I was saving this post because the card was for my SIL's birthday which was just the other day!

I always have so much fun creating for her. She's so appreciative and interested in what I do. It makes the entire process THAT much more fun!!

I've been dying to use this tiny chipboard clipboard forever!! I inked it up with craft ink (Brilliance - Pearlescent Lime) and then doused it in extra thick embossing powder and hit it with my heat gun. It came out super glossy and fun! I then stamped the cupcake and glittered up the heart and used my glossy accents to make the frosting extra shiny. I paper pieced the liner cup to add some funky color and pattern. I stacked it all on top of a felt flower and sheer peach ribbon which I'd sewn to the card. The paper is from SU! I love the color combo and that's what started the inspiration for this card. The sentiment inside is from PTI's limited anniversay edition set Everyday Classics...which I received free from PTI - on my birthday to boot!! It's a fantastic set and SO generous of PTI!!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous start to the weekend! My poor hubby is working today so I'm puttering around the house while the kids have a lazy start to the day and then outside soon as the sun just started drying us out here in the NE!!

I LOVE this Love, Elsie (Roxie Math Class) brand "doodley" paper!!! Ive been hoarding it but I was dying to use it so I busted it out for this funkified version of a Mother's Day card for a few friends of mine.

The stickers were calling my name and dictated the tone and style of the card. Super sassy, super funky and super fun!

Thanks for reading! Have a great rainy and cold (here in the NE) Thursday afternoon!

Just a quick post showing off one of the Mother's Day cards that I made!! I'm trying desperately to utilize my scraps that are starting to completely overtake their designated drawer in my studio. I try to sort through my scraps every quarter or so and pull out what I know I'll never use and I add those pieces to my kids art supplies. The rest I try to coordinate by solid and designer then by color. It lasts for a while and then turns back into a giant mish mash again. But most of the pieces that I used for this card came from the scrap drawer.

I FINALLY busted out my sewing machine and gave it a permanent home on my desk. It's always threaded and ready to go. (if I don't keep it ready I'll never use it!) I find it so fun to be able to stitch and add that fabulous extra touch on my cards!! I love sewing fabric and find it very gratifying but it is also very challenging. But sewing on paper is a piece of cake!!!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!!

My Naturalist

Here is another card that I made for my daughter while we were on vacation in Maine.

She is OBSESSED with caterpillars. Since we are now in full blown gypsy moth season here in NE, she is finding the gypsy moth caterpillars EVERYWHERE. She puts them into her bug box and totes them around stuffing fresh leaves inside any chance she gets. We release them into nature every evening - with much resistance - as my girl would love nothing more than to keep the furry creatures in the bug box in her room. I let it happen once, and our friend didn't make it through the night so we now release them back to nature every night.

But I try to adorn anything that I make her with her favorite outdoor friend. So with this card I busted out this adorable stamp that I bought from The Paper Source over a year ago. This was the first time I'd brought it to ink!! I stamped, heat embossed and then brought life to this little guy with my Copic markers and my Sakura sparkly gel pen. I did lots of paper piercing, layering and ribbon tying! I added a rhinestone brad for the center of the flower and used the MFT (i think?) sentiment of 'sweet baby girl'.

Once again, she loved this card and carried it around with her for the majority of the vacation! I think I'm going to set to making her and my son another card right now!!

I hope that everyone has a very happy Memorial Day weekend!!

For my sweet boy...

He's a musical fanatic! Any kind of music any kind of instrument...his favorite is guitar or any kind of string instrument for that matter. The other day he asked me for a drum kit!!! He's 3!!! I can't wait to see what he does musically!!!

So I had a blast creating this card for him. I was trying hard to use scrap for most of my projects while up in Maine because obviously I couldn't bring my entire paper stash up with me! So I brought up a large folder with tons of scrap from my scrap drawer. I grabbed what I "think" is SU! Brocade Blue and some Basic Grey chocolate"ish" designer paper along with the guitar paper from a rock star Mat Stack then some close to cocoa (I think), and a scrap of white. I pierced the sides of the white paper to add some interest and as you can see I grabbed my paper distresser and went to town!! I love the rustic look that the distressing lends. The guitar stamp is an acrylic set from the $1 bin at AC Moore. I stamped it, then stamped it again and heat set it with my clear embossing powder. I trimmed it out and popped it up on pop foam to give it some dimention. I grabbed 2 old school tacks, dipped them onto my glue pad and dipped them in the antique glass glitter. I let them dry overnight and then popped them into the card and flattened the back of them with a hammer. The sentiment on the indside says "YOU ROCK". Which in my opinion...he does =) The picture above is just delicious. I want to smooch his face off!! His cheeks are still so baby"ish". I love it!!!

Enjoy and have a great day!!!

AND WE'RE BACK!!!! Again....

I was "gone" so long that I barely noticed that my DOMAIN had expired!!! HAHAHAHA!!! I swear...I don't know how you all do it...posting almost every day...It's exhausting and inspiring all at the same time!!!

I wish I had the time...and the energy to craft and craft and craft...but life seems to get in the way sometimes!!

No matter!! I'm back...and I have some new stuff to show you!!

In April my husband, kids, 2 dogs and I went to Maine for a week of R&R. It was a week of serious family time. I started a new tradition of making cards for my children. Really cool cards that they'd love. And putting in messages that were meaningful to them that even at their young ages of 3 and 4 they could understand. I let them hang onto them for the time in Maine and then when we packed up to come home I put them boxes for each child to give to them when they are old enough to care for them properly. I'm hoping that each child's box will be a treasure for them for life. There's no rhyme or reason to when or why they get a card. I just want them to come as a surprise every time...just because they are who they are and because I love them.

So I'll start with the first card I made for my daughter Kendall. She is a true nature and animal lover. Just yesterday she had about 30 gypsy moth caterpillars in her small wheel barrow with tons of leaves and regardless of the fact that we had the atv (child version) all charged up and the giant bouncy slide inflated she kept running to the wheel barrow to ensure that the caterpillars were safe, fed and well cared for!! She also loves rainbows and sparkles...what little girl doesn't??

So with that said...this is the card that I made for her!

I used my Amuse pre-cut/pre-scored sunny yellow cards that I've seriously had for a YEAR!! I love to hoarde stuff so I was busting out of my comfort zone by using these finally. I next grabbed the most glittery and rainbow"y" designer paper that I had from one of those Mat Stacks, the next matte was in her favorite color - blue - followed by some basic white cardstock. The owl is from one of my favorite PTI sets Wise Old Owl. Also...had for a year and had NEVER been inked!!! FOR SHAME FOR SHAME!!

I used my Copic markers in various shades of brown, green and clear (blender) to give some color and life to Mr. Owl. I also snazzed his belly up with some antique real glass glitter - which I think has THE best shine because it is made from real glass so it definitely reflects the light differently than regular "plastic" glitter. (or whatever most glitter is made from) I have this adorable Amuse stamp that I recently got at Colorful Creations (along with the antique glass glitter) in Hyannis during a girl's weekend. I used my Copics as well as a Sakura gel glitter pen to color in the nest. I adhered it with pop up foam to give it some dimension. The sentiment "my lil' owl" is also from the PTI set. The button is an extra from a sweater from years ago that I'd thrown in with my craft stuff and I loved the wood grain look of it. Considering my daughter's love of nature it fit in perfectly. I used a bit of ribbon to compliment the button and then adhered it with a glue dot. The sentiment on the inside simply says "i love you".

And I wrote a personal message to her and had it waiting for her at the breakfast table in the morning. She LOVED it!!! It's not terribly hard to please her but I knew that by the look on her fact that she really appreciated it and she carried it around with her for the rest of the week.

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic start to the summer!!!

I'll be back soon with more!!


Until then!!!