A Dark Birthday!

My niece, who is really into black right now, is having a birthday in August, so I decided to make her a nice card to send to her. The only problem was finding colors that she would be okay with. She loves the color black, but making a plain black card is so... well... blah!!! So I started one with other colors, but it turned out to be just a nice card to send for any occasion, so I went back to the drawing board.

While going through my many favorite blogs I came across a challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. They wanted something with rub-ons or stickers, so I started wracking my brains to see if I could incorporate the challenge into my niece's birthday card.

A while back, my husband, being the wonderful enabler that he is... found a bunch of scrapping supplies on sale on e-bay, and actually won the auction. The bundle just happen to come with some really cute rub on letters made by Making Memories. I have a few different fonts to pick from, so it worked out great. The only problem was they all seemed to be black, and I was working with black papers... and then I found the cute blue text that looks like it was stamped on. So taking my new rub-on letters, some carefully chosen papers, my new Cateye Chalk ink and I came up with a really cute card.

I went a little crazy with putting the letters on because I knew I could never keep them straight, so I just angled each letter the opposite way of the one before it, and as I got closer to the end of the area I stretched them out a little more, to kind of give it the impression that I was getting crazy with each letter I put down. If you know my family at all, it fits in perfectly!!!

I was luck with my papers, I had a card stock in plain black that I used for the base of the card, then I have this wonderful Boho Chic pack from The Paper Studio, and then for the top part I needed something that I could rub my letters on that would show up, so I cute a page in half from my DCWV The Street Lace Stack... which I love, but hardly ever use because its so unique and hard to find for the right person. Thankfully, even though there was a lot of pink in the pack... which my niece hates, I was able to come up with a page that had just a touch of black but some cute blue in it too. I took my new cats eye chalk ink and inked up the edges of my papers, and the pretty bird that I found in another pack that is dwindling down because I use it so much. I put a ribbon to break up the white from the color, and there was the front of my card.

I was a little worried though, because the inside was going to be very dark, so I decided to take the other half of the DCWV paper and put it on the inside, with another greeting, and another cute little flower cut out, inking the edges with my new chalk ink again. Finally I used my silver pen to write a personal message inside for my niece.

So there is my latest birthday card. I think it turned out really good considering all the black I used, but I know my niece will love that I didn't send her a cutsie little pink card that she would think was horrible. Hope you all like it, and check out CAS-ual Fridays for some great challenges.

A Summer Birthday Card

So, this month is a lot easier on birthday cards than June was... I think I got overloaded when it came to the month of June, but here I am back posting a really cute card for my nephew in NY. His birthday is at the end of July, and for his second birthday I was able to be there for the big party. I remember it was really hot in NY, and the block where he lives closed down for a block party. It was loads of fun, and I carry those wonderful memories with me all over the place.

At any rate, whenever I think of his birthday I think of that party and the hot summer sun, so I decided to do a summer themed card, and it just happened to coincide with Fabtabulous Cricut Challenge Me Monday . The theme this week at Fantabulous Cricut is Pool time. So I thought about my favorite times growing up and getting into the water, and the best memory I have is my first time at the beach. My parents took me to Myrtle Beach to pick my brother up from college, and we got to go to the beach for some added fun. I remember being a little afraid of the ocean, I was about 7 or 8 at the time, so it sounded really loud and scary, especially at night. However, my favorite thing to do was to gather up sea shells and starfish that was on the beach. So I decided to make a card with that theme on it.

I took the shape idea of the potted plant that I saw in my recent Scrapbook etc. Mag and tweaked it so it would look like a little sand bucket. Then I added my little crab from Create a Critter Cart. The crab is holding the new stamped sentiment I recently bought on clearance from Hobby Lobby, its from The Paper Studio, and it seemed to fit perfectly for this card. Now every bucket needs a handle, but I didn't have anything really sturdy to use, so I improvised and used some ribbon from another clearence rack I found while I was in PA, and it acts as the handle.

The card does not open, but rather a seperate sheet is tucked in at the top, and you pull it out to see the message inside. To decorate the top I put sea shells and star fish from the create a critter Cart too. Then I took a marker, because I didn't have the right ink to really do it up right, and outlined the edges, put a little stickles on the sea shells, and there you have it. When I showed it to my hubby he said it needed a shovel, but I didn't have any cartridges with a shovel, so instead of giving up, I went ahead and designed a shovel out of scrap card stock I had laying around, then outlined it with a couple of markers and glue dotted it on the back. This way he can see the whole shovel when he pulls the message part out.

So now I have a really cute card designed just for my nephew in mind, and the summer fun we had when he turned two. We live very far apart now, so I don't get to see them at all anymore, but at least I can remember his birthday in a special way. Oh, and another cute thought... without even thinking I put a crab on the card, and his name happens to be Sebastian, as in the crab from The Little Mermaid... how appropriate is that!!! See you all soon.

Quick Post!

Okay, I have not fallen off the face of the planet... trust me I'm still here. I started a new shift at work and I'm a bit overwhelmed by how much this has screwed up my whole week. At any rate, I have not stopped crafting, and I have a really cute card that I am hoping to post tomorrow... after I pry my eyes open from a long nights sleep.

At any rate, I did want to let you all know that I finally broke down and bought my first set of stamps. I was working on a birthday card for my nephew in NY, and while I didn't really need any stamps for it, I found the perfect set of stamps for birthdays on clearance. They are from The Paper Studio, and I found them at Hobby Lobby! Trust me this won't be the last of my stamp collection, but it is a good start, and I think it really made the card I made stand out!!! So stop on by and take a look tomorrow.

Also, I have been thinking about doing a blog hop in the future. What do you think??? Would you want to be involved. Its  not something set in stone right now, but its definitely something I am thinking about... my husband actually suggested it. So leave a comment and let me know what you think. See you all tomorrow!