My friend likes owls and her daughter was having a birthday so logically I made an owl card to celebrate her special day.  It is super girlie and full of bright colors and different textures.  

I got the inspiration from a couple blogs I follow.  Since I needed a large owl for a card, but I do not own any Cricut cartridges that fit the bill with an owl I wanted to use, I made one out of shapes I pieced together.  I got the idea for the owl months ago from one of the craft blogs I follow--The Queen's Scene.  If you have never visited her blog I highly recommend it as she is exceedingly talented and her creations are top notch.  I also merged ideas from Kerry's Craft Blog with her use of owls with circles for the belly feathers.  Her blog is phenomenal as well and she can crank out some amazing paper crafts and gifts.

  

I made this owl out of circles, ovals, triangles, and hearts.  It is put together with Scor-Tape, which I kept the backing on the back to get the owl put together before adhering to the card base.  I used paisley and swiss dot embossing folders, textured paper, glitter paper, and a bright and colorful scolloped paper.  I primarily used my Cricut with the Basic Shapes cartridge but also used my Papertrey Ink 1 3/4" Limitless Layers dies.  See the "eye lashes"? Limitless layers to the rescue!

I kept the inside simple since the front is so busy.  The little bird is from Tiny Treats: Birthday, which I colored with my Copics.  

Hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did. It was quite fun making. :)

Paper: Echo Park - Summer Days stack - scallops; Best Occasions - Textured Stack; Staples - white; The Paper Studio - black glitter paper; Papertrey Ink - Lemon Tart, Raspberry Fizz, Plum Pudding, Simply Chartreuse, and Aqua Mist

Stamps: PTI - Think Big Favorites #12, Tiny Treats: Birthday

Ink: PTI - Raspberry Fizz

Embellishments: PTI - Saddle Stitch ribbon - Raspberry Fizz, 

Other: Cuttlebug; Swiss Dot and Paisley Cuttlebug embossing folders; Cricut; George and Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge; PTI -1 3/4" Limitless Layers: Circles and Block Alphabet dies; Copics - V17, V15, BG11, BG49, BG72, colorless blender; standard office hole punch

I had a little boy's 2nd birthday card to make and thought a shaker card would be fun.  

After some thought, I purposely put a lot of these red beads inside the pocket so it had to be shook to read 'happy' and 'birthday.'  I have literally had these beads since 2001.  I haven't a clue why I purchased them as I haven't used beads in my other crafty endeavors but they work great here.

The Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #50 last week was on how to make a shaker card.  Since I wanted to use this cute paper, I opted not to use a die to cut the pocket area in the paper and fun foam layers but instead used a craft knife.  The city blocks are so well defined I thought it lent itself to have one cut out for the shaker pocket.

I kept the inside of the card simple as well--two strips of paper and a sentiment.  Easy peasy.  Now I just need to get more beads in my stash to make more shaker cards.  I like beads in the shaker instead of confetti, little paper cutouts, glitter, etc. because of the movement, sound, and texture.  
Paper: Echo Park - Little Boy stack - Road Map; Papertrey Ink - Hawaiian Shores and Pure Poppy, Staples - white cardstock; acetate
Stamps: PTI - Birthday Basics
Ink: PTI - Pure Poppy and Orange Zest
Embellishments: red beads (unknown)
Other: fun foam and craft knife

Today I have a colorful birthday card to share.  It is just so cheerful with all the bright colors! I had picked this fun scalloped paper up at a summer clearance at my local craft house and supplier.  Who doesn't like a good sale?!  My sweet sister-in-law got some too and I can't wait to see what she does with hers--it's such fun paper!


I am really happy with my decision to go with the neutral kraft for the second mat.  I like what it brought to the overall look.  I fussed with embellishments for a few minutes before I came up with this final combination--just a touch of bling.  I really like items work well together from different companies.

This ice cream cone was cut from a Papertrey Ink die I have had for a few months but had yet to use.  I busted out my PTI felt for the scoops for the first time.  Wow!  This stuff cuts beautifully!!  No frayed felt edges just a crisp image.  If you look closely you will see the detail on the cone itself; I used my linen impression plate for the waffle cone look.  Yum!

These stickers were the coordinating ones for the colorful scalloped paper.  I've never used stickers on my cards before but the coordinating, vivid colors begged to be put on the Hawaiian Shores paper.
Paper: Echo Park - Summer Days, Papertrey Ink - Hawaiian Shores, Kraft, Staples - white
Stamps: PTI - Think Big Favorites #4
Ink: Colorbox - fuchsia from a rainbow strip
Embellishments: PTI - Hibiscus Burst wool felt, Sweet As Can Be die, Spiral Page die, Cosmo Cricket - teal button - Pixie-Licious collection, dark pink button, The Paper Studio - pink rhinestone, The Ribbon Boutique - purple saddle stitch ribbon, cleat embossing powder, Echo Park - Summer Days stickers