Turning 13!

I am sure we all have some kind of memory of turning 13, becoming a "teenager..." Well, last night was the family party for our friends' daughter, who just turned 13. She is an adorable, sweet, outgoing, fun loving girl. It has long been known that she is also the Princess with 3 very protective older brothers (18, 21, 27), a dad in denial, and many uncles who will definitely be around to remind the boys that she is off limits! The poor girl will never get the chance to date with that lot around!!!

Anyway, Being the typical tween/teenager she is in to music, guitars, dancing and the like. So I had to use that in the wrappings of the gift we gave her.

Puzzled Gift Bag & Card

Earlier this week I shared a gift bag and card styled after a Scrabble game. Today, I am moving on to another of our favorite passtimes at gatherings, Jigsaw Puzzles. These were fun to make and could be easily adopted to any specific theme.

I started with a few greeting cards sporting pictures that fit the occassion. In this case, a Thomas Kincade painting of the castle at Disneyland, my friend loves his work, and Disneyland. I also picked a second card that was in my stash of old stationary from the 45 anniversary of Disneyland. I measured the front of the cards to determine my next steps.

In my Gypsy, on a new 12 x 12 mat I enlarged the Window Card cut on Don Juan to make the window slightly smaller than the front of the greeting card I chose to cut up. I hid the card outline itself, making just the puzzle pieces that make up the window the size of my card front.

I cut the card front away from the rest of the card and placed it on my mat to match the Gypsy file.

Here is the card artwork after I cut it.

I layered the front of a 8x10 kraft gift bag with coordinating card stock, and added a large sheer, teal ribbon to the last layer before attaching it to the bag. My "puzzle" was partially reassembled with some of the pieces adheared with popdots to give it some texture and dimention.

The saying in the corner was hand written, to try to tie together the idea of the puzzles and a gift she is surprised to get.

The card base is an ivory 5 x 6.5 card by Reflections. To this I added several layers of paper again, along with a sentiment I printed out on scraps of paper.

This morning's Blog Candy is a bit like my birthday...I spend at least part of the day at Disneyland on my day, and I always get a new watch. So, today I am giving away an 8x8 Red CM album, a pack of pages, and CM Primary Paper album kit (printed papers, stickers, and photo mats) AND a Mickey Watch.

All you need to do to be eligible to win, is comment on this post before midnight(pdst) on Saturday, April 16th.

Damask Birthday Wishes

I found a box on my front porch today with a few cartridges I just ordered. Kind of like an early birthday present! I ordered Father's Day, Everyday Pop-Up Cards, and Damask Decor. Naturally I had to play with at least one cart, so I chose the Damask cart. At first I just thought they were beautiful scroll work. Then I discovered that the centers of the last 10 designs had an "icon" of different sorts. I found a cupcake among the mix, which of course fits perfectly with my Birthday Week.

I was not quite sure how to put these together, as the example project was for a card cut, not the layers. So, I just cut one of everything to try setting them out several ways and see what works.

I discovered that the main cut and the cut + shift fit nicely together. Each of the layer cuts and their shift cuts also fit nicely as a shadows for each other. However, the + shift cuts for the layers do not work as well with the main cut and shift cut.

With the help of a color wheel, starting with the red paper. I chose the Triad color combo (orange triangle in center).

The card base is an ivory 5 x 6.5 inch card. The mat is a piece of printed card stock from an old mat stack. I trimmed the length by 1/4 inch and then inked the edges in a dark green.

The Damask Cupcake cut was at 4.5 inches. I used a bunch of scraps to make this. the candle, cupcake top and "wrapper" are highlighted in Clear Star Gellyroll pen. The pearl drop bling was left over from an some embellishments I bought for a wedding album. It fit perfectly over the teardrop shaped cut in this design.

Then I tried the "Card" cut at 4.5 inches too.

I have to say that I really like all of the cuts I have looked at in this cartridge. It has a lot of potential as a background, an accent and as a main cut for a card or layout.

Don't forget to comment on the posts this week. I have lots of fun things to give away.

Silly Birthday Card

This next birthday card I want to share with you is kind of silly. As I said in my last post, our friends are all very young at heart. We are also big Disney fans and can quote just about any animated movie.So, when one of the older "children," a 20-something son celebrated his birthday, I knew I had to have some fun making his card.



I started with a pre-printed 5-1/2 inch square card.

   Guido #2 at 4-1/2 inches from the Pixar Cars cartridge

   Cupcake at 3 inches (might have been 3-1/2) from the From My Kitchen cartridge

To make the cupcake stay on the lift I glued it to the stack of tires and then trimmed off the excess tire so they would not show from the front. The whole shape was raised above the card with pop dots.

Now for Give Away #2:

   CM 8x8 album, 1 set of pages, and a Serenity Album Kit (papers, stickers, and embellishments)

Again, all I ask is that you comment on this post, by 10 pm April 15th.

If you are one of my followers, your name will also be added to an end of the week drawing just for followers.

Triple Score Birthday

We have a wonderful group of friends that we love to hang out with. We are now entering the time of year where celebrating seems almost non-stop, a bazzilion birthdays, several anniversaries, and all of the spring/summer holidays, and even a few bbq's "just because." The best part is that the adults are just as silly and fun loving as the kids. Sometimes even worse than the kids. Besides all of the food, we love to play games. Lawn games, board games, card games...you name it we have a great time with it. About sun down a Scrabble Board usually comes out on to a table.

There are some pretty serious players in the group, which usually means a few disagreements as facts are checked...Then there may be a second board for those of us much less likely to take the game seriously. At this game you will find some interesting, if not quite valid words. But if you can make a sentence with the word, and give a definition - it is yours.

The card and bag I share with you has been made for one of our fun loving friends - a serious Scrabbler - for their birthday. (I won't say anymore or they might figure out it is for them)

First, for the card

The card base is 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 inch card stock.

I cut Letter Tiles from Printing 101 Cart:

   1 inch Tiles + shift (brown linen stripe paper -old CM paper pack)

   1 inch Shadow Tile (black card stock)

   Highlight edges with Copic Sketch pen # E71 Champagne

   Emphasis the cut lines on side of tile with an old CM brown pen)

The colored double/triple letter squares were cut from Pack Your Bags Cart

   1.2 inch Beach ball Stamp + shift

The H, Y in Happy and the R in Birth are adhered with pop dots

The bag:

I set some of the letters on a Kraft colored bag and a white bag so that I could chose one.

I chose the white 12" x 16" bag for this gift.

I marked the bag into 1-3/4 inch squares, first in pencil and then in colored pens - I chose to use the bright Close to My Heart "island" color set for the lines. I did not complete all of the lines to give it the illusion that the game board was sliding off the bag.

The letter tiles on this one are cut from Printing 101

   1-1/2 inch Tiles + shift (brown linen stripe paper -old CM paper pack)

   1-1/2 inch Shadow Tile (black card stock)
   Highlight edges with Copic Sketch pen # E71 Champagne
   Emphasis the cut lines on side of tile with an old CM brown pen)





The colored double/triple letter squares were cut from Pack Your Bags Cart
   1.7 inch Beachball Stamp + shift
The black start is a small CM punch.
All of the letter tiles were adhered with pop dots.
Here is one more close up of the letter tiles so that you can see what I did with the pens.

I loved making this gift set, and I can not wait to make another. But in the meantime, I have my first prize to give away.

CM's Disney Vacation Designer Prints (16 sheets); CM's Adventures of Pooh Album Kit (Printed papers, stickers and an idea book.

I will use random.com to pick the winner.Here's what you need to do:

   Leave a comment in this post by Friday, April 15th, at 10 pm (Pacific DS Time).

It's My Birthday

...I'll Party 'Cuz I Want To

My birthday is this week and I have decided I am going to have a party this week. Each day I will post a new birthday inspired project. I will also be giving away some presents throughout the week, but you will have to keep reading to find out what and when.

This first birthday card was made on the Deco Tag cut at 5 inches from Lacy Labels (Lite Cart). Then the silhouette of the little girl was cut from A Child's Year at 3.5 inches. I adhered the little girl with pop dots. I actually put the tag in an envelop rather than punch a hole in it. (the card behind it in this picture was just for background)

Sorry it is a blurry picture.

This was a quick card to make but has such a nice, clean look to it. I love the Lacy Label cart, such great background and frame cuts. I am going to have to revisit this one.