confetti

get with the program

today i have another project from the stacks on my desk.  back in february, mignon's class had their big fourth grade play and i was asked to help facilitate and print the program.  big shocker, i know!  the kids had some great ideas and wanted to draw the artwork, so i thought it would be fun to introduce them to the wacom tablet.  each person in my small group who wanted to draw took turns drawing directly into photoshop on the tablet, and then we used the paint bucket to color it all in.  one of the coolest things was being able to draw something one time and then duplicate it as needed, like the columns and the lines on the gate.  another was being able move things around and lay out the finished product so easily.  no scanning was also a huge plus.  the kids really liked my gadget and i know at least one of them wants one of her very own!  it is a pretty awesome toy!  thanks for stopping by...

:) lexi

shhh, don't tell...

here's a recent invitation i created for a surprise 40th birthday.  the request was for something fun and festive, with bright colors and birthday images.  i went for bold shape drawings and circles with different line styles.  glitter stickles on each image and on the center of the stars gave it just the right amount of glitz.  i really like the outcome!

have a great weekend...
:) lexi

baby, baby

well, i was too busy to stamp five cards this weekend, but i did stamp a little and do have several things to post this week.  today, i have two baby versions of one of my favorite note card designs.  these are "pre-birth" baby designs to be used as thank you notes after a shower or for any other baby correspondence.  once a baby is born, i create something similar, but personalized with the baby's name.  the top pink one is for an expected baby girl, the bottom for expected boy twins.  and since we're talking babies...

i thought i'd share a picture of colleen's rice baby, sapphire jewel daly--what a name, huh?!  every year, the second graders make these based on their own birth weights and do a variety of activities with them.  we found one of colleen's old burpie cloths and baby blankets for her to use with her little one, along with a baby doll basket to make carrying her around easier.  it's a fun day to be a parent helper--i especially love to see how the boys get so into it, even holding their new charges correctly, supporting the head and all!!

have a great day...
:) lexi

husband, wife ... happy life!

here's a cake i made for one of colleen's teachers.  she got married a couple of weeks ago and while she was on her honeymoon, i helped the class write a book of marriage advice for her.  the second graders recommended that the newlyweds cook each other's favorite meals, take lots of trips, get a maid, and always have a kiss goodnight--soo cute!  anyway, she got back on monday, so on friday during snack time we surprised her with a reception to celebrate, including a grand entrance, dancing, tossing the bouquet and garter, cutting the cake, and presenting the book.

the book is almost the same as the wedding wishes book we created for mignon's second grade teacher from two years ago, who is actually colleen's other teacher, and who happens to be expecting twin boys very soon.  i can't wait to see what advice the kids come up with for her!

don't forget to kiss goodnight!
:) lexi

a boxed set

three more days of school to go and the light at the end of the tunnel actually seems to be brighter!  i'll mostly be trading in the added rush of orders for less time to finish the others i might have, but that sounds good to me for now.  i know a lot of kids are gearing up for camp, so i thought i'd share this cute stationery set today.  the box from target was a perfect way to showcase the design and different elements of the set...

return address labels, stationery pages, foldover notes, address calling cards, and post cards--i should have photographed the back, but it looks just like a post card you'd buy.  all perfectly personalized for the camper who actually writes home--unlike my daughter!!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi

sparkle shades

today i have another invite from the stack that piled so high last month.  the request was for a fun play-outside party with something a bit girly and maybe a craft idea to go with it.  so after finding the idea to embellish sunglasses with glitter glue and jewels from an american girl party book, i came up with the sparkle shades for the invitation.  when i drew them, i made sure to leave a little room for stickles!  when i spend time working on images like this, i always hope i'll have another chance to use them again.  so i was very excited a couple of weeks later when a friend asked me to help design a cd sticker for a pool party cd favor...

she had found an invitation to print herself and mentioned that there was a pair of shades on it, so of course my lightbulb went off.  no stickles this time since it's on the cd, but they make a great random summer fun pattern and i got to use my image again--and again and again!

have a great weekend!
:) lexi

70 years young

we're on major spring break time--no schedule lately and no stamping!  but i do have a quick invitation post.  i created this a couple of weeks ago for a birthday party for a "young" 70 year old.  i drew the cake, plate, and flames with basic shape tools and used fonts to create the number candles and add the fleur de lis to the cake.  for a finishing touch, i traced the edge of the plate and colored the flames with spica markers--glitter is always good!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi

boys will be boys!

 

i'm busy getting things together for an upcoming birthday party i'm working on, so no time to stamp today--maybe tonight a little!  'til then, i thought i'd share two all-boy invites that i hadn't posted yet...

both were created on the comptuer.  i think i've mentioned this before, but i love figuring out fun wording and finding the perfect font as much as any other part of the invitation.  for the art work on these, i used simple shapes and lines to draw--it's very much a signature of my printed designs, especially invitations for kids.  the one i'm working on right now is so cute--i hope it all works out like i see it in my head!

:) lexi

right up to the end!

while all of my christmas card orders were complete by early last week, i had a few stationery gift orders right up to christmas eve!  luckily they were given locally, so i could fit in my own last minute shopping and creating.  and i managed to snap pictures to share...

today, my girls have friends over and i hear my new stamps calling my name...

peace!
:) lexi

more gift labels...

 

give 'em as gifts and use 'em on gifts!   and i spoke too soon the other day or, i guess, jinxed myself.  yes, i'm still near the end.  but, that night, my computer started shutting down on me again and i've seen this screen way too much over the last two days.  it had miraculously gone away during my main crunch time, but sadly it's not gone forever.  i guess i'd better go write a letter to santa...

:) lexi

lilly-wonka!

i had hoped to post this over the weekend, but we were away at a family wedding in memphis.  colleen was a wild child dancin' queen--i'll have to share pics of her doing the robot!  anyway, i mentioned working on this invitation a couple of weeks ago--it was one of those creations that turned out better than perfect and now ranks as one of my all-time faves!  birthday girl lilly was so excited about it too, which makes it even better.  of course, i'm a big fan of charlie and the chocolate factory and as soon as my friend melissa told me her idea for the party, i knew we had to do a candy bar complete with a golden ticket...

 
 

i wanted a somewhat authentic feel, so i did an online search for the wonka bar and golden ticket and based my design on the images i found.  i also tried to stay as close as possible to the original ticket wording, changing it only as necessary to properly include the party info.  i found the golden paper at michael's and was able to print on it without smudging if i let it dry and heat set it a bit.  i trimmed it with my marvy paper trimming buddy to more closely match the one from the movie.  the wrapper and ticket fit the 5 oz hershey bar and for delivery, i packaged them in matching labeled bubble mailers which lilly handed out at school...

 

mignon had to miss the party because of our trip, but was quick to give me party scoop she got at school today and it sounds like it was as much of a success as the invite!  she did, however, enjoy the invitation fully, finishing off the last bit of it for dessert tonight!

sometimes nutty, always sweet...
:) lexi

news from camp!

 

here's a close up of the orange and blue stationery i made for mignon to take to camp--with a letter written on it!  i stalk the website regularly to see pictures, but this was even better.  short, sweet and to the point--it sounds like she's having as much fun as the pictures seem to show!

1 week down, 1 to go...
:) lexi

it's a girl!

 

i helped host a baby shower yesterday, and as you can see (surprise, surprise!), i was responsible for the invitation and cake.  the cake is a larger take on the yellow one i did last month.  i added a row of dots and adjusted the design to fill the additional surface space and made the buggy a little more girly with the scalloped edge.  the camera picked up every crease and bump, but it didn't look so evident in person--i spent so much time trying to get a perfectly smooth surface, but it's never as smooth as i want it to be!  and since i designed the invitation, i couldn't resist adding a set of matching note cards to my gift...

 

i had planned on cutting and mounting the baby face on a scalloped pink square, but my laptop decided to stop working and cut in to my creating time.  it also has all of my most important files on it, which are hopefully being safely extracted and saved elsewhere as i type on the much older, now my kids' desktop.  keep your fingers crossed that most of my files make it...

:) lexi

blue skies

over the weekend, i posted two cards using my cloud background--shopping scene & pool scene. stamping is my first love, but i also enjoy designing on my computer. sometimes i create something for an invitation that i then use in my paper crafting, like this cloud design.  i thought i'd share it today along with some projects i've created using it.

i originally created it for this invitation to a shrek party.  i created the clouds out of various circles and ovals grouped together.  it takes a little playing, but once you make a few, you can copy, paste & resize them to create new clouds.    i also drew the road and the limo.  i use a lot of basic shapes in my computer drawings and tweak or morph them to create what i need.  the peeking shrek heads are actually a filled in letter o from a shrek font.

 

it occurred to me that the clouds were a perfect match for a cake mignon wanted me to make for her first communion, so i softened the color, moved some clouds around and a coordinating invitation was born--you can see the invitation (and cake!) here.  i like things to match, so i also used it to wrap her gift...

and made a matching card!

 

and because i tend to use things again if i leave them out, the clouds became inspiration for another invitation.  for mignon's communion (linked above), i printed the words on another layer to go over the clouds.  here, like the shrek invite, i printed the words with and right over the clouds.   but instead of designing this one completely on the computer, i left room in the design for a little stamping and paper crafting--the best of both worlds!

 

to my invitation customers, if you like the clouds and want to see them on your invitation, just let me know!  to my fellow stampers, if you like it and it works to copy and print the jpg (???), feel free and let me know what you create.  better yet, if you have a program with drawing tools, give it a try! 

enjoy!
:) lexi

stars & hearts &

blue & purple & pink & green & yellow...  that's what cece asked for, so that's what cece got!

 

with a cake to match...

inside and out!

 

and how about a matching gift & card while we're at it...

 
 

kids' birthdays are the best!

:) lexi

monkeyin' around?

not me!  subbing, field trips, classroom help, invitations--i'm definitely paying for my lazy spring break!  one "work" thing i did last week was to photograph a few more invitations to add to my invitations & announcements photo album.  some of my designs are stamped or paper crafted, others are designed strictly on the computer.  even when the design is primarily stamped, i print the words--i love fonts and have as big a collection of fonts as i have stamps!  one of my favorite aspects of designing invitations is coming up with the words--fun rhymes, catchy sayings, silly rsvp's--i like to add lots of pizzaz!  here are a few examples of what i'll be adding over the next few days...

enjoy!
:) lexi

p.s. the mailman brought packages today--ellen hutson, papertrey, eclectic paperie, oh my!  i did put ink to acrylic briefly, but not long enough to create.  maybe tomorrow!

they said "i do!"

in addition to easter, this past weekend was my brother's wedding--very busy & very fun!  of course, i had to create some special designs along the way just for him & his bride...

this was the save the date sent out several months ago, featuring celadon green, the color of the bridesmaids' dresses, and a fleur de lis.  my goal: contemporary, casual & fun!
 

i also created the rehearsal dinner invitation with the same colors (and fleur de lis) by request, but with a little more elegance to fit the occasion.  i thought that the watercolor paper, font, harlequin border and jewels did exactly that.  matching place cards were a must!

and if i'm going to talk wedding, i have to include this sweet little pic too--my flower girls had a blast!  aren't they cute?!

i have a little more wedding fun to share, but i'll save it for another post...

enjoy!
:) lexi

confetti!

don't you just love your name in print?  even if it's just on your own stationery!  this picture shows a big part of what i do--personalized notes.  these are what i found on my desk and in my files today with my own name.  some i print for myself as i create new designs, others are left over space on the page as i lay out someone else's design.  as you can see, i'm never far from a piece of paper with my name on it!

friends & potential customers often ask: can i see your work online?  and so this blog was born.  my main goal here is to have an online portfolio of that work--notepads, stationery, invitations, party ideas, etc.  some of my designs are simple font and color layouts or designed completely on my computer like the notes above.  for others, i turn to my massive collection of stamping and paper crafting supplies that beg to be used and offer elements of surprise and textural detail.

if you want to see more, check out the photo albums on the left--once you choose an album, click on a thumbnail to get a closer look and scroll through each picture in the album.  descriptions are included below each picture.  i continue to add new photos as i complete projects in addition to old favorites as i have time to photograph them.  if you see something you like, i can create it for you or i can design something brand new--just email me!

some of you have likely found your way here following links on other stampers' blogs or in my signature on scs.  since stamping is my first passion, you'll see a lot of that here!  i stamp whenever i can in my work, but i also try to make time to stamp for myself.  i hope to post samples fairly regularly.  i get so much inspiration blog-hopping and want to contribute my point of view in hopes of inspiring someone else in return.  so far, i can't seem to post daily--in the future, who knows!

no matter how you ended up here...
enjoy & come back again soon!

:) lexi