Happy Birthday Sammy!!

Well, my little guy is turning 3..oh my goodness where does the time go..I can't believe he will be 3 years old..it makes me so sad..it feels like just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. Three years seems so short but it just amazes me how much they grow and change within that time!! What a miracle and I'm soooo blessed he is healthy and happy!! It was time for invitations, which I just LOVE creating!!! This year we decided on a Safari theme..I love the jungle theme, the colors, animals and really there are so many possibilities to creating cards with this theme.

I decided on creating a pocket card similar to the baby shower invitation I had created awhile back. I love, love kraft paper so started with that as my pocket base. I cut two pieces, the back piece being about an inch and half longer than the front piece. I placed a piece of patterned paper with palm trees on the inside of the lid and on the longer piece. I then sewed along the sides and the bottom, leaving the top portion open so my invitation could slide in and out of it. I then cut out a palm tree from card stock and distressed it a bit to give it a jungle feel. I placed the trunk of the palm tree onto the bottom portion of the card and the palms onto the top portion of the card..that way the card would still open up. I then stamped grass along the bottom and placed the palm tree onto the kraft card stock. I then used my jungle theme cuttlebug die cuts and cut out the little monkey..isn't he adorable?? I used a glue dot to adhere him to the back of one of the palms.. I then just printed "Sam's Safari Headquarters" onto paper and cut it out with scalloped scissors..I layered with a darker piece of card stock and placed created a sign.

Now for the actual invitation I just printed out the information onto cream card stock. I placed this over a piece of brown card stock and distressed the edges of the brown by using my scissors to the edge..I don't have a "special" tool for this but have found that running one blade from my scissors along the edges works just as well. I then die cut a lion, elephant and monkey and placed them onto the invitation. I used my It's a Celebration set from PTI and stamped and cut out small party hats by using the little flags that go with the birthday banner..I just love those little hats.. and there you have it!! Happy Birthday Sammer Jammer!!!

I've been tagged!!

I had such a wonderful surprise this morning when I read my mail!! I received an email from Charlene Monroe explaining that she had tagged my blog!! What fun is that..there is actually someone out there who looks at my blog..Thanks so much Charlene!!! Please check her blog out at A Stamp a Day..she has some adorable cards and is very talented!!! Well, it looks like I have some rules to follow..first, I must share 7 random facts about myself..oh boy, this is going to be tough..

1. When I was 22 months old I had a small bump on my forehead that would not go away so my parents brought me to the famous Mayo Clinic. The doctors determined I had a small hemangioma on the inside of my forehead. Now, this was in 1980 when plastic surgery wasn't very popular and especially on tiny toddlers..but thankfully the doctors recommended my parents to a plastic surgeon who removed the bump. Instead of cutting my forehead where I would have a huge scar today,(this is kinda gross) they cut from ear to ear, pulled the skin forward and got the bump out. So, now I have the coolest scar on my head that goes from ear to ear!! Crazy, I know!!

2. I love, love, love cheese and mashed potatoes

3. I'm married to an identical twin and luckily have never gotten them confused...and our doctor told us since they both have the same DNA that our children and my brother-in-law's(the twin)children will be considered half brother/half sisters..interesting..

4. I secretly wish I was an ESPN broadcaster..I love sports and would love being able to be right in the action all the time.

5. My husband is a funeral director along with his dad and twin brother

6. I have 3 younger brothers who have protected me my whole life..I feel so safe knowing they are in my life.

7. My daughter Nora was born at exactly midnight...she came out and we all looked up at the large clock and everything was pointed at exactly midnight...the computers and the doctors didn't know what day to give her as her birthday..they had to call to find out what day it would be..the doctors eventually decided on the following day...

Ok..now I must choose 7 blogs to tag..there are so many wonderful, unique and inspiring bloggers out there..this is going to be hard...

1. Julie- My little scrap shop

2. Chris- Chris' Corner

3. Jacki- The Card Castle

4. Lori- Inking aloud

5. Maria- Maria's craft room

6. Kacey- All in a Day's Work

7. Monique- Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust

Hopefully, you girls haven't been tagged before and if you have I'm sooo sorry..but if not..have fun!!! Thanks, Bridget

Birthday gift bags

I recently created some birthday favor bags for my niece's 4th birthday party. I had so much fun creating these and they were so simple to do. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the small canvas tote bags which are very reasonably priced.. I think you really get your money's worth by buying these totes compared to using the typical plastic favor bags that end up getting thrown away. I wanted each child to have a different bag and so I just went through all my stamp sets to find different images. I started by stamping each child's name onto a bag and then stamped the image I chose. I then made sure to use my heat gun to set the ink..you really have to be careful not to overdo the heating process or your bag can turn brown. Another tip I have found useful is to have your stain remover spray for your laundry close by..if for some reason you get some ink onto the cloth that you do not want I immediately spray a q-tip with the remover along with some water and quickly wipe over the area you do not want..it should remove the ink right away...it really does work!! These bags were so simple and inexpensive and a fun party favor that hopefully the guests will use over and over again!! Thanks for looking! Bridget ***Side note..Hi Melissa..I used Palette Hybrid Ink..it works great for projects like these..just make sure to heat set it for a few seconds to really set the ink into the cloth..they can then be washed and will not fade!! Super simple and easy!!