Miss Beanie's First Birthday

My sweet Ellie Bean is a year old today. I can't stand it!  Where oh where has the time gone?!? 

A first birthday deserves a pretty special card, and seeing the layout the Paper Players had for a challenge this week, an idea immediately jumped into my head.

I adore the "Crazy For Cupcakes" stamp set and envisioned the big cupcake cut out and mounted on the decorative strip.  Lucky for me, it worked out. ;o)  I love CAS cards, so this challenge was right up my alley.

I found a hidden stash of "Rockabilly" DSP and decided the cherries would work well with the cupcake.  I really like the embossed look of the DSP and thought it added some nice texture to the card.

As I may have mentioned once or twice before :ahem:, I'm not too keen on snipping and cutting (again, I blame years of laminating cutting...).  But, I knew it would be the perfect touch for the card.  I wanted to give the cupcake a cute wrapper and this piece fit the bill.  I also thought a good cupcake should have sugary 'prinkles on top, so I used my two way glue and Dazzling Diamonds to give it some sparkle.

I finished it off with a piece of Whisper White satin ribbon, and a little tag from the "Tiny Tags" set. 

And, of course, I simply had to finish off the inside.  :o)  Anyone else miss Kiwi Kiss?  :sigh:

This card uses (all SU! unless otherwise noted):
*Stamp Sets: "Crazy for Cupcakes", "Happy Everything", "Tiny Tags"
*Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, "Rockabilly" DSP (retired)
*Ink: Black Staz-On, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight
*Accessories: Scallop Trim punch, paper piercer, Whisper White satin ribbon

Sure, the card didn't make much of an impact with her now, but I'm putting it away in her baby book.  Maybe years from now, she'll look at it and think it's pretty special... Here's hoping!

--Rach

P.S.  A quick shout-out to the Paper Players--thank you SO much for selecting my Poppy Kids card as a "Cut Above"!  I always get such a small thrill when something I've created is chosen. :o)

Back to School

In continuing with my "longing-for-autumn" theme, I have these sweet, adorable kiddos. I fell in love with "Greeting Card Kids" the first time I saw them, but then had to question, how in the world would I use them?? They are not my typical style and I knew I would struggle to make them work. And yet, how could I not get them? They were so stinkin' cute!


So, they arrived, I got out my watercolor paper, and I found the greatest form of stress relief! I always color when I'm stressed, and watercoloring proved to be just as useful. Only, this was more fun somehow. :o)

But, as I feared, they have been very difficult for me to make into a card. I have NO idea why, but I struggled like the dickens last night to make this come together. :shakes head: Things became somewhat easier for me once I began looking to the lace. Both the image and the lace practically scream "vintage".

And yet, I still struggled. UGH! I HATE it when that happens. But, I prevailed and these are the results. Not too awful, I think. :o)

This card uses:
Stamp Sets: "Greeting Card Kids", "Pocket Silhouettes" (sentiment), "Tiny Tags"
Ink: Early Espresso, Cameo Coral (retired), Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, More Mustard, Real Red, Sahara Sand
Papers: Cameo Coral (retired), Early Espresso, watercolor, Newsprint DSP
Accessories: Victoria lace, Early Espresso 5/8" satin ribbon, tiny tags punch, dimensionals, linen thread, sticky strip

Because the bottom of the image was popped up due to the runching of the lace, I needed to use the dimensionals at the top to adhere the image to the card in order for the image to be flat/level.

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with how the card turned out. In fact, I'm anxious to begin watercoloring yet more images. ;o)

--Rach