Glittery {heart} Day

Can't believe it's February already! And a new month means it's time for a new smART-word: glitter! You can see some great examples (and get details about playing along) here. Also, smARTworks is back up and running! Get caught up on the news here.

For my card, I started with a dictionary I picked up from the Dollar Store. I ripped out the page that included "love," then masked off that entry and painted over the remainder with white acrylic. I used the words from Combo Sentiments, and grabbed a punched heart that's been floating around in my scrap box. A coating of ruby red stickles definitely added some punch!

On a funny note, when I was looking at the photo, I suddenly started cracking up and my daughter came running in to see what was so funny... somehow I couldn't bring myself to explain that I was laughing at the word "booty" on my Valentine's card. I'm thinking that a bit more white paint may be needed before this gets mailed out :)

Birthday Fairy

Yesterday was our daughter's birthday - I can't believe that my "baby" is already 4!! She's definitely a girly-girl, and is into all things pink, purple, and sparkly these days, and I tried to incorporate a bit of all that in her birthday card.

I started by pulling out this beautiful paper (Memory Box), then stamped the fairy (Cornish Heritage Farms). I colored her with prismacolor pencils, then accented her wand and dress with a spica glitter pen... for the crowning touch, I covered the wings with fine, irridescent glitter. She really is lovely! I diecut the letters (sizzix script sizzlet alpha) to spell out "wish."

And let those sparkly wings serve as a reminder for the Tea Party on Wednesday - hope you can join us!

Gift Tag

Our family attended a birthday party this past weekend, and rather than making a card for the birthday boy I opted for a tag. Why? Well, his Mommy is a scrapper and I figured this would be a good page embellishment. Thankfully she loved it! And he loved his gift :)

I started with some scraps of blue paper, and laid out the basic design. Next, I die cut "Aaron" and 3 from thin sheet metal using the Sizzix boxed brush alpha die set. I stamped "Happy Birthday" (smARTworks, "Time To") onto caramel paper with navy versamagic ink. I made the hole reinforcer with a couple punches, and then tied on some great American Crafts ribbon. Nothing too fancy, but I thought simple was better in this case.

"You Are A Dear"

I love all things cheesy, which is why this card seemed like a good idea! I started out by creating the background by repeatedly stamping thanks (combo sentiments). By the way, you really must invest in a stamp-a-ma-jig if you don't already own one; they make creating backgrounds like this downright simple. Anyway, after doing the background I overstamped the deer (reindeer). Next I diecut the letters from a super thin metal sheet (I got in a share over at Serving the King - and she still has more available if you'd like some). The final touch was layering using a slot corner punch.


I still love the idea of this card - but I'm not really digging the actual results here. I need to play more with colors (I used chocolate chip and tempting turquoise on this one, but the card base is showing much more blue on my monitor), and either use alphabet stamps or a different alpha die set. I think it needs additional embellishment, too, but I couldn't figure out where to add ribbon, brads, etc. Thoughts anyone? I'm *very* open to suggestions!

Sweet Sixteen

Our niece - the adorable little flower girl at our wedding - turned sixteen yesterday. Man, I'm feeling old! I put off making her card to the last minute, and grabbed the BasicGrey Blush card kit that has been sitting on the back of my workspace for months. As pretty as it was, I could't bring myself to actually use the pieces. Well, yesterday was the day! I started with a square Fabriano notecard, then layered on the paper pieces and hearts. After I came up with my basic layout, I accented it all with some distress inks. I die cut the numbers from some shimmery paper, so they actually stood out quite nicely. The final touch was the velvet ribbon and stick pin.

I must say, I liked using the kit, and will be using more strips like this on future layouts. Great way to use up scraps but they also make fabulous accents!

Bless You

Using up some scraps from the baby card - I had originally embossed the blue panel and gone over it with ink, but it looked terrible on the other card. Couldn't let it go to waste, though!

I cut the flowers (Cuttlebug dies) out of 2 browns and coral. Added wire stems, and tied it off with ribbon. The blue panel looked really stark on the brown base, so I added a bit of white (DTP with distress antique linen). I stamped with card base with Aida Cloth (SU) using white versamagic ink just to add some texture, and the sentiment is from Wordsworth.