Creation Vacation

I decided that I needed a "creation vacation", so I took the day off of work to give myself a long weekend. This gave me the opportunity to visited a couple of my favorite local craft supply stores- Michaels, Joann's, and Lancaster Creative Reuse.

After rummaging through the clearance racks, I walked away with a lot of embellishments that I am eager to use! One of my favorite finds was Doodlebug Design clear stamp set "You Said It". I just began using clear stamps (I must have been living under a rock for the last several years) and the versatility of this is a great addition to the collection.

To kick start my creation vacation, I visited the ladies at The Playdate Cafe to seek inspiration. Their color story this week was Cobalt Goldenrod Peony.

Of course, I wanted to play with at least one of my new toys I bought, so I used the Doodlebug stamp set to create a birthday card for PDCC142.

 Thanks for stopping by!


Recipe~
Cardstock:  DCWV mat stacks brights for the pink, blue cardstock from my massive scraps bin, K&Company Sweet Nectar for pad for card
Stamp: Cricut cartridge Doodlebug Design clear stamps "You Said It", Color box inkpad in Ocean
Embossing: Sizzix Texure Boutique machine, Swiss dots folder
Adhesives: This to that foam dots, Glue Dots
Twine: The Twinery's golden yellowy orange

 

I'm Backkk!

My head is hanging in shame that it has been almost four months since my last post! Unfortunately, during that time, my craft room served more as storage than creating. Fortunately, the lack of use is associated to my promotion to director at my agency.

So now that I am settled into my new role, I can't wait to jump back into my favorite card challenge site, The Play Date Cafe ! And what an absolute wonderful week to get started again- I am in love of with these romantic colors- mint, soft yellow, coral and tulip! Good pickin'!

Here's what I came up with for my comeback for PDCC #141.  I decided to try something a little different and designed a "peek-a-boo" card. I'm back baby!

Recipe~
Cardstock: DCWV stacks The Cardstock Stack in Brights (coral and tulip) and the Mango Frost (soft yellow and mint)
Flowers: Cricut cartridge Accent Essentials, Give a Hoot, and Straight from the Nest
Text: Cricut cartridge Something to Celebate with Cricut Craft Room
Embossing: Sizzix folder Bow Strings

PDCC #124

Just a quick hello! It has been a hectic week, but I always have time for The Play Date Cafe challenges! The team over there is so supportive and I love seeing how everyone interprets the weekly challenges. People's creativity absolutely amazes and inspires me!
This week, PDCC #124's colors are raspberry, harbor and honey mustard. They are such happy colors (thank you to the talented Ms. Jaclyn Miller!). I immediately turned to my DCWV's Mango Frost matstack for the latter of the two colors. I stacked these colors on this long card and rounded the corners.

I decided to give my Cricut the day off for a change. I decided to use my Twinery charcoal black twine to create a sentiment. This was the first time I've used the twine in this manner, and I doubt it will be the last! Thanks for checking it out!

Whozits and whatzits galore

This week, I visited a wonderful and magical place. A place were one man's trash really is another man's treasure. A place that encourages its visitors to think outside the box while promoting recycling. Honestly, how cool is that?

Behold- the Lancaster Creative Reuse!

As I was rummaging through the junk under-appreciated gems, I couldn't help but hum "I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty, I've got whozits and whatzits galore" from The Little Mermaid. There is something inspiring about turning what someone has viewed as nothing into something.

Rule #1 of visiting a reuse center: do not go during your lunch break! There was no way to take it all in in that short amount of time. I did manage to walk away with a little bag of goodies, totaling $2.65. 

I have a project in mind for the wine corks, so stay tuned. Although we drink a lot of wine in our house, I am sentimental and am saving the corks for yet another project. Plus I am glad I could rescue these guys from being in a landfill!

To check to see if you have a reuse center near you, check out the directory. It is so fulfilling and a great way to fill up your craft room!

Summer lovin'

This week's PDCC #123 was a doozy. You may remember these bright colors I blogged about earlier in the week. I wasn't so happy with how my braided card came together, so if first you don't succeed, try try again! (Oh, my mom would be so proud!)

These colors scream summer to me, and summer screams the beach, drinks and Kenny Chesney! So why not combined the best of both worlds! The unseasonably warm weather we have been having in PA has been leaving me thinking about summer plans. Hopefully by sending this card to one of my friends, it will be a hint that a beach trip is in our future! I can smell the sunscreen now....

"The sun and the sand and a drink in my hand......with no bottom!"

Warning: May Include Excessive Color

Proceed with caution....

While I don't want to say I am afraid of color, I definitely tend to lean more towards a neutral and muted palette. So when I saw The Play Date Cafe's challenge this week, I thought "Now this IS a challenge!". Instead of running away from the unknown, I ran towards it- full ahead! I would not usually think to throw all these crazy bright colors together, but it works!

As soon as I saw the color combo, it immediately reminded me of a dress that my friend pinned and has been drooling over since she found it on Pinterest. The colors are similar and I loved the braided belt, so I ran out to my local Joann Fabric to mimic the look.

I was able to find colors that matched the dress and the PDCC #123 challenge. While I am not thrilled with how the card turned out, I know that my friend will appreciate the colors and the gesture. (And maybe this means I will have to play again this week!) I can't wait to get this sucker in the mail and send her a reminder that she is a fabulous friend!

Recipe~

Cardstock: Blue, teal and green came from DCWV Hippie Chic

                   Orange paper- Orangeade by The Paper Company

Fabric: Kona Cotton in Tangerine, Turquoise and Navy

Sentiment: Vellum quote pack

                                 Lots of hot glue and a couple of foam dots!

PDCC122

I know I say this almost every week, but I love the latest color combo this week at The Play Date Cafe! This color combination of charcoal, ash and butter seems to be everywhere this season. As soon as I saw the color scheme, it reminded me of this "Hello dear" stamp I had picked up at Michaels for $1 last year.

I used a thick grey cardstock for the base of the card. I lined up  scraps of black, grey and white graphic scrapbook paper on the bottom of the card. I adorned it with yellow ribbon and layered it with some grey twine from The Twinery (love them!). Using the Cricut cartridge Give a Hoot, I cut out assorted sizes of flowers and used little yellow gems for an accents. I embossed the sentiment I stamped using embossing powder and my trusty heat gun.

Finally- here is my submission for The Play Date Cafe challenge #122! Thanks for viewing!

Dumm dum dum dummm

Another weekend, another excuse for me to ignore my household duties and to make a card! The occasion this time was for a bridal shower. As I have previously mentioned, I like to personalize cards as much as possible. Knowing that their wedding colors are blue and bubble gum pink, I wanted that color motif to be included. I have more pink paper than I know what to do with (I am a huge breast cancer awareness advocate), so I used a large piece of pink scrap paper for the base of the card. The pearlized blue cardstock was from DCWV's fabulous shimmer matstack. I thought the colors were very complimentary and are similar to what the happy couple's colors will be on their big day in May.

I used the Cricut cartridge Sweethearts to cut out a shadow of a bride, then embossed it using my Sizzix Texture Boutique. I placed a piece of  ivory damask paper between the layers. I used my trusty Herma Dotto tape runner (my right-hand woman in the craft room) to join everything together.

For dimension, I used foam dots to elavate the sentiment I created. I finished it off with a few light pink pearls on the dress. Then it was time for this bride card to find its mate (the envelope) and it was off to the shower!

Sidenote: The bride-to-be told me at the shower that as soon as she opened the card, she knew it was made by me and loved it. It always feels good to have people appreciate your work!

Bonjour!

Another fantastic color combo challenge at The Play Date Cafe! This week's colors, mojito, peony and sand, screamed vintage Paris to me. Ah oui, oui, I knew I needed to do a French-themed card. This meant a lot of frilly, girly elements. The scroll work on the bottom is a felt sticker and the butterfly embellishments have been in my scrapbook collection for awhile. I used small pink pearls in the corner and, of course, used my Cricut for the mat and phrase.

Voici- ma carde for PDCC #121!

My Love Affair

Have you ever been so in love that you have an urge to shout it from the rooftops? Every moment of the day is consumed by thoughts of your amore. You can’t wait to get home from work to reconnect with your love? September of 2011 was a big month for me. It was when we were officially united.

This is when I finally joined Pinterest. *Swoon*

(Oh and also I got married.)

So I thought- why not celebrate the love I have for both Pinterest and my husband and do some after-wedding projects!

I am a sentimental sap. (I think I knew that at an early age because I still have birthday cards from when I was 3.) So I knew that one of the projects I wanted to do was a shadow box full of mementos. My wedding colors were eggplant, dusty Victorian lilac, white and khaki, so I wanted the frame and matting to be neutral. I was able to snag a 11x18.5" brown shadow box at Home Goods for $12. 

 
When it was time to arrange the items in the box, surprisingly everything just fell in its place. I included all of our wedding stationary (which I made), one of our table numbers, my necklace, dried flowers, some lace from my dress, part of our cake topper, fabric from the bridesmaid dresses and a tied dollar from our dollar dance (which supposedly good luck.)

 
The second project was something I saw from Circle Prints on Etsy. It was a modern, yet simple print of a couple's vows. It was easy enough to recreate, especially since I already had a frame I could use. We will be hanging this in our living room, along with the shadow box, as a daily reminder of promises we made to each other. (I warned you I am sappy!)

And finally-one of my favorite projects from after the wedding. Brides, have you had the impulse to wear your dress again? Well I found a way to do it and not look like a crazy person!

 
I already had a set of tools from a failed attempt of making earrings, so all I needed was some chain, jump rings and closures. Using coupons at Michaels, I was able to get all of that for about under $5. I started by putting the closure on the chain first, then measured where I wanted to lace to fall on my neck. Once I found a good spot, I attached the lace to the chain on one side by using a jump ring. Now that the lace was semi- attached, I measured out how long I wanted the necklace to be on my neck. (Mine ended up being about 17", but because of the way the lace curves, it falls shorter than your normal necklace that length.) 

I cut the necklace down in length, then while still wearing the necklace, found a good link to attach the other side of the lace to. With both sides of the lace now attached, I took the necklace off and used by wire cutters to cut the extra chain that was behind the lace.
 

I loved the end result! I can't help but to smile while wearing this necklace.

Every Thursday, I plan to celebrate Pinterest by using a pin to inspire me to create something of my own. The hard part is- where do I begin?!

Show and Tell

As much as I enjoyed the card challenge I participated in earlier this week, my real infatuation remains making personalized cards for my friends and family. I feel it is my own little way of giving back and to show how important they are to me. I know sometimes I may go overboard spending hours brainstorming over the “perfect card”, but I do it willingly and with a smile on my face.

My latest project was for friends of ours who became first time parents last Saturday (YAY!). I had attended their baby shower two months ago, where I learned they were going with a sage green and jungle theme for the nursery. As part of their gift, I made them this gender neutral framed collage for their little one.

So when the baby boy arrived on Saturday, I could individualize a card for the proud new parents of  little Jack. I used the same animals from Create a Critter (one of my all-time favorite Cricut cartridges) as I did on the collage. I used my embosser for some texture and finished it off with a couple of sprays of Aleene's Gloss Finish Spray Acrylic Sealer.   

Congrats again Nick and Courtney!

First challenge- ACCEPTED!

This weekend, my fabulous and very handy husband helped me install some additional storage in my craft room. After the screws were all screwed and the nails all nailed, I had to sit back and bask in my personal paradise. And I was inspired.In the many craft blogs I follow, I had heard of card challenges, but never participated in one. I cyberly stumbled upon The Play Date Cafe and instantly fell in love with the challenge PDCC #120.

I am a complete sucker for neutrals and muted colors, so when I read the rules were to use the colors above (baby blue, orangesicle and basil), I accepted the challenge and got to work. I used two of my favorite tools in my craft tool belt- my Cricut for the tree (used cart Straight from the Nest) and my cuttlebug embosser for the leaves and the bottom hill layer.