You Light Up My Life!

I was fortunate enough to have an overnight with my college girlfriends last Saturday. It was the best. Just the 6 of us. We've never all done that...ever! But we're all Mothers now and need it more than ever!!

So we went and shopped, and had quiet meals out with grown up drinks and no screaming and no wondering if we have any lollypops or stashed toys just so that we can sit for 5 minutes longer before meltdowns hit, and we shopped some more!


We hit Marshall's first (my favorite place to shop! weird I know!). I love to paruse through every single thing. Because there's LOTS to be found...if you have the patience to search. And you can get a TON of great stuff. So I helped my girlfriends...as well as random strangers find new spring and summer clothes. It was a hoot. We were in the dressing rooms for what felt like minutes but really a few hours had passed!! I could be anywhere with these women and the time would literally zip by. And then we went to lunch and then to Hyannis to Colorful Creations. 3 of the 6 of us shopped till we dropped...again!! While the other 3 sat in the guest chairs at the front of the store and sipped coffee and chatted. I was like a kid in a candy store!! And I shopped fast. If I took my time (as I love to do when I shop) I would STILL be there looking at all of the beautiful and inspirational things that they sell!!

But I did manage to do a decent bit of damage!! The first thing that I've used from CC is my new Amuse chandelier stamp and coordinating Hambly chandelier paper. The sentiment is also from Amuse.

I was finally able to purchase all of the new coordinating papers, ribbons and some ink from the new line at Papertrey Ink!! I've been drooling for some time now! I started with what I was drawn to the most which is the Berry Sorbet. It is seriously delicious to look at. It is a beautiful weight paper and the ribbon matches perfectly. They did a wonderful job on this line. Not that I'm surprised ;) I used the matching ink to stamp the chandelier and then I colored it in with my Pantone marker in cyan. I know it's not matching in anyway but I love how funky it looks! I then took my Sakura pen and doodled all around the chandelier as well as the chandeliers on the designer paper to make them sparkle!! I did the same treatment to the sentiment. I added 3 black mini-brads from Making Memories and a double corner punch. One is the same as the background paper and the other is a polka dotted paper which is actually from the package of brads!! It was part of the label actually!! I just made this to play around...so fun when there's a few minutes to do just that!

It was great to spend an entire 24 hours with my most darling friends and now every time I use my new goodies I will think of that weekend.

I can't wait to do it again!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative day!

Simply Beautiful

My darling childhood friend Erica has asked me to make some Asian inspired notecards for her Mom. I knew JUST where to head for the perfect paper! The Paper Source!! Red, black and gold was my assignment and it literally took me minutes to find the perfect paper. And it's so beautiful that I honestly had to do minimal work for these. With a base of SU! Whisper White and mattes of Real Red and Basic Black I was good to go. I used SU!'s retired 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon with a small piece of gold trim tucked in the knot for some extra zip. I sat and stared at these for a long time thinking...it needs something else. But the paper is just so beautiful that I didn't want to disrupt it by putting anything on top of it. So...I ran it by my DH...who always tells me what he likes and what he doesn't and he agreed that it didn't need anything. So while they are very simple...they are simply beautiful!!

I can't wait to give them to my friend for her Mom!!

I hope that everyone has a very creative weekend!! Happy Friday!

Religious Thank You

Our fabulous pre-school teacher, Miss Melanie, asked me to make up some thank you notes with a cross on them for her to send out. I believe she teaches CCD so she needed some TY notes to send for gifts she's received for end of the year. I have to say that being a 'nice Jewish girl' made this a definite challenge for me as I wanted them to be both beautiful and appropriate. This is my first project using any kind of religious symbol so I wanted to make sure I got it right!!

I chose to use the Gina K set "He Is Risen". Miss Melanie is always wearing earth tones so I started with that as my general theme. I have this awesome DP from Frances Meyer that when cut it is a bit different on each card...which I love because it's not the exact same every time. I paired the DP with the following SU! colors: chocolate chip, so saffron, close to cocoa and more mustard. I grabbed my 1/4 " more mustard grosgrain ribbon from SU! as an extra embellishment on the top tied around the cocoa and DP layers. I stamped the cross in Versamark and clear heat embossed it to make it stand out. I attached it to a piece of Cosmo Cricket (love notes line) designer paper with pop-dots. I stamped the 'thank you' sentiment on the front so Miss Melanie would have more room inside to write.

I delivered these this morning and they were well received!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative Tuesday!

Playtime!

I've been doing lots of work lately and still have about 8 projects on the horizon but tonight I just felt like playing!

I have a bunch of new stamps from The Paper Source that have been waiting for ink for almost 2 months now. (sad...I know) The one I chose tonight is called 'Bundle Of Silk' and it's just so simple and beautiful. I have this paper from a matte stack from Making Memories. It pulls together some of my favorite colors; (all SU!) Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and Cool Caribbean ('07 retired). I sat for a long while at my table wanting to add more to the front of this card but...I LOVE the paper and I didn't want to cover it up so I left it as is. I used RR as the card base followed by the cocoa and chocolate as mattes. I was going to use the Cool Caribbean as another matte but it just didn't vibe right when I layed it out so I chose to accent the blue with the stamp (stamped in Chocolate Chip) and use my new Cricut cartridge - Mini Monograms - which has a circle scallop. I cut the circles out in 1 1/4" scallops and stamped them after they were cut. I then took my ink pad and just ran it around the outside of the scallop to give it a little more dimension.

The sentiment is simply 'thank you'. I stamped it on SU! very vanilla and matted it on a scrap of the Cool Caribbean.

More tomorrow!!

I hope that everyone had a very creative weekend!

Aren't We Cute?

I've been in mass production mode lately so I don't have anything new to show you *yet* so I thought I'd share this SUPER sweet photo of me, my husband and our kiddies.

We went out recently to celebrate my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. It was a great night! And we got some outstanding family shots before we headed out for the evening. Kiddies in jammies and my daughter holding her fancy 'puppy in a bag'.
They just crack me up.

I hope that everyone is having a very creative week!

Chocolate Cherries

Simple, easy, pretty and serene. The DP is MM from a matte stack. I used both chocolate grosgrain ribbon from SU! 5/8" and 1/4"(retired). The matte is chocolate chip cardstock from SU! and the card base is SU! Soft Sky.

These are great for any occasion!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative Monday!

Quiet Safari

I needed a few cards that could be either quiet thank you notes, thinking of you or 'with sympathy' cards. I, of course, gravitated towards this beautiful Basic Grey paper. It's so beautiful yet so quiet all at the same time. I used a multitude of misc brands of matching solid cardstocks ( 4 solid, 2 DP ). I wanted to keep it simple so I tied this taupe monochromatic ribbon around the bottom and did a few as thank you, a few as Thinking of You and a few 'with sympathy'.

I hope that everyone had a creative weekend!

Just Plain Sweet

I love pink, turquoise and chocolate together and this paper was just screaming out to be used!! It's from a Making Memories 6x6 pack. It's very sweet yet bold and I LOVED how it pulled a bit of yellow into the mix as it really brightens the entire look of the paper. And it made me reach for my Barely Banana paper which was a staple when I first started using SU! products but has been neglected over months as I ventured out into different styles and colors. But it was PERFECT to pair with this super sweet paper. It's still a 'bit' wintery but bright enough to make me think that spring is COMING!!! It's gorgeous here today in MA and hopefully will continue to stay that way!!

Anyway, I matted this paper with Regal Rose (a 'go to' for me these days!) and chocolate chip.

I had some American Crafts buttons in chocolate brown that I wanted to use but they felt dark to me and lost among the sea of colors in the paper. So to make them stand out I did a couple of things. I took some of my very thin, satin, polka-dotted ribbon and threaded it through each button and tied it into knots. I then went to my Cricut and using the Accent Essentials cartridge I cut this scallop shape that has punches through each scallop 'bubble' in Regal Rose. I cut two of them and put them together creating the 'double bubble' effect. To hide the seam where the 2 strips of scallop meet, I ran a strip of the retired SU! chocolate 1/8" grosgrain ribbon. I then used tiny glue dots to adhere the threaded buttons to the ribbon. The sentiment on the inside is Happy Birthday!!

I hope that everyone is having a beautiful and creative Saturday!!

Delicious Swirls!

This paper is from The Paper Source and I HAD to have it!! It's all my colors in a really intricate pattern of flowers. I LOVE IT! I used SU! chocolate chip as the card base followed by barely banana and regal rose as mattes for this scrumptious paper.

I wanted a lot of it to show so I cut a swirly accent with my Cricut and then doodled on it with my clear Sakura pen. I adhered it to the card with my tiny glue pen and used this pink/chocolate grosgrain ribbon as a slight accent on the bottom. Because of the color of the card base I used the same regal rose as an insert for the inside of the card. Not everyone had a white gel pen! =)

Time For Tea!

A great friend of mine has asked me to make invitations for her daughter's third birthday party. The theme? Tea Party!!! She is having it at her home with little tables covered in cloths, white gloves trimmed in marabou fur and small snacks and tea!! She wanted something beautiful, elegant and classic.

I had JUST the paper!! I went to ACM to purchase more as I had only bought one sheet a long time ago. I was drawn to it but have not had a reason to use it until now! I believe it is from K I Memories as are the matching 3-D stickers.

The paper has an antiquey vibe to it so I wanted to use colors that complimented that vibe. I used vanilla, a creamy ivory, a pink polka dot and SU!'s regal rose cardstock. I matted them together all grading down in 1/4" increments. I wanted to do something 'different' size wise so this card measures 9 1/2" long x 4 1/8" tall. The paper itself didn't have anything to do with the 'tea party' theme per say but I knew that this was the right paper to go with. My friend had tea pot and cup stamps so I used those to better portray the theme of the party in combination with the paper. I used the stamps on SU's very vanilla cardstock stamped in Versamark and then dusted with SU's silver embossing powder. I took my heat gun to it and VOILA! It looks like silver tea service!! I matted this section in RR and tied the 5/8" (also SU!) very vanilla ribbon around the bottom. I used foam adhesive squares for that popped up look.

The 'Time For Tea' was printed out using Word on my computer in a complimentary color and I doodled around the words with my clear Sakura gel pen. If it seems that I write that in every post it's because I do!! I just LOVE that thing! It adds instant ZAZZ to any image. I then matted that on the same RR and popped it up on foam adhesive squares for more dimension. The final touch is the matching 3-D stickers !! I am going to attempt to orient the paper each time so that the sticker matches up with a corresponding image beneath it. We'll see how well that works! ;) The sticker packs come with 15 different stickers so hopefully I'll be able to match them up. I did buy 2 packs so I'm sure it'll all fall into place!!

The party details will be printed on the same pink cardstock and matted on the inside of the invitation!! These were VERY well received by the hostess of the upcoming party.

I hope that everyone has a very creative weekend!!

Happy Friday!!

Sweet Babies

A customer needed a few baby cards and I had a lot of inspiration from the SU! set that came from the S-A-B mini!! For the boy card I used all SU! cardstock in Bashful Blue, Kraft, Certainly Celery and " " DP (I'm blanking on the name of the designer paper...It'll come back to me!). I matted them together bundled them with the Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon. I stamped the 'Sweet One' stamp in Chocolate Chip and ran my Sakura clear, gel pen over all of the stars to make them twinkle! I then punched it out with my scallop punch and adhered it with a foam square.



For the girl card I pulled out some paper from Martha Stewart. The polka dots is the backing to the ladybugs so it matches perfectly! I used some Martha Cardstock as well in a bright pink and hot orange color to coordinate and matte all on SU! Whisper White cardstock. I did the same treatment with my Sakura pen on the stars as I did for the boy card. I used this pretty chocolate/pink striped ribbon but it has an iridescent quality to it so it picks up on the orange hues in the DP as well.

My customer LOVED these!! And that's what makes me happiest!!

I hope that everyone is having a creative and BEAUTIFUL (it's almost 65 degrees here in MA!) day!!

Bold and Elegant

A good friend of mine asked me to make some monogrammed notecards for her to give to her Mother as a gift. Turquoise is one of her favorites as well as black and white. So I knew just what to grab! SU! Tempting Turquoise and Tinkering Ink - Palette Noir paper. I had 2 different patterns so I made a bunch with each! I couldn't decide on the black 5/8" grosgrain ribbon with white stitching or the turquoise grosgrain so I just took my tape runner and fused them together making an entirely new ribbon all together! I LOVE how it looks!! I used SU! Shimmery White and cut ovals out using my Cricut machine as well as the 'H' for the monogram cut as well using my Cricut with the TT paper. I took my Black Stazon ink and ran it around the outside edge of the Shimmery White oval to make it stand out a bit more and adhered it to the ribbon with a square of foam adhesive. I really think these are bold, elegant and fun at the same time.

Happy creative Wednesday everyone!!

Flowery Loops

I needed something for a quiet occasion like 'Thinking of You' or 'With Sympathy'. I had this paper from a Making Memories stack that looked really quiet and appropriate to me. I used SU! Kraft and Old Olive cardstocks paired with the 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in Old Olive. I punched out some of the flowers from an extra sheet and popped them up with foam adhesive squares for an added dimension and used the ribbon to create a loop to adhere under these popped up flowers.

I hope that everyone is having a creative day!!

Ladybugs and Dragonflys!

I love Basic Grey paper so much that I buy it wherever I go and in just about any pattern that they sell. I like the slightly vintage feel that it has to it, I love the vibrant colors, I love the color pallete that it offers, etc, etc. It's just amazing paper and really helpful in pulling together colors that I may not otherwise pair together but when I do (because of the paper) it always comes out looking beautiful. Here I took some Basic Grey and pulled from it the rose color - I used SU! Regal Rose paired with this really vibrant coral/red/orange color from Martha Stewart. I matted them together and put a band of SU! 5/8" chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon around it. I then used my Cricut and cut out a tag from the RR...one with a ladybug and one with a dragonfly. I backed it with the coral paper and used my clear gel pen to doodle the ladybug's polka dots and the dragonfly's stripes. I then used my SU! scallop punch and together with a pop dot I popped up the whole 'tag' giving it more presence. Lastly, I tied some gold cord in the top of the tag to complete the look!

I hope that everyone is having a creative week!!