Birthdays and Anniversarys!

It's a birthday party for Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. To celebrate we are going to Hop, Shop & Crop April 13-15. Lindsay will be holding a 3-day crop in the mygrafico crop room. Go on over there now and join (it's free). Over the course of the 3-days you can pop in and out as often as you want to participate in the events and classes, join challenges or just see what is going on. The classes and crops are free. There will be freebies and prizes. We also have a blog hop and other exciting things planned. Stay tuned for more details.

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Tips:

• To join the crop, you will need to be a member of the mygrafico community. It's free to join. Join now so you are ready for the crop. (Click HERE to join)
• To join the crop group (after joining mygrafico) click HERE
• If you do not want to receive emails when people comment on the crop, after joining the crop room group, click on the "stop following" button. You are still a member but you won't get all the emails.
• Remember, it is all FREE!

That was the Birthday, now for the Anniversary - MINE! Today is my 10th wedding anniversary!!!! The two cards I made this week were shamelessly quick and easy, but I think they are also lovely and elegant. I can't decide which to give hubby - maybe you all can help me.

I made these cards using the UPTOWN HOUNDS TOOTH paper and the EMBOSSED MATS sets from LINDSAY'S STAMP STUFF. I created a postcard document in my Printshop program so I could print out 4 panels on one sheet of paper. All I did was layer the mat over the hounds tooth paper and print it out. Next, I cut out the panels and stamped the tulip and stem (Stampin' Up) one one card, adhered a red ribbon around that panel, attached that to a panel of black card stock and then to a white card base. For the other card, I stamped the birds (Inkadinkado), colored the cardinal with a red watercolor marker, attached a red Prima Flower and brad center then adhered that panel to a black card stock base. I don't think it took a whole 15 minutes to make BOTH of these cards!

To see what the rest of the Design Team has created this week, and to get a fabulous freebie, click HERE to go to Lindsay's blog. There is a lot happening this month, so be sure to check back in often so you won't miss out on the fun! Happy Digi Stamping, Everyone!

Recycled Cards - Child's Play?

I was helping a friend this week with ideas for her once a month craft group at a local nursing home and she told me that one of the ladies had "heckled" her several times saying that what they were doing was "child's play". After the third or fourth time of getting the business from this lady, she told the lady that she was starting to get a complex and then the lady changed her tone and made a joke of it, joined in on the craft time and has been having a wonderful time reconnecting with her "inner child"! So...
I thought since this was on my mind and Lindsay had challenged us this week to create a project using something recycled, I would make my card recycled AND child-like. If you remember (as I did) our first art projects were created using scraps, bits and pieces or something we had rescued from the recycle bin, etc.
I started with a purple Bazzil card stock base and a piece of an oatmeal box, and of course, since it's Thursday, a couple of digi stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I used her EMBOSSED MATS set and this cute image from her new stamp set LOVE GROWS HERE. I used Print Shop to create a two colored background and layered the embossed mat and bird image on top of that. I painted the image with water colors and let the colors and ink smudge (think child-like here). Next, I used my corner rounder on the corners and my cool new Tim Holtz mini stapler to staple a loop of scrap ribbon to each side. As I was trying out my new border punch, I realized the scrolled scraps from that were very pretty and glued a couple in opposite corners of the panel. I found a couple of metal letter brads for the X and O in the lower corner. I ran the panel of my oatmeal box through a paper crimper, tore the front layer off, crumpled the edges a bit and adhered the digi panel to that, then attached that panel to the card stock. I border punched a scrap of vellum and used a rub on for the sentiment and glued that to the inside of the card. This was such a fun card to make. Thanks for the challenge, Lindsay!
To find out how you can enter her challenge, go to her blog, THE FRUGALCRAFTER'S WEBLOG - but hurry - today's the last day to enter, so get busy and see what treasures you can find in your recycle bin and enter her challenge! While you are there, don't forget to see what the rest of the Design Team has created this week. We all love to hear from you. Until next time, Happy Digi Stamping!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my wedding anniversary. I made this card for my sweet hubby. I stamped my House Mouse image on white cardstock and colored it with my watercolor pencils. I adhered that to a piece of blue bazzill cardstock. Next, I folded an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of white cardstock in half. I attached 2 panels of Lovey Dovey Splendid double sided patterned paper to my white card, using both sides. Then I adhered a strip of blue bazzill across the middle and stamped swirls with stamps by studio g. I adhered the House Mouse panel to that and stamped the sentiment (studio g). The inside is a secret, so that's that! I hope he likes it...