Birthday Blues...and Browns!

I am a huge fan of Vera Bradley. I adore several of their patterns, the color combinations are so beautiful. There are some that I've hated in the catalog and then find myself drooling over in person. It's a bad addiction, what can I say?

I'm not alone in my addiction. I have several friends that are also guilty of stockpiling their favorite prints. This particular pattern debuted in January of 2006 and I have yet to find someone who doesn't love it.

This year marked the 30th birthday of myself and two of my best friends. One friend is such the fan that she wanted the invitations to her party to be Java Blue. To the best of my knowledge, Vera Bradley doesn't carry 30th Birthday invitations in their stationary line. So what's a gal to do? Easy...



So, while it's not the exact colors, I'd have to say pretty darn close. I started with a pack of white, pre-scored cards purchased from Walmart. These are great to have on hand since you can run them through a printer before starting, envelopes are included and in addition to being scored, they are a nice weight. Just heavy enough to use them as a base.

I started out with Stampin' Up!'s Paisley background stamp with Chocolate Chip ink. After that it was as easy as cutting and trimming here and there, using a variety of punches with a generic greenish-blue shade and inking on "Celebrate" in SU's Taken with Teal ink. When a 7 year old can point out that it looks like Java Blue, you know you've done it, lol!

Prior to this particular layout, I had worked on something else. It didn't come together as an invite but instead became a great greeting card.



I started with SU's Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White cardstock. Using their Polka Dots and Petals stamp set seemed a no brainer when I pulled out my Paisley embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. A little white embossing powder for the greeting and flower gave it a little extra pop. My favorite add-ons seem to be the classic silver brad, mini-sized of course. After writing "Even hitting the big 30" it was a great card for my friend's suprise party.

It Runs in the Family!

I'll be catching up on Holiday content this week but I wanted to share this. My 5 year old son is just as addicted to stamping as I am. For Father's Day this year, I cut my apron strings and let him create his own card. You have no idea how hard this was for me! I have issues, control issues and while stamping is forgiving and lenient with the do-overs, I still freak.

I turned control over to him and I was NOT sad to do so at all! The colors are all his choosing as well as the stamp set and stamping. Behold...




I was so impressed! The first thing I realized is just how different the male eye is in regards to color. I never would have used charcoal and orange together and my instinct with a card is to make it pretty. My son had no problem telling me that a card for Daddy wasn't supposed to be pretty!

For me, this was a wonderful reminder of less is sometimes more!