April Papertrey Bloghop

Happy Wednesday. I hope are all having a good week. It has been in the 80's and felt like summer here the last few days. A little to hot for April but it is better than snow. Today is the 25th of the month which means it is also time for the Papertrey Bloghop.

This month the challenge was this inspiration photo.

I have had that photo pinned on one of my Pinterest Boards for awhile now so when I saw it being used for the challenge this month I was thrilled. The first thing I think about when I see those beautiful fabrics is a quilt so this is what I came up with

I started by punching squares from different digital patterned papers then I pieced them together to look like a quilt and machined stitched them. Next I stamped the sentiment from Quilters Sampler Sentiments Set on a Mat Stack 1 die cut then attached it to the front of the quilted piece. After I was done with that I tied a piece of Sweet Blush Satin Ribbon on the left hand side then added a ric rac rose that I made using this tutorial. Finally I finished it off with some pearls,more machine stitching and a piece of polka dot paper on the inside.

Since the rose creates a lot of dimension it would not fit in a regular envelope so I made a matching box for it using these SVG files but increased them to 110%

That's all for now. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with on Nicole's blog now,. I hope the rest of your day is a great one and as always thanks for stopping by.

Graduation Time

Happy Wednesday. I hope your week is going well. We got some much needed rain over the weekend but are back in 70's now. I have been busy working on custom orders again but finally had some time to finish something new yesterday. Since graduation season is just around the corner I came up with this.

I started by using an SVG graduation cap file from My Scrap Chick and pink striped paper from a new kit by Amy Jaz Designs called I Like Stripes

The base of the hat was cut out of Papertrey Ink Black Cardstock then embossed with tiny dots. I made the tassel after viewing this video. I cut the letters using SCAL. Finally I finished it off with a chipboard button and a rolled rose.
I also wanted to update you on the Asian Lettuce wraps I shared in my last post. They were good but not very filling. Definitely not enough to eat for dinner but would be good for a lite lunch.
One more thing I want to share with you  before I go. To celebrate moms everywhere, the EtsyGreetings team is hosting one of their biggest giveaways in their history!The giveaway features more than 40 beautiful, handmade, all-occasion greeting cards made by EtsyGreetings team members. {only U.S. residents eligible for prize) Go here to enter. You have until the 23rd.
That's all for now. I hope the rest of your week is a good one and I will be back soon with more to share.

Spring Has Sprung

Happy Passover and Easter weekend if you are celebrating them. I hope your week has been a good one. Ours started out with cold and snow but thankfully it melted fast and spring is back now. These were the tulips in our front yard before the storm aren't they beautiful?

I finally had some time to work on something new this week and finished it last night so today I want to share this with you. I also just realized that I used this weeks colors for the Color Q Challenge too

This is an idea I have had in my head for awhile now and since Mother's Day is just around the corner I thought this would be a good time to get started on making things for it. I began by creating a herringbone background with papers from a new Digital Kit Called Woodland By Amy Jaz Designs.

then machine stitched around it. Next I die cut Mat Stack 3 from the green gingham paper then added the Mother's Day sentiment from Women Of Life. After the card was complete I created a flower pin using Harvest Gold and Melon Berry felt, Beautiful Bloom Die #3, My Favorite Things medium rolled rose die, Lace Trim, leaf trim and a tiny pearl. The flower is attached to a piece of acetate and can be taken off to wear. Here is a close up of Emilia wearing it.

Since the flower is so bulky the card would not fit in a regular envelope but after doing some searching I created the perfect box to hold it using more digital paper from the kit. You can get the SVG file for the box here.

I am really happy with how this turned out and think this would make a great all in one Mother's Day gift. We are not doing anything special for the holidays but I am going to be trying this recipe for Asian Lettuce Cups tonight

I will let you know in my next post how they turn out. Until then I hope the rest of your weekend is a good one and I will be back soon with more to share.

Happy Birthday Emilia!

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was a good one. It was in the 80's and beautiful here. It felt like summer. Today we are 40 degrees cooler. That's okay though because we could use some moisture. Hopefully in the form of rain not snow.
Thanks for all the sweet birthday wishes that were left on my last post. They really meant a lot to me. I didn't end up doing anything special but it was still a nice day.
 Today is Emilia's 14th birthday. I know I say this every year but where does the time go? I am just so grateful to have her for a daughter. She is a beautiful girl inside and out and means the world to me.  Since we knew the weather was not going to be so great today we took her to play mini golf and go cart racing on Saturday to celebrate. It was a lot of fun. She even got a hole in one.

 Today Rich had to work so we are just hanging out but will have dinner with my family later. This year Emilia is really into Penguins So in honor of that I made her this card. 

You may remember I made this card which is similar a few months ago. When you pull the tab this is what happens

She loved it. She also asked for another American Girl Doll to round out her collection so McKenna has joined the group which brings the total to 20! She has been collecting them since she was 5 and really enjoys them.

This is how she ended the day. Overall she said it was a great birthday.

That's all for now. I hope your week is a great one and I will be back soon with more to share.

March Papertrey Bloghop

Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend has been a good one. Today is the 25th of the month which means it is time for another Papertrey bloghop.

This month the we were to use this photo for inspiration.

The first thing that I noticed when I saw the photo besides the colors were the stripes and polkadots but after looking at it some more the lollipops really caught my attention. Those things were my inspiration for these lollipop covers.

I have been wanting to make some of these since I saw them on Maile's blog and thought this would be the perfect chance. I started by printing the yellow striped paper then using the lunchbox note die cut them out. Next I stamped the little elephant from Tiny Treats Birthday and stamped the single balloon from the bird image and the matching sentiment. After I was done with that I colored them in with Copics then cut them out with a square Nestie. I matted that piece on Summer Sunrise cardstock then attached it to a scalloped square cut from a piece of aqua polka dot paper. finally I added a lollipop on the inside then attached some aqua ribbon and tied it in a bow. I think these would make great favors for a little boys birthday. I have some ideas for other things to make to go with them too but didn't have time to get them done in time for the Bloghop today. They are on my list to make in the future though.
Today is also my 43rd birthday. I don't have anything special planned to celebrate but the weather is suppose to be great! I will let you know how it goes in my next post. That's all for now. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with on Nicole's blog. I hope the rest of your day is a great one and as always thanks for stopping by.

Cupcake Party

Happy Wednesday! I hope your week has been a good one. The weather has cooled down here the last few days but is suppose to be back in the 70's by the weekend. Thankfully Emilia is feeling better and my shoulder has been pretty good the last few days so I was able to make something new. I have been wanting to create a kids party pack for awhile now and after being inspired by these colors for the current CR84fn challenge

these digital papers from TracyAnnDigitalArt and giving it some thought I came up with this.

This is what the inside of the invitation looks like

There was a lot involved in making these products so I am not going to bore you with all the details but if you have any questions about how I made them or the supplies I used let me know. Something I did want to share though is when I went to photograph the set I needed a cupcake but didn't want to make a whole batch so Emilia searched the internet and found this recipe. It came out pretty good and worked great for the photograph. We used this recipe for the frosting. Emilia loves it and I have to say it pipes great! I will definitely be using it again.

I also wanted let you know I really liked the chicken taco recipe I shared in my last post. Rich and Emilia didn't like it as much but I would make it again. That's all for now. I hope to be back soon with more to share.

 ETA: I added more items items to this party theme. You can find them in my Etsy shop

Bundle Of Love

Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend has been a good one. We are enjoying spring like weather here and it is suppose to last all week. Super happy about that. I hope the weather is just as nice where you are. I finally got the new medicine for my shoulder and it has been helping some but I have to be careful not to take to much or it upsets my stomach. I also found out what was suppose to be a free yearly visit turned out to cost over $400.00 because I had a new problem. Have you ever heard anything so crazy? Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it now though so we will have to pay it. In the future we are going to have to get everything in writing before we go which is going to be a pain in the butt but we can't afford to continue to pay this much out of pocket. It really sucks when you have to think about how much something is going to cost before you can get health care. On top of that Emilia got sick last week and when I called for advice they wanted me to bring her in but told me she would have to have a fever of 100.4 or higher for 3 days before they would do anything. Needless to say I didn't take her in and thankfully she is doing better now. Hopefully this week we won't have any health care drama. Today I want to share this card I made using Jens Sketch For You to Try

This is what I came up with

I started by resizing the sketch to 5.50 inches. Next I stamped the stork and baby from the PTI Bundle Of Love set then paper pieced the sling the baby is in with papers from the Follow Your Heart. After that I used the PTI fence die and Rustic Cream cardstock, embossed it with a woodgrain pattern and distressed it. Next I added more patterned paper from the digital kit then stamped the sentiment also from Bundle Of Love. Finally I added a piece of Autumn Rose Cardstock embossed with tiny dots, a sweet blush button tie with white linen ribbon and some machine stitching. I also wanted to update you on the recipe I shared in my last post. It was pretty good but next time I would use garlic powder instead of real garlic to give it more flavor. It was also tasted more like a soup than a chili. I also wanted to answer a question that was left in the comments about gluten free bread. My favorites are Udi's and Rudis but if you want to make your own Bob's Redmill has some good mixes. I am going to be trying this recipe on Tuesday night

I will be using corn taco shells instead of tortillas. I will let you know how it turns out. That's all for now. I hope the rest of your day is a good one and you have a great week.