Shh....It's a Surprise Baby Shower!

I found out that my sister and her husband are expecting their first baby last fall. She is due in just a few weeks and we are so excited for them! I've always wanted to throw a surprise party and this was the perfect opportunity. Plus, my brother-in-law was more than willing to help with the sneaky side of planning and my sister-in-law is great at planning parties, so between the three of us, we planned a surprise baby shower even though we live a few hours away from each other.

My sister isn't planning on finding out the gender until the little guy is born (such patience!) so we had to go with a gender neutral theme. Maggie (my SIL) thought that sock monkeys would be good- they're not pastel, they're cute, and the color palette is non-traditional. I have a couple of sock monkey stamps, so I made the invitations:

SU sock monkey stamp

water color pencils

PTI cardstock, twine, dark chocolate ink

Hobby Lobby dp

And a banner for the wall with the name they've been calling their little one:

I found the tutorial HERE.

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Georgia Pacific Cardstock

PTI Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate ink

Hobby Lobby trim

We used a bunch of tiny monkeys in wee little wagons as table decorations. Super cute, but if my husband wasn't handy, they'd still be sitting in  boxes :) The candy bar was Maggie's idea, too. The treat bags are simple brown bags edged with a Martha Stewart punch and the labels were made with Spellbinders dies, PTI frame stamps, and MS Publisher on label paper.

Maggie found some really good sock monkey printables on Etsy and our kids helped us pull it all together. Without letting anything slip to the guest and 1/2 of honor. Yay!

Fun, fun :)

FWF: Here fishy, fishy, fishy!

This is the only way I seem to be able to catch any kind of sea-life. It's a good thing I don't have to depend on my fishing skills!

My favorite part about this are the bubbles. I put Glossy Accents on them so they would pop out a little.

PTI cardstock, scallop die

Basic Grey dp

Unity Stamp Co Clever Handmade stamps

RRR Seam Binding

Stampin' Up Re-inkers

Memento, Stampin' up inks

Making Memories rub-on

Copics

So, I tried to give away some blog candy last week and only had one bite. Which now that I think about it, is a thousand percent better than my fishing average last summer. Anyway, if you'd like a surprise in the mail, send me an email (sarahandalan at msn dot com). I have a few packages all ready to go! Have a great weekend!

hi

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I've been reading a book called Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. It's really made me think not just about cardmaking, but about how I approach other things in life as well, like school work and what I'm actually teaching my kids. Super book.

Also, I've been thinking about style. I have no idea what mine is, but after today's Make it Monday attempts (note:plural), I've come to the conclusion that graphic it is not. Although it was a practice in failing.Stinkin' glitter.  Lehrer says that the most creative people have learned how to fail early so they can fix it. For the longest time, I've been trying to get stuff right the first time, thinking that was the most efficient way.

The challenge this week was to use die cuts and glitter. The glitter goes against my neat-freakish tendencies and it was one of the hardsest things I've done lately NOT to add more. I'm still not convinced :)

Papertrey Ink cardstock, adhesive sheets and letter dies
Stampin' Up blue cardstock
MFT speech bubble dies
Doodlebug Designs glitter
foam dots

FWF: Li'l Miss Smarty

I recieved my KOM the other day. Thank goodness, because something wierd is going on with my mail. There's been a couple of things that should have been here by now that aren't. Grrr. It's not like I can the the Post Office to actually do anything about it, either.

ANYWAY...

Since the Unity Challenge this month is to use pink and green and there is a cute smarty stamp in this month's kit, I decided to make a smarty card for my daughter, who doesn't always believe in herself as much as she should.

PTI: cardstock, paper, dies, green ink

American crafts ribbon

Unity Stamp Co.

Memento London Fog ink

TGIF, everyone!

Butterflies

Ohhh, so much more free time today. What to do, what to do... Just kidding. I did finish a ton of stuff, but there's always Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger!

I love the butterflies, and the water-colory-ness of this dress. I just don't have the inks to be able to copy this combo. I'm going with blue instead...

I used gelatos on slightly damp watercolor paper. I love the blurriness, but gosh darn it, I really hate waiting for it to dry. I think it might be God's way of teaching me patience, but at least I now have a slight head start on Mother's Day. Woohoo!

Core'dinations cardstock

Hobby Lobby watercolor paper

Faber Castell gelatos

Martha Stewart punch

PTI die

Paper Studio pearls
Unity Stamp Co. stamp

Also, I have new pointy scissors. I didn't realize how dull my old favorites were getting until I found this new pair. It's the little things, right?

Also, I have some blog candy I've been hoarding. In the spirit of spring cleaning, leave a comment and I'll choose some luckies on Sunday.

Also.... just kidding. :)

I'm So Happy That I Am a....

I love irises.

Along with daisies, they're my favorite flower.

This week's Make It Monday is all about making flowers from leaf dies. The only leaf dies (PTI Leaf Prints) I have don't easily lend themselves to daisies, but I thought they made fine irises.

I cut out a bunch of b's and d's out of watercolor paper, painted them with a combination of gelatos and re-inkers, and rolled them while they were still wet so they dried in a nice cone-like shape. I glued them together, and Wahoo! I have an iris!

PTI cardstock, dep, ink, stamps

Faber Castell Gelatos

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

A Sweet Surprise? Sure, why not?

EasyPeasy.

I really wish I could find an easy to understand tutorial about how to make bows like the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. The internet has everything, right? The problem is trying to wade through it to find what I need. Until I do, here's my take:

I love the soft blue and the embossing, but for an easypeasy baby card, something cutsier seemed to work better for me.

PTI cardstock

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Martha Stewart punch

Paper Studio dp

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

About five minutes. I'll take it.

Stinkin' Friend...

One of my best friends is moving back to her hometown to be nearer to her ailing parents. I'm going to miss her so much that I'm getting choked up just typing this.  Yup, I'm a cryer. I'm probably going to have to mail this card to her because of that:

This is doing double duty this week as my entry for Chick Challenge 25 and FWF 4/6.

PTI Cardstock, tea dye ink

October Afternoon dp

Memento ink

Ribbon Boutique

Cricut Elegant Edges

{ippity} Flowers + Friends= Priceless

Paper Studio pearls

MIM: Generational Stamping

We've been having a hard time with plates lately. My favorite blue plates have been breaking like crazy. The white plates that I bought to replace them get super duper hot in the microwave while the food on them stays cold. Grrr.

I figure if I have to keep buying plates, I'm going to get colors that I like. No more matchy-matchy! Plus, I heard a sneaky rumor that Corel plates are hard to break, so when I saw these at Target, I bought a couple. All in the name of science, of course.

Red is my current favorite color, and the Pure Poppy ink from Papertrey Ink is the only one I've found that is vivid enough for me. I took a couple of pencils and tried this week's Make It Monday Generational stamping technique to get this:

Papertrey Ink cardstock, ink, and sentiment

My kids' pencil erasers

Stampin' Up and Memento inks

Paper studio pearls

Zig pen