Lili of the Valley - Happy Birthday John 2012

My wonderful husband John turned 57 on the 28th of February --- I'm hoping this is a good year for him as he has also decided to retire - barring his company conning him into staying longer -- he is the type of guy who has allowed himself to be consumed by his job in this effort to do things perfectly.  He's losing the battle and it's taking a terrible toll on him.  Much as having his income is nice, it's not as nice as my having him period ... but I digress.  John is a very talented musician so when I saw this little boy image from Lili of the Valley, It screamed John to me --- as part of his birthday gift I signed him up for a Beer of the Month Club, and sadly he was the one to pick the box up at the post office.  He didn't open it though so I put it away until yesterday.  When he opened his card, which I had placed atop the box, he said --- did you get me a puppy (because of the one on the image) --- Funny guy!!   Too bad the picture kind of looks muted to me in the colour department as in real life, it's a bit livelier!

Materials:  Stamp: Lili of the Valley; CS: SU; DP: K&Company: Guitar - Cricket; Sentiment: CTMH; Colour by Copic

Miss Anya - Happy Birthday Barb

Lucky I notice usually what I'm typing otherwise, this card would have been Happy Birthday Bart!  This is an image I haven't used in a while and when I was sorting through my tons of images when I was getting ready to make this card, this pretty little miss just kind of spoke to me.  Together with the very colourful phrasing of the new CTMH set I got "Just a Number" everything kind of lined up for Barb'b card.  She's a year younger than I am, but what the yeck --- never hurts to heckle!  The inside answers the question on the cover and says:  "wondering what happened".  How true!

Materials:  Stamp, The Greeting Farm Miss Anya Dressy; DP: SU: Sentiment: CTMH: Colour by Copic

For the A-Maze-ing Nicholas

I haven't been buying very many Stampin' Up images of late because I find for the most part that although they are very pretty, they are usually also very small.  But when I saw this image (the maze) and the added actual maze game embellishment, I knew this was something my sweet little Nicholas would love.  His 7th birthday (where has the time gone) is on March 3 so I made this card for him.  Uusally I put money (a twonie) somewhere on the front, but since he's now 7 and a little more aware of the value of money, put 3 five dollar bills inside for him to go nuts at the Buck Store with!  Sweet boy I do miss him!

Materials:  Image:  SU: DP: SU: Sentiments: SU & DTMH

Digi Doodles Fairy Daisy - Get Well Soon

After much searching I finally found who had created the digital image - which is so fun to colour!  This is a get well card for a lovely young woman I worked with in Toronto who is in hospital, and has been there for quite a long time, fighting some kind of illness.  She has a huge responsibility on her frail shoulders at home, being the sole provider for her parents and younger siblings. To think of her lot in life which she carries with faith and a smile, makes me feel shallow when I whine and complain.  Not of course that I'm going to stop, but at least I'm aware of it!  Anyway, this card I think is quite beautiful.

Materials:  Digital Image by Digi Doodles; DP: Prima: Spellbinder Dies; Sizzix corners; Dazzling Diamonds; Colour by Copic

Miles on a Cake for Peter

I gotta say that I am so far behind this year in my card making that I'm crossing people off the list for getting cards with wild abandon....I must say I've also decided that those who have made absolutely no effort to even find out when my birthday is, or who didn't even say happy birthday to me last year are being punished by not receiving a birthday card this year -- so there!!!  My boss Peter doesn't fit into that category, so he gets a card, and I really like him so didn't want to miss his birthday.  I also got to use my new Cricut again and cut this big cupcake out as a mat.  Next time though I'll cut the cupcake first, then stamp and colour --- it was quite stressful figuring out where to put the paper, etc. to get the machine to cut around the image.  Worked out well in the end though!

Materials:  Stamp:  Kraftin' Kimmie; Sentiment: CTMH: Mats:  Cricut; Colour by Copic; DP: K&Company (I think)

Mushroom House - Thank You

My daughter Sarah and her husband have become quite friendly with their realtor who helped sell their old house; and find a rental while they wait for their new house to be built.  She has provided fabulous service, and to top it off recently brought them a lovely housewarming thank-you gift.  I offered to make Sarah a thank you card to send to her and figured a "house" would be perfect, and what's more perfect that this ultra-cute Make it Crafty stamp.  The Sentiment is by CTMH as part of their Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge package -- what a deal and what a package!  Highly recommend it.

Materials:  Stamp:  Make it Crafty Mushroom House; Spellbinder Dies; CS: SU: DP: Who knows: Cloud Template by SU: Sentiment: CTMH: Colour by Copic

Thalia Goddess Stamp - Happy Birthday Lindsay

I recently bought Kraftin' Kimmie's new goddess offering --- this one is Thalia and I pretty much copied the layout and look of the examples for Thalia on the Kraftin' Kimmie main site.  I think she looks very elegant and the I am a goddess message I think is very profound, and I wanted it for my neice Lindsay who is an accomplished, lovely young woman -- and positive messaging is always a good thing to have.  Her friends are having a party for her just before her birthday and its a surprise, so just in case Lindsay actually looks at my blog I have to post this after the fact!

Materials:  Stamp & Sentiment:  Kraftin' Kimmie; Flowers by Prima; Labels:  Cricut; Colour by Copic

Fairy House

I absolutely love these Make it Crafty stamps -- the houses (and everything else) are so whimsical and gorgeous.  Luckily the colours on the little sheets that accompany the stamps are pretty darn good, so I just copied their selection!  I also just got a Cricut so am going haywire cutting things out --- this whole card shape (including the little flower cutouts) are on the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge -- I loved the shape, then had to think of something to put inside the little flowers -- hence the introduction of the Make it Crafty little Sprites!  And since I had to put a sheet of decorative paper on the inside of the card to hide the inserts I decided to stamp directly on the card stock so I didn't have to worry about the markers bleeding through.  Then, to top it all off I used my SU cloud template (years old) to make the house look like it was in the clouds - sort of.  Not sure what I'm going to do with this card yet, but I do like it!

Materials:  Stamps:  Make it Crafty; Colours by Copic; Cricut card shape

Sherry's Wedding

One of the women in our office in the Sault recently got married - and as I've mentioned before, I routinely make cards for my boss to send to staff celebrating something great, or grieving - whatever the occasion calls for.   Sherry is a nice lady, and I've always thought these little Magnolia figures are cute -- my husband thinks they're creepy and they look like brother and sister -- but there you have it.  At least I gave them different coloured hair!
Materials:  Magnolia stamp; CS: SU: Ovals cut by my  new Cricut; Colour by Copic