July means Birthdays!

There are a plethora of birthdays in July, even America's birthday! Here's a look at some of my handiwork for this celebratory time of year!

(For 4th of July Challenges, scroll to bottom.) 

 Mother-In-Law Birthday Card
My MIL loves her summer flowers and the beautiful clematis she grew this year was spectacular.  I took the photo and was inspired by a photo card profiled in the CTMH Spring/Summer 2012 catalog.

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My photo, edited in PSE9

Bazzill Basics paper, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, stamps from My Creative Time and CTMH, MS twine.

My inspiration card.

Sister's Birthday Card
My brother-in-law sent me almost 1000 photos on disc a while back, all their family moments from the previous year.  He had some great underwater photos of the whole gang, including this one of my sister.  I'm actually a real hack when it comes to Photoshop (Elements), but am doing my best to learn digital scrapping.  I am so proud of the work here, because in the original photo, the hair swept across much of my sister's eyes - and I was actually able to edit it out!  Yay!  The underwater background was from another family photo, and after some considerable editing, I was able to reproduce it in the background as you see it.  

Photo edited in PSE 9.

Bazzill Basics paper, front cover is sprayed with Crafter's Companion Glitter Spray in Silver.

 Dad's Birthday Card
I love the Art Nouveau cart and don't use it nearly enough!  Although this is a masculine card, I still thought the hummingbird image could carry it off.  The overall measurements were almost 5" for the entire card.  Sentiments are from Fiskar's Cloud 9 Designs, Simple Thoughts - Happy Birthday.

Friend Birthday, Anytime Cards
These next cards were actually "anytime" cards, but one actually came in handy for a friend's birthday that came up.  Funny enough, she said her birthday present to herself was a solo shopping trip, free of kids or spouse, so she could take some time and indulge in retail therapy.  My card worked out perfectly.  

Happy Birthday sentiment was added after photo was snapped.

Stamps and design idea from CTMH, Fashioista.

 Taking another page from the book, literally - these cards were my own designs patterned after some special order die cuts from the CTMH Spring/Summer 2012 idea book.  Here's my take on another anytime card.

Stamp silhouette and sentiment from My Creative Time, other stamps CTMH.

A similar looking sentiment flag was added to the previous birthday card.  iTop brad with K&Co. paper that coordinates below.

Shop stamp is on foam tap so the punched edge can slip under to close the card.

Overall card dimension when folded was 3x9", which fit nicely into a #10 envelope.  You can see how I pieced the cardstock to make the extra-long card.

My inspiration cards, down at the bottom of the page.

Neighbor's Birthday Gift Bag
My neighbor and running partner loves pink, so I had to do her gift bag up right!

Bag found at Party City.  Ribbons & Rosettes and Art Philosophy cart.  Sentiment from CTMH.  Extra ink on tag - free of charge!

I love that fuzzy brad in the center of the rosette.  I picked up a bunch of them in different colors at a stamp show a while back.

America's Birthday
Last but not least, our nation's birthday is today.  I made this bag to carry goodies to the neighborhood BBQ we are headed to later today.  Have a very happy 4th, and enjoy the summer!  Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Gift bag from Party City.  American Craft ribbon.  Bazzill Basics paper and Stickles by Ranger.  Word Collage and A Child's year carts.  Front of bag.

Back of bag with words cut in vinyl from Word Collage cart.

 I'm entering this patriotic bag in the FCCB's Monday Challenge #118.

#118 - Kaboom! Firework Celebration

Make a project with a firework, sparkler, or other big "boom" project.

MY SHERI CRAFTS CHALLENGE #88 - "Oh I Love America"