Birthday Fun!!

    I already miss our warm Summer weather and wish it had lasted through the weekend for all those who have to work all day.  I remember those days far to well and still wish the we had more weekends with the really nice weather, so that everyone could enjoy it.  Today, it's already overcast and feels cold.  I'm already feeling a bit sore and can tell that rain and damp weather is moving in.   I know we need the rains, but I sure wish it did not have to make me hurt, that's never fun.    It's amazing just how quickly the temps dropped overnight.   We went to sleep with the windows open and I had to get up about 6 am and close them.  Bummer!!   This week's weather doesn't look nearly as nice as last week, but I guess it will be okay with me, as I'll be in school again all week and will be very busy!!

    Today is not a school day, (at Creative Chemistry 101), but is a nice day for me to catch up on some cards I need for Birthdays and one that I created especially with a challenge in mind.  It's the first time I have made a card in days, and it was fun to put my inks aside for a day and play more with paper again.

    My main goal today was to make a card for my friend Patty, as we will be going out to dinner with tonight, in celebration of her Birthday!!   I do have plenty of cards (pre-made) that I could have used, but I really like to make everyone a card that is new and is in a style or colors that they will enjoy.  I'm also looking forward to our dinner, but plan to be good and try to eat well.   I've now lost 8 pounds, out of the 15 I had wanted to lose and I don't want to any of it back one.   I'm going to have seafood, probably scallops or haddock and try and skip any of the fried items, which is a challenge, since this restaurant has the delicious onion rings and we always order them as an app.   Yummy!!

     I knew I wanted to make her card in something that was spring-like, so I picked out a stack of 6X6 Paper pad, put them on my desk, closed my eyes and decided I would use the first one I touched.  I ended up picking out a Memory Box set, called Minuet.   This is a lovely set for Spring and all the papers are in pretty shades of blue, white, green and yellow.  Once I had my papers picked out, I simply picked out a blue card base and this was the very first card I created.

  As you can see, it's a very simply design.  I picked out one of my favorite papers and cut to down to fit the card.  I then picked out a contrasting piece and made a border which I added on top.    Next, I punched out a Happy Birthday Sentiment from a sheet I had pre-desinged and printed, all of various digital Happy Birthday Sentiments.  I then cut a circle, with a Nestie die, one size larger from Blue Swiss Dot Cardstock, that I used as the mat for my Sentiment.  I added that on top and finished it up with some matching bling.

   With everything still one my desk, I decide to make a few more cards, all with the same set and quickly had put together two more birthday cards.  Each one is a bit different (I'm one who never makes the same card twice), but they are all made with the sames papers and some even have the same Sentiment, simply in another size or color.

    The next card is the one I designed to submit to this week's Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz and their challenge today is to use a Bow on your project - the Bigger the Bitter!!   I created mine with some white ribbon and my wonderful new bow-maker, which I bought after seeing this video on YouTube.   Out of all the styles of bow-makers I have used or bought, this is by far the best and I LOVE it.  The one I have from Sarah, is actually an updated version and it comes with two sets of dowels (pegs) in two sizes, so that you can also make some tiny bows.  This is a picture of mine!  It's also super easy to use and I love that she had the video online for me to follow the first couple of times I tried it!!

  And this is my card that features a white bow I created with my awesome little bow-maker!!  

   I even had time to make one more card, also still using more of the same Minuet papers.  This one is a very simply Spring style card and for this one, I did not add any Sentiment, and will be sending this one off in my new package to Operation Write Home.   The yellow flower was actually created with some rosette trim I had bought on Etsy.   I simply cut off the bottom lacy part and then added the button and twine.   This was a fun little technique I learned at a recent card class I took at my LSS!!   It makes a fun little flower and is super easy.

 And that's it for now!   I am heading back to my desk to clean up and I'm going to review some of the Videos from the CC101 Class, so that I can work on more tags.  I really am having a great time in this class and so happy I took it!!  I also had fun today making some cards for a change!  My next goal is to take a lot of the techniques I have learned and use them to create new card background!!

  See you all later and hope you are having a fun day!  I know I am and I'm always loving any day, where I have some time to create!!