Stampin With Candy

Sweet and Sassy Digi stamping : Inspiration challenge

2012-02-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! I've really getting into digi stamping - there's so much versatility with digital images and there are tons of great digi sites.... oh, so addicting!! Adding to my digi collection is this cute little mouse I got at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps which I'm entering in this week's inspiration challenge on their digi blog ( you can check it out here).
Here's the inspiration....

I colored the mouse with my watercolor pencils and a light pink Copic for the nose and ears. The cupcakes were done in shades of pink ( Copic) and watercolor pencils for the brown wrappers. I added Stickles to the cupcake stripes for a frosted look and some liquid glass for the nose and flowers. The Hello Cupcake is a stamp I got in the dollar bin at Michaels a couple of years ago and this is the first time I've inked it up!

The inside is stamped with a Flourish sentiment and the teeny little cupcake actually is part of the Hello Cupcake stamp, which I handcut and thought it would look better on the inside. The cardstock and papers are all from Stampin' Up! as is the ink ( Chocolate Chip ).

I just think this card turned out so adorable!!!

Thanks for stopping by... have a great weekend!

Valentine's classroom treats

2012-02-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

Happy the-day-before Valentine's day! Yup, it's the night before and I'm making my son's class treats and hopefully I will get his teacher's gift done in time! Oh, I'm so thankful for his super small class size.... there's just eight of 'em! I found Beate's great tutorial on these acetate boxes ( check out my blog list for her link) and decided they would be perfect!

Each box maeasures 3inch square for the base and 4 1/4 inches for the height, just right for a few treats. I stamped and cut out the tree from last year's Love Bandit set and the sentiment is from Tiny Wishes. The polka dot paper and black ribbon are also from Stampin' UP!.

So I better get going and finish the teacher's gift!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Altered Valentine's craft: Home decor project

2012-02-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, happy Sunday! I wanted to share with you a cute little altered craft I made last evening...

I saw this metal heart at a local craft store and knew that I could alter it to make something pretty for Valentine's day.

So, I sponged the edges with Ruby Red ink......

An then I added a pretty BoBunny fabric flower and some Zva crystals....

And finally, a few plastic letters that I had in my stash and a sweet little felt heart to finish it off......

I hotglued the letters together so they would stand out from the heart a wee bit.

Here it is all finished! Sorry for the dark pic !

I used striped groosgrain ribbon for a hanger ; it had a hidden hanger in the back, but I like this so much more!! Doesn't this look so pretty??

I hope you enjoyed my little project.... thanks for stopping by!!!

Mojo Monday 227

2012-02-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hi! This week's sketch at Mojo Monday was designed by the very talented Debbie Carriere ( check out her blog here) and since it's the first Monday of the month, it's contest time! There are already so many terrific entries posted!!!
Here's the sketch.....

and here's my card for the challenge.....

The Sale-A-Bration dp is so pretty.. it's getting lots of use so far!I just love the soft feminine vintage look to this paper line. I used the vintage oval frame stamp and matching die form Verve stamps as well as the Happy Birthday greeting, all inked in Dusty Durango. The flower is cut from Art Philosophy ( I think this one is 2 inches) and the cardstock and ribbon are from Stampin' Up!.

So there's my Mojo card... thanks for stopping by!

Shopping Our Stash : Valentines's/Hearts cards

2012-02-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hello! Where has the week gone??? Really, I had these big plans to participate in some of my fav weekly challenges and the next thing I know the week is gone!!!! UGH! (It's been a week of meetings, a sick little boy and appointments!!) I did manage to spend a little time in my craft room . This is one of the few cards I came up with and which I am entering for this week's challenge over at Shopping Our Stash. This week the DT presented us with......

"Our Challenge this week is to sort thru your stash and come up with something Valentine's themed, or simply use hearts and/or lace on your project! If that doesn't work you can also simply use a Meljen's image instead!"

I love black and red for Valentine's cards.... very elegant, don't you think? I had some of this gorgeous dp left over from last year's SU catalogue. It was one of my favorites so far. The stamp is CTMH Celebration set which goes with the Art Philosphy cartridge. The heart is cut at 1 1/2 " and is stamped with the matching stamp in Cherry Cobbler ink.The sentiment is from the same set. The fancy frame behind the heart is a Spellbinders die .

Well, I may not have achieved all my stamping goals this week, but I'm sure glad I played along with Shopping Our Stash! Thanks for stopping by!

Shopping Our Stash

2012-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone! It's so beautiful outside right now , a perfect winter day, which will according to our local weather forecaster will not being lasting too long! Oh well, I'm gonna enjoy the sunshine while it's still here!! I don't about you but I love to browse through weekly challenge blogs - so many great ideas!!- and sometimes I even participate in one or two!! The DT at Shopping Our Stash are asking us to use our "people" images . Lucky for me , I just bought some super cute digi stamps that I've had so much playing around with! So here's what I came up with for the SOS challenge.....

I made this card for my sweet little goddaughter who will soon be turninng 2! The patterned paper is from some pretty old Valentine's collection from SU, which I had totally forgot I owned until I finally organized my papers!! Yikes, I got lots 'n lots of paper!! I paper pieced her dress with more old dp ( really, I have lots!!!!!), and then a few details and this card is finished!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... have a great weekend!!

Tiddly Inks digi stamps- Valentine's cards

2012-02-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm back to share with you a couple of Valentine's cards I made using some digi images I purchased at Tiddly Inks. They have some of the cutest images around and are so much fun to play with!!

I just fell in love with this image...it's so adorable! I'm still learning to use my Copic markers ( no instructor aoround here! ) so my technique is still very much a work in progress. But still, I have fun coloring!!! I used up some of last year's SU dp for the mats and the sentiment is from Verve's Small Sayings, which are perfect for the word window punch from SU!

This image reminded me so much my eldest daughter when she was younger so I had to have it!!!! BTW, she loves her dog,too! I cut the heart out with my Cricut ( Art Philopsphy), which I then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and the bone is from A Child's Year.The sentiment is from a retired SU set called Chit Chat. The cute hearts background paper is from one of my favorite paper companies, American Crafts.

So those are just a few more Valentine's cards I've made!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy crafty day!

Masculine cards: Need For Speed birthday card

2012-02-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hello ! Can you believe it's February already??!!! Just a few short weeks of winter left, I hope! I am eagerly awaiting the days of warm sunshine and flip-flops! But for now I'm gonna keep myself busy inside where it's nice and warm and make a few cards. I have a card class next week, so I really need to get busy designing a variety of cards. The first one I made was a boy/masculine bday card....

I love the Steampunk edge die frokm Tim Holtz- it's perfect for masculine cards. I used the car image from SU's Need For Speed which I colored with my Copics. The dp is from the Well Worn line and the greeting is from Loved Ones ( you can find it in the new winter mini). I inked the edges of the cogs with Crumb Cake for a aged look. The card base is Tangerine Tango and the sentiment flag is Night Of Navy cs.

Well, that's card #1 ready for my class, I'm off to design a few more.... thanks for stopping by!!

Have a happy crafting day!!

Mojo Monday 226: Round or Square birthday card

2012-01-31T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hello! I haven't played along with Mojo Monday in awhile... I always have big plans to and then before I know it the deadline has crept up on me and I still have no Mojo card!!! I still enjoy looking at the fab weekly entries, there's such an amazing amount of talented papercrafters out there!!!!
Today is only Tuesday and I actually have my Mojo card ready!!! Woot-Woot!!!

Here's the skectch we have to play with.......

Ohhhh, I just love round or square sketches!!!! I know I'll have to make another Mojo card, but here's my first one......

I love making round cards and the scallop die from Stampin' Up! makes the perfect sized card! They fit neatly inside a standard A4 envelope. I searched through my scraps bin and found this paper from DCWV. There's a teeny bit of yellow in the pattern which is hard to tell from the pic, which I used as my coordinating cardstock color on the side. I pulled out my Really Rust inkpad for the greeting and the large flower and Crushed Curry for the small flowers. I love my new stamps from Verve!!! I used Hope Blooms for the flowers and the sentiment. The sentiment is on Verve's vintage label die ( with coordinating oval frame outline stamp).

Now that I've made my round card ( and posted it too!), I think I'll go and play with the square sketch!

Thanks for stopping by today.... have a happy crafting day!!

Clean and Simple Thank You card

2012-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hello! Thanks forstopping by my blog today! I just got some brand new Verve stamps this week... ohhhh, I just love them so much! The Cut Above dies are so fab, especially since the coordinating stamps line up beautifully with the guide! I had to play with them; here's what I made.....

The sentiment is from the set "Words Cannot Express" and the die is a Vintage Oval frame with a matching stamp ( sold seperately). The papers are from my stash - I am determined to reduce my pile of papers this year!!! ( lofty goals, I know!!! lol) I really like the clean and simple design of this card.... hmmm, I could make more of these, and quickly,too!

Have a great crafty day!!!

Quick and Simple birthday card!!

2012-01-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

Good evening! As you can probably tell , my post today is all about quick and simple! I love spending time in my craftroom planning a card that has lots of elements to it , but there's something to be said about making something cute , really fast!!! I discovered a pretty cool product that takes my Cricut to another level; they're called Cri-Kits and they are tiny little pens in a beautiful assortment of colors , that replace my blade and draw instead of cutting! I already have markers from ProvoCraft but they are thick and bulky- no delicate drawings! They barely get used unless I'm looking to outline an image, which isn't vey often.

But just look at how simple I made this card..........

I just cut the scalloped square shape for the card base and then used my Cri-Kits mini pen to draw the sentiment ( rather than cut it out) from the Wild Card cartridge.The best thing about these pens is that they go on so smoothly and dry super fast , so no smudging or sketchy drawing!!! YAY!

I already had the cupcake colored and ready to use, so this was sooooo fast and easy to make!!! A little bit of Calypso ruffled ribbon and it's done!!!!

The pens come a variety of colors and styles( metallic, pastel,neon,etc) and you just simply switch out the cutting blade for this pen holder and then you let your imagination go wild!!!!!!

Anyhoo... that's another card to add to my card stash!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Valentines cards

2012-01-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello , thanks for stopping by my blog today! I thought I'd post a few cards I made for Valentine's Day, which is just a few short weeks away.I'm gonna eneter them at She's A Sassy Lady blog; Valentine's challenge,too! I just found this blog and I'm so glad I did!!! Lot's of good stuff there!! While I was playing around with my Cricut I cut these cute little heart doilies out from my fav, Art Philosophy cartridge.

Supplies used for this card:

Stamps :Greeting Card Kids (SU) Heidi Swapp for sentiment

Ink: Rose Red

Copic markers in R14 and R35 for the dress and heart and E21 for the girl.

Art Philosophy ( CTMH) cartridge

Tim Holtx mini embossing folder

Cardstock ( SU) : Basic Gray, Rose Red, Very Vanilla

Rose Red seam binding , baker's twine, mini key ( SU)

Supplies used for this card:

Stamps: Cherish The Day (CTMH)

Ink: Soft Suede,Rose Red

Cardstock: red (DCWV) Chocolate Chip , Very Vanilla (SU)

Sizzix texture plates ( hearts) , stickpins, Very Vanilla satin ribbon (SU)

Art Philosophy ( heart doiliy, ticket shape)

Thanks for stopping by.... have a great day!

Jingle Belles: Sketching Through The Snow

2012-01-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everybody! This is the last week to get your cards linked up to Jingle Belles Sketching Through The Snow! I love that we have two weeks to complete a challenge , but I tend to procrastinate, so I'm only now just getting mine posted!
This week Kirsty Vittetoe ( check out her great blog for tons of ideas!) has provided us with an awesome sketch to work with.....

Here's what I came up with this week......

I used products I got during those awesome after-Christmas sales.... the stamp set is from Michaels, as is the sentiment stamp. I colored the star in Copic Y28, the hay in YR15,YR23,YR19,the baby in E000 and B0000 for the blanket and E71 and E29 for the wood base. The letters on sentiment were also done in Y28 and the dove in N0. I added a little stickles around the blanket and for the stars on the banner. The embossed snowflake background was made with a Sizzix folder. The whole card base is a burnished gold cardstock from DCWV and the patterned paper is called "Herald Angels' from Moxie and finally, the ruffled edge is retired SU waffle paper. The card measures 5X5 inches.

Well, that's my card for this challenge.... thanks for stopping by !!

Have a great day!

Art Philosophy : shaped cards

2012-01-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Good evening,and thanks for dropping by my blog! I'm still playing around with my Art Philosophy cartridge and I am even more pleased to finally have my Gypsy and Cricut imagine updated!!! It took forever and I don't know how many attempts before it finally worked ( living in a very rural area = very slow internet service!!! **ugh!!**) , but now it's all up to date ** big smile** I'm also on a kick of making different shaped cards , here are some I've made so far....

The shape is from the card feature and is cut at 5 " by 4 1/4". The mat is 1/4 " smaller. The birthday greeting is from the bargain bin at Michaels ( love all those cute stamps I find there!!) I got those gorgeous Prima flowers from Two Peas In a Bucket online store. The ribbon is also from Michaels. The lacey circle die is a Spellbinders die, which I shaded with River Rock ink and the setiment is stamped in Always Artichoke.

This is my fav card shape on this cartridge, I've already made several from this shape in different sizes.

This is a pretty easy card ... just some Crushed Concord cardstock cut in card shape in the standard A4 size. I really like the bracket shape on the edge , you could use this feature for portrait or landscape cards.

The butterfly was cut in Perfect Plum and the layer was cut in So Saffron. The ribbon is matching in So Saffron taffeta ribbon from SU and the sentiment is from the set Warm Words. The metal label is from Hodgepodge hardware embellishments set ( retired, but I have 4 tins to use !!!).

Thanks for looking and I always read and appreciate every comment!

Happy Birthday Shaped card

2012-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hello! So glad you stopped by my blog today!! Today is the perfect day to stay all cozy and warm inside. I pulled out my Cricut and Art Philosophy cartridge to try a few shaped cards. There are so many great features on this cartridge and I love that CTMH has coordinating stamps to go with it!

Here's a card I made for a special lady who just turned 75!

I use the card feature for at 5.5 inches. I found to get the inside mat to fit the card base I had to turn the Real Dial on and then cut the patterned paper( retired Cottage Wall dsp) at 5.25 inches .... it fits perfectly! I cut the roses at various sizes in Very Vanilla and Purely Pomegranate. To give the flowers more texture I inked up the edges and curled the petals. The hot glue gun comes in handy for these flowers and for adhering to the card.
I used a sentiment from Small Sayings ( a retired SU set) which fits nicely on the word window/ modern label punch. The metal bookplate is from SU Hodgepodge hardware, I have several of these sets but they hardly ever get used. During my blog browsing I saw them being used like this and I had to incorporate it on my card! Now I may just use them all! :-) The bling is part of a larger flourish . The leaves a Sizzlit die from SU.
Anyhoo... that's my card for today! Thanks for stopping by!

The Friday Mashup : Thank you card

2012-01-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hello ! It's time for another Friday Mashup! Here's this week's challenge....

We can make a thank you card or a card with patterned paper or mash it up and make a thank you card using patterned paper.

Here's what I came up with for this week's challenge.....

I made a 5X5 square card using Soft Suede as the base with a Bliss Blue mat. The striped paper is from my old paper stash. The frame form Noteably Ornate didn't fit well in the white square so I used a masking technique to make it larger. The sentiment is from Grateful Greetings, inked in Soft Suede, and is stamped on a mini label die from Spellbinders, which I inked the inside with a light blue. The ribbon is from Stampin Up and the stickpin is from Jenni Bowlin ( I think I've used a stick pin in almost every card I made lately!!!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Cutz Challenge : Happy New Year!

2012-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Hello!!! I am so happy that my computer is back from repair and I have some of my old programs installed! I've really missed My Digital Studio.. the basiscs are installed, now I just need to get all of those great files back ! I really have missed my laptop... using my hubby's was okay , but I love mine!!! :)
Now that things seem to be getting back to normal here, I thought I'd play along with Paper Cutz Challenge this week. We are invited to make a card/ layout with the theme Happy New Year.... hmmm, I can do that!!!

I started off with French Script paper from Canvas Corp for the background. The "Cheers" and "New Years" and the date were cut using the Designer's Calender cartridge ( haven't used that one in ages!!!) and the star and scroll were cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge. The clock transparency is from a Heidi Swapp collection, I just handcut hands for it and secured them together with a glitter brad form SU. The photo corners are from a SU corner punch.

Now I just get those pics printed for this page!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Friday Mashup : Happy Birthday

2012-01-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hello stampers! I've had so much fun this week checking out all my fav blogs and I even managed to participate in a few , like The Friday Mashup. They always have terrific prompts where you can choose from one of the two challenges or mash them up !

This week we are invited to make a birthday card or a card with pastel(s)/colors or mash them up! I started off to make a combo but I think I fell short of the pastel. Still, I am super pleased that I have another card to add to my Bday card stash ( I never seem to have one when I need one!!!!) , so here's my Friday Mashup creation.....

I used the Art Philosphy Cricut cartridge from CTMH with the coordinating stamp, Celebration set for this Z-fold card. Celebrate is embossed with SU Cherry scented embossing powder.... it smells so yummy!!! The pink ruffled ribbon is some of my really old SU ribbon, which I haven't ever used! The cupcake is inked in Regal Rose on Blushing Bride cardstock and the strip behind it (Tempting Turquoise) is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The pretty swirled/colorful circles paper is from my bin of old papers that need to be used up..... soon!!!

Here it is opened up. Isn't this such a girlie card? So not my usual style but I love it!!!!

Thanks for looking and stopping by my blog today.........

have a great rest of your day!!!

Candy

Christmas scrappage

2012-01-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hi again! Now that the holidays are officially over ( still feeling stuffed from all the turkey and goodies!!!) I now need to tackle my stack of pics from the season! I finished a couple of layouts and have a few more almost completed. Here`s one ready for the album.......

The cardstock is Echo Park and the stickers are from Cosmo Cricket.The red paper is from a paperstack bought at Michaels.

Hopefully , I can get some more layouts posted before Valentine`s day!!!!!!

Anyhoo..... thanks for stopping by!

Have a great evening .... and happy crafting!!!!!

Candy

Pals Paper Arts color challenge : "Just For You" card

2012-01-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Saturday! Winter was off to a late start here in NL but now it looks like the snow is here to stay , for awhile anyway! It's been snowing steady for the past few days and my little boy is sooooo excited!! He can play outside all day building snowforts and digging in the snow with his trucks. I'm taking advantage of this chilly weather to stay inside and catch up on my scrapbooking and maybe even participate in a blog challenge or two! On of my favs is the Pals Paper Arts site where they post every second week a sketch/color challenge. This week is a color challenge...

Once again I played around with my Edgelits dies for my card....

The colors for this week's challenge are Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla , which got me thinking of a vintage style card. I used the stamp set , Fresh Vintage from SAB for the background and the border on the outside edge as well as for the inside . For the sentiment, a greeting from Tagtastic inked in Not Quite Navy( mounted on Very Vanilla on designer frames folder). The embossed border ( left side) was made with a non-SU embossing folder.A strip of crochet trim and Baja Breeze seam binding gives this card soft texture and a pearl stick pin through the bow completes this vintage look.
The card measures 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 inches, just the right size for a SU medium square envelope.

Thanks for stopping by my blog..... have a great rest of your day!

Candy

Jingle Belles: No time Like the Present(s)

2012-01-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Hello! We may be only just in the first week of January but the belles over at Jingle Belles are making sure we don't get behind on on our Christmas cards with a great prompt " No Time Like the Present(s)". We are invited to incorporate old giftwrap as a background, accent or motif or use an image of presents for youor card. We even get nearly two full weeks to finish and upload our project! Yup, that will work for me!!!
Here's mine.....

I have this lovely stash of tissue paper I've been saving and I found this beautiful holly leaf pattern and decided it would be better used for my cards! I used my Edgelits label die and then glued SU glass glitter in Champagne around the edge. A precut holly leaf from Making Memories finishes this up nicely. The sentiment is from Curly Cute. I used my Simply Scored Scoring Tool to make the embossed square outline.

So there's my first Christmas card of 2012! yay!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... until next time , happy crafting!

Candy

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year !! I'm back after a longer break than I intended! Things got a little crazy around here in December ( I visited family in Edmonton ) and before I knew it , Christmas was here!!! My computer decided to crash three dyas before Christmas and I lost all my program files!!! I was so upset but there's not much I can do about it , so now I'm using hubby's laptop until mine is fixed. I will have to reinstall my programs and I won't be able to recover a bunch of files , so for now my projects will be posted withoout any editing :(
But... I did get a chance to play with some of my new goodies from Stampin' Up! I still don't have my cardmaking mojo back so I kept these cards simple.

I love the new Edgelits dies from the new Stampin' Up! mini.... what a fun way to jazz up a simple card! There is even these awesome little border embossing folders that give that extra touch, oh, I just love 'em so much already!!!This card is a little bit of old , well, actually a lot of old ! and a little bit of new! I have lots of gorgeous ribbon and dsp that I just have to use!!! So I paired them with a sentiment from the upcoming Sale- A- Bration called Outlined Occasions.

Another quick and easy card , using the Edgelits die and coordinating embossing folder. The card base is Pear Pizzaz which is so beautiful with Rich Razzleberry, and the flower is from the new mini's Mixed Bunch stamp set. The birthday greeting and the fancy background stamp are another SAB set , Elementary Elegance.

Anyhoo.... those are my cards . Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time..... happy crafting!

Candy

Wine Bottle Topper Tag

2011-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

Hello! It's that time of year when we start the mad rush to get all our Christmas shopping done! What about when you got all those gifts ready to be wrapped or how about that hard to wrap item , like bottle of wine/spirits or maybe ,bath products? Well, I found a few tag ideas for wine bottles while searching the web. Spellbinders had a really nice one but when I tried to view the tutorial video, it wouldn't open!!! *** Grr*** But, luckily I had a pic to go by....

Isn't it so beautiful??? I love the snowflake on top, so I had to design my own using the snowflake,too!

Here's mine....

The snowflake is a Sizzix die ( Snowflake ornament) and the sentiment is SU's Delightful Dozen on a label die from Spellbinders. The 25th is from Merry & Type ,in Riding Hood Red ( as is the sentiment) . I searched through my stash and found a strip of Riding Hood Red striped ribbon and decided it would be perfect for this tag.

The dp paper has teeny tiny snowflakes in red, grenn and gold tones and has a little shimmer to it... ohhhh, how I love it!!!! It's from a My Mind's Eye paper pack which I got last year but it has sooo much paper that I'm gettting tons of projects from it!!! Awesome!!! And finally, the rhinestones are from my $-store stash!

I have a few more of gifttags projects that I will be sharing .... soon

I also have a few Christmas cards to share ..... I've been busy crafting, now I just gotta post!!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time... happy crafting!

Jingle Belles 45:It came Upon a Midnight CLEAR

2011-11-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all! This week's prompt from the gals at Jingle Belles is clear-ly so much fun!!! We are invited to make a card using transparencies, embellies, glass ( sounds interesting!!), stickers and anything else you can think of, as long as it contains an element of clear to it!!That got me thinking and then searching through my stash for something that met this week's challenge criteria. I found a sheet of Hambly acetate that I really wanted to use so I played around with it until I came up with this......

I pulled out a sheet of digi elements that I had made using My Digital Studio. These ornaments and greeting come from a digi file from Stampin' Up!, I just made them a size I wanted and then cut them out. The scalloped border was made with leftover bits of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and the scallop border punch.

I added some liquid pearls( totally forgot I had this fab product- it was hidden in my stash of Stickles !!!) to the ornaments and the strip below the sentiment for a little touch of elegance. I also popped up one ornament for more dimension. The gold cording is from a retired spool that I bought years ago form SU and I seem to have an endless supply of ( until I need it and then I willl not have enough!!! LOL)!

I "hid" the inside greeting behind the strip on the front. First, I stamped it in Whisper White craft ink and then heat embossed it so it would stand out against the shimmery green background. You can see where I folded and adhered the acetate card front to the base. I used Terrifically Tacky tape so it would stay in place.

This card maesures 5.25 by 5.25 inches ... it fits nicely inside of SU square envelopes.

So that's my card for Jingle Belles!! Thanks for stopping by..... until next time...

Happy Crafting!!

A few scrapbook layouts.

2011-11-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

Good evening! As I looked around my craft room,I realized what a messy scrapper I am! Snips of paper are covering just about every surface on my desk , not to mention the ribbon, sicssors, etc! * groan* But the mess was worth it, cause I finished not one , not two but three complete layouts and have another few started! Yippee!! ( big smiles) . It's time I started to use my stash of DP , and not just for cards! At heart I am still a true scrapbooker, so I needed to make time to actually work on some pages. As a matter of fact , one of these pages was started over a year ago ( can you believe that???) and now it's done!

I started off with just a snowflake DP on the striped DP.... it just didn't do anything for me Kinda bor-ing!!!.I trimmed the DP and added an inner circle to the center of the snowflake. A few stamped snowflakes and random words stamped and the title ( cut on Cricut) and now I really like this page!Finally, I outlined the title words with white gel pen to make it stand out , as well as around the edges of the page background.

Fall 12x12 layout

2011-11-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Fall is my favorite season... I just love the crispness in the air and all those gorgeous colors! My layout is a tribute to the beauty of fall.....

I had a bunch of these leaves already cut out from another project. The leaves were from a cutfile I purchasesd online. I used Glimmer Mist ( Tiger Lily) around the edges and then inked it up some more with Chocolate Chip ink. The base for the layour is Crumb Cake from Stampin' Up! and the strip of pattern paper is from a Colorbok paperpad.

Thanks for stopping by.... until next time, Happy Crafting!!!

Christmas cards

2011-11-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I can't believe it's already November... we are only weeks away to Christmas!!! Yikes!!! I'm soooo not ready for this busy season , with the exception of having my lovely stack of Christmas cards ( thanks to all those fab Jingle Belles challenges!!!) all ready ,just waiting to be signed and mailed out!!! I've actually been so busy planning my Christmas stamp-a-stack classes for the past month that I haven't had much time to play around some of my new paper goodies, until today!

First of all , I'd like to share one my cards I designed for my Xmas class;

This was my favorite card we made at my last stamp camp.I love making cards that have unique folds like this Z-fold card..... it's so easy but I love it just the same! I think it has a lot of WOW factor! You could easily add a photo inside or perhaps even a giftcard, it's so versatile! And did I mention how easy it it to make???? I used the Merry & Type stamp set that coordinates perfectly with Letters To Santa dsp.I used a little bit of Stickles on the ornaments which I had colored with my Copics.

Today I played with my Spellbinders dies and made this.....

I made this card shape using the Labels Ten die by Spellbinders. The sentiment is from SU Snow Swirled set. I added some rhinestones and a flourish for a little bling and a pearl to the ribbon bow. The sentiment is stamped on a Fancy Tag ( Spellbinders) in Cherry Cobbler to match the cardstock. The pattern paper is a leftover piece I found in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time........ Happy Crafting!!!!

Jingle Belles 42: a Caroling We will Go

2011-10-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Good evening! Today feels like a Friday in our household... the kids have the next three days off from school so we're off to visit relatives! Before I go I spent some time tidying my craftroom( oh, what a disaster it gets in when I'm at my most creative!!!) and then I made a mess playing along with this week's prompt for Jingle Belles! This week the ladies have invited us to use a Christmas carol to inspire our cards. I love the traditional songs that remind of the holy season , so I made my card to reflect those beautiful hymns.

The Sounding Joy is one of my fav sets already . I paired the sentiment with an image of three wisemen ( Season Of Simple Grace)... I stamped this image with versamark for a very subtle effect , and then stamped the sentiment in Cherry Cobbler to match the ribbon and cardbase. The fancy edge is actually a piece of a diecut that I re-purposed as a border for this card.

Have a great week.... thanks for stopping by!!!

SCS Sketch Challenge 353: Christmas Greetings

2011-10-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Do you sketch?.....

A fellow scrapbooker introduced me to SplitCoastStampers over 6 years ago and I'm still discovering new things on this amazing site!!! Usually, I browse the company galleries or the weekly technique tutorial section , but recently I started to browse another section; the Sketch Challenge Gallery . What a great place to get your creative mojo going.... a fabulous selection of sketches to play with and loads and loads of inspiration! I used this sketch for my card....

Here's what I made......

I used leftover scraps of the holly leaf paper for the cardbase, well actually the whole card is made with leftovers! The crochet and striped ribbon are bits I had lying around form earlier projects and the label and white mat were cut from my odds'ends of cardstock . I keep my cradstock sorted by color in ziplock bags for easy access ( and clears up my workspace, too!!).the cradinal was stamped in Riding Hood Red to match the label and sentiment and I also stamped the holly leaves in Mellow Moss and cut them out and adhered them to the branch.
There are so many cool sketches at SCS to have fun with.... go check them out!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Mojo Monday 210 : The Sounding Joy

2011-10-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hi again! I'm back with another post! This was from a sketch from Mojo Monday ...

One of my favorite sets from Stampin' Up!'s mini is The Sounding Joy . There are so many possibilities with this set, don't you think?

I used some old retired dsp for this card .... I really likethe colors Soft Suede and Riding Hood Red together. I cut the star shape and lightly inked the edges and then stamped Joy over it. For my sentiment I used one from Season Of Simple Grace ( I can't recall if this is retired or not) since it goes nicely with the whole card theme.

So that's my Mojo card... thaks for stopping by!

Hope you have a great day!!!

Merriest Christmas

2011-10-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I bought this lovely Hero Arts stamp at a local scrapbook store but I seemed to be stumped to find creative ways to use it! I browsed the web and found a very similar card on the Hero Arts blog which I totally cased!!

I made a few little changes like stamping the background with tiny snowflakes and I stitched the blue cardbase. Other than that , it is pretty close to the original!

Now that I've inked it up, I gotta use it more often!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween cards

2011-10-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello! Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my Canadian friends... hope you had a great long weekend!!! It was busy at our household this weekend... the kids threw a suprise birthday party for me on Saturday! There was lots of balloons and decorations everywhere!! Then we enjoyed a yummy Turkey supper with all the fixings .Mmmmm, so good!!!

This window was created from the Advent calender die . The stamps are both from the dollar bin at Michaels and the dp is retired SU!

A quickie card made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a label from Spellbinders The sentiment is from a SU set ( retired) , Scary Skeleton.

I just adore this set from Stampin' Up! Out On a Limb. Lots of masking used for this card, but I think it's was all worth it!

Oh, how easy was this card!! Just cut some strips of scrap cardstock, inked the edges and then "wrapped" the front of the card and a few googly eyes and it's done!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday 209 :Sketch Challenge

2011-10-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hello! I haven't particiapted in a Mojo Monday sketch in a long time, although I do love to visit the blog r frequently... so much inspiration from the Mojo DT and from all the fab entries,too! I used this sketch to make a Christmas card.................

Here's what I used to make this card:

I used the Frostwood Lodge stamp set from Stampin' Up!'s Holiday mini and the papers are from Echo Park. The border was made with a Martha Stewart borderpunch and the ink, cardstock, embossing folder and crochet trim are SU!. The eyelet circle mat was cut from a Spellbinders die.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jingle Belles 40 : PEACE on Earth snowangel card

2011-10-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Good day everyone! It is such a gorgeous fall day here, lots of sun and very warm outside. This lovely weather makes it hard to think about snow and even Christmas , but we are just a few short months away from this festive season. Thankfully, the belles at Jingle Belles have another great prompt to get us in the festive cardmaking spirit. This week's prompt is called PEACE on Earth and we are invited to incorporate the word Peace , or a symbol or an image that invokes the image of peace for our cards. Right away I pulled out my cute little angel snowman ( really, what says peace more than a snowangel??? ) stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs , but then I was stuck!! UGH! You see , this little guy is just a small stamp and doesn't really coordinate with my other stamps I have and even most of my papers!Ah, but my Cricut Imagine rescued me! I can now make my own patterned paper ( how cool is that!!!!) , so now I just needed to find the right combo..... here's what I used.....

Wild Card... an oldie but still awesome, paired with..........

My lovely new Snow Angel Imagine cartridge!

And the end result is my Jingle Belles card......

I used the card feature ( the circle is cut out) on Wild Card and then "colored" it with this beautiful snowflake pattern from Snow Angels and then cut the whole thing out! Pretty easy,huh! I added a red circle to the front for a touch of color . The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is stamped on a Fancy Tag from Spellbinders. The ink is Riding Hood Red (SU) and the shading on the tag was done in Baja Breeze ( SU) , the mini pearls are a $-store find.

You can see how I popped up the little snowangel on a piece of transparency, and i added glitter to the snnowflakes on the card front, as well as to the wings. the angel wings, nose and star were colored using my chaulks and a blending pen. the sentiment I originally intended to use ( Peace on Earth) wouldn't fit on this tag, so I went with Joy To The World instead.
So that's another card to add to my stack of Christmas cards ! Have you seen the other entries over at Jingle Belles....they're worth taking a look at!!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today...... have a great one!!!!

Cricut Imagine : Witchy Card

2011-10-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I received an early birthday present for my DH .... a Cricut Imagine! I've been wanting this machine for so long , so you can imagine ( no pun intended!!! lol) how excited I was when the FedEx guy delivered it right to my door!!! Oh it is sooooo fabulous!!! It prints and cuts , AND , it uses all my exsisting cartridges!! I can now select an image form one my "regular" cartridges , and through the magic of this glorious machine , I can add some color / pattern and print and cut it!!! How amazing is that! The combos are endless!!!! I LOVE it!!!!
I've already made some custom diecuts/ journalling tags for my scrapping but with Halloween right around the corner , I really wanted to try a Halloween card. Here's what I came up with......

I found this cute little witch on It's A Child's Year cartridge and then I "colored " her , using this cool black script from my Imagine cart, Audrey. She's got this vintage look happening , so I added a little bling and inked the edges of just about everything! The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! 's Grateful Greetings. The paper is from an older collection from Little Yellow Bicycle ( Frightful Collection). The cardstock base is Kiwi Kiss ( SU) and the bling is from an unknown source ( I think it's a leftover bit from a larger flourish ).

The Imagine makes these cuts so beautifully and the color is awesome! I did find that it prints best on American Crafts cardstock... the colors seem more vibrant and it cuts smooother, too. I loved my Cricut Expression but the Imagine absolutely ROCKS!!!!

So this is my first Cricut Imagine card .... I'm sure there willbe many more in my future! Thanks for stopping by my lil blog and until next time.... happy crafting!!

More Halloween decor

2011-09-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! I've been taking a wee bit of a break from scrapbooking and cardmaking this past week or so , but I couldn't go a whole week without crafting!!! **gasp!!** Instead , I've played around with my Cricut and Bigshot and made a few more decorations for Halloween. Here they are:

An altered candy jar. Just a rubon, some old ribbon and a scalloped flower ( top of jar) and it's done!!!

More Cricut vinyl wall art. I found this saying on the web and then used my SCAL to make it. The little treat holder is made with a Stampin' Up! BigXL die form last year's holiday mini.

More wall art... this is a purchased cutfile from the web. I added the little pumpkin for a little extra touch. The altered tin in the background is from last year ( I made these for my son's class).

My Cricut is sure coming in handy this year for my all decorating needs!!! Gotta love that!!!

Thanks for stopping by... have a great weekend!

Jingle Belles 39 : Here Comes Suzy Snowflake

2011-09-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Have you've heard the classic Christmas song " Suzy Snowflake"? It's an oldie and so cute and it's also the inspiration from the talented Marie Bingman for this week's Jingle Belles. We can make a card that is inspired by the song.... snowflakes, winter scenes, etc. Oh, the possibilities!!!

For my card I used a digi stamp which I colored with my Stampin Pastels and a little glitter for her trim. The dp is from a paper pad (MME) and the cardstock ( Early Espresso , Baja Breeze) and taffeta ribbon are from Stampin' Up! as is the embossing folder. The little pearls on her coat are from Kaiser Kraft.

So there's my card for this week's challenge... thanks for stopping by!

Halloween decor

2011-09-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air!! The air is crisp, the laeves are turning and my kids are starting to talk about Halloween! I've even think about this spooky season.... once again, I used my Cricut for my project.

I found the Halloween SVG file on the web somewhere , but the Happy I created with my Gypsy. The original Happy just way too small and didn't cut well at this size. I handpainted the spiderweb on the corner and added some SU grosgrain ribbon to match. There is a witche's hat on the side, but it doesn't show well in the photo. Really a very simple project.
I've been making a few of these types of crafts for a Fall Fair our community is holding next month. I need to make several quick projects to go along with my cards I've already made.... that should keep me busy the next few weeks!!!!

Thanks for stopping my blog today.... have a great one!!!

Jingle Belles 38 : Happy Hybrid Holidays

2011-09-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Tuesday. I have been feeling under the weather with a yucky cold ( UGH!!!) for the past few days and I haven't felt like doing much except sleep!!! But , when I saw the prompt for this week's Jingle Belles, I had to participate!!! You see, I love the idea of mixing digital and traditional elemnts together ( several of my JB entries had digi stamps on them) so this week's challenge looks like so much fun. However, this cold of mine is not being very cooperative ***grrrrr*** and I only managed to play around with my digital scrapbooking program for a little bit :( Oh, how I hate being sick!!!!!!

But I'm glad I managed to play along with JB this week!!!

Nothing too fancy here.... I played around with some digi elements I purchased from Peppermint Creative . I sized the sentiment to fit the label , and printed them. I originally had several other digi stuff printed and ready to play with, but when I had them together I didn't like it!!! So, this card is pretty simple, just a bit of Eskimo Kisses paper from Basic Grey and a wee bit of crochet trim to the card and that's it , oh and a teeny tiny red pearl is on the swirly part of Joy.

Thanks for stopping by .... have a great one!!!

The Friday Mashup

2011-09-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!! I got a wonderful surprise today ... as I was checking out The Friday Mashup I saw that my card was chosen as this week's Rock Star!!! ***WOOT-WOOT*** The DT has some tough choices to make each week , but you can check this week's Glamettes choices here. ( hint : they're pretty cool!!)

What a great way to start my weekend .... and, there's another awesome Mashup challenge, too!!!

Merry & Bright : Christmas vinyl decor

2011-09-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've been on a creating kick with my Cricut / vinyl lately. I though I'd get a headstart on my holiday crafts since normally I would wait until the last possible minute to start!! I pulled out my Cricut Expression and some SU! retired vinyl for this Christmas plate:

Colors used for this project are : Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Certainly Celery ( retired Stampin' Up! product). I cut the saying out 3 different times and pieced them to get this layout... a bit time consuming but worth it in the end , I think. Finally, I added Stickles to random spots on the rim of the plate for a little extra bling.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today..... have a great one!!!!

Sketch and Stash Challenge #70 ..... Free Choice

2011-09-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!! I love sketch challenge blogs ... so much inspiration from one sketch! The blog Sketch and Stash Challenge has so many fantastic sketches to work with and this week's challenge is a free choice.... you pick any sketch from their catalogue of sketches and play with it!! I decided on this sketch (#57) for my card.

I used an old DSP from Stampin' Up! (2009) and some paper Prima flowers for this very simple card. I have an assortment of pearls from various sources that I used for the flower centres as well for the dp strip. The stamp is from my cheap-o mini stamps I find at Michaels! I think that this may have been the very first time it has seen ink!!!

Anyhoo, there's my card for this challenge. If you haven't visited this site , you really should, there are so many great things to find there!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card!!

Witches Welcome: vinyl home decor

2011-09-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hello! There's a feeling of fall in the air , the leaves are starting to turn vibrant sheades of red, yellow and orange , the days are a bit cooler and shorter! And you know what else..... Halloween is just around the corner!!! I absolutely love decorating for this spooky season, especially when I can make it myself!! I purchased this file from Peppermint Creative last year but I didn't have time to play around with it, until now!!!

Isn't that greeting so darn cute???? Perhaps I'll leave this out all year!!! LOL The vinyl is from Stampin' Up! which they ( much to my dismay!!) discontinued. I'm glad I stocked up before it was all gone!

This would be pretty cool on an old weathered board as wall decor.... hmm, I should do that!!!!

I've got a few more vinyl projects to post when I get the photos edited, so until next time......

Thanks for stopping by , and have a great day!!

The Friday Mashup #23: Back to School / Stitching

2011-09-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

So, here's the "Mashup!" challenge:

1. Create a project with "Stitching or Faux Stitching".

2. Or Create a project for "Back To School or a Teacher Gift".

3. Or "Mash it Up!" and create a "Back To School Project with Stitching"!

Sounds like an interesting challenge! The DT have some pretty cool samples posted, you can check them out here! I decided to mashup with a back to school stitched project.

This clear stamp is from Michaels , but I have no idea what it's called!!! I stamped the books three times in Pool Party, Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade and then I cut out a color section and paper pieced it together for a multicolor look. I used the masking technique for the ABC's in the corner ( hmmm... maybe I could've done that for the books!!!) The paper is from an old Imaginisce collection, whivh I matted on Cherry Cobbler cardstock and then stitched it together. I also stitched the cardbase ( non-SU kraft ) and inked the edges with Whisper White craft ink.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Mashup!!!

Have a great one!!

Recycled Scallop circle card / Happy Harmony (retired)

2011-09-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hello! Do you have scraps of paper lying around? I sure do - and there seems to be no end to the pile in sight!!! But , oh how I love that pile ! :-) I have some diecuts leftover from a spring card class that I came across last night and thought I should put them to good use. Instead of making the same card , I tried to change it up a bit , and here's what I came up with.....

You know what... I couldn't even find the original card I made!!!! I must've given it away already!!! I basically layered circles on the card and then added a sentiment , using a custom made diecut from my Cricut... ohh, it was sooooo cute, I promise you!!!! Anyhoo, this card uses an old favorite stamp set of mine called Happy Harmony which I bought during my days as a fanatically buying customer!!!! LOL Doesn't it look so elegant inside the new embossing frame folder, Designer Frames?? I inked the sentiment in Baja Breeze and Always Artichoke and also the oval fame edges with matching inks. I lightly dabbed the rosettes with coordinating inks and added a teeny tiny pearl to each flower center. I stitched the Very Vanilla satin ribbon to the card front . And , voila!, it's done! Ah, maybe, just maybe, someday I'll see that scrap pile get smaller! ( ok, so that really was just wishful thinking!!!!)

Thanks for stopping by today.... have a great one!!

Stamping away!!

2011-09-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hello! it's that time of the year.... school's back in and the kids are gone all day! I finally have some time to stamp , scrap and generally make a big mess in my craftroom!!! There's bits and peices of paper on just about every surface , but before I go and tidy my room, I wanted to share some of what I've been making lately.

As I said I've got sooooo much scrap papare lying around and I really don't want to toss it so I'm gonna find some uses for it, like this card! The birthday paper is leftover from scrappages that I did awhile ago. I had enough left (4X12 strip) to make a couple cards. I really love those bright colors in this paper.

I recently purchased the Need For Speed stamp set .... my little guy loves his ATV, so of course when saw this set , I just HAD to have it!!! I colored the quad with my Copic markers ( oh, how I would love to attend a Copic class!!!!!!) . The basic idea of this card was cased from another blog ( oops, I can't remember which one!!!!!). The paper is from an old 6X6 Cosmo Cricket paperpad I had stuffed away in a bin.

The Hand-Penned Holidays set from the new holiday mini is so beautiful, isn't it? i don't think I've ever used Pool Party, Daffidol Delight and Early Espresso together before, but I'm so pleased with how they turned out! This leaf image is from a go-to set, Lovely as A Tree. This set has been around forever but it still remains one of my most used sets. After I stamped the images , I embossed the crad and spritzed it with Glimmer Mist. The little punched flowers are accented with some yellow pearls.

Talk about a quick and simple card..... this is it!!!! I pulled out a retired set called Starring You for this one. Just a bit of stamping ( the stars) on the cardbase for a custom background , a few circle punches , some brads and it's done!!! So easy-peasy!!!

Ahh, it feels good to stamp again!!!!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great day!!!!

Jingle Belles 36 : Love's Labor Day Lost

2011-09-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is enjoying a holiday ... the last one of summer ! It's hard to beleive that summer is over ... the kids go back to school this week and it seems like Christmas is just around the corner!!!! This week at Jingle Belles, Stef and Lauren are inviting us to CASE a past JB entry.....it could be one of theirs , a Belle's submission or even your own!! Sounds like fun, doesn't it!!! I spent so much time browsing through many of the great submissions and I am so impressed and amazed by all those talented crafters!!!! Still, I had to find just one creation that I would CASE, boy, was that difficult!!! I selected Leslie's beanie giftcard holder for mine - I just love the felt trim and those cute buttons,so adorable!

You can check out all the details, including a link to a SplitcoastStampers tutorial, on her card here.

Here's my version of Leslie's beanie giftcard holder....

I didn't have felt for the trim so I used my swissdot embossing folder instead and for a little bling I used red glitter cardstock for the hat and a green glitter brad for the pompom.

I think this has to be one of my favorite challenges so far!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!!! Have a great day!!!!

Jingle Belles 35 : The Midas Touch

2011-08-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!!! I'm so excited, 'cause today TWO boxes of Stampin' Up! goodies arrived!! I haven't placed an order in so long but when I saw the new hoilday mini , I had to place my order!!! I have 5 new Christmas stamp sets and whatya know , I didn't use any of 'em for this week's Jingle Belles challenge!!! BTW, this week's prompt comes from Leslie , The Crooked Stamper ( Don't you just love her blog title!!!!), which is called The Midas Touch. But don't worry , we can use more than just gold for this week's card , we can use silver with a wee bit of white or vanilla or mix all together!
I made two cards this week because I couldn't decide if I liked the gold or the silver one more.

First here's the silver.....

This was pretty quick , rally , once I decided what I wanted to create. Just an embossed tree on silver with some mini rhinestone gems and a bit of silver cord. A rubon sentiment and it's done!!! YAY!

This one took a wee bit longer..... I struggled with getting the golds to work together... the reindeer and sentiment are stamped in gold and the paper ribbon is leftover waffle paper from last years' mini. The card base is actually embosse using my brand new embossed folder called Snow Burst ! I love how the snowflakes just pop off the card!

So there it is , not one but two cards for this week's JB!!!

Hae a great weekend .... see you next week!!!

" With Love & Caring" sympathy cards

2011-08-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hello stampers! I still have a day or so before hubby arrives home ( he's been gone 5 weeks!!!!) and our family takes off for a minivacation , so I'm trying to squeeze in some stamping before I go. Recently, a friend asked me to make a sympathy card for a co-worker whose wife had recently miscarried. I felt so emotional as I made these cards .... as a mother my heart ached for her loss and I hugged my babies ( they still are my babies at 14,12 and 8!) just a little tighter as I was once again reminded of the great blessings they are in my life.

I embossed a section of the front of this card after I stamped the sentiment. I colored the image with my markers for a softer look. I ruffled a strip of seam binding and adhereed it to the vanilla mat.

This is probably my alltime favorite stamp set from Stampin 'Up! called Inspired By Nature. I sponged the flowers in Bordering Blue and the stems were sponged in Crumb Cake and the edges were inked in Crumb Cake as well. I like how it looks like a watercolor image.

It sure feels good to know that something so simple as a handmade card can mean so much to someone , especially during such a difficult time.

Thank you for stopping by today... have a great one!

Hang In There : Reminisce sketch challenge

2011-08-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hello again.... I'm back for yet another post today!!! I found this sketch challenge at Reminisce blog site which I really liked .

For this card I used the Jungle Stripes patterned paper . I used the leafy print side for the main card base and then used a strip the same paper, I just flipped it over to reveal the striped side. The little monkey and sentiment are from an acrylic set from Hero Arts. Did you notice how the monkeys tail is over the circle edge? I couldn't fit the whole monkey inside my 2 3/4 " punch so I stamped another monkey 's tail which I handcut and adhered it to the original image so that his tail hangs over the edge.

The punches and baker's twine are from Stampin' Up! as well as the orange and teal cardstock.

Whew!.... I think I'm done posting for the day!!!!!! I'm glad you stopped by!!

Jingle Belles 34 : Holiday Fall To Layout

2011-08-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hi, thanks for visiting my blog today! Summer isn't over ( yet!) but I'm starting to think about the upcoming hoildays! I'm eagerly awaiting my new Christmas stamps and papers to arrive from Stampin' Up! .... oh, I can't wait to get them all inked up! I have a little red tin that holds all my cards I've made since I started playing along with Jingle Belles .... that stash is growing every week!!! This week the ladies at Jingle Belles have teamed up with Clean and Simple Stamping for Holiday To Fall Layout CAS challenge.

We have a fab sketch to work with.....

Here's what I came up with.....

I used accents and brads from Kaisercraft 's Christmas Carnival collection.... there's no stamping here! This was a fun challenge to work with and already there are so many great entries over at both blogs.

Hope you've enjoyed my card ..... have a great day!!!!

Still scrappin'....

2011-08-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Good morning ! As I 've said before, this has really been one busy summer for our family .... we had lots of relatives visiting, and not much time in my craftroom. It's was great to have them here but it was very difficult to say goodbye. We are going out of town to do some visiting, ourselves , but before I go I 've got a few things to post. I managed to get a few more layouts completed , here they are......

I love this new of paperline from Amercian Crafts called Margarita. The colors are so vibrant and fun... just perfect for carefree summer layouts! Those fun little chipboard accents were a dollerstore find!!! Those teeny little fish, the sun and the bucket are from a very old Amercian Crafts stash !!! I can't beleive I let these cute plastic shapes sit unused for sooooo long!!!!

I love this photo of my kids and I wanted it to be the focal point of my layout so I had it printed in a 8X12 size... I added a bracket dp and a few embellishments- the journalling will be added later.

This a hybrid page ... the 8X11 layout was done with my digital scrapbooking software program ( My Digital Studio) but I wanted to add a few more things to make it a bit more interesting. So I adhered it to a Basic Black 12X12 cardstock and attached a few randomly palced buttons and a journalling bracket ( right side), a paper ribbon and a cute little chipboard owl to finish it all off.

Thanks for stopping by....have a great day!!!!

Jingle Belles 33 : Bring On The Bling

2011-08-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! Who doesn't love a little bling, especially during the holidays! Lauren and Stef have a fun prompt for us this week at Jingle Belles called Bring on the Bling! Already there are so many gorgeous entries.... go check them out!! But before you go, here's my card for this challenge. I still have family visiting so I don't have a lot of time to create. Here's my quickie card!
I did buy some new rhinestone stickers that I wanted to try out , so this is the perfect time to use them!

I added some bling to the wreath and to the sentiment, as well. The paper is leftover from my X-Mas stash ... I just love the pink and greens together! I distressed my green cardstock mat before adhering it to a Rose Red ( SU) cardstock base.

Anyhoo, that's my card for this week..... I'm off to enjoy some time woth my family!!!

Have a great one!!

"Curly Cute" birthday card

2011-08-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I have purchased so many great sets from Stampin'Up! that have barely seen use- it's not because I don't want to use them , I just don't seem to have enough time to put them to good use!! I fell in love with the Curly Cute stamp set ( love that font) but it has seen ink only a couple of times!!! I was inspired for this card while surfing the web. IMy usual style is to add lots and lots of layers ( oooh, how I love layers!!!), but not for this card! I added a border made with Stampin Up!'s new lace border punch, which I machine stitched to the front. I added a pearl accent to the flower ( SU Triple punch). The sentiment is inked in Early Espresso ( my current fav color in the browns) and that's it.... quick and simple.

Thanks for stopping by .... have a great day!!!!

A glimpse of our summer so far ; 2011

2011-08-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all!!! I really wanted to blog regularily this summer and with all the cool days and rain , yoou would think I'd have more time, but nope!! My house was a crazy, chaotic place full of kids , visiting family ( so happy to have 'em,too!!!) and absolutely no schedule at all!!! I wanted to share you just a glimpse of our summer, so far......

I just love those sunsets by the ocean!

On our way to hike the Starlight Trail .

BJ loved the hike,too!!

We braved the damp and cold to celebrate our nation's birthday!!!

The view from one of the lookouts .... I'm so lucky to live here!!

The kids had a blast jumping and playing in the waves at the park.... the water was so cold!!!!!!

It was great having my niece visit this summer!!!! (Allie and Meg)

There were so many of these jellyfish along the shore.

The beach looked pretty cool here.

Gotta love summer , now matter how short of a season it is!!!!

Jingle Belles : A Blue Christmas

2011-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! I can't believe how fast this summer seems to be going!!! I'm already thinking Back To School even though we still have a few weeks left to our summer break!!! I hope you are having a great summer,too!!
Now that I've turned on my laptop again, I realized how much I have missed viasiting my fav blogs, like Jingle Belles. This week , June Houck ( visit her blog here) is the lovely guest designer and her prompt is a Blue Christmas - we are invited to use blue as our main color. I managed to get mine done with just hours to spare, here's it is.....

I just got this Pink Paislee paper ( santa's workshop) and thought it would be great apaired with a diecut snowflake for this week's challenge. Very simple and quick!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... have great day!!!

Jingle Belles: Reindeer Games

2011-07-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

Good morning all!!! The ladies at Jingle Belles have a fun prompt for us this week.... we are invited to join in on the reindeer games. Stef and Lauren have once again posted some really cute samples, too!! But don't worry if you don't have any reindeer in your stash... you can use any critter you like!! I just so happen to discover my reindeer feltie while searching for something else entirely!!!!

I substituted brads for the eyes ( the poor fella was missing one !!), but that was it... he is so darn cute, I think!!! :-) I few Thickers for the sentiment , a couple scraps of paper and , voila!, I'm done!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

I'm off to enjoy the day... hope you have a great one, too!!!

The Friday Mashup 15

2011-07-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

This week for the "Mashup Challenge" you're welcome too:

Create a project using the colours Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Old Olive and Whisper White.

Create a project using the sketch.

or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the colours and the sketch.

This is the first time I tried these colors together and I must admit, I just love them!!! I only used the teeniest amount of Riding Hood Red.... just the sentiment, but I still managed the Mashup, so I'm pretty pleased!!!!! I look forward to the next challenge!!!

Thanks for stopping by .... have a great day!!

Mojo Monday 200

2011-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!! Today I thought I would play along with Mojo Monday which I haven't done in so long! It's the 200th sketch and they've got a brand new look.... go check it out!!
But first, here's my card (and the sketch!!!)

I love the Travel Log stamp set from stampin' Up! ... I used the map image to create a custom background ( I did this for scrappage as well) . The arrow paper is the only non-SU.

Supplies used for this card ( all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Travel Log stamp set

Bordering Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black Whisper White : ink / cardstock

Circle Sissors ( for circle mats)

Spiral border punch

Thanks for looking!!!

Happy Crafting!!!

My scrapbooking inspiration.

2011-07-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Why do you scrap?

Happy Saturday everyone, thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope you're having a great start to your weekend!
I started scarpbooking over12 years ago when I was having my second child. Back then my pages consisted mainly of photos cut with fancy edge sissors ( freestyle, ugh!!!) and matted on some cardstock , with a few stickers to finish the page up. I look back on those pages and think how much my style has evolved over the past decade... now it's all about the more I can squeeze on a page the better!! But , I wouldn't change those early layouts on single bit because they remind me how important it was to record my family's journey in the first place! Over the years I have managed to fill over 40 albums and numerous mini books in addition to the various other papercrafting projects I've made at Cropping events and classes.
While I love to venture out in other branches of papercrafting, scrapbooking will always hold a special place in my heart. I still love to scrapbook and I've made it a point to dedicate some scrapping time each month .... I so seriously need to catch up!!! It doesn't hurt that it's so much fun shopping for all those fun papers and embellishments out there!!!

So I thought I would share a few more pages with you ....

I started this layout more than three years ago when I saw a similar layout at my local scrapbook store. I bought the papers, cut out the rope paper, glued in down and that was it .... until now. The photos of my son's guitar performance seemed just right for this layout. It only took me three years to finish it!!!

I'm really loving the October Afternoon line right now. The 5&Dime collection has a little bit of everything, which I tried to incorporate onto this layout. I pulled so many things for this layout... my sewing machine, the Cricut and even some stamps ( Heidi Swapp) and of course OA papers and chipboard /stickers.

This layout features the travel stamp set form the Summer Mini from Stampin' Up!, which I bought specifically with scrapbooking in mind. I kept it simple for this layout, just a stamped border and tags with even more stamped accents.

I diecut the floral label and coordinating mat on my Cricut for this page with my DD and her BF's.The pleated border is from a recent tutorial on Splitcoaststampers but I made it longer to fit my page. It didn't want to stay flat so I stitiched my green polka dot ribbon directly to it ! Now it's not gonna move at all!!!! I stitched a couple corner edges to the girls pic and used a funky style " Friends" sticker for my title.

I have a bunch of these flowers in various sizes in my stash that really need to put to good use. They actually matched quite nicely with some jumbo buttons from SU's Spring mini. The accents are from Making Memories as is the floral paper which is custom diecut to that fancy shape thanks to my Cricut! The title is made with Thickers stickers. I hid my journalling underneath one photo.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful inspirations( aka. my kids) in my life!!

Have a great day and thanks so much for visiting..... hope to see you again real soon!!!

Friday Mashup #14 : Vintage Flowers

2011-07-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

So, this week for the Mashup Challenge we invite you to:

1. Create a project with Flowers.

2. Create a Vintage project.

3. Or "Mash It Up!" and create a project with Flowers and a Vintage feel!

I often visit this awesome blog but it seems that I'm always a wee bit late in getting my posts up in time , and that was almost the case for this week's challenge , but I did get mine finished just in time. **woot-woot**

The paper reminds me of old fashioned wallpaper ( how vintage is that!!!) and the fabric flower adds a soft feel to the card front, but I couldn't resist adding some glitz with the rhinestone flourish! I inked the edges of the label and the inside sentiment tag with Blushing Bride ink.

Supplies for this card:

Fabric flower: Michaels

Rhinestone flourish : unkonown source

Card base: Very Vanilla from Stampin' Up!

Patterned paper: Basic Grey

Sentiment label : cut form Cricut Cindy Loo cartridge

Sentiment: Close To My Heart

Ink : Purely Pomengranate ( retired SU), Blushing Bride

Other: sewing machine/white thread

Thanks for looking.... have a great day!!

Jingle Belles: Holiday Leftovers

2011-07-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all!!
I've been enjoying some long overdue summer weather these past few weeks but it's been raining for the past couple of days so I'm finally spending some time in my craftroom!! This week's recipe at Jingle Belles is all about holiday leftovers ...... you know, the yummy leftovers from your paper or button stash , or that piece of ribbon you've hung onto waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it.... well now's the time!!
For my card, I used a digi image I printed last December and some leftover dp.

I used my Copic markers to color the digi stamp .... ooooh, I so love them!!! I sponged the edges of the cardinal and dp with Crumb Cake for a softer feel. The green organza ribbon has been in my ribbon stash for so long and I seem to have an endless supply of it!!!! Finally, the sentiment is a rub-on from SU ( couple years ago).

So there's my card for this week's prompt, just in the nick of time, too!!! Have you checked out all the terrific entries at Jingles Belles.........if not , go check 'em out!!!

Thanks for stopping by... hope to see you again!!

Happy crafting!

With Glowing Hearts : Happy Canada Day

2011-07-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day !!!

O Canada!

Our home and native land!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

The True North strong and free!

From far and wide, O Canada,

We stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land

Glorious and free!

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Wishing all my Canadian friends a very happy and safe Canada Day!! Also, I 'd like to wish all my American friends a happy July4th!!

Jingle Belles : Lonely This Christmas

2011-06-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog today!!! I nearly missed this week's prompt at Jingle Belles !!! Tomorrow is the deadline and I'm just getting my card done tonight!!! Stef and Lauren have partnered up with a cool team, The Order of the Opus Gluei for this challenge so go check it out , but ,before you go , here's my card for this week's challenge. All we need to do is make a card ( your imagination is the limit!!!) and just so it won't be lonely we can make a tag, giftcard holder, box,etc, etc... to go along with it.

I haven't made a card with transparency sheets in so long but I had this dp that was strips of these cool snowman designs and winter-y sayings and since it is part of my older Xmas dp stash , I decided to put it to good use for this challenge. I made the box with my Cricut and Wrap It Up cartridge. For my card I stamped a few red and white snowflakes on the front and inside of the card and added mini rhinestones to random snowflakes. The sentiment is on the inside only. The giftbox is stamped in snowflakes and I used more of the dp for the band, along with a piece of red cs, punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Now I have a card and matching giftbox all ready to use this December!! Yay!!!

Thanks for stopping by .... see you next time!!!

Just scrappin'........

2011-06-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Oh, how I miss Crop Nights with my girlfriends!!! There is nothing like spending hours chatting, snacking and scrapping with good friends, is there???!!! My girlfriend called me from Alberta , on her way to a cropnight and I felt so lonely.... missing her, my old home and cropping at my fav scrapbook store!! I love living here ( sooooo much fresh air and peace and quiet, life is just so laid back..... what more could I ask for????) but I do miss Urban Scrapbook, Treasured Memories and Creative Scrapbooks ,my top 3 in Edmonton and I especially miss my girlfriends there, too!! So after feeling a little sad , I pulled out some of my photos that I've taken since I moved back and I was instantly reminded why we came home. Plus , it RAINED so hard this weekend.... the perfect excuse to stay inside!

I finished up quite a few layouts I had been working on .... they were starting to pile up!!!.... and managed to get a few more done!!! What a feeing of accomplishment!!! :)

I love the diecut dp from BoBunny... those colors are amoung my favorites right now. I covered the flower on the paper with a gorgeous Prima flower and I used a Hambly overlay over the kids photo. I played around with stickers and stamps for my title, and that was it!!! Very quick!!

I colored the chipboard word "love" in Black Pearl metallic paint. The brackets are stamped in black and cutout and the diecut shape below is from Cindy Loo Cricut cartridge and is also inked up in black and stamped ( have no idea the name of this stamp.... it's one of my bargain bin finds!!!). The bingo diecut is from Jenni Bowlin designs, which I had purchased with a kids Valentine layout in mind , but I never actually put to any use until now. The papers are from Stampin Up's Love Letter DSP.

This layout uses mainly papers and stamps from SU with the exception of the "Favorite" word. Again, I bought this for scrapbooking but it hasn't seen any ink until this weekend!!! Now that I've used it , I see so many possibilities!!! I scrunched up some dp and then stitched it in place for a paper ribbon. The flower is a digi stamp from SU , which I colored and then applied a thin layer of gold paper glaze to it and then Stickles to the center.

I'm on a bit of a stitching kick these days.... and there lots of it here! Each strip is stitched in red and then the whole page is stitched in white ( my sewing machine sees more use now that I use it for scrappin' !). This is a Simply Scrappin' kit from SU.... I've had it since December . I hope to get a few more layouts done with it.

I found these tags, epoxy accents, paper pad and more from ColorBok's Friendly Forest collection on clearance at Michaels last spring , but it got packed away for the move. It took me so long to find all my crafting stuff and I only recently found this!!! I made a 2-page layout of a recent hike my kids and I did.

I used vellum adhesive for the quote blocks and then stiched them a bit with SU linen thread to keep them secure . The epoxy accents/ buttons are attached with a few brads. I added a journalling block and eventually I'll get arount to added some words to it!!!!

We went on a hike during the Feather and Folk Festival on June 4th which was hosted by International Applachia Trails group . The hike was about 2 hours on the Starlight Trail on the Table mountains near my hometown and it was such a perfect day to hike... beautiful views everwhere!!! The kids loved it and we are already planning to go again ,soon! The title was custom designed using my Gypsy and Cricut. Since the patterned papers were only 5X7 in size, I decided to not trim them but, rather, to make the layout work around their size. I still have lots left over from this collection .... maybe I'll make a few cards with it!

So, these are some of the completed pages.... I still have several partially done.... another rainy day project!!!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!! Until next time... happy crafting!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #79: Father's Day card

2011-06-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm glad you stopped by today!!! Tomorrow is Father's Day and this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge , the DT made some really great Father's Day cards and they are inviting us to make our own FD cards and we can use whatever cartridge and colors we want!! Sounds pretty good, right???
I used my Wild Card cartridge for this card...... it's one of my older carts but it has so many great images on it that I don't think I could part with it!!!

Here's my Father's Day card for my hubby who loves to fish,if ever he can some spare time!!!!!!!

I played around with the shadowbox technique to make a rectangle box rather than sqaure. Check out Splitcoaststampers resource/ technique section for this tutorial . The card base, inside shadow box, fish and grass are cut from SU cardstock and the plaid paper is from a paperpad from DCWV. The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Thanks for stopping by ...... have a great day!!! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!!!

Jingle Belles : All Bundled Up!!

2011-06-16T16:05:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday!!! It's finally here, the day that I get the honor of being a guest star on Jingle Belles!!! ****Yay!!!!**** For my challenge I selected a theme "All Bundled Up!" 'cause I love to bundle my layers, whether it be with papers or embellies, or whatever!!! I usually rummage through my scraps and stashes of ribbons, buttons, or whatever else I can find in my craftroom, to see what works nicely together .

Here's my card for Jingle Belles:

There are papers , brads, journalling tags and even flourishes on this card!!! The more the merrier!! The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket , it's double sided so I get twice the use out of it. The pink border is the flip side.... I handcut following the lines of the paper and then added a few sparkly brads to the snowflakes. The flourish was cut with my Cricut ( Cindy Loo cartridge) in glitter green and pink and the journalling tag ( from Kaiser Craft) is also layered in pink ... yup, lots of layers here!!!

Thanks for stopping by..... I'm really excited to see your Bundled Up creations!!!!

Shadow Box / Recessed Window Card

2011-06-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! I discovered Splitcoaststampers a few years ago and it is one of absolute favorite places for loads and loads of card ideas and technique tutorials. Beate Johns is amazing and she does the best tutorials ever!!!! Most of her creations look so beautiful and fancy , yet when you watch her how-to videos , you can easily create the project ( 'tho mine never looks as good as hers!!!!!). I found a video on how to make recessed window or shadow box card. You can search the Splitcoast YouTube channel to find it.... you won't be dissappointed!!!

So, anyways, here's what I made....

I pretty much cased Beate's card , I just used my own supplies to make it a summer BDay card. Wouldn't this style be perfect for a X-mas family pic card??? Or maybe for a birth anouncement? Oh, I can see a ton of possibilities!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... have a super day ( hope it's sunny and warm whereever you are!!!).

Until next time.... happy stampin'!!

Jingle Belles : Oh Christmas Sketch,Oh Christmas Sketch

2011-06-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday! Every time I visit Jingle Belles I am reminded why I love the Christmas season so much... and those lovely ladies, Lauren and Stef are always so darn creative with all their fab prompts!! Thank you so much ladies!!! I love the catchy title this week " Oh Christmas Sketch" and the sketch provided by the talented Kirsty Vittetoe is sure to get your creative mojo going!!

Here's her sketch...........

I played around with some dp I had leftover from some scrappages and the 3 journalling tags are from College Press 's Joyride collection, which I really love. The sentiment is actually a rubon froma couple years ago from Stampin' Up! ( I really have to purge some of my old stash!!!). The buttons and cardstock base are also from SU . The dp is from Cosmo Cricket , I think! The card measures 5.25 " by 5.25" , so it would fit neatly into my square SU envelopes, otherwise I'd have to make my own ( being the procrastinator that I am, that would be during my Holiday Mayhem in December!!!! lol ).

Don't forget to take advantage of the special deals that Pixie Dust Paperie is offering to Jingle Belles !!! And, one lucky entry will win a fab prize..... good luck!!!

Thanks for stopping by..... until the next time.... happy stampin'!!!!

Wrap It Up : boy birthday

2011-06-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hi again! When I first was looking at the cartridge Wrap It Up , I fell in love with it's versatilty!!! It has a little of everything and has become one my go-to cartridges these days! Once I again, I used it to make three quick birthday cards for my little boy to give to his friends ( he has three bdays this weekend!!!!). At this age they all love their Playstations, Nintendo DSI's and Wii's and so when I saw that game- controller image I knew I had to make it for them. How perfect for these guys!!!

I cut the images at 2.5 inches and they were a perfect fit for a standard A5 card. The dp is leftover from my boy birthday layout ( see here) and the card base is Stampin' Up!'s Pear Pizzaz . I used Marina Mist, Whisper White and a leftover piece of orange for the controllers. The greeting is from Big Birthday Candles ( retired).

Thanks for visiting my blog.... hope to see you again soon!!! Have a great day!!!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #78 : Wedding Card

2011-06-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!! Just a few more hours and the weekend is officially here...* *woot-woot**!!! I would love to be outside right now , working in my garden ( such as it is!!!) or even lazing in the sun, but the weather is just not cooperating!!! Since it's pouring out there , I decided to enjoy some quality crafting time!! This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge we are invited to make a wedding card.... any cartridge and color scheme. Already there are so many lovely cards posted by the DT and those submitted. I love looking at the gorgeous creations each week don't you? It really gets me using my Cricut for more than just layouts.

Anyhoo.... here's my card for this week's challenge.

I used the bride image from Wrap It Up and instead of using the layers , I kept it as a silhouette image and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist ( Marshmellow) for a little glitz. I sanded the dp ( Heidi Swapp) to achieve the faded edges. The Baja Breeze seam binding matched perfectly to the paper ( yay!!!). The ring brads are from Making Memories and the stickpin in the bow is from Jenni Bowlin . The kraft cardbase is from a stash of papers my SIL gave me ages ago! Oh, and the sentiment is from SU's Word Play stamp set.

Well, that's my card for this challenge.... hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by !!

Birthday Scrappage layouts

2011-06-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hi again! Yup, I'm back already with another post. I have three kids who all celebrate a birthday within a month of each other.... talk about craziness!!! With all the birthday fun comes a ton of pics , which needs to be scrapbooked,of course! One of these days I'm gonna get caught up.... yup,one of these days!!! My problem , now , is that I live in a very rural area and the closest place to get my pics printed is over an 1.5 hours drive ( if I remember to take my memory card with me!!!) so I usually print a huge stack at a time. Right now though, I made my kids Bday layouts without their pics.

I made the first three layouts using this paper pad I found at Winner's a couple of months ago. It has all kinds of yummy papers and tags and labels and alphabets.

Here's the first layout....done for my 12 year old daughter.

I rarely stamp directly on my pages as I'm terrified it'll be a disaster! Not this time ( whew!!).I stamped a few flourishs behind the patterned paper. I got out my sewing machine to stitch the rickrack on the top. All the elemnts used are from the package.

This layout was done for my eldest daughter, who turned 14!!!

I pulled out my Cricut for this to make the banner, border and numbers. The border is from Give a Hoot cart and is the border from the owl image, cut in half and the banner is from another cartridge which I can't remember the name of right now!!! ( seriously must write down what I use !!!!! ) I inked the edges on just about everything. I hand stitiched a border below the patterned strip , using some DMC floss in blue. I love the popcorn trim from SU spring mini , but I never found enogh uses for it on my cards, but it works nicely with all these colors, I think

My third layout....

I made this layout for my son who just turned 8 last month. ( where does the time go??). Most of the papers and embellies in this package are very girlish , even though there was a birthday boy tag in it. I think this might have been the only paper that did not ahve pink in it. I really love the lime green and light blue together, especially with the dark brown to make it pop! The cupcake is from the package and I added a pearl ( you probably can't tell from the pic) to the flame. The circle mat is leftover from another project and I thought it worked well with this page.

and now, my fourth birthday layout..........

This was the only layout not created using the M&MBI paper pad. I used Sweet Treats cartridge to make the title . I love those bright circles in this dp , but they seemed a bit too much tobe used alone, so I cut a strip and then handcut individual circles from the remaining piece to use around the photo mat. I have a really old Fiskars scallop border punch ( it still works great and I got it at such a bargain price!!!) that I used for the border. To give the circles a little extra bling I added some Glimmer brads to the centre of two circles and popdotted them up from the page.

Now I just gotta remember to print the pictures!!!!!

Anyhoo.... thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy my layouts!!!

Cards For Men Challenge 12 : Black and Blue

2011-06-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I don't about you , but whenever I need to make a card for a guy I seemed stumped for an idea. I found this awesome blog that is devoted to making cards just for men!!! Cards For Men has tons of inspiration and some really cool challenges to help you add to your stash of masculine cards!! This week the challenge is to use Black and Blue for your card.

The motorcycle is a stamp from Stampin' Up! but mine is a digi image I downloaded to My Digital Studio. I like that I can play around with size of the image with MDS to suit my project . I watercolored the bike with my Stampin' markers and aqua pen and for a little shine , I used a metallic paint on the wheels and handlebars / engine. The grommets are from SU , as well as the blue and black cardstock. The embossed strip is a Cuttlebug folder called Diamond Plate, which I love for all my masculine cards that involve wheels!!!! The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes.

So that's my first submission to Cards For Men ..... this could get really addicting!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Happy stamping!!!

Jingle Belles : Let It Sew, Let It sew, Let It Sew!

2011-06-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Good day y'all! Hope you're having a great one!!! Do you like to sew on your scrapbooking/ cardmaking projects? Well if you do, then Jingle Belles has the perfect challenge for you this week! Let it Sew is this week's theme.... so dust off your sewing machine, rubons or faux stitching , and if you're feeling really courageous , try some hand stitching!!! Once again the Belles have some stunning samples for us! I really like the faux stitching on Stef's card .... it looks so realistic and Lauren must have oodles and oodles of patience to handcrank her sewing machine around each letter!!!
I love to add a little ( or alot!) of stitching to my projects ..... it's about the only time my sewing machine gets used anymore!!!

This cute little gal is a digi stamp I bought at TiddlyInk . I colored her with my WonderColor Crayons.I used Stickles for the hat and drress trim.the sparkles never show well in pics!! :( For my stitching , I sewed the ribbon on to the front and I stitched the buttons together!!!

I got the idea for this variation of the side step-card from this week's tutorial at SplitcoastStampers.

The DP are leftover's from my SU Christmas stash.

Anyhoo... that's my card for this week's JB.

Thanks for stopping by!

My little boy ... the country singer!

2011-06-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hi again! I wanted to share with you some pics of my little guy performing in his school concert. He just turned eight years old and started acoustic guitar lessons this past fall. He just loves the classics ( Johnny Cash happens to be one of his favs!!). What was so special is that he sang , and played , an entire song in front of all the parents and families!!! Normally, he would not like to be center stage all by himself, but he practised so hard for this and he didsuch an amazing job and, of course, I'm still beaming with pride!!

Here he is with his backup singers ( a.ka. his classmates!)

He sang Proud Mary and was awesome!!! Aren't they so darn cute????

Anyways, thank you for letting me share this with you!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #77 : Flower card

2011-06-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! I've got a couple of posts today, since it seems like forever since I sat down to my computer. I was too late in posting for last week's challenge at Cricut Cardz Challenge , but I really enjoyed looking at all the great entries! There is so much talent out there!!!! This week I did manage to get my card done in time and I'm gonna post it in time,too!!!! We are given lots of creative liberties with this one..... we can use any cart, any theme , any color we like as long as we use the card feature. I wanted to use some of my newer cartridges , so I searched through Wrap It Up and found this cute little flower card.

I cut the card at 6 inches using SU's Concord Crush as the cardbase and So Saffron for behind the flowers. I added a little pearl to each flower for a little detail . The sentiment and rosette ( I inked with Concord Crush) are from satmpin' Up! and dp is a piece of scrap paper I found in my stash. I cut the label, for the sentiment, from Just Because cartridge.

So that's my card.... pretty simple!

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in blogland!

Jingle Belles: We Three Kings

2011-05-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hello !!! Wow, it's been a week since I last posted!!! I had all these plans to get some projects up on my blog but this past week seems to have flown on by and it's Saturday again!!!! But I did manage to finish my Jingle Belles card this week. This week Julee Tucker-Wolek joins JB as a guest designer and she has a fabulous prize for one lucky participant. Go check out her blog ( you can get the link from JB) to see all her wonderful artwork!!

This week's theme is We Three Kings. When I first read that, I was thinking how in the world am I ever gonna find three kings????? But thankfully as I read on , it means that we just need to use three (or more, if your heart desires!!!) patterned papers on our card. Whew! That sounds like alot more fun!!

My card is pretty simple... I followed the rules : three patterned papers, all from a really old stash of Doodlebug papers .I used my cricut to cut the labels for the sentiment ( SU) , a little bit of silver cord for the bow and a snowflake brad and that's it!!!! I think it took me a whopping 15 minutes to make this card!!!!

So now I'm off to enjoy this lovely spring evening.... have a great rest of your Saturday!!! Thanks for stopping by .... hope to see you again,soon!!!

Jingle Belles : Visions of Sugar Plums

2011-05-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Stampers! I wanted to share with you some pretty exciting news.... I was the lucky gal selected to be a future Guest Star on Jingle Belles!!!!! But right now, I am enjoying this week's prompt brought to us by the talented Amanada Profumo ( & her kids ,too!!!). We have a photo prompt this week:

We are invited to use this pic as a photo inspiration. I was drawn to those lovely hues of purple, which is not a color I would not traditionally pick for my Christmas cards. I found this cute little digi stamp ( I think they are becoming my favorite right now!!!) and the little angel seemed a perfect match for this week's prompt!

I colored the angel with SU markers and used an aquapen to blend the colors together. I also colored my taffeta ribbon to match. The ornamnet is blinged witha little Cosmo Glitter and watercolored,too. The swirly snowflake dp was discovered in a really old satsh of patterned papers and I'm glad I found a use for it!!! I don't know if you can tell from the photo ( sorry it's dark ) but the purple mat behind the angel is sprayed with Marshmellow Glimmer Mist.

I wasn't sure if I would have time to get this week's challenge done , but I'm glad I did!!! I love how JB gets me thinking outside the box!!!!

Anyhoo.... thanks for stopping by my little blog!! Have a great week!!!!

A little bit of everything scrappages!!!

2011-05-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hi again!!! I wanted to share with you a few scrappages that I've been working on lately. I'm kinda all over the place with my scrappin'..... some vacation, some summer , whatever!!! I just sort through my photos and if a picture catches my attention, then I start from there!!!

This layout is of my oh-so-sweet godchild ( isn't she just too cute???). I love this photo of her and I didn't want my layout to distract from it, so I kept things pretty simple.... with pretty feminine touches like the flower , stitched paper ribbon and the bling, of course! The doily is inked and Glimmer Mist-ed for a softer effect. I had a 4X6 Hambly overlay that fit perfectly over the picture and coordinated excatly with the papers!! I used my Cricut ( Ashyln's Alphabet) to make the name and the word "sweet" is velvet Thickers.

This is a case, sort of, of a layout I saw on Sunny Stampin' Studio awhile ago. It was actually a farm layout , but I adapted it for a summer page!! I made this page specifically for pics of my little boy and his cousin from last summer , but do you think I can find them now???? Nope! I'm sure they'll show up ..... eventually!!!! At least the page is all ready and waiting for their pics !

Last summer I took some gorgeous shots of the ocean during a day trip to the Port-Au-Port pennisula, and I think this is probably my favorite. The sound of the waves crashing into the rocks is so soothing ..... I could just sit here all day and relax. I left the titling and layout simple... the picture is the main focal point.

I have a few more layouts to post , once I photograph and edit them......

Thanks for looking and stopping by!

Have a great Sunday!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #75 : Masculine Card with wheels

2011-05-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hi , hope you're having a great Saturday! It's a long weekend here ( Victoria Day) and it's the first time in quite awhile that we're not gone camping with a large group at Ole' MacDonald Farm campground . I'm really missing the crazy chaos that is ten families camping together for 4 days. We moved from Alberta ( where we lived and camped for 15 years!!!!) back home to Newfoundland and even though there are so many spectacular places to camp here, we're not going out this weekend. :( My DH leaves for work on Sunday or Monday so we couldn't squeeze in camping this year. I was feelin' kinda blue, but as I watch my kids cruise around our property ( lot's of space here!!!) with their quads / dirt bikes , I felt happier just knowing that they were content to hang around home this weekend!!! And as an added bonus ... the sun is actually shining!!! We've had so much rain here this past month, we are overdue for for some nice weather!!! I really hope Slave Lake , AB gets all our rain.... they sure need it right now. The town has been devastated by massive wildfires. Please keep them in your prayers.

Okay, this post is supposed to be about my card, right??? Sorry about all the rambling!!! I haven't played along with Cricut Cardz Challenge in awhile. They've had so many wonderful prompts but time just wasn't on my side! I even got so far as to make my beach card, but I missed the deadline!!! Not this time, although I'm getting close to it!!!!!! With Father's Day fast approaching , and my Dad's bday is in in June, too, I figured that this is the perfect challenge for me to get a card made in time to mail it to my dad!!!!
I was inspired by Barb's card ... I really love the truck on the embossed background. I embossed a peice of sheet metal with my Cuttlebug folder that looks alot like a toolbox.

The truck image is cut at 4 3/4" with the sticker feature on. The sentiment base is the modern label punch from SU!.

I used leftover strips of the embossed metal for the inside to complete the look. The tire rim is actually a small grommet from Stampn' Up! and it fit perfectly !! I used a little splash of red for the sentiment base , with craft white inked sentiment.

Now all I have to do is mail this card to my dad!!!

Thanks for looking and visiting my little spot in Blogland!!!

Have a great & safe weekend!!

Jingle Belles: Jolly ( and Lucky) Old Saint Nicholas

2011-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for Santa to arrive??? It may only be mid- May but the ladies at Jingle Belles are celebrating jolly Old St. Nick, himself!! Check out Stef and Lauren's fab inspirations to get you all geared up for this week's prompt. And since JB happens to fall on Friday the 13th( hope it was super lucky for y'all!!) , the DT are randomly selecting a Lucky Guest Star for a future prompt!! Good luck to all the entries!!!! Would you believe that I only had the teeny tinest stamp with Santa on it??? Seriously, I looked through everything I owned and I could not find any papers, embellies, stamps..... nada.....nothing!!!! But thankfully there's the trusty ole' internet to my rescue!!! I found this cute little digi stamp at Squigglefly and I love that I can make it any size I want without losing quality! Yay!!!

So here is my JB card..........

I printed the image on Whisper White cs and colored him with Copic markers for the hat and SU markers for the face and beard. And just because I love glitter so much, I added SU's glass glitter around Santa! The DP is from My Mind's Eye and the cs used ( from SU) was Whisper White for image and inside greeting, Crumb Cake for base ,Baja Breeze and Always Artickoke for mats. The tag is from Ikea and the ribbon is SU.

I used Bashful Blue for the shading on the inside mat and then I stamped the sentiment in Not Quite Navy .I originally inked Noel in Chocolate Chip , but it barely stood out against the hoilly leaf background , which I only discovered after I had stamped it!!! UGH!!!! So I just took my red marker and traced over the image so now I can see it!!!! The next time I know to test the color first!!!!

You may not be able to tell from this pic, but I embossed the green and blue mats with a Tim Holtz's Sizzix folder ( a brick wall pattern) and then I inked the edges.

So now I have a Santa card all ready to give this Christmas *** woot-woot** , or maybe I'll keep him 'cause I really liked how the whole thing came together!!! :-) Now that I have this digi stamp, I may play around with in different sizes to see what I can create!!!

Go check out this weeks' entries at JB!!!

Thank you for stopping by my little spot in Blogland!!!See you next time!!!!

A few quick and simple cards.

2011-05-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday stamping friends!!! I thought I'd share with you a few cards I've made recently . Nothing too fancy here !! Hope you enjoy!

This wreath stamp is from a rubbercling stamp from Hero Arts. I stamped it in Always Artichoke , Glimmer Misted it in Beer Wheat and then cut it out. The flower is from Michaels" Recollections" collection and reminds me of Prima flowers. The sentiment is from Stampin' UP!, and is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. The crad base is kraft and is also Glimmer Misted.

Talk about keeping things clean and simple!!! Lately a lot of my cards have been loaded with tons of layers , papers and emebllishments , but not this one! In some ways, this was more challenging to make! I know , weird , huh??? But selecting just a few simple elements that work perfectly together required more searching through my stash of papers and stamps to find the right combo.

I made this card from a sketch provided by Create With Connie And Mary.I'm probably too late in posting for that particular challenge , so I'll post it here! I haven't tried the combo of Blue Bayou and Baja Breeze together before, but the new DSP really shows these colors well together .I folded the seam binding in half before adhering it to the card and then added a double bow. The Vintage Vogue stamp set is one of my favs and I really need to pull it out more often .

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!! See you next time!

Mojo Monday 190

2011-05-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hi all and welcome to the start of another week! Now that my kids birthdays are finished for another year ( I love 'em to pieces but three birthdays within one month gets exhausting!!!!) I finally relax and spend a little more time crafting! And Mojo Monday is a great place to start!

Supplies used for this card:

StampinUp! :

Fast and Fabulous / Kind and Caring Thoughts stamp sets

Whisper White / Baja Breeze / So Saffron cardstock

So Saffron/ Baja Breeze ink

Rose Red seam binding

Basic pearls

Scallop corner punch

Square lattice embossing folder

Big Shot diecut machine

Springtime Vintage DSP

Other:

Buttons , Floral DP , White thread

Jingle Belles : Spirit Of Christmas Past

2011-05-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday !!! I love Friday's cause it's Jingle Belle's challenge time!!! Stef and Lauren are inviting us to incorporate vintage into this week's card. What lovely cards these ladies have made to inspire us all!!!
Here's what I made for this week's prompt.....

The stamp Collage Christmas ( SU holiday mini) came to mind for this card. It is such a lovely stamp , with lots of charming images all in one stamp. I think of pearls, lace, dolies and antiques when I think vintage , so I tried to incorporate as much of those elements as I could for this card. I "aged" the stamped image and doily by spritzing them with Glimmer Mist . I used my Cricut to cut the holly leaf at 2" ( real dial size on) from the Seasons Of Joy cart. The papers ( Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Handsome Hunter) , punches , stamps and crochet lace ribbon are all from Stampin' Up! and the stickpin is form Jenni Bowlin designs and the doily and red pearls are $-store finds. The medallion/snowflake-y like stamp ( depends on what I'm going to use for!!) are Autumn Leaves , found in the clearance bin at Walmart for a buck!!!! There were 9 acrylic images in this set and only for a dollar! I actually found four different sets at this lovely price!!!!! I must admit, I was pretty pleased with myself over this super bargain!!

I'm off to get ready for my son's birthday party tomorrow!! Have a great weekend!! Happy Mother's Day to all you super moms !!!

Guitar Hero: Teen Birthday

2011-05-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hi, welcome to Thursday! I never seem to have the appropriate card for a teen, especially for a boy, on hand when I need one. I'm usually scrambling to get one finished in time! As I was tidying my scrap area , I came across this striped paper that I had bought so long ago now that I forget what I had in mind for it! **lol** The DP is just right for a cool boy card......

I recieved the Extreme Guitar stamp free during SAB but I haven't even mounted it until now. I stamped the image in Basic Black on Whisper White cardstock and then sponged the white cs with Tangerine Tango. I intentionally smudged the black ink ( the black on WW tends to need a bit to dry) with the orange for a softer effect. The Guitar Hero words are mini stamps I got at Michaels , as is the" Rock On" sentiment . The Marina Mist taffeta ribbon complements the paper well , without being girly. The spiral punch was dusted off and used for the DP and the corner of the white mat. This card was quick enough that I could easily make several .... hmmm, maybe I'll do that!!!!!

So there's my card.... hope you enjoy!! Thanks for looking!

Cindy Loo Cricut Cartridge: Thank You Card

2011-05-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hi again!! I'm back for another post! After I made my Mojo Monday card I looked at the creative mess on my desk and though I really should clean this up or...... I could make another card instead!!! That sounds like a lot more fun to me!!! If Paisley Prints DP ( SU sneek peak ) is any indication of Stampin' Up!'s new paper line, then I can see me buying tons of new paper very soon!! My paper pile just seems to be getting bigger and bigger.... !!! I love the color combinations of this line.... it works with such a great variety of my current favourite inks. I even pulled out some long since retired cardstock, Buckarro Blue, and it matched quite nicely,too!

For this card , I wanted to make a special thankyou card for my sister-in-law and husband who have so graciously made room for us , each time we visiedt, not to mention all the other wonderful things she does for us!She loves to stamp and just recently got her very own Cricut Expression,so I wanted to give her a unique card. I combined my stamps and my Cricut for this card.

The frame is made with the Cindy Loo cart . It's the Flower 1, using the frame setting, , cut at 2 3/4 ". I colored the rosettes ( really, it's the easiest thing to do , but kinda messy for me anyways!!) with SU markers and added a little Stickles to each flower for a little shine. The frame is cut out of Cajun Craze cs and the edges are inked with the same color ink. The inside is lightly sponged with Cajun Craze and the sentiment , from Close To My Heart, is also done to match. I really distressed the edges of the DP before I stitched it , and of course I inked it with Buckaroo Blue very lightly. It's matted on Buckaroo Blue , again inked the edges, and finally adhered to Cajun Craze cardbase. The seam binding is Baja Breeze , which I think complements the darker hues of the DP .

Here's a closer view of the rosettes with the Stickles added and the beutiful stickpin from Jenni Bowlin . Aren't they lovely?? I have a small package of them so I'll have to use them wisely!!!!! But I think that stickpins might just be my new favourite embellie!!! I bought several different kinds during my recent trip to The Paperie scrapbooking store last month! I live over 8 hours away to the nearest craft store so each trip is very exciting.... I love seeing, in person, all the new products! My recent purchases( I must confess I had so much fun shopping while DH waited in the car for me!!!) will have to do until I can get there again ( sigh)!!

I feel so accomplished today, as I completed these two cards and a few more that had been just sitting on my workspace waiting to be finished!!! Yay!!!

Now, I really should go and tidy up this mess!!! Have a great one and thanks for looking!!

Until next time, ......happy crafting!!!

Mojo Monday 189

2011-05-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all! It's been awhile since I played around with the sketches from Mojo Monday . I really love the sketches but it seems that Sunday is already here before I actually get around to completing my card before the link closes!! But...... it's only Wednesday and I 'm ready to post my card!!! ****Woot-Woot!!!!****

Here's this week's sketch....

I played around with of my new products from Stampin' Up! for this one......

The stamp set is Courage & Hope and the DP is a sneak peek from the new catalogue. I embossed a piece of seam binding ( adhered to a cs strip) with a border embossing folder from Cuttlebug.The teeny little ribbon rose was colored with my brand new Copic marker ( soooo love them!!!) in Cardinal / R59 and the leaf is a SU die. And all those mini pearls were just perfect for my scallop circle. I stamped the sentiment ( Buckaroo Blue ) multiple times on the circle and the hope sentiment is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. The butterfly was sponged in both colors,as well. I haven't used my scallop border punch in what seems like forever!

This is the first sketch of the month so it's a contest week , you really should go and check out the loads and loads of fabulous submissions!!!

Until next time... happy crafting!

Jingle Belles 18 : Cardstock Christmas

2011-04-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go????

Hello all!!! I took a little break this past week ... it's just been so crazy around here!!! My two daughters had a birthday this month and then Easter came , along with it , Spring Break for my kids (we were gone out of town visiting family for the week) and now I'm planning my son's birthday which is this Sunday ( three birthdays within a month, what was I thinking??????!!!!) but his actual party isn't until next weekend! Oh, and it's mine and my DH's anniversary on the 3rd , and I can't forget about Mother's Day!! I haven't had much spare time for crafting, even though I've managed to sneak some time visiting my fav blogs. This week's Jingle Belles challenge seemed to be just what I needed . Guest designer, Jess Moyer has given us the recipe to use cardstock for our layouts. No designer paper, absolutely none at all , hmmm..... I can do that right? I simply have to put away my lovely pile of Christmas-y papers and go through my stash .

Here's what I came up with for the cardstock challenge...........

I pulled out my Martha Stewart border and corner punches for the background . I only did one corner and two sides because I never seem to get all sides even and besides, I like this better anyway!!! I stitched a double line for a little definition . The date circle is from a journalling tablet from Little Yellow Bicycle , which I embellished with a couple of stamped and cut out ornaments from Stampin' Up! and just 'cause I love 'em so much, I also added some teeny tiny green rhinestones ( love those $-store goodies!!!) around the circle. The sentiment and label are both from Stampin' Up! as well as the cardstock ; Crumb Cake for the base and Riding Hood red for the mat. The little doiliy is another fabulous find from the dollar store , I just inked it up a little with Kiwi Kiss ink ( SU). The sentiment and the smaller ornament are stamped in Real Red ink and the other one is in Kiwi Kiss ink.

So there you have it , my card for this week's challenge. Go check out those fabulous gals at Jingle Belles!!!

Until next time .... happy crafting!!

Cricut's Wrap It Up : Disney autograph books

2011-04-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday !!! Hope your weekend was fabulous!!! Today , I thought I would share something I made for my friend's children. They are going to DisneyWorld this week and I offered to make her kids their very own autograph books. I made one for a boy and one for a girl using one of my newest cartridges: Wrap It Up.
Here they are:

I made these simple books by cutting thin chipboard into 53/4 squares and for the inside, I used the white sheets that came in my scrapbook albums( trimmed a little smaller). They are the perfect weight and I don't have to use up my precious cardstock ( I live in a very rural area, so I can't afford to run out!!!). I bound the books together with my Bind-It-All.

I didn't have any pirate DP on hand so I searched through my stampwheels and found this one from SU... it matches the Ahoy Matey stamp set which has been retired for a few years now. It's been so long since I used a wheel on my page! With all the details on the ship , I really didn't need need much more on the cover , except his name, of course!

I really love this Disney paper and so it became the starting point for this book. The color palette is girly , but not too girly! Iused Stickles inside the windows for a little bling and outlined Maddison's name so it would pop off the page .

When we went to Disneyland I didn't have the tools to make these books, now I wanna go back just so I can make them ( oh, and also because we had soooo much fun there,too!!!!!!)!

Until next time..... happy crafting!!!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #70 : Easter cupcake holder

2011-04-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

Good evening crafty friends! Despite all those fab design recipes out there, I haven't felt like making too much the past week and what I did make felt .... well, they were uninspiring to say the least!!! So last night I sat down and browsed through some of my fav blogs again and then I started cutting, and stamping and the next thing I know I had made a card !!!!!**** woot-woot**** This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge the DT have provided us with a yummy spring recipe ..... we are invited to make a Easter cupcake ( or treat) holder and we can use whichever cartridge we like!!! I recently purchased Simply Charmed and it has so many adorable images on it!!! I found this cute little chick and I just had to use it for this project!

The little chick, I just love his googly eyes, is cut a 1 3/4 " and fits nicely on this basket cut at 4 3/4 " from Sweet Treats cart. I cut a 1/2 " strip of brown cardstock for the handle and decorated the basket with dp ( Reminisce line) that I've had tucked away in my stash!

The little flower on the band is from a diecut from Stampin' Up! which I dipped in ultra thick embossing powder for an epoxy effect and then added a metal flower brad ( also from SU) to it. I covered the band in Marina Mist grosgrain ribbon and made my own paper shred with scraps of cs and my crimper. this is the perfect sized container for mini chocolate eggs or even a mini cupcake , if I were so inclined as to bake some!!!

Anyway, now I think I'll make a companion card for this little fellow!! Yup, I think my mojo's back!!! Yippee!!

Until next time.... happy crafting!!

Jingle Belles: Diecuts challenge

2011-04-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hello all! A week has come and gone since I last posted.... I really couldn't seem to find my creative mojo this past week! Everything I made just felt so blah and lacking!! *** sigh*** Have you ever felt like that? What's a gal to do???!!! Get crafting!!! I was thrilled to see my blog friend, June Houck as the guest designer this week at Jingle Belles!!! I love checking out her blog regularily ( hmmm, is that spelled correctly????) 'cause she's got oodles and oodles of great projects posted!!! This week, June gave us a recipe for our JB challenge this week to use a diecut ( think Cricut, Sizzix, purchased, whatever ya got!!) for our card and of course she posted an adorable sample !!!
I don't know if my mojo's back, but I am so determined to stick with JB weekly challenges!!!! I love seeing my ever-growing stack of Christmas cards just waiting to be mailed!!! I feel so accomplished already !!!!! :-)
Anyhoo , back to the challenge; here's what I made ....

Lot's of diecuts for this card! I used my SU scallop circle die for the card base and my Cricut ( George cartridge) for the circle which I embossed with a Cuttlebug snowflake folder. The tag is from Winter Frolic and is inked in Marina Mist , the same colopr cardstock for the circle mat and all the inking. SU snowflakes die are spritzed in Glimmer Mist ( really wish they would show up better in the photo!!! urgh!!) and I added a glimmmer brad to hide the foam popdot I put on each snowflake. Oh, and of course, I stitched the circle mat and the ribbon.Finally the sentiment is SU's Christmas Greetings set.

Thanks June for the inspiration!!!!!

Until next time... happy crafting!!!!!

Sisterhood Of Scrap Birthday Bash challenge

2011-04-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hello all!! A friend invited me to an online crop last night at Sisterhood of Scrap , who are celebrating their 4th birthday bash with lots of fun challenges and prizes,too!!! For this particular challenge we have to use the following on a birthday layout:
4 Buttons
4 Brads
4 Different Patterned Paper
4 Balloons
4 Flowers

Wow, that's a lot of stuff for one layout!!I really had to think about what I wanted to do ... and after much deliberation this is what I came up with........

Whew!!! All those elements on this page...talk about leaving my comfort zone!!!! But you know what? I like this finished page ( may change the pic!!) and I may just try another scrap challenge that gets me thinking!!!!

Anyway, now I just gotta figure out how to upload to the Sisterhood of Scrap forum.... hmmm, now that could tak awhile!!!!

So, until next time.... happy crafting!!!

My Digital Studio scrapbook layouts

2011-04-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Good evening! I thought I would share some of my scrappages that I made using My Digital Studio. I really love this program because it's so easy to use... I can't tell you how many other programs I tried and hated!! They were either too limited for craetivity or I had no idea how to use them!! MDS is perfect for the novice digi scrapper but if you're advanced then you'll love this ,too!! I also like that I can download elements from other sources and they work with MDS! Easy-peasy, that's what I'm all about these days!!

To make the brads align in a circle, I added a circle punch and lined up the brads around it and then removed the circle. The birthday elements are downloaded from Summer Driggs' s blog, combined with MDS elements.I changed the background several time before I selected this one... I wanted it to be bright and cheerful.

This layout was based on a sketch that I found online. I like that I can add my journalling later without having to change the layout!

I like being able to layer photos on each other , like on this layout. I can have several photos without crowding the page.The sketch and the elements here were found/ purchased from online sources.

Thanks for looking!

Until next time.... happy crafting!!

Jingle Belles: Batman Smells!!

2011-04-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hi , it's me again! The challenge for Jingle Belles last Friday was so appropriate for April Fool's Day.... Jingle Bells: Batman Smells!

Those DT ladies are challenging us to make a funny, quirky Christmas card to celebrate the lighter side of the season! They posted some amusing ( and fantastic) samples to get us chuckling and hopefully inspired. But me? I wa so stumped... I have a ton of Christmas stamps but they all seem to fall short of funny! I checked out the submissions for inspiration ..... and while I was smiling , I still didn't feel any closer to coming up with an idea!!!! ***grrrrrr**** . My favourite was June's Gingerbread Man 's Bite Me card! My card was inspired by her fabulous creation!!! Go check it out!!!! I wanted to participate in this challenge because I have a somewhat twisted sense of humour!!!!!

I had to really search through my Cricut cartridges to find this one! I found this guy on a rarely used My Community cart. I used liquid applique to outline his arms and legs and for the "bite" I simply used my scallop circle punch. The sentiment is from SU! , which I heat embossed to mirror the outline on this fellow.

So, once again I'm so late in posting for this challenge, but better late than never ( is that becoming my motto lately??????).

I'm already looking forward to the next challenge!!!

Until next time.... happy crafting!!

Altered tag Birthday card

2011-04-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! I thought I'd share this card I made last week.I was playing around with my stash of embellishments and I came up with this altered tag. Nothing too fancy, just a K& Company chipboard tag with some funky ribbon and a paper flower. The flower center is more shapes form K & Co. .... I have this really cute tin full of them just sitting in a drawer!!!

I treid a sponging technique with my Tim Holtz blending sponges but personally, I find the plain ole' cheapo sponges from Stampin' Up! easier to use! Plus I can cut the sponge into wedges and get 4 instead of one!!! I think I'll keep these sponges for blending alcohol inks only.

Anyhooo....... the card base is inked in Always Artichoke and Daffidol Delight and I embossed the bottom strip with a border embossing folder from Sizzix. The stamped image is from SU 's Watercolor Trio set.

All in all, a pretty simple card! Thanks for looking! Have a great day!!!!

So until next time.... happy crafting!!

Give A Hoot : Nature Lover birthday card

2011-04-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Welcome to Monday, I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Mine was pretty hectic..... my daughter turned 12 on Saturday and she had a group of girls over for a slumber party! A room full of giggling preteens equals one super noisey,crazy and fun night!!!!
Rebecca is a big time nature lover.... quite often she packs her camera and notebook and heads outdoors to enjoy the beauty of nature , no matter what the season. So, for her birthday I wanted to make a card for my little naturebug!

The Give A Hoot cartridge has this really neat earth image, all wrapped up in a bow! I cut off the "s" from Nature Lovers . I used my Cricut marker( in brown) to draw the heart earth , for the inside of the card, instead of cutting it out and the greeting is cut from another cartridge, but I really can't remember which one!!!!! I used DWV paper for the background and the cardstock, border punch and birthday sentiment are from Stampin' Up!. So that's my card for my little Nature Lover!!

Thanks for looking!

Until next time.... happy crafting!!!!