Mother’s Day Brunch

So you might be looking at this picture and thinking that I’m slightly behind the times seeing as how it was Father’s Day yesterday and Mother’s Day was about a month ago; or you might be thinking that I like to plan really far ahead!  Either way read on because, although this is what I did to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, my Ideas, Tutorials, and Recipes can be used for any party, and any time of the year. 


So I knew I wanted a theme that was really bright and happy.  Something a little bit modern and definitely fun.  Off to Pinterest I went in search of inspiration.  I came across the picture above.  It’s from Amanda's Parties To Go.  She has a great site and freebies to print.  Her freebies also inspired me to make my own from scratch.  I made them using Photoshop.   

I made these signs to stick in with my flowers in vases and to pin to crepe streamers which I tied around the chairs. 




I also made little circle tags to attach to my napkin rings and narrow tags to wrap around the stems of glasses.
















I really like how my napkin rings turned out.  They were so very easy to do.  Here’s How I made them… (click 'read more' to keep reading)

Cards Galore!

So there have been a few events in my life in the past couple of months that all warranted a hand-made greeting card.  I thought you might like to see what I’ve been up too…


This was a birthday card for my brother-in-law.  I have a hard time with making male cards but I love how this turned out.  I printed out the ship and frame separately from Photoshop so I could have the 3D effect.  The tag I also designed in Photoshop but was inspired from Stamping Up.  You can see more of my “male” cards here.


This was a super easy Thank You card for a family friend.  I love purple and orange together.  Check out some other Thank You Cards.


I made this card for a baby shower.  I really enjoy hand coloring images, especially ones with kids or Precious Moments characters.  Download some free Precious Moments Boy images here.


Another Precious Moments card.  This one I had made for a special anniversary.  I love layering papers, it helps give a card more depth.

 
This card is one of my new favorites.  I had a different version of this card that I had made last year for a friends wedding but my new 2-1 border punch from EK Success really makes this version pop!  The image is a royalty free stock photo that I found and the tag is made by me through Photoshop.  You can’t tell in the photo but both are raised up to be 3D.


More Precious Moments…I think I have a slight obsession!  I made this card using a template from Wendy Bird Designs.  It was great fun to cut up the different papers and arrange them on the different sections of card. 


This was my card to my mother for Mother’s Day this year.  The card is stamped with Stampin’ Up’s “Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel Stamp”.  Love that stamp.  It provides such a great, aged look.  I cut the chick out and made her 3D with pop dot stickers;  embossed the “Oh My God” with my Versarmark Marker and Bronze embossing powder.  If you don’t own a Versamark Marker then get one—it has become my favorite embossing tool!  The half flower on the right side of the card is made like my Accordion Flowers post. 


And my last card for this post.  This was the card from my little guy to his Mamaie (that’s Grandma in Romanian).  Isn’t he sooo talented at just 2 & 1/2?!  LOL.  The image of the little fellow I printed out in Photoshop along with the surrounding frame.  The pretty punch is a 2-1 border and chain punch from eksuccess.  Watch for my next post to see how I used that punch for party décor…

So glad you stopped by to see what I’ve been up too…
Hope we can visit again soon and if you have any questions about how I made any of my cards leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Happy Cardmaking!

Journal For Sale

I’ve got a new item in my Etsy shop, this pretty journal! 
This journal is the perfect place to write down all that you dream about, hope for, and believe in.

Read more about it by going to my shop here  or by  clicking my “shop” tab at the top of my page. 
And As Always,
Happy Crafting!

Thank You!

 Something that seems to have been lost in life is the “Thank You” Card.  We’ve become such an “on demand” society where we just expect the world on a platter that we've forgotten to appreciate the people in our lives.  Sure we might say a verbal “thanks” now and then or send a text message “thanx”, and it is nice that we’re not totally neglectful of others;  but, how much nicer is it to give a “Thank You” card, to show that you've put a little bit extra of yourself into it because that person or their gesture were worth it.  Anyways, I’ll get off my soap box now and show you a couple cards.


This one was so quick to make.  First I just border punched the one edge and inked it white to stand out against the back side of the card.  Then I lightly inked the other edges of the card too;  gives it a more aged look and sort of frames the card.  Then I cut a paper strip and a ribbon strip and glued them to the card.  I stamped the “Thank You” Sentiment and embossed it in clear and then inked the piece of cardstock around the edges.  I then glued my accordion flower on top (click here to see the tutorial for it).  Voila!  A joyous note of appreciation.


This card was also pretty quick to make.  It’s just layers of patterned cardstock, a silky ribbon, a stamped and embossed sentiment, paper flowers.  The image is printed out in black and white and then softly shaded in by me.  I then cut out a blue cardstock frame which I stamped and embossed as well.  I made this card as a thank you to a dinner invitation.
I used mini clothes hangers to attach this card to the front of a basket that I had filled with homemade muffins.  A cute idea for a hostess gift. 
 
I hope you’ve been inspired to appreciate the loved ones in your life!
Happy Scrapping!

Candles Spiced-Up!

                           
I love candles!  I mean I really love them.  My husband suggests that it’s a borderline obsession.There’s just something so comforting about a room full of lighted candles on a chilly evening.  But some of the more unique candles also have a rather “unique” price to go with them;  So I thought why not get creative with some of my boring candles and spice them up for my home.
                           
This project is quite easy to do.  All I did was hot glue cinnamon sticks around the candle and tie a burnt orange ribbon and raffia on top of that and then made a layered paper flower and glued it to the raffia.  So simple and yet so cute!  This little craft can be modified to suit a wide variety of tastes, styles and occasions.
I hope you try it out for yourself!
Happy Crafting!

Accordion Flowers

So as I promised in my last post, I have a tutorial on how to make the flower that I have on the cover of my journal.  I call them accordion flowers but that isn’t a technical name so you can call them whatever you like. (If you want to see a more recent use of this type of flower you can check out this post too)

The Tutorial (if you're having trouble reading it, just click on the image for a larger size)



This part of the tutorial is much like my post on napkin flowers, it’s just made with tissue paper instead of napkins and is slightly smaller.  Keep reading if you have no idea what I’m talking about…