Happy Easter!

Yesterday my baby turned six! To go with her Easter themed party, I made her birthday card using the same An Egg-cellent Easter set that I used for her invitations. I was inspired by a card I saw in the new mini catalogue. The bunny is attached to a brad, allowing the white circle with the eggs to turn so it looks like the bunny is juggling the eggs.

For party favours, I was short on time. I picked up some egg shaped sidewalk chalk on sale and tied a pink ribbon with a simple tag around each package. Quick and easy!

Part of the table centre included this altered Starbucks bottle filled with a boquet of suckers. Again, I thought of this last minute, so I kept it quick and easy. I embossed the flowers with hologram highlights embossing powder and used one of the new Jumbo Grommets with a Pretties Half Pearl centre. To fill the bottle, I literally pulled out a bunch of thin scraps of paper from my garbage bin that sits on the table while I scrap and rolled them up. I didn't spend much time preparing the party and yet it was one of the most fun we've had.

Scrappin' With the Kids!

I spent part of last week scrapping with my kids - in a good way! First, my youngest needed 100 of something displayed in a creative way for her Kindergarten class's 100th Day Party. We came up with a long list of possibilities before settling on 100 of the pieces of "Pixie Dust" (Mickey shaped confetti) which the girls collected on our Disney Cruise. She had the idea of putting them on a Mickey Mouse. I think she was thinking of glue, but I had a different idea in mind! Together we came up with a page, complete with a shaker box Mickey and a picture of her on the cruise, that can be put into the scrapbook album when it comes home from school. She was so pleased!

My oldest daughter also had a project to make. One of her best school friends was having a birthday and she wanted to make a special card. The two of them dream of playing in a band together some day (despite the fact that neither can play an instrument, but who's to argue with 8 year old logic), so she begged to use my "Rock Star" stamp from the A Little Somethin' set. I helped her a bit with the general layout and suggested black to go with her very pink colour scheme, but she did a great job of putting everything together on the card. She definitely knew exactly what she wanted on the inside too (although please forget that her mom is an English teacher - I guess they don't cover the difference between "your" and "you're" in Grade 3, or more likely Grade 3 kids are like Grade 12 kids, and they just don't remember)!

Hinged Birthday Invitation

My youngest daughter is turning six this week -where did the time go? For her birthday party, she wanted an Easter party, so I made her invitations using the brand new An Egg-cellent Easter set in the Occasions Mini . The top flips open to reveal the party details underneath. I kept the design simple to keep things quick and easy.

Hinge Cards

Again, I shall start by apologizing for the long wait between posts. After our cruise, I enjoyed a much needed creative break! I love crafting, but it seems that by the time I get home from work, think of something to make for supper, get the kids off to bed, and sneek in a bit of marking, I don't have an ounce of energy left for anything creative! When I do find a bit of me time, I've been picking a favourite set and style and going with it.

Lately I've been having fun with Hinge Cards, as anyone who has been to a recent stampin' event of mine can attest to! I'd love to take the credit, but I got the idea from Stampin' UP! and I'm sure they got the idea from some brilliant stamper out there. The idea is simple. Instead of opening a card, the top portion rotates on a single brad revealing the message underneath. Clever, isn't it?

For an added twist, the last card opens up to reveal a tag tucked into a pocket!

Best of all, I got a chance to play with my Sale-a-bration stamp sets, ribbon, and paper, as well as my A Good Egg stamp set, which I adore. I'm looking forward to Easter Holidays when I plan to set aside time specifically for stampin' and scrappin'.

Disney Autograph Book

We will be going on another Disney Caribbean Cruise, where there is an entire night devoted to Pirates in the Caribbean. You can guess how excited I was to see the Rockabilly Designer Series patterned paper in the new catalogue! The whole package is perfect for all those pictures that I took last trip and all the ones I know I will be taking! The girls love collecting autographs while on the ship, so I made them a new chipboard autograph book to take along. I used my Big Shot with the new Billboard alphabet die, as well as Rockabilly paper, and punched circles from the new Taste of Textiles black paper. Before we go, I'll tie a sharpie to the ring with ribbon so it will be handy when they need it. To make your Billboard letters stand out more, try layering several together to create a chipboard letter look as I've done here.

Big Shot Butterflies

I had big plans to get a lot of stampin/scrappin done over my week off this week, but I found myself sick in bed for pretty much the entire week. I did manage to send off the crochet flowers to those of you who ordered online in the first half of February. Unfortunately, however, this is the only stamping I got done, and it only got done because I need it for a birthday tomorrow! My Big Shot is now officially my favourite toy in my scraproom. I love the new butterfly die and the new texturz plates. For this card, I sponged white ink over the embossed dots to make them stand out even more. I cut the butterflies from the dotted vellum in the new Taste of Textiles package and from Urban Garden designer series patterned paper.

Cracked Glass Card

It was my mom's birthday this week, so this was the card I made for her. It looked different in my head (as do most cards I create), but it turned out okay. It had been awhile since I made a cracked glass card, so I got out my UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) and started layering it. It had been so long that I forgot at first that my clear embossing powder got contaminated with black embossing powder during an experiment gone wrong. This is the reason for the little specks on the card, but it worked in this case.

If you are unfamiliar with the Cracked Glass technique, it's really quite simple. Cover your image with versamark and pour a layer of clear embossing powder over top (the deep impression kind works best). Heat and repeat the process. I usually don't wait for the powder to harden again before applying the second and third (sometimes fourth) coats, eliminating the need for a second application of versamark. Once you have enough layers and are satisfied with the image, place it in the freezer for a few minutes. As soon as you take it out, bend and crack the powder for an aged effect. I also rub chocolate chip ink into the cracks to make them stand out even more.

Stamp Sets: Baroque Motifs & Always, warm words
Paper & Ink: Not Quite Navy, Close to Cocoa, & Bashful Blue
Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware (retired), Pretties flower & pearl