Fair Is...

This is a quote for my 7 year old. 

Mother's Day Quote

I saw this quote recently and really loved it.  It expresses exactly how I feel about my mom.  I designed this little print for it.

Wedding Shower Invitation

I'm having a wedding shower for the daughter of a dear friend.  I designed this invitation for her shower.  I have to pat myself on the back for one second on this one.  I don't have Photoshop or any scrapbooking software on my computer, so I designed this in Powerpoint!  I was pretty proud of my resourcefulness -- I just had it printed at my local Walgreens and it turned out really nice.

Oh, and I did use actual information on the real invitation -- there are just a few too many crazies on the internet for me to share our address so freely!  :)

Cards of Late

Made these for my niece, Morgan and nephew, Luke, both of whom turned 8 in April.  I love variations on a theme and particularly the idea of taking a template and adapting it for both a boy and a girl.  I am loving the woodgrain stamp very, very much....

Oh, and I used my Cricut to cut out the letters and number.  It was nice not to have to sift through my chipboard hoping I had the right letters.

The lighting on this picture is so much better than the others.  I need to remember to use my task lamp when photographing cards.  Also, using our Nikon D90 helped a lot over the old point and shoot.  :)

Thank You & Thinking of You

I actually hand wrote the sentiment on this one.  That took some courage.  The maroon paper is a transparent sheet from a paper pack I bought a while back.  It adds a cool dimension to the finished card.  The flowers are die cuts from the same pack.

I hand wrote this sentiment, too.  The buttons are supposed to shape a heart.  I feel like the finished card looks a little busy, but I used it anyway.  I think if I did it again, I'd skip the patterned paper and do a solid piece of cardstock with a textured background (either by embossing folder or by background stamp).

Hand wrote this one, too.  I'm pretty confident with my cursive, but I'm still nervous with my print writing -- it needs work.   I love the colors and the paper piecing. 

I should mention that I get a lot of my card ideas from this blog.  Kristina is a very gifted paper crafter and shares my style.  I find a lot of inspiration on her blog.

The Original Celebr8

I made this one last year in anticipation of my other niece's birthday.  She turned 8 in March.  I think I made this in August of the previous year?

I used chipboard on this one and dyed it with my ink pads.  The 8 I also used heat and stick powder to attach some glitter.

Cricut for Christmas

I got a Cricut Expression machine for Christmas. It's been fun to mess around with, although the office is such a post-Christmas mess that I'm not really full-on crafting again yet.

I will say, though, that the cartridges seem to be worth the price. I was skeptical, but they have a lot of flexibility and creative potential.

I bought mine from a website called CustomCrops. Their prices were close to half off retail and they've had good customer service and decently fast shipping on the orders I've placed.

I did cut out a few "Thank You" phrases and snowflakes and let the kids decorate their own Thank You cards for their Christmas presents. That made for a fun and really chaotic afternoon.