colourQ challenge #208

Y'all may not be aware of it (until this sentence!), but I was born and raised in the South. I love everything about the South . . . except the heat & humidity! But the things I love include the food, the slower pace, the drawl, the food, the friendliness and genuine kindness, good manners, did I mention the food? There are few things more delicious than shrimp  & grits! And if you are mentally wondering what grits are, I am genuinely grieving for you!! There are simply too many wonderful things about the South to list in this post, so I'll tell you about my card. As much as I love red, I knew immediately that I wanted hot pink to be my spot color for this week's colourQ challenge. I found these amazing hot pink glitter Thickers at Archiver's and thought they would be perfect on a black and white background. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today - have a great weekend!!

colourQ challenge #207

As usual, I only had ONE of the colors in this week's colourQ challenge! But I winged it and pulled out some colors that may or may not be comparable (Tim Holtz Festive Berries and Vintage Photo distress inks, Cameo Coral), then I added copper Stickles for some razzle dazzle! This is the first time I've used my new PTI set, Bigger Blooms, and I think I'm really going to like it. You will likely see this set more and more in my color challenge submissions. Thanks for stopping by! Can you believe two posts in one day!! And it's been SOME day!

Make It Monday #132: Layered Border Die Cuts

This week's Make It Monday Challenge is one that is near and dear to my heart! I have made lots of cards and tags using the layered scalloped border technique. It is simple but absolutely beautiful! I am once again on the Scrappin' in the City design team and this was the perfect project for the store, too. I used a beautiful line of paper by Carta Bella from the Rough & Tumble collection by Samantha Walker (LOVE the stripes and polka dots) along with my very favorite Papertrey Ink birthday stamp set, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Seriously, if you do not own this set, you must go RIGHT NOW and order it! I use it all the time and it is fantastic! Thanks for stopping by - have a great hump day!!

Morgan's Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

I must admit that I have been thinking about throwing a Very Hungry Caterpillar party for Morgan for more than a year. I was going to do it last year for her 2nd birthday, but all of the ideas I found on Pinterest simply overwhelmed me. I didn't know where to begin! So, I made a list of the details I definitely wanted to do and tried to stick to that list as much as possible. I still searched Pinterest for new ideas DAILY, but I wasn't as tempted to add to the list once I had it written down. There are lots of items on etsy (here, here, here, and here) that you can buy and print out at home or at your local photo lab, which is a tremendous time and money saver. I also decided at the beginning the details I wanted to splurge on (the cake and the cookies) and the ones that I needed to be more frugal on. Also, since I am a rabid papercrafter, I already had lots of things I could use for the party - cardstock for the banners and bean bag toss game, lots of paper punch and templates for the circles and ovals, cellophane bags for the party favors, felt for the bean bags and did I mention lots and lots of cardstock?!?! Here are some of my favorite pics from Morgan's Very Hungry Caterpillar Third Birthday Party!

 

The beautiful and delicious cake from Rita's Bakery. I took in several cake pics that I found on Pinterest for them to go by.

I made this bean bag toss out of a box an a giant piece of red paper I got from my church. The details are made from cardstock.

I can barely sew on a button (seriously) but when I was faced with spending $25 for a girl I know to make bean bags, I decided I would give it a shot! They were surprisingly easy and since felt I only 34 cents a sheet at the local craft store, they were cheap, too. And I would rather spend that money on food!

Cookies that a friend of mine made. TOTALLY worth splurging on! They were delicious and absolutely adorable!!

Our precious niece sharing a Cheeto with the birthday girl!

I also made Morgan's party hat out of a store-bought hat, lots of cardstock ovals, and bits of ribbon for the tassel.

We have exactly zero funny candid photos of our family so this is my favorite shot of the day!!

Morgan's new wheels that her cousin, Samuel, loved more than she did!

Poorly framed pic but cute of my baby!! I made the banner and the balloon centerpieces.

A kiss for the caterpillar!!

The younger kids LOVED the bean bag toss!!

I adore how the food table looked! I framed a pic of the birthday girl and personalized subway art that I bought on etsy (link above) and used the book as table decorations.

Reading the story before supper was served.

Thanks for stopping by - now go plan a party!!

Very Hungry Caterpillar card

Tomorrow is Morgan's "Very Hungry Caterpillar" third birthday party and I have been in full party-planning mode for days. I have turned nearly every piece of red and green cardstock into some kind of caterpillar, including this adorable card!! I will be posting a ton more pictures after the party so come back on Monday for more VHC party inspiration!!

colourQ challenge #205

colourQ challenge #205

I am constantly on the search for the perfect floral stamp set. I see beautiful cards made with a variety of flowers on an almost daily basis which convinces me anew each day that I must have the exact stamps that each designer uses in their creations. But since I can't afford to buy EVERY. SINGLE. SET. I compromise (not really) by buying a cheaper set locally and calling it a day. BIG MISTAKE!! I realized recently when, after about three years of coveting, I bought PTI's Daydreamer set that it is truly the PERFECT floral stamp set! I have looked (and wanted) ALL of their more current floral sets as well as several Stampin' Up! ones, but I am so glad I broke down and bought this set that I had used only once before. It has a wonderful variety of flowers and TONS of sentiments about dreams. I love that PTI stamp sets almost always have a good mix of images and sentiments. All of the flowers on this card came from the Daydreamer set, while the sentiments are from PTI's Stamp-A-Faire exclusive stamp set, Reasons to Smile (it totally ROCKS!!!). Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

Vintage PTI (sort of!)

A few years ago, I went with my stampin' buddies to Papertrey Ink's Stamp-A-Faire event in Cincinnati. It was so fantastic and I had the best time meeting all of their super-talented designers. My favorite card of the weekend was a card just like this one! I love the flowers and the Mason jar with the polka-dot filler. Over the years, this card has been at the top of my inspiration pile, but I've never purchased the stamps . . . until last week! Papertrey does an on-line Stamp-A-Faire now and offered the awesome stamp set, Reasons to Smile FREE to anyone who made a $100 purchase, so OF COURSE, I had no choice but to order big! I ordered Friendship Jar and Daydreamer and a few other stamps that will appear on my blog soon. Thanks for stopping by - hope you had a great Labor Day!!

colourQ challenge #204 (continued)

I finally cleaned our bedroom yesterday (disastrous with 10 generations of dust bunnies!), and I found my SU! catalog from 2011-12. After looking at it for only a few minutes, I found the inspiration for this card - a PERFECT design for colourQ challenge #204! And I pulled out the vintage SU! set Time Well Spent for this project. I really love so many of the older sets and I'm so glad I kept them! Although, I have had to hunt a few down on eBay and they are pricey!! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful long weekend!

colourQ challenge #204

When I saw the inspiration for this card on Pinterest, I thought it was SO CUTE!! I absolutely love this stamp set from PTI called Heart-2-Heart #1, so I couldn't imagine how my card for this week's colourQ challenge could turn out anything but ADORABLE!! Enter my less-than-stellar execution. All was well until I tried to add that stupid doily, which was HUGE, and I do mean HUGE . . . way too big to even cut down to use on a card, but I did it anyway because that's what I do! I don't have a Concord Crush ink pad, but I do have a marker, so I colored that little coffee cup and stamped on white cardstock. It's not black, I promise! The rest of the madness is fairly self-explanatory. If I find a little more mojo/inspiration later in the week, I may try this challenge again. Thanks for stopping by!

colourQ challenge #203

Our computer literally dropped dead on Wednesday, but we are up and running again today and I am excited to post my card for this week's colourQ challenge. I love the blue/green combo (of course!). I used another "vintage" SU! set called Doodle This - it is so much fun to color! I had to substitute Bermuda Bay for Island Indigo, and Pacific Pointe turned out a little lighter because I used a blender pen and ink pad. This card is for my mom's birthday tomorrow - she likes blues and greens, too! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

colourQ challenge #202 (part deux)

As I mentioned in my previous post, this week's colourQ challenge really stumped me, primarily because my supplies were sub-par! So, to spark a little creativity, I dusted off a couple of retro Stampin' Up! stamp sets and got busy! I have always loved Bud Basics and Paint Prints (although, they are practically the same set!!), so those are the sets I used, along with a set called Fancy That by Inkadinkado that I found at Marshall's of all places for $1.99! This sentiment alone is worth buying the set for! It is FANTASTIC!! And I'll tell you a secret - Marshall's is a treasure trove of unexpected crafting finds! Shhh! Don't tell anyone!!

colourQ challenge #202

I broke every single one of my rules when approaching the colourQ challenge color scheme this week. My Ruby Red and So Saffron ink pads were shot and markers really don't work very well on acrylic stamps, so this card has a little more of a grunge feel than I planned, which worked out because the only way I could incorporate So Saffron ink was to spritz it!! And now that I look at the sentiment, it sounds like Yoda - "happy, you make me!" Oh, well, I have another card using this same color palette that I'll post tomorrow. It was my third attempt and the third time's a charm, right?! Have a great weekend!

Little Tangles Party Favor Challenge

I am seriously getting into all of the challenges over on the Little Tangles Blog! This little party favor box is something I found on Splitcoaststampers and it was a cinch to put together. I stamped a 6" x 6" piece of white cardstock using Ink Splash and punched out a couple of cute circles using Everyday Circles. The party favor tutorial says to use a 1/4"square punch to make the box easier to assemble, but who in the world has that punch? I used my trusty old office hole punch and it worked like a charm! I think this would make a cute favor for a slumber party filled with little candies and a tiny bottle of nail polish. Cute, cute, cute!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Little Tangles Potluck Party Challenge

Little Tangles is hosting a Perfect Party Food Challenge over on their blog and if there's something we know how to do in the South, it's cook . . . and EAT!! I am asked to bring Smoked Mozzarella and Penne salad to nearly every summer gathering we go to because it is so delicious!! The smokiness of the cheese truly makes this salad so don't skimp on that! You can put anything you have in the house in this salad, which makes it versatile and a bit different every time you make it. The dressing is delicious - the only change I sometimes make to it is to add a bit of the oil that the sun-dried tomatoes are packed in. Enjoy the rest of the summer and this pasta salad!!