confetti by lexi

the best laid plans

so this was the plan for the day... no school, turning 6, a birthday party on the real birthday day!  i planned a fun spa themed birthday party at the birthday girl's request--signs, activities, party favors.  our house was to be "spa colleen" and the table was set, ready for girls & cake...

 

as i was working on the cake, plans changed and, after several phone calls, this is what we did instead...

 

well, the smiles didn't come right away.  in fact, we had quite the sob-fest.  but then, one guest didn't get the message and peeked in, one left a gift at the door, flowers arrived and another dropped by anyway--and the smile grew.

my poor sweet colleen--it's no fun to be sick on your birthday, especially when your party is all around you waiting to happen!  unfortunately, we can't reschedule right away because all but two of the girls are going out of town for the first week of summer, but we have a plan and she'll enjoy "spa colleen" so much more when she's not sick!

:) lexi

my daisy crowned girl...

   

 
 

pink party, pink party never grows old!  from calm arrival to wild child after the pink donuts (they didn't last long!) and popsicles and cookies and cake and punch...  what a morning!  at least we had a break in the rainy day to swim with friends and work it all out--or just work it up a bit more!  and wait 'til you see what i'm up to tomorrow.  i must be crazy...

:) lexi

more baking, "little" stamping

last night was a baking and decorating night.  in addition to the pink icing donuts, i also baked this baby shower cake.  as i do so often, i had a fuzzy picture in my head and figured it out as i went.  i've always loved making little baby buggies out of circles and it worked as perfectly with fondant as it does with paper!

i managed to get in a little stamping, too.  we gave class gift certificates to the teachers, but i wanted to give a little thought just from us, so i made sets of the monogrammed mini cards from a few weeks ago, complete with an even smaller "micro-mini" gift card to go with...

 

i included the penny to give a better sense of size in case you don't know just how small the a muse tiny bird is.  paired with the open circle line from faux ribbon by papertrey ink, she was the perfect size for these tiny cards--all dressed up for pink party, too!  pictures of that to follow...

enjoy!
:) lexi

pretty in pink

 

tomorrow is pink party, the very special end of year performance and reception for the pre-k & kindergarten at our school.  the kids wear pink, the food is pink, etc.  my job here was to add pink designs to several boxes of krispy kreme donuts.  pink, cute, yummy--easy!  colleen has been singing the pink party song for weeks now and her pink dress is ready and waiting.  can't wait to get the full effect tomorrow!

goodnight!
:) lexi

freestyle

 

in honor of the pool opening this weekend and hanging out there this afternoon, i decided to create with beachabella.  this was total freestyle stamping--i stamped and colored her first and then went in search of paper, embellishments, etc.  totally different from what i've been stamping lately, but i do like the colors and it's fun to do different.  one thing that remains the same--the glitter pen is well represented on bella's hair, suit and the flower centers, but you'll have to trust me on that!  so here's to summer and many days of pool side fun...  just a few busy half days of school to go!

:) lexi

getting punchy!

 

another a*muse*a*palooza challenge 4 card!  the giga scallop oval makes a great tree top, especially when stamped over and over with fun star small for texture and finished off with green ink around the edges.  to put the bird in the tree, i stamped it on white card stock, drew the tree trunk underneath and cut it all out together, mounting it over the scallop oval.  to make the other bird looking up at the first, i stamped it first on the oval stamp and stamped that on the paper over the sentiment--voila, mirror image!  for added color, i stippled blue ink over most of the card + a little green ink at the bottom.  and since i can't seem to do a card without a little bling, i added a few blue mini star twinkle stickers and traced over the sentiment with my very handy sakura stardust pen.

enjoy!
:) lexi

happy birthday cupcake!

 

here's another one for the a*muse*a*palooza challenge 4--get punchy!  this will be the perfect birthday card for colleen's 6th birthday next week.  she's very into blue these days and she truly is a little cupcake!

credits:  cupcake, star & "cupcake" stamps by a muse; happy birthday from paper tray by papertrey ink; papers, stamp pads & hardware by su!; and ribbon from michael's + copic markers & sakura glaze and stardust pens.

tgif!
:) lexi

shine on!

 
here's a quick card for this weeks a*muse*a*palooza challenge 4--get punchy!  well, not all that quick actually.  the punched pieces with the just the paper pieced lamp have been sitting on my desk for two days. and there they sat until today when the lightbulb finally came on!

enjoy!
:) lexi

credits: lamp by a muse, mega scallop & super jumbo circle punches by marvy-uchida, palette noir ink pad, su! going grey and pretty in pink ink pads, sakura pens--black glaze & stardust glitter, jewels & dymo label maker.

happy girls

 

my girls love to sing and are big idol followers.  they get attached to contestants the closer to the end it gets and cry when the ones they like are voted off--sobs for melinda last week!  this year they had a few favorites along the way, but were really pulling for jordin tonight.  we got together with a few of their friends for the big finale and you should have heard the squeals.  excited girls are noisy--my eardrums are still ringing!  vip badges were a must, a little cut & paste + lamination = a cute keepsake that the girls had fun wearing.  here's colleen getting her groove on...

 

so much fun!
:) lexi

cool blue cruisabella

 

when i first saw cruisabella i thought red, but then i saw this card by julie at stampin with julie--and i just had to do blue.  my layout "drove" me crazy, though!  i knew i wanted the ribbon for the road and i liked the retro atomic explosion with the retro car.  i also wanted a pattern along the bottom, but had trouble choosing one--too many stamps, perhaps?!  i think it might be a little too busy, but i just had to finish it and drive on!  and the best thing about stamps--i can make it red next time...

thanks for cruisin' by!
:) lexi

p.s. there's plenty of glitz on the car, but again, hard to capture in pictures.  the atomic explosion is by hot potatoes, the retro pattern and spiral hardware by su!, the ribbon from michael's--and of course, cruisabella by stamping bella!

little lady dress

 

little lady, the new papertrey ink set, arrived on my doorstep saturday.  it was a nice surprise since i didn't get the usual shipping notice!  my first card just had to be my own take on the little lady dress after seeing the two cards in the inkpad gallery using the ladybug wings in this creative way--a blue polka dotted number by debbie olson and a black party dress by lisa johnson--too cute!  i made my skirt a little fuller by stamping the large wings three times, overlapping each one.  and when mounting it on the silver layer, i popped it up a bit higher in the middle by putting a thick pop dot there with a thinner one on each side.  i also added sparkle to the skirt with a sakura glitter pen, which i can't seem to ever catch in pictures--just know it's on almost every card i make lately!  now maybe i can focus on ladybugs, although lisa's little tulips were another favorite...

enjoy!
:) lexi

hey cupcake!

 
i guess real cake just wasn't enough--i had to bake a little cupcake too!  i managed to squeeze in just one more card for a*muse*a*palooza challenge 3.  i've had so much fun with this card sketch and will have to find others to try from time to time.  having a sketch layout ready to follow has been great for quick stamping and great cards!

goodnight!
:) 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

blue birdy

 

yet another a*muse*a*palooza challenge 3 card!  not much stamping--just that cute a muse tiny bird.  i used the martha stewart starburst punch to reverse mask and stipple the nest, adding doodled twigs with a matching marker; then i punched the starburst after stamping the bird on the nest.  i exchanged the rectangle detail on the sketch for my mega scallop and jumbo circle punches--they looked like a tree so i added the brown strip for a trunk!  the patterned paper is martha at michael's.  overall, a pretty simple and straightforward card!

:) lexi

you rock!

 

here's another a*muse*a*palooza challenge 3 card.  there are lots of stage & spotlight cards out there with rock star--how can you not put him on stage?  my twist is an autographed poster, like the ones you might find in tiger beat!  the card sketch without the bow kind of reminded me of a wall with a chair rail, which is what led me to the poster idea.  i have this marker called a color cutter that cuts as you draw, leaving a perfect border.  you can draw/cut any shape you want.  here, i stamped rock star and used a ruler to cut and border my poster at the same time.  next, i inked up the words seperately to get the corner design.  then i drew the spotlights, masking and stippling the yellow and blue areas, and colored rock star and his stage with copic markers.  an autograph makes it look like the real thing!  star twinkle stickers replace the bow on my ribbon.  i tested one out on the poster, too, where the words meet; but when i decided against it and took it off, the star-shaped adhesive stayed behind, so i covered that with a little glitter, which was even better.  i "taped" the poster on the wall a little askew with mini masking tape details and of course the corners are starting to curl up a bit as posters do.  so much fun!

enjoy!
:) lexi

tennis anyone?

 
time for a*muse*a*palooza challenge 3--a sketch challenge.  this was fun!  my card is actually the mirror image of the sketch, which seemed to work better with my images and overall design.  i drew a tennis court on the lime peel tag with a signo white gel pen and then had a hard time deciding what color to layer it on--white, pale yellow, tennis ball yellow???  i tried them all!  finally i came up with the idea to use the tennis ball (su!) in yellow on white and to have one bouncing away and then it all started to fall into place.  of course, the ribbon reminded me of a net! 

scoopy did a tennis girl card recently with polka dot ribbon and i was so worried my card would look like hers--i didn't look at it again until after i finished to lessen the influence.  mine came out different enough, although i want to create a similar one another time--i love her ribbon as a net!  but, i do find that when i really want to be creative and do my own thing, it's better not to look at many examples out there which might have too much of an impact on my designs.  i love the inspiration when i need it, but i live for those "aha!" stamping moments when i come up with something new and different!

i don't use sketches much, but i hope to try a few more of this one before time's up on sunday.  these challenges are such a great motivator!

:) lexi

more mini monograms

after i made these monogram mini cards with martha stewart adhesive ribbon and alphabet stamps last week, i wanted to make several more.  i was making a lot at once and since i didn't have enough ribbon for full sets, i decided to use papertrey's faux ribbon in place of the real ribbon.  i started off with the more ribbon-like design for the d cards, but my favorite stamp is the open circle line on the s ones, so i let that one stand alone.  i've used it on several quick cards in a similar way lately.  if i had more time or was making a smaller quantity, i might try to design a two color ribbon design, but i do like the simplicity of these and how the monogram takes center stage.

now, here's what i've been busy with last night and this morning... not simple, but i guess you could say i had a ball!

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

plaid gone mad!

 

one thing i immediately thought of when i saw faux ribbon by papertrey ink was plaid.  i finally took some time to give it a try over the weekend.  these little squares are from my first attempt--i went a little overboard on the lines!  instead of tossing it, i punched select areas with a square punch and set them aside--they kept haunting me and this card came together this morning.

but, before that (and at the risk of wasting more paper!), i gave my original thought a second try...

i went a little slower adding the various lines--holding back from adding too many this time--which made it work better for having a larger plaid element like i wanted.  can't wait to see what papertrey ink has in store for us tonight!

:) lexi

happy mother's day!

floatin' around...

 
another a*muse*a*palooza challenge 2 design!  as i was working on the last one--cute design, but pretty obvious--i saw this little girl on my desk from mignon's birthday invitation.  (i keep too many scraps on my desk!)  it occurred to me that if you cut out the middle of the pool and put the paper doll in there, it could be a floatie ring!  i cut off her legs because i wanted it to look like she was floating on the ric rac water, but she was also cute standing in it.  to give the ring dimension, i put a small strip of foam tape between her body and the front of it and used flat adhesive to place it on the card.  also, i used a glaze pen over the pool image to give in a plastic look, but it changed the color of my ink.  it looks a lot like a floatie ring we used to have, but it did make the dots harder to see, especially in the picture.  now that i've done a few a muse cards, i need to focus on shopping bag props for mignon's recital...

enjoy!
:) lexi