Paper Hoarders: Birthday Challenge (and other things)

So... this summer is going by oh-so-quickly already. We just ended school June 5/6 (two different days for two different grade levels... ugh!) and am already looking at the omgosh-we-only-have-a-month-and-a-half-almost panic attack. I had "planned" on getting so much done this summer. YIKES!!!!

On Friday, we (at Paper Hoarders) did a challenge. It was an "optional" challenge, as it was extremely emotional for our head Paper Hoarder, as you can see HERE.  She has a couple of posts, on from Friday (June 22) and one from Sunday (June 24), so you can follow her emotional journey and leave her some love. (There might be more later, so keep checking the initial "HERE" link.) We love you, Tanya!

I wasn't able to post on Friday, or Saturday... was too pooped on Sunday and Monday, so here I am on Monday Tuesday, finally doing this post. Well... I forgot to take pics as I went along... and even forgot to take pics when I was done, so... I had the recipient's mom (Lebanie's mom, Menissa... lol!) text me a pic. Please be forgiving.

Here we go... Birthday Challenge! It was Lebanie's 9th birthday party... the at a skating rink! (How fun is that!) The theme - 80's. ok, so... I didn't have an 80's outfit, and neither did my daughter, because the universe knows that stuff wouldn't FIT me now I threw it all out a long time ago... But, I did make a quick card - I was lucky I found a Boom Box (Radio) on Cricut Alphabet on the NEW Cricut Expression 2! (and if any of ya'll know how to link the carts pre-loaded on the machines to the Gypsy, please let me know!)  With touches of silver and black glitter glues and some retro-styling puffy purple embossing, I hope she had a Boomin' time!

We had a blast, and NO! I'm not sore. Hahaha! And yes... I did skate. I think I just forgot how to stop and used the padded walls for that purpose.

Onward and upward... I also had a grad party to go to. Unfortunately, I had created a post for another grad party (the card I'd made anyway) and can't seem to find it here (must've been so tired that I deleted instead of published. Ugh!). So... I'll post both cards.

Yesenia (Yessie) was good enough to graduate from University with her teaching credentials (WTG, Yesenia!!!). And so... I made this little card for her. She's got naturally curly hair, a light olive complexion, and eyes that sparkle. (I try really hard to match the grad gown, cap, school colors and person's look, ya know?) So... I embossed the Peachy Keen-stamped face in clear (to add the sparkle), dry embossed her long locks, and gold-embossed the year on the tassel. Woohoo! And we partied, too!

Earlier in the month, I went to Danielle's grad party. this was her card:

Her hair's a little shorter, than Yessie's, so I didn't need to elongate the coif. And of course, the gowns/caps were different colors (representing the schools), so yeah... you've got it.

Both cards were made using Everyday Paper Dolls. The tassels? uh... ordinary curling ribbon.

Both ladies had personalized gifts, as well... Yessie (Jessie, as her friends/family call her...) even took pics and posted some of them on Facebook! lol! Ok, so the cookie-decorating kinda sucked, as I was being completely lazy and piped outta Ziplocs instead of real piping bags and tips. EEK! But, I love that I now have this fabby cookie stamp from Williams-Sonoma to do ALL KINDS OF THINGS WITH for now on. (Lebanie also got Message-in-a-Cookie(s) only hers said things to the way of "happy birthday".)

I always prefer personalization, because it's... just so much more personal. Love you all! Congrats and Happy Birthdays all around. Glad you're here and thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what YOU'VE done to make that gift/card more special.