Happy 40th, Shawn!

My niece Shawn just celebrated her 40th birthday. Her mother and step-mother organized a surprise party for her today and we traveled to New Hampshire to share in the celebration. While making a card for Shawn, I decided to try and incorporate some colors from Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge. I chose this selection:

Since I don't have many PTI colors, I substituted similar colors from Stampin' Up!'s palette:  I used Naturals Ivory, Kiwi Kiss, Aqua Mist (PTI), Tempting Turquoise and Cameo Coral.  

I love Garden Variety II, particularly the vintage quality of the images.  I didn't do justice to the lovely terracotta pot, as I finished up this card late last night and redid the cut-out pot a couple times trying to find a good match for Berry Sorbet.  It looks okay in real life but the camera didn't pick up the nice texture on the image.  "Birthday wishes" is from Tea for Two; the twill ribbon is PTI and the little butterfly brad is from SU!'s latest SAB offering.

The mat and frame were cut using the Labels Embosslits and by popping the panel up, it created an interesting little shadow-box effect.

I'm sorry to say I didn't really like these colors together.  I think the turquoise and the green are a little too harsh with the Aqua Mist mat.  (Granted, Hawaiian Shores is a little softer than Tempting Turquoise.)  So I decided to remake the card using colors I find more pleasing in combination.  I love Pear Pizzazz and Marina Mist together (you might have noticed it's one of my favorite combos!) and the pot is stamped in Cajun Craze, which shows the texture much more clearly.  A bow of Scallop Dots ribbon accented with an Antique brad finishes off the new version.

I selectively inked "celebrate" from Think Big Favorites #9 for the interior sentiment.

I'm so thankful that I was able to join my niece and her family and friends to wish her joy and happiness on this milestone birthday!

Dimensional sentiment banner challenge

When I saw Nichole Heady's video tutorial on making a dimensional sentiment banner, I thought, "Hey, easy, I can do that..." Easier said than done, I have to admit.

I began confidently enough by stamping my first banner, both sides. I figured the hardest part was inking up the single sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Tea for Two set and stamping half in each of the two panels. Well, after folding about a dozen banners, I was finally able to shape one to fit my sentiment. I learned my lesson and folded the banners before stamping (after the first three!)

The reverse of the banner is stamped with an image from a new Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration set called Fresh Vintage; the background is the (retired) Floral background stamp. I used Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush (for the sentiment and reverse side of the banner). The bow and the border of the oval were made with ruffled ribbon and an In Color designer brad.

The edges of the card and insert and the ends of the banner were shaped with one of PTI's Edgers #2 dies. I think the lacy edge really sets the tone for tea time, don't you?

This banner is not something I'm likely to do again anytime soon, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. It was interesting to try something new and it sparked a little creativity. Thanks for the challenge, Nichole!

Belated birthday wishes...

Dominique and Connor both celebrated their birthdays in August. My sister had a cake for Connor when we visited, but I never did get any pictures of Dominique at her birthday this year. (We went to IMAX to see Harry Potter for Dominique's birthday and I forgot to bring my camera, not that we had many photo ops there. Their birthday cards are at the bottom of this post.)

So it's September now, and the weather is cooling down, but in August we swam in Toots' pool. Eric, Dominique, Max and Paige decided to have a cannonball contest to see who could make the biggest splash. Since it was hard to catch the actual moment of contact with the water on camera, I worked on getting a shot of each of them airborne. They all jumped again and again; I think the results speak for themselves!

I made this card for Dominique using the cute PTI envelope die on some retired DSP and some great new In Colors: Island Indigo, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade. I punched these little flowers with a store-bought punch to go with the Fancy Flower Punch and topped each with a sparkly little sticker.

The card base was embossed with the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder. I cut a mat for the envelope and rounded the top using a Nestability circle die - I slipped the bottom of the die under the paper so it wouldn't cut the whole circle. I embossed the mat with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and tied it all together with Pear Pizzazz seam binding ribbon.
I stamped the (retired) For You Flower in Versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. I used the PTI envelope die to cut the insert and stamped Happy Birthday using the (retired) hostess set Afterthoughts, minus the bottom line; the small stamped flowers come from Itty Bitty Bits. I adhered an I-Tunes card on the back with some removable Dotto and slipped it into the envelope.

The next card was Connor's. I colored the image from Take Spin using SU markers in Rich Razzleberry, Certainly Celery, (retired) Bermuda Bay, Concord Crush, Early Espresso and Tangerine Tango. I added the game spinner for a fun and whimsical touch.

I made a series of mats using the same colors, added some piercing on the Early Espresso mat and mounted it on a base of Certainly Celery, the bottom of which was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.
The little tag was made with a stamp from PTI's Tea for Two Additions set and the Jewelry Tag punch and tied on with some Early Espresso baker's twine to wrap up our summer birthday season!