Superhero Altered Letters

Well it's been a long while but I finally finished my second set of superhero letters. I feel bad because they were sitting forever on my desktop and then came my dd had to ask me about them..guilt set in, guilt because I started them so long ago and guilt because it's so unlike me to let things sit undone for so long especially when I know someone is waiting on me.

Ironically I couldn't remember exactly what I had done for Zachary's letters, so hoping they weren't too much the same.

Using my silhouette and stamps and dies to get these done. Have to say my silhouette was being particularly fussy with me. I suspect I need a new blade or at least that's what I am telling myself.

A whole lot of foam stamp to pop some the images to give them more dimension. I have to say they look pretty good.

Sending Sunshine

The other day my daughter came over with the boys and they had just gotten the Valentine Day's card I sent them. She was telling me how much they enjoyed getting mail and usually she gives them the flyers so when my card came it was a big treat to have actual mail. The little one loved it so much he stuck the card in the bib of his overalls and carried it around all day. Now doesn't that just warm your heart?

I told her I would try to send them cards on a regular basis so this is the first of that attempt. I will confess I was in a bit of a rush it was late last night when I pulled it together but it's sort of cute and with a snappy superhero stamp to stick on the envelope I am pretty sure they will love it.

Oh and this was all pretty simple. The cloud die is from Simon Says stamp, the paper, sentiment and sun stamps and dies are all from Papertrey Ink. The pre-imaged paper really helps this be a fairly simple and quick card.

Sewing: Prototype Button Up Shirts

So I found some really cute Surfs Up fabric from Dear Stella and a button shirt pattern that I wanted to make for Zack and Marshall, but the pattern was for a long sleeve shirt and was meant to be really long in the length, especially the back and I was thinking I would like more of a Hawaiian type shirt for summer.

I decided to make a trial run from fabric that was in the same line and make my alterations with those for a first attempt. I needed to cut the overall length shorter and at first I was going to make the hem straight across but after looking at my husbands shirts I decided some length in the back should occur. Then I also had to determine the length of the sleeves and since I didn't have the boys readily at hand I used a tee shirt I had purchased for my guesstimating. So a bit of trial and error.

Whenever you follow a pattern for the first time you never know quite what to expect, all was good until I got to the collar portion, that was my error. I envisioned a lined or contrast fabric on the inside of the shirt so opted for white instead of using the same material as the shirt. I think you can see where I am going with this, I messed up and ended up with the white collar on the outside and I was not about to undo it, it wasn't that simple. So in order to balance out that strip of white I decided to add some white bands on the sleeves. Now we have a very preppy looking shirt not what I was going for, but since this was the prototype it should be ok.

I am anxious to have them try them on so I can determine what adjustments need to be made.

So the Blue is for Zack and the Orange is for Marshall, but as you can see even thought I made Marhsall's smaller it looks almost the same size.

Best thing about this pattern is that cute pocket.

Here is the fabric that I plan to make the other shirts with, I think this time to be safe, no contrast collar.

Wine Tote

So to go with the card I made on Monday for my bff is this wine tote. I will tell you right now this was probably one of the worse patterns I ever followed. I thought I was making a lined tote and while I kept questioning so many things with this pattern I tried to keep faith that it would work out. I was horribly wrong. It did not end up being lined but rather I made two bags which is not what the instructions promised or eluded to. I also didn't care for the French seams with the denim but that was more of my doing than the pattern and I definitely didn't like some of the vagueness in the instructions or the non centered handles.

But I refused to give up, in the end I before I finished it off I just decided to marry the two bags making a reversible tote which in the long run wasn't a bad idea. The tote now has inside and outside pockets and of course you can change the bag from mostly denim to mostly pink. There is also a divider that sit between two bottles of wine, but honestly I think this bag would carry four bottles.

I am sure she will like it either way and just to make sure I will add a couple of bottles of wine.

Last Birthday Card

Yea! I finally completed the last of my birthday cards. This cute stamp is from Wild Rose Studio.

Such a darling little elephant. I made this card for my bff and while she loves hot pink I opted to go towards purple and decided to not do multiple colored balloons but thought more about buying balloons in a colored theme.

I have to say Purple is my enemy, it's my enemy because while I like it, it has to be one of the most difficult colors to color match. I always have a hard time with finding pp or ribbon that will match or coordinate, but for some reason I did luck out and had just 1 sheet of a matching purple cardstock.

Hawaiian Card

This is my very last guy card. The most challenging of all if you can believe it, for my very own 24 y/o son or at least he will be 24.

He is kind of a straightforward simple kind of guy. He doesn't like the cutesy cards too much and I really had to think a bit about what he might like.

I just happened to have been playing with some watercolors and made a background that I was trying to figure out what to do with and I kept thinking of a sunset which lead me to think about Hawaii for some reason or the other and then I found my little Hawaiian stamp that I actually bought in Maui at some point so they just seemed to marry together quite nicely.

I must tell you I am entirely uncomfortable with such a plain card. By plain I mean no 3D embellishments, no popping up anything, no tags, no ribbon or twine, nothing. But when I found the sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink I kind of just thought this worked. It's really very simple but for him I think it will pass muster.

Watercolor Balloons

I am rounding third base getting these birthday cards completed. I will be happy when they are no longer on my to do list.

I decided to play with a bit of watercolor and the balloon die set from Taylored Expressions and broke out my embossing plates. It's been forever and a day since I last used those.

Also using my book die from Papertrey Ink, the star die from Memory box and the stamped sentiment from Simon Says stamp.

This card is another guy card, this time for an ex-coworker friend. I know he is going to enjoy getting a little happy mail.