Pre-school name tag...

So my oldest has been driving us crazy by asking, "can I go to my new school now?" "when is school mommy?", so we have been getting her ready by personalizing her things. She is soo excited she can hardly stand it! So I thought I'd make a really cute name tag that attaches to her back pack. I bought the ID badge holder from Wal-Mart, they come in vertical or horizontal. The base is certainly celery and the PP is a special pack I received with purchase at Archiver's this summer. The pp paper also has a shimmery coat on it, although you can't tell by the pic. The butterfly was already pre-made and had a 3-D dot already attached. Her name is stamped with my snap stamps and matted on Lavender CM paper. The flower brads are from MM. I decided to also do some faux stitching around the edges. The ribbon is from various vendors from Mike's.

Spooky treats...

I was so excited when I saw this new release from Papertrey Ink. I didn't have any Halloween themed stamps so this made my day! The possibilities are endless and my favorite part is the new "label" stamp. This stamp will certainly come in handy when I'm wrapping my little chocolate nuggets:). The coffee bag is also from PTI. I began by stamping the circular spider stamp in Dew Drops Midnight Black. Then I stamped my pumpkin and matted on a black frame(oval cut out with CM cutting system). It looked a little plain to me, so I decided to "manipulate" the oval dotted frame, which was originally made for the Marvy Punches. I'm sure if I messed with it a little more I could have gotten a more even shape. Marigold Morning was rubbed on the scallops and made with my SU! Slit punch. PP is from Crate Paper(LOVE IT!). As a last touch I wanted to add some more detail so I cut out some more ovals for the sentiments and dangled them with a little string. I'm going to make some more of these up as they were soo quick and easy. Don't forget to add a little ribbon as well as some yummy treats!

Baroque Motifs...

Whew! It has been one busy week...as I'm sure you can tell by the lack in posts! My hubby and I enrolled and attended orientation for Gracie's preschool. I can hardly believe this day is almost here! Gracie is 3.5 and going on 25 but she will always be my baby and it seems just like yesterday I gave birth to her. We both know as parents this day would come and we really know she will benefit from this program, its just extremely hard to "let go." Its now time to let her wings spread and become a big girl! Oh gosh...back to the cards before I weap all over my laptop.

I starting making my Christmas cards last year and knew when I saw this Baroque Motifs I KNEW it would be this years card base. I tried several different options here and love every one of them, but for time and expense I'm going with the one without ribbon. This stamp is very classic and timeless and I just LOVE IT! The card base is PTI white cs and I distressed the edges. The Motif is inked in True Thyme and the flowers are inked in Cranberry Crisp. The sentiment is also Certainly Celery and cut out with my CM oval cutting system and matted on a Cranberry scalloped frame. The sentiment frame looked like it needed a bit more so I put on some MM vintage brads and dotted the scallop frame with a clear glitter pen. For little extra bling, I added glitter pen dots around the scalloped frame and the flowers are dotted with a just a dab of Star Dust Stickles. I say I'm going to be early have these addressed and ready to go by Thanksgiving, hopefully I stick with it!

Inspiration...

I keep my favorite blogs I like to read, in a sidebar on my page and I'm always inspired by what I see. This particular card was inspired by Irlamija and all those pretty flowers she uses! I don't think I've seen a creation of hers without them. Anyhoo, this card is pretty simple in design. I don't remember the vendor on the PP, but its double-sideded and I used half for the bottom and the other half for the top. The flowers are the from the Prima Hydrangea Line and topped with Foof-a-la pearlized buttons. The BG stamp on top is from SU! Polka Dot and Paisley set and the "love" sentiment is from Heidi Swapp and inked with Black Stazon.

Retro Diaper Cake...

I haven't made one of these in some time and had a slight dilema when working with this one. I like to make these diaper cakes for showers because I'm always looking for something "different" to bring along, besides the usual baby gifts. And what new mom can't get enough free diapers right?? Well, when I normally put these together I do just plain diapers and tie them together using ribbon. In this case, I pulled the diapers out of the package and they had disney prints all over them...too much to the point where the ribbon would not have covered them up. So I messed around with it for a bit before "light bulb" went off! Aha!!! Why don't I try using material?? This was super easy, just make sure you leave enough for top and bottom and wrap it underneath and "tuck" into the diapers. I did up the three layers(typically use large chopsticks to keep the layers on top of each other) and kept them together with a gerber daisy that had a extra long stem which easily slid down the middle of all 3 layers. I also found a perfect match on the brown organdy ribbon I tied around each cake top. The gerber daisy was bright white so I used my chalk inks to add some pink and voila! My first choice would have been a nice pink hydrangea bunch on top, but the flowers were slim pickins' at Joann's this weekend...lol For an added touch you can put on a platter for display. I used my cake platter and used it as a centerpiece at the shower:)

ETA: I have made an easy step by step tutorial for you to try one! If you'd like directions, please drop a request @ madscrapper24@yahoo.com

Beach-A-Bella...

Doesn't she make ya jealous?? Either because of the bikini, or because you live in NY you only "wish" the beaches were clean enough to visit??...lol Either way she is a cutie and ready to get her tan on! This was probably the quickest card I have put together. The cards base is PTI select white(I seem to be using ALOT of this lately) and I stamped the dot bg(in certainly celery) from SU! Polka Dot and Paisley. The binkini gal is watercolored with re-inkers and a blender pen in certainly celery, marigold morning, and I used a watercolor pencil in straw for her body color. I matted her on certainly celery cs and marigold morning(rubbed my ink pad over white cs). The scalloped strip is in marigold morning and once again rubbed on white cs and punched with the SU! scallop punch. The sentiment was done with Snap Stamps and punched out with my CM circle punches. The patterned paper is from SEI's Winnie Walls design. I topped off with ribbon from Mike's.

Sassy Bella Tin...

I have a TON of these tins(Target $ Spot) and many others so I decided it was time to stop hoarding them! This project was a bday combo gift for my dear friend Brooke. She is the best "cake diva" I know. She turns boxed cake mixes into masterpieces:))) I knew this "cakeabella" stamp would be perfect for her!! It was a bit hard trying to duplicate her red hair though...the bella could never do justice to how beautiful my gf's hair is...so I ended up doing blonde. I started by cutting the base(Cranberry CM cs) just a tad shorter so you can still see some of the tin. The Cranberry CS is also faux stitched. The PP has lemons, pears, and cherries on it(Recipe Time) and I also pulled these colors out to doll up the Bella! She is painted with re-inkers(bashful blue,red, & certainly celery)and a blender pen. She is matted with CM cranberry, SU! bashful blue, and CM green. I used the ticket corner punch by SU! and added MM aged brads. I did the same steps for the sentiment and used my Karen Foster snap stamps for "cake diva". Lastly, I added some green gingham(Mike's) thru my punched holes and tied off. I filled the inside with fresh baked brownies and tied off with an Olive Garden GC. She truly is a wonderful friend who has helped make my time here in NY just a little bit easier:)

And the WINNER is...

Thank you to everyone who entered! I read every single comment and thank you for all your kind words:) My next blog goodie will be in Sept. and its a toss up between "bella" cards or something Halloween themed...have you all seen the new Halloween release over at Papertrey Ink?? Gotta have it!

Linda Webb:
Your DD is so beautiful, I can see why you must celebrate. Thanks for the candy.

Linda please email @ madscrapper24@yahoo.com with your snail mail address and I will have these out to asap!

Stay tuned, later tonight I will be posting a cute "bella" tin!

First Blog GOODIE giveaway...

YEAH!!! As promised, I have my FIRST EVER blog goodie to share with you all! I decided it would be fun to have "themed" giveaways, so thats how I hope to display all future blog goodies:) As you can guess, the first theme is "All About Babies" since my "baby" just turned 1(sorry, Addison IS NOT one of the goodies....lol), I thought it was fitting!!

Goodies include:

1. set of 3 "thank-you" cards(gender neutral)
2. 3 yards of white organdy ribbon
3. sampling of white/pearlized Foof-a-la buttons(my new favorites!!)

I decided to use "a new little someone" stamp set from SU! and chose the cute baby food jars. They are watercolored in certainly celery, marigold morning, & elegant eggplant along with a blender pen. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I traced(with my blender pen) around the baby jars with a mixture of white craft ink and a slight blend of bashful blue. I put the white craft ink on my inner lid and gently brushed a little of the bashful blue...just enough to give me a grayish tone around the jars. It really made them "pop" against the white cs. The "adia cloth" bg stamp is inked up in certainly celery and topped off with a scalloped edge(rubbed my "marigold morning" ink pad over white cs) for texture. The baby food jars and backed with "marigold morning" & "certainly celery" cs and I did some faux stitching and backed the frame with dimensionals. Last touch was adding a simple coordinating ribbong from Mike's. I kept these simple because I plan on mass producing them soon:)

***All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here on my blog and I will draw a winner on Monday morning @ 10 a.m.***

Gift Card Holders...

As a papercrafters, we are constantly looking for something new to play with. I found these really cool "pillow box" templates at Target and knew I HAD to try them! They were super easy as it has all the score lines cut out and you just trace them out. I had also bought this funky PP from Paper Crate at Archiver's that I knew would be perfect! I cut and traced a large and small pillow box. The smaller one is perfect for a 3x3 card and gift card, the larger one is big enough for a small gift and card. I wanted to keep them fairly clean since the pattern is quite busy, so I made some very simple and classy tags. The long and narrow tag was made with CM Vanilla cs and Bazzill Black cs for the base. I inked up my cute wedding couple(Amuse) with Black Stazon and added Stardust Stickles to her dress and veil. The sentiment was done as a combo of two stamps(don't remember the vendor), but all the stamps are pre-inked and come in a set of 10. I also used dimensionals to pop up the sentiment and tied with Mike's black satin ribbon. Now, the smaller box was just as simple. I used a Mega & Giga Scalloped punches for the sentiment(Love-Heidi Swapp) and glued on some rhinestones for bling. The tag was tied on with Mike's red satin ribbon. These are great if friends and family need a cute packaged gift, they fold flat for shipping and you can just fill them up when ready:)

I'M BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Well what better way to celebrate than to put up a new avatar photo AND card??? I figure it was time to change the photo out since my youngest is now 1! The old picture is when she was only 4 weeks(wiping away a tear...lol). Anyhoo, I took a much needed break from NYC and from crafting. It was definitely what the kids and I needed. We spent nearly 5 weeks in GA visiting with my sister and her family and the rest of my family joined us there as well. We are all out of state so it was nice to visit with all of us together:) Now, as soon as hubby shows me how to get my new pic up, it will be changed in the "about me" section. I will give it an attempt, but I can't promise anything...lol Also, I will be doing my first "BLOG GOODIES" giveaway this Friday. I will post it Friday and a lucky gal will be chosen on Monday Morning:)Now, for the card! I received new Bellas for my birthday, but they had not been inked yet...so you know what I did on my vacation!!! These gals are not only sassy, but ubercute and fun to color! I used Papertrey Ink white cardstock for the base(very sturdy) and cut SU! certainly celery and Bashful Blue cs to coordinate. The "polk dot & paisley" bg stamp is inked with certainly celery and stamped on the entire card front. I used my SU! scalloped edger on Bashful Blue for the top and also added the ribbon and rhinestones for a nice touch. CM oval cutters were used for the sentiment frame and the sentiment is from some pre-inked stamps I bought at Archiver's. As a last "bling" touch I added some Stardust Stickles to her crown and ring.