Walk On The Wild Side

I'm not a big card maker, however, I do enjoy making invitations.  And when my sister asked me to make invitations for her first grandchild's baby shower, with an animal theme, I was looking forward to a different project, since I usually stick to scrapbooking.

I did a lot of searching on pinterest, but couldn't really find anything that inspired me, which is unusual.  Everything was either too "cutesy" which is not my sister at all, or had to be done digitally, which I'm not into.  So, I hit the stores to get some inspiration, and not a lot of luck there either.  Michael's paper selection was "eh."  Nothing much animal themed at all and the one pack that was were pinks and purples, and they're having a boy.  What was going on?


In Joanne's I found some super cute, glittery giraffe washi tape which got me going.  Glittery without being girly.  I decided the rest of my supplies needed to have a more natural vibe.  Even though my sister wanted a animal/jungle theme, I didn't want animals on the invite, so I was really happy when I found zebra paper and rafia.  Finished up with some kraft envelopes from David Tutera that were on clearance for 50%.  Score.

I used some Making Memories glitter stickers from my stash for the word "wild" and some glittery thickers for the word "joy."  I outlined the small black words "we're" and "wild" with a white pen to make give them some definition on top of the patterned paper.

 The inside really pops!  I used a die from Art Gone Wild that creates these little pop-up templates for you.  My friend and fellow crafting buddy, La-Vie, and I attended a rubber stamp show last spring, taking a class from Art Gone Wild and used this tool to make super-cute birthday cards.  I immediately thought about using it for these invites because it really creates a unique look.  In class, we used plain white cardstock, for my little pop ups, I used a textured, colored paper, and I have to say, it was a little tricky finding the scored marks.  It worked, but in the future I'll use untextured paper.

I attached the word "boy" on each of my little pop up "trees," added some leaves I cut out with my Cricut, and tied on a bit of rafia.  As on the cover, I outlined the small black letters with a white pen, as well as the leaves.  I also lightly inked the card with some blue chalk ink.

My sister will fill in the bottom with the time and location of the shower, so I'm done!  I think they are awesome.  Contemporary, not cutesy, but still with a wild vibe. 

 

Twice the Fun

When I turned 40, my girls took me to Las Vegas to celebrate and we had a great time.  Afterwards, I wanted to create an album for each person of our time there.  Making 8 albums was a huge challenge.  It took forever, and I got burnt out doing the same photos 8 times.  I still have never done MY album from the trip... maybe when I turn 50.

My sister came to visit recently and we took some beautiful pictures of the fun times we had in New Mexico.  I didn't need to make 8 albums this time, only 2, but decided that I would do both albums at the same time.  This way I can get both albums done at the same time and not get burnt out.

My sister's page - using the Close to My Heart collection

First I separated my pics by each event/activity we did, making sure I had two of each photo.  Then I just grabbed a pile and got to work.  I went to Pinterest for my layout inspiration of course.  My sister likes earthy, toned down colors - I like bright and bold.  So even though I'm using the same photos and same sketch for each layout, I'm using different paper collections for each of us.

For my sister's layout, I used a great collection from Close to My Heart, called Balloon Ride, that my mother bought for me once she heard we were going on a hot air balloon.  The design and colors were perfect my for sister's taste and look great right?

Here is my page using BasicGrey

I used BasicGrey's "What's Up" collection for my layout.  The colors are a bit bolder, and I love it.  Plus I'm a BasicGrey ho... purchasing just about every collection they've ever had.  The paper is so smooth and thick and delicious.  I'm a BasicGrey hoarder, and not ashamed - so I'm happy I actually used it here!

Both layouts include metal corners on the photo, using We R Memory Keepers Main Squeeze - I love that thing and love that I've found tons of corners at Tuesday Morning for .99 a pack - hello!

I outlined all the photos and papers in black ink, and inked the edges of everything on my layout with a silver ink pad.  For my sister's layout I inked everything with blue.  There are also some super cute rub-ons on both layouts about the word "bucket."

We've always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride and it was awesome.  I used the title "Crossed Off the Bucket List" on both layouts, mixing up the fonts and using foam squares under the "crossed off" title.  Too fun.  Almost as fun as the balloon ride.

At this rate, I'll have both albums done in no time!