Lots of Birthdays in August

Hello everyone, although we're only halfway through August, I've been a busy, sleep-deprived little momma bee.  There have been three birthdays just in the first part of the month and my son will be 2 at the end of the month, so you know mommy's going to be busy making some fun birthday party projects.

I wanted to share with you the birthday cards I've made so far for some pretty special people.

The first is the card I made for my beautiful goddaughter for her 16th birthday.  She's bright, colorful, she's a teenager and she's just growing too fast.

 

I used the Kinda Eclectic stamp set, Dictionary background stamp, and the Ray of Sunshine stamp set in bright colors on whisper white cardstock.  I mounted it on the colorful sweet taffy DSP.

 

For my sister-in-law, whose birthday comes one week after and loves the color red, I made this card:

 



I used the cherry cobbler and daffodil delight blendabilities markers.  I even colored the rhinestones with them!  The lower part of the red cardstock was lightly embossed with our large polka dot embossing folder.  The ribbon is retired (shhhh!!).

I also used the blendies markers on this card for one of my co-workers:

I absolutely loved how all of these cards came out, and I hope the recipients did, too!

Happy Stampin'!!

Fun with Dies!

Wow, I hadn't realized how long I'd been away from blogland until I logged in today...

WELL, let me tell you, the break was amazing.  First of all, I went to the mecca of creativity and inspiration - the Stampin' Up! Inspire. Create. Share. 2014 Convention...  I was like a kid in a candy store...  Like a bookworm in a library...  Like an ant in a bag of sugar...  I think you get the picture, I was in papercrafter heaven.  Saw some beautiful things, learned a TON of new techniques, shared some laughs, and overall had a great time.  I will be sharing some of those new techniques here in the posts ahead.  It was the first time in 4 years that I've been without either my husband or one of my babies, so it was a huge sacrifice, but well worth the time away... THIS is all for them...

Here are some pics..

The check-in lines were soooooo long.. (funny enough the line for those with their last names starting with V was like, 2 people! SCORE!)

So, after convention, it took a while to get back into my regular schedule of work and being mommy, but I was able to start a card class with a few ladies from work!  YAY!  We made some pretty awesome cards and we decided to make it a monthly class...  The more excuses for stampin', the better!  I have also been busy playing with the new hamburger and fry box dies that debuted in this year's catalog!  This is what I've been making....

My son LOVES the movie Cars...  And I got creative with the Hamburger Box Die (133724) 

Mater and McQueen

Can't forget his towing gear!

 

And then I just kept going....

 

And these are for a co-workers' niece's upcoming birthday party inspired by Monsters, Inc.!

 

 

I made Boo using the Fry Box die (132966), some cello bags, ribbon, and chocolates...

 

I've been having a blast with these new products.  And with Stampin' Up! having the Big Shot promo (buy a Big Shot, get an awesome stamp set and framelit bundle FREE), now is a great time to add these dies to your paper crafting tool box! 

Happy papercrafting!