3 Posts in 1!

Happy Father's Day weekend, everyone!  Hope that you're going to spend some time with loved ones this weekend!  My parents returned from a 6 week trip to Europe yesterday, so today we all got together for a Father's Day lunch.  Obviously we were pretty focused on catching up, but we did have some hamburgers and cinnamon buns for dessert! 

So today is a 3 posts in 1 day... For two reasons - 1: my mom was away for Mother's Day this year so I still had a gift to give her; and 2: last year my sister asked for something specific for her birthday and I procrastinated for over a year to get it done (nothing like an impending birth of a new child to make you get all your projects completed!).

Here we go!  I actually don't have a picture of the card that I gave to my dad in this post, as I've already posted it - it was one of the cards I made with my freebie Paper Pumpkin kit I received when I joined Stampin' Up as a demonstrator.  For a gift, we gave him a gift certificate to his favorite cafe in town.  He was pretty happy!

Here is my mom's gift.  A few months back we had gone out to an awesome little quilt shop near Sylvan Lake called Nuts for Bolts (which I highly recommend checking out), and found the cutest pattern for owl pincushions.  I desperately needed a new one as the one I had made in grade 8 sewing class was pretty much flat - resulting in some deadly injuries if you picked it up the wrong way!  My mom asked if I would make her one for Mother's Day, and I happily obliged.  She picked out the fabric herself!  Isn't it adorable?!

Here's a picture with her owl and mine, already looking like a voodoo doll with all its pins. 

This is the card I made to go with her gift.  It features the Petite Petals stamp set from Stampin' Up, and some retired sets - Delightful Dozen, aaaand... I can't remember the name of the teacup one.

And here's the gift for my sister - a beautiful tulle skirt!  The reason I procrastinated so long is that I didn't actually have a pattern and so I was going off of online tutorials, which made me pretty nervous.  I'm very much a follow the directions person in most things in life, so I highly doubt I'll ever make something like this without a pattern again haha!  I did, however, learn a few things - that when using an elastic band for a waist, you must stretch it as you sew so that when the skirt is worn, threads won't be snapping and breaking all over the place, and also that tulle is a beast to sew with!  Does anyone actually like sewing that stuff??  So many pins to keep all the layers in place!

Anyway, she loves it, so I'm happy!  Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!! <3 JEM

Birthdays and Showers

Good morning, everyone!  I'm attempting a bit of a first for me - simultaneously playing with the toddler and posting on the blog.. so we shall see how this goes!  I have so many cards I want to share with you - but some I am still waiting to give out, so only two today.

This first card was made for my husband's cousin.  It features the Balloon Celebration stamp set from Stampin' Up, as well as the Number of Years Stamp Set and matching Framelits.  So handy for birthdays, as you can just make any number you need.  I personalized the card with the Alphabet Rotary Stamp - Stampin' Up now has a new set in their catalogue that is somewhat similar to the Rotary Stamp if you missed out on this one from the last catalogue.

This card was made for a young lady whose bridal shower I attended this past Sunday.  The invite I received had yellow and blue flowers and things featured on it, so I just played off of that using the Petite Petals stamp set and coordinating punch.  I used a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in the background, and the sentiment is from the retired Rain or Shine set.  I also put some bling on in the form of rhinestone gems.

Hope you enjoy these cards, and your day as well.  I feel like hanging out in the basement all day - heat wave! <3 JEM