A QUICK BIRTHDAY CARD

Last Thursday (2 days ago) was my LAST day as a Family Childcare Provider!! I am retired!!!

And, TODAY, the director of a small preschool came by to "shop" my equipment and learning resources!! Of course, I only made pennies on the dollar of what it all COST me, but she purchased nearly $300 worth of materials and I saw it all headin' down the road in the back of a pickup truck!! WOO HOOO!!!

But, because I have been working like a CRAZY WOMAN to get stuff UP out of my basement and prepped for sale, I failed to make a birthday card for my sweet granddaughter, who just turned six. Ugh. Her party was today at 7:00 p.m. and I completed her card at 6:30!!! Waaaay too much stress!!

I took as many shortcuts as I could conceive, yet STILL give Abigail's card a SPECIAL look. I used a pre-made red with white polka-dots card base, which saved three steps -- measuring, cutting, and folding.

I used a yellow rolled rose that I'd made a few weeks ago and used a Martha Stewart punch to get some green foliage to frame it. Funny, I just realized that I used 3 different companies' paper punches/dies for the layered "6" embellie. I used a Fiskars circle punch; an EK Success tag punch, and a PTI numeral "6" die. The banner was cut by hand -- just stamped musical bars with yellow ink on a scrap of white card stock and cut it into a banner strip.

The checked & dotted paper strip was cut from a lovely sheet of striped "girls' paperie" paper and the name panel was made with PrintMaster software and punched with a S.U.! oval punch.

For a card that was made in Panic Mode, it turned out okay -- and sweet Abigail was PLEASED with it. That's what matters!!

INSIDE my Daughter's Birthday card

I recently ordered and received a CD from Crafty Secrets labeled, "Creating with Vintage." I used two of the files for the inside of Moriah's card -- a vintage recipe card -- and a pretty patterned paper which I BARELY revealed along the edges of the recipe card and FEATURED along the bottom-edge of the recipe card. (I wanted just a HINT of color and pattern beyond the recipe card, you see. :)

This first photo is of the inside BEFORE Jer signed it.

As I've mentioned before, it is TREACHEROUS territory, allowing Jer to sign ANY handmade card!! But, after all, Moriah is HIS daughter, too! Soooo, with fear and trembling, I gave him the journaling pen and stepped into the next room, lest he accuse me of "hovering and making him nervous."

And, THIS is the card AFTER Jer signed it with his USUAL sentimentality and sensitivity. (Moriah chuckled, rolled her eyes, and with tongue-in-cheek, told her dad how much she LOVED the things he writes in cards.)

Ah me...and here is another look at the card front:

And, here is a photo of Moriah with her precious Morilee, taken a couple of months ago (by moi!) while waiting for Morilee's FIRST haircut! Such LOVELY girls!!

My Beautiful Daughter's birthday card - front, that is

I gave it some thought, a few minutes ago, and decided it is HIGHLY likely that I will OFTEN send THREE posts for only ONE completed card project!! Just maybe, my impatience to share my card photos (waiting until the inside is completed just does NOT happen) is actually a lightly veiled scheme to STRETCH my meager accomplishments!!

Well, if that is TRUE, then all BOTH of my followers (grin) are ONTO me, NOW!!

I entered this card in the Scrapn With Flair "October Challenge" before giving it to my daughter, tonight!

Baby Tiny's card envelope

I really like to make the envelopes that house my cards SPECIAL, too.

This is a photo of the baby shower card's envelope.

It is SUCH a blast combining patterns cut from steel dies and paper punches! Add a rolled paper rose made from a scrap of card stock and a rubber stamped word for a LOVELY presentation!

Inside Baby Tiny's card

I do wonder HOW "the big girls," with hundreds of followers/fans, manage to crank-out SEVERAL cards or projects each week. It's a MAJOR accomplishment for me to complete ONE!!

Onto my lil card...normally, I do not use such BRIGHT colors in a baby card, but since the gender is unknown, I chose a DARING (for me!) color palette. Though I was tempted to add green rick-rack borders above & below the inside panel, it just seemed RIGHT to me that the inside remain uncluttered. I tried my hand, again, at composing a sentiment. Since it really expresses how I feel, I'm satisfied with it. (grin)

I'll post photos of both the inside and the card front.

Hope you ladies are enjoying your weekend!