Sweet Tooth

I decided to play along with this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:

Loved the picture, but at first, nothing came to mind. Then I thought about how the cake looks like a little box, and so I decided to make a box incorporating the same colors, loop-de-loops, and the sweet tooth angle:

See the tooth? Get it, sweet tooth? (ha ha ha, I crack myself up!). So, here's the deal: The box is actually for my daughter's first tooth, which fell out a couple of weeks ago (hence, the tooth on the tag). The tooth fairy came, and now I have this tooth that I didn't want to just toss, but it would get crushed in her baby book. So, a box it is. Here are a few close-ups:

The whole idea of a box for her tooth reminds me a little of my husband's grandmother. Apparently, she kept jars of her body parts on her living room shelf from various surgeries throughout her life. She was from the generation where you never threw anything away in case you needed it later...although I can't think of a time when a spare gallbladder would come in handy.... Hopefully, I'll just stick to the one tooth.

Anyhoo, to make this box, I used a My Time Made Easy template, resized it in SCAL, and cut it out on my Cricut. Then, I stamped the Mint Motif Beyond Borders on the wrapper portion of the box before assembling. I lined part of the inside of the box with patterned paper to add a little pop of pink and to include the loops again. The tooth on the PTI tag is a clip art picture. I glued two tags together, and on the backside, you can see a tiny heart that I inked and heat embossed with holographic e.p. I'm hoping to make a little pillow for the inside, or maybe my mom will make a pillow (hint, hint).

As an aside, a big thank you to PaperCrafts for accepting a few of my cards for the Card a Day call (I was absurdly excited!). And a big thank you to Paige at the create blog for including one of my pink cards in last week's challenge gallery!

Thanks so much for looking!

Here are the deets:
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif)
Ink: Sky Blue (Brilliance)
Embossing Powder: Holographic (Ranger)
Cardstock: white (PTI)
Patterned Paper: (Bo Bunny)
Digital Element: Under Cover (My Time Made Easy)
Dies: Tiny Tags (PTI)
Border Punch: (Martha Stewart)
Ribbon: (May Arts)

Pink Goodness

My best friend's daughter, Maddy, is turning 6 in a few weeks, and I need to send her a card. She loves pink, and so I thought I'd make her a pink card. It just so happens that the create blog is having a 100% pink card challenge, and I thought "no problem." Well, two cards and a few hours later, I realized that making a card only in one color with the supplies I had at hand was not as easy as I thought. Anyhoo, I think I finally made a crazy pink card for Maddy:

Yes, it's PINK! Just to point a few details, I started by stamping the background with Mint Motif's Beyond Borders using VersaMark (and got them straight--yeah!!). Then I stamped the cupcake on a pale pink cardstock (it looks almost white, but it is pink) and on the felt. And btw, stamping with pink ink onto pink felt doesn't leave a dark impression (LOL!). The pink "sprinkles" are Jolee's crystals. Finally, the sentiment is a little hard to see in the photo, but I actually stamped the sentiment twice--once in a pale pink and next to it in a hot pink to create a shadow (yes, I know it's hard to see).

I thought I'd share the first card I made. I liked this card...much softer look...but I decided it wasn't quite right for Maddy:

Isn't that little birdie cute? He's from PTI's Little Bitty Bird die. Again, I stamped the background with Mint Motif's Beyond Borders. For the window, I attached a textured cardstock circle in the background color--it looks like woodgrain to me. After assembling everything, I tied a pink silk bow...I can't help it, but I keep touching the soft ribbon (hope I don't get it grimy!).

Thanks so much for looking!

Here are the deets:
Card 1
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif), Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: VersaMark, Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz (PTI) light pink (Bazzill)
Patterned Paper: Summertime collection (Echo Park)
Die: Limitless Layers (PTI)
Bling: rhinestones (Kaisercraft), crystals (Jolee's)
Felt: Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Ribbon is from my stash

Card 2:
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif)
Ink: VersaMark, Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Petal Pink (VersaColor)
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz (PTI) light pink & pink (Bazzill)
Die: Little Bitty Bird (PTI), Labels #1 (Spellbinders)
Border Punch: Apron Lace (Fiskars)
Felt: Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Bling: seed bead (my stash)
Pen: Pink Gelly Roll (Sakura)
Ribbon: (May Arts)

Getting to Know You...

Hi friends! Kalyn Kepner did a fun post on her blog about crafting preferences and Sandy Ang has been asking a variety of questions to get to know people better on her blog. They've been fun to read, so I thought I would do a similar post. It reminds me of the "surveys" we used to make up for each other in elementary school. So, if you want a fun break, please answer in the comments section:

1) How long have you been papercrafting?
2) How would you describe your style?
3) Music or no music while craft? What kind?
4) Do you clean your papercrafting spot every time you are done or is it an ongoing disaster (or something in between)?
5) If you were lost in a deserted craft store and could only have 3 paper lines, what would they be?
6) What's your favorite brand of ink (if you stamp)?
7) Do you sketch out your cards ahead of time or do you craft-as you go?
8) What would be your dream job in the papercrafting world? 

Here are my own responses:

1) About 3 years now. Over 5 years ago I made all of my daughter's birth announcements but was so sick of it, I stayed away for a while. A couple of years later, I was making hair clips & bows for my daughter and wanted to die cut some components. As I was looking for a die cutter, I stumbled on the card making supplies. Yikes!
2) I don't post every card I make, but I would say my style is fun, colorful, punny. I like to try new cards and techniques.
3) No music.
4) Cleaning, what cleaning? I try to clean a little as I go, but at the moment, my craft room looks like a pigsty (no offense to the pigs).
5) Okay, other than that would be my ultimate fantasy (being deserted in a craft store), my faves would probably be Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, and October Afternoon (although I've been using a ton of Crate lately).
6) I love Memento inks, but I recently found Jenni Bowlin's inks, and they are my new fave.
7) Not only do I make sketches, I keep an computerized database of potential cards (yes, I am a nerd). If I craft on the spot without at least a basic sketch & plan, they almost always turn out horribly.
8) Tough call. I would either be a professional instructor or design my own line of kitchy/punny stamps or work for a card magazine or own a craft store (I guess I love it all!).

Now it's your turn!

I have to give a huge thanks to Robin at Bows and Berries for including my card in the Top 3 of her Bright and Bold challenge for this card. I used the Bows and Berries "stash and glasses" digital stamp...super fun stamp out of her circus line. Thanks so much, Robin!

Wish me luck tomorrow making it through my daughter's school program on her last day of preschool (cue the Sunrise, Sunset music again). Have a great day (or night)!

Through the Gears....

You may remember those old Dunkin' Donuts commercials where the guy wakes up and in a zombie-like state and utters over and over again "time to make the donuts." Yeah, that's how I often feel in the mornings (except I'm not making donuts). For me, it's more like time to change the diaper, time to get breakfast ready, time to get the chickadees dressed, time to take them to school...if you're a mom, you probably know what I mean. It's those mornings where my daughter adamently refuses to wear pants when it's 0 degrees or when my son poops up to his neck that shake me out of the zone. The gears stop working.

Thus, the inspiration for today's card. The "gears" on the card are actually doily stamps from Studio Calico (and yes, they are fabulous stamps). Here's what I came up with:

The sentiment is from Everyday Button Bits from PTI...lots of sentiments on that set. I liked the first card so much, I decided to make a set of them for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. Here they are (click on the photos to see them up close):

While these cards look really easy, they were actually pretty hard to make (at least for me). I had a hard time getting the ink colors to look good together on each doily (there are 3 inks on each one). I would try one color scheme and one color would be too yellow or too dark, etc. But once I got the colors right, the stamping was pretty easy. Except I messed up at least once for each card (always on the last doily) and had to flip it over and stamp them again. In the end, I decided they were good enough and stamped on the sentiments. In the end, I think they turned out nice for notecards.

I also decided to add the Google Follower link (see left), so now you can follow me (in a Google way, not in a cult sort of way). Thanks for looking! I really appreciate your support--you all are awesome (well, maybe not the people who keep spamming me, but everyone else is awesome!).

Here are the deets:
Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI); Doilies (Studio Calico)
Inks: A zillion
Cardstock: white, Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Royal Velvet (PTI), the last of my beloved turquoise (Bazzill)
Rhinestones: (Me and My Big Ideas) & (Kaisercraft)



100 Minus 1

Just a quick card today that I made a couple of weeks ago. Even though the card could be romantic, I actually made it with my BFF, Diane, in mind. We've been best friends for almost 15 years...she handed me a tissue when I started crying during our first week of graduate school (I wasn't used to getting chewed out by profs), and we've been best buds ever since. Anyhoo, I wanted to make a sweet card for her with her favorite color (PINK!):

I channeled Karen Baker in this card. She is such a talented designer and uses inks amazingly well. So, in this card, I stamped 3 (maybe 4?) different hearts from various Lawn Fawn sets and heat embossed them. Then, I sponged a slightly lighter pink ink over the hearts and wiped away the ink on the resist (I'm not even sure if I'm saying that right, but yadda, yadda, you know what I'm talking about). Here's a close-up of the hearts:

The sentiment is from the "Beautiful You" set by Verve...great sentiment set I got off Craigslist super cheap a while back (thank goodness Mr. Stamping Stranger-Danger wasn't waiting for me!).

As an aside, thank you for all of the super supportive comments you left on my last post (well, all posts!). I so appreciate it!! Anyhoo, have a great night or morning!