50th Birthday Card

Tonight I would like to share a birthday card I made for my brother-in-law's 50th birthday earlier this month. Normally when someone celebrates a milestone birthday (30, 40, 50, etc.) black is a common color. So I went with that theory and here is what I came up with!



I started with a white standard cardstock base and added Smokey Shadow cardstock by PaperTrey Ink. I then stamped the letters "The Big" using Color Box Frost White Ink and Trajan: Monogram Edition by PaperTrey Ink. The numbers "50" are from PaperTrey's Top Ten stamp set. The interior sentiment is from PaperTrey's Birthday Basics stamp set and the lines on the front and interior were made with a white gel pen and a ruler.

Over the last couple of weeks I have given away a couple of cards and I haven't remembered to get pictures before they are gone. Oh well, I'm trying to do better.

Things are definitely different around the homestead without Skeemo. The cats seem to be more active and we are seeing Lady and Sultan much more now. I guess the dynamic has shifted. John and I are adapting but we still have our moments when it's really hard. I know it will continue to get better.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your week.
-Janice

Happy Birthday Cathie

I can't believe it's Sunday evening again already! Where does the time go? I guess it also seems like a shorter weekend since last weekend was a 3-day weekend with the Labor Day holiday. Anyway last Monday was my sister Cathie's 35th birthday!

Many, many years ago I took a stamping Adult Education class with a couple of friends. A lady that I worked with knew a stamping/card making teacher who taught a class one night a week at the local school. She talked two of us into taking the class with her for a fun night out. I came across these cards recently and thought this one would make a nice birthday card.



I can't tell you any of the ingredients that went in to making this card but it made me think fun, sun and warm happiness so I thought it was perfect for my sister.

I hope you like it too! Thanks for stopping by tonight and I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

-Janice

Happy 4th of July America!

Wow, has it really been so long since I last posted? Where does the time go? Honestly I've been so busy with life that I haven't had a chance to really craft anything new. Last weekend I spent some time with my mom on Saturday and my dh's company had their 'Summer Outing' at a local amusement park on Sunday.

This past weekend was our 4th of July celebration here in the states. I spent two days cooking and cleaning to prepare our house for a cookout yesterday. We had friends and family join us for a very pleasant celebration. Unfortunately it was steaming hot so we cranked up the air conditioning and spent the afternoon indoors instead of outside. Good think I scrubbed everything! LOL Actually I really like entertaining as it causes me to have to really clean the house, not just a spit and polish, but a good, deep cleaning.

Now we're looking forward to a short work week and another camping weekend ahead. This trip will just be hubby and I and we are really looking forward to getting away, just the two of us. I'll have to get some pictures of the camper and our 'new-to-us' inflatable boat. I sure hope the weather is nice!

Our nephew recently had a birthday so I created this card for him. I think it had a nice masculine look to it.
The papers are all by PaperTrey Ink, as is the sentiment. The small greenish-grey circles are chipboard shapes which I painted with some Ceramcoat Acrylic paint. It's fairly simple but I really liked the way it turned out.

Well that's all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by!

-Janice

Campfire and Graduation

Happy Stormy Sunday Evening! We've been having some pretty unusal weather here in the NE lately. Yesterday was supposed to be stormy and it ended up being HOT and HUMID, like unbelievably humid. Today was pretty stormy and we've been in a Tornado warning for the last two days!! Boy the weather sure has changed since I was kid.

Last weekend the weather was so beautiful. We were camping with some friends and had such a nice, relaxing time. My family and I played games, went to an entertainment park and visited with everyone. We had a nice fire Sunday evening and made s'mores ... yummo. :) This is one of my favorite parts of camping.

This weekend I spent some time being pampered. I had a manicure and pedicure yesterday ... it was wonderful! ... then my dh and I ran errands and grabbed some bar-b-que for dinner. It was nice not to have to cook when it was so bloody HOT outside. My dh is so good to me! :) One of our errands brought us to the local Scrapbook store. I got some fun papers by BoBunny which I'm planning to make into a 'word' scrapbook album. The word I have is 'TRAVEL'. I'm looking forward to getting started.

One of our other errands was to pick up a gift for my mom's birthday. She specifically requested chocolate cake and a submarine sandwich for lunch. So we stopped by Subway for her sandwich and I made a cute cake last night. This morning I frosted it with homemade cream cheese frosting. It was a big hit at the nursing home!

Today I had to make a graduation card for my god-son. I didn't have much time so I kept it really simple. I used Lisa Johnson's Argyle stamp set by PaperTrey Ink to create a nice background image in Royal Blue ink. The cream ribbon is from PaperTrey Ink and the tag is from a new die-cut I got from Spellbinders about a month or so ago at the Creative Keepsakes Convention. I used the 'Congrats you did it' stamp from Dawn McVey's Signature Series stamp set from PaperTrey Ink on the inside of the card.

Well that's all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

-Janice

Is It Summer Already?

Happy HOT Sunday Evening! It is unusually warm here in the NorthEast. Today it reached 90 degrees!! This is unheard of. I know it won't last very long but it is pretty uncomfortable at the moment.

While I was melting in the heat tonight I put together a fairly quick birthday card for my nephew/god son. He will be 19 years old tomorrow. I really can't believe how fast time goes by.

You will probably notice that I recently made a similar card for a new friend. I really like the layout and the concept and since I was pressed for time I decided to just go with what I liked. The dots around the outside of the circles and the Happy Birthday sentiment are from JustRite Stamps. LOVE them! The card base is Lemon Tart by PaperTrey Ink, the blue and green circles are left over scraps I had in my scrap bucket and the blue and green stripes on the white accent piece are Copic markers which I was shocked to see matched the circle colors.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We bought some new Dahlia's and shrubs at the nursery today. Once they are planted I will get some pictures and show you all how wonderful our home is starting to look! LOL

Have a wonderful week.

-Janice

Birthday Card & Real Spring Weather!

Hello and happy Sunday evening to everyone in blog-land! We have been so blessed with our lately and it has been making me so very happy. The sun has been shining for several days now, we are experiencing above average temperatures, in the 60's and 70's and it looks like that trend will continue well into the coming week. Yeah!

Last night we met up with some new friends for dinner and conversation. We went to Bertucci's for dinner and I must say that while I love all of there meal choices I was especially pleased with my selection last night. I usually get the same old thing at every restaurant we frequent and Bertucci's is no exception. If I want a pizza I get the Silano and if I want pasta I either get the rigatoni and meatballs or the chicken, broccoli and ziti. Well last night I decided to step outside my comfort zone and be different ... and boy am I glad I did. Dinner was simply amazing! It was fettuccini with lobster and shrimp in a tomato cream sauce. Oh My Goodness ... it was heavenly! Can you tell that I would highly recommend it?! LOL

Well, our gentleman friend was having a birthday so of course I had to make him a card. I used a sketch from the new Paper Crafts Magazine titled Go To Sketches. I am really loving this magazine! This is one of Teri Anderson's sketches from page 24, if you are interested.

I used a combination of various papers and generic Bazzil cardstock. The beige cardstock background paper is something I had on hand and don't remember where it came from. I rounded the corners with a corner punch. The dark brown strip is Dark Chocolate from PaperTrey Ink and the green stripe is from Pixie Sticks by Imaginisce. I simply cut out just the green color I wanted. The green circles are Bazzil and the checked circles are from Park Buddies by S.E.I..

I also took advantage of the left over scraps and added a little touch to the inside of the card as well. The stamps are from Birthday Wishes by PaperTrey.

Well I'm off to start dinner. Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful week full of sunshine and happiness.

-Janice

Happy Easter & Birthday Cards

Happy Easter! Did you have an enjoyable day? Hopefully you were able to spend the day with family, friends and loved ones. Are you in a sugar coma now?! LOL We spent the weekend enjoying some unseasonably warm weather here in the North East. It has been wonderful!

Yesterday was the birthday for a friends twins. They turned 5 and I am still in shock that they are that old already!! On our last trip to the LSS I came across a card kit by Basic Grey. It contained everything needed to put together 8 cards. I figured it might be fun to have some kids cards so easily available and besides, they're kids, they don't really care if I hand make them a card, right? :)

Here is Joshua's card. It has a bit of a glare on it but it was the best picture my hubby could get on short notice.


And here is Abbey's card. Aren't they cute? I hope they like them.


Yesterday my hubby and I went for a walk on a local hiking and biking trail through some conversation land near our house. It was a nice chance to get to use our camera. Now I just need to figure out how to use Paint Shop Pro a little better and then I should be able to print off some of the better pictures. Maybe I'll even share one or two with you here.

Until later ... have an enjoyable week.

-Janice

Happy Surprises and A Birthday Card

Good Morning and Happy Labor Day to all my US friends! I can't believe that it's September already. Where does the time go? I realized late last night that it was Sunday and I hadn't posted yet. I decided to wait until this morning since it's a holiday here!

We've had a pretty busy weekend so far, done some yard work, lots of shopping, visited my mom and took my sister out to dinner last night for her birthday. I've also spent some quality time in my craft room. I've made a couple of cards and began a small memory album for a gift. I still have to finish the album and make a couple more cards for Sept birthday's.

First I wanted to share a pleasant surprise. I was shopping at Michael's last weekend and I came across the following stamp set in their Clearance bin:


Well I don't have very many stamps like this (Valentine, love, romance type stamps) so I thought for $1.99 you can't beat it! I was checking over the receipt when I got home and to my surprise I was only charged ... ONE PENNY!! Can you believe it?!? I was so excited! Boy am I glad I didn't pass up that bargain! ;)

While I haven't inked the stamps up yet, I did discover that they needed to be put together. The rubber was separate from the wooden blocks. I thought that was pretty clever. I like it when a manufacturer gives you options. In the end I did decide to peel the backing off the red rubber and adhere it to the appropriate wooden blocks though.

Here is a picture of a card I made for a friend. The pattern paper was from a European magazine and I've always like it. I do need to play around with the settings on my printer/copier though because the colors didn't come out as crisp as the original.

In order to give the card some pizzazz I cut out three of the flower squares and "popped" them with dimensionals. I thought it made the card just a bit more interesting. You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it and see what I mean.

Well that's all I have for today. Lots to do so I can get back to the Memory album. I hope you get to relax and enjoy the day.

-Janice

Floral Birthday Card

Good Evening! I can't believe it's Sunday night already. What a crazy weekend this has been. The weather has been extremely hot and humid here in New England lately and our Air Conditioner decided to break down yesterday morning. I'm not sure who is more upset, the dog or my husband! LOL Neither of them like the humidity very much. Although, truth be told, I'm not too happy about it either. ;)

I had some plans to work in the Craft Room this weekend. I needed to create a few cards for upcoming birthdays but when I went in to pull out my paper and decide what to use for supplies I noticed that one of the shelves had collapsed onto some tools! So between having to reorganize my supplies and being incredibly warm I didn't get any cards made this weekend. Not cool.

I do, however, have a card to share with you today. I started this card before we left on vacation and completed it earlier in the week. My niece Ashley celebrated her 19th birthday on Thursday! How exciting for her! Here is the card I made and mailed out to her.

I thought the colors and paper were so feminine. The pattern paper is from Sarapapers, something I found on sale at Michael's. The tag was part of the booklet. There are several coordinating tags. The scalloped paper framing the roses is Sweet Blush from PaperTrey Ink. I couldn't believe how well this color coordinated with the pattern paper. What a lucky break! The sentiment on the tag is from PaperTrey Ink's Birthday Basics. I am so in love with that font!! The strip of ribbon is from my stash.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today, I hope you enjoyed your visit.

-Janice

A Boy's Birthday Card

Here in New England we have been stuck in a bad weather pattern. It has been raining for about two weeks now! I feel like I live in Ireland or something. I'd like to see some sunshine for more than a few hours at a time. I know from reading other blogs that some people are having tremendous heat. It seems like the weather is crazy everywhere this year! I know I really shouldn't complain about the weather, it's cool here, only reaches 70 degrees on average each day so we haven't had to use the air conditioner yet. This is saving us a bunch of money which is a good thing since I haven't found another job yet. So I guess I just have to keep reminding myself of the silver lining. :)

The company my husband works for had their 'Summer Outing' this past weekend. We spent the day yesterday at a local amusement park. It was really fun! We went on some rides and ate all the great food that you get at those places. I especially like the Fried Dough ... yummmm. We were all thankful that the rain held off for most of the day. See, another silver lining!!

Here is the card I have to share with you this week. I made this for my husband's nephew. I seem to struggle a bit with cards for the 'male' gender. I find that this is common for a bunch of other people too.

I thought the paper was fun and certainly appropriate for either a boy or girl. It does have some glitter on it here and there but I don't think it comes across as being real girly. I stamped the slice of cake in Memento Rich Cocoa and layered it using the Large Oval Nestability. I only own two shapes of Nestabilities; the plain oval and the scalloped oval. I didn't want to use the scalloped as I was afraid it might appear too feminine. The stamp and paper are from Imaginisce. The ribbon is called Colorstiks by Strano Designs and the brads are by Making Memories.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying whatever weather is in your area!

-Janice

Fun Birthday Card

If you're still taking the time to check back with me, please know how much I appreciate it! I really need to get back on track with posting messages. I promis to try and get better at it. :)

A few weeks ago I had to mail out a couple of birthday cards. Due to my recent unemployment issues I had fallen behind on making cards. I have saved quite a few templates from 2Sketches4You and decided to use this one to create one card.

The polka dot paper is from American Crafts and the solid colored circles are bazzil scraps. The ribbon was from my stash and is actually a satin ribbon but I turned it over and used the matte side, cool huh? The stamp is from Papertrey's Mega Mixed Messages set.

Hopefully the recipient liked her card!

I have a few other cards to share with you but I'm going to wait a few days and then post again. Thank you for hanging in there with me! :)

Janice