A Dandy St. Patty's Day

Happy Wednesday! I'm joining up with the amazingly talented Karen Baker for

I can't wait to see what Karen made with the same stamp set and sketch! We're both using Practicing Creativity Design's You're Dandy set and joining up with the RetroSketches challenge. Here's the sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

I used the sun rays and the sentiment from the set. And yes, the stitching is supposed to be that crazy. I still can't decide if it's a flower or a tree, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Here's a close up:

I have to give a huge thanks to Karen! She's been so supportive ever since I started my blog, and she's incredibly inspiring. Thanks, Karen!

Have a great day!

A Pair of Pears

Happy Tuesday! I had to take my son to the doctor yesterday (pink eye, ear infection, generally gnarliness), and she remarked that he has a birthday coming up. I said, "yes, in a couple of weeks." She replied, "it's next week." Oops! Yes, I really do know what day my son was born (since I was there). I blame it on the fact that the month is flying by. LOL!

My card today is all digi. Torico (one of the illustrators for There She Goes stamps) offered a free pear stamp on her blog, and I paired it with a chevron digital brush from Rhonna Farrer to make this non-traditional baby card:

In the original digi, the "girl" pear was much smaller than the "boy" pear. To make the pears more uniform, I printed out the pears twice, enlarging them the second time. Then, I fussy cut the pears and used the larger "girl" and the smaller "boy." I popped up both with foam tape, and I layered the yellow one on top of the green one.

At first, I used watercolor pencils, but didn't like how it looked, so I went over it with Copics. Live and learn! For the base, I stamped the chevrons and added my own sentiment.

Since I don't know anyone having twins, let alone a boy and a girl, I'm afraid this card will be collecting dust in my craft room for a while. Anyone having twins?

Have a great day!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I was in Washington, D.C. last week for work and had a whirl-wind week. I got to see my boss and her husband for the first time in ~7 years (we live across the country from each other). It was a great reunion of sorts to see several of the people I used to work with. The meeting was the start of my busiest time of year for work, but now I will procrastinate...

I've been so bad about updating my blog and making my blog rounds, and this week, I'm going to try and post every day (at least try!). I have dozens of cards and projects I haven't shared, and so I thought I would start with a gift bag that was in the Paper Crafts magazine's Jan./Feb. issue:

This bag has die cutting, coloring, fussy cutting, and masking--whew! The little astronaut, the star, and the countdown numbers are from Technique Tuesday. I masked the numbers (it's a continuous row of numbers) to fit the sketch. 

Thanks for looking! Have a wonderful day!!

Here are the details:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned Paper (Rocket Age) October Afternoon

Clear Stamps: (Out of This World) Technique Tuesday; ("happy birthday" from Bake Me a Cake) Lawn Fawn

Dye Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Markers: Copics

Sticker: (moon from Rocket Age collection) October Afternoon

Blowing By...Swooping In

Happy March! Is it just me, or did February pass in a blink? I've been busier with work lately, and I'm rolling into my super busy work time of year...

It's time for another Print Candee kit release! My teammates made some CUTE projects using the kit, and you can click on their links (to the right) to see them.

The Print Candee March kit is called Fantastic Boy, and it's all about boy themes. My son is turning 2 in three weeks, and I thought some papercrafted party goods would be great way to show the kit. Plus, Paper Crafts Magazine has been showing peeks of their Party Ensembles issue, and I was inspired. Here's what I came up with:

I made almost identical projects for my daughter's birthday a few months ago, so these projects came together very quickly. First, I printed two of the kit's papers (back and front), cut them into squares, and made pinwheels. I used lollipop sticks for the handle, and I added a drop of super glue gel (the regular stuff runs too much) around the brad in back to secure the pinwheel. I've had those brads for forever...it's always a good thing when hoarding pays off. Here's a picture of the great papers:

I also made a treat bag (yes, I was super lazy and didn't fill it with any prop candy but imagine some dark chocolate truffles...you know, the usual food for a two-year-old) using another paper. For the place card, I used one of the Print Candee kit journaling spots. All I did was open the image in Photoshop, resized it, typed the "Levi" in grey, and printed it. You could easily make one of these for each party guest (I did that for my daughter's birthday, and the kids liked having their names at the table). Here is the treat bag and the place card:

Aren't those helicopters so cute? Whew! Now I'm set for my son's birthday decorations (I'll add a few balloons, too).

Thanks for taking the time to visit! :) Have a great day!