For Our Not So Little Anymore Girl

It's so hard to believe, but our "little girl" turned 3-0 this year! I know she's thinking that she's "so OLD"...lol...imagine how old WE, as her parents must feel! Nevertheless, I've decided to continue sending her cutesy girly cards to keep us both young at heart. When I saw Marjorie Ann Designs' teddies cutting files over at Too Cute By Jessica, I knew that they would be just perfect for my little girl's birthday card.

I decided to give the cascade type card another try, this time using a stretch card cutting file from Little Scraps of Heaven to create the base card. I liked the shape of the panels on this, and so much easier to have my Silhouette cut it out than to have to do all the measuring and size calculations on my own! Cheery printed cardstock comes from Doodlebug's Spring Time and Fruit Stand lines.

Inspired by other cascade type cards seen on Pinterest, I added arcs in between the tiers for the Happy Birthday sentiment. Used Quickutz Banana Split Skinni Mini dies to cut out the letters.

Added a grassy die cut border using a DieNamics die, clouds cut from Cricut Once Upon A Princess cartridge and butterflies cut from a Martha Stewart punch.

Then finished it off with a sentiment to the back of the card. You know how it is, no matter how old they get, our kids always remain our children in our hearts!
I'm taking a short break from blogging to help out at home while my mom recovers from a recent surgery. She's an amazingly strong woman and is doing remarkably well, but for now I haven't had time to do much crafting. Still hopeful though, to get our Christmas cards done on time...been working on them a little at a time, whenever I can. Will post when they are finished and in the mail!

Another "Thanks A Latte" Card

Yes, I know...I really overuse the "Thanks A Latte" sentiment for our thank you cards, but this one was for Latte's amazing vet and all the sweet folks over at the animal clinic where we take her. Our poor furbaby came down with a bad skin infection last year that had her scratching till she was bald and bleeding. It had us taking her to the vet nearly every other week for more than six months; but I'm happy to report that thanks to the expert care she received, she is finally back to her fluffy furry self and all better now.

So of course I had to do another "Thanks A Latte" card, right? This one is a simple shaped easel type card which I created using a free cutfile of a coffee mug from Birds Cards....

and my most favorite Puppy Love cutfile from Little Scraps of Heaven.

Then I baked up a batch of cookies...

And added a fun label to the jar. Doggie on the label comes from "Dog Collection"  from Treasure Box Designs and the red "cross out" sign was created in Make The Cut by welding basic shapes. Wording on the label was computer generated using Expose font in Microsoft Word. 

Hoping this little thank you project helped to let the wonderful folks over at Latte's veterinary clinic know how much we appreciate the excellent care and kindness they always give!

"Yoda" Man!

While shopping at Costco recently, we saw a Star Wars Lego collectors set that we knew would be the perfect "fun" gift to send my son in law for his birthday. To keep with the theme of his gift, I decided to put Yoda on his birthday card, and did another version of the Magic Color Card similar to the one I made for hubby's anniversary card here.

I found a coloring page image of Yoda on the internet and printed him twice; once on clear acetate and a second on plain white cardstock. Used Copics to color up the one printed on cardstock. A label from the Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge was used to cut the window. To put this card together, I used a tutorial by Cathy found on her blog, Bright Side Of Life. This Magic Color Card differs just a little from the one I made earlier in that the image stays in the window instead of pulling out with the tab.

Pulling the tab on the top of the card gives the illusion of the image in the window "magically" becoming colored...

I thought my son in law might get a kick out of this card since he has an amazing talent of always being able to figure out how things work...LOL, don't ever go to any magic shows with him if you want to be amazed...

...And here's the silly sentiment in "Yoda language" on the inside of the card...

Had fun with this second type of Magic Color Card too. Still not too sure which style I prefer. The one thing I'm pretty certain about is that these Magic Color Cards are a great choice if ever you're stumped for creative ideas for guy cards. Dad's birthday is just around the corner so he just might get one too!

No Tricks, All Treats!

Even though Halloween may be over, I just had to post and  share the fabulous treats I received from my crafty friends this year.

How cute are these adorable jack-o-lantern and witches' broom treats from sweet Gwen!

Gwen used the Stampin' Up Curvy Keepsake Box die to make jack-o-lantern treat holders, and fringed tissue tied onto a Tootsie Pop for clever witches' broom favors. She even colored the Tootsie Pop stick black to really make them look like broomsticks! And don't you just love those little labels!

More pumpkin magic here, from our dear friend Lorna!

"Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" Lorna added a special twist to her pumpkin boxes by adding rhinestone studded wheels and a window to transform them into carriages! And here's another version of a lollipop treat...this one is an adorable pumpkin!

And of course, I totally flipped when I received this amazing paper pieced treat bag and treat from my crafting pal, Kris.

Look at all the intricate detailing on this cute paper pieced mouse which she used to adorn a little Tupperware container filled with candy!

And OMG, this treat bag is nothing short of fabulous...Love it!!!!

A huge thank you to these awesome crafty ladies for all the wonderful Halloween surprises! Everything looks so darned cute that I'm hesitant to open any of them up...even to get at the candy!