Love Card

A friend recently requested a custom engagement card. Since I didn't have any information about the couple, I chose to do a clean and simple look since I wouldn't have to be very specific. I knew I was going to use some silhouettes from the "Sweethearts" cartridge, so I decided to use a 4 in by 9 in card base.

The couple was cut at 5 inches while the balloon was cut at 1.5 inches from the Sweethearts cartridge. The "LOVE" sentiment was cut at 3 inches from the "Simply Sweet" cartridge. To make it a bit more interesting look, I cut the "LOVE" sentiment in black and in red and trimmed the heart portion to glue on top. I posted this picture last week or so.

Even though I knew the card was going to be primarily black and white, I still wanted it to be a little bit more colorful so I added eyelets using my Crop-A-Dile through the top white and black layers of the card. The last touch was using a bottle of red Stickles to outline the balloon.

I thought it was pretty cool that I was able to incorporate eyelets and Stickles since I haven't used either of those things in ages. Though the card as a whole is fairly simple, I really enjoyed putting it together!

Will You Marry Me?

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the card that I initially made for my mom to give for my cousin-in-law's bridal shower was not one she liked even though I liked it a lot. I ended up giving it to her instead! When I make any cuts from the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge, I usually use a larger sized card because of how intriate the cuts are. I still have a couple of packs of this size from when I used to purchased cardstock and envelope packs from Michaels. Even though I could easily cut and score it and make an envelope on my own, I still appreciate the ease of just pulling it out of the package.

This was the first time that I didn't just cut out the silhouette and decided to cut out all the accessories that go along with it too. Cuts like this really make me wonder what people did before ProvoCraft decided to create the Gypsy and then Cricut Craft Room. If you take a look at the page in the handbook, they have pretty much ALL the clothes and hair cut out for one image, so that means you'd be wasting a lot of paper to get each color. Thankfully, CCR means that I was able to separate all the pieces. 

I don't have any skin tone cardstock, but I don't really worry about that anymore after I saw a blogger just use Copics to color in white cardstock when a specific color was needed. How simple! I don't shade with my Copics, but I just used E00 to color in the white before adhering all the other accessories. These types of cards would take a lot of time if someone needed them mass produced. I'd probably have to just cut shirts and shoes one day and adhere them before dealing with all the other little pieces.

I used brown cardstock to make it look like the floor because Howard always says that the characters/people look funny when they're not grounded because they're just floating in the air.  The sentiment is from Pink by Design's "Scripted Year." I stamped it on paper I cut out using the Stitched Curly Label Die from My Creative Time. For a bit of dimension, I used a Sizzix embossing plate to create the lightly raised hearts in the background. As a finishing touch, I added some Stickles to the ring so it would sparkle just a little bit. In reality, I don't even know if my cousin got down on one knee to propose, but I still like this card anyway!

Happy Birthday, Por-por!

At the end of December, my mom's side of the family gathered for dinner to celebrate my Por-por's birthday.  "Por-por" means "maternal grandmother" in Chinese.  I love that her birthday is after Christmas and that we can celebrate with another meal together during our holiday break.  Because we live about 40 minutes away, it's kind of difficult getting to see my grandparents during the week especially when traffic makes the travel time even worse.  Thankfully, I get to see them on Sundays, but these meals are extra special.  

Dinner was at The Buffet.  I had eaten there before with Howard's family to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday last March, so I was happy to go again because of SUSHI!  Yum!

I actually missed taking a picture of my first plate, but that one had a TON of sushi on it.  So it doesn't look like much, but I did eat a lot more than this!  I tried a variety of rolls on my first plate so that when I went to get my second plate that you can see below on the left, I specifically picked out the one I liked the most, which had salmon and avocado on the inside and spicy salmon on the outside.  I also got yellowtail sashimi and pepper tuna along with one sads piece of cooked fish.  If they didn't have sushi, I would definitely eat more of the cooked fish because I love those little fillets.  Howard and I also stood in line to get some Peking duck.  I put a bit too much sauce on mine, and the guy gave me a too many scallions, but it was really good!  He had just switched out the duck before it was our turn, so we had some good meaty pieces.  But boy, it's so unhealthy with that fat on it!  My third plate is on the right.  I chose some more sashimi (I ate one before taking the picture!), some seaweed salad that was a little too runny in my opinion but still good, my favorite rolls again, and then I chose a roll that had no rice but was wrapped with rice paper instead.  I don't know if I accidentally missed it during my previous rounds or if it was new because I totally would've gotten more of those too especially with the mango in it.

The fourth plate was actually shared with Howard.  Neither of us eat much dessert, so we took a look around and only got a few things.  The little chocolate cake was my choice, but the chocolate part had such an odd marshmallow-y texture, so I just ate the cake part of it.  It was exactly how I like my Chinese cake to be - slightly sweet but kind of bland.  It just reminds me of my childhood!  Despite my love for these little fluffy cakes, I don't like ending the night on a sweet note, so I actually went back to get one piece of salmon sashimi!

After dinner, we headed back to my grandparents' house and actually had some birthday cake!  I helped distribute it to everyone, which was reminiscent of all the times my girl cousins and I did that when we were much younger.  When I looked around, I noticed that my grandfather wasn't upstairs anymore, so my mom, Howard, and I went downstairs to spend some time with him since we live the farthest away.  It was definitely a great memory of the night for me.

My mom had asked me to make a birthday card for my Por-por, and this is the simple card I made.  My mom doesn't always like giving the cutesy ones, and she usually asks for flowers, so I used the cut from the Sweethearts cartridge and cut them out in different colors.  The sentiment is cut from the Birthday Bash cartridge.  I just hid the cake parts and was left with the words.

I think if I use the rose cut again, I'd use two shades of the same color to create some visual dimension instead of using white for the base.  These cards make a lot more sense for someone like my grandma as opposed to the animals with party hats!  

My Future Sister-in-Law's Bridal Shower!

Last Saturday, my mom and I went to my future sister-in-law's bridal shower! It was thrown by her maid of honor and bridesmaids at Cafe Petisco in the city. Mom and I got there super early closer to 4:15, if I'm remembering correctly, and it didn't start until 5pm. We just didn't want to risk dealing with any potential traffic driving in. 

The restaurant was so small, but it was extremely cozy with its wood tables and candle decorations. It seems like one of those places that people would go to over and over again if they live in the area just because it's their local go to eateries. I had peeked at the menu online earlier and read some reviews on Yelp, so I was eager to try some new things!

When the bridesmaids arrived, they set up one side of the cafe with decorations. They also set up the table with little gems, the games, and the favors, which were the cutest containers filled with hot chocolate mix.

Theresa, the bride-to-be, arrived so we all sat around this long stretch of tables. The food was delicious! It was Mediterranean with the beets, hummus, tzatziki, cauliflower, pita, and foccacia. I was enjoying all the little shared appetizer dishes so much. I would definitely be willing to go back to enjoy all of those things. Mom and I especially loved the beets, which was great because the girls around us didn't so we got to "nom" the whole thing by ourselves!

We had 3 entree choices: a pasta dish, a chicken skewers dish, and a salmon dish. The majority of us ordered the salmon, and it was absolutely delicious! It was moist and tender, and I really enjoyed the pistachio stuff on top with it.  The menu description says the following: "Herb Crusted Salmon Filet with pistachio gremolata, white rice, radicchio, endive & arugula." I'm always thinking about how restaurants sometimes serve dry salmon, but this definitely was not dry at all.

After food, Theresa opened up her gifts. I got the remaining 3 things that were on her registry at Bed Bath & Beyond, so it was kind of an odd combination of 2 cutting boards (when I saw them, I kind of wanted them too but we already have two at home) and a vanity mirror. We took photos individually and as groups.  Here we are, almost sisters but already "twins"! We were both born on September 15th in the same exact year! Isn't that wacky? Plus, we're both teachers as well! 

Of course, I had to make the bridal shower cards for her myself! I don't remember the last time I bought a card or a box of cards from the store. It's so much fun to be able to make things so specific for the recipient. The following card was the one I made for my mom to use. The wedding dress image was cut from the Sweethearts cartridge. Since there were two separate layers for the dress, I decided to use the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder to give it some texture. I put the veil over the hanger and then used the smallest adhesive foam squares I have to pop up only that part of the card. The sentiment "LOVE" is from Pink by Design's set entitled "Big Thoughts." I embossed it with white powder. I chose the blue background and dress sash because it's actually almost identical to the blue ribbon that was on the wedding invitation. 

I really liked the dress card, but I wasn't as happy about the card I made for her because it seemed too basic. I couldn't figure out what to do to layer it because I cut it so big to ensure the letters would come out right. I do very much like the cut though also from the Sweethearts cartridge. I just think it's adorable how when you're married, your towels live next to each other on the bar, hehe. I added the stitching to it just to give it a little extra something. 

I spent my Saturday morning making the cards, and it was definitely a much needed break from the usual work I do on Saturdays! I should set some crafting time aside tomorrow today or tomorrow since we have a snow day today due to the impending blizzard. Yay for being at home!

The 9/24/11 Wedding Card

This past Saturday was a day of 2 weddings!  A couple from my church had their marriage celebration and my cousin finally married his long-time girlfriend!  It was the perfect timing for me to make my first wedding card.  I wanted it to be something simple and elegant.  I decided to go with the bride and groom silhouette cuts on the Sweethearts cartridge.

I was very surprised at how well it cut especially since the things coming down from the flowers and the bride's arm are very thin!  From what I remember, I cut it at 4 inches.  The card itself is not an A2 (I don't know my sizes, but it's the one bigger than that!).  I chose red for the background because it's supposed to be a "lucky" color in the Chinese culture for things like weddings.  I also chose the yellow ribbon to be the "gold."  Very traditional Chinese colors for good luck (not that I believe in the power of colors, but it's nice to use them because they're so traditional for us).  The sentiment is from Pink by Design's "Scripted Year" set.

The bride and groom at church told me that they loved the card, so I was very excited!  My cousin got the card from my parents (I made a different card from my fiance and me).  It was a bit of a challenge doing this because it wasn't a cutesy card, but despite how simple it may look, I really like how it turned out!  It's definitely the kind of card that can be easily mass produced.