An April Baby

I have been SO excited to use these adorable stamps, hand-drawn and made for me by StampOutOnline. Could this girl BE any more adorable? I am going to abuse the privilege of this stamp already, I know it.

I set out to work using the New Arrival cartridge, and used the "Card 1" feature to print out this cute preggo girl (page 25). I then stamped the card and the envelope carefully, with my paper on a magazine for extra cush and maximum stampage. Don't these girls look like they were meant to be together?

I then added a liner from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to the inside of the card, so preggo mama could have a polka-dot dress on. I used my Gypsy so that the "circle punch" wouldn't cut out, making for a nice rounded-corners. Of course, mama also needed a hat and purse, and her accessories are easily cut out from the New Arrival cartridge as well. I glue dotted those for some 3D action.

Babies need lots of new goodies, so I go the mama-to-be a Babies-R-Us gift card. I then cut out this gift card holder from the Wild Cards cartridge.  I used my Fiskars cutter with a scoring blade to make a perfect score.

The gift card fits perfectly, and I just added some bling to make it look like a little clutch. The paper also matches preggo mama's dress.

I then decided to add April's name to the envelope, since baby's name hadn't been announced yet. I used the Sans Serif font cartridge. My super-pointy Fiskars scissors came in handy here in smashing the edges down nicely.

One day after I gave April her card, she gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. So already this card is a smash hit I think!

Congrats, April, and blessings on your new baby girl!
Cheers,

-marcia

Shopping Til I Drop (off to Sleep, preferably ...)

I am currently battling a sinus infection that came out of allergies. UGH. This means being on prednisone and antibiotics. Unfortunately, the antibiotics make me feel sick and the prednisone makes me act sick. The side-effects of prednisone are numerous and unexpected, but I'm starting to notice some patterns.

Besides being moody (Sorry Mr. Awesome), prednisone seems to put some random, annoying song in my head. When I was sick in December, Taylor Swift would play in my head over and over, all night long, when I was trying to sleep but the meds were keeping me up. Let's just say Romeo and I weren't on speaking terms by the end of those three weeks. This time it seems to be Bruno Mars, who would apparently catch a grenade for me but won't get out of my brain. KaboooM!



It also makes me obsessed with having to do something immediately, and to the extreme. In December, I had just gotten my Gypsy and I would lie awake, listening to Taylor Swift in my head and thinking about how I needed to make cards for everyone I knew that very moment! Let's just say that if the Cricut was quieter and not adjacent to our bedroom, I would have been producing instead of obsessing.

This time, my mom is coming to town this weekend (YIPPEE!), so that means I'm obsessed with getting all my ducks in a row for The Wedding Album. At least it's well-timed obsessive energy.

What these obsessions lead to is ... shopping. Mostly for craft items. Seriously, I should hand my credit cards to Mr. Awesome when I go on prednisone. In addition to yesterday's chandelier-themed purchases, and a fluke win of the Home Decor cartridge on eBay ... I ordered a whole slew of stuff from ScrapbookPal.com after I decided at 2 a.m. that I absolutely could not do my wedding album without the Elegant Edges cartridge and the Damask Decor cartridge. In my 2 a.m. delusion, I decided I needed to get them for $50 each (not the $90 MSRP), that they needed to ship to me by this weekend, and that the shipping needed to be free. Wouldn't you know that ScrapbookPal came through on all counts and I should have my stuff tomorrow ... along with some Glimmer Mist, Stickles, ink etc.... Yippee!



In the meantime, I've been playing with the new cartridges on my Gypsy.  I guess I should eat my words that it is dumb that they preload all the cartridges on there, even if you don't have them. I am SO excited to get these carts and know they will be super useful for The Wedding Album and beyond. YAH!

Lets just say the shopping didn't end there, and there are sparkles, stamps and chipboard waiting for my Week O Scrapping with my Mom. If I run out of adhesive or some such nonsense, I'll definitely have to send her to JoAnn's ALONE!



All this to say ... I SHOULD be producing some quality craftiness in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Nighty night! (I'll be dreaming of Pink by Design stamp sets and my very own Imagine ... )
-marcia

Swinging from the Chandeliers?

I have been obsessed with chandeliers recently as I think they would make some nice images for my upcoming wedding scrabook as well as cards. They are both classy and dark/goth at the same time. I would love to have a giant, over-the-top, crystal chandelier in our otherwise modern dining room and another one in a kitschy bathroom/powder room. So cute.

There actually aren't a ton of chandelier craftiness out there, but I managed to find a Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, which comes with a Chandelier and a Thank You emboss, so both pretty handy. This was around $9 on Overstock.com. I hope these work as well as the Cricut brand folders in my Cuttlebug.



I also found this great set by Inkadinkado (also on Overstock.com) that has a few different chandeliers. I am just getting into stamping so we'll see what I end up doing with these.



And finally, I was able to purchase the Home Decor Cricut cartridge on eBay for less than $12 with shipping. Yah! love those kind of finds. I mainly wanted it for the chandelier image (since I don't have the Cricut Circle exclusive French Manor cart, and never will based on the $100 eBay price tag!). But it also has some other neutral images that would be great for cards and backgrounds.



My mom is coming on Friday and staying for a whole week, so we are hoping to launch into my wedding scrapbook. Our wedding hall had gorgeous chandeliers, so hopefully I can incorporate these fun new finds!

Cheers!
-marcia

Happy Cupcake Birthday, Brittany!

Today is my fabulous friend Brittany's birthday. One of the first people to befriend me when I moved to Long Beach ... definitely the first friend to let me cry on her couch, and see me through to smiles again. :)

Brit is one of those people who has wisdom beyond her years, and loves cupcakes as much as me. :)


Have a fabulous day, friend!

The Baby Cake Shower

We are so excited to meet Beckham Patrick Davis, the soon-to-arrive baby cake of Megan and Jason Davis (Megan is Mr. Awesome's cousin).

The Davis duo are awesome. Not only did they help with our wedding, which took place just months before their amazingly awesome wedding, they also let us come stay with them last year while they lived in NYC. Imagine being able to walk to the Met, central park, the subway ... to eating authentic slices of pizza, Argentinian steak, and the best cannolis in the world. So lovely and sweet of them to show us around their cool city.

Now they are back in LA (yay!), and we get to celebrate Megan and baby Beckham today! Megan appreciates the details, so I endeavored to make her a card that lets her know how excited we are for her and Jason and their very first baby! 

I got the idea to make the word "Shower" pop off the card from Sweet Sassy Diva. I found the word "Shower" on Gypsy Wanderings under the phrases key, and then welded it to the rattle from New Arrival. I welded that to a tag that included welded corners from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. The trick is cutting out your word a second time, by itself, on a different colored paper--that way it really pops out and is readable.

I wrapped a bow around it, and I applied the whole thing to an A2 Base. I topped it off with a "bathtub and shower" from New Arrival. It has a layer if you'd like to add it, but I chose to use the shadow and apply Therm O Web Foam Squares to the whole thing to make it jump.

Inside I used the same bright yellow from the word "Shower" to decorate the inside. I found the umbrella in Paisley and welded it inside this nifty little shape from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. Super cute!

I decided to tie the envelope together with the same ribbon from the card, so I used my Crop-o-Dile and went to town. There are two holes and eyelets on the flap and one hole below.

Adds an especially elegant baby shower vibe, don't you think?















I think it's super-fun to for the parents-to-be to see their baby's name on things ... so I welded together "Beckham Patrick" in the Gypsy Font. The trick to getting the perfect shadow is using your layers on the Gypsy.

Line it up on another layer to make sure it cuts out perfectly. Even if it's not totally perfect, who's to know? I added a little bling for the "i" in Patrick and we are all set.

Cartridges Used
Gypsy Font
Gypsy Wanderings
New Arrival
Paisley
Tags, Bags, Boxes and More

Cheers to the soon-to-arrive happy, healthy baby boy!
-marcia