Announcement & Design Team Project Friday

Well, I told you I had a big announcement and today is the day you get to find out what it is! It actually has nothing to do with paper crafting, cards, scrapbooking, etc. Sorry to disappoint if that's what you were looking forward to. I actually think it's better news than anything that has to do with paper. :)

Since it's my day to design for SVG Attic I decided to combine my announcement with my DT project. Ready for it?

Can you guess who? Hehe, it's me silly! After two long years (to the month!) we are ecstatic to announce that we are expecting child #2! This is going to be an interesting new addition. My daughter is already 10 and will just about be 11 when baby Blueberry Nugget Bean (long story) is born so there's a huge gap in age. It's actually nice though because I will have an automatic live-in nanny! Hahaha. This child is going to be annoyed by this baby before it's born if I keep teasing her!

This is my excuse for being around a lot less lately.  I have been absolutely exhausted!  I'm still in my first trimester and I really hope this fatigue goes away.  It's zapping ALL my energy and creativity from me.  My mind draws blanks when I try to think up something to make.  This better go away soon or I'll have a craft room that never gets used.  :(  *sigh*

On to the details of the announcement card.

I used the Tent Cards from SVG Attic as the base of the card. I also used the Give a Hoot collection from SVG Attic for the 3D owl inside the tent card. I added glitter to the owl's eyelashes to bling her out! I used some pink and white Trendy Twine as a border for the frame where the owl sits behind. The front circles were actually the left overs from the cut of the card. I decided to recycle and use it as a slide window. I used my Sew Easy to stitch the floss around the outter circle to create a border. I set some snaps that I purchased on Etsy from wickedwoolgathering with my Crop-a-dile. I added a pink brad to the top so the outter window can slide up to reveal the rest of the message.

That's about it for this project and announcement! Stop by SVG Attic and browse around. You won't be disappointed! New sets are always being released!

Pink lemonade anyone?

All day yesterday I shopped for a car or read a book.  Not once did I feel like being crafty.  Seriously not once all day.  Skip forward many hours to 10:45pm last night...I was bitten by the craft bug and there I was in my craft room making a card.  My eyes were tired with sleep and strain and yet I was awake coming up with what I think is one of my cutest cards to date.

The card I made last night in a sleepy haze was sort of an experimental card.  I didn't think it would turn out as good as it did but I surprised myself!  Who knew I could be creative even when exhausted.  I bought Tim Holtz' Paper Distresser the other day and some Kraft cardstock (the brown paper bag looking type) as well as an ink blender, also by Tim Holtz.  With these items I set out on an adventure to make something vintage looking.  Seeing that I have a birthday party to go to this weekend I decided to make a card for that occasion.  The theme is Pink Lemonade.   

And my work of art....

Pink lemonade

Distressed edges

Would you like some ice with that?

As I mentioned above, I used the distressing tools to create the aged look.  I used the paper distresser to scrape and curl the edges.  I then inked each edge with the blending tool using a swirling motion from my mat onto the edges of the paper.  I created the glass of lemonade myself after some research and playing around in MTC but you can get a similar glass in SVG Attic's Backyard BBQ Collection.  I used a cloudy sheer velum sheet for the glass and a light pink piece of cardstock for the lemonade inside the glass.  I inked the edges of the glass in pink and dobbed some pink onto the surface of the velum glass to add a little more color.  It turned out to go well with the distressed look the rest of the card has.  The orange, straw, and cube of ice have nothing special done to them but I cut those out as well to add a super cute touch! 

I think I did have a little bit of "I'm too tired to be crafting" last night while making this card.  The orange was supposed to be a lemon and for some reason when I picked the orange paper I thought it was yellow.  I am not colorblind...it's a consequence of being too tired to think clearly.

Enjoy!!

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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".

Valentine's Revisited

A few days before Valentine's I had an order for three cards.  These cards were not ones that were premade so that meant *rush* to make them and send them out.  Thankfully my client liked one of the designs I had in my photos on my Facebook page so that made making the cards easier.  I only posted one on the 19Eighty Expressions' Facebook page because the initials of the receivers were on the cards and since one of them is my friend I didn't want her figuring it out before Valentine's.

  As you can see, for all three I used the same design but made each unique by using different paper.  

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.