Natasha's 8th Birthday Party invitations

Since we just celebrated Natasha's 8th birthday yesterday with a fun and "awesome" party...I realized that I had not posted the birthday invitations that I made a month ago...so real quickly, I just thought I'd put up the pictures here...

I used Papertrey's Cupcake Collection stamp set & dies, as well as their Doily Details and Mat Stack 3 dies. I also used a die from Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Accents die set. The paper is from DCWV's Sweet paper pad (I've had this for a few years now because I'm hoarding it for special occasions given that it is SO cute!) I also used shimmer paper from a Colorbok paper pad (got it at Walmart) and a corner punch from EK Success (to punch the "tuck in" corners on the mat layer)

The "You're Invited" stamp comes from the Friendship Jar set by Papertrey.

Everyday Button Bits set...

Everyday Button Bits is one of the first Papertrey sets I ever bought...it was just the beginning of the obsession!! ;) I wanted to make some cute & simple cards for a craft bazaar, so I pulled out this set and went to work. These stamps paired with buttons is still so adorable! A timeless classic.








Whoops, this one turned out blurry, but by the time I figured it out, the card was already gone...too late to retake the photo...oh well..I've had two blurry photos recently, which hasn't happened in a long time...this must reflect the Christmas rush I'm in! :)


Just a quick nod to the supplies (in lieu of an "official" supply list) ~ All stamps (except for "Big birthday wishes", which is from Birthday Bash Sentiments) are from Everyday Button Bits; dies are all Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels dies; embossing folders are from Sizzix.

..and even MORE Christmas cards!

I can almost say that these are the last Christmas cards that I'll be making for this season...but alas, there are still new sets I haven't even used yet! Gah! What to do when gorgeous new sets haven't even seen ink yet? Well, I must make more! (That is, if I can squeeze it in among all the other projects that are now upon me) In any case, these aren't the last (probably...) ;)

This is a set of cards that I was inspired to make from a card made by the fabulous Jessica Witty...I altered it in a number of ways and put my own spin on it...I love how they turned out! (except that I DON'T love how one of the pictures is blurry, and I didn't realize it until it was too late to correct it...)







This set was inspired by a beautiful and simple card from Maile Belles...as always, I changed it up somewhat, but I really liked the simplicity of the original so that feel is there...but I really had fun playing with color combos for the "ornaments"!







And here are just a couple larger cards I pulled together, just because I was wanting use a new background stamp I got this year from Stampin' Up...and I was really wanting to use up some We R Memory Makers papers that I've had for awhile...they're bright & festive & fun!





Well, that's it until the next Christmas card post!

And again, MORE Christmas cards...

Just a quick post to add in some more Christmas cards...I'm well on my way to wrapping it up for this season...but I will probably spend a week or so more making some really fun ones now...of course, they're all fun, but when I have to produce them in bulk, I'm not able to go super crazy on the details..rather, I have to keep them somewhat simple. So these here are the "somewhat simple" ones...there are quite a few, so keep scrolling!!!...























These have been such a joy to create...I wish I had the time to go in and post supply lists for all of these, and to ramble on about them for posterity's sake, but no time at the moment! Pictures alone will have to suffice for now...

Mojo Monday #214

Right before I tackled this Mojo Monday sketch, I was working on another sketch challenge from the My Mind's Eye blog. Since I was already on a roll using their papers & die cuts, I decided to continue doing the same for the Verve sketch. In fact, I got two cards out of it! I didn't even do any stamping on one of the cards, just used the beautiful patterned papers & coordinating die cuts from the Holly Jolly collection. The 2nd card was a little more involved, but both were simplified because of the use of the pretty collection papers. What fun! :)

For this first card, I turned the sketch on its side and had to make a few other adjustments ~



And for the second card, I followed the sketch more closely "as is".



Supply list:

Cardstock: 5x7 off-white card bases (The Paper Company)
Patterned Paper: Candy Canes & Reindeer Fly from the Holly Jolly Collection (My Mind's Eye)
Stamp Set(s): Take Note, Bells & Boughs (Papertrey)
Ink/Colorants: Cherry Cobbler (SU); Dark Brown Chalk Ink (Colorbox)
Embellishments: Die cuts from the Holly Jolly Collection
Tools: Bells & Boughs dies (Papertrey); Circles Nesties (Spellbinders)

My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge 29

 Though I'm in the throes of making tons of Christmas cards that are a little bit more on the simple side (so I can make them in more quantities), I decided to take a mini break from that and participate in the monthly My Mind's Eye blog challenge. I absolutely adore MME papers, and I have some gorgeous ones from previous years that I bought probably last year. Time to dig them out and create something beautiful!

I have been doing tons of stamping lately, and since I have a sheet of fabulous die cuts that coordinate with the paper collections, I challenged myself to make this card with no stamping, just paper & die cuts. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out! It was a fun break to do something a little different. I had to modify the sketch just a bit to make it work, but I think it's okay...

Here's the sketch (and the assignment was to include brown):

And here's what I came up with using nothing but the Holly Jolly collection patterned papers & die cuts...specifically "Candy Canes" & back side of the "Reindeer Fly"  (oh, and the large scalloped border die from Papertrey):



That's it! Pretty simple to make, but the result is very nice, especially since it's a 5x7 size.

More Christmas Cards...

I have been making Christmas cards like crazy, as I have about 40 of my own to make, plus my dear mother has ordered 50 from me as well!! Since I don't like them all to be the same (how terribly boring would that be!), I like to make them in sets of just four at a time and sometimes I even vary those within each set of four. I have so many wonderful new Christmas stamp sets this season that I have to change it up a bit quite often in order to be able to use them all!

Papertrey knocked it out of the park with the Christmas sets & coordinating dies that they released this year. I love almost every single one of them..they are SO fabulous, and create such professional-looking cards. I'm having such fun putting these together! Be prepared to scroll for awhile because I have quite a number of pictures to add to this post. I don't have time to do an official supplies list for all these cards, so I'll just do a quick mention of the basics of what I used, stamp sets & papers:

All sets are from Papertrey in the cards from this post ~ Holiday Lights; Nativity Silhouettes & Additions; Star of Wonder; Wonderful Words: Holiday; Holiday Photo Finishers; 2009, 2010 & 2011 Holiday Tags; Stylish Sentiments: Holiday; Bells & Boughs; Tree Trimming Trio.

Papers are mostly from a couple of older Basic Grey holiday collections: Eskimo Kisses & Wassail (I'm trying to make a dent in the mountain of patterned paper that I have collected over the years!); I've also used papers from an American Crafts Jolly collection, also a bit older, but still cute nonetheless!