Weddings in May...

I can't beleive how much time seems to pass- and yet no time at all. I have been going to the same church now for almost six years. I was pregnant with my son- who will be six himself in October. It's a great church and I love it- it's smaller, but that's what I love. It's got that family vibe and I've made close friendships with other wives and mothers my age that I can relate to, as well as older ones that can mentor me and be examples to look up to. It's awesome and I love it. When we first started, we had a different Pastor who had a young daugher- in her mid-teens. Well now six years later, that little girl is all grown up and getting married today. My parents were closer to her parents so they are going to the wedding. So I whipped up another quick card. It wasn't as quick as the last one- cuz I tried a to make a blue card- and you should use a Stampin' Around wheel and then emboss over it with a texture plate. Looks dumb. Maybe others have made it work- but I couldn't. So put that in my mental "do not do again' pile and try a different technique.

Now I love gatefold cards and have tried different ways of doing them- I find them ellaborate and elegant with out being busy and over-the-top. I have never tried one this way. AND AURG! lol- I NEED to keep the camera out of reach of my beautiful children! As you can see- there is a smudge spot on the lens. I can't re-take the photo because I already gave the card to my mom who is at the wedding right now- and I had lost my camera cord last night so I couldn't upload it. Oh well- I hope you all get the gist of it :) As you can tell- I am in love with my new Fabric Fancies Primas- I NEED more colours (why is it that it's never just cardmaking- it's always an addiction. hmmm. Strange- ANYWAYS!) I don't know what this fold is called, but using a 5.5x11 piece of cardstock I scored at 1.5 and 3.5 on both sides and then folded the 1.5 inwards and the 3.5 outwards. I used my Swirly cuttlebug folder and embossed the 1.5 folds and then cut the edges using my Eyelet border punch. I highlighted the edges with gold ink by Colorbox.

On the sides I cut some DSP from the Bella Rose pack at 5.25x1.75 and adhered them under the outter flat. I printed the sentiments on vellum and mounted it on the DSP using sheer ribbon from Michales. I love the mixture of Gold, Pink and White- and this one turned out better than I had pictured the original in my head :)

So now that I am getting better at this whipping cards up in no time- I think I am on a roll and can start stashing up some! Now to only do the same with envelopes- maybe just buy myself a stack of A2- I've now gotten in the habit of making standard sized cards lol. So anyways- that's it for today- have an awesome weekend! OH- what will *I* be doing? Nothing much- just packing for our new place WOO HOO (first time home owner syndrom- sorry!)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~

My Grandma's Birthday

Well I have great news and excellent news :) Great news? I had no idea how much time I actually wasted (okay- maybe that's just enlightening news). I actually sat and crafted without spending forever on the computer or being distracted by t.v. and I can really do some creative damage in a small amount of time! Knowing this I hope to whip up more projects and be more faithful in updating my blog :) I would love to do this for a few reasons- one I do love crafting and blogging- it's nice staying involved in the virtual crafting world. The other is that I do love making cards and crafts for my loved ones- but by the time a shower or a birthday comes- I have procrastinated and didn't think I'd have the time to make anything. That is actually not true I have found. BUT for times when I am really that busy it would be nice to have some 'back ups' especially if a loved one wants a card to give away- I'm prepared :)

Excellent news? We were approved for our very first mortgage- our bid went through on the modular we want and now we are just waiting for all the legal stuff to go through :) I have an excellent craft space now- and it's going to be a bit tight in our new place- but you make due with what you have. Besides- if all goes well and we really do love the place- I'd love to add an addition later in life with two extra rooms. My daughter is 8 now and when she's a teen I'd love to give her her own space. I shared a room with my sister since the time she was born- and it wasn't too bad- but there were times that I wish I had my own room.

SO today is my grandmother's birthday. I didn't think I'd have time to make her anything- boy was I wrong! I did the box from clearlyistamp again (it is so easy to put together) and got to showcase more of my stampin' up goodies! AND I've never done THIS before- but I made a co-ordinating card! So here they are:

I used new Raspberry Tart DSP- it is a bit loud- but in small doses and with the right cardstock it is quite striking. My grandma loved the box I made myself and wanted one too- so I made this for recipes. I used the medallion technique from SCS to do the top- I was trying to scallop a square- but this happened instead- and it's all good! I was a silly girl- if you haven't noticed- and didn't buy myself ANY birthday stamps! Tons of thank yous- oh yea- but NO birthday. None struck me- but until I order some I will still be doing the ol' font and computer technique.

So I put the 'medallion' peice down on the DSP and then popped the outside up with pop dots. I liked the bouquet of Primas- their new Fairytale line is simply GORGEOUS! I also used the glitter flowers on the card. So I just tried to incorporate some of the same ideas into the card.

I am pretty impressed with whipping this up in only a half hour. No kidding- it takes me a complete day to plan out a card and do it- because I get distracted and try different things. I love the simplicity of this- I don't think I realized how simple it could be. I always wanted to do elaborate cutting and such- and tho that is pretty and unique, sometimes you can't go wrong with classics- especially if you have limited time! BUT it's time to make dinner here for the family- thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~

STAMPIN' UP!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Hello there friends :D Okay- I actually got my FIRST Stampin' Up! Package a few weeks ago- but I have been a bit busy to blog. Why you may ask AHEM Another first :D :D :D (I am really happy about this-in case you haven't noticed) Chris and I have been approved for a mortgage and are getting our FIRST place! YAY! So new goodies in my new place! It is a nice, newer 3 bedroom modular- so the girls will still have to share a room- and I don't get a craft room- BUT There will be space in my new bedroom to craft. I am super stoked! I know that this is just a first time home- and that when the kids get older I will probablly want more space, but I am so happy about it right now and I am praying that all the paper work goes through smoothly to allow us to get this place.

NOW Stampin' Up! When I was just scrapbooking- I really didn't see the need for stamps or SU or anything like that. Then the more I got into card making, the more I really desired some SU stuff! I would visit blogs and see how-tos on youtube that would highlight SU stuff and so (two years and a bit of savings in the making). I got SO MUCH STUFF :D it was the best Mother's day present ever! I got 6 Jumbo wheels, 5 standard wheels, a BUNCH of ink (woooooooow a bunch of ink! and seeing the inks themselves! I love colorbox for embossing- but man! One SU ink was TWICE the size for HALF the price- amazing!) I bought some in color cardstock and some of the new DSP- I love the Bella Rose and already have HALF a project made out of it and Urban Garden (I will add it plus a template when I have all the card finished- too cute if I do say so myself!) And a few stamp sets. I have a plan :) So I will set some of my monthly earnings from my crafting aside each month- and each time there is a new catalogue- I am making a huge purchase and should be good for a while. I am so happy :D I know- very lame but hey! It was a long time coming!

SO here is my first FINISHED peice of work using my new SU stuff.

So directions for this CUTE box is found at http://clearlyistamp.typepad.com/my_weblog/

I love her stuff :) and the box is really easy to make with simple instructions BUT you do need a 12*12 sheet of cardstock to make the outside. So I used some Bella Rose DSP and Pink Pirouette cardstock. So I didn't use much of my new stuff- but that will come later! I also bought some BEAUTIFUL primas in the pink flower fancy at Michaels, white ribbon, pink sheer ribbon found at Michaels and Bazzil cardstock for the base.

Now for the inside:

I actually made two inserts and used sticky strip to stick them together before adhering them inside the box so I had 4 pockets instead of 3. I plan on using this for my business - I have a space for sketches, a space for projects on the go (orders and personal projects) a space for wishlists for things I want-along with an envie for said savings, and a space for project material lists with an envie for savings as well. I love being organized and this will be great :)

So here are the matching savings envelopes I made to use in my box. So there we go! I am hoping to have more time to craft- but it will be a bit crazed- with end of school stuff and packing and signing stuff and moving- I hope to be a bit better with this blogging thing then :P So thanks all who stopped by and reveled in my good news- laters!

~Brandie~

Bella's Birthday Party Set

Hey folks :) Been busy- pulling a few late nights and I can feel them creeping up on me :P Oh well- I'll get back to normal scheduling.... eventually. So my baby-no-so-baby turned four last week and, as is tradition in the Nellis household, we had her birthday party with family on her actual birthday, and waited a week before throwing her birthday party with her friends. It's nicer that way because we can wait til payday and I have time to make all the little invites and such. Speaking of 'and such'- here is her party sets:
I was trying to be a bit more inventive with my camera. It's not the best one- but hey! It works :) I used an old skirt of mine (actually- it was my 'wedding' dress lol- yea, I wore burgendy- AND black!) But I've seen so many interesting photo 'shoots' done with people's artwork and I think that it looks better and was fun to set up- now to buy some pretty material to do this on a continuous basis :)!

SO- what we have here are party favours, invitations and cupcake toppers. The invites were really simple to do- a simple purse card. I used velcro to keep it closed and they were a BIG hit with all the little girls. The cupcake toppers were fun :) I got the idea from Wilton- but also from my mom. My neice turned 1 and mom was looking for "Happy Birthday" candies to put on the cake. I don't think they make them anymore, and then inspiration struck- what if I made a banner to put on the cake? You can use lollipop sticks to make it stand up on the cake and you now have a keepsake. I didn't make one for Bella's party because we did cupcakes and I did mini toppers (shown above) But here is a Tori's cake banner:

It's not a great picture- sorry :( But I used my Cricut storybook cartridge for the background and for the flowers and butterflies, I inked some vellum and embossed it with glitter/embossing powder and cut them out with my Marvy and Fiskars punches.

But back to Bella's birthday! : The cupcake banners were really cute and easy- I used the Wilton small lollipop sticks again- and just made simple squares using my scallope die cuts and the papers I used to wrap the goodies found in the party favours. You could spell words on them, or say "Thank you" or the child's birthday. I find these SO versatile and I can't wait to do them for other cupcakes for other occassions :)! Then for the party favours, I copied the idea of the invites to the party favours. They are a bit bigger than the invites (5x11 sheet of paper used as opposed to 4.5x10 for the invites). To make it 3D I scored it at 4, 5, 9 and 10. I only had a small tab left so I used that to make a 'flap' for the purse with a different colour and adhered it to the flap. On the inside, I made a 3D 3 inch pocket. Pretty simple- then I made a box to slide in the pocket.

The favours themselves were VERY inexpensive- the most costly thing was $1.00/ box of crayons- but I DID buy the unwashable (or the ones that don't say washable) because they were cheaper. We who have a Mr. Clean magic eraser will be okay with this :P those who don't- can spend the extra for washable crayons OR buy a huge box of crayons and just mix and match colours so the kids don't have the same old same old that you always find :) I also made some chocolate bars- it was fun using wiltons Write a Message chocolate mold- I didn't write a message- but I mixed the chocolate with nuts and made some almond bars. Also, I went to some different colouring pages sites and downloaded some Bratz colouring pages. I opened the page up and saved it so it was the largest size and I 'inserted photos' onto Microsoft Word and printed them on 3x5 sheets of paper and trimmed them. So here are the goodies all close up:

Again- they were a big hit with the kids :) and so simple! Not taking into account the pennies spent on adhesive and printer ink, a box (including goodies) is $3.15 each (CND) to make and all the materials. I matched prices and to buy a package of boxes, chocolate bars, a colouring book of the same size (ish) and crayons would be $4.50 each at the dollar store (CND) and to buy the really cheap stuff would run you about $3.15- so for the same price- and some fun- you can make your own. I've seen the girls pack around the purses like toys- so it's really worth the effort if you love doing this stuff- which I do :)

So now I have to go and clean up from said party :P Hope you all have an awesome day, and I'll come back and post real soon!

~Brandie~