I am back to try my hand at another Mojo Monday card challenge.

This weeks challenge:

I chose to go with the square sketch, since I usually don’t make square cards.  I am so in love with all the new products that are available in the new Sale-a-Bration promotion, that I knew I had to choose one of my favourites for this card, the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper. I kept things really simple, partly because that’s the style of card I like and partly because that’s what I felt this sketch called for.  Hope you like it.

My Card:

Here’s what I used (all Stampin’ UP! products):

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede Textured, Everyday Enchantment DSP

Stamp Set: Fresh Vintage, Elementary Elegance (both only available during Sale-a-Bration)

Ink: Calypso Coral, Pool Party

Embellishments: Everyday Enchantment Brad, Calypso Coral Ruffled Ribbon, Basic Pearl, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Sale-a-Bration is on now through March 31, 2012. The Designer Series Paper I used in my card, is not available for purchase, but can be yours free with a $60 purchase of Stampin’ UP! products. Contact me for details.

Thanks for taking a look!

It has been forever since I felt any real desire to blog or jot anything down.  But I have found a new creative output that I am so passionate about, that I find myself bursting to share it with the world.

The short story –  about a year and a half ago, I was invited to a Stampin’ Up party by  a friend of mine.  I was curious so I went. I enjoyed myself, even bought a few things.  I thought this would be great, I could start making my own cards and never have to buy a store bought one ever again.  I had the best of intentions but my new stamp sets and ink just collected dust for about six months.

Then another friend of mine, who is a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, invited me to become part of a monthly Stamping Club and I haven’t looked back since.  Not only have I found a new creative output, but I have gained some wonderful new friends and a life!! Cause I’ll be honest, I was lacking in both those departments, but that’s another story.

So I guess I’m back and am looking forward to sharing my creations with you.

First up are some birthday cards I created for family members who are lucky enough to have birthdays in the month of December.

The first one I created was for my nephew, who turned four.  Since I am still in the process of building my arsenal of stamps and punches, I am a little limited in what I can create, but was happy with this.

Cupcake Happy Birthday Card

Next up is a card I created for my grandmother. I used one of my favourite stamp sets from Stampin’ Up called Elements of Style.

Elements of Style Birthday Card

And finally one I created for my sister. I think this is my favourite so far.

Butterfly Birthday Card

December was a busy crafting month around here, so I will have future posts on creations I came up with for the kids teachers and grandparents.  I am loving all that I can create using paper, some stamps, ink and a little imagination, so stay tuned!

Now that Spring is here (and the rain!!) the busy birthday season has ended in our family.  Seems when we started having children, my sisters and I decided that all the grandchildren should be born in a three month span (years apart of course).  Starting in early January and ending near the end of March, we had 6 family birthday parties. Makes for a very busy but fun time, especially for me since I seem to be the family birthday cake maker, a hobby I love to do.

As a result, this poor blog of mine has been neglected.  I still haven’t figured out how to do it all and this other hobby of mine seems to be the first thing that gets shoved to the back burner.  But I did want to share some pics of the cakes that helped put smiles on my nieces, nephew and children’s (even my Dad) faces on their special day.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee birthday cake

My nephew is a huge Transformer fan so I incorporated his two favourites, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee into his cake.  Turned out pretty well I think.

Next up was a Tinkerbell themed birthday cake for my daughter’s 4th birthday. Cake was decorated with buttercream icing with flower and butterfly accents.

Tinkerbell inspired birthday cake

March was a busy, busy month for birthdays.  We had 7 family birthdays, 4 of which required my services.

Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake

For my daughter’s “twin” (my niece who was born 8 days after my daughter), I was requested to come up with a Strawberry Shortcake cake.  Since I have yet to attempt to make figures myself, I relied on some plastic figures I  found at the toy store for the Strawberry Shortcake element. The cake was iced using buttercream icing with fondant accents.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake with figures

My Dad’s birthday was next and although his cake was simple, it was no less meaningful as he is a huge baseball fan.

Baseball birthday cake

Next up were cakes for my son and niece, who were born on the same day, one year apart. So far, planning their birthdays hasn’t become a logistical nightmare!

For my niece’s 6th birthday, she wanted a flowers and butterflies themed cake and this is what I came up with. Again I used buttercream icing and fondant accents. I’m not brave enough to cover the entire cake with fondant yet. Unfortunately, I had also created a flower and butterfly fondant spray which didn’t survive the trip to the party ;(

Flowers and Butterflies

We had a Star Wars Jedi Training party for my son’s 7th birthday (a post on the party details is in the works) and I decided to attempt a Death Star.  It’s not my best work, but my son loved it!

Star Wars Death Star birthday cake

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed creating the cakes.