Mini Ice Cream Cones

I love these colors with the ice cream cones. It makes me hungry. I want some mint chocolate chip right NOW! Oh the cravings. (Lately I've been craving V8 and salads with Walmart's Great Value Zesty Italian dressing--wierd, huh?)

Anyways, this card used two textured cardstock layers, thus the eyelets. Not that eyelets aren't fun and cute, but I was forced into it. By the way, I wrapped some SU! cardstock with the sentiment "Happy Birthday" around the bottom of the textured red paper--it's hard to tell.

And aren't those little ties around the cones fun?

Recipe
Stamp Set: CTMH Birthday Party
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Gable Green, Real Red, Whisper White, DCWV textured Red and Gable Green
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Real Red, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Gable Green eyelets, dimensionals, linen thread

Last-Minute Anything Card

This one was fun to make. It only measures about 4" by 3-1/2" and would be perfect for those last minute birthday/congratulations gifts. I am using up my DCWV textured cardstock that I've had for two years--I like the colors and texture and it doesn't fade like my SU! papers, but it is so annoying to try to adhere to anything. The color is perfect for this card though.

How do you adhere textured paper? I have tried mono adhesive, glue stick, glue dots all without luck. The only things that work for me are dimensionals or metal fasteners: staples, brads, eyelets. Please share your secrets.

Recipe
Stamp Set: CTMH Birthday Party
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, Whisper White, DCWV textured in a shade like Gable Green
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black
Accessories: Gable Green eyelets, Green Galore button, linen thread, aquapainter

Another Cupcake

I made another cupcake card--this time a 3-1/2" square card. It was so much fun. I used some scrap DP paper that I bought at Joanns or someplace and wish that I had 10 more sheets of it.

I want to spruce it up a little, but I need some ideas. Should I have done a background stamp on the textured green? Please help.

Recipe
Stamp Set: Treat Yourself
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, cheap kraft, and DCWV textured (color resembles Green Galore)
Ink: Green Galore, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Silver brads, white gel pen, gold glitter pen, glitter, dimensionals

Sparkly Cupcakes

I am so sorry for not having posted sooner. So much has been going on, and I've been doing a lot of non-craft (therefore, non-fun) projects--like cleaning out the 2nd half of the garage so that I can park my car in there, too. Cleaning behind the stove. Confiscating all the toys that have littered my house for a week straight. Thinking about doing my taxes. Doing homeschool-preschool. Teaching my girls how to make a cake. Anyways, I'm trying to get back into my groove.

I went over to my friend's house Wed. night and stamped the cupcake parts and watercolored them. Today I cut them out and created a simple Birthday card. It's not fabulous, but it's a start in the right direction. I used the white gel pen to color the candle and the sprinkles, if you can't tell.

I hope you're all doing well!

Recipe
Stamp Set: Treat Yourself
Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, some cheap kraft, and Chocolate Chip.
Ink: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Gable Green, Chocolate Chip
Assessories: Glue & Glitter, dimensionals, white gel pen, gold glitter pen (for flame)

PS: For SBS1, Niki is withdrawing from the group. So you can remove her link from your sidebar. Let's all wish her a friendly farewell, too.

Pretty Princess

A miracle happened. I've been really sick from this pregnancy for a week. Sunday was bad, but I was determined to make it to church. I've actually been feeling okay ever since. (I even went to a New Year's Eve party last night until 11 pm--don't worry, it was good clean LDS fun.) I wasn't able to hold down milk this morning, but I stomached jelly bellies. Go figure.

Here's my first card in a while. It would be perfect to give to my daughters or nieces for their birthdays--especially since "princess" is usually the theme.

Anyways, now that I'm feeling better, I had the energy to get out my new Studio G ($1 Michaels) clear stamps that "Santa" put in my stocking. I must admit that the clear stamps didn't turn out as crisp as I'm used to with rubber. I've been trying to find my darned eraser to rub on the clear stamps and hopefully improve their ink-taking abilities.

And I also had time to figure out my new Fiskars circle cutter. The circles on this card are 1-1/4" 1-1/2" and 1-3/4".

Recipe:
CS: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, textured Black, DP from Joann's
Ink: Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, YoYo Yellow
Accessories: Rhinestone Brads, Circle Cutter

Clear & Glazed Stickers

I've departed a little from using only stamps to decorate my cards. I found some really cute stickers at our Dollar Tree that are acid free and great for card images. Miss Elizabeth's is the label. The stickers are great quality and an easy way to create a focal image for your card when you are pressed for time. I do, however, usually stamp extra images when I am making cards. I keep a stash of ready-to-use images in a little box. That way I am not always pulling out all of my stamps and ink and trying to figure out what to use.

Many of you probably already know this, but I just remembered how to create the ticket corner without SU!s ticket corner punch. I used my slit punch and eyeballed how much of the corner to crop. I know you can also use any sort of round punch, handheld or whatever. Ticket corners are just an excuse to use more brads--gotta love that!

The brads on the green and white cake card are purple rhinestones. They look really hot in person. And so does the cake. The stickers are embossed and glittered. Just a note, the colors really do look much better and coordinated in person. These pictures make it look like the colors don't mesh well. It's just an illusion.

Another Batch

Birthday Invitations for my 2- and 4-year old

All of the birthdays in our little family of four fall within five weeks of each other during the late summer. Courtney, who just turned two, wanted a princess party. And Mia, who will soon be four, wanted a My Little Pony party. Because I didn't have the right stamps, I just did a little graphic design for the focal image on each invitation. Add a little bling, and here you go. And Mia's My Little Pony (original design just for her) has her name written in the big heart on the pony's rump and the number "4" on the crown. The inside of the invitations may be hard to read, but they definitely add the final touch.