Dad's Birthday Lines Card

Good Morning blog readers. It is time for another masculine birthday card. Monday is my dad's birthday and as usual I needed to make him a card and I have been stumped for days on what to make. Usually when I am stuck on what to do I head on over to Pinterest for a while until inspiration usually strikes, but this time I decided to do something a little different. I decided to clean out my scrap drawer for three reasons, one as way of distracting myself from the task at hand. Two, because it needed to be done and this month seemed like the prefect time to do it since most of my cards have been centered around using up products found around my craftroom. And, thirdly in hope that some of my scraps would be the inspiration that I needed. Lo and behold I got lucky. I found some great masculine cardstock strips leftover from a get well card I made in June. Since I didn't get a chance to share the card back in June and I need a card for my dad I thought, why reinvent the wheel, I would simply reuse the card design. I did end up changing one or two small things but in the end the only large difference is in the sentiment. I definitely need to keep this in mind. Maybe it is time to revisit some of the card designs that I have used in the past, and try to revamp them into new cards for different occasions.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Old to New Birthday

Today's card is another one that I found tucked away amongst other things as I was going through some containers in my Scraproom (attempting to clean but I got sidetracked.) The large cupcake diecut on the front was one of the first cuts that I made when I got my Cricut back in 2009. Back then I cut it out to see how it would look, and the overall size of it and then just sat it aside because I didn't know what to do with it (BTW I did this A LOT back then.) At some point along the way I must have decided to make it into a card, because when I found it in the container it had already been adhered to the patterned paper in the background and the blue card base. In order to finish up the card, so that it was an actual card instead of a large cupcake glued to paper, I went through my stash of stickers and found these fun chipboard birthday stickers.  (I was even able to find the scraps of the same patterned cardstock to stick on the inside.)

It was really sweet to see a project from so long ago and it made me realize just how far my crafting has come.

Scraps to New

Hey guys, so in Tuesday's post I talked about a challenge that I created for myself to spark some inspiration. Well, as I was putting things away (I like to load down my desk with the supplies that I am using and then do a mass cleaning by putting everything away at once) the leftover scraps of paper that I had made my previous cards out of started speaking to me and 20 minutes later I had three new cards to add to my collection; two standard sized 4.25 x 5.5 inch cards and one 3 x 3 inch note card. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. By the time I was finished making all five cards there was barely any scraps remaining.

Challenging Myself

When I am feeling uninspired, making a card or scrapbook layout can seem almost impossible, which is why many a time I turn to Pinterest for help and ideas. But, today I thought that I would try something new, a challenge for myself. I randomly picked out one stamp set, one 6x6 paper pad and three new dies to work with and told myself that that was ALL I could work with (I added some bling in the end just to jazz the cards up and to make a small dent in my never ending supply of crafty goodies). By creating this challenge for myself it really got the creative juices flowing.

I sat down to create one card using the randomly selected supplies shown below and then ended up making two different cards. I loved this challenge so much and I will definitely be doing it again. It forced me to look at my supplies in new and interesting ways and it is also a great way to use up some of the hoards of supplies that I have amassed.

Quilled Birthday

Sometimes I forget how much fun a card kit can be. All the supplies you will need come prepackaged in one color coordinated bundle just ready to be assembled in whatever manner you choose. A while back, I can't even remember when now, I bought a quilling card kit simply because I thought that it would be fun. I have never actually done any quilling but I have seen several people online do it and thought that it looked complicated and fun. When I came across this cute quilling kit I thought that it was time that I give this new craft a try. So far, this is the only card that I have completed (because it was the easiest one) but I do plan to make more in the future.

Quick question for you? When you are attempting a new project, such as a new craft, do you like to take it easy and start with a beginner project? Or, do you jump straight in to the deep end with an ADVANCED project and then get mad when it fails because you don't know the basics?

I am definitely the latter which is why I only have one card to show you today, the rest of my "attempts" are lying crumpled up in a ball at the bottom of my trash can because they ultimately resembled a blob. So after several frustrating hours trying to make these complicated quilled masterpieces that I saw on Pinterest, I finally hung my head and went back to the beginner projects to learn the basics. But, I made a promise to myself and those crumpled attempts as I lovingly placed them in the trash that I would be back to  defeat them another day.

Heartfelt

Hey readers, today for my card I wanted to use up some large chipboard pieces that I have had in my stash for a while. I have a confession, I may or may not have shared with you before....I have a bit of a hoarding problem. When I get crafty items that I don't have a set plan for, sometimes I tend to just set them aside in the hopes of using them later, only when later comes I still don't have the "perfect" idea for them, so back into the drawer they go. My goal going forward is to USE my collection of goodies and not wait for the perfect use for it because lets face it, it is hard for inspiration to strike when the supplies are tucked away.

So, I added some foam to the back of my elements and slapped them onto the front of a couple of card bases and I love it.

Friendly Butterfly

Today I am back with another relatively simple card where I let the products do the hard work for me. A while back I bought this cool stamp and embossing folder combo, mainly because I had never seen it before and I absolutely LOVE it. The stamp is really pretty when stamped alone but combined with the embossing folder it makes for a spectacular card with lots of dimension.

Since I love butterflies and have about 12 different butterfly stamp sets I decided to include one of my favorite butterflies stamped on the inside along with a sweet sentiment to bring this whole card together.

Sending You Happy Thoughts

Hi guys, I want to start today's blog with a prayer for all of you who live in or who have friends and family in Texas and Florida. My aunt Carla lives in Florida and I know that it has been a super stressful time for her trying to figure out the best course of action for evacuating due to the Hurricane. She and her boyfriend are planning to leave Florida in the morning and head towards Georgia in search of safety and refuge. I pray that they, as well as everyone else fleeing this powerful Hurricane, have safe travels and know that we are thinking of and praying for them.

I decided to keep today's card simple and light. So I used some paper strips I had leftover from a previous project to cover the background. I left the inside of the card completely blank so that there is plenty of room to write a message.

I wish you all good luck, safe travels and God Bless!

Celebrate Cupcakes

Happy September 1st everyone and a very Happy Birthday to my aunt. The card that I have for you (and my aunt) is one that I started several months ago as a way to kill (aka use up entirely) a paper pad. As many of the things in my craft room have been lately, it got pushed aside to finish later and I forgot all about it. Well, I just recently found the pieces again. I decided to change up the new cards that I made just slightly for a different look using the same supplies in order to offer some variation. 

The original design features two long panels side by side with the cupcake focal image (which was stamped and hand cut) off center. 

In order to change it up for the second card I cut one larger and one smaller piece of patterned paper and put the cupcake in the uppermost center of the card. 

Since my goal was to kill an entire 6 x 6 paper pad, I ended up with quite a few cards of each design.  In order to achieve the variations in the cards I colored the frosting on the cupcakes in three different colors that coordinated with the base of the card.  I also chose a variety of different birthday themed sentiments for the inside.