Marathon Birthday Month

October is a huge month for birthdays around here. My mom, my m-i-l, two nieces and I were all born in October, plus three of those family members were born in the first week, so I have a lot of work to do, but at least it's the fun kind.

So I found this lady via facebook who makes really cool personalized family necklaces, plus she's one of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. So I ordered two of these:

One for each mom with grandkids' names on them. You can find them here on Etsy. The quality is great and the lady is just so nice!

So here are my Friends with Flair birthday cards to go with fabulous gifts:

Both were made with My Mind's Eye paper, PTI cardstock, twine, and gem thingies, Basic Grey buttons, and American Crafts embossing powder. The twine on the first card was kind of unintentional. I was trying to see if I wanted it there and accidentally glued it- so there it stays!

Have a great weekend- this weekend starts the 3-month "everything is covered in holiday decorations" time for our house. Yay!

Procrastination...

I have a million things to do. October is a big month for birthdays in our household and I meant to start making birthday cards for both of our moms, plus two nieces. I ran by Hobby Lobby today to find ghost-making material for an entirely different project...

 and found some really cool trim instead.

 I hadn't planned on trying the Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger this week because my to-do list is really that long, but the trim was calling my name...



Papertrey Ink cardstock

My Mind's Eye dp

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Versamark ink,

American Crafts embossing powder

Hobby Lobby button trim

Going back to my to-do list.

 Really.

Friends with Flair

Hello everyone!

I've been in an incredible funk or rut or something lately. I see all of the incredible things that everyone makes every week and I feel like my creations have just been.... things.

Somewhere along the way, I forgot why I started making cards in the first place.... partly because store-bought cards are overpriced, and partly because the homemade touch seems to mean so much for the recipient. So I'm going to get over myself and start having fun again. After all, it's not like the card police are going to come after me or something!

Ok, whining done.

Unity keeps coming out with all of these incredible images that I have a bunch of stamps I haven't had time to use. So many stamps, so little time...

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Papertrey Ink cloud dies and dp

My Mind's Eye cloud dp

Paper studio kraft card base.

Off to do homework!

Friends with Flair...and it finally dried!

TGIF! It's Friends with Flair Friday, plus there is a new Monthly Challenge!

Paper Studio and Papertrey Ink cardstock

GlimmerMist

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

PTI twine

The monthly challenge is to use leaves. I don't have any fall-ish dp because I don't like orange, so I had to make some, which started an all-afternoon long process. I sprayed the daylights out of some cardstock with GlimmerMist to get the fall colors for the leaves...and had to let it dry. When it was mostly dry, I couldn't get it to stick, so I brought out the Mod Podge....and had to let it dry. While I was waiting, I tried paper-piecing the leaves on the tag...which had to dry before I could trim it. I usually go for quick and easy, so this was torture. This is what I get for hating orange, but at least the new stamps got inky!

Thanks for any comments you have- it's always a wonderful was to start the weekend!

Tuesday Trigger

Well, I wasn't going to do the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger this week because this picture really didn't jump out at me... until I was looking through my paper stash today and found some papers that reminded me of this:

I think they were a freebie as a part of a stamp order from a while back, but I really don't know what brand they are. The stamp is a new one from Unity, and the flowers are Prima, and my sewing machine is finally working a little better for the stitching behind the flower.

Thanks for looking!

More is more, Part II

Another Friends with Flair Friday!

My craft room yesterday looked like a stamp volcano exploded. I was looking for every flourish stamp I own and my stamps are not all that organized, so it takes a massive hunt if I'm looking for something specific. I think when I was done, I ended up using three different kits plus an itty bitty to make this.

Georgia-Pacific cardstock

Memento and Stampin' Up inks

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Mark Richards shiny things

Make it Monday

Papertrey Ink Cardstock, stamps, and twine

Distress  and Memento inks

Color Stories leaves

This week's Make it Monday is about making stamped backgrounds with non-background stamps. For this, I used one of the twirly butterflies from Butterfly Kisses because butterflies and this sentiment go so well together.

I'm also trying new color combinations. I found a blog that has a random color generator where you input how many colors you want to use, any colors that need to be in the combo, and how many results you want, and presto! There's a whole list to choose from. I found it here. It just became my new favorite tool.

More is more??

Hello everyone!

Jillibean Soup dp

PTI cardstock

Memento ink

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Here we go for another Friends with Flair Friday! So, lately I've been on a "reduce the paper stash" kick. Although you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at my closet. So much gorgious paper, so little time...

This image is one of my favorites from the July KOM. This card reminds me of my parents who are going on year 43. They keep taking crazy long trips at various places around the world on their bikes. I'm all for exercise, but not that much!

Have a really great long weekend!