you stole my heart.

To kick off the long weekend, here's a card that was glanced over for publication:

I used my favorite CSS set, "taglines: critters," and the PTI take 3 die (which I turned into a take 6....), as well as the hero arts houndstooth background.

Hope you enjoy a fantastic labour day weekend!

crafty break: 1st day of school.

The first day of school. 

This little missy is treating it like she's been around the block a year or two...  she packed her backpack, helped to put her lunch together, and chose her outfit the night before.  There was a test run in the clothes, and some preening in front of the bathroom mirror.  She was edible.

Sofia has also been full of advice for Thomas, who will be (for the first time) spending all of his weekdays out of the house: where to sit on the bus, how to ask for a bathroom break in french,  and what to do to make new friends.  I've so loved listening to their little conversations in the last few weeks.  Her confidence has translated into reassurance and encouragement for Thomas, and for me too.

Even Maia will be starting preschool a few mornings a week.  All I can think to say is to offer a fat "good luck" to her teacher. ha ha.  She is such a funny kid, and full of affection when you get to know her, but she doesn't make it easy.  As soon as there is mention of "school," she starts yelling "I don't want to go school!"

I think she's yelling it in this picture, actually.  You can see the "sch" syllable coming out of that little mouth!

Oh, Jesus, watch over my tiny loves this year...

My mommy heart is excited and in knots all at once.  

Tiffany's-inspired.

Hi friends!

I was recently asked to create decor for a "Tiffany's-inspired baby shower...."

Obviously, immediately, I thought of those perfect boxes with the white bows... and that lettering!

White paper bows, a bit of bling, and that signature blue...

The banner reads "baby & co." and the tags are printed "with love, baby & co." - it's cuteness-overload :)

And here's your shopping guide:  I cut the bows with this die.  I used this frame stamp and matching die.  I used this border, cut apart, for the "bling."

Thanks for peeking!

lawn fawn winner!

Hi peeps,

I think I'm going through a slight crafty drought, but thought I would pop in to share some very exciting news:  I won the big Lawn Fawn August contest!

This is the card that caught their eye:

(You can click *here* to see the original post.)

The happy-dancing reached near-embarrassing levels last night when I read Kelly Marie's email (if you ever saw me dance, you'd understand the "embarrassing" part, hee hee.)

That's all she wrote for today!  I will try to share a few other not-yet-blogged projects with you in the next few days... you know... just to feel like I'm connecting with you all *smiles.*

Saturday creations: just a note.

 I'm back with my last Precious Remembrance: Saturday Creations post of the month.  I hope you've enjoyed them!

Today, I've used the positive thoughts and calendar stamp sets to create a card with movement (I'm entering it into the moxie fab world movement challenge.)

I started out with a vintage cream card-base, and used a doily die to cut into some basic grey patterned paper.  I positioned the paper onto my die so that the hot-air-balloon would be at the top.  Then, I created a flurry of hearts floating down towards my sentiment.  Can you see on the folded edges that I stamped the backs of the hearts too?

The hearts were all stamped onto a sheet of vintage cream, and cut out with a border around the stamped image.  After all of my hearts were cut out, I flipped them over and stamped the back.  This allowed me to fold down some of the edges and still see pink ink.  That extra little detail is what makes the card for me...

Thanks for peeking!

black & white damask decorations.

I've been tinkering a little with the blog design... it will be a work in progress, but I hope you like what you see so far.  The tabs at the top will help everything look a little cleaner on the main page, and will (eventually, when I sort through everything) help you to find specific posts faster... and what do you think of the new blog header?  Being so computer-challenged, I was quite proud of myself :)  I even managed to create a matching watermark for my pictures!

A client of mine is getting married next weekend, and asked me to create decorations for her reception's sweet table.  In keeping with her black & white damask theme, I created banners, candy labels, a table sign, and a ruffled banner.

Thanks for peeking!

crafty touches for a birthday gift.

Yeah, I didn't have time to make a card for today, so you get to see what we gifted my "love machine hubby" with yesterday :)

What do you do when the prezzie your man wanted still isn't available for his big day?  (it's not a rhetorical question.  You grab your 3 kids, go to walmart, and ask them what they'd like to put into a box for daddy.)

Sooo, we ended up with a bag of doritos, a can of ice-tea, a gigantic calculator (it's hidden in the back), a chocolate bar, and a movie (I chose that one.)  

When we got home, we set out to make his gift-box a little more special.

I set the kids loose on sheets of cardstock, with a variety of circle punches.  I love all the badly-punched shapes, hee hee.  

Every man needs a party hat.... this one was upcycled from a previous project (read: a 1-year-old's birthday party.  Rip off the circus picture, die-cut a few birthday numbers, and voila! The old becomes age-appropriate...)

And what better to go with that cool, refreshing drink than a mustached-stripey-straw? (also lifted from a child's birthday party... and now you are starting to understand how little time I had... ha!)

In the end, all of the crafty touches were perfect for this grown-up-party-boy.  The kids insisted he wear his hat first thing in the morning, as they threw the confetti on him:

Thanks for peeking!

he's just a love machine...

Today is my (own private) love machine's 34th birthday!

So, of course, I made him this card:

hee hee.

supplies:
stamps: hero arts happy background, paper smooches "squeaky clean," pti "fabulous frames"
ink: memento black, impress red currant, pti fresh snow, copics
paper: kraft, white (both from pti), basic grey (su), basic grey patterned paper
other: 1.75 inch circle die collection and fabulous frames dies (pti), glossy accents, sewing machine

Lawnscaping challenge #40: diy patterned paper

Time for another lawnscaping challenge!  We're challenging you to DIY your own patterned paper.  I used blissful botanicals to create my patterned paper:

 I stamped them, colored in the flowers and the white space around them, then stamped the subtle background stamp over top.  I didn't want to hide very much of the paper, so I die-cut a favor flag and stamped the flag frame and lawn fawn sentiment into the opening.  A strip of washi-tape, slung over the spine of the card, finished it all off.

So stamp yourself some patterned paper and use it on your project!  This week's sponsor is none other than Lawn Fawn :)

Hope you decide to play along!

Clear and Simple Stamps: favor flags {app}

A brand new card on the app this morning - and here's a sneak peek for you:

Click on the picture to be swept away to the app store.  Download it for your iphone or ipad and check out the entire card (and an all-new CSS card everyday!)

That's all she wrote for today, folks.  Hope you have an insanely fun weekend.  I'm about to get my face painted today.  And maybe illegally bounce around in some inflatable castles... or maybe I'll just leave that to the kids.  And the hot-dog eating... definitely going to leave that one for just the kids *wink*  

MIM #78

The MIM challenge for this week: stamp and stitch on die-cuts.  (This definitely took longer than the 10-minute craft dash from yesterday *wink*)

 I cut my own sunburst pattern out of different patterned papers, and stitched each one on the machine.  If you didn't believe me that I'm no sewing expert, go ahead and click on the picture to take a closer look.  Oh yeah, there are the not-so-cute-but-pretend-it's-just-the-homespun-look edges. Hee.

Once the papers were in place, I die-cut a 1 and 3/4 inch circle and a coordinating medallion for the back (in kraft paper, but it looks mauve to me in the pictures... oh well.)

I stamped the circle frame from one of the "Tag its" sets, and stitched around the inside of that frame with yellow embroidery thread.

To finish off the card, I die-cut 5 butterflies (from the "love lives here" die collection) and stitched them together in the same yellow thread.

The "smile" sentiment is from Precious Remembrance.

Thanks for peeking!

The 10 minute craft dash!

The very sweet Paulina asked if I would like to be part of a new challenge: the 10 minute craft dash.  My first thought was: does she know how long it takes me to make a card?  I am a slooooooooow crafter.  When I write things like: this only took me 20 minutes, it's because I have surprised myself with my quickness :)  But 10 minutes to make a card is no joke.  I felt like I was on an episode of craft wars... but without Tori Spelling in my room, thank goodness.

I gathered all of my supplies, had a clear picture of what I wanted to do (because, how do you whip up a card in 10 minutes if you have no plan) and came up with this:

A water-colored koala (from lawn fawn's "critters down under") was the quickest way to go, I promise.  Here is how I managed this card within 11 minutes (eeep, I couldn't even finish on time, ha ha):

minute 1: stamp koala image and the sentiment (from paper smooches) in versafine onyx black ink onto white cardstock.

minute 2: create card base, while black ink dries slightly.  Ready the aqua painter (a watercolor brush with a  built-in water-barrel - mine is from SU)

minutes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: with all the inks spread out, watercolor.  No time for shading!  The watercolor brush is so quick - I keep a paper towel to the side, and simply brush the color away when I want to move on to the next one.

minute 8: grab a yellow water-color crayon, and, using the same aqua-painter, flick splatters onto the cardstock.

minute 9: emboss white cardstock with PTI's linen & canvas impression plate.  Never mind that the cardstock is still a bit wet from the painting - it actually helps create a deeper impression.

minute 10: use a liquid glue to secure the koala mat to the card-base.  Press down everywhere, since the card-stock is still a bit warped and wet (hee hee).  When everything is adhered, it looks just perfect.

minute 11: make a bonus, last minute decision to tie on some white yarn that was left out from a previous project.

The adrenaline was pumping, but I got 'er done :)

I hope you play along!  You have until August 25th, and there is a sweet twiney prize up for grabs:

Check out Paulina's blog for more details and a complete list of participants!

Clear and Simple Stamps: white out challenge.

There is something so chic about all white... just look at a bride on her wedding day... glorious! And all-white-parties are supposed to be the height of all things glamorous (or is that just what Diddy wanted us to think...)

In any case, with all-white, you have to rely on textures and layers to create that show-stopping look.  From the catwalk, to the score-board, here's my take:

I scored, I die-cut, I embossed... and I conquered.  Oh yeah.

I used my scoreboard to create the horizontal lines on the top half of my card.  Then, I cut 2 differently-sized favor flags.  On the wider one, I adhered a strip of score-tape onto each side and then gussied it up with glitter.  Even an all-white card can use some bling, am I right?  On the thinner flag, I white-heat-embossed a pattern from background basics 2 for another layer of shine.  A few buttons (one tucked in under the layered flags and one over) added even more clustered interest to the top of the card. 

The bottom half of the card got the die-cut treatment.  Sticking the individual letters (from the uppercase alphabet dies) onto a strip of barely tacky painter's tape ensured that the letters were evenly spaced both times.  After running my fancy french thank yous through the die-cutter, I added a piece of vellum to the inside of the card, giving a sleek, translucent effect.

I hope you like my all white card!  Click the links below to be inspired by more all white chic-ness:

Lori

Jaclyn

Kim

Tracy

Dana

Laurie

Jennifer

Laura

Suzanne

CSS  

missing you: PDCC #144

I am squeezing in an entry for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge:

And here's my card:

I layered PTI's distressed stripes on the card base in pink and yellow, with a peach doily, some patterned papers, and a CSS ragdoll (colored in bubblegum shades to meet the challenge.)

Hope you like it!

Precious Remembrance: summer journals

***this is my second post of the day.  Scroll down or click *here* to check out my CSS camping party - complete with a full dessert table!***


I'm back with another Saturday Creations post, this time, highlighting the Precious Remembrance "calendar stamp set."

With the beginning of school in sight, I thought I'd create little journals for the kids to be able to look back at all the fun things we did together this summer.

The construction of the journals is as simple as can be: a card-sized piece of cardstock, with computer papers stacked inside, and a sewn spine.

On the cover, I used the hero arts "cloud background" and stamped "our" and "adventures 2012" from the Precious Remembrance set, and the rest using lawn fawn's "smitty's abcs" set.

Inside, I stamped a few journaling lines for the kids to record their thoughts, and left plenty of white space for pictures.

Sofia drew herself on the hotel bed in Plattsburg, with her new Squinkies set - I love it :)

On the last page, I stamped out "the end" using Clear and Simple Stamps' "alpha duo" set.  And the calendars, from the Precious Remembrance set, so the kids could highlight their special days.

I hope you like my summer adventure journals!  The kids had so much fun filling them out, and I loved seeing what stood out to them... like, who knew that pushing buttons in the hotel elevator was one of the highlights of Thomas' summer?  HA.

Clear and Simple Stamps: camping party

Sigh.

Parties just make me happy, especially when they look so nice :)  Lemme walk you through this one...

First up, the invitation.  It features the new CSS set, Party Elements: Celebration.  I stamped the invitation headings, and added the info by hand.  Speaking of "by hand" - I drew the tents you see scattered throughout the party.  Simple, simple, but effective if you don't have exactly what you're looking for in your stamp collection.  The red banner is also from the new set, and the number 4 comes from Cake Decorating Too.  I used the cupcake-wrapper-as grass again, and added some starry skies patterned paper.

 The same elements were repeated on the banner (which spelled out the birthday boy's name inside "tent" triangles), as well as on the dessert labels, and on the favor boxes.  The repetition helped create a more polished and pulled-together look.  To mimic the starry night sky patterned paper, I die-cut silver stars and ran them through my sewing machine.  My sister and I twirled the starry banner around twigs that we propped up against our stained-wood-backdrop (amazing, what you can find to stage a party in your own garage, hee hee.)

I created cupcake toppers, using the smaller cupcake wrapper die, and the favor flags stamp set and dies.  They sat atop delicious nutella cupcakes with a vanilla/chocolate swirled icing (click *here* for the link - it was so easy to do and looks so great!)

Also on the dessert table: s'mores on a stick...

orange homemade chocolates...

rustic-looking chocolate rice krispie squares...

and, my sister's show-stopping s'mores ice cream cake (with a brownie-bottom.  I can't even tell you how yummy it was):

Finally, I created favor boxes for the guests to take "s'more" sweets home.  I die-cut two party favor 3 boxes and stuck them together.  Before adhering them, I cut a longer piece of cardstock and punched an oval handle at the top.

Each box was filled with the fixings for homemade s'mores: cello bags filled with graham crackers and marshmallows, and a hershey's chocolate bar.

I hope you've enjoyed a peek at Lucas' camping party!  The other designers have party ensembles of their own to show off, so be sure to check out the Clear and Simple Stamps blog for all the links.

And please, whatever you do...

don't feed the bears.

Thank you.