May Swap Challenge

For the past 3 or 4 years I have been part of a stamping/art/swapping group called "The Circle of Friends".  Each month a new challenge is posted by one of the members and you can choose to participate or not.  This month's swap, childhood themed, was/is one I'm really looking forward to.  It was cancelled, but then brought back, which I was really glad about because I had already purchased my supplies for it and was getting ready to start.  It ended up being a small group which is just fine with me because it allowed me to be a more elaborate with what I created this time.  I was so gung-ho about this swap, that I chose to do two different designs as I couldn't decide on just one.  The first one I did was a standup card with a pull out panel.  I used the Old MacDonald PaperDoll paper from October Afternoon's 5 and Dime line.  Each of the cards stand up and have a different set of the "paper dolls" that go with the phrasing on the card.  I used a variety of other resources to create the rest of the card too. These were a lot of work, but I really had a lot of fun doing them.  I think they turned out pretty decently if I do say so myself. 

As the second part of my swap, I found this little girl riding a tricycle stamp in a local store and couldn't resist, it's so cute and manufactured by Stamping Bella.  I've bought some of their stamps before and really liked the images and quality.  The Dr. Seuss quote was just perfect with it too, it makes me think of what my little man will do and see in his life. 

I can't wait to send these off, and I'm excited to see what the other ladies in my group have done!

Mother's Day Cards 2011

So I'm actually working ahead of schedule for once and have completed the Mother's Day cards I plan on sending out this year. In order to save some time, I did one basic style and changed the colors that I used for the card base and accent paper. I've also decided to go ahead and use some of the fabulous new colored envelopes I purchased recently from Cards and Pockets. I love their nice quality envelopes, they are nice and thick and have the european style flap for some added elegance. It's always so much more exciting to get a card in the mail with a fun colored envelope. (not that there's anything wrong with the regular white ones! I send those out 95% of the time :) )