Birthday Bash 2013

Don't you hate it when you need a birthday card at the last minute and can't find one in your card stash?   In this class we'll be making a variety of birthday cards so that you'll have some on hand.   If you have plenty of birthday cards already, some of the designs can also be made into thank you cards.   Just be sure to let me know you'd like some different sentiments and I'll put out some stamp sets for you to choose from.

This class is a bit different than my previous ones in that you can make as many or as few of each card as you want.   There is a minimum of 10 cards to attend the event, but you are welcome to make more if you'd like.   Please email me by noon on Friday which cards you'd like to make and how many of each so that I can get your packet ready for you.  

Cost is $20 for the first 10 cards, $2 for each additional card.  

Here are the choices:

Card #1:  Birthday Circles

Card #2: Birthday Leaves

Card #3:  Birthday Butterflies

Card #4:  Shabby Birthday

 Card #5:  Birthday Cheers

Masculine Phone Booth

I wanted to use the Sale-a-bration set, Feeling Sentimental, for one of the masculine choices at my upcoming class.   I think it is such a fun set!   When I first saw this stamp I immediately thought of Dr. Who and the Tardis, but have since learned that this is a phone booth while the Tardis is a police box.   So....it's red.  :)  

Here's another picture from Valentine's Day.   She's just too cute.   We've been up since about 5:00 this morning.  Yikes.   She's in her room playing with daddy and I just love hearing the giggles and happiness coming out of that room.   It's amazing how much joy and laughter she's brought back to our home.

Classy Butterflies

I thought I'd share the other card I made on Valentine's Day.  This is another choice for my upcoming birthday card class.  I have two more designs to do and I'll be all set to advertise and get ready!    I'll share the one I completed today with you tomorrow.

For this one, I combined two of my elegant embossing folders, some lovely spring colors, and butterflies!  I think it's the perfect spring birthday card!   I had to add a little bling to make the butterflies sparkle.  :)   The design is based on a sketch from Retro Sketches from last week or the week before.

Well, as of yesterday she can get up on her hands and knees and rock.   Needless to say, we will be spending tomorrow baby proofing to get ready!   Crawling is soon to come.  Yikes!  I'm going to need to buy lots of coffee to keep up with this girl; she's already wearing me out just rolling!   I do have to figure out how to rearrange my stamp room so that we can share it while Jason's working.   She definitely needs more space (and a gated off area) to play in while I try to work.  

Finally, I am SO excited today because she finally signed "milk".  We've been working on it since right before Christmas and I hope that means she's starting to catch on.  

Happy Hour Cheers

Laila was great today and let me make 2 cards!  This is actually the second one I made.  I know it's not a valentine, but it's cute, right?  :)   I'm working on ideas for a birthday class and this will be one we make I think. I just love purple and green together!   I'm already missing Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade and they aren't even gone yet.   The set of in colors that are leaving this year are so amazing and I'm pretty sure I'll need counseling when they are gone.   (insert hysterical crying)

Jason worked all day (and is still there actually), so Laila had to be my valentine today.  We went out on the town (to the library) and then shopping (Target).   To thank Jason for his hard work and to show our love, we made his favorite dessert, Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes.   They are so good and I wish he'd get home so we could have one!   He surprised me with a dozen roses.   We always say we aren't going to do anything but we both do every time.  

I'm off to relax and watch a bit of Top Chef that's on the DVR.  I hope everyone had a great day today and was able to spend time with someone they love.  Happy Valentine's Day!

FMS73: Hello Doily

It's time for a new Freshly Made Sketch.  Jen B is our hostess with the mostest this week and she created this fun sketch for us.   When I saw it, I immediately thought of the new paper doilies in the Spring Catalog.   Then I saw that Jen T. and Linda S. had already used doilies, so I had to regroup and put my thinking cap on.  I remembered this card I'd made last year and decided to try something similar to that.  

I added in some Rich Razzleberry with the Pumpkin Pie because I needed a non-monochromatic card.  I love those two colors together!   Emboss resist is one of my favorite techniques and I always forget to use it. Well, I won't say forget really.  It involves turning off the ceiling fan and sometimes I don't want to get up.  Lazy I know!  Maybe I need a remote-controlled fan?  ;)

Jason decided to let Laila play with some carrots today.   I guess that's what happens when I sleep in.  LOL  She seemed to like holding them and trying to chew on them, so hopefully she can learn to pick up foods soon.  She loves purees for now, so we'll keep feeding those and offering opportunities to learn like this. 

Simple, Elegant Cake

I thought this was a fun sketch at clean&simple stamping this week.  I have really been enjoying the more simple challenges as they are way more challenging in a way.   For this one, I had the perfect stamp that had yet to see ink.   I won a gift certificate to a non-SU company last year in the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoast and picked a cake stamp as one of my freebies!  Perfect, right?!  If you wanted to do this one with only Stampin' Up! products, the cake stamp from Love & Laughter would work great!  

I stuck with the sketch and just added a bit of embossing to up the elegance factor.   The sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes was perfect, as was the Fancy Fan embossing folder.  All elegant wedding cards need pearls too.  :)   

Sometimes it is difficult to stamp when someone is distracting me with their cuteness.  :)

Retro Butterfly

It's a rainy day here in Texas, so Laila and I spent some time in my stamp room today while Jason went off to work an extra shift.   I started a card for Retro Sketches yesterday but it never came together and I left it on my desk to work on today.   I finally changed out some things and made it presentable.   :)  

I am proud to say that I also addressed and put this one in the mail for my granny!   She loves my cards and I've been a bit behind in getting them out to her.  I haven't had time to go to the post office to mail a stack of cards to a few blogging friends and some family, but I found a lost stamp to at least send this one to her.  She hasn't been feeling that well and I thought she might need a pick-me-up!  

I know it's been a while since I last posted and that's because Laila started feeling worse.   We were up with her most of the night on Thursday and Friday.   She developed a cough that's still lingering on.   We went to the doctor on Friday and her lungs were clear, but she did have an ear infection in her right ear.   She doesn't have a fever and seems fine other than the occasional coughing while she's sleeping.  Hopefully that goes away soon.   I'm so thankful that we are all getting some rest as those nights last week were rough!   I was a total zombie on Saturday.   She had fun rolling around on her mat and quilt while I stamped this morning.  :)  Now it's about lunch time for us!  

Retro Pinwheels

Laila crashed early on me, so I had time to go stamp a bit more before Jason got home from work.  I wanted to finish my pinwheel card for the awesome sketch at Retro Sketches!   It's another clean-and-simple card with lots of white space!

I pulled out my Polka Dot Parade DSP for this one.  I love that paper and haven't used it nearly enough!  I paired it with some glimmer brads to add a bit of sparkle.  :)   The panel behind the pinwheels is embossed with the new Cloudy Day embossing folder.  I wasn't sure about that one at first, but now I sorta like it.  I'm a bit addicted to embossing folders!  

We have seriously purchased every kind of teething apparatus on the market and Laila still loves her hands the best.  This was my most expensive folly, Sophie the Giraffe.  She likes to throw it in the floor way more than chewing on it.   She's a bit more interested in looking at her spots lately at least.   ;)