Quick and easy cards (again!).......

Every now and then I just get a bee in my bonnet to make some really quick cards.. just for the heck of it.. and of course, it always "inspires" me when I NEED some thank you cards after my birthday or Christmas! (and I just had my birthday in late June, so was in need of thank you cards). I do have some pre-made thank you cards, but I wanted to use my Sizzix dry embossing machine, so I lugged it out and played. It's always fun to make something new.

I love the look of embossed papers. Isn't that pretty (below)? I used a floral embossing folder and ran it through my Sizzix machine using some pre-cut 3-3/4" x 5"  pretty free digital (rose gold) papers that I printed onto white cardstock, compliments of Free Pretty Things for You. I LOVE her beautiful digital papers. She offers free papers, and also has some you can purchase in her Etsy store.

I already had some colored card bases, so all I needed to do was cut my papers to size, leaving a 1/4" border, and then run each one through my Sizzix. Behind each "matt", I put a doily that I had cut in  half, just for a little interest. And voila! Here's what I came up with:

White gold rose on dark puple.

I added some clear Stickles glitter to the leaves and a few of the roses.

Palest of blue gold roses on a white card.

Light pink and gold roses on pink card.

Sorry about my name! It looks like Greek! I doubled over it with my watermark but was too lazy to redo it......tsh... tsh. this was a cream gold rose on purple card.

To do something different, I used a kraft card and envelope, and some pretty kraft paper for the matt that had this foiled dark pink/purple. I didn't emboss this one and added a polka dot paper I had behind it, for a little  pop.  The metal flower came from my son's girlfriend. She makes jewelry, and for my birthday she sent me a box of all sorts of bling and flowers and parts of old jewelry, etc. What a thrill to get that! This thank you card actually went back to her, with one of her pieces of bling on it.

On each envelope, I gussied it up with a strip of matching paper (except on the kraft envelope). The little labels I made using one of my label cutting dies, and then stamped the words on it with Onyx black Versafine ink. Wanted to keep it simple, right?

As usual, my "quick and easy" cards took me a little more time than I had planned, but I enjoyed every minute I spent wrapped up in my little world of papers and ink, scissors, embossing, and glitter!

OTHER STUFF..............

Yes.. I had my birthday on June 29th and it was a fun and special day.... only my hubby and me..... but my 3 sisters, and my son, called me, and I had gifts to open in the morning, afternoon and evening (most came by UPS and most were things from my Amazon.com wishlist!) I love having a wishlist on Amazon!

The gift bags from Amazon were beautiful!

Got the book Sewn Gifts, from Helen Philipps, that I've been wanting forever (thank you sister)!! She has the most awesome blog..... full of color and delight, and sewing, and crocheting, and gardens........ is published in magazines and has published these wonderful books.  She's such an inspiration to me. She lives in England and I so enjoy her. Take a peek at her blog here.

I also received her other book (thank you again sister!) entitled Patchwork Gifts. I'm just swooning as I look through these books. I want to make everything!  I also received Mollie Makes Crochet, another wonderful book that I've been wishing for.

My sisters definitely KNOW how much I love pink!

And to top it all off.... hubby made me dinner and the most wonderful gluten free, homemade prune cake with white buttercream frosting! My mom always made me homemade prune cake on my birthdays, for many years.  What a nice end to a fun and special day......

It's hotter than heck here and this coming week going to be above the 100's. That's when I stay inside and craft and bake!

Happy weekend!