Happy 4th of July

After being MIA on my blog for a few weeks, I'm happy to say I had time this morning to whip up a card that I will be sending to a dear friend's son for his 27th birthday.  You see, he is in Afghanistan serving in the ARMY and his Mom has requested that we all shower him with birthday cards for his birthday later this month.  What a great idea!  I was so happy to participate in this wonderful surprise for her son, Joe (or Joey as I know him)...you see, I haven't actually seen him since he was about 10 years old.

Now, I decided early on that I wanted to make a nice patriotic card and first found a great idea on Tim's site.  Then I saw a great sketch on the Card Pattern's blog that I thought would work out well. 

Among other things, I really liked the size of this card.  Now that I make my own envelopes, I can make card shapes I used avoid before.  Actually, a business size envelope also fits this size of card perfectly.

Putting all of my ideas together, I came up with this card which is sized 8 1/2 in. long by 3 3/4 in. wide:

So, Happy Birthday, Joe....AND Happy 4th of July EVERYONE!

One "October Afternoon"...

I have to say it again...I'm just THRILLED at all of the creations I've been able to complete while on my visit to PA this week!  I probably helps that it's been sooooooo hot AND humid out, that it's too uncomfortable to spend any time outside...so what's a girl to do?...WELL...stay INSIDE and CREATE!

I really feel like my "frugal" side is getting some much needed attention, too...Did you ever consider the fact that MAYBE, just MAYBE some of the creative block we sometimes experience is from TOO MANY choices?

This takes me back to being a young mom...I used to say that when kids have TOO MANY choices in toys to play with, they cannot concentrate and just be happy playing with one toy at a time...WELL, I think this same "rule" applies to paper crafting!  I used to put some of my kids toys "away" in a closet and would rotate them out every 3 months or so...THEN they always thought they had NEW toys to play with (or old FAVORITES that came back into play).  Since we didn't have much disposable income back then, I felt we got alot more out of what we DID have, but rotating it in and out of "PLAY".

Soooooo, since I brought just a FEW pieces of pp with me (about 12 sheets), I've been able to zero in and just get down to business.

Today, I played with my October Afternoon sheets again.  Since there were 2 sheets of pp that I brought, both double sided, so it was like bringing 4 sheets.  WAHOO!

Here's what I created today:

I did use a few embellies that my stepmom has had FOREVER...those would be the little aqua flower brads...remember them?  The ribbon is also from her stash...

I just LOVE IT when a FRUGAL creation comes together!

enJOY:)

On a "roll" with Little Yellow Bicycle

I have yet another birthday card to share today.  It's rather simple in design, and it takes me back to a technique I used to use long ago...paper tearing...I'm also using an embellishment I haven't used in a while...embroidery floss.

I'm still having a great time using the Little Yellow Bicycle "Twig" line along with my stamp set I bought recently (but STILL can't remember who makes it, lol).  I have also incluced my Cloud Nine Design sentiment stamps.

enJOY:)