Surprise Birthday Hop for Shay!! + My First-Ever Video

Shay from Winnie & Walter is just about the most thoughtful person ever (well, except for perhaps her counterpart, Julie) so I'm super excited to have the opportunity to show her some love on her birthday by participating in this special blog hop. 

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Shay in person at CHA last month and got to spend two wonderful days hanging out with her and Julie. Man, does she know the industry! She was really able to fill in the blanks for me on people and products. She's very passionate about our hobby, and it really shows in everything she does.

The only thing I am more impressed with is how kind and thoughtful Shay is. Whether it's including surprises in packages like pretty sequins, handwritten notes, encouraging words OR A KELLY GRIGLIONE STAMP SET (no kidding, I will have to share this with you in another post!) she always puts a huge smile on my face. I am so thankful to have met her through our wonderful community!

The card I designed for Shay is based on a really neat Cosmo Cricket line which will be released soon that we fell in love with at CHA ... Just Add Watercolor. There are canvases with gold resist elements, and you can watercolor the remaining canvas as you like. One of the samples was a gold geometric pattern with pink and red watercolored areas. For Shay's card, I tried to recreate this look by stamping the solid line from the new Winnie & Walter Scenery: Stripes stamp set that was just released and embossing it in gold.

Then I watercolored the various shapes. I didn't have to be super careful about staying within the lines since the embossed line was thick enough to corral the watercolor. The sentiment is from another new set, The Big, the Bold and Party. That got moved around a few times before I landed on one of the large vertical lines to anchor it on. I decided to cut off the bottom of the whole panel to have the base of the card show through. I may have closed my eyes and said a prayer while trimming the bottom 1/4 inch off, lest it turn out to be a big, regrettable mistake. Anyone?!

The inside is finished off with the heart (watercolored and gold-embossed) and "Love You" from The Write Stuff: Love Story, and "kisses" from You've Got Love Mail.

Here's the new Cosmo Cricket catalog with this gorgeous design on their back cover. You can see how I darn near copied the whole thing! Why mess with a good thing?

So before I end this post, I have a little something extra to share. I told Julie that I would put on my big-girl panties and post my first-ever video, in the form of a birthday greeting to Shay.

Ugh.

I dreaded this for weeks. 

Apparently, when I'm nervous, I lose any semblance of speaking at a level higher than a 5th grader, and pull out the incredibly descriptive adjective "great" four too many times. But who's counting. Shay, you know this was made with lots of love : )

Anyway, on with the show! It's my pleasure to send you over to the super-inspirational Mayuri who has more birthday wishes to share!

Shay, I hope you have an amazing birthday today. As wonderful as last year was, I know this year is going to be an even bigger success for you!

Big hugs,
Kelly

Winnie & Walter Blog
Joni Andaya
Suzanne Dahlberg
Kelly Griglione - you are here : )
Mayuri
Vanessa Menhorn
Gayatri Murali
Heather Pulvirenti
Laura Sterckx