Birthday Cards

The second week of January is full of important birthdays.  My mom is January 12th (and this year she turns 60!), my best friend from college Kristin is the 13th, and then my best friend from high school Danielle is the 14^th.  These are all really important people in my life.

Ideally I’d find some time to make them some cards.  Jamie Green has inspired me with an idea and I have dug up a few of my favorite birthday cards by Carly Robertson, too.  Just in case I can find the time to whip some up.  Carly uses stamps from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps here to spell “hb2u.”   I love the pennant flag banner idea and the gingham is just adorable.

One of my other favorites by Carly is shown here. I love how she has used the Whimsy Cake stamp through the peep hole and colored it up.

This one is more frilly than I usually go for but I like the bow and the pink polka dots.  

This next one is by Jamie. She has used “h, b, 2, u” stamps from Vanilla Peel & Stick by PSA Essentials.  I like the cardstock she’s chosen for the base of the card and the glittery paper she’s framed the stamps against. 

Happy Birthday coming up to three of my favorite people!

New Year's Resolution: A Project A Day

Sometimes my house feels like it’s closing in on me.  Since having Connor, my medium sized house has become small.  Every inch of space is used up and the spaces that are mine seem to be dwindling.  With the daily grind, I haven’t had time to organize anything so it’s gotten pretty chaotic.  We have several junk drawers.   The laundry room is a mix of laundry, craft supplies, school supplies, household light bulbs, batteries, cleaning supplies, medicine and has become a general dumping ground.   I have been feeling really overwhelmed about it so I decided that 2013 is going to be more organized.  This is my new year’s resolution.    I’ve made a list of 36 projects around the house that need to be organized.   Some days are easier than others (like #6 which is cleaning out my coupons) and other days will require more effort (like #14 which is to tackle my closet!  A total disaster.)

It turns out that of the most popular new year’s resolutions, organizing is #10.  Other popular ones are getting fit, getting out of debt, spending more time with family and friends, learning something new, and eating better.   Gina Luker at Shabby Creek Cottage is getting on the organizing train with her blogging.  Check out what she’s done here.  She’s creating a blogging board. 

She’s stamped the letters from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps using an acrylic block onto her white board.

She’s made three columns to get organized:  posts, supplies {she needs} and administrative [tasks she needs to get done.}  It looks great above her desk and she can really set things straight this new year. 

So what are your new year’s resolutions? 

New Years Tradition - Noodles

Mae Armstrong has a family tradition for New Years: they always cook noodles.   The tradition originated in Japan and is common in Asian culture as it brings longevity and good luck!



Mae normally does stir fry noodles called Pancit which her twin boys absolutely love.  To celebrate the holidays even further, Mae gave the boys their very own chopsticks.   She found training chopsticks at Target and created a quick project with them to make them extra special.  



Mae created a simple chopstick holder.  She picked a red card stock and cut it lengthwise, scored and folded in half.  Mae selected two coordinating paper patterns and stamped a circle tag with "Luck" using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps.  She mounted the circle tag on top of the starburst cut-out.



She secured rectangle patterned paper on the chopstick holder and glued the sentiment on top. She wrapped it with gold stretchy string for a festive touch.  How cute is this?  And what a great tradition!

New Years Cards

Our New Years plans have shifted over the years.  Gone are the days of wild parties and late nights.  We used to attend a glitzy party which has a different theme each year: a black and white tie, a Vegas night, 1950's style, but since having Molly three years ago, I'm not sure I have seen the ball drop.  The night is like any other except sometimes we do a special dinner out, I spring for another glass of wine, and we maybe do an on demand movie.  I know -- it's so glam!  But the Johnson & Johnson tagline "having a baby changes everything" couldn't be more true.  And there's nothing I would rather do then spend a quiet night with my family.

To welcome the New Year, here are some beautifully designed cards by Jamie Cripps.  I love her layered approach to card making.   She uses a lot of die cuts, several patterns of paper, and tends to add a 3-D piece to her card.   It adds texture and visual interest.  In the first two cards, she's used the stamp from the new Multi-Holiday Peel & Stick pack.  

Here she's used stamps from Smirk Martini Mix.  This is a fun stamp set! 

I love the sentiment on this card - New Year, New Dreams.  She's stamped the characters from Smirk Kiss Me Now.

What are your dreams for the New Year? 

Monogrammed Memo Cards

The smallest things make me happy.  Clean sheets on my bed, all the papers on my desk at right angles in neat stacks, and the smell of fresh coffee are just a few.  These aren't big things.  Neither is today's project by Gina Luker at Shabby Creek Cottage but if you have the time to do it, it's a simple thing that can bring happiness to a chaotic day.  They're monogrammed memo cards.

Take a stack of scrap paper such as trimmings left over from your latest scrapbook layout or left overs from a school project, and cut them down to 3" x 3" or short memo size.  Load your PSA Stamper up with your Gigi Monogram choice and stamp the upper left or right, or lower right or left corners.  You can mix it up. 

Now when you have to write a quick memo to your husband, a teacher, a neighbor, it's a bit more personalized! And you didn't spend a lot of money creating them.  Easy! 

Just a note card

I love letter writing.   A few years ago I got to see some correspondence between my grandmother and grandfather when he was stationed overseas.  Unlike an email that seems to vanish into cyberspace when deleted, a written letter can be kept forever as a keepsake.  It simply cannot be replaced.  I will encourage my children to write letters to grandparents, family and friends to keep the letter writing tradition alive.  It should be done not only for thank you notes, but also "just because."

This card by our design team member Regina Mangum is perfect when you want to send a note "just because."  It has our newest Peel & Stick stamp on it with the sentiment:  just a note.   Receiving a note amongst a stack of bills is a real bright spot.

I love the layered look of this card.  She's used newspaper, sheet music and patterned paper but kept the look unified with a black and white color palate.  This sophisticated card is perfect for any occasion, don't you think?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from PSA Essentials!  Did Santa make it to your home? We left the milk and cookies out and sure enough when we woke up, they were gone and there were presents under the tree!  That Santa is amazing.  I don't know how he does it.  All that wrapping and putting things together.  Too bad he doesn't also clean up the wreck afterwards! 

Today is a day about celebrating family.  I hope you get to do that today.   We are looking forward to spending time as an extended family, enjoying some good food and relaxing.  

Here are some cards for you by our talented design team.  Merry Christmas!

Whimsy Tree Peel & Stick Pack - Card by Kim Moreno 

North Pole Peel & Stick - Card by Kim Moreno 

Card by Kim Moreno 

By Regina Mangum 

By Regina Mangum

By Regina Mangum 

By Jennifer Holmes 

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes

By Jennifer Holmes