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. =)

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!

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. 

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)

Valentine's Day 2016

This year, I took the rest of my crafting supplies out of storage. One of the things I uncovered was my Cuttlebug! I forgot how much I loved that thing and along with some Spellbinder Nestabilities dies, I made most of my Valentine's this year with them. JP went to New Jersey one weekend to hang out with his cousins, so I watched girly movies all Saturday and Sunday while making these.  Along with die cuts, I used lots of powder and glittering embossing. Overall, I was very happy with how they came out!

Also, if anyone was wondering, the movies I watched were as follows:

• Sabrina (my all time favorite girly flick ever. (The remake though) I'm a sucker for Harrison Ford in a bow tie!
• Bridget Jones' Diary
• The Wedding Date
• Notting Hill
• Cruel Intentions
• Mystic Pizza
• Hannah and her Sisters

Two Zero One Five

Here is some advice for the new year: If your boyfriend suggests that you two should move in together, be happy. Be excited. Get ready. Get all your ducks in a row and do your research!

Be patient.

Also, do yourself a favor and don't let the first thing you pack be the hobby that keeps you sane.

When my boyfriend JP suggested we move in together, I was ecstatic. I started to pack immediately and the first thing I packed away were all of my crafting supplies.

Big mistake.

Almost 4 months later, I was still waiting to unpack my craft bins. You see, what a rookie like myself didn't realize was that moving is not immediate. Of course, I knew it would take some time. Some time in my mind was a month maybe? It took us four. Apartment hunting is not easy. Sometimes it was downright scary even. But finally, the stars aligned and we found our perfect one bedroom apartment and after three weeks, we are pretty much all moved in.

Our first Christmas Tree! It was a Charlie Brown moment.

One of the main things I asked for when looking for an apartment was a section to set up all of my supplies. I was pretty cramped in my old room, sequestered in a tiny corner with everything on top of each other. But because my boyfriend is pretty awesome, he helped me pick out the right furniture that would hold everything and still give me room to create. Also, we were pretty lucky in that our bedroom is huge. There was a chunk of free space after we put in two dressers and a queen sized bed so I decided to use the other half of the room as my crafting haven. (Folks, I'm serious. TAKE YOUR TIME when looking for a place. I'm so glad we didn't settle because I LOVE THIS APARTMENT!)

Here is a look at what I'm working with--->

This is my desk looking nice and tidy! See how long that lasts...

I got that book case from Ikea to hold all of my supplies.

It was important for me to be near a television. Originally, we were only going to have one in the living room and use the bedroom as a place to relax at night and help our minds quiet down. But I quickly realized, there was no way I would be able to craft without some background noise. Sometimes, music doesn't quite cut it. And for the past two weeks, I've become obsessed with the NBC show, Parenthood. I was going to need a way to watch and craft at the same time. (Also FYI: Check the show out! It's in it's final season, but it's a realistic, funny, and moving family show)

Can't be creative without JP or our alter egos, Ellie and Carl. 

I was pretty psyched for this Christmas gift. JP bought me a Foldio studio. In the past, taking pictures of my cards was always a 10 minute struggle. The lighting was never good. I couldn't find a good background. There were always weird shadows in the picture. This little studio box eliminates all of my problems! There's a light inside and you could either insert a white (as seen above), black or grey background and you no longer have to worry about the quality of the photo. I seriously, cannot wait to use it! The Mickey ears are just an added decor element from my days as a Disney Cast Member.

I have a lot of stuff.....

Us on Christmas Day. <3

I'm really quite excited to start some projects in this new and improved space. I already have lots of ideas lined up and plenty of creative energy to burn.

So here's to a great 2015! Hope your year is full of plenty of love and surprises. 

And Crafting. =)