Whimsical Birthday

Hello everyone! Our vacation is finally here. The DH and I are making our way up to the Adirondak mountains in upstate NY. This is an annual "Harley" weekend for us and we are so looking forward to the winding mountain roadways of NY. Michigan is so flat! Yes, there is lots of water around us but we love the changing landscape of hills, mountains, valleys and green! Americade is also an enticement for the DH. There will only be about 50,000 bikers roaming the mountain roads this weekend and the DH just loves to be a part of that (the night life at Duffy's and a stop at the pizza window on the way back to the hotel just might do it as well).

I also wanted to share that I finally started the next level of treatment for my RA. I will now be taking shots every other week (probably for the rest of my life the Doctor said). They are supposed to be self-injected but the DH has been trained and is willing to do them for me. (He's just a little too eager I might add to stick me which is just a little scary!) You all know how much I hate shots but I started yesterday and I am thrilled that I didn't have any reaction and barely felt the darn thing. Whoo Hoo. Finally on to the road of recovery and normalcy. I also received a special treat - two more shots of Cortizone; one for the wrist and one for the knee. I'm hoping that soon I won't be hobbling about so much and that my wrist gains strength so that I can open things, stop dropping things and make my cards easier. Ok - sorry for the non-card lapse but I'm so psyched that I wanted to share the news with everyone!

So, I saved a few cards from my weekend creativity to share with you during the week. Now it means that you won't likely see anything over the weekend so don't get antsy on me.

First up is a Verve creation. Actually it's more of an Amy Sheffer creation. I needed a card for a sweet little girl turing one this week - Happy Birthday Macey!



I know that this isn't a typical kiddie card but I loved the whimsical feel of the Verve Birthday Surpise set. (The birdie is just so cute!) Amy used this set on a card that I had added to my "to do" list so this is once again an inspiration from Amy. The layout is hers, the colors are mine. I saved Amy's card not only for the use of the Verve stamp set (that I had recently purchased) but also for the off square use of the image. What I mean by that is that the image panel appears to be square yet the stamped image continues outside. This is my first attempt to create an image panel where the stamped image exceeds the boundaries of the main shape. It wasn't as hard as I thought but it definately is tricky to keep the straight line without using a paper cutter on that leg of the cut. I'm gonna have to research this some more to see what tips and tricks the ladies in cyberland use to create these wonderful image panels.

I chose my Copics to color the image which I stamped in Mememto Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock. I then cut the image out using the papercutter on two of the sides. I cut the last two sides by hand after a ruler helped show me the straight line. Some Swarkovski crystals help add sparkle to finish the image off. The DP is again from Hobby Lobby's individual sheet selection and is by The Paper Studio. The ribbon is double sided satin and looks so much more vibrant in person. Sorry that it wasn't captured in the picture. I used my Spellbinders Classic Circles to cut out the cicrle panels.

I like the almost Circus feel of the inside.



I used the EK Success border punch and added a small strip of the DP to create the circus tent canopy feel. The sentiment came from a wooden Birthday stamp I bought at Hobby Lobby. I forgot to record the info before I left home but I believe it is by Stampenous. So that's it for this one.

More Birthday greetings...



This is another Birthday greeting that I made just for fun. It was very simple and not as time consuming as you might think with all those layers. Sometimes it's nice to throw in a quickie to help make you feel productive and this did just that.

The image was colored with Copics and highlighted with my Glitter pen. I cut the image out using Spellbinders Classic small and large circles as well as the Scalloped circle dies. I paper pierced the scallops and raised the top circles on dimensionals. The Cuttlebug Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder helped add some dimension to the side panel and again I highlighted them with some Swarkovski crystals to add sparkle. The DP is some scraps that I had some I'm sorry I don't have more info to share with you. I again added some double sided satin ribbon to finish this off.

Phew.. this is definately longer than I intended but I hope it keeps you sated. Have a great one, thanks for hanging in there with me and I'll be back next week.

Cath