Buttons, Cord, Wire, Oh My!

I have been drooling over this designer paper for weeks now!! I just haven't had time to play. It's from Making Memories and I bought 2 different packs of 6x6. It's so pretty and coordinates with all of my cardstock so nicely!! For this I pulled together Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate and Kraft cardstock. I used the celery as the card base, followed by the turquoise blue polka dots, followed by the PP, then the flowery DP.

I wasn't sure what to do and I didn't want to cover up all of that gorgeous paper! So I created almost the reverse matte on the right hand side, embellished with bows, buttons, gold cord and floral wire (inside the tiny button).

This is one of many designs that I've created for a gift pack for a friend of mine to give to her Mother.

I can't wait for her to see it!!

I hope that everyone is having a creative Monday!!

Great Finds!!

www.actionenvelope.com

Check it out. Amazing solid color cardstock, paper and matching envelopes. Easy and super user friendly website, speedy shipping, good prices and great customer service.

All That Glitters...

I made these frames to match the invitations that I made here! The party theme is 'Going To The Movies'. I first covered the frame in silver cardstock (I traced the frame onto the cardstock and then used my paper trimmer to cut the center out) I then took black cardstock and did the same cutting and then used the border punch to create the edges so that they look like a film strip. I took silver and SU!'S Regal Rose cardstock and cut multiple circles and stars in a variety of sizes using my Cricut. I then coated the shapes with Elmer's glue and then dipped each one into it's corresponding glitter. I adhered the shapes onto the frame in a whimsical pattern using pop-dots.

Hopefully they'll be able to get a great picture of the birthday girl and her friends to pop into these adorable and Hollywood-esque frame!!

I hope that everyone is having a great and creative weekend!

I Love Networking!

My darling blogger friend (and considered real life friend) Melissa very kindly posted a picture of the moving announcements that she commissioned me to create for her and her family. From that I received another order for moving announcements.

I was so excited!! (Thanks Melissa for the plug!! ;) Networking is everything in this type of business!!

My guidelines were that the family loves music and is moving to an area of the country where music reigns, stick with earth tones - blues, cream, and chocolates. So with my Cricut...the possibilities are ENDLESS!

I had purchased some of the Love, Elsie Roxie Bands paper from EP specifically for this project as well as some new Heidi Grace blue/green/ivory paisley paper.

I went to my cardstock stash (which is getting freakishly low!). I pulled out all SU! Kraft, Very Vanilla, Soft Sky, River Rock, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. I started with Kraft, followed by Very Vanilla, followed by Old Olive, followed by the Heidi Grace paper. I then used my Cricut (My Community cartridge) to cut out the fence in the appropriate sizing using Certainly Celery.

I then used my Cricut (Locker Talk cartridge) to cut out the music notes on the staff paper - which is the back side of the Roxie Bands paper. I also used some tiny Making Memory flower brads as the "hinges" on the gate. I used SU! 5/8" chocolate grosgrain ribbon as a sweet embellishment on one of the fence posts. I adhered some of the music notes on the fence to look as though they were drifting through the air as though music were being played somewhere off in the distance at their new house! ;)

I created a luggage tag (to coordinate along with the moving theme) that slips behind the gate that contains the family information. I have photos of this but I will take one with the information not showing for privacy reasons and post that in a bit as an addendum.

The tag is made with SU! River Rock and Soft Sky. I used my little slot punch at the top and ran some River Rock double stitch ribbon through the top and adhered them together so it lays flat. The information is printed in chocolate brown and I also have music notes floating on the tag. The other thing that I did with the music notes is give them a tiny bit of sparkle (considering they are only black and white) by doodling on them with my clear Sakura gel pen.

+++++++++++ADDENDUM+++++++++++++ (for some reason the way the light is right now I had a hard time getting a really great photo. But here's the tag. The white is just covering up the family information for privacy reasons.

I've already gotten the thumbs up approval for these as I sent her a picture last night. I'm so thrilled that she likes them! They are SO fun to make!!

Pink and Black!

A customer contacted me regarding this post and I worked with her to create a stunning gift pack for a 13 year old's Bat Mitzvah. The theme colors are pink and black. My customer decided on a pack of monogrammed formal cards, a picture frame, a mini-journal, and a ribbon bookmark! I created a pen to match the journal as well!

I started with the cards as once the design for those was done I planned to use that as a jumping off point for the rest of the items.

I used Regal Rose as the main pink - not too light, not too dark and not too bright. It's one of my regular 'go-to' pinks.

I found this GORGEOUS black paper with silver, sparkly swirls at ACM.

For the cards:

I paired the RR (SU!) and Black (The Paper Place brand) swirls with Whisper White (SU!). I matted them all grading down 1/4" in size. I used SU! 5/8" grosgrain ribbon tide in a simple knot (left over right, right over left). For her monogram I used my - what else? Cricut! and cut out the "r" in lower case bubbly letter style (Plantin Cartridge). I then used the Doodlecharms Cartridge to cut out the scalloped heart that I attached her monogram to. I used my clear Sakura pen to doodle sparkly dots on the monogram. I attached the heart charms to the RR ribbon with the SU! silver, elastic cord that was from the holiday mini. These cards are blank inside.

I think the frame is my favorite!! It's a 4x6 frame that I covered in the matching black, sparkly paper. I also used my Cricut (Accent Essentials cartridge) to mat a secondary frame on top of the black sparkly paper. I then used Mod Podge on the entire frame to set it and make it extra sturdy. The other thing the MP does to this black paper is really give it some shine!! It almost looks like I covered the frame in black patent leather...which is my FAVORITE!! I punched out some of the sparkly circles and adhered them onto the frame once the MP dried (which only took about 15 minutes). I then cut out several mis-matched yet matching scalloped hearts to layer them together to put the monogram on as well. I also doodled with my Sakura pen to give the monogram some extra sparkle. I used black and pink ribbons on the right hand side for some added dimension! I can't wait to make one of these for my daughter!! ;)

The journal is just so fun!! It's small enough to throw in the receipients purse or school bag to jot down anything from homework assignments, notes, email addresses..etc. The possibilities are endless! Using the same color scheme I layered the notebook in similar papers as the cards and frame and then layered again with the black, sparkly paper. I used my Doodlecharms Cricut cartridge to cut out stars to layer on the front with the monogram.

The ribbon bookmark is one of my signature pieces. Super fun to make and so fun to use!!! On the inside of the pen is a small piece of the sparkly, black paper with a few pieces of matching ribbon on the cap.

I hope this gift is enjoyed as much as I enjoyed making it!!

Monogrammed!

One of my greatest supporters and dear friend asked me to whip up a set of monogrammed notecards for a gift for her neighbor. The recipient likes blues so I used this new sparkly, embossed paper from Heidi Grace that I got at EP and paired it with my favorite SU! color...Bashful Blue. I used SU! Very Vanilla as my compliment color. I used my Cricut to cut the monogram 'K' as well as the circle. (i can now cut circles in 1/4" increments from 1/4" all the way up to 9"...so awesome!!) I ran my SU! BB ink pad roughly around the circle and the 'k' to give it more dimension. I initially used some greeny/blue Stickles as a dot inside the 'k' but it was taking too long to dry so I removed it and just doodled on the 'k' with my new, clear Sakura gel pen.

I delivered them to my friend yesterday and she LOVED them!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative day!!

Happy Birthday!

It just so happens that tomorrow (Wednesday) is both my friend Alison and my friend Christina's birthdays!!

I'm posting lots of skewed views of the card because I know that Al reads faithfully and I don't want her to see the entire card full view until we go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. I used SU! Pretty In Pink and River Rock cardstock. DP is from EP from Basic Grey (surprise, surprise! - it's a "go to" for me) as well as some new Heidi Grace DP. I used my Cricut to cut out the paisley shapes and then I doodled on them with my new clear Sakura pen. I LOVE how they came out...and honestly...SO fast!! The thing that so far I love most about my Cricut is that it makes SUCH an impact on my work with minimal fuss. It's just fabulous.

Alison and I met a long, long, long time ago when I used to work outside of the house. I can't really describe our connection. We come from polar opposite upbringings yet we are one brain connected. It's uncanny how we think alike and how we believe a lot of the same things. I love her more and more every single day. She's an Auntie to my children...I was one of the MOH's in her wedding...I see her just about weekly and talk almost daily. She's sensitive, caring, sweet, loving and a great friend/sister. I wouldn't know what I'd do without her. Oh and I also love her darling hubby as well ;)

Christina and I met in baby yoga when our first babies were only 4ish months old. We are opposites in personalities (she's Type A and I'm just the opposite) but we get along so well and I love her more than I think she knows. She's smart, funny, creative and a great Mumma. Life has brought us lots of scheduling challenges lately so I, unfortunately, don't get to see her as much as we used to or as much as we'd like but we're working on it!! Her girls are gorgeous and so fun and my kids love playing with them. I also love her darling hubby =).

So happy birthday to 2 of my wonderful girlfriends who make me a better woman and Mother every single day because they are in my life.

Goin' To The Movies!

A customer of mine asked me to design birthday party invitations, favors and thank you notes for her daughter's upcoming 10th birthday. They are going to the movies with a bunch of her girlfriends. I used this punch to come up with the borders on the sides to resemble a film strip.

I made 2 samples for her to review. One simple and one a bit more fluffy. I used my Cricut to cut out the star shapes. (that thing ROCKS!) I cut 20 stars in a matter of about 45 seconds. Amazing. And it's so much easier for my hands than using a tough punch on heavy, silver cardstock!! The birthday girls favorite color is hot pink so on the more simple of the two I used SU! pixie pink, whisper white and basic black. On the other sample, I used SU! pretty in pink with the same complimentary colors along with some pink, leopard paper from Me&My Big Ideas.

We'll see which one she likes best!! I'll then get to designing the favors and thank you notes.

I hope that everyone is having a very creative beginning of the week!

Cricut? Where have you BEEN all of my crafting life???

All I have to say is WOW. Seriously...WOW. I don't even know WHY (besides the cost) I haven't ever seriously considered purchasing this thing until now. It made the job of cutting intricate shapes in all kinds of sizes a total breeze. My poor, poor punches are going to collect lots of dust now that I have this handy, all purpose cutting buddy! (I sound like an infomercial...I know) But it is really awesome.

I'm hosting a baby shower for my darling friend Jen today. She's due ANY MINUTE now and this is a rescheduled date from what should have been 3 weeks ago but we were all sick so we had to postpone.

But - in addition to making her baby announcements (so exciting!!) I made her this card to go along with the gift that I bought for her.

The outer petal envelope is pre-cut and purchased from The Paper Source. The other papers are SU! and Martha Stewart (ladybug). Everything besides the petal envelope (chocolate brown) was cut with my new Cricut Expression. The thing is just AMAZING. I told it what shapes I wanted and in what size and hit CUT! And VOILA! Just like that. It was TOTALLY worth the investment...10 times over! I added another layer of SU! River Rock anchored with a mini-brad in the top left corner so I'd have a space to write a message to my friend. As you can see it swivels out to the side to reveal the baby's monogram. Once I'd chosen my papers this card took me about 10 minutes to create. Seriously...10 minutes.

WOW.

Run...don't walk to your nearest ACM and pick up the Cricut Expression Bundle (comes with 4 cartridges and inks) for 368.99. (check their web site - it's listed there)

I hope that everyone is having a creative weekend!!

Cricut!!!

So...I got this...I must admit...I'm a little intimidated by it. But it's AWESOME!!!! I fiddled a little with it last night but forced myself to get to bed at a respectable hour because I'm still working on getting back to being healthy. But...I am so excited to play today!!! It came with 4 cartridges plus ink. I bought one extra cartridge plus the tool kit and some extra mats. But...my question to you is...does anyone have any words of wisdom for this die cutting bohemith? Any good tricks? Anything to watch out for? If not...I'll do my best to post my findings on the ease and convenience.

I hope that everyone has a very creative weekend!!!




ps - if anyone's interested...I got it at AC Moore...the price they have listed on line is $368.99. It's an amazing deal!

Colleen!

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to introduce you to my friend Colleen! She's been working very hard at redesigning her blog lately so I just wanted everyone to check it out!!

I have 8 projects in the works right now so I will be posting lots of fun stuff soon!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative Wednesday! We're off to check out a new art store in town this afternoon when my kiddies wake from their naps. I can't wait!!

We've Moved!

My darling friend Melissa recently moved to a new home and asked me to create her Moving Announcements for her!!

I was BEYOND thrilled! Earthy and nature inspired were my cues. I wanted something that could be put up on the fridge or put into an address book and look beautiful when on display. But I also wanted to create something for her and her husband to reflect upon and have as a keepsake after the dust settles (so to speak) from this big family move.

I love the idea of a pull tag. I did something like it for my holiday cards and I've used the design before...it's just so versatile and interesting!

I went with the following:

SU! cardstock in Chocolate Chip, Ballet Blue, Very Vanilla.

Designer paper is My Mind's Eye from their Bohemia line purchased from Michael's.

I created a tag that I printed out their new information on (left blank here for privacy purposes) and I printed their information in a corresponding olive green color to match the rest of the layout.

I used my MARVY tag punch to create another layer of dimension with the NEW HOME stamp on the front. I colored in the topiaries by the door using my blue and green Sakura stardust pen and I added a bit of hemp twine in the notch at the top.

I added the tiny Making Memories brads in the corner of the pocket and folded over the double sided designer paper to enhance the look of the pocket in the hopes of making it more realistic.

I stamped the leaf images (3 different stamps all from The Paper Source) in SU! Chocolate Brown classic ink. I used my corner ticket punch because in my original sample the layers lacked 'oomph' so once I punched the corners it really came to life.

Lastly, I added some SU! (retired) Chocolate grosgrain ribbon as the pull for the tag with their information.

I am thrilled that Melissa had me do these for her and I'm so happy that she (and her fabulous hubby;) liked them so much!! I'm so thankful to have such wonderful friends and customers.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MOVE MELISSA!!!

All the best!!!