"Hoppy Easter"

Easter has never really meant cards to me, and pastels aren't usually my thing, but when I found this Candy Bunny die from Lifestyle Crafts, I needed to snatch it up and make something. Luckily, I had exactly one Easter stamp and a few pieces of pastel orange, yellow, pink, and blue in my stash, so I could get my Easter-craft fix without buying any supplies.

My mouth was watering for Peeps the whole time I was tiling those bunnies onto the paper.

Here's a peek at the inside. My stamp was so tiny, I decided to make a little paper "ribbon" to help it stand out.

As soon as I stop being too lazy to take, upload, and crop photos of them, I've got tons of scrapbook pages to share. Stay tuned!

2-Year Anniversary

One of my favorite stamping techniques is to stamp the same image on different papers and then cut them apart in order to piece them together, but I almost never remember to try it. It happened by accident on this card, because after I stamped this little typewriter directly on the book paper, it looked all wrong, and the sentiment wasn't clear enough. Then, I stamped it on the deep red paper and cut it out, but it still didn't seem to look right. THEN, I realized that of COURSE typewriter paper isn't the same color as the typewriter! So I stamped the whole thing again on cream paper and cut out just the paper part. To make it look even more dimensional, I stuck the typing paper image directly to the paper, and I adhered the typewriter image with Pop Dots.


The best part about this card is that it wasn't until I took this detail shot that I noticed something funny about the particular circle of dictionary paper I had randomly punched out:

It says "SEXUAL INTERCOURSE"! On my anniversary card to my husband! Do you think he'll notice?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Excuse the harsh shadows in the picture. I just snapped a quick shot before giving this card to my mom this afternoon.

I didn't have any St. Patrick's Day stamps or supplies, so I went with a generic sentiment and die cut four hearts out of green paper to make the shamrock. It looked a little bare, so I made a little flower out of paper scraps to go on top. To learn how to make flowers like this one, check out this tutorial at the Hambly blog.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Two Birthday Cards in One Week?

If you know me in person, you probably know that my personal style is decidedly unfeminine, and my scrapbook pages tend to follow suit. Once in a while, in moments of weakness, I'll break down and buy flower embellishments or pretty floral papers, but these things rarely end up in my albums. It may be because they would look really strange paired with my very non-feminine pictures, but in general, I'm much more comfortable sticking with classic black, solids, stripes, and graphic patterns.

Sometimes, though, I use cardmaking as an excuse to make something girly. The sappy sentimentality of flowers and lace and bows somehow seems more palatable to me when I'm working on a small space with no photos. And since I don't have a large stash of frilly products, card kits make it really easy for me to create something pretty without trying too hard. I snatched up this particular card kit from My Mind's Eye on Peachy Cheap a while back, and it had just what I needed to recreate a version of this beautiful card I spotted in the August 2010 issue of Cards magazine by Belinda Chang Langner.

I just loved the look of that inset circle and the ribbon going around the card front. Visually interesting, but so simple to do with just a circle punch and some foam adhesive.

Blowing the Dust Off

Not off my scrapbook supplies. They get plenty of use. Blowing the dust off this little blog, though. My biggest roadblock to blogging about papercrafting is my aversion to photographing my pages and cards and actually transferring the pictures to my computer. I hate to let this space keep going to waste, though, so hopefully, I can get better at sharing.

Here's the card I made for my nephew's second birthday next week:

Supplies used: paper (DCWV), border punch (EK Success), gems (Target dollar spot), die cut (QuicKutz), embellishment (ki memories), white pen (Uniball), chalk ink (ColorBox)
Has anyone else noticed that birthday-themed products are popping up everywhere lately? From Pink Paislee and House of 3's Soiree line to Basic Grey's Life of the Party and more. It seems funny that something that happens to everyone every single year can suddenly become trendy. This is definitely the time to stock up on card supplies for the whole year.

My Robot Valentine

I'm usually not much of a card-maker, but I was inspired by this adorable robot paper


and this song


to make this Valentine for Dan:

(Yes, I realize I either need a new scanner or some Photoshop skills to make this look more presentable. Screw you, Pop Dots and the unsightly shadows you create.)

Luckily, he isn't checking this blog for updates (at least I don't think he is), so the surprise won't be ruined.