Birthday Girls

And the girl parties just keep coming. Actually, I think we're done. Tia had a bunch of parties all squished together, so I had a bunch of cards to make all at once.  Genius me, I just made all the cards the same...but different.  I'd love to take the credit for the layout, but that goes to the PTI design team. The layout & some of the card parts (the sentiment pieces & color strips) came with the Color Couture series.

Ok, so these first 2 cards were actually for twins.  I love these girls.  Now, they're twins, so they have their similarities, but they're also very different girls.  Didn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel, so they just got different versions of the same card.  Plus, it was a time crunch, since Tia had another party the very next day.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that one (not sure what happened there), but it looked a lot like the one below.

This was the last card I made, so by this time I had the hang of what I was doing - what worked & what didn't.  This one is my favorite of them all.  I used a smaller flourish behind the butterfly and I just love how the sentiment piece came out. I made this one all by myself. There wasn't one with these colors (which I love - yes, even the orange!). Yay me!  I think the best part is that Tia helped make all 4 cards. She had input on the colors, flowers and even the bling.  I'm gonna miss my little card making partner when school starts next week!

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms, Butterfly Dreams, Fancy Flourishes, Fillable Frames #4, Birthday Basics (PTI), Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Orange Zest, Aqua Mist (PTI), Pink Pirouette, Pixie Pink, Wild Wasabi (SU!), Paper: white, Raspberry Fizz & Color Couture Collection (PTI), Garden Green (SU!), Accessories: PTI dies, rhinestones, corner rounder punch

Thinking of Red

The power of suggestion. Or, perhaps, monkey see, monkey do? I'm not sure what happened or what to call it, but I saw cool stuff done with this set and decided I had to have it.  Then I made this and called it a day. Not that I don't like the set, but sometimes I have a hard time making things I like work the way I want. Don't get me wrong, I like the card, I just had a hard time doing more with the set. Plus, things recently got so busy for me that I couldn't even enjoy or appreciate the new stuff I was getting. But I had to get it.  So then I had to put a self imposed moratorium on buying new stuff until I used all the cool stuff I just had to have.  At first, I was pretty sure I was going to die, knowing I didn't have a box full of Papertrey goodness coming to my door. But it does get easier as time goes on. And I'm using all the stuff I have, cuz, you know, there's nothing wrong with what I already have.  But let's be clear...it was a temporary pause in my shopping addiction. Next month, Christmas stuff comes out & you know how I love me some Christmas card making gear!

Stamps: Take Three: Summer & Asian Fusion (PTI), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: black & white (PTI), Accessories: Copics ~ R29, R27, R24, YG25, YG11 (i think =/)

Gee, Thanks!

Alrighty. These would be the thank you cards that we sent out after Tiara's birthday. It's kinda funny...I'm the mom that crafts & makes cards and yet, I almost never make birthday invitations or thank you cards. I always mean to make the thank you cards, but then I always forget.  It's a good thing she only invites people that we really know & who love us or people would think we're terribly rude. Sorry! I'm not rude, just forgetful. And,ok, a tad lazy. But this year, I remembered and actually got these bad boys out.  Yay me! It could have helped that Tia helped me make these. I'm really feeling bright colors these days (yes, even orange!), so I had the color part down.  But Tia cut out all the circles with my cuttlebug and then decided that the circle should be over on one side, with the ribbon on the other side of the card and not have the whole thing centered. Her version was much better than mine. Card maker in the making!

Stamps: Flutterby Friend & YOF: Lily of the Valley (PTI), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Green Galore (SU!), Orange Zest & Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Paper: white & Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Accessories: Nesties, Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon (PTI)

Happy Birthday Tiara!

Tia turned 11 last month. *sighhhh* My last baby is 11. She had our family's first slumber party with more than 2 girls. Let me just say, these things are no joke. I went from thinking we were just going to have 1 girl spending the night to having 5 extra girls in my house. When one of the moms dropped her girls off, she told me I was very brave. I looked at her like she was a lightweight. Puh-leeease, I got this! Turns out my naive days are not quite over. I won't go into the crazy (to me, anyway) details, but I will say that we will not be doing that again. We have 3 daughters. Every night is a slumber party. Well, the kind I can handle without needing medication the next day.

Stamps: Star Prints (PTI), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Green Galore (SU!), Raspberry Fizz & Plum Pudding (PTI), Paper: white (PTI), The Sweet Matstack (DCWV), Accessories: star punch (Fiskars)