For the Pharmacy School Graduate

I've always thought the month of June was for "Dads and Grads"... Fathers Day and Graduations, right? Turns out it's no longer true. I have 5 graduates amongst friends and family this year and all but one graduated in May...which means I'm late...as usual. I did manage to finish 2 cards on time, but *sigh* I'm still working on the last three.
This was the first of the two that got done in time, this one for the son of my dear friend Kris who graduated from pharmacy school.

Wanted to keep with the pharmacy theme so I used the Suit Easel Card cutting file from My Scrap Chick, and added a little pocket with a computer printed "Rx" on it to make it look like a pharmacist's consultation jacket. It's so nice to use a pre-designed cutting file; without having to worry about about any goof ups on measurements!

Then just for fun, I labeled a few prescription vials with the graduate's class and school and filled them with cash. Wrapped these, together with several empty prescription drug stock bottles in cellophane and tied them together with ribbon to create an unconventional kind of lei that only a pharmacy graduate would appreciate. Hoping Kris' son enjoyed this as much as I had fun putting it together! Congratulations, Brandon!

Adorable Birgitta Thank You

Not long after we got home from our trip to Cali, I received this SWEET thank you card in the mail from my friend, Pattti. How CUTE is this? This card definitely tugged at my heartstrings and brightened my day!

The adorable stamped image on the front of the card is "Welcome Birgitta" from CC Designs. And as always, Patti did a fabulous job coloring her up with her Copics. Love the colors and all the layered elements she used to enhance little Birgitta as the center of attention on this card. Seems simple enough, but not an easy task, as I've learned...somehow I always have trouble keeping the focal point from getting lost in the clutter whenever I attempt these types of layered cards.
Patti used Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles to nicely frame Birgitta and the stamped thank you sentiment; Martha Stewart Flower Shower edge and corner punches for a pretty layered mat; and Studio Calico shiny enamel dots to create this irresistibly cute card.

And on the inside, even more cuteness with the Flower Shower border with lots of space for Patti's personal handwritten message. Not only did this lovely thank you card from Patti brighten my day, it gave me the extra "push" and badly needed inspiration for me to get working on my own thank you cards! Thank YOU, my sweet friend!

Dad's Day Accordion Cards

Celebrating dads everywhere today. Hubby went out on the golf course to enjoy his favorite passtime, but not before he got his Fathers Day card! This year I decided to use my new Elizabeth Crafts Designs Oval Accordion Die to make my Fathers Day cards. Of course, hubby's had to have a golf theme, so I used an image of sweet ol' Tigger, found by doing a Google image search and had MTC render it into a cutting file.

The Happy Fathers Day banner was also created in MTC by welding a few shapes from the MTC Basic Shapes Library together.

Here's hubby's Accordion card fully open. The grassy border on the bottom was cut using a border die from Die-namics, and the tee, golf course green, and flag were hand cut. Circle punches were used for the balls.

Admittedly it took a bit of experimenting and (as Pooh would say) a lot of "think-think-thinking" to get the oval panels and frames layered just the way I wanted, but I think I finally got it figured out. The instructions printed on the package the accordion dies come in are a little hard to follow; instead you'll definitely want to watch the instructional video by Els van de Burgt here. She gives a lot of helpful tips that make assembling this card a lot easier.

Dad got an accordion card too, but for his I used the adorable "Plane Cute" cutting file I got as a weekly freebie a while back from Designs On Cloud 9.

Banner on this card was another Google image search find, traced into a cutfile by MTC. Little birdies are from the Cricut 3 Birds On Parade cartridge.

Here's Dad's card fully opened.... 

Really am enjoying creating accordion cards with this die. Running them through the Big Shot means the base of the card will be precisely cut every time, assuring the card will assemble perfectly without worry. Leaves more time to get creative decorating!

Thank You from the Doggie {And Us!}

The first card I wanted to work on right away when we got back from vacation was this one for the wonderful woman who took care of our little Latte while we were away. Our poor furbaby had contracted an infection prior to us leaving; she required daily medication and special care, so it was difficult for us to have to leave her in the care of someone else. By chance, we were lucky enough to meet the warmest, most kindhearted woman ever, who was willing to take our sick Latte into her home and provide the needed medical care as well as lots of love and affection. A true animal lover. It was comforting and such a relief, knowing that Latte would be in the best of hands while with her.

Wanted to get my card in the mail right away so I kept it simple by doing just a basic pop up style card.

I used my new favorite puppy cutfile from Little Scraps of Heaven again, this time having her peeking out from behind a label cut from the Cricut Lacy Label cartridge. Cutting files for the double hearts and all the lettering were created in Make the Cut. Martha Stewart layered arches edge punch was used for the borders inside the card. And for a finishing touch, a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen was used to add a bit of glitter to the hearts.
I'm hoping this card conveys how very grateful we are for the excellent care and all the love our Latte received while we were away. Thanks to this wonderful lady, hubby and I were able to enjoy our vacation without too much worry, and our sick doggie is well on her way to recovery.