Sunday, May 13, 2018

Campfire Favor Boxes

If you've been following my blog, then you know that I will be throwing a campfire birthday for my son next month. 

I saw different favor bags and boxes on Pinterest using this theme, but decided to create a pillow box for Jackson's favors. 


I will be filling them with a marshmallow, graham crackers and Hershey's miniature chocolates. I used a retired stamp set that was out in December. If you recall, I used this same stamp to create my children's Valentine's cards with. Goes to show how versatile that stamp set is!

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Campfire Birthday Thank You Card

I am loving the new Fresh Air paper collection. It has some truly beautiful patterns. I think you could use it for more than outdoors theme.


I love this card sketch, in case you haven't noticed. It is from our MIFYH Volume 3 book. It worked well with my stamped images. I only had to fussy cut the camper. By then, I was feeling a bit cross-eyed at the thought of fussy cutting. LOL

Of course, you could totally stamp it right to the paper, but I wanted it to have a 3-d feel. I added some black brads from my stash. I love mixing the old with the new.

These will serve as thank you cards for my son's upcoming birthday party. So pleased with how it turned out.

Have a great day.

Casandra

Friday, May 11, 2018

Campfire Birthday Invitation

Today, my boy comes home from his first "summer camp" trip. His class field trip took him to a local summer camp for 3 days and 2 nights. I was lucky enough to go to the same place at his age. I am super excited to hear how it went.

My children are 23 months apart almost to the day in age. So, as soon as I finished working on my daughter's party projects, it was time to come up with a plan for my son's birthday. I used a similar design to the last invitation I shared. Hey, it works! 

Again, I found inspiration on Pinterest with a digital invitation file. But, if they can create it digitally, chances are I can find stamps to do it myself. The original had a tent, a campfire, and some trees. I added that cute bear and camper. 

I used my Flower Market cricut cartridge to create my trees. Note: When cutting something that intricate, you may want a fairly new cricut mat. I threw away several trees that had to be scrapped because they didn't cut correctly. I used the retired Camper Crazy stamp set and the retired Beary Best stamp set and had fun coloring and fussy cutting. My husband thought I was crazy. Thank goodness I only had to make 10. LOL

What do you think? I've gotten so many compliments on them. We're pretty excited to celebrate the boy's birthday next month. 

Have a great day.

Casandra

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Classic Summer Bash Thank You Cards

I was sorting through some random card sketches I had printed, and something about this one Verve sketch that I'd used a couple of times before really spoke to me. The mason jar image is actually in place of a rectangle shape that was in the same spot on the sketch. Most of the mason jar cards I'd seen had the same placement...always in the center of the card. Usually vertical. I was instantly inspired to use the sketch in a new way.

 Didn't it turn out cute? Like I did with the invitation, I printed out my sentiment on white cardstock, fitting 6 on an 8 1/2" x 11" letter size piece, spaced out accordingly. Then, I stamped the mason jar image around it. 

I then added stamped lemons/leaves, ribbon and bling. These served the obvious purpose of thank you cards from my daughter. So happy I spent time creating them before the big day. I was able to fill them in on Monday of this week and mail them right out.

I made these little tags to hang on simple gift bags I found at the Dollar Tree (4 for $1). I found some cute girly gifts such as an old-fashioned hand mirror, nail polish, lip gloss, jump rope, and lemon candies to fill the bags with. You can probably tell which bow I tied vs. the one that my mother helped with. LOL But at the point that we filled these bags and added the tags, perfection was the last thing on my mind. One of our little friends arrived early. :)

Have a great day!

Casandra

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Birthday Princess Card

Today, it is officially my daughter's birthday.

As I was creating this next card (recently), she walked over to my desk and told me how much she loved it. So this one is for my Izzy.


I used the now retired "Birthday Princess" stamp set. Truth be told, it's the first time it saw ink. Not sure why I haven't used it before now. I paired it with our current paper collection "Beautiful Friendship". I love the colors of this kit. Girly without being overly so.

Hope I've inspired you to dig out an un-inked stamp set and get crafting. :)

Casandra

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Beautiful Friendship Birthday Card

I send out several cards each month, but my favorite are always birthday cards. In that moment that I create a card, or mail it to its intended, I get to share in celebrating that special person. Such a great feeling.


Our featured paper collection, this month, is "Beautiful Friendship". When I saw the party banner paper, and the pink-striped paper, I knew just how I would use them. That stripe reminds me of wainscoting, so I placed that on the bottom and then added an 1/8" strip of white cardstock to resemble chair-rail molding. It ties the banner paper in well, and that sweet girl is our upcoming June stamp of the month called "A Bushel and a Peck". The little sentiment is from an A-size stamp set aptly named "Short and Sweet".

I made a ton of cards with this sweet girl. I just love her shy smile and cute sweater. 

I am entering this in to the current Color Dare #291 Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a blessed day.

Casandra

Monday, May 7, 2018

Lemonade Birthday Party

On Saturday, we celebrated my daughter's 10th birthday. If you've been following along with my blog, you've likely seen a few lemonade-themed decorations.

I am sharing some pictures from the event day.





I found the mason jar cups with straws and lids, plus the dispenser at Hobby Lobby. The plates, napkins, forks, and table cloth came from Wal-Mart. The cake and cookies were made by a local baker in our area. She is so talented. I sent her a picture that I found on Instagram and she did a fabulous job, creating exactly what we wanted. The bottom tier was chocolate and the top was a special strawberry lemonade flavor. That was super good! Izzy's dress was found on clearance at Chasing Fireflies website.

Psst. I cheated on the lemonade. I bought the Minute Maid Lemonade and Pink Lemonade 2-liters, and cut slices of lemon to pop in their drinks and the dispenser, too. Way quicker!

The banners, popcorn boxes, photo props, and framed picture were created by me. I had my own vision for those, but all were Pinterest-inspired in one form or another. The feather props were from the Dollar Tree. Can't beat their prices! I had the boa's hanging next to the photo booth on my coat hanging shelf. It was super adorbs. I used a vase to hold the photo props in, and the kids did amazing with it. One little note to share is that they seemed to gravitate more towards the shaped images like the mason jar, the sunglasses, and the lemon, vs. the scripted images. I had planned to do something fun with "Pucker Up" but the kids were off and running to the cake station before I had a chance. LOL

While these parties are a lot of work, I find that the more you plan ahead, the smoother they go. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Even if it's just doing the dishes. Hope that I've inspired you to throw your very own lemonade-themed party. It was a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday to my sweet princess. Thank you for stopping by.

Casandra

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Lemonade Party Decor

I'm back with another quick post for today's party.

I used my Cricut Explore to make the projects below. The banner and the popcorn boxes were created using images found in Design Space.



I added the die-cut circles to the popcorn boxes for added interest and to tie them into the lemonade theme. I stamped and fussy cut the lemons and glued them on. And of course I had to add some bling. They are so pretty. Can't wait to get photos tomorrow with the party setup and also the birthday girl.

Have a great weekend.

Casandra

Friday, May 4, 2018

Lemonade Party Props

I'm back today with another set of projects I created for my daughter's upcoming Lemonade Birthday Party.

What party would be complete without fun photo props? I have a few more that I created, but these were the first. I will show you more once we have the party.

Disclaimer: You may get thirsty for lemonade. Ha!



Aren't these fun? I cut them on my Cricut, added some stamped images & bling, and taped them on to some Wilton treat sticks. Love how they turned out.

Have a great day.

Casandra

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Lemonade Birthday Invitation

Hello. I am excited to share my next project with you.

My daughter turns 10 next week (double digits!). Her favorite drink is lemonade, and believe me when I say it's no small exaggeration that she may have more lemonade running through her veins than the obvious. LOL We went back and forth, for a month, on the theme. Would it be unicorns or mermaids...but then one day, Izzy spotted some paper on my craft desk. She fell in love with it. But it was pastel and didn't really fit mermaid or unicorn, so after thinking about it for a day, I remembered that I had a new stamp set that I'd ordered the week before. It had invitation sentiments on it, and that pretty much sealed the deal.

So here's the invitation I created.


I blurred out our personal information, but you get the idea. I was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest. You can find it here.

So I printed the information out on my printer, leaving appropriate spacing, and was able to print 6 out on 1 sheet of letter-sized cardstock. Then, I stamped the mason jar around the sentiment area and trimmed out with my fabulous micro-tip scissors. The straw, lemons and leaves were also stamped and fussy cut. I pulled some retired ribbon from my stash (I'll be honest...I was hoarding it). Turns out, I had just enough for 10 invitations!

The response I got was wonderful. Izzy nearly cried...she was so happy. So this Saturday, I will likely have a bunch of screaming girls running through the house. Stay tuned for other party projects I created. You won't want to miss them. So fun!

I would like to enter this into the current Sieze the Birthday challenge. It is only open for another 5 days, so hurry if you want to participate.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

H2H Mermaid Card

The other night, I had a vision for my next card, so I quickly sat down with my supplies and started creating. Having children (and a crazy, needy dog), I had several interruptions before it was completed. 


I would like to enter this card into Heart 2 Heart Challenges  current challenge "Cut It Out". That mermaid requires a lot of fussy cutting, but she's so pretty and so worth it. I grabbed my sponge and sponged the bottom in Glacier ink, switched it to Lagoon for the  middle and finished with our pretty Pansy ink at the top. I really wanted to add stitching around the edges but thought that make this card too fussy. I thought it would be fun to use the scallop embossing folder to mimick mermaid scales, and it's been forever since I really utilized my embossing folders. Before embossing, I did add stamping to the bottom. Way easier than trying to do it after. Oh, and I added some liquid glass to the bubbles (wish I'd colored them in beforehand for added depth). I'm sad that our pretty floral sequins are now sold out, but happy that I bought 1 extra pack before it happened. Whew! 

You only have a few days left to participate in this challenge, as well as the other March challenges at Heart 2 Heart. 

Hope you like this fun card. It's really bright and vivid in person. And daughter-approved, too. She has been dropping hints that she wants this card for her birthday. LOL

Happy crafting!

Casandra


Tuesday, March 27, 2018

TSOT 361 Easter Card

I am a little behind on my Easter cards, this year. 


I used a retired stamp set from a few years ago called "Some Bunny", and combined it with our current paper collection "Gimme Some Sugar". 

This is being entered into the current challenge over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Mermaid Birthday Card

Good morning.

I have been playing along with card challenges for the past couple of days. But today, I wanted to share with you a "just for fun" card.


One of my friend's has a sweet little girl whose birthday is coming up soon. I thought this card would be just right for her. My daughter loves it, so hopefully the birthday princess will, too.

I was inspired by a card created by Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin' Hoot

I used some hoarded white glitter cardstock, and I used a circle die to cut out the shape in the middle of this piece. To keep the die from slipping, I used a piece of washi tape to hold it in place. I seriously love our irridescent flower sequins from the Make Waves collection. I bought another pack (I'm such a hoarder!). And I used a birthday sentiment from "Short and Sweet" stamp set. I've overlooked this set many times in the book, but sometimes your project only has room for something small, and I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to having a sentiment on the front of the card. If it doesn't have one, I consider it unfinished. 

This little mermaid set is a keeper. Don't think I will be parting with it any time soon. I wish it did have a thin cut shape, though. It was tricky to fussy cut, but worth it in the end.

Hope you like. 

Casandra

Friday, March 23, 2018

TMS #445 Magic Card

This card is a collaboration of products from the current Seasonal Expressions book. I used the Gimme Some Sugar paper, the Make Waves Scrapbook stamp set, and the (now retired) Bloom and Grow stamp set.


I am entering this card into the following challenges:

1) Tuesday Morning Sketches Challenge #445
2) Heart 2 Heart Challenges "Going Green" Challenge

Hope you like. It's been fun to stamp and fussy cut, and of course, I always love to color.

Happy Crafting.

Casandra

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Color Dare #284 Birthday Card

I am back with my 2nd post of the day.

I just couldn't resist the current Color Dare challenge #284. I never have enough masculine birthday cards. How about you?


I'm not having luck today with my photo's. Guessing it's the time of day. This is the first time that stamp set has seen ink. And speaking of which, if you don't already know this little trick, the Black Memento ink is super fab for stamping and coloring in with alcohol markers. No heat set required!

I combined the color challenge with a current online crop sketch challenge. Hope you like.

Casandra

CTD485 Birthday Card

Spring break has officially begun in our household. The kids had a half-day of school today. I'm excited to sleep in for the next week! Wahoo. (Well, maybe.) With that in mind, I decided this afternoon that I would play in my craft room for a bit. 

Trying to rebuild my stash. Here's the first card I came up with. 


The sunlight washed out my photo, just a bit. I used bashful pink, White Daisy and Black for my colors. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

1) Color Throwdown #CTD485 Challenge
2) Sketch 'N Scrap Challenge #118

Thanks for stopping by today.

Casandra

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

H2H Cover Challenge Card

I love just about everything Close To My Heart. And the Seasonal Expressions 1 was no exception...well, maybe. I love EVERYTHING in this book. :)

In all my years with CTMH, I don't think I've seen as much social media posting with a paper pack as Chelsea Gardens. It proved to be very popular...selling out of dots and gems and thin cuts in a record breaking number of days/months. Crazy!

So, I will jump on that wagon train. Here's another card I created with this beautiful paper collection.


I love that floral pattern with all of the soft greens. I have been playing around with my ShinHan markers and blending up a storm. I learned a trick with the leaves. Kind of color in a bit "sloppy", not perfect. Then go back with the blender marker. It will shade in and leave you some spots that look lighter than others. This technique doesn't work for every item you color, but the leaves and flowers are perfect for practicing. 

I am entering this into Heart 2 Heart Challenges: Seasonal Expressions 1 Cover Challenge . You have until the end of March to play along.

Happy crafting!

Casandra

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #361 Card

Good morning.

I wanted to share another card I created using the Chelsea Gardens collection.


The Die Cuttin Divas Challenge blog has a great challenge up this week featuring "Flowers". Perfect for this card. Love our stamp and thin cuts combo's! Makes creating cards fun and fast. I actually cut a bunch of die shapes out, and then stamped them and put them in my craft tray on the desk. Then, I grabbed out papers and sketches and made a bunch of card designs in a quick amount of time.

You have a week to play along, if you like. Happy creating!

Casandra

Monday, March 19, 2018

Chelsea Gardens Just For You Card

I thought I'd share a quick card I made using the Chelsea Gardens paper collection. The sentiment piece was created using the PML card found in the paper packet. I trimmed it down to size and stamped the sentiment from the Chelsea Gardens cardmaking stamp set. Cute, right?


It went together in just minutes.

Have a blessed day.

Casandra

Sunday, March 18, 2018

VLVMAR2018 Chelsea Gardens Card

I'm back with my 2nd post of the day, as promised.

Again, I used the great sketch from Viva La Verve Sketches blog.

Here's Card #2:


This paper is so pretty, and works well with any card theme you can think up. Although it doesn't show in my photo, the flowers have a little added sparkle. Our clear shimmer brush is just right when you want just a dusting of glitter.

You still have time to enter your card into this month's challenge

Thank you for stopping by again today.

All my best,

Casandra

VLVMAR2018 Gimme Some Sugar Card

I can't believe how quickly this winter has flown by. We are nearing the end of our slow time at work. We spent our time off preparing for the Spring season. And the boy played basketball, this year, too. I even found some time to craft a bit, here and there. 

Last month, we took the kids to Disney World and spent 5 fun-filled (and busy) days taking in as much as we could. We tried new foods, rode new rides, and took lots of pictures.

Today, I have a couple of posts to share with you. 

Here's the first:


I used the March sketch from Viva La Verve Sketches blog. I needed a card for Grandma. She spent last weekend baking goodies for the boy's class bake sale. And honestly, who can resist that cute stamp set?! 

Thank you for stopping by, and giving me a chance to dust off this old blog of mine. ;)

All my best,

Casandra