Hark! Hambo Hogs

I've been "eye-ing" a die at Archiver's to make these little flowers and I've been trying to figure out if I would actually USE it if I bought it. I have a tendency to buy things and then they sit in my drawers, gathering dust. Becca Feeken makes similar flowers on her blog with Martha Stewart punches ... and they are AMAZING! I recommend checking out her site if you haven't seen it. I made this flower with my score-pal and ... a LOT of folding.

Soooo, will I be purchasing the die? Prolly not. I have the capability to do it without the die and frankly, I don't see myself using it a lot. It's a very formal accessory and my cards are pretty casual (I'm not even sure it works with this image). Ultimately, I mail most of my cards and this decoration, while pretty, presents a bit of a challenge to the US postal system and their card crushing machines.

Supplies:
Stamps: All stamps are Hambo
Accessories: Copics, Score-Pal, button

Love Ya Mom

Using a kit from last round's Secret Sister (Denise) I sat down to make a card for my mom. After talking to several of my friends, I have come to realize that I am very lucky indeed when it comes to moms. So I'm taking a moment to say how much I appreciate her .... here!

Although the card turned out great, it was not a "great" crafting experience. I caught my hand in a Martha Stewart punch and in the process, when I jumped, I managed to knock down all my designer paper cabinets. Lovely paper rained down to the floor while I whimpered and the dog howled (he's deaf and I startled him). I didn't EVEN want to deal with the clean-up yesterday. I got most of it picked up and sorted today. I even managed to convince myself to part with some of the smaller pieces so it's actually NEATER than it was before!

For this card, I dusted off my poor neglected prisma pencils and used them. I also used the paper tole technique again. I really like how that looks.

Supplies:
Stampavie: Sarah Kay
Accessories: Pop Dots, Prisma Pencils, ribbon, butterfly charm

You're Fan-tastic

I needed a "chin-up" sort of a card for a friend who's going through a rough patch. Since the friend is a guy I wanted to try to make it sorta manly ... OK, I did say, "sorta" ... apparently in my world manly means tighty-whiteys!

But who can resist this guy from the Angel Company? Too cute. It reminds me of my guys since they love all things superhero related.

I'm in a polka-dot phase, can you tell?!!

Supplies:
Stamps: The Angel Company (main) , Stampin Up (phrase)
Accessories: Ribbon, Brads, copics

Happy Birthday Kelsey Bell

When I started designing this card, I had a different stamp in mind ... my new Mo Manning stamp that my super dooper Secret Sister mailed me ... she's cool like that! But, once I got the layout finished I was horrified to see that it was actually too big to use. Rats. Go to Plan B.

So literally, I turned to the rats (or more specifically the mice). This is a House Mouse, one of my older stamps.

And speaking of mice. This is my youngest performing "3 Blind Mice" Though on the day of the performance, one mouse was sick, and the other forgot his sunglasses, so it was an ... interesting ... interpretation. My mouse is the one with a bow tie.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampabilities
Accesories: Copics, ribbon, fuzzy brads

Dude ... where's the ribbon?

OK, I'm going with these photos ... they are like the twelfth that I've taken ... and well, I'm done. I have soooo got to make some sort of camera hood. They are waaaaay too yellow. Anyway, I'm hosting this month's Secret Sister Monthly Image Swap. I picked this one partly because I was pretty sure that everyone would like it and also because Stampavie's images stamp so easily (and that's kinda important when you are stamping 45 images at a time!).

My card was a no-brainer. I wanted a darkish card with my two current favorite SU colors: Cherry Cobbler and the new Expresso. I doodled on the Cherry Cobbler with my white pen and used pop dots to raise the teddy bear again and then his face ... AGAIN! I liked it, stepped away and suddenly remembered the white organza ribbon that I challenged everyone to use. Whoops. I'm blaming the pain meds ... it is NOT senility. Yep, that's my story!

Sooo, back to the drawing board. I made THIS gate-fold card to satisfy the challenge (note to my sistahs: I ran out of the silver ribbon sending it to y'all)





Supplies:
Stamps: Stampavie, SU
Punches: Martha, SU corner punches, Oval Nesties
Embellishments: flowers, copics, brads, pop dots, white gel pen

March Birthdays

Two of my favorite men were born in March: my oldest son and my darling husband. But making masculine cards are not my favorite thing. I have a friend whose advice for making manly cards is to not put ribbon on them ... and I've tried but .... I can't. I love ribbon. So as a result, my man cards aren't very manly!

This is my husband's card. The stamp is from I Brake for Stamps. It just made me giggle as soon as I saw it!

This year, for my son, I didn't even send out invitations (insert a sharp intake of breath here). Yes, I sent e-vites so I have NOTHING to show you for that! But I will share a bit from his party. This is his cake ... I didn't make it. My friend Mary makes AMAZING cakes (in fact I have MANY talented cake artist friends which is fortunate because cake baking is not one of MY talents!)

The details on the cake were cool. Caleb is REALLY into rocks and minerals and she made the cake with mining pans, rock candy and of course, a gigantic volcano on top. As soon as the youngest saw the cake, he said, "I want a volcano cake for my birthday ... do you think she can make mine erupt too?" If anyone can do it ... Mary can.

I've included a picture of some of the cake pops I put in their goody bags. I did make those. I used a new recipe which is crushed Oreo's instead of a cake mix. They were yummy!

Here are some of the details of the cake, up close and personal! She used edible candy rocks. Caleb loved how the cake turned out

The last picture explains the fascination Caleb has for rocks and panning. This is a picture of the two boys panning for garnets. We went to Sabino Canyon in Tucson, Arizona which is not far from my sister's house. At one of the tram stops, kids can pan for garnets and magnetite.

We were lucky enough to get a bit of both.

Secret Sister Monthly Image - March

So this is my March submission for the SS Monthly Image Challenge. Our hostess this month was Imke and she gave us Birgitta from CC Designs. She's part of their "Swiss Pixies" group (Birgitta ... not Imke!). Imke also challenged us to use the sun charm on our card as well.

Since Imke sent me 3 images, I decided to use the Paper Tole technique. The "HOW TO" of paper tole is pretty simple: A duplicate of an image is stamped on a different paper, colored and carefully cut out. This duplicate is then mounted on top of the original with foam mounts, causing it to be raised (3D) and enhancing the natural shape. I popped her hair, boots, flower and leaf. I was going for something different. My husband HATED her hair ... "it looks too boufy" Whatever.

But then ... I wasn't sure. I wasn't crazy about how I colored her dress soooo, I used the third image to create a different card. Though ... looking at it now, the layout is pretty much the same!


Supplies
Card 1: Stamps: Birgitta, CC Designs; Miss You, SU
copics, MS punch, Nestibilities, ribbon, crystal effects, pop dots, stickles, SU embossing folder

Card 2: Stamps: Birgitta, CC Designs; Just Because, unknown
SU flower punches, Sizzix sizzlet swirl punch, Nestibilities, Sizzix embossing folder, brads, ribbon, bling, copics