{ the birthday invitations }

These are two birthday invitations I had made during the summer. The clown card was for Laura's 6th birthday, and the bowling pins were for my sister's birthday.

The clown card was a lot of fun to make. Stamps were used just to make the collar (purple, green, pink, and blue). And the stamp was from a flower set called Pick A Petal. The rest of the clown was made using punches.

I love doing paper crafts with punches. There is so much you can make with them. I made several different Christmas gift tags with penguins, snowmen, Rudolph, and Santa using only paper, punches, and glue. If I can find them, I will post those, too.

Invitations are fun...each occasion is different, so I get to be creative. If you ever want me to design invitations for you, let me know.

Price: 20 cards with envelopes - $40

Email me for more information.

{ the wedding invitation }

I just smile everytime I look at this one. This is the invitation for a very good friend's wedding. And yes, it is handmade...sorta! The leaves were drawn by another good friend of mine...Mrs. Jamie Baker! I did the writing. They were printed at a local print shop. Then the bride and I did the watercoloring on the leaves.

First of all, I love to include watercoloring on my cards. It gives them such a nice look. In fact, my Christmas card for 2008 was watercolored. But I digress. These were fun to make. Each one turned out differently...I mean, seriously, no one can copy watercoloring exactly. Whatever.....they all turned out to be gorgeous, just like the wedding!

{ the finished products }

I finally finished the "sleeping bag" invitations. I only had to make 15 of them, but this was televisions's premiere week. And supposedly, the shows were going to be the best ones of the season...quite frankly, I feel ripped off, and I want my money back! Okay, I didn't have to pay anything extra to watch these shows, but I did spend hours of my life (that I will bever get back, mind you) only to be left with this empty feeling. Ugh! I hate being disappointed!

Let me get off of my soapbox and get back to the reason for this post. I finished the invites....and I absolutely LOVE them. I think I am going to make some "Thinking of You" cards with this layout for myself.

I love making cards, but I do not like to make the same exact card over and over and over and over....it is repetitive and redundant (repetitive and redundant, ha ha!). That line, by the way, is part of one of my most favorite quotes from Gilmore Girls. Anyway, if someone wants 15 of the same card, I always try to make at least one of the cards slightly different.

So....here it is....the collage of all of the different colors I used on the cards. And yes, I made 16 cards. I always make an extra one that I keep. It goes in a portfolio for my customers to see. Send me an email if you ever want to take a look....

{ the sleeping bag }

So, a teacher-friend asked me if I could/would make the birthday invitations for her daughter's birthday. She told me that it was going to be a spend-the-night party, and she thought an invitation that looked like a sleeping bag would be neat. And I thought, "Oh, that would be so cute...I know exactly what I am going to do!" I do love a challenge! So naturally, I accepted the offer. The following pics are just a couple of what I came up with. I did an assortment of colors...and maybe when I have a little more time, I will post those as well. Everything used is Stampin' Up! product!