Creating cards for guys isn’t as easy as it is for my female friends or even for the kids. It’s even worse when you’ve missed someone’s birthday. Admittedly, I don’t miss many. I keep a birthday calendar on the bulletin board over my desk and each month can easily see the events for which I want to create a card. When Papertrey Ink released “Blue Skies,” I grabbed it right away with a card like this in mind. I’ve had it for a couple of years, but this year I needed a belated greeting for my brother-in-law (of all people!)

The first (or was it the first two or three?) attempts at this card ended up in the circular file, but I learned a lot in the attempts. In the end, finding patterned paper from the My Favorite Things “Watercolor Wash” pad was the key to success. I die cut clouds inside the stitched circle, then backed it with Hawaiian Shores cardstock which I overlaid with smaller cloud dies. The plane was stamped with Hawaiian Shores and then die cut and bumped out with some foam tape.

The next card came together in no time, which made up for the first one. When Papertrey had their January sale of patterned papers, I picked up one called “3 Piece Suit,” clearly designed for masculine cards.

I cut a narrow piece from the patterned paper and adhered it to a gray card after stamping the sentiment from one of my all time favorite sets:  “Stylish Sentiments: Birthday.” I found the perfect embellishment in my sticker collection. Within the week, I needed two more masculine birthday cards. One for an older gentleman, and one for my niece’s husband. I’ll let you guess which one goes to him! Same design; different papers.

For this one, I couldn’t find an embellishment in my stash, so die cut multiple starts with Simon Says “Large Holiday Shapes.”

Once I found the right patterned paper, this card came together quickly as well. (I have to admit, though, the paper search took awhile.) I finally found it in one of the loose packs of papers in my stash, so I’m not sure where it came from.

Several months ago, I picked up some pack of birthday stickers with the idea of using them in my Project Life pages. These balloons were just the right colors, so onto a card they went!

I’ll be returning to this design again. Quick and easy—especially when you need a card quickly.

If I think about the number of cards I make each year, Christmas cards would be #1, followed by birthday cards, and then thank you cards. Even when I’m creating cards for a challenge, I have a recipient in mind, so I never really have a backlog of cards to draw from. The few I have never seem to match the person I’m sending the card to and end up in the file for way too long. So here are a few thank you cards that have gone out, but never gotten shared on the blog. 

The first two use the same die fro Papertrey Ink. Add it to some patterned paper, and you’ve got a quick and easy thank you note.

Can’t be much easier than that. Although this one might have been even easier:

I found a cute set of tags at a shop in St. Petersburg last year, and saved them for times when I need a card pronto. I added it to a piece of striped vellum cut with a stitched rectangle die and adhered them both to a bright yellow card.

And one last that required only one die cut. I started with one of the papers from a Papertrey Ink card set (no longer available) and added a Wet Paint sentiment cut from metallic gold paper. 

This gives a better idea of the flashy metallic of the card:

After nearly a week of spring-like weather, winter has returned. I’ll miss the daily walks outside, but the weekend is a busy one with lots of creating that needs to happen as well, so the weather shouldn’t be much of a factor. Hope your weekend is a good one!

In December I received the most wonderful invitation to guest design with a talented group of women who host The 12 Kits of Occasions each month. Michelle Leon and I knew each other only from blogland despite living within a few miles of one another. One of the pleasures of this invitation was getting together with her, and making a new friend. Thank you, Michelle, for thinking of me! I had a ball creating with your kit.

The kit was filled with bright, spring colors with lots of great die cuts and patterned papers to play with. I laid it all out on a table, and started picking out pieces to play with. It was a whole new way of creating for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I made seven cards, and still have a sizable bag of goodies with which to create more cards. 

The first card I made was one for Easter. As soon as I saw the cute die cut bunnies, I knew just what I wanted to do. Michelle included quite a few tags as well and the bunnies looked so cute on the pink and white tag.

I lightly added some pink to the bunnies’ ears and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink’s “Bunny Basket.” The flowers and leaves were part of the kit as well. It’s nice to have a head start on Easter.

Next up, is an encouragement card. I loved the patterned paper, and fussy cut the umbrella and tiny flower from stamped images in the kit. I used a banner die to cut the sentiment, also in the kit. The tag was another included in the kit.

Michelle included a sheet of seed packet designs which I loved. It took me awhile to figure out how to use them. I also loved the white die cut with scallops. Once I found the sentiment in an older set from Papertrey, “Floral Frenzy,” I knew what I wanted to do. The gingham patterned paper worked perfectly, too. I fussy cut a couple more of those cute flowers as an embellishment and added two tiny pearls.

The focal point of the next card was also a preprinted piece in the kit. All I had to do was die cut a scalloped card with the die from Papertrey’s “Don’t Forget to Write” kit, and added a tiny stitched square of contrasting card stock. It’s been awhile since I played with flowers, but these were the perfect embellishment.

There was a cute bird cage and a tiny bird die cut in the kit. I colored the bird (and the die cut flower embellishment) with some Distress Inks, and adhered them to yet another tag in the kit, tied with the perfect twine and die cut sentiment. I added the two stamped word from Winnie & Walter stamp sets. I scored the white card base at every 1/2 inch for a little texture.

This card is probably the simplest and fastest one. The pretty flowered patterned paper was just too nice to cut up, so I used it as the main event. The die cut “Hello” and some Nuevo dots that Michelle made for the kit fit right onto the stitched oval from the “Don’t Forget to Write” kit.

And although it ended up pretty CAS, the last card (and probably my favorite) took the longest to create. I colored the cute birthday cake with Copics, and then made a mix of pink Perfect Pears and Glitter Glue to add some oomph to the cake layers. Then I was stumped, and there were several variations of the card that hit the circular file before I came up with this. I added another oval of patterned paper from “Don’t Forget to Write,” which perfectly coordinated with the colors in the kit. Once again, I die cut the stamped sentiment provided in the kit with a banner die. Three clear sequins added a bit of glamour to the card.

This gives a better look at the texture on the layers of the cake.

I’m off now to see what the Design Team has created with the kit. You can find all the inspiration at the 12 Kits of Occasions blog. Thanks again, Michelle, for letting me play with such a fun kit.