It Moose be Love

This card is yet another example of just how versatile Lawn Fawn stamps are. I used a Christmas theme set, Critters in the Arctic, to create this lovey-dovey card for my boyfriend (I hope he doesn't see this before I give it to him, hehe). I also used the new, Lawn Fawndamentals notecards—in walnut, to create this mini card; and, it couldn't be more perfect. These new cards sold by Lawn Fawn make card making that much easier. For the white panel I used the 4” x 2.75” die from the new LF die set, small stitched rectangle stackables and I seriously love these! It’s like—no more measuring and fussing—just die cut and you have a perfect panel with a cute stitched detail.

I also used some of the Pretty Pink Posh sequins in, Sand, for this card and I felt that this color matched perfectly with the brown tones I was using for this card. If you noticed in the image below this stamp set has many holiday accents in it, for instance, it has the variety of snow flakes, and a snow bunny with a cute little scarf, but you can see and imagine how you could also use these critters in so many other ways, too. I just love that!

With the Lawn Ornaments I like how you can use the flair to embellish your project and it adds so much charm; and, to make things even more easier for us busy crafters LF has also came out with the coordinating die set for, Critters in the Arctic.

I hope you are super excited for this amazing release! Lawn Fawn has really blown us all away with all of the awesomeness that is due to be released for sale this month on the 28th! 

Getting Ready for Fall

Early this morning I had to run over to Michaels to pick up a few things I needed to complete an order, and while I was there I thought I might also pick up a few things to get me into the spirit of Fall (since it's right around the corner). One of the things I love about fall are all of the pumpkin spice and apple cinnamon scents that are released in stores--so I picked up a pumpkin spice diffuser for my craft room. What better way to get in me mood for creating Halloween DIY's and get my ideas rolling for Thanksgiving. I also purchased these really cute skull paper straws and some, black soot, Distress ink. I'm already getting ideas. I have lots of fun projects coming up on my blog and on the Lawn Fawn blog and Youtube channel as well. I can't wait to share them!

Joyful Wishes

I know it's too early for Christmas cards but since receiving the new Lawn Fawn Fall/Winter release I haven't been able to keep my mind off of all the new sets. The stamps, dies, paper, embellishments, and trimmings are so cute--and I couldn't help but try one out and make a cute card. If you watched my video about the new release, you know that this new set, Joy to the woods, is my favorite set right now. I'm obsessed with the birch tress, the little fox, the bird, and all of the other cute elements! Another thing I'm totally in love with are these new dies that make creating hills for scenes a piece of cake. What I absolutely love about LF stamps sets is that they always include all of the pieces you need to create multiple scenes with coordinating sentiments. So if this were to be your first stamp set from LF you could make lots of different cards with it. Love!

DIY Tote Bag Using Lawn Fawn Dies, with Video

Today I have a really fun DIY video over on the Lawn Fawn blog and Youtube Channel! I purchased a plain white medium size canvas tote bag from Michaels for only $4.00 and used Lawn Fawns die set, Louie's ABCs on some contact paper to create a stencil and hand painted the name Sammy onto the bag. I made this for my niece Samantha--since it's back-to-school time!

For more details on how to create your very own personalized tote bag feel free to watch the video below!
I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial and have a great day! 

DIY Frozen Birthday Party

I was asked, by my niece’s mom, to make decorations for her 4th birthday party—which was going to be a Frozen theme; and, of course I said yes! I could never turn down an opportunity to make decorations for a party. After all, that’s what I do for a living. Whenever I’m creating party decorations I always do my research on the characters, colors, and popular quotes (especially for this movie, since I’ve never seen it).

The main inspiration for the color scheme was the two characters, Elsa and Anna. I used lots of blues, purples, pinks, and white. To create the banner I used Lawn Fawns stitched banner dies, and Louie’s ABCs—using the stitched banner dies made things so much easier! I’m so happy that I have that die set. I made tons and tons of different color tassels because I wanted to use them not only on the banner but for the center pieces as well.

I made the cake, the cake topper, and the “Some people are worth melting for” framed sentiment. To create the cake toppers, I went to Etsy and purchased some Frozen digital clip art, printed these two main characters out, placed them on some cake pops sticks and placed them into the cake. So simple—yet so cute. To create the framed sentiment I used some Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock (A2 size) and created this beautiful watercolor background and when it tried I ran it through my printer—after creating the sentiment in Photoshop. I absolutely love the way it turned out.

My younger sister, Melanie created some of the sweets at the party, like the Olaf cake pops, cookies, and marshmallow pops. She did such a great job as always!

For the centerpieces—I've always wanted to do a jumbo balloon with tissue paper tassels and this was perfect time for me to do them! I knew it would look so cute with the colors for this party; and, to hold it all down I made some adorable mason jar snow globes with my nieces picture inside that I made on Photoshop. I had help removing the background of the original image I took of her—so thank you to my niece’s mom’s co-worker who did that for me!

Overall I think I did pretty good on this party—being that I only had a few days to prepare for it. My brother, his girlfriend, and my nieces loved it, and that made me so happy! 

A Quick Look at the Lawn Fawn 2014 Fall/Winter Release

The new release is due to be on sale very soon; and, I wanted to share a quick video showing all the new items they'll have available in their shop on the 28th. You'll be able to find all of their products that day on their website lawnfawn.com. I'm super excited about this release--there are so many stamp sets, dies. Plus they've also release two new paper lines (which are perfection!) more twine, and lawn fundamentals (love), and embellishments. This release just couldn't get any better! Ok, enough talk now on to the video below! 

I know I could have done better at talking about each item but I'm just too excited--and I need to go open them now and create some awesome projects! I'll be making new videos for the Lawn Fawn blog and also creating a few cards for them as well. Stay tuned! 
*Update! This new collection will be released the 28th! 

Cherry Almond Milk Smoothie

I've mentioned before in previous posts like, this one, that I've been eating healthier and more clean, lately. Eating better means giving up all the delicious, yet not-so-good for me foods and snacks; so, I've learned to think of the things I am allowed to eat on this clean diet but that are also great tasting. I've developed a deep love for fruit--which, is not something I hated but I never really wanted to eat them because I was too busy eating cookies, and candy bars in between meals.

One day my sweet tooth kicked in and I needed something sweet and I needed it fast. I remembered that I had purchased some almond milk, and searched around the fridge for fresh fruits. I found mango, strawberries, blueberries, and then I came across a bag if cherries. I'd never had a cherry flavored shake before and I was a bit hesitant to try it out but I just gave it a shot. I took a handful of cherries cut them in half and removed the seeds, next I took about a cup of almond milk, and a tbsp. of organic peanut butter and blended them together. I poured it into a medium size glass and topped it off with a cold cherry. I loved it so much--it was so tasty! I highly recommend it.

Answers to Your Questions

What camera do you use? I currently use the DSLR Canon EOS5D Mark II. Before using this camera I used a Canon 60D—which was also a great camera but the 5D is definitely much better. I personally love using the 5D because the quality photos this camera can produce are perfect for selling items--in my opinion. A lot of feedback I receive from customers is, “My items looks exactly like the pictures”. As a shop owner I know that having quality pictures is important when you’re trying to stand out from the millions of other photos in Etsy. The first thing potential customers will see when they’re searching for products is an endless river of photos to sort through, and a high quality, clean, clear, and well styled image will always stand out above the rest.

However, with that being said—there is no need to go out and purchase the 5D today. In my personal opinion I think that as long as you’re using a DSLR (a digital camera that allows you to use manual settings) you should be totally fine. As long as you can adjust the white balance, F-stop, aperture, and ISO—you’re golden! I do also believe that taking a photography 101 class is essential for using these types of cameras. Using manual settings if you have no photography background is pretty frustrating, but lucky I took a photography 101 class in college so I had an understanding on the subject before I even opened my shop. But, if you don’t have the time to take a photography class you can simply use a DSLR on automatic settings; however, the results will not be as great as they can be if you were using manual settings.

Extra tip: For me, the same rules still apply even when I’m using a high end camera to shot my images. I still use natural lighting, I do my best to style the image as best I can, I use white boards to eliminate shadows, etc.

Does the Canon Pixma Pro 100 print full bleed? You can print full bleed on this printer; however, I’m able to do that because the software I print off of is Adobe Photoshop—in Photoshop I can adjust the print settings and make room for the bleed before printing; or, set the print settings with no border. I haven’t actually used the Canon software that comes with the printer but I’ve read that with their software does allow one to print full bleed.

Other great things about this print is that it’s also basically a photo printer, so you can print photos and other art work up to a 13”x19” size—which is really cool. You can also bring on discs’ with this printer, print on thick cardstock, and print wirelessly. So you can printing off of your computer in one room and have the printing in another. You can also print directly from your iphone.

Extra tip: I purchased this printer from B&H when it was offered with a $300.00 mail in rebate. I would suggest purchasing it from there if you’re in the market for a new printer. In the end I only paid $98.00 dollars for this printer and B&H also shipped this product for free.

Click here to view the printer on the B&H website (I’m not being paid for sharing this information). 

Las Vegas

My boyfriend, Gabriel, and I took a few days off to head over to Las Vegas this weekend. This last minute trip was so much fun, we did so many things and tried so many delicious foods. One of the places I was really looking forward to was, Carlo's Bakery. I've recently became a huge fan of, Cake Boss--I started watching the show, on Netflix, while working, and I was so excited that Las Vegas has Buddy's restaurant and bakery there. Not only did we try some tasty treats--we also booked a helicopter tour over the Vegas strip. Flying over the night sky in Vegas is something I've wanted to do for such a long time and I was so excited to do it! We also rode on the gondala at the Vientian Hotel, it was so sweet. We stayed in such a nice hotel and had an amazing view--when we were in our room, recovering from all the walking, we would just sit in front of the window and drink. It was really nice. I can't wait until my next adventure.

On a side note: I still plan on answering your latest questions & I'm working on the Etsy post as well. The Etsy posts' are going to be a bit longer than I had expected, hehe, but lots of great info!