Flowers, stars, and candles (birthday cards).

I have three fun new birthday cards to share with you! The problem with showing off the cards I make is that I have to wait until after they've been received to blog about them, and it's always so hard to wait. Anyways, these birthdays have passed, so now I can share these cards (I have more cards to share soon, but you'll have to wait a little longer before I can post those).

I did these cards a little bit differently than ones I've made in the past with the Silhouette; I printed the words onto the cards, then cut out paper shapes to decorate the cards. I like the way the mixed mediums look, and it was much faster to make the cards this way too. I'm still using a gluestick to attach the decorations to the cards, but I'd like to find a better way. The glue gets sort of messy on the more intricate designs, and it stays a little bit tacky even after it's dried.

This simple card was made with the candles design that came with Silhouette Studio. I used light blue for the candle stick, green for the candle stripes, and yellow for the flames. The words are printed onto the card.

Happy birthday cards (silhouette craft).

Unfortunately, I think I mis-addressed this card, resulting in it never being received. Shucks.

I made a few more birthday cards, and a Valentine's day card last month using the Silhouette. I'm getting more comfortable using it, and there's less error in my trial and error process now. These 3 designs are all pretty simple, so I'll just give you a quick rundown of how I made them. I have a box of blank 4.25" by 5.5" cards and envelopes, so I use those as the base when I am making cards to mail.

For the first card (above), I simply chose a font I liked, and laid it out with the balloons. I put a rounded rectangle that was slightly smaller than my card around the design, and then I cut it out. I glued the design to the front of the card, then colored in the balloons with colored pencils. Easy and cute.

Balloon birthday card (DIY).

I've been playing around with my Silhouette Cameo, and I am slowly learning how to do new things with it. I mainly use it to create stencils for the glass etching that I do for my Etsy shop, but I know it can be used for so much more than that. This is the first birthday card that I made with it, and I did this mostly through trial and error (I thought I knew what I was doing, and didn't need directions, so I ended up wasting a few pieces of paper...). I have a few more cards to show you soon, but I want to wait until after they've been received.

The balloons are a design that came free with the Silhouette. I separated them and cut each balloon individually instead of as a bunch. The bow was part of the same design (there were strings too, but I opted to draw strings on instead). The rest of the design is simply text cut out of an oval (I hand trimmed the edges of the oval after gluing it to the card), with pink paper underneath. I'm having fun learning how to create cards with the Silhouette, and I'm hoping to get back into making handmade birthday cards for everyone. The design process is still slow for me, but luckily there are thousands of fantastic pre-made designs in the Silhouette store (and they give everyone a new free design every week).

I added another bunch of balloons on the inside of the card.

I link up to these parties.

A birthday card for the kiddos (printable).

I love to give handmade or semi-handmade cards when I have the time, and I try to encourage the children I care for to do the same thing. A few weeks ago, the boys' cousin turned four, and I had them color these cards for him. They had a blast making their cards their own, and the birthday boy thought they were pretty cool too.

Click on the picture to see it full size. Then save it to your desktop, and print it so that the image fills one sheet of card stock (makes 2 cards).

I used a dotted font for the words, so that the boys could practice tracing the letters. You can add the birthday girl's or boy's name to the front using your computer, or by hand after printing. Give your child age appropriate supplies that they will have fun decorating with. We used markers and stickers (the 3 year old opted for mostly markers, and did a nice job tracing the letters and writing his name inside; the 2 year old colored a little, then went crazy with the stickers).

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did :) I link up to these parties.

Fingerprint heart card (DIY).

Matt's birthday was last week, so now I can show you all the birthday card I made for him!

To make the marbled heart, I cut a stencil out of paper, taped it to the card, then used an ink pad and my fingers to fill in the shape. I kept on adding fingerprints until it looked how I wanted it too. You could do this with any colors and any shape.

I really like this stenciling technique, and will definitely use it again in the future.

I freehanded the rest of the card. The lettering is done with a fine paintbrush and acrylic paint; the border is fine tipped Sharpie markers.

A card for your sweetheart (DIY).

I made this card a few weeks ago to give to the hubby for Valentine's day. Then I realized that I couldn't post it here before I gave it to him, d'oh! Even though I made this for Valentine's day, it would also make a great birthday or anniversary card (or an anytime card! Who says you need an occasion to give a card?).

This is a fairly simple card to make, but I love how the choice of the maps makes it entirely unique and personal for each couple. You can use any places that are meaningful in your relationship. I chose to use Los Angeles (his hometown), Ithaca, NY (my hometown), and San Diego (where we live now). Actually, I was originally going to use three places in San Diego that are special to us, but I screwed up while cutting out the hearts - oops. 

A birthday card for Grandma.

My grandma turns 90 later this month, so I decided to make a special birthday card for this very special lady (she's one of my favorite people in the world - strong, smart, kind, & incredibly loving). 

I was inspired to make these flowers by this pin on pinterest. Her favorite color is purple (if you couldn't guess), but you can make this card in any colors you want. 

To get even spacing start by glueing 2 opposing petals, then fill in the rest.

Cut out 6 hearts of equal size for each flower. I used double sided scrapbook paper for the big heart & cardstock for the small ones; any paper stiff enough to hold a sharp crease will work. Fold each heart in half vertically to make petals, then glue the petals onto your card in a flower shape.

I don't have a dark purple ink pad, so I used a marker to ink the stamps.
It takes a little longer, but works great in a pinch.

I used these adorable little letter stamps to write out my message. I got this little stamp set for about $1 from Michael's, and I've gotten so much use out of it! To get the spacing right, I stamped the words right to left (I'm not really left handed, but my right hand was busy with the camera).

I punched out some more hearts to decorate the inside of the card. Then I decided to round off the corners of the card too - I think it gives it a more finished look.