A Little Recycling

The challenge this fortnight at The Poodles Parlour is tags. I had a rather clever idea (if I do say so myself) to use a tag with a coffee sleeve. My husband picked me up a sleeve from Starbucks. However it had a very large Starbucks logo on it. So I turned it inside out and used double sided tape to close it again. I used a pre-made tag and Tim Holtz distress inks in Walnut Stain and Pine Needles. My Top Tip: to get my water rings I took an empty water bottle, dabbed it onto the inkpad and stamped it onto my tag. Then spritzed the tag with water. My image is called Cafe Lizzie from Whimsie Doodles. I colored her with Prismacolor pencils using fall colors. I used popdots to lift her off the tag. Tied 2 different ribbons and some raffia through the top to finish.  Maybe not too practical but definitely much nicer than the usual coffee sleeve ;o)

I would like to share my project at:

Top Tip Tuesday recycle it, closes Sept. 24,

The Ribbon Carousel fall into fall + ribbon, closes Sept. 25,

A&T Emerald Fairies use a tag, closes Oct. 2

Kaylee is 5 *Sigh*

I meant to post this yesterday for International Talk Like A Pirate Day! For Kaylee's 5th Birthday party she chose a pirate theme party. We invited 7 other children (for a total of 9) all under 6, and had 9 adults too. Just as an interesting side fact 3 of the children were triplets, so that upped our numbers significantly, lol.

I used a Silhouette file to create a treasure map invitation. I first cut it out of black patterned paper for the backing and then a beige patterned paper for the front. I ran the front through my printer to add the invite/text and then used my Xyron to glue them together. The back then showed white, so I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Walnut Stain to give it that aged look. Rolled it up and tied it with twine. The bottle, now that was a story. I went to 3 dollar stores (every one in our city) to find colored bottles with a cork in them. There were none. Then I thought maybe the small coke bottles would work but the labels were printed right on the bottles. While in the bottled drinks aisle I spotted the Perrier bottled water bottles. Green, flat bottom, removable label, and screw top. PERFECT! And they were $3.49 for 4, cheaper than I would have paid at a dollar store. PERFECT!

I used a Silhouette cut file to make the cupcake wraps which I cut out of kraft paper and the sails which were cut out of white cardstock. A cocktail toothpick doubled as a flagged mast. We made 24 chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. We had 2 left at the end of the party. Almost all of the kids had 2 each, lol. Always a good sign that they were tasty.

 The Armada ;o)

We took 3 cardboard boxes and covered them in mirror tape found at the dollar store in the hardware section. We found little treasure chest cases at a craft wholesaler and filled them with chocolate loonies and toonies and jelly beans. Then we put 3 little chests into each box. I taped the boxes shut with black hockey tape to look like the straps on the chest. Then we buried them in the yard. My mother-in-law drew up 3 maps. My husband used sticks in the shape of an X to mark the spots. The kids absolutely loved digging for buried treasure!

We also bought pirate hats, parrot decorations and a palm tree scene at the craft wholesale warehouse. The pirate swords were from a dollar store. We set up a photo corner and took Kaylee's picture on 'the island' with all of her guests as they came in.

My lessons learned: we should have taped the little chests shut because by the time the kids were done digging up and ripping open the big treasure boxes the little ones had some dirt in them. Luckily kids under 6 aren't bothered by treats with dirt on them. Also the palm tree decorations were just plastic and not wall clings like we thought they were so they didn't look very good on the wall and we had to figure out a way to get them to stay up there. Wouldn't buy those again next time but they did the job for the day.

I would like to share at:

Dream Valley Challenges celebrations, closes Sept. 30

My Anniversary

It was our 12th Wedding Anniversary this week. The husband handed me a store bought card and says, "where's mine? The homemade one.". So that's what I did. He has a point though, that for me anyways, it's the people I'm closest to that are the last to get one of my cards. I'm so busy making them for everyone outside of the house that the people inside the house rarely get one.
I bought the Moon Love digi stamp from Karber Stamps. And I followed the sketch at Sketchy Colors. I loved all the layers to it, even though that is one of my phobias. But my goal is to use more patterned papers and I love the way it turned out. I printed my image right onto my blue patterned paper. Same with my sentiment. Kraft cardstock is my card base. And the husband was very pleased to have a card of his own, and he deserves one. He really is a wonderful man.

I would like to share my card at:

My Sheri Crafts family, closes Sept. 29,

The Crazy Challenge spots or stripes, closes Sept. 30

My Brother's Birthday

I made this card for my brother who recently started his own home construction business. That is a business that is really booming in our province and in our city. And he's been very busy. I used a Kenny K digi stamp called Home Improvement for the front cover. Inside I used Bugaboo Stamps Stella Nursing ICU. I imported both into my Silhouette and used the print and cut feature to cut them out. I colored them using my Prismacolor pencils and CASE'd Amy's coloring from the Krafty Girlz Embossing Challenge for my Home Improvement image. On my Stella image I added some Glossy Accents to her glasses and name tag. I also tried using my Versamarker Watermark Pen for blending. The Yield sign was a diamond Silhouette shape that I used the knife tool to cut in half. And then the offset feature to make the border. The stop sign was another Silhoeutte image. The banner and bandaids were also Silhouette shapes which I added my sentiments to and then used the print and cut feature again. Used pop dots to lift my images off the pages. Added a little safety pin embellie on the front.
My lessons learned: a Versamark Watermark Pen will blend your colored pencils. However, it takes forever to dry. I learned the hard way that putting my hand or fingers onto the wet coloring would then transfer it onto my uncolored parts.
My cover sentiment reads: Every good handyman needs a good handy helper!
Inside sentiment: My name is Stella and I'll be your handy helper today!

I would like to share my card at:

Scrap-Creations humor, closes Sept. 11,

The Hybrid Chick pop it up, closes Sept. 14,

Sentimental Sundays humor me, closes Sept.16, **Top 3!!!**

Creative Craft Challenges all about the guys, closes Sept. 18,

Hooked On Craft Challenges cards for men, closes Sept. 29,

By The Cute And Girly boys/men, closes Sept. 30