Hey There, Sunshine!

Hello friends!

Today I am sharing a special card I made for Miss Amy E! I was so happy when Amy won my give-away to celebrate my new blog redesign. It seemed appropriate that the gal who saved me a bunch of money by checking out her blog's sale mentions and discount sites would win the Michael's giftcard. When I sent it to her, I sent it in this card.

The background was used from the My Mind's Eye 6x6 designer pads. Does anyone else buy those $3 pads at AC Moore or Michael's? I have a billion of them because they have all kinds of great patterns and colors.

Then I took a complementary yellow piece of card stock and cut the edges with a special scissor paper cutter that I have. I took two different stamps. The elephant is an Inkadinkadoo stamp and the sentiment "Hey There, Sunshine" came from one of those $1 stamps from the Michael's piles.

I used my 3D Zots to make whole thing pop out a bit and we're done!

Speaking of Amy, have you been by her daughter-in-law's blog yet? She is spreading the word about Erin's design prowess because they are saving to adopt a baby and Amy would love to be a Grandmother! Won't you help with a donation to her website, The Silver Lining? There are so many ways to help! Make sure you check it out! Everyone deserves to be a Mommy. =)

 

Until Next Time, Happy Crafting!

Birthday Cupcake

Hello Friends!


Today's project is a birthday card I made for my friend Rachel. She's a big Hello Kitty fan and after trying and FAILING to draw Hello Kitty, I decided on the next best thing: a cupcake.

I grabbed some Birthday folders for my Cuttlebug b/c I hadn't used it in awhile. I took my pink/purple Recollections card stock pack (I seriously have a ton of these packs) and used it to make a sweet looking template. I used the bottom of a cupcake from Once Upon a Princess Cricut Cartridge, but I didn't like any of the tops so I simply made my own. It's kinda big and crazy looking, but I was simply imagining a lot of frosting.

I ran it through the Cuttlebug and used silver stickles for an extra glittery pop. It seemed very girly to me and Rachel is very feminine and sweet so I thought it would suit her!

Until Next Time, Happy Crafting!

Born to Fly

Before I tackled my first decoupage project for my best friend Monique, I needed to figure out what her card would look like. I knew I wanted to keep with her bird theme and her favorite color is purple so during my crafting date with my friends Jenn and Steve, I came up with this card.

I had been looking for cute bird stamps for a few weeks before her birthday. The top and bottom borders are from Recollections and using a special scissor cutter, I took some lilac card stock and cut the edges before stamping the bird and sentiment.

I thought it was missing something, so I added flowers to the corners and put silver stickles in the middle for a little extra sparkle. I choose the sentiment "Born to Fly" over a 'Happy Birthday' one, because I think the reason Monique loves birds so much is because they're free to go wherever they want to. They have no restraints and can fly as high as they want. That reminds me a lot of her so I thought that would be appropriate.

So until next time, Happy Crafting!

Decoupage Project for my Partner in Crime!

My best friend Monique is a major foodie. She's incredibly talented in the kitchen and to hear her talk or blog about food, you can instantly tell how passionate she is about it. She has her own website and she blogs about the food she cooks herself as well as places and restaurants she's been to. Monique likes to eat.... a lot. Because of that, she calls herself The Eatinist Bitch which is an endearing nickname, I assure you. The best part is the way she describes the food! She could make a messy sloppy joe sound like a masterpiece. So I knew I wanted to make her something food related for her birthday.

This is what 11 years of being besties looks like!

I decided to take a crack at decoupage! I have never done this before so it was an adventure. I wanted to make her a binder where she can put  recipes in. I also wanted to incorporate birds into the project since she loves birds (she even has some awesome tattoos!) I also cut out magazine clippings but the Mod Podge ripped those instantly on contact so I realized only thicker paper would do for this project.

Decoupage intimidated me a bit. I looked at some videos online and made my way to Michael's for some supplies. I thought the Mod Podge mat would be a waste of money, but seriously it was the best thing ever b/c that glue got everywhere!

My supplies.

Part 1: Gluing

With my Cricut, I used the Create a Critter and Birthday Bash for the birds. The words were cut using the Cuttin' It Up cartridge and the sides are borders from K&Company and Recollections. It looked so nice when it was simply glued, but this was just part one. I used the Sparkle Mod Podge and applied it generously. 

First Coat.

I'm not going to lie- I started to panic right here. I wasn't sure if this was going to dry like this and I was worried the cloudiness wouldn't go away. I let it dry overnight and in the morning, I applied the second coat.

Second Coat.

This is after the second coat and it was finally starting to look somewhat normal. Of course, I forgot to actually take a picture of the final product, but Monique was nice enough to snap a photo for me.

Ta-Da!!!

Although I liked the way it came out, in retrospect, I wish I would have used a more matted Mod Podge instead of the sparkle, but she liked it so that's all that matters.

Have any of you played around with Mod Podge? What kind do you like to use?

A Date with Crafty Folks

Hey Folks!

For today's welcome back entry (it has been about a month, I think?) I figured I would showcase some cards my friends made on a recent craft date we had. Then I would segway into some great giveaways, sales and notifications from other blogs I've seen.

First off, my friend Jenn is the only real life friend I have who owns a Cricut and enjoys crafting. We met in college and like me, this new crafting hobby has been very recent for her. Its so nice to have someone to talk to about cartridges and card stock! She proposed a date at her house and along with my best friend Steve, as well as every piece of conceivable crafting supplies you could want, we were ready for some creative fun. Pardon the pictures, my iPhone isn't the best at times.

Jenn's dining room table.

Jenn, giving her Cricut a whirl.

Steve was a fan of the ATG gun.

Jenn wanted to make some anniversary cards for our friend Danielle and after his own metal projects were done, Steve picked up a stamp and started on his own cards.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

For Steve's card, he took some musical cardstock to start his birthday card for his sister, Lisa. She is an aspiring music teacher so he thought this would be appropriate.

Jenn's card incorporated the Sweethearts cartridge to make quite the lovely silhouette.

I ended up making a card too, but that will be for another post!

Now, onto some blog fun!

Have you seen Amy's new blog design at Scrap This, Save That? It's very colorful, clean and bubbly! Her daughter in law actually made it for her and she is actually offering blog design services for some great prices! All the money is going towards an adoption process that she and her husband are undergoing so its for a great cause!!

Amy's son and daughter in law!

Her services are as follows--

* blog header $30
* button $20
* favicon $5
* set of all three (header, button, favicon) $50
* willing to discuss other options.


To read all about her story, look to Amy's blog where she explains it all! Enjoy the new design!


My friend Heather at Random Recipes, Paper Crafts and Photos is having a great 250 follower giveaway! She's very close to this goal too. The prize includes a lot of great goodies:



Basically Bare mini album
Tim Holtz stamp set
CTMH stamp set~new this month
Bag of buttons
Misc ribbons
Off White twine
Smash Journaling pad
K&Co Mat stack
Purple letter stickers
Horoscope sign stickers

Entering is so very easy too so make sure you pop by and check it out!

I have lots more new projects coming up too so stay tuned!