Go "Fourth" and Create!
It's the fourth of July, and we're FINALLY seeing some sunshine in Seattle! July also means I can start relaxing into summer a bit, too. School is out, grades are published, my daughter's ballet intensive is nearly here...and my vacation days are drawing near.
I made a trip to Trader Joe's last night and picked up a four-pack of their yummy root beer, covered the carrier box with festive paper, made a pinwheel and fixed it up real cute. (In my head I said that last part with a Western accent.)
Gotta' love those foamy aqua stickers--reminiscent of pool floaties!
I cut a strip of red ticking and tied some birdie twill to adorn the handle. I was too lazy to get my Slice up and running, so I stuck three star pins in the knots. BAD IDEA! The thing about being lazy is that better judgment falls away and you do things like...sticking pins in the handle of a carrier. Stupid. I was loading the car today and picked that thing up and--you guessed it--it poked me in the finger! Made me laugh, but I'm glad I'm the one who reached for it first!! Doh.
Pinwheels are just plain fun. Plus I love the challenge of finding super cute items for the center.
As hard as I tried, I could not get this Impress "rocket pop" rubber stamp out of my mind. (This happens a lot.) I actually resisted it several times before going back and buying it. No. Will. Power. Whatsoever. But doesn't it make for the cutest summer birthday card? Or just a "you're so cool" card. Ha. Get it?
This summer birthday card was made especially for my sweet friend Arielle who is fluent in French and who is just a darling girl. I really love using paint chips in my crafts, and this Martha Stewart "Mademoiselle" chip is an oldie that I have held onto for a long time.
The vintage button, paint-by-number flower and vintage pattern paper posy make me fall in love with this card over and over. I would love to present this card to my friend tucked inside a fragrant bouquet of baby pink Cecile Brunner roses tied up with brown jute. Obviously I live in a fantasy world. A beautiful, fragrant, colorful fantasy world.
This "silly goose" card really does make me smile--plus I love the perfect color of that chipboard balloon.
Okay, true confessions. I also bought this "creamsicle" rubber stamp when I bought the "rocket pop" stamp because--well, I'm not going to explain myself. I think it's pretty obvious why I needed both. And if I stamp it in brown, it makes a perfect fudgesicle, too.
I know it's a little weird, but I do prefer stay-cations because I love being "home" and--as the blog header suggests--I find a lot of joy in being creative and making messes.
Although I haven't taken any vacation days yet, I got out my craft stuff the other night and got to work. I needed to make a few birthday cards for my July "babies" and I wanted to make something to give to my sister on the fourth of July. Now, my sister is the Queen (capital Q, for sure) of crafting so I had my work cut out for me. I didn't just want to make a card--so I came up with this instead...
Here's a close-up of that creamsicle--yum. The floral chipboard is from a fabulous bag of Pebbles' Chips I bought last month. I have been loving that bag of [calorie-free] chips! They come in an adorable package that looks like this:
All this talk about chips is making me hungry. My daughter and my sister should just about be done with their Fourth of July yoga class and I'm about done with my venti non-fat with whip mocha...so I think it's time to throw those dogs on the grill and crack open the BBQ potato chips. Another one of my favorite "4th" traditions.
Hope your day is a real "sparkler!"
