Robot Candy Valentine's Day Treats

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope today is treating you well. 

I saw some really great Valentine's Day ideas on the Scrapbooks Etc. website a few weeks ago, and I thought these robots were amazing, especially for my robot-loving kiddo to give away to his classmates.

These treats were a great way to use up older Stampin' Up and Cosmo Cricket patterned paper. Each robot was unique. They are cute, but a lot more time-consuming than I anticipated. I didn't do as much to the robot's head as the sample on Scrapbooks, Etc. I started running out of time last night, so I made these for Kalino's teacher, the girls in his classroom, and his close friends outside of class (the boys got Superman Valentines with a mini chocolate attached).

While I was working late in the studio, I was watching "Downton Abbey" on the PBS website. They have Season 2 episodes. Have you watched the show? I love it! I noticed Season 1 was on Netflix last week, so I started watching the show. I was hooked. I watched all 7 episodes within a few days.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

A Baker's Twine Heart

I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day!

I love baker's twine! I'm sure you've noticed. I could use it on every project. I searched the Silhouette Studio store to find a design where I could wrap a lot of baker's twine on a heart shape.

The pre-printed card base is from A Muse. I picked it up on my travels to Seattle in November. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

I found this heart in the Silhouette Studio store and downloaded it. I only cut the outer layer. I threaded the baker's twine on a needle and threaded a double strand of twine into each hole. I added some mini beads to the card base and rounded the corners of the card.

I mailed this card to my parents. 

Tip: To make mailing this type of "bumpy" card easier, you can insert the card into the envelope inside out. The recipient might think "what the heck?" when they open the envelope, but you can warn them ahead of time. You can also cover the card with a sheet of cardstock before inserting it into the envelope.

Have a great one and thanks for stopping by! 

XOXO Love

Hi everyone! It's been a bit of a bad morning. This morning I noticed the freezer door of the refrigerator we have in the garage was open. I'll have to throw out all the food it contained. Ugh! When I was walking Kalino to school, he tripped and fell scraping his cute forehead, nose, and knee. Oh my! There was very minimal blood, but the poor kid was scared. He's always afraid he's going to die when he gets injured. I had to assure him he was fine. We walked back home to clean him up. He's resting upstairs.


Well after all that drama, here's a card I made for PSA Essentials to celebrate love and Valentine's Day. I wish I would've trimmed the edges of that nice ribbon (it bugs me now!).

This card uses stamps from the Bouquet Toss set.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.


Card Ingredients
Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)
Paper (all Stampin' Up): Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, patterned paper
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up), 2" circle punch (Fiskars), Heat tool, Corner Rounder (We R Memory Keepers)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam tape (3M), white embossing powder, Red/Cream ribbon (Stampin' Up), rhinestone frame (Heidi Swapp)

An Early Happy Valentine's Day

Hi my dears, I thought I'd post this card really quick. I created it 3 months ago (yikes) duirng my trip to Seattle!

We'll I'm going to be like Teri Anderson when she says "meet today's card".

We'll I've got to run. Adios!

Love, Love, and More Love

I hope you had a great weekend. I spent what felt like most of the day on Saturday taking down our Christmas tree and packing up all Christmas related items. The Little Guy was extremely sad. If it was up to him, the tree and decorations would stay up all year.

Here's a card I designed for PSA Essentials using the Bouquet Toss stamp set. I stamped the image many times using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Without paying attention to staying in the lines, I colored the hearts with different Copic markers. I cut out each heart and adhered each to a white card base. For added interest, I covered one of the hearts with Crystal Effects and let it dry overnight.

Here's a closeup to show how I used Crystal Effects on one of the hearts and some dimensional adhesive to lift the heart off the card.

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Bouquet Toss (PSA Essentials)
Paper: white (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukinenko)
Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)
Other: Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, Copic markers, foam tape (3M), Diamond Glaze (JudiKins)

Instructions

1. Create a 4.25" x 5.5" card base.
2. Repeatedly stamp the heart on a separate pieces of white cardstock. Use Memento ink since it will not smear with you color in with Copic markers.
3. Color hearts with various Copic markers.
4. Trim out each heart.
5. Use Diamond Glaze on one heart and set aside for dry completely.
6. Arrange hearts on card and attach to the card base.
7. For texture, use dimensional adhesive to attach the one heart.

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetie

Here's a card I made for my Sweetie. 

(Edited to add the rest of the details)

I was in such a rush to publish this card and run off to have dinner with my Sweeties that I didn't have time to finish this blog post. Everything on this card is Stampin' Up, except for the Martha Stewart twill tape and Making Memories button.

This card is for two challenges: CPS Sketch #153 (which was sponsored by Papertrey Ink) and Two Happy Stampers Color Challenge #1. The sketch and colors were perfect for a Valentine's Day card. I still need to create a card for the Little Guy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients (all SU! except where listed)

Stamps: A Happy Heart

Paper: Kraft, Barely Banana, The Write Stuff Speciality DSP

Ink: VersaMark

Tools: Scallop Trim Border punch, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: white embossing powder, twill tape (Martha Stewart), button (Making Memories), foam tape (3M)

Happy Valentine's Day - Color Inspiration Challenge #18

Here's my last card as a Guest Designer for Inkspirations by Makeesha Byl. Thanks so much Keesh for the many weeks of challenges! I've never had a guest designing gig before, so this was very thrilling for me.

This is Inkspirations Colour Challenge #18. To join in the fun, stop by Keesh's blog. Here are links to the rest of the design team:

Dawn

Cindy

Kirsty

Renee

Chantelle

Sarah-Jane

Tonight I received some new goodies from SU!. I had to use my new stamps and border punch. The creative mojo was not flowing, so I had a very hard time even though had great colors, stamps, and new tools. I think I'm just worn out from a very long week. Next week the little guy doesn't have school, so it will be fun to not have the routine of school. It's super late here, so I'm not going to post an ingredient list for this card.

Thanks for stopping by, Chicas!

Soaring By to Say Happy Valentine's Day

My job as Guest Designer for Inkspirations by Makeesha Byl is almost over; it's been fun. I made this card for my Aunt Ruby who lives in New Mexico. She loves receiving cards. Her health is poor. She's been living with Parkinson's disease for several years.

This week, Keesh gave us Sketch Challenge #18. I find sketch challenges harder than color challenges. I love how this card turned out, except the "Soaring by to say..." sentiment is not stamped as dark as I would like. I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the card, but it says "Happy Valentine's Day".

This is my first time using the Everyday Button Bits set from Papertrey Ink. I didn't use buttons, but I created chipboard using the 3 Heart Punch from SU!. I also masked off a word on the sentiment to make it fit my Valentine's Day theme.

If you want to play along, check out Keesh's blog. Check out the rest of the Design Team:

Dawn

Cindy

Kirsty

Renee

Chantelle

Sarah-Jane

Keesh

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)

Paper: Melon Mambo (SU!), white paper, patterned paper (Color Box)

Ink: Memories Black

Tools: Martha Stewart Circle Butter

Other: white gel pen (Sakura), foam tape (3M), rope (SU!), rhinestones (Michael's)

Hero Arts Butterfly

I love that Hero Arts has released some designs for the Silhouette! I've always loved this butterfly image, so now I can cut it with my Silhouette and I can make it as little or as small as I choose. Can you tell I love my Silhouette? I posted this card on Flickr last week for a Hero Arts challenge, but had forgotten to post it here.

I glued individual toothpicks to the back of the image. Last month I loved the toothpick challenge for Everything But the Kitchen Sink, so I wanted to use toothpicks once again. I loved creating this card for their challenge. The card stock and sentiment is from Stampin' Up and the patterned paper is a digi paper design called Cheery Glen by Misty Cato (Sweet Shoppe Designs).

Thanks for stopping by! It is a very rainy Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I'm listening to his speech right now on YouTube. My son said he's very glad that he was born after the famous speech. I asked him what he meant. He said that he's glad he's lives in a world that was made better by Dr. King. What a great perspective from a 6-year old.

Four more days before flying down to attend CHA!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)

Paper: Kraft, Melon Mambo - textured (SU!), Cheery Glen by Misty Cato (Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Ink: VersaMark

Tools: Silhouette using the Hero Arts butterfly design, Word Window Punch (SU!), heat gun

Other: white embossing powder, white gel pen (Sakura), foam tape, toothpicks, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Happy Valentine's Day - Color Inspiration Challenge

Hola Paper Crafters! I made this card for Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #57. I really struggled with the design of this card. I tried so many different layouts. I worked late at school today, so I missed Kristina's deadline by about 5 minutes. Oh well, here it is anyway.

I created the focal point of the card with my Silhouette. I cut this heart design 5 times (4 of them in kraft cardstock and 1 of them in designer paper). I glued all the layers together to make my own chipboard. I love doing that! I attached a button with some twine. The rest of the card is pretty simple.

I'm going to CHA in Anaheim next week! I look forward to 2 days of crafting fun. For me, it's only a little over 1 hour flight. Once Tina (Travelingmama) said she was going, I told her I would definitely have to go. I mean she's in the US all the way from Morocco! Several other talented designers will also be there (Sankari, Kelly Marie, Amy Tsuruta, and Courtney Baker). I would love to meet Jennifer McGuire and Lisa Spangler from Hero Arts. Allison Kreft Abad from Hambly Screen Prints will also be there. I've met Allison before, but I definitely want to do the Hambly make-n-takes. Are you going to CHA? If so, let me know.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Card Ingredients (all SU! except where noted)

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Cameo Coral, More Mustard, retired designer papers, Kraft

Ink: VersaMark
Tools: Silhouette using downloaded heart design, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Scallop Edge Punch, Word Window Punch

Other: More Mustard button, linen twine, So Saffron ribbon, white embossing powder, foam tape (3M)

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi my dears! I know I'm several months early for Valentine's Day, but I'm barely on time for Cath's Not Your Regular Ruffles challenge on Moxie Fab World. When I saw the beautiful inspiration she offered us for this challenge, I could only think of a heart shape and my mind went to Valentine's Day.

This card has 2 types of ruffles: the scalloped paper "ribbon" and the ruffles on the heart, which I created with distressed 3/4" circles of Riding Hood Red cardstock.

Today I received my first order from Papertrey Ink. I'm very impressed with this company. Their packaging is impeccable. I had to use Background Basics Text Style II right away and their Fresh Snow ink. I'm in love!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Background Basics Text Style II (PTI), Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU!)

Paper: White (PTI), Riding Hood Red, Riding Hood Red DSP (SU!)

Ink: Riding Hood Red (SU!), Fresh Snow (PTI)

Tools: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Scallop Edge Punch (SU!), Word Window punch (SU!), 3/4" circle punch, paper crimper

Other: Tombow mono liquid glue, foam tape, rhinestones (Michael's ), white gel pen (Sakura)

WHOO Loves You?

I made these after seeing a link on How About Orange (I love her blog!) to Better Homes and Gardens. Here's a link to the Whoo Loves You card. There is a down loadable pattern for all the pieces on the card (minus the 3 small hearts). I used some older BasicGrey paper my friend Ericka gave me last year.

Edited to Add: here's another location for the owl template from Scrapbooks, Etc.

Our early dinner plans didn't quite work out today. We arrived at the Cheesecake Factory around 4:30 PM for an early dinner. The lobby was jammed with people...so many people. We didn't even ask how long the wait would be....had to be way over an hour! We shopped at the mall. Took Kalino to the Lego store for the first time. He had a mini meltdown. He wanted the larger Star Wars sets....um...I don't think so. He had a budget of $10 (Grandma & Grandpa set him money for Valentine's Day). We are trying to help him learn the value of a dollar. He finally picked out a cool helicopter....the drama. Oh my!

We decided to our back up dinner plans would be the Falafel Drive In across the freeway from the mall. Yummy! The best falafels!! We ate outside in the cold (we didn't have to, but we didn't mind). That's how good this place is. If you are ever in San Jose, look it up.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Valentine's Day for Teachers

I made these cards last night for my son's Kindergarten teachers. I've had the Love You Much bundle for weeks and shamefully I barely started using it last night. I really love how the first card came out.

I have more to post tomorrow for Valentine's Day. Thanks for looking!


Card Ingredients
Stamps: Love You Much, A Happy Heart
Paper: Pink Pirouette (textured & regular), Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Candy Lane DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Memories Black
Tools: Paper piercer, scallop edge punch, 1/2" circle punch, word window punch, 3 heart punch, 2" circle punch, Martha Stewart circle cutter
Other: Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon, lace (blog candy from Char), mini pearls (Michael's), foam tape

Best Friend Valentine's Day

I've been loving the Papertrey Ink contests this week. Here's another one. We had to create a card for our best friend. I had forgotten to use the January 2009 Virtual Card Club I purchased from Kristina. She had the perfect sentiment to create a Valentine's Day card for a best friend.


Card Ingredients
Stamps: Flower Stamp (Autumn Leaves)
Paper: white (JudiKins), Groovy Guava & Soft Sky (SU!)
Ink: Groovy Guava, Close to Cocoa
Tools: Scallop Edge Punch
Other: foam tape, rhinestones (A Stamp in the Hand), Kristina's Virtual Card Club

Cards 4 Kids Challenge

Last week I saw a call for 1000 blank Valentine's Day cards (or postcards) from Pat Adam (The Rubber Maid) for her Cards 4 Kids program at the Children's Hospital of Michigan. I knew I would have time to send at least 1 card. Well, my friends, I've been awake since 4 AM! I had time to make 7 slightly different cards to send to Pat (I'm going to keep one for my Little Guy since he LOVES robots).

The weather during the night was a little strange. I woke up because the wind was so suddenly strong it rattled our interior bedroom door (like a minor earthquake would). Next, I heard a small crash outside. Today is trash day, so 2 out of 3 of our trash bins were on the curb. When I looked out, the wind had knocked over our recycling bin (64 gallons). Ugh! In my pajamas I went outside to lift the recycling bin before the wind started whipping all the paper, plastic, cans, out of the bin. I couldn't fall asleep after that excitement, so I stayed up and signed up for Pat's challenge.

I wanted to create non-feminine Valentines. This card's layout was inspired by a cute card Angie Tieman did last week. I took some Mr. Roboto paper (seen in the first picture in the following collage) from Cosmo Cricket and made it fit a Valentine's theme by punching small hearts from the reverse side of the designer paper and glued them on and around the robots. I added mini rhinestones for eyes and some screw brads to give a mechanical touch.

If you want to participate, you have to get Pat the cards by February 7th. Several bloggers (like, Jennifer Buck) are offering a chance of blog candy if you participate.

I'm off to the Post Office to mail these to Pat. Thanks for looking!

Card Ingredients
Stamps: A Happy Heart (SU!)
Paper: Pre-cut textured cards & envelopes (Die Cuts With a View...I picked up on clearance at Michael's since they are Christmas colors), Mr. Roboto (Cosmo Cricket), Cogsmo Links (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Basic Black
Other: 2" circle punch (Fiskars), heart punch (McGill), foam tape, Making Memories brads, mini rhinestones (Michael's), screw brads (Michael's), paper piercing template & paper piercer

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year, everyone!!! Here's my card for Kristina's latest color inspiration challenge (#36).

The colors this week are:

I woke up to the new year barely able to speak. I had a fever on Monday and now I appear to have laryngitis. Our New Year's Eve was quiet. I made pizzas and we had some family over for dinner. I buy the already made pizza dough from Trader Joe's. I use fresh mozzarella and some parmesan cheese. We didn't have pepperoni, but I made four differently-topped pizzas, plain, bacon, ham, ham & bacon. My favorite pizza is margherita pizza (tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil). I don't like meat on my pizza. We played with our new Ninendo Wii. I love the Wii Fit and Wii Sports. You definitely get a workout playing.

The layout for this card was inspired by a card on the cover of latest Spanish SU! catalog.

Thanks for looking!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: A Happy Heart

Paper: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Georgia Peach designer paper (SU!), white paper (JudiKins)

Ink: Rose Red

Other: Word Window Punch (I couldn't find my stamp-a-ma-jig), mini rhinestones (Michael's), 3/4" circle punch, white clamp (blog candy from Theresa), pink ribbon