Penguins!

Before Christmas, I ordered some Penguin stamps from the Whimsy Stamps site. Crissy Armstrong designs the cutest penguins so I bought two general types that I could use with many different cards. I've looked up a lot of color combos for penguins and they're all difficult to blend if you ask me. And I've tried. 

A lot. 

I have more too. On the sides, I've written the copic colors I used trying to decide which combos I prefer. I know there are probably a million places on the internet I could go to to help me decide which colors go best together, but I'm still in the stubborn trial and error phase. 

And I know most of these look exactly alike, but I know they are different and some are sloppier than others. Like I said, practice makes perfect. Evidently, I need a lot of practice. 

A Resolution

So I head the party planning committee at my job and with everything being remote these days, it’s been a bit of a challenge. I was scrolling through the good ole interwebs for a charity that would logistically work and came across Cards for Kindness. 

It’s hosted by Scrapbook.com which I will admit I have perused but I’ve never purchased anything from the site. They created a global initiative where you create handmade cards with themes such as Happy Hellos or Thinking of You and they distribute them to hospitals, shelters, retirement homes and other organizations in need. 

I really liked that sentiment because sometimes I want to color an image or just play around with my die-cuts but I don’t necessarily have an occasion or someone in mind to craft for.

 I also thought that this would make a great new year’s resolution since I don’t really do those anyway. They require a minimum of 10 cards for submission so I’m going to try and create 20 different cards. I’m writing about this here as a way to hold myself accountable similar to how I announce my Goodreads challenge every year and then OBSESS over it if it seems I may not make my quota. (Spoiler alert: 2020’s challenge was PITIFUL) Plus, 20 cards in 12 months doesn’t seem that hard right? 

But those could be famous last words, who knows?  

So This is The New Year

For Christmas this year, my husband gave me the Misti stamping tool along with lots of accessories. I stole some time to think about Valentine's Day since I have a lot to catch up on. I found these old Penny Black hedgehogs that I used to love and went about creating a test card with my Copics. As you can see, the coloring is very inconsistent. I don't remember my technique at all! It's also crooked. Sigh. But I don't want to open the new year with complaints. Rather, this is a great opportunity to throw myself back into a challenge. 

I've tried looking up some of my old Copic blogs and while I can't seem to remember those either, I did find The Marker Geek from England and her Youtube videos have been really relaxing and informative. I just need to practice. I ordered some stamps from Whimsy Stamps and Hello Bluebird so I'm waiting on those to continue my V-Day practice. 

Body: E50, E31, E25, RV10

Hearts: R29, R89

Highlight: RV000

Distress Ink on card: Worn Lipstick

Let's all hope for brighter days this year. 

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)

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)