You're How Old CASE

I've been slowly working on CASEing some cards I've pinned on pinterest. If you've seen my papercrafting inspiration board, you know I have a lot to work with!

I wasn't initially very fond of this stamp set, but it very quickly grew on me as I saw others using it. This card is a CASE of Mary's card here.

Stamps: Just Sayin'
Ink: Crushed Curry
Paper: Whisper white, pistachio pudding,  crushed curry, confetti celebration
Accessories: Word Bubbles Framelits, Pistachio Pudding thick baker's twine, candy dots

Benjamin's Home Depot Construction 3rd Birthday

We take Ben to the monthly kids' workshops at Home Depot and he always really enjoys them and he loves construction vehicles so we thought we would combine them for his 3rd birthday party.

The invitations and decor were made using the Stampin Up MDS set Bday Under Construction and I used a ton of ideas from pinterest (check out my birthday party board here).

I updated my usual birthday balloon wreath with a party zone sign.

 Pilon birthday banner beside the table.

 What's a birthday party without balloons?! Of course in construction colours!

 Banner over the fireplace where gifts were placed.

Set up just like at the Home Depot Kids' Workshops. Our location doesn't host parties but were generous enough to set us up with aprons and bug house and bookend kits for all of the kids as well as lending us hammers for the kids to use free of charge! There are tons of more pictures of the kids working on their projects, but I didn't want to post pictures of other people but had to show just one to give you the idea!

This cake is what was the basis for the whole theme. Benjamin saw this cake over a month before his birthday when we went to Dairy Queen and asked for it repeatedly for his birthday! It was the only thing that he asked for so of course he got it!

Benjamin's Very Hungry Caterpillar 2nd Birthday

Benjamin turned 2 last year and we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party. I was inspired by lots on pinterest (check out my birthday party board here) and ended up with this!

I used a Very Hungry Caterpillar download and the Stampin Up MDS program to create the invitations as well as a birthday banner (that didn't photograph well at all)!

I was also planning a caterpillar outside in helium balloons leading towards the door but considering it snowed, that idea got eliminated and settled for this instead in the entranceway!

 Little chinese lanterns set up as a caterpillar in a window by the table.

The food display. I made little food tags using the downloads as well and bought the majority of the food that the Very Hungry Caterpillar eats throughout the story for the guests to eat before cake.

 I made the "caterpillars" out of cake pops and put them into foam flower displays covered in fake leaves.

The goodie bag for the party was a bug house as well as home made play dough in green and red so each guest could make their own Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Magnetic Children's Art Display

I have recently sacrificed my craft room and converted it into a playroom for Benjamin. Ben loves to colour already and I wanted to find a fun way to display his art that would be quick and easy to change out with each new masterpiece.

I looked all over pinterest and found many different ideas, but wasn't a huge fan of any of them until I saw this one for DIY Magnetic Frame Gallery. This is my take on it. You can even see Ben's very first piece of artwork on it!

This project was super easy. I picked out frames that I liked that were bigger than an 8.5x11" piece of paper so that his art would have a border to it between it and the frame. I am lucky enough to have a plumber for a dad, so I had him cut me some galvanized steel sheet metal just smaller than the frame so it wouldn't have any sharp edges. Then I bought some fabric I liked (in this case cars because his playroom is covered in them) and wrapped it around the sheet metal and stuck it all in the frame. I wanted cute fabric so the frames would still look nice when there was no art on them. Then once on the wall, changing his artwork just requires moving of a magnet!

I love the way it turned out and Ben does too, it got a "WOW" when he saw it!

DIY Advent Calendar

I can't say this was a quick or cheap project, but I LOVE the way that it turned out! Plus, we plan to get many years of use out of it considering Ben is only 19 months.

I had purchased the vinyl from Stampin Up! probably about 4 or 5 years ago but only now that I have Ben did I bother putting it all together. I bought a large frame from Michael's and put a white poster board inside of it. Using double sided tape, I adhered the red and green ribbons along the two borders of the frame (this wasn't initially part of my plan, but it developed as I felt the outside part looked too white). The containers are just little containers from Michaels from the wedding favours section and I put a piece of Stampin Up paper inside each and adhered the tins with glue dots. The numbers are on green and white paper and attached with a magnet so they can easily be switched out everyday - it's a bit early for Ben to do so (he'd probably just eat the magnet) so it's currently being kept out of his reach!

DIY Growth Chart

I've seen these wood growth charts all over pinterest and at baby expos, but I never like the colours of the ones you can purchase, and they wouldn't go with the wood/decor in our house, so I decided to make my own.

I bought a piece of 10" x 1" x 6' piece of knotty pine at our local hardware store. I stained it with some of the leftover stain that we had from when our house was built so that the colour wood match the other wood in our house. Once that dried I used a ruler, measuring tape, and silver sharpie to make all of the lines. I then printed out the numbers on my computer using a font I liked, traced over it onto the wood so that it would indent the wood and then coloured it in using my sharpie. I let the sharpie dry for a few days and then applied a coat of polyurethane (be careful which product you use or you may be starting over after this step like I had to the first time).

Once it was all done, Grant and I hung it where I wanted it and we plan to start marking Ben's growth yearly on his birthday. I have his measurement from his first birthday so I can add that one to it too!

Cozy Coupe Batmobile

I've seen this idea all over pinterest and knew I had to make one for Benjamin. This whole project was really cheap to create. I bought the cozy coupe at a garage sale and then just had to buy some black spray paint (I think one can was enough) and the batman decal (which I purchased on ebay at Doctor Decal).

Ben is still too little to use this by himself, but he sure loves sitting in it while we push him around!

Upcycled Tires

Ben is a huge climber so I thought I would make a fun project that he could climb. I decided to spray paint some tires in fun colours and stack them various ways every time that we pull them out for him. He loves to climb them and down the road, when he's older, I'm sure he'll love using them as an obstacle course somehow.

This was super easy to do. I went to a local tire shop and got different sized tires from their garbage pile, spray painted them with primer and then with the colour.

Personalized Hanger

A good friend of mine recently got married and seeing as I got her lingerie for her bridal shower, I wanted a nice way to present it. I saw these gorgeous personalized hangers that you could buy on etsy but they were ridiculously expensive once shipping was added on, so I thought I would try it out on my own!

To make it, I bought wooden hangers and drilled a hole on both sides of the hanger for the wire to sit it. I used 12 guage wire and sketched out a design on paper before trying to experiment with the wire. Once I had a design I liked, I copied it using mostly just my hands and needle-nose pliers to tighten up some of the loops. I tried doing her last name countless times, but I just couldn't get it to look good, so I opted just for "Mrs." Once the wire was arranged, I cut it down to size and super-glued each end into the holes.

I think it turned out pretty well, would have been nicer to have the new last name, but to pay an extra $30 for it on top of the lingerie and other gifts was just too much for me!

Been a Long Time...

It's been a long time since I've posted to my blog. I've made only a few paper crafts in the last while and never got pictures of them before giving them away. I have missed crafting a lot and have decided to try to do at least 1 project a week. My blog will change a bit though because I'm not just paper crafting (partly because I am no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, but also making several DIY projects for around the house and play items for Benjamin.

I will start off with this peacock yarn wreath that I made for the front door. It was super easy to make and I made the whole thing while watching an hour long tv show!

Using a 16" wreath form, I wrapped the deep purple yarn around it tying it at the back to start and finish (I did this after painting the monogram so it would have time to dry). The tighter together you wrap the yarn, the better it looks. Then I just used my glue gun to adhere the feathers and monogram where I wanted them. Super easy. The feathers normally sit a little nicer, but it's really windy out today!

More of Ben's Thank Yous

This is the other card that I made several of to use as thank yous for all of the wonderful gifts that Benjamin received from friends and family.

I love this baby prints set and finally got the chance to use it! The handprint panel is raised up on dimensionals too.

Stamps: SU Baby Prints, Thank You Kindly (retired)
Ink: SU bashful blue, not quite navy
Paper: SU ww, not quite navy, maine blueberry dsp (retired)
Brads: SU 3/16" night of navy
Misc: SU dimensionals

Benjamin's Animal Thank Yous

Benjamin has been quite the spoiled little guy! We have SO many thank yous to write. Here are some of the thank you cards that I made.

I used the retired stamp set Fox & Friends because it is one of my favourite Stampin' Up! sets for baby cards because the animal images are so cute!

The designer paper I used is the long since retired Maine Blueberry because the colours really say baby to me and I haven't liked any paper for baby cards as much since! It's hard to tell in the photo but the animals are raised up on dimensionals - I think dimensionals are one of my favourite things to add to a card!

I'll post a set of pink baby thank you cards that I made like these cards in the next week or so. I made them for a friend of ours who was due 2 weeks after us and after seeing how many thank yous we have needed I thought it would be a great part of our gift!

Supplies

Stamps: SU Fox & Friends (retired), Fabulous Phrases

Ink: Versamark

Paper: SU ww, certainly celery, bashful blue, maine blueberry dsp (retired)

Ribbon: SU 1/4" bashful blue grosgrain (retired)

Misc: SU white embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals

Benjamin's Mobile

Benjamin is still in the NICU so I've been working on getting his room ready for him so it is all set when he is finally able to come home. One of the projects I made for his room is this mobile. I got inspired from some ideas on pinterest using yarn balls.

I took a bit of the fabric from his bedding set to the store and matched it to the colours of yarn available in the store and lucked out with some perfect matches. I made this recipe for paper mache paste, dipped the yarn in it and wrapped it around a balloon (I used punch-balloons instead of regular balloons so my yarn balls would be more round). Let me tell you that this is not as simple as it sounds, well up until this step is easy, but it's the drying process that is not. I hung my balloons from the shower curtain rod but as they dried many of the balloons shrunk in size before the yarn dried so the yarn balls turned into a yarn mess instead. As a result, I only had success with about 1/3 of the yarn balls looking right. Originally, I had wanted a few more balls on there but it was just too much work for so few to turn out. I still love the way it looks though!

I bought a dowel from the hardware store and stained it with some leftover stain that we had from when our house was built. I used some Stampin Up! ribbon that matched the light blue and used it and hot glue to hold the dowels together. The ribbon at the ends of the dowels were to hold the clear line in place that hangs the whole mobile from the ceiling.

Introducing Baby Benjamin!

Meet Benjamin, the newest addition to our family. He was born three months early on April 28 at only 1 pound 11 ounces (small for his gestational age) and 13 inches long.

This was the first picture ever taken of Benjamin after he was taken to the NICU and a lot of medical things done to him (including the cpap to help him breathe that is on his face).

This is him as of yesterday. He is just over 3 1/2 pounds and is 15.5 inches long.

He is doing quite well considering he was so early. We still have a ways to go but we're getting there! We were transferred prior to his birth to a larger hospital a couple hours away from home so it'll be some time before I post new projects or take the time to update my blog - hopefully you will all stick around! I've been taking tons of pictures so there will be a baby scrapbook on its way!

Hostess Gift

I was originally going to share one of the two cards we made at a recent workshop but apparently I didn't photograph them, I'll have to get on that. So instead, this is the gift set that I made for the hostess.

I knew that this hostess loves this years' "in colours" so I decided to make her a set of cards using them as well as preview for the guests some of the items we would be using in the workshop - beautiful wings embosslits, pearls and berry blossoms dsp. I'll have to show you one by one rather than the full set because I can never get a good picture when I try to get that many cards in one shot.

It's difficult to tell in the photos but there is a bit of dimension to the butterflies. I placed a glue dot in the center of the butterfly so that I could bend the wings up so it looked as though it just landed on the paper.

I love the way this set turned out and I think I'll have to make a set for myself to use! These in colours are definitely my favourite since I became a demo over four years ago. I'm so glad they stick around for two years now.

Stamps: SU fabulous phrases
Ink: SU early espresso
Paper: SU early espresso, ww, pool party, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, island indigo, lucky limeade, berry blossoms dsp
Ribbon: SU 3/8" ruffled ribbon in pool party, calypso coral, wisteria wonder, island indigo, lucky limeade
Punch: SU scallop edge border
Die cut: SU Beautiful Wings embosslits die
Misc: SU basic pearls

Last of the Valentine's

Here is the last few Valentine's I had made. These were inspired by this card by Ilina, and changed only slightly. These would be a lot better to look at had I got a photo of all 5 cards together - oh well!

 

As you can see from the above cards, I turned her card into a 5 piece set, changing the ordering of the colours of candy hearts and changing the sentiment to the same colour as the center heart. I also changed the colours to be a bit more pastel-like so they would look closer to the real candies. All of the candies were cut out with my paper snips and adhered with dimensionals.

Stamps: SU Candy Conversations
Ink: SU pear pizzazz, blushing bride, wisteria wonder, pool party, peach parfait
Paper: SU ww
Punch: SU corner rounder
Misc: SU paper snips, score tool, dimensionals

Be Mine CASE

Here's another Valentine's card that I made - this is the one I actually made to give to Grant. Unfortunately, I was not in the head space to write anything clever so he never got it yet! He did see it and knows I made it for him and he'll get it at some point!

This was a CASE of this card by Leigha. The photo does not do it justice at all. No matter how I adjusted the lights or fiddled with editing it, it just didn't look right in the photo. The "Be Mine" is from the a la carte set "Candy Conversations" and I used my black Stampin' write marker to colour in just the be mine portion.

To line up all the little punched hearts, I drew a very faint pencil line down the center of the card and glued the center column of hearts first (then erased the line) and just eyeballed the remainder to either side.

Stamps: SU Candy Conversations
Ink: SU basic black
Paper: SU ww, real red
Punch: SU small heart

Just My Type Valentine

I'll post the Valentine's I made before anything else since Valentine's has long since passed. This card is a CASE of one by Ann that you can see on her blog here.

I did change the original design up a bit to suit my tastes a bit more and utilize the supplies I had on hand. The only dry embossing I kept was the Adorning Accents textured impressions embossing folders. I changed the sentiment only because I love this one! Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting my baker's twine bow to look pretty so after fiddling with it for a while, I figured it looked good enough!

Stamps: SU You're My Type
Ink: SU basic black, cherry cobbler
Paper: SU ww, basic black, cherry cobbler
Ribbon: SU cherry cobbler bakers twine
Punch: SU Heart to Heart punch
Embossing Folder: SU Adorning Accents textured impressions
Misc: Paper snips, dimensionals

Baby on the Way

It's been a long time since I last posted any cards, but it has been with a good excuse. Grant and I are expecting a little boy in July! We could not be more excited. Unfortunately, this pregnancy hasn't been easy on me at all, but it'll be worth it! I have just started getting around to photographing the few cards that I have made so I'll start sharing them even though several are no longer relevant (eg. Valentine's cards).

Since I'm sharing the news of our upcoming baby, I thought I would also start posting again with a baby card, although this one is for a girl. We know lots of friends and co-workers having babies but it seems as though we are the only ones having a boy!

This card didn't quite turn out like I pictured, but I still like it. I originally wanted to use yellow instead of green but it just didn't look right to me. When Grant saw it, he thought I should have used yellow instead of the pink!

Stamps: SU Little Additions, Delightful Dozen
Ink: SU basic gray, pink pirouette, certainly celery
Paper: SU ww, basic gray, pink pirouette, certainly celery
Ribbon: SU 3/8" pink pirouette tafetta
Punch: SU scallop trim, heart to heart

Sale-A-Bration is Here!

It's finally here! Now through March 31, 2012 earn free Sale-a-Bration items for every $60 you spend on Stampin' Up! products. Spend $200 or more and receive Sale-a-Bration items and hostess benefits!

Click here to view the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.

Want the best deal? Join the Stampin' Up! family during Sale-A-Bration for $65 off the regular price (now only $150)! It includes up to $425 of product and ships for free! You can choose and customize either the standard starter kit or the digital starter kit.

PLUS, just for joining during Sale-A-Bration, you get one free designer paper pack (you pay shipping) or a free digital download (no shipping) every month you are active for the rest of the year!

Hobby stampers! Test out the demonstrator benefits and discounts from now through June 30, 2012 with no obligation to purchase anything or host workshops. There is no penalty to drop if you want to take advantage of all the starter kit has to offer! Contact me to discuss all the benefits and discounts Stampin' Up! has to offer.