petit bébé d'amour {avery elle}

Hi there!

The french-themed stork set from Avery Elle (Special Delivery) is one of my favorites from the current release. It's so cute! I had to play up the theme and add a custom sentiment:

I colored the stork's striped sweater and beret in a parisian blue, and put him against a background of die-cut clouds.

The sentiment "bébé d'amour" was created using Elle's Alphas (it's linked in the list below.) It's a term of endearment for babies, all precious and born out of love.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Special Delivery Clear Stamps

Special Delivery Elle-ments Dies

Wonky Stitches Elle-ments Dies

Elle's Alphas Clear Stamps

♥.

Harry Potter party favors

I already sneaked a picture of these little favor boxes on instagram, but I wanted to show them off a bit more here:

Sofia is turning 11, and I knew these delicate little necklaces would make the perfect pre-tween thank you gift. I found them on Amazon *here.* (I'm linking the Canadian Amazon, but I know you can find many different sellers on the dot com side. Also, the price seems to have gone up since I ordered. They were a few bucks cheaper last month!)

The packaging was so fun to make:



I used a little cube die to create the boxes. The die is by Clear and Simple Stamps, and honestly one of my favorites. It's the perfect size, doesn't use a lot of paper, and you only need a tiny bit of adhesive to hold it all together.

I then printed my tag (thanks for being a wonderful muggle!) and adhered it to close the box, to seal it closed. I also printed Hedwig and scored the bottom of his body, so that he could sit up. Super simple, but the 3D aspect really makes the packaging more special.

As you can kind of see from these pictures, I'm starting to set up our weekend party table.  I like to work really slowly. Everything is already on the table, and I'll be starting the baking later on today. No stress! This makes the process a joy for me, and hopefully also for my birthday girl!

♥.

Harry Potter party invites

Hi there!

Our family is recovered, and we're ready to put on our sorting hats and wizard party this weekend! Postponing a party is never fun, but I'm happy that all but one friend can make it for the new party date.

Leading up to the party, I thought it would be fun to share what I'm working on, starting with the invitations:



Sofia wanted a "cute" Harry Potter party, and I couldn't find an image that I really liked. The kawaii ones with the huge eyes were the only option we found, but the big eyes "are a little creepy, mom." Um, ok.

So I drew my own instead. I drew a cuddly little Hedwig and lightning-scarred Harry Potter, printed them out and colored them with copic markers. Voila! Party invitation front side.

The back holds all of the party info:



The date is obviously last week's first attempt, but we will get it right this weekend!

My Harry Potter images will probably find their way to the Etsy store sometime in the next few weeks. Party first, format images next. Yes?

♥.

you are a magical unicorn

Hi there,

I'm on the Avery Elle blog today, showing off this quirky little unicorn:

I did everything up in candy pink and bright yellow. My little Maia loved this card. It's sitting on her dresser as a piece of artwork.

I hope you like it!

♥.

Better Together: Hemptique & Neat and Tangled

Hi there!

Neat and Tangled is collaborating with Hemptique this month, with prizes to be won on the NT blog.

The nasty gastro bug is spreading in our home, so instead of giving you a full how-to on today's card, please visit the NT blog this morning to learn more about the Hemptique products I used.

Hopefully all will be back to normal soon!

♥.

for mom and dad {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Hi there!

I'm really sorry I missed yesterday's post, I was hit with a pretty nasty gastro. Blech! I'm glad I'm feeling well enough today to show you the card I missed as well as today's card.



This card shows off the Celebration Scripty Sayings stamp set, perfect for so many occasions. I stamped the foxy pair from Mom + Me (here, think more "dad + me") and mounted them onto Heart Stackables dies.

The card I missed to show you yesterday also used Mom + Me, and the Scripty Mom die. I took advantage of the negative space to highlight the word "mom."

I hope you like them both! There's more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

Donut worry... {lawn fawn inspiration week}

Hi there!

It's Lawn Fawn's April inspiration week! Today, I'm showing off the mini set, Donut Worry.

It seemed only normal to pair the donut with the coffee mug from Love You A Latte and imagine them as a hand-holding couple.

I stamped the images, added the faces, and drew in the hands and feet with a copic multiliner pen. I didn't stamp them perfectly straight so I shaded some ground beneath their feet to have it all make sense.



I hope you like it a latte!

There's more to see on the LF blog this morning - click!

♥.

Birthday cards for him and her {avery elle}

Hi there!

I have a couple of birthday cards to share today, that I created using Avery Elle products. A card for him and a card for her.

Ladies first:

I made this card for my husband to mail to his sweet sister for her birthday last week. That owl, from Woodland Wonders is my favorite! And he works so well with the birdies and banner images from Banner & Wreath.

I love AE's Best Ever stamp set - it made the card even more special to be able to stamp "sister" on it.

For the younger gents, I made this card:

DUDE.

I totally love this lanky drummer, from the Stoked stamp set. And I love that the image is large enough to cover the card-front. Stamp, die cut and done.  It's always nice to have some masculine birthday cards in my stash for when Thomas gets invited to parties!

Thanks for stopping by,

♥.

Lawn Fawn woodland party

Hey there!

I created some decorations for my niece's 1st birthday party. I'm kicking myself that I forgot to get any pictures of the actual party, but I set up a little something at home beforehand to show you the decorations for Leah's big day:

I {heart} stamping. I don't care how many dies there are on the market (and I do love and use them!) but I adore taking stamps to ink to create something one-of-a-kind. The best way to make something uniquely special, in my opinion, is to mix and match stamp sets.

Here, I've used Mom + Me, Gleeful Gardens, Hello Baby, and Party Animal to create this cute woodland scene.



My jumping-off point was the table sign I created. I originally meant it to be Leah's 1st birthday card, but one phone call from my sister changed things a little bit. ha. I used this sign as the foundation for the rest of the decor.

Once the theme was decided, it was easier to create little cupcake toppers and the cake flag. Don't you think? Once the main idea is set, everything else starts free-flowing. I used the same images and ideas, and just kept making little variations.

The bunny with the fork in his hands kills me. I love him.



I used the scalloped cupcake wrapper die for the simple grocery store cupcakes (gasp! I'm trying to watch my sugar intake, so this was the easiest way for me to resist the extra calories, hee hee.)

The red and white stripes on the party hats spilled over to the treat bags (bag, I should say. I only ended up making one because I found out there weren't any favors being handed out. Except doggy bags of MEAT. no joke. I left the party with a steak, some chicken steak and a few chicken drumsticks. best favor ever.)



I hope you like the woodland themed party I crafted with Lawn Fawn supplies! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Altenew 2nd Anniversary Blog Hop!

Hi there!

I'm so thrilled to be part of Altenew's 2nd anniversary blog hop!

I still remember when Altenew burst onto the stamping scene, and they have quickly become one of the hot companies - their style is so innovative and graphic, and it's been a pleasure to watch them continue to churn out amazing designs over the last 2 years!

I made 2 cards using the adorable set, Way Too Sweet:

For my first card, I did a little no-line coloring on the ice cream cones and colored them in fun, sherbet tones.



Once everything was colored, I inked up the entire background (ice cream cones included) with a soft brown ink, and then flicked on some of that same ink over-top. The sentiment was stamped in a crisp black ink.

I turned the cones on their heads for my second card - literally! I stamped the ice-cream cones upside down, but wiped off the ink from what would have been the top of the ice-cream. Then, I drew the melting ice-cream bottoms and faces.  They look like little snowmen, haha.

I hope you like my card!

There are some fun things happening to celebrate Altenew's 2nd anniversary:

• First 100 orders : 1 free mini stamp set (Starting right now!)
• Orders over $75 : 1 free mini stamp set (Now through Sunday, April 10, 2016)

Leave comments along the way for the opportunity to win one of THREE prize packs valued at over $100 from Altenew!

There are 8 awesome companies who are celebrating with Altenew, and they are offering the following prizes:

• Pretty Pink Posh : $30 Gift Certificate
• WOW! Embossing Powder : $30 Prize Pack
• Simon Says Stamp : $30 Gift Certificate
• Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L : $30 Prize Pack
• Ellen Hutson : $50 Gift Certificate
• Freckled Fawn : Gypsy Kit valued at $27
• My Sweet Petunia : Mini MISTI
• StampNation : Three 3 Month Subscriptions

Be sure to leave comments on each blog hop stop by Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST for a chance to win! 13 winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the hop list and will be announced on the Altenew blog on Apr 14th.

Here is a list of today's participants:

Altenew

Jennifer McGuire

Sveta Fotinia

Elena Roussakis

Pretty Pink Posh

May Sukyong Park

Iwona Palamountain

WOW! Embossing Powder

Yana Smakula

Taheerah Atchia

Svitlana Shayevich

Donna Mikasa

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!

♥.

Don't give up! {Neat and Tangled}

Hi there! I'm on the NT blog this morning, with an encouraging card featuring a mash-up of a few of our newest sets. 

The larger-scale image from Itty Bitty Welcoming Committee obviously takes center stage. I stamped the images and die-cut them, but made sure to not die-cut the bottom of the grassy area. The entire image makes up the bottom half of the card.

I added the bird on top of the blanket, and stamped the "hugs" sentiment from another new set, Better Together. 

The sentiments in Scandinavian Prints are so great for supporting the larger script. A few of them could have worked here, but I chose "don't give up." I am more than a little obsessed with that stamp set's sentiments. They are basics, but I have never seen them before in a simple font that I love!

Once everything was stamped and colored, I cut a simple circle out from another piece of white cardstock and adhered the image to it, showing a fun sunburst peeking from behind. A little reminder that the sun comes out eventually!

I hope you like what I created for you - thanks for stopping by!

♥.