8 IS GREAT!!!!

Kate, if you are reading this avert your eyes...  I mean it!!!  My nephew is turning 8 this weekend, and thought I would mail him a card to celebrate his day!  I made this card completely out of scrap paper!  The base was cut from a 6x12 I had leftover, and cut this shape from I believe it was Gysy Wanderings Tags feature.  I loved how the shape, once folded looked like a file folder with the tab sticking out?  The Ice Cream cone is from Indie Art layered, and I used my clear embossing powder to give the ice cream a little sheen.  Still perfecting this technique... so I think it's alright!  The arrow is also a little hidden goodie in the Gypsy Wanderings feature buttons.  I cut the layers and embosses the yellow and white layer with my cuttlebug and then inked the raised part with some green ink to make it "pop" a bit more!  The 8 in the circle is cut from Designer's Calendar.  The stars are also from Gypsy Wanderings...  I couldn't get away from that cartridge could I?  A lof of doodling and inking and some black puffy stickers from my stash! 
I hope he likes it!

Happy Birthday Jake!  Love you!
Love,
"Aunt M"

you can see the "tab" better in this photo  :o)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

... but not quite yet - let me enjoy Fall for what it is! But, oh how I do love snow! I was asked if I could make a Christmas cards for a friend, and this is one idea I had. The snowman is from Gypsy Wanderings, and the wor d"snow" is welded with my Gypsy using Lyrical Letters and a snowflake from Christmas cartridge that was free with Gypsy upgrade last year.

Thank you for looking!
Mary

Toy Story Birthday Invites

When I was part of the "show" that my SIL had at her house in July, I was asked if I could make Toy Story Birthday Invites, precisely Woody invites.  I thought, sure!  I didn't have the Toy Story cartridge at that time, and said why not, right?  First, you don't turn down an order, especially your first larger order.  So, I found the Toy Story cartridge on ebay for I think it was $27, the day after the show.  What a steal!  So, then I played around with styles and layouts.  The lady who wanted them said her son, Jayce, was turning 3, and wanted the invite to say "Hey Howdy Hey It's Jayce's 3rd Birthday!"  So, that's just what I did!  I welded the Howdy with my Gypsy with the Plantin Schoolbook font, and hand wrote the "heys" on the front.  I like how they turned out.  I will say though, Putting together mass quantities of these were a little overwhelming!  All the little pieces and Woody's eyeballs...  let me tell you about Woody's eyeballs....  so little and holy moly... I think I went crosseyed!  :o)  Anyoof you who have made Woody before can atest to that one!  So, anywhos...  the background is plain cardstock, and Woody is cut at approx. 5.62 inches - gotta love the Gypy's exact heigth!  The card is 6x4.5.  I used a corner rounder+design and the inside has "It's Jayce's 3rd Birthday" plus all the Birthday info. 

Thank you for looking!  I appreciate your time!

Hugs and Paper Love,
Mary

My "Scrap Bin" is a little out of control!!!

Okay, okay, it is ALOT out of control...  so I had to do something about it, and will continue to be doing something about it for a LOOONNNGGGG time, it seems like!  I tried to organize my scraps by color or size, and it's completely not working...  absolutely not.  I couldn't handle it anymore, so I said to myself, "self...  make a bunch of cards using nothing but scraps."  So, the only thing I allowed myself to use new was the actual card base if I couldn't find big enough solid cardstock in my pile to make a card.  This isn't a huge dent in the grand scheme of things, but nonetheless, the pile has dwindled down a bit.  Keep going... keep going.  I did allow use of embellishments, stamps and things like that, but I didn't get out one new piece of paper to make a card.  Boy, that's hard!  So here they are, some look okay, some not so much, but either way, it was in an effort to use scraps and that goal was accomplished.  I did even venture out and use a new technique - powder embossing!  Take a look!

Very simple Happy Birthday cards... the golden and red colored paper were in my scrap bin and just used some ribbon and two little stickers I had in my stash

Used a scrap piece of red for the base and a strip of the diamond pattern blue paper.  Make a Wish and the party hat were rub-ons and I hand wrote "It's your day"

Blue cardstock I had in my stash - rounded the corners, added a yellow flower cut from Gysy Wanderings, that was in my spare cuts drawer, hand-wrote "for you" and drew a little heart on the flower.

 Purple cardstock was in my scrap stash, as was the golden yellos, and the green patterned paper.  I added the cirle of patterned paper that was in my spare cuts drawer along with the Thank you, I believe is from Wild Card.

My first attempt at powder embossing.  The only powder I have is clear, and this is what I came up with.  The black cardstock I actually cut to use for this card, b/c I wante dto see how the black would look embossed, and added the yellow striped paper.  The circles were cut with my Martha Stewart Circle cutter and then used them to make a little flower with a silver brad in the middle.  I inked the top layer of black with white chalk ink.  The cupcake stamp I had and foget where I got it... that's bad, I know.

My 2nd attempt at embossing with clear powder.  All the paper except for the red base were in my scrap bin, and added some red yellow and blue ribbon.  I don't like the way the embossing showed up on the red, ut love how it showed up on the blue...  note to self.   

Scrap pieces of pink and white cardstock, added a piece of brown trim with my edge punch and a tag from Plantin Schoolbook.  The brown was a scrap piece of ribbon and the pink brads I had on-hand.  "Celebrate" was a rub-on and the "You" is hand-written.

Scrap piece of teal cardstock and the patterned paper was also in my scrap bin.  I cut the little window out with a exacto knife and Stamped through the front, "Hello."  I like the way this turned out.  On the inside of the card "Hello" has "just wanted to say" above it.

A great way to use those pesky scrap pieces of ribbon.  I cut a 2.5" circle out of the front of it and glued my scrap pieces of ribbon behind the window.  I stamped "Hello" and wrote "dear friend."

A scrap piece of flower paper and a scrap piece of blue cardstock.  Just stamped "Happy Birthday."

Leftover patterned paper from above card, cut into strips, matted on some scrap blue cardstock and used a piece of yellow cardstock for the base.  A simple "Hello" Card.

I didn't realize I was on a "Hello" card kick till just now...  sorry about that!  "hello" was part of a stamp you will see in a bit with birds on it, but I just inked the hello, and hand'wrote "Friend."  The butterfly was in my stash of embellies and was pop-dotted, and the ribbon and patterned paper are all scraps as well. 

A scrap piece of red cardstock, as well as patterned paper, and some typewriter stickers I had in my stash, along with a sticker.  I used a maple leaf hole punch I have from my wedding favors (almost 5 years ago) and just punched some leaves out of fall-colored scarp paper. 



 Whew!!!!  That's it!  After all of that - I CHALLENGE YOU to a scrap bin dive....  Dive on in, see what you can create to use those little pieces of larger pieces of "I have to save this it might come in handy one day."  You know you have some things like this, too!!!!

Thank you for looking!  It means a lot to me!  Have a great day!

Hugs and Paper Love,

Mary



My Nephew's Train B-Day Card!

My nephew turned 3 and this was the card I made for his train-themed birthday party!  I used so many carts on this, so hopefully I can remember!

For the rain, I used the Christmas Cartridge that was free with Gypsy upgrade and cut the layers.  The neighborhood skyline is from Plantin Schoolbook.  "Happy" is from Just Because, and the "Birthday" is from Beyond Birthdays and I cut that "happy" off the top of it.  The moon and stars are from Create a Critter.  I think that's it...  yeah - that's it!  I also added some black slick stickers from my stash to spell out my nephew's name, Cole.  I loved making this card as it challenged me to make more of a boy style card... not too good with the masculine cards...  but I think this came out alright!

Thank you for looking!
Mary

PS - a big thanks to my SIL, Kate (Cards on the Fly) for taking a picture of this card as I completely forgot to do so before I sealed the envie.  Thanks Kate!

Keeping It Simple - Best WIshes!

I made this card as a request for a lady I work with.  We have someone leaving us and she wanted a card large enough for many people to sign.  What a cute, colorful, bright and easy card to make!  I used Kraft Paper as a base and went from there.  Some pretty yellow-ish orange cardstock, layered with some pretty teal patterned paper.  The yellow and orange flower I had in my stash and added a button that matched the teal paper I used.  I used my Crop-A-Dile (love that little guy) and then tied some orange cross-stitching thread, and added some to the button.  And finished it off with a white gel pen.  The sentiment and little doodle is hand drawn/written.  Then added stitching around the edges and on the inside as well.  The inside is blank to accomodate lots of messages for the lady who is leaving us! 

I really like how this one turned out!  :o)  I am excited about it, for sure!

Thank you for looking!

Mary