So Topher has official given up his professional baseball playing career.  He has now moved on to looking for a job in finance and putting his MBA to good use.

For the time being we are currently in Albany, NY...where Topher is originally from. Recently, he got this mysterious package from Salt Lake City.  To our pleasant surprise, a superfan of the AAA team Topher played for (the Salt Lake Bees) has sent him his jersey when he played with them!

To thank her, I made a card for her with the theme of the baseball team, the Salt Lake Bees.  The team colors are black and yellow, and so I picked the bumblebee from.....of course...Create a Critter cartridge. The hive was also the accessory that came with the bee, and the flower also came from the Create a critter cartridge.  The lustrous white cardstock was cuttlebugged with the Swiss Dots folder.   The border was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, the ribbon from the dollar bin.  I stickled the antennae and pop-dotted the bee and flower.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the adhesive gems came from the Scrapbook Barn in Dallas when we were passing through!

Topher as a Salt Lake Bee

So I've been on a Sure Cuts A Lot kick.  Sure Cuts A Lot is a software program that lets you design on your computer (using the fonts you have), hook it up to your cricut, and cut it out!  We're currently in Washington, PA and living in a hotel for the past couple of weeks.  We sure are sick of it.

We're hoping to get a host family to take us in, and so in preparation of being accepted, I decided to make a card.

Front of the card used the acorns from Create a Critter.  The leaves came from Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.  The words were created using Sure Cuts a lot and welded together (sooo much more convenient!).  I just used my white souffle pen to make the faux stitching to make it more legible.  Sure Cuts A Lot is nice because I don't have a gypsy or many Cricut font cartridges, so this is a cheaper alternative for me (as well as less stuff to lug around (space is a premium for how much we move and pack/unpack in our SUV!).

The Inside of the card was also made with the Create a Critter cartridge and sure cuts a lot.  the Yellow paper border was made using the martha stewart border punch.

 So one of my bosses at Athletes' Performance loved his card so much that he asked me to make a dozen thank you cards for him.  With nothing else to do here in Washington, PA, and no income coming in (due to us moving everywhere) I figured why not. 

Now my boss is a guy, but he told me he trusted my decision and, I tried to keep them from being too frou frou.  I stuck with a simple blue and chocolate color scheme and decided to make half a dozen owl ones and half a dozen hedgehog ones.  Of course the cartridge I grabbed was the Create a Critter cartridge!  I actually used the program Sure Cuts A Lot to make the Thank you Sentiment, and used the label from the Create a Critter cartridge.  I cuttlebugged the background using the Swiss Dots folder and plaid ribbon from the dollar bin.  I added a lighter brown inside with flourished stamped on using a versamark inkpad to give it a watermark affect. 

I think these are the first cards that I really like and can't stop staring at!  Like a proud mama!

Happy Birthday to my Love!  Topher's birthday was actually in April, but for some reason I forgot to post this card. 

I made this card  utilizing the stretch your imagination cartridge, and stamped sentiment by Papertrey ink.  I cuttlebugged the green side with the Argyle folder and borderpunched the blue side with the fiskars border punch.  I love the gentle sheen the metallic paper gave it.  Added interest.  I tried to emboss the stamp with a white embossing powder, but it came out a more translucent pearl quality.  Oh well, guess I need to invest in a better white soon! 

Quick card since I barely had time to make this card before Topher came home!  He loved it anyway. 

Happy Mother's Day!!! 

I made a card for both my mom and Topher's mom!  The first card is for Topher's mom.  His momma loves to call her three little kiddos her ducks in her pond, so I decided to use this cute little stamp I purchased in a crafts store in Phoenix (not sure what it's called).  It's originally just the Big duck and the 3 little ducklings, but I cut it in 2 pieces in order to stamp the big duck again so it mimics Topher's family. 

The green paper is cuttlebugged with the Birds and Swirls folder, and punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I broke down and purchased Copic markers before we left for Dallas (much to the pricey chagrin of Topher) and have been in love with coloring in my stamps.  I added some grass using my Copics as well.  The ribbon was another dollar store find. 

This card was for my own Momma.  I chose the cut off of the Sweethearts cartridge.  I colored in the heart with Copics and wrote in mom on the heart.  I then embossed it several times to give it a glossy feel.  The flower in the girls hair is actually nail art that I bought in a beauty supply store.  I cuttlbugged the green background with spots and dots, and the ribbon is another dollar bin find.  Celebrate today is part of the mini sentiments stamp set from Papertrey ink! 

Sharing my Easter card that I forgot to do so last month.  I was pretty pleased with the results, The stamped sentiment as well as the bunny is from papertrey ink (stamps so pretty!) and the yellow paper is cuttlebugged with the argyle print (what a great buy).  The ribbon was a dollar bin purchase, and the white circle and scalloped circle were cut using Minimonograms cartridge.  I used a martha stewart border punch and pastel brads to finish it off.