Christmas 2020

It’s been a MINUTE since I’ve created a string of cards and even longer since I’ve made Christmas cards. But honestly, if you find yourself dipping your toe back into the crafting pool, holiday cards are a great entryway. Taking my supplies out, I realized I gave A TON away so I had limited items at my disposal. Plus, I was using old stuff and I really should have invested in some new memento and versamark pads, but c'est la vie. 

I gotta say though, it felt really good to create again. I even enjoyed the old frustrations of screaming at my botched glitter embossing attempts (and God, there were lots) But for me, crafting has always gone hand in hand with screaming at my creations. I think it’s part of the therapy? 

This Lawn Fawn Penguin stamp is the only new thing I purchased this year because, c'mon... 

I added some Fired Brick distress ink to many of these cards just to give it a bit extra since I was massively low on holiday paper.

The little girl's dress is embossed and the background was created with a stencil and distress inks in the colors Fired Brick and Mowed Lawn. Also, still learning how to color white fur. Multiple polar bears later, I'm still not quite satisfied.

These snowflakes were all embossed which took multiple tries to get right, but I really like how it came out.

Not sure if you can tell, but I added some distress ink in Salty Ocean around the embossed angel.

To say this holiday is going to be different is the understatement of the year, but whatever you end up doing, I hope you're happy. Have that extra helping of cake and sleep in. Watch a cheesy Christmas movie and hug a loved one. Give thanks for the healthy people in your life. We could all use a little magic in the new year. 

2020, Anyone?

2020 has been quite the year.  It figures that it took a pandemic to get me back into crafting. All these crazy changes have taken their toll so I knew I had to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Once upon a time that meant crafting. 

So I took the storage bins out and slowly began again, realizing that I have forgotten all of my Copic color combos, all my distress ink techniques and how the hell do you even glitter emboss again? A part of this has been fun though- the relearning. It's like everything is new again.

And a lot is new since I last posted. I left off at a wedding. I'm a mom now so those long Sunday afternoons of crafting are no longer possible. But I find my way around it. I changed the look of the blog to something even simpler and cleaner so I'm hoping to dip my feet back in the pool. And I know no one reads this, but I have so much history with this blog- I didn't want to abandon it. It was always more for me than anyone else anyway. 

Here's my first Copic coloring image I did after an almost 3 year hiatus. More soon, hopefully.

 

A Crafty Shower

When it came time to have a bridal shower, my first instinct was to pass. Everything about my wedding up until then had been rather small and unconventional so I felt having a shower would contradict that. Then the combination of my mom insisting I have one and me realizing that it was my wedding and I could do whatever I wanted, changed my mind. What was important was that I stuck to my guns: no restaurant brunches and no shower games.

Instead I wanted to do something fun and different. Obviously, crafting is such a large part of my life and it was something I thought the other ladies would enjoy too.

Off to Paper Source we go! The store on the Upper West Side has a large side room and since my shower would be in the summer, I wanted my theme to reflect that. We went with a Moana/Lilo and Stitch tropical shower. I chose a basic card making class that people at all levels would be able to do. The folks at the Paper Source let us bring lots of food as well as decorate the space and honestly, it was the best time. Not everyone knew each other, but the activity was something fun they could do while chatting.

 I'm so glad I decided to try something different because it was such a great afternoon with the most important ladies (and gentleman) in my life. Below are some pictures of the day.

Here are the supplies for making the invitations!

Embossing and washi tape made for simple and quick invites. Also, Disney font because, obviously.

Our treat table/favors table! I created decorations based on Moana and Lilo and Stitch quotes.

Tiki brownies and Tamatoa treasure cake!

This is from his song, Shiny which is one of my favs. 

Kevin is one of my closest friends from college and also my officiant!

Table set up!

We're all busy crafting!

All the smiling faces was exactly what I wanted.

My creations!

My wedding party!

This handsome guy showed up at the end to help with clean up.

Champagne favors with my personalized tags.

Everyone's creations for the day!

The Mommas!

My lovely group of women (and Kevin <3)