Holly, Jolly Christmas 2021

So I ended up scrambling to finish my Christmas cards, but working down to the wire usually suits me just fine. I really never toot my own horn, but I have to say, I was REALLY happy with how this batch came out. I spent a really long time just copic coloring pages and pages of nutcrackers and penguins but I finally forced myself to cut them out and start assembling. I also have SO many holiday stamps and embellishments that I didn't even come close to using everything. Perhaps I'll actually start next year's batch during the summer so that I could make the amount I want.

I probably won't though. 

This card was made for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law because I just loved the little penguin family and this year is my nephew's first Christmas!

This sentiment is YEARS old. I think it's one of the first Christmas stamps I ever bought but I've never used it! I realized it went perfectly with my stamps from My Favorite Things though so it just goes to show you that you should never throw out anything... haha

I really wanted to create a snowy look and I know a lot of people just use white paint, but I cheated and used the Avery Elle white ink spray. I just let it dry overnight and I really loved the effect.

This one was specifically made for JP. He actually picked out the Nutcracker set from Avery Elle the last time we were at a craft store so I had to make him one!

This is one that took me a couple of tries because I kept screwing up the snow drift effect with the blue distressed background, but when I finally got it, I was so happy with the end product. 

I really hope that if you're reading this, you had a safe and wonderful Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers for continued health and some peace of mind in the new year because thankfully, I'm already surrounded by more love than I probably deserve. I hope you are too. 

 

Better Late than Never

I'm extremely late with this Halloween post, but trying to find a quiet moment to blog has been challenging lately. As a result, I'm going to do my best to remember the particulars of these cards!

This first card I made for a friend of mine who is currently working and living in Paris! I wanted to send him a card and some candy since Halloween isn't really a big thing over there. Of course, due to our crazy postal system, it got there closer to December... But whatever. This stamp was one I bought AGES ago at Michael's and finally got to use. I tried to distress it a bit with Black Soot Distress ink and kept the coloring basic. I don't remember where the background cardstock was from though, but I'm willing to bet that came from Michael's too!

 

My last post had gotten me thinking about the wicked stepsisters from Cinderella and I remembered that I ordered these awesome stamps from Sandra at The Sassy Club last summer.  I played around with some backgrounds and die cut letters. Unfortunately, you can't really tell from the photos, but I was really proud how this coloring and blending came out- especially since I eyeballed all of my combos. (after lots of test swatches) The one thing is that I wish her stamps had accompanying dies because fussy cutting is so hard and annoying. Those corners are tricky!

I'm slowly starting my Christmas cards. Every year I tell myself I'll do it early and every year I'm always scrambling to finish. Maybe I'll get some Christmas magic in the form of free time soon!

10 Year Crafting Anniversary!

So a few months ago, I realized I was coming up on my 10 year blogger anniversary. That's a long time! Of course, I've been doing some sort of crafts for much longer than that, but 10 years ago, I decided to start keeping track of my creations. 

And some of those early cards are *cringeworthy* But it shows me just how far I've come and I'm grateful for that.

The other day was World Card-Making Day and I posted a picture of my desk on IG. As always, it's cluttered and messy, but I feel no matter how much room I have, I'll always have that problem.

That's not to say that I don't dream of having a big craft room one day, but for now, this is just fine. This weekend, I'm going to a craft store on Long Island so I'm going to do a post about it. I know it's been a long time since I've blogged about any craft excursions and I'm treating myself to celebrate 10 years.  Happy Craftiversary (is that a thing?) to me!

Stay tuned!

A Very Penguin Birthday

 September is very a busy time around here! So many important Virgos in my life so it calls for more birthday cards. I took the Penguin Party stamp set from My Favorite Things and went to town. I really love this Stacey Yacula design and honestly, looking at her portfolio, you'll find SO many cute critters. I'm a sucker for these!

My first card was kept very simple because I had to make a video for my work Instagram and I wanted to come up with something that was quick to craft. I am forever trying to find more crafters out there and I was hoping to find other card-makers (alas, none yet). It was also my first attempt at a video tutorial and I must say, my hat is off to the folks who do this every day. It was exhausting! =) I took a stencil and blended Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch oxide for the background. After coloring my critter with copics, I used 3D foam to pop him up. I then cut a sentiment strip from Simon Says Stamp to finish it off. 

For the next one, I wanted to add a little something extra to the background. I heat embossed the polka dot stamp from Photo Play before pretty much following the same formula from above.

For my last card, I decided to try a different color palate.  This background was created using Spun Sugar, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry. I wanted to try the penguins with the cute banner too. In retrospect, I should have created some kind of platform so it doesn't look like they are floating in midair? Next time!

Also, looking at these now, doesn't the color scheme remind you of something? =)

Oh Boy!

These next two cards were really exciting for me to create. I had two separate friends tell me they were pregnant and it made me so happy because I know they are both going to make the most wonderful moms. 

For the first card, I used the WaffleFlower Be Him stamp set. I am seriously having a love affair with these stamps (as you have seen in the past few entries) I put the sunglasses on this one since my friend lives in Florida so I'm sure this kid will have his fair share of sunnies! The distress background was created using Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio. I embossed the sentiment from a MFT set I got for free with one of my hauls. I used the Cool copic family markers for him and I did another one with the Warm colors. Both were challenging tbh. I'm still trying to make those grey blends look flawless. (P.S.- it's hard)

For my next one, I cracked open my Hugs Make Everything Better set from MFT. I used this for my Father's Day cards and thought this was one would be great for this too. This background was a lot subtler and I used a small sentiment from MFT as well.

Here's hoping this pandemic gets under control soon because I would hate to miss meeting these brand new babies!

Birthdays, Galore!

Since I am so behind with these cards, I'm just going to put all of the birthday cards I've made in one post! Summer is a busy time around here!

For this card, I used a Waffle Flower stencil and the Be Her stamps which I love. 

I added some sparkle to her bow with a Wink of Stella pen. No idea why I haven't been using one this entire time!

For this card, I again used Waffle Flower stamps with a stencil. These cards are simple but I love how they come out.

I forgot about this Colorado Craft Company ice cream cone stamp that I bought forever ago. I took out my copics and with this large picture, it was a great blending exercise. 

For my brother-in-law's birthday, I used the Harry Potter stamps I got from The Sassy Club. Hagrid is his favorite character, but he looked lonely so I added Dobby and Hedwig since Hagrid is a lover of all creatures. I used a Waffle Flower stencil with Gryffindor colors. 

For this card, I used a Lawn Fawn ice cream stamp to create multiple scoops. The background was created with Shaded Lilac, Picked Raspberry and Cracked Pistachio and I used the stamp to create my own pattern. I really like how this one came out, but it look a long time to make it look right. 

Father's Day, 2021

I am so behind on this blog! It doesn't help that every free minute I get, I usually spend it crafting instead of blogging, but my posts are starting to pile up so here we go!

Father's Day, 2021. I made three cards for the Dads in my life. 

This was for my father in law. I used the Waffle Flower Be Him stamp set that I love and I gave the elephant a book since he's a big reader!

I made this for my husband since he actually picked out this Lawn Fawn stamp for me in a store! I used a cloud stencil for the background and a very old Recollections letter stamp set for the sentiment.

This card was for my brother in law who was celebrating his very first Father's Day! I really loved this Hugs stamp set from My Favorite Things. I tried to create a scene with the cloud stencil again and mowed lawn distress oxide. 

Lots more to come!

Happy Anniversary!

Last month, my husband and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. I know once folks get married, they tend to only celebrate their wedding date, but we were together for eight years before we got married, so I tend consider this June date the more important one.

On our first date, we saw Disney Pixar's UP! so it's always been a very special movie for us. When I saw that Sandra from The Sassy Club had stamps from the movie, I knew I had to grab them. 

First, I covered the card with a rainbow background using my distress oxides: Wilted Violet, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral. I didn't like that though. It just looked too much, so I grabbed a stencil from Waffle Flower and tried to recreate the effect. I messed up a little on the top, but at that point, I wasn't going to start over.

I'm actually really proud of the Copic coloring that I did on these characters. They took me awhile to get just right, but I love the end result. I topped it all off with a CZ Design sentiment.

Hope you all take the time to celebrate the special people in your life!

Oh Mickey, You So Fine

In college, I had a second home with my best friend Kevin. His house was sort of like a safe haven where a bunch of us would retreat to when we needed a breather. His mom is one of the nicest I know and I loved to color with her. Long before Copics, I used to color with good old fashioned Crayola crayons and she'd have tons of Disney coloring books to choose from. It was so therapeutic and relaxing which is probably why I still love doing it today.

Kevin's parents are DVC members and I have so many wonderful memories of going to Disney World with his family. They were always the most fun vacations. So when I wanted to make something for his mom, I knew these Mickey stamps from The Sassy Club were perfect. There are no dies for these stamps so I had to fussy cut it, but I don't think it came out too bad?

I created the background with Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar distress oxide. I used one of the background stamps to create a border and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Muggle

My best friend Rachael's birthday is only a few days after my own. Every year, we have these great joint birthday parties that include roller skating to boy band music, bars and tiaras or karaoke. It's always a good time. Sadly, we haven't been able to do anything for the past two years, but I'm looking forward to next year. It'll be epic.

She is my fangirl partner and expert in all things Harry Potter. When I was still only a few weeks pregnant, we took a trip to Universal and even though I couldn't ride anything, I still had a total blast with her. 

Recently, I discovered Sandra of The Sassy Club and down the rabbit hole I went. There have been so many stamp sets I've purchased since then, but her Harry Potter sets are by far my favorite. The background was blended with Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. This set also came with footprints so I tried to recreate the ending credits of the third movie, but I think I was too neat with them. Either way, I'm glad with how it turned out. 

I have a few more stamps from The Sassy Club to play with (so many really....) so I'm looking forward to future cards!

 

Birthday Girls!

Ruby Anniversary

Last month, we celebrated my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary. 40 is the ruby anniversary (my mother-in-law received beautiful ruby earrings from Tiffany's!) so we "kids" wanted to help them celebrate. We decorated the house and had food catered by their favorite restaurant. (The same place I got married, funny enough)

For their card, I had a different idea in mind, but time got away from me and I had to come up with something quick the night before. I had just gotten the Simon Says Stamp Dandelion message set and I was itching to use it. The distress oxide background was created with Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold and Squeezed Lemonade. Then I embossed a small sentiment on black cardstock and called it a day.

Simple cards can be beautiful too!

 

Happy 71, Sailor!

This year, my dad turned 71. Last year, due to the pandemic, we celebrated his 70th birthday over facetime since he lives in a Veteran's home and they had closed the place to all visitors. This year, I thought we would be able to see him, but it was only through plexiglass and we weren't allowed to give him any of the presents or food we made him. Instead, a nurse collected all of our things and all we could do was wave. It was rough. While I am very grateful for the care he receives, the toll of this pandemic is starting to wear me thin. I'm hoping once the vaccine becomes more wildly available, normal visitations can resume.

For his card, I again created a distress heavy card. I love this sunset, but this time, I also created an ocean since my father is a Navy man. I used washi tape to create the horizon.

Sky colors: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire.

Ocean: Tumbled Glass, Broken China and some Black Soot in the edges

I also took a white gel pen to create the waves. The sentiment is from an old Penny Black stamp set which I believe I've used for him before, but doesn't make it any less true!

Hope that wherever you are, you're able to see and hold your loved ones soon! 

 

Wasn’t he a cute sailor?

Baby Parade!

Later this month, I will be attending a baby shower over Zoom for my husband's cousin. She lives in Ohio and I've only met her a couple of times, but she really is the sweetest person so I wanted to make something special for her. She's having twin girls! (God bless her, haha)

I was finally able to use the Party Parade stamps I got from Hello Bluebird a long time ago. I just love how versatile they are and I got the coordinating dies which made things so easy for me. I had to work on the Copic blends a couple of times before I found some combos I liked, but I still need to practice.  The background was colored with Distress Oxides: Tumble Glass, Spun Sugar and Squeezed Lemonade.

Sunset Distress

 I have been experiencing a love affair with these distress oxides lately. I know they are really different from the inks and I like how smoother and brighter they are.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were driving to pick up dinner and there was a spectacular sunset. It was just one of those you wish you could paint so I decided to try and recreate it.

Colors from the bottom: Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot.

I still sometimes have a hard time blending Dusty Concord with Chipped Sapphire and I think my next purchase will be Wilted Violet since I've seen better blends with that combo. Regardless, I'm really proud of this!

I grabbed my CZ Design Dude die cut once again because I just love it so much and used some holographic foil paper for the front cut. I also used a  Simon sentiment strip which is much straighter now thanks to the Tim Holtz paper trimmer I got!

I gave this to my husband since he was there when I was inspired and honestly, he really does spread happiness like confetti so it was only fitting!

As you can see, I have a lot of them now. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of brush I prefer but the Gina K brushes seem to be winning. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to store them. 

Sigh.