monkey party decorations

A little while ago, I posted the invitations to a monkey birthday party.  Alexia's mom wanted the party to be bright & fun, but cute - perfect for an adorable 1 year old!  Here are the rest of the decorations that I created for her:

Just seeing the picture of all the decorations makes me want to bake a cake and host a party!  I took pictures of everything closer up except the banner, so squint, and take a look at it in the picture above before scrolling down :)

Food labels.  Because, when you think chicken, you really do want a monkey's face RIGHT THERE.  hee.  I did some masking after I stamped the angled label, to be able to stamp the chevron pattern over-top.  The monkey was stamped off onto scrap paper a few times, and then onto the tent card.  I carried the bow theme throughout the party, to tie into the invitation.

 Water bottle labels: they are quite possibly the cutest ones ever.  I made 20 of these, and 4 of each circle design.  The banana is showing off an "A" for Alexia...

 Thank you tags: they are a mash-up of 4 different stamp companies...  The monkey image is from SU, the monkey's bow and the banana (masked in the background) are from lawn fawn, the wavy banner and all dies are PTI, and the "thank you" sentiment is from CSS.

Keep calm and go banana: because sometimes, you just have to...

 The last thing I created were these toothpick "flags."  I thought the larger bows would be so cute, sitting in some sandwiches or cupcakes.

I hope you liked what you saw!  Have a great weekend!

bright-monster-circus-party.... what?

That's exactly what I thought when a client first emailed me asking for invitations to a "vintage circus meets neon monster halloween party."  She had seen the party I threw for Thomas, and asked if I would create something for her.  (on a side note, I love a party mash-up!  My bestie threw her daughter a polka-dot-monster-barbie party one year, and it was hysterical...)

There were some negotiations over the monster colors... since neon scares me... and I came up with these invites:

She emailed me a picture of the beautiful black and white awning that would be a main focus of the party, so I replicated that in the striped background... I cut strips of black card-stock and adhered them to my white card-stock base.   I then stamped my monster scene, and paper-pieced the 2 not-so-scary monsters to add the pop of color that would marry the monsters with the vintage circus theme...  and all of the personal party info?  Hidden in the "très circus" ticket-strip at the top:

 Once unfolded and flipped over, the guest will be able to see all the what-where-whens of the party...

I have already started creating more goodies for this party, and I can't wait to share! 

For now, have a great day!  Thanks for popping by!

It's fall, y'all!

I don't know how the weather is where you are, but when I walk my older 2 kids to their bus-stop, they are wearing fall jackets, and light mittens... Thomas asked for his scarf yesterday...

You know what that means?  It's fall, y'all!

I already made an apple pie, have already ordered a pumpkin spice latte from starbucks, and am now ready to share my simple fall decor:

you may remember this leafy-garland from last year, where it was strung up amid white-washed pumpkins... but this year, 

even though I have a white-washed pumpkin (the fake kind, that can't get moldy on me...)

 I've decided to take an earthier approach to our fall decor...

I love my comically-large acorn... the deer was hand-sewn for Maia's first birthday party, but I thought it worked perfectly here....

the deer is sitting on some cedar planks that I found on liquidation at the grocery store...

nothing says cozy like a fall-colored ball of yarn...

the view from a-top... I thought it was pretty cool!

Hope you liked this edition of my lovely little nest...  thanks for coming by.

hey sweet thing!

Sooo, I think my new favorite challenge is 1-layer cards.  If something doesn't look right, I have to start all over, instead of just figuring out what else I can slap on there (oops, did I just give away my best design secret? ha.)

This week's CSS style-watch was all about 1-layer cards.  Inspired by the cards that Amber created, I came up with this:

I started with a white card-base and layered the images as follows:

1.  I placed a strip of painter's tape all around the outside (so that my lined background would have a crisp edge.)  I pressed the tape onto my pants (ok, let's be honest since I crafted in the evening: hot pink joggers) to remove some of the tacky-ness... I wanted to make sure it didn't rip my card-stock when I pulled it up.

2.  I die-cut both the label (from the mini tri-fold 1 die) and the cake from masking paper and placed them on the front of the card.  The cake die sticks out past the tri-fold die on the sides and the bottom, so I had to have both of them on there at the same time.

3.  I stamped the lined background (from designer lines), and then, before removing the sticky-papered-die-cuts, created stitch lines all around.

4.  I then removed the sticky paper, and stamped the cake (from cake decorating).  I added the button detail to the front of the cake (love that image!) and gave the stand and the buttons a quick color with copic markers.

5. Lastly, I added the sentiment (from sweet sentiments) and glossy accents to the buttons.  I then let it dry overnight, remembering the last smear-incident that happened from handling glossed elements too quickly.

Hope you like my 1-layer card!

Until next time...

it's been awhile {CSS app}

Hi peeps!

I can't understand how quickly the weekends fly by... Mondays keep coming, even though I'm never ready for them...

There's a fun card on the CSS app today - I used some dies in a new way, to create flowers.  Click on the link to download the app to see my whole card (that was a mouthful...)

See you tomorrow, when I'll be sharing an actual.... pause for effect...card!  ha ha.  It feels like it's been awhile.

Thanks for peeking!

my sofia.... photographed.

I hope you don't mind another non-cardmaking post...  I just wanted to share my favorite photos of Sofia from a recent shoot with my bestie and favorite photog, Tanya Zaleski:

 whoops - this mama didn't realize her skirt was so short until after these pictures came in... hee hee.  But I love Tanya's dreamy pictures - shot at sunset, on the train-tracks, styled with suitcases and a map.  This tiny traveler is looking for a place to go adventuring....

Thanks for peeking!

taking a pie break.

Remember when I mentioned that Thomas' kindergarten class was going apple picking?  He brought home his bag of apples and demanded pie.... what can I say?  my kind of kid!

We made them mini-sized, and baked them in muffin tins.

If you are looking for a fantastically yummy apple pie filling recipe, then look no further.  I love this one (and I have no idea who to credit, because it's printed on a sheet of paper, and very stained, hee hee.)

Apple Pie Filling

2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp lemon juice (I usually sneak a bit more in - I love the brightness it gives the pie)
6-7 thinly sliced, peeled and cored cooking apples (granny smith is preferred in our home!)
1 tbsp cold butter
milk

Pre-heat the oven to 425 F.  Combine all ingredients, except butter and milk.  Pour into pie crust, and dot the top with butter cubes.  Cover with pie-crust-top and brush milk on top.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is golden (you may want to cover the edges with foil if you find they are browning too fast.)

 Can you guess what I had for breakfast?

mmmmmm.....

typography love.

 Have you all seen the latest CSS style watch edition?  One of my favorite things to do is find a print, and translate it to a card.... and the best kinds of prints feature lettering in the coolest ways.

Here, I took inspiration from this print, and turned it into a set of handmade cards:

 So fun, right?  Owls in 3 sizes, overlapping-slightly-translucent lettering, and a stitched speech bubble.  I have in mind that the recipient of this card set can add their own word inside the speech bubble, to convey the sentiment of their choice.

Some suggestions, you say?  You don't have to twist my arm.  

Do you know how ______________ you are:

fantastic 

beautiful

smart

loved

funny

generous

adorable

OR you could go another way (but I wouldn't recommend it, hee hee):

old

obnoxious

obtuse

gullible

dumb

nerdy

See? the possibilities are endless *wink*.

So, what word would you put into the speech bubble?

Supplies
stamps: (all CSS) taglines: critters, little critters, alpha duo
ink: fresh inks: pool, mango, pear, chamomile, hero arts' soft brown
paper: pti grid cartstock, kraft, su: chocolate chip

lawnscaping: the texty challenge.

Good Monday morning!

This week was non-stop, and not sleepy enough, but what do you know?  Monday came anyways ;)

And with that, a new lawnscaping challenge!  This one: to incorporate text into your project.

 I went a little overboard with the textiness, hee hee.  I grabbed a sheet of PTI "dearest jane" patterned paper, and stamped images from lawn fawn's "sunny skies," "a birdie told me," and "gnome sweet gnome" over-top.  I colored the images in with copics and outlined each one with a light grey marker, to give some definition to the images without losing the translucent effect of having stamped them onto the text paper.

The speech bubble was stamped again onto white cardstock (with a hero arts sentiment inside, from "my happy") and then cut out and propped up on foam squares.

The focal panel was sewn onto a piece of kraft cardstock and both layers were adhered to a white card-base.

I hope you play along - there's a lawn fawn prize up for grabs:

Have a great monday, all!

a fall gift... {saturday creations}

The weather has suddenly begun to turn colder... I'm snuggling into a sweater when I walk outside, sipping hot tea in the afternoons, and we'll be baking an apple pie with the pickins' from Thomas' school outing...

I love the fall.  It is all-too-brief a season, but it is so sweet.

What better way to celebrate it, than with a simple handmade gift?  This hand-knitted (by me!) scarf will be going to my Sofia when the weather takes an even cooler turn... and I couldn't help but dress it up with an equally sweet & simple tag. 

I used the amazing ink splotch image from Precious Remembrance's "positive thoughts" set, and stamped "enjoy" and the heart image from their calendar set.  

I hope you like it!  Thanks for popping by!

how goes it? {CSS app}

Hi friends!

I have a cute rag-doll-Jake card on the CSS app today.  If you're interested in downloading the app, click on the picture to be taken directly to the app store!

I'll be posting again in just a few hours - see you soon!

the little monkey is turning 1.

I just handed off these sweet monkey-themed 1st birthday invitations.

I was asked to create a "bright, rainbow-themed monkey party invitation."  Chevrons, in a rainbow of colors, made for a fresh and trendy invite base.  And what's cuter than a monkey, paired next to a hilariously-scaled-smiley-faced banana?  

Since their little monkey is a girl, this little monkey was dressed up with a fancy red bow.

 I hope you like these invites!  There will be more to share in just a few weeks, when I complete the rest of this girly monkey party kit!

Supplies
stamps: fox & friends (SU), silly valentine (lawn fawn), bb: chevron stripes, bells & boughs (both PTI)
ink: memento brown, red currant, celery, chamomile, pool (fresh inks)
dies: card base-ics #2, 1.75 inch circle die collection, bells & boughs die (all PTI)

MIM #82: cut your stamps

Hi all!

This week's MIM is about having the guts to take scissors to your stamps to make them more versatile.  Truth is, I'm a ballsy kind of gal, so I've been doing this for awhile :)

 This isn't the most creative stamp-cutting, I know, but here's what I did:

1. cut off the colon after the "you are" - I actually did this awhile ago, since I don't scrapbook or need journaling kind of sentiments.

2. cut up the "I just love you" to isolate the just.  The downside of having done this is that the "I" is possibly the tiniest stamp I now own, and will likely get lost at some point... but, I made it work for what I needed.  I like the bulk of having more words across the banner front :)

Other card deets:  I used other dies and images from PTI's fabulous frames set.  That solid banner image alone made the purchase worthwhile...  I mounted my focal images onto a sheet of Lawn Fawn patterned paper (the "dewey decimal" pack.)  To finish off the card, I die-cut an apple (PTI die) and colored the stem and little dot with a copic marker.  (I thought coloring myself a little dot to make it look like the apples in the patterned paper was a cute touch!)

This card was inspired by the fact that my son is going apple-picking with his kindergarten class on Friday... bring on the FALL!  I see some pies in our weekend future. yum, yum!