Convention, here I come!

No, I wasn't able to attend Close To My Heart's Convention this year in D.C. (which starts today) but I'd like to say a little piece of me is there this year! I was so honored earlier this year when I received a very special invitation from Close To My Heart. I was asked to participate in this year's Silent Auction to benefit Operation Smile. What an honor to be asked, but what pressure! I remembered a couple of last year's participants, Lisa and Tresa, and wondered how I could ever compare to the talented Consultants that would also be creating artwork for the auction. I finally accepted the fact that I could never compare but just to create something from my heart! I had plenty of time to work on it, luckily (though most of that time was spent just pondering my project) and finally the week that it was due to be postmarked, I started...and pulled it off!

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I am really pleased with how it turned out, and I look forward to seeing the other auction items. I hope it helps raise a lot of money for a good cause! I have shared a sneak peek here, but now here is the entire calendar project, as many of you correctly guessed. I used the Splendor paper pack on the entire calendar, just added a color here and there to fit with the month/theme. I also used the Irresistables Lots of Dots - it was great to customize the color for each month.

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January - also used Flurry Dimensional Elements and added Moonstruck CS - sponged the snowflake with Heavenly Blue and Moonstruck ink. It's hard to see in the picture, but under the chipboard snowflake and going up over the circle at the top, I stamped one of the snowy flourishes from the Flurries stamp set in White Daisy ink and chalked it with a light blue chalk.

February - also used the frog Stickease from Splendor, and a Heart Dimensional Element (but wish I would have sponged it a different color)

March - also used Bunny Love stamp set and Heavenly Blue buttons from the Spring Craft Button collection. The bubbles have the Glitz Stardust Glitter Gel on them to make them sparkle.

April - also used the Springtime stamp set, accented with Colonial White brads.

May - also used the Childhood stamp set for the kite.

June - also used Pizzazz Irresistables colored with Moonstruck and Topiary ink, and Splendor Designer Brads - dry embossed and sanded the border.

July - also used my new favorite stamp set Over the Rainbow - this month's page is one of my favorites - check out what I did with the window from the new A-Door-Ables. Here it is closed...can you see it?

and open...the balloon has the Glitz Stardust Glitter Gel on it.

August - also used the Summer Sweetness stamp set, Liquid Glass on the seeds, Tulip ribbon, and Topiary brads, and Tulip ink.

September - also used the Good Work stamp set and a bracket from the Pizzazz Irresistables inked with Heavenly Blue ink.

October - also used the Creepy Cobwebs stamp set and added black ink and black brads for the spiders.

November - this is another one of my favorites - I made the pumpkins using my oval Coluzzle cut from different Goldrush patterns from the Splendor pack and sponged the edges - I also added Splendor Designer Brads and Autumn Terracotta and Topiary Brads. This page got a little too thick with all of the brads but I still like it. I will be doing a lot more pumpkins like this - so cute and so easy - and you can do them any size you want!

December - I also used the Holiday Trinkets stamp set, some ricrac Stickease from the Splendor set, and added Tulip ink and CS. To create the scallop corner I took my Irresistables Lots of Dots 'leftovers' (the circles from the insides of the letters o, d, b, etc), colored them, and just added them under the corner.

Well, that's it - thanks for looking! I'd love to hear what you think - which month is your favorite?

1st B-day Invites

Here are the invites that the girls and I did for Trysten's 1st birthday. These cards go along with this week's challenge over at Practical Scrappers to use stamps. We used the train from the Childhood stamp set and '1st Birthday' came from Nursery Bash stamp set. I did this card using the Stardust papers...

...and the girls did the rest. I cut all the papers but they stamped, distressed, and glued together - didn't they do such a great job! Can you guess which one Brailee did - here's a hint, she LOVED playing with the buttons!

Thanks for looking!

Baby onesies and matching cards

Do you remember THIS shirt that I made for Trysten shortly after he was born? Well, I've had a lot of fun making more - even a version for a girl! ETA: If you want to know how I created these, check out the link I posted in the first sentence - super easy, super cute! Here are my latest...

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For a family in our ward who adopted a baby boy a few months ago - the mom made sure to show me when he wore it to church a couple weeks ago - he looked so cute! The card, bag, and envelope were all created with the same papers - how's that for coordinating! I LOVE how this tie turned out, I might just have to make one for Trysten, too!

I actually made up this card pattern - just grabbed my scraps and put them together - that's not something I usually do, so I was quite impressed with myself ;-) Sometimes I get too dependent on sketches and patterns and don't work on my own. The vellum phrase on the front came from a random pack of vellum sentiments.

The stamp set used on the bag is called Baby Impressions (retired).

Here is my girl version - using the Twitterpated paper pack I created a fun girly collar and buttons - or at least I hope it looks girly ;-) I had to play around with my idea/shape a lot - at first it looked too much like a bra - I hope it doesn't anymore! This was a nice quick gift for a friend who just had her baby last night!

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of the card - the clothes are paper pieced or colored in with markers and look super cute! The card pattern is from Wishes - Classic Closure. I used the Sweet Baby and Baby Steps stamp sets.

Here are two shirts for a friend who is due with a baby boy - she gets two shirts just because they are both so darn cute and I couldn't pick a favorite. This set uses the Sarsaparilla papers.

This card uses the Childhood stamp set and another pattern from Wishes - Medallion.

Here is one I made to just have on hand for a quick gift - I used the Everyday Celebration papers.

I obviously love this stamp from the Childhood set for baby cards - perfect! This card uses another Wishes pattern - Collage.

Thanks for looking!

Childhood

Here are a couple of cards that I created a while ago using the fun Childhood stamp set - it's a favorite of mine!

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This was the card I created for David's brother and his wife who welcomed a new baby boy to their family back in July. I even stamped a fun border on the envelope.

I used the Twitterpated paper and the following sketch from Mojo Monday.

Here is a fun moving card that I created for one of my nephews who is turning two in November. His brother got this moving train card for his birthday earlier this year, so I wanted to create a fun one for him, too! The kite flies! I have step by step pictures that I took while creating this card so if anyone is interested and would like to know how I did it, I can put a tutorial together - just let me know!

I used another sketch from Mojo Monday for this card as well.

Thanks for looking!

Moving Birthday Cards for Boys!

Here are some cards I've made recently for little birthday boys. First here is the card I made for one of the little boys that I babysit - T turned 3 last week and he is OBSESSED with construction equipment - he can tell you which is an escavator, bobcat, loader, etc. Anyway, I just knew I had to do something like that for his birthday card. I don't have any construction stamps, so I paper pieced this fun card. I used the Solo 3 for the big number in the bucket, and the dirt came from the Wonderful Charms stamp set. And since I haven't been able to get rid of all of my decorative edge scissors, I finally put a pair to good use - they worked perfectly to create the track and the bucket! I also tried a funky rocking shadow stamp technique with the birthday sentiment.

It was inspired by this shirt of Trysten's.

Next here is the slider card I made for one of our nephews - he turned 4 earlier this month. He loves trains so I knew I could put this new stamp set, Childhood, to use. I created the base of this slider card using Clover Meadow CS, then I tore some Dutch Blue CS (I used the lighter side) to resemble mountains. The cute sun came from a retired set called Crayon House.

Thanks for looking!