Lawnscaping blog hop - for the love of all things RED!

Welcome to another Lawnscaping Blog Hop!  Last time was so fun, we're giving it another go!

You should have come to me by way of Danielle.  

The hop runs from Friday, December 9th to Sunday, December 11th.  Make sure to comment on all of the blogs because there are lots of prizes to be won! 

 I don't know why, when the "red" theme was announced, my mind jumped to glowing red christmas lights.  I only string up the clear kind myself, but these smiley-faced-cuties look perfectly at home in red.  I stamped myself a string of lights, from lawn fawn's "cozy christmas" and then masked every single one of those lights so that I could stamp a woodgrain pattern "behind" them.  Each Christmas light was colored in red, received a bubbly coat of glossy accents, and then with a q-tip (when the glossy accents dried up), got smeared with white ink around their bottoms.  Don't they look like they're glowing?

I hope you like my hop card!

Next, head over to Cathy's blog.  If you fall off-track at any point, no worries!  Head back to the Lawnscaping blog for a full list of participants, and all the details of prizes to be won.

oh, christmas tree...

Another card we made at last night's card class:

10 gals, sitting around a large dining room table, (11, if you count the little lady who had to leave the party at 8pm) with crafting supplies flying everywhere is my idea of a great night out.  Plus, there are usually baked goods involved, so... YUM!

This card is so simple, but so elegant (in my opinion, right?  wink.)  I die-cut a christmas tree shape into a piece of cream cardstock and then embossed the negative with a woodgrain impression plate.  Using an ink-blending tool, I rubbed some antique linen distress ink over the layer, bringing out the woodgrain pattern.  Behind the cream mat, I stamped a piece of green cardstock with Marketstreet's vintage wallpaper background stamp.  The top layer was adhered to this green layer using foam squares, to show off the 3D effect.  Hanging from the kraft taffeta ribbon is a gold-embossed-tag, from PTI's holiday photo-finishers set.

I love a card that looks more complicated than it really is.

Thanks for popping by!

from the scrap pile

Do you keep a little scrap pile of stuff that didn't work on other cards?  I do!  I made the embossed-woodgrain-brayered background for last week's MIM challenge, but never got around to creating a card with it before we left for Henderson Harbor.

The cupcake image (from PTI's baby button bits) was stamped onto a bookprint and colored in with copics.  And then I never used it.

A blank mat stack shape was also in that pile.

And a strip of leftover brown cardstock, stamped with lawn fawn's "schoolhouse backdrops".

Put it all together, and I have my entry for this week's CAS-ual Fridays.  In about 10 minutes.  'Cuz sometimes, that's all the time you've got.

PTI blog hop: fabric pumpkins.

From this:

to this:

Would you believe in all of my stamp collection, this was the only pumpkin image I could find?  I guess I really don't make fall & halloween-type cards very often... *shaking head*

Apart from the chocolate brown card base and the chartreuse felt, everything else started out as a piece of white cardstock.  I also pulled a bit of blue from the inspiration photo background - the bobbin thread I chose for my zig zag stitch is light blue...

thanks for looking!


stamps: polka dot basics II, background basics: retro, woodgrain, tag its #7, vintage wallpaper (marketstreet), tiny tags (SU)
ink: memento brown + black, tangerine tango, lucky limeade (SU)
dies/punches: tiny tags punch (SU), half&half die, 1 3/4 in circle die collection (PTI)

jar-o-love

New camp week, new colors!

Vanilla, browns, and red!  I'm in my element with this one!

I actually had a clear plan for that jar and the sentiment - and was able to create this card while my older kids were doing some crafting of their own.  Sofia even made her own jar of love, but you know hers is full of glitter.  My craft table is full of glitter.  The floor is covered in glitter.  But she had fun, so I digress...

I stamped the jar and the hearts (from PTI's friendship jar and spring fillers sets) onto SU's very vanilla and colored in the hearts with copics.  The jar lid was silver-heat-embossed.  After the kraft layer was stamped with PTI's woodgrain background, I ran it through my Big Shot and cut a 2.5inch circle right into it.  On my vintage cream layer (beneath it), I stamped lines from lawn fawn's schoolhouse backdrops and created my custom sentiment using smitty's abcs.  The frame around the sentiment was created by die-cutting the pinking-edged circle (from PTI's limitless layers, 2.5in collection) and then punching a 2.5in circle in the middle.  Fun!

The whole thing was then mounted on an early espresso base (SU!), which had also been stamped with schoolhouse backdrops (the ledger image).

Thanks for looking!

Big birthday wishes

A little change of pace.

I was asked to make a birthday card for a couple celebrating their 25th birthdays together - so cute!  It had to be masculine, but feminine at the same time.  Sooo, woodgrain and big, bold numbers for him, and soft papers with stitched details for her.  Hope they liked it!

woodland party hats

Party-season is almost at its end over at casa Muni... and it's bittersweet, I won't lie.  I'll be happy to have my living room look grown-up again - without pirates, ballerinas and woodland creatures...  but at the same time, there's something magical about being a kid - and I've really enjoyed creating and celebrating these once-in-a-lifetime events.

Also adding to the nostalgia is that fact that my baby will be 1 tomorrow.  O.N.E.  I can't believe it.  The year has, at the same time, flown by and lasted forever.  The sleepless nights, the ng tube, the gagging and vomiting - those things won't be missed.  But first smiles, toothless grins, and tiny little toes?  I'm on the verge of tears over it...

Her first birthday party will be something special for us.  The celebration of our last baby turning 1, and a survival party of sorts.  I have the rest of this upcoming week to craft and plan to my heart's content, so here's a first sneak-peak at what I've made.

Homemade party hats!  I had fun with these, but they were more trouble than I initially thought when I dreamed them up.  I found a party-hat template online (there are tons of them to be googled), and just cut them out.  I stamped them with PTI's woodgrain stamps and distressed the whole thing.  The mat-stack 4 shape got a gingham imprint.  The sweet little deer (same one as from this card) was stamped and cut out (the long way - I wish there was a matching die for this little darling!)  A strip of green card-stock was fringed and fashioned into grass under the deer's feet.  hooves.  whatev.

The final, fun touch?

Soft, red-yarn pom-poms.  I love them!  If anyone is interested in how I made them, leave me a comment and I'll post a tutorial tomorrow... it's seriously easy and addictive.  I'm thinking a little garland of poms would be so cute.

Thanks for looking!

woodland frame of mind...

I think I'm in a woodland state of mind this weekend...  Slowly and steadily, things are being created for all of our upcoming birthday parties.  I got a bit tired of all the pink ballerina stuff and turned my attentions to woodland deer and all things gingham.

I don't think I'll be sending out invitations for little Maia's party - only our families will be in attendance - but if I were to make one, this is what it would look like.  So much easier to create one card than to produce 10 of the same design, lol!

Does it not set the tone for a woodland party?  I love the little twine bow in the deer's head.  My girly touch.

Thanks for looking!

Supply list  (PTI, unless otherwise noted)
stamps:  way to go, kiddo!, big birthday wishes, background basics: woodgrain, bacground basics: gingham, forest friends (SU)
papers:  kraft, vintage cream
inks:  antique linen distress ink, memento brown, old olive (SU), fresh snow
misc:  double-ended banner die, 2.5 inch circle die, copics, by the numbers dies, vintage trinket brads (SU)