Here's the birthday card I made for Topher's mother.  This has definitely been my most "ambitious" card for my lil ol' inexperienced self.  The card has some raw edges here and there, but I'm trying!  So here's my attempt at a "window" card.  Topher's mom's favorite color is a deep purple so here we go again on trying to expand my color palette.  

The purple frame is cut from the Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge.  

  

 The inside sentiment is cut from the Jasmine cartridge.  cake is from the Stretch your Imagination cartidge.  The two little people are cut from the Everyday Paper doll Cartridge.  The two people are to depict Topher in his baseball uniform (too bad they didn't have catchers gear!  And me as a future housewife (note the barefoot nature of my doll!  A girl can dream!!).  

As a little gift I sent her little snail magnets depicting the Rosenbaum clan!

Big brown snail is Mr. Rosenbaum, the purple snail is Mrs. R, and yellow snail is Topher,

the blue snail is his lil bro Dan, and the pink snail is his girly lil sister Jacquie!  

I loved making these little magnets and probably will make more in the future!

I made this card for Topher's old teammate at the University of Tampa.  Kurt and his wifey Kami just gave birth to a little boy Kannon, so we made them a little card to congratulate them. 

The penguins are cut from the Cartridge, Joys of the Season cartridge and a Martha Stewart punch.  Paper is from a DCWV stack (kitchen something), and a solid color DCWV stack (sorry I dont' remember the names!  I broke down the stacks to arrange them by color and no longer remember which is which!).  

The inside sentiment is cut from the Sweethearts cartridge!  I loved how the lil baby penguin came out!  My favorite card yet!

  

Another thank you card for my second oldest sister to show my appreciation for my birthday surprise.  She has three children, two little girls and a little boy, and so I decided to go with a little monkey theme.  

I was really trying to make a card out of the ribbon that I had found in the dollar bin at Michaels.  The paper background is from the DCVW green earth paper stack.  The sentiment is cut from Beyond Birthdays cartridge and the monkeys are cut from the Paisley cartridge.  Note to self....tiny little cuts like those (i believe 1 1/2" inches or 2") are unbelievably hard and frustrating to do.  

I tried gluing down the ribbon with my zig 2 way pen, and it left a stain, so note to self, buy glue dots or a tape runner!

This card isn't my favorite, but it helped use up some of the mounds of patterned paper I decided to impulsively buy and stretch my "creative boundaries".

Today, while Topher was at the field, I decided to make him a card to thank him for my lovely new gift.  Now probably due to the fact that I'm always around boys, I'm not very big on very feminine colors (my palette in life, clothes, decor, electronics, and knicknacks only span the spectrum of blue, green, grey, black, and chocolate brown). 

I tried to expand my color choices with a yellow and green card with pink and purple accents.  Most of these papers just come from a generic pad from Michaels (recollections??)  I am becoming scrapbook crazy and picking up endless arrays of cute patterned papers and border punches.  Topher is already regretting purchasing me a Cricut for how much he foresees me spending on this hobby.  

All of the cuts come from the Cricut cartridge Sweethearts.  The borderpunch used was from Martha Stewart.  Simple and sweet.  I need to figure out how to properly bunch with the border punch!

My FIRST Card

So this is my first attempt at creativity.  I will tell you, despite having a Cricut to cut out endless amounts of cute little forms, it's still a little hit or miss on shape and fitting it on the paper.  Hopefully this gets a little easier with time.  Youtube tutorials (especially My Pink Stampers earlier posts, have been extremely handy). 

This was a thank you card for my older sister for the birthday present she sent me out here in Arizona (Thanks Kim!).  

I just used a basic pre-made blank card purchased from Michaels.  The snail is from the cricut cartridge Paisley and the paper is mainly from a paper stack from DCWV. The Sentiment was cut from the cricut cartridge Beyond Birthdays.  Ribbon trim was found in the dollar bin at Michaels and the borderpunch at the bottom is Martha Stewart (love em!).  

Here's another photo (courtesy of my iphone) on my new baby from Topher, the Cricut Create.  Thanks again!

New CRICUT

So my dear love, Topher, decided to give me a Cricut for my Valentine's day/Birthday!  

What a pleasant surprise!  Haven't been much of a paper crafter in the past, but I've been creeping on several random blogs out there in cyberspace and watching youtube tutorials.  

I take this challenge on with relish and am excited to begin my Cricut/Cardmaking/Scrapbooking career!  I will post my results up here!  

Thanks and welcome!

pronounced Mob-EEL not Mobile

It was a nice little 8 hr drive from Tampa, FL to Mobile.  We got in a good night’s rest the day before, so we were in good spirits when we left (as well as had a route 44 sized Lemon Berry Slush from Sonic).  We made it up in time for the Halloween festivities where we joined Tommy and his girlfriend Monica for some downtown fun.  Now initially, I thought it would be a grand idea if Toph dressed up as the Travelocity gnome and we’d take pictures of him along the way at certain landmarks.  He laughed...but didn’t take me seriously….little did he know that’s not how I roll!  We went to Walmart and bought red posterboard for his cone hat and 3 yards of blue fabric.  I quickly just fashioned a oversized t-shirt for him (cutting a hole in the middle of the fabric and some safety pins), stuffed a pillow under his shirt, and tied a belt on.  We bought a wig and beard and glued some cotton onto his eyebrows with some eyelash glue.  We were pleasantly surprised with the results from only 1 hr of tinkering in a parking garage...Voila!  The lifesized roaming gnome!  


 
Everyone wanted to take a picture with him, and Toph was a good sport despite his usual anti-social self.  He liked the anonymity of the outfit and the fact that he didn’t have to smile in the pictures.  Everyone thought he was David the Gnome, and if you are a born in the early to mid 80s child you will know of this show.  It was a cartoon that appeared on Nickelodean during my childhood that taught lessons in virtues.  It was such wonderful childhood memory for myself, and apparently for others (especially when inebriated).  Toph got a laugh from people who thought he was the Travelocity Gnome, but the emotional response illicited from those thinking he was David the Gnome was incredible.  They usually felt compelled to touch him (especially his big pillow belly) and exclaim with such heartfelt sincerity “Daaavid the Gnooomeee, I loooved that show”.  Naturally, my anti-"forced interaction" man’s response was a monotonous “I’m not David.” Shattering so many individual’s childhood memories (imagine if Santa Clause told you “F*** Off”).  Oh well.

The next morning, we had Panera Bread with Charlie Higgenbotham, one of my favorite football players from Alabama that now plays for South Alabama.  It was great catching up with him and seeing him in a better place in his life!  We had a great time hanging out with Tommy and his woman and hope to make a trip out to Mobile/Alabama sometime soon! 

 

Toph, Me, Monica, and Tommy

 

Gnome Kisses