Crafty Day

A few months ago I posted about a "stamp camp" I hosted for my mother in law, aunt in law, and their lovely friends. We all had such a good time that we decided to make it a quarterly occurrence.

We had an afternoon filled with yummy food, laughter, and stamping! We talked about marriage, jobs, and life in general. I am amazed at the outlook these ladies have on life. They help remind me that even when my circumstances are not the greatest, that I can still choose to look for God's blessings. These ladies are always so thankful when we get together, but the truth is it does me a world of good as well.

Alright on to the crafting!

Something I wanted to show these lovely ladies this time around was that they could use a card layout with just about any stamp set they own. I used the layout from a previous post and used it to come up with two cards.

Here is the original card I made using the layout in question:

{See original post HERE}

Unfortunately the picture doesn't do it justice, but I love that pop of color behind the stamped image!

Here is my first card using the same layout:

First off, like some of my other cards, I feel like the picture doesn't do it justice. Anyone have any good tips for taking pictures of your cards, because I can't seem to get it right. I love this card, it makes me think of my niece who love all things super girly. The last time I took her to the movie she was adamant that she had to bring her purse with her; she's 6. 

Supplies

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Magical Unicorn set by Birdie Brown
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (various), White Gel Pen, Distress Oxide Ink in Abandoned Coral
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest, and scraps of patterned paper from my stash

Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape

The second card using the same layout:

I love how the layout worked with this card. It just feels like this little guy is exploring space. It makes me think of the movie The Martian with Matt Damon. 

Supplies

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Space Explorer set by Birdie Brown

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (various), White Gel Pen, White Pigment Ink, Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers, White Gouache

Paper: Black Card Stock , and scraps of patterned paper from my stash

Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape

I wanted my last couple of cards to be simple.

When I first saw this set by Avery Elle, I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT! I love puns so I know that this Lava You set was going to be a part of my collection. Anyone else picked this one up?

Supplies
Stamp Set: Avery Elle Lava You
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo, Distress Oxide Ink in Candied Apple
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm Card Stockand a piece of patterned paper by Doodlebug

Last but not least....

I knew I wanted to do a purple card because a few of the wonderful ladies I was crafting with love this color. This was a pretty easy card to do. The hardest thing by far was the embossing. The front panel is a piece of watercolor resist scrapbook paper I picked up at Michael's a couple of months ago, but you could easily recreate with any of your favorite background stamps and some clear or white embossing powder!

Supplies
Stamp Set: Impression Obsession Thoughts
Inks: Distress Ink in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, and Dusty Concord
Paper: Stampin' Up! Perfect Plum Card Stock and Patterned Resist Watercolor Paper from Michael's
Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape, Copper Embossing Powder


Thank you all for stopping by. Until next time, keep on crafting!

Cards make the best gifts

My favorite Aunt in the whole world hates when people spend money on her. She would rather people save their money and just spend time with her. She is the sweetest lady you could ever know. She also happens to love my cards, so every year I make a stack of cards to give to her for her birthday. She absolutely loves this because she gets to give handmade cards to friends and family throughout the year. I thought I would share my last batch I did.


I wanted to make a little bit of everything for her. Since I try and make multiples of a card when I sit to do my crafting, I was also able to throw in some of my duplicates.

Let's start with the newer cards:

I love to buy patterned paper. It is always so adorable, but half the time I am not sure what to do with it. I am working on using more of my stash, so you will see quite a bit of patterned paper used here!

This first card happened by accident. I love this pattern paper, which I have no idea where I got it from. I found that Stampin' Up!'s Pink Passion, Basic Gray, and Summer Sun worked well the pattern.

(Papertrey Ink: Butterfly Die)

(Lawn Fawn: So Jelly Stamp and Die Set)

(Papertrey Ink: Out to Sea Stamp Set)

(Lawn Fawn: Baked With Love Stamp and Die Set)

(The Greeting Farm: Roll Call Wild Sprouts Stamp Set)

(Stampin' Up!: Well Scripted Stamp Set)

(Stampin' Up!: Well Scripted Stamp Set)

(Papertrey Ink: Fillable Frames #8 Mini Stamp Set and Die)

All the cards above were boxed up with envelopes in the box below. The bow was made with my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to keep crafting!!

Crazy Week

This week I didn't have time to take any pictures of the card process as it was an absolutely insane week. Between the hubby's birthday, my nephew's birthday, and my anniversary I was surprised I had time to craft.

How do you all handle a crazy week? I am honestly curious? How do you busy people find the time to craft or blog, or just relax?

I planned out as much as I could, but obviously somethings are just out of my control. I had been smart enough to get a head start on many of the hubby's birthday crafts, but not all of them. My week began with scurrying to finish up the remaining projects for the hubby's birthday. Next we had the hubby's party with my side of the family. Normally we would have just had one big party, but my super busy brother and sister in law wanted to do a joint party for my nephew and my hubby. My adorable nephew idolizes his uncle so a joint party was born.

See there is the nephew, didn't I tell you he is adorable. As you might be able to tell he is a San Francisco Giants fan, he loves Lego, Star Wars, his Uncle Don, and cake. 

See that corner of missing frosting? Told ya the kid loves cake! Any-who.... My card for the week is my nephew's birthday card. I apologize for the lack of pictures and quality of pictures, but as I said it was a crazy week. 

I used My Favorite Thing's Space Explorer stamp set along with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi and some Gouache paints to make this galaxy scene. 

Now go forth, craft, and have fun. 

To throw a NERDTASTIC Birthday or not?

The hubby's birthday is coming around and I am tossing around the idea of throwing a birthday party for him. I mean look at this face. How could you NOT want to throw a party for this guy? I suppose then the question isn't if I want to throw it, but if I can work it all out.

The main idea is a NERDTASTIC birthday. For those that may not know us, the hubby and I are both HUGE nerds. We got married in Las Vegas at the Star Trek Experience (when it was there) on board the bridge of the Enterprise.

 See I told you so.

 Nerds,

  through and through. 

The hubby and I are fans of so many movies, shows, and games that are considered nerdy I thought why not embrace it. I currently have more than a few ideas thanks to Pinterest. I even have a board dedicated to Nerdtastic Birthday Ideas (check it out). I just need to see if I can make all the different elements work together without going broke. 

I will say that thanks to Pinterest I have found quite a few DIY party projects. Obviously themed food and possibly even themed tables would be involved. My hope is that we can get party goers to share their inner nerd by either dressing up or even just wearing a T-Shirt of their favorite show, character, or superhero. 

Gaming should also be a part of this spectacular nerd birthday. Food, friends, drinks, and games like Bang, or Guillotine, how can you go wrong? 

Wish me luck!