Apple of my Eye!

 I really wanted to make something for my daughter's teacher at the beginning of the school year, but with moving and being preggo, I didn't get a chance. I redeemed myself by taking her a basket of goodies to her parent/teacher conference that we had last night.  She seemed really happy, especially with the box of tissue. I think I will have to send her more on a regular basis.

 The box is full of yummy chocolate...I am sure that is a must-have for most teachers to stay sane. We found out last night that her life is super stressful right now anyway. Chocolate always helps.  I made a simple card to just say thanks with a short message. I didn't want anything too long or drawn out, especially with Christmas coming up. I am sure I will want to write something longer then.  Of course, no gift basket would be complete without a tag.

 I was thrilled to use up some of this older SU! paper that I have been hanging on to. It is one of my favorite collections so I have been hoarding it, but I have SO much stuff that I have to start using it up.

You can see the basket all wrapped up in cellophane here.  I gave her some clorox wipes, tissue, hand sanitizer, gum, chocolate and a bottle of Bath and Body Works soap, Apple of course.  I had a lot of fun making this ensemble. I am hoping to have more time in the future to create.  In my new home, we have a big family room in the basement which is devoted to my craft space, kids play area and T.V. area. It is perfect so I can have the little ones playing while I am creating. NOw....if there were just more hours in the day. Thanks for fluttering by!

Happy Birthday to you!

 A while back, I started buying as many cute gift sacks at the dollar store that I could find.  Once I had them, I would make cards to coordinate with them. Once I was done making the card, I would slide it inside the flat bag and set them both aside until I needed them. I had the intention of not photographing the card until I was ready to give it and then post them here. Well....life has a way of making other plans. Between moving and having a baby and losing ALL of my digital photos from the last 5 years or so, things have been hard.  We were able to recover the last batch of photos from both cameras, but that was all. I have been sick inside. I won't bore you with any more details of that, but I was able to recover these photos so I thought I would share them with you. Would I rather have some precious photos of my kids rather than something for my blog.....ABSOLUTELY YES!!, but here it is anyway.

 
 




 I loved the colors of the gift bag and the cute little bird. I had just recently bought this bird stamp from PTI and it was perfect. I had a lot of fun recreating some of the fun glittery details from the gift sack as well as the fun colors. I really like making this fun challenge for myself. I just went to the dollar store and bought 4 more bags to make cards for.

I love the dimension that you can achieve using the diecuts that go with this cute bird set. I have only used it the once, but I can tell it will be a favorite. I also added some die cut felt ric-rac which I Love to make. 

My baby is doing really good and he is growing so fast! I will keep you posted with fun pictures.  This is him at 6 weeks which was last Wednesday! Thanks for fluttering by!! P.S. I have been working on a fun teacher ensemble this afternoon that I am planning on giving to Emma's teacher at Parent Teacher conferences on Wednesday. I will share it with you when I am done!

He's here....welcoming Raiden Grey!

We welcomed our newest addition, Raiden Grey into our family on September 25, 2013 at 11:21 p.m. He weighed 8 lb 14 oz and is precious as can be.  Life has been crazy since he has been born and I am hoping to get more creative time once things settle down. Thanks for fluttering by!

Welcome Home!

It has officially been a week since our family moved into our new home.  It has been super crazy, super stressful and super busy!!! I am sure you have all been wondering where I have been, but between putting our house up for sale, having it sell within the week and trying to find a new one, pack and move, I haven't had a spare second for blogging.  I still have lots of designs to share with you, but haven't had time. I am super excited because I have a new creative space. It will be the last thing I get set up since I have 4 kids, a husband and a baby on the way, but I can't wait to set it up and get crafty!  I look forward to a new season of crafting in my new space! Thanks for fluttering by!

Happily Ever After

 I have been MIA this week due to being sick! I am finally feeling okay except for needing to blow my nose and cough here and there. I wanted to continue sharing the designs I made for the card set for my friend. If I don't get on the ball, it will take me forever.  This is the wedding card that I made. I also made one that said "Happy Anniversary". I really wanted to make the card set versatile for her.  I kept the layout quite simple and let the beautiful paper do all of the work.

 My husband and I celebrated our 15th Anniversary this week. I can't believe it has been that long!  I wanted to share this design on our Anniversary, but didn't get a chance.  The hearts are from the "Heart Prints" set from PTI and I seem to always use it for wedding cards.  I think I need to invest in a wedding set.

I added some metallic cord and pearls to give it a little more detail.  Very simple, yet elegant! Thanks for fluttering by!

Welcome, Little Baby Girl!

 I thought I had better start sharing some of the designs I made for the card set I gave my friend last week.  I still have quite a few more to share.  I used a Mojo Monday sketch for this particular card. I also made a boy one using all of the same elements, except the paper colors and focal image. I will share that one with you later.

 I really love paper piecing this sweet little carriage.  I used pattern paper for the larger bits and then colored the rest. I added some glossy accents to the pattern paper for some shine.

The word "baby" was die-cut using one of the new dies from PTI.  I can see myself using this one a lot. Of course, you all know I am obsessed with the rolled felt flowers, so I added two using two shades of pink.  I had to add some bling to the carriage, flowers and the letter "o' in welcome.  I had a lot of fun making this card. Thanks for fluttering by!

Flippin' out!

 My daughter is headed to a birthday party any minute now...as soon as I get this posted! LOL! Of course the birthday girl needed a card and I found some fun, summery gift bags at Dollar Tree the other day which inspired this design. I actually bought 3 different bags and made 3 cards to go with them. I will share the other designs later.

 Last week's Make it Monday for PTI was to create a flagged border, which you can see I did here.  I just used some scraps of left over paper and called it good!  Of course, I am obsessed with adding a die-cut number if I know how old the recipient is, or if they aren't ashamed of me putting it on the front! LOL!  I die-cut this one using pattern paper and then added some glossy accents over the top.

 It has been a while since I used narrow grosgrain ribbon on a card, but it seemed to work nicely with this design since I had already used a lot of patterns and things on the border.  I added some stickles to the hearts on the flip-flops, which I smeared! Ughh!  I tried my best to clean it up, and truly it shows up more in the photo than in real life!

You can see part of the gift sack here.  Fun and summery!Thanks for fluttering by!