I've been hard at work and not to disappoint - here are pictures of my recent cards. Please click on the pictures for a bigger view if you're wanting to view the details of each one.

I've had two nearly full days of crafting, attempting to rebuild my stock of Birthday cards that was depleted last year when a very generous coworker decided to stock up on his cache of birthday cards!


Day 1:

I've been working with the Silhouette tool more frequently and in the Happy Birthday folder I used cuts from Lori Whitlock, a fabulous designer.  Her designs have featured in Echo Park's collection of papers and she sells her custom cuts on the Silhouette Online store.  Absolutely love her work!


Typo is becoming quite a hot store in New Zealand for stationery enthusiasts.  The parent brand Cotton On has branched out into stationery and has done quite a successful job.  In this store I've been able to find mini paperclips, Kraft card stock, Washi tapes, and more!

Currently using their notebook and combination mouse pad frame to sketch cards and of course as a mouse pad!

I picked up two paper pads at Typo, and made one card with the hexagon found in the pad.  The pads are double sided 8x8, of medium weight cardstock.  Here I used some Green Apple Divine Twine to offset the pink in this cardstock.



Still working with the Silhouette Cameo, I used it again to create a simple and clean card using paper from one of my favorite stacks, DCWV Mi Casa.  I used the striped pattern but found a problem adhering it to the Silhouette Cameo's sticky mat, and slid off mid-cut.

Using clean release painter's tape, I adhered it to the sides of the mat and set the blade to 4.  After it cut successfully and peeled from the mat cleanly, it was a complete success.  Such a busy paper, I decided to use a ribbon to tie the look together.



I'm still working hard on the exploding box, and don't know what route I'll be taking.  The main body of the box is done and need to embellish it.  I might add a pull on top of the box's lid so all that has to be done is pull to achieve the "exploding" feature of the card.

Day 2:



Continuing on the Birthday theme this crafting-packed weekend, I decided to work with a popup card.

This card uses Silhouette Cameo as a cutting device again, on the Cosmo Cricket Social Club paper collection called "Jazz."  Cosmo Cricket always makes amazing paper encorporating vintage themes but without distress for a crisp vintage look.

The card is held together with custom dyed twine.  Twine was dyed with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Peeled Paint and Broken China to achieve the same Blue-green of the paper.  After it was dyed, I sped up the drying process with a heat gun/embossing gun.


The card folds out to reveal a birthday cake with candles, decorated in Ranger Industries Stickles in Firefly and Punch.

Lastly, I attempted to make another card but found that the card stock I chose and the way it was cut with the Silhouette tool was too flimsy to properly carry the card.  Banners and pennants proved way too flimsy and airy to hang in a "window" type card.  I rescued the banners that I had coloured with Distress Inks and put them onto a new card base.

Using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on the background with a sponge daubing tool, I made a gentle cloud-looking background from which to hang the pennants and Happy Birthday banner.  Ribbon is seam binding cotton twill tape, and held together with glue and Wonder tape.



A productive weekend indeed totaling 5 cards!  Each has a completely different look.  Not a bad weekend for crafting - as during the week I'm barely able to hold my head up due to a long day at work!

Next week I should have the new Graphic 45 Curio collection in and will be making an entirely new type of card with acetate!  Shaker cards have always looked appealing and would like to make one next week using the vintage stamps from Hampton Arts and Graphics 45.  Stay tuned!