Dandelion Wishes

For my 8-year wedding anniversary, I wanted to make something for JP since I can't remember the last time I made him a card. I also wanted to keep it simple because like always, I get grand plans in my head only to realize I am out of time.

I wanted to play around with my distress inks because I want to use them for upcoming Christmas cards and I've forgotten all my color blend combos. (Thank Christ for Kristina Werner) The combo I used was Chipped Sapphire, Mermaid Lagoon and Scattered Straw. I used a cute Bunny stamp from Mama Elephant and used Copics to color it in. I'm also starting to realize that some of my markers have dried up (I mean, some of these are 10+ years old so I think that's a pretty good run!) so I am trying to discover new combos for my critter stamps. Thankfully, I DID write those down. But this just means I get to ask for Dick Blick gift cards for Christmas! 

We Make a Great Combo!

Good news was recently shared in my family- my brother-in-law got engaged! To be honest, he's been with his girlfriend for so long, I cannot remember what life was like before her. It'll be nice to make it official though!

I wanted to make them a congratulatory card and I knew the exact stamp set to use. Years ago, I bought this set from My Favorite Things (RIP to a real one) entitled We Make A Great Combo and it's all different kinds of food that go together. I thought the burger and fries was beyond adorable and before I had put everything back into storage, I had started to stamp and color but never made anything with it. Until now!

I used the stitched heart die from Waffle Flower and colored it with Fired Brick, Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade distress ink. Using copics on the stamps, I also used a white Posca marker that my husband gave me a long time ago for accents. The next part literally took me two hours. I had different letter dies that I cut out to spell combo and I tried embossing the first half of the sentiment on black paper, but I haven't embossed in years and I forgot just how tricky it could be! I kept messing it up and then the letter dies were too big so I just went for a simple sentiment. (finally got the hang of embossing again!)

Excited for a fun wedding! I know my son is looking forward to ring-bearer duties. =)

It's all coming back to me now

I finally got to a place where crafting was possible again. While my craft room now also doubles as my office and my son's playroom (Legos everywhere is super fun!) it's still a space I've been carving out for myself. When my friend Rachel's birthday was coming up, I knew I wanted my first card in over three years to be for her.

It took me a LONG time to figure this out. At one point, I had all of my birthday stamps laid out on my table and it was just overwhelming. So I picked something simple and looking at the card now, I'm kind of disappointed and how simple it actually turned out, but baby steps.

I used a balloon die from Waffle Flower partnered with the corresponding stencils which helped me use my distress inks to shade them red and yellow. Rachel shares my love for Disney so I grabbed another Mickey stencil I had and used it only for the larger balloons. I was going to add a border but then it looked too cluttered and then I tried balloon strings, but it also looked messy so I left it as it was. To end it, I added a small sentiment on the bottom. 

Not my best work, but I was dipping my toe in. It certainly opened the floodgates because I've been creating other things since then (oh the fun of discovering Copic markers that have dried up!) 

I'm tackling Christmas cards next.... in October. 

2025

 An unexpected hiatus- probably one of my longest, but unavoidable. Life has completely transformed since that last post in August 2022. Crafting took a backseat for a long time. I managed to make a few cards but it's been so long that I no longer remember colors, techniques or even who they were for, sadly. So I'm just going to post them without comment. 

I've recently created a new craft space for myself and hope to get back into the swing of it by the holidays. Wish me luck.

One in a Million

This next card is another thank you. This summer, JP and I made the decision to hire a babysitter for the afternoons and it was honestly, the best thing we could have done for both our son and our sanity! I've been able to get work done uninterrupted knowing he was in good hands either at the park or splashing in his pool in the backyard. I was worried about how he would get along with someone who was essentially a stranger, but being a teacher herself, she was SO good with him and he really got along so well with her. (he talked about her a lot over the weekends 😏) 

Sadly though, with the school year approaching, her days with us were coming to an end.  I wanted to make something to show our deep appreciation so along with some goodies, I knew I wanted to make a card. The crayons are from Lawn Fawn and I couldn't wait to finally have an excuse to use them. I used copics to color them and placed a smiley face on one of them. Instead of using the sentiment that came with them, I went with this one from Mama Elephant. To finish it off, I let my son decorate the inside. 

Overdue Thank You

Well, that was a bit of a hiatus... There was so much going on the last couple of months that it was impossible to sit down and craft.  I even had to *gasp* purchase cards for some events which really annoys me. Last week I did a major cleaning of my desk so hopefully that will inspire me to get crafty again (because God knows I'm still PURCHASING crafting supplies....)

This card was waaaay overdue. It's also the first one I've made in almost 4 months so I had to ease my way back in. The background was made with a stencil I got for my birthday from Waffle Flower. I wanted to make something colorful and upbeat. I thought about dry embossing glitter instead, but I figured I should stick to something foolproof. I'm not sure where the sentiment is from, but I made it in two tones of Blue since this is a thank you card for an incredibly sweet coworker that sent me some Bluey merch for my son. (we're wackadoo obsessed over here, kids) I thought of adding sparkles or embellishments, but then I thought it looked complete as a simple card.   

Have you watched Bluey? It's a daily occurrence in this house and it helps that the show is entertaining for both kids and adults. My husband says it's the Seinfeld of preschool shows. 😁

A Kawaii Hello

This bunny card was made for my friend Rachel. When I first started crafting years ago, her website was one I would go to for inspiration. She was always winning card challenges and for a newbie like myself, getting to her level was something to aspire to! Fast forward a couple of years, I realized we actually had more in common than just crafting (including living quite close to each other!) We'd leave comments on each other's blogs but with the introduction of social media, we actually started having real conversations. She's such a close friend at this point despite the fact that we've never actually met face to face! Hopefully if this pandemic ever calms down, we can leave the kids with their dads and have a proper craft day.

I wanted to send her a card to say hello and Happy Spring. I was also sending her a Tuxedo Sam memo pad because we talked about how much we like Sanrio and I honestly don't know anyone else into Sanrio and Kawaii stationary. (Pochacco 4 lyfe!) This cute set was from Darcie's Stamps and it was quite fun to copic color. The sentiment, cut from glitter paper is from Lawn Fawn. 

Happy Spring from Pochacco!