It's a Girl!

My friend and co-worker Charissa is like my long lost sister. We joke that we have identical taste buds and that we married what seem like twins. Sure she was born in the Philippines and I was born in North Dakota, but it was truly destiny that we found each other, what with so obviously being separated at birth and all. ha!

This week she found out that the baby that has been making her sick for 18+ weeks is a GIRL! Baby Sophia Rain will arrive in late September, but we need to help cheer up mommy, and NOW.

I just got this adorable set of A2 cards from DCWV, called La Creme. It spoke to my current chandelier / damask obsession.



I ran the already polka-dotted card through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder for extra dotted action. I then crunched some holes into it using my Crop-A-Dile and added some ribbon and a chipboard flower from my trust Pebbles Chips collection.

I busted out my You Grow Girl and cute preggo girl from StampOutOnline (Did I tell you I was going to abuse these stamps or what? They are just too much fun!). I stamped the girl on adhesive cardstock from DCWV's Christmas stack and trimmed it down to size with my Fiskars cutter. This thing is so exact at cutting, it's ridiculous.

I found this "congratulations" sentiment on my Teresa Collins Bebe Girl Die-Cut Cardstock Card Set. I adhered it with Therm O Web Foam Squares onto the same DCWV pink cardstock as the girl.

For the inside of the card, I stamped "You Grow Girl" and framed it perfectly (Love when that works out!) with another glittery pink gorgeousness from Pebbles Chips.

The new mom also needed a gift card, so I cut one out from the Wild Cards cartridge. I added yet another Pebbles Chips for the "button"on the gift card flap.

Congrats Cha-Cha, we can't wait to meet Sophia!

XO,
-marcia

Happy One Year Birthday, Nephew!

My baby nephew is turning into a big boy so quickly! My sis-in-law is amazing about posting and sending tons of photos of him so even though we live a couple thousand miles apart, I can see what he is up to on a daily basis.

Here's a quick card I made for him. I embossed the cover with the Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder and popped a glitter embellishment from my Pebbles Chips haul. I also found this cute birthday boy sticker for the envelope.

On the inside, I used my San Serif font and my Gypsy to weld together the words "baby cake." The cupcake is from K & Company.

Hmm, maybe I had better find my own cake to help celebrate Ben from afar...

Happy Birthday, B.!

Cheers!
-marcia

A Birthday Card with Glam + Glitz

Like I mentioned, I have tons of birthdays coming up this month. Well ... I personally only have one annually (THANK GOD), but I think half the people I know were born in May!

I made this card from the Damask Decor cartridge. This cartridge is just the BOMB as it comes with cards and envelopes for every single damask pattern. I am not even going to complain that Joanns has it on sale for $30 this week and I paid ... more than that. It's okay, I love it that much.

The brown paper and the rad, glitter-riffic blue paper is from DCWV, then the envelope is from Paper Source paper. I had to use my heavy duty Cricut blade to cut through the glitter paper--it's that super and amazing!

I got these awesome Pebbles Chips from the good folks at Peachy Cheap, and put the GLITTER ones immediately to work on the cover of this card. You can see all the fun that will be had for years to come with all these gorgeous bits of yummy cardboard + glitter.

This adorable card looks like a present on the front. I cuttlebugged the inside with a fun flower print, and then created a little spot to write on from the same paper I used for the envelope. This is especially great for these shape cards that don't quote cover the entire inside -- then you know right where to write so the writing doesn't leak out and show through the front. yah! When cheating is beautiful. (Yep those cute little quotes are from the Pebbles Chips kit too!)

 In the end, I think this card has a lot of dimension, glitter and fun! Hopefully the birthday peeps will feel glam and glitz when they get this one.

cheers!
-marcia

<I am entering this in The Pink Stamper National Scrapbooking Day Celebration challenge #9!>

Think Pink for Mother's Day

I hope the moms out there are feeling like queens today! My only "child" is Molly the Maltese, and she is really testing my patience today. Woof.

I made two cards for Mother's Day--one for my fabulous mom and one for my awesome mother in law. I'm so blessed to have both of these ladies in my life!

I used Teresa Collins paper from the Bebe Chic Girl collection for both cards. For my mom's card, I came up with the theme of Queen for the Day since the paper has these fabulous crowns on it. While my mom was here helping me scrapbook, she was trying to put a tiara dimensional sticker on every page so it seemed even more fitting to put it on her card.  :)

I used the Damask Decor cartridge, but instead of putting the pattern on the cover I switched it up and put it on the inside. Boom, I just blew your mind. The letters are from the Blackletter cartridge. The tiara (resting on the "q") is from Jolee's Boutique I believe.

Card for "Mom Penny"

For my mother in law's card, I used one of the card kits from Teresa Collins, which is adorned with a damask print and chandeliers. <3 Man, that thing made it SO EASY, I feel like a bit of a Mom Day Cheater!

The cover sentiment -- The Best Things In Life Aren't Things -- is totally my mother in law. She'd much rather have a latte with you for a couple hours at Starbucks over an elaborate gift. I cut the sentiment out of one of the Teresa Collins papers, and then backed it with DCWV glitter paper cut with my Mostly Memories circle (and oval) cutter. I like how the glitter is a bit of a paradox to the sentiment.

I stamped the inside with my new Inkadinkado chandelier stamp. The mom sentiments are a clear stamp set from Studio G. I got it from a local craft outlet store.

We celebrated "Mom Penny" yesterday by attempting to take her on a boat ride that wasn't running yet this season (oops), followed by the back of plan of a bus ride that took all too long (double oops) and eventually made it to our destination of a nice lunch (linner?) of shrimp tacos on the beach. We ran into our Starbucks barista while waiting for the bus, and he was kind enough to leave us two free "Mother's Day" drinks so we treated Mom Penny and her husband, David, to an afternoon iced latte. Yay!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day weekend! This month brings many birthdays so check back for some new cards, going up soon!

cheers,
-marcia

<This is being entered in the My Pink Stamper National Scrapbook Day Celebration challenge #4). woohoo!>

The Wedding Fun Begins!

After a slow start the first weekend my mom was in town (ONE PAGE! THE HORROR!), we got to rockin' and rollin' and were able to crank out some good stuff the day before they left.  I will do updates with what carts I used on each page, but here are a couple of samples just because I am excited to share!

I used Teresa Collins' Bebe Chic Girl and Welcome Home collections quite a bit. Those two kits couldn't have hit Peachy Cheap at a better time! They worked out so perfectly and I am, of course, still hearting chandeliers to bits. The new Damask Decor and Elegant Edges cartridges I got from ScrapbookPal proved to be just as handy as I thought they would be.

I need to figure out how to photograph this page to do it justice ... it is just dreamy in real life. Love the beading, stuck down with some Zots! Aren't my bridesmaids just the cutest ever? We had so much fun.

Hope everyone celebrates National Scrapbook Day / Mother's Day weekend in style! I'll be posting my adorable Mother's Day cards soon ... don't want to spill the beans before the Moms see them. :)

Cheers!
-marcia

An April Baby

I have been SO excited to use these adorable stamps, hand-drawn and made for me by StampOutOnline. Could this girl BE any more adorable? I am going to abuse the privilege of this stamp already, I know it.

I set out to work using the New Arrival cartridge, and used the "Card 1" feature to print out this cute preggo girl (page 25). I then stamped the card and the envelope carefully, with my paper on a magazine for extra cush and maximum stampage. Don't these girls look like they were meant to be together?

I then added a liner from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to the inside of the card, so preggo mama could have a polka-dot dress on. I used my Gypsy so that the "circle punch" wouldn't cut out, making for a nice rounded-corners. Of course, mama also needed a hat and purse, and her accessories are easily cut out from the New Arrival cartridge as well. I glue dotted those for some 3D action.

Babies need lots of new goodies, so I go the mama-to-be a Babies-R-Us gift card. I then cut out this gift card holder from the Wild Cards cartridge.  I used my Fiskars cutter with a scoring blade to make a perfect score.

The gift card fits perfectly, and I just added some bling to make it look like a little clutch. The paper also matches preggo mama's dress.

I then decided to add April's name to the envelope, since baby's name hadn't been announced yet. I used the Sans Serif font cartridge. My super-pointy Fiskars scissors came in handy here in smashing the edges down nicely.

One day after I gave April her card, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. So already this card is a smash hit I think!

Congrats, April, and blessings on your new baby girl!
Cheers,

-marcia