Showers, showers and more showers...

The advantage to being a crafting pack rat is that if you need to throw something together at the last minute, you almost always have everything you need right on hand. (Provided that you organize your supplies of course - which I do.) 

My co-worker had a baby shower last Sunday and I was in charge of purchasing and packaging the gift. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for the packaging part until just before the shower. The only wrapping paper designs I had on hand were Christmas ones and I thought that Santas and reindeer would look a little odd on a gift given in July. That's when punches and stickers came to the rescue! And newsprint. Oh, by the way, did you know that the Ottawa Citizen gives away the end rolls for free? Yep. All you need to do is call them and ask. I carted away three:

That's probably a good few hundred feet of paper right there. They are pretty heavy - I had to use a trolley to get them to my car. 

I wrapped the present in newsprint (it was The Original Baby Bullet in case you were wondering) and then pulled out my gel pens and coloured papers and got to work. As part of the Sizzix set I bought at that garage sale a few months back, I got die of a foot. I punched a whole bunch of them in bright printer paper and glued them in pairs on the corners of the present. I had thought of making a more random scattering of feet all over but I just couldn't arrange them to my satisfaction. 

Okay, not my best pictures but I was in a rush.

The card was just a strip of cardstock with a sticker on it and piece of white paper inside. The bow was made of strips of white paper with "Congratulations Tugce & Yener!" written over and over on them. A little tape, a little glue and I was done and ready to go!

Butterfly Notes (Lil' Notes II)

These number as one of my more extravagant crafting purchases and if you know how much punches usually cost, you will understand why I say that.

The guilt was taken away by an Amazon gift card and free shipping though!

I have discovered a love of punches but their price is the only thing that keeps me from purchasing tons of them. Honestly, that is probably a good thing as I do not craft enough to justify to myself buying so much stuff.

I see butterfly punches used in many, many Pinterest projects. When the punches arrived in the mail, I immediately put them to work punching through my stack of paint chips.

I really enjoy the ombre look.

Some punches are elaborate but although they look beautiful, they are less versatile compared to simpler designs. However, I really couldn't pass up this monarch butterfly punch. They look so good when punched out with rich colours.

There's a butterfly mobile that I've seen on Pinterest and Etsy that I want to try one day. We shall see when I finally have the time...

Heart Punch Notes (Lil' Notes I)

I have decided to start a multi-post feature called Lil' Notes. I really like decorating note cards because they are fast projects and a simple design tends to work out best. I made these two a while back when I was playing with the small heart punch that I found. Remember these cards?

I usually use these cards to add a cheery message to my aunt's lunch when I am delivering it to her at work (we work at the same hospital).

More to come!

{Update 16/02/15 - I added him to the Gluesticks blog's Friday Finds Linky Party. Check it out. There's a lot of neat stuff there.}

Birthday Invitations

It's going to be --------'s birthday (he, quite unreasonably, told me to leave his name blank but anyone who knows me can guess who I am talking about :P) soon and he wanted to invite his school friends over for a birthday party. Usually, ------- (he does not agree this looks ridiculous) has next to no interest in my crafting but this time, he asked me to help him create his invitations. I was honoured. :)

I flipped through Pinterest for over an hour, trying to come up with a design that looked good but at the same time was also simple enough for him to manage. (He was going to actually make the cards. I was just going to supervise.)

Everything is gathered - we are all set!

The card in the photo above was my prototype. Simple but nice.

All ready to go!

A few hours later and voila! I thought he did an excellent job. 

Happy Trails

About two months back, a friend of ours moved to Calgary for a new job. Because he had been an integral part of our church family for several years, our fellowship group worked to give him a proper send off. I, along with my friends Amy and Emily, decided to use this as an excuse for a girl's baking night. :)

With almost 30 people expected to show up for the dinner, we had our hands full. Amy had read on the internet that we could use club soda instead of milk and eggs in the cake mix. I was skeptical but she had tried it out before hand and apparently it works. This was perfect because we knew a few guests were lactose intolerant.  Our main issue was trying to figure out what we were going to make: cupcakes or cake.

The batter was going to be the same either way: cake mix :)

The cupcakes came first.

Fresh out of the oven!

The icing was the best part. I think I did a pretty good job for a novice icer if I do say so myself. ;)

Just look at that professional swirl!

Our friend has worn plaid several times - we looked hard for those cupcake liners! ;)

We thought that using a Pringle and a JubeJube as a cowboy hat was genius - thank you, Pinterest!

We also ended up making a cake. The main reason was that we did not have enough cupcake caddies to carry 30 cupcakes. It turned out for the best though because our 'Happy Trails' sticks all remained together.

Before (baking)

After (check out that golden brown tan)

All iced - you can't even see the cracks! The wonders of make up :)

Those bronze sprinkles are supposed to be a road. Its even got perspective!

We even used cheerful craft tape for the backs of the letters - so DIY.

3 hours later - Voila!

So Brian, we wish you all the best in Calgary! Happy Trails!

Heart Punch

While cleaning the other day, I found my old heart punch which I had forgotten that I owned. The punch is small but very versatile – perfect for cardmaking and scrapbooking. Aren’t these sweet?

These cards are perfect for gift tags or short notes. I used one for the pot of flowers my siblings and I gave to our mom for Mother's Day.

Wedding Card

I have a friend who is getting married in less than a month. This is the card I was able to come up with on short notice because unfortunately, I am not going to have time to make the card in the next few weeks. I was going for a clean, simple design. I thought it turned out rather well, much better than my last attempt at a wedding card, although I really wish that I had an embossing set to fancy up the background. I did get the chance to break out my new stamp set though. The tuxedo and the veil were extremely tricky to make – I need to get myself a pair of tweezers. 

Now this card needs to make its rounds to my friends for signing.