Butterfly Birthday Box

ETA: I realize I am VERY late with my SFYTT. I will be posting it soon!!!
Since I have so much spare time on my hands, I volunteered to be in charge of making all of the Primary teachers at church a little something for their birthdays. Surprisingly, there was only one birthday last week, so I sat down Saturday night to whip something up so that I could give it to her at church. When I am pressed for time, I always use one of my *go-to* boxes or bags to eliminate the guess work and I can get down to the fun part: EMBELLISHING!

Since I don't know this particular ladie's tastes or color preferences, I decided to just go bright and fun. I thought the papers and colors seemed fitting for a birthday. I used the butterfly die and some yummy felt to create some fun embellishments.

I wanted to add a little something *extra* to the paper, so I added some crystal stickles to a few of the polka dots on the side panels.

The sentiments are from this set and the tiny butterfly image is from this set. The butterfly die coordinates with the butterfly set, which is always great! I am seriously in love with all of PTI coordinating stamps and dies. Like I mentioned before, I am late with my SFYTT, but I am working on it! Thanks for fluttering by!

It's a baby shower!!

I thought I would give you all a little glimpse of the baby shower that I have been talking about recently. The weather *barely* cooperated and we even got some sun peeking through the clouds here and there. My friend is having her 5th baby; yes...you heard me right...#5! She had *just* given all of her baby stuff away when she found out she was pregnant, so I offered to throw her a baby shower. She was a little hesitant since it was her 5th and ettiquette doesn't really smile on baby showers even for #2, but I told her that ladies love to get together and especially to celebrate a baby coming into the world. Not to mention that most of those people would probably have given her a gift anyway.
So...that was settled. She told me that she really isn't into pink and that purple is more her taste. No problem. As I mentioned before, I didn't photograph the invitations, but you can get the idea of what stamps, colors, etc. that I used here. I wanted to continue with the daisy/button theme that I had started throught the details of the shower.
I wanted a fun way to display the daisy sucker favors that I made, so I created the flower pot centerpieces to house the suckers. It worked out perfectly. I have had the daisy sucker molds since Emma was brand-new and I was excited to use them again. I wrapped them up and added the computer generated tag and some ribbon. At least the weather was on the cool side so that they didn't melt. I was worried about that.

I did end up by using plastic table cloths and paper doilies. I would have loved to have used fabric table cloths, but time and budget didn't allow it. I also love the clean up; just throw it all in the trash. I have always dreamed of the lavish parties I would throw if money was no object. LOL!

Of course it wouldn't be complete without a banner from me, now would it? I made it on the smaller side. The panels are not nearly as big as what I normally make for my seasonal banners. The chipboard letters are "Thickers" from American Crafts, if that gives you a better idea of the size of the banner. The paper is from Nana's Nursery, but it is from the boy collection. Go figure! The flowers at the top are die-cut from flet with a little button in the center and then attached with hot glue. I just stuck the entire thing to my house using packing tape. I gave it to the Mommy-to-be to hang in the baby's room if she wants. My Mom made me a diaper cake for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Rockwell and I have always wanted to make one, so this was my excuse.
I bought a couple of packages of generic diapers, since they aren't printed with anything, although I did discover that Pampers Swaddlers are white on the bottom, too. I was opening up a package for Rowan after I had bought the generic diapers, only to sigh with disappointment. I had already begun the cake or I would have just returned them. I do, however, recommend the Pampers swaddlers because they are super soft and smell sweet. Oh well...you live and learn.
Originally, I had added quite a bit more embellishments and ribbon to the cake, but eventually pulled everything off but what you see here. For some reason on this cake, less was more. I did buy some little shoes and set them on top and of couse, the whole thing went home with the Mom.

That is pretty much all that I created for the shower. Everything else was store bought. It was fun and I enjoyed putting it together, but I am glad it is done. Now I am the crazy Mom who is putting together a Halloween party for my son. I will be working on the invites this week, so stay tuned! Thanks for fluttering by!

Celebrate Today and Everyday *SFYTT*

I am on time! Can you believe it? I am on time!! I know it is a small achievement, but exciting nontheless! I sat down Friday afternoon to clean up my scary desk and finish up a project I have been working on. I was using this set, so I decided to use it for this week's SFYTT. I was extremely bold and decided to color my image BEFORE I picked my papers. I know that I am always spouting off about picking my papers first, but this time it actually worked out better. I don't think that I would have necessarily picked these particular papers to go together otherwise.

I did know that I wanted turquoise and pumpkin together, because I am kindof obsessed with that color combo this fall. I haven't had a chance to implement it into any paper crafts yet, so I took the opportunity. All of the papers are from K & Co. and are some of my favorites.

I die-cut my oval using nestabilites and colored the image using an assortment of Copic and Prismacolor markers. Once I was done, I took the image and held it up to all kinds of papers and finally settled on this combination. I also used some dies, buttons and felt to finish it off. Of course it also needed a bit of ribbon and stitching to really call it done.

I am excited to share some of my photos of the baby shower and some of the other projects that I have been working on, so stay tuned.

You won't want to miss the other designers!

Jen Del Muro and October Guest Designer
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
CAROLE
Thanks for fluttering by!



P.S. I hope you all get a chance to play along this week using this amazing sketch. I really had a fun time with it. We have a break from football this Saturday, which seems weird. We only have a few games left; that is unless we lose and then we are out of the play-offs. I am so proud of my son and the team this year. He has really grown a lot and improved a ton this year. Rowan is almost nine months old and I am wondering where the time has gone. Emma is really enjoying dance this year, since she has added Jazz into the mix. It makes for longer classes, but I think it is really good for her. Her reading is really improving, too. I can't believe that the Holidays are upon us and a new year will be here soon!!!!

My cup runneth over...*SFYTT*

So...yeah...I am just a *tad* late with last week's SFYTT! I really didn't mean to be, I promise. The baby shower is done and turned out great! I will fill you in on all of the details and photos later. It is such a huge sigh of relief to have it done. I really did have fun getting it all put together, even though I did feel a ton of stress, too. Of course I can't sit still for long and now I am planning a Halloween party for my 10 year old who says that he is too old to go Trick-or-Treating. I don't think that you are ever too old, but that is just me. I will share all of that fun stuff later, too.

I needed a thank you card for one of my friends who hooked me up with some fabulous chairs for the baby shower. It turned out perfectly and I got them for FREE!!!! Well, I should say "borrowed" them for free! I had to have them back Monday morning, but they looked really nice. I decided to use the companion set to Tea for Two; Tea For Two Additions. I can't believe it took me so long to get it! You all know how much I love Tea for Two, so of course it was a *must have*. I really liked the sentiment that goes along with it to and was a perfect fit for my card.

The paper is from Graphic 45 and always proves to be a favorite with me. I have used different pieces on quite a few projects and I always like how they turn out. I had been using it for another project which I will share later, and so I decided to use it here. I might have pushed the envelope, even for me, as far as mixing patterns. I had fun, though and I guess that is all that matters, really.

I did have something quite traumatic happen on the last day of my kid's swimming lessons. It really effected me and even though it has been a week ago today, it is still really bothering me. I don't know if I should go into it here, but maybe I will share it soon. It might not seem like a big deal and I don't know if I am making it a bigger deal than it needs to be, but it happened all the same and I don't think that I will ever forget it. I don't have time to post about it tonight; baby boy needs his jammies and crib and I am already pushing bed time too late!

Even though it is late, you won't want to miss the other gals and their amazing designs.

Jen Del Muro and New October Guest Designer
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
CAROLE
Thanks for fluttering by!

Shrinking Sketch *SFYTT*

I have been busy this week getting things ready for the baby shower I am throwing next Saturday. I thought I would use this week's sketch to make the tags that I will use on the prizes for the winners of the games we will play. It was fun to use the sketch on a smaller scale, hence the title of my post. Jen's sketches could also be used for scrapbook layouts as well. I really love this month's sketches and I am sure you all will, too.

I have been using this great paper from DCWV, which is from the Baby Boy Nana's Nursery slab. I got the 8 by 8 size, since I didn't like how large the patterns were with the 12 by 12 size. Isn't it funny that all of these papers are from the "boy" collection? I wouldn't use these for any of my boy pages, except for maybe Easter. They are super cute, though, especially since the Mother-to-be wanted purple invitations, etc. Everything is turning out quite nicely.

I paired the cute paper up with one of my favorite sets, Baby Button Bits. I used this same image for the invitations. Do you know how hard it was to color 43 of these? Those petals are really small and I had to be super careful with a new, juicy Copic marker. The invitations looked relatively simple, but when you take into account coloring all of those, it really took quite a bit of time and patience. The sentiment is from this set, which I thought worked nicely for someone who just won a game. Definitely not the way it was intended to be used, but perfect all the same.

Okay...I will quit rambling. I also added some felt flowers and ribbon for the embellishment. Can I tell you how absolutely yummy PTI felt is? It is amazing! For the finishing touches, I added some stitching and liquid pearls. I also added liquid pearls to the invitations, so I wanted to keep that continuity as well. The details are really what brings everything together and makes things flow. I will *try* and remember to take pictures the day of the shower when everything comes together. Now...all I have to do is come up with the prizes! LOL!

You won't want to miss the other gals creations:
Jen Del Muro and New October Guest Designer
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Jenn Diercks,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
CAROLE
Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I wanted to let you know that I am having serious computer issues which is making is incredibly hard to get connected to the internet, hence my absence. My DH is trying to get things worked out. Thanks for your understanding!