17th Birthday Card

Good morning bloggers!

It's a beautiful spring day here in NY! Waiting for the afternoon high of 60*! Yay!!! So happy. I feel like I can spread my wings, and bust out of this cocoon. LOl. Spring has arrived!!

Ok, on to business...

My son Bryan turned 17 on March 19!! A very Happy Birthday to my second born son! Love you Bryan!

Of course, being hooked on step cards, I had to make him one!

This card though, I think may be my favorite. I love the candles and the cake.

I really love the that I turned the number 17 into candles too! Just 

like a real birthday cake!!

Not to mention the bright colors! 

I used my new Cricut Explore to cut all the details (the happy birthday, candles, and frosting).

Now that I have my Cricut Explore, it really

does cut so much nicer then my Cricut Expression 2 does!

And, Cricut offers 2 weeks free of every image they

 have, except licensed ones. 

I went to town! Hahaha. And this card is easy to make.

Plus, this can be turned into a wedding card, an anniversary card, there's 

so many things you can do!

Oh, the possibilities!!!!!

Well, hope you enjoyed another one of my step card designs! 

Hope that you feel inspired to make one of your own!

I'm going to be posting the 2 Alice in Wonderland cards I made for 2 sweet 16 that my son attended. So, check back!

Thanks for looking!! 

(Be sure to check my Ebay and Etsy stores)

Starting my Easter cards....

Good morning followers!!!
Spring is in the air, even though it's still cold here in NY!!
The birds are chipping and the sky is blue...love that!
Suppose to even get up to 48* today...yay! Lol
With that said, I'm thinking Easter already....

Another hop closer to Easter...

Easter is coming and of course it's on my brain.

I got my new Cricut Explore machine and want to do so many exciting projects,

but the first one I did was an Easter card.

I used to own a chocolate shop (yea, a lot of people didn't know that about me) and I love the look of the chocolate bunnies in paper crafting.

So, I found an awesome image with a chocolate bunny,

with a bite out of the ear!!! Love it!

I made it look like the actual chocolate bunnies that
 I used to sell, bow and all (yes, I had made my bows on my chocolate bunnies too. I actually used this exact ribbon on some)

Naturally, the grass was made from
green non preails (on the real ones), not paper! But, I can't use non preails on my cards, so I made do...Hahahah

Hope you love it! There are going to be many more, once I have the time! Lol...

Kids keep me running and life is so busy! Dr appointments, blood work, ugh! Between the kids and my own health issues....no rest for the weary...Hahaha. I'm just happy to be here! ;-) 

Think I'm hooked on step cards....Disney!! Mickeyand Minnie mouse

Disney step card with Mickey and Minnie Mouse

OMG!! I think I'm hooked on step cards! 

I love the way you can make a whole realistic scene!! So awesome!

 Can you tell how excited it makes me? Hahahaha

Now, those of you who love Disney, or have been to Disney, 

Will totally get this scene!

Only one thing, my computer crashed and I lost all my fonts, including my disney ones! Ugh!!
That's why I used a differnt font for Happy Birthday :-(

I used my cricut cartridge, Mickey and Friends ( Have to get the princess one, I have an idea floating around my head)

 Create a Critter cartridge for the castle. (It's actually a sand castle)

White gel pen

Chalks,

And some twine.

Im so pleased with this card. Can't wait to make more!!!

Challenges, challenges, challenges

So, I entered my birthday card (from my attempting my first step card post)
in the

 Fantabulous Cricut card challenge. The theme was 

your favorite holiday. Fingers crossed! Maybe this ones a winner!! Lol

I also entered this card in another

 Peachy Keen sketch challenge. Will I be a Peach? Probably not...LOL, but as my husband says, you have to be in it to win it!

Ok, so here's my entry for the Peachy Keen challenge....

You had to use the basic elements, but were free to use them as you wanted.

I'm just starting to get the hang of this (card challenges and blogging). Some of the other ladies work is gorgeous, but I think I can hold my own...lol

Just like everything else I have ever done creatively, I'm sure I will look back and say, "what was I thinking" , when I get the hang of it. Lol.

Just like when I look back at my first scrapbooks pages.

 Finding time lately

too, has been kinda rough.

Experiencing an exasperation from my MS, has really

made me extremely 

tired and run down.  It's ruining 

my crafting fun!

Stiff upper lip, and I shall forge forward!

Paper bag album

Smile paper bag album

Ok, so, for years now, 

I've seen these paper bag albums around, and always 

wondered what people did with them. I never

 saw them all decorated, so, to me, it was

 confusing. Well, as years went by, I grew older(and

 I like to think wiser too, lol) I seen them around, 

decorated. Once again,

Pinterest came in handy! They are so pretty and you can't even tell that they're actually paper bags!

Beautiful and easy to make!

 How does it get easier then that, when most of us

 already have paper bags in the house! So, one night, after getting a new book of scrap book paper, I decided to make one. 

I went on you tube, to get an idea about what other people did, how they put them together, etc. What did they use, glue gun? All the little questions that one may have when exploring a new craft.

I watched a couple of videos, each from a different

person, so I got different views, and

ways to go about this project. I also came to the conclusion that an
ATG is an assest to own! LOL!! I've never been big on using adhesive tape...always a glue girl. Well, let me tell you,
 I LOVE adhesive tape!! Talk about hold, and easy to use!
Understatements!

Ok, so, I used a standard lunch size paper bag, that I had a bunch of in the house, for my kids lunch. 

I folded it right where the bottom of the bag, where it flaps....

Then I secured (taped) the flap on the inside, where it would open to make the bag wide. Also, taped the flap where I folded, so now it was one complete piece, that would be one big flap technically.

Then I used a solid color card stock. I used that to layer over the bag. I let a little stick out the sides though. Some people cover it completely, some people let some show, it's all a matter of preference.

I chose matching printed card paper, not card stock to the next layer on the page, but again, it's a matter of what you want to do. It's all preference.

I made some cool printed paper tags, and stamped some journaling tags, so whomever is using this book, has the freedom to write what they want.

Va la!!! I'm done!

I just jumped in, feet first! Hahaha.
After finding my way thought, and learning
from my experience, I defiantly look forward to doing it again!
I recommend at least making one, once! It's a great DIY project and it's inexpensive, if you already have card stock. (Which I scrapbook, so I am a paper hoarder! Hahaha)

My next one will be a baby boy one, being that my sister in law is having her first little boy (she already has 2 girls), and I'm hosting the shower!
I already have 4 boys, from the age span of 19 to 3!!! Lol!!! It's a miracle that I'm not bald yet....hahaha
 No, but really, I love being a boy mommy!

My New Home Card!

A "New Home" deserves an awesome card!!!!

YES, I've been working,...slowly,

but seems like nothing but issues lately! Lol!!

Between the computer, my little guy having a cold... to much to do, too little time! Hahah!

It's all good! I'm getting there....hahaha

Well, enough about my grips...

What have I been working on....Let's see....

Ah, yes! My new home card! A couple friends have purchased homes lately, and I was thinking, how cute it would be to make a step card, that looks like a yard.

So I got busy, I even included a walk way with a home sweet home door mat! That was my sons idea, when he saw how it was coming out.

Really wanted the house to look "homey", so, I even put a little flower box with flowers under the front window, and encased the front door with stones.

 I just love the mail box,

fence and stone walkway!

What did I use to make this card?

Cricut cartridge Mickey & friends (for the mailbox, walkway & the fence)

Cricut cartridge Create a Critter (house & trees)

Spellbinder die (for frame)

Lots of luck stamp set

Frisker scissors (for the grass)

Green, red, brown, blue, aqua and yellow card stock

The flowers I used a star Martha Stewart punch

So Many Ideas!!!

 I always have the ideas floating in my head, but have trouble getting them to relay on paper.

One of my biggest problems is my indecision with color!

Being that I have MS, at this point, it's affecting my decision making process

and is really becoming hasslesome to my craft!! But, this too shall pass! I'm getting through, not without frustration though! Hahaha.

Could be worse!!!