Catching Penguins in 2013

Here is a card I made for a managing editor at work who taught a class I took this semester on Children's Publishing. I learned a lot and he was such a nice and interesting teacher. I knew I wanted to incorporate a penguin in the card since we both work for Penguin Random House.

I found this adorable penguin stamp at Michael's and I colored it with the few Copics I have.

• 100- Black
• R29- Lipstick Red
• R20- Blush
• G40- Dim Green
• G16- Malachite 
• N-1- Neutral Gray No.1

I added some twine on the bottom and used 3D Zots for the picture as well as the sentiment, "Take Time to Chase Snowflakes."

I really liked this stamp and it will definitely be put to use again next year.

Hip Hip Holiday!

Happy Holidays!! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful time with their family and loved ones! I was scrambling for a week to finish my Christmas cards and sadly, I didn't do a very good job. I had a few days off that were spent with my dentist (4 fillings and one wisdom tooth pulled!) So suffice to say, I wasn't as productive as I hoped to be.

I will be posting the few cards that I did get to finish however. This first one was done for my friend Matthew. I had previously made a birthday card for his girlfriend Katie and now I was making her a Christmas card. His only request was that I incorporated a Hippo. I cut the Hippo from the Create a Critter cartridge as well as the "hip hip" sentiment. Then I went to the Create a Critter 2 cartridge for the Santa hat and the "Holidays" sentiment. I embossed white paper to be snow and used this really neat snow pen I got from Hobby Lobby that creates the snow effect with heat. I then embossed some snowflakes on the top of the card and added some red stickles. Please pardon the picture below. I sent Matthew his card before I realized that I didn't take a better picture of it first. Basically, I'm a bit of a scatterbrain this month. =)

A Tricky Holiday

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Hope everyone has fun tonight and stays safe! This year, I experienced my first work party and it was nuts to say the least. I went as Vanellope Von Schweetz from Disney's Wreck it Ralph and it was great fun.

My coworker Melanie came as the 11th Doctor from Doctor Who. I'm Vanellope from Sugar Rush!

However, I have no idea where the time went this year. I only got to make a few Halloween cards. (And I even realized I didn't mail some out in time so my friends are getting them late!) So here is what I came up with:



For my friend Andrew, I used some fun Halloween buttons that I got on my last trip to Hobby Lobby. I tied them with festive twine. The paper is from a My Mind's Eye Halloween pack and I used a Martha Stewart paper trimmer for something a little extra. I didn't like how blank the bottom looked so I used these costume stamps. This was from a $1 pack I also found at Hobby Lobby. (How I adore thee!)

For my friend Gale, I took out my Copics and went to work on a Steampunk girl stamp I've had for awhile now. It took me a few tries. I feel like I am out of practice! I added buttons on this card as well and used some Distress inks for her background.



For my friend Monique, I cut out a design with my Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge and used a witch stamp I got at Hobby Lobby for the center. With a silver sharpie, I made some indents on the edges to give it that paper sewn look and added some jewels.

My friend Rachael received this card with a Pumpkin head character that reminded me of a character from Return to Oz. I used some orange stickles to outline his circle and added a fun Halloween ribbon I found at Michael's.

My friend Tana received the card with the Dia de Los Muetros inspired characters. I used the elegant edges cartridge to make the cut out juuuust as big as the card which took a few tries. I really suck at measurements even after all the time using the machine. I also wanted another excuse to use this awesome ribbon so I added it on here too.

So I guess now begins the Christmas card making? Here's hoping I have better luck with those.

Wishing you all a Spooktacular Holiday!

NYC Birthday Girl

A few weeks ago, my buddy Andrew asked me if I would make a card for his sister's birthday. When I asked what kind of card he would like, he said anything that had to do with shopping or New York. Luckily, I recently realized that I work not too far from one of my favorite craft stores here in the city, The Ink Pad. I ran over one afternoon and picked up a NYC stamp. Here is what I came up with:

Before I stamped the skyline, I took out my distress inks and tried to recreate a night time palate. It was a bit difficult to be honest and it took a few tries. I used a combo of Weathered Wood and Black Soot and just to give it a bit of light, I gently dabbed some Victorian Velvet in the middle. To create the moon effect I simply put a circular piece of paper down before blending my colors and then swooshed some weathered wood on it after to make it look cloudy.

When I added the skyline stamp, I used a silver sharpie to highlight some areas. In retrospect, I wish I had used a different marker. I added the silver with a paint brush because it was SO overpowering, but I really should have used a thinner marker.

The sparkly heel was cut from the Bridal Shower Cricut cartridge and I cut out an identical one in black to give it some dimension. I added a Birthday Girl sentiment to finish it off. Hopefully this was a good combination of New York and shopping!

2 Year Anniversary + A Thank You

Today is my 2 year blog anniversary! I was so excited when I realized the dates the other day. With so many changes happening in my life, it's been so nice to have crafting to turn to.

Today I have a thank you card I made for my coworker, Melanie. Funny enough, she used to work at the Borders that was a block away from my old job! So we probably walked right past each other numerous times in the past. Such a small world. Melanie has been so helpful as I transitioned into my new job and it's just great to have someone nice and funny to chat with during the day. It's also great how much we have in common. =)

To show my gratitude, I wanted to make something special. I realized it has been awhile since I last used my distress inks so I took those out to create this card.

I found this flower stamp from Hero Arts that I totally forgot I had! The distress ink colors are Shaded Lilac on top, Spun Sugar in the middle and Tumbled Glass on the bottom. I realized after that while I like the vivid colors, I think I'm going to buy a bigger sponge and see what kind of effect that has to the paper. I used white embossing powder for the flowers and stamped the sentiment to top it off.

A little while ago, I found a wax sealing kit at Michael's and decided to give it a try.

How cool is that? I was so giddy when it came out that I started yelling at my boyfriend, "I NEED RED WAX SO IT CAN LOOK LIKE I'M A LANNISTER!" Game of Thrones reference. I'm totally buying that wax soon. I just love how sophisticated it looks! Do any of you use wax seals on your cards? How do you like it?

Here Comes the Bride!

My friend Gale got married a few weeks ago and it was SUCH a beautiful wedding. If you recall, I helped her create the shells for her invitations along with our pal, Andrew. For her wedding card, I wanted to focus on one of the best parts of a wedding- The Cake! (I'm all about the food, ya know)

Now, I forgot to actually take a picture of the card before I gave it to her so I had to ask her to send me one. So you must forgive this somewhat crooked picture! haha

I took some glossy gray card stock for the base. Then cutting out different pieces of white glossy paper, I embossed each layer differently. It still looked somewhat plain to me so I added jewels for extra embellishment. The top sentiment says "On Your Wedding Day." P.S.- Her actual wedding cake was DELICIOUS.

It was a great party and here is my favorite picture of the three of us!

Kitties, Birthdays and the Color Pink

Once again, my pal Joe requested a card. This time for his niece who was turning seven. He informed me that she liked the color pink, kittens, and princess dresses (is it weird that I have the similar tastes of a seven year old? haha) This is what I came up with.

The kitty is cut from the Create a Critter cartridge and I used some sparkly cardstock for her dress. It was left over from a Valentine's Day Martha Stewart pack I have. And what seven year old birthday party would be complete without balloons? I decided if Nicole was anything like me when I was seven, she'd like seeing her name on EVERYTHING. I added some heart brads to the corners to finish it off.

I found this birthday stamp at Hobby Lobby and I just fell in love with it. Hopefully, Nicole enjoyed her card!

1 UP!

My boyfriend's two cousins are huge gamers. I love to go over to their house in New Jersey and play with their adorable lab named Duke while they play Magic the Gathering or one of the many video games in the basement. His cousin Chris had a birthday recently and for his card, I wanted to incorporate his love for games. I tried drawing a mushroom but my drawing skills are severely lacking. Instead, I used the Cricut Cartridge Wrap It Up and made him a controller.

I wanted to keep it colorful so I used button brads for the middle buttons and a green embossed background. I wanted to add a touch of Zelda somewhere, but again, my drawing skills are limited. Womp womp.

Mad About You

My friend from college, Kevin is nuts. And I mean in that in the sense that a night with him will make you laugh uncontrollably and in some cases, you can feel totally inebriated without even having a drop of alcohol. (Although, add some of that in the mix and it's a whole new world) He is an amazing, sweet and funny person and we've had many wacky adventures together.

So when I bought this Mad Hatter digistamp from Pink Cat Studio, I knew I wanted to use it for him.

I used some Vintage Photo distress ink for the edges and took a Martha Stewart paper trimmer with some paper from My Mind's Eye paper pack. I made the sentiment myself with some letter stamps I have from Hero Arts. My Copic blending is still a work in progress. VERY EARLY work in progress haha I'm trying my best.

Tons to Celebrate!

When Matthew received his card, he was so pleased that he told his brother, Joe about me. Joe was a month away from celebrating his own girlfriend's birthday. He wanted me to create a card with an elephant since he and Lauren had just been to the San Diego Zoo (jealous!) and she had fallen in love with the elephants. He also mentioned that her favorite colors were purple and pink.

So with that info, this is what I came up with:

I took some sparkly purple paper and cut the layout using Creative Cards Cricut cartridge. I found the CUTEST clear elephant stamps by Inky Antics. I colored him in with copics and added some sparkly stars.

I added another stamp on the inside along with the sentiment using Hero Arts font stamps. Instead of a border, I added colorful flags to the top and cut happy birthday from the Birthday Bash cartridge. I realized afterward that I didn't leave him much room to write his own message to her, but hopefully he has small handwriting. =)

A Surprise Request

One day I opened up my e-mail and there was a request from a gentleman named Matthew wondering if I could make his girlfriend Katie a birthday card. He had stumbled upon this blog and liked an old Jiminy Cricket birthday card I had made for my friend's dad.

Well, of course!

Since he liked that layout so much, I stuck close to that, adding a few different touches. For one, I added silver stickles to the stars.

As for the inside, Matthew's only specification was some kind of small border and Happy Birthday Katie to be written.

I decided to remain with a cohesive theme, I would stencil a star pattern all around the card.(I was such a nervous wreck doing this! It had to be perfect!) The font is from the cricut cartridge: Birthday Bash. I just love the festive font!

Thankfully, Matthew was very pleased with the result and a few days later, I received another request from his brother Joe! Stay tuned for that lovely birthday card.

DIY Project: Creating Wedding Invitation Shells

Today's post is a labor of love that I am very proud of! Gale and Andrew are two coworkers I met at my last job. If you know me in real life then you know I was not a big fan of my previous place of employment. However among the sea of manipulation, I met two of the nicest, most genuine people ever and I'm so happy that even though I no longer see them every day, we are still pretty close. The older I get, the more I realize how rare it is to find good friends. 

When Gale approached me for help with the wedding invites, I was thrilled. Of course I would help! Her main problem was that she had ordered lovely invitations from a website, but thought they needed some pizazz with the presentation. So I turned to my Martha Stewart paper trimmers and came up with a design I thought she would like. Then we began the process of making 90 invitations. Several trips to Michael's and bottles of wine later, we got to work!

And to his credit, Andrew stuck it out with us girls like a trooper! Never complaining, he diligently did every job given to him. Even if they were quite simple.... haha

At Michael's, Gale purchased LOTS of individual  pieces of Gold 12x12 card stock. (Thank GOD for their massive open card stock sale!) I was first on the assembly line, measuring and cutting the paper.

Isn't he adorable? Ladies, he's single. So good at direction. Such a keeper!

 Then I handed it over to Andrew so he could use the paper trimmer to cut the middle of the paper. Lastly, Gale took it and adding the tissue paper and the actual invitation, closed it and tied it with a lovely purple ribbon.

The glowing Bride-to-be!

I must say, we worked all afternoon and made pretty good progress. Perhaps it was the good conversation or the great music (we listened to everything from The Postal Service to The Shins to John Frusciante) But we cranked out 90 of these rather easily.

We also stamped their custom created stamp from Etsy on the envelopes.

Victory! We're awesome.

When I received the invitation, I almost didn't want to open it.

I was pretty proud of us. I have heard so many nightmares of brides and their DIY projects that they enlist their bridesmaids to help create. This was so far from that and I was just glad to spend some time with my former partners in crime. When my time comes, I know who I will be enlisting for my own DIY projects- my two honorary bridesmaids. =)

And speaking of enlisting help, a few days later, I helped Gale maneuver her way around veil shopping in NYC.  Let me just say, veils are EXPENSIVE! Fo' real.  Plus I have no idea how people get away with selling flower decorations for your hair that cost $145 when you can find the same thing at Claire's for $10. Truth. 

But I did have a little fun....

Between my shirt and phone case, I'm surprised the wedding consultant didn't say "Little girl, stop playing with the merchandise."