Congratulations

Hi!  Since my brother's getting married, I thought I'd try making another card for my parents to give to him and his future wife.  I still can't believe he's getting married.  But what really bugs me is that we don't really know who she is.  I haven't even had a single conversation with her and yet she will be in this family within a matter of days.  Like, really?!  Like no invitation to visit their place or have a cozy dinner, and let me ask you a million questions cause I'm dying to know how it can be that you are marrying my brother when I didn't even know you existed a month ago?!  How does that happen? 

Moving on ...  I used the photo from Paper Smooches August Sparks Challenge.

Just a simple card.  Woodgrain impression (PTI), doily with Congratulations from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, and lots of fuchsia and clear rhinestones.  i wasn't too sure about this card when I first made it but it's growing on me the more I stare at it. 

Thanks for reading!

Hoppy in Love

Hi!  My brother's getting married.  Finally.  It was a bit of a surprise to say the least and the day is quickly approaching.  So I thought I'd actually make him a wedding card.  You know, I don't think I've ever given him a card, even a store bought card.  I found some inspiration at Paper Smooches August Sparks Challenge.

The challenge is to use the photo as inspiration.  It kind of reminded me of weddings.  Only after I saved the photo, did I realize it was a garter, like the kind you toss at weddings.

Here's my little Paper Smooches card.  I paper pieced the bunny from A Little Lovin to make a boy and a girl bunny.  I also changed up their eyes so they are looking at each other.  Hehe.  I think that makes them look super cute!  The sentiment is a mix of 2 separate stamps from A Little Lovin. 

The heart and grass is also from the same set.  The kraft heart is impressed with PTI's woodgrain impression plate.  There's some ink distressing around the edges of the paper and card.

I'll make this a short post since I'm falling asleep already.  Thanks for reading!

A bee-lated birthday!

Hi!  One more for Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge.  Still using the free digi bee and bee happy sentiment from Paper Smooches. 

I used the sketch in the middle again.  I really like the scalloped top.  I also tried to keep with white, pink, sunshine, chocolate color combo with a few splashes of some other colors.

I went with a bee-lated birthday card!  I printed the bee a bit smaller and at an angle.  I popped up its body.

I also paper pieced the candle and cupcake from Sugar Rush.  Added some bling for sprinkles on top and around cause I know it can get messy.

Look!  A pun within a pun!  The carrot (for proofreading symbol ^, caret) is from A Little Lovin.  The happy birthday sentiment is from the Sentiment Sampler.  I stamped each letter of lated using PTI's Simple Alphabet.

Okay, that is it for today.  I get to actually craft in quiet now.

Thanks for reading! 

Welcome Ba-bee

Hi!  I have another card for Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge. 

Once I saw the free bee digi on Paper Smooches site, I had all these bee puns that I wanted to use.  Though I don't think I'll be able to do them all for this month's challenge.  This one is a ba-bee (baby) card. 

I used one of their sketches.

The one on the lower left corner.

The welcome baby sentiment is from A Little Lovin, and I printed and cut the bee (from bee happy) that is also available as a free digi.  I added longer eyelashes on the girls and popped them all up too.  Something about these bees make me so happy.  They are so cute!  Although my son thought they were whales!  So I guess with a little creative cutting they could be whales too.  Ever read that book Duck! Rabbit!?  It's a kids' book about how we see things differently.  It's really funny and neat!

Well, my youngest did well at preschool today!  He didn't cry and actually didn't really want to come home when I picked him up.  Apparently, he talked a lot!  Haha!  I wonder how much longer it will be before he starts yelling at the other kids.  He is a bit bossy at home.

Thanks for reading!

Bee Happy

Hi!  I just recently received my first Paper Smooches stamp order and so I thought I'd play along with their July Sparks Challenge.  There are a lot of sketches and/or color combinations to pick from and the stamps are so super cute! 

The funny thing is that even though I got some of their clear stamps, I love the free digi bee.  He is so adorable so I made a card using him even though my printer is really bad.  So bad that I actually went out and bought a new one but it still prints not that great.  I don't know what it is but I can still see these tiny little dots over any kind of image that I'm trying to print.  Frustrating to say the least. 

The thing about digis though is that you can manipulate the image and make really fun cards!  I love this little card.  I made the girl bee just a bit smaller and I thought if I should erase the boy bee's eye lashes but decided to just draw in longer lashes on the girl.  I printed them twice and cut one set out to pop them up.  The bee happy sentiment is also a free digi.  The heart is from the A Little Lovin set and the XO from Chubby Chums set.  The only thing is that I wished the bees were placed just a bit higher up on the card but still love how cute they are.  Maybe one day this bee will be a clear stamp??

Oh, and I used the Designer Draft sketch in the middle and the white, sunshine, baby pink, grey Cool Shades color combo.

Well, it's finally here, all 3 of my kiddies start school tomorrow!  It's just a short day for my youngest who is starting preschool.  I get to stay with him tomorrow but after that he's on his own.  Hope he does okay.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

i love you, monkey!

Hi!  I think I'm crazy.  I just came home after shopping and collecting what I'll need to complete some teachers' gifts and goodies for my kids' classmates.  On my to do list are 46 pinwheels attached to pencils, 5 altered photo frames and a few notepad covers.  Hmmm, think I'll make it in time?  The last day of school is next Thursday.

Anyway, it's been such a long time since I played with my Paper Smooches stamps!  They have a new challenge format now with a different type of challenge every week.  The current challenge is Designer Drafts.

I love that these sketches are always so open ended. 

My interpretation of the sketch.  I masked some clouds in the back but may be difficult to see in these photos.  Then I stamped 2 trees to represent branches and the individual leaves from Gently Seasoned.   I added some twine between the trees for the little monkey (from Smoocheroos) to hold.  I also used some leaves to cover where I taped my twine.  The sentiment is from Word Salad.

A close up of the little monkey.  I gave him a little tummy and a tulip (from Perky Plants).  He is so great that he can hold a tulip and the twine at the same time in his tiny hand!  And he knows sign language too! 

Oh and he can also move along the twine!  He is so talented!  And some leaves are falling cause he's shaking the branches and working so hard to get to the other side.

And there he is at the other branch!  Yay!  I love interactive cards especially for kids.  I bought Smoocheroos because my son loves monkeys and I made this (a bit early) for his birthday. 

 

Here's the monkey's secret.  I added a small bead onto the twine before attaching the ends.  The bead hole is just large enough for the twine.  And it is also flat so I could easily glue the monkey's hand onto it.  We have a million beads so it was easy to find one that I thought would work nicely.

Hope you enjoyed the monkey act!  Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

 

❤

Hi!  I had some time to make a card for Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge and for Wee Memories final challenge.

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge is to create a project inspired by the photo above.

Wee Memories is having their last challenge!  So I had to play along too and it's a fun sketch.

My card uses the Paper Smooches frog from A Little Lovin.  I reverse stamped the frog on the left, the girly one with the hot pink lips following the tutorial from HERE.  The lips and the crown on the boy frog is also from A Little Lovin.  The heart in the bubble is from Paper Smooches Smoocheroos. 

My hubby was a little shocked to see the lips on the girly frog but thought it was funny after all.  I added some glossy accents to her lips, the dots on the frogs' backs, the crown and the heart too.  I also used PTI's woodgrain impression plate on the kraft cardstock.

Thanks for reading!