be heading to bed...  but that was ok - I was committed to getting it ready and putting it aside for my drive to the hospital -thinking  I had two weeks)  So I got all of the layers cut out and ready to go and went off to bed, planning to finish putting it together in the morning.  But that dedicated time never came, because the phone rang at 4:15 AM, just three hours later, and the unfinished card remained on my craft counter as I raced 45 minutes away to get to the hospital on time.  Best laid plans..........

So anyway, when I finally returned from all of the excitement, I was excited to actually be able to assemble the card and reflect the "boy" theme!  So I pulled out plenty of blue card stock to utilize the appropriate color and the card came together perfectly.  I was so happy.  I had already made a pattern for "Welcome Little One" as I had planned to put that on the front of the card.  But now...... 24 hours later..... I had a name!  So Carter Jameson went on the front and off it went to Megan and Scott.

Detailed zebra cut - thanks to the Silver Bullet Cutter.

Zebra design compliments of Miss Kate's Cuttables.  Love her designs 

and they are so easy to cut!

Inside of the card....papers all from Paper Temptress

Can you tell how overjoyed I am?  The first male grandchild and one that is only 45 minutes away instead of the two girls who are 6 hours away.  I know - I am still so lucky. They could all be across the United States or even overseas, but they aren't.  We are all in one state, just a bit scattered.  I love each and one of them with all my heart.  But what is it about a baby that just consumes every part of your being.  It doesn't diminish your love for anyone else, but your heart just expands - and explodes with love and tears of joy and oh so much gratitude.

So... welcome new little love....... CARTER JAMESON BRICKER (CJ when he is all grown up!)
We love you so....

Is he not the most beautiful little boy you have EVER seen?!?

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