Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Not your typical Birthday Card...

I love stamps that let me color. Guess I've never grown out of that coloring-phase :)
This card was for my Mother-in-law who loves to curl up with a good book and a cozy blanket. Not the traditional looking birthday card, but it suited her well.
Only a few days before Christmas - enjoy.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas Thanks

Knowing we'll be in the middle of a move while trying to enjoy the holiday season has had me think ahead for what I can do now to help make then a little smoother. One thing I thought was to get my Christmas Thank-you card done ahead of time. That way, the kids can write & get those off in the mail in good time. With being away from family again this year, I know it's important for my kids to remember to pause and give thanks to those that took the time to think about them and purchase something specifically just for them. It's so special to them to think that Grandma & Grandpa were thinking just of them when they searched for their gift. Makes me smile too!
How's your preparations coming along? It's nearly time.
Blessings to you & your family as you savor this celebration of Christ's birth.
For this card I used my new border punch (love it!) just under some Basic Grey DS paper. The little bee is colored with Copic Markers and I've used the Stampin' Up! "Family Phrases" - thank-you as the sentiment. I also stamped (in Versamark, hard to see in the photo) on the confetti tan cardstock to give a bit of texture to the top half of the card. A couple eyelets on the side & the card was complete.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Screamin' COLOR!

If this color doesn't scream color I don't know what does. Vivid & bright and almost difficult to look at! LOL. My daughter's friend loves bright colors (just imagine that this card would match her bedroom perfectly! WOW.) so we went as bold as we could. The little chick is colored with Copic Markers and the papers are all from Stampin' Up! The ribbon is from my stash and that stash is so big & unorganized I only know if it's NOT SU - LOL... and in this case, it's not.
Being away from home and only having what I brought can be really limiting, but also forces me to work with what I have. I've really missed my cuttlebug (won't leave home without that next time!) as well as a number of my punches. You can't take EVERYTHING... but it was SO HARD to choose!
Enjoy your day!

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

It's a birthday

How is your "hustle & bustle" month starting out? Have you made a point of going slow or do you like to bucket-up and enjoy the crazy ride that it can become! Our month will certainly be that! C-R-A-Z-Y!! We're still in Arizona (I still post DAILY on our family blog www.thegraysadventure.blogspot.com) and will be moving back to the frozen north in a few weeks. So we will be moving about 4 days BEFORE Christmas. yeah, that kind of crazy. But you know what, just like everything else, you take it a little at a time. I know I need to get my shopping done and gifts wrapped before we leave, we have a little tree set up here with handmade decorations that we'll continue to make while we're here and simply set that back up in Fort Mac. It's all good. We've all ready been invited out for Christmas dinner - isn't that awesome. All those little details get sorted out, so why lose energy worrying about it all. :)
Being here, there & everywhere the past seven months (WOW, have we been gone that long!!) I've still been able to get birthday cards made & mailed out (*TOOT, TOOT!*) although I cannot claim they were all ON TIME, they were all sent out. These ones were for my sister-in-laws who both have November birthday's. I was able to use one sheet of 6x6 Basic Grey design paper and make two cards. Each slightly different.
Merry Christmas
Very simple (has been my theme again) - I did a little paper-piecing on her apron and some sponging around the edges (I thought it matched well with the sponge effect that was already on the DS paper). I also pulled out my dew drops which I so love. I was able to order some more while I've been down here, so you'll be seeing them on my cards again. Still haven't found anyone in Canada selling this gems!
Basically the same card. Same "tag" and expression, but on this one, I added her birthday 'date' on the side and used the dew drops above her.
Simple.