Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

My Mom is celebrating her 60th birthday this week and I have had it in my mind for a couple years that I wanted to throw her a surprise party! So last night we had 40 of her closest friends and family at a banquet hall with a band for a great party! If you have ever hosted a surprise party, you know it is nerve racking up to the last second, but once my Mom arrived, the stress was so worth it! She was very surprised and had a great time! It all worked out wonderfully, I don't think it could have gone any better, except if my sister and her family would have been able to make from out of state! So finally, I can post a picture on things I have been working on for the past few months! I started with the invitations in October! I knew I had to have them done before the holidays or my life would have been even more hectic! I used Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and Sky Blue on her card. I bought the Top Secret stamp on eBay. The other images are from Stampin' Ups! Eat Cake stamp set. On the inside I paper clipped a picture of my Mom from when she was in her 20s, its a great picture! I used the "sweet" stamp from the So Very set and the 60 is from Brushstroke Numbers set. For the map to the party, I used Google earth to create an image of the location and printed it in black and white and put an x on the spot. After Christmas I was able to start working on the other stuff for the party. The book on the left is Stampin' Up's on board art journal. I decorated it with Groovy Guava Designer Series paper, Groovy Guava ribbon, Sky Blue Ribbon and Wild Wasabi Ribbon. The flower in the left hand corner was made using my cuttlebug and some flower dies and I attached a clear button in the middle.

I also used my cuttlebug to make the title on the journal: Patti's Sweet 60 for the title. On the inside I stamped Happy Birthday and some various images on the first several pages and I used that for a guest book. I will fill in the rest of the pages with pictures, later. In the middle of the picture are some of the party favors. I bought some little Tins that Wilton makes and cut strips of the Groovy Guava Designer Series Paper to go around them. The top is a piece of Groovy Guava cardstock cut out using the scallop circle punch and then on top of it is just a white piece of card stock. I printed Patti's Sweet 60 1-26-08 on the white card stock using my color printer then punched them out with a circle punch. I used a dimensional to adhere the white to the Groovy Guava. I filled each tin with 60 red hots (my mom loves red hots!) To the right of the party favors is the centerpiece. I took old coffee cans and covered them with Groovy Guava Designer Series paper and Groovy Guava Ribbon. Inside the cans I put a Styrofoam block. I used my cuttlebug again to make the flowers and I attached them to skewers using glue. I made them double sided so even if you were looking from the back, it looks like a flower. Then I printed out a picture of my mom from when she was 3 and on the back is her senior picture. I glued them to a skewer also and then filled the can with some moss. A lot of thought and hard work went into this party, and it was so worth it. My mom was very happy and we all had a great time! Plus, now I can finally share all my goodies with you all!

Secret Sister Revealed!

My SBS2 Sisters are having a Secret Sister Swap. Each person that wanted to play was given a name of another person that wanted to play. If you are the "secret" sister it is your job to send a few cards to your "little" sister. A small gift is optional. The other day my package arrived from my secret sister! Yay! I was so excited. My secret sister is Tina at Moonlight Scrap and Stamps and boy did she send me some great stuff! Plus she is from Germany, I don't think I've ever gotten any mail from Germany! Here is a picture of everything she sent:

She sent five cards, a sheet of alphabet stickers and a bunch of stamped images of stamps that I have never seen (other than on her blog, of course!) I am so excited about all the images. I didn't even photograph all of them, because I didn't have enough room! There are 3 images on each sheet. Plus the cards she sent are so adorable. She is very talented! This was/is so much fun! Thanks again Tina!!!

Merci Target!

I was at Target yesterday and found this cook matt of adhesive paper. I didn't know that they made anything like it. It is basically a matt pack but you pull the backing off the back and voila it adheres to your project! So cool!

I used Pink cardstock for the base (from Valentine pack at Michael's). Then I trimmed the adhesive paper to fit the front. The ribbon was from the $1 spot at target and I had some little buckles that I added to that. The stamp set is from the upcoming SU Sale A Bration catalog. I used Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink and Gable Green markers to color in the image. The white is layered on a piece of Cool Caribbean card stock. There is a pink Gemstone bling from Hero Arts in the middle of the flower. I didn't put a sentiment on this card, but I think it would work for any ype of card, including, valentine, birthday or thank you. I really like this paper. I can't wait to use more of it!

I'm a bad blogger =-(

I've been looking at blogs lately and noticed that people have won blog candy and posted pictures on their blog and I won some blog candy in December last year and it didn't even occur to me to post about it. I'm sorry Kathleen, will you forgive a newbie blogger for her mistake? Since I have used some of it and put it all away, I will try to link to her blog with the pic: http://kathleenh-myhappyplace.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-candy-celebration.html. I really appreciated all my goodies and wanted her to know. Plus, I just won some blog candy from Betsy and I will post that when I get it! I was going to offer some blog candy at 5,000 hits, but maybe I will do it at 3,000! That should give me some time to come up with something, so keep checking back!

Look at this one!

I was reading through my comments for my last card (the masculine one) and noticed a lot of people have a hard time with masculine cards (myself included). Well I have one that is way better than the last one I posted. I made this one for my hubby's birthday and I really like it! I made this a couple weeks ago when I was playing around with a splitcoast challenge (SC155). I am going to do my best to tell you the colors, I believe it is Always Artichoke as the base and the two circles in the middle, Mellow Moss on the Strip and the big circles and River Rock for the circles with the stamped images. I used Always Artichoke ink for all the stamping! Stamp Sets used where: Favorite Teddy Bear, Time Well Spent, It's All Good and It's Your Birthday. I used little heart brads with the label holder (non-SU) in the corner. I used the hearts cuz it's for my hubby, but you could just as easily change that if it was for a friend!

Masculine Birthday

I needed a masculine birthday card and remembered
I hadn't used this sketch in a while. I am sure it was a sketch challenge at Splitcoast, I just don't remember which one. I really like it because it's different and very easy to do. You could use it with any size card and the layered panel could be any shape! I decided to round the four corners of the base for something a little different. All the stamps are from the SU Eat Cake set, except the Happy Birthday, that is from It's Your Birthday set. The base of the card is Ballet Blue and I stamped using White Craft Ink. The 1st layer is Brilliant Blue and the 2nd layer is White. I colored the base of the cake with Close to Cocoa, then Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue and the candles are Brilliant Blue and So Saffron.

JammyBella!

Isn't she cute?! I decided to do another challenge over at splitcoast

stampers in the Bella forum. It's BSC09, you can find the link

here. Base card is a miscellaneous purple and the four corners are Flowers for You SU designer series paper. Since the paper is double sided I used one side for the two opposing corners and the other side for the other corners! After I was done I felt it was missing something so I added the flower with a pink brad! I colored her in using SU stampin' write markers. I belive it is Pixie Pink and Lavendar Lace. I used So Safron for her hair and Chocolate Chip for the teddy bear. Doesn't she make you want to have a slumber party?

Think warm thoughts!

I have a few projects going on right now, so I haven't really made many cards, but I did make this cute little book. It is a mini composition book covered with aloha paper. I used my Brushstroke Alphabet and White Craft Ink to stamp Hawaii on the side. We are going to Hawaii this year for our vacation and I wanted a notebook to put in my purse to take notes of things we see while we are there, so I don't have to try to remember everything when I am scrapbooking our trip (which will most likely be several months after our vacation). I like how it turned out. Now hopefully I remember to pack it! I modified the tutorial for the large composition book. I tried to find a link to the tutorial to post here, but I can't find it anywhere. If anyone wants it, I'll try to find it and post it. It's very easy to do.

Recipe Swap

I joined a Recipe Swap on Splitcoast Stampers. The swap was for a 6x6 recipe card with a South Beach Diet recipe. It was just about the time when I was re-committing to South Beach, so I decided to sum up. So this is what I came up with:

The red is 12x12 textured paper that I bought at Michael's and cut into (4) 6x6 squares. The black is also textured paper. I printed the recipe on white card stock. The "chop sticks" are just a toothpick cut in half. I adhered them using SU Crystal Effects. I found an Asian foam stamp set at Joann's and used that for the back ground and the one image on the recipe. I am really pleased with how this turned out. I have until February to turn this in, but I was inspired over the weekend and got them done. Now I just have to mail them. It was downright spring like today in central Indiana. I believe it was in the upper 60s! So nice!

I've been tagged...

My SBS2 Sister Lori tagged me:

The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I hope I can come up with 7 things! Let's see:

1. I was born on Christmas Day.
2. I lost 40 pounds last year and managed to keep off 30 pounds! I still have a ways to go, but I'm going to do it!
3. I collect those little miniature spoons that you can buy at souvenir shops! I buy one everywhere we go and I have about 110 (yes, I just counted them!)
4. One time, about 8 or 9 years ago, my husband and I went for a drive and ended up in Detroit (about 5 hours away) and saw the Bridge to Canada (we never realized we lived that close to Canada!) We decided to cross the bridge and visit Windsor. We ended up getting a hotel and spending the night. We had no change of clothes or toiletries! It was awesome!
5. My daughter is really into Spongebob Squarepants right now and I secretly enjoy watching it with her!
6. My husband bakes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, really! Ask anyone!
7. It took me over an hour to do this because I couldn't think of what to say.

I'm not sure which was harder, coming up with the 7 bits of info or coming up with 7 people =-) I tried not to tag anyone that has been tagged before, but if I tag you and you've already been tagged, let me know and I'll tag someone else! (the rules don't say anything about that, so hopefully I don't get busted by the tag police!)

The following bloggers are hereby tagged:

Bee
Crystal
Jenn
Samantha
Sandy
Maria
Rhonda

$1 Bargain Card!

I found this cute valentine stamp at Michael's for a $1.00 and I was hoping that it would work with SU's scallop punch and it does, perfectly! Yay! The "U" is from my SU Brushstroke Alphabet set. I used some non-SU red and pink paper. The small hearts are another great find, I got these at Joann's, there are 4 designs and they were a $1.00 as well! I used Basic Black and Real Red Ink. The ribbon is from the Target $1 spot! Who doesn't love a good bargain! I'm not completely pleased with the card, but I was really just playing with the stamps to see what they could do!

So proud!

I needed a card for my brother-in-law who graduates from basic training in a couple weeks and this is what I came up with. I wanted to use the green colors to tie in with the army. It is Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss and River Rock. I stamped the stars using Always Artichoke on the Mellow Moss and River Rock. The flag is stamped on white and I used SU markers to color in the flag. I distressed the edges of the white piece. And the God Bless America is stamped using white craft paint. I wanted to put So Proud on the outside, but I didn't have enough room. I may do another one so I can do that and save this one for Veteran's Day. I used my new cutting system for the small squares. This was a very easy card to make. On another note, I went to Joann's today and bought some ribbon for next year! It was all 70% off and I found some cute stuff. I also bought some Christmas Tins (not to alter, but to fill with candy!) And I went to Target and they have some valentine stuff in the $1 spot. I bought some ribbon and brads that I can't wait to use!

So Stinkin' Cute!

For Christmas this year a friend of mine and I decided we would buy the other a stamp set from Stampin' Up's retired list. I gave her two choices of which sets I wanted and the stinker bought me both! What a great friend! She gave them to me today and I new right away what I wanted to do with one, its the Stinkin' Cute set and I have to say the name says it all! I just love this card! I took another opportunity to play with my new cutting system! I started with a small white oval, just big enough for one of the images, then did a little bigger of a black oval and a little bigger white oval. The black paper is slightly textured, but it didn't change anything. I used Basic Black for the skunk image and White Craft Ink for the perfume bottles and the Stinkin' Cute saying on the base of the card. The ribbon is from a frame from the $1.00 spot at target that I altered. I am so glad I saved it! To my blogging sisters: I wanted so badly to use this card for our secret sister swap, but I couldn't stand it, I had to share it with you all now! Isn't it just so Stinkin' Cute?!?! I normally don't do black and white cards, but this fits! I would like to use this for a child's birthday card, but I don't know if I can handle it with the black! Maybe I could do pink and then do a pink skunk? By the way, the other set my friend got is the Frosty set. I thing I will save that for July and start on my Christmas cards then (yeah right!). I just can't bring myself to do another Christmas card right now.

Happy Heart Day!

I was playing around with my new stamp set and decided to
come up with a valentine for the kids in my daughter's day care. I took a scrap piece of red cardstock (non-SU) and cut it about 3.5 x 4, then a smaller pink piece and yet a smaller white piece. Then I stamped the mouse and colored him in with my water color pencils and blended with a blender pen. I put the ribbon at the top of the white piece (I found this red sheer ribbon at Flower Factory for $0.65 and bought a few!). Then put it all together. Originally, I didn't think about the "To From" part, but as I was putting it together I cut a little more off the pink and white so I could leave more room on the red and stamp the "To From". I really like how it turned out. It was very easy to make and I think I only have to do 25. I decided to play with my CM cutting system and made a little heart valentine too. I think I like this one better. I colored it in with markers. I did leave the "To From" off, wasn't sure where to put it. I figure I could put the "To" in one corner and the "From" in another.
I'll have to play with it a little more. Once I figured out how to use the CM cutting system, I really like it, I will use it a lot!!! At first I didn't think I would like this stamp set, but I am really glad I purchased it!

Splitcoast Challenges!

I needed some inspiration, and when I can't come up with anything on my own, I try a Splitcoast Sketch Challenge. I did two today:SC153 and SC 155. I used the same color combos for both (sort of) I wanted to use some Groovy Guava. For SC153 I pulled out some Groovy Guava designer series paper. I used the big flower from the Time Well Spent stamp set. I didn't color it all in, just part of it. I wasn't really happy with this at first until I added the happy birthday at the bottom. I kind of like it now.

For the SC155 I also used Groovy Guava. I am not sure what the green is, but its not Wild Wasabi (the ribbon is, however). I also used my Time Well Spent stamp set on

this one and, of course, the Scallop Circle Punch. One of these days I need to upload more pictures to my splitcoast gallery. I'm so excited, today I got my Creative Memories cutting system in the mail! I have tried and tried to find something that works and everyone always says creative memories is the best. I did use it a little this afternoon and will post pictures another time. ( I did not use it for these cards, though). I am just so happy to finally have something to cut circles and other shapes! I got the circles, ovals, gems and wavy, they will really come in handy when I am scrapbooking, if I ever get a chance to scrapbook!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2008? I hope everyone had a nice New Years! We did! Looking for another great year! I wanted to do a cute Thank you card for my friend and this is what I came up with:

Purple is my favorite color, so I pulled some scraps out of my paper box, none of the paper is Stampin' Up. I don't know that this Bella really applies for a Thank You card, but I really liked it and was dying to use it! I did use SU markers to color her, but I'm sorry, I can't remember which colors I used. I really need to start writing that down, but when I am in the middle of making a card, the last thing I want to do is take notes! I will make that one of my resolutions!