A Disney Birthday

I've taken a little break from the Magnolia and Valentine's Day craze and focused on making some Disney magic for someone special. I've mentioned my friend's father, Mr. Kelly before on this blog, first creating a Jiminy Cricket birthday card for him last year. This year, I decided to go for an old classic- Mickey himself. I wanted to make something colorful and celebratory for Mr. Kelly and this is what I've come up with.

The yellow background paper is from Me and My Big Ideas. The balloons were cut from the Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge. I used various distress inks to color them in and kept their tails black with a Copic marker.

The Mickey I made was from the Mickey and Friends cartridge. I just love this high energetic pose. It screams, "HECK, YEAH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" But it's Mickey so it'd be more like "Gee, Happy Birthday, Pal!" The celebrate sentiment came from my $1 G Studio stash. I added some red jewels to top it off.

I was listening to Disney radio as I made this and if you're like me and you wish you could be at Walt Disney World 24/7 then you should check out the radio stations on Live 365. My favorite stations are Magical Mouse Radio, Sorcerer Radio and Vacation 24 radio. It's a quick fix for a Disney junkie like me. ;-)

And while I do miss Disney World, I also really miss going there with my friend Kevin and his dad, Mr. Kelly!

Mr. Kelly and I at the Orlando Airport forever ago!

Magnolia Stamps Craze!

I recently wrote about buying my first ever Magnolia stamps. I purchased two at The Ink Pad and then came home.... and bought 3 more from Magnolia-licious. They are just so damn cute, I needed some more! I started coloring them with my Copics and I had to watch a few of Suzanne Dean's videos from her blog Scrap Bitz. I've mentioned this blog before and she's a wizard with Copics. She makes it look so very easy which of course it never really is to a newbie like myself.

After a few attempts (sigh) I finally colored this Tilda and Edwin dancing stamp without any major blunders. Obviously, I'm still learning and watching (and re-watching) youtube videos, but practice will make perfect! So onto my first ever Magnolia card--

I choose a pink and brown color palette for this card. The background paper is from a My Mind's Eye pack I have and the pearl flowers came from a $1 stash I bought from Michael's. I used a Martha Stewart paper puncher and applied some Tattered Rose distress ink on the edges. As for Tilda and Edwin, I wanted to practice my blonde and brown hair techniques so even though I do not have blonde hair, I think my boyfriend will understand when I give him this card haha

I ordered some other really adorable stamps, so once I get them, I'll be trying out some more techniques. Until then, I hope you all like my first attempt!

I'm going to enter it in the Magnolia-licious challenge for their All You Need is Love blog hop. If you haven't seen these this hop, you seriously need to go over there. These ladies have made some pretty amazing projects and I'm learning a lot just by looking at their coloring. Take a look and then add your project by February 1st.

I'm also entering this into the Paper Playtime Use Brown challenge and this ends on February 3rd.

I Heart The Ink Pad!

Hello All!

I have something a little different for today's post. Usually for my crafty supplies, I go to Michael's or AC Moore and more recently, a fun run to JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby. But today I decided to use my day off to adventure to a new place.

Like everyone else who wasn't at CHA this year, I've been Twitter stalking crafters as well as companies who were there showcasing new products and projects. (P.S.- If any of you have Twitter, make sure to gimme a follow so I can find you too!) Any who, that is how I found the West Village's store, The Ink Pad.

When I looked on their website, the first photo I saw was one of wall to wall stamps. Well.... that sorta solidified the deal for me. I knew I had to check this place out. The New York Times actually just wrote something about them so please take a look at that too!

I'm a bit stamp obsessed. I am starting to wonder if there is a 12 step program for it, but if I thought I needed to calm down on the buying, The Ink Pad was really the last place I should have gone. As you enter the store, you are immediately hit by wall to wall rubber stamps. They are everywhere. I think I heard angels above me singing their hymn of praise as the small voice in my head of my mother started groaning about all the money I was about to spend.

The thing about this store is that it's cozy. Being a bit on the small side, one has to really pace themselves, especially if this is your first time. (Uh, Hello?) So I took each section one by one. I think I was in there for over an hour easily.

Now I wasn't sure how comfortable the ladies who worked there would have been if they saw me taking pictures of everything (even though they were the nicest women ever) so these pictures are kind of on the covert side. Please go to The New York Times gallery for waaaaay nicer photos of the place.

MINE! ALL MINE!

Hello sensory overload

 What I like about places like this is that it forces you to really look at merchandise. While they had so many products from companies I recognized, there were so much new stuff I had never even see or heard of. They also had Copics! And surprisingly, so many Memento colored ink pads! I know those are the best pads to use with Copics but I have never seen any other colors besides black and while that's the most used color for stamps, this place had a crap load. I grabbed four- Lover Letter, Rich Cocoa, Gray Flannel, and Toffee Crunch. Then I saw the Distress Ink section and I found a shade of green (Mowed Lawn) I had never even seen! So you know I had to grab that. Then I decided to allow myself to purchase some stamps even though I felt myself coming up on my spending limit.

I was good though, I promise.

I found a section of Magnolia stamps and I've seen such beautiful cards with them so I bought two adorable images.

My haul for the day.

The article in the paper mentioned how people from all over would stop in and true to their word, a family from the UK came in while I was perusing. They seemed just as in awe as I was. They did however spend a lot of time in the NY stamp section and I just had to chuckle to myself when one of the girls started asking her brother/boyfriend (?) for extra money because she didn't anticipate how much she was going to spend.

Welcome to my world.

I did leave with a promise to return. Stores like this nestled in NYC is really one of the reasons why I love this city sometimes. You never know when you're going to find a hidden treasure.

You Are Loved

I've started my Valentine's Day cards for the year. For some reason, V-cards always seem a little difficult for me. Perhaps I'm not a red and pink gal, but I've been doing well so far, I think.

I recently got the Create a Critter 2 cartridge and the Valentine's Day cuts they have are sooo cute!

I made the butterfly and put it on a heart background I took from a Martha Stewart pack. For some extra sparkle, I added some Celebrate it ribbon to the top and bottom of the card. I also added some pink stickles to the wings on the butterfly.

And because I am obsessed with action wobbles and butterflies, you know, fly I added a wobble to the die cut. Lastly, I stamped a sentiment I got from Michael's (in my $1 stash) to the corner for a complete card.

I decided to enter this card into two challenges-

1. Cuttin' and Stampin' Use Hearts or Love Challenge. This ends January 21st.

2. Cut It Up: In With the New Challenge #10. This ends on January 23rd.

Mimi in Paris

Stamps, stamps, stamps! Can't get enough of'em! During my crafty excursion to the Hobby Lobby in New Jersey, I found a set of adorable stamps called Mimi in Paris. I thought they would be a wonderful addition to my collection and also a great way to practice my Copic blending. Digistamps are great, but as I do not own a printer, there are just so many I can print out at work before someone starts to notice....

Anywho, I thought the stamp of Mimi walking her little French poodle was just too adorable. So I took some Copics and got to work.

I used pink paper from a 6x6 My Mind's Eye paper pack that I own. The top and bottom trimmings were made with a Martha Stewart paper cutter I have. I just love that scalloped look. I also used Worn Lipstick distress ink for the edges of the stamp.  I really love these Mimi stamps and I will certainly be looking into getting some more!

I've decided to enter this in the Paper Playtime "Pets" Challenge. This ends on Sunday, January 20th. Still plenty of time to join in on the fun!

Blending Distress Inks

Hi All!

Distress Inks are quite fun and I've been trying to use them more often. However, in the past, I've used it more as accents on embellishments I've made. I've seen some amazing cards where people have made some awesome backgrounds with them and after trying many times (like 5 or 6 times during one sit down) I finally created one I liked.

Blending is super hard. I tried using a spritzer for some water effects and it also made the blending a little easier. I also started using a sponge make-up applicator over the standard Tim Holtz one they give you. The inks I used were-

1. Scattered Straw
2. Rusty Hinge
3. Fired Brick
4. Peeled Paint

I used a writing Recollections stamp over the inks with Vintage Sepia Versafine ink. The child stamp was a $1 find at Michael's and the sentiment is from K Andrew Designs. This was just an experiment because as they say- practice makes perfect. I'm hoping with time, it will get easier.

How about you? Do you create backgrounds with Distress Inks? Got any blending tips for a newbie? Thanks!

Adventures in Embossing

I don't think I've completely mastered the art of embossing, but I am trying to! Recently, I bought some clear powder and thought I'd give it a try with a pretty stamp I got from Michael's. In retrospect, I probably should have taken photos of the process that took place making this card, but C'est la vie! Next time. Here is my attempt-

A Closer Look

Now, there were a few steps with this. First, I took a swirly Recollections stamp and embossed it all over the card. I then used clear embossing powder and applied heat. Then I took to my distress inks! Using Scattered Straw, I applied it all over the card and then applied Vintage Photo to the edges. You can see on the top and bottom of the card how it came out. That in itself came out pretty nice.

Then I took the beautiful woman stamp from Michael's and embossed that on a yellow piece of card stock. I used Ranger's Ultra Thick embossing enamel. I think it came out pretty nice actually.  I took some music paper from a 6x6 My Mind's Eye paper pack I have and added some Vintage Photo onto that. With a ribbon and paper flowers with jeweled centers, I thought this card would be complete!

I'm going to be entering this card in two challenges-

1. Pause Dream Enjoy is having a Ribbon Challenge that ends on January 20th. Make any project, but make sure you incorporate ribbon!

2. Little Scrap Pieces "Anything Goes" Challenge. This ends on Friday January 11th so make sure you get your projects in before that!

Crafting Excursions!

This is my 100th Post!! Woo Hoo!!! I'm really excited to get back into crafting and blogging on the regular and I'm so grateful to all of you crafters out there that take the time to read and comment!

This weekend my boyfriend and I took a little trip to south Jersey to hang out with his cousins. As an extra treat, he offered to take me to a Hobby Lobby for the first time and a Jo Ann's on the way back. I had never been to a Hobby Lobby before so I was a bit excited...

Suffice to say, I walked away with quite a few things. The place was the size of a Wall Mart! They had SO much stuff and I had to curb myself a bit. Especially when I saw their stamping section.

I've never seen a stamping section this organized before! The stamping aisles in the Michael's in New York is simply a dumping ground of stuff. I always feel like an excavator spending hours trying to uncover treasures in that place. Here, everything was very neat and tidy! I walked away with lots of goodies.

On the way home, we stopped by a Jo Ann's. From the outside, it wasn't very impressive, but the inside more than made up for it.

What I love about this store is sections like this.

$1 treasures!! I found many cute stamps to add to my collection. They are small, but they can really add a lot to a card.

And I finally found this lovely cartridge that I have been searching for for a couple of months now! All in all, I think this weekend's crafting excursion was a success! I reached my limit for a while.

It was also nice to spend some time with family, but sadly, I didn't get any pictures of that. I did however snap a picture of their dog, Duke. He is the sweetest lab ever!

 

Sweet Birthday Wish

Hello All!!

Today I have a belated birthday card to showcase. My boyfriend's mom is about the sweetest lady you could ever meet and her birthday is December 30th. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick all through Christmas and New Year's so I didn't get a chance to make her a card. I needed to rectify this ASAP!

I also wanted to make my first ever action wobble card! Woo Hoo! I grabbed some wobbles from Blitsy a couple of weeks ago so I just had to try this out. I looooved it.

I also wanted to enter this card in the Red Carpet Studio #17: Anything Goes "Sweet" Challenge.Their challenge this week is inspired by "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so they're asking for sweet treat projects. It ends on the 5th so there is still time to join if you have a project! For good measure, I listened to "Pure Imagination" a couple of times while making this. =)

Onto my card--

Yay, action wobble!

I absolutely love my candy and cupcake brads!

More Brad action.

The supplies I used-

1. The cupcake was made from the Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge.
2. The cupcake background paper is from a Recollections paper pack I have.
3. Candy brads are Doodlebug Design Boutique Brads.
4. Stamped sentiment is from 7 Gypsies.

I really like the way this card came out! I really hope you all play along too!

Welcome 2013!

So long 2012! 2013 looks like it will be bringing me brighter days and for that I am thankful. I have already started implementing some things for this blog in terms of design, but we will see when I am finished with that.

However, first things first. Through the month of December, I was running around and my already small craft space became microscopic. And messy. Like really messy.

Welcome to my chaos.

Can you create with this mess? These past few days I have tried turning lame resolutions into concrete actions.

1. I donated 6 bags of clothing. (My closet has a back wall to it after all! There goes my Narnia hopes and dreams)
2. I cleaned out my fridge and bought healthy groceries to start eating better. I don't say diet. That word makes me shudder.
3. I finally cleaned my damn craft desk!!

People may think this desk already looks a little cluttered (do you like how I have people's addresses dangling from the top?) But now I can totally work with this.

Here is to some clarity in the new year! Perhaps now I can create some decent projects. =)