A Birthday Banner and Some Cupcake Goodness.

Two of some of my favorite people were born in July. My friend Laura and my oldest nephew. I've known Laura for going on 22 years. Laura is one of those friends that basically always has your back. She's probably threatened to beat up every one of my shady boyfriends at one time or another, so when she met Mr. Bean and loved him, I pretty much knew he had to be The One. She inspires me to find joy in the little things in life - like the little chocolates you get with your meal on the airplane or the fruit tarts you find in bakeries all over France - as well as the mundane things - like cooking a pot roast. I don't know that I will ever understand why she thinks I am so awesome (because she really does tell people that I am awesome) but I hope I am half the friend to her that she is to me.

Laura has an understated elegance that I could never achieve. While I am loud and crass, Laura is quiet and refined. I love hot pink and bright orange, she loves pale pinks and blues. I love excess, she believes in moderation. When it came time to make her a birthday card, I decided to do something that was a little bit of the both of us: minimal with a little bit of drama.

My inspiration was basically a birthday banner. I didn't want to do a pennant banner because I wanted to challenge myself to think outside of my tiny creative box. I originally wanted to try a pop up card where when the card was opened, this banner pops up and basically screams 'Happy Birthday' at you, but it was getting late and I couldn't get it to work properly. Maybe another time. So, I decided to go with a party-in-an-envelope concept. In my head, it would be like an instant party.

Step 1. Pull the string.


Step 2. Start the party.


Isn't that kind of how it goes? Well, that's how it goes in my head, anyways.

For this card, I drew out all the letters by hand, then cut them out and sewed them together with my sewing machine. That's about it! The patterened paper is all Martha Stewart. The envelopes are from Paper Source. The kraft cardstock is Bazzill.

One of my other favorite people born this month is my oldest nephew. He is going to be 15 tomorrow. I can't begin to tell you how old that makes me feel. And short. Because he is probably 2 feet taller than me already. This year my sister-in-law decided to throw him a surprise party with all of his friends, so she asked me to make the cake. But, why eat cake when you can have a cupcake? That's my motto.

I tried not to make the cupcakes too childlike since he is 15, but I still wanted them to be cute. So, I took some of my Japanese washi tape and toothpicks and created some cupcake toppers.

Please forgive the color of the chocolate icing. I cut out some of the chocolate the recipe required because the grocery store only had semi sweet chocolate when I needed unsweetened chocolate. I was sweating it for a while, but luckily I only got one dookie comment from an entire crowd of 15 year old boys, so I'll count it as a success.

And, just in case you are interested - ok, really, I am trying to put off making dinner - for his cake, I made him a cupcake cake with 6 cupcakes and a ton of icing. I tried to decorate it so that it matched the cupcake toppers, but I doubt anyone noticed that. Since my nephew is a texting fool (he only uses about 20 minutes of actual phone time, but manages to send out about 25,000 texts a month....seriously), I thought I'd get all witty on him and put 'HB2U' in lieu of the much longer 'Happy Birthday'. Just trying to stay hip, you know. One cupcake at a time. Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. Instead of the high-fives and loud bursts of exclamations like "Your Aunt is sooo awesome!" that I anticipated, several kids asked what it meant. But, I look at it this way. Maybe I am just head of my time.....


Alright, well, I've neglected house, home, and husband this past week, so I've got my work cut out for me. Mr. Bean has been forced to eat sandwiches for dinner lately and I'm pretty sure the jig is up and he's caught on that it's not a home style version of the newest Quiznos sandwich.

Birthday fun at the carnival.

I have a confession to make. I love carnivals. Especially at night. There is something about a carnival that gets me all giddy. The food, the rides, the colors, the lights. The combination of it all basically equals F.U.N. Love. It. All.

Lately, I've noticed a new trend to use carnival influenced typography on invitations. And I am in love. So, naturally, in my quest to get inspiration for my next card, I was amazed when I saw this carnival themed wedding.

(photo via Red Heart Photography)

I remember when planning my own wedding, my main goal was for everyone to have fun. How could anyone not have fun at a wedding like this?? I think I need to have another wedding. Or, can someone please have a carnival themed wedding and invite me?? Check out more pics of this crazy cool wedding here.

Although I had plenty of inspiration, I couldn't finish this card for the life of me. I tried out several ideas (even soliciting the help of a friend and her Cricut) and all of them fell flat. I kind of lost my mojo with this one, but I am glad I worked thru it once I realized the irony of the whole situation. I was taking the whole carnival concept too seriously when the whole concept of a carnival is supposed to be about having fun.

Anyway, I made this card for my sister. I really wanted it to be perfect and I really wanted her to love it (and keep it). I hope she does.

I drew out the clouds and the red frame and cut them out using an xacto knife. I cut yellow paper strips to 1/4" to make the stripes. The stars are from a punch I bought at the Target $1 spot. I used a white Signo gel pen to draw the circles, hoping to give the illusion of lights. I also drew the black flourishes with just a fine pointed black pen on the stripes as well as on the lights. The letters are from Making Memories. All the cardstock is Bazzill. Below is just a close up of the details. Don't ask me why my camera suddenly takes a good close up.


I added some pop up glue dots to give the card some dimension. So some clouds are raised some are flush with the 'sky' and, of course, the entire sign is raised higher than any of the clouds.


Since we are twins, I can't use the excuse that I forgot about my sister's birthday. I kind of dropped the ball on sending this out to her on time. But, my sister knows me and knows I won't send something I'm not happy with. So, sorry, Seester. I hope it was worth the wait. :)

Update: Apparently, Iowa is where cute cards go to die because my sister said the card arrived like it barely survived a battle with the postman . Sorry, Seester. Can we have a moment of silence?

July Obsessions.

I can't begin a new month without listing my latest obsessions. Work picked up for me this past month, so I didn't have as much time to obsess about a whole bunch of things, but I managed to conjure up a few things to share. So, here we go.

(photo taken from here)

FIFA World Cup. I have been in a zombie like state ever since June 11. Mr. Bean apparently has a real job where he cannot watch the games in real time, so we have been saving them for the evening. This makes for some very late nights. While I am sad that the US didn't make it further, it is exciting to see America start taking notice of this game that has captivated the rest of the world for well over a century.

(photo taken from Starbucks)

Starbucks' Vanilla Bean Scone. I tried one of these a few weeks ago on a whim. I don't typically buy anything other than a latte there because, while everything looks delicious, it is always kind of a let down. But, this day I needed to burn some time (and apparently some extra calories) and now every time I pass a Starbucks, I start drooling a la Pavlov's dogs. You have to try one. It will change your life. Forever.

(images taken from Design Amour)

Moroccan Stencils. I have been dying to go to Morocco for years. When our neighbors announced that they'd be moving there for at least 2 years, I quickly started trying to devise a plan to pack myself up in one of their suitcases without Mr. Bean noticing. I will let you know how that goes. Anyway, I love everything there is to love about Morocco. The food, the colors, the architecture, the textiles. Everything. So, just in case my plan doesn't work out, I've been trying to think of ways to bring a little Morocco into my home. I came across these stencils as well as these stencils. Yes, stencils. Before you judge me, take some time to check out their fabulousness. I am not sure where I can incorporate these into my home, but I think it's a great option if you aren't wanting to commit to wallpaper.

(image taken from Design Dust)

Japanese Washi Tape. JWT, if loving you is wrong I don't wanna be right. I can't get you out of my head. I dream about you at night. I day dream about you during the day. Please. Be mine. In every color. If you aren't familiar with the loveliness that is washi tape, I suggest you google it now and prepare to become obsessed.

My birthday hangover has finally subsided. Although my birthday was on a Friday, it actually went on all week and carried over to the weekend. I can't say this was a bad idea. In fact, I think I will make this a requirement every year from now on. But, I think I will wait to tell Mr. Bean that for now. Thanks to everyone that made my birthday so exciting!

I have to give a special shoutout to my favorite fellow crafters. Check out the (blurry) pic of the card and envelope they made me. INSANE.

I won't even begin to imagine how long it took them to make it. Hopefully, they think I am worth it. ;) I plan on hanging this in my craft room STAT. You can read more about it here.

Alright, it is Friday and I am ready to get the weekend started. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Birthday Wisdom

At the *uh hem* tender age of 33, I wish I could write down some words of wisdom that would somehow strike a chord in the minds and hearts of America's youth, but I doubt any of them are reading anyway. I'll give you a song instead. An oldie, but a goodie. I'm sure you didn't want to read another long post anyway.

Happy Birthday, Seester!!!!!!

Movin' on Up

I am not sure I've ever mentioned my BIL, Mr. Bean's little brother. I call him my Billy. He's 7 years younger than Mr. Bean and just about the sweetest guy I've ever known. He's the kind of kid you want for a little brother and the kind of kid you'd want for a son. And, of course, he's the kind of guy you definitely want for a BIL.

When I first met Billy Bean, he was still in high school, had a curfew, wore glasses, and was about as big around as my pinky finger. Now, he's got contacts (so now you can see his beautiful eyes!), an awesome job with an awesome company (after graduating from college with high honors), all sorts of muscles I didn't know Indian men had, and lives on his own about 2500 miles from all of us. And just to rub in to to all the girls that wouldn't date him in high school, Billy Bean just bought a beautiful condo with an awesome view of the city. Go Billy Bean!!

Although he moved in late last week, he's been preparing for the move for a few weeks now. He's drawn up plans for his new pad using Google SketchUp so he could maximize it's potential. I have to say I'm impressed, despite the fact that it doesn't surprise me he'd take so much care to ensure he makes his new space the best it can be.

So, how did I respond to the move? I made a card, of course.


I started the card with no idea of what I was going to do. I couldn't help thinking of a pair of spare keys, so I sketched out some keys on metallic paper and cut them using an exacto knife. The tag is just something I stole from work that we buy from Office Depot, since we are forever labeling keys. I wrote his actual unit number on the tag. I added some paint to make the background of the card to make it interesting. The faux measuring tape is from Urban Outfitters - sort of a nod to Billy Bean's SketchUp drawings - and the other tape is Japanese masking tape.

Billy Bean, Mr. B and I are so proud of you. Watching you grow up into a such a caring, responsible, talented young man has been an honor. We can't wait to visit! I believe I will start calling this my new vacation home. :)

A Birthday Card Story.

I am really excited to post this next card. Lately, I've been saying this with every card, but this is seriously one of my all-time favorite cards. But please bare with me. I am going to selfishly walk you thru every detail of how this card was created so that I can relive the memories.

I worked on this card with a friend of mine. Working with my friend is always a pleasure, but typically we have an agenda. This time, it was fun to sort of play around with materials and toss around ideas with her. She's amazingly creative and talented. She inspires me everyday to live green and think outside of the box when crafting. She's definitely a crafter in a whole other league from me, since I stick to paper and fabric, so she brings a plethora of crafty information with her.

A few weeks ago, my friend and I set out on a mission to create a card for our fellow crafty friend. We are two of her biggest fans. Basically, it had to be fantastic. It needed to be fabulous. And it definitely required some amount of 'clever'. And I, of course, thought it had to have some sort of pennant banner. And at least one rosette. So, we started a think tank and dove head first into a brainstorming session where I presented my friend with ideas like, "Why don't we just encrust it with huge diamonds!!" And my friend would respond, "Um. No." Or, "Why don't we make a remote control card that will zoom in with a cake on top?!" And my friend would respond, "Um. No." So, the dreamer and the realist went thru my craft room and decided to use what I had. Unfortunately, there were no huge diamonds available for encrusting.

We stumbled upon this picture and used it as our inspiration. A desert table by Amy Atlas.


It fit all the criteria. It was fantastic. In fact, it was fabulous. It had some crepe paper rosettes that were to making me scream, "Come home to Momma!!!" And, layering those rosettes?! How clever! The only thing missing as far as I was concerned was a pennant banner. Totally doing this for a party, BTW. Preferably a party for me.

The next day I started sketching out ideas at work (instead of working, yes). At the suggestion of my friend, I included the sketches for you. Kind of shows you my thought process.
Then, it was back to my craft room. None of the patterned paper I had really satisfied us, so my friend came up with the very clever idea of using magazines or catalogs to make the rosettes. I recycle my catalogs pretty quickly, but luckily that morning I forgot to toss the latest Pottery Barn catalogs in my recycle bin before the city came to pick it up. It was fate.

I'll admit, once we started cutting them up, I was a bit skeptical of the catalogs. It didn't seem like it was colorful enough. But, I loved the idea that we were using catalogs. Despite my concerns, that night my friend confidently churned out every single one of those rosettes as well as the pennants AND still wanted to be my friend the next day.

I figured the enforcers of the crafting labor laws would not condone three nights of torture, so the next day, I decided I'd better figure out the rest of the card on my own. So after playing around with a few ideas, I ended up stitching each pennant into a banner by hand-feeding it into my sewing machine. It sounds extremely labor intensive, I know. I'll just keep typing and making you think that. But, in case any crafting labor law enforcers are reading this, it actually didn't take that long once I got the swing of it.

Besides gluing it all together and making the actual card portion, that was about all there was to it. Here is the final product. Enjoy.






And just because I couldn't get enough of the pennants, I decided to use it on the wrapping.



I wish the pictures did it justice. I tried taking pics of it from different angles so you could see how fantastic and fabulous and clever it is. This card will be hard to give away, but I know the person it's going to will love it and appreciate it as much as I ever could.

June Obsessions.

I'm back with some obsessions for June. I realize it is only the first week of June, but my process of being obsessed cannot be contained to 30 day increments. So, I may have to update this post if/when I find myself obsessing over anything else in June.

This song. I know it's old school, but after we had some friends over to break in our Rock Band 2, I've been listening to it over and over and over and over again. Just makes me nostalgic.

photo via Madeline Weinrib

My competition. Check out Madeline Weinrib. Love the fabrics she uses. Awesome rugs, too. I think I will have to expand my empire of exquisite pillows to include rugs once I make it big.

42nd and orange pennant banner

Pennants. They're everywhere. I know. Every scrapbooker in the world is using them. But, I have been living in the land of pennants ever since my friends helped me make a banner last November. And I don't wanna leave.

photo via wedding bee

Paper rosettes. They're everywhere. I know. But, I can't help myself. Once Martha does them, I have to find a way to incorporate them into every part of my existence. And I will succeed.

I will try to limit my obsessions posts to once a month, but right now I'm reading more than I am crafting. I keep walking into my craft room with good intentions, but I can't seem to finish anything I've started lately.

I hope everyone had an awesome Memorial Day weekend. It actually felt like a long weekend for me. Instead of doing everything we needed to be doing around the house, Mr. Bean and I watched a lot of TV, visited with friends, gave Mr. Bean a mohawk, and ate our weights worth in bbq. Fun stuff.