Happy Birthday to a Great Friend

Hi!! Is anybody else extremely busy from the hustle and bustle of Christmas? I know, you all are, dumb question, right? :o) Thanks to having a few go to cards that I created a while ago I am able to have a card to post for you today.

There is just something about butterflies that I absolutely love. I have tons of dies for them, punches, stickers, stamps, you name it. and this huge butterfly die by Stampin' Up! makes for a great focal image on a card or page. Don't even have to do much with it to make it stand out.

And don't you just love the colors of that Echo Park patterned paper? Such an addiction for me collecting their papers. Good thing is, at least I use them. :o)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

patterned paper - Echo Park

butterfly dies, black twine - Stampin Up

label die - Spellbinders

stamp - Hero Arts (Sentiment)

ink - Tsukineko, Papertrey Ink (blue)

embossing folder - Cuttlebug

embossing and die cut machine - Big Shot by Sizzix

Birthday Party Invites

Hi everyone. Sorry for the absence, we have been gone some and I haven't had a chance to post since last Monday. But I am back with you today with three cards for ya. I was asked to make some birthday invites for my niece and so I made three different ones and thought it would be fun for her to pick her favorite. And here is her number one choice (the card below). And secretly, it was my favorite one too. She has good taste. :o)

I used one of my favorite companies to make this card, Cosmo Cricket. I love their new paper line, Garden Variety. So full of yummy goodness. The stamped image is from Stampin' Up! and I just paper pieced the frosted top to that cupcake. And of course it can't go unnoticed one of the best border punches ever, the loops edger punch by Martha Stewart.

My son picked this one as his favorite. The colors really pop off the card on this one. The stamps I used are from Hero Arts titled Elephants. I love that big elephant in that set, so easy to cut out and looks really cute too stamped on patterned paper if you want to spice it up a bit. And of course in true Julie fashion, I had to use another one of my favorite border punches by EK Success, the large embossed scalloped.

Here is the last card I made and I did another one of my loves, embossing. I love my embossing folders, they give just a touch of interest to a card without being distracting. The stamps I used for this card are also from Hero Arts, love that galaxy of stars stamp set by them.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!!!

Supplies:

Card 1

cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

stamps - Stampin Up! (cupcake), Cosmo Cricket (sentiment)

patterned paper - Cosmo Cricket

punches - Creative Memories (circle, square), EK Success (scalloped circle), Martha Stewart (loopy border)
die - Spellbinders

ink - Tsukineko, Papertrey Ink

Card 2

cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

stamps - Hero Arts

punches - Creative Memories (circle), Stampin Up! (small scallop border), EK Success (large embossed scallop border)

glitter glue - Ranger

ink - Tsukineko

die cut - Cricut cartridge Home Accents (sun)

Card 3

cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

stamps - Hero Arts

embossing folders - Cuttlebug

twine - Papertrey Ink

border punch - EK Success

ink - Tsukineko

Birthday Wishes

Monday already! I was just getting used to my weekend, it stinks it always has to end.

Here is a card for the Olympics of Stamping contest. My fourth one so far. I'm sure I will slow down now that the weekend is over but I had the itch to keep creating and so I went with it. Any excuse to stamp, right?!?!

I don't know what happened to my pictures lately and I'm not a photo expert, but I can't seem to get rid of the blue tint to my first picture. It is bugging me and I wish I knew more about photography to help myself. My pictures usually never turn out like this, not happy. I hope you can still get the full effect of the colors in the picture below, that turned out a little better.

Thanks for stopping by and have fun creating this week.

Supplies:

cardstock, ribbon, ink, stamps, buttons, twine - Papertrey Ink

gems - KaiserCraft

embossing folder - Cuttlebug

embossing machine - Epic Six by Quickutz

corner rounder - EKSuccess

WISH Tag

I had made this tag for a submission request for a magazine, but it wasn't picked up so I am sharing it here with you today. I'm not one to make tags but I have to say it was a lot of fun. When you have such a small area to work with, you pretty much can't fail at making a tag look nice. Before I made this tag I had just bought the Stamping Solutions Cricut Cartridge and I fell in love the butterfly and wish sentiment, they just fit perfectly on this card.
And what is a girly card without a little glitter. I just had to spruce up that butterfly and so I added some stickles to it and around the circle. And for the sentiment, I really wanted to use white on white and to help it stand out more I embossed it with my Cuttlebug embossing folder. Love the end result and hope to use this tag on a gift for a really special little girl very soon.

Supplies:
cardstock,button, twine, ribbon - Papertrey Ink
glitter - Stickles
embossing folder - Cuttlebug
die machine - Cricut
cartridge - Stamping Solutions

Caardvarks Red Heart Challenge

Ya know, I have been lurking for way to long at Caardvarks and I have now finally decided to try their newest challenge, the Red Heart Challenge. We have to make sure we incorporate the color red and a heart into our card. So, I just made sure I had a red heart, couldn't make it much simpler on myself. :o) If you want to check out the challenge go HERE for the post. Believe me, you will love what all the designers created for this challenge. Always tons of inspiration at Caardvarks.

I have never used scor-tape before and I don't know now what took me so long. I absolutely love how easy it is to adhere glitter to your cards and pages. Just put the scor-tape where you want it, dump some glitter on top, and pat down to make sure it is secure and there you have it. So easy and love the end result. If you are interested in some, THIS is where I got mine.

Supplies:

card stock, stamps, ink - Papertrey Ink

glitter - Making Memories

embossing folder - Cuttlebug

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!

Hi everyone in blogland. Just wanted to take a second to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been a fun year sharing all my craftiness with you and I hope you continue to visit my blog in 2010. I love what I do but I love it more knowing that you are stopping by and visiting. Thanks for sharing my love of cardmaking and scrapbooking with me and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!!!

Hugs,

Julie

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #16

I LOVE the fall and what better way to start the season early than with these awesome colors. I was so giddy when I saw the colors for this challenge. I could work with these colors all year long, never get sick of them.

It was so amazing how quick this card came together. I knew in my head how I wanted to do the design of this card and it all just kind of went from there. I used the new 2009 Autumn Tags set from Papertrey Ink for the stamps. For the background stamp though I used the Hero Arts Raindrop background stamp. I wanted to add some texture to this card as well so I embossed the brown cardstock with THIS Cuttlebug embossing folder and added some rustic twine.

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI (summer sunrise and dark chocolate), Stampin Up! (kraft, very vanilla)

stamps - PTI, Hero Arts

ink - Memento

twine - PTI

other - Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampin Up! exclusive Sizzix die cut, EKsuccess circle and scalloped punch

Father's Day Cards

Here are the cards I sent out for Father's Day. Actually I sent two out and just handed the one to my amazing hubby. The first card I made for my hubby, the second card for Curt's dad and the last card for my dad. It is really hard for me to make masculine cards sometimes especially when I am making a bunch at once, but I liked how these turned out. I always seem to want to add a feminine touch to all my cards and so I have resist that with masculine cards. I even carefully choose my border punches because even some of those I consider feminine. Hopefully someday this will get easier for me.

Supplies (card #1)

cardstock - Stampin Up!

stamps - Hero Arts

patterned paper - October Afternoon

letter stickers - American Crafts

ink - Colorbox (blue), Memento (brown)

Supplies (card #2)

cardstock - Stampin Up!

stamps - Stampin Up!

patterned paper - BasicGrey

twine - Papertrey Ink

ink - Memento

embossing folder - Cuttlebug

Supplies (card#3)

cardstock - Stampin Up!

stamps - Papertrey Ink

border punch - Fiskars

embossing powder - Hero Arts (white)

ink - Colorbox (blue), Versamark (for embossing)

Kissable, Huggable

When you see that cute little smile, how can you not kiss those cute, dimply cheeks. When I saw this picture of Gavin, it just made me want to pick him up and give him hugs and kisses all over. So to convey those feelings, the title was created. I had gotten this new alphabet stamp set and I thought it would look great with this layout, but I went above and beyond and cut out each letter to make the title stand out more. Very long process but so worth it because I love the final outcome.

And what better paper to go with this page than the Lil Man line by Cosmo Cricket. So stinkin cute, it was hard to pick which paper from the line I wanted to go with. And did you notice the embossing on the orange cardstock? I love this embossing folder by Cuttlebug, so perfect for this page. My new favorite.

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up

patterned paper - Cosmo Cricket

stamps - kiMemories

ink - Colorbox

border punch - Fiskars

embossing folder - Cuttlebug/Provocraft

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #6

Is it sad that I practically live for the day that Dawn posts her color challenges? I just love her color combos so much and I love how they inspire me and make me try new things. I have never been the best at picking out colors and Dawn's challenges help me with that. I seem to create my best cards because of these challenges.

I got some new Papertrey Ink goodies on Monday and I am loving every set I purchased, best buy for me in a while. I used the new stamp set bird watching for this card. I have always had a love for birdhouses and all things related. And the birds in this set are awesome. I love the decorative touches on them. How adorable. If you want to see this full stamp set, go HERE.

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up!

stamps - Papertrey Ink

ribbon - Robert Stanley Collection

ink - Memento

embossing powder - American Crafts

other - cuttlebug dots embossing folder, border punch Stampin Up!

Happy Birthday - Star

I know, it has been almost a week since I have posted any new stuff. I have been pretty good at posting 3 a week but it has been pretty busy around here and not a whole lot of time at the computer, only enough time for about 5 minutes here and there.

Here is a brand new card I finished last night for a special little man that is having a birthday Saturday. I have no worries he will be looking on my blog to see what is coming his way. :) I just love the star stamps from Hero Arts, they work perfectly for boy cards or boy layouts. I arranged all the individual stars on an acrylic block to make a background and then stamped them with versamark and then covered it with white embossing powder and heated. It turned out pretty good and the distressing gives it a warm feeling.

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up!

stamps - Hero Arts

gems - Hero Arts

embossing powder - Hero Arts

ink - Colorbox, Ranger Ink

thread - DMC

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #2

Here is my card for this week's Raspberry Suite color challenge. I love the colors, they are so rich and look great together. I was a little nervous because I couldn't find any brown cardstock (I use it quite often and the nearest scrapbook store is 25 miles away) and then I found a small piece that fit perfectly into my design.

With this challenge I had to break out my new stamp set, Wishing You, from Papertrey Ink. I love stamps that have a crisp, clean look when you stamp them. Papertrey Ink does not disappoint, they definitely have high quality stamps that stamp beautifully every time. If you are in need of some new stamps, take a look at their website. There is a link to their store in my sidebar for my favorite places to shop.

Thanks, Dawn McVey, for another great color challenge. Keep em comin.

Supplies:

CS - Stampin Up!

Stamps - Papertrey Ink

Ink - ColorBox, Mementos

Ribbon - American Crafts

Other - Cuttlebug embossing folder

Rybear

I left you Friday with a layout before we headed out to Minneapolis and now I am coming back with another LO for you. This one I completed Sunday night for the weekly challenge at the Hero Club Blog. The challenge for the week was to create a window on your card or LO and I chose to create one on a layout. And to incorporate Hero Arts stamps, I stamped the window frame with flowers from the Clear Design: Four Dolls. I had the idea for this page late last week and believe me it was hard letting it sit in my head for the whole weekend before I could actually put the page together. I like the end result, but I may have changed the background cardstock color to help make the rest of the page pop more. I don't quite feel the pop with the current pinkish color. Oh well, in a bit of a time crunch for this one, but I will exhaust all options next time.

Supplies:

CS - SEI

PP - SEI

Stamp - Hero Arts

Flowers - Prima, Heidi Swapp

Flower bling - Hero Arts

Bird - Maya Road

Ink - Colorbox

Pen - Signo (white), Zig (black)

Other - Cuttlebug embossing folder, Cricut cartridge Keystone

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #1

I am so excited that Dawn McVey has started her own color challenge. I am always in awe of her creations and envious of how she can choose the best colors for all she makes. I hope I will be able to do all of her color challenges to come because I think they are going to be fun and very inspiring. Thanks, Dawn, for making this hobby more enjoyable.

Aren't these colors awesome? They look so vibrant and fresh. I kind of new right away how I wanted to use the colors but I did change a couple of things for the finished product. I had a stamped tree image with gemstones I was going to incorporate but decided on the flower instead. The flower gives the card more of a feminine touch and that is what I wanted to begin with. I hope you all like it and I hope I will be posting many of these challenges in the weeks to come.

Color Inspiration #44

This may be Kristina's 44th color inspiration challenge, but it is only my second post. I am addicted now and I truly hope I can keep doing all of these weekly challenges. It brings something new to the table for me and keeps me thinking and creating.

Colors for this week's inspiration.

Having one daughter among three sons, these colors are very appealing. I love anything that looks girly to me.

For this card I had some new Zing embossing powder by American Crafts that I wanted to use and I loved it. The color I used was rose and it worked perfectly for this week's colors. If you love heat embossing, it is worth it to pick up a bottle of their new powders, so many great ones to pick from.

Products used: CS - Stampin Up, Stamps - Stampin Up, Brad - Heidi Swapp, Ink - Colorbox, Scallop Punch - Fiskars, Dot embossing folder - Cuttlebug, Embossing powder - American Crafts, Ribbon - ?

Elephant Birthday Card

I just love my new stamp set from Hero Arts. It is full of cute elephants, phrases, and a couple of other things. It is perfect for a little kid card or even an adult card. It just depends on the color combo you go with and how cutesy you make it. I would consider this card more youth than adult because it looks more youthful with the balloons and all.

Products used: CS - Stampin Up & Bazzill, Journaling Card - October Afternoon, Stamps - Hero Arts, Gems - Hero Arts, Ink - Colorbox & Memento.