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. 

Dude, I Miss You

I was making some cards for the Cards for Kindness organization (yes, I didn't forget my pledge! More on that later) and I decided that I wanted to make something for my three best friends who I haven't seen in months. Lately, I've been hitting what everyone has been referring to as that "pandemic wall" and I just miss my girlfriends and all the fun we used to have together. Hopefully with vaccine rollouts, I'll be able to see them soon.

I had asked what what their favorite colors were and they all gave me the same answer which made this very easy for me! I had recently purchased some word die cuts from Simon Says Stamp and I wanted to try them out.

Distress oxides I blended for the backgrounds: Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire and Cracked Pistachio.  

For this one, I used a heart stencil I got from Simon that works perfectly with A2 cards. The die cut is from CZ Design and Cathy is honestly one of my favorite crafters to watch on youtube now. I learned to create dimension, you should cut three pieces and glue them together. I like these dies because they have the shadowed background too. 

I used some washi tape to create a clean line with my blending here. I also used one of the Simon sentiment strips which was a little tricky to cut in a straight line, but I did my best. I couldn't resist this die cut either. I call everyone dude so I just had to have it.

For my last one, I blended a larger background with the distress oxides and I included a cat from a Michael's stamp pack I bought awhile ago. These cats are fun to Copic color so I've been practicing with them for awhile (and I knew my friend Monique loves cats). 

They all looked really nice when you put them together (much like my beautiful friends)

Happy Galentine’s Day!

With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to make cards for two coworkers that I miss very much now that we are all working remotely. 

I used some of the new A2 cards that I ordered from Paper Source and these measure 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 which are very different from the usual 5 x 6 7/8 cards that I craft with. I have to admit, it's a challenge having a smaller canvas to work with, but I really liked it! I may order more. (And honestly, I’ll have to because these belonged to my Cards for Kindness stash... oops)

I used this kitty Penny Black stamp for my first card. And of course, I forgot to write down which copics I used to color it. The hearts and sentiment are from Lawn Fawn dies I bought over holiday break. 

For my second card, I wanted to use one of the million Whimsy Stamp penguins that I spent so long coloring. For the record, I really hate fussy cutting images. Now I know why people spend so much on coordinating stamps and dies! 

Copic colors: C00, C1, C5, C7, C9, R20 and colorless blender. Still not 100% in love with the coloring, but getting there. 

For the background, I embossed the hearts using a Hampton Art stamp with Recollections white detail powder. Then I blended Shaded Lilac, Worn Lipstick and Scattered Straw distress ink over it. Lastly, I used the Lawn Fawn sentiment die.

Here’s to celebrating Galentine’s Day!