July Birthdays, Layout and... A Commissioned Card!

July Birthdays:
     Both of my nieces have birthdays in July.  Aubri's is the 20th and Tori's is the 24th.  And my friend, Abi, had one on the 23rd.  The girls got their quilts mailed to them along with the cards I made for their birthday's.  Here are the cards:

Aubri, 3rd Birthday:  I love the way this turned out.  The layers are great and the paper was just so funky!

Tori, 6th Birthday: Took a bit of effort to get this cupcake done.  Probably would have been easier if I had a template or a cricut cartridge with one on it, but no, this was all me.

Abi :  I used the same kind of layering that I did with Aubri's card.  And the flower was one made from the previous posts.  I love the way the flower turned out!

This layout was made using papers from My Scrapbook Nook.  The photo was taken of Caylie and Tori at my mother's wedding back in October of 2009.  Those two girls don't miss any opportunity to be together and truly love one another.

 

And finally, I was asked to make a card for Abi's grandmother for her 100th birthday.  I tried to make the card look as elegantly vintage as possible.  I like the design I ended up with.  I also made the envelope.  That was my first try at an envelope that I couldn't do with the help of my cricut.  I'm happily surprised at the end result and hope they're happy with it too.

 

      Well that does it for now.  I'll post more when it gets done.  Cheers!

Paper Flowers

     I have been busy the last few days making paper flowers.  I found them online @ Such a Pretty Mess .  They are easy to make and really add that "special something" to layouts.  It's been fun making them.  I've added some pearls to the middle of some and glitter to the petals of others.

I've also done a few layouts using up the last of the pictures I've got on hand.

This one is of my niece Tori...she's a beauty! (Layout done with the July Nook kit.)

My very first try at the paper flowers

Hand stitching!

This is a newborn picture of Aubri (which will be 3 years ago later this month!)

And finally, this is of my girls rough-housing outdoors.

A cluster that I'm happy turned out so well.

     And last night I printed out about 30 more pictures so I'll have some to work with now! Here's a favorite of mine: the Bald Knob Cross. I just love it from this angle!  Bald Knob Cross is the largest cross in the western hemisphere, located in Alto Pass, Illinois.  It is the realized dream of one man and currently in disrepair today with a war of sorts going on to try and get the funds together to get it restored to its former glory.  This photo was taken on one of our last trips home and it is a part of home that I dearly miss!!

Hope you enjoyed, cheers!

June Birthday

     Another birthday at work, another excuse to try out a new card!

First choose the cardstock you'll need as your base and cut to desired measurements.

Second, layer a decorative paper on top, 1/4 inch smaller than the front of your card.

Choose coordinating paper to decorate.  Cut into equal pieces and adhere.  I used an edge punch for this one.

Choose a card topper and design.

I used  Martha Stewart stamp set for the butterfly.  I set it with hairspray (the glitter kept flaking right off.)

Add ribbon and adhere using puffy tape for depth.  And voila...  Happy Birthday Karen!

This is a second card made with the same materials.  (Storming outside, so bad lighting!)

Scraps

      I know it's been awhile since I posted anything.  I'm still accumulating craft supplies but haven't spent much time crafting.  I've been a bit consumed reading lately, cranking out 4 books in 4 weeks and I'm on a fifth book now.  But in the last couple days I've managed to do 3 scrapbook pages.  The photos aren't as clear as I'd hoped but the lighting was bad.  Here goes:

     This first one is my favorite, mostly because of the green and blue hues.  I also tried my hand at the rolled paper flowers and think they turned out quite cute.

This next one is of my niece.  I took some pre-cut flowers and layered them using dimensional tape topped off with bead for the center.

And this one was created last night while I was a bit bleary-eyed.  I love the blacks and reds.  I actually crumpled up a couple pieces of the paper, inked the edges, then glued them down.  It turned out nicely

I used my latest toy...a grommet setter, to make the holes for the brads.  It's so much fun to whack away on something and to make a lot of racket in the name of crafting!  (No complaints from the neighbors yet!)

Just hot-glued the twine down to the ribbon after fashioning a bow.

Thanks for looking.  Cheers!