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 ~

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 ~

Winter Wedding

The first snowflakes of the year have official fallen here, and this year, we actually have a Winter wedding to attend.  Being in the Midwest, most of our friends and family choose to get married in the Spring or Summer... or Fall... well, really just any time when there isn't a risk of snow on the ground.  :-)  But for the first time in a long while, we'll get to worry about staying warm at a wedding instead of staying cool!  It's kinda funny... my cousin on my dad's side is getting married on December 3rd of this year, and my cousin on my mom's side just got engaged and is planning a December 3rd wedding next year.  Popular date!

I decided to do something completely out of character for myself and make my cousin's wedding card... wait for it... EARLY!  {GASP!}  I never do such things!  Don't know what's gotten into me... guess it must be the snowflakes (or the cool new Martha Stewart punch set I picked up at Michael's last weekend!).  AND to add to the "who are you and what have you done with JD?" confusion... I tried a new-to-me card style: the Gatefold, AND I even finished the inside of my card!  YAY ME!!!!

[Please note: All paper used is metallic and shiny... yet metallic and shiny tend not to photograph well.]

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

Card Front

♥ Metallic Blue, Silver, and White paper from Recollections Precious Metals and Gemstones value packs

♥ Wedding Cake cut from Wild Card

     ~ Silver layers created by cutting a second cake from Wild Card and trimming just the portion I wanted

♥ Pearls from Recollections

♥ Snowflakes ~ punch scraps from interior of card

♥ "For the Newlyweds" sentiment from Stampin' Up!

     ~ inked with Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy

♥ Oval cut from George and Basic Shapes (oval 2)

Card Interior

♥ Layers edged with Martha Stewart Snow Flurry punch

I am submitting this card to the following challenges:
♥ More Than Favors ~ Anything Goes
♥ My Creative Time ~ Throwback Thursday: "ANY project of your choice just as long as it has to do w/FOOD"  (mmm... wedding cake!)
♥ The Paper Variety ~ Wedding Themed Project

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~

Simple Wedding Card

I made this super simple wedding card for friends of ours who recently got married.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

*Brown, Pink, & White Paper (the Paper Studio / Recollections)

*Layers on front ~ Stretch Your Imagination

*Ribbon (American Crafts)

*Sentiment on inside ~ Lyrical Letters

  

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Black & White Wedding

The My Pink Stamper design team was announced last week, and I didn't make it. (dramatic pause for chorus of "awww's") It's all good though. Maybe next time...

Here's the card I entered:

I've never done a project in only black and white before... but I love black and white and absolutely love the pattern paper I found... so I thought I'd give it a try.  I could not have been happier with the way this card turned out and was so excited to give it to friends of ours on their special day.  And... to add to my excitement, when we got to the wedding, I discovered it was a black and white wedding - with gorgeous splashes of bright summer colors.  It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day!