Graffiti Birthday Card

I tend to have lots of real cutesy stamps, but I wanted to make a card that had a bit of different feel, and I'm pretty happy with what I was able to do.

For this card I used:
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay (Base) and White
Stamps: Alphabet Soup (SU!) and Extreme Elements (SU!)

Gothy Goodness Swap

It's been awhile since I did one, but I joined a swap many months ago with a gothic theme. It was due on my birthday (09-09-09! And by the way I turned 27 and 2+7=9... crazy o_O)

So anyway the theme revolved around goth girls. It's basis requires a little bit of the pop subculture of Japan, but there is a style called "Goth-Lolli" (a combination of Gothic Lolita) where girls dress up in these really decadent porcelain doll kind of outfits (I guess Victorian?) and it adds other gothic elements to it (dark colors, dramatic eye makeup, etc.)

Well I decided that based on alot of the imagery I've found of this Lolita

fashion, that I had to do a card with butterflies and lace.

So I started with a piece of photo paper and used Melon Mambo with my brayer.

Then I stamped this image onto it using Jet Black StazOn. The stamp was from a set called Friendship, but I don't know what company it's from. Isn't she pretty?


I then used a white paint pen to color in the whites of her eyes and adhered it to a piece of black cardstock.


Then I put it on the gray base cardstock and silver embossed a butterfly (from the same stamp set) on top of the ribbon.

I kind of like how it turned out, though I don't really know what it could be used for. Thinking of you? Or maybe some kind of dark valentine sentiment?

Speaking of sentiments -- I found a great book in the bargain section at Borders. It's called Finding the Right Words by J. Beverly Daniel. It's got phrases to personalize your greeting cards. While I am a big proponent of say what you want however you want to, it's certainly not bad to have a little help sometimes when you're just stumped.

Gift box and card combo

Today is my best friend's birthday (Happy Birthday Nicole!)
I got her a really cute, sparkly headband and I needed a box for it, so I decided to make a mini-pizza box for it. I based it off of a template I found on SplitcoastStampers, but I had to adapt it in order to fit the headband.


For this box I used:
Card stock - Kraft (base), Real Red, Black and White
Stamps - SU! Yummy, SU! Pocket Silhouettes and SU! Flowers in Silhouette

Anniversary Commission

One of my bosses is celebrating his one year anniversary with his wife this weekend, so he asked me for a card.

These were the two I came up with for him to choose from:


I'm surprised at how much Cameo Coral struck me. At first it reminded me of Groovy Guava which I hated, but paired with River Rock it is kind of nice. I also embossed the sentiment to give it extra oomph.

For this card I used:
Card stock - Kraft (base), River Rock, Cameo Coral, Ginger Blossoms DSP and White
Stamps - SU! Flowers in Silhouette, SU! Pocket Silhouettes and random sentiment from Hobby Lobby
Other - River Rock ribbon

This is the one he decided on:

For this card I used:
Cardstock - Pretty in Pink (base) and white
Stamp - SU! Short and Sweet
Other - $1 bin ribbon, Hodge Podge hardware

This is probably my favorite folder for the Cuttlebug. I'm glad I got it - it's so pretty! I can't wait, I am saving up for the Sizzix Big Shot with all the money I make from my cards. (That's the deal, since we are socking away money for our house. So I've been really good and haven't splurged on alot.)

So congratulations to David and Becky for their one year wedding anniversary!

More Birthday Commissions

My supervisor needed a birthday card for her mom, so I made a couple of different styles.
Her mom likes the color blue, flowers and is a quilter so here I made these two:


For this card I used:
Card Stock - Chocolate Chip (base), [I will fill this name in later, I can't remember!] DSP, Baja Breeze and White
Stamps - SU! Botanical Blooms

This one is the one she ended up deciding on, which I like, too. I chose the saying because she got her mom a gift card, so I thought she could slide it in there.


For this card I used:
Card Stock - Kraft (base), tons of DSP [will input names later]
Stamps - SU! Yummy