We Like Free

Finally, we found something free at Disney - Downtown Disney, the ferry boat to be exact! Chris was so excited... he said he wanted to ride it again, though we didn't get another chance to, but it was nice to just stumble upon and we just happened to have forgotten to bring Natalie's stroller with us anyway, so it worked out perfectly to get us to the other side and go to the Rainforest Cafe!

I participated in a scraplift challenge at Studio Calico and lifted this beautiful layout by Leah! It was a challenge at first, but then I grabbed some older supplies from the Planetarium kit (May 2013) and went to work! The hardest part was that I was planning to add some stitching like she did, but forgot and started to adhere everything before realizing I should've stitched first. So I went back and curled up some of the edges of the papers and added some knots with twine to them. I made it obnoxiously nautical themed since I don't know when I would ever get a chance to use those types of supplies again :)

My Family

A couple more photos from Mothers Day - we had both our families over for the lovely day! We took Natalie and her cousin for a ride in the wagon down the street and initially went to put Natalie on the "smaller" side of the wagon, but the seat belt wouldn't buckle around her belly, we had to switch the 2 kids and put her cousin, who is over a year older than her, on the smaller side so they could both fit haha!

I was inspired by one of the sketches from Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook class at Studio Calico (last month) and then put to use some of the cards and items that came in the class kit for the Stitched class the month before, so ended up doing a lot of stitching!

I like when I get to the point in a layout that I just need to add some hand stitching because I can bring that outside or at least upstairs and work on it while I hang out with Chris. Yesterday evening I got a chance to bring it outside with me and sit in the grass and work on the stitching with the baby monitor while Chris was at the store - it was so nice!

My 1st Mothers Day

My first Mothers' Day!! Fittingly, I woke up to Natalie throwing up on me at 6am :)

This layout came together really quickly yesterday, once I decided to use the last sketch template for May from the SimpleScrapper.com! The sketch used a 3x4 photo, so I swapped one of the layers behind it that was a 4x6 so I could print my photo 4x6 and use that instead!

I decided to find an old Studio Calico kit to use since I have used up most of Bluegrass Farm and Camelot now, so I went back and chose last May's kit, Planetarium! I chose that one specifically because generally all the "May" kits sort of go with May photos. I was able to use a whole pack of those banner clip embellishments and then I added some tags and found a doily and some letter stickers and really came together very fast!

Rooming In

I've gotten a great start to Natalie's baby album so far - and I think part of it is that 1. she sleeps a TON and 2. we can't really bring her anywhere yet, so I'm spending a lot of time at home. I didn't think I would get much time to scrap, so this is great!

For this layout, I kept it really simple and just built a grid and filled in the spaces with patterned paper and that wood veneer from Studio Calico. I used some papers from the Amy Tangerine Yes, Please collection, except the background paper was in the Planetarium kit and from Kesi'Art.

I just added a few embellishments and called it finished, even though I probably could've filled in some space at the top more. Oh well, I have a baby to go take care of!

A couple of scrapbook pages!

It's been awhile since I've gotten some scrapbook pages done - maybe I've been too tired in the evenings? Who knows, but I finally finished the few pics from our gender reveal get together! This first layout I mostly used the Planetarium kit from Studio Calico, but when I got stuck I dug a little back into the Neverland kit...

For the frames, I stamped each frame from the stamp in the class kit for the Inked class going on right now at Studio Calico! I stamped onto watercolor paper and colored with my new Koi watercolor set that came with one of those watercolor brushes that holds water in it and just squeeze it to get it wet (awesome btw)! Then I cut each frame out with my Fiskars fingertip knife and mounted the frames onto a strip of gray polkadot paper by Simple Stories.

For the bottom title, I cut out the word Happiness from my Silhouette (it was part of the Awesome Script Words digital template by Ali Edwards). The embellishment on the lower right I actually cut out from the back of some packaging for some brads, including the butterfly brad I added on top!

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This second layout took me FOREVER to complete. Once I had it started I really didn't know what to do with it...

Eventually I just added some random embellishments from the Planetarium kit and went with it.

Today I have off for Independence Day, so finally did some catching up! Happy Independence Day America!!

Sewn Thank You Card!

I made this card for a woman who doesn't even know me but lives near my grandparents in Louisiana, and hand stitched a blanket and bib for my unborn little girl!! What a blessing this woman is! So I didn't mind spending the time to sew this special thank you card for her.

The idea was pretty simple - first I cut one of those muslin fabric bags that Studio Calico sends some of their products in, to 5x7 to match my card. Then I used my Silhouette to cut out the flourish shape (from the Cut It Out class with Studio Calico) and used it as a misting mask. I taped the shape down with good old Scotch tape so I could get a clear shape, then misted with Mister Huey's mists in Lemonade, Cameo, and Sunset! I misted really close, since I didn't mind the huge splotches on the fabric.

Once that was done and dried (well, partially dried - I was too impatient to wait long and got my fingers a bit messy), the bulk of time was spent hand stitching along the edges and around the shape! But it wasn't so bad, I got to do that part in the living room and hang out with Chris while he read - sometimes we wonder if we are the only couple that can go weeks without turning on the television!?

Anyway, I didn't really know what to do for the sentiment, so I stamped the Thanks onto a tag with Hero Arts Ink in Soft Cantaloupe, added the Simple Stories brad and voila! The card concept was easy, just the stitching was time-consuming but well worth it for someone who hand stitched my unborn daughter a blanket and a bib!!

3D Paper Box Envelope!

Today is wedding day!! For our friends Stevie and Brittany :) A week ago when I made their card (see here), I knew it was probably not going to fit inside a regular envelope since those acrylic cabochons (flowers) stuck out so much. So I designed my own envelope using just a piece of paper, the Martha Stewart Scoreboard, scissors and some adhesive!

The card is a 5x7 (A7 size) and I should've taken a pic of my post-it note planning... but here is what I did:
1. Cut a piece of card stock at 8.25"x12"
2. Placing vertically (long-wise and backside up) on the Scoreboard, score at 1/2" in from both the left and right sides
3. Turn the paper 90 degrees so it is now horizontal and make 4 scores at 1/2", 5-3/4", 6-1/4", and 11-1/2"
4. What you are left with are 6 small squares wherever the scores intersect (4 in the corners and 2 in the middle) - cut them all out
5. It should be clear that now you can fold "in" the 1/2" flaps all around and fold it to make a box!

Of course I practiced on crappy paper and made a prototype first to test :) Also, you can wait till the end or what I did was after I scored, I decorated the outside of the paper with Gold Glitter embossed hearts! After I sealed in the card with a small amount of tissue paper, I tied it up with twine, tied in the label and added a couple embellishments from this month's Planetarium kit by Studio Calico to decorate! Handing over this decorated paper box is so much better than a plain envelope! So happy for our friends, can't wait for the rest of the day!!

Mothers Day cards and a Baby Shower card!

Yesterday was a near-perfect cardmaking day! The weather wasn't great, my friend was already planning to come over to scrap, and since it was the day before Mothers Day, we both had some cards to finish up! I made 2 Mothers Day cards and 1 baby shower card! For each of my cards, I used this month's kits by Studio Calico - I got the Scrapbook kit, Card kit, and Stamp kits this month!

For this first Mothers Day card, the idea just sort of came to me to use 3 tags and figure out the rest as I went along. I also decided to try one of the National Scrapbook Day challenges from Studio Calico to use 5 patterned papers - so keeping that in mind, I cut the tags from the Silhouette, and added the notebook paper to the left.

I was sort of stumped at that point for the 5th pattern, but punched some small hearts and sewed them down on each tag, added my sentiment and some twine and done!

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This next card is for my own Mom. I really loved the color combination and the knot used for this card!

For the middle part, I pulled out a sheet of Vintage paper, then stamped the frame in Hero Arts Neon Green and cut around it. I stamped the I Love You sentiment and embossed it with Silver Glitter Zing embossing powder and colored in the letters with Tim Holtz Blue Jeans ink mixed with water and a watercolor brush.

I cut 4 pieces of twine, three from the same pack of beige & gray hues and one piece from a coral color, then knotted them, after doing a Google search for Sailor's knot and looking at this idea.

The back of the stars were a little indented, so using my usual glue zots weren't working since I'd need to use about 3 or 4 each just to get them to stick out far enough to catch the paper. Pop dots were going to make them stick out too much. I asked my friend about my dilemma and she asked if I had a glue gun (which I don't) but that gave me the idea to use good old Glossy Accents! This was my favorite card I made out of the bunch, perfect for my Mom!

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Wow I actually had time to work on one more card - so I worked on a card for a baby shower for a friend at church that I am going to in a couple of weeks! She is having a girl and they are naming her Ezra!

I started by choosing some papers and embellishments I liked together - the gray card stock with the pink polka dots looked great, and I've been dying to use those candy striped buttons - they just look delicious! I had a leftover piece of vintage paper from the last card, so decided I could use that too!

I arranged how I wanted it and figure I'd use the middle space to add her name somewhere in big letters, so I grabbed those Heidi Swapp plastic letters from the Scrapbook kit - I loved how they still looked soft even though they were a different color. I added the extra lace trim, twine and cabochon and finished this last card very quickly! Out of all the cards I made, this one was Chris' favorite!

A Wedding Card

Our friends at church are getting married soon, so I made this card for their wedding!!

I got the latest Planetarium kit from Studio Calico in the mail yesterday and got working on this right away - this month I also purchased the card kit and card add-on kit since I knew I had a lot of cards to make coming up! With all the supplies, this card came together very quickly!

I stamped "Today" using the new stamps from the stamp add-on kit, and cut the "Enjoy" portion from an older SC stamp that said "Enjoy the Ride" - both embossed in Gold Glitter Zing embossing powder! I painted the chipboard star in the upper right with Green Gable Mister Huey's mist mixed with water to add some more of that sea-foamy color to the card. Love the colors of this month's kits!!