Headband

Thanks to Etsy I was able to do birthday shopping for one of my sister-in-law’s months ago.  She is so cute and trendy in her own way that I knew one of the fabric flower headbands would be perfect.  Not too long after I ordered one for her I saw a tutorial on how to make your own in less than an hour.  I have always loved these fabric flowers and thought they would be cute additions to Taylor’s hair too.  Plus I had adorable lime green polka dot fabric left over from making this owl dress.  I love that this whole project cost me less than $1 since the headbands were a 3 pack for $2.50 and all the fabric is leftover from previous sewing projects.  I even pulled some tshirts out of my goodwill bag to use, but none were a color that my sil would wear.  I LOVE how it turned out and am contemplating making some clips for Taylor to wear with her owl dress(and if I do some will be on their way to you Annalee) and maybe a black and red version for me to wear during football season.  Hmmm… think of all the possibilities!

 

(Chris got me a slr camera for Mothers Day/early birthday and I am loving the way it takes pictures)

I also made her a card based on this one from kwernerdesignblog.com.  I love her stuff and especially since she does video tutorials for you to see how simple it is to make them yourself.  I used paper on the front that is from the ‘Material Girl’ collection and thought it was appropriate for the homemade gift.

 

Graduation & Birthday cards

I know I promised to show more stamped creations on here since I’ve been feeling better and I’ve truly been stamping, but I forget to post pictures.  Even worse when I forget to take pictures of some of my favorite cards.  I’ve also been working on creating a ‘stash’ of birthday, thank you, and thinking of you cards so that I can have them handy when #2 comes and I don’t have as much time to stamp.  It’s been a few years, but I do remember that with a baby comes sleepless nights and hope to be better prepared this time around.  Anyways, here are some of my creations:

 

These are two graduation cards I made using the school colors

  

A retirement card for my principal ~ pregnancy congrats card for my dear friend(the wings of the butterfly are popped up for a 3D look) ~ one of the mother’s day cards I made(sorry the picture is so blurry)

Nesting or just plain cleaning out??

I’m not sure if I’ve already got nesting setting in, the urge to purge all unused items, or just plain belated spring cleaning.  It’s still spring in some states right???  I love my stamps, but as I was making some birthday cards over the weekend I realized that there were a few that I haven’t used in some time.  It’s only fair to these sweet little jewels to give them a home where they might be used and I’ve tried eBaying stamps in the past and found it just isn’t worth my time for the few dollars I make on them.  So I thought I would see if any of my readers would like to adopt them.  If you aren’t local then I would ask for you to cover the shipping costs, but that’s it.  I will leave them posted for a few weeks and then what’s not taken will be given away.  Some of these stamp sets are just like new.

Miracle of Spring ~ Itty Bitty Backgrounds(taken) ~ Mixed Greetings

Holiday Spirit (taken)~ Ho-Ho-Holidays ~ Fishy Friends

Big Deal Alphabet (there are only 12 blocks but the letters are mounted on each side) taken

Just leave me a comment and let me know which one you would like and I’ll set it aside for you if you promise to love them and be creative with them :)

Another great creation

Some of you may be wondering what happened to all the crafting I used to do.  And the blogging.  It seems like lately I am several months behind on blogging(Easter and bluebonnet pics ARE coming) and can barely even get the Taylor Tuesday posted on time. 

Well, I have been crafting a little bit:

This was Taylor’s birthday invitation in a 5x7 size and 4x3 insert

Her thank you notes.  These were 4.25 x 5.5 flat card size.  I didn’t stamp this year, but created it all with the Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio.

I also created some thank you notes for a friend who recently had a baby boy.  The notes match his nursery theme/colors.

Even some birthday and thank you cards

While my craft room has been gathering more dust than I like, I have been creating in other areas.  I can try my hardest to make something out of paper and ribbon and ink, but nothing will compare to the creation that will debut in the fall.

Chris and I are very excited to announce that we will be having our second baby in early November.  Taylor is so excited, but I’m not sure she knows what’s going to be happening except that she will have her own baby to love on rather than everyone else’s.  I dealt with the all day long sickness like with Taylor and the constant need to sleep(which is hard with a toddler) but am starting to get my energy back and looking forward more energy now that the weather is gorgeous!  I still take advantage of naps while Taylor is napping but you can also find me cleaning out closets and trying to figure out how to combine a playroom and guest room.  I have to give the grandparents(our parents) a huge THANKS for keeping our secret a secret for so long!  I know how excited they are and only want to share that excited with all their friends. 

I am working my way back into the craft room for some small creations and to get some scrapbooking on Taylor done before I try to keep up with two kiddos and scrapbooking.  I promise that posts will become more frequent now that I am out of my zombie sleepiness. 

Sneak Peek Revealed

I never realized until I had Taylor how many birthday card, baby shower, and thank you cards I would need.  I would love to have the time to sit down and hand create each card to fit the recipient but it is much easier for me to have a stash of these in my craft room and just add an appropriate sentiment.  Well here are some cards I created for a Stampin’ Up party I did yesterday to help other Moms have the same thing on hand.  They are all made using the Fox & Friends stamp set that is way too cute!

Both of these first cards are made using the same stamp sets and card layout, I just changed the colors and the animal I used to make it more gender specific.  I also stamped the animal once of the inside because they are so cute.

The next two cards are also similar with only the change of paper and the animal.  On these I showed everyone how to do dry embossing using the new Dot Impression folder.  It gives such a nice touch to the card without much effort.  I added a piece of the embossed cardstock to the inside of the card too.  The pink/owl card has touches of scallop trim using one of the new punches that you can get for free right now.

    

 

Hope you enjoyed a close up of my cards.

Supplies:

Stamps: Wow Flowers, Fox & Friends

Ink: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose

Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Kraft

Other: Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Trim punch, Dot Impression folder, Modern Label punch, Certainly Celery satin ribbon

Sneak Peek

I am doing a Stampin’ Up party for a friend this weekend and had SOOO much fun coming up with projects for us.  I figured I would give you a sneak peek at what we are making. 

 

Aren’t you now curious what we’re making???  Anything with that little owl turns out adorable and I plan on doing some more with him soon.  I know you are thinking the fact that I am stamping more than twice in a month is crazy but my new craft room has made it much easier to stay organized.  Stay tuned early next week and I’ll reveal the images of what we made!

Valentine’s Day Class

I try to keep this blog about Taylor, our family, and the different whimsical things I’m up to, but I had to show you the items I created for the Stampin’ Up class I have coming up on January 31st.  In the class we will be making the 3 cards and one non-card item shown below.  If you want information about you can come please put your email in the comment section.  Plus I know Melinda loves to see what I’ve been up to in my location for random Christmas items that haven’t found their way to the attic craft room.  I know I’ve said that I’m not allowed to buy any more paper, but how could I resist the Valentine’s-ish paper that is in the new Occasions Mini catalog.

I just love how Catherine Pooler did this card and changed it slightly to fit my needs.

 

This next one was a great way to incorporate several of the papers(did I mentioned they are all two sided and one side has glitter accents?).  Plus I love an excuse to use my white gel pen.  This one was a little bit harder to photograph since the red paper is actually a small strip on the inside of the card.  Bare with me and my photo taking skills!

  

I was inspired by this card and found a way to do a similar card, but using the Sending Love paper.  Isn’t this little owl the cutest?!  He looks like he’s saying ‘Who me?  You love me?’  Taylor loved this card since she has figured out how to say the word owl.  But her ‘owl’ is more drawn out like she’s trying to say ‘owl’ and ‘whoo’ at the same time. 

 

I can’t take credit for this design of this last item either.  I found it here.  There are so many wonderfully creative women out there that I love to follow and attempt to make some of their items my own.  This Valentine’s treat holder was just too cute to not try.  And any reason to have chocolate on my craft table is always a good thing. 

 

I’ve made a few more items with this paper but I will save those for another day.  Can you believe that Valentine’s Day is less than a month away??  Feel like it was just summer the other day.  Guess I better get back to the craft room and work on one for Chris before V-Day gets here!

Supplies(all Stampin’ Up!):

Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Sending Love DSP

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Real Red

Stamps:With All My Heart, Fox & Friends, Whimsical Words

Other: scallop circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, oval scallop punch, small oval punch, white gel pen, scallop trim punch, dimensionals, XL fancy flower punch, Real Red grosgrain ribbon

Quick Thank You Card

I needed a cute and quick thank you card to give to all the customers who ordered at my recent Stampin’ Up workshop.  I have been wanting to use the combo of the new SU color Melon Mambo and Chocolate Chip.  Now that I look at it on here, it could just a few more embellishments to add a little zing.  Maybe next time!

 

Supplies: (all Stampin’ Up)

Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White paper; Chocolate Chip Designer Series Paper; Garden Whimsy & Trendy Trees stamp set; Melon Mambo & Chocolate Chip ink; corner rounder punch, word window punch, curvy label punch

Mojo Monday 109

I got a chance to sneak into my craft room and do more than clean/organize last week. 

I used the design from this past week’s Mojo Monday sketch as my starting place. 

  Supplies:

Elegant Eggplant, Mellow Moss, and Whisper White paper; Elegant Eggplant and Mellow Moss ink; Teeny Tiny Wishes and a hostess set that I can’t remember the name of right now, white grosgrain ribbon, scallop oval punch, oval punch, and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder

Baby Thank you cards

A friend is getting ready to have her second baby and is having a little girl this time.  I know when I had Taylor, I really appreciated when my friend Melinda made me the most adorable thank you cards.  So I offered to make some thank you cards that matched her nursery bedding.  I love how the bedding is girly without really having any pink or purple in it. 

Plus it gave me a chance to use my Cheep Talk and Trendy Trees stamp sets.  I ended up with two different cards and then did half of each style with blue birds and half with orange/cantaloupe colored birds.  I embossed the green layer using my Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder.  I wanted to create polka dots like on the bedding, but white dots were just too busy.  Then I clear embossed the flowers on the coral layer to give them that extra pop.

After going through my pictures, I now realize that I didn’t take a picture of the blue bird card below that had the yellow layer with embossed flowers.  This was my first version of this card and Chris suggested I flip the blue and yellow and add the embossed flowers.  He’s really getting good at helping me with this design stuff!  I liked the simple inside design of the card above, so I repeated it again here. 

Don’t you just love those birds?  Happy stamping!