Baby Blue

Simple baby card with paper piecing. This technique never gets old... :-)

Happy 3rd Birthday

I forgot Nathan's 3rd birthday card... ;-)

Trendy Twine Tuesday: Feel better bunny...

The 3 years old daughter of one of my cousins recently fell in the stairs and broke her collarbone! :-( This happened to my daughter a few years ago (she fell from a tree) and it was a very painful and slow recovery. So I made a little card to cheer her up. :-)

I used Melanie's bunny, stamped on craft cardstock and cut out, then I bended the right paw, and made my own little sling out of Strawberry Cupcake Trendy Twine. So fun! :-)
I hope she'll get a little kick out of it... :-)

Jungle Birthdays

Still playing with Melanie's furry friends, I made those birthday cards for my twin nephew and niece. She gets the zebra, he gets the giraffe. I used giftwrapping as my background because I thought it looked so cute. The banners and added animals are on foam tape, of course... ;-)

Somebunny's birthday...

It had been too long since I last played with Melanie's little critters... So today I used her bunny to wish my 2 years old niece a happy birthday. I love this springy paper by DCWV, and cut out some of the flowers to place them in the bunny's basket, same with the little butterfly I added on the ear. Bunny is on foam tape for some added dimension.

This card makes me happy. :-D

Baby girl

Super simple baby card. Just letting the paper do all the talking... :-)
I am in LOVE with those papers' collections: Nana's nursery, baby girl (2 used here) and baby boy, from DCWV. I have used them on lots of cards, most of them not even baby cards, and they are awesome! :-D

Melanie's blog hop and my frog prince...

Melanie Muenchinger is celebrating two years of blogging and illustrating for Gina K Designs, and today she has invited 25 designers and YOU to join the party!

First hop through the following designers' blogs using every set she has created since January 2008, from the first to the 25th! Then go to Melanie's'blog to leave a comment for a chance to win a number of different prizes! So let's get hopping!

Here we go!

Just So Hippy-Charmaine
Just So Hoppy-Donna
What's in Your Tin 1 & 2-Donna
Hip Hop Accessories-Bee (you are here! :-))
Jumping for Joy-Barb
Cuddles and Hugs-Jessie
Little Tees-Cat
Just So Sporty-Pam
A Year of Flowers-Theresa
Say it with Flowers-Selma
Have a Cookie-Carolina
Tee Talk-Gabby
Hand in Hand-Ally
The Best Things in Life-Shannon, Sankari
A Charmed Life-Cathy
Wee Tees-Libby, Laura Jean
Arranged with Love-Selma
Sporty Accessories-Tina
Inspiration Mosaic-Jennie
School Sports Spirit-Melissa
A Year of Leaves-Geri
Hip to Be Square-Karen
Festive Frame-Linda
Tech Talk-Tech Talk- Lee


Finally, Nina and Jessica from the GinaK Senior Design Team have joined in, too!
You can also get in on the hop yourself and increase your chances of
winning a prize by creating your own project with any one of Melanie's sets and linking it in the Mr. Linky in her post, see full details here.
Hope you can join the fun! Enjoy your first hop of the year!

As for my card, it's pretty straight forward. I chose the little frog in honor of the new Disney movie "The princess and the frog" that I enjoyed with my daughter the other day. I made a simple pop-up inside with a little heart that says "kiss me".

Wishing you a wonderful NEW YEAR! May it be happy, healthy and peaceful! :-) <3>

Toothfairy Tin

My niece just turned 5, and I expect she will lose teeth soon... so I made her a little toothfairy box to put under her pillow... I made a little "cup" for her tooth with a prima flower and added a little pocket to leave messages to the toothfairy... I used Melanie's tins stamps set and drew the tooth by hand. I think she'll have fun with that... ;-)

Belated birthday

A simple birthday card for my niece...

Butterfly baby

A card I made for my cousin who had a little girl...2 months ago...the card hasn't left the house yet...Ooops.... This new set by Melanie is gonna be perfect for my scrapbooking pages of baby Nathan! :-D The butterfly wings are covered with flock. (Awesomely cool paper by DCWV Nana's nursery baby girl)

Ladybug 2

This is the "reverse" card from the one I made for Naomi's birthday, I used the opposite frames.I think it will likely be my Mom's mother's day card...

For the little 'Lady Burg"

I made this card for Naomi's 8th birthday. The paper frames are done with the Nestabilities, the white background is cuttlebugged with leaves and pierced, and the ladybugs are covered with crystal effect.

Blue giraffe Thank-You

Unless she is playing the prolongations, today is the last day of Melanie's 1 week blogaversary celebration... So I made a last little card using her sets "So hippy" "So hoppy" and "Hip-hop accessories".

I am really bad at preparing things in advance, I tend to do everything last minute. Believe me, I have tried and am still trying to improve on that point!! My bag for the maternity isn't even ready yet... But I thought I would make the thank-you card for the hospital staff now! My husband can always come back home afterwards to grab my toothbrush if I deliver in an emergency but I doubt he will sit at my desk and make a card for the staff... ;-) ...

For this card I decided to go a little bit out of my comfort zone, by making a somewhat monochromatic card which is something I very rarely do. Since we're having a boy I decided to go all blue, I hope they won't be put off by a white and blue giraffe... ;-) Cutting the hair on the neck of the giraffe image was too time consuming so I made him a little "custom fringe" of my own instead with blue cardstock...

Melanie's blog-hop : my closet dividers

As I mentioned the other day, our dear Melanie is having a blog-hop to celebrate her blogaversary! :-) She nicely decided to feature the people that have been her guest-designers or have won one of her contests that past year! I was lucky to win (it was a tie with Donna) one of her contests so here I am! :-)

My project is closet dividers that you use to separate your baby's clothes by size. You might have seen those in baby stores, I used to think it was useless, but it is frustrating to put baby clothes aside because they are too big at the time, only to find them again when they are actually too small! ;-)

It's a simple project done using my Nestabilities, and Melanie's "Just so hippy", "Just so hoppy" and "Hip-hop accessories". I colored the images with Prismacolor markers (I didn't want to use OMS while pregnant), I made 2 of each so that they look the same on both sides, and I laminated them afterwards for durability and ease of use. You could certainly add little ribbons or other blings after laminating them, but I kept those simple since they are for my little one who should join us in less than 3 weeks now! :-)

{ETA: Not sure where my step by step pics disappeared over the years?... o.O But it's simple:

1- Cut ovals (I recommend layering 2 for durability or adding another layer like I did with the scallops.)
2- Punch out a circle at the top.
3- Color/decorate (keep it FLAT). Write the sizes.
4- Laminate.
5- Repunch the circle, then cut a simple thin slit (like 1/8 inch) on one side of the circle hole to be able to slide those on the hanging rod.
6- Decorate mote if you like, add ribbons etc...}

Melanie also asked us to answer a few questions so below are my answers:

Favorite technique: Paper dry embossing (I'm in love with my Cuttlebug folders ;-)) and I also love embossing with powder and my heatgun.
Favorite colors/color combo: I'm a rainbow kind of girl! The only color I don't like and use very rarely or in small touches is yellow. My favorite color is blue and I love pairing it with all kind of colors. Most of the time when I make a card or project it is with someone in mind so I get my color inspiration from the person or from the paper I feel like using that day, or the ribbon...
Favorite type of project to make that’s not a card: Anything with my kids in mind, and maybe giftcards holders. Oh and those mini albums I have been making lately...:-)
Favorite Gina K set by Melanie: It's hard to say, but I would go with "Have a cookie" and "Hand-in-hand" even though I have neither of them (yet! ;-))...
Favorite Gina K sets (from any illustrator): Same as above! :-)
Craft supplies I can’t live without: Well the basics: paper & cardstock, ribbons, stamps, coloring pencils and markers... for the "extras" I would say my Cuttlebug and the embossing folders and my Nestabilities... Of course Prima flowers and brads and... ;-)
I've been stamping for ...a little less than 1 1/2 year.
I get my inspiration from ...anything! But I am certainly influenced by all the crafty blogs I visit!.. ;-)
The most important things I’ve learned about stamping/cardmaking/scrapbooking are ...that's it's all about you! LOL! It's not about following rules or doing a perfect job or something that everyone will rave about, it's about having fun and expressing yourself! If in the process it makes someone else feel loved or appreciated then it's even better! :-D I started papercrafting to have something just for me that I enjoy and that relaxes me. It is definitely liberating and rewarding. I had no clue I would "meet" (over the net ;-)) so many wonderful people in the process! ♥...
Some of my stamping/crafting goals are: Make my kids' photo albums (much catching up to do in that area, years!!!..). Scrapbook more. Make a recipe book for my daughter with traditional french recipes from my grandmother. Maybe one day (years from now!) design my own stamps? Who knows?...
Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments are: I still see myself as kind of a newbie in that field so my accomplishments are still ahead of me!... ;-)

There you have it, don't forget to visit Melanie's blog and check the talented ladies I was lucky to be featured with. Plus there are tons of fun stuff to win.... Now that's a celebration!!

Happy blogaversary Melanie! You sure deserve your success! :-)

Melanie's blogaversary.

Please go help Melanie Muenchinger celebrate a year of blogging and stamp designing over at her blog “Hands, Head and Heart”.
Melanie and her guest designers will be sharing cards and projects from all her sets released through Gina K Designs this past year and prizes will be up for grabs every day!
Sponsors include, Gina K Designs, My Favorite Things, Scor-pal, Paper Temptress, and Melanie herself, who is donating, among other goodies, a brand new box of Copic Ciaos! There will also be challenges, contests, and a Who’s Who “Where are they now?” on several of her past contest winners and guest designers!
Come join in the fun and help spread the word, see you there!

http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/

(I will post my "Melanie project" later this week... ;-)...)

You go girl!

This is a card I made for my hubby's cousin who moved to NY a few months ago. She is french and has been working for a little less than a year in NY now and was first living with my husband's family on Long Island. But now she's living the NY life, in the center of the Big Apple and with a roommate, just like in the movies... I think this is a pretty big deal! ;-) She is in her early 20ies, and I can't say I would have been brave enough to take NY all on my own when I was this age, LOL!

NEWS!!!!...

What do you think?.....

The cover of a planner I bought recently....

Detail on the first page of my planner.....

With this obvious clues, you now understand why I have been absent from "paper-blogs-world" over the last months!... I was feeling exhausted and nauseous, among other things...

Yes, I am pregnant!! :-D After a long wait and a 3rd miscarriage in March, I am now 17 weeks along in a new pregnancy. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing, the first trimester was very stressful and we spent way too much time in the doctor's office with reasons to believe that this baby would not make it. :-(

But he/she did! :-) We are now in a much better place, even though there are still some issues that might become problematic, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it (if we ever have to!). We are so grateful to have this little life with us, and I want to thank the people that were in the know and prayed for us. Your support was greatly appreciated!♥ :-)

Our baby is due end of January, and I bought this little planner (in the back to school section ;-)) to record some of my thoughts and/or facts about this pregnancy. I thought the little tees would be a nice fun little touch... :-) I might decorate it a little more once I know the baby's gender... ;-) ...

Giraffe window tri-fold

Lastly, the card to go with my niece's gifts for her b-day. She likes pink and purple, like any 4 years old girl ;-), hence the choice of color for the cardstock!...(and the addition of Stickles around the windows).

I colored the image with Kooh-i-noor pencils and baby oil. I was a little worried by the oil stains the baby oil makes on the paper but it almost completely disappeared when it dried and, since the panel is then glued on another layer, you don't see the stains that are on the back of the picture! ;-) I find it much harder to blend colors with oil than with OMS though.

For the budding writer

underside of the tin...

This is the other project for my niece Laura. There is also a little scrapbook album with pictures from her visit in Florida last summer but as you can see I am slightly behind, so that one won't make it on time for her b-day!... :-(

For the tin I used the same model than the one I made for Naomi months ago (http://dare2beecreative.blogspot.com/2008/04/message-tin.html) , with Melanie's stamps sets "What's in your tin 1 & 2".

Since my niece is only turning 4, and her Mom told me she loves little boxes of all kind and can carry them around all day, I decided to stick with a flat design (no flowers or raised embellishments on the top) this way it is also easier to slip them in a little bag without damaging anything! This time also, I added a layer of Contact paper (self-adhesive transparent paper) on the top and the bottom, that way the ink won't run and the paper won't get scratched.

The inside is pretty much identical to Naomi's tin: Mini Post-it notes and little gel pens, so she can leave little notes all around the house! :-D... The little heart is a paper clip.

Berry sweet tee

I was waiting for the 15th to post this one, because of Gina K. guest designer call, but then it hit me that I used stamps from Paper Trey Ink alongside Melanie's "little tees" and that I am probably expected to use all Gina k. stamps for my submission... I guess that will give me an excuse to make more tee cards! (Heee!) ;-)

This card is for Lee, who has such a big heart it sure wouldn't fit in a little tee. She knows why I have been MIA and sent me the sweetest little note (in a beautiful handmade card of course! ;-)) alongside some pearl stickers and ribbon! She's so sweet I had to use that stamp from PTI...

And since it's for Lee, I just had to put some pink somewhere and some glitter, so I put Stickles on some of the stripes of the DP, it's hard to see but as always click on the pic and you'll get the giant version with all the details! ;-)