May the 4th Be with You!

After all these years, I finally broke down and hopped on the Star Wars bandwagon. I guess it's about time, too, especially when you have more than a handful of family members, both young and old, who are fans... I have two "inspired" projects to share with you today. The first is a birthday banner:

For the banner, I used a font similar to the one used throughout the franchise. To add a girly, yet subtle, touch, the letters and pennant backgrounds were made in "galactic gold" (perfect name, huh?!) Of course, everything is multi-layered, because that's what I do! The two banner pieces are book-ended with some favorite characters.

 This is where it got a little tricky, because of the characters. I didn't want to just print and cut the characters out (Eww, yuck. I never liked the look of that. Anyone can print out pictures and glue them on.) After a little work and maneuvering, and patience with the small pieces, everything came together, better than planned! (I may be a small fan now, only because of this)
The second project is a matching birthday card for the Brother (talk about old fan...) I had one card designed and (somewhat) ready to send out, but then this idea came into my head and I decided to go with it. I hope he's OK with it 1.) being late and 2.) not a surprise...

The inside of the card, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of, is printed out in the same font as the banner and reads "Wishing Yoda Happiest Birthday, I am. Celebrate, you must." (obviously read in Yoda's voice)
Who knew Star Wars could be so fun?! Now, maybe I'll continue working on the matching party favors I started like two years ago...
Have a great day!

Wedding Wishes!

Good morning! I'm so sorry it's been a while since I posted. There have been some computer issues here, which was a total bummer. I hope everyone had a fantastic week! Maybe with an extra day off for the holiday observance?! I'm sure there are some big plans for the weekend, between picnics and fireworks, and all that fun stuff! We were supposed to head to Montana this week for a wedding, but unfortunately work got in the way. I did make a card, though, because it's what I do!

This is the outside of the card. I wanted to make it elegant, and it came out better than I first thought. After some trial and error, I got the bottom later to work for me. I don't have an embossing plate with the diamond design, so I had to create my own with my paper scorer. The second embossed layer was definitely not done by hand. I chose these colors based off of some shower decorations I made for her. The Bride had a "Breakfast at Tiffany's"- themed shower in May and I was tasked to work on the invitations, banners, and a scrapbook for her. Unfortunately, I don't think I took too many "good" pictures of these before I sent them off. I added the pearls to go along with the pearls worn in the movie (and they add a girly touch!) I kept the inside of the card relatively simple:

I wasn't sure what to write in the card, seeing as I don't know the couple very well (she's the Boy's cousin, and that I never know what to write in cards. I get them all made and then think "Now what??"), I looked online for some ideas. Luckily this one took up enough room so it didn't leave a whole lot of room for additional writing without looking silly. I also made a matching envelope and did some fun, fancy typography on the front. I thought I had gotten a picture of it, but I guess not. Hopefully the couple likes it!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic and safe weekend!

Hello, Sunshine!

Good afternoon! Or, evening, for most of our readers. I hope everyone had a great work week and here's to a great weekend, celebrating all the dads in your life! I know it's a little (lot) later than normal, but after baby, and "big-kid" sitting this morning, I found that it took me this long to get some energy to do something productive today. As I am sitting here, watching last week's episode of Game of Thrones again, my first thought was, "Oh, darn, I was doing so well posting every day. Two days in a row!" My second thought was to a snarky text message from my Dad the other day about this episode and how everyone dies and this one was a spin-off of the Discovery Channel series "Naked and Afraid". Oh, Dad. Who woulda thought we'd all be interested in this show?! Even after watching it the second time, I still have my complaints. Like darn Ollie. I have never felt so much anger and hatred towards a character. Ugh. You killed Ygritte and Jon?! How dare you! At least they can stay in that cave together now. Although Jon will probably somehow find a way to come back. Oh, my gosh. Never would have thought I'd come to this. I blame Caleb... I probably should have prefaced that with *Spoiler*. Sorry.
Anyway, on a brighter side of the 7 deaths (and counting) we've gotten to so far, today's project is one I made for my Boy a while back. Before our lives were full of this dark material. (We're not really like that, I promise!) So, we don't usually use nicknames for each other, but I will text him during the day and call him Sunshine (well, because he makes me smile. Sickeningly sweet from an outsider's point of view, I know...)

I added some pop-dots and embossing on the pieces. For a quick card, I'm pretty happy with how this one came out! The inside of the card has matching rainbow paper:

He wasn't expecting it and it definitely put a smile on his face! That's my goal with all of my projects- to put a smile on faces!
Thanks for stopping by!

Brother, You're the Best!

Bazinga! No, not really. It just seemed like the right thing to write! Today is our brother's birthday and he's a big fan of the television show "The Big Bang Theory". After seeing this onesie his wife made the Little One

I decided to go with the same theme. (Hope Brother doesn't mind sharing his birthday post with his Cutie Patootie nephew who is making his blog debut today!!) Anyway, here is his birthday card:

Since the characters on the show are scientists, the Periodic Table made an appearance. (It's amazing what words you can spell with elemental abbreviations!!) Here is the inside of the card:

Hopefully he'll like it as much as I enjoyed making it!
It's been awhile since I last posted, but it's been quite a month! Between the new baby (although I haven't been able to smother him with kisses because his grandpa is always hogging him), some longish-term positions in school, and on-line work, there hasn't been much time to get some fun projects in. It's kind of a bummer because I have so many ideas in my head and when I get home, all I want to do is take a nap! Oh well, there will be plenty of me-time come summer!! Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

A 'Super' Weekend!

Good afternoon, friends! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! The last few days have been pretty busy around here with some rather large orders. Almost all of the orders have been for superhero things, including favors and invitations. I'm pretty sure I can make the favors with my eye shut (OK, maybe with a little peak) In the last week, I've made 100+ of them, and that's not including the last (much smaller) order of 20 I need to finish up tonight. I was also asked to work on some custom, personalized invitations for a little soon-to-be 5-year-old's upcoming Spiderman-themed birthday party. This is the final product:

The customer wanted all of the information to be hidden below the band, so as you look at it, it says "Swing on by to celebrate Harper", with the Spiderman character on top. Hopefully I didn't forget any of the small pieces for her name... (I had a few extra that I'm not positive where they came from. I did a triple-check though, so hopefully it's all good...)
One of the little things I add to (almost) all of my orders is a card. Since most of the orders are for a birthday or special occasion, I figure a greeting card is usually needed. Since they usually use up some scraps and I know how big everything is supposed to be, they don't usually take too long. And sometimes it's the small things that make an impression! (Who wouldn't want to get a card like this? Much better than a store-bought one, in my opinon. But I guess that's not fair, huh?!) Anyway, I thought I would share some that I've made this week, starting with the Spiderman one:

These are two I made for a set of twins. One was dressing up as Super-girl and the other as Wonder Woman

There are a few others I've made, including Hulk, Superman, and Batman, but I think I'll keep them to myself for now and save them for another day!
I guess now that I'm all caught up with my orders, that means I should probably spend the rest of my weekend working on the boring stuff. Like cleaning the apartment... I'm pretty sure the parents wouldn't want to have to carefully maneuver around all the crafting stuff once they get here later this week! (By the way, totally looking forward to it!!)
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Cowabunga, Dude!

Oh boy, talk about flashbacks to childhood...
Good afternoon, friends! I hope everyone has been having a good week. On the bright side, it's already Thursday! One more day to go! After a somewhat difficult day, I figure I'd write a quick post this afternoon. So, today's post is a quick birthday card I made for a little girl who is celebrating her 7th birthday today:

 

As you might be able to figure, she's a big fan of the Ninja Turtles. As I said, it was a quick card to make. I wanted to go simple with it because it was a late-night request. As with most of my cards and projects, pop-dots were used in abundance:

I decided to use orange as the accent color because Michelangelo (or Mikey, as he's called now-a-days) is her favorite. I was also tasked to make some invitations and decorations for her upcoming party, which I hope to post in the next day or two.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous evening!

For My Significant Otter!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, sharing it with your loved ones, or just loving yourself, which is always necessary too! As promised, I have some more Valentine's Day projects to share, although it's a few days late. So, today's project is the card I made for my otter half:

This card has features two of my favorite things: otters and puns! (If you ever find yourself needing to smile, I highly recommend looking up pictures of otters. They are just so stinking cute!!) So, one of the things I tend to do is cuddle real close and hold hands. It's one of the things otters do so they don't float away from each other. We joke around, saying we have to hold hands so we don't float away. Or fall off the couch. This is the inside of the card:

I absolutely love puns! I would use them all the time if I could. When I use them, he usually chuckles and smiles. (Or he just feels bad because I'm so corn-y) Either way, there's usually a smile on both of our faces, so it's all good! I didn't want to go overly Valentine-y with the card, since he's not at all into the holidays (any of them), but I still wanted to show him how I feel! I guess that's all the gushiness... :)
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Now it's time to get ready to enjoy the absolutely beautiful February weather we're having. Sorry to all of our New England friends and family! You can always come visit!! Have a wonderful day!

Spring Means One Thing...

Other than warmer, drier weather, flowers blooming, birds chirping, and the sun being up before 8:00. It's time for a ton of baby projects! And I mean a ton! Today was actually our friend's baby shower, but unfortunately work got in the way and prevented me from making the trip back home (which is probably a good thing- the latest storm would have probably been a blizzard with my luck). However, I do have some pictures of the card I made for her:

 

After spending longer than normal on card layout and design, I decided to go with a design similar to another part of her gift (more pictures to follow. Eventually.) and came up with this. It doesn't fold up quite as nicely as I'd like, but that's because I kind of went pop-dot happy on the inside:

 

Each little design is pieced together, including the little pacifier in the corner that you can't see too well. Then there is a little blank space to write a little note to the new mommy-to-be!

(So Cari, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry I couldn't be there with you today, and I hope it was a great day! Also, expect a package in the coming weeks, hopefully before Baby gets here! Miss you and I'm definitely looking forward to visiting this summer and meeting the little guy!)

Thanks for stopping by!

A Plethora of Projects!

Good morning, friends!! It has, unfortunately, been quite a long time since we’ve posted something new. Between the usual, school and work, we’ve been pretty busy. And on top of that, the kiddos have passed on the cold bug, so we had been fighting that, too. That was a huge pain, but it seems to have cleared up. Hopefully that’ll be the last of it, although the fall/winter season is in full swing here. The rain does help with the productivity- who wants to go outside in the rain?! In the little bit of healthy free-time we’ve had, we’ve been uber busy with our crafting projects, and a few projects for ourselves. We’ve had a handful of superhero projects- some invitations and a ton of bags, and this little set of a card and a banner we created for our little cousin’s Hulk-themed birthday:

We were also tasked with creating a few new bag designs. Here is a picture of some of our new ones, which include The Incredibles (no capes!), Robin, and the Ninja Turtles, though only two are shown

We also worked on some cards in the last few weeks, including these two “punny” cards. The first one is a card we sent out to our family and friends- a little farm-themed card that reads “Cow’s it Going?”. The other is one we wanted to post a while back, but never got to it. It is a fall inspired, little shape card that features a fox in a pile of leaves. The inside of the card reads “Sending you piles of smiles”

 

The biggest, most exciting news of the last few weeks is that our very close friend (hopefully she still thinks this…) and her husband are expecting a little one this April!! It’s all very exciting! We made a few cards to send to congratulate them:

How cute are these two?! The Winnie the Pooh card was inspired by the scrapbook paper that was used in some of the details, like the crib sheet. It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s there. And the paper has been in our collection for a while now, so we figured why not use it?! We also included a little basketball because they both used to play and are now gym teachers. And like all of our projects, we used a ton of pop dots! The second is a super cute side step card designed to look like a baby’s nursery. We included the dresser, with clothes and all, along with some toys and dolls. We couldn’t forget the crib with the sleeping baby and the mobile hanging over!

The last two projects we have to share are some Halloween ones we were working on. The first was a set of cards we made for our sister-in-law (don’t mind the pajama pants in the background- we got an early start that day!). These easel cards feature a little googly-eyed witch and her broom. We also embossed a spider web on the background and added some rhinestones in the corner of the card. The inside of the card reads “Witch-ing you a Happy Halloween” and a little bat that holds the easel up. And as with all cute, “girly” cards, there’s some sparkle, too!

The last project we’ve worked on was a banner we made for a customer. This one was a personalized Halloween banner that features two teddy bears, one a ghoulish witch and the other a spooky jack-o’-lantern.

We, of course, used pop dots on the characters and letters. We finished off with some rhinestones on the letters. Each piece is tied together with multiple colored ribbons and some glitter tulle!

Phew! Quite a long post today, huh?! Sorry about that! We probably could have (and maybe should have) done them individually. Hopefully we’ll finish and post some of our new holiday items that we've been working on and some holiday projects we have planned! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Another Happy Birthday!

Good afternoon! We hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend so far. We've been busy with some school projects and some other things, but wanted to take some time to share another quick birthday card we made.

This is a card for our brother's girlfriend. She is probably the most "mature" one of us, we wanted to go a little more "grown-up". (That, and the background design was perfect for part of her gift, which will hopefully be done this week!) We went with the ever-popular monogrammed look and added some pearls, for an extra special touch. Once we complete her gift, we'll share a few pictures of it!
Thanks for stopping by! We hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

Some More Birthday Wishes!

Good evening! We hope everyone has had a wonderful week! It's a sunny, "last Friday of School" day here and we couldn't be happier! We've finally caught up with all of our orders and side projects, and have some time for 'us' crafting (like yesterday's project in honor of today being "National Donut Day"!) Today's project is one of the birthday cards we made for our niece, who is celebrating(ed) her birthday today:

(Our pictures aren't doing the card justice. Unfortunately. They are much brighter in person.) The card was designed around the saying we found that was just too cute and fun to pass up. The inside of the card reads, "Birthdays are nature's way of telling you to eat more cake!" Because who needs a reason to eat more cake? Or cupcakes? Below is a close up of the little cupcake:

Of course, we used googly eyes and pop-dots to add a little dimension!
Thanks for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another edition of Cupcake Saturday! It's been quite a while, but these are totally worth it!

Happy Birthday, Mom & Dad!

Good evening! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. We have been super busy around here, between school and orders, and finally everything is getting back on schedule. With all that we've had to do over the last few weeks, we did find some time to work on a few projects. Today's projects are some cards we made for our wonderful parents who are celebrating major birthdays today (or yesterday, ECT now). It's always kind of fun when you tell people your parents have the same birthday. They're always a little surprised when we tell them, and then say it's pretty cool.

Since they can both be considered "50's kids", we decided to go with 50's-themed cards for them. The first two cards are for our mom:

The first is a shaped card with a pair of roller skates. Our mom told us stories about her roller skating when she was a little girl (I think. If not, then I can picture a little Mom with pigtails skating. I may be thinking of something else totally...) The inside of this card reads, "with a Birthday hi!". The second card features an ice cream sundae and more of the super-fun and cheery colors. The inside of the card says "Wishing your birthday is as sweet as you!"
The other two cards are for our Dad:

The first is a red and black card with a musical theme. It was a toss up between this record and a jukebox, but figured either would work for him because he enjoys listening to the Golden Oldies and singing half the words to the songs. The outside of the card says, "For the record" and the inside reads, "You rock! Happy Birthday!" The fourth and final card is a 'Route 66'-themed card. We first saw the road sign, but couldn't figure out how to work with it, since it says 66 (and Dad's not quite there yet.) We decided to change it to read 65, instead. We also went with a vintage car to top it off. At least this one doesn't have any holes in the floorboard!
All four cards are multi-layered and have a ton of 3D poppers on them. (If you can't use googly eyes, 3D is the next best way to go!)
Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A "Hello Kitty" Card

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone is having a great week so far. Like we said a few days ago, we are trying to catch up and share all of the projects we made over the last few month or so. Today's project is a new card we made for another valued customer. This is a birthday card for a little girl who loves Hello Kitty:

How cute is this card for a little girl?! It is another shape card. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of room to write, but sometimes all you need to write is "Happy Birthday", right? We used some pink sparkle paper. I was questioned as to why nothing was pop-dotted, but since the pink is so thick, I decided that this wouldn't be necessary. As for the yellow balloon, the patterned paper and her skirt originally had yellow in it, but it still looks cute! I'm just happy that it stayed up, after fighting it for a while.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Happy Meow-ther's Day!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating all the amazing moms out there. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend it with our Mom, but we did talk on the phone for awhile, which made us miss each other even more. Oh well, it was totally worth it!
Today's project is another quick Mother's Day card from the littlest, cutest, laziest kiddo.

I saw this sleeping kitty cut and knew I had to use it on a project. It reminded me our our little kitty, who spends all of her time sunbathing on the back of the couch. The inside of the card reads, "Mom, I ain't kitten, you're the best!" and it's sealed with a kiss (or a paw print!)
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Gnome Way!

Good evening! We hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. We have been pretty the last few days, and unfortunately haven't been able to spend a lot of  time we-crafting. As you can tell, our blog needs some attention, and we're pretty sure no one wants to see all of the superhero bags and banners we've made in the last week (we'll save that for another time). However, we wanted to take some time to make a card for our biggest brother, who is celebrating a birthday today. (Honestly, I'm not sure how old he is today...I'm thinking 34, but after 30, who counts?! ) Anyway, here is the card we made him:

How cute is that little gnome?! We wanted to make it a (somewhat) masculine card for him, and had plenty of scraps to make it in these colors (love when that works out!) This is a 3D shape card with quite a few popped pieces, which can be seen in the picture below.

I didn't take a picture of the inside, but it reads "Gnome way! It's your birthday!" I thought it was just so cute, and then got a little more excited when I remembered that his internet alias has had the word 'nomes' in it for the longest time. It may not be spelled the same way, or even have the same meaning, but close enough! Well, he might not have gotten it in time for his birthday, but now that it's on-line, he knows it exists and that it will be in the mail on Monday! And it's still his birthday when I posted this, so... Happy Birthday, Bro!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great night!

A Little Bundle of Joy

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone is having a great week. It's been a while since we posted, but now that it's Spring Break, we have a little more time on our hands. Today also happens to be one of those days when it's just nicer to stay in and craft. We'll take one rainy day out of a week that's supposed to be sunny and mid-60! Any way, today's card is a quick one we whipped up that should have been sent out a month ago. Our cousin and his wife had a cutie-patootie little boy early last month and this is the card we made for them:

 Like most of our projects, the first ideas for this card wasn't this. The only thing we were sure of was that we wanted a little onesie on it. We weren't sure what to do on the onesie, but realized that simpler was better. Luckily we had matching ribbon for the final added touch! Now that it's finally made, hopefully it won't take just as long to mail it out (even with it filled out, in its envelope, and stamped already!!)
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!!

A Spring-y Hello

Good morning! We hope everyone has had a wonderful week. Fortunately, this week just seemed to fly by. Maybe because the weather has been amazing and the distractions were quite numerous (not complaining too much...It'll give us something to work on this weekend.) Anyway, a little while back, we were pleasently surprised with a package in our mailbox from our aunt. The lady is quite the talent with a sewing machine and she made us some super cute placemats:

They match our kitchen decor perfectly!! And the two little (early!) birds are so springy, too! So, as a thank-you, this is the card we made:

Unfortunately, the colors are not quite right. We wanted it to be bright and cheerful, so we used bright pink and and green, with some floral and sparkle papers. We've included some pink rhinestones, as well. The inside didn't photgraph too well, but it is accented with some of the cute printed paper, also.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

An Irish Wish!

Happy Monday! Or not. It was a tough morning to wake up, even after going to bed pretty early last night. It's just about time for a mid-afternoon nap now! Anyway, we wanted to take some time out to share a set of St. Patrick's Day cards we made for our #1 customer!

These little cuties came out so much better than planned. This middle card is what the whole 'set' looks like when it's all together. As you might be able to tell, they are little folder cards and when you pull out the insert, there's a little Irish poem, wishing the recipient lots of luck with only a little trouble. Like every cute card, the little leprechauns have googly eyes and glitter makes everything better, of course!Who wouldn't love getting this card in their mailbox?!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful afternoon!

Hairy Birthday!

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a fantastic Sunday so far. Apart from the whole losing an hour, but at least the sun will be up a little longer from now on. Today happens to be our brother's birthday, so today's project is the card we made for him:

We thought it was about time we got into the 'mustache' craze. Although he doesn't (or hasn't) sport a mustache, he has definitely tried to rock the beard, so we thought it was somewhat-fitting. As for the greeting, "Hairy Birthday", it was one of those sayings where I thought I was so clever, only to find other people have used it before. Oh well. The inside of the card reads, "How old are you today?" because everyone knows that after a certain age, one birthday is the same as any other and you lose track of time. Turns out he's 33 and doesn't act a day over 23.
Thanks for stopping by today!

Welcome, Baby!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a superb weekend so far. Time to enjoy the extra day off, if you're fortunate enough to have it! Our mom was supposed to go to a baby shower this weekend (darn snow storms! Is it spring yet?!) for our cousin and his wife, who are expecting their first baby this year. We were asked to make a card to go along with the gift, so this is what we came up with:

Since they don't want to know the gender of the baby, the hardest part was trying to keep it neutral. Between the colors and the rhinestones, it seems that it could fit for either gender. I'd like to think we were kind of successful in that task. The inside of the card was designed in the same colors:

We wanted to keep it simple, but thought the little ducky in the corner was just the right touch. (Too bad the light bounced off the mirror right into the middle of the picture...) Hopefully they liked it.
Thanks so much for stopping by!