Happy Birthday to the Best. Guy. Ever.

Happy first day of spring! Our boys have been asking when it is going to be Spring, so today is a good day for them!  They say a little sunshine is good for the soul - and boy do we need it.  Yesterday we decided to get outside and we took a walk in the woods behind our house - it must have been exactly what we needed! We all slept well last night and (so far) we seem to be on the mend.  As of Saturday, all 3 boys were in antibiotics and my husband was in bed for the 3rd straight day.

I was spared.

So far...

So since the sicknesses have been in full swing at our house, I forgot to post my husband's birthday card that I made for him.  If you missed my Instagram post of the boys' cards they made, you can see it here.

I wanted to keep my husband's card fairly simple.  I think I've used the same masculine sets over and over in the past years, so I decided to just highlight the Large Numbers Thinlits Dies and make a cheerful and bright card using some scraps of paper and ribbon.

For the background I used the "Best. Guy. Ever." stamp from the Suite Sentiments set from the Occasions Catalog.  This set is one of my favorites as the fonts and sentiments coordinate with each of the 7 "suites" in the catalog.  (This stamp coordinates with Urban Underground.)

Because the words are in "threes", I was able to stamp the image repeatedly in a way that you can read it from top to bottom or left to right.  I was pleased with how it turned out.  I did this without a Stamp-a-ma-Jig, but if you wanted it to line up perfectly, that would be the best tool to use!

Thanks for swinging by today!  Enjoy your Monday :)

Blessings,

Holly

A Carrot Colored Card for My Friend

I know what you're thinking - two cards in one day??  I actually had a moment to sit down and create a card this afternoon. I needed to make a card for a fellow demonstrator who has done so much for me and my small team over the last month.  I also have been wanting to participate in a card challenge for The Crafty Carrot Collective. 

It's a team of 5 worldwide demos that bring lots of techniques and tutorials.  I've enjoyed their first month free - you can still check them out on facebook.  Here's the challenge site.

The ladies in the group have been focusing on the stamp set Weather Together.  I absolutely love this set.  It was one of the first I saw back in June and I've enjoyed making a lot of umbrella cards with it.  This time I wanted to try something different.  I still used the stamp set - but I focused on the little hearts for the background.  I wanted to combine two of the techniques shown this month...

Susan Wong created some really neat cards with a repetitive background and Cindy Schuster created a lovely watercolor look with ink & the clear blocks.

This sentiment comes from the Suite Sentiments stamp set from the Occasions Catalog.  This set has 11 sentiments that coordinate with 7 different suites from the catalog.  It is a MUST HAVE set!  I love it!

I embossed the "friend" in gold which really gives this card an extra beautiful detail. 

The hearts were embossed in clear before I added the watercolor background.

I hope that you like this card!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Holly