Etsy

I recently re-opened my Etsy shop.  It's been awhile since I was on there.  With my recent pregnancy I lost all interest in all hobbies I once loved which included crafting and reading.  Now that the little one is here I am ready to get back to everything my "normal" self loves. 

Here's a link to my Etsy shop:  19Eighty Expressions on Etsy

and

Here are some of my latest creations:

Oh how I missed crafting!!!

A Little Tea Party Fun

It's another design team Friday for me at SVG Attic.  I enjoy my DT days!

My mother-in-law inspired today's project.  She is a pretty hardcore crafter so I know she can appreciate anything I make for her.  It's her birthday next week so I decided to make her a birthday card and feature it as today's design team project. She's the girly girl dainty type so I wracked my brain to come up with something that would fit her personality.  Something flowery and girly is what I needed.  I came up with a tri-fold shutter card with a tea party theme.

I am pretty tired of making basic cards so I have been experimenting lately with making different styles of cards.  I am having so much fun with it.  Today's project features a tri-fold shutter card.  This is the first time I've made this type of card.  I think it's my favorite type so far.  I'll bombard you with pictures before all the details!  Ready to Ooh and ahh?  Just kidding.

You like?  I really like it.  It's a fun card to make and there's so much you can do to design it.  I kept mine pretty simple.

The card measures 5 1/2' x 12"....that's the basics.  I forgot to measure all the rest of the card before I mailed it out!  So sorry!  I can make a tutorial of how to make a tri-fold shutter card if you would like.  Just let me know! 

All the SVG files I used are from SVG Attic.

I used the Vintage Patriotic Cupcake Wrappers for the star fleurette on the front of the card and placed it atop two paper flowers with a paper flower sitting on top of it.  I finished that piece of with a button and twine from Trendy Twine.   

The tea pot, stack of teacups, and the cream colored tag in the middle are all from the Mad Hatter Tea Party collection.

The bows that are on the little panels are from the Classic Wedding collection. 

Oh and guess what I finally did?  I used my Sew Easy!  I have had it about a month now!  I am so bad at buying then not using what I buy for a long time.  I just did the basic straight stitch on this card.  I used the Rustic Stack from DCWV for the paper on the base of the card and open stock paper for all the decor inside.  Oh and the last little bit is the clock.  I wanted to use the clock from the Mad Hatter tea Party collection but I was worried it would be too small so I decided to stamp the clock from a stamp set I have and hand cut it out.  

Hope you enjoyed that card!  I am definitely going to be making more tri-fold shutter cards in the future.  They are fun to make and get!

Check back in a few days for a back to school project I will be working on!

Zoo Themed Invites

A few months ago I was asked by a friend to make invitation's for her son's first birthday.  Of course I said yes.  She chose a zoo theme and let me know what colors she would like.  From there she gave me creative hold.  I was to create whatever it was I wanted with the info she gave me.  That was easy enough.  I knew exactly how to incorporate a zoo theme!  

Front on invite

Front and back

I drew in the eyes of all and the nostrils of the monkey

I used pop up squares to make the faces 3D

I didn't do so bad with the eyes!  Drew in the nostril of the giraff. 

Look at all the party animals!

It's party time!

The invites are an A2 size and are double sided.  I was originally going to stick to using just one side but it all wouldn't fit.  I designed the invite wording and layout in Silhouette Studio and used the print and cut feature to cut a perfect circle around the wording. 

I decided to surround the invite with little animal faces that I got from SVG Cuts.  I used the two Cuddly Animals collections they offer.  I decided to omit their bodies because they wouldn't fit so cute little animal faces it was.  Sounds cute until you have to piece 72 of those little suckers together!

I used the print and cut feature again for the back of the card.  When I was finished with that I realized the back was way too plain so I dressed it up with the same patterned paper I used in the front cut so the stripes were laid out differently and crated a chain of silhouetted animals.  I used MTC to weld those little guys together.

There ya go.  Not sure I want to ever do invites again with how time consuming they are but if a friend asks I know I will say yes!

Simple and classy

I had so much going on this weekend between holiday fun and crafting projects that I am worn out!  To appease my craft addiction last night I decided to make things simple.  I tried out something I have been wanting to do forever now, make a birthday banner card.  I really have no reason as to why I haven't done it before.  It's the easiest thing ever.  Hmm, maybe because I didn't have any twine, maybe because I am always trying to be too detailed, maybe because I am always trying new techniques.  Either way, it was time to go simple.  Sometimes I overthink projects and get things all jumbled up when really a simple classic card could work just as good or even better.

 This card took just minutes to throw together.  I played with the files in Silhouette Studio and found these lovely banner flags free.  I used twine from Trendy Twine to hang the multi-colored banners on.  Actually, they aren't hanging.  Each banner is secured to the paper using a small pop up square to give the illusion they are hanging.  I stamped the sentiment in red.  I would have rather used a stamp that had the letters much smaller and in a straight line but I didn't have any that were plain.  I was going for the plain, classic, simple is more look.  

If I had better picture-taking skills I think the image would have come out clean and crisp showing the contrast of the colorful flags against the white card.  Well, that's a project for another time!

Side note**
.....pssst, check out Trendy Twine.  I love their colors!

It feels like summer!

Summer feels like it's here and what better way than to show you something that makes you think beach?!

I made this awesomely cute Hawaiian themed card for a friend of mine back in January.  I started out with one idea but it all changed once I started making the card.

I started out with making Hawaiian looking flowers like I made for a scrapbook page and the hula girl.  I put it all together and it just didn't look right.  The hula girl needed an environment.  She looked off just there with nothing but flowers next to her.  I scrapped the idea of flowers and decided to create a scene for her.

Hawaii anyone?

The sky is actually the base of the card.  For the ocean I dry embossed using my Cuttlebug and then inked it to give it two shades of blue rather than the one.  On top of the ocean I place a shiny tan colored cardstock that I also embossed.  I tried to ink it but the ink just slid right off.  Note to self: glossy paper = no good with ink.

Next came the palm tree or is it a coconut tree?  The palm trees here don't grow coconuts so there's my confusion!  Anyway, isn't it cute?!  I traced the image from a jpeg I found on the internet.  I embossed the tree using the Cuttlebug and a Sizzix embossing folder that I got for 60% off at Joann's.  I inked it to make the textured look give it a more real look.  The coconuts were actually scraps form another card that I had laying on the table.  Score!

I love how the coconut tree turned out

Little miss hula girl is precious.  I cut her out and pieced her together giving her skirt and hair flower double layers.  I drew in her face with pencil.  Let me tell you...that is hula girl #2.  Number 1 looked like the wicked witch of the west (that's the ugly witch right?).  I had her all ready to go and then drew in her face....umm, she looked so horrible!!  I had to take all the pieces off and redo her body/face.  Oh, and her leg foot off!  Hahaha.  The one I ended up with is perfect.  No funky face and she has two feet!

I used a hand punch for the flowers (Martha Stewart I think)

The Sentiment is stamped and embossed

A lot of work went into this card but it was fun to make and I love the end result!

New Venture....Invitations.

I never planned on making invitations for others.  I know how stressful a large order can be for someone like me who works fulltime so I never considered it.  That has changed though.   A few months ago I was contacted by a friend to make invites for her son's birthday and I agreed to make them.  Since then people have been telling me they plan on ordering invites from me for various occasions, mostly birthdays, so I guess now I am doing invitations.  I don't mind one bit.  In fact I completed my first invite order this weekend.

These invitations are for a birthday party that will take place at a movie theater.  I put my creative mind to work and came up with an idea but once I started working on it the entire invitation changed from what I had originally planned.  Instead of a one-sided invitation I ended up with a two-sided invitation and much more detail than I imagined.  I love how they turned out.

Movie theater-themed birthday invite

Front: The *stars* name is 3D

Back: info side

A bucket of popcorn spills across the card

 

I shipped these out yesterday and I cannot wait for the client to receive them.  I wish I could be there to see her daughter's face when she sees them.  I am looking forward to the next invite order now!

Happy Birthday to Me!

With my birthday having just passed I felt it was a great time to write about my most popular card to date,  the birthday cupcake cards!  I've sold quite a bit of these and have gotten many compliments on how cute they are.

I got the idea for these cards because of the decorative cupcake paper I had purchased (the strip to the left of the card).  It screamed birthday card for sure.  Originally I made all the cards with the pink cupcake but by request I varied the colors.  At first I wasn't too sure how other colors would look against the glittery blue base of the card but once I put the green cupcake and purple cupcake cards together I was quite pleased with the outcome. 

Pretty in Pink

Green Sorbet

Purple Nurple

The base of the cards are made from a glittery blue cardstock.  The cupcakes are attached using pop up squares for a 3D look.  The cupcake wrappers are dry embossed then inked with coordinating colors.  The white frosting on the cards is cut from a shimmery white cardstock.  The cherry on top is also cut from a shimmery cardstock, but red in color (of course).  The "Happy Birthday" captions are stamped in the same color as the ink used on the wrappers then heat embossed for a raised effect.

As of the moment, I have one of these cards still available in my Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/19eighty.

Unfortunately I am only able to make one or two more of these cards since the decorative cupcake paper I have is almost gone.  I tried to find more of it but it was too late.  Its all gone, maybe forever.  I guess that makes these cards "limited editions".

Where do I start?

I have quite a few cards but where do I start?  I guess I should start with the most recent.

The other day my daughter asked me to make a card for her friend's birthday.  She let me know up front that she wasn't paying me because she is my daughter.  Isn't she so sweet?!  She wanted a card similar to one I have made before but with different colors so last night I worked on the card and blogged (I can multitask pretty well).

The first card is the original card I made with this design.

You Rock greeting card

Cutesy little skull with a bow

You Rock sentiment

Colorful, fun, adorable, modern...this is exactly what I was thinking when I made this card. It rocks!  My husband actually had the idea to put a skull on a Valentine card (don't ask) but instead I tweaked his idea and came up with a colorful and cute card that can be given to either an adult or a child.

And here is the card I made last night for my daughter's friend.

Birthday greeting card

Another cute skull

Happy birthday sentiment

Orange and lime green checkered ribbon

I used all the same techniques as I did on the other card but changed up some of the embossing designs and colors.  I think both of these cards are super cute and I hope the recipient of the birthday one loves it.