Finally some play time

It has been weeks since I have been in my craft room. Avoiding the mess and had some knitting ptojects to finish up. My daughter came over to work on some things for this little one's first birthday in April 

so I had to clean up so we had room to work. 

Our first project is a birthday banner. Stampin Up sold banner kits last fall that use 5 x 7 canvas panels and a heavy jute.  I had purchased one as well as a replacement pack to make a second banner but had not even opened them yet. What better reason??? 

The kit has 3 different styles of flags and 3 different background stencils. There is also a stencil for the open circle and 26 alphabet stencils.  We sponged using Melon Mambi for the background, retired Pretty in Pink for the circle and Gold Encore ink for the letters.  It says happy birthday and the plan is to use it for many years to come. 

To separate the words I made a flag with a cupcake stamped on it and colored it in using blender pens and ink. From a distance it dies not show up very well so think I will use a sharpie to outline it. 

I have to add some adornments and photos through the year but pretty satisfied with how this part turned out. 

 

I also started playing with a chalkboard to record her statistics. 

The chalk marker in the spring mini catalog is really nice. I used some watercolor pencils to color in areas. These are just doodles that I experimented with. I think the final one will be 12 x 12 and we will put it in a scrapbook (whenever we get started on that) and plan to do one every year. 

Another party idea is to wrap miniature candies with some pink party designs. 

The Stampin Up rollers and ink cartridges make that so easy. The hard part will be handling the candy without losing any to my mouth. One thing I crave during my weight loss challenge is chocolate so having it in the house might be dangerous 

While I was in the craft room I got a bug to sort through all my designer series paper.  How much is too much ???  I have lots and lots and decided to divide into some groupings like juvenile , feminine, floral, geometrical, plaids and stripes, nostalgic, fun and games, etc.  while sorting through that I pulled out some odds and ends to make a few cards - you know I can't play without making at least a couple cards. 

I had these balloons - colored and mounted - left over from a project so whipped up some birthday cards. 

I had a random scraps of this Tangerine  Tango design so grabbed my color coach and one of the color combo suggestions. The one that I liked used Pacific Point and So Saffron.  I stamped up a bunch if Fabulous a Phrases and started putting them all together. 

I pulled out some Early Esoresso for a few cards. 

And a few more. 

Another combo listed Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise. I used the print for some paper piecing. 

I got pretty creative in the kitchen too (Tom had lots of cleaning to do after supper - that's our deal, I cook and he cleans up afterwards. I do try to clean up as I go but he dies the dishes that need hand washed and always wipes down the countertops whether I do or not )

Broiled salmon with avocado cream, broiled asparagus, orange rice and cheesy tomatoes. Pretty delish!!