Lunch Box Love Notes

Happy Saturday!!!

Wow!  What a beautiful day!  ... and it just doesn't seem to be ending!  I can't believe it's only 4:45 around here!  I started the day off my favorite way ... sleeping in a little (7:00 am) then getting up and quietly drinking a cup of Joe.  I check my e-mails and then Koda and I head off for our morning walk.  We have walked all OVER this neighbourhood.. Today was lovely - we walked for about 45 minutes.  Came home, had some bacon, eggs and hashbrowns then I did a few chores while the girls headed to the park.  I don't like to leave them there alone for too long so about half an hour later Koda and I headed to the park too.  I read my Stampin' Up! monthly magazine (LOVE that thing!!) then headed home to do a few more things ... one of which was head to the craft room :)))))
For over 2 months now I have been wanting to make this project - Lunch Box Love Notes.  I ordered the "Blossom Builders" Designer Printed Kit that is in the current mini catalogue (page 18) back in JANUARY!!!  I just opened it TODAY!  That's almost 3 months later!  I have a good excuse, though ... it's called Sale-a-brations!  The big promo ends in a matter of hours.  Every year I look so forward to the event but around mid March I look very forward to the end of it ... I am SO busy for those 12 weeks that I need the rest *lol*  Every April 1st I sigh a sigh of relief and get a few days to craft just for fun.  Today was one of those days.
So what are Lunch Box Love Notes?  They are just little 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" cards that I plan to pop in my girls' lunch boxes every week to let them know I love them and bring a smile to their little faces.  This year I started writing the odd little note on a post-it and popping it in their boxes.  I didn't realize how much they liked them until Rebecca ASKED me one day to put one in (apparently it had been a while) and that she really loved them.  Alicia agreed ... and they both showed me the secredt little compartment in their lunch boxes where they had KEPT all the notes I've sent all year long!!!  Awwwww!  Doesn't that just melt your heart??!! 
So ... I had these little cards in mind and now, without further adeau ... my Lunch Box Love Notes:

Aren't they fun??  They only took an hour to whip up!  Like I said, they are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2", single pieces of paper (i..e not cards, just slips of paper).  All of the flowers are from the kit on page 18 of the mini.  The kit comes with 2 double sided printed punch out flowers and a sheet of pink rhinestones.  I made 2 sets of the above (12) "cards" for a total of 24 (of course I had to have 2 identical sets for the 2 girls!)  I sued a few stamp sets for the sentiments - I used primarily the hostess set "Perfect Words" and the set "Smarty Pants".  I also used "Loving Thoughts" in the mini and one from "Full of Life".  I used Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade and Pear Pizzazz inks ... and a lot of dimensionals.  I am going to offer a "Class with Purchase" to my customers to come over and make a batch of these for themselves.  I just KNOW the girls are going to love them.

Have a fun weekend!  I hope you get some time to play :)


Tam

You're So Sweet!

Happy Tuesday?

I dunno - it's only day 2 of Sprink Break around here and I'm ready to run screaming for the hills!  In my attempt to keep the kids from fighting and/or me from locking them in a closet I scheduled our days to have lots of fun.  I think it backfired on me.  Today was FUN but it darn near killed me *lol*!  I desperately needed some quiet crafting time - a half hour was really all I wanted ... and all I got .. but it was enough to snap me out of my twitchy, glassy-eyed stare (and don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about!  All us mom's reach that point SOME TIME during holidays!)

I had a plan for the card I wanted to create - I want to do a card using the new Diagonal Score Plate for Technique Class this month.  The perfect stamp set to go with that plate is the "Mouthwatering" set along with the "Sweet Cake" set sentiment.  I grabbed another Mojo Monday sketch and half an hour later here is what I had:

Do I have you convinced to check out the Mojo Monday sketches yet?  SERIOUSLY!  It shaves about an hour off every card I make - they give you a layout sketch and you just plunk in your card stock and stamp set.  You REALLY should check it out and see what you come up with!

Recipe:  I used Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink card stock, ink and/or ribbon (5/8" satin).  You can sort of see that the crumb cake piece is scored diagonally to match the ice cream cone.  I stamped the ice cream image in Chocolate Chip then again in Pretty in Pink and cut it out with my paper snips.  Oh!  I meant to emboss it with Cherry Emboss Powder ... (oops .. note to self for class) ... I used my tiny circle punch to punch the cherry out of glimmer paper.  The sentiment is punched out with the large oval and matted with the scallop oval punch.  I used my fabulous bow maker to make the perfect bow.  Wa-low!  Half hour later and I'm all recharged and ready to go into battle ... I mean ... play with the kids again :)

Hope your spring break is less chaotic than mine!  Have a fun week!


Tam

Friends Forever

Happy Sunday!

Hope you're havin' a good day.  We're having some fun around here ... except that the girls are bickering like crazy today ... and we still have 7 more days of Spring Break ... give me strength!  On the "up" side everytime they start to fight I make them clean up more of the play room ... that stops them pretty quickly ... and the playroom should be clean by dinner time *lol*.

I stole a bit more time in my craft room this morning while Rebecca watched TV and Dad and Alicia slept in.  I came up with another card I really like ... this one was designed for my Technique Class in a few weeks using the Brayer-Emboss Folder Technique ... maybe I'll come up with a better name than that *lol*:

So!  To get the background image I used my brayer in the Crumb Cake ink and applied it to the indented side of the Vintage Wallpaper emboss folder.  When you run the cs through the folder you get the ink on the indented space and the vanilla on the raised parts.  I used Not Quite Navy c.s. and ink.  I also used the Vintage Vogue stamp set (page 147) and the "forever" is from Fabulous Phrases (I'm using this set more and more these days ...).  For the "Friends" portion I used Not Quite Navy CRAFT ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder for added texture.  I used pearls and then punched out the "forever" with the 3/4 x 15/16" oval punch (aka Small Oval - it doesn't look like a true oval to me but what do I know?).  Some dimensionals popped up the 2 1/2" circle "Friends" portion and the "forever" portion.  Ta-da (or should I say Wa-low!)

That's likely all the crafting I'll do today - I have Ma and Pa coming over for Roast Beef, Mashed spuds and gravy - oh, and "heavenly carrots".  Mmmmm - maybe I should go work out now so I can indulge later :)

Hope you're having a fun day!


Tam

Omedetou Gozaimashita!

... or "Congratulations" in Japanese ... at least I HOPE that's what it means!

Happy Saturday!  I've been a busy little beaver this morning.  I guess that's what happens when you get up at 6:30 am on a weekend!  Of course this is the ONE day that everyone (including the cat and the dog) were sleeping in ... I, on the otherhand, seem to be reprogrammed to now wake up at 5:30 am (thanks to Koda's bowels!).  Today he slept in (apparently the pills we have him on are helping in the pooping area!) but I couldn't.  Oh well ... nothing I enjoy more than sipping a hot cup of Joe in the peace and quiet of a beautiful morning!  Rebecca woke shortly after me so we headed to the basement to keep things quiet.  She watched cartoons while I finished making my "He Is Risen" batch of Easter cards.  Alicia woke and so did Koda so he and I headed out for a loooooong walk.  It was such a beautiful, quiet morning.  Add in the sunshine and the light fluffy snow that was on the ground and I just couldn't stop walking - it was great.  I was back by 9:15 am full of energy, smiles and pink, rosy cheeks :)  I cleaned up my craft zone a little ... and I mean a little ... just enough to clear a space for my next project.  A family close family friend just got married in Japan last week.  That called for a very special card.  I am just thrilled with how it turned out:

I again turned to my Mojo Monday sketches for a layout.  This one grabbed me.  I already figured the colors would be red and gold - I threw in the black after seeing the grooms wedding outfit.  I printed off the sentiment on the computer (I hope it's right - I found a few different spellings!).  I used my 2 1/2" circle punch (I'm using this punch more and more lately - it's another must have!)  I then searched through my "to-be-sold" pile of stamp sets hoping I hadn't sold my "Embrace Life" set.  I hadn't (obviously!).  I think this one will make it back into my cupboard.  I struggled with whether or not to sell it ... I'm thinking not ...
I used gold card stock, black and red - the red I spritzed with the gold Smooch Spritz - it doesn't show too well in this shot but the sheen on it matched the sheen of the gold card stock perfectly!  I stamped the flowers with my retired gold metallic ink and colored it with my watercolor pencils (white with a touch of red in the centres).  I popped up the black circle and the sentiment with dimensionals and added pearls as the finishing touch.  Love it!  Clean, elegant, simple (although it took me about 2 hours to get it that simple *lol*

Right - I'm off to go sledding with the girls ... ok - they sled - I watch.  The last time I went sledding I though my spine was going to break and my tail bone hurt for a week, despite the ample padding I have back there!

Have a fabulous day!

Tam

He is Risen ... Take 2 ...

Happy Thursday!

Yuck!  The driving out there is aweful tonight!  We just came back from our "Sparks" field trip to the fire hall ... one big snowy mess out there!  ... on the bright side it will make for GREAT snowman building weather for the next few days - there has been so little snow this year it will be the first one the girl make!

I had another stress free day today.  Of course stress free doesn't mean lazy ... or lacking in things to do :)  I took the kids to school, came home and took Koda for a long walk.  I had some breakfast and then had to take a "sample" to the vet for testing.  Came home, worked out then finished off my other 29 Bunny cards from yesterday (it only took an hour!).  Then I was off to the school to have lunch with Rebecca.  Home again ... tidied up a bit then I had about 45 minutes before I had to pick the girls up.  I headed back to the craft room and got to work on another Easter card - this time one I could mail!  I've been thinking lately "how can I make more detailed cards that have that "wow" factor without having my brain cells explode".  Then I figured I should "do what Mary does".  Who's Mary?  Mary Fish, of course!  Have you ever checked out her work?  If not you MUST!  She rarely makes a card that doesn't make you go "Wow!".  Her web site is www.stampinpretty.com (I have to warn you, though - once you've been to her site you will likely end up buying a lot of product that you didn't THINK you wanted ... or needed ... but once you see her projects you will immediately place a large order!!!)  So how does Mary do it?  Well first of all she is extremely talented in her own right - I believe she is/was an artist ... or a designer .. I can't remember now but she truly is talented.  The other things she does, though, is follows the sketches on the Mojo Monday site - in fact she is one of the Mojo Designers.  The site for the Mojo sketches is www.mojomonday.blogspot.ca  The sketches, I figured, would help me where I really struggle ... with the layout!  I waste so much time trying to get a nice placement of various pieces of cardstock - it truly can take me hours at times.  So I headed over to the site and pulled up a layout I liked then I headed to the craft room.  I had already decided I wanted to use the "He Is Risen" stamp and I was pretty sure I wanted to use Chocolate Chip and Pool Party for colors (thanks to a card I saw on Mary's site).  I also knew I wanted to use the embossing technique we will be learning this month in my class.  I don't know what it's called but you ink the embossing folder before you emboss the card stock.  About 45 minutes later I came out with this card:

What d'ya think?  The more I look at it the more I love it!  The sketch I used was the jumping off point that I needed - I will definately be using the sketches MUCH more often.
So - the recipe ... pretty straight forward - Chocolate Chip and Pool party paper and ink.  I used the vintage wallpaper embossing folder and applied ink directly to the debossed (flat) side of the folder then ran it though the Big Shot.  I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate and colored the dove with Pool Party marker then applied the Smooch Illuminate Top Coat for a little glimmer.  I punched some leaves with the bird punch and added some pearls and added just a hint of chocolate shading around the sentiment piece with my finger dauber.  It really is an easy card!

OK - it's 8:16 pm ... if I stick to my bedtime schedule this week I should be in bed in about 15 minutes (yes, the dog is still getting me up at least once a night ... hence the "sample" I took to the vet ... and hence the pills he is now on to get rid of the "problem" ... apparently "No, a puppy should NOT be pooping 10 times a day". )

Have a fun night ... and drive safe for all you Albertans out there!!


Tam

P.S.

OK - upon reflection I realize it may NOT be the perfect card (gasp!) ... it doesn't fit in an envelope .... other than THAT, though - it's pretty darned perfect ;)


Tam

THE CUTEST EASTER CARD EVER!!!!

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think I'm hyperventilating!!!  I have just made my all-time-favorite-Easter-card-in-the-history-of-Easter-cards-EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't STAND how much I LOVE THIS CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!

I "popped" into Costco last night (as you do) and for some reason was drawn to the Easter Treats.  I told myself I wasn't going to BUY any Easter treats this year as I still have about a billion eggs left over from the Costco bag I bought last year.  HOWEVER ... there I was ... toddling down the cheese aisle when I spotted them ... the little itty bitty Lindt Chocolate bunnies.  They were so freaking cute I HAD to stop and consider buying them ... after all, the chocolate makers went to all the trouble of MAKING them ... I felt I owed them the courtesy of at least LOOKING at them.  Hmmm ... $13+ ... it looked like there were at least 20 in the box ... hmmm ... I would need at least 20 for my Club Girl Gifts .... hmmm ... I seem to always BUY little treats PLANNING to make little Club Girl gifts with them and they are now starting to take over my craft room (still unmade).  Oh well - what the heck ... if I buy them and don't make anything with them I can always EAT them and then they won't take up any space!  (is it a little freightening the way my mind works?  Are you scared?  Just a little?  Me too.)

So ... fast forward to 2:15 this afternoon.  I don't have to leave to get the girls for 30 minutes.  House is tidy.  Dishes are done.  Dinner is cooking away.  What to do.  I could a) take a nap b) play with the dog c) do some paperwork d) craft.  Well ... a) was out - no point in napping for any less than 40 minutes, right?  Plus I had a coffee about an hour ago so that wouldn't work.  b) was out ... he was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him c) was out simply because i) I didn't want to and ii) there was more than 30 minutes worth so what's the point in starting .... so d) won.  Now as you know I have a REALLY hard time creating a perfect masterpiece in anything less than an hour however I MUST say I am amazing and I managed to pull it off.  (yes ... this is a long, rambling build up, isn't it?  You wouldn't expect anything less from me, would you?)  So I grabbed my box of little bunnies (there are 30 of them, by the way!) and down I went.  I have never had a project come together any easier!  It only took 30 minuts (rather than 5) because I tried about 5 different color combinations before I struck on perfection.  (Heck - you better think this project is darned good GIVEN this build up, eh?)  OK ... so without further adeau (is that how you spell adeau?  Not to self:  ask Dad how to spell adeau ...) ... the perfect card:

WELL????  DO YOU LOVE IT????  OK - I gotta say - the picture just doesn't do it justice.  But STILL!  Don't you just love it?????

How did I make such a fabulous card, I hear you cry?  Well - Whisper White Card stock for the base.  I then took my 2 1/2" circle punch and punched a hole in it.  Then I took a strip of So Saffron 5 1/4" x 2", taped it down and punched the hole out of that.  Then I took  a strip of Mocha Morning DSP 5" x 1 3/4", taped IT down and punched a hole in it.  I punched a circle in So Saffron and saped it through the hole.  Then I took the Mixed Bunch flower and punched an Espresso flower with it.  I folded the petals up and taped it down.  I then attached one of our retired jumbo white brads (why oh WHY did they retire these brads???).  I stamped the sentiment in espresso (from the Just Believe set) and the sentiment inside4 (from teh Delightful Dozen set).  I used snail to attach the chocolate.

So there you have it.  The recipe for the perfect card.  Now off you go to Costco to stock up on little chocolate bunnies.  Off you go :)

Have a chocolate filled day!  *lol* thanks for putting up with my twisted sense of humour!


Tam

More Elementary Elegance ...

Howdy!  Me again!  As promised I'm posting again tonight with a card I love!  ... I just couldn't have a post with 3 "reject" cards and not one I love, now could I???

Once again I can't take credit for this at all ... well ... I can take credit for adding 1 little butterfly .. but the rest of the card was copied from fellow demonstrator Brandi Mah.  She made this card and shared it at our group meeting this month - it won the most votes for the favorite card.  You can see why it won - I LOVE it!  It's so clean and simple ... and fun!

It used the Elementary Elegance SAB set for the "Hello" and the Everyday Enchantment DSP (also SAB) for the paper.  I used Very Vanilla cs (hard to tell in this picture!) and the butterflies from the Beautiful Wings embosslit.  I rounded the corners on the sentiment strip with the corner rounder and dove tailed the DSP with my 1 3/8" square punch.  The sentiment is popped up with dimensionals.  Wa-low!  A quick, easy, versatile card.  Thanks Brandi!  This one rocks!!

Have a fun night - pop back again soon!


Tam

Bits and Pieces

Happy Monday Everyone!  ... Or should I say Happy MEday?!  You all know how much I love Mondays - kids are at school, Craig is at work ... hopefully the dog is sleeping ... it's ALL good!  Since I cleaned my house Saturday today has been a big ol' bunch o' nuthin!  By noon all I had accomplished was making the bed and excercising.  I have now managed to eat lunch and drink a second cup of coffee *lol* .  Yep.  I love Mondays :)

I had a GREAT weekend (although it was exhausting!)  I had a REALLY fun party Friday night (hi Gals!) - it truly was more fun than work (another reason I completely love my "job"!)  Sunday morning I had a fundraiser with some young dancers - a good time was had by all!  I still have a mountain of paperwork to sort through but I LOVE paperwork (likely a huge part of the attraction to papercrafting!).  Just a quick post then I'm off to pick up my Little Ladies and prep dinner - heck I think I'll even make a dessert tonight - Woo Hoo!  (Did I mention I love Mondays??!)

Right - down to business.  Today cards are not my favorites.  They were the rejects for the party Friday night.  They're OKAY but they don't blow my hair back so they were rejected.  (nice build up, eh?)

I used the tulip folder for the ouline along with Baja Breeze and Cherry Cobbler c.s. and ink.  The sentiment is from Elementary Elegance (SAB item) and is punched out and popped up with dimensionals.  Nope.  Not my fav.  Do you recognize the layout?  It's the same as my Christmas Card using the Sounding Joy set ...

LOVE this card!  Funny how the layout can be identical but the colors just don't work ..
The next reject:

Again - the layout is identical to the Aviary card I posted but this time I used the Kindness Matters stamp set.  Nope - don't hate it but don't love it.
Want another so-so card?  OK.  Here's one for Father's Day that I rejected:

It uses the Packed for Dad stamp at the back of the mini.  I used the gold paper and Espresso ink and c.s.  I ran the cs though my Stripes emboss folder for texture and colored the image with the Soft Sued marker and added a glitter brad - oh and used espresso twine.  Nope.  Rejected.

Well that seems to be quite a depressing post.  Hmph.  I can't have that.  I'm going to have to go get another card that I LIKE and do another post!  I'll get right on that!

Have a happy afternoon - maybe you'll see me again tonight ...

Tam

Fabulous Flowers

Heidi Ho and Happy Wednesday!!

Wow - Wednesday already.  Time is flying by this week!  I only have 15 minutes so I'll get right down to business ...

I had my Technique Classes last Friday and Last night.  The technique this month was Framelit Embossing.  Remember this little Thank You card I made? :

I loved this technique and attempted to make a full sized card using it.  Bottom line - it was an epic fail.  I TRIED to like this card but I don't.  I can't figure out what is "wrong" with it - it just lacks "something".  Here it is in all its un'glory (yes, I'm now making up words!)

I dunno.  I just don't like it.  It is 4 1/2 x 5 1/2" - so it's a weird size ... maybe it was just too big, I thought.  So I tried again with a standard sized card:

Hmm - it's a little better but I still don't like it.  In the end I had to just take my little 4x4 Thank You card from above and mount it on poppy parade card stock.  I like it much better than these 2 cards ... I'll have to play with this technique again another day ... just to prove to myself that I can make a great card with it!

Now ... onto a project that I really LIKE!  This is another card we made in class.  I can't take credit for it - I've seen variations of it all over the place.  I tweaked mine a little and came up with this:

Fun!  I used the "mom" from "Loved Ones" that is in the current mini catalogue.  I used Tempting Turquoise, REal Red and Wild Wasabi markers to ink the stamp.  The flowers are Perfect Plum and Pink Pirouette, REal Red and Pretty in Pink and Tempting Turquoise and Bashful Blue - of course the buttons are coordinating from the subtles and/or brights buttons.  The Wasabi leaves are made from the Bird Punch (the wind of the bird).  I used dimensionals, glue dots and a 2-way glue stick to put it all together.  It was a little fiddlier than I usually like but it was fun and relaxing to put together - oh - the circle punches were the 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1".

Right - I'm off to "Demonstration of Learning" for the girls.  They get SO excited for this twice a year event ... they couldn't sleep last night! *lol*

Have a fun day :)

Tam

Lovin' the Aviary Set!!

Happy Thursday!!  Everyone ready for the weekend?!  I am!  Technique Class tomorrow night (yippee!) and DATE NIGHT Saturday!  The girls are sleeping over at Mama's so Craig and I may actually be in the same room at the same time for more than 2 minutes that night!  We'll hook Koda with a new bone and just MAYBE we can watch a movie!!!

So!  I just HAVE to post this FABULOUS card.  I'm TOTALLY  in love with it.  Once again I find myself propping it up beside my computer and just gazing at it over and over and over again.  Sadly I can't take any credit for it.  I stumbled across it on Pinterest - it was designed by Danielle Daws (danielledaws.blogspot.com) and HAD to go copy it.  OMG - It used one of my all-time favorite color combinations - Very Vanilla, Soft Suede and Cherry Cobbler.  And then there is the bow.  Oh... the bow.  Look at this bow and tell me it isn't the most perfect bow of all time.  Look closely.  Fabulous, no?  Ok - without further adeau ... "The Card":

I love it.  I love it.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!  I also love the fact that I found a card that uses this SET!  I have made 1 or 2 cards with it but it really didn't blow my hair back.  Now it does.  Did I mention I love it??!!  That little pop of color with the bird ... and the bow.  Let's gaze at that bow a little longer, shall we?   It's bow perfection.  So there really isn't much else to say - I gave you the colors and the set - I just stamped the cages randomly and then tied the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding bow.  But I hear you all shouting "Tamara!  HOW did you make such an AMAZINGLY PERFECT BOW????  You truly are the most talented bow tier I've ever seen!"  Well, My Friends ... I'm no better at tying bows than you are ... I simply had an amazing tool to help me.  "What?  What?  WHAT is this tool you speak of??!!"  Well, I call it Papa's Bow Making Tool.  Here it is in all it's glory:

*lol* ... yes, I think I've been sniffing the Staz-On a little too long again ...

So here's the story ... a few weeks ago I was surfing the web and for about the 3rd time in a year I came across a bow tying tool similar to this one.  For the 3rd time I thought "my Dad could easily make me one of those" so I copied the link, e-mailed him and asked if he could make one".  About 2 hours later he had one ready to roll!  So .... here is a photo-by-photo of how it works:

Step 1 - depending on the thickness of your ribbon, choose which 2 dowels you want to make the bow with and remove the rest.  Hold the ribbon on the right hand dowels with your right hand (in the picture I'm using my left hand ... was hard to take pics and demo at the same time!!)  Wrap the ribbon to the left and behind the second dowel:

Bring the ribbon back around the first dowel and over the first portion of the ribbon:

Next push the end of the ribbon under the wrapped ribbon (between the 2 dowels):

Now bring the end of the ribbon over the top of the wrapped ribbon (again, between the dowels):

Take the first end of the ribbon (in the picture above it is the piece that I'm holding with my 3rd and 4th fingers ... oh look ... I just noticed these pictures all show my lovely band-aid ... which is holding the blood in after "filing" it to the bone with my pumice stone while giving myself a pedicure yesterday ... OUCH!!!!!)  But I digress ... right - so take the end of the ribbon and bring it over the second end of the ribbon (the one by thumb is on above) and tuck it under that end piece (oh this is hard to explain ... jsut look at the picture below!):

Pull the ends tight and Wa-low!  A pretty bow :)

(ok - the last one is pretty blurry but you get the idea!)  So!  Back to our fabulous card and fabulous bow:

You can see in this instance I made a double bow!  Weeeee!  To make this I simply wrapped the ribbon around the dowels twice before making the know (which I what I was trying to describe in words but think I failed at ....).  For the Aviary card I just attached a "cheater" strip of ribbon across the card and then made the bow and attached it with mini glue dots.  The brad in the middle is from the Antique Brads.  I just can't say enough how much I love this card!!!  Thank you to Danielle Daws for it.  I think I have to go check out the rest of her website now.  I suggest you do the same!

I have more projects to share so come back soon :)  (Oh ... and yes, we will be making this beauty at my Technique Class tomorrow night!)  Hope you can come!

Tamara

First Birthday Fun

Happy Thursday!

It's all systems "go" around here today.  The girls are off school for Teacher's Convention so we have their best buds over for playdates ... then McDonald's ... then bowling ... then back for more playdating ... just call me crazy!!!  On the up side two of them are playing Polly Pockets, the other two are chasing the dog around the house (that means he'll be tired out when we desert him for 3 hours to go bowling!) and the cat is hiding *lol*.  Me?  I just finished a second cup of coffee and am feeling queezy since I put my progressive glasses back on.  I switched back to my "old" glasses when Koda decided to use my new ones for a chew toy.  I'm not used to them yet so feeling a little woozy!  (It's amazing how quickly your eyes un-adjust to them!  I actually prefer the progressives now - I got used to being able to stamp in them ... and read in them!)

Right - on to the business at hand - cards!  I had a commission to design some cards for my friend who is a Doula.  She gives out birthday cards when "her" babies turn 1.  Here is what I came up with:

I really like how they turned out.  I cut the "1" out with my Big Shot and the numbers die.  I used the 1 1/4" circle punch for the Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Marina Mist circles and then the 1" circle punch for the whisper white circles with the cupcake stamped in them.  The cupcakes are from the ABC Images retired set.  I'm keeping that set forever - I LOVE it!.  I popped the Pink and Mist circles up on dimensionals and glittered the cupcake icing.  I tied bows with Chocolate Chip 5/8" Satin Ribbon and attached them with mini glue dots.  Cute!

That's it for now - 2 of the kids have gone outside with the dog ... I better go monitor the situation!  Have a fun day ... I plan to!

Tam