365 Cards

I'm back again today for a 2nd post!
I am so honored to be a guest designer at 365 Cards today. I hope you play along with us today and jump in on this challenge. 


Today's challenge is "Digging Deep" and here are the items you need to include on your card:

An item (not paper) that is at least 6 months old

2 sheets of patterned paper that you've never used

An embellishment that you've had for more than a year

A stamp that you've never used but you've had for at least a year

Anything else goes!

It always makes me sad when tiny details on a card or layout just won't show up in a picture. I hand painted the little blossoms with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist. They just sparkle! I also hand sewed the twine around the bunch, this paper really led the way for this design. I also just love these metal frames from K&CO and that stamp was purchased in 2005 and never used!

I hope you decide to play along with us at 365 Cards today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Interested in what I used?

Here's the list...

DP - K&CO Tim Coffey collection

Metal Frame - K&CO

Distress Ink - Weathered Wood, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye

Glimmer Mist - Marshmallow

Stamp - Vap! Scrap

Twine - from my stash

Vintage....me?

Happy Monday to ya...again

I'm back with another challenge from Tiffany at ScrapTiffany. This week Tiffany challenged us to do something VINTAGE.

YIKES...vintage...ME?  Really? If you follow me at all, you know that vintage is not what I do. Don't get me wrong...I love looking at it and admire people who can do it...it's just not my thing. When I saw "vintage", I seriously thought about calling in sick on this one. (Big breath in) But, I decided to put my big girl pants on and go for it. 

The first thing I did was ask around about doing a vintage project. I was pretty much told to do what feels right to me. Then I looked up the word on dictionary.com, here is what it says the definition of vintage is:

~Adjective

of or pertaining to wines or winemaking.

being of a specified vintage: Vintage wines are usually more expensive than nonvintage wines.

representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies.

old-fashioned or obsolete: vintage jokes

being the best of its kind: They praised the play as vintage O'Neill.

Ok whew, it didn't say anyting about lace, feathers, pearls etc. etc.

What I did think is that it basically means...old, I can do old.

Here is my version of Vintage:

I started out with a new picture of an old (vintage) tractor. I used A LOT of vintage photo Distress Ink on it to really dull the color. Then I just really distressed all of the edges of the paper and kinda dirtied everything up. 

I hope you enjoy my version of Vintage...be sure to stop over at ScrapTiffany and see what the rest of the design team came up with for Vintage.

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the world!

Interested in what I used?

Here's the list:

DP - Jillibean Soup, Chicken Noodle collection

C.S. - Kraft by Stampin Up!, Yellow from my stash

Cricut Cart- Hello Kitty Font

Brads - Making Memories

Distress Ink - Vintage Photo (lots of it)

Bingo Card - Jenni Bowlin

Mini Paperclip - from my stash

1" Circle Punch

Introducing Little Will

If you follow me on a regular basis, you already know that I take care of 2 babies. The newest wonderful soul in my care is 2 month old Will. I received permission from his mommy to share pictures of him with you, which is awesome because I plan on taking lots of pictures and scrapping them!

He is big, soft, cuddly, smells divine and I love every minute I get to snuggle with him. It's been 13 years since I have had a little baby boy to love on. Now you tell me if he isn't one of the cutest little baby boys you have EVAH seen!?!

I feel so honored to be trusted with his care while his mommy and daddy have to be at work teaching. I love my job, this beats Corporate America any day. Thank you so much Amber and Charlie!

I'm sure you will be seeing lots of Will here in the future!

CPS #181 - 2nd post for today!

Two posts in one day, yippie for me...LOL

I saw this sketch over at CPS and I instantly had an idea.

I went to work right away and it came together close to what I had imagined. I used the three little squares as a hinge for the card to open.  I played with one of my new dies and a new technique I learned at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo I went to last weekend. The butterfly is made out of coffee filters, distress ink, and glimmer mist. It is SUPER sparkly in person, I just don't think it showed up as much in the photo. I started to add some flowers to the birdcage, but it just got really fussy looking. So, I took them off and stuck to a more clean line and let the butterfly be the star of the show. I hope you enjoy!

Stained Glass Card

Halfway through another week, can you believe it? Time is just flying by!
I was asked to make a birthday card by a friend of ours and I wanted to share it with you. I used one of my new stamps from Rubbernecker Stamps. It was really great to work with and I think the card came out just like I had imagined it would.

I colored the stamp with my Prisma colored pencils and then blended it with Gamsol. After all of the coloring was done, I covered the whole thing with Glossy Accents. It is very shiny in person and I hope you can see that in the photo. That flower was very....very...well let's just say, it took a long time and I'm not sure if I love it enough to do it again. I put a white panel on the inside and stamped Happy Birthday in black, there is plenty of room left to write a birthday message.

A new challenge is starting today at Papercraft Star, be sure to head over and check it out!

I hope you are having a great week, thanks for stopping by!

the color ORANGE!

I'm back with another challenge from Tiffany over at Scrap Tiffany. This week Tiffany challenged us to use the color ORANGE. Now, I really like orange. I even really like to eat an orange. But I really had to think about what I wanted to create with the color orange. Beth gave me a really cute stamp from Just for Fun Stamps and I decided to use it. Since I've just started coloring with Copics a few months ago, I thought I would give it a whirl. Please don't look too closely at the coloring...I haven't perfected my skills yet. That is a nice way of saying that I went a teeeennyyy bit out of the lines :)

Here is what I did with the color ORANGE....

I want to dedicate this card to my friend Beth. She is, after all, the crazy cat lady AND she does have blue eyes!

Now, run....don't walk...to your craft space and whip up something ORANGE and the head over to the Scrap Tiffany Blog!!

Interested in what I used?

Well, I didn't keep very good track...lol

But here is what I can remember..

Card Stock - PTI

Ribbon - PTI

Stamp - Just for Fun Stamps

Copic Markers

Glimmer Mist in Dew Drop

Nestabilities Circle Die

Blue Chalk

Sorry folks...that's all I can remember :(

Stamp & Scrapbook Expo and My Craft Room (Lots of Pictures)

My Craft Room is finally finished...well except for hanging the curtain..but I can't wait any longer to show you. After all of the Expo pics, you can finally see it for yourself!

Yesterday some friends and I attended a Stamp and Scrapbook Expo. It was tons of fun and I really enjoyed seeing all of the different vendors. There were A LOT of stamps there and A LOT of people. Some of those booths were so crowded I had to step out, I guess I'm a bit claustrophobic..LOL
I thought I would share a few pictures of the new stuff I bought and the companies who sold them.

I have never seen the Journaling Card Cuttlebug Folder before, so I thought it would be a good one to have. This was sold by www.ScrapHappyShop.com. They were selling mostly Cuttlebug and Cricut items.

YEAH! I finally got it...it was always sold out when I went to buy it. Should have just bought it in Michigan when I had the chance. At least it was marked at 20% off $19.99! This booth was INSANE, all Sizzix type stuff. They had a sign up that said if you spent $100 on Sizzix stuff you got a free item, the lady in line ahead of me got 3 free items! This was a local Colorado company, www.itscheaperthantherapy.com

I really enjoyed this booth. The company is Prickley Pear out of Arizona. They were mostly stamps, but are now making dies to go along with the stamp sets. I got the butterfly die and stamps and the flower die and stamps. Wait till you see these flowers...love it!!

www.prickleypear.com

The Stamp Doctor! They had some of the CUTEST things. They are BIG on eyelets. I got the lady bug set. It is a little stamp that shows the placement of the eyelets. They had everything from bugs to the American Flag. I also picked up several packages of the flattened bottle caps. They came in all different colors and I have a great idea for them. These people were SUPER friendly and very eager to help.

www.stampdoctor.com

And finally, Rubbernecker Stamps. This booth had the MOST amazing stamps. I could hardly choose! There were HUNDREDS of stamps to choose from, it was crazy. I was a good girl and settled for 3, yes honey...I stuck to my budget   :)

www.rubbernecker.com

Okay...now...for the big reveal...for the very first time in my life...my very own Craft Room!

This is the view from the door. Now mind you, this is not a huge room, only about 100 sq ft. But I love it! Told ya the roosters made it into the room ;)

My work table.

My sewing table..sorry so dark, I was having window issues.

The dresser holds my stamps, ink, a few misc items, embossing powders, glitter, and a few projects in progress. The next cabinet holds my Big Shot, Cricut, punches, buttons, thread, and extra Cricut supplies. The next little cabinet holds my Cricut carts, dies, paper trimmer, scoreboard, and label maker. The red cabinets on the wall hold my Copic markers (left) and embellishments (right). It also gives me room to display some of my favorite cards.

This is my closet and it is stuffed!

Left side has memorabilia on the upper shelves and my paper in the cubes. All of the cubes are divided up by either color family (8.5 x 11) or manufacturer (DP). I love this system, I can pull out the drawers and take them to my work table. I keep all of my scraps in the same drawer as the whole pieces, that way I use my scraps first, and I don't have to try and figure out what color or collection that scrap is.

Right side is supplies, more paper, Glimmer Mist, paint, adhesives, and sewing supplies.

I hope you have enjoyed a peek into my space, I am really really enjoying it. I honestly don't know how in the world I had everything crammed into a small desk and an even smaller closet before. I guess you just make the best out of what you have. All it needs is the curtain hung...and yes, it has roosters on it!

Hope the remainder of your day is fabulous!

Precious!

Recently I have been looking for some new blogs to follow, fresh ideas and inspiration. I stumbled on a few blogs that I had not known were out there, and boy am I happy that I found them.

The first one is My Little Sketch Book. I'm sure a lot of you know about this blog because they do have 420 followers! I really like this blog, she has some AMAZING sketches. I decided to play along with this recent sketch.

I tried to keep as close to the sketch as I could because I really love this sketch. Here is what I came up with using it.

I'm very happy with how this turned out and the sketch was very easy to follow. I had a lot of fun making all of the flowers using a 1" circle punch for the large ones and cutting 1/2" circles on my Cricut for the small ones.

If you haven't checked out My Little Sketch Book, you really should!

I'm working on a few more layouts using sketches I found on the other blog I stumbled on. I'll share those and their blog info with you later this week.

Hope you are having a great day!

Interested in what I used?

Here's the list...

DP - BasicGrey Euphoria

Ink - Tsukineko Angel Pink

Pearls - Prima

Buttons - Stampin Up!

Ribbon - from my stash

Letters - Thickers

Glimmer Mist - Candy Apple Red and Tattered Rose

Cricut Cart - Preserves

1" circle punch

Zig black journaling pen

A major milestone and a craft room in progress!

Well, 

my baby...

my youngest..

my last born..

my my..

my only boy...

he...he....

he SHAVED!!

Eric, Age 13
8th Grade

I about cried, and I tried my hardest to stay out of it and let his dad teach him. But, I just couldn't help myself. After taking like 25 pictures of him shaving, I had to help with a few hairs he missed. I can NOT believe my son shaved!

(Big Deep SIGH)


I also wanted to share a picture of my craft room during painting. The painting is finished, now I just have to hang the art on the walls and I can take final photos and share with you!

It's not huge...but it's ALL mine!!

Hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday!
I've been scrapbooking today during nap time, so I'll have something for you tomorrow.

A Hybrid Challenge

It's a hybrid challenge at ScrapTiffany this week!

What does the prompt "hybrid" mean to you? To me it meant that we needed to combine digital scrapbooking with traditional paper scrapbooking. This WAS a challenge for me. You see, I don't do digital scrapbooking. I don't have any programs on my computer that support digital scrapbooking, I have never purchased any digital kits, and I don't know the first thing about putting it all together. So, I had to put my thinking cap on and get creative...

I decided to create a photo collage at Walgreens.com and have them print it for me at the one hour photo. I ran down to Walgreens to pick it up (actually I drove), pulled it out of the envelope, thought it was totally adorable, and then tapped my finger to my chin and thought....now what? LOL

After looking at sketch after sketch for inspiration...I decided to just wing it...this is what I came up with.

You can't really go wrong with an adorable subject like little Marleigh.  Be sure to head over to ScrapTiffany and see what the other designers came up with this hybrid challenge. While your at it, give doing a hybrid project a go and play along with us!!

Have a wonderful day!

I'm getting a paint job!

My craft room is being painted bright and early in the morning! The painter is coming at 7:30am and I am SO excited!! I have been waiting to take pictures of my new craft room until it was painted, so now I will be able to share it with you real soon.

I can tell you this....it will be green :)

Watch out for pictures coming soon!

I now have 2 babies!

Well, today was my first day having 2 babies in my care. UUmmm..yeah, certainly put my skills to the test.  Marleigh is 10 mos old now and "little" Will is 2 months, yet he only weighs 3 pounds less than her!

They were both hungry at the same time this morning, I got a little stressed but now that it is a few hours later, it was kinda comical.  Both of them are now soundly sleeping and I get some time to catch up on my favorite blogs. I have been super busy this week so I haven't had much time in my craft room. I am hoping to get a few hours of  serious crafting done this weekend, so I should have some new things to show you next week.

I don't have permission, yet, to share pictures of Will with you...but here is a recent one of Marleigh. She is just so darn cute!

How cute is that!?!

I hope you are all having a great week!!
Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the world!

Naked Chipboard?

Yup, that's right....I said Naked Chipboard. Actually, that's what Tiffany over at ScrapTiffany is saying. This week she has challenged us to use Naked Chipboard.

Now, this one made me scratch my head a little. I don't use much chipboard. I don't have that much chipboard...well except some 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of it. So I started digging through my stash and HEY what do ya know, I had something!

I have been working on an 8x8 album for the baby that I take care of and it's been a while since I worked on it. So, I pulled it out and that is what I worked on. I tried sewing again, that was fun...well after I got that darn machine threaded. It had been SO long since I used that machine, I couldn't remember how to do it. I gave up after about 30 minutes and tried again the next day. Luckily for me, I found my instruction book and viola....5 minutes later it was threaded and ready to go...DUH

Here's a look at what I came up with using Naked Chipboard....

The banner says "WONDER"...it's kinda hard to see in the picture because the letters are white.
I really love how this little page turned out, I hope you enjoy it too!

Make sure to stop over at ScrapTiffany and see what the rest of the DT came up with using Naked Chipboard, and while your at it...join in the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Interested in what I used?
Here's the list..
Chipboard frame - Scenic Route
DP - 3 Bugs in a Rug
Ribbon - random from my stash
Buttons- random from my stash
Distress ink - Worn Lipstick and Tea Dye
Letter Stickers - Making Memories
Punch - 1" circle punch

Papercraft Star Challenge going on now...

Have you visited Papercraft Star this week? Challenge 7 is going on right now. The challenge is to create a project inspired by this photo....

Stars, stripes, circus big tops, and animals....how fun is that! Be sure to head on over to PCS and get your project linked up by 12 Noon (eastern) on Saturday before the voting begins.

365 Cards and a Gift

Two posts in one day!! Can you believe it?

I worked on a little birthday gift this weekend but I still needed to make a card to go with it. Then this morning I saw the daily challenge at 365 Cards and decided to use the recipe for today to make the card.

I made another simple little mini album/book for a friend of mine. Her birthday party is coming up this weekend. I'm hoping that she will enjoy it and maybe even put some photos of the party in it.

The card I made follows the recipe at 365 Cards.

5.5 X 4.25 card - check
3 X 3 Patterned Paper - check
Stitching - check
3 rhinestones - check
Sentiment - check
1 stamped image - check (but I embossed it...hope that counts!)

Head on over to 365 Cards and play along with me!

Thanks for stopping by.

Interested in what I used?
Here's the list:


DP - Scenic Route
CS - StampinUp
Stamps - Stampin Up
Rhinestones & Pearls - from my stash
Stiching on card - #15 on my Singer
Ribbon - StampinUp and PTI
Distress Ink - Tea Dye
Twine - Dollar General Store (hardware section)

ScrapTiffany Sketch Challenge

I love doing sketch challenges! I often go to my sketch books to give me some inspiration for my scrapbook pages and my cards.  They don't always turn out just like the sketch, but it's an element or two that will get my creative mojo flowing.


This time, however, I stuck with the entire sketch and I LOVE how it turned out. This is the sketch that Tiffany provided us with:

And here is my interpretation of it....

Carson asked me to help her out by creating a 12x12 layout to display in a shadow box. She wanted to give it to her boyfriend for his birthday. We chose one of their beautiful prom pictures for the layout. 

Give this sketch a try and play along with us at ScrapTiffany!

Interested in what I used?

Here's the list:

DP - Crate Paper, Crate Adventure

CS - The Paper Company, Stardream Crimson

Vellum - Paper Studio

Cricut Carts - Preserves and Storybook

Gems - Crystal Stickers

Ribbon - Hobby Lobby

Distress Ink - Tea Dye

Embossing Folder - Divine Swirl

2" Scallop Punch

Journaling - Done on Word printed on Vellum, font Brush Script

A Cherry on Top

The wonderfully fabulous Tracy passed on this awesome blog award to me. Thank you so much Tracy, you are an awesome person! If you don't know Tracy, you really should go and visit her. She is an amazing paper crafter and one of the most supportive people in my blogging world. You will not be disappointed when visiting her blog.

Here are the rules for this blog award:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.

3. List three things which you love about yourself.

4. Post a picture you love.

5. Tag five people you wish to pass this award on to.

So...here we go...

1. See above, but thanks again Tracy!

2. on my blog, check

3. Three things I love about myself...hhmmmm

    a. I put others first. 

    b. I do my best everyday to be a good wife and mother.

    c. My toes all line up...lol (okay, lame..but I was struggling to think about myself in a positive light and I            just got a pedicure today...so feet are on the brain)  Okay, maybe my third thing is that I can laugh at myself.

4. There are SO many pictures to choose from...

This is one of the more recent photos in my collection. It was one of my most proud moments. My beautiful daughter on her graduation day (which was also my birthday) and my handsome husband and all those beautiful stripes he proudly wears!

5. Five people that I would like to pass this on to....

Beth  - She is one of the best ladies I know

Janice - She is an amazing source of inspiration for me

Debbie - She always leaves the most uplifting comments for me

Regan - I look forward to seeing her designs every week

Liz - I love her style

Thanks again Tracy for thinking of me!