Birthdays- masculine?

Masculine birthday cards are always a challenge for me because I tend to like really girly supplies. Here are some lame attempts; the one on the right,I think, is the lamer of the two.

Card stock and Patterned Paper: Hobby Lobby, as always (or, almost always).

Left card "H" made from CTMH Atomic Caps stamp set and a Cranberry CTMH marker. The rest of the sentiment was created with a Dymo Label Maker. And it does seem that nearly every "masculine" card I make has to have some staples, eh?

For the card on the right I used another $2 Autumn Leaves stamp set from Target. CTMH ink in Sweet Leaf. I tried to stamp some leaves on the green paper, but by the time the ink dried, you really couldn't see them unless you have the vision of a Super-Hero. Too bad. Now I think the card is awfully plain. This is also definitely not one of my standard color combos.

another Thank You

One of my first attempts at the scalloped look, with scallop scissors and 1/16" circle punch from JoAnn's.

As usual, card stock is from Hobby Lobby, ribbon from Wal-Mart.

Over the Yellow card stock, I laid a piece of very pale yellow patterned vellum to get the patterned paper look.

The Stamp is from another Studio G by Hampton Arts, found at Michael's for $1. I was actually bold enough to then cut out the stamped image and glue to card. I deserve a medal for bravery. HA HA.

Birthdays- nieces 2007

Three of my nieces have birthdays in the fall. Last year, they turned 16, 13, and 8. They have different tastes in colors, styles, etc. so I wanted each card to look totally different.

16-year-old likes green and periwinkle:
Paper and Card Stock: Hobby Lobby
Pink and Lavender Ribbon: Wal-Mart
CTMH Stamp Set: Doodle Alphabet
Inks: Sweet Leaf, Amethyst (CTMH); pink is Creating Memories or something like that.

13-year-old likes "pretty blues":
Same stamp set, same brand of card stock.
CTMH Inks: Amethyst and Lilac Mist
Corner Rounder: Hobby Lobby (I kinda wish I hadn't done that, though)
You really can't see it in the photo, but I stamped on the blue paper to make it patterned.

8-year-old likes Primary Colors, and is a funny one:
Card Stock: Hobby Lobby
Black ink: CTMH
Ribbon: Wal-Mart
CTMH Stamp Set: Antique Tags
Autumn Leaves Ladybug Stamp set, bought at Target for $2.
I hand-wrote "hey, little lady!" with a ZIG Millennium Ink pen. I LOVE these pens.
I maybe should have used brads on the tag, but I didn't have any white ones and I liked the color contrast, so I just left it be.

Christmas

Green textured, White (Plain) Card Stock: Hobby Lobby
Paper: Forgot the brand, but purchased at JoAnn's
Green Ribbon: Jo Ann's
Inks: Various brands (this was before my full conversion to CTMH inks)
CTMH Stamp Set: Celebrations Solid
I made a word document with 1" squares reading, "peace," "hope," or "joy." Then I cut out each square, stamped the image over the word, and adhered to the card.
Misc. supplies: hole punch, glue, paper cutter.
Initially, I wanted the words to be on circles and look like ornaments, but I didn't have a circle punch then, and my ability to cut circles is, well, pretty much non-existent.

Mostly the same supplies as above, just substituted smooth red card stock. The cute ribbon is from JoAnn's.

Again, both were created for a card exchange. I chose the top one, but now I think I like the bottom one better. What do you think?

Birthday- CARS

(As part of a card exchange for children's birthday cards)
I knew from all the little boys I interact with that CARS were a hot item at the time. I wanted a very rugged, masculine look and I preferred the idea of a red car. Other than that, I was clueless so I did MANY prototypes, as you can clearly see. On the outside, all of them say "wishing you..." and on the inside, "A very happy birthday!" Some of them also have car clip art inside.

The black stripes and road were made by running the black ink pad over white cardstock several times. I tell myself it looks like automobile grease!

Of course, I inked just about every possible edge with black to contribute to the junky look.

Most of the cars were Microsoft clip art items downloaded for free from their website. However, the bottom two on the right side were created with stencils and ink pads. I rubbed the ink on to cotton balls, which I then ran across the card stock several times until it was dark enough. My friends flattered me by saying it gave the images an airbrushed look. HA!

If you look VERY closely, you can see that I typed VROOM and ZOOM in red on to red paper so that the backgrounds of many of the cards would not be so plain. I think the fonts were Rub This! and Problem Secretary, which I downloaded for free (YEA!) from the internet.

Other supplies included ribbon, staples (of course), glue and gold, red, and plain white printer paper.

Incidentally, the card I chose for the exchange was the red car on the road. I'm not sure it's my favorite, but it was definitely the most work!

Halloween

Cardstock, Paper: Hobby Lobby
Ribbon: Offray (I think?!?!)
Stars were punched with a $1 star punch from Target, then glued to black ribbon
Black CTMH ink
CTMH Stamp Sets: Atomic Caps, Atomic Lower Case, and Alfresco
Winnie the Pooh Stickers: Hallmark

I hadn't used these colors together, but since I saw them a lot in Halloween ads, I decided to take a "walk on the wild side." I was pleasantly surprised. It's so sad, but the using two different color blocks on the upper 2/3 of the card was also a departure from my standard "layout."

Birthday- Boys

Patterned Paper and Cardstock: Hobby Lobby
CTMH Inks: Amethyst, Lilac Mist, Sweet Leaf
CTMH Stamp Set: Little Boys
Other Supplies? Staples, Glue Stick

Thinking of You- my favorite colors

Hobby Lobby Cardstock.
CTMH Ink: Amethyst and Lilac Mist
CTMH Stamp Sets: Celebrations Solid, Alfresco
Ribbon: Unknown, but most likely bought at Wal-Mart.
Small silver brads

I used the Butterfly card as a birthday card, and the Thinking of You card became a Sympathy card.

Mark your calendars...

... because I actually had a good idea this morning! I can't believe it, either!

For a while, I've been wondering how to store those cute little $1 Hampton Arts clear stamp sets (found at Michael's or, occasionally, JoAnn's). I store my higher-quality CTMH stamp sets in a square gift box, which is not the best idea, but it was free, so it's good enough for now. In the past, I've just thrown the little stamp sets in the bottom of the box, but then I have to try to fish them all out before I can even decide if I want to use one. I know that some companies are marketing their own products for such a use, but I'm sure they're more than I want to spend. So, here's my idea: putting them in trading card sleeves.

I bought a package of these years ago when I first began trying to organize my photos. It occured to me that I had A LOT of wallet-sized photos that were no longer in my wallet, and I was certainly not ready to scrapbook them. While at Wal-Mart (gasp! I know some of you don't like that place), I noticed these clear sleeves to store baseball cards and realized they were just the right size. This morning, I also realized each pocket is also approximately the same size as one $1 stamp set.

I also have a few $2 Autumn Leaves sets that I found last year at Target. I just cut their plastic cards in half, and one half of each set also fits nicely in one pocket. Note that they do fit in each pocket better if you don't keep the paper insert from each package, but they're also easier to see each stamp individually if you do have the paper insert behind the stamp.

I am really a fan of these trading card sleeves. Because I am a nerd and kept all my old school I.D.s and Library cards, I found that they fit perfectly in the pockets as well.

Finally, I had one other, larger set of Hampton Arts stamps. I remembered that I had this old, clear pencil holder that was just taking up space, and found that it was a great size for that set.
Now all of these stamps are much more conveniently stored in a three ring binder. I am sorry that I cannot remember the name of the company that makes these sleeves, or how many you get in a pack, but I know I got them at Wal-Mart, they're inexpensive, and I would guess you could find them at the discount store of your choice!

So there you go, a LOT of text to explain a very simple idea... just like me, isn't it?

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I got several new punches, some paper flowers, and a few stamp sets for my birthday back in April, and decided it was high time I got my butt in gear and used them.
Cardstock: Hobby Lobby
Patterned Paper: The Paper Studio
Ribbon: ? from Michael's
Yellow & Hot Pink Paper flowers w/ brads: Making Memories
Pale pink flower: The Paper Studio
Ink: CTMH & Stampin' Up
Stamps: CTMH (Express Postage, Adorable, Doodle Alphabet), Studio G (Brackets)
Small Scallop Scissors
Punches: 1" Flower, The Paper Studio
1/2" Circle, Marvy Uchida
1/16", 1/8", 1/4" circles, unknown brands
Corner rounder, used to make large scallops, EK Success

I really liked experimenting with creating different types of lacy looks on the scallops.


I say, if all else fails, use pictures of your cute kids for cards. Unfortunately I could NOT get a good photo of this. Maybe I can scan it at Mom's.
The words, in Fontdiner Loungey font, were typed in Word. They read "take you ridin' in the car car," which are lyrics from a Woody Guthrie folk song that Kiddo loves.
Cardstock: Hobby Lobby
Ribbon: ?
Car Stamp: from a $2.50 wooden set bought at Target
Black Star Stamp: CTMH (Express Postage)
There are also words you can't see from the "So Many Sayings" Stampin' Up set
Ink: ? All I know from the container is that it's child-safe!

This Birthday card was designed to celebrate the love Kiddo and Gobby have of going for rides together in her red car.