Birthday Preps

I am still working here, just not on scrapbooking or card making ideas. My little niece turns one in three weeks and I am determined to give her the best cowgirl birthday party a little girl could wish for. This week, I am working on the banners for the backdrop of her cake table. I printed the font in brown and I altered the size of the letters from 1 1/2 to 2 inches. I circled cut them and pop dotted on to scalloped circles. I used my Silhouette to cut the banners, inked all of the edges brown, and assembled the flags. Next up is to string on to some jute and hang. (I just wanted to say that the letters are not glued down yet, that is why some are crooked and off the flags a bit.)

I must admit that I am having so much fun planning her party. I haven't had to do this in years.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

For the Love of Cupcakes

If you have followed my blog for anytime, you will have seen that I love to bake, maybe even more than scrapbooking. It is just another creative outlet for me. While I like to try my hand at all kinds of sweets, cupcakes have become my signature dessert within my family. I try all kinds of flavors to please each family members taste. My homemade carrot cake with cream cheese and marscapone frosting is a favorite of my Dad's. My sister loves turtle cupcake which is a version of her favorite candy. And these below, vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla bean marshmallow frosting is a favorite of small children, which is why I made these for the kiddos at the daycare where my daughter worked.

So to tie my two loves together, I decided to create a page documenting my desire for the sweet treat. I used a Pink Paislee paper for the background and since it was already pre-printed, I just went with that design adding just a few touches to complete my page. I sewed additional doilies at the top corner to match the ones in the bottom. I stamped a few embellishments, cut them out, and adhered them with pop-dots for added dimension. The title is some old Making Memory puffy letter stickers and the new Doodlebug letters from Two Peas. They are so stinkin' adorable that I picked them up in every color. I finished off with a few drops of mist and called it a day.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

Just one more

I hope that you can bare with one more Valentine card. It is another masculine one that I created on the spur of the moment before picking up all of my love embellishments for the season. Again, I tried sticking with neutral colors such as cream and gray. I added wooden hearts that I stained with Mr. Huey's mist. I distressed the edges of the gray paper for a bit of texture. The only sparkly touch was one glittered heart that I just couldn't resist adding.

This was the first time I blogged a whole week on one holiday. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Dani

I Love You

Happy Valentine's Day to You! I hope that you all have someone special to share it with, even if it is just yourself and a bottle of wine or a box of chocolate. You deserve it!

My daughter is not too fond of today because she says that it sucks to be alone on this day. I wanted to make her feel special, so I made her this card so that she would know that she is loved. I am also going to make her a favorite meal and a special dessert for her to enjoy with her Dad and I, tonight.

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

Dani

For the Man in My Life

I know that sometimes we can get stumped at making cards for the men in our lives. I can easily throw together some pink embellishments and girly ribbon and have a great feminine card, but I always struggle a bit when making something more masculine.

For this card, I started with a kraft base. I find that by using a neutral base such as kraft, it keeps me more focused on using natural elements such as wood and twine, which tend to lend itself better for a manly card. I added some embossed dots for texture. I cut the word Valentine from a long title and added the SC wooden alpha veneers to complete my sentiment. Then with a few quick embellishments, my card was done.

Do you have difficulty creating a certain type of project over another? What tips do you have for getting through it?

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

Valentine's Week continues...

I needed one more card to send to one of the youngest godchildren, so I pulled out the leftover scraps from the Crate Paper Fourteen line, and this is what I came up with.

On Sunday, I decided to make my usual triple chocolate cupcakes, but I wanted something different for the frosting. Instead of just cream cheese and powdered sugar, I added marscapone to the mix. It made for a lighter and fluffier frosting. I always get asked what is the little brown specks in my icing, well, I use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla for a deeper flavor. Plus, it is a bit cheaper than the Madagascar vanilla extract that I use in my other baked goods.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

Love week begins

Last week, in May Flaum's class, she talked about stamping with inks, paints, and such. I am very familiar with stamping, but it was nice to sit and just play without having to really worry about creating a masterpiece.

I have noticed lately the craze with gold paint, ink, and mists. I have this really sparkly gold paint that I have been dying to try and this was the perfect opportunity. I sanded and gesso(ed?) the frame, taped off the stripes, and painted with the gold and aqua paint. Once dried, I sanded off some of the paint for a softer look. I know that it looks yellowish, but it really is a sparkly gold paint. I just couldn't get a good photo to show it off.

I stamped a few more of the embellishments and put this baby together. While I am not in love with this one, it did manage to find a place on a shelf in my room. And besides, the whole point was to just play. Right, May?!

I hope you stay tuned for the rest of the week. I have more Valentine projects to come.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

Top 5 Valentine's Picks

I am still struggling a bit with this cold, so instead of a new project today, I decided to showcase my favorite 5 4 cards from last year's heart day and a new recipe that quickly became a go to in vanilla cupcakes.

I can say that because she is my only child.

I loved the little vintage picks that I found at Hobby Lobby.

What girl doesn't love a little bling for Valentine's Day?

I love the soft colors of this paper so much.



and lastly...vanilla bean cupcakes with marshmallow frosting. YUM!!!


I hope you enjoyed this quick re-cap. I am working on something that hopefully I can share on Monday.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani

You Mean the World

I am feeling kind of under the weather today, so I will keep this post short. I worked on this layout for the better part of yesterday. I was tired of waiting for the Dear Lizzy gold dot vellum to come back in stock, so after reading a post on Two Peas, I decided to make my own. The results: love it! You just have to be careful not to melt the vellum. I achieved this by keeping the heat gun moving.

My husband and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and my daughter took a few photos before we headed out. She is not the best photographer, but it was getting pictures that counted. She has a difficult time with focusing the shot. This one turned out to be one of my favorites.

 

Thanks for visiting!

Dani

Ohana means family

I have been working on an album for my niece who will turn one in March. I am trying to keep it simple since that is how her Mom used to scrap. I am leaving out most of the journaling so that my sister can fill it in with her own stories. I am hoping to have it done for her birthday, but we will have to see.

Today's layout is from our vacation this past summer to the beach. It was Sophia's first trip since she was born. My sister had asked me to take a few pictures of them on the beach, but since the baby was ready for supper, we decided to just take a few on the balcony. This one turned out to be my favorite. I love the colors and the blue sky and just a touch of the ocean in the background was perfect.

I used a quote from the movie Lilo and Stitch. It is one of my favorite family quotes of all time and I say it often. The title is a mixture of glitter Thickers and Jillibean letters. The blue oval is a place for her to journal. I know she won't be writing much, so I felt that this was adequate space. If not, she can use the top or bottom of the layout to add a few more lines.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Dani

Using up the final pieces

Not often do I end up using the whole lot of one collection, but this time I did. The Nostalgia line from My Minds Eye had me from hello. It is such a soft, vintage-y line, but the colors are so vivid. I have actually considered buying another set, but I have refrained.

On Monday, we celebrated my dh's birthday. While making his card, I decided to use the final pieces on my desk to create two more birthday cards for my stash. I added buttons to the button cards with thin wire to mimic how they look when you buy them. I replaced one button with a stamped birthday greeting. I then stitched around all papers and glued them to the bases.

On the card below, I added another stamped phrase directly on the card to match the one that was already printed on it.

Happy Wednesday!

Dani

Hugs & Kisses

I am so in the mood for Valentines, as if you couldn't tell by my recent projects. I just love all of the red and pink, with the lace and the frillies. Today's card combines shades of pink with the lace of a beautiful heart doily. I know that you can't tell it from the picture, but the doily is fuzzy. It feels so soft. Almost like it was flocked.

Do you find yourself creating red and pink projects at this time of year? 

Thanks for visiting!

Dani

Forever & Always

Today's card is a scraplift from the January 2012 Cardmaker magazine. The card was created by Kate Calvert. I loved her use of the Martha Stewart heart border punch and since I already had it in my collection, I decided to re-create her card.

I love the use of monochromatic colors on this card. I didn't have the same stamp that she used, so I found something in my stash that would work. Simple, yet so elegant...love it!

Thanks for visiting!

Dani

Sweet Love

I have mentioned before that I have 6 godchildren that I send cards to. Sometimes, if I am ambitious, they get cards for a few days in a row. So I have to start my card making early if I want to get them mailed in time. I tend to stick to simple, flat as possible designs because they do have to go through the postal service. If I am sending a box of treats, then I usually make bulkier cards for those occasions. Since I am not sure what I am mailing yet for Valentine's Day, you will see a mixture of cards over the next couple of weeks.

 

Today's card is an attempt to use my Silhouette more. I saw this kissing couple and thought that it would be good for a couple of projects. For the card, I cut the couple out of black cardstock and replaced the heart with a glittered wood veneer from Studio Calico. I then added the stitching and stamped the sentiment on to a hand cut tab. I pop dotted the couple and sentiment for added dimension.

 

Thanks for visiting!

Dani :)

It's Been Too Long

Well, this blog break has lasted way longer than I expected it to. I thought it would be just a few weeks while the kitchen was being remodeled, but that turned into a couple of months and I still don't have a finished kitchen, yet. Then the holidays came and went. I had the best intentions to blog again beginning on January 1st, but you know what they say about the road paved with good intentions. I started the new year with a nice week long bout with the viral bug. So, now I am finally back to myself and hoping that the crafting mojo continues to grace me with its presence, kitchen finished or not.

For Christmas, I made my godchildren glittered ornaments with their name on them, cut from vinyl on my Silhouette. They were such a hit that I decided to do some heart shaped ones for Valentine's Day. I posted them on Instagram and had a few questions about the how tos. While they may seem tedious to make, they really are quite easy and look much better in person. It is very difficult to get the glitter"ness" to come through in the photos.

Instead of me trying to explain how I did them, here is a link to the site that I used for instructions. She did a great job explaining and including photos. I didn't take pictures of my process, but I did take pics of my finished project, included below.

 

Two tips for making these: (1) After you put the ornament hooks back in, clean the glass with glass cleaner and let dry before adhering the vinyl cut out. (2) Make sure the cut out is sized appropriately for the front of the glass otherwise you will experience some buckling of the image.

On another note, I am playing along again this year with One Little Word. Last year, my word was OKAY, and well, my year was just that. OKAY. This year I wanted something a bit more challenging so I chose the word CHANGE. I am hoping that I can change a lot of things this year. My attitude, my weight, the way I create and my blogging habits, along with 100 other things on my list. The biggest one being about the way I am so hard on myself. That is a big one! Are you doing OLW this year? If so, leave a comment telling me your word and why you chose it. I am interested to know.

Thanks for visiting!
Dani