Today my sweet niece turns 2! I haven't talked with her yet because the party animal was still asleep a while ago because she burned the midnight oil by staying up past 1:00 a.m.! Mommy was trying to get ready for the big party this afternoon (insert sad face because we can't be there). We will see her in 3 1/2 weeks though - I'll be starting to count down the days! She is such a HUGE blessing to us all & everyone's lives now center around her (even mine and I live over 1,000 miles away!) We'll start sharing the love with her brother soon though.
In a few days I should have some birthday pics from my cousin Andrea, but above is an adorable one taken a few weeks ago where she reminds me of Lily in the set
Dress Up Lily I knew when I saw this set from
Pink Cat Studio that I would use it a lot because of this precious little girl. What's so cool is that she now personalizes the set for just $1 so I had her make mine
Dress Up Gabby. How cute is that?! Of course, I will keep the stamps *wink* but I can use these not only for cards & projects for her but for scrapbook pages too! Talk about getting a lot of mileage out of a set!!
Here is my first project that I envisioned when I first saw the set! Do you remember
Colorforms? Do you remember paperdolls? Well those 2 were some of my favorite toys growing up! I had a monchichi colorforms set that I ADORED! Well, I decided to make Gabby her own modern set incorporating my love of stamping! This project turned out to be the most intensive labor of love just yet for my sweet niece but she TOTALLY deserves it! I got my set on Thursday evening & went to work on it right away and just finished it up this afternoon. I started with stamping & coloring LOTS of the images. Then, I cut them out & laminated them, cut AGAIN and stuck magnets on the back of EACH of the pieces. Last year I bought this magnetic bulletin board from clearance at Michael's for $4 and had NO clue what I was going to use it for but when the idea came for Gabby's paperdolls I knew it would be PERFECT! score....
Next, I got Melanie's What's in Your Tin set 1 by Gina K (which coincidentally arrived yesterday) and made an tin to house all Gabby's Dress-Up Accessories. Some are so tiny, I hope she is very careful & doesn't lose any. If I know my sisters, I think they will be sure she doesn't because they will appreciate the time I spent making it all. The back of the tin is covered with a magnet so it will stay real well on the board! Here are some close-ups of the dress up Gabbys. You'll see some of them have paper-pieced clothing. Some are using Prismacolor pencils & OMS and some Copics. I jazzed them up with Sakura glitter pen, stickles because Gabby has to be dressed to the 9's
Angel Gabby
Ice Cream Gabby
Princess Gabby
Party Animal Gabby (oh yea)
Mod Podge Gabby (not sure what I was thinking when I dressed her in this ensemble?)
and my favorite Easter Bunny Gabby
I have to confess - I was squealing with delight as I was putting this together & was having so much fun playing with it that I was almost wished I made a set to keep for myself. I know, weird...because I'm 36 and still a kid! Guess that's a good reason to have one of
my own someday *wink* ?!?!
If you spend much time blurfing you will know that Joy & Cambria teamed up with Marianne and another friend to bring the stamping world stamps that are just too fun!! I had to get in on them because I have grand ideas to scrap my niece & of course make her fun gifts! The company is called Our Craft Lounge and they have set up a forum where we can chat with announcements, challenges, contests, etc. I made this card using their first sketch challenge, I just fell in love with Lil' Pea-Nut & Dr. Pea-Nut because I don't have any elephant stamps - they're just so original! 
I finally got the whole set of copic spica pens from Gina K Designs (had about 4 prior to that I used a lot and knew I wanted the rest). Well they came in the prettiest silver organdy bag and on this card I used pink on the hearts and red & green on the flowers & grass. 
My first project I decided to make, since you can make Lola (on the left) and Anna Mae (on the right) big & lil' sisters - was some gift packaging for the sweetest big sister & lil' sister matching necklaces I got for our cousins in East TX Chloe (6 yrs old) and Madison (almost 3) for Christmas! Chloe has long straight brown hair & Madison has medium length red curly hair they are both sweet girls & I know they will adore these tins and the fact they have matching necklaces because Madison adores her big sister. I was able to capture their personalities here too, Chloe is a little cheerleader at school & Madison can have a little 'tude so here they are! Both girls love the color purple and I used my JustRite DIY Monogram stamper with the small alpha for Madison & big - lil' sister and the Curlz Alpha (C in Chloe) and Brayton font (hloe).
What drew me to these sets was the ability to mix & match outfits & legs and the option to have crafty cling to be able to see where you stamp is what allowed me to stamp exactly where I needed to! Of course there is an option to have die cut red rubber which is nice too (which is what I prefer to stamp with, unless I know I will want to do a lot of layering & masking). Check out Cambria's post for some great pics of the packaging-I am very exciting about it! It is just like Taylored Expressions Stamp a Sweet Impression line. Pretty soon I will have my sets in binders, easy to find & use! 
Here is a close-up of Madison. I outlined both girls with my stardust glitter pen. 
Pic of the inside of the tin - used What's In Your Tin 1 by Gina K Designs to decorate the insides. these necklaces were $ (for both) what a deal! You know we don't have to buy really expensive gifts as long as we have cute packaging! Be sure to check out all the other sets released by Our Craft Lounge - I'm sure there is something that will appeal to YOU (there I go again with the enabling). 
