Happy Holidays 2011

I was inspired to create a bird themed holiday card by all of the time I spent watching and feeding my feathered friends from my sun room this year. I used my Stampin' Up Two-step Bird Punch to create this darling little guy. If you notice, I punched out two wings so that I could use one to form the crest on the top of his head. I just drew in his 'mask' with a Sharpe marker. I thought the holly Cuttlebug embossing edge was a perfect accent for my winter bird. I wish you and your family a very happy holiday and a blessed 2012!

Birthday Blessings!

Both of my Grandmas live in Phoenix, and both have birthdays in December. I was happy to beat the Christmas rush at the post office to send out their gifts. I made them matching cards for their special days. I used my Stampin' Up Create a Cupcake set and punch. I wish I could be in sunny Phoenix to share a real cupcake with them. Happy Birthday Grammy and Nana! I love you!

Special Occasions

Wedding bells and baby bottles are on the agenda today. Congratulations to my Uncle Dan and my new Aunt Karen on their wedding this past weekend. My card features a Leafy Vine Wreath and Curly Dove from the fabulous Denami Designs. I accented the wreath with baby blue pearls and rhinestones for some added elegance. Best wishes to my cousin Paul and his wife, Amanda, who are expecting their first baby...a girl obviously! I used the adorable Stampin' Up I'm Here stamp set. Since Baby isn't here quite yet, I opted for an Oh Baby! sentiment instead. Isn't the SU Scallop Dots ribbon a must have? I think I bought it in every color they made!

Sweet Peas

Mike and Kristin's Sweet Peas shower was a huge success. Now we are all anxiously awaiting the safe arrival of the twins - but we don't want them to come too soon! Here are some of the goodies the girls and I created for the parents-to-be. I guess we can't take credit for the cake though. My mom and Deerfield's Bakery get the accolades for that! The envelopes for the thank you cards are pre-addressed, stamped and ready to go. For favors, we used Sweet Pea scented hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works. Did you notice that the corsage is made out of teeny tiny baby socks? How cute it that!?!? Enjoy your peace and quiet while you still can, Mike and Kristin!

Penguin Parade

Yesterday was a special day...my baby brother's birthday. Matt really likes penguins, so I used my little penguin friend from Denami Designs to create this fabulous card. Isn't the cookie jar adorable? Just the right size to hold a gift card. Happy Birthday, Matt!

Twice Blessed!

My good friends, Kristin and Mike, are expecting twins in November. For their baby shower, we decided on a two peas in a pod theme. Anyone who knows me, realizes that I don't have the patience for mass producing Cricut projects. Thankfully we had a team of four to split up the tedious Cricut programming, cutting, scraping, and adhering of 34 invites. We used the Cricut New Arrivals cartridge for the pea pods and bows. We got the round peas from the Country Life cartridge. (They are actually cherries!) And, the hair on the little guy is actually the comb from the hen's head from Country Life. How clever are we?!?! Speaking of clever, inside we wrote, "Two peas in a pod, two bundles of joy. Two gifts from Heaven, one girl and one boy." Congratulations and best wishes to Kristin and Mike!

Too Many Bows!

Sydney loves to accessorize her outfits. Our collection of bows has gotten out of control! I was tired of them getting smashed up (or lost!) in a drawer, and decided to make a bow hanger. First I poked around on Ebay and Etsy and saw tons of cute bow holders with intricate painted signs. I didn't feel the need to spend upwards of $25 on something that will be hidden behind the bathroom door. Instead I bought two spools of pretty ribbon that match her pink and brown horse-themed bathroom, and created this. It gets the job done...getting ready for second grade each morning just got a little easier! By the way, this photo just shows the top third of the hanger. Like I said, "Too Many Bows!"

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

My little girl turned seven this year! Where has the time gone? Sydney wanted an owl themed arts and crafts party at home. I think her friends really enjoyed all of the projects we created! The good news is that my house is still standing. These are the adorable cupcakes we decorated, and this is birthday card I made with my new SU Aviary set. Cuteness! I have also included the owl suckers we made for the goody bags, using an owl stamp from Denami Designs for the tags. Here are the plates and napkins we ordered from Oriental Trading Company. Now to try to find places for all of the nice gifts she received!

Summer Fun!

Sydney and I just returned from a fun (but hot!) trip to Phoenix. There we enjoyed time with our family and friends...and Uncle Dan's seven rescued dogs! It was a great trip, but it is wonderful to be back in my craft room!
Upon our return, Syd attended a jewelry making camp. As a thank you to her teacher, I found this fun bird pail at Target (in the Dollar Spot!) and made a coordinating gift card with my SU Bird Punch. I filled it with Dove chocolates, not even realizing how perfectly it went with my bird theme until just now.
Next week, Sydney has a birthday party to attend at Oberweis, a local ice cream shop. I put my Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge to good use with this card. Happy 7th Birthday, Tiffany!

Coo Choo

My godson's birthday is fast approaching. Kevin's party will be at Choo Choo Johnny's, a restaurant where they deliver your food on a real train! I borrowed my mom's New Arrival Cricut cartridge to make this simple, but very appropriate card. Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Hello, Goodbye

Today's post is for a teacher near and dear to our hearts. As most of you know, Sydney is my little artist. Her beloved art teacher will be moving to a new school next year (sniffle, sniffle.) The good news is that Mrs. Mangano is expecting a baby girl over the summer! I cheated and looked up her Babies R Us registry, and just happened to have a PERFECT stamp set on hand. (Here is the link to her bedding if you want to compare http://www.toysrus.com/largeImage/index.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//TRUS.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-8331391_alternate1_dt.jpg ) Many blessings to Mrs. Mangano and her family during this summer of many changes. You will be missed!

Teacher Thanks

Sydney will be in tears on Tuesday when I pick her up from her last day of school. She had a wonderful year in first grade and adores all of her teachers. I have to admit, this is not a color combination I would normally use. However, Sydney's class just released the Painted Lady Butterflies that they watched transform from caterpillars. I knew I had to use my SU Flight of the Butterfly set to make some Painted Ladies. As fate would have it, Target had the most perfect butterfly gift cards to tuck in as our end of the year gift. A sincere thank you for such a fantastic year in first grade!

Many Thanks!

These are the cards I made to thank everyone for making my birthday and Mother's Day so special. I used two older SU sets, Itty Bitty Borders and A Flower for All Seasons. I also used my newly purchased (and very versatile!) Fabulous Phrases set.

One Down, One to Go!

One wedding down, one to go! Julie and Darrell got so, so lucky with weather yesterday. After a damp afternoon, the sun decided to shine for their outdoor ceremony. Everything was just beautiful. Here is a photo of my favor tags in action, and of the ring bearer making good use of his pillow. Enjoy!

Wedding Bells

Mark and I have weddings to attend both this Saturday and next. They are both for brides named Julie, and are both outdoor affairs. We are hoping for beautiful weather. (Tomorrow isn't looking too promising though. Poor Julie P.) As you can see, I pretty much made two variations of the same card, using one of my favorite SU sets, Blissful Bride. I think the pearl accents add a nice finishing touch. For Julie P's wedding, I made the seating cards and also favor tags for the margarita glasses each guest will bring home. Don't the sparkly lime wedges look adorable?!?!

Garden Friends

I have been saving up for a while to buy a DSLR camera. After much consideration, I decided on a Canon Rebel T1i. I couldn't be happier with it...unless Andre Agassi delivered it himself rather than having the nerve to send it with the FedEx guy. I will be the editor of my daughter's school yearbook for the next few years. Between that and my love of scrapbooking, I know I will get my money's worth out of such an expensive splurge. I am already having so much fun with it and am super-impressed with the photo quality and ease of use. Here are a few photos I took of our favorite garden friends. Of course, the time that there were 13 golden finches (really!) perched around the rim of our birdbath, the Rebel was upstairs in my office. It figures!

Simply Amazing

This is a card I made for some very amazing and special women in our lives. This busy little hummingbird is performing a double duty. We sent it out to Sydney's teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week, and we are also giving these to her wonderful grandmas, great grandmas, godmother, and aunt. Ironically enough, we just returned from an early-morning bird watching hike at the Nature Center. We saw many beautiful birds, but it was a bit too chilly in Chicago to spot any hummingbirds. Hopefully in a few weeks they will be visiting our garden. This is an old school Stampin' Up set called Pretty Amazing. I used SU Purely Pomegranate and Papertrey Ink New Leaf cardstock. Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Rescue 911

This weekend Sydney and I are going to a birthday party for my godson who is turning three. Sydney knows that Jonathan is in LOVE with any kind of vehicle, but that firetrucks are his favorite. Sydney designed this adorable firetruck card all on her own. Mommy just had to help with some punching and cutting. We hope the birthday boy enjoys it as much as Sydney enjoyed creating it.

Easter Wishes

How do I pass the time when I am home with a sick kid? Crafting and blogging, of course...while Sydney enjoys a Dancing With the Stars marathon. (She'll get to watch more TV today than she usually sees in a month!) I suppose I should do some laundry and housework too. Here is the Easter card our family will be receiving this year. Inside it reads, "Hippity, Hoppity, Happity Easter." I used the SU Forest Friends set for my Easter Bunny image and added a Dazzling Diamonds tail. Along the edge you will notice that I used a Cuttlebug folder from the With Love set. I hope you all have a blessed Easter. I wonder if it is too much to ask for a healthy child and sunshine in Chicago on Sunday?

PG-13

The wedding festivities continue this weekend with the (dreaded) bachelorette party - totally not my scene! I am pretty proud of the card I made though. I hope the bride gets a kick out of it. Provided that I survive the bachelorette party, I will post some Easter cards in the near future.

April Showers...Bring May Weddings

This weekend my mom and I attended a lovely shower for the bride-to-be from my prior post. As you recall, I made the invitations for the shower. As my shower gift for Julie and Darrell, I made matching thank you cards. I have also included a photo of the card I made for Julie's shower. I wish the photo quality had turned out better. Bummer. I used Denami Designs Mimi Bride and also Mimi With Flowers as the bridesmaids. Enjoy!

Wedding Shower

One of my dearest childhood friends, Julie, is getting married in May. It makes me feel really old to write that we have been friends for 30 years! Julie's wedding shower will be held in April. My mom and I had the honor of creating the invitations for this special day. I have to give full credit to the fabulous designer of this invitation, Gail. You can visit her blog at http://www.stscards.blogspot.com/. I get to take full credit, however, for making all 60 invites. We used the Stampin' Up Blissful Bride stamp set for the main image. I think stamping the bride on SU Shimmery White paper and accenting the bride's bow with SU Dazzling Diamonds really makes for an elegant look. Julie's wedding colors will be black and fuchsia, which translated easily to SU's new Mambo Melon and Basic Black. Best wishes to Julie and Darrell as they begin their new life together!

XOXO

Happy February! Here in Chicago we have been stuck inside due to the "blizzard" and all of the cold weather. What better way to spend our snow days than crafting away? Here are the valentines I made for our friends and family this year. I used all SU paper and inks in Whisper White, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink. The main heart image is from the SU Always set, and the little background stamp is from the ever so versatile SU Short & Sweet set. I got creative (ie: desperate) for another valentine-ish image and came up with the idea of using my Close To My Heart Large Chocolate Alphabet to make XOXO hugs and kisses. It is hard to see in the photo, but I also used my Cuttle Bug With Love border sentiment along the bottom of the card.

Inside the valentines I am including a photo of my little first grade activist, Sydney. Last month we read a chapter book from a series we enjoy called Puppy Place by Ellen Miles. In the Puppy Place books, a brother and sister foster dogs until they can find their forever homes. Chewy and Chica was about puppies that were rescued from a puppy mill. Sydney was in tears about the evils of puppy mills. Upon finishing the book, Syd was ready to march in front of our local pet store with "Ban Puppy Mills" signs and a petition. I wasn't about to go that far, but I did let her raise money for a local rescue foundation called Almost Home. We happen to have friends who foster dogs through AH. In fact, in 2010 alone, Kenny and Lyn fostered and found forever homes for 59 dogs!!! I admire them for their dedication to helping these dogs in need. Sydney raised $45 and used the money to go on a shopping spree to purchase items Kenny and Lyn requested to help their efforts. Needless to say, Sydney had a blast, and I am proud of her for taking the initiative to support a cause near and dear to her heart. I think the "Puppy Luv" photo speaks volumes. Enjoy!