A Quick Birthday Gap Card With A Surprise!

It's our friend Steve's birthday this week and as usual, I was finding it SO hard to make something uncomplicated and plain as per DH's request.   I finally reverted to the old standby - the personalized Gap card (DS directions here) - and used the Varsity font for Steve's name. 

I finished off the front with some twine and added the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from the Life's a Party cart inside the card.

But... this is a significant birthday and I wanted to acknowledge this in some way.  I typed 'birthday' in DS and up popped an image I'd never seen before from Photo Fun -Celebrations.  Could I find a way to use this image on the card,  perhaps with the number candles from Sweet Treats?  Bingo!  I put the birthday present overlay and the candles on the BACK of the card and firmly resisted the urge to get out the glitter, or the Stickles, or even the Wink of Stella!

The card was approved by DS - both front and back! - and I added our best wishes inside with a white gel pen.    Happy Birthday Steve!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : )  Christine

A Shadow Box for St. Patrick's Day

Shadow boxes filled with paper flowers are a 'hot' item in some of my Facebook Groups at the moment and since St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us, I decided to make one in gradient shades of green with an appropriate Irish sentiment in gold vinyl.

The box is sized at 8 x 8 inches and I removed the inner wooden shelf to allow for more room for my flowers, but as you can see, they are still a little squished!

The flowers come from the Art Philosophy cart and are sized at 5 inches.  I used 5 flowers in 5 shades of green from Paper Accents.   I find that lighter, less structured paper rolls into the flower shape much easier than say, Bazzil or American Crafts which is a heavier, sturdier card stock.   I inked the edges with Mowed Lawn and misted the flowers with marshmallow Glimmer Mist and then water before rolling them.

The sentiment is written in the Art Nouveau font - one of my favorites!  The shamrock comes from Seasonal Soirees and is called, don't ask me why, Four Leaf Clover.

My wrist certainly got a work out rolling 25 roses and I can tell that I am regaining some flexibility. Yeah!  I am linking my shadow box with the St. Patrick's Day challenge at FCCB.

And with the Decorate to Celebrate Anything Goes challenge here.  

And... with the DLArt Frogs And/Or Green challenge here.

And... with the Cut it Up St. Patty's Day challenge here!  

Love, love, love the variety of the DT's projects.   Off to pin a few for next year!   Thanks for visiting with me on a rainy PNW Saturday.  : )  Christine 

More Tinker Bell!

Yes, I know I said that I wasn't going to buy the Tinker Bell and Friends cart, but when an e-mail arrived from Hallmark Scrapbook offering the cart for $14.99, I could not resist! 

Look at the detail in the wings!  

I added a label on the top of the jar featuring another image from the cart, but replaced the 'cut' icon in DS with the 'write' icon.  I used a green pen and then brushed Mod Podge over the top so that the ink smudged across the label.  I like this technique and have used it many times to soften the look of the writing.

Can you tell that I am enjoying playing with the new Nikon?  Thanks for visiting with me today. : )  Christine

Baby Boy Crib Card

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to become parents or grandparents so that I had an excuse to purchase the Tiny Miracle files from SVG Cuts and make this box card.  Finally, our good friends became grandparents to the sweetest baby boy and here's my card for them:-

Inspired by the monochromatic challenge at FCCB, I used many shades of blue and the result is so soft and soothing - just right for a baby card.

I love the creativity of this file and it certainly has that 'wow' factor.   I think I need a baby girl crib card for my stash, don't you?  : )   Thanks for visiting today.  : )   Christine

Art Deco Birthday Card

I don't buy many carts since the introduction of DS, but Art Deco, in my opinion, has so many beautiful images that it is well worth the investment. 

This lady is one of my favorite images and I used her on the birthday card I created recently for my DD.   I incorporated the comedy and tragedy masks into my design since she is a devotee of the stage and a very talented actor.

I was so impressed with my restraint when adding embellishments.  Sequins and glitter - apart from a stray piece or two transferred from my desk! - were just not necessary with the lovely colors and texture of the American Crafts card stock that I used.  The innies:- 

O.K!  Time to get inky and glittery!   Thanks for visiting with me today.  : ) Christine

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are in the midst of a deluge here in our corner of the PNW!   It's the perfect day to stay indoors by the fire and work on some long overdue cards while DH ties some flies to use when fishing the Yellowstone on our summer trip.

But first, I want to share the treats I made from Mary's Lollipop Garden file at SVG Cuts.  This is an older file, but easy peasy to construct and to add extra touches to make it your own.

I cut the lollipop covers from patterned paper and then realized I would have to discard half of them because on the file, the cuts are upside down and packed closely together to save paper.  There was just no way to 'slice' them apart!   My solution was to use double sided paper that was patterned on one side and unpatterned pink or red on the other.  See how it pays to have a large stash of paper?  LOL!

I also found that I could not secure the cover to the lollipop with ribbon as Mary suggests, but adding a little strip of washi tape helped keep the tabs in place so that I could make that little knot.

How cute are these lollipop gardens?  Have a lovely Valentine's Day and thanks for visiting with me today. : ) Christine

A Jar Full Of Pixie Dust

This past month, DSIL has been working away from home, and so our DD and Master J have occupied our guest bedroom one night a week so that we could be entertained by Master J for two days a week instead of one.

They introduced me to the Tinkerbell and Friends movies and I have no idea how, with two DGDs and oodles of Kindergartners, I missed out on the fun!  Searching for Tink on DS, I discovered that I do have one image - from Disney Classics, and so was able to resist the urge to buy the Tinkerbell and Friends cart!

I wanted to make a pixie dust night light jar for Master J and so I 'had' to make a trip to Craft Warehouse to buy a green tinted mason jar.  I used Art Glitter glue and painted it around the inside of the jar.  The glue dries clear and so the uneven paint work - rotating the wrist will take some time to recover apparently - did not matter too much.   Next I swirled fine gold glitter around inside the jar and on the lid and allowed it to dry while I cut Tink's shadow layer in black vinyl for the outside of the jar.

I have underwater tea lights (from Amazon) which light up by turning the casing rather than from a hidden switch and was able, therefore, to mount the tea light under the jar lid. ( O.K. Please forgive the rotten, out of focus photo.  The new Nikon is on its way!)

To hide the light, I tied ribbons on an elastic hair band and added it beneath the lid.  The effect is magical when the jar of Pixie Dust is alight and Master J just wanted to hold it, and then he wanted to unscrew it to get out the dust.  I hurried to provide him with a pinch of dust (glitter) which promptly went onto Mama who obligingly pretended that she was about to float away!  Truly, that was a magical moment. : )

Thank you for visiting with me today. Watch out for Pixie Dust!   : )  Christine