look whooo's back!

Hi there!

My 2 older kids went to sleep-away camp again this year. I missed them so much, but it was a lot easier to leave them this time around. Last year, there were heart palpitations and sleepless nights. It was no joke.

Maia and I wanted to welcome them home with something sweet, like we did with our watermelon spread last year (click!)

I used Lawn Fawn's Give A Hoot dies to create a little owl-themed party for them.

Maia rolled the alpha dies through the machine to create this sign.  She die-cut a ton of extra letters too, and kept putting them together in nonsensical combinations and asking me what they spelled. We're about ready to learn how to read, I think!



I also used the Give A Hoot dies on party banners. Such an easy, simple way to reinforce the party theme! With the extra sleepy eyes and beaks, I created some fun cupcake wrappers:



Using the heart-shaped balloon die (from Party Balloons) I created a face and wings. The sleepy eyes and beaks were colored using copic markers, and I gave the owls a pair of blushy cheeks too. Wouldn't these look so cute as winter penguins? I've put in a formal request for critter cupcake wrappers. If you think it's a good idea, go to the LF blog and tell Kelly you think so too!

I always require milk with my sweets, and an extra owl banner was the perfect milk bottle embellishment.



The kids love little party boxes. I gave them the option of filling their boxes with the trail mix or keeping them for little trinkets and treasures. Sofia was thrilled to find out the pillow boxes are the perfect size to house her little instax camera photos.



I hope you like my little owl-themed party! It was a hoot ::wink::

♥.

maia's kitty party

In early May, we hosted a kitty party for Maia. Before settling on a cat theme, she also asked for a pink lemonade party, a candy party, and an Ever After High party.  But when the kitty idea persisted for more than a week, I got to work.

Does the invitation artwork look familiar? I turned the illustrations into a stamp set for Neat and Tangled this month. You can buy it for yourself HERE.

I love that I can say I did this party from scratch, all of it. I know I won't have many more years where they will like these kinds of parties, so I am enjoying it while I can.

Here is a look at the party table:



The cake was my favorite ever.



I'd never worked with fondant before, or piped fur onto a cake, but it all turned out pretty well! We make the kitty grey, to match all of the artwork.



My tips, from a beginner to another aspiring fur piper: take breaks. Your hand will get a workout! And make sure the frosting doesn't get too warm. I had to put my piping bag in the fridge a few times so that the fur didn't look like lumps of poo.



Since I bought the little tub of fondant to make the cat ears, nose, whiskers and eyes (for the cake) I used the rest to decorate the sugar cookies. They aren't perfect, but all together in a pile they were very cute. I tinted the fondant pink and added some blush for the cheeks, whiskers and a nose.

For cupcake toppers, I bought little styrofoam balls from the dollar store, and wrapped yarn around them. I pushed a lollipop stick into each ball and displayed them on top of cupcakes.



These little mouse treats were made out of Laughing Cow cheese triangles, sliced almond ears, and little peppercorn eyes and noses. I cut slivers of green onion for the tails. They were a party favorite!



Since none of the girls had food allergies, I made peanut butter balls, and threw in chocolate chips and cranberries to make them look a little chunky, and rolled them in coconut. They tasted amazing, and we thought it was pretty funny.



For drinks, the girls could choose between these milk bottles, or some purrfect pink lemonade:

I dressed up some chevron party cups for them to drink out of:



I created my own design and cut it out with my Silhouette cutter out of grey cardstock. I then used a white gel pen to add highlights to the ears, and a pink marker for the blushy cheeks.

The girls made their own cat-shaped pizzas for lunch. 8 little girls in my kitchen had me sweating, I won't lie.

After some face painting, crafting, and pin the tail on the kitten, the girls got to take home an adopted stuffed cat, and some candy in these little milk-carton treat boxes:



I hope you liked this look at our kitty party!

♥.

jump for joy! {lawn fawn fall/winter release sneak peek week}

Hi there!

If you are a Lawn Fawn lover, you will want to check into the LF blog every single day this week! They will be showing off their entire fall/winter collection - eeek! There are adorable stamp sets, very cool dies, new inks, and all kinds of plaid papers. Everything will be for sale by the end of August, so sit tight!

I only received the products that are being shown off today, but I did make 2 cards to show you:

Jump For Joy features the cutest little critters. Isn't that hedgehog the cutest? For those of you who like a more interactive card, you can use the sliders dies to show him messing up that huge pile of leaves. Poor fox! haha. All that hard work. He doesn't look too upset.



I used a sunburst stencil behind the colorful critters, and kept everything else pretty much light and bright. I need to ease into the whole mood of fall and winter crafting! I'm still in summer mode right now.

My next card features the same fox, but also the owl from Jump For Joy, the bushel of apples from Thanks A Bushel, and a die set that I know you will all love! The Leafy Tree Backdrop dies are so perfect for building cute scenes. They will be a hit for sure.

I hope you like what I've created, but there is so much more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

Neat and Tangled release week wrap-up

Hi there!

We're at the end of the Neat and Tangled release week, which means everything is now available for purchase in the store. I can't wait to see kitties and mermaids in your projects, and it makes my day whenever I am tagged on instagram!

The winners of the Neat and Tangled giveaways are listed on the store blog HERE. I also have my own winner to announce:

Shona, you won your kitty! Email me at "mom2sofia{at}gmail.com" to claim your prize. Congratulations! I have no kitties at home, but 2 mermaids. haha. Thanks for your sweet comment.

In case you missed a post or 2 this week, here's a round-up of the projects I made with my 2 new stamp sets:

Mermazing:

Kitty's Favorite Things:

♥.

magical mermaid {neat and tangled release week}

Hi there!

It's day 4 of this month's Neat and Tangled release week. Today, we're showing off the most amazing stencils, designed by my good friend Miriam.  They are so intricate and beautiful!

I used the Pentagon Stencil to create a watery ocean layer for the mermaid (from Mermazing) to rest on. I rubbed Lawn Fawn's mermaid ink over the stencil - how's that for perfect?

I colored the fish in different colors and made them jump out of the water to frame the mermaid.



I stamped the sentiment (also from Mermazing) onto the watery stenciled layer.

I hope you like it! There's more to see on the NT blog this morning - click!

♥.

practically purrfect {neat and tangled release week}

Hi there!

Welcome back to another day of NT's July release week! I'm so thrilled by the response to Mermazing and Kitty's Favorite Things so far!

Today, I'm showing off a 3x4 set called Falling Circles.



I stamped it twice on Kraft cardstock to create a fun backdrop for my tabby kitty. I love how different the cat looks, depending on how he's colored! That mouse toy he's holding is my favorite.



Falling Circles could work well for a mermaid backdrop too, just saying. They look like bubbles!

I hope you like today's inspiration here. Click over to the Neat and Tangled blog to see even more!

♥.

ice cream truck!

Hi there,

This is my 2nd post today, if you're looking for new Neat and Tangled, scroll down or click HERE.



The ice cream truck dinging down the street is a sweet sound I have, sadly, never encountered. Instead, a few weeks after we moved into our new home last year, I heard the dinging. It was ice cream truck dinging. I got so happy. I grabbed my wallet, yelled something to the kids, and we all ran outside.

Turns out instead of ice cream, they were selling knife sharpening. The kids were so disappointed, but it was still all good for me! I took them out for ice cream afterwards. hee.

The Scoop is my favorite summer set by Avery Elle, hands down. It has a vintage charm that I love and those skinny ice cream vendors are perfect. I colored everything in red, white and blue (and only a day late!)

I created a little shaker action in the truck's window, can you see it?

I hope you like it! It was so much fun to work with this stamp set.

♥.

Supplies:
The Scoop Clear Stamps

The Scoop Ellements Dies

Burst Ellements Dies

Wonky Stitches Ellements Dies

Pierced Banner Layer Dies

mermazing + kitty's favorite things {neat and tangled release week}

Today is my big day - both of the sets that I illustrated are being shown off on the Neat and Tangled blog this morning.

First up, Mermazing! This sweet little mermaid makes me smile every time I see her. I don't always feel that way about my illustrations, haha.

I took inspiration from The Little Mermaid, and colored her to look like Ariel. Bold red hair, purple top and green tail. Her little fishy friend (from Kitty's Favorite Things) has Flounder's coloring.

I just think they are....



Mermazing. ha.

Next up, Kitty's Favorite Things. (Side note, do you know how hard it is to come up with names for stamp sets? Dude.)

I did a no-line coloring on my cat, and overlapped the banner right in front. I also used the Journaling Alpha dies to create a fuller sentiment.

ps, did you see that Jennifer Mcguire did a product release video featuring Neat and Tangled products? She loves those alpha dies and so do I! They really are the perfect size.



Back to the kitty! He can hold any of the elements found in the set: the fish, the yarn, the milk... but all soft and fuzzily colored? He suited the heart best.

I hope you like the new sets!  Leave me a comment on this blog post for a chance to win a 25$ giveaway to the Neat and Tangled Store.

And, I am also giving away my own stamp set here! Lemme know which of these stamp sets you prefer and you could win it! I'll announce the winner by Friday morning.

Thanks for stopping by! Click over to the NT blog to see more.

Hello you {neat and tangled release week}

Hello You!

It's a beautiful morning to kick things off for Neat and Tangled's July release week. Danielle's 3x4 brush lettered set, called Hello You, is perfect for sending a big, bold HELLO.

I paired it with a couple of sweet sea friends (from my new set, MERMAZING, which you'll see in full tomorrow.) Don't they look so sweet together? I die.

The card base was striped using a pale blue copic marker and a ruler (super fancy, y'all) and the greeting was stamped using Lawn Fawn's plastic flamingo ink. Go bright or go home, right?



The dies are new too! and my first time designing a stand-alone die set. The waves are so fun, and it comes with another piece you'll see tomorrow.

I hope you like what you see so far! Leave me a comment here for a chance to win a 25$ gift certificate to the Neat and Tangled store, and then pop over to the NT blog for more inspiration with today's sets!

♥.