Welcome, Little One

Yowzas! It's been a while. Not sure what happened. I guess life just got in the way. But not to worry. I've been crafting these last several months, so there will be some things to see over the next week or so. And I hope to get some more time in the craft room this weekend, too.

Now for the card. Way back in April, I attended a baby shower for my friend Carla & sweet baby Emma. This is the card I made to accompany her gift. You'll notice that I used the emboss resist technique for this card. Such a nice, soft look - perfect for baby cards!


Cardstock: SU - pink pirouhette, pretty in pink, very vanilla; Luxe - (polka dots)
Ink: SU - pink pirouhette, pretty in pink
Stamps: PTI - Text Style, Inside & Out Baby; Verve - Fluttering By
Misc: clear embossing powder; corner rounder; MM - flower ribbon, eyelet ribbon; ScorTape

20+ Days of Cards: Day 20

Today wraps up the holiday cards I made as gifts. This last card is literally a gift in itself. Again, I used Jennifer McGuire's tutorial for incorporating money into the design. Who said money doesn't grow on trees?? *wink*

Cardstock/Paper: SU - not quite navy, baja breeze, sage shadow, chocolate chip
Ink: VM; SU - handsome hunter, always artichoke
Stamps: Luxe - swirls; PTI - 2009 Holiday Tags
Misc: SU - heat & stick powder; Stampendous - crystal snow; Reflections - pearls, stars; Michaels - velvet ribbon

Kona Le'a Coffee

Our day in Kona was one of our most-anticipated. We chose to take the Explosion of Flavor tour on which we would visit the Hawaiian Chocolate Factory, Kona Le'a Coffee Plantation, and the Hawaiian Vanilla Company. We were certainly not disappointed - it was an "explosion of flavor" and then some!


Cardstock/Paper: TLC - Runway
Misc: Luxe - travel rub-ons; chipboard; Sizzix - Aphrodite; MM - rub-ons; pop dots

Hilo Botanical Garden

While in Hilo, we enjoyed a day-long excursion on which we toured Volcano National Park, the Thurston Lava Tube, the Mauna Loa macademia nut farm, and the Botanical Garden. I was enamored by the beautiful flowers and plants in the garden. This layout is but a small sampling of the many wonders of the garden.


Cardstock/Paper: TLC - Runway; Luxe - Simply Luxe
Misc: buttons; Michaels - flower; MM - big brad; Sizzix - alphabet; Luxe - adhesive tag; TLC - parens; Xyron; Zots

Mudbugging

There are quite a few layouts from our Hawaii album that I have not shown you. Slowly but surely I'm finishing up this album. Sad when it takes you two years to get the layouts done. LOL! For this layout, I used another one of Becky Higgins' sketches. A basic recipe sure makes pages come together more quickly!

While we were in Kona, we went mudbugging on the old sugar plantation. We had a blast "gettin' dirty" on the trails. It was beautiful country to drive through and we even recognized several of the vistas from movies like "Jurassic Park" and "Six Days Seven Nights."


Cardstock/Paper/Elements: TLC - Urban Threads; kraft

Ink: SU - chocolate chip (edge distressing)

Misc: TLC - brown distressed rub-ons; Sizzix - alpha; Luxe - travel words rub-ons; pop dots; Canon photopaper; Xyron 250

Good Luck

This week my most favorite bus driver is leaving. It's an unfortunate part of riding the bus. We only get to keep our drivers for six months before they move on to other routes. I've been riding the bus for six years, and I cannot recall a driver I have liked more. Michael is courteous, polite, and takes a genuine interest in his riders. He notices when we don't ride. He holds the bus a few minutes when we're running late. He takes pride in his job. And it shows: he was selected as Driver of the Year for 2008. In short, Michael is a real gem. I made this card to wish him farewell and good luck as he moves on.

Cardstock/Paper: TLC - black, cream underground; SU - real red, very vanilla

Stamps: Luxe - Swirls; SU - Figures of Speech

Ink: Versamark; SU - real red

Misc: Stampendous - midnight black embossing powder; MM - red star brads; white satin ribbon; red velvet ribbon; Zots; Zips; pop dots; Sizzix - top notez; circle cutters; star punch

Inspiration layout

Fluttering Thanks

I needed some quick thank-you cards and found inspiration in an older post I had starred in Google Reader. I was able to whip up a batch in no time flat and am certainly pleased with how they came out. I realized as I was assembling all the pieces that the scale is a little off, but I still felt it worked well enough to assemble as I'd planned.

Cardstock: Luxe - Simple Calico; white

Ink: VF - onyx; SU - baja breeze, mellow moss, pretty in pink

Stamps: VV - Fluttering By, Petals & Stems, Filigree fantasy; SU - Framed Greetings

Misc: Michaels - pearls; Zots

Christmas Card

It seems a little late to post this now. I really did intend to put this up the week after Christmas, but somehow, that plan got derailed. Anyway, better late than never, right? I'm particularly proud of this year's card - it's simply beautiful.

Base: white pre-scored card

Cardstock: SU - shimmery white, chocolate chip, baja breeze

Ink: SU - chocolate chip; CB - frost white craft

Stamps: Luxe - swirls; SU - holy triptych

Misc: Stampendous - white pearls e/p; MM - pearl glaze; SU - watercolor pencils, blender pen, ticket corner punch

Inspiration here

Gift Set No. 6

This is the second (well, actually the fourth when you count the ones you've already seen from this post here and here) of five birthday cards in the gift set. Definitely a masculine feel.

Base: white pre-scored card

Cardstock: stone; hunter; navy; SU - more mustard

Ink: SU - night of navy, more mustard, chocolate chip, handsome hunter

Stamps: SU - Unfrogettable (sentiment), Simply Circles

Misc: MM - navy brads; Luxe - rub-ons; 1/4 in hole punch; pop dots; Crop-a-dile

Inspiration here

Birthday

Today we're celebrating my brother's birthday. So I made him this card. I based the design on this card. I changed the color scheme so it was a bit more masculine. And I also used some background paper that pays a small tribute to my brother's profession - Texas DPS - where a star similar to the one in the paper is on their badges & other professional emblems.

Background: Luxe-Simple Grid Turquoise
Paper: SU-Western Sky, Wintergreen
Cardstock: white
Stamps: Verve-Floral Whimsy
Ink: VF-onyx; SU-certainly celery, old olive,tempting turquoise
Misc: paper piercer, white satin ribbon, pop dots, tacky tape, Zots, watercolor pencils, blender pen, brads, flower, K&Co-Addison chipboard letters, Stickles-waterfall, CM-circle & wavy cutters

Birthday

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. This is the card I made for him based on this layout.

Cardstock: Luxe-turquoise simply ledger; SU-creamy caramel, not quite navy, cameo coral, taken with teal; lt. artichoke
Ink: SU-not quite navy
Stamps: SU-Office Accoutrement & Something to Celebrate
Misc: Stickles-waterfall; ribbon; tacky tape; pop dots-sm & lg

Inspired

My mom sent me this beautiful thank-you card.

And that inspired the layout for this sympathy card.

Cardstock: SU-regal rose, old olive, bordering blue; white
Stamps: SU-Delight in Life; Luxe-Luxeurious acrylics
Ink: SU-regal rose; Versafine-onyx
Misc: big brad, decorative scissors, olive ribbon, watercolor pencils, blender pen, Stickles-pink, DCWV-rub-on stitching

Hawaii Layouts

Whoohoo! I finally have something to show for myself after several long weeks of nothing. In honor of National Scrapbooking Day, I spent Saturday afternoon in the craft room (instead of cleaning house...LOL). Here's a sampling of what I got done. All of these layouts are based on sketches by Becky Higgins - her formulas are so easy to adapt & use!

You may remember this layout from a previous post. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I was disappointed with some empty space on the left page. I couldn't think of anything to put to fill the void. I tried the flower, but it just didn't do it for me. Then I got my new Luxe prize pack & saw the stamps - perfect! The flower on the right page is not permanent; I can't decide if I like it or not. It's growing on me. (No pun intended)

All paper: TLC Runway - Tressie Circles
Ribbon: K&Co - Happy Trails
Rub-ons: TLC - Vacation
Dimensional stickers: K&Co
Sizzix: Circus

TLC Quicksand Kit
TLC Runway - Salt & Pepper Circles; Caroline Circles
Cardstock: olive & brown
Sizzix: Aphrodite & Sassy Serif
Misc: button, pop dots

Here are two layouts that are still in-progress. I opted to show only one page of the two-page spreads. They were the ones most finished/presentable.

Paper: TLC Runway - Salt & Pepper Circles
Cardstock: olive
Misc: green flower brads
Sizzix: Script

Paper: TLC Runway - Retro Shapes
Other paper: Luxe - Simple Dot Turquoise
Tag: Luxe - Simply Turquoise
Misc: brown buttons
All other elements from TLC kit

Sympathy

Inspiration for this sympathy card came from here. I use this website a lot for ideas. I dug in my stash of patterned paper & found the perfect base for the rest of the card.

Paper: SU-Wintergreen
Cardstock: cream, lt. aqua, sage, white
Stamps: Polka Dots & Petals
Ink: always artichoke, taken with teal, onyx
Misc: aqua brads, Luxe rub-ons, pop dots, paper piercing tool