Happy Birthday to Me!

What could be better than a handmade card for my birthday?  Thanks, Kim Hall!  You make such great cards!

CZ Inspiration

Look at that!  A card!  Actually, I have made some, but I have not necessarily posted them.  Today, I will play catch up.

This card was inspired by the recent card explosion happening with Cathy Zielske.  Here is her original.

I learned with this card that I don't emboss enough.  White embossing makes everything pop.  I used a new stamp set that I got from Simon Says Stamp called Look for the Miracles. I also used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens, as Cathy did with hers.  Lots of color!  I did not shade, as I had a limited area to work with.  The sentiment, in the Handwritten Greetings set, was from SSS as well. I used Stampin' Up's white embossing powder and gray cardstock for the image layer and some Neenah 110 for the base.

AE OLW 2018 Halftime Report

I did not realize how long it had been since I actually posted some work up here.  Production has been slow, but I clearly have not posted all I have done.  Mainly because, card-wise, I make them for what I need right away and into the envelope they go!  Recently, I have made time to watch the videos for OLW that I had not watched this spring/summer and catch up on some pages.  So far, here is 2018's One Little Word album, under the tutelage of one Ali Edwards.

I ordered the acrylic word again this year.  It came with this protective covering on top, which I was not about to throw away.  I adhered it to the inside cover and roughed it up a bit.  I sound like I did that meaningfully.  I did not.  It's a happy little accident!  I added circles from the OLW kit to add some points of interest.

JANUARY 2018 | Most of January is recorded using forms created by Ali, with a dash of JPla in there as well.

February 2018 | Collage

March 2018 | Practice

April 2018 | Cognitive Reframing (ask questions/challenge assumptions)

The quotes and questions for this came from a few websites that discussed the practice of cognitive reframing.  I created the 3 x 4 cards from parts of the articles that spoke to me.

May 2018 | Connecting with Cameras and Present Participles

June 2018 | Mid-Year Check

I punched holes in the actual cardstock rather than using page protectors for these activities.

This is on the back of the month card.  

The last page has some extra room, so I thought this 3 x 4 card found a good place here.

 July 2018 | Get Messy and Play

I had some fun with Distress Oxide Inks that I used for the base of each card.  The stamps and word stickers are all Ali from one kit or another.

Whew!  That really was a lot of work.  It did not feel like it when I was doing it.  It brings me a lot of joy to take time to focus on my word.