Becoming A Fairy Godmother

So I am pretty excited. Actually, I think excited might not even begin to cover what I am feeling. My boyfriend and I were asked to be Godparents and it was such an honor to be asked! I wrote about my boyfriend's best friend Tony from Australia when he last came to visit. He brought his babies for their christening and I totally fell in love.  Well, they have had another little girl. Her name is Isabella and she is now my goddaughter!

And this girl is beyond adorable.

Those cheeks just kill me. 

The family will be traveling to New York for the christening next year so sadly, I have to wait until then to squeeze this cutie. But I have waited a long time to be a Godmother! I didn't want to screw this up. A care package was in order! Off to the Disney Store I went because of course, every child I meet will learn to love Disney. Along with some classic Winnie the Pooh books, I got her some Little Mermaid merchandise. A plush doll, a sun hat and this adorable onesie that I am sure the entire store heard me exclaim when I saw it.

Aw, come on- isn't it so cute?

Anyway, a gift package needed a proper card! I looked to my Disney Cartridge. I wanted to make a fun Little Mermaid card for Isabella. (I'm still trying to figure out what my nickname for her will be. Izzy? Isa? Anything but Bella. Thanks, Stephanie Meyer for ruining a perfectly good name....)

I decided to cut out a seashell and Ariel's silhouette. I thought it was a bit too plain, so I added a flower for her hair with a single pearl. Instead of using patterned paper, I decided to take out my Distress Inks. For the base of the card, I used Tumbled Glass for a light blue background. As for the seashell, I used a combination of Vintage Photo, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass. I blended it a lot to get it exactly the way I wanted. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

I think it was a success! Seriously though, doesn't her face just scream GERBER BABY??

Godparents are a pretty big deal in my family. I'm hoping I can emulate Cinderella's Fairy Godmother- kind, nurturing, and ready to bestow some words of wisdom along with a plethora of kick-ass presents.

But I can assure you that one HUGE difference between the fairy godmother and I will be our wardrobe. Sorry lady, but shapeless, hooded capes aren't exactly my thing....

Pink Elephants

For my birthday, my boyfriend and I spent the day in the city and of course we just HAD to stop by The Ink Pad. I can seriously spend hours in that store. He bought me the cutest Penny Black elephant stamp and I used it right away for a birthday card. I find that I am pretty obsessed with Penny Black lately. Their critters are just SO adorable and really perfect for Copic coloring.

This birthday card was made for my boyfriend's coworker, Teresa. I met her once at a movie premiere (they work at Blue Sky Studios) and she was one of the nicest people I met that night. I was glad I had a brand spanking new stamp for her card.

Remember when I had made a promise to stop buying paper? I sorta broke that pretty quickly. (Happy to say though, I haven't purchased any this month! Woo-hoo!) The pink background is from a small 6x6 paper pad I bought at Michael's. I used the Elegant Edges cartridge to cut out the scalloped oval that Pinkie the Elephant is stamped on (mind you, I don't think that's his official name, but I'm going with it). It still looked a bit too plain for me so I used the distress ink, Worn Lipstick for the edges. Lastly, adding a purple bow and three jewel accents on the bottom corner, I felt like this card was complete.

Along with my no paper buying rule, I may have to start curbing my Penny Black obsession. We'll see....

Flowers for Mom

This next card was for my Mom. I was looking through my stamps and found this flower one that I completely forgot I had! I decided to keep it simple by layering some paper from My Mind's Eye. Seriously, I have so many of these pads, it's a little ridiculous. I made myself a promise not to buy ANY more paper until I make a dent in what I have now. We'll see how long that lasts....

Do you find yourself making silly crafty promises like that?

Mickey & Donald, bffs!

Recently, I was so honored to be asked to create some cards for a friend of mine who just became a Grandma for the first time! Her son had twin boys and she asked me if I would be so kind as to create their Christening cards. Ellie is a Disney fan (hence why we're friends of course) so she wanted them to have a Disney theme. I wanted to create two cards that while each had similar elements, were indeed very different from each other (just as I imagine, her twin grandsons will be!).

I turned to my Mickey and Friends cricut cartridge and started to work on baby Xavier and baby Adrian's card.

I wanted to stick to each character's distinct color palate, but keep the same spacing. For Donald, I chose blues and yellows. Adrian and Xavier were cut from the Cuttin' Up cartridge. I really like the cartoonish font you find on this cartridge! Red and yellow was used for Mickey and I used black ribbon as a divider on both cards.

Of course, I made these listening to Disney music so there were definitely moments of pause so I could successfully belt out a few notes ('Let it Go' from Frozen comes to mind here!).

When I'm 64!

This year, my Dad turned 64. Let's just take a moment to enjoy that great Beatles song that I've been humming for weeks now....

For his card, I wanted to use these super cute Penny Black critter stamps I got a few weeks ago. These hedgehogs are so adorable!

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye and I wanted to stick to a masculine palate without using the same typical blue colors.

I used the following copics on the hedgehogs:

• Body: E31, E50, E25, RV10
• Hearts: YR04, YR21
• Shadow: BG10

I made the hearts orange instead of red so that they would match. I really like the way this came out copic wise. I'm trying to improve and thanks to youtube, I feel like I'm making progress. And most importantly, my Dad was happy with it!

My parents and I at a birthday brunch after taking my dad to church. Happy Birthday, Daddy-o!

Let the Fun Begin!

It's always sad when a coworker you love gets a better job and leaves. Great coworkers are SO rare, but thankfully I have been blessed with a few. (two of which are my closest friends!) When one of the ladies who worked for Human Resources told me she was leaving, I knew I wanted to make her a card. (after I begged her not to go, of course!) I wanted to keep it light and cheerful and since I have been obsessed with my Recollections Neapolitan Collections pack, I turned to the images to create a collage card.

I REALLY love these patterned images of lines and polka dots. These colors just scream SPRING to me, so I wanted to incorporate as much as I could. She ended up loving her card and even though I was sad to see her go, it's nice to see people you like moving on and up in their lives. =)

21st Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to Day 2 of Ashley's 21st Birthday Blog Hop!

We are so glad you could join us! If you've come from Ashley's blog, you're in the right place! If you have just come across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, please visit Ashley at Made Especially For You.

This weekend we are celebrating Ashley's 21st Birthday with some fun and creative, birthday/alcohol-themed projects! It's not 21 without a drink or two, right?!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was SO excited when Ashley asked me to be apart of this blog hop celebration. She was such huge a help with my million Copic questions that I knew I wanted to create a card that showcased what I've learned so far. I tried to incorporate both a birthday and alcoholic theme at first, but it just wasn't working with my stamps. I wanted to use some Penny Black Mimi stamps and she seemed a little too wholesome next to the Jack and Coke. haha I just stuck to Mimi and it will hopefully remind Ashley of a more innocent time of birthday cake and streamers.

The background paper is from The Recollections Neapolitan Collections pack. I am so LOVING this paper! It's so fun! I cut the scallop die from the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge and stamped my Penny Black Mimi stamp on it. I used some distress ink on the flag and the scallop cut forThe sentiment is from a $1 stamp pile from Michael's and I added the flowers to top off the card. We have 21 fabulous sponsors providing 21 fabulous prizes for those who hop with us, and because there are so many of them, we have included all the prize information in the second stop of the lineup. To be eligible to win, you must... - Leave a comment on EVERY stop of BOTH days of the hop  Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on Friday March 14th at Made Especially For You. Your next stop is Angeline's blog. 
Here's the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way...
Day 2 Ashley Hop Prizes Michelle Angeline Pam Madge Stephanie Erica Georgiana Julie O.  Happy Hopping! :)  

Sunshine and Happiness

I had to create a thank-you card for someone and I wanted it to be extra special. I also wanted a reason to break out the Copics again. I recently bought these fun sunflower clear stamps and I wanted to try them out. I should have taken pictures of the many attempts. I first tried a pinkish/yellowish scheme, but my card was looking too much like Candyland! I decided perhaps natural colors would be best.

I used a Martha Stewart paper puncher to trim the white card stock and the orange background. I then decided to very lightly, sponge some antique photo distress ink on the edges. It's barely noticeable in the photo though. The sentiment was from a $1 pile I found at Michael's.

When I was stamping it, I got that Rod Stewart song, Forever Young in my head which I think is actually a cover of Bob Dylan. Go give it a listen. It'll make you smile.

A Valentine for my Valentine!

I try to make my boyfriend JP something special every year and this year was no exception. I found the cutest stamp from Joann's called Kissin' Kiddos and when it arrived, I started practicing! I should have taken a picture of all the attempts I made, trying to perfect the hair and clothing, but what matters is the end result.

You know, I don't say this very often, but I'm super super proud of this one.

I tried making the girl's skin color a little darker than the boy's since I'm Spanish (but seriously, with this winter weather, I'm as pale as he is these days!).

The background paper was from a Martha Stewart Valentine's Day pack I picked up from Michael's last year (always recycle your holiday paper!). I cut out the heart from the Sweethearts cricut cartridge and stamped the image on there. As for colors, I wanted to make this card very traditional so I stuck to the red/pink and blue/green palate.

JP really liked it so that made me even prouder of this card. I feel like I'm making progress on my copics too!

For Dad

For Valentine's Day, I always make my Dad's card first. Probably because he was always my first Valentine and you know what they say about Daddy's girls.

When I saw this Penny Black stamp,  I knew I had to have it. It took me many tries with my Copics to get it just right- especially the pants!

I wanted to keep the rest of the card as simple as possible since the coloring took me a few days to perfect. I still think her skirt is a little off, but hey- I'm a beginner. At any rate, my Daddy-o loved it. So that's all that matters.

Tee-rific Birthday

My boyfriend's Dad is a big fan of golf. For his birthday this year, I wanted to create something a little extra special since he had gotten me the best Christmas present ever! Thanks to him, I got to see Billy Joel at the Barclays Center on New Years Eve. Billy Joel is my all time favorite musical artist, so I was totally stoked to ring in the new year with him! (and my boyfriend, of course)

The patterned background was taken from a My Mind's Eye paper pack and I went over it with some Vintage Photo distress ink. The golf clubs are from the Wrap it Up Cricut cartridge, which I realized I hadn't used in awhile. For the lettering, I wanted Tee-rific to stand out so I cut the letters out and embossed each of them with my Versamark ink pad before rubbing some gold powder on them. In retrospect, I'm sure there was an easier (and neater!) way of doing this. Now I know for next time.

Stay tuned for some Copic coloring cards that I have been working on! FYI: coloring has never been this difficult for me haha.

The Copic Craze of 2013

So for Christmas this year, my friends and family kept asking me, "What do you want?" Every year around this time, I never seem to know what to say! I usually get gift cards to the MAC store or Michael's. It's hard to ask for physical things because there isn't anything that I really need. (Which is totally a good thing!)

This year, I thought I would ask every person for a Dick Blick giftcard because I decided I wanted to learn how to color with Copics. I've dabbled a bit in the past with the limited supply that I have. (Those things are expensive, ya know!) But I really wanted to dive in because coloring is really relaxing. In fact, I used to buy Disney coloring books in college because it would relieve the stress from all the work I had to do.

Totally my favorite.

So thanks to my parents, my boyfriend (who also purchased two shelves for storage), my boyfriend's brother and his girlfriend as well as my boyfriend's sister and her boyfriend (are you tongue-tied yet?) I received over $300 for my Copics. Success!

My first order of business was to research!! What colors should I get? Which shades go well together? How am I going to figure out where my light source is coming from? I decided to ask someone who definitely knew what she was doing. Ashley from Made Especially For You is a certified Copic designer having taken both the standard and intermediate classes. She also teaches at local craft stores near her and I've been loving all the projects she's been posting on her Facebook. I decided to reach out and she was so nice! She gave me some really great tips and some addresses to blogs that were extremely helpful. Check out her projects below!

http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/

• Get It Scrapped is a site that helped me figure out colors for a starter set.  Michelle Houghton wrote a SUPER helpful article with color combos including some of her personal favs and examples of colors she uses regularly. 
• Scrap Girl is a site that has lots of great youtube tutorials and Angie shows you how to combine coloring Copics with distress inks.  
• Scrap Bitz : Suzanne Dean is a REALLY helpful resource when it comes to Copics. She not only has several tutorials, but offers a GREAT PDF of all kinds of color combos with helpful tips and tricks. She also shows you how to color with distress inks. She uses a lot of Magnolia stamps which I like because they are super cute and can surprisingly, be a bit challenging to color.

A few days later, I was on my way to the Dick Blick store on Long Island. I told myself it was strictly for research purposes only!

 But of course I could not resist buying a few.

However, I do recommend that if you are buying Copics from Dick Blick, buy them online. They are cheaper and if you order enough, shipping is free. #totallyworthit I ordered the rest online and last night I came home to a HUGE package.

Behold thy present from Father Christmas!

I am so excited to start practicing!

Do any of you use Copics? What color combos do you like? What stamps do you use?