May his Fourth be With You

Well, i'd say that it's been a long time since my last post.  In fact i wasn't even pregnant at the time of my last post and here I am posting pictures from my son's 4th birthday party this year!  Holy cow.  Well, here goes nothing.
So, it was a no brainer to guess what the theme of Logan's 4th birthday would be....

Thank goodness for pinterest and all the great inspiration I came across.  And, with The Force Awakens being so huge thes past few months, there were Star Wars goodies a plenty at every store.  I found the kids' take home gift bags in the Target $1 bin.  I used my Silhouette (thanks for the great Christmas gift, honey) to make personalized tags for each child.

The tablecloth/backdrop were just inexpensive plastic tablecloths from a party supply website.  I think they were $2-$3 each.  I juts used my Star Wars font to cut the letters out on my handy dandy Silhouette as well.  For the backdrop, I tried to size the letters, so it would look like the opening scroll from the movie.  I wasn't crazy about how I did it, but I ran out of time (and we all need to stop thinking we have to be perfect Instagram mommies....can I hean an AMEN?).


Now the Death Stars, oh the Death Stars, these were a labor of love for my child.  I have to credit the following site for the printables: http://blog.partydelights.co.uk/how-to-make-a-death-star-lantern-free-printables/#MAMJ   Now, this site said to paint the paper lanterns gray, but who in their right mind has time for that when you can go to Hobby Lobby and buy a 3 pack of grey for the same price as the white ones (& we don't have to buy the paint on top of it)!  That's just crazy talk. 

So this mommy got a little ambitious and decided to make all 3 Death Stars.....holy cow, that was a lot of cutting.....A LOT.  My husband even picked up a pair of scissors & helped out.  Since I could only work on these after I got home from work it took several days to get them all done ( I would generally stop after a row or 2 to allow for dry time....and P.S.  I just used good old Elmers glue for this).  They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  I colored in a few "lights" red on each piece to get a better Death Star look (yes, I am s geek and thought of that).  Logan liked them so much that they are still hanging in his room (and 1 in my craft room). 

We didn't go big on the cake this year, so we ordered cupcakes from GiGi's (they have Gluten-Free varieties and mini cupcakes for those who don't need as much sugar....the parents thanked us for that), and we found a cupcake stand and picks on clearance (yay!).

Then, of course we needed to make those cute lightsaber napkins that everyone has seen on Pinterest.  I downloaded the printable from Catch My Party:   http://catchmyparty.com/blog/diy-tutorial-how-to-make-lightsaber-napkin-wraps-for-your-star-wars-party

I had every intention of printing out some of those cool water bottle wraps, but didn't need to, becuase there was some Niagra bottled water at the store with Star Wars characters already on them.  Done.  Like I said, the timing was perfect for this party with al lof the Star Wars loot in the stores!


We rounded out the rest odf the decorations with some Star Wars balloons (from the aforementioned party website), a helium tank (the disposable ones that you can buy at Walmart.  I love that you can toss your empties in your recyclin bin when you are done!), some Disney popcorn buckets that we had already, and some more $1 Target find mini-posters.

And, every good part needs a bounce house....Star Wars (Lego) themed of course.

So, there it is....our not so perfect "May His Fourth be With You" birthday party. The kids (and parents) had a great time, so whatever imperfections I saw are now easily overlooked.

Yes, this was the best picture I could get of my little Jedi at the time. 

Baby shower

I haven't had time to do anything lately, let alone craft. But i did bust out the scissors last night & this morning to make a card for one of my former co-workers who is having a baby girl in May. Hope you like it. Pardon the shadows....i used my scanner & the card has pop dots to create layers. My favorite thing to do with this bellas is to "pop up" the belly to give it dimension.

Saturday of crafting

ah, what a treat. I uploaded all of my Christmas music onto my ipod yesterday & now I am still in my pj's & spening all day finishing my Christmas cards & making misc Christmas stuff. It's been too long since I have done this. :) What a good day!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow......

I am finally getting around to scanning some of the Christmas cards that I have been working on over the past month. I have gotten quite a few done, but now I've run out of the images (I had received them in a swap), so I need to switch gears & figure out the rest of my cards. Enjoy!

September Challenge - Tag, You're it!

Here is my entry for this month's Spotted Canary Challenge. Gives me a reason to get working on my Christmas cards! :)

August Color Challenge

Here are 2 cards I made for Spotted Canary's August color challenge.

















Thanks for stopping by! :)

Fun with DP, part deux

Here are some more of the cards that came out of my creativity jag this weekend. :)

Inside the card


And still my favorite bella of all time, Cosmobella!!! Cheers darling'!

I was on a roll this weekend.

Perhaps it was the insufferable heat outside (116*!!) or maybe I got a shot in my ass of some creativity. Either way I was a card making fool on Sunday. I got on a roll with a couple of designs of patterned paper & just went wild. Here are some of the cards. :)

The sad thing is that I don't even know any pregnant couples right now. I just like the preggo stamps. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Fun with swapped images

I was digging through my stash & came across a bunch of stamped images form a swap, so I decided to create a crad with an image I've never used before. Don't ask why I used the paintchip. I think I was bored with looking at my stash of background paper. :)

Thanks for lookin!

I'm alive! Who knew!

Holy cow, I know some of you probably thought I had dropped off the face of the earth.

Not so. The past 6 months at work have been insane. I've done barely any crafting. :(

This past weekend, I dusted off my adhesive & started playing. It was so theraputic! I want to go out & get some new paper & markers right now, but have vowed to use some of my current stash before adding to it. I'm sure you ladies can understand this. :) And if any of you ladies want to send me some of your images to boost my creativity, I'd be happy to swap some with you.

This first card is for my good friend in MA. Her birthday is in a few days. I love this sentiment (from Stamping Bella). I had actually colored her a month or so ago & created the card & matched the papers around the colors I had already used.

This card I was dying to make. Both of my parents are retiring this week (in fact we're heading to their retirement party in a few) & I was trying to come up with a good idea. I had purchased the 2" x 2" polaroid quickutz die and the camper/trailer die (sorry, the true names escape me, so I've made up my own). I like how it came out. I cut the pictures from magazines. This might be my new favorie die of the moment.

the outside of the card

the inside - I haven't figured out what I'm going to write yet. I better figure it out, huh? :) Something about placing bets on when they'll purchase an RV or something.

Well, off to the party. Hopefully I'll post more soon!!!

Cards, Cards, and more Cards

So, I didn't actually make these yesterday....it was last week, but I was crafting in spirit yesterday. :)

This sassy bella was made for one of my oldest & dearest friends, Jenny. I decided she needed a cocktail for her birthday, so I brought out cosmobella for her tri-fold card. I stamped her on DP, so I could cut out her funky top.

Here's the sentiment on the inside fold of the card. This is one of my favorite sentiments!



And people seem to be announcing pregnancies right & left around here, so I made 2 of these cards. I figured one for a blonde & one for a brunette....cover all my bases! I cut their tops out of DP as well & popped up their bellies with dimentional adhesive. I popped up the "b-a-b-y" letters as well.

I also have a wedding card to post, but need to make sure the recipient receives before I post it! :)

Altered Tray

I recently joined a fun website (http://www.spottedcanary.com/) & was inspired to finally alter a tray that I received as a client gift (it had fun stuff in it....don't think my client was cheap & just gave me a crappy tray). I used Prove Craft holiday paper & used some ribbon that I couldn't throw away (it was on one of my Christmas presents last year & I knew I could reuse....how very green of me). I don't use mod podge very often, so I made a couple of mistakes. All in all, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Here's the before shot:

And after:

Look ing for inspiration in the strangest places

So, I was driving by Sprinkles Cupcakes the other day & thankfully got stopped at a red light, so I could stare for a bit. In the windows were these great white flower shapes & some of them had red & blue stars in the middle. I didn't have any paper to sketch, so this is what I came up with from memory. However, it is still a work in progress, because I haven't yet found a font that replicates the fun Sprinkles font. Does anyone know of a similar font. Any ideas are very appreciated! Here's the card-in-progress:

simple card to jump start my creative juices

I'm working on getting back to some crafting (easier said than done, apparently), so I "challenged" myself to baby steps.....simple cards until I can get back in the swing of things. I started with this paintchip card. I always dig the look of paintchips & always look for inspiration from them.

trying to get out of my creative slump

My work schedule has been so hectic this spring that I haven't had much of a chance to do anything crafty in ages. Last weekend i tried to get my creative juices flowing again. Heck I was even embellishing ready made 'thank you' cards just to spark some creativity.

This is a card that our "kids" made for my husband who was working out of town this week. We hid this in his suitcase, so he could open it up while he was away. :) I wanted to have them stanp their pawprints, but was afraid of the ink being toxic to them. Does anyone know of any ink that's ok to use for this purpose? If so, please leave a comment. I would greatly appreciate it.

This next card came from paper I wanted to use, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to give it as a birthday card or another card, so I left it generic & will personalize when I am ready to send it. (not sure why my scanner is cutting off the right edge of the card.....sorry about that)

This next one came about, because I had no idea what I was going to do with this set of stickers. So I made a birthday card. (again, scanner cut off the right edge of the card)

A bella & a mystery stamp (at least to me)

Ladies, I need some help figuring out who makes the following stamp:

I received the image from one of my past bella sistahs & can't remember who right now. It's such a cute image ( I really enjoyed making a card to go with it), I'd like to buy the stamp. Any help is greatly appreciated. :)

And this kittycatabella I made for my husband. It's very appropriate, because we now have 2 kitties & they are exactly like the image. Polly is the one who bella would be holding & Raven would be the one on the floor. Our kitties are black, though, which created a challenge when coloring them in. Thanks for looking!

My first altered frap bottle

ok, so I've been seeing all these great frappuchino bottles & felt inspired to try it out. My husband was my guina pig. Not too bad for my first try although I did figure out some things NOT to do for next time. Try, try again....I say! :)

I used a bunch of quickutz hearts on the bottle

Here was his Vanentine's Day card & some more fun candy that I knew he'd like. I used my quickutz shapes for the candy bag....I really need to get a scalloped punch bad, but not until the economy turns things around for us & my husband can get his job back. Darn construction industry. Perhaps when President Obama comes to Phoenix on Wednesday something good will happen. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've kept it pretty mellow for Valentines day. We stayed in & watched LOST....I know, we're crazy! :)

I created this card today based on Sarah's bellaholic's sketch challenge #5. :)

30th Birthday card

This card isn't very exciting, but I wanted to share a great little find that I wasn't expecting. A couple of years ago I purchased a ton of my favorite candle from Victoria's Secret (of course they were discontinuing my favorite scent). They are the mood candles (very yummy, I highly recommend any of the ones that are still available). They come in a cute black box with a faux croc design. Anyway, inside each of these boxes is a small sheet of that same faux crocodile acetate. I used it to die cut some fun letters for the card & voila!

I love awards! Is there a red carpet in my future?

Debby, I am so touched that you would give me this. Let me pay it forward. :)

So here are the rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Put links to their blogs

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Most of these ladies have been my Bella sistahs at some point. Each has given me so much inspiration. Some are blogs that I love to visit! These ladies are all super talented & I learn from each of them every day! :)

Sparkle

Terri

Katie

Jillabella

Mel