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!

Sweeeeet Birthday!

My boyfriend's sister, Michelle is a fan of Finding Nemo so for her birthday, I wanted to use my Pixar Cricut cartridge to make something for her. There are so many great cuts in this cartridge. I also used letter stamps to create the phrases. I made little squirt because who doesn't love him?

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

I had to make a thank you card for someone and because the weather has been so horrid and also because I had the song from Mary Poppins in my head, I decided to use a bright kite cut. This is from the Baby Shower cartridge, but while the original is cut so that the kite comes out with zig-zag pattern, I decided to just use one main pattern. The clouds were cut from my Mickey and Friends cartridge.

When trying to think of what kind of tail to attach, I started rummaging through my embellishments box. You know the box I'm talking about- the one with a million little embellishments, stickers, jewels and lace that you totally forget you have sometimes. I found some lace and pearls for an extra accent. The thank you stamp is from a Michael's $1 grab bag and they have really been so useful over the years.

Here's hoping for some sunshine real soon. =)

NYC Birthday Girl

A few weeks ago, my buddy Andrew asked me if I would make a card for his sister's birthday. When I asked what kind of card he would like, he said anything that had to do with shopping or New York. Luckily, I recently realized that I work not too far from one of my favorite craft stores here in the city, The Ink Pad. I ran over one afternoon and picked up a NYC stamp. Here is what I came up with:

Before I stamped the skyline, I took out my distress inks and tried to recreate a night time palate. It was a bit difficult to be honest and it took a few tries. I used a combo of Weathered Wood and Black Soot and just to give it a bit of light, I gently dabbed some Victorian Velvet in the middle. To create the moon effect I simply put a circular piece of paper down before blending my colors and then swooshed some weathered wood on it after to make it look cloudy.

When I added the skyline stamp, I used a silver sharpie to highlight some areas. In retrospect, I wish I had used a different marker. I added the silver with a paint brush because it was SO overpowering, but I really should have used a thinner marker.

The sparkly heel was cut from the Bridal Shower Cricut cartridge and I cut out an identical one in black to give it some dimension. I added a Birthday Girl sentiment to finish it off. Hopefully this was a good combination of New York and shopping!

Kitties, Birthdays and the Color Pink

Once again, my pal Joe requested a card. This time for his niece who was turning seven. He informed me that she liked the color pink, kittens, and princess dresses (is it weird that I have the similar tastes of a seven year old? haha) This is what I came up with.

The kitty is cut from the Create a Critter cartridge and I used some sparkly cardstock for her dress. It was left over from a Valentine's Day Martha Stewart pack I have. And what seven year old birthday party would be complete without balloons? I decided if Nicole was anything like me when I was seven, she'd like seeing her name on EVERYTHING. I added some heart brads to the corners to finish it off.

I found this birthday stamp at Hobby Lobby and I just fell in love with it. Hopefully, Nicole enjoyed her card!

1 UP!

My boyfriend's two cousins are huge gamers. I love to go over to their house in New Jersey and play with their adorable lab named Duke while they play Magic the Gathering or one of the many video games in the basement. His cousin Chris had a birthday recently and for his card, I wanted to incorporate his love for games. I tried drawing a mushroom but my drawing skills are severely lacking. Instead, I used the Cricut Cartridge Wrap It Up and made him a controller.

I wanted to keep it colorful so I used button brads for the middle buttons and a green embossed background. I wanted to add a touch of Zelda somewhere, but again, my drawing skills are limited. Womp womp.

Tons to Celebrate!

When Matthew received his card, he was so pleased that he told his brother, Joe about me. Joe was a month away from celebrating his own girlfriend's birthday. He wanted me to create a card with an elephant since he and Lauren had just been to the San Diego Zoo (jealous!) and she had fallen in love with the elephants. He also mentioned that her favorite colors were purple and pink.

So with that info, this is what I came up with:

I took some sparkly purple paper and cut the layout using Creative Cards Cricut cartridge. I found the CUTEST clear elephant stamps by Inky Antics. I colored him in with copics and added some sparkly stars.

I added another stamp on the inside along with the sentiment using Hero Arts font stamps. Instead of a border, I added colorful flags to the top and cut happy birthday from the Birthday Bash cartridge. I realized afterward that I didn't leave him much room to write his own message to her, but hopefully he has small handwriting. =)

Paper Playtime #7 Use a Pun

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! For me, I think the best part about Easter besides the goodie baskets is getting to see all the adorable little girls at Mass dressed in their finest party dresses!

This week, Paper Playtime is having a fun challenge. You can make a project that uses a pun. 

Ch#7 Use a PUN
Begins: Mon, Apr 1

Ends: Sun, Apr 14

Prizes $15 Gift Cert. from The Robin's Nest
2nd Sponsor: 1 set of Metal Dies or 1 Stamp Set 
(winner's choice; must have USA address) from My Craft Spot

Winner announced in the WINNERS Page Tab

Here's what I created for this challenge:
 

I wanted to make an Easter card for my boyfriend's mom. She is the only person I know who actually likes Peeps so I bought her a box and made her this card. I embossed the background with a swirly rubber stamp and Tim Holtz embossing powder. I used the chick from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge and Martha Stewart paper punch for the borders.  I used some Distress Ink for the second border and stamped the sentiment.

I really hope you all join in on the fun since I know just how many cartridges and stamps out there have puns!

Have a happy Easter everyone!

Crafting on the Island

Time for another crafting adventure! Last weekend, my boyfriend JP and I drove out to Long Island. Specifically, we were in the Westbury/ Carle Place area near the Roosevelt Field Mall. I decided to see what kind of crafting offerings were available at the three main craft stores we have here in the New York Metropolitan area. 

(Slightly off topic: Anyone out there FROM the NY Metropolitan Area?!)

These three stores were all within a 5 minute drive of each other. First up, the store that was having major sales!

All the paper crafting materials here were 50% off! So I was happy to be seeing things like this-

The problem with this, as with any sale, I always seem to be the last one there. So there were slim pickings, my friends. But I can always rely on JoAnn's for is this lovely pile-

It took me a solid ten minutes or so to go through this. I love clearance items and I don't mind sifting through each bin for my $1 stamps.

In the end, I came away from JoAnn's with these items-

I couldn't walk away without some stamps. The rubber one that I plan to use for embossing was only $5 and the other was just $3! And with Easter right around the corner, I needed some colorful paper! This was just a whooping $4. The small rubber stamp says "Happy Easter to my favorite Peep." Too cute.

Next stop:

AC Moore's stamps were a bit more organized.

They were however not on sale. Womp womp. So I didn't go stamp crazy, but their Cricut Cartridges were on sale! And I found the cutest $1 ribbons.

So we had to stop by Home Depot after which coincidentally was right next store to:

By this time, it was evening as you can see, so as sweet and patient as my boyfriend was all day, we were hungry! I had to be lightening fast! But I was on a mission. I needed a Flower Frog to hold my cards, but when I asked for it, the saleslady asked what it was used for. Now I know this thing is not normally used for cards.

But try to explain that to someone without feeling stupid! Luckily, another worker stepped in and saved me. Embarrassment averted. I came away from Michael's with a nice haul.

Then because he had been so nice all day, we ended the night with a yummy Mexican place the boy likes. I had the yummiest Flautas and guacamole!

And that was our adventure! I do sometimes wish there was some kind of new crafting store with new merchandise, but I suppose it's just wishful thinking. I'll just have to hold out for those times I drive upstate and down south to the large Hobby Lobby's. Now those stores are pretty amazing! Check them out if you can.

Love in the Office

I'm sure everyone has their fair share of difficult people to deal with at the office. I sure do. Thankfully however, I have two amazing friends and together, we make it through the day with a little venting and a lot of laughter. They are two of the best people I know. For my last set of Valentines, this is what I made them.

For my friend Gale, I took to my Cuttlebug with a new folder I recently purchased at Michael's. The embossing is so nice it practically creates the entire card for you. I found these really cute Inkadinkado animal valentine stamps and I wanted to use them for these cards. I added some paper flowers with a little jewel in the middle.

For my friend Andrew, I created a smaller card with different patterned paper from (who else?) Martha Stewart. I used the Baby Shower Cricut cartridge to cut out flags and since Andrew is a laid back kinda guy, I added the stamp with the relaxing duckies.

It's us against the World!

 Also, something BIG is happening for this blog and I cannot wait to unveil it! Hopefully by next week everything will be in place and I will be able to share. That also means a giveaway soon!!! I'm trying to decide what kind I want to do. Gift cards can be so boring, but they are useful.... Still thinking!