Birthday Boys

Earlier this month I promised some birthday cards in honor of my two favorite guys who happen to have March birthdays.  Masculine birthday cards are always a challenge for me because I tend to like to use flowers and ribbon and bling on my cards.  It is especially challenging to come up with masculine cards for college-aged young men.  

Luckily for me, this year, my son had a milestone birthday, having turned 21!  And what do college boys do on their 21^st birthday, they go have a drink.  So to celebrate my son’s birthday, and also to remind him not to drink and drive, I made this fun little punch-art card commemorating his first official beer.  I personalized it by stamping the emblem of his alma mater on the mug.

Don’t worry, inside the card I reminded him not to drink and drive and not to ride with anyone who does.  It helps that he is my rule-follower kiddo, so once you tell him something like that, he’s pretty good about following through.

My other special guy, my husband Mark, also had a birthday this March, too. 

For his card, I used bits and pieces of supplies from several different sources.  The chevron strip, hot air balloon and small label came from Echo Park’s All About a Boy line.   I can’t remember what stamp set “Happy Birthday” came from, but the two thought balloons are from Stampin’ Up’s Just Sayin’ stamp set and matching framelits dies.  The background paper was a scrap I had left over from another project.  I thought it was from October Afternoon, but I can’t figure out which line, so maybe it came from somewhere else.

That’s it for today.  Come back tomorrow for some exciting news about upcoming Crafty Neighbor events and maybe another birthday card or two!

Celebrate!

Yesterday I talked about unfinished projects and getting behind.  I really like to plan ahead.  One of my favorite “do ahead” projects is making cards out of the scraps from my scrapbook pages.  This was a trick I learned many years ago, and it has never failed me.  The concept is simple:

Every time you make a scrapbook page, use the scraps to make a card.

I usually wind up making multiple cards, so I have a very large stash ready for any occasion.  Some people might think this is impersonal, but it’s actually quite the opposite.  I have a list of all the upcoming birthdays and celebrations, so when it’s time to make a card, I just refer to that list and pick an event I need to send a card for.  And because my colors are already picked for me (perfectly coordinated, I might add!), I can spend more time on creating a card that suits the personality of the recipient and less time picking out which papers match.

These cards were made for my handsome nephew who lives in Arizona and his dad, who recently vacationed in New Mexico where he enjoyed exploring historic sites, absorbing the Southwest culture, and communing with nature.  I thought the colors of this collection by Stampin’ Up! just screamed “Southwest”, and the pattern felt masculine, so I thought, why not? The "celebrate" banner was made using Close to My Heart stamps.  I think they turned out really cute, don't you?  And best of all, it gave me an excuse to use that lovely Triple Treat flower stamp and some of my SU punches.  Now that’s worth celebrating!