almost birthday time + kwerner's CI#50!

hip hip hooray! tomorrow's my birthday! i'm so excited (can you tell?!) to have a wonderful birthday with family and friends, and in preparation of some stamping coming up this weekend with Paulina, i've done a bit of it on this card using Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #50!

i've never used houndstooth paper, but i already love it--pretty classy stuff in my opinion. i'm not sure if this is my favorite card, but i liked working with the colors. maybe next time i'll use different proportions of each color.

anyway, i have two more polo games to coach, one of which is TONIGHT, so i'm gonna head out for that... i'll probably pop in tomorrow with something else. this is really quick, but i'll make it up later :)

thanks for looking!

i <3 velvet

i love my new velvet ribbon! it's so soft, and you really only need a knot and some hot glue to make any card special.

here's what i did with some colors i rarely put together/ use--goldenrod and red. i just don't pair them up if i have a choice--usually i'm a brighter color kinda girl... but i think these cards turned out pretty great, especially thanks to the velvet :)




i recently gave away some red velvet pants during a room cleaning purge. they were cool, but i'd only worn them a couple of times. i didn't feel too bad giving them up for adoption because they were a "sale buy" for me (aka real cheap). oh, and what prompted this purge? a prank some friends and i played on a mutual friend for her bday. we went to her house w/ her parents permission and saran wrapped her bunk beds, chair, drawers, and containers, streamered EVERYTHING, and put candy and pipe cleaners all over the place. we put up a cat poster (she hates them) and wrote in lipstick on her mirror. we also pipe cleanered all of her shoes together in a long strand. oh! we also cleaned in the process--it just felt like a logical step to take... hehe, we had fun. so all of us pranksters decided during the cleaning process that NONE of us were allowed to do this to each other... but i've received threats of "pay back" so i decided i had better do some cleaning before i became royally embarrassed in case i had some "visitors" on my bday coming up this week...

anyway, thanks for looking, and have a great week!

COUNTDOWN UNTIL BIRTHDAY (and therefore, a Cricut Expression!) = 3 days!

wow--can we say CANDY!?

i stumbled upon some really amazing blog candy via my friend, Paulina's blog. she posted a link to an amzing giveaway from Steph in the UK. you should totally go check it out--doesn't this look amazing?! i would DIE if i won this :)

2 sketches 4 you, laura's #24

here's a really quick post. i got to play with BOTH sketches over at 2sketches4you this week. the first sketch came from Ewonne, and you can find my interpretation HERE from a previous post.



anyway, one of my good friends, Tabi, has a birthday tomorrow, and i had this cute little chipboard cupcake that was begging to be used on a birthday card, so i pulled out some scraps (the pink border, and pink sentiment) and jewels, and Costco ribbon that i mentioned in a previous post.

i think it turned out pretty fab, and i even got to finish the INSIDE of the card too...


well, hope you've enjoyed looking! i'm so excited for next week, May 1st! it's my birthday, and i'm getting a Cricut Expression! :D

have a great day, and TFL!

P.S. Joey made me some ribbon helpers, i'll take some pictures later to show you. so sweet, right? if you don't know what i'm talking about, look at the "adore" card in previous post.

"adore" for 2s4u bonus!

yay! two sketches this week over at 2sketches4you, and i've already played with one!

this week's sketch comes from one of the designers, Ewonne, and it's great!


i started making this card with a white base (you can see it actually), but ended up mangling it with my bow-tying skills... in other words, i pulled too hard (really hard, actually) and my base ripped. sooo, i improvised and transferred the front of the card to a different base, and here we
go!



i think the blues and whites are so pretty--and the sketch worked perfectly with this chipboard piece from Colorbok from their "Sweet Life" line... too cute, right?

my brother Joey was watching me tie the bow (and pull too hard) and he promptly whipped out his cell phone to leave himself a note to make me some sheet metal strips to lay underneath my card base when i tie my bows. he's so sweet :)

in the midst of the tearing of the card base, Joey asked, "What is this card for?" I told him it was for a sketch challenge, and he said, "It doesn't have to be perfect... *long pause* you could give it to me." haha! he really is sweet--i told him i would have to fix it anyway (i have standards) and told him i thought it might be a little girly for him. his reply was, "It's blue. I would like getting it."


so, in short, Joey's great (such an encouragement), but this card will probably go to my mom for Mother's day, and i'll make something funkier and more colorful (hopefully more guy-ish) for Joey :)

hope you enjoy, thanks for looking and all your sweet comments!

an Easter card

i know this is late, but really, it's only a week off... i made this card REALLY quickly for my mom for Easter. when i got up for church and got to the table for breakfast, i found lovely cards from my brother and mom and dad, and remembered that i hadn't made any cards (or even thought to make one) for my mom or family members. sooo, i had already been thinking about using the "flower lollipop" technique to make a cute retro flower to stick on a card, and i thought Easter would be a perfect occasion. i just picked some papers and punched out circles using McGill, Paper Shapers, and Marvy punches. i crinkled the flower circles by wadding them up into little balls then unfolding them and smoothing them a bit. then i added the cute button and a bow to the top, used glue dots to stick it all together, and picked out some green ribbon for the stem. i also used the Fiskars "Threading Water" punch for the 'grass' because i thought it would work. the sentiment is from a $1 bin at Michaels that has some other cute stamps to go along with it. i used Stickles to add a touch of bling to the corner, and VOILA! i had an Easter card. all in all, i think it took 10-15 minutes... really quick :) hope you enjoy, and TFL!

2sketches4you, Kazan's #24

wow, i can't believe how many sketches Kazan and Laura have created over @ 2sketches4you! 24 seems like a long time... and i'm almost even more amazed that i've gotten to participate in so many of them :)

i really like the colors of the paper and this was the first time i'd successfully used the gathered ribbon technique... i think it turned out well, don't you? so excited to see what you think. it was a fabulous sketch, was it not?

today was not my favorite day ever... i reeeaaalllly wanted to sleep in instead of going to school, especially because i had to proctor the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) today for round 1 of a six round routine for the next week or so.

anyway, i got up and got to school, and ended up giving a lecture to my 1st period about having "filters" for their thoughts and their comments--some kids just don't get it. i told them, "don't let other people know EVERYTHING you're thinking... you WANT to sound mature, don't you?!"

anyway, it was fine, not the best, but at least it turned sunny later today. and last night i did have some fun with Joey and my parents... we watched the movie "Get Smart" which i'd seen in theaters when it came out, but it was SOOO much funnier with my whacky family enjoying every stupid corny line and slapstick routines... i love listening to my dad laugh... literally makes me want to smile.

oh, and in other fun news, my sister, Cecelia has started a blog! she's not exactly crafty, unless you count the fact that she's FABULOUS with words. currently she's working on her Masters and Ph.D. in History (specifically of Latin America), and i've had the privilege of tagging along with her on many trips to Latin countries (think Spain, Brazil!) basically, she's hilarious, and normal. you can check out her musings on her blog HERE.

anyway, i'm off to coach a couple of water polo games... praying we WIN tonight! thanks for looking and for all your sweet comments!