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Friday, June 21, 2013

hello my friend

It's Friday! That probably means something for you working folks. I stay home with the kids and it's summer. I have no idea what day of the week it is anymore!!
 
So anyway, I  have this card today.
I don't typically use soft colors like this.
But I'm playing with Runway Inspired Challenges and this is their inspiration photo:
 
I'm also using Unity's card sketch for their challenge.
 
I used sewing thread on the bottom of the card. I think it's much more delicate than twine, and I just really like the look too.
 
Wanna know a secret? So the backside of my gray paper was white. But I wanted it to be coral on the back for when I folded it over. So I just taped a coral print on the back. It actually adds a little heft to the paper so when you fold it, it stays a bit rolled and doesn't go flat. One more tip - tape the papers together before you cut the panel. Then you won't get that little white edge like I did on the edge of the coral paper.
 

Thanks for stopping by today!
I hope you enjoy your weekend and stay safe from fires or flooding or whatever may be happening in your area.


Monday, June 17, 2013

One of the Boys

The current challenge over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog is a sketch.
Here's my layout:
I used my June Simon Says Stamp card kit. I love all the Basic Grey Hipster papers. LOVE.
 
Here's the sketch:
 
I loved the papers so much I tried to squeeze on as many as I could using these banners.

 
And of course some ink and enamel dots were necessary. :)
The Retro Lawn Trimmings hemp cord from Lawn Fawn just matched the papers perfectly


 You've got three weeks to play along this time. We extended the deadline due to the July 4th holiday. Sheryl will have a wonderful prize for a lucky winner! I hope you can join us.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Just Beachy

Hey there! Just a reminder to come join the Beach theme challenge over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog!
 
Even if you are landlocked like I am try some swimming pool or sand box photos!

Or even make a fun card like I made last week:
 
Heather will have a wonderful prize to send out to a random winner!
I hope you can come play!


Thursday, June 6, 2013

It's all good

I've got a fun summery beach card today.
Can't you just imagine lounging in this chair with your favorite scrappy mag and a cold beverage??
 
The inspiration for this card came from the Pinspiration Challenge #10 which is this photo:
 I'm not sure why but folding chairs make me think of summer - you know, pulling them out for a big backyard bbq or a family reunion. So I went with the folding chair and the colors for my inspiration.
 The stamp is from Unity and is called It's All Good.
I colored it in with my Spectrum Noir markers and colored the background with watercolor pencils.
 
Thanks for stopping by today!!


Sunday, June 2, 2013

TMNT birthday party

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Heroes in a half-shell.
Turtle power!
I love that my kids watch a show that I watched as a kid!


My middle son has become a fan of TMNT. So we decided it would make a fun theme for his 7th birthday party.
I created this invite in my SCAL2 software and cut it on my Cricut.


 I made him a banner in the turtle colors and the balloon idea is from here. It's just crepe paper and paper eyes. I cut white ovals and drew the black pupils. Only I forgot to give mine mouths!
 (p.s. I know there is supposed to be an orange turtle and not a yellow one. But I could not find orange crepe paper in my town!)
We served pizza for lunch since that is the turtles' favorite food after all!
He wanted his cake to look like a pizza too. I baked the cake in a large round cake pan (14" maybe), frosted with tan frosting (white frosting tinted with brown, yellow, and peach color gels) , used red frosting for the sauce, grated white chocolate for the cheese, fruit rollups for pepperoni and bell peppers, and licorice for the olives.
 
I found these cute Lego candles and just had to use them! (nothing to do with TMNT but they are cute.)
I made these cute mini pizza boxes from kraft paper (I think the svg template came from here) and gave the kids a decorated sugar cookie to take home.

 I set up a cookie bar with sugar cookies, red, green, black, and white colored frostings, sprinkles, and lots of candies. There are these pouches of cookie icing from Betty Crocker that are easy for kids to squeeze out. And it dries fairly quickly making it somewhat easy to get these home without too much mess. I set out a pizza and a turtle cookie for inspiration. Here's what's left of poor Leonardo...
I'm told he was delicious! His mask is fruit rollup and the candy eyes are from the baking section. The kids may have eaten the fruit rollups and had to create the masks from icing which worked out even better!

These pizza cookies are made with red icing, shredded coconut, grated white chocolate, black licorice, and green fruit rollups.
The kids came up with all kinds of crazy cookies. I wish I took pics of them! I only got one plate that one of my kids made:
 Our little cookie taste tester!
The boys also got to make their own Mutagen Ooze! This was such a huge hit and everyone loved it. It was so easy to make too. Recipe found here. It's just made of water, borax, clear school glue, and food coloring. Instead of the cool container in the link I just used these food containers I found at Walmart. They were inexpensive (a pack of 4 for a buck-something), the lime green lid matched the party!, and the container is wide enough that kids can play with the ooze without removing it.
 Such a fun party!
My birthday boy:
 Oooooohhhhhh....I almost forgot! See that green punch the boys are getting above?
We called it Ooze punch. I wish I took a pic of that too. It was just powdered lemonade mix and soda. Take enough powder to make 4 quarts. Add just enough water to dissolve it. I probably used a couple cups. Stir and add lots of green food coloring. Then add in 2 2-Liter bottles of lemon-lime soda. I just happened to use Sierra Mist. This got more compliments than I ever expected it would.
 It's a really weird and fun green color:

I decorated the table with a black tablecloth and added strips of yellow washi tape to make it look like a street. (The turtles live under the streets in the sewer you know.) I spray painted a small bucket so that it looked like a sewer pipe (idea from here) and added some of his turtle figurines for décor around the pipe. Of course at this point someone had already spilled punch and everything was moved. See all the wet blue napkins?? :)  Believe it or not I just happened to have a bunch of 12" pizza pans from Dollar Tree just laying around left over from another project so I used them as a charger at each place setting. I thought they went with the pizza theme, of course, but also looked a bit like a round sewer cover too!
The kids left with an armful of goodies. I found these giant coloring books a few weeks ago for $1 at Wal-Mart and snatched them up. I also found TMNT cups at Wal-Mart that we used at the party. They each took their cup, pizza cookie (not pictured here), picked a balloon, plus took all their cookies and ooze.
Thanks for stopping by today!

I would love to know if you use any of these ideas. Please leave me a comment with a link to your blog so I can see your party too!