Back from vaction... see what I learned

I want to start off by thanking all of you for the sweet comments about my grandfather's birthday.  It was a great success, many tears were shed - all good of course.  The photo album was a hit along with all the other photo boards my cousin and aunt put together.  There were even 2 sisters there who hadn't seen each other in 30 years, needless to say... it was a emotional and exhilarating day!


And here's proof it was a long day...





Now to crafting...


Since I'm still a newbie at this card making business I was really excited to spend some much needed time with my cousin.  She taught me how to make 3 different cards I've drooled over that she's created in the past.  It was so much fun, we started off shopping (of course) at Michael's and Joann's.  She also introduced me to a wonderful store called the Green Tangerine in Roseville, CA.  They have anything and everything you can ever think of for any sort of paper making your little heart will desire.  We found the secret clearance corner and I stocked up on stamps.  Oh, and I got the cricut magazine, I fell in love and I'm pretty sure I'll break down and get a subscription.  We ended up making cards until 3:30 in the morning, we could have stayed up for much longer but the breakfast reservations at 9 we already had with 15 other people were taunting us..


Ok, enough with the talking, here's what we made:


We made a spinner card - these cute little things are easy to make. 
I used the Glitter Mat Stack from Joann's and a set of studio-g iclear stamps I bought at green tangerine

The next card we made was a tri-fold card.  This card can look so elegant and at the same time can be designed to look colorful and fun. 



This last card was so much fun, almost everything that it took to make the card was a new technique for me.  I got to experience the Copic Marker coma... Those are freaking amazing (as my cousin puts it). 
This is the easel card.  We used the HG-Sing stamp from Greeting farm, Stampin' Up chalk for the smoky outlines, and for the first time I got to use an i-rock.  Another item to add to my growing wish list...

Sweet 28 Blog Hop

If you've just come from Paper Crafts by Candace's page

you're on the right path, if not, go to

Kimi and Pamela  at http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/ 

so you can start from the top and don't miss any of the great ideas today.

I'm so excited, and nervous so be nice.  HA, just kidding.... This is the first hop I've participated in.  Enjoy.

Happy Birthday to Love Bug Creations, this is her birthday themed hop and I hope you'll enjoy all the neat ideas that we're sharing today.

Not only is it her birthday but also my grandfathers.  Tomorrow we'll be celebrating his 80th birthday.  I volunteered to make the invitations since I live out of state.  Now keep in mind, I volunteered to make these thinking... How many people can grandpa know?
My goodness, let me tell you, I had invitations coming out of my ears.  I sent out more invitations for his party then I did for my wedding last summer.  In all, I mailed 63 invitations out and there are 141 people total that have been invited.  Man, he's quite the popular guy. 
I did not have enough of the same paper to make them all the same so I ended up with 11 different versions, they're all similar but have a bit of a difference.

Anyways, enough of the details, here's some of the invites I made:

 This one I really liked the background paper on, thelight blue paper is glittery so it really added a nice touch to them. 

This was my first project I got to use my design studio on, I used it to weld the word celebrate together, I outlined celebrate with a light blue gel pen and added the dashes around the backdrop to it so it looked like stitching.  I won't bore you with the inside, it's just the details of the party, no cutsie stuff.

I did feel a little brave too and decided to make my first banner.  I went a little overboard, it's enormous.  Each star is 10" and there are 10 of them.  The first picture is a litte small of course, it's strung across the wall of the room I'm transforming into my craft room.

Each of the letters, I added the dashes to with the same light blue gel pen to give it more demension.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  The letters are from Ashlyn's Alphabets, I'm pretty happy with how it's all come together.

One more thing, this is my gift to my grandpa.  I asked everyone invited to send me pictures and reasons why they love him or memories they've shared with him.  I've compiled a 300 page photo album that has the pictures from his life - childhood to current, each page includes at least one reason why we love him or a great memory that someone in his family has had.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this as much as I enjoyed making them.  Thanks for hopping by.

1- Kimi and Pamela http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/

2- Missy http://happystampindesigns.blogspot.com/

3- Tanya http://scrappinkymomma.blogspot.com/

4- Michelle http://www.scrappinwithmybug.com/

5- Laura http://lifeasanarmywife-lauradietsch.blogspot.com/

6- Sarah http://www.pinkcricut.com/

7 - Candace http://papercraftsbycandace.blogspot.com/ 

8- Sarah (that's me)  http://creatingmyfavoritememories.blogspot.com/ 

9 - Kim (your next stop) http://rickettscricuts.blogspot.com/

10- Liz http://www.mywhichcraft.blogspot.com/

11- Zeni http://www.scrappyzeni.blogspot.com/

12- Erin http://spantastikreations.blogspot.com/

13- Anne http://anniebeescraftroom.blogspot.com/

14- Gaby http://www.gabycreates.com/

15- Karen http://osebastian.blogspot.com/

16- Paula http://www.owlbescrappin.com/

17- Martha http://pattisscrapingtime.blogspot.com/

18- Dianne http://diannesscrappycreations.blogspot.com/

19- Kimmarie http://kimmarieskorner.blogspot.com/

20- Victoria http://victoriascraftycreations.blogspot.com/

21- Sonia http://www.scraps4fun.com/

22- Lisa http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/

23- Jennifer http://kozfam5.blogspot.com/

24- Nicole http://www.creationsbymommy.com/

25- Amy http://amydesigns.blogspot.com/

26- Stacey http://creatingacraftylife.blogspot.com/

27- Becky http://beckscricards.blogspot.com/

28- Alina http://neverstopscrapping.blogspot.com/

29- Haidee http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/

Thank you so very much for stopping by - Have a great day!

I finally got my Craft room!

So, when my sister-in-law moved out of our home, I was eager to get my craft room back, but this time, I wanted it to be more than plastic boxes and dragging the supplies to the kitchen table each night then having to lug it back when I was done.  I've been on a mission to find a nice desk I can turn this room into what it should be. 
Yesterday, my husband decided, it would be a gift for both of us not to have glitter all over the dining room every time you sit at the table.  Ha, more for him then me, I can deal with glitter. But, I'm game if I get my room.  We went to 3 different stores looking for a desk that would look great and work for what I need.  Nothing.  He suggested office depot, typically I would have passed it up because of the price of a good desk at stores like that.  But, we went on it, looked and their furniture was on sale.  Yeah!  Then, the manager came up and said, there's a desk assembled at the front of the store we want to get rid of at dirt price.  It's marked $150 but we'll go lower.  We walk on over, I liked it but even for $150, I was looking at others around it.  The guy walked over asked what we were using it for, I told him a craft room and he said $40 bucks.  SOLD.  
We were so excited, we loaded into the back of the car and every time we looked at it, we kept saying... man that was a good deal.  We couldn't have gotten this desk at a garage sale for $40 bucks.  If it doesn't work, we can probably craigslist it for $75.  
We got it home and I spent from 6-10 making this room what I wanted.   

So, here goes nothing...

And there's even a spot for my dog.  Say hi to Junior.