Display Birthday Card for a teen with CTMH You Rock, Numbers Solos, True Friends and Happy Birthday

It just doesn't seem possible that my little baby girl is now 14 years old.  Truly the time has just flown by.  It seems like such a short time ago I was sitting on the hospital bed with this wonderous tiny pink bundle with dark hair and huge dark eyes.  I remember softly crying and thanking God for giving me a little baby girl to love.  I still remember and still feel that intense emotion of pure gratitude and love - she is mine and I am hers forever.  She looked beautiful and I looked like something out of a horror movie - I was induced and had 19 hours of straight, hard full-out labor.  I pushed so hard to get her out (her left arm came out with her head so I almost had to have her pushed BACK in and have an emergency c-section) that I had popped just about every blood vessel in my eyes and face.  Yeah, no glow of new motherhood for a while from me that time!

On to the card!  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our new You Rock paper pack?!?  This set is just perfect for doing cards and layouts for those teen girls and boys!  How perfect to make this absolutely rockin' display card.  It fits into a business envelope all folded up but then you open it up - POW - you get this awesome display card!  Darling Daughter loved it and she can display it on her desk while that glow of "newly 14" is still with her.  My birthday wishes (ever so sappy and loving) are written on the back and stay private from view when she has friends over.

The giant numbers on the front are from our Numbers Solos  - some of my very favorites for making number birthday cards, hats and party goods.  I've used liquid glass over the tops after I adhered them to the card fronts as well as a bit on the birthday sentiment.  There is actually fairly little in the way of stamping on this card - the POP and POW is all from the fun paper and the funky fold.  The card is 6" high and opens all the way out to 12" long (shorter when the folds are in place for display).

Materials Used:
Paper:  You Rock Level 2

Stamps:  Solos Number 1, Solos Number 4, Happy Birthday, True Friends (Jan 10 Stamp of the Month)

Inks:  Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim

Other:  Bitty Sparkles on the frame, Star brads from Gold My Accents (retired)

Teenager Gift Set using CTMH Best Friends Forever, CTMH Grown with Love, CTMH Alphabet Solos M

This is a gift set my daughter and I put together for her to give to her BFF using a Level 1 Best Friends Forever kit (retired). We had a blast putting this together but I think what my daughter likes best is the knowledge that as she grows up she may never have to shop the malls and pay full retail for gifts! I do have her buy the materials that she uses to create the presents - either cash or labor payment so she gets off pretty darn cheap. Yep, I do like the fact that my kids understand that homemade means that you care enough to take the time AND you can save some money in the process! This set is just SO DARN CUTE that I know her buddy will love it!

This is a pencil cup we created by putting together five 4' coasters. I'll do a tutorial for these later on (probably January 'cause December is FLYING by if you know what I mean!). The initial is an Alphabet Solos M embossed in Cocoa.

2. An altered composition book - the tree is embossed in Cocoa, stamped leaves and then the flowers are stickease from the kit. The tree is from Grown with Love and the little bird in the branch is from our upcoming Felicity kit - you are gonna LOVE that one!

3. Mini pizza box (4" square) using the Hollyhock cardstock from the kit along with some Fancy Cut Botanicals I had laying around. There are 3 sheets of different colored flowers, stems, leaves, etc in the package so we mixed and matched and added some brads until we got the effect we were going for. I'll be doing a tutorial for these boxes later on too!

4. Inside the pizza box is a set of altered binder clips. Some have a stickease initial added to the front.

I've used lots of different products on these so just leave a comment if you have a question about one of the items. When I create for myself I tend to keep pulling out things and don't keep track of what I'm using - its like when I cook - a little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Pop Rockin' boy birthday card with CTMH You Rock and Numbers Solo 8

This card has been kicking around in my head for a while but I couldn't find Pop Rocks ANYWHERE! When I finally found some my 8 year old began a 2 month effort to get a package but I kept telling him it was for an "art project". Okay, so I'm a bit sneaky with birthday surprises! This card was a HUGE hit - not only did he love it because it looked totally cool (his words) but it has a surprise package of Pop Rocks tucked inside! I loved this card so much I made several variations you'll be seeing over the next few days. Its a great style for putting little chocolate squares inside, adding a gift card, putting in tickets to the game, etc.

This card has a large 8 from our wonderful "Numbers Solos 8" set that has been pop dotted and covered with Liquid Glass for some extra shine. I also added a frame of Liquid Glass dots on the black matting for a bit of extra flair. The cardstock is all solid color but stamped in coordinating ink with the paint-splash stamp from the "You Rock" set. It gave the carstock a very cool tiedye kind of effect.

Materials Used:

Stamp Sets: You Rock, Numbers Solos 8

Inks: Dutch Blue, Citrus Leaf

Paper: Black, White Daisy, 2 generic CS that match pretty well to Dutch Blue and Citrus Leaf (using up some old stash)

Other: Liquid Glass, Star punch