It's All in the Past

I love, love, love being on staff (for almost THREE years!!) at Scrapbook News & Review.  We just finished over FORTY events with different manufacturers, wow!!!  I was challenged creatively for sure and got to work with fabulous products from some amazing companies.  I am one lucky girl.

I also create stuff for each monthly issue of the mag, and enough time has passed that I get to share with you some projects I made in June.

Check 'em out...

I'm really getting into ATC's

Some Inchies

Out came the Cricut for this one

And "hello" 4th of July...

As promised there are more projects coming...

Keeping it Simple

I am sharing a card at 365 Cards today, and the challenge is to use Blue-Green as a dominant color.

I went really simple on this one, check it out:

Have I mentioned my obsession with beads?  Well, I just love 'em and I'm finding any excuse to use them on my card.  Today, they're ornaments on the little tree.  Here's a close-up

I'm feeling pretty festive these days. 

Speaking of which, I'm off to make a triple batch of sugar cookie cut-outs...

Tea for Ten

I know, I know, it seems like I'm never blogging, but the truth is that since I blog every day at 365 Cards, it feels like I'm blogging all the time!

Also, with my many projects for SNR, I don't get to share all of them here on my personal blog - at least night right away.  But I assure you, I am still one crafty girl ;-)

Tomorrow my friend, Kalle, has organized a special gathering of her friends for tea.  There's this wonderful tea house nearby and I've had the pleasure of joining Kalle a couple of times for tea, fun conversation, and some R&R.  I look forward to taking my daughters when they get older.

Anyway, since not all of us know each other, Kalle has suggested I make nametags for everyone and I said, "Of course!"

I went a little mixed media on these guys, check 'em out

And here's my favorite

I'm totally into gluing beads on cards lately, and for some shimmer, I brushed on Fairy Dust paint from Creative Inspirations.  I love that stuff, and if you like to paint at all, you will, too!!

I promise to come back soon and share lots of projects, but for now these will have to do...

Way Too Long!!!

It's been way too long since my last post, and although I've been crafting like crazy life has gotten in the way of posting here.

I have to share, though, because last Saturday I completed a Copic Intermediate Certification class -- woo hoo!!!

So now I get to share this badge on my blog

Yay!  I'll be back to post some projects later....

Playing Catch Up

You know it's been a busy summer when you can't even find a few minutes to post a few cards!  Although I did manage to find time to create.  With several of the 365 Cards designers taking vacations here and there over the summer, I was able to jump in and share some of my cards.

Here are several of the cards I made...

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill Basics

Stickers: Cosmo Cricket

Stamp, Ink: Stampin' Up

Other: Buttons

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Stampin' Up

Glitter Pen: atyou Spica

Other: Button, Floss

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Stamp: Hampton Art

Ink: Clearsnap

Pom Pom Trim: My Mind's Eye

Other: Buttons, Shimmery Cardstock

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill Basics

Stamp: Hampton Art

Ink: Inkadinado

Glitter Pens: atyou Spica

Stamp, Ink, Scallop Punch: Stampin' Up

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Sassafras Lass

Stickers: My Mind's Eye

Sticker: SRM Stickers

Other: Buttons, Rhinestones, Watercolors

Hmmm, I think my "go to" cardstock is Kraft from Papertrey Ink.  In fact, I think it's time to go order some more...

Thanks for stopping by!

Clean and Simple

Sometimes you've just got to keep it simple when making cards.  At least, that's true for me.

I've got a couple of quick ones to share...

First up is a "Sprinkle" invitation for my BFF.  She's expecting her second daughter next month, and another friend and I threw a mini shower for her to celebrate the occasion.  To suit her style I came up with this CAS card

and here's a sample (or two) of the thank you notes that I whipped up for my daughters' teachers and other VIPs in their lives for the end of the school year

I just love that apple-patterned paper from October Afternoon, and the best way to stretch it is some DIY embellies.  I just glue the paper to some chipboard and then do some fussy cutting.  This makes it studier when raised off the page.

Thanks for stopping by...

Catching Up

Today over at 365 Cards we have a new sponsor, a sketch and a Guest Designer.  It's going to be a fun week, too, because we have a theme, but I'm not telling what it is just yet...

So here's my take on the sketch this week.  I know it's been a while since I've shared a card for the sketch and it was definitely long overdue.  So I won't waste any more time

Card Recipe

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: October Afternoon, Pink Paislee

Stickers: SRM Press, Pink Paislee

Brad and Rub ons: Pink Paislee

Alphas: American Crafts

Come along and play with us and go for a chance to win a great prize!

Busy Weekend

Whew, I'm taking the briefest of moments to share a card.  One is in celebration of my mom whose birthday is today!  Here's the card I made for the occasion

And my mom, who is my best customer, asked me to make a card for my dad for Father's Day, and this is what I came up with

I have been playing with watercolors a lot lately, so I created something that is meant to look like the two of them sitting side-by-side.  I'm not sure if I managed it, but I sure had fun trying!

Aside from celebrating a birthday and Father's Day, we are also camping out at the local high school auditorium all weekend for our daughters' dance recitals.  This is our third year having a dancer (or two) and it always signals the beginning of summer for us!

Have a great weekend...

Birthday Boy

Today is my nephew, Riley's 4th birthday, and I made a cute little card for him inspired by this movie poster

This looks hysterical, and I am a big fan of Jim Carrey movies, so it's on my "must-see" list this summer!

I happened to have a little penguin stamp and I thought it would make for a great "boy" card. 

Here's my card, which happens to be for today's 365 Cards challenge



Here are the details

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Stamp: Basic Grey

Ink: Clearsnap

Glitter Pen: Atyou Spica

Rub on Transfers: Scenic Route and Pink Paislee

Number Sticker: American Crafts

Rhinestones: Kaiser Scrapbook

I created the background using watercolors

Thanks for stopping by and join in with us this week if you get the chance!

Just Because

Here's a card I made for one of my daughter's very best friends.  My oldest daughter has hit a bit of a rough patch recently, and her friend has been so supportive of her.  It's hard to believe these little girls are only 7 considering how mature they are!

Anyway, we got to celebrate sweet Piper's birthday today, and here's the card I made for her.

Card recipe

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Rhinestones: My & My Big Ideas (pink) and Basic Grey (orange)

Scalloped Punch: Stampin' Up

Sticker Alphas: Basic Grey
Happy Birthday Sticker: SRM Stickers

Extras: Buttons, Floss, and Pom-poms (their strung on some thin wire)

Have a great week!!



CAS Happy Birthday

Here's a quick and cute little card I made today for my aunt's birthday.

It's a Clean and Simple design, check it out:

Card Recipe

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned paper: Echo Park

Scalloped trim: My Mind's Eye

Rhinestones: Me & My Big Ideas

Sticker: SRM Stickers

I think the coolest thing about this card is that I used a leftover portion of some 12x12 Echo Park paper that I just couldn't bear to throw away.  It really came in handy to set the scene for this card.  Thanks for looking!

CP Sketch 110

Here's a little card I made inspired by Card Patterns Sketch 110

Card Recipe

Card base: Bazzill Basics

White swiss dot cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Kraft cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned paper: Echo Park

Cupcake sticker: Echo Park

Twine: My Mind's Eye

Tools: Spellbinders die/Cuttlebug, Stampin' Up scalloped edge punch

EK Success circle punch

Scrappy Extras: Sewing and a button

And last, but not least is the little sticker that says "wish" - a nod to this week's sponsor at Card Patterns and one of my fave crafty companies SRM Stickers.

Have a great week!!

Relax

Here's a little card I made for my dear friend, Kalle, who is celebrating her birthday today.  The little birthday elves (my husband and me) snuck some flowers into her house (thanks to her hubby) so when she gets home from work there will be a happy surprise - one dozen yellow roses.

I made this card in the hopes that Kalle will find a little time to relax and pamper herself.  She's the kind of person who always puts others ahead of herself, and she deserves some R&R.

I used a 365 Cards sketch for this one...

Here's a close-up of those slippers.

I am so in love with those fabulous "sprinkles" from Flower Soft. 

Read on for the rest of the "ingredients"...

Card Recipe

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket

Digi Image: Sassy Studio Designs

Markers: Copic

Scalloped Trim: My Mind's Eye

Sticker: SRM Stickers

In My Beautiful Balloon Challenge at Moxie Fab World

I created this project, several days ago before I left town, for a very special person.  My husband's grandmother recently celebrated her 100th birthday, and we flew to Iowa to celebrate with her!! 

You can imagine the tall task at hand - to create something special and meaningful in card form.  I wanted her to have something of a keepsake, so I made a wall hanging that would remove easily from the card.  In fact, it is the decoration on the card.

This Moxie Fab challenge is to use a hot air balloon on the project.  I happened to have some hot air balloon stickers from E.A.D. Designs.  Portions of it are transparent, so I put them on some patterned paper (that was glued to some chipboard) and cut them out.

Here's the card version:

Now if you are wanting additional details about how I created the wall hanging, read on...

The big ring is a chipboard piece (from Stampin' Up, I believe), which I glued to some patterned paper.  I used a blade to cut close to the chipboard and some sanding tools to smooth out the rough edges.  Then I glued the ring onto another piece of patterned paper (that was glued to a piece of chipboard to make it sturdier). 

The biggest mystery is probably how I got the sentiment on the chipboard ring.  It's computer-generated, and thanks to my Word program, I was able to curve the letters to fit (for the most part) the size and shape of the ring.

I hot-glued some dotted ribbon to the back to complete the wall hanging.

Here's what it looks like in use - I apologize for the poor lighting:

It is indeed a journey worth celebrating!

Card Recipe

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Sassafras Lass, My Mind's Eye

Rhinestones: Martha Stewart

Stickers: E.A.D. Designs

Ribbon: Stampin' Up

Chipboard Circle: Stampin' Up

Blossoms: Michael's brand

Shamrock Fun

Today was a super fun day that I just have to share.  I took part in my first ever Shamrock Run in Portland - such a blast.  I ran the 8K and I finished strong (for me, anyway).  I love events like that when lots of people - in this case over 30,000 - come together to have a great time and celebrate something.

Even though I'm exhausted and my legs feel like jelly, I managed to make a card.  I'm subbing for Heidi who is on a brief hiatus.  The challenge is titled "Fresh Baked Goodness", and to me that means something sweet and delicious.

Here's my card

That's some yummy Hambly paper in the background, and a Cosmo Cricket coffee cup in front.  A little sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink, and the card is complete.  Oh yeah, I should mention the pierced "steam" coming off that coffee.

We've got some new and fabulous DT members coming your way later this week, and more great challenges as well...

Cityscapes are on the Rise at Moxie Fab World

I am so excited about this card!  I hadn't been over to Moxie Fab World in ages, and when I popped on this morning, they had just issued a challenge to create a cityscape.

Being primarily a cardmaker, I was looking for inspiration to create a card...specifically a 60th anniversary card for my great aunt and uncle.

So I read the challenge and the first thing I thought about was one of my favorite children's books, The Little House.  Here's an image I grabbed off of Amazon's website so you can see what I'm talking about:



It's about a little house that starts out in the country and the big city grows up around it.  Eventually it happily gets moved back out to the countryside.  Although the book is not necessarily about durability, it really does stand the test of time -- as if no matter what happens around it, the house stays the same.

So that's how I arrived at my card design...

I used my Cricut to cut out a cityscape (using a portion of it to sponge a background image) on both patterned paper and chipboard (to give it dimension).  Here's the card:

I thought this swirly paper from Basic Grey would be perfect, depicting how hectic and crazy the world can be.  You'll notice the sweet little house in the middle (with a sparkly red heart above the door).

The clouds are actually petals from some Scenic Route paper that seemed to work with the other paper I chose.

Here's a close-up of the front so you can see how I raised part of the cityscape off the card using Pop Dots:

The inside reads "Happy 60th Anniversary"

I was truly inspired to create this card and very happy to share it!

Feeling Fierce

Nope, not me actually - but that's the challenge I threw down on the 365 Cards blog for today!

Here's my card:

I love Glitz and this patterned paper and the sticker frame with some built-in blink really did the trick!  The color scheme and the faux diamond, plus some edge distressing complete the look I was going for.

And of course I've got an SRM Sticker on there as my sentiment ;-)

It's almost time to select some new DT members, so stay tuned at 365 Cards for that big announcement next week.

And did I mention that we just hit 1500 followers??  Woo hoo!!!

It's Friday, and I'm Taking Over...

Okay, not really - but I am stepping in for Sophie, who is on vacation.  I decided to throw out a challenge called "Fun with Buttons", which is all about making button-y embellishments.

I've seen these sorts of things before from manufacturers, and I remembered thinking, "How hard would it be for me to make that myself?"

So I grabbed some felt, floss, and some buttons, and I created my own.  What exactly am I talking about?  Well, check it out....

I traced some circles onto 3 different colors of felt.  Here's an example of one of my circles:

I cut out the circles, and I wasn't too worried about perfect cuts (and you'll see why in a moment):

A little blanket stitching around the edges and it turned out pretty cute, I think:

Here's my stack of 3 circles, in different sizes and colors (including the floss):

But I did say something about buttons, didn't I?

Well I found a couple buttons in my stash that stacked perfectly, plus I liked the color combo (red and green), and I stitched them to the felt circles.

Sort of fun and.....quirky?

So here's the finished card:

I went simple on the other decorations because I wanted the embellishment I made to really stand out.  I used SRM Stickers (I love those things!) and some cool die cut trim from Bazzill Basics. 

I can't believe we are fast approaching the end of our 2nd year at 365 Cards.  I've also announced a DT call, so if you think you might like to join a fab team of card makers, give it a shot and send me an app!

Inspiration Week at 365 Cards

Hi Bloggy Friends!

So all week long we are celebrating words that inspire meaningful cards.  There are a lot of words out there that are beautiful and meaningful, but for each of us there was a word that really stuck out. 

For me, it was Courage.  For several personal reasons I think this words really applies not only to me, but to some dear friends in my life, particularly the one for whom this card was made.

Sometimes having courage means facing something really big in our lives, and sometimes it means simply getting up in the morning and facing the day ahead.  The card I made is for someone who has to do the latter, and it will not always be easy, so I'm hoping this card will bring her some comfort.

And here's a close up shot:

I think it's going to be a great week loaded with inspiration, so please come over and join us!

Robyn's Fetish Returns to 365 Cards

This week we welcome back Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More and I just adore their digi stamps!  Today I've got a Valentine's-themed card - *gasp* - is it time to switch holidays again??  My oldest daughter is always asking me, "What's the next holiday, Mom?", and I think this card will answer her question:

Here's a close-up:

Since I stuck so closely to the sketch, I decided to add put my patterned paper (K&Company) on some chipboard to raise it up off the card and create a little dimension.

The ribbon is Stampin' Up and I colored in the image with Copics.

Have a great week and come play along with us at 365 Cards!