Princess Party...

I love having little girls to decorate for! I made these invitations for Miss Anna's 1st birthday. She has BRIGHT red hair and I'm sure she's a pistol for her Mama too...lol You can check out this cutie patootie by clicking on the icon below, look for "Sweetpea Madison" on my sidebar!

This is a fairly simple layout, the only time consuming part is watercoloring the princess. I wouldn't have wanted to color her in any other medium though, because she is a rough sketch and you don't have to be soo formal with watercoloring...suits her well! I chose Bazzill "Berry Smooth" for the card base(stamped the "polka dot" bg from "Polka Dots & Paisley" set), Bazzill Black for the second layer, and stamped my image on SU! Whisper white. The princess is stamped Black Stazon and the bday info. is printed from MSWord. All the colors on the princess are watercoloring pencils except for the pink, which is done with SU! "pretty in pink" re-inker. Since she needed just a bit more sparkle, I used Diamond Stickles on her crown, heart, and wand. Perfect touch for a magical birthday:)

Tabb Tigers...

I beginning to think I should own "stock" in Tabb Tigers...lol If school districts offered it, I'd be the first to line up...wink wink! These are part of a few things I've put together for a dear friend in VA. I have her all stocked up so she can give gifts thru-out the year. Some of these items have posted before, but I like to change them up a bit every now and then. Of course, the new ones are the name tags for the PTA:) They definitely "scream" school spirit! I can't wait until my girlies are in this stage and having a ball! Of course by then, they will have nothing to do with me right??...lol

Monograms...

Because who doesn't like Monograms right?! These by far, are the easiest cards I've ever put together. Not only are they simple, but they also have a nice clean look to them.

It was also another chance to play with my new Nestability dies and even after cracking both "b" plates on my Cuttlebug, I'm STILL convinced I will buy more...lol I have read many reviews, blogs, and manufacturer guidelines on compatibilty with these dies coinciding with other machines. I'm no expert by any means, but I certainly would STRONGLY suggest you buy the Wizard die cutting machine to go with these dies. The dies themselves are very strong and are no match for the "plastic" die cutting plates on the Cuttlebug. The Wizard machine is quite pricey so that will be a long term investment in the near future.

Recipe:PTI white select for the card base, Black Stazon ink, Wild Rose set from SU!, SU! Whimsical Alpha, all other cs from CM

Hawaiian baby...

I love this Hawaiian material I used on the burp cloth and knew I had just the right patterned paper to go with it! I wanted to keep the card simple so I started off with PTI select white, added the PP(from Mike's), used Polka Dot and Paisley Dot BG,"baby" sentiment is from Heidi Swapp, added some Prima's, and threw on some Foo-Fa-La buttons. Pretty simple and clean right? The flowers do stick out a bit, but I just used a larger envelope to accomdate them.

Monkeying around...

This is a special request notebook I did for a friend. She is giving this away to a friend who loves monkey's and was just diagnosed with an illness. So hopefully this will cheer her up a bit:) After I had it all packaged and ready to go, I should have put "hang in there" as a sentiment, just wish I had thought of it earlier! This has been the most fun I've had with playing with paper and its the quickest project I've put together. It usually takes me 2 days or so before my ideas click! The notebook base is from Staples and I covered it with a Mossy Green from CM, then Bazzill Brown, and some pp(from a BIG pad). I used my Paisley BG from SU! and inked it up with Certainly Celerly(on vanilla cs) for a soft subtle background. The monkey and branch are prepackaged from Elizabeth's LSS(local scrapbook store). I used my SU! slit punch and distresser for more detail and aging. I also had the chance to break out my new Nestability dies, which I used for the sentiment cirlce(the one that is embossed) and stamped with my snap stamps. Lastly, I added MM vintage brads and Mike's ribbon. Elizabeth, I sure hope this gift lifts her spirits:)

I'm officially a "Soccer Mom"...

1. GAVE BIRTH--check
2. OWN A MINIVAN--check
3. 1st BORN STARTS HER FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL--check(hesitantly!!)

If I'm MIA in posting this week, its because I'm having to pick myself up, mop up the tears, and smack myself out of it:) My oldest, Gracie is starting pre-school, and although she is super excited, its been even harder on Mommy! I know this is her time for growth, maturing, and development but her wings still feel so "new" to me. Gracie, always know you have two wonderful loving parents who absolutely adore you! Have fun on your first day of school "button".

Baby cards...

I'm not quite sure why I'm on this baby kick...other than there are lots of women around me expecting! And as long as its not me, I'm perfectly happy to make them...lol For this sweet little boy card I used SU! Blue Bashful for the base and a second layer of Certainly Celery was a perfect combo. The PP is Provo Craft(Mon Petit line) and I purchased it at Micheals. Now, the whole concept behind my little pea pod(Papertry ink) was to have it "appear" that it was laying in a bassinet and covered with a quilt. I used my SU! slit punch to create the scallop strip for the blanket and used my Mega Scalloped punch for the pink(bazzill) bassinet base. The dot bg is from the Itty Bitty set and the quilt dots are from the bg stamp set Dots and Paisley. I tied with Mike's ribbon and added some Crystal effects to the peas to make them 3-D.
The baby girl card is pretty much the same concept as above, but with a few differences. Obivously, it being pink for a girl, which I used Pretty in Pink ink on my SU! Paisley bg and stamped on PTI white select. I also added some faux stitching around the center image. These center squares actually started out as 3x3 cards, but after putting embellishments on, I wanted to turn them into cards.

Baby bag tags...

Because I can't stop making these...lol I just had to make one for my Nephew Aidan. These cute patootie monkies were found in the gift section(you know where they keep all the cute invite cards) and I couldn't resist them! They already have the adhesive on and eyes, so just stick and peel! He already had a single bananna in his hand and I tucked some more under the other arm. CS base is CM brown and PTI select white. I raided my sitcker bin for the leaf stickers that I put on the white base. The white cs looked too stark so I rubbed SU! chocolate chip and certainly celery on for an "aged" look and distressed the edges. Karen Foster stamps were used for the names. Since I didn't think ribbon was appropriate for him, I rummaged thru my ribbon bin and found some raffia that coordinated perfectly!
Little girls are soo easy to decorate for! I only wish I had these "light bulb" moments for little boy items!! Again, raided the ol' sticker bin and had this cute 3-D lady bug to play with. Black Bazzil CS is the base and I stamped the flowers(papertrey ink) with Dew Drops Cloud white and Sunflower Yellow. I used my CM oval cutter for the name frame and added some MM red brads. The red gingham paper is from CM. The ribbon is from my stampin' buddy Michelle...its perfect!