So many birthday's and too little time to do holiday cards. I'm going to have to start making cards way ahead of time. Here's a simple card I did for my sister-in-law.

I used 3 different Cuttlebug embossing plates, Birds and Swirls, Happy Birthday and Swiss Dots. Then the Flowers, Branch and Leaves die set from Sizzix. Again I used the flower technique from Paper Pleasing Ideas. Cut, paste, add ribbon and a little jewel, and it's ready to mail.

Today is my husband's birthday and I made this card for him.

I started by layering up different colored card stock and paper. I added eyelets on the side and bottom. My husband had given me some brass scraps from a project he was working on in the garage so I glued them on. I tied a Fisherman's Knot with twine and glued it to the top. Then added a picture of a Steelhead Salmon I found. The hard part was making the Little Cleo lure.

For the lure I used the foil that sealed a can of coffee. It was thicker than regular foil and I didn't need to fold it for thickness. I then ran it through the Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing plate. I cut out the leaf that looked most like the lure. I put a pin hole at one end then tied monofilament line to it. For the hooks, I cut floral wire and bent them up then glued them to the back.

Here's a simple birthday card.

 I used card stock from The Glitter Stack as my background. The rocket, nose and tail printed on their corresponding card stock colors. Here's the template. Just right click and save image as.

 I glued on clear jewels and colored the cockpit with white crayon. Happy Birthday was printed on card stock then cut out using the Fiskars Frames Elegant template. Finally, I added a jeweled brad.

I must confess being a digital artist has it's advantages. I did use Photoshop and Illustrator to scan and draw. Since I did not want a black tail and nose, I redrew them as an outline and printed them separately on yellow card stock.