Happy New Year!!

Believe it or not, our happy group of stampers is still going strong! I just lost my desire to blog about it. But here is what we did for January 2012. It is a regular problem for me (and a lot of us card makers) to make birthday cards for the men in my life. I love to make the frilly, frou-frou, cards with lots of ribbon and flowers and embellishments. But I just can't bring myself to give one of those to my hubby or father-in-law or brother, etc. So our theme this month was to make a birthday card for a man. Not a boy. We'll be doing those in a few months. So I think we mostly nailed this one. See what you think.

Wild Horses by Becca Goodwin

Striped Shirt by DeeAnn Haworth

Blue Birthday by Michelle Hansen

Wish Big by Michelle Tweedy

Patterns by Nickie Kenyon

Guitar by Lisa Jones

Hot Rod by Christine Fouts

This month we also started sharing recipes to put in little address books that we found at the Dollar Tree. We altered them and they are turning out so cute. I hope to have pics of those next time.

I am looking forward to 2012 and I hope that you are too! Keep on being creative!

Marching into Spring!

We had a variety of themes for our card swap this month. It was Spring, Easter, or Baby. We got a little bit of everything. Take a look!

Gate Fold Flower Card, by Michelle Tweedy

Easter Blessings, by Nickie Kenyon

Baby Boy, by Nickie Kenyon

Easter Eggs, by Becca Goodwin

Dotted Baby Card, by Christine Fouts

Easter Wishes, by Lisa Jones

Welcome Little One, by Michelle Hansen

Michelle Tweedy did the make-n-take this month. This box is folded from a 12x12 piece of paper and does not require any adhesive to put together. Cool, huh? Then we cut a handle from a solid 12x12 piece of card stock and attached with a flower brad and added a little die-cut flower. Such a cute little easter basket!

A Card made from a Paper Bag??

Leave it to Lisa Jones to come up with such an innovative card design for our card swap. This card was made for our February swap, but somehow, I missed it when I was taking photos. So now this creative card gets its very own post.

Lisa uses such perfect papers and embellishments.

I love way the bag folds around the front of the card and slides under a flap.

Here is view of the open card.

Lisa, I apologize for missing your card on the original post. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with our group every month!

If you would like to see more from Lisa, check out her blog here.

Birthday Bonanza

Card swap came and went last week. The theme was Birthday cards. And the favorite seemed to be the cup cake! Take a look!

Blue and Brown Birthday Cupcake by Nickie Kenyon

Birthday Gifts by Natalie Taylor

Birthday Bursts by Michelle Hansen

You're a Star by Christine Fouts

Stripes & Cupcakes by DeeAnn Haworth

Birthday Buttons by Becca Goodwin

Stripes and Flowers by Michelle Tweedy

DeeAnn brought the make-n-take this month. She had old calendars and a stack of patterned paper to make envelopes using a template. I had not thought of this fun project in years! Thanks so much DeeAnn for reminding me of a simple and creative way to send a card.

Pink and Red Explosion!

Today was card swap! Am I on the ball or what?? Enjoy our selection of Valentine Cards. I love them all. I think everyone's work is only getting better! I love it!

The make-n-take was a fun one. Christine brought her cuttlebug and a cute floral die. We cut flowers out of colorful felt. Then I got my Top Note Die from SU! out and showed the ladies how you can cut two of those and sew three sides together to make a cell phone holder. CUTE!

Love grows by Michelle Tweedy

You hold my heart by Meagan Tweedy

Love Blocks by Michelle Hansen

Polka Dot Hearts by Nickie Kenyon

Love Scroll by DeeAnn Haworth

Love in many languages by Becca Goodwin

Be My Valentine by Christine Fouts

Key to My Heart by Lisa Jones

Make-n-Take Sample-just needs to be sewn. I'll have to get that darned sewing machine out!

Thanks to all you crafters who participate in this monthly swap. I really enjoy our monthly meetings and the opportunity to be creative!

Shape Up Already!!

Wow! The holiday season really had me running this year. I am usually pretty well organized and while I don't shop real early, I'm not usually finishing up on the 23rd! This Christmas was so hectic and never felt like I was ahead of the game. And then to top it all off, I got a nasty head cold on Christmas Eve. Ugh!

All this ranting is to explain why it has taken me three weeks to get December's swaps posted here. The theme for December was Shaped Cards. They were to be anything other than a square or rectangle. I felt this one was quite a challenge. But this month's Creative Cards magazine has several cute ones. If only I had seen that before the swap!

So enjoy taking a look at all the creative cards by me and my talented friends. Oh-Nickie did a super cute Make-n-Take that involved chocolate, so it didn't make it to picture day-we ate them.

Blue Bird House by Michelle Tweedy

Christmas Tree Ornament Card, by Natalie Taylor

Owl Circle Card, by Nickie Kenyon

Love Birds, by Christine Fouts

Snowflake Card, by Nickie Kenyon

Cupcake Card, by DeeAnn Haworth

Flower Burst Card, by Becca Goodwin

Lady Bug Card, by Lisa Jones

This card was so clever I had to show you two views. Later this month look for the post with our Valentine Swap!!

Got Tags?

Card Swap Group met last Wednesday. We had a great time swapping our gift tags and Michelle Hansen brought a fun gift card holder for the make-n-take.

Sweet and Simple Tag Assortment by Christine Fouts

Festive and Fun Collection by Michelle Hansen

All Occasion Set by Cindy Roberg

Contemporary Christmas Collection by Nickie Kenyon

Christmas Tag Assortment by Michelle Tweedy

Fun Tags by DeeAnn Haworth

Christmas Collage of Tags by Lisa Jones

Snowman Tags by Becca Goodwin

Here is the cute gift card holder I made for the make-n-take. Thanks so much, Michelle!

Next time will be something different: Shape Cards! I can't wait!