In the spotlight: Kris' color stripes

I discovered this blog today (through Lauren's blog), and it is like nothing else...it's a color palette.
Kris, the artist behind it, who lives in italy, takes pictures of things that inspire her and then draw out color combos from the pics.
It's pretty awesome and a real eye candy.

Check it out: http://color-stripes.blogspot.com/

Purple Overdose

This morning my scrap-buddy bailed on me to go shop the spring break sales! *gasp*

I love shopping (and sales) just as anybody else, but shopping instead of stamping?? Unless you are shopping for stamping/papercrafting supplies, then it's an easy choice for me... ;-) And my bank account was screaming at me to just stay home and stamp anyway...

So, after getting over my disappointment, I finally worked on the Thank You card for the generous sender of my happy mail package.... :-) Her favorite color is purple so I used lots of it obviously! And I used the butterfly stamp that was among the goodies she sent me, since she loves butterflies also... ;-)

The colors are a little off (as usual! ;-)), I can't seem to be able to fix it, but I like this card (in real life!) even though it is monochromatic (which is not something I do often or really like).

My only regret is that I didn't have any wire, because I really would have liked to make little antennaes for the butterfly with golden wire!...

Happy Birthday Noah!

My little guy is 5 today!!

Waow, I still can't believe it.

Ever since he was officially diagnosed with autism, (the day after his 2nd b-day), his birthdays have been bittersweet for me.I'm happy to see him grow and progress every day and he just amazes me! :-)But at the same time I cannot help thinking that he is not the typical 5 years old. In some ways I am happy about that, LOL! In other ways not so much. He still wears diapers and need help getting dressed, he still isn't talking like a regular kid, we cannot make out a lot of what he says and the majority of his langauge consists of scripting (or echolalia) which means he repeats things he heard on TV, or videos....He sure came a long way in those 3 years. But there is still so much to be done. I have every trust in his abilities though and I know this little guy isn't done amazing me.

There isn't a day that I don't tell myself "you are so lucky to have this little guy in your life". He really is a gift and a blessing, a ray of sun in my life. And we are very lucky with his autism because he doesn't have a lot of the characteristics that make everyday life with autistic kids a challenge (he is pretty easy going and isn't stuck in a routine that you cannot disrupt.) He really is a good little guy that seems happy 95% of the time!

His smile is priceless...

I don't think he realizes what is going on or what a birthday is, but it will come in time.

For now I'm just happy to celebrate the arrival of that little miracle in my life. :-)

I love him to pieces, and I am SO proud of him, he has no idea! ;-)

Now the card is very simple because the last one I made for him didn't interest him a bit, LOL! ;-) My son really loves watching Pingu (a cartoon made with animated clay about the cutest little penguin and his family and friends, http://www.pingu.net/) so the choice of stamp was easy... and he really is "One in a million"♥... I embossed the penguin before coloring it to have some kind of definition even though it's colored in dark tones...then Noah came to request to watch Pingu and while putting it on for him I realized I had forgotten the little yellow ring around the white of the belly... It's all in the little details... ;-)

I hope he likes it.... :-D

Happy Birthday Noah!

Fluffles in the meadow

This is a little RAK for a very nice lady who, when she isn't busy giving stuff away on her blog, also posts tutorials... On a recent one, her hands were in such bad shape I had to do something, so she'll receive this card with my beloved Neutrogena Fast Absorbing Hand Cream (the perfect choice for a stamper, for soft hands but no stained projects!)...

The card is nothing original but it uses 2 of my favorite things : my dear Fluffles, and the swiss dots Cuttlebug folder! :-)

Happy Easter to everyone celebrating this Holiday!

French boards

No stamping this week! *gasp* (I know, how awful!!)...

But I finally got to finish the kids french boards.

This was a very simple project that ended up being a little more complicated because my staples wouldn't go through the wood, or if they did they would almost poke throught he batted fabric on the other side... I had to flatten everything with a hammer and finally bought white Duck tape and covered the edges on the back to protect the walls from the staples...

The intersections in the front were also stapled and then I hot glued buttons on the staples. I found the fabric at Walmart and it is gingham already quilted with batting on the back. The pink board has white stitched pink grosgrain ribbon, which you can only see in the enlarged pic, and plain buttons (that aren't this bright in real life), the blue board has plain grosgrain ribbon in 2 colors and shimmery buttons.

As you can see I hate measuring, so I just eyeball everything, this explain why the squares in the pattern aren't square! ;-) But it's no big deal, once you have pics on there you can't really tell...

(Now I love Blogspot but it is absolutely impossible to line up pictures, or I obviously haven't figured it out yet... >:-(...)

ETA: If you like french boards follow Meridith's tutorial : http://anneslittletreasures.blogspot.com/2008/01/ribbon-board-tutorial.html.

She uses canvas, which is a great idea since she is then able to use nice brads at her ribbons intersections, and she doesn't fight with the stapler!!

Unfortunately, I came across her tutorial when I was already half done with my boards.... but when I make new ones, I'll use her technique!!... ;-)

Tag alert...

Do you love tiny little tags? I do! I love seeing them on cards, gifts, you name it...

When I go to Wal-mart, I always make a little detour through the office supplies aisle to see if there is something there I could use for papercrafting...

Today I found those little (thin cardboard) tags. There is 100 of them in the pack and it costs $1.77 (+ tax). What a deal!!

At that price, why bother buying a template or stamp or die cut for mini tags!...

They will be perfect for many projects! :-)

In the spotlight: Kim Hughes

I had mentioned her in my post yesterday, but afterwards I thought she deserved her own post... ;-)
I don't remember how I stumbled onto Kim Hughes's blog a few months ago, it was just one of those exciting time when you are blog hopping and you find one you really like...

It so happens that Kim designs stamps and sell them through Cornish Heritage Farms. I don't own any of her stamps sets yet (watching the budget, remember!?...:-) ) but I like their fun and whimsical charm.
Here are my 2 favorites so far : "Cute curls" http://www.cornishheritagefarms.com/product_info.php/cPath/376_395/products_id/7329 and "a welcome hug" http://www.cornishheritagefarms.com/product_info.php/cPath/376_395/products_id/7411
They can be found at http://www.cornishheritagefarms.com/ along with quite a few other sets! :-)

Kim's blog (Paper Hugs) is fun and her creations are always original with great color impact and play with textures.
Pay her a little visit, I think you'll like it!: http://paperhugs.typepad.com/

Flowers field

I made this card for a friend of mine that recently moved out of her parent's home, quite a big step... I wanted to do a "home warming" card, but I don't own any sets for that (yet! ;-) and my stamps budget is not exactly expanding (I got a HUGE ticket while driving my kids to school, my first!...) and I am really trying to use what I have... :-)... so I made a generic enjoy life type of card....

It actually all started with some happy mail! A (very) kind hearted and dear internet friend who knew about my difficult time sent me a belated birthday gift. It was more a "lift-your-spirit" package and was just overflowing with acrylic (fun) goodies and a beautiful card! :-). I won't tell you who this is or everyone will try and be a special friend of hers, LOL! ;-) Wait till you see the hula penguins she sent..., my hubby and daughter both flipped over those, too funny... :-D

So anyway, yesterday I was walking by my dining room table and saw the pile of goodies right there, and I just stopped what I was doing, sat down and decided to just try some stamps... I picked up this "Flower trio" from Autumn Leaves and stamped it with several inks to give some contrast and shading. I was just playing around, but when I was done I liked it so I cut my little essay out and mounted it on a card... I finished it with my gel pens, and embossed the sentiment at the bottom with black powder. The flowers look better in the big version but then you'll see my sloppy job with the embossing powder, LOL!...

I hope it brings some spring in her snowy and cold winter! :-)

Birthday window

Here is the birthday card I made for my sister-in-law.

I knew I wanted to use the resist technique and try some sort of window.

The colors choice however, is a little bit of a surprise. I started with dark blue ink on my resist and while I was playing around with my (new brown) Primas I got the idea of trying brown instead. I thought at first that purple and brown might be a little risky but I really like them together. My favorite part is the lotus flowers made on this cool multicolor paper, they're embossed with clear powder, I love the little shine and texture it gives them and I actually like the contrast against the coffee bean Brilliance Ink. As always click on an image for the giant version if you want detailed view....

Mommy & Me tins

Waow, my 1st project for March? I can't believe it...

The last 2 weeks are actually a blur of sickness for the whole family, and stress, and heartbreaking loss... :-(

Sometimes bad things just decide to pile on you all at the same time...

As much as stamping therapy was needed, it just wasn't an option at the time...

So I'm back (hopefully on track!) and wanted to share those "Mommy & Me" little tins....

I needed a box to send a glass pendant to my sister-in-law, and I thought it would be fun to decorate a tin a little and make a perfect mini copy for my (3 1/2 years old) niece.

The big tin is from oriental trading and is a little bigger than an Altoids tin. The little one is from PaperTrey Ink, I just adore those, I bought a few to make little teeth boxes, tiny treasures boxes, etc... The papers and ribbon are from Target. You can't see in the pics but I doodled with my gel pens in the middle of the flowers, it's a pretty little shiny effect in real life... The colors are a little off (especially the table under them), but I took the pics at night just before shoving them in a padded envelope, and they're on their way to the post office (if hubby doesn't forget! ;-)) so no re-do! :-)

I think my niece will be really excited when she sees she has the exact same as her mom! ;-)

In hers is a little accordion of paper that my daughter decorated with her drawings.