handmade birthday box

This weekend we were invited to a birthday party for my dad's wife who turned 60. We had bought her a gift certificate and I wanted to present her with something better looking than just an envelope.

And so I created a small box custom fit for the size of the gift certificate and dressed it up so that it looked all pretty.



I cut a hole in the lid and covered it from the back with a solid, complementing paper. The egdes along the hole were trimmed with paper lace, and then I made three 3D hearts with a few different pretty papers. The finishing touches were a few banners with the lady's name and age.

christmas cards | 2011

Seeing as all the cards are posted, and hopefully will arrive at the beginning of the coming week, I thought I'd post them here. Now, I always have plans to make the cards by hand. About half of the times I run out of time and have to quickly whip something up in Photoshop. I have this idea that Christmas cards should be handmade and so when I don't get to do that I can't help but feel a little bit like a failure. But there are only so many hours in the day, and I'm letting it go.

So I had originally designed something entirely different, but in the end felt it wasn't representative of us. So one night this week I promptly decided to remake them. Said and done, and in four hours I had designed three different cards, printed, cut, mounted (on cardstock), and adressed them all. I was kind of chuffed about that.

Alrighty, here they are:

(Do you see me huddling on the floor in the reflection of the ornament? Hee!)





I used the Be Merry Photocards for the second and third card (just changed out the papers on the second one with papers from the Frostbite Paper Pack). For the first one I used wordard from the Be Merry Photocards and paper from the Be Merry Paper Pack. You can find all of these in my shop at JessicaSprague.com

obw | meet & greet cards

If you want a fast and easy way to make great looking cards, then take the chance to pick up the Meet & Greet Card Template Set at One Buck Wednesday over at JessicaSprague.com today. You get four templates that you can use your own papers and elements on, and four quick cards with the beautiful papers and elements from the Meet & Greet packs.

I feel this is truly a good deal - Meet & Greet is among my favourite designs!


(Click on the image to go directly to the product in my shop)

Real life card making

It's been a long time since I created a card the old fashioned way with papers and scissors and glue and all that. I think digi has made me lazy with the snazzy control clicks and the convenient do overs. Doing it the digi way is quick and easy and the results are always perfect - no glue smudges, no wrong cuts, no wonky placements.

But my fingers were itching to make some mess this morning and with beautiful inspiration the from Mouse, Paper, Scissors Mom class at Jessica Sprague.com, by Jessica and Heidi Swapp, I went to town on the papers and glues. It gave me a few of hours of mental therapy where nothing but cutting, folding, glueing, and glittering mattered. It was quite liberating and something I highly recommend.

I made a card for my goddaughter's birthday. It's very girly and pink, which is perfect for her as she is the epitome of a little princess. The more pink and glitter the better. So I think this card did the trick. I love the outcome.























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Supplies: The beautiful papers are from the Gabrielle line by Bo Bunny and they are included in the class.
I printed the card pages on heavy textured cardstock and all tags, flags, and butterflies on satin photo paper. I used Chandelier Glam glitter paint by Tattered Angels to get the sparkle. For the finishing effect I used adhesive stones and a glittery brad from my local craft store.  I used Sloop Script and VT Portable Remington fonts.
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Rockin' it

A while back my husband asked me to help him with some nice details for a rock themed party he was planning for his friends. And, who am I to say no to party planning?

The first thing to do was of course the invites.








The party itself got a little more glam than I think he had first planned on but it turned out pretty cool nonetheless.

To make it through the whole night it was decided that food was to be served; homemade burgers with potato wedges and coleslaw. This meant we needed to focus on the dinner table.



Instead of real table linens I used a black sheet from IKEA that I grunged up with paint splatter. This was very easy to do. I simply diluted some acrylic paint and used different sized paint brushes and practically threw the paint on the sheet.

The grunge was paired with some glam in the shape of black glossy candle sticks and black candles. We got the holders dirt cheap at local thrift stores and spray painted them with all purpose black paint.

The skulls were bought in a party supplies store and were also spray painted with the same black paint. The finishing touch, and the only splash of colour were the deep red roses placed in low tea light holders.





Each table setting got silver chargers and simple white plates to contrast all the black. Black napkins to match and a paper scroll banner for custom made for each guest with an excerpt from a rock song that fit each person.










The theme was carried through to the bottle buffet with the black sheet and the black candles. The buffet was placed in front of a large mirror wich created a cool effect making the buffet look bigger in the mirrored image.









Even rock dudes need sweets so I added some matching candy in the shape of skulls, bottles, and stars. Don't ask me if licorice actually goes all that well with bourbon whiskey tastewise. It looked good though.



Wine and beer bottles got custom labels in the same motif that was used on the invites and scroll banners on the table. The text on the banner on the wine bottles is a reference to the cheap red wine that Guns n' Roses used to drink while writing songs.





I also designed cards for the music quiz that was put together for the party and it followed the same design as the invites.



I really wish I could have shared photos in a more fitting setting (no glaring sunlight) but seeing as this was a party for guys only, I had to leave the premises well before the guests arrived and the sun set. I secretly wish I could have stayed ... LOL!

Sneak peek in the shape of a card

Allright, the second sneak peek my upcoming kit, which will be available next Monday the 21st at JessicaSprague.com, is a digi photocard. I like the ease of digitally made cards. I like how you can just print and go in times when you don't really want to deal with paper clippings and glue everywhere. I also love that you can use them again and again and just plop a new photo in there. Me lazy? Hmpf, I prefer to call it smart about my time! Hee!



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Supplies used:
Meet & Greet Kit by In the Making Design
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Love is in the air for Hybrid Project Friday

Just in time for that special love day I have an easy little project for you. This will be a perfect card for someone you love. Just print and assemble and you're set. Of course, I've included a template as well for all those of you who want to add your own papers and stuff.

I think the template would be great for special event and invites as well, such as save the dates or shower invites.

Heartily is available at JessicaSprague.com today.


(Click on the image to go directly to the product in the shop)

Art collaboration and a gift set

One of my coworkers asked me to do a painting for him after seeing the one I did for another coworker a while ago. It took me a while to get started and then it didn't exactly come out the way I had envisioned it. So after giving it several tries I had to ask my husband for help. I had the shapes and colours all set. I just couldn't get the blending of the black and white right. His solution was to open a bottle of wine and crack the paint bottles open. After a while we were both standing there talking and dragging paint along imaginary lines. The end result was this organic creation.


For the gift we got my sister for her birthday I wanted to do something cute and sassy and chic and cool. All at the same time! So I rummaged through my collection of wrapping paper and was discouraged. I had lots and lots of Christmas themed paper (ok, so I do go overboad in that department, sue me, lol) but nothing that screamed chic and sassy. What to do, what to do? Improvise of course! I went with a black wrapping paper and added a strip of this ultra cool scrapbook paper by Glitz. Then, as a simple last little touch I added a hot pink ribbon and some bling. Simple but effective.


Naturally I had to do a matching card as well. The pink paper got to act the star again, and I added the same ribbon as well as her initial and some sequins.




The gift? My faves; white high top Converse all stars!

Valentine's card

Here's the deal: I'm not a girlie girl. I don't do frills and bows. I don't do cutesy stuff. It's just not me. I'm drawn to sleek, classic design and in my own design work the biggest challenge is to find the balance between simple and bare.

But that doesn't mean I can't be romantic and sweet, does it? I can still tell my people I love them, right? Heck yeah!

So I created this card for Valentine's. It's straight to the point. No hearts, no lace, no frills. But I still think it gets the point across. :)

(Yeah, that's right, he's my people, lol!)

And just because all you lovely darlings have been so good to me, giving me love and posting sweet messages, I want to say thank you by offering it as a freebie!



Click here for your download link.
As always, I ask you to read and follow the TOU! Thank you ever so much!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Hybrid gifts

Last month I said I was working on a few projects that I was really excited about, but that I couldn't really share with you. The reason for this was that they were both going to be featured on the daily Gift-a-palooza at jessicasprague.com. But this week they have both been posted and it doesn't have to be a secret anymore. If you would like to check them out along with other great crafty gift ideas then do check out the home page blog at Jessica's site.

The first project was a set of 10 greeting cards that I made for my sister Frida. I know she loves to send cards and notes to people she cares about and that she would love this idea. I designed five different cards with digital scrapbooking products from Jessica Sprague, Liv Esteban, and Crystal Wilkerson and printed them on a photo- and cardstock combo. I made two of each design and packaged them up with pretty ribbons.

The first design has her initial as a monogram




the second design says "thank you"


the third design says "for you"




the fourth design says "congrats"


and the fifth and last design was left blank for any type of occasion






I printed all the patterned papers and elements on Ilford satin photo paper and the writing areas on white cardstock. This gave all the cards a nice layered feature.