Happy 3rd Birthday to a Special Little Boy!

Today is my nephew's 3rd birthday!  I can't believe he's 3 already!  It doesn't seem like that long ago we were at the hospital celebrating his "Birth" day.  Yesterday, the family got together and partied Diego-style in celebration of his special day.  I made him a fun card and unique gift inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest.  {Are any of you as incredibly addicted to Pinterest as I am??}   The gift is a 20 questions book that he can record answers to various questions each year and add a picture to watch how he grows over the years and how his answers to the questions change.  I can't wait to do this with my little guy, too!

{{WARNING: This post is very picture-heavy from here on!}}

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Card Catch-Up

Happy Holidays, Cricuteers!

I know I have been MIA lately.  Life has been so extremely busy between work, family / friend functions, the holidays, spending time with my little guy, etc. etc. etc.  The days just go by so fast.  My son turned 5 months old this week, and lately, I've been telling myself that spending time with him is the most important thing in my life right now.  As much as I'd love to be in my craft room sometimes or doing other things, I don't want to look back and feel like I deprived either of us of that time together.  My new motto is... "The dishes can wait.  The dust can settle.  I spending time with my little one while he is still little!"  I have managed to sneak some time in my scrap room while he's been sleeping or spending time playing with Daddy.  I just haven't had as much time for blogging.  So I thought I'd throw together a "catch-up" post of cards I've made recently.

Fun Birthday Card ~ front

{I LOVE this new style bow! So fun and easy!}

Fun Birthday Card ~ inside

Thanksgiving Card for my Grandma

Wedding Card / Gift Card Holder for my cousins ~ front

Wedding Card / Gift Card Holder for my cousins ~ inside

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Birthday Wishes!

Today is my youngest sister's 17th birthday!  I can actually remember the day she was born.  I was 12.  Crazy!  Where does the time go?  Due to our crazy family schedules, we "half-celebrated" her birthday tonight.  We are going to "half-celebrate" again later this week or early next when we can all be together.  My plan was to give her a card tonight and her gift later, but I hit a creative block and by the time I found my scrappin' mojo, it was time to leave for dinner.  So now I'm not sure if I will give her this card or make her something different to go along with her gift.  We'll see...

FRONT

INSIDE

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Patterned cardstock ~ DCWV Dots, Stripes, & Plaids stack

♥ Textured cardstock ~ DCWV Brights & Jewels stack

♥ Cream cardstock ~ The Paper Company

♥ Cupcake cut at 2 1/2" ~ Sweet Treats cartridge

♥ Stamps ~ Stampin' Up! Tagtastic, Vintage Labels, & Happiest Birthday Wishes

♥ Curly Label punch ~ Stampin' Up!

♥ Red Button ~ Favourite Findings -- Patriotic pack

♥ White / Natural cord from my stash

♥ Stardust & Black Diamond Stickles

♥ 1/8" Kiwi & Leaf ribbon ~ Offray

CHALLENGES:

♥ Die Cuttin' Divas ~ Challenge #36 National Dessert Day

♥ OWH Stars & Stamps ~ Masculine Card

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Who Says Coloring is Just For Kids??

I don't know about you all, but I have always loved to color.  I even have my own box of Crayolas and coloring books (Care Bears & Mickey Mouse, of course)!  So when I went to an SU! open house about a month ago and our make-and-take project included coloring, I was completely geeked!  And now, I want to color on every project I do.  Blender pens, aqua painters, watercolor pencils, markers... it doesn't matter as long as I get to color.  LoL.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ DCWV Dots, Stripes, & Plaids stack

♥ DCWV Bright & Jewels coordinating cardstock stack

♥ DCWV Mango Frost matstack

♥ DCWV Hippie Chic matstack

♥ Stampin' Up! Birthday Bakery

♥ Stampin' Up! Teeny Tiny Wishes

♥ ek Success Photo Labels punch

♥ Offray 1/4" Cream ribbon

♥ Stampin' Up! Night of Navy, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, and Old Olive markers

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

P.S. Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for my belated blogiversary celebration and giveaway!

Fall Birthday Fun

Lately, I've really gotten into using punches for adding sentiments to my cards.  So easy!  Just punch, stamp, and go!  I still love my Cricut, but I am having fun with punches.  I even re-joined the Stampers 10 club I was part of last year and used to build my Stampin' Up! ink pad collection, and I plan to use this year's club to expand my punch collection.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black cardstock (base) ~ Recollections

♥ Patterned and coordinating cardstock ~ DCWV The Mango Frost Matstack and Cardstock Matstack

♥ 1/4" black satin ribbon ~ Offray

♥ Deco Scallop edge punch ~ ek Success

♥ Journal Plate & Bracket punch ~ ek Success (my new favorite!!!)

♥ "Happy Birthday" stamp ~ Pink by Design Scripted Year

CHALLENGES:

♥ Fall-colored Birthday / Anniversary project ~ Lady Luv Bug

♥ Fall theme ~ Scrapalicious USA

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

"Monster"-rific Birthday Card

I just love this fun kid's birthday card I made this weekend for a friend's son's 7th birthday.  I get so excited when cards turn out better than I originally envision them.  Do any of you ever feel this way?

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Orange, yellow, green, purple, and black cardstock ~ Recollections Halloween 2010 pack

♥  (cut at 6") ~ Sweet Treats cartridge

♥ monster cut at 2.5" ~ Mini Monsters cartridge

♥ Drippy Goo punch ~ Martha Stewart Crafts

♥ Googly eyes (two different sizes)

Note: I cut the cake card using the Cards feature, but instead of cutting the Layers, I used the solid , cut the cake tiers apart, and punched with Drippy Goo to make the pretty Cake2 more "monster"-rific.

CHALLENGES:

♥ "Get in Shape" ~ Crafty Sprouts
♥ "Card Crazy"~ Cricut Cardz Challenge
♥ Peachy Keen Faces / Favorite Card ~ Pause Dream Enjoy

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I've been dying to share this project, but had to wait in case my mom visited my blog before we celebrated her birthday.  I've been wanting to make her a box of cards for a while now.  She loves black and white so I challenged myself to make each card using only black, white, and only one color accent.  This was surprisingly difficult.  I kept finding all sorts of multi-colored or coordinating papers, ribbons, etc., that I wanted to use, but I stuck to my original design plan and LOVE how these cards turned out.

The Entire Collection

The Box

The Cards

I also made a fun 3x3 card to use as her actual birthday card.  I've been told these cards were one of the new "trendy" things at this summer's Stampin' Up! convention.  They are super simple to make and a great way to get in a little grown-up coloring time with your watercolor pencils, aqua painters, or markers.  And yes - there are envelopes available for these little cards.  I got mine from Hobby Lobby - just $4.99 for 25 (and of course, I used a 40% off coupon!).  Oh... and one quick design note - for the side trim, I used a scrap of the black and white striped paper from the elephant thank-you card above and colored it in the same colors as I colored the image.

As for my Scrap-ipes for all these designs, I used black cardstock for the card bases and various papers, colors, ribbons, accents, and tools from my collection.  Way too much scrappin' goodness to list in one post!  But if you see something you just have to know what it is, where I got it, or how I did it, let me know.  I'd be more than happy to share!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Summer "Catch"-up

Just wanted to share a couple projects I made over the summer.

The first is a quick thank you card I made for a friend's son's t-ball team to give their coach.  I used George & Basic Shapes for the "thanks" and Everyday Paper Dolls for the glove and bat along with the Tiny Mosiac Cuttlebug folder and some fun American Crafts ribbon.

The second project is a cute gift tag I made for the same friend's daughter's birthday.  I cut the crown and its shadow from Gypsy Wanderings after using my Gypsy to remove the numerous decorative elements.  I added my favorite white gel-pen stitching, some purple gems from Recollections, and a "birthday wishes" stamp from Stampin' Up!.  Then I punched a small hole in the top and threaded the tag through some basic white curling ribbon.

I haven't done much crafting this summer.  Just quick cards and tags when I needed them.  I tried to pull from my reserves as much as possible.  I'm looking forward to the return of my scrappin' mojo so I can put all these fun supplies I have to good use!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Happy Birthday to a special little boy!

Yesterday was my nephew's 2nd birthday.  It's hard to believe how fast two years has gone!  He is getting so big ~ in size and in personality!  :-)  We celebrated with a small family party at my brother's.  The theme was Mickey Mouse b/c my nephew LOVES Mickey Mouse.  He could watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 24 hours a day if someone kept pressing play for him.

I made him two Mickey birthday cards... one from me and my husband and the other from my parents.  I used the Mickey & Friends and Mickey Font cartridges for the first time... along with my first Action Wobbles!  Oh my... Action Wobbles are absolutely the most fun thing in the scrapping world right now.  I was on the phone with my mom went I put Mickey's head on the card and got to see Action Wobbles in action for the first time.  I just started giggling mid-conversation.  It was awesome.  If you have not tried these fabulous little guys yet, you are missing out!

Aunt Jen & Uncle Brandon's card

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black cardstock from Recollections

♥ White cardstock from Georgia Pacific

♥ Red cardstock from Recollections ~ Primary value pack

♥ Flesh cardstock from The Paper Company ~ Cypress value pack

♥ Mickey cut from Mickey Font cartridge and attached with Action Wobbles to create a bobblehead effect {way cool!}

♥ "Oh Boy!" cut from Mickey Font cartridge

♥ Red layer embossed using Mickey Celebrates Cuttlebug folder

♥ White stitching added using my favorite Pentel Sunburst gel pen



Grandma & Grandpa's Card

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black cardstock from Recollections

♥ White cardstock from Georgia Pacific

♥ Blue, Yellow, and Red cardstock from Recollections ~ Primary value pack

♥ Flesh cardstock from The Paper Company ~ Cypress value pack

♥ Mickey cut from Mickey and Friends cartridge

♥ D cut from Mickey Font using Mickey Charm feature

♥ Red layer embossed using Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder

♥ White layer on inside inked with Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Birthdays... birthdays... birthdays!

September is birthday overload month!  Which makes for a very happy JD because I recently saw a fun birthday card using the Cuttlebug Happy Birthday A2 folder.  I wish I could remember the name of the blog as I would like to thank the designer again for the inspiration.  I loved this folder when I bought it, but after I got it home, I blanked.  I'd pull out the folder and nothing... a complete block to my creativity.  Does that ever happen to anyone else??  Then I saw a great post showing this two-toned A2 split and BAM!  I was back.  I remembered this Happy Birthday ribbon I've also been wanting to use, and the rest is scrap history!

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:
♥ Solid paper from Recollections
     - Yellow cut and folded to A2 size with top fold
     - Red cut to 4 1/4 x 2 1/8
     - Blue cut to 4 1/4 x 3 3/8
♥ Red & blue cuts embossed with Cuttlebug Happy Birthday A2 folder
♥ Happy Bday ribbon from the Paper Studio
♥ Present cut from Celebrations at 2"
♥ Tiny yellow star from Recollections

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday!  I was having a hard time deciding what to get her... until she got herself a Cuttlebug last week!!  Once I saw her newest bug, I knew exactly what to buy.  I got her the With Love borders, Spots and Dots, Swiss Dots, and D'vine Swirls.  I personally think Swiss Dots and D'vine Swirls should come with the Cuttlebug... every Bug owner needs them!  :-)

To go along with her gift, I made this cute card... using my Cuttlebug, of course(!), and my new DCWV The Sweet Matstack from Hobby Lobby (their 50% off paper sale always gets me in trouble!).

JD'S SCRAP-IPE

♥ Brown base card

♥ Cupcake paper from The Sweet Matstack by DCWV

♥ Pink / Green / Brown Dots 5/8" Ribbon by the Paper Studio

♥ Cupcake cut from Celebrations

     -"cake" ~ cupcke1-s

     -frosting ~ cupck2-s (cut using Shadow feature)... embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and accented with glitter pen

♥ 1/8" White Ribbon by Offray

♥ Scalloped Circle cut from Mini Monograms

♥ Happy Birthday sentiment from TPC Studio - Greetings Clear Stamps

     -inked with SU! Chocolate Chip (my personal favorite!)

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Birthday Fun & New Tools!

I think this should be the last of my "catch-up" posts!  :-)

This card has lots going on!  I got tons of new scrapping goodies for my birthday back in July and wanted to try them all out.  So I used buttons, ribbons, heat embossing, edge punch, and more!

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

*Purple base card

*Green card layer ~ edge punched using EK Success Dotted Scallop Edger Punch

*Patterned paper ~ Cricut Celebrations Paper Pad

*Cake ~ cut from Celebrations cake2

     *Pink layer ~ "cake" embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and "stand" heat embossed with Stampin' Up! Silver Stampin' Emboss powder

     *Purple layer ~ cut using Shadow feature

     *Button ~ Wal-mart variety pack

     *Turquoise Ribbon ~ Offray 1/8"

*Happy Birthday Sentiment 

     *Tag ~ cut from George and Basic Shapes cylinder2

          *Pink layer ~ cut using Slotted feature

          *Purple layer ~ cut using Shadow feature

     *Happy Birthday ~ stamped from Paper Studio Everyday Expressions Clear Set

     *Orange Ribbon ~ Paper Studio Orange and White Stitched Ribbon

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~