Valentines in the Making

Well, I am happy to say that my creative juices are flowing again. I got a gift card to Michael's for Christmas (Thanks Paul & Eleoni!) and I have been to the store about three or four times so far this year. I have purchased several types of paper and some adhesive. The papers are definitely helping to spark my creativity. Once I get a few more cards made with those, I will see about posting them. Meanwhile, here is something else that I made. I found this cute little paint style bucket in the Dollar Spot at Target at Christmas time. But I didn't have any time or energy to do something with them then. I'm glad I bought the red and not the green because they work great for Valentine's Day! I even mixed my own embossing powder concoction. I used red, irridescent ice, and red glitter. I love the way it turned out! Let me know what you think. I need some positive reinforcement if I am going to blog more often. : )

Happy New Year!!

Believe it or not, our happy group of stampers is still going strong! I just lost my desire to blog about it. But here is what we did for January 2012. It is a regular problem for me (and a lot of us card makers) to make birthday cards for the men in my life. I love to make the frilly, frou-frou, cards with lots of ribbon and flowers and embellishments. But I just can't bring myself to give one of those to my hubby or father-in-law or brother, etc. So our theme this month was to make a birthday card for a man. Not a boy. We'll be doing those in a few months. So I think we mostly nailed this one. See what you think.

Wild Horses by Becca Goodwin

Striped Shirt by DeeAnn Haworth

Blue Birthday by Michelle Hansen

Wish Big by Michelle Tweedy

Patterns by Nickie Kenyon

Guitar by Lisa Jones

Hot Rod by Christine Fouts

This month we also started sharing recipes to put in little address books that we found at the Dollar Tree. We altered them and they are turning out so cute. I hope to have pics of those next time.

I am looking forward to 2012 and I hope that you are too! Keep on being creative!

To our Mother's and our Father's

We had a great time at our swap yesterday.

We even shared a potluck lunch. Yummmm!

Our theme this month was Mother's or Father's Day. I think we must like the more feminine touches, because we had mostly Mother's Day cards. And they are all lovely! Take a look:

Vintage Mom, by Michelle Tweedy

Watercolor Flowers, by Lisa Jones

Sherbet Ice Cream Mom, by DeeAnn Haworth

Butterfly Garden, by Michelle Hansen

Pink and Brown Mom, by Christine Fouts

When I Grow Up, by Becca Goodwin

Father Owl, by Nickie Kenyon

Shiny Flower, by Nickie Kenyon

Nickie was in charge of the Make-n-Take this month. She brought these cute plastic baggies shaped like test tubes and some M & M's to fill them with, then we made tags for the toppers. Such a great idea for so many occasions. Such as, Baby Shower, Easter, Christmas, Birthday. You could even make bouquet of these delicious treats! -Thanks Nickie!

Marching into Spring!

We had a variety of themes for our card swap this month. It was Spring, Easter, or Baby. We got a little bit of everything. Take a look!

Gate Fold Flower Card, by Michelle Tweedy

Easter Blessings, by Nickie Kenyon

Baby Boy, by Nickie Kenyon

Easter Eggs, by Becca Goodwin

Dotted Baby Card, by Christine Fouts

Easter Wishes, by Lisa Jones

Welcome Little One, by Michelle Hansen

Michelle Tweedy did the make-n-take this month. This box is folded from a 12x12 piece of paper and does not require any adhesive to put together. Cool, huh? Then we cut a handle from a solid 12x12 piece of card stock and attached with a flower brad and added a little die-cut flower. Such a cute little easter basket!

A Card made from a Paper Bag??

Leave it to Lisa Jones to come up with such an innovative card design for our card swap. This card was made for our February swap, but somehow, I missed it when I was taking photos. So now this creative card gets its very own post.

Lisa uses such perfect papers and embellishments.

I love way the bag folds around the front of the card and slides under a flap.

Here is view of the open card.

Lisa, I apologize for missing your card on the original post. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with our group every month!

If you would like to see more from Lisa, check out her blog here.

Birthday Bonanza

Card swap came and went last week. The theme was Birthday cards. And the favorite seemed to be the cup cake! Take a look!

Blue and Brown Birthday Cupcake by Nickie Kenyon

Birthday Gifts by Natalie Taylor

Birthday Bursts by Michelle Hansen

You're a Star by Christine Fouts

Stripes & Cupcakes by DeeAnn Haworth

Birthday Buttons by Becca Goodwin

Stripes and Flowers by Michelle Tweedy

DeeAnn brought the make-n-take this month. She had old calendars and a stack of patterned paper to make envelopes using a template. I had not thought of this fun project in years! Thanks so much DeeAnn for reminding me of a simple and creative way to send a card.

Owl Always Love You!

I am so in love with owls right now. My mom has collected owls for ages and she has quite a collection. But until recently I haven't caught on to the love of the owl. I had seen some adorable stuffed owls online and I think that's what did me in. So cute! So I decided to make one for a gift for my friend's baby. I made this cute little guy out of flannel. His eyes and beak are made from felt. I was surprised how quickly this project went together. I will definitely be making some more!

I also wanted to make some thank you cards for the mom-to-be. And I thought what better to put on the cards than a punched owl? Hmmm, maybe it was the owl punch that started my love affair with owls. Well, if you love this little punched owl, you can purchase the punch from me by clicking here.
And here is just a quick Yahoo to the Green Bay Packers for winning Super Bowl XLV yesterday. It was a celebration here... the Packers are hubby's favorite team! Whoo-hoo!

Pink and Red Explosion!

Today was card swap! Am I on the ball or what?? Enjoy our selection of Valentine Cards. I love them all. I think everyone's work is only getting better! I love it!

The make-n-take was a fun one. Christine brought her cuttlebug and a cute floral die. We cut flowers out of colorful felt. Then I got my Top Note Die from SU! out and showed the ladies how you can cut two of those and sew three sides together to make a cell phone holder. CUTE!

Love grows by Michelle Tweedy

You hold my heart by Meagan Tweedy

Love Blocks by Michelle Hansen

Polka Dot Hearts by Nickie Kenyon

Love Scroll by DeeAnn Haworth

Love in many languages by Becca Goodwin

Be My Valentine by Christine Fouts

Key to My Heart by Lisa Jones

Make-n-Take Sample-just needs to be sewn. I'll have to get that darned sewing machine out!

Thanks to all you crafters who participate in this monthly swap. I really enjoy our monthly meetings and the opportunity to be creative!

Shape Up Already!!

Wow! The holiday season really had me running this year. I am usually pretty well organized and while I don't shop real early, I'm not usually finishing up on the 23rd! This Christmas was so hectic and never felt like I was ahead of the game. And then to top it all off, I got a nasty head cold on Christmas Eve. Ugh!

All this ranting is to explain why it has taken me three weeks to get December's swaps posted here. The theme for December was Shaped Cards. They were to be anything other than a square or rectangle. I felt this one was quite a challenge. But this month's Creative Cards magazine has several cute ones. If only I had seen that before the swap!

So enjoy taking a look at all the creative cards by me and my talented friends. Oh-Nickie did a super cute Make-n-Take that involved chocolate, so it didn't make it to picture day-we ate them.

Blue Bird House by Michelle Tweedy

Christmas Tree Ornament Card, by Natalie Taylor

Owl Circle Card, by Nickie Kenyon

Love Birds, by Christine Fouts

Snowflake Card, by Nickie Kenyon

Cupcake Card, by DeeAnn Haworth

Flower Burst Card, by Becca Goodwin

Lady Bug Card, by Lisa Jones

This card was so clever I had to show you two views. Later this month look for the post with our Valentine Swap!!