***Photo Dump Ahead***
Every year, I make my mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law scrapbooked Holiday albums celebrating that season. I ended up making three albums this year, but I somehow didn't take any photos of the album I sent to my mother-in-law. Each album is different in terms of papers and embellishments. Most of the photos stay the same.
This particular album was made for my mother.
***Photo Dump Ahead***
Every year, I make my mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law scrapbooked Holiday albums celebrating that season. I ended up making three albums this year, but I somehow didn't take any photos of the album I sent to my mother-in-law. Each album is different in terms of papers and embellishments. Most of the photos stay the same.
The particular album below was intended to be given to my grandmother. Unfortunately, she passed away on January 2nd before it was completed. It is being sent to my grandfather who I know will enjoy it, but I am devastated that my grandmother never got to enjoy this one.
In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite craft projects of 2017!
1. I always have to include a butterfly card in my Top 10. This year's card is so shiny!
2. Love the Mint and Navy color combo on this floral card.
3. I love coffee so of course I had to get this stamp set and paper. Love these cute cups!
4. As soon as I saw the new catalog, I knew I needed the Pieces and Pattern Stamp Set and Pick a Pattern DSP. The dinosaurs are too adorable!
5. I made each of the boys a decorated letter for their birthday party.
6. I took my quilted card idea from last year and made baby cards this year.
7. Birthday Blooms continues to be one of my favorite stamp sets. For this card, I went super simple but it works!
8. My favorite technique from this past year: salted background.
9. My favorite Christmas card from this season. The gold snowflake really makes this card!
10. This card is so incredibly simple, but I love it. The falling hearts are so much fun!
Today's post is another installment of my coverage of our big joint birthday party. Of course, I had to make a ton of crafts. For Arthur's first birthday, I had made a photo board so I had to do one for Q. Instead of a board, I went with cute banner for the fireplace. Very cute!
Next up, I made the goody bags. Each bag had a foam sword, eye patch, pirate hat, bag of Pirate's Booty, pirate tattoos, a compass, and a ring pop. The baby bags had a pirate rubber duck, graham cracker goldfish, and a beach ball. I made these cute little name tags featuring images from Message in a Bottle Stamp Set.
I covered the dining room table with some kraft paper, stamped on some anchors, and put of two pirate ships in the middle. I later added some chocolate gold coins, bags of goldfish and pirate's booty, and ring pops to the table.
Time to decorate the kitchen aka main party area.
I bought this huge pirate flag to hang on our back door. (The flag will find a permament place somewhere in our house).
I grabbed these awesome pirate signs, fish net, skeleton, and great white shark for decor.
I also couldn't pass up this fun Happy Birthday banner.
This table was used for eating during the party. I added the other pirate ship for decoration. The baker's rack served as our present holder during the party. I featured my cute crafted letters, a pirate book I bought Q, and a fun stuffed parrot. Pirates have to have a parrot!
I conquered my fear of piping to frost some vanilla cupcakes. I added some gold rocks and homemade pirate flags. These cupcakes were so yummy! You can just make out some skull plates in the background. Very cute!
The cake came from Costco, because nothing can beat $18.99 for half sheet of actually good cake. I did buy and add these cute pirate decorations.
For the food, I made fun pirate themed placards and tags. We featured:
Another cute piece of Arthur and Quentin's birthday party. I took two chipboard letters and start covering them with paper and fun bits and bobs. I pulled all these pieces from my random bits drawer. I love using up embellishments I've had laying around for years. These were great decorations for the party.
Our big activity at the birthday party is a pirate treasure hunt. I started with a large piece of kraft paper. I created a path at random knowing I had 12 clues for the kiddos. Arthur picked out some pirate themed stickers to use in decorating our map.
Detail of the map:
The squares are where the clues will be attached as they are found. I went with simple little riddle rhymes. In case the kids don't get it, I also printed out images of where to find the next clue.
And at the end of the path, the treasure chest is waiting with coins (plastic and chocolate) and jewels (beads, plastic, and ring pops).
In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite craft projects of 2016!
1. Multicolored Trees -- Christmas card featuring the baby wipe technique
2. Moroccan Butterfly -- I didn't initially love the Moroccan DSP, but look how amazing this card is!
3. Butterfly DSP -- Sweet and simple baby card
4. Dapper Fish -- Love the watercolor resist technique!
5. Week in the Life May 2016 -- Once again I had a blast documenting our week.
6. Mini magazine-stle card holder -- Nice 3D project for my stamp club ladies!
7. Purple Birthday Blooms -- Hands down my favorite card I made in 2016. Totally fell fir the Birthday Blooms stamp set and the color combo of Rich Razzleberry and Sweet Sugarplum.
8. Wildflower Triptych -- Simple card featuring my favorite stamp from SAB 2016 and fun coloring with markers!
9. Collection of Quilts -- Great way to use all the scrap pieces of DSP. i made multiple versions, but this one was my favorite.
10. Stacked Beasties -- Loved this fun stepped up Halloween card
The perfect 3D project for this month's stamp club. I loved making this simple yet usable washi tape holder. Now I want to make a ton to hold all my washi, but I might just settle for a few to hold the current SU washi sets. The project may look complicated, but it's really very simple. The cuts and scores are as follows:
5 Tape Holder
Cardstock – 11 x 6-5/8″
Score on the LONG side at 1, 3, 5-1/2, 8, 10″
Score on the SHORT side at 2, 4-5/8″
3 Tape Holder
Cardstock – 11 x 5-5/8″
Score on the LONG side at 1, 3, 5-1/2, 8, 10″
Score on the SHORT side at 2, 3-5/8″
From there, you fold from the outside in to make the basic box. Cut diagonally to create the opening on either side of the box. To finish, add washi tape around the edge to hold the two flaps together.
Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a project using at least three of the items below. For this month's mystery challenge, I chose four of the items: non-card project, all the colors, 2 or more punches/dies, and Easter theme.
I made a simple Easter basket to use this coming March. I finally bought the Berry Basket die and just had to make an Easter/spring basket. After assembling the basket, I went about decorating it. I didn't want to go too crazy, so I just added some stamped and punched flowers finished with candy dots. Very simple, but such a great little 3D project. The February stamp club ladies made their own versions last week.
The mom's retreat is coming up in just a few weeks. I always make a few little surprise gifts for the ladies. I originally made these little notebooks to be gifts, but then decided to make them a part of my favorite things gift. I love participating in 30 Days of Lists and thought it would be a cute idea to do a pre-made notebook for the event.
I started with a variety of papers and paper stacks. I cut 40 pieces down to 4x6 and started glueing them together into a book. From there, I hole punched and added book rings.Now on to the really fun part... I pulled Project Life cards from a variety of kits. These cards at the base for the lists they are going to make. I made sure each card was designed with enough space to write the list title and the list contents. I only needed 30 of the journaling cards. I was left with about 8 blank pages. I went through my PL card stash and pulled some sentiment cards.
I am including a piece of paper with some past 30 Days of Lists topics. That way, the ladies can use those or take the class. But at least they have a starting point. As a finishing touch, I added a few pieces of coordinating washi tape and label on the front. Such a cute little homemade gift and I only bought the book rings. Everything else came directly from my stash.
