Project 129: Party like a rockstar KennyK 30th

Our friend Joe turned 30 while we were in the US so we weren't able to make it to the party. Almost a month later, we are finally able to meet up and celebrate!

I love this Madame Axe stamp from KennyK and as she's full of attitude it was easy to make the accents black to match their challenge.

I used a Recollections Femme Fatale paper for the distresed black and grey over a black card and lined the image in black to make it stand out. I coloured her hair so that she was similar to his wife - who has nothing to do with guitars - but she rocks to so why not make it more personal?

I added the sparkly 30 decals - I think these are from Poundland - and then the silver stars were from a micro-punched collection that Claire sent me a while back. (I've finally just sorted these into little containers so I could see what I had only took about a month to get that far)

The Party like a rockstar stamp was a find from Claire that I love - I originally bought Madame Axe to use with this stamp as I think the combo is great. Isn't it funny how craft purchases beget other craft purchases?

I am eyeing up the new Gothic Angelz releases from KennyK - if I'm unlucky in the challenge maybe I'll treat myself for my birthday!

Project 128: Vintage blondie birthday

We have a new joiner at work and we found out that we share a birthday! Out of an office of 20 people, that's three of us who all have the same birthday. Amazing. The big day is just over a week a way so I'm getting ahead by making cards now.

I saw that KennyK's challenge was to use black and our new lady has a distinct vintage style that I thought would work brilliantly with the Happy Hour stamp.

I used a black and white houndstooth card topped with a strip of glittery blue paper to compliment the black and blue dress. I added a bow to her hair (why don't I do this more?!) and then topped it with some candies and a little tag stamp that I found in my collection.

It's a fairly simple layout but I think it works really well with the colors and stamp.

Will get the other card done this week as well so I'm ahead of the game before our birthdays...!

Project 127: Lil cat card

I saw that Moving along with the times had a cat challenge and I thought I would get this little card on before the challenge deadline.

I used a Little Claire cat stamp and coloured him with promarkers. I layered 2 papers behind to add some depth. A flower and button, a bit of glitter and simple "friends" greeting and that is all it needed for this mini card.

I know just the recipient as well!

Project 126: Space monkey bday cards

Claire bought me this set of space monkeys in our last $20 challenge and they crack me up. As it is my fave little boy's 2nd birthday I thought they would be perfect.

Seize the birthday has a colouring challenge and I thought this would be great.

Stampin for the weekend had a birthday challenge so I thought I would try that as well as I haven't entered there in a while.

I used a combo of three stamps from the set and coloured then with Promarkers and a silver gel pen. The yellow border is punched with a new starry border punch from EK Success and this and the rocket striped paper are also from Claire.

I hand cut the sparkly 2 and topped it with some stars.

How cute is that? :)

Project 125: Poppi Penguin Bday card

Our friend Mike is one of the greatest guys I know (he's my most eligible bachelor friend for all of the single ladies out there - get in touch!) and therefore he gets a fun card.

For reasons that have never been fully explained to me (and you can only press someone so many times for details before you realise you're never going to be in on the joke) Mike and my husband have a long-runnning beach-theme for all of their gifts and cards. I've adopted this whole heartedly (love a theme) and decided to use this great Poppi Penguin from Bugaboo Stamps as my feature.

I thought he'd be a great entry for the It's a Boy Thing challenge at Charisma Cards and the Coloring challenge at Seize the Birthday. I'm trying to change up my blog challenges and thought these two looked fun.

I coloured him in and then put him over a patterned stripy paper that felt a bit beachy, over a patterned yellow background. I punched a star using a corner punch and then topped it with a little peel-off greeting - haven't used peel offs in ages as they've been buried in unpacked craft boxes. (I missed you friends!) Finally a bit of bling in his glasses to show how cool he is.

I found this hilarious gift bag in a bigger set at the 99c store and thought it'd be perfect - yes that is a transparency that is filled with blue tissue paper for waves. Will let you know how it goes down with the birthday boy/manchild!

Project 124: Birthday cowgirl for the husband

It's my husband's birthday today and we have a long running joke about cowgirls as I am obsessed with Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story 2. (She's just great.) So I thought Mae Western from Kenny K would be perfect for his birthday.

I was inspired by the Color Throwdown Challenge this week:

I was too late to enter the challenge but I liked it as inspiration any way!

I'm entering this into the KennyK challenge of Anything Goes with a Bling Twist - I love the foiled paper, shiny candies and antique pearls as bling and think they go well with the colors.

I embossed the turquoise petal shape with a woodgrain and then die-cut the petal out. I love that petal and it's great for framing these lounging ladies from KennyK!

Finally I topped it with a cute stamp greeting stolen from Claire - I still think of her every time I use these stamps!

Project 123: Wedding card with a difference

My wonderful friend Jules is getting married in 2 days - hooray!

My mom asked if I would make her a card to bring to the wedding and of course I had to say yes. I know Jules loves music and a little bit of a vintage touch so I thought I'd do something a bit different for her as I found this wonderful paper in my collection.

The featured piece in the middle is a stamped piece from a Recollections pack I bought in the Black Friday sale at Michael's. I'm assuming the L stands for love? We'll go with it!

The turquoise and coral papers are Trader Jane (also Recollections) and the bottom washi tape is Studio G. The punch is Martha Stewart and I liked doing it in the same paper as the background so it just offers a delicate hint of texture - really nice for an elegant card I think. I balanced it with some candies at the bottom as I know Jules likes an asymmetrical aesthetic.

Finally I added a bit of glitter glue to the page to add some bling - it's a wedding card after all!

Please say a quiet word to whatever person/spiritual presence you look to in times of difficulty and ask for decent weather in the Philly area as we're currently going through a snow storm and we need to be able to get everything and everybody safely to and from for the next 2 days!

Project 122: Felt bird thank you set

This year I have a lot to be thankful for already. I have a great family, great friends and a great passion for crafting - let's see in 2014 in style!

Above is a little set of cards that I made to enter the Moving Along With the Times challenge of thank you this week. Claire had given me these little felt birds and owls at Thanksgiving and I bought a set of My Mind's Eye Denim Shop card blanks with her which I thought would be a great back drop for the cards.

I used a bit of tartan paper from a Reflections collection pack and then a thank you stamp from Fiskars that I have not used before (also from Claire - feeling the suck-up-ness of this post yet?). I like the way it sort of sneaks into the background there. Finally some candies to top them off and we're rolling.

Simple and easy for my multiple thank you cards required from the holidays!