Octopus's Garden

As I mentioned on my Facebook page yesterday, Jennifer and I went to a scrapbooking event at the Cedar Rapids Public Library.  It was free and gave us a great opportunity to hang out with other scrapbookers and to use other people's tools.  I made 2 birthday cards and a two page scrapbook layout.  I am going to show you how I made one of the cards and then give you a peek at my scrapbook layout.  

So here's the scoop on the birthday card!  

I was shopping at a little gift shop in the Amana's some time ago and found a sheet of paper put out by Reminisce called "Pink Bubbly Fish".  It's double sided.

My first thought was this...

I'd like to be, under the sea...

And then I thought how great this paper would be for my niece's upcoming birthday card.  You see, I love cute paper like this.  And now that my nieces and nephews are getting older and I don't have any little girls of my own...yet, I'm running out of opportunities to use cute paper like this.  I mean, this paper doesn't exactly go with a 34 year old's lifestyle.  But it is perfect for a 3 year old and my niece Gracie is turning 3 next month!

I'm using both sides of the paper for this card.  One thing I love about two sided paper is the top of the paper that has the bar code and brand name on it typically doubles as extra design paper.  It allows you to utilize the whole sheet.  This paper was perfect for that because it created a fun and matching line to separate the "sea" from the stripes.  So I cut the "sea" side down to about 2/3 the size of the card and the stripe side was about 1/3 the size.  I made sure to use the flower part of the top of the striped paper to use as a divider between the two sides.  Then I glued them to my card.  

See how the flower line matches the color scheme yet acts as a great divider between the two patterns?  I love it!  

The next step involves the use of the Cricut Expression 2.  My friend Jennifer let me use hers.  She helped me cut out these accents.  The paper is your typical card stock you buy at Michaels.  I chose 3 different colors.  We used the Cricut Essentials Flower3 pattern for the dark pink and light pink.  The dark pink was made slightly bigger than the hot pink.  Then we used the #3 Alphabet Font 2 on the lavender paper, creating the cute "3".  

And then I layered them, using my glue.  

Next I glued the layered flower to my card, placing it on the flowered line.  I found some great stickers at Michaels from their Recollections line that seemed to match the card perfectly.  I stuck the octopus on.  I'm not sure if you can tell by the pic, but there are some sticker bubbles added too.  And then I used some Stickles in Frosted Lace all over the sea life in the top part of the card.  

  

And lastly, I used a Happy Birthday Balloon clear stamp for the sentiment inside of the card.  I'm not sure the brand on that stamp.  Sorry!  But I'm pretty sure it's from Michaels.  

I am in love with this card!  I almost don't want to give it to my niece!  But I still have some leftover scraps from the 12x12 paper so I have a feeling I'll be using this again.  

And now I'm seriously thinking about getting a Cricut.  

And here's my layout!

The pictures I scrapbooked are from a year ago.  My friend Stacy and I went bowling with her kids on a cold night.  And here is what transpired.  

 "Let's bowl, let's bowl, let's rock and roll!"  <----10 points if you know what that's from!

The cute bowling ball and pins sticker on the first page is from the beloved Jolee's brand.  The bowling ball and pins on the second page are from Karen Foster Design in "High Score".  I borrowed Jennifer's Cricut once again for the words "Strike" and "Spare".  I now wish I would have cut out the word "Split".  I'm very happy with this layout.  I will be doing another bowling page for 2012 and Jennifer and I have already come up with the layout using her Cricut.  Who knows, maybe I'll be using MY Cricut.    :giggle:  

Thanks for viewing.  I'll have another blog at the end of this week showcasing the other card I made. 

~Jules 

41st Birthday Card

My oldest brother turns 41 on January 20th.  I just sent him a birthday card which he probably won't be getting on time because I procrastinated on putting it in the mailbox.  

This will be a my first attempt at doing a step by step blog on a card I've made.  And it will probably be a half assed one at that.  My cards at this point are really pretty amateur.  This is not a put down in any way towards myself.  I am still a beginner in the card making game and I'm looking forward to learning more techniques.  

I bought this 12x12 "Crowns" paper by the brand The Paper Studio for 59 cents awhile ago.  I think this may have come from Hobby Lobby but don't quote me on that.  I cut the paper down to the size of the card and adhered it.    

Next I found some light purple card stock and cut it down to about 1/3 the size of the card.  I then took my Creative Memories tearing tool and tore a jagged edge.  I then adhered it to the card. 

I then found a lavender piece of card stock.  I cut it down just a little narrower and shorter than the light purple card stock.  This time I used the tearing tool on both ends.  I then distressed this with Distress Ink in "Worn Lipstick".  

I cut a circle in the lavender card stock.  I also distressed it like the above lavender strip.  Then I stamped the "41" with the Inkadinkado clear stamps in "Curly Q Alphabet".  I used Memories Dye Ink Pad in black.  Then I adhered the circle to the end of the lavender strip.  

Next I stamped the word "YEARS!" on the lavender strip with the same alphabet stamps and same ink.   Then I put some bling on the one side of the circle.  

And finally I used a "Happy Birthday" stamp from Rubber Stampede.  I recently bought a cupcake stamp from Michaels in the dollar bin and used the hot pink Memories Dye Ink Pad.  I used the new Distress Stickles in Milted Lavender for the frosting.  I also used regular Stickles in Cotton Candy on the frosting as well.  It doesn't show up very well in pictures.  

While this card is not terribly masculine, I chose crowns because I thought it seemed sort of manly.  I chose purple to accent because it's such a regal color.  I decided to distress with pink because my brother really likes the colors black and hot pink together.  And the bling also seemed to go well with the whole royal theme.  Certainly not the best card I've ever made.  I do much better with girly cards.  But I do like this card.  And hopefully my bro will too.  

Thanks for watching! 

~Jules