Promoted to Grandma

This is the card I made to send to a dear long time friend who recently retired and became a new grandma. Instead of sending our congratulations in two separate cards, I decided to create just one card to celebrate both happy events.

I wanted to use a fun but simple format for my card so I chose to do a Lever style card with a square window. Difficult to see from the photos but the computer generated sentiments read, "Congratulations! On your Retirement... and your promotion to Grandma!"

Patterned papers are from Echo Park's "Bundle of Joy-Girl" digital collection. I love how easy it was to print and cut all the insert panels for this card using the texturize, fill and cut features in Make the Cut design program together with my Silhouette Cameo.

Paper pieced teddies were created using a Marjorie Ann Designs cutting file, "Starburst and Moonbeams" for grandma bear reading to baby bear on the front of the card and ...

...an older, retired cutting file; "Sister Bears", from Too Cute By Jessica for baby bear's high chair.

Here's a view from the top which shows the easy construction of the Lever style card. I sent the double congratulatory card along with a couple fun Hallmark books for grandma to read to her new granddaughter; "That's What Grandmas Do!" by Alarie Tennille and "Elephants Have Grandmas Too" by Susan D Gotschall and a gift card for Grandma to splurge on herself as well. 
 

For Our Favorite Baker

Falling behind on my blog posts due to an unhappy computer and a seriously outdated photo editing program not getting along. Finally had to buy an updated photo editor so please bear with me as I struggle to figure out how it works!
Today I'm sharing another baking themed birthday card. This one was made for a sweet friend who keeps our tummies happy all year long with her amazing scones, cookies, macarons and cupcakes.

I used the paper pieced bears from Marjorie Ann Designs' "Betsy Loves Baking" file again, this time putting them onto a Lever style card. Front square panel in the window was run through  Cuttlebug's "Modern Wallpaper" embossing folder for texture.

The paper pieced electric mixer and bowl are from Marjorie Ann Designs' "Sweets for Santa" cutting file; and the remaining baking tools were cut using Creative Expressions "Necessities" die. Birthday candles and cake stand were cut from Taylored Expressions mini "Cake and Stand" die.

Here's the view from the top which shows how the Lever type card is constructed. I like how it opens up to become a four panel card on the inside; but I think like it even more because it's so easy to put together.

Long Life Lever Birthday Card

I finally pulled out my stash of Graphic 45's retired Bird Song Collection papers that I had been hoarding and decided to use it to make my mother in law's birthday card this year.  I chose to use the auspicious dragon laden "Joy Luck" cardstock for the front of the card.

Inspired by the many beautiful Lever style cards created and shared by Karen Aicken of Painted Mountain Cards blog, I decided to try making my very first Lever Card. This style of card has been around for quite awhile, and honestly, I don't know why I never attempted to make one before. I decided to make one with a circular window so I could use the Spellbinders Chinese Coin Window die cut in metallic gold cardstock. In the window I added the Chinese character "shou"  for "long life". Make the Cut Design program was used to render an image of the Chinese character into a cutting file, which was also cut in metallic gold cardstock.

The Lever Card opens up to be a four panel card. I used "Longevity" and "Endless Spring" cardstocks for the inner panels and embellished with paper pieced images of a pair of  peaches and a crane, both of which are also associated with longevity and good fortune in Chinese culture.

Here's a view from the top to show how the Lever Card is constructed. It reminds me a lot of the Swing Cards I've made in the past, but maybe a little fancier?  Divinity Designs has a die which cuts all the pieces needed make a square window Lever Card, complete with all the panel insert layers. Norma from From My Craft Room blog shares a template for one with a square window posted here.  For my card, I used Norma's template and swapped out the square window with a circular shape in Make the Cut.