Wednesday, March 25, 2009

40 and a Blog Hop

Today is my 40th Birthday. I know a lot of people don't like turning 40 but age is really just a number to me so I am okay with it. It is hard to believe that 40 yrs have gone by though. I have been bummed out about other things the last few days but I will save that for another time, today I am going to try and focus on the positives and be grateful for the 40 yrs of life I have already been given. I feel like I have accomplished a lot in my 40 yrs but I hope that I will have a least 40 more because there are still a lot of things left that I want to see and do. To celebrate my birthday my mom came over this afternoon and we went to a new yarn store in the neighborhood that I have been wanting to go to. She bought me some really cool yarn that I look forward to using soon. Tonight I will be participating in this month's Papertrey Blog Hop, watching American Idol with Emilia and eating the birthday treat Rich brought me home. All things I love to do. Now on to my entries for the blog hop.
This months challenge is to make your own backgrounds. Making my own backgrounds is something I enjoy doing so I was able to come up with 2 projects this month. Here is the 1st one.
This card was inspired by a purse Emilia has. I did the Black Magic technique by stamping the Polka Dots from the Polka Basics background set with CTMH White ink on Stampers Select Black Cardstock. This is what the background looked like before I made it into a card.
After it was dry I colored in the polka dots with Prisma color pencils. Next I stamped the Celebrate saying with Versafine Ink from the Damask Set on Raspberry Fizz Satin Ribbon then I attached a piece of New Leaf Cardstock to it that I cut a scalloped piece from. After that I added a large Daisy Flower from Heidi Swapp that I painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz and attached a hot pink button with green floss. To finish the card off I matted it on a piece of Raspberry Fizz Cardstock. Final card size is 41/4x51/2.
The is the second card.
It was inspired by this bedding I saw in the Garnet Hill Kids Catalog
I made this background by randomly stamping the solid butterflies from the Butterfly Kisses set on Stampers Select White Cardstock with Sweet Blush, Lavender Moon, Lemon Tart, Hibiscus, and Aqua Mist ink. The next thing I did was stamp the butterfly again on a piece of Eclipse Paper and cut it out so I was left with a mask, then I put it over the butterflies and stamped images from the Retro Background Basics and Polka Dot Basics set on top of the them with White Snow, Plum Pudding, New Leaf and Summer Sunrise Inks. After that I stamped the bodies with the dragonfly stamp from The Pond Life set and the antenna are from Little Lady Set. When I was done with that I matted the butterfly piece on Hibiscus cardstock. This is what the background looked like before I made it into a card.
I made the polka dot background piece by stamping the Polka Dots from The Polka Dot Basics set again on New Leaf Cardstock with Versamark Ink then I embossed the polka dots with white embossing powder. I finished the card off with some Satin Hibiscus ribbon that I tied in a bow then I added a tiny cuttlebug tag that I cut out from Plum Pudding cardstock and stamped and embossed with the Celebrate today saying from the original Mix Messages set. The finished size of this card is 41/4x51/2. Both cards will be going up in my Etsy shop if anyone would like to buy them.
I hope you have been inspired by my cards to make some backgrounds like this with your stamps now too. As always thanks for stopping by and have a great night.

40 comments:

Melissa said...

These are so pretty! I love your butterfly background- it reminds me of the new Cosmo Girl Friday paper. Great job!

Debbie said...

So so pretty!!

IamDerby said...

These are both so pretty! I am going to break out my butterflies now!

Jessica said...

Love both of these cards! I have never thought to create a background with the different colors and patterns of butterflies like that, but I think I need to now!

Happy Birthday!!

BethieJ said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRI!!! Mine is tomorrow! I will be 41.. wasnt that my moms age! HA HA!! Hope you enjoyed your day!!
Your cards are FANTASTIC!

Bonnie said...

Very cool! Love the butterfly background!

Tricia T said...

Love the butterflies! How pretty!

Lisa H. said...

oh, my wow! two great cards, BUT those butterflies are the BEST! love that, very cute!

Gwen said...

both are so pretty & so colorful!!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday Terri!! and fab cards!

Kacey Elliott said...

Happy Birthday! Hope you had a great day! Love those butterflies!

Terri Trotter Earley said...

Such fun cards. You rocked the background challenge.

It's a good life!
Terri E.

Tenia Nelson said...

Hey there girlie!!!! These cards are super awesome!!! Us Denverites rock!!! Hope you are well....
-t

peggysue said...

Yarn and stamping, a girl after my own heart! And you are a girl, 40 years young, you're younger than I am. :) Happy birthday! And wow, that polka dot card just rocks the house!

Dana Gustafson said...

What cool cards! THe butterflies are perfect for spring :)

Vicky said...

Both of these are so fun and cheery - great job!

Babies-Beth said...

Terri, they are incredible, especially love the butterflies!

Babies-Beth said...

forgot to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Daniela Dobson said...

So pretty and Happy Birthday!!!

Karen said...

Great cards! I love those colored polka dots!! Happy Birthday! :>

AKiteFlier said...

Two very adorable yet unique ideas - I love the polka dot idea - thanks for sharing how you did that. The butterflies are just sweet as can be.

Heidi said...

Happy Birthday! Your cards are so pretty!

Regan said...

happy birthday!!

your cards at fabulous!!!

Scrapping Julie said...

they are both fantastic!

Deanna said...

Cute cute cute Terri!

Marge said...

Oh, wow, very creative you are! Love those polka dots & the way you did each row a different color! Your butterflies are totally sweet too!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy 40th to you! The butterfly background paper and card you created are so clever, creative and CUTE! WOW! I love the look of how you created your butterflies from so many different sets. At first I questioned whether they were PTI or another company. I couldn't figure it out 'til I read your description!

Tiffany Heilman said...

Love the technique you used on the first card. Great idea using the polka dot set

Lynn P. said...

Happy Birthday!
Both are really pretty but the butterfly one is my favorite

Lee said...

Happy birthday. I love your butterfly card.

Allison Cope said...

Happy Birthday Terri! Your cards and back grounds rock! Love the colourful butterflies!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful butterflies!

Ally said...

Happy Birthday!! Love your cards!

Anonymous said...

Love both these cards! Happy birthday!

Mel said...

Happy Birthday! Welcome to the 40 Club! I joined last month. LOL As always, enjoyed seeing your pretty cards too.

Dana said...

Happy Be-lated birthday! I am so impressed with your polks-dot BG. I didn't know you could color over white ink with prismacolors! And the colors in your butterfly card are so pretty and spring-like. Very nice.

stampingtink said...

Great cards! I love the butterflies but the polka dots are just beautiful!

carabecca said...

Those rainbow polka dots are so yummy.

Lizzie Jones said...

Great job! Thanks for sharing!

Linda said...

First of all..........HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY. The cards are beautiful.
I love the butterflies.