Happy 33rd Birthday to Nick!

My husband, Nick, turns 33 today. We've been together since high school (15 years) and it is amazing to think that I pretty much known him over half of his life. We usually are pretty low-key for his birthday. I love that he and my sister have birthdays right next to each other. We usually celebrate them together, but this year we aren't. 

Nick and I went out for sushi last night to celebrate his birthday. I decided to call it his international birthday because we started in Japan for sushi, then headed to a downtown German pub for a liter of bier, ending the night drinking martinis and today we had Hmong eggrolls for lunch, and Italian lasagna for dinner. I even made a carrot cake, from scratch, for his cake. I'm assuming carrot cake is American, but I'd love to be wrong. It would add so much more to our international theme. 

As with my sister, I enjoy making a homemade card, but man cards are so much harder to produce. Why is that? I took a cue from the Colour Q #249 challenge and rounded up a bunch of 1/2" scraps to pull this card together lickity-split. 

I have a feeling this just might be a go-to layout, especially for the men in my life. I like that it is simple and that I can include any sentiment for whatever the occasion might be. Happy 33rd to my darling Nick!

Father's Day

Nick did not want kids. It wasn't really something we ever talked about. The closer we got to 30 though, I started to get the itch. Unfortunately, he didn't. I had thoughts in my head about growing old and having no one to take care of us, no wedding or graduations to attend. We got pregnant...not planned and honestly, I think it took Nick by surprise. He had no interest in kids and I was scared about what kind of parents we would be. 

With that said, you would never know that he didn't want kids. He is a great dad to Owen. I know that our work schedules are difficult and we are both essentially single parents during the week. He does the work on a mom and dad sometimes and I appreciate all the love and care he takes with our son. He loves him so much and it shows. I know that Owen wasn't really in our future, but once he got here, you could never tell that it wasn't planned that way. 

We both have our faults as parents, as everyone does, but I could ask for a better dad for my son. 

I put together a special Father's Day card for him to show my and Owen's appreciation. 

I took inspiration today from Colour Q's Challenge #244 and from Cas(e) This Sketch Challenge #79. 

I used Stampin' Up's Work of Art stamp set and Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings for the sentiment. 

Happy Father's Day this weekend to all the dads out there!

A Sunny Forecast

There was finally sun in the forecast this weekend and boy do we need it. In honor of Mother's Day, and the beautiful weather, I put together this sweet little card for my mom and sister for the celebration on Sunday. 

I borrowed Colour Q Challenge #240

and Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #131: Three Thirds

to make a sweet little card for two lovely women. 

I used Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey for the "You're a Peach" sentiment and just a bit of twine, a button, and a bit of sparkle around the edge for a finished off look. 

Enjoy the weather and have a fabulous weekend moms!

Bundle of Joy

There has been a long running joke at school for about the last two years: don't drink the water. In a school building with a majority of female teachers, the baby bug hits hard. It was wonderful to be able to take time off from school to be with my baby when he was first born, but hard as a teacher to walk away at any point of the school year and give control of your class and your kids to someone else. Fortunately, we have and had some pretty amazing long-term subs in our building. And God knows, middle schoolers can be tough. 

That's why when this combination of challenges came along, it was like kizmet. 

Curtain Call's Baby Booties Challenge provided the inspiration

Colour Q #235 provided a "challenging" color selection (I used Crumb Cake because I didn't have anything River Rock in my stash)

and Cas-ual Friday's #130: Good Egg gave me a bit of added direction

to create my take on a congrats baby card.

I used the Oh, Hello stamp set and Oval framelits to cut out the chevron oval. I used a variety of sequins and the wooden arrow for added elements. I used Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey (love her) for Papertrey Ink. 

In the end, I felt like using Coastal Cabana on the chevron may have been like trying to create an image only 3-D glasses could see. I think I should have done the sentiment in dark brown and create an additional oval layer and Coastal Cabana. Oh well. Practice makes perfect...but does that really apply to card making, I don't think so.

Happy crafting!

Little Bit of Love

Valentine's Day is coming soon and I actually not that big of a fan. For the most part I would rather my husband and love ones save their money on candy, stuffed animals, or flowers because I think love should be celebrated everyday, not just of February 14th! (Stepping off my soap box...)

I will say though that I liked playing with Colour Q's Valentine colors in Challenge #226 

and Fusion Challenge #3 gave me a super clean card layout with made love be the focus on this card.

I used my new Geometrical stamp set and triangle punch and just a bit of twine so pull this card together. 

I liked it so much, I changed the colors and sentiment for a fun, gender neutral birthday card. 

Color Block Globe

Ever since I bought the Love You More stamp set from Stampin' Up, I have been dying to use the cute little globe that says, "You mean the world to me." Well folks, today is that day!

Cas-ual Friday's Color Block Challenge (#126) 

 Pals Paper Arts Sketch Challenge (#188)

and Colour Q's Challenge (#224) including Island Indigo, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Going Gray, and Whisper White

Gave me the inspiration to make this simple, yet cute card. 

I took the three pops of color and stitched them together with my sewing machine. Then I colored in the globe using Pool Party and Smoky Slate markers so I could stamp the sentiment on the image instead of below it. 

I think we might use this as a Valentine's card from Owen to Papa. I love that the colors aren't too girly, which Valentine's colors tend to be. 

Thanks for looking and happy Sunday!

Bubbly

Today we did a little thawing out in Wisconsin. After 40-50 below zero temps this week with the wind chill a little rain and 30 degree weather is a treat. I don't like winter weather to begin with, but I had two less days of school this week, so this little lady isn't going to complain. 

Anyway, the heat wave (little winter joke) we are having this weekend really makes me want to have spring come even quicker. Unfortunately, I think winter is going to be hanging on for quite a while longer, so I did the next best thing...I made a bubbly and bright card. 

The bright color inspiration came from Colour Q #223

My very literal interpretation of the theme came from Cas-ology's Bubbly Challenge

I used Papertrey Ink's Sketched Shapes for the bubbles and Stampin' Up's Geometrical for the sentiment. 

Enjoy your heat wave!

Bright Bubble Talk

I just got a box with a bunch of new Papertrey Ink stamps and dies this week. I couldn't be more excited. I am absolutely obsessed with the Bubble Talk set by Maile Belles. It reminds me of the doodles I draw during staff meetings. Oops, was I not supposed to admit that. It's cute, young, and fresh. 

Colour Q Challenge #204 and Pinspired Challenge #16 gave me a bright and youthful color selection to totally match this cool stamp set. 

I decided that because these colors were so vibrant that I really didn't need a lot and that keeping it simple and clean would really balance the bits of brightness. I even love the cute sketchy sentiment. This is a great card for a friend or possibly a student. 

Do you have a stamp set, color combo, or accessory that you are obsessed with at the moment?