Camo-themed Baby Shower...

There is a FIRST for everything...including camo for a baby shower! I wasn't sure where on this island I would even find anything 'camo-themed'!  Luckily with a little ingenuity and a great printer, I was able to make my very own camo paper! Sure I could have ordered some, but this custom request needed a quick turn around and it everything came together wonderfully in a very short amount time!

Detail shot of the banner.  I used my Cricut to cut the letters and a star embossing folder on the bashful blue cardstock.  Letters are raised with foam tape and coated with Crystal Effects for a glossy shine...we've talked about this in a prior post where I use 'obscene' amounts of Crystal Effects...LOL!

Simple and clean design for the diaper cake!  Had the oppurtunity to try out my new chevron embossing folder too.  Crystal Effects on the monogram as well.

First time for candy bar wrappers too!  I printed these wrappers on vintage creme cardstock and score on the 4 edges.  The cardstock provided a nice wrapper 'casing' that is very sturdy, more so than traditional, thin wrappers.  What an exciting way to celebrate a baby on the way!  Congrats to Melissa & Christopher.

Little Firecracker Trio...

Today's post is full of stamping, but anything other than a card. These 3 plaques were inspired by a 4th of July card post I did over the summer. Much like a card front, the layout is adhered to a wooden plaque that is approx. 1/8 inch thick and I did have to take out the power tools to drill the holes for the country wire. Once the paper is adhered, I went around the edges with a sanding block to smooth out the rough edges and clean up the excess glue and paper that may try to hang on. I stamped directly onto the patterned paper with MFT's-Little Firecracker, CTMH-tree, and the fence is a die from PTI. A great gift to make up that can be left out year round! I took this photo out back on my little spruce tree and then I thought if I cut the wood down into smaller squares, oh what cute ornaments this would make???!!!Glittery sparkler!Happy Crafting!
Dawn ;)

Christmas Milk Carton Boxes...

I desperately needed a break from moving furniture and supplies around so I played with these little milk carton boxes last week. If you own the SU! milk carton die, you'll REALLY love that you can make a much larger box vs. the single milk carton. If you'd like to try it out, HERE is a great photo tutorial that I followed. You can also create some fancy tops from this tutorial. Love the white kraft ink on the night of navy cs. Kraft ink does take some extra time to dry so when I'm using it, I will stamp first then set aside for drying. Once the snowflakes were dry here, I then went back and added clear rhinestones around the entire box. Hellllllllllo Gingie! My favorite little gingergbread (wo)man with a vintage glitter copper border. Top view of milk carton box. You may have to fidget a bit to get them to gather but once you tie the ribbon through, it will hold well enough to seal up the bottom of the box. Santa's suit! Happy Crafting!
Dawn ;)

Creating Your Own Sketchbook...

Hello breezy Monday! I woke up to some pretty chilly air this morning, but not quite ready to crank the heat on just yet. Fall has to be the best season for me...changes in temp, the leaves changing colors, and getting cozy by the fire...how could you NOT love it?!

Today I'm sharing a sketchbook that I created for my dear friend Donnak. Her birthday was not too long ago and her gift had to be handmade! Between the both of us, we could open up a paper crafting shop, so because she has every supply out there, I thought creating a sketchbook would be perfect! The paper I selected is from The Blossom Song Pack. Lots of pretty papers in this pack and subtle glitter galore.

I bought a 1 inch clear binder and cut my papers to size, then slipped them inside the clear pockets. Since this binder will probably be displayed on a bookshelf, it needed to have have a spine title as well. Letters were stamped with a PTI alpha set and then I used my circle punches to punch out and matte.On this inside flap, I printed off a Verve gift certificate and did a little simple stamping down the side.Inside the contents are put in page protectors and I printed off a few years of sketch designs from Verve and Taylored Expressions. These are free printables and I was sure to add some extra page protectors so Donna can always add more at a later date. Happy Crafting!

Dawn ;)

Baby Shower Gifts...

Even though the ol' blog was empty in posts, I certainly stayed busy behind the scenes the past few months. Today's post is another special request for baby shower gifts. Since the shower was being held at The Wilmington Tea Room, I knew I had the perfect teapot set for the occasion. I hadn't realized until now, that these colors actually match my banner as well! The colors are pulled from the shower invitations and I used several different stamp sets to create my own patterned paper. First off, we started with a notebook for the mom-2-be. The notebook is for the shower gift thank-yous and maybe later she can use the extra pages to write down all the 'firsts' of baby's year before she transfers them into a baby book. Prima flowers, grosgrain chocolate ribbon, and button accent. Love the teapot notebooks! Without any intention here, I used this tag die which also looks a lot like a tea bag! Added a few 'note tabs' on the inside. A couple of notebooks for the Men who attended. I'm was really pleased with how well the cattails came out. I did not have a 'pond' themed set, so I had to make my own cattails from the SU! small slot punch. I then went back and sponged a cocoa brown ink for my first layer, then back with a darker brown for the outer shading. The pond looks more realistic with crystal effects! Love that stuff!

Custom Frame...

Getting to play 'outside the box' today! I really enjoy getting to work on altered projects from time to time and this Alexa frame was a custom order gift I recently finished. Although it doesn't show the shimmer here, Alexa is covered in a shimmery dew drop ink, which gives a nice subtle glitter effect. The matte behind the shimmer purple is SU! Pear Pizzaz, along with the pear strip with polka dots. The bottom half repeats the same scalloped border with a strip of white grosgrain ribbon and accented with clear rhinestones.The argyle patterned paper is just a sheet of 12x12 patterned paper and has accented glitter diamonds. Once I had the frame completed, I went back and sponged the shimmer ink along the outer edges as well as the inside edge of the picture window.Happy Crafting!
Dawn ;)

Simple Teacher Gifts...

ETA: No one got the answer correct to my "faux paux", so I had my girls pick a number and those chose #2 ISABEL Z!!! My BIG faux paus was using the APPLE for a teacher gift...swore I'd never do it, but I just couldnt pass up this cute little girl:) I thought it'd be "ok" to use this image since the apple wasn't an overkill...lol So Isabel please send me your home address via email: madscrapper24@yahoo.com and I will get your notebook out asap! Thanks girls for playing along!


Because I'm running short on time this year, I needed a simple gift for my Daughter's teacher and her aide. If you looking for something inexpensive (this works wonders if your kids have multiple teacher's) try a pocket calendar! I picked mine up at Michael's in the $ section. I don't care much for the the "cheesy" covers they use, so you can see I just make my own:). I customized each PI girl according to the teacher's hair color etc. Added some simple stitches and slipped my finish calendar back into the plastic sleeve. Just a quick post as my "list" of things to do is getting longer!


******Did anyone catch my big faux paux?????!!!!!!! If your a regular reader to my blog, you will know what it is ;). First one to get it right, gets a free custom notebook from me!!!! Just leave a comment ALONG with an email address and I will post the winner by Friday, Dec. 17th @ midnight.

Sweet Ballerina Tags...

I needed to make it easier on my girls to find "their" bags at dance class...didn't realize everyone at the school would have the same design! EEEEK! Anyhow, it's also a chance for my youngest to see her name in print. We've been working with her on a speech delay and recognizing letters and this is just another way for her to practice with her name. I think she is doing just fine as she now recognizes "Addison" but keeps asking why we call her "Addie" for short! The cute ballerina and sentiment stamps are from Lizzie Anne Designs. Since I was limited on space, I opted to cut out the ballerina and trimmed her with my copic (C1 cool gray) so she really "pops" on the white, swiss dot bg. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I also used 3-D foam tape to make it look like a diorama! The dancing floor is elevated just enough so when you look at the tag, it looks as though she's really dancing!
A little bit of glitter and rhinestones for her hair!My eager beavers! Addison takes over the "lunch" duty on the weekends! Funny girl.

For a DEAR friend...

What do you get for someone who has EVERYTHING??? I know my gf loves Pier One for the simplicity and clean lines, so that was my inspiration for her birthday gift. I just received this new Cuttlebug-Swiss Dot folder last week (because Elizabeth MADE me do it!) from Eclectic Paperie for only $2.00! Of course, I couldn't just buy one, so I bought several other patterns and got a great deal! The Swiss Dot folder adds just enough texture to this project, without being overwhelming like patterned paper. Close up of the special sentiment. This fits our friendship to a "T". I had a little space to kill on the upper right of the heart, so I added a pink dew drop!I love these little clipboards! There are just a few left in my stash so I'm hoarding them for gifts:) I purchased these from my little hole-in-the-wall craft store while living in Brooklyn and I'm sad I can't find anymore:( They are just darling for your workspace/desk!

Homespun Birthday...

This was our first time throwing a BIG party for Addison. The girls birthdays are usually spent with family and relatively small. Since it was pretty HOT here in NC we decided with a July birthday, a water slide was in order! Just a few shots from last Sunday's birthday party. Birthday girl Addie (3 yrs.) and big Sister Gracie (5 years).
Birthday invite! I kept them relatively simple since I made 20 of them. The Star theme was based around my Star Stamps from PTI's 2nd anniversary set.
Goodie boxes! I printed off the box tags and added a simple scalloped nesty die border and of course, more stars! I attached a silly straw on the side of the Chinese take-out boxes which also doubled for candy "catchers" for the pinata.
Addie getting geared up for the Hello Kitty pinata!
Here is the cupcake stand I showed you a few posts down (previous post with the brownies). Just goes to show the versatility of what you can display on this stand. I've seen some neat ideas to also store art supplies as well themed parties/holidays.