i'm loving This Window Card

Two posts in one day....I'm on a roll...and I love it.
A crafting friend gave me a beautiful gift....I've been trying to think of the perfect card to say thank you....well today while beginning my day with a cup of coffee and blog reading, I found a wonderful card....however, I can't show it, because my friend reads my blog....so instead, I will show you a card I made in minutes. This card was inspired by a blog post. This card was so easy to make and I think it is beautiful. All supplies are from my stash and most were purchased from Paradise Scrapbook Boutique. The front of the card stock was cut using a
Spellbinder die and then embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. That took about 10 minutes.

For the inside of the card, I cut the sentiment and fed matching ribbon through it and taped it to the decorative paper. I added a Prima flower and the card was finished. Twenty minutes tops... Sometimes when you dig in your stash, you find just what your looking for. I found a clear box that was perfect to use as an envelope. I added another sentiment and ribbon and I was done. I like it....I really do....and it was soooooo easy. I'm off to watch a bit of TV before bed. Again, have a wonderful week!

June Card Class

I think summer has arrived. We've actually gone 2 days without rain...ok, the day isn't over yet. Below are the two cards I'll be teaching during my June Class. The class size will be limited this time....I have only enough of this card stock for a few cards...so, sign up early!

I made a card similar to this one for my husband's birthday. By request, this is the second card for the June class. The layout will work well for many different occassions. Using a different embellishment, this card can easily be converted to a vertical card.

Karen has switched to summer hours, Paradise Scrapbook Boutique will now be closed on Mondays. Check out her web site for the new days for SOS, Operation Write Home and my class. Check Here.

I'm going out to enjoy a bit of this beautiful day....have a great week,

Happy Birthday Barbara and Happy Birthday C.R.A.F.T

Our neighbor and friend celebrated her birthday yesterday. She is a wonderful woman and one I enjoy making cards for. So.....A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBARA!

Another big celebration is the C.R.A.F.T Challenge Blog's 1st Birthday....so happy birthday to you. And a big happy birthday to your great design team for making your blog not only filled with beautiful creations, but also for challenging each of us. I wish you many, many more successful years!

Challenges I've posted to:

C.R.A.F.T Challenge - Celebrate/Birthdays

Crafty Creations - Encouragement and Celebrations

La-La Land Crafts - Birthday Wishes

Stamp Something Challenge - Two of Something - Happy Second Anniversary to Them...

My son, Dan, was visiting for the weekend, my daughter, Amy, and her honey, Linn, will be here next weekend along with Dan. We will be celebrating Jessica and Uriah's wedding....so, lots to do this week, I guess I should get off to bed.

Wishing you all a wonderful week. Be safe and happy crafting!

Jessica and Uriah's Wedding Card

Our gift to Jessica and Uriah.
My great niece is getting married soon. I've been mentally creating their card for weeks. Today I put thought to practice and this blog post is a result of my creating. My nephew and my husband are like father and son. When Richard had his heart attack, Scott and Yvette not only came to the hospital, but were great support for both of us. Because of this, and because of how special both of them are to both of us, I wanted to make the perfect card for their daughter. I think this card is my best effort thus far. The sentiment is a rubber stamp made by Embossing Arts. The flowers are Prima and the Butterfly on the card were purchased at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique. The pin was made by me using beads from my stash.

I am a great fan of white on white. I enjoy not only making wedding cards, but also the box to wrap them in. This time, I added a gift card enclosure. The card measures 6x6. The box is 6 1/2 x 6 1x2 x 1. I used my ScorPal to create the box. The lattice on the card, box and enclosure are all made using the Martha Stewart lattice border punch. The corners were created using a Martha Stewart corner punch. The butterfly is also a Martha Stewart punch....Can you tell, I love Martha's products. The sentiment on the front of the box was printed on my computer and then die cut using a Spellbinder die. I used mounting squares to give the sentiment dimension.

I made the gift card enclosure using the Sizzix Die. It seems I've used this often and I really like how easy these little gift card holders are to create. This one I covered using the lattice punch. I started by punching a 3 inch by 12 inch piece of card stock. It was the perfect size for the Sizzix die.

For the tissue wrap inside the box, I punched a 3 inch wide piece of card stock, again using the lattice border punch. I folded the 3 inch piece in half, and glued it to one side of the tissue. Then to keep the butterfly theme going, I glued butterflies to the lattice.

I must say....I really, really like how this card turned out.

Have an absolutely wonderful week. I think it's just about dinner time. I can't believe I've been working on this for 6 1/2 hours. It seems like it only took a short time. The upside....I did no snacking while I was making the card....let's hope I lost weight during the process.

Cards for Operation Write Home

I've been working on making kits for Operation Write Home and after making my husband's birthday card, I thought it would be a good idea to put together some kits for OWH. Yesterday at our SOS get-together, I put the kits together. I really like how they turned out and using the same set of colors really worked well. I'll be making more kits! A reminder... our OWH get-together dates will be changing for the summer. In May, it will be the 4th Monday. Beginning in June, our get-together will be on the 4th Tuesday of every month. This date will remain the same until further notice. I hope some of you can join us....It's free, it fun and it's full of laughs. Best of all, by the end of the day, we have all created beautiful cards to send to soldiers.

Carolyn was kind enough to teach us an Iris Star card. I will show it later in the summer....I want to use it for my grand-son's Birthday Card. Thanks Carolyn for taking time to teach us something new.

I'm off to teach a class today......enjoy your day, I'm sure I will enjoy mine.

Birthday Boy

Happy Mother's Day to all.....My husband spent all day asking what I wanted for Mother's Day. He wants to make it special....what a sweet man. I want my children and grandchildren to have long and very happy lives. My greatest gift has been watching them grow into wonderful people.

Now onto the card. My husband's birthday is mid-May. I spent the day with a friend making cards. This card is for his birthday. I used the Sizzix Cupcake die, decorated with Martha Stewart glitter and Flower Soft - Polar White. The papers are from the Girls Paperie.

I can normally craft all day and my honey doesn't come in to see what I'm doing. Today he was in and out all day long.....I think he thinks this card is for him....shhhhhh!

Challenges I've posted to:

C.R.A.F.T Challenge 49 - Wedding and Birthdays

Simon Says Stamp - Birthdays

Incy Wincy Challenge 40 - Anything Goes

Whoopsi Daisy Challenger - As You Like It

Dare You To Digi Stamp - Challenge 37 - Anything Goes (My Inside Sentiment)

The Shabby Tea Room - Week 8 - Get Your Bling On

Vacation Was WONDERFUL!

We are home! Can you guess where we went? What's amazing about this photo, it was taken from in front of my son's home...which is quite a way from this part of the street.....

Yup.....Lombard Street in San Francisco..... Dee Dee, my life long friend (since pre-school! Actually since our youngest went to pre-school) and I went to San Francisco. Dee Dee flew into Sacramento on Wednesday, we had one card making day and then headed to San Francisco to visit my youngest son, Dan. Dee Dee has always been considered my kid's second mom.

A photo of Dan and I. From my jacket and wind blown hair....you can guess that it's pretty windy and cold. I guess that would be considered a normal day in SF...well, maybe more normal would be to add fog to the mix. At any rate, we took over 500 photos (don't you love digital cameras). I love San Francisco! I love everything about it. Dan is the PERFECT tour guide.

Prior to leaving and upon our return, Dee Dee and I made cards.....She is so quick to learn. Below are photos of what we did. I made the yellow easel card and she made the remaining two. One of her cards is not shown. It is, however, very similar to the the lavender card. She also learned how to make the paper flowers. A trip to Paradise Scrapbook Boutique and to Michaels will allow her to make many, many more cards.

Here we are.....Dee Dee is ready to fly back home. She will be missed, but thankfully we have Skype to keep us sharing what we are doing from many miles apart.

Today it's back to daily living....which I think should include laundry....ack! Have a great week!