Grand Re-Opening of my Etsy Shop!

Hello and welcome to my blog! I just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know that today is the Grand Re-Opening of my Etsy shop Sara Anne Creations. You can find a link to my shop under my photo to the right. I would love for you to stop by and take a look around! I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday and I will see you soon!!

Gansai Tambi and Pretty Peonies

Hello and Happy Monday, I hope you are all doing well. Today I have a Gansai Tambi water colored card for you. I recently posted this card on the MISTIfans Facebook group which is geared toward those who own a MISTI stamping tool, looking into getting a MISTI stamping tool and those who share a common love for all things creative.

When I posted this card I was overwhelmed and touched by the responses I got, especially by all the requests to make a video tutorial showing how I made it. So in response to all those kind comments I decided to press the record button...I hope that you enjoy and that it inspires you to do some watercoloring of your own!


--SUPPLIES--
Gansai Tambi Watercolors
Canson 140lb watercolor paper: Walmart
Blue painters tape
MISTI
WPlus9 Pretty Peonies
EK Success Powder Tool
Versamark
Zing opaque white embossing powder
Sistema Klip it container
Versamark pen
Simon Says Stamp Pawprints on Our Hearts
Dritz Quilting Non-Slip Vinyl Template Sheets
Vellum
Martha Stewart score board
Recollections Kraft Cardstock
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
ATG tape
ATG Tape Refill
3m Foam Mounting Tape
Teflon Bone Folder
Frosted rhinestones: Joanns

(**I tried my best to link what I could and from where I actually purchased the item)

Hello Card - Avery Elle & Mama Elephant

Hello and happy Wednesday to you all, I hope you are doing well! For todays card/video I wanted to focus on creating a more gender neutral card that could be customized for a man or a woman depending on the colors you choose to use, so this is what I came up with.

As you can see today's card is very simple yet by adding a few little details like the wink of stella glitter brush pen, glossy accents and some black enamel dots, it really brings the card to life. I also love that by stamping my images slightly different from their originally "intended" purpose I can get a completely different look and it adds a ton more interest to the card.
I hope you enjoyed today's card/tutorial and I would love to hear about ways you use your stamps and crafting supplies other than what they were originally intended for!



--SUPPLIES--
White Cardstock - Staples
Black Cardstock - Michaels
Avery Elle All Squared Up - Simon Says Stamp
SSS Audrey Blue - Simon Says Stamp
SSS Green Apple - Simon Says Stamp
Fiskars Stamp Press - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Mama Elephant Hello Script Die - Simon Says Stamp
Tombow Mono Multi glue - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Martha Stewart Score Board - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Teflon Bone Folder - Simon Says Stamp
ATG tape/gun - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Foam Adhesive - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Glossy Accents - Simon Says Stamp / Amazon
Black Enamel Dots

Reindeer Noses

Good Morning and Happy Monday to you all! Last week I uploaded a tutorial showing how to make Reindeer Noses Treat Bags (which would be excellent stocking stuffers for any age), if you haven't seen the tutorial please feel free to check it out and I hope you enjoy!


--Supplies--
(**all supplies listed are where I picked up mine but many of the items can be purchased from big box craft stores or online)
Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge (Hobby Lobby)
Dark Brown cardstock (Hobby Lobby)
Light Brown cardstock (Michaels)
Red cardstock (Hobby Lobby)
Small circle punch (Michaels)
Tombow Mono Multi glue (Michaels)
Xmas Red Stickles (from a locally owned craft store in my area)
Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangle Die (Simon Says Stamp)
Kraft cardstock (Michaels)
Martha Stewart Score board (Michaels)
Teflon Bone Folder (Simon Says Stamp)
Cuttlebug (don't remember where I got mine)
Cas-ual Fridays Snowflake Greetings Stamp Set (from a locally owned craft store in my area)
Versamark Ink
Pretzel Bags (Joann's)
Whoppers (Walmart)
Sour Cherry candy (Walmart)
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (Hobby Lobby)
Black Sakura Gelly Roll Pen (Joann's)
White Sakura Gelly Roll Pen (Joann's)
Chalk (Hobby Lobby many many many years ago)
Ek Success Small Precision Scissors (Joann's)
Scotch ATG tape runner (Michaels)
Scotch Foam Mounting Tape (Amazon)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving!! I hope you all get to spend the day with those whom you are grateful for and that mean the most to you! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend and I will see you all next week!!

Inspired by...Debby Hughes

Hey everyone today I have a new card and video tutorial for you which was inspired by a card created by the very talented Debby Hughes. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to check out Debby's GORGEOUS card over on her blog Limedoodledesign.com

Products used:
Simon Says Stamp Presents & Ornaments Stamp Set (SSS)

White Cardstock (Staples-not sure of the weight of the cardstock...I believe it is 110lb cardstock but I am not 100% positive)

Ranger Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder (SSS/Amazon)

Ek Success Powder Tool (SSS/Amazon) **may also available on some big box craft store websites

Versamark Ink (SSS/Amazon) **also available in most big box craft stores

Hero Arts Soft Cantaloupe Ink (SSS Mini or Full Size/Amazon Mini or Full Size) **may also be available in big box craft stores/websites (I got mine from Joann's)

Simon Says Stamp Goldenlocks Ink (SSS)

Simon Says Stamp Beanstalk Green Ink (SSS)

1 inch Circle Punch (SSS/Amazon) **most big box craft stores/websites (I got mine from a big box store years ago)

5/8 inch Circle Punch **most big box craft stores/websites (I got mine from Michaels, the Recollections brand)

Scrapbook Foam Adhesive (SSS/Amazon) **most big box craft stores (I got mine from Joann's)

EK craft Tweezers (SSS/Amazon)**most big box craft stores

Pale Blue Cardstock (Michaels)
Kraft Cardstock (Michaels)

Clear Iridescent Sequins (I got mine at Joann's)

Multi Medium Matte (SSS/Amazon)

Just a heads up!

Good morning and happy Wednesday to you all! Today I thought I would take a moment to give you a heads up that I am going to be MIA for the next couple of weeks. I am currently preping for a craft fair and between now and then I really need to put all my effort into my products and preparing. On top of that my hubby and I are also going to be taking a road trip to visit his parents. So the next couple of weeks I am going to be one busy girl but I hope to be back after that time with some tutorials and such. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will see ya in a couple of weeks!

Simon Says Stamp November 2014 Card Kit

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday to you all! A few weeks back I mentioned that I had subscribed to the Simon Says Stamp card kit and that when my first kit arrived I would share with you its contents, well I received my November 2014 Card kit a couple of days ago and thought that I would take the opportunity to quickly share with you what came in the kit. I know that there are already a lot of photos and tutorials sharing how others have started using their kits, but I thought that it might be nice to have a bit of a closer look at everything that comes in the kit itself, especially if you are considering subscribing to the monthly card kits. I hope you enjoy, have a wonderful day and I will see you all next time!

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Haul

Hi there! Todays video is the LONG awaited Simon Says Stamp order that I have been impatiently waiting for :) And as promised I am sharing my haul with you today, so I hope you enjoy!
The first item I picked up was the small teflon bone folder...a bit pricey in my opinion for a bone folder, but so many crafters swear by it and say it is well worth the money, so I thought I would give it a try (I hope it lives up to my expectations).

Next up, I picked up some Simon Says Stamp ink pads...Fog, Slate, Goldenlocks, Beanstalk Green and Soft Navy.

I then picked up a few stamp sets because what would a Simon Says Stamp haul be without some stamps :) The first stamp set I got is the Love You a Latte Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn which is actually my first Lawn Fawn stamp set and I can't wait to use it, I love all of the images in this stamp set and I think they will be perfect for some Christmas gift tags!
The other four stamp sets I picked up are all Simon Says stamp sets...Pawprints On Our Hearts, Handwritten Borders, Presents and Ornaments and lastly Autumn Blessings which was a collaboration between Simon Says and Clearly Besotted.

I love all the images in these stamp sets and can't wait use them, however when looking through them I did notice that there are a couple small stamps missing from the Pawprints On Our Hearts packaging (circled in red), so I will definitely have to contact Simon Says Stamp to see if there is anything they can do. (Update: I did contact Simon Says and their customer service was wonderful, they are sending out a replacement for my defective stamp set...Thank You Simon Says Stamp!!!)

Other than that I am in love with all my new stamps :)
Lastly, I picked up a few dies, I currently don't have a ton of dies, but I am slowly building my collection. As for the dies I chose, I wanted to stick with dies that are versitile and that I know I can get a lot of use out of, so the ones I picked up are the Mama Elephant Hello Script, Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes, Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables and last but not least Simon Says Stamp Thanks Die. I think I will get a lot of use out of these dies and can't wait to play with them.

Well, that does it for this Simon Says Stamp Haul, I hope you enjoyed and don't forget, I did sign up for the Simon Says Stamp November Card Kit and will be sharing that with you as well when it comes in! I hope you have a wonderful day and I will talk to you very soon!! :)

Odds & Ends Haul

Happy Wednesday to you all, I hope you are having a wonderful week so far. Alas I am still waiting for my Simon Says Stamp order to arrive, so in the mean time, I thought that I would go ahead and share with you a bit of an "Odds & Ends" haul, just some things I have picked up over the last several months from a few locally owned scrapbooking stores (Scrap 2 It, A Scrappin Place & Artsy) as well as a couple of items from other places (Hobby Lobby, Amazon, Michaels & Walmart).

MME Wood Veneer Sheet Amazon, Simple Stories Homespun (6x6 paper pad) SSS / Amazon

Lawn Fawn Let's Polka (6x6 paper pad) SSS / Amazon, Hero Arts Smooth Clear Gemstones SSS / Amazon

Hero Arts Stamp & Cut Holiday Tree SSS, Lawn Fawn Tag, You're It Die SSS / Amazon

Mini Ink Blending Tool SSS / Amazon, Mini Ink Blending Foams SSS / Amazon, Mini Distress Ink Pads Kit #8 SSS

Ranger Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder SSS / Amazon, WOW! Clear Gloss Super Fine Embossing Powder Amazon, Ranger Multi Medium Matte SSS / Amazon

Scotch Mounting Tape SSS / Amazon

Canon Watercolor Paper Amazon, Kraft Cardstock Michaels

Be sure to check out my coordinating Odds & Ends Haul Video!!

Happy Friday!! :)

Hello and Happy Friday to you all! I just thought that I would let you all know the exciting news... I should be back to making videos for my YouTube channel VERY soon!! I am hoping that in my next video I will be sharing with you a very large Simon Says Stamp haul...my order is still in its "PENDING" stage, so it may be a little bit longer before it arrives, but I will be sure to share my goodies with you when it does. I also have decided to subscribe to the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit where I hope to share with you the unboxing of the kit as well as a few cards I create with the kit itself. I hope that you all are as excited as I am for for my future videos and that you stick around to see them!! I hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend and I will see you soon!

Twin Diaper Trikes

Happy Wednesday! I know I have been MIA for the last several months and I am truly sorry for that, who knew that life and work could get in the way of doing things that TRULY make you HAPPY?? Well anyway, I wanted to share with you a custom order that I was asked to create for one of my mom's co-workers back in July. My wonderful customer came to me asking if I could make a couple of diaper trikes for her daughter's baby shower whom was expecting TWIN BOYS! Of course I lept at the chance, who wouldn't!! :) Granted I had some difficulties finding a color scheme that my customer was happy with...when making a custom order you are truly at the will of products that are at your disposal. But in the end I was happy with the finished product and most important my customer and her daughter were happy...which is all that matters to me :)

I was also asked to create 24 baby invitations for the baby shower...I had several "elaborate" ideas, but felt that keeping the invites simple and the embellishments to a minimum would be best seeing as though the invitations had to be mailed and excess bulk would require extra postage. So seeing as though I decided to go simple, I was at a loss for simplistic twin invite ideas, so I turned to Google...good old Google :) After scrolling through a TON of ideas, I finally stumbled upon a photo from polkadotpixgal.blogspot.com and fell in love with its simplicity and CUTENESS!! And decided to give it a go. Thank you polkadotpixgal for the inspiration!!

Custom Orders

Happy Thursday to everyone! Today I wanted to share with you a custom order. I am not sure if you are aware that I do welcome custom orders and actually find them to be fun and quite challenging at times. This particular work was requested by a client of mine who was looking for some cards that could be given in sobriety support groups or to those who have been affected by a loved ones struggle with drinking. At first I wasn't quite sure how to go about creating such cards, but my client supplied me with a few sayings that were often used in these support groups and I was off and running. I actually was contacted by this client well over a couple of years ago and have been creating cards for them off and on ever since and have really enjoyed the challenge of coming up with new designs. All of these cards pictured above are available for purchase, if you are interested, please contact me a saraannecreations@hotmail.com and I can add them to my Etsy shop. (Prices for my cards usually are around $4.00 per card or 5 for $15.00 +shipping, however prices can fluctuate depending on difficulty and supplies used) You can also contact me at the same email if you would like to place a custom order of your own! I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday, and thanks for visiting my blog!

UPDATE...

Happy "Hump" Day everyone. I hope you are all doing well :) I just wanted to take a quick moment to give you all an update about me and my YouTube channel. I know that it has been quite a while since my last video...not due to me having nothing to film, but due to poor filming equipment to say the least. All of my previous videos have been filmed on a simple point and shoot camera, which not only makes it difficult to tell if I am in frame or not but the audio that accompanies my videos is very poor. So I have ultimately decided to try and put off filming until I am able to update my filming equipment. I hope to invest in a camcorder with a swivel screen so that I can see where I am filming vs. guessing and hopefully with a better camcorder will come better audio...fingers crossed. I know that this isn't the most ideal situation, however, I much rather film higher quality videos with better quality audio than to have my viewers squint to watch my videos and wear headphones to hear them. I hope that you all will understand my reasoning here and will stick around for many many more future videos to come. I plan on updating my filming equipment within the next couple of months (hopefully...) with new videos to come soon after. I guess that will do it for today. I hope you have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you soon!

The Future of my YouTube Channel...

So as many of you may know, my previous videos have focused on DIY Wedding Videos, where I share with you DIY wedding projects that I did for my own wedding. Since my wedding was well over a year ago, I have been debating what to do with my channel and have decided to continue sharing with you craft related videos. When I originally started my channel, my ultimate goal was to share with others my creative passions and to inspire others to create and I hope that starting with this video, I will be doing that. I can't wait to see what the future may hold for my channel and I want to thank everyone who has viewed my videos, subscribed and have supported me thus far.

Episode 5: DIY Bridal Bouquet & Boutonnieres

Hey everyone, if you haven't checked out my YouTube in a while Episode 5 of my DIY Wedding Series is up!

I haven't posted any videos as of late simply because I am not sure what other DIY Wedding projects I can share with you from start to finish. Many of my other DIY Wedding projects I created for my wedding are either detailed, time consuming or both, so it would be nearly impossible to share with you my step by step process. However if you have any other video requests, let me know and I can see if there are any that I can do. I hope you all are having a wonderful Friday and that you will have an even better weekend.

DIY Wedding Favors

Hey all, I FINALLY added a new edition to my DIY mini wedding series. I know that I am not the best video poster, but I still hope you love my videos all the same and hope that one day I will get better at posting videos on a more regular basis. I think filming and posting my DIY wedding series videos are harder for me because my wedding has come and gone and trying to find all of the supplies I used to create all of my wonderful little DIY projects can be quite hard to find if not impossible. With that said, I still hope that you have enjoyed what videos I do have and that they help inspire you to create unique things for your own wedding or events. I look forward to creating more videos for you in the future and hope that you have a wonderful Thursday!!

First Ever Altered Canvas

Hey all, I know that it has been a while since my last post, however, I really wanted to share with you my first ever altered canvas!! :)

Here it is!! What do you think? I have to say, it definitely took some time and a bit of thinking out of the box for me, but I LOVE how it turned out!!
What inspired me to create this small piece of art was my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jeff...a few years back they began drifting apart and unfortunately ended up divorcing, however as time went by, they re-discovered the love and respect that they once had for one another and decided to get married again :) So yesterday, June 15th, 2013 they got re-hitched. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to their wedding because they live so far away, instead I decided to make them a small altered canvas, that I hope will remind them every time they look at it to "cherish every moment" they have with one another and to remember that marriage is hard work and that there are going to be ups and PLENTY of downs, but to always remember to love one another and know that TOGETHER anything is possible. But I hope that you like it as much as I do...oh, and here is the matching card I made to go with it

New Video

Hey all just wanted to let you know that Episode 3 of my mini DIY Wedding Series is up on my YouTube channel. I am going to apologize ahead of time for the audio, I don't use my nice camera for filming very often (which I hope to change in the future) so I am not really familiar with where all of the mics are, so you will hit patches of muffled sounds, so I am very very sorry about that, but I hope to do better in the future. I do hope that you enjoy the video and that it gives you a lot of inspiration :)

Valentines for my Valentines

Alright, so I admit that two postings in one day may be a bit over kill, but I did want to quickly share with you some of the valentine cards and a valentine gift I put together for the valentine's in my life (i.e. Mom, Dad, and my Hubby)



So these two valentine cards are going to my parents, the card on the left is for my dad, I didn't want to make anything too girly for him, so I stuck with something a bit more basic. I believe that I cut the mail box and the envelope from the Doodlecharms cricut cartridge (sorry, I can't remember the measurements). The card base itself was made from craft card stock, then I just made a simple layer of red card stock and a cute red and white print paper. I thought it turned out pretty cute and I hope that my dad likes it!

The valentine on the right I made for my mom, I have always wanted to try creating a slider card and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a go :) So once again the base card is craft card stock and for the layers I took again a red piece of card stock and layered on a cute red white and pink stripped paper on top. On the back of the red layer I traced and cut out a long sort of oval shape, thin enough to ensure that the pennies I was using for the slider mechanism would not fall out. I then cut out the cutest little owl from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge (once again, I can't remember the measurement)and adhered it to my penny slider and inserted it into the slot I cut, and viola, it spins like a charm :) I think that my mom is going to get a kick out of this card, I can't wait for her to see it. But we must also not forget that on Valentine's Day, chocolate is in order, so my parents will also be getting some chocolate treats to go along with their cute cards.



Ok, so this last photo is the gift basket that I put together for my hubby. I know the picture isn't very good, but it is the best I have. I spent quite a bit of time on my hubby's gift. On the card in the front I spent a great deal of time putting it together. I believe that the tree and the silhouette of the couple I cut from the Sweetheart cricut cartridge and the clouds were cut from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge. I of course wrote a sweet little note on the inside, however, there is also a little letter that I wrote to him that included all of the words of the candies I included in his gift basket. I don't think I will share the note with you, because, I would prefer that it remain just between the two of us. Lets just say that he loved his gift and I truly enjoyed putting it together for him, and getting to be creative at the same time.

Alright, so I guess I will leave it at that for today...but I do wish each and everyone of you (if anyone even reads my blog) the "Sweetest" Valentine's Day and that you get to spend it with the ones you love! (whether that be your significant other, friends, or family) Good bye for now :)