Some Bunny Loves You

Today's card leading up to Easter 2014 is the one I made for my darling Granddaughter, Charlotte:

This card is a modified tri-fold shutter card, so that the inside/back of the card has room for a full panel greeting. I cut this from a template I found online, as developed by Sandy Allnock.  I used papers from Jillibean Soup; the cute bunny on an Action Wobble is from the Silhouette Online Store (SOS) and is cut using the Silhouette Cameo.  The sentiments are also cuts from the SOS.

Charlotte's looking forward to a basket of goodies from the Easter Bunny -- much as she loves chocolate, her basket will include her greater love: books. It's amazing to see a 3-year old's inquisitive mind learning to read, sounding out words, and spelling her friends' names.  



CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Happy Birthday to Two Very Special Women!

Two of my dearest, and longest-term friends, celebrate birthdays within 10 days of each other. I made a 3-D Pop-up card (below) for each of them.  But first about them:

I first met Debbie as "Mrs. Donaldson," when she was to interview me for my second job after college, and the first in what would be the field of my choice: public relations in the health industry.

Debbie was the Program Coordinator for the Philadelphia Chapter of the March of Dimes, and I was applying to be its Communications Coordinator.  Debbie found herself located in Philadelphia when her husband, Tom, was stationed in the City for the Navy.  She hired me, and we had a wonderful time working together, and building a friendship as well.

Debbie, Tom and their beautiful family traveled the world with the Navy. They're now located back in Virginia, near their daughter Krista and her young family.  I hope we'll see the Donaldsons in 2014 on a visit, now that they're not too far away.

That's Mary Beth, second from left. She is hugged by Dani at left and her
son, AJ. Next to AJ is MB's daughter, Nicole. Out ice skating.

The other young'un is one of my most favorite women, my baby sister Mary Beth.  Mary B is the "new 50" this year -- you know, 50 is the new 30 -- because I swear MB looks more like a sister to her two beautiful daughters Danielle and Nicole than their mother.  Check this out:

She was always the most athletic of the sisters, for sure (check out this t-ball picture from a zillion years ago), but now, as climbs to the top of the halfway point to 100, she has taken on a new passion: running.  Can you believe this woman is now running half-marathons!!?  I admire her more than she can possibly know. While I spend marathon sessions on my butt making cards, she's out running hers off.  God bless!!!

... and happy birthday to you both!

I made these cards using Jillibean Soup's papers and embellishments from the Birthday Bisque line.  The template is my own, developed from the pattern provided free by http://extremecards.blogspot.com.  I love the celebration of a 3-d pop-up card, and am hooked on making them!  :)

 

Card Kitchen Witchiness

It's time for another Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen (card kit) card, this one from the October collection.  And again, I modify them just a bit to make them my own.

This month's patterns use Bella Boulevard paper and tabbed Index Journaling cards from LilyBee Designs. For my changes, I colored in the moon behind the witch with Copic Marker (Y38), added a knot-fringe of baker's twine from The Twinery to the button, and some Close To My Heart Itty Bitty Bling to the bats (gotta have bling!).

Do you celebrate Halloween?  Granddaughter Charlotte is going out as Tinker Bell this year -- and of course, she'll be adorable!  No, I didn't make the costume but I did buy it for our recent trip to Disney World, where it was so stinkin' hot, she didn't wear it. Then it will be perfect for a slightly chillier night for trick-or-treating.



DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Recorded and Noted: You're the Best!

As I've posted before, I enjoy receiving my monthly cardmaking kits from Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen, though I do enjoy making some changes to the designs to make them more "me".  Look here:

For this card, I added some yellow seam binding ribbon to add a little pop, but otherwise, the card is pretty much as it was designed by the good people at The Card Kitchen.

If your crafting mojo runs hot and cold, I encourage you to subscribe to card kits like The Card Kitchen. Sometimes you'll like to make exactly the card that's shown; other times, spread your creative juices around and change it up -- it's your card, it's up to you!

Speaking of kits, I have a very special one of my own:  My ongoing CardMonkey CardStock Club (CCC) provides 15 sheets of fantastic Close To My Heart paper that cuts like butter in your Cricut or Silhouette.

Each month for just $25 (including shipping!), you'll receive three 12x12" sheets of CTMH's featured B&T Duo papers, along with three 12x12" sheets of each of four complementing colors.  In addition, I'll pick one of those solid colors and send along an Exclusive Ink Pad in that color ($5.25 MSRP itself), and I include the Duos' Workshop On The Go Instruction Sheet.  AND I typically send in a surprise, too -- a stamp set? Sample papers? Bling?  Shhhh...this month, I'm enclosing the "A Touch of Fall" Petite Perks stamp set, for free!

Like surprises along with the best cardstock around??  The CCC is for you!  Featured in October is the beautiful Huntington B&T Duo, shown here. If you're interested in jumping on this bandwagon, leave me a comment on this post, or contact me via cardmonkey@comcast.net.  There are many imitators, but no one else hosts the original and best CardMonkey CardStock Club, an innovative way to build your supply (and mine!) with the best cardstock, now available in more than 40 colors!


DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

So Glad We are Friends

Aren't these the most adorable little squirrels? 

This little card -- "So Glad We Are Friends" -- incorporates a textured pink mesh under the blue banner to give it a little more interest on the Jillibean Soup CardKitchen kit card.  Isn't it a sweet card, with those adorable squirrels?

...and Happy Labor Day, especially to all those union members and trades workers whose excellence in their crafts built America to what it is today. Thank you to family members especially, including hubby John (Plumbers' Local 690), and my favorite Aunt Joan (Teachers' Union) and my late grandpa Bert (Printers' Union). 

Summertime Fun ... Fun Summertime Memories!

Good morning, CardMonkey fans! 

I know I am not alone when it comes to those who complain about the dangerous sweltering soup we find ourselves in this summer.

Here in the Philadelphia suburbs, we're reaching record temps of nearly 100 degrees this week. Even the in-ground pools are turning into hot tubs so they are not refreshing, for sure. 

The best bet is to stay inside in the central air conditioning and to stay as cool as possible. Drink plenty of water! And stay out of direct sunshine, which for me here in the Jungle -- the second floor loft that gets direct sun from sun up 'til about 2 p.m. -- it means our A/C can barely cool where crafting gets HOT!

The base design of this card is from the July Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen kit. It didn't call for the ribbon accents , which I just think make this card POP louder than sizzling asphalt poured on a tin roof. 

Do you have memories of hot summers growing up? I remember baking cats' eye glass marbles on our driveway, then picking them up (burning our fingers!) and plunging them into a cup of icy water. Crack! Crack! Crack!  They'd shatter on the inside of the marble, leaving a cool design. Or the pop! pop! pop! of the line of gunpowder caps smashed with our rocks -- you know the kind I mean: the ones bought for Brother's toy gun but that we'd leave rolled up and slam with a rock or pop one by one on the stoop 'til our fingers smelled of gun powder?  

Then there's Mister Softee trucks that melted through our neighborhoods, the tinkling of the ubiquitous melody that sent us like Pavlovian dogs to beg for a buck from Dad for an ice cream cone. I thought they'd long ago gone by the wayside, another victim of the economy and gas prices, but NO!  Just last week, one came through Charlotte's neighborhood and Gii could not resist introducing her to the summer habit. 

We had neighborhood carnivals mostly to benefit Jerry's Kids where there were bean bag tosses, sack races and watermelon eating contests. We dug into blueberry pies with our hands tied behind our backs, staining our cheeks but we really didn't care. Hot dogs charred on the grill, and visits to Linvilla Orchards where we held a family membership in the swimming pool and where there was the highest high dive e-v-e-r.  Slip-and-slides matting our grass, running through the sprinkler, bee stings, the sound of Cicada, pesky mosquitoes and catching fireflies -- that is what summer meant to me as a kid. 

Rumple Ribbon Thursday -- Smile!

Buttercream Rumple Ribbon takes center stage today on this adorable kit card that I modified to personalize.

Again, the base of the card is from the June collection from The Card Kitchen by Jillibean Soup. 

Changing it up, I added a pretty pink button topped by a navy dotted fabric flower from Close To My Heart. I moved the sticker from the kit to be next to the button, and changed up standard ribbon for my favorite Rumple Ribbon. 

I hope this finds you on a "smiley" day. :)

Be Two Things: Classy & Fabulous!

Welcome back for another Rumple Ribbon Thursday here on the CardMonkey blog! 

Today's message certainly applies to Rumple Ribbons: Classy & Fabulous!

This cute card was one I modified from the June collection from The Card Kitchen by Jillibean Soup.  I added Rumple Ribbons in Crazy Coral and matching pearls. It just makes the card "me!" 

Don't you just love the broad range of colors in which Rumple Ribbons are available?  Coral is my new "it" color for the summer ... I've got a whole wardrobe in it, everything from a cardigan to capris, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on how the color looks on me. 

Do you have an "it" color?  Do you just wear it, or do you craft in it, too?

Rumple Ribbon Thursday - Layering Colors

I'm looking at this card and realizing one of the things that I really like about Rumple Ribbons that are made from seam binding compared to, say, satin ribbons. That is, the ribbon itself is thin enough to layer with multiple colors for a very special effect, yet have enough body to hold a nice bow or cut tail. 

Here, I've once again added Rumple Ribbons to the base design of a Card Kitchen kit card from Jillibean Soup. I likely would not have combined yellow, red and blue myself ... but why not? They're all primary colors and as we heard in kindergarten, it's really okay to blend these colors. Or any colors, right?

Rumple Ribbons Thursday: Lemonade Love

Bright sunny skies, butterflies, daisies, lemonade and love -- doesn't this just scream Summer to you?  

This pretty card is made using a base from April's Card Kitchen kit by Jillibean Soup. I added a sweet yellow butterfly and complemented the card using Lovebug Creations' Rumple Ribbon in Lemonade.

I just love all of these fun, refreshing elements on this card -- how about you? 

The Advantage of Card Kits

I have had a couple of people inquiring about using card kits -- whether I like them and if so, why. Honestly, I'm fussy ...  I've tried a few card kits and thus far, the only one that I just love is The Card Kitchen kits by Jillibean Soup.  

I like their style. I like that they typically include 10-12 full sheets of 12x12 paper or a full 6x6" paper pad. I like the die cuts and embellishments that come with them. And why use them?  Well, I feel they keep my creative mojo going. Some days, we just don't have the ooompfh, you know?  

When a kit comes in (always the first week of each month, assuming I pay using PayPal promptly), I like to sit and read the instructions first, and then cut each of the card's papers at once. For each of the 8 cards, I put the cut pieces and the planned embellishments into the cello bag that will eventually hold the finished card.  The Card Kitchen kits also include the card blank and envelope, so that goes into the corresponding cello bag as well. 

You may also have noticed that sometimes I change up the design of the kit card. I may add Rumple Ribbon, or buttons, or CTMH Liquid Paper. I might change the sentiment as well, or add my own die cut that changes up the card's plan entirely. The nice thing, it's totally up to you!

For this card I show here, I've made it exactly as the designer planned it for The Card Kitchen. Once all the pieces were in their cello bag, when I make it, a card like this flies together -- less than 5 minutes!  Wouldn't these be great to take to a crop or party, so you'd only have to bring along adhesives and scissors? 

Rumple Ribbon Thursday: Happy Memorial Day!

Have I told you lately how much I love Lovebug Creations' Rumple Ribbon? 

As I headed into making my patriotic cards for the summer holidays, I begged Kimi of LBC to please make red/white/blue ribbons -- and she responded in all glory!

She made two sets of R-W-B ... one that is called the Old Glory collection, and the other is the Star Spangled collection, both of which are now available from http://lovebugcreations.net. 
Old Glory has more vintage, subdued colors of Betsy Ross Blue, Washington White and Revere's Ride Red. In the Star Spangled collection, you'll find parts of the "Simply" colors -- Simply Red, Simply White, Simply Blue.  (Simply Black and Simply Grey are also now available.)  

For this card, I once again added Rumple Ribbons to a Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen card, to make it my own. I mixed up colors from the two patriotic collections, and used Simply Red, and Betsy Ross Blue. Aren't they perfect matches for the Jillibean Soup diecuts?  

Do you have plans for Memorial Day?  Our (private) community's pool opened earlier this month, and there's a pool party to welcome the summer.  In Warminster, there'll be the traditional parade sponsored by the VFW; when I served as Township Supervisor, I rode in the parade (sometimes in a convertible, more often in a golf cart) and threw candy to the kids lining the parade route. Honestly, it was about my favorite part of the job when I served. (And I'm glad I'm only a cardmaker now, not a politician!) 

Happy Memorial Day, and thank you to all veterans who have served our country, including my father (Army), uncle (Army), nephew (Army and Coast Guard), father-in-law (Marines), mother-in-law (Air Force), and ex-father-in-law (Navy). 

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Bicycling into Summer on a Red Bicycle

Did you see the first summertime red bicycle card I posted last Saturday?  Well, here's another! 

This too uses the May Card Kitchen kit from Jillibean Soup. The red bicycle is printed on the "Bite Sized Bits" paper that came on the kit. This card is as-designed -- easy-peasy and great for a Tuesday, don't you think?