Uriah turns 2!

Hello, is anyone still out there? I'm clearing some cobwebs here after not posting for almost a month.

I will be able to share what has kept me busy later this week but today I have some fun birthday photos and a card share from Uriah's 2nd birthday Pirate Party!

My daughter in love, Kellie, is so amazing! She put together a fabulous day for all the pint sized guests and their parents complete with Pirate tattoos, a balloon artist, face painting, a {pirate ship}, photo cut out board, fabulous kid friendly food and lots of good ol' pirate atmosphere! Take a look around the courtyard area at their apartment complex that Kellie transformed into Pirates of Huntington Beach version 2.0:

 a little pre-party story time with Pop Pop; official hashtag for the day; Kellie setting up for the party

 table decorations; clever beverage cooler; pirate ship

 Pirate Andy and his mer-chihuahua, Tia; Digby needed a little coaxing to pose for a photo

 Pirate cupcakes; Pirate finger food including "salad on a stick"

Grammy made the signs; Uriah uses his balloon sword to dig for treasure; Pirate Loot!

 Lots of Pirate Fun!

clockwise from top: pirates singing happy birthday; Uriah and his buddy Floyd; the birthday boy gets a pirate 'stasche; waiting patiently for his balloon sword; enjoying his birthday cupcake with his pirate friend Lily.

Lawn Fawn: Stamps- Critters at the Dog Park; So Much to Say, Milo's ABCs; Lawn Cuts Dies- A Birdie Told Me, Critters at the Dog Park, Say Cheese; Peace Joy Love "gloria side B" paper 

Clip Art images- map, ship and pirate hat; hand-drawn eye patch: My Mind's Eye "on the bright side" 6x6 paper

Happy 2nd Birthday Uriah!

I just adore this kid!

blessings and love,
nancy

Mixing some old and some new...

I keep bits and pieces of stamped papers that didn't make the cut the first time around in a basket by my work area. Every now and then one of these pieces sparks my creativity and it gets used, finally!

This birthday card uses the WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals stamps and dies. I got them a while ago but I just didn't have time to play. I have been so impressed with all the gorgeous cards using this set especially THIS beauty by my friend Barb! Her flowers are so perfectly arranged, it's almost like she arranges flowers for a living!

Well, when I combined this fun set of stamps with some bright ink colors, cute pieces from Elle's Studio, a Studio Calico wood veneer butterfly and my old pre-stamped background this is what happened:

The background is stamped with Hero Arts Dot cling and Newspaper Background. I also used the brand new Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops stamp. The cardbase is from a Hero Arts Blush Designer Papers pack. The scalloped circle is a Lawn Cuts die cut from a MME On the Bright Side blue polka dot paper. The inks are all Hero Arts Soft Shadow and Mid-tone Shadow inks.

The inside sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Happy Sentiments.

I'm thinking I need Barb to give me a lesson in flower arranging!

I just loved playing with these pretty stamps!

Thanks for visiting!

blessings,

nancy

Birthday Card with a Little Sparkle

It was my niece Brittany's birthday yesterday and I actually sent her a card already! I'm trying to be better at remembering birthdays and sending a card before the date.

I was totally inspired and so impressed by THIS card by Elise that I had to CASE it for Brittany's card.

Here's my version with a little gold embossing:

I needed to get this mailed quickly on Thursday or I would have restamped the "cake" to make it less wonky and maybe tried to get the stitch lines a little straighter. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? I stamped the inside too and then forgot to photograph it, doh.

Supply List: Lawn Fawn- Bake Me a Cake, Year Two, Blue Skies (banner); Paper is Studio Calico and brand new Lawn Fawn ( brown wood grain from Into the Woods).

I hope you are enjoying a lovely summer Sunday (or Monday for my friends on the other side of the world),
blessings,
nancy

CHA Create 'n Connect Las Vegas recap

I'm still trying to make my way through the Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop, I'm determined to see all the pretty cards and yummy recipes! Thank you to all who left such wonderful comments on my hop post, you are all so encouraging!

I can't believe it's taken me over a week to finish this blog post! I have a few photos (okay there's a lot of photos) from the Las Vegas Create 'n Connect show to share today. We arrived in Vegas late on Saturday the 20th and the next day while the set up crew got the booth assembled, Chari and I stayed behind (in the air conditioned hotel suite) to get all the Make 'n Takes kitted and finish the last of the booth decor pieces.

Chari is so much fun and too sweet. I totally enjoy every minute I get to work with her!

Daphne alternated between blissfully napping and anxiously waiting for Mike and Kelly to return!

Monday was the day we arranged all the product and samples and put all the finishing touches on the booth.

 Deb, Chari and I pose with the mason jar decorations that we put together on Sunday.

Matt (Chari's hubby) and Mike did some crafting too. Real men make patterned paper banners!

Here's some looks at the finished booth:

 I love the new mixed sequins and flair! And I love that they are called Lawn Ornaments, too!

I love this Fall project display! Notice the Yeti doing a photo bomb on the chalkboard?

The calm before Day One begins:

Chari and I setting up for the Make 'n Takes

It was crazy busy in the Lawn Fawn booth and the three seats at my Make 'n Take table were always filled. We did a different project each day. Here are some of the fun people I spent my days with, you may recognize of few of them:

Day One we made cute tags that Chari designed using Into the Woods and Woodgrain Background.

 Gina and Patti, these ladies were so much fun! 

I'm so happy they came back each day to make a new project with me.

 Jennifer and Kathy, it was so wonderful to see them both again.
Don't you just love Kathy's cute tag!

All the fawnies went to dinner with them that night at a fancy cafe at the Encore hotel.

 Another cute tag! I just loved her multicolor nail polish!

Day Two was another fun Chari card using Trim the Tree. Lots of die cutting with this one, kept me hopping! The day just flew by!

That's Sandy Allnock of Operation Write Home! She's just the sweetest!

She's got some mad Copic coloring skills too.

On Day Three we did my watercolor card with Winter Sparrows and Faber-Castell products.

 Everyone loved the Aquarelle pencils and water brushes from Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft!

Look who stopped by to do some watercoloring; it's Kristina Werner!

I spent a lot of time doing Make 'n Takes this time so I didn't get in too many photos (and I didn't take too many pics either) but I made it a point to pose with my sweet Britta!

Here's a couple pics of Kelly with some special friends:

Kelly and Jennifer 

Amy and Kelly

This was the first year I haven't been around when the booth went up or came down. We had some strong guys to do the heavy lifting this year!  Right after the show closed I headed back to the hotel to keep an eye on Daphne and get supplies organized to take home. Here's a look at the booth crew:

That's Matt, Nate (he works with us at Lawn Fawn HQ), Jake (Britta's guy), and the ever adorable Britta enjoying a short break before loading the truck.

I drove home on Friday with my fun traveling companions, Kelly and Daphne. Daphne is a good little traveler but she was as glad to get to home as the rest of us!

Thanks for sticking with this mega long post. I'll be back soon with some new cards and projects to share!

blessings,

nancy

It's a Summertime Picnic with the Hero Hostesses

This is your first stop on Day 3 of our Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop. If you'd like to start at the very beginning click HERE to go to the Hero Arts blog.

The Hero Hostesses are sharing some summery cards and our favorite summer picnic recipes. I hope you will have fun, be inspired and find some new recipes to try this summer. And don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs because the wonderful folks at Hero Arts will be awarding a prize to three randomly chosen commenters.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance to win!

If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Arts Club Blog HERE. Also, please report broken links to: blog@heroarts.com.

Now it's picnic time!
For me flying a kite is a requisite summer picnic activity! My father-in-law loves to fly kites. He enjoyed building his own kites. Watching his family flying them always made him happy. What could be better than to lay back in the soft green grass at the park or lean back in a beach chair and watch a kite lazily floating on the breeze?

To make this card I started by blending Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn Distress inks on a piece of white cardstock to look like a landscape. Next I spritzed some Perfect Pearls water on the Dots cling background and stamped just with the water. The Distress ink reacts to the water creating a sparkly dot pattern.

For the kites, I added Hero Arts Mid-Tone Shadow inks directly to my white cardstock. I made a section of Butter Bar and another of Pale Tomato. Once the ink dried I stamped the Kite image from Picnic in Versamark ink once on each color and white heat-embossed them. I cut them out and spritzed a bit more of the Perfect Pearls water over them.

To assemble the card I used cream colored crochet thread for the kite strings and Lawn Trimmings twine to tie to the kite tails.

close up of the shimmery effect of the Perfect Pearls in water.

To make the pearly spray: In a small mister bottle place about a 1/4 tsp of Perfect Pearls powder, then fill 3/4 full with water. Replace the spray lid and tighten it before shaking the mixture well. Now you are ready to make sparkly magic! (See inlinkz list below for the products I used.)

A favorite family recipe for all summer gatherings is Fruit Pizza. For years my sister and I would make dueling fruit pizzas. She is an excellent cook, everything she makes is delicious. Me, not so much but my fruit pizza is always a winner! Our fruit pizzas are very different. Hers has a soft nutty cake-like crust and a filling based on pudding. Mine on the other hand has a sugar cookie crust with a cream cheese and whipped cream filling. She serves hers in a beautiful cut crystal round serving platter; I serve mine in the pizza pan I made it in. If you've been following along with my blog posts about my sister and I none of this will be any surprise to you. It will come as no surprise either that no matter which pizza graced the dessert table there was never even a crumb left behind!

So here's my recipe for a fun summer dessert!

(you can right-click on the recipe to save it if you'd like)

(photo credit)

Now it's my pleasure to send you on to a dear friend of mine who is not only a talented and decorated card-maker, she's a fabulous cook as well! 

I know you will enjoy your visit with Virginia!

Here's the products and supplies I used to make "Life's a Picnic":

InLinkz.com

blessings,
nancy