Boy Birthday Cards

Over the past two years, Nathan's been attending a huge number of birthday parties. A majority of those are for boys and I've been having a really hard time finding inspiration for boy birthday cards.

Most of the time, I'll try to make something that relates to the party theme or the boy's personality. However, when I don't know the child or theme, I find it hard to find examples of masculine cards that don't look overly lumberjack-y or dark. I just want to make a happy-looking card without it looking too girly!

I threw this card together for the last party Nathan went to (for a 9-year-old boy) and I like how it turned out. The enamel dots add a splash of colour and I think it's just enough to make it look happy. This card also looks generic enough to use for both boys and girls, and would probably work for adults as well as children.

This might be a good card to make a few extra of, to have on hand for the next few birthdays.

Ninja Themed Gift Set

As promised, here's the ninja themed gift we gave to Nathan's friend who turned 5 recently!

Ninja face card + ninja star reverse appliqué t-shirt* = awesome gift for a little ninja


*I must mention that Andrew helped me design the template for this ninja star.

Ninja Card

Ninjas are making a come-back in our house.

I made this card for Nathan's little buddy who's having a ninja-themed birthday party this weekend.

I don't have a Silhouette or any other die-cutting machine (though the deal over at Studio Calico is really tempting me) so I drew and cut the pieces of this ninja card all by hand.

Hope he likes it!

Sunburst Birthday Card

I quickly put together a simple birthday card for one of Nathan's friends over the weekend.

My original idea was just to use the SC/HA sunburst stamp but somehow I ended up making my own sunburst and piecing it together. 

This starburst design isn't difficult to make; it's just time-consuming to put together. But it's been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and make something so I guess I was just making up for lost time.

I forget how I came up with this colour combination, but I wanted something girly but not over-the-top girly.

And this is the one time I'm thankful that Nathan gets invited to so many girl birthday parties: I finally have a use for all the girly embellishments!

I think I've said 'girly' enough for one post.

Birthday Banners

The sun peeked through just long enough today for Nathan's friend's birthday party.

I had completely forgot about the party until late last night and didn't get to make her birthday card until this morning.


I was feeling a little crappy this morning being all rushed and unprepared with the card not made and gifts not wrapped. But when the birthday girl opened her presents and the two gifts Nathan gave her were the only ones she wanted to open and play with right away, it made me feel better. God always knows just what my heart needs, when I need it.

While we were at the party, Nathan got invited to another little girl's birthday party tomorrow. I'll probably make a similar card for her.

And it's a good thing I bought a spare beading set just in case.

SC CHAllenge - Hi Card

Studio Calico has a bunch of CHAllenges up and I thought I might participate to get my creative juices flowing again.

Here's a card I made for Dawn and Susan's challenges:


Dawn's challenge - use die-cut washi tape
Susan's challenge - use at least 4 punches on a card

I had a lot of fun covering punched out shapes with washi tape. It got a little addicting!

Andrew's 24th Birthday Card

I got the idea for Andrew's birthday card from KP's card here but I wanted something that was a little less bright and colourful, so I went with a neutral, tone-on-tone look.


All the larger numbers on the card represent significant dates in our family and the smaller numbers were used to fill in the gaps. I hand-drew the 24 because I was having such a hard time finding the perfect fonts/stamps.