Happy Birthday Dearest

Wow - you guys must think I fell off the face of the earth.  And the fact that I am finally posting something means you have probably just fallen off of your chair!  But here I am.  Finally!

I will keep this short - that way I'll actually post something.

Yesterday was my darling husband's birthday.  I am married to a man I still adore (after almost 21 years of marriage!) and I know that I am extremely blessed.  So naturally I wanted to make a really nice birthday card for him.  How convenient that I also needed to have a card designed for my club ladies to make as a Father's Day card.  Presto, chango, my masculine Birthday card became a Father's Day card for my club ladies (or vice versa).

I found this card on the internet and just had to CASE it (Copy And Share Everywhere).  Isn't it wonderful?  The watch image comes from the Dapper Dad stamp set (Spring catalogue) and the Birthday sentiment is from Perfect Punches (main catalogue) and BOTH of these stamp sets are retiring at the end of May so get them while you can!   (The Father's Day sentiment is from Delightful Dozen and the background stamp is En Francais - both not retiring - phew!).  I love how the flattened bottle cap really makes it look like a true-to-life man's watch.  The watchface on the birthday card has a coating of Crystal Effects to give the glass-like appearance whereas the watch below (Father's Day) has been left uncoated.  

Bottle Cap for watch face

Not a monumental difference - but I do prefer the glass-look anyhow!

Of course, the card on the right uses no bottle cap at all - merely the watch, stamped and used as is.

No Bottle Cap

All of these cards are elegant.  All of them are sophisticated.  And all of them are masculine.  I love when you find a card like this on the internet and can CASE it.  Thank you Tamie Ackerson for such gorgeous inspiration!

I don't want to risk not finishing and posting this so I am going to end off here.  Stay tuned - tomorrow night I will report the results for the LateNightStampers Treasure Hunt and my own blog candy.

In the meantime I hope everyone is doing well.  Hope Mother's Day was wonderful for all of you.  And for my friends here in Canada - I hope you are all looking forward to a spectacular Victoria Day long weekend!

God Bless,    ~Cynthia     <><

PS  Happy Birthday Darling.  I love you!!!!    XOXOxoxoXOXOxoxo

Good Friday Easter Cross

Today is Good Friday - a day of paradox.  Profound sorrow leading to profound joy.  It took me until I was an adult to begin to truly wrap my head around this (and the movie, The Passion, was crucial in helping me even begin to understand it in a deeper manner....)....  Where was I?  Oh yes.  Good Friday.

It is a gloriously sunny morning and I was just blessed to spend a few minutes with someone who began as an acquaintance, became a customer, and quite quickly became a valued friend.  I wanted to give her something to let her know how blessed I feel to have met her, and to wish for her a wonderful, peace-filled and joyful Easter.  So I made her a card I know she will appreciate.  And I wanted to share it with you too.

I stamped the grass from Inspired By Nature in Lucky Limeade, then mounted 2 crosses onto the card front.  (Run your cardstock through the Big Shot with the Lattice Die, then selectively trim away a few rings to leave the cross shape).  The black cross is adhered directly to the card since death is but a shadow, and the victorious white cross is raised up on dimensionals just offset from this.  The white cross was then covered with dazzling diamonds glitter.

A few butterflies (Beautiful Wings embosslit), blossoms (Itty Bitty Punch) and basic pearls, and a Happy Easter from the Delightful Dozen stamp set, and my card was ready to give to my dear friend.

Believe it or not, this is actually a Fast and Fabulous card - in keeping with my Friday venture.  It did not take a long time to make.  But the sentiment and love it carries to my friend are meant to last a lifetime.

To all of you - Happy Good Friday.   And may you each enjoy a glorious and joy-filled Easter!

God Bless,    ~Cynthia    <><

Bunny Punch Art

If you've never popped over to check her out, you really should take a glance at Lorri Heiling's blog.  The woman is an artist!  And I absolutely loved the bunny card she posted a while back.  I wanted to CASe it for my club ladies with some minor changes, and here is what I came up with.

The outside of the card presents a cute and still-tasteful bunny butt to bring a smile to your face.   Then the inside of the card has Mr. Rabbit peaking thoughtfully through the hole.  How adorable is that?

The card is made using all Stampin' Up! punches (the whiskers are hand cut) with some Beautiful Wings embosslit butterflies thrown in.  If you know me, you know I LOVE those butterflies!.  The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen and the grass, naturally, is from the ever-so-lovely Inspired By Nature set.

My club ladies seemed to enjoy making this Easter Card.  There were a lot of little paper bits flying around the table, and sponging all the white edges with Crumb Cake ink to give them depth took a bit of time - but the end result made everyone smile.  Hope it brings a smile to your face too!  Check back tomorrow.  I have a wonderful Fast and Fabulous Friday card for you!

Enjoy your day and God Bless,     ~Cynthia   <><

Ok
So It's a couple of days past Valentine's Day.  That doesn't mean that we toss all our heart cards out the window, right?  I mean - we still love our family & friends.  So let's ask them to be our Valentine all year long.

Too much?  Maybe you're right.  I should just stick to the basics, right?

My customers have been asking me for a long, long time if I have a blog.  My friends have been telling me over and over again that I should start a blog.  Well you know what?  Today is the day.
~ ~ ~ ~ insert hyperventilating and increased heart - rate here ~ ~ ~ ~
gulp

So here goes:


 Hi.
My name is Cynthia and I am an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator here in the lovely city of Ottawa, Ontario.  For those of you who may not be familiar with Canada, Ottawa is our nation's capital and I love it here!

Ok.  I think that's about all I can do for now.  I better see if I can even figure out how to post this before I run on and on about me and my business...right?

Have a wonderful day and God Bless!
~Cynthia    <><