washi cards

today we are trying to recover from yesterday's birthday events! Mr. Bagubian turned 2 so we decided to forego a party this year and take him to Disneyland instead.  we did both last year since it was his first birthday.  we'll get back into big parties once he's old enough to remember them and we can invite a lot of kids over for fun and games.  at any rate, we had a blast yesterday and Mr. B was so good the entire day--and he didn't even take a nap!  but Hoss and i are exhausted today!  we were up late the night before wrapping presents and getting prepared for yesterday's outing.  then we were up at 5:30 yesterday morning to be out the door by 8am to fight traffic, parking, crowds, and trams to meet Hoss's cousin in Downtown Disney by 9am.  he works there and so gets us in for free!  it's an amazing perk!  

we ran around Disneyland from 9am until almost 5pm--i expected we'd hit the wall by 2 and be done--but everyone seemed to be doing well so we kept going.  then we stopped for dinner and finally got home around 7:45, at which time Gooby wanted to open his gifts!  oh, did i mention the weather yesterday?  in the 90's.  it was so hot!  but it was a great day and i will share some photos in the near future.  

i'm very sorry to say that while i had every intention of posting Part Two of my small boxes tutorial, the pictures i took of them were terrible.  i didn't have a chance to re-shoot yesterday and it doesn't look like i will today, either.  but i hope to share the post with you soon so please stay tuned...

i'm not without a project today, though.  i have a fun one for you that is based on a sketch by Garden Girl Kimber McGray for the Saturday Sketch Challenge on the 2Peas website.  when i first saw the sketch and her card, i wasn't sure i would play along because it seemed very straightforward and not like there was much i could do to make the design "my own."  you know, even if you're following a sketch or challenge guidelines, you always want to put your mark on whatever you make so it doesn't completely look like the other designer's work.  but as i looked at my washi tapes, i realized the brilliance behind this sketch and got to work immediately!  

it literally took me 10 minutes to make and i haven't made a card that quickly...maybe ever!  but i loved the way it turned out so much that i decided to make a whole set.  and then i decided to make another whole set.  and then i decided to decorate the envelopes, too.  and then i decided that since i would be selling these sets on Etsy, they needed pretty packaging, too.  so while the initial card took only 10 minutes to create, the subsequent 7, plus 8 envelopes, plus 2 packages took a couple of hours!

i didn't mind at all because i love the design so much and it will be a great sketch to use in the future for quick and easy sets.  i have so many washi tapes and this is a fantastic way to use a lot of them at once.

the tapes i used were light green chevron (Love My Tapes), yellow lace (Hambly Studios), white dots on gray sketch (Love My Tapes), turquoise airmail stripe (Target), green on white floral (Cavallini), and pink lace (Hambly Studios).  my favorite pairing is the green floral against the pink lace.  

because all of the tapes are the main focus, i kept the look of the sentiment simple with just a small stamp on a little white tag.  as an extra touch, i wound white twine around the card three times and tied it in a bow.

the angled orientation of the tapes gives the card a much more interesting and dynamic look than if the lines of tape went straight across or straight up and down, don't you think?  i'm so happy i decided to play along with this sketch! 

here is the entire ensemble, complete with envelopes and packaging.  i love to use plain white Avery office tags and i have a couple stamp sets from Papertrey Ink that fit perfectly in tiny spaces.  i find myself reaching for them often because they are so convenient and the typefaces are beautiful.  the "Enjoy" stamp comes from the Tiny Tags set while the "thanks so much" is from Mixed Messages.

well, friends, school work is calling my name.  thanks for stopping by today; i sure do appreciate it!