Cool as a...Popsicle

I was in love with the Summer Sweetness stamp set by Papertrey Ink before it ever arrived at my door. I love the cool popsicle designs. They are very summertime indeed. 

Not only was I inspired by Cas(e) This Sketch Challenge #82, but also by the fast approach of one of my favorite holidays, Fourth of July. 

I used both the Circle Scribbles and Summer Sweetness by Papertrey Ink to create this sweet card. 

I used a little Crystal Effects by Stampin' Up to make the popsicle look wet and juicy. 

Overall, I love the layout and think this could be a go-to design for me from now on. Happy weekend and stay "cool."

Go Bold...Go Gold

So I was wandering around Hobby Lobby with my little man Owen the other day and I became instantly in love with these cute phrases and sayings that were in gold. Typically decorating with gold wouldn't be my thing, but these totally caught my attention. 

I went back to the scrapbooking department and bought myself some gold embossing powder. I just bought the Splat stamp set from Papertrey Ink and I thought it would make for a really great bold image. 

I was also inspired by Cas-ology's Wood challenge 

and this was the result. 

I used the Woodgrain embossing folder to make one of the banner flags. I love this embossing folder. I also embossed some paint splatter from the Gorgeous Grunge set on the background. I love the look of the gold embossing on the Espresso cardstock. It looks rich and reminds me of the Rolos commercial. I think this card could/would work great for a masculine card. 

Owen's Birthday Quilt: Aqua, Green, and Gray

I have been busting it on this cute aqua, green, and gray quilt for Owen's birthday. I am not an excellent seamstress by any means, and there are a lot of mistakes on this quilt, A LOT, but I am so proud of the time and effort I put into making something special for my O's 2nd birthday. 

It was the first Twin sized quilt I've done, and man was it a beast to quilt. I just stitched in the ditch because it was super cumbersome to think of doing any more. I also made a real binding, for the first time. I was lazy before this and would roll the backing to the front to create a binding. I am proud I took time time and effort. 

I am looking forward to picnics and looking at stars on this blanket. I hope Owen loves it as much as I do. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Owen was actually due on June 13th, which is also my mom's birthday. Usually people aren't that I excited to share a birthday, but my mom wanted nothing more than to share a birthday with Owen. He was born at 8:54 pm on June 12th. My mom was disappointed. She swears that her birthday is now June 12th so they can share. 

Although her and Owen don't share an actual birthday, she said that he was the best birthday gift that year. How can I ever top that?

I made her a card inspired by a sketch on Papertrey's June Inspiration Archive. 

A simple card for my mom's special day. 

A Busy Weekend

With the school year over, it is time to kick it into crafty high gear. Kidding, but I love that I have a bit of extra time during the day to craft while school is out, otherwise it usually has to take place between 9-10pm. I don't know about you, but this isn't really my best time to think. So...with it being my first official day off for the summer, I decided to whip up some cards. 

This upcoming weekend is going to be a busy one. My baby turns 2 on Thursday. I can hardly believe that time has gone by so quickly already. My mom's birthday is on Friday. We are having a birthday party for Owen on Saturday and Sunday is Father's Day. Way to pack it all in one weekend, eh?

Let's go backwards. Today, I decided to spend some time making Father's Day cards for the grandfathers/fathers in our lives. 

I used a couple challenges and a new Stampin' Up set: Work of Art to make a simple and clean Father's Day card. 

First, the inspiration: 

Pals Paper Arts Challenge #206 provided the colors

Fusion gave us the card layout

and Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #132 set the manly card parameters. 

Walla...a card fit for a father!

I used Papertrey's Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey for the sentiment, some thick twine, and a big shiny button. I'm glad to make a card for two great fathers. We are lucky to have them as grandfathers to Owen and fathers to us. 

Father's Day

Nick did not want kids. It wasn't really something we ever talked about. The closer we got to 30 though, I started to get the itch. Unfortunately, he didn't. I had thoughts in my head about growing old and having no one to take care of us, no wedding or graduations to attend. We got pregnant...not planned and honestly, I think it took Nick by surprise. He had no interest in kids and I was scared about what kind of parents we would be. 

With that said, you would never know that he didn't want kids. He is a great dad to Owen. I know that our work schedules are difficult and we are both essentially single parents during the week. He does the work on a mom and dad sometimes and I appreciate all the love and care he takes with our son. He loves him so much and it shows. I know that Owen wasn't really in our future, but once he got here, you could never tell that it wasn't planned that way. 

We both have our faults as parents, as everyone does, but I could ask for a better dad for my son. 

I put together a special Father's Day card for him to show my and Owen's appreciation. 

I took inspiration today from Colour Q's Challenge #244 and from Cas(e) This Sketch Challenge #79. 

I used Stampin' Up's Work of Art stamp set and Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings for the sentiment. 

Happy Father's Day this weekend to all the dads out there!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. It is another great day in WI. The weather is beautiful. Today my hubby and little guy took me to buy veggies for our garden and flowers for the two pots in the front of our house. Man, flowers are expensive. I can't wait to work on landscaping the yard so we can plant bushes and perennials and be done with the racket. I love buying veggies for the garden though. I can taste the tomatoes already. 

I made a second Mother's Day card this weekend and this time they were going to my mother-in-law and grandmother. I decided to play along with Pals Paper Arts Challenge #203 even though the colors aren't very springy. 

and came up with this. 

I wanted the card to be light and fun, so for the first time, I played with masking and Dear Lizzy sprays. I used the Opaque White and Shine sprays. I like that this lightened up the Navy cardstock and made it its own piece of DSP. I added a piece of DSP from the Retro Fresh pack and a couple copper sequins for good measure. Although I made a little mess with the sprays, I am in love with the over all look. I used Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey again, but this time punched them out with the Word Bubbles framelits. 

I have another graduation coming up soon and I think I could play around with the colors in order to make this work for a guy. 

Happy Mother's Day today! Relax ladies and enjoy yourself. 

A Sunny Forecast

There was finally sun in the forecast this weekend and boy do we need it. In honor of Mother's Day, and the beautiful weather, I put together this sweet little card for my mom and sister for the celebration on Sunday. 

I borrowed Colour Q Challenge #240

and Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #131: Three Thirds

to make a sweet little card for two lovely women. 

I used Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey for the "You're a Peach" sentiment and just a bit of twine, a button, and a bit of sparkle around the edge for a finished off look. 

Enjoy the weather and have a fabulous weekend moms!

Hello Lovely

Going back to school after Spring Break was hard this week, especially since the sun and weather decided to improve since we were off. I think Mother Nature knew that it would get those preteens all riled up to see the sun and not be able to enjoy it. 

I honor of the beautiful weather, I decided to whip up a spring inspired card. I was excited to mash together supplies from both Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink. I used the Watercolor Wonder DSP along with Coastal Cabana, Apricot Appeal, and Primrose Petals ink and cardstock from SU and I got to play with Papertrey Ink's Wet Paint stamp set. It is too cool!

This all meshed together to match two challenges this week:

The Friday Mashup #154

and for Papertrey Ink's April Inspiration Archive

for this sunshiny card! Hey Spring is finally here!

Bundle of Joy

There has been a long running joke at school for about the last two years: don't drink the water. In a school building with a majority of female teachers, the baby bug hits hard. It was wonderful to be able to take time off from school to be with my baby when he was first born, but hard as a teacher to walk away at any point of the school year and give control of your class and your kids to someone else. Fortunately, we have and had some pretty amazing long-term subs in our building. And God knows, middle schoolers can be tough. 

That's why when this combination of challenges came along, it was like kizmet. 

Curtain Call's Baby Booties Challenge provided the inspiration

Colour Q #235 provided a "challenging" color selection (I used Crumb Cake because I didn't have anything River Rock in my stash)

and Cas-ual Friday's #130: Good Egg gave me a bit of added direction

to create my take on a congrats baby card.

I used the Oh, Hello stamp set and Oval framelits to cut out the chevron oval. I used a variety of sequins and the wooden arrow for added elements. I used Signature Greetings by Dawn McVey (love her) for Papertrey Ink. 

In the end, I felt like using Coastal Cabana on the chevron may have been like trying to create an image only 3-D glasses could see. I think I should have done the sentiment in dark brown and create an additional oval layer and Coastal Cabana. Oh well. Practice makes perfect...but does that really apply to card making, I don't think so.

Happy crafting!