Birthday Cards - Masculine and Feminine

Happy Monday Everyone!

hope your week is starting out great.

I know its been a bit since my last post.  Busy at my pay the bills job and weekends have been full too. I have been working on some projects behind the scenes.  Today I'm going to share a couple of birthday cards that I made for friends recently.

First up a masculine card for the sports fan in your life.  Have you seen the Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Collection?  Perfect for those sport minded guys and gals in your life.  As this card was for a baseball fan I just used baseball images.  There are quite a variety of sports represented in this line so it is easy to personalize cards.

I used one of the Touchdown paper postcards for a label on the front of the envelope.

The front has a pocket with a hidden holder.  Just perfect for a gift card.

This is an easel card and doesn't have a happy birthday sentiment on the outside so it makes a wonderful home decor piece after the birthday is over.

On the inside is a panel where the birthday message goes.

Graphic 45 Good Ol' Sport Collection papers used:

• Teamwork
• Newsworthy
• Champion
• Touchdown

Next up is a feminine birthday card using lots of Sizzix dies and embossing folders along with some Distress ink and Tim Holtz Idea-ology.

The background image was created with a Vintaj 6 x 6 embossing folder on watercolor paper.  I used some bright Distress colors to give it a fun and girly feel.  The layered flower is the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die by Sizzix. 

This is also an easel card with the sentiment on the inside.  The words on the front are created using Idea-ology chit chat stickers colored with distress inks.

Here is a close up of the layered flower.  You can see that each layer is texturized with a different embossing folder.

Idea-ology fragment charms highlight the remember the now sentiment.

Supplies used for the feminine birthday card:

• Canson watercolor paper
• Vintaj Leaf Rosette embossing folder
• Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations dies:  Tattered Florals, Styled Labels, Mini Labels Set
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology chit chat stickers and fragment charms
• Tim Holtz distress inks in picked raspberry, mustard seed, wild honey, iced spruce, black soot, vintage photo
• Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folders:  Bubble and Honeycomb set, Snowflake Pattern & Plaid set, Springtime Background and Borders set

Hope you like these easel cards.  They make for a wonderful birthday (or any other occasion) presentation that can be displayed after the event is over.

I have more projects in the works for some spring and summer classes.  Will also have some fun display items that I made for Chico Scrapbooks to share as well.

Thank You so much for stopping by!

Happy Creating!

Hugs,  Sharon

Spring - Birthday Card and Gardens

Hello!  Happy Spring to You!

I love Spring, don't you?.  One of the other things that I like to do besides crafting is gardening.  The past few years I have not been able to work too much out in my yard and my poor raised beds have been neglected.  On Saturday my hubbie and I were able to get outside and refresh one of the beds so I could plant some vegies and flowers.  Hope you don't mind if I share a bit about my garden.

Warning!  Photo heavy post.  Grab a cuppa, settle in and enjoy!

First, I'll show you a card I created for my sister's birthday.  What does this have to do with Spring you ask?  Well, Denise's birthday is March 21st so when I think Spring I always think of her.  Happy Birthday big sis!  Love ya!

I used the yummy Sweet Sentiments line from Graphic 45.  One of the great things about Graphic 45 is that their designs are so versatile.  Perfect for a Spring Birthday card, right?

The pocket on the front of this easel card holds a postcard stamped with the happy birthday sentiment.  I used some Tim Holtz stamps to create a postage stamp and cancellation.

Easel cards make for a more 3 dimensional display but fold down flat for mailing.

Here are some close up detail shots:

Ok, on to the gardening portion of our program, ha ha ha.  Just a few photos to share.  Felt so great to be out digging in the dirt.

Here is my sad and neglected raised beds before we got to work.

First thing was to take the drip irrigation out, add some more dirt and mix it in.  My hubbie, Chris is the best helper!  He did most of the hard part and left me the fun stuff.  Gotta love that man!

Check out that custom hat - ha, ha, ha!  It took years of being on the bottom of the garden shed to get that swagger and curve in it.

Ahhhhh, all fresh and new again.  Ready for some plants.

Instant garden!  Went with seedlings to get a jump start on the season.  I've got lettuce, spinach, chard, zucchini, snap peas, chives, and a little volunteer strawberry that came from a garden a few years ago.

And some chocolate mint that was threatening to take over the bed that got a new home in a pot to keep it contained.   Mmmmmm, smells so good!

We ended up not refreshing the other raised bed.  The bulbs have already come up and there are a couple of plants that need to be moved to other locations that aren't ready yet.  For now the daylily, sedum (Autumn Joy), and lambs ear, along with various bulbs will be joined by some annual flowers.

I'll add more flowers as the Spring and Summer progresses.  Be sure to check back to see how the vegies and flowers are doing.

Hope you enjoyed the Spring tour!  Feels good to get outside again and get my hands dirty.

Take care.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Happy Spring!  Happy gardening!  And happy creating!

Hugs,  Sharon