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 treasury bonanza (treasury Tuesday).

Hello! It's been a while so I wanted to pop in to say "Hi," and to let y'all know I'm still alive and kicking over here. Life's been pretty busy recently, and I just haven't had the time or energy to blog. With the holidays coming up December's guaranteed to be another busy month as well. I'm hoping to get back to blogging regularly in the new year. For now, enjoy these lovely treasuries that I've been featured in this month.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

Literary Second Life

San Diego Red Gold & White Christmas

Geographia

Cute and Quirky Christmas

Het Wilhelmus!

Paper star garland (DIY).

Well, I finally got around to taking down the heart garland above my kitchen sink, and I needed something summery to replace it. I love this happy little star garland that took its place.

Paper American flag (kids' craft).

This is a simple little Fourth of July craft that I did with the three and a half year old that I watch. He had a blast making it, and has been showing it off to everyone. I love that he had so much fun while working on his cutting, coordination, and listening skills too (not to mention practice with colors, shapes, and counting!).

These directions are based on how I did it with him, but this is easy to adjust to other ages/levels of development. I had him cut out the shapes himself (using children's safety scissors of course), but you could do the cutting for younger kids. For older kids, you can give the more autonomy when putting everything together.

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.

An Irish blessing (printable).

Update: This post received the most views from Julie's St. Patty's link party! Thank you Julie :)

We're hosting our book club today, so I'm finally getting around to taking down our Valentine's day decorations (it's been a busy month!). Our walls looked a little bare without the heart wreath, so I made this sweet printable Irish blessing to take it's place. 

Sláinte is the Irish (or Gaelic) way to say cheers, and means "to your good health." Here is the pronunciation. I love the sentiment of this blessing.

I found this amazing font here. Click on the image to go to the full size version, then drag and drop to your desktop, or right click and select save. The image is sized for an 8 inch by 10 inch frame.

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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. 

Paper heart garland (tutorial).

We needed a little more Valentine's cheer around our house, so when I saw this felt garland on Pinterest the wheels in my brain started to turn (the original is in Chinese, but the pictures are pretty self explanatory). 

It took me less than an hour to make both garlands, this is such an easy project. Using paper means there's no sewing, plus you probably already have everything you need! I did two slightly different versions, so don't forget to scroll down to see the second one. 

Ombre water lily paper flower (tutorial).

These flowers are so much fun to make, and they come out so pretty! I'm planning on incorporating these into my Valentine's day decorations this year  ❤ They also make adorable gift toppers in place of a traditional bow.

Supplies: card stock in 3 colors, glass gem, glue, stapler, scissors

Start by cutting out two flower shapes for each color (print and trace the template at the bottom of this post). Don't worry - this is the slowest, hardest part of making these.

Use your fingers to gently curl the petals upward so that all of your flower shapes look like the one above. 

Stack the bottom five flower shapes together, and arrange to your liking. Staple the layers together using two staples in an X shape (this will ensure the flower stays stable and secure).

Glue the final flower shape into the middle of the flower to cover the staples (I use Elmer's glue for this). Let dry. Glue the glass gem into the center of the flower (I use either super glue or E6000). Adjust the petals if needed. Now take a step back and admire your work!

Flower template - print out to be approximately 4" across