Baseball Birthday

Trent's birthday was in early June. Sticking with our tradition of giving memories versus physical gifts, I made baseball themed card for him and enclosed tickets for the 3 of us to see the Durham Bulls & Norfok Tide play on the following Saturday night.

Our seats for the game were directly behind home plate and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Dylan and I took a break mid-game to walk around the stadium and caught a glimpse of the gorgeous sunset. Amazingly, even after a long day in preschool and game start time of 7:05pm, he made it through the entire game. We headed out just as the 9th inning was starting and it was clear the Bulls were going to take home the win.

Supplies: cardstock; Studio G stamp; Stampin' Up ink. Scraplift of Make A Wish Birthday Card for Boys by RCreativeCreations.

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Superhero Photos

FTC Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Preparing for our pregnancy announcement on Facebook, I had Dylan pose for "big brother" photos. I had a superhero theme in mind. My original photo plan didn't turn out. Instead, I ended up with a couple shots that I liked even better. Love it when it works out like that.

The first awesome shot made a perfect banner for my Facebook page. I added the text "Every Superhero needs a sidekick. Mine is arriving October 2014" and posted along with a new profile picture of one of our first ultrasound images.

I then used a second photo from the day to create a Mother's Day card design for both my mom and my mother-in-law. I cropped the picture in Photoshop and added the bottom blue box and text. Then uploaded to Treat for printing and shipping.

For the Mother's Day cards, I used a full photo front option and deleted the text offered by Treat. Then wrote personalized notes inside of each card. To further simplify things, I had Treat do the shipping for me. All I did was request a delivery by last Friday to ensure they arrived on time. Both moms loved their cards. It really is an easy way to create a beautiful card even if you think you are creatively challenge and/or lack time.

I hope all of the moms (and moms at heart) had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

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Valentine's Day 2014

One of the fabulous things about being 4? Dylan woke up excited just to have another snow day at home. No realization there was a small surprise awaiting him for Valentine's Day.

He was so excited about the Minion card and robot t-shirt I made for him as well as the heart shaped box of chocolates. And, since the snow equaled a slow start to a weekday, we also had homemade Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast, of course.

Hope you are having a wonderful Valentine's day! What's your favorite way to celebrate?

Supplies: Celebrate white cards; Minion printable from HaleGrafx; corner rounder punch.

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Preschooler Pieced Christmas Tree Cards

Today is the Christmas celebration at preschool. We'll be leaving work early to see the kids do a small show (a carol or two perhaps?), have some snacks and, of course give the teachers a gift to celebrate the season but also say thank you.

While I love Pinterest and crafting, I keep things simple and give the teachers a gift card. I did want to do something special though. The idea quickly came to me - have Dylan create a card for each of them.

After preschool yesterday, he and I went upstairs to our craft room where I spread assorted supplies out on the floor. I grabbed 2 blank white cards, a bin of scrap paper, his scissors, a glue stick and stamping supplies. I loosely showed him the idea of how to create a "tree" with strips of paper by laying out various pieces on the floor. Then I helped him select papers from my scraps. We both cut several strips, but he did the rest. He chose the pieces, glued them in place, inked the star stamp and stamped them. Inside he added a sentiment with a "Merry Christmas" stamp and stamped 2 flowers just because he liked them.

Me? I proudly watched and grinned. I love that he enjoys art so much and was impressed at the beautiful cards he made. Inside I wrote a simple note to each teacher expressing our thanks for all they do in the classroom and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

What do you do for teacher gifts?

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Quick & Easy Gift Bag Tag

I might have procrastinated a tad in wrapping a gift for my sister-in-law's baby shower yesterday. I went first to my box of wrapping paper and found 2 appropriately styled rolls. Then couldn't find a box. Oops.

Next I pulled out my box of gift bags. I have a habit of keeping any and all gift bags ever given to us that still look nice. I will re-use them in a heartbeat. Waste not want not. Reuse, recycle. All that good stuff. Amazingly, in the midst of lots of "baby boy" bags from 4 years ago, I found a nice, gender neutral baby gift bag that fit the blanket I made.

And, of course, in my procrastination, I realized that I actually didn't have any pre-made baby cards (need Valentines, Halloween or Christmas? I've got those covered and then some). Thank goodness for ample paper crafting supplies. I grabbed a bit of white cardstock from my scrap drawer. Trimmed, folded and punched the edges. Added a simple giraffe stamp. Handwrote a note inside. And - voila! - done.

Simple, sweet and a nice personal touch to a re-loved gift bag.

Supplies: white cardstock; Fiskars edge punch; Fox & Friends stamp set and ink by Stampin' Up!

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"Dad" card

Last year I made hybrid cards for our fathers for Father's Day:

I started with a simple 5.5" x 8" rectangle and added a 5" x 7.5" mask in the center. This allowed me to easily layer two papers to create the background. I printed these onto white cardstock, cut to size and scored it at the 4" line to create the fold.

Next, I opened a pennant flag element from the Give Thanks kit and added "DAD" using brushes. I printed these onto white cardstock as well, cut out and then adhered to the cards with adhesive backed foam to give the design a bit of dimension.

Simple as that and they each had a beautiful handmade card.

Are you making cards this year? I'd love to see. Share a link to the post or image in the comments section. :)

Supplies: Give Thanks & Happy Camper kits by Sara Schmutz; Digi Essentials 8 by Karla Dudley; white cardstock; adhesive backed foam.

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Baseball Birthday

In December, Trent, Dylan & I stopped by the Durham Bulls Athletic Park for the Holiday Open house. One of the perks turned out to be an opportunity to buy old stadium signs. While thumbing through the options, an idea hit me - one of the signs would make a perfect first birthday gift for one of the boys in our playgroup. His parents are big Bulls fans and we had all attended a game together last spring. When I found a sign for Section 216 (his birthday is today, 2/16!) I knew we had to buy it.

I made a baseball themed card to match using both digital and traditional scrapbooking supplies I had on hand.

I had printed several pieces for embellishments, but wasn't pleased with the look of all of them. Thus, I grabbed some blue paper from my scraps bin and cut it freehand. Then used my sewing machine to stitch it on. For the star, I had envisioned a chipboard piece but didn't have any. I did have an old frame of chipboard shapes from Basic Grey on hand. I traced a star onto an old coffee cup sleeve, cut it out, bent it up a bit for a rough leather-ish look and tacked it on with a brad. Honestly, it's my favorite element on the card.

Not the most traditional gift & card for a first birthday, but it seemed to fit just right. :)

Supplies: Recollections card & white cardstock; Sara Schmutz's No 1 Fan kit; Bazzill cardstock; patterned paper; Coats & Clark thread; coffee cup sleeve; Making Memories metal brad.

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Watercolor Valentines

Dylan helped me make cards to send to his grandparents for Valentine's Day.

We started with me sketching hearts onto watercolor paper. I then gave him the paper along with his watercolors and he painted them. I loved how different and unique each heart was. After they were dry, I cut out the hearts, glued them to the cards and added his name & the date to the bottom of the painting.

Supplies: watercolor paper & watercolors; Bazzill cards.

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Wedding Card & Ornament

I made the card and gift I gave to my sister and husband this weekend. I kept the card simple using a piece of elegant patterned paper from American Crafts. Handwrote the sentiment. And used an ink pad to color the chipboard heart.

Supplies - card: Recollections card & white cardstock; American Crafts patterned paper; Micron black pen; Making Memories chipboard heart; Stampin' Up! ink pad.

The gift idea came from this post. I cut their wedding invitation into small strips, curled them around a pencil and added to a clear ball ornament. I added a few strips of complementary cardstock as well to help fill the ornament entirely. Then finished it off with a satin ribbon bow and tie.

Supplies - ornament: clear ornament; ribbon; wedding invitation.

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Eight

Blessed to be celebrating eight years of marriage today! :)

Supplies: Stampin' Up! cardstock; October Afternoon patterned paper; Die Cuts with a View adhesive backed cardstock; Making Memories rub-on.

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Race Car Thank You Notes

To thank everyone after Dylan's Cars birthday party, we needed car themed thank you notes. I kept the design fairly simple using strips of printed checkered paper, red cardstock and a stamp. I also printed return address labels with Lightning McQueen on them just as I had done with the invites.

Supplies: Recollections white cards, cardstock & stamp; StazOn black ink; personal black & white checkered design; Avery clear address labels #18660; Lightning McQueen clip art; Comic Sans font.

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Father's Day

Love this photo I captured of Trent & Dylan yesterday morning. For Trent's gift, I put together a photobook of the two of them with thank yous (ie, thanks for teaching me how to kick a ball). This was Dylan's first time seeing it too and the excitement shows on his face. :)

ISO 2800, ss 1/60, f5.0

I am so glad they both liked it! I made the book as much for Dylan as Trent. Being a stay-at-home mom, Dylan and I have lots of adventures together and most of his scrapbook pages reflect that. I wanted to be sure to document the times he spends with his dad too.

Here's the card I made for Trent:

Supplies: Sara Schmutz's No 1 Fan kit; Tiffany Tillman's Tears Set 1; Maiandra GD font.

And for those curious, the photobook:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Join in the fun with Jill Samter Photography and Ramblings and Photos:

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Airplane Birthday Card

I made this card for Trent's birthday last week lifting Soar Card by catheris at Two Peas:

Supplies: Recollections cardstock; We R Memory Keepers, American Crafts & Little Yellow Bicycle patterned papers; Sara Schmutz's Blustery Sky paper pack; Bradley Hand font; Making Memories letter stickers; QuicKutz circle die; rub-on; Micron black pen.

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Elmo & Numbers

I've had fun creating cards and crafting birthday gifts for Dylan's friends. At 2, they are all beginning to have fun little personalities. The latest celebration was this past weekend and I knew there were two things this little guy likes - Elmo and numbers. Elmo is an obsession. ;) And in the last few months I've been so impressed with his number recognition. First I caught him pointing them out so his mom would say the names out loud. Now he tells us what numbers he sees. Those things are what inspired his card and gift.

I combined both for the card using an image I found of Elmo online and resized. Then I made the numbered paper using a digital kit. I resized and recolored the numbers element to work with my design.

Supplies: Stampin' Up cardstock (red); miscellaneous cardstock (white & black); Elmo image found online; Karen Funk's One Year Older elements; Creative Imaginations patterned paper.

For the gift, I made him two sets of felt flash cards following this tutorial on Sew Much Ado blog. Each set is on its own binder ring. He can play with one or both, flip them upside down to play a matching game, etc. As soon as he pulled the cards from the gift bag, he began flipping through them and saying each number aloud. I'm going to take that as "I like it!"  :)

Supplies: various colors of felt & matching threads; grommets; 2" binder rings; template.

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Robot Birthday Card

We're surrounded in birthday fun around here lately with two more celebrations coming up this weekend - Trent's birthday and one of Dylan's playgroup friends. Two weeks ago (and I can't believe I forgot to share this until now!), another playgroup buddy turned 2. Here's the card I made for him:

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket patterned papers; American Crafts ribbon; staple; Pebbles Inc rub-on sentiment.

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Happy Mother's Day!

A very happy Mother's day to all moms! Wishing you a wonderful day.

Here's the card I created this year. It started out as a digital design that I printed onto a white card and covers the front & back.

I reprinted the butterfly alone onto a second sheet of white cardstock. Hand cut it using my x-acto knife. Inked the edges, scored the wings along the body and glued to the card. The result:

Supplies: Recollections white card; Design House Digital's iNSD Designer Blog Hop collaboration kit; Karla Dudley's Digi Essentials 2; Commerical Script font; Stampin' Up! Daffodil Delight ink.

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Floral Card

Playing around with my paper supplies last week (seems like I'm doing a lot of digital designs or sewing these days), I made this card:

Supplies: Stampin' Up! Rich Razzleberry cardstock & ink, Fast & Fabulous stamp set; Recollections white cardstock; American Crafts ribbon; Chatterbox patterned paper.

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Giraffe Love

I had so much fun making this giraffe for one of Dylan's friends.  Isn't he adorable?

I found the directions to make him here. Technically, he should stand up (apparently I didn't get him stuffed quite as well as I thought) but he does look rather cute sitting there.  I'm going to try another one soon for Dylan.  He loved this one so much that when he saw it after I finished, he grabbed it and stashed it in his crib! I felt a little guilty taking it away.  Hopefully his buddy loves it just as much.

And, of course, I needed a matching card:

The sentiment was inspired by Big Birthday Giraffe card by mum of 2+2 at Splitcoast Stampers. 

Supplies: Treehouse Designs patterned paper; Recollections white cardstock; Making Memories edge scraper; QuicKutz Studio font; Stampin' Up! Fox & Friends stamp set and Early Espresso ink; Bernhard Modern Standard font.

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A Birthday Full of Cars

Our neighbor turned 3 over the weekend and loves cars so what better than a race car birthday card?

Supplies: Stampin' Up cardstock, inks & Celebrate stamp; Provo Craft sticker.

I had planned to give him a car to go along with it.  He loves the Hot Wheels/Matchbox type cars and has quite the collection.  That latter part is what stopped me ... he has so many so maybe another car isn't the best idea.  Then I remembered 2 things.  One, I've seen him get in and out of the car with hands overflowing with the cars he's taken between home and his grandparents, etc.  Two, a while back I saw a great tutorial on another blog for making a Car Caddy.  Aha!  The perfect gift for the boy that loves cars.  Now he has a good way to tote a few with him and has a little play space to go along with it.  I see another one of these in the future for Dylan.  It's just so cute!

Car caddy folded up and ready for travel:

Unfolded and ready for play (cars store in the pockets at the bottom):

Supplies: assorted fabric from my stash; interfacing (I used to stiffen it up since my fabrics were thinner than those in the tutorial); felt; thread; velcro; acrylic paint

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card: Welcome Baby

Sweet little card I made for a friend who had a little girl.  Trying to get a bit feminine without going full out pink.

Supplies: Recollections white card; October Afternoon patterned paper; Making Memories edge scraper & flower; Mark Richards Enterprises Crystal Stickers; tag; Stampin' Up Fox & Friends stamp set and Daffodil Delight ink; Micron black pen; scrap pink cardstock; Fiskers scalloped edge punch.

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