Thank You Notes!

It has been so long since I've updated, and I'm sorry about that. Other than our Christmas card (which I'll get to posting here one day) I haven't really made any cards. I think I slow down in the winter. I'm more inspired by the colors of spring and summer.

Anyway, Amy's birthday was back in December so I made some thank you notes for her to send out. These super cool papers come from the Rock Star Stack by Die Cuts With a View and they're perfect for Amy and Anna. I got them with Anna in mind because she plays guitar, but they're great for Amy, too. Here are the cards I made:

Back to School!

Tomorrow is back to school day for everyone, so I made tags for Gaby's bookbag again. I did this last year and Rachel asked me to make some again this year. Here they are:

Sunflower Days

When I get in a groove, I really get in a groove. I went back to AC Moore and got more paper to match the stickers I got for this card from last week. The whole collection has been on clearance, so I think I'll pick more up this week when I get paid. I really like the gold and brown and green in this set -- they seem like such perfect colors for August.

I made two new cards with the papers. In this first card, I used floral paper from the set for the side and sanded the edges. Then I punched a flower from cream cardstock and a French biology book and used ribbon for leaves, punched a brown flower for the middle and put a button with thread on top of that. I drew the beeskep on cardstock, drew lines and inked the one side to give it dimension; then I punched a circle from gold cardstock, drew black lines and punched a small dot from black cardstock. I drew the wings and the line. Finally I punched a heart from red card stock and drew stitches.



The second card was made from another floral paper in the set. I cut it to fit a square black card and sanded the edges, then punched a circle from black cardstock. I punched more flowers from cream cardstock and the French biology book and put a cranberry circle in the middle of the flower, then a button with black thread. Finally, I drew stitches around the edge of the card and around the circle.

Mom's Birthday, Take 2

Okay, I really wasn't thrilled with the card I made for my mom's birthday, so I decided to make a new one. Once again I went back to the well that never seems to run dry -- flowers. I printed a picture of a vase of sunflowers that I found online and mounted it on black cardstock. Then I put a page from a French textbook as a background and glued punched sunflowers on the top. Finally, I wrapped some DMC linen floss around the picture and mounted that on top of the French text.



I also made a card for my sister-in-law's birthday, again with a sunflower kind of theme. (Blame it on the time of year.) I found some rub-ons and stickers that were on clearance at AC Moore so I used them as my starting point. The "happy" is individual rub-on letters, as are the flowers. The "DAY" is cardstock stickers. I cut a strip of grey paper with pinking shears and smudged brown ink on the edge of the light yellow and brown pieces. I mounted them all on sunflower yellow cardstock and drew stitches around everything. Finally, I punched two flowers out of cream cardstock and glued a button with DMC linen floss tied through the middle, then mounted it on the card.



I don't usually show the inside but I like the way this turned out. I stamped "Happy Birthday" in black ink and a circle of dots in brown ink. Then I punched a small flower out of cream cardstock and a small circle out of sunflower yellow cardstock and mounted them inside the circle. I threw in a pink heart because I thought it was cute.

Mom's Birthday... maybe?

I'll admit it -- it's been a long time since I've updated. We're in the time of year where I haven't been making any cards. I'd rather go places with my family or just sit out in the yard with a book and enjoy the sunshine. I hate to squander the great summer weather by sitting inside at my desk, even if it does look out over the yard (that may be the problem right there).

But.... July 30 is my mom's birthday. Every year I want to wow her with a special card, because she's my mom and because I know she's saved every card I made and I know she'll treasure it. And every year in the middle of July, I'm bereft of any good card ideas for her, mostly because my mind is elsewhere: out in the sunshine or swimming in a lake, and not thinking about cards at all.

Such was the case this year. I am completely unhappy with the card I made for her because it's so damn boring and run of the mill. I may make another card for her, but for now, this is it:



I also made a bookmark for myself -- yes, another heron. If there were any doubts that my creative juices are being funneled towards other things (like our One Local Summer meals), this should put those doubts to rest. I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (because I am nothing if not a trend-follower) and I wanted a natural kind of bookmark to go with it. Hey, fall back on what works, right?

The Little Lad Bids You Adieu

A co-worker is leaving for greener pastures next week, so I designed a farewell and good luck card for him. Nothing fancy -- just some inside jokes. He got the hugest kick out of the Starburst Berries & Cream little lad commercials. We would watch it on You Tube and he would do the dance and we'd all laugh. Now, those days are over. So I made this card. And got him a pack of Starburst Berries & Cream.

Front of the Card:


Inside of the Card:

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. Like Mother's Day, not a really big day as far as I'm concerned. I know, I'm selfish. I needed a card for my father and one for Onil's father, so I used two older cards. The first one has been posted here before, the second one hasn't:





I also made two other cards this weekend. The first card is a thank you to my sister, who gave us a strawberry pie the weekend we went to her house for my nephew's graduation party. She's got a Boston terrier and the one in this picture is holding a pie, so I thought it was a good fit. I printed the picture from the internet and mounted it on white card stock. I stamped "THANKS!" with individual letter stamps and the stitches are rub-on.



I made this card for my friend, Kevin. I'd been wanting to drop him a note for a while, and we both just had birthdays recently. I found this picture on the internet and thought of him immediately -- I knew he would totally crack up over it. Because, you know what? Sometimes it really can't. It's a simple card -- I mounted the picture on grey cardstock and layered it on handmade rice paper with silver and gold flecks. I got out the label maker again (yes, I really do love that thing) and attached "WORD" to the side.