A Teacher Thank You

This next thank you card was difficult for me simply because I can't believe we're at the end of the year already! My son is graduating the first grade and moving to a whole new school and his teacher this year has been absolutely wonderful. No one ever tells you that the hard part about having such an excellent teacher is having to deal with the prospect of leaving them at the end of the year. First grade was such a tough transition for him but I really think he never would have succeeded the way he did without this dedicated and nurturing woman. She just understood him and encouraged him on a level that I never had to worry about him falling behind or feeling lost. Kinda makes you wish you could pull a Mr. Feeney and have her follow him to his next grade level. 😄

For this card I wanted to use supplies I hadn't touched yet (slowly but surely getting to everything!) This After the Rain die from Hello Bluebird caught my eye because I wanted to use the rainbow. I discarded the clouds for favor of stenciling my own with Tumbled Glass distress oxide (I do so love this technique) I roughly eyed my Copics and tried to recreate the colors of the rainbow. The mistake I made was gluing everything first and THEN coloring. I tried to keep it neat but it wasn't easy. For the sentiment, I wanted to give it a 3D feel and I asked my son what color it should be. Purple is her favorite color and I have to say- it popped really well!

So here's to teachers who are amazing superheroes who most certainly don't get enough recognition. (or money for that matter) 💜 

Happy New Year.... a little too late

This card really should have been posted last month, but here we are. I made this card for a close work friend who just moved into her first apartment with her boyfriend over the holidays. I was so happy for her and excited for her to start this new chapter with her wonderful guy. I found this adorable background stamp from Michaels and I was going to add some sparkle to it but then chickened out before I could ruin it. Instead, I added the HNY sentiment from Waffle Flower and tried to match the background color. 

Who says simple cards can't be nice?

High-Five Birthday

For my nephew's 5th birthday, I was able to finally break out my Rachelle Anne Miller stamps that I bought from My Favorite Things before they closed. The images were so cute but I hadn't realized how difficult it would be to color since they were small! I tried blending as best I could but now I know why all my critters are so large normally. I was going to try and add something to the background since it looked so bare, but at that point, I didn't want to mess anything up. (the sentiment already got screwed up a bit so there was a lot of yelling at that point) I was proud of the ombre effect I created with the 5 though!

We Make a Great Combo!

Good news was recently shared in my family- my brother-in-law got engaged! To be honest, he's been with his girlfriend for so long, I cannot remember what life was like before her. It'll be nice to make it official though!

I wanted to make them a congratulatory card and I knew the exact stamp set to use. Years ago, I bought this set from My Favorite Things (RIP to a real one) entitled We Make A Great Combo and it's all different kinds of food that go together. I thought the burger and fries was beyond adorable and before I had put everything back into storage, I had started to stamp and color but never made anything with it. Until now!

I used the stitched heart die from Waffle Flower and colored it with Fired Brick, Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade distress ink. Using copics on the stamps, I also used a white Posca marker that my husband gave me a long time ago for accents. The next part literally took me two hours. I had different letter dies that I cut out to spell combo and I tried embossing the first half of the sentiment on black paper, but I haven't embossed in years and I forgot just how tricky it could be! I kept messing it up and then the letter dies were too big so I just went for a simple sentiment. (finally got the hang of embossing again!)

Excited for a fun wedding! I know my son is looking forward to ring-bearer duties. =)

2025

 An unexpected hiatus- probably one of my longest, but unavoidable. Life has completely transformed since that last post in August 2022. Crafting took a backseat for a long time. I managed to make a few cards but it's been so long that I no longer remember colors, techniques or even who they were for, sadly. So I'm just going to post them without comment. 

I've recently created a new craft space for myself and hope to get back into the swing of it by the holidays. Wish me luck.

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)

Bride Tribe

Surprises are the best. The BEST. I love them. I’m a hard person to surprise though. I get nosy and suspicious really easily. I like to bug and bug until people crack. I’ve been told it’s not fun for the other person, but I just can’t help it!

So imagine my surprise when I walked into my apartment last August and found a million balloons scattered around the place. The soundtrack for Pixar’s UP was playing and my very sweet boyfriend was standing holding a bouquet of sunflowers. I would like to say my first reaction was sweet- I cried, I laughed, I grabbed him. But no- my first instinct was to say, “What the fuck?” (If you know me then you aren’t very surprised by this) But then the speech came and the ring and then I started jumping and crying so eventually, I got there.

Fast forward a couple of months later- it’s time to pick my wedding party. BRIDESMAIDS ASSEMBLE!

There wasn’t a question of who I would ask- just a question of HOW. I wanted it to be special and personal and Disney related of course.  My girls are all Disney fans themselves so I knew I wouldn’t have to ponder too much on this. I decided to create a Disney Princess box for each of them showcasing their favorite princess. I was sly about this, randomly taking a poll for a Disney Blogger online (which isn’t too much of a stretch since I used to be one once upon a time) and pretty soon, I had my results.

I wanted the outside of the box to be the wedding colors of red and navy blue. Off to Michael’s I go! I found these great boxes with room for a picture on the lid and painted them all accordingly. I covered them with blue ribbon to give them a sense of “opening a present” (I covered the photos for this blog just to give them some privacy).

Once you open the box, this is what you would find:

• Will you be my Bridesmaid postcard from Papersource
• Bottle of champagne with “I Love You” written in different languages and cute cartoons. I also made a special tag for each of them
• A Ring pop (featuring Sid the Sloth from Ice Age since JP worked on that movie!)
•  A mini clipboard for notes
• A figurine of your Disney Princess from the Animator’s collection (TOTES my fav!)
•  A Little Golden Book of your Disney movie which I took a part and added pages of notes about the wedding after the story

I was able to deliver them personally to each girl and it was so wonderful to see their reactions. I was so glad they all said yes and have started this crazy journey with me!

From L to R: Michelle (Aurora), Me (Belle), Rachael (Ariel- also my Maid of Honor!), Tana (Pocahontas), Monique (Mulan) and Gale (Jasmine)

Out on Sabbatical

Hi! Remember me? I used to post about cards and arts and crafts things. Let's just fast forward past where I explain how busy life can get and just show some of the things I've missed posting. Most are from Cricut cartridges and various stamps. Welcome to a plethora of holidays and birthdays:

I have some big projects coming up soon to showcase. Lots of changes that are bringing about plenty of DIY projects. More to come!