Party in a box!

We have a family member who is coming up on her 100th birthday in the next few months and I knew I needed to make a very special 'card' to celebrate this momentous occasion. The Explosion Box from the It's Your Birthday bundle by Dreaming Tree immediately came to mind.  

I started with the recipient's favorite color, bright red, and began by building the outer panels of the box with it's white glittery ribbon. It looks so festive! 

Next, I had an absolute blast decorating each panel on the inside - I'll take you through each one. I used svg files from a few different places as well as some die cuts, but the majority of the project is the file from Dreaming Tree.

First are my favorites of the whole project - the sequin filled shaker balloons!  I modified the balloon file in Cricut Design Space to create a cutout in the middle of the balloon. I cut out five layers for each balloon and glued them together to create the pocket for the sequins. 

The addition of so many sequins to each of these panels definitely weighs down the flaps, but I just love them so much! I used white vinyl on the front of the acetate to add the "100!" to each balloon.

On the triangular inner flaps, I started by adding this cute little party monkey from Cricut. The recipient loves monkeys, so this was a definite must have. I embellished with some more sequins and tiny confetti which was cut out using the Cuttlebug Celebration Confetti die. 

I added a cute little girl party bear too, also from Cricut, and dyed her tiny hat pompom to match with some Tim Holtz Twisted Citron re-inker. 

Next up, I added a party hat which looks just like the big one in the center of the box:

I wanted to have a Happy Birthday message of some sort, and found the perfect thing in a free pennant file from Bird's SVGs.  I sized the pennant to fit the flap and blinged it out with some gems across the top.

Last but not least, I also wanted to have a place to sign the card and add a sentiment. I used a cupcake card from Cricut's  Sweet Treats cartridge which I sized down to fit. I stamped a sentiment inside the card, signed it and attached it to the flap.  

 

Here's the final version one more time:

I'm really so pleased with how this all came together. The colors and shaker elements make this feel like a party in a box to me. Now I just have to wait a month or so before I give it to the recipient - can't wait!  I think she's going to love it too.

Thanks for stopping by! 

SHARK!!!

Have you seen the new Jawsome collection from Bird's SVGs?  It is so much fun!!  

For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about how I could use these cards for Christmas.
Before the collection was even released, I was making a list (and checking it twice) of puns and sayings I could use with this fabulous fish.  

Here's the first one:

and when you open it up, you get the singing shark wearing a Santa hat on his dorsal fin for the holidays! 

I laugh every time I look at it!

Next up, I turned this guy's frown upside down and gave him a Santa hat too. I also thought it might be fun to put a candy cane in his teeth - I just tucked one in there for now, but might make it double sided before I secure it onto the card because you can see it from the inside too!

On the inside:

Searching online, I found a graphic with a hilarious little edit of the Santa Claus is Coming to Town lyrics. I'm thinking about sticking it on the inside cover of the Santa Jaws card. It goes:

I see when you're swimming,

below you and your wake.

I know if you taste bad or good

so beware for goodness sake!

What do you think - should I add that, or is it too creepy for Christmas?

I created the alternate sentiments myself using fonts Milkshake and Arial Black. I jazzed up the colored words with one of my new favorite products - Wink of Stella in clear. It adds a lovely shimmer to any project and I find I'm putting it on almost everything I make!
It's hard to photograph, but you can kind of see it in this picture on the red SHARK letters.

Since I made a list already, I thought I'd share a few more Christmas puns to go with this Jawsome collection:

~ May your days be merry and bite

~ Sea-cret Santa

~ We fish you a merry Christmas

~ Season's Eatings

I sure had a lot of fun making these cards and the pop-up shark was very easy to put together if you watch Bird's assembly video.  I can't wait for an excuse to make them with the original sentiments. I love the Happy Birthday tag with the bite out of the corner - so funny and clever!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a fin-tastic day!

Bikini Brew - Coffee Lover's Summer Blog Hop

Just a quick post today with my entry for a summer-themed coffee, tea or cocoa project for the Summer Coffee Lovers Bloghop hosted by coffeelovingcardmakers.com.

The coffee cup is an svg file from the Good Day at the Office kit by SVGCuts.  I put my own twist on the coffee sleeve with the 'bikini brew' label and embellished with some sequins from 28 Lilac Lane and Simon Says Stamp.  The pink bikini is cut using a die which is from the Simon Says Stamp July 2017 card kit. 

This was quick project to put together. It took my longer to choose and add my embellishments than it did to build the cup.

Thanks for stopping by to check it out. I'd love to hear what you think!

It's Tiki Time!

Lately I've been wanting to make some bright, colorful and beachy summer craft projects. I've had this one in my head for a while. This tiki lantern is inspired from a card in the Club Tropicana kit from Bird's SVGs.

Here's a picture of the kit and the specific card that inspired this project:

 

These projects had me imagining a fabulous party on a tropical beach somewhere. So of course the party needs tiki torches for after the sun goes down!   

The four-sided lantern 'shade' sits on a base that I adapted from the Bird Cage Luminary base in the Love Birds kit, also from Bird's SVGs.  Instead of using two short and two long base pieces, I just cut out four of the short base pieces to form a square shape. The bottom panel square is 5" and the top panel square is 4", but you could obviously resize this to any size you want. 

One thing I learned through trial and error was to remember the height of the base 'step' that your lantern shade will be sitting on.  I made mine only to discover that when I slipped the shade on, my little tiki guy's toes weren't getting any light shining through because of the height of the base.  I remedied this problem with some bamboo kitchen skewers!

I cut the skewers to fit the width of the base and glue two on each side as risers for the shade to sit on. Ideally I could have redesigned the shade to include more space at the bottom below his feet, but I actually really like the look of the bamboo for this type of project, so I'll just chalk it up to a happy accident.

I embellished with colorful flowers and foliage from Tim Holtz's Tropical thinlet set. And of course I added a little glitter to the hibiscus flower stamen. I do so love glitter and glow!!

I only added the palm 'crown' to the front panel of the lantern as you won't see the other sides where I'll be displaying it, but you could certainly have a ball adding all kinds of embellishments to this little guy. 

I'm so pleased with how this project turned out. The flickering tea light inside really makes this look like it could be a torch. I think these would be so much fun as centerpieces for a luau-themed party!

Anybody ready for a tropical drink yet?  

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I'd love to hear what you think, so feel free to leave a comment below.  

Shadowbox Collage

I've had so many ideas in my head for what I could do with the Picture Perfect kit from Bird's SVGs.

The kit includes several different sizes and shapes of shadowbox frames as well as a seashore version which can be lit from behind to make a beautiful home decor piece.  Here are a few photos from the kit - beautiful, right?

What I love about this kit is the versatility.  If you spend anytime on Pinterest or other crafty websites, you're sure to see tons of ideas for amazing shadowbox projects.  Shadowboxes are used to highlight everything from rolled flower projects to mixed media collage art as well as gallery walls and special family memories.

The ability to customize the frame to the size you need and to be able to make it exactly when you need it makes this kit a super star in my book.

Last year I made this milk can project, and mentioned at the time that I might make a photo album to
go inside of it.

 
I never did get around to the photo album, but decided to a do a little collage to highlight one of the photos instead.  Using the Square Shadowbox Flower Frame, I cut out pieces in black and metallic cardstock.

For the frame layer, I distressed the metallic cardstock like I did in the milk can project by sanding and scratching it, and then inking the worn spots with Distress ink in Walnut Stain.  For the inside backing piece, I embossed it with a mesh embossing folder, sanded it down a little bit and added some Walnut Stain on there too.

After that I had some fun picking out embellishments to add to the front of the frame. I'm really a beginner in the world of mixed media and collage art and this part is always a challenge. I'm never sure if I should add more or quit while I'm ahead.  Because of this, I did not add the acetate layer to close up the box. I might just need to add some other items inside that I haven't thought of yet!

The sides didn't really need it, but I had this cool wide tissue tape from Tim Holtz that went with the color scheme and overall feel of the project, so I went around the edges with it. I really love how it came out.

The shadowbox itself is so easy to put together, you could make an entire gallery wall for yourself in an afternoon. I see so many possibilities and uses for these frames in addition to creating them with the flowers and embellishments included in the bundle. I have a feeling I'm going to be cranking these out on my Cricut for years to come!

I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Celtic Love

There's something about the look of Celtic knotwork that I just love, so it's no surprise that I've incorporated that look into a few St. Patrick's Day paper projects.

First is this card which I adapted from the Celtic Charm kit from Bird's SVGs. I used the Celtic Hounds card for the base of my project, but used one of the Celtic Cross stencils from the Celtic Stencil kit to add a glittery centerpiece.  

Have you signed up for Bird's newsletter? I happen to know that there's a coupon code for the Celtic collections in the most recent edition, so you may want to consider it. 

I sized the stencil so that it would fit inside the circle on the front of the card and cut it out of some stencil material on my Cricut. I used Matte Multi Medium to stencil with and then poured Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Dust over the top, tapping off the excess and setting it aside to dry. Once it was dry, I added some foam tape to the back of the circle and added it to the front of the card.  

And I just have to say, this is the most beautiful glitter if you've never seen it in person. It has a vintage mercury glass look to it and the camera just doesn't capture the wonderful sparkle. Hopefully the leprechauns won't make off with this lovely bit of gold!

As I often do with my cards, I cut the liner/sentiment shape and attached it to the inside with a piece of temporary Post-It tape for future use.  The reason I mention this is because I really love how this project turned out and have been admiring it on my desk. Maybe I'll mail it out next year, but for this year it's eye candy just for me!  Because I plan to have it on display, I made a card stand to go along with it.

 

You can find this card stand in a FREE download from Bird's SVGs called Various. There are these two beautiful card stands as well as some other fun files just perfect for Spring. I'm already thinking of a use for those cute Easter eggs too!

 

One thing I did was cut an extra 'Stand 2 Layer 2' piece so that the scrollwork detail where I added the green gems can be seen on both the front and back of the stand. The bonus is this also adds an extra layer of strength too, not that you need it.

The other nice thing about these stands are how easy they are to make and how you could customize the colors to coordinate with any card or project you choose to display. 

Last year I made this luminary using the Celtic Cross card which is also from the Celtic Charm kit. Unfortunately I didn't blog about it at the time and have long since forgotten any details, but I know it wasn't difficult to adapt. 

As I have a habit of doing, I'm looking at this project a year later and thinking about adding some gems and maybe a base to sit it on. Always a work in progress!

Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy St. Patrick's Day a week early. I hope you find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! 

I'm so EGG-cited about these FAUXberge eggs!

I was already pretty excited about the new Eggstravagance kit from Bird's SVGs when I found out that the largest white and gold egg shown below is a luminary. For someone like me who particularly loves projects that glitter and glow, this is majorly EGG-citing!  The blingy possibilities for these Faberge-inspired beauties just makes my soul happy. 

The best part is that this kit was just released yesterday and is ON SALE for a limited time!

I used some metallic pink cardstock for my egg, although I really love Bird's egg all in gold. It's so luxurious looking! I definitely need to stock up on some more metallics and bling for future projects.  I planned to add some more pearls around the smaller rings of the pedestal, but didn't have as many as I thought. Oh well, just one more excuse to shop for craft supplies!

I had fun putting this together and even more fun lighting it up when I was done. I used a color changing electronic tea light under the shade and it is so pretty as it transitions through a rainbow of colors.  

Incidentally, if you're looking for the perfect bag in which to gift one of these beautiful eggs, you should definitely check out the Easter Egg gift bag from Bird's Easter Egg Hunt kit shown below. The bag could be made with matching metallic details and gems added on the outside.  What an elegant presentation that would make!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love to hear what you think. 

Lovebirds

With Valentine's Day just two days away, I couldn't resist putting together this lovebird birdcage design which is from the recently released Love Birds kit from Bird's SVGs.

As you can see, this kit is filled with amazing projects. Isn't that heart-shaped bag just gorgeous? Paired with the swan card, I could see this as a unique an beautiful way to give a wedding gift to a special couple. 

Not only is the birdcage so pretty all by itself, the part that hooked me was the fact that it's also a lantern if you want it be.  By day, it's a pretty home decor piece. By night - SURPRISE! - there are a pair lovebirds in there!!

First I built the project as designed, but then decided to add some flowers for a pop of color since I went with some rather neutral paper to start with. 

These flowers can all be found as a completely free download from Bird's SVGs as well. The freebie bundle is called Flower and Leaf SVGs.  I used the first of the three rolled flowers shown below to add the yellow roses to my project.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this project is to put together. It looks very intricate and difficult, but really, it couldn't be easier and goes together rather quickly. 

I love this project so much, I decided to make a second one as a gift for a flower and bird loving family member. Her favorite color is red, so I had fun picking out some poppy paper from the DCWV Garden Charm stack and adding some poppies to the project, also free from the Flower and Leaf bundle.

The patterned paper was too creamy to be a white, but too white to be a true cream color, so I spent some time inking the edges with some Tim Holtz shabby shutters Distress Ink and used a cream colored cardstock for the base pieces. It might not stand out initially, but if you look at the pieces side-by-side below, I think you can see what a difference the inking makes. I love how much depth it can add to projects too.

Last but not least, I added a secret detail to my bird cages because it makes me giggle a little every time I think of it. What do most folks used to line the bottom of their bird cages? If you guessed newspaper, you'd be right!  So I created an extra panel of my own that was cut from some newsprint looking cardstock and added it to the inside. I'd like to think the recipient will like my little joke when they see it too!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit Bird's SVGs for some wonderful projects to fit your every need or creative whim. While you're there, you should check out Bird's newsletter too. It's a brand new feature and if you read Bird's latest blog post here you can learn how to receive future coupons and deals just by receiving the newsletter.

Have a happy Valentine's Day!