Running With Scissors...

Birdie Birthday

Hello, and welcome back to another day on the Birthday Card Blog!  I do have a card or two to share which I made prior to my illness, and I’m feeling well enough now to sit at the computer for a bit.  Thank you all so much for your well wishes and concern.  I appreciate it more than you can imagine.

You know I’ve been spending all my available stamping time working on children’s birthday cards, and I’m happy to report I’m down to working on the last one.  Since my get up and go got up and went I’m not sure how quickly I’ll finish it.  I’m back to work today and I think that’s going to take whatever energy I’ve recouped over the last couple of days.  However, the desire to stamp has returned, and that’s a good thing.

Today’s card was made for an adult friend’s birthday.  I used another of my new embossing folders.  This one, called Elegant Wreath (Sizzix), is one of my favorites.

It was very easy and not all that time consuming to color the embossed design.  It warmed it up and got along better with the whimsical nature of the image.  It could look very elegant in white with some flowers added, too.  I’ll be thinking along those lines later.  In this case I was experimenting with ideas for mail-friendly cards that don’t take forever and a day to make.  When you’ve got drawers full of embellishments and miles of ribbon, it’s an exercise in discipline to stop yourself while it’s still relatively clean and simple.  You know how it always looks good when someone else does it.  I envy the folks who can do clean and simple so well.

I love these birds.  They’re an Inkadinkado stamp I believe I’ve used only once before.   I colored this with more Copic markers than you’d think it would require, and as I was working fast and furiously I didn’t take time to photograph them.  My apologies!

I did, however, photograph the envelope:

While I have embossed an envelope flap before, it never occurred to me to emboss the entire envelope.  It looks good on both sides and it’s a very quick and easy dress up!

Well, that’s it from me today.  I’ll be back later in the week with… you guessed it… another birthday card.  See you soon!

Stamps:  Inkadinkado birds, Inque Boutique sentiment (retired)  Paper:  Teal textured, Flourishes Classic White  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Sizzix Elegant Wreath embossing folder

I’ve Been Very Sick

I just wanted to offer some explanation as to why I haven’t posted this week.  Last Saturday night I was taken down by a virus and it hasn’t let go of me yet.  I’ll spare you all the details, but I will say that I wound up in the ER Wednesday night, as it became more than I could manage on my own.  They fixed me up with some fluid and some drugs for pain and nausea.  The nausea pills make me drowsy and give me a headache.  The pain pills don’t counteract the headache.  Funny.

I haven’t answered emails or visited blogs or stamped in a week.  You can imagine all the other things I haven’t done, as well.  So much to do, but I’m taking it slow and easy.

I haven’t been out with Wally and LuLu this week, of course.  Not that they aren’t getting their fun and exercise – my husband’s been taking care of that – but me and my camera have stayed behind.  I haven’t even played around with the settings on my new camera yet.  I’ve snapped a few at random and they’re certainly not the best, but I just love my sweet subjects.  The babies are never far away, and they’re always very, very good.

I’ve been calling LuLu “Plushpuppy” lately.  Someone asked me a while back if I gave my dogs nicknames.  LuLu really hadn’t grown into a nickname yet, but Plushpuppy is sticking.  Her coat is so thick and soft and, well… plush.  You can’t help but want to sink your hands into it and she’s always more than ready to let you.  There are few things I love more than to have both Wally and LuLu cuddled with me on the couch, and there’s been plenty of couch time this week.  Just what the doctor ordered – cuddle two Golden Retrievers and call me in the morning.

I hope you’re all well and happy and having a good weekend.  I’ll be back in the swing of things soon, but for now I’m just easing through this with my precious little Plushpuppy and the sweetest Big Guy a girl could ever hope to meet.  Take care!

Good News!

LuLu’s heart murmur is gone!

She went for her third exam and to finish up her puppy series shots, and she was such a good girl.  She laid on the exam table as though nothing whatsoever was happening… ahem… “back there”.  Last month she weighed 16 lbs, and this month she weighs 31 lbs.  She was pronounced very clean and exceptionally mellow, but best of all – no heart murmur!  Oh, happy day!!!

Wally waited patiently in the car (and, of course, he was sitting in the driver’s seat when we came out).  I’m sure he’s happy about LuLu’s clean bill of health, too.  We discussed it, but he didn’t say much.  He just smiled.

I’ve been doing a lot of smiling, too!  I hope you have a very happy day!

Cupcake Day

Well, here I am with yet another birthday card, and a very simple one at that.  I’ve gone a little nutty over embossing folders lately, especially anything with a frame such as this.  It’s a wonderfully quick and simple way to create a nice design for a hand stamped card.  This particular frame is courtesy of a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Heritage collection.  I went Googling for a good selection of embossing folders and ended up at 7 Kids College fund where I filled my virtual basket and went home a happy girl.  They have so many to choose from.  Just look here.  I’ll be sharing more of those later.

I’ve used a Lockhart cupcake and an Impression Obsession sentiment.  Very simple Copic coloring with these markers:

I had intended to do this without ribbon, but I think the recipient would like to have that little bit of something extra, and I just happened to have this bow already tied and tucked away in one of my ribbon scrap jars.  I adhered it with a spot of Aleene’s Tacky Glue, added some rhinestones and called it done.  I’ve summed up the simple ingredients in the recipe.  Have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Lockhart Violet Cupcake #2012, Impression Obsession sentiment #B5433  Paper:  Almost Amethyst textured (Stampin’ Up!), Lemon Tart (PTI), Classic White (Flourishes)  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Cuttlebug Heritage collection embossing folder

Birthday Hugs

Hello out there!  It’s Monday night as I write this and it’s been one of those days.  We had a good, solid freeze overnight after rain the day before and the roads were very icy as I drove to work.  I slid right through an intersection – good thing the light was green – and then I fell down in the parking lot at work – again, because of the ice.  I wasn’t hurt… everything is A-okay, but it’s a good day for a hug, don’t you think?

So, I thought I’d share another one of the birthday cards I’ve been diligently working on, and in my mind I’ll put myself in the kitty’s place, getting a nice warm hug from a big golden dog.  Hmmm…  come to think of it, I know just where I can get a nice warm hug from a big golden dog…

For this card I used an Inky Antics stamp (which has no name on it so I don’t know what to call it) and I watercolored the image to match my Wally and our sweet Marvin kitty (who is no longer with us).  I used Stampin’ Up! reinkers in Saffron and Pumpkin for the dog, and Tombow Markers in shades of gray for the cat.  I went back to the reinkers to shade around the image in Celery, with the darker Olive just under the dog.

It’s pretty straightforward.  I’m keeping it simple so I can get these birthday cards done.  Nevertheless, I do love this one.  I actually made two adult birthday cards this weekend, but I’ll have to wait till later to share those.

I’ll catch you later in the week.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some of that good old Oregon coast rain tomorrow.  See you soon!

Stamps:  Inky Antics dog and cat, Stampin’ Up! Hugs and Wishes sentiment  Paper:  90 lb hot press watercolor paper, Flourishes Classic Ivory, BasicGrey Sugar Rush designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, various inks and markers for watercoloring (colors mentioned above)  Accessories:  Self-adhesive flower with rhinestone, corner rounder punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape (to pop up sentiment panel)

Swamp Dawgs

Happy Saturday!  These are photos from last weekend when we took Wally and LuLu to run themselves ragged in the Great Outdoors.  Recent rains provided the bonus of little ponds scattered throughout the area.  Nothing could make Wally happier, and little by little LuLu ventures deeper into the water.  One day soon it will happen just like it did with Wally – she’ll accidently find herself swimming and, oh, happy day, try and stop her then!

 

Life is such a great adventure!  Enjoy your weekend!

It’s a Topsy Turvy World

Hello!  I’m still working on children’s birthday cards and that’s all I’m going to do until they’re done.  Five more to go.  I hope these will be okay for 11 and 12 year olds.  I’m not sharing all the cards because I’m beginning to feel like this is The Blog for Children’s Birthday Cards, but since this is a new set, I thought I’d go ahead with these.

I’ve used JustRite’s Topsy Turvy Cakes for both cards.  Both are colored with Copic markers.  The first card has a sentiment which was originally part of an oval sentiment frame – more words on the bottom with candles and swirlies in between.  However, I cut it into four pieces so I could more easily use only part of it, yet I can still piece it back together for the full frame.  These are clear stamps, so the cutting was easy.

The second card has all that clean white space I’m loving these days.  I used another of my Designables cut and emboss folders.  This one is #DS0907.

Shown below are the Copics I used for coloring – same colors on both cakes, but mixed up a little bit.  I did not use E50 and E51 on the second card.  Those were used only for shading around the image on the first card.

By the way, the camera I lost is gone for good.  It was not turned into lost and found.  I checked with all the usual sources and no one has seen it.  It was a Nikon Cool Pix, which I loved because it took great pictures and was very compact.  I could slip it into my pocket and hardly notice it was there.  Great for when we were out with Wally and LuLu.  Tsk, tsk.  Well, hello Canon Elph!

I’ve already ordered it.  In the meantime, I do have two other cameras I can use and, thankfully, there weren’t many pictures on the Cool Pix.  I always put them on my computer and then clear the card.  Later they’re uploaded to Shutterfly and saved to disc.

I’ll leave you with the recipes for today’s cards and wish you a happy day.  Take care!

Card #1 --  Stamps:  JustRite Topsy Turvey Cakes  Paper:  Classic White, Crystal Blue, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestones, Prima flowers, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder, Spellbinders Classic Ovals Small,  Classic Ovals Large, and Big Scalloped Ovals Large, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Card #2 – Stamps:  JustRite Topsy Turvey Cakes  Paper:  Classic White, Citrus Leaf, Bubblegum Pink  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Marianne Designs Designables cut and emboss folder #DS0907, Spellbinders Nested Pennants, Classic Ovals Small, Classic Ovals Large Scalloped Ovals Small, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

It’s a Dog’s Life

I had some pretty adorable new photos of Wally and LuLu on my camera, and now it appears I have lost my camera.  I can hope someone turned it into lost and found at work, but I’ll have to wait till Monday to find out.  Yes, I’m pretty disappointed about that.

The best I can do today is share some older photos.  The Wally photos were taken in August, and the LuLu photos were taken one month ago.  She’s grown so much since then.

Have a wonderful weekend!  

Princess Birthday

I’m getting back to the business of filling a birthday card order – all for girls ages 2 through 15.  When I pass the 7 year old range, I’m a little bit stumped.  What would they want that I have in my stamp arsenal?  I puzzled over this for quite a while until I decided I would concentrate more on making cards the grandma would like for her granddaughters and grandnieces.  I know she likes pretty things and I think most little girls do, too.  I’ll let the grandma decide which child will receive this card.

Today’s card uses Flourishes’ Make a Wish set.  I stamped the crown in Versamark ink and embossed using gold tinsel embossing powder.  I added some rhinestones and colored the rest of the crown’s jewels with a Copic marker, then went over them with a Sakura Stardust glitter pen.  I also shaded around the crown with Copic BG0000, BG10, and the colorless blender.

The white embossed panel is another of my Designables cut and emboss folders.  This one is called Designables Classic #DS0911.  This folder will emboss the entire card front, but I chose to cut around just this focal area so I could work with the designer paper.  It was easy enough to cut around with regular small scissors.  I cut out the center circle with a craft knife.  The crown image was cut with Spellbinders Standard Circles Small.

A princess must have lots of glitter.

I covered the Prima flowers and butterfly with Stickles Stardust glitter glue.

I hope one of the girls will enjoy this card, and I hope you do, too.  All ingredients are summed up in the recipe, below.  Thank you for joining me today!

Stamps:  Make a Wish (Flourishes)  Paper:  Flourishes Classic White, Prima Annalee designer paper  Ink:  Versamark, Rose Red, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Prima flowers and Prima butterfly, Martha Stewart branch punch, rhinestones, decorative brads, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, gold tinsel embossing powder, Designables Classic #DS0911 cut and emboss folder, Spellbinders Standard Circles Small, decorative corner punch (for sentiment panel), Scotch brand foam mounting tape

2011 Favorites Review

Happy 2012!!

Long about this time you’ll be browsing blogs and seeing these “favorites” posts.  I always enjoy them and I hope you’ll enjoy scrolling through the few I picked out.  If I were to wait a month I may choose different favorites as I don’t seem able to settle on any one style.

As you review your own year, I hope you’re able to say there were more ups than downs.  It was a good year for me, ending on a happy note as we welcomed LuLu into our family.  Every year my perspective on life shifts just a little bit.  Priorities jostle each other around trying to claim the #1 spot.  I can’t say what’s ahead but I anticipate a continued trend toward home, family, peace, serenity.  That’s what I’ll be keeping in my sights.  I’m wishing you all a happy and successful year!

 

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Just for kicks:

• 2010 Favorites
• 2009 Favorites

Thank you all for adding to the success and happiness of my 2011!  Take care!