happy birthday {October Card Night}.

this is my favorite of the three from october.  :)  i always have a favorite!!

it was fun digging through my button bin - i think i get now why i always find my girls playing with it!  i took those four colors of cardstock, and taped them together from the back.  then, i ran it through the cuttlebug to dry-emboss it.  that turned out beautifully, but i thought i could take it up one notch...  i decided to heat emboss on top of the dry embossing!  :)  i used a versamark marker to "color" the raised pattern, then sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and heat-set it.  it was perfect!!  {even though my neck was aching after concentrating on all that tedious coloring, it was worth it!}

i used pop-dots to give it dimension, and then added that line of buttons.  i fussy cut the happy birthday stamp and set it above the row of buttons.

 

mr. and mrs. {september card night}.

this month i had a request for a wedding card.  i love getting requests - it helps me narrow down all the ideas i have!  i have passed over this inspiration card many times, loving the ingenious use of material.  other than determining the size of each cake layer, this is a wonderfully simple card.

i love kraft cardstock, so leaving it as a plain canvas seemed right.  you're not going to believe me, but the layers of the cake come from one paint chip sample i picked up at home depot!  isn't that great?  you get the perfectly matched shades of any color you can imagine, and it's the best price - free!

all i had to add were a few little rub-ons, and tiny flowers.  pearls in the center of the flowers finished the front of the card.

to finish the inside, i love this simple little stamp.  but, this could easily be a birthday card - take away a few flowers and change the stamp!

birthdays are the best {august card night}.

this is an adaptation of a card i saw {again} in a papercrafts magazine.  i love papertrey ink stamps, and i managed to use three different sets on this card.  the background is is a text stamp that i repeated three times.  the flourish is inked in a beautiful topiary green from close to my heart.  the sentiment is from the blooming buttons set - i love the combination of fonts!  i underlined 'best' with pearl stickers to make it pop.

this design would look perfect for a wedding card!  you could stamp the flourish to match the wedding colors, and choose an appropriate wedding sentiment.

this card is also great for mass-producing - i only had to cut the card base, and then the panel for the front.  a few stamps and a matching ribbon, and voila!  one {or 100!} beautiful cards!

*note: i get lots of my ideas from card magazines.  i find i have an easier time tweaking things i see and making them my own, rather than trying to start from scratch.*