You put the "fun" in fungus

Whew! I got a little distracted last week from my blog because I was spending my free time making decorations for my son's train party. He turned 4 years old yesterday-amazing! We had a fun little party for him in our garage; we were going to have it at Travel Town (a local train park) but it was raining yesterday so we switched to plan B. My Cricut was chirping every day last week to turn our garage into a more festive environment for his party. I'll be sure to post pictures when I'm finished posting the cards.
So this card is a swing card, or flip flop card. When you pull on the two sides of the card, the center flips over to reveal your message. This is what it looks like:
For the center, I layered pink on pink, inked all the edges in white, and hand-stitched a border on the top layer. The mushroom is from Paisley. I used almost all DCWV paper and embellished with stickles. I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch as a border and made my own photo corners.I placed the sentiment in the corner so it would be visible whether the card was "flipped" or "flopped." I used Paisley for the circle and the scalloped circle with a difference of 1/4" (real dial size turned ON). I cut "fun" out from Sesame Street font at 1/2" and used stickles on it. The shapes are outlined with a very fine Micron pen.
Thanks for looking!

just be you

How cute is this little monkey from Paisley? When I saw him I envisioned him doing antics across the top of a card, and I knew that a spinner card was just the thing for this little guy!

Here is a picture to show the movement of the card...see how he somersaults?
One more...it's so much fun! I liked the sentiment 'just be you' for this card (it's paired with the giraffe from Paisley) because the somersaulting monkey is playful and unique...not exactly what you'd expect on a greeting card. The monkey is cut at 2 3/4" and the sentiment at 2". The patterned paper is from DCWV.

Thanks for looking!

i ♥ u

I knew I liked the Paisley cartridge when it was first released with all of its cute and whimsical cute, but I didn't know if I would use it a lot because I wasn't sure if it would be very versatile. Well, I fell in LOVE with it during the course of making these cards! I liked it so much that I also made a set of cards for myself (hey, the materials were already out!!!) This card is a joy fold card. I don't want to steal someone else's work, so you'll have to click on the link to be directed to the instructions. *Note* I used the instructions for the first variation shown at the bottom.

The joy fold card has a flap that you open to reveal the card. Here is a picture showing the front of the card in the background and the flap opened in the foreground.

And here it is opened all the way. There is plenty of room to write your greeting. The border punch is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot.The top flap has to be tucked behind something to stay closed. I cut out 3 circles (3/4") and I cut out "i ♥ u" (1/2") from the Sesame Street font cartridge. They are on pop dots, and this allows the flap to stay closed.
The giraffe is cut at 4". I used stickles on the centers of the flowers on the giraffe and on the heart and around the circles. All paper is DCWV.

Thanks for looking!

Coming Soon to BirdScrap...card preview

Over the weekend we celebrated my Mom's ^&%$rd birthday (c'mon, Mom, did you think I'd actually reveal your age on my blog? *wink*) and I gave her a set of handmade cards featuring the Paisley cartridge that she gave me for Christmas!
Since she is an accomplished crafter herself, I wanted these to be really special. I turned to the 'resources' section of Splitcoast Stampers for directions on a variety of interactive cards or cards with creative folds. Here is the finished collection. The top picture shows the card how they are mailed flat in the envelope, and the bottom picture shows the 'movement' of the card.
Over the next few days, I will be taking a closer look at each of these cards in detail. You'll see more pictures of each card and I'll provide links for the directions so you can make them, too! I hope you'll visit again and be inspired to try a few of them out!
Thanks for looking!

"Owl" always love you.

I'm loving this new release Paisley cartridge. (You'll be seeing a lot of it this week, so I hope you like it, too!) This is a simple card I made when I was trying out some of the cuts on it. The Cuttlebug folder is called "Birds and Swirls." The punch is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot. I used stickles on the owl's beak and on the center of the flower on his wing. Easy! :)

Disney Memories

Here are the title pages for the boys' Disneyland albums. They are more or less the same, save the names and the placement of the characters. Noah was always asking if we could go to Disneyland and see Goofy, so I wanted to give Goofy a more prominent place on Noah's page. These are pocket pages to hold our memorabilia (like maps, passes, etc.) and some of the journaling. The journaling will have a more prominent place in the family scrapbook, but I decided to keep the boys' album a little simpler by keeping it about the characters only. Otherwise I would have needed until next Christmas to finish!
Anyway, each square is embossed with a cuttlebug folder (I used Swiss Dots, Divine Swirls, and Spots and Dots). and the embossing is stickled in various colors for sparkle. All of the characters are cut from the Mickey and Friends cartridge, as is the word 'Disney.' The other words are from a ttf and are cut with SCAL.
Thanks for looking!

Jacob-by the numbers

Well I try to keep this blog mainly crafting related, but I thought I'd post an update on Jacob. I guess it's indirectly related to crafting, since I've been spending my days (and nights) taking care of him, leaving not much time for play.
I wanted to write this down primarily so that I can remember what the doctors have said; I am very sleep deprived right now and I know that I will forget this in a few days' time if I don't have it written somewhere. :)
Jacob, at 3 1/2 months, weighs 16 pounds. Yes, he's a healthy eater and has never given us concern in that department! :) However, he has had a cough for 2 weeks now and in general he's just not himself. He still smiles and he doesn't fuss a lot, but he's not as happy/interactive/playful as he usually is.

In the last 48 hours:
*1 trip to urgent care
*1 ambulance ride (bringing his total to 2)
*1 trip to the Emergency Room (bringing his total to 2)
*1 chest x-ray (bringing his total to 3)
*2 dr.'s appointments
*9 breathing treatments
*3 doses of steroids
*1 shot
*3 prescriptions

So the dr.'s are saying that a viral infection triggered a "breathing episode" (very, very reluctant to officially confirm a diagnosis of asthma until he's much older). This breathing episode consisted of already small airways swelling, producing mucus, and pinching off in places (bronchospasms). Right now the breathing treatments and steroids are supposed to open up his airways and decrease the swelling. He will be on an inhaler with steroids for at least 1-2 months in the hopes that he will get to a point that his airways will be clear enough to breathe without struggling so much. His previous inhaler was not helping to clear his airways during this time. Already we have seen a marked improvement after yesterday's treatment in the dr.'s office but the steroids are wearing off much sooner than the dr. would hope. His dr. said to expect to see about a 10% improvement each day over the next week or so. We are hoping this to be the case. It is hard to see our baby struggle so much just to be able to breathe--at least now we have something that we can do to be proactive in his care.

Donald Duck

Donald Duck was an elusive character this year at Disneyland. We didn't get to meet him, but we did see him in the parades. The cuts on this page were made from the Mickey and Friends cartridge. I used stickles on the fuse of the bomb. Another easy page!
Thanks for looking!

Mulan-pt 2

Here's Jonah's Mulan page. You can see Noah's version here. Mulan is from the Happily Ever After cartridge. The photo corners and the cherry blossom border along the bottom is from the Storybook cartridge. Her name is a ttf (Herculanum). I used stickles around the photo and on the cherry blossoms.
Thanks for looking!

Pinocchio

Version 1:

Version 2:

I had fun making these pages. My boys really love Pinocchio--isn't he cute? I got the Pinocchio file from Creations by K8 and cut him out using SCAL. His name is from Storybook. The stars are from Joys of the Season. I used stickles on his name and between the stars. I finished the page off with some homemade photo corners and a border along the bottom using Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.
Thanks for looking!

Aurora

Here is my Jonah with Princess Aurora. She was the first princess he ever saw at Disneyland, and he was just tickled to meet her. The page and its elements are very similar to Noah's Sleeping Beauty page. Aurora is cut from the Happily Ever After cartridge and the photo mat is from Storybook. I used a white signo pen to put accents on the frame. The border along the bottom is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch. I used stickles in the holes along the border and on Princess Aurora's crown and necklace.
Thanks for looking!

Pluto

Can't get much simpler than this! Sometimes less is more (and sometimes less just means getting pages completed, period!) Pluto, the bone, and his name are from Mickey and Friends. I finished the page off with some giant homemade photo corners--the striped paper is by Making Memories.
Thanks for looking!

Belle-pt. 2

This post is very similar to this one, but for Noah's book. He did not enjoy meeting the princesses as much as Jonah. I think he likes the idea of the Disney characters more than the actual characters themselves. He is my shy boy. :)
The elements are arranged a bit differently and I used a different Belle from Dreams Come True. The flourish in the corner is a Fancy Pants stamp, and it is embossed in clear embossing powder. Belle's name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose. The border across the middle of the page is Martha Stewart's scallop dot punch.
Thanks for looking!

Buzz Lightyear

Here's another page going back to the boys' Disneyland album. Buzz Lightyear was cut on SCAL using a .svg file from Mardenz. Her work is great--very detailed, as you can see. I also used SCAL for his name but I don't remember the name of the true type font. I outlined it with a very fine point Micron pen to give it a little more definition from the background paper. The planet in the upper right corner is from Everyday Paper Dolls. I used stickles around the ring. The paper is from DCWV "All About Boys" stack.
Thanks for looking!

love ya

First, thanks for the comments on my previous post. It is an encouragement to have people say such nice things about my work, especially after taking such a lengthy break to tend to the family. I don't know yet how regular my posts will be now, since we are still settling into our new routine and our health is still...inconsistent.
My parents gave me the cute new Paisley cartridge for Christmas--I was so excited to try out some of the cuts on it! They are so whimsical and fun. I was able to make a couple of cards the other night and this is one of them. The little dog and the sentiment are from Paisley. I used stickles on the sentiment, the corner tabs, the hula hoop, the collar, and the star. The blue background is embossed using the 'Spots and Dots' Cuttlebug folder. The paper is from an old DCWV stack.
Thanks for looking!

Silhouettes

Well, where do I begin? Happy Thanksgiving? Merry Christmas? Happy New Year? Obviously it has been awhile; someone in this household has been sick since October 30th with very, very few days of all 5 of us feeling well. Jacob has been diagnosed with having small airways/larynx, which should correct itself as he grows, but in the meantime if he gets the slightest little cold he sounds horrible. His pediatrician is hesitant to diagnose him with asthma, but he did prescribe an inhaler that he gets 3 times a day when he's sick and as needed (usually once a day) when he's well.

As a result, there has been little spare time for crafting. I've done a few projects here and there, which I'll be posting soon. For those that have followed for awhile, you'd know that I had been working on Disney character albums for 2 of my boys for Christmas. They seemed to like them--especially Noah. I'm hoping that, as the boys grow, the albums will bring back lots of fun memories we made at Disneyland last year.

Anyway, here is one of the projects I managed to get done since the last time I posted. I made one for each set of grandparents for Christmas this year. I had the boys' silhouettes scanned, and, after some work in Inkscape, was able to cut them out in SCAL.
I added their names and ages with a fine (005 Micron) pen.
Thanks for looking!

Yeah, I still do that.

Craft in my spare time, that is. It's just that my spare time has dramatically decreased in the last 5 weeks. As a result, I have only had time to do this extremely simple card. It's from the Hello Kitty Greeting cartridge, cut with the card feature on. I layered the card feature with the silhouette feature on top and cut out the heart and bow. I added stickles to the heart and bow.
Nothing fancy, but I was glad to be back using my Cricut and making cards! I'm hoping to do more scrapbooking soon. I'm hoping the littlest Birdie will cooperate.
Thanks for looking!

Jacob's first month in review (picture heavy)

Well, as you might imagine, we have been very busy in the Bird Nest since the last time I posted. What a month it has been! We have had time to bond together as a family and get to know our newest little guy. We have had good times and bad...I'll let the pictures tell the story.
At 4 days old, Jacob developed a fever and (very abridged edition) had to be admitted to Northridge Hospital for 3 days. After several procedures and lots of waiting, Jacob got over his virus and we were able to take him home again. He was 1 week old when he came home for the second time.

Poor Jacob!
Our first family picture
What a handsome smile! He was a trooper in the hospital, hardly ever crying. The dr. said that even during his spinal tap, he only cried like 5 times and settled down really quickly.
Grandma and Grandpa Bird came for a visit, along with Chris and Bevy. They kept Jonah and Noah at their hotel for 2 nights while Jacob was in the hospital. This is the morning after Jacob was released--we went out to breakfast and said our goodbyes.

The following pics are Jacob's first photo shoot, at a little over 1 week old. They were taken on his due date, October 14th. I plan on taking Jacob's picture next to the stuffed dog at every month to compare his growth. Hopefully I'll remember!


I love that wrinkly skin they grow into!
Jacob's first trip to the pumpkin patch...Lombardi Ranch. We found a pumpkin we thought he would like.
The boys were extremely excited to carve pumpkins!
Jacob was my favorite little pumpkin.
Jacob after a bath. He doesn't like the bath part too much, but he LOVES getting his hair washed under the faucet. He closes his eyes and relaxes his whole body and grunts little grunts of contentment the whole time I'm washing and rinsing his hair. It's my favorite!
Jacob's first trip to Disneyland! He was 3 weeks old. It was fun to see the park all decorated for Halloween!
His first (and only) ride that day: the carousel! I'm pretty sure it was one of the most exhilarating moments of his life. He likes to live life on the wild side.
Jacob wearing his "My 1st Visit" button.
We went to San Diego and stayed with my sister and her family for Halloween. She has 4 girls and they are SUCH good girls! They always make sure Jonah and Noah have a good time, and the boys always look forward to visiting their cousins. Jonah decided to be a 'fighter-fighter' for Halloween and Noah decided to be a pirate. Jacob was all bundled up burrito-style for the night.

Well, that pretty much sums up the highlights and the low-lights of the month and brings us up to date. The rest of the pictures were taken yesterday, at Jacob's 1 month photo shoot:

Jacob and his dog-1 month
Jonah loves his little brother so, so much. I love the way Jacob is looking up at him in this picture.
The brothers
Jonah and Noah look so big compared to Jacob! Can't believe how much they have grown!