Creative Expressions Papercrafting

MFT Guest Designer Entry

2010-06-01T22:33:00.002-04:00

Well, I have decided to go out on a limb and enter the June Guest Designer Contest for MFT. I am not usually one to enter contests....I think I have entered two (ever!). My logic was this....I entered a challenge the other day and actually won (it was a random selection....), so I was feeling lucky.

So, on a high from my lucky win, I came up with this card below. The challenge was to interpret the theme 'Some Like it Hot'. I used MFT stamp set Girls' Day In to create an image of 'Who's That Girl' getting ready for a hot date.

I used Nestabilities to mat the image, Copic markers to colour Who's That Girl and her bottle of polish, and I paper pieced her comfy looking chair. The card base is ivory with chocolate chip cardstock from SU! I still love that chocolate chip! It just seems to make everything look good!

The rest is self explanatory....so I am off to bed.

Hopefully tomorrow will be another lucky day! :)

Happy 30th Birthday - Version II

2010-05-30T22:51:00.004-04:00

As you probably saw in my previous post...I have twin sisters who just celebrated their 30th birthday. I can't tell you why, but my sister, Heather, has a 'thing' for motorcycles. She has never owned one, and as far as I know, she has only ridden on one once. It was with her fascination in mind that I bought this stamp from Hanna Stamps ages ago, with the intention of making her a card. Well, I finally got around to it for her birthday this year.

Once again, I was working with limited supplies, on the go, and at my Mom and Dad's house. For those reasons, this card is lacking a sentiment. I had pre-stamped and coloured the image with my Copic markers. It was the assembly of the card that took place on the fly. It was at the assembly stage that I realized I lacked a sentiment for the front.

The supplies for this card include Copic markers, Chocolate Chip ribbon from SU!, twine from my Mom's kitchen drawer, Sage Shadow paper from SU! and kraft paper.

Oh well, the most important thing is that my sister LOVED her card. I actually got a scream when she opened it. :)

I hope you like it too!

Sketch Plus Three Challenge

2010-05-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

Here I am with another challenge card for my friend, Joanne. Based on the limited nature of my blog posts since our last move (now eleven months ago!!), it looks like it takes Joanne issuing a challenge to light a fire under my butt and get me posting! Where oh where does the time go??

Well, like I mentioned, I saw this challenge over at Joanne's blog, and it was enough to give me a bit of a jump start....that and the fact that my baby sisters (twins!) were celebrating their 30th birthdays, and I had to get cracking!

The 'Sketch Plus Three' challenge was to follow a sketch as well as to include three elements from a list of nine. The three that I chose to use on my card are twill, paper with printed text, and kraft paper.

My sister, Patti, is quite the cook...so this stamp from MFT was the perfect choice for her birthday card. I coloured it with Copic markers, used my rectangular Nestabilities and some dimensionals to put this little card together. The background with the text is actually a recipe from one of my Mom's magazines, but shhhhhh...don't tell her! I was finishing the card at my Mom and Dad's house while visiting for the Memorial Day weekend, and I was working with less than my full array of supplies...so I had to improvise! :)

Well, I guess the time has come to wrap things up and pop on over to Joanne's blog to post my creation to Mr. Linky!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tea Anyone?

2010-03-03T17:12:00.003-05:00

I made this card in order to participate in week number two of my friend Joanne's blogaversary challenges. The challenge was to create a card using kraft paper and stitching. This is what I came up with.

I used this cute little Flopsey stamp from over at MFT. I am embarrassed to say that I think I had only used him once before! I started with my palette of colours (kraft, Not Quite Navy, Sage Shadow)....all from SU! and once I decided on this Porcelain Prints patterned paper, the little Flopsey by the tree was calling my name.

Flopsey was highlighted with a Copic marker and then he was flocked with white fun flock over the shading. Flopsey was actually supposed to remain white...but when my hand slipped as I coloured in the tree trunk...I had to get creative in order to cover up the 'oopsie'.

I used the leaves from some floral wedding confetti to breathe a bit of life into the tree (at tip from Lauren Meader). She is the one that told me that you can purchase this wedding confetti at Michael's, and I have found that it comes in handy!

I used my threading water punch, some twill tape and some hemp twine tied with a button, in order to decorate the middle of my card. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the background of my stamped image is chalked and then the image was cut using my largest sized rectangular Nestabilities.

That pretty much sums things up! Thanks for stopping by!

On a Mission

2010-02-27T18:35:00.000-05:00

One of my (many) missions lately, has been to finish up unfinished projects. I have several stamped images in need of colouring and some cards that have been abandoned because I couldn't get them to look just right. Well, my challenge to myself is to finish them all off!

This image had been stamped and coloured for months. This weekend, my children have a birthday party to attend for a little boy who is really 'into' space. Well, I dusted this image off and decided to make something of it!

I wanted to make a card other than a standard 5 1/2 by 4 1/4, but didn't have a lot of time to look up the measurements for a specialty card. So, I decided to go with a card that opens in the center.

The papers are all from my scrap bin and the stamp is an SU! set called Pun Fun. I used a small star punch and some pop dots to adhere them around the space ship. The stars were also coloured with a glitter pen to make them shimmer. The number six was cut using a die cut and my cuttlebug. A bit of orange ribbon, et voila! I was finished. I am happy with the result and hope that this little guy's mother sees and rescues this card before it ends up in the trash with the wrapping paper! Eeeek!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Out of Retirement....

2010-02-24T16:55:00.004-05:00

My friend, Joanne, is celebrating her blogaversary soon...so she is issuing a series of challenges as part of the celebration. There is a big goodie basket up for grabs....enough of a goodie basket to bring me out of my self imposed blogging retirement and get me crackin'!

I decided to use my newest MFT stamp....which came in my MFT VIP package. It is actually from March's release, but by purchasing the VIP package, I got my hands on it early!

The famous MFT girl is supposed to be holding a cake...the stamp set comes complete with candles and everything. I, however, decided to take some creative liberties and I changed the cake into a big stack of gifts....each paper pieced and tied with a teeny, tiny ribbon!

I used a border punch, some ribbon, and some buttons from my VIP kit in order to complete the look. Who's That Girl's skirt is paper pieced as well, and her hands and legs are coloured with copic markers. All of these papers are from my scrap bin....I have to do my part to be good to the earth, right?! When it comes paper crafting supplies...I am known to be quite the consumer!

I decided to put my sentiment on the inside of my card....I couldn't quite get it to look right on the front without it looking too 'overdone'. I seem to be having trouble with that lately...fitting my sentiment on the front of my cards. Hmmm....something to work on!

Thanks for stopping by! I am off to post my link on the challenge thread!

Phew.....

2010-01-25T13:52:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, hasn't it?! It's not that I haven't been crafting...I just haven't been posting! it is one of those things that slips when time is tight.

It has been a busy year....we have moved (again!). I feel like I have made a career out of it! We have been in our new house (and new state!) for about seven months now...so we are feeling fairly settled. I am now trying to get back to doing some things that I enjoy. I feel like my family is on the right path...now I just have to squeeze in some 'me time'!

So now, I am going back through old folders of photos that I have taken of cards and projects, and trying to remember what they were for! I can't tell you who I made this card for...but I will give you as many of the details as I can remember. :)

The stamp is Sophia Ballerina from Paper Pretties. I used Chocolate Chip ribbon from SU!. The sentiment is also from an SU! The die cut behind Sophia is the top note die from SU! (if my memory serves me correctly). Card stock is also Chocolate Chip. I am afraid that I don't have the details for the paper or flower embellishment....I will try to do better next time! :)

Thanks for popping by!

Mmmmm....Chocolate Chip

2008-10-13T15:29:00.004-04:00

It's no secret that I love the colour Chocolate Chip. So, today I have another tote to share, and of course, it had to have some Chocolate Chip on it!

The patterned papers are from Close to My Heart. The grosgrain that I used on the handle is SU! Chocolate Chip and the polka dot ribbon is from American Crafts. It's a good match though, isn't it?

This tote was designed for a friend of mine who wanted thank you cards. So I used SU! Define Your Life and stamped two of the card fronts with 'gratitude' and the other two card fronts with 'kindness'. The flower stamps are from SU! also, they were stamped, embossed with clear embossing powder and cut out by hand. Each flower was then given a button center.

All of the patterned papers were layered with, you guessed it....Chocolate Chip!

Thanks for stopping by today!

More Liquid Applique!

2008-10-12T12:22:00.003-04:00

I know I am a little behind the times...but I only just started using liquid applique recently. The verdict? I love it! It gives a card that little extra 'something' that you want to have.

I recently made this card for my Godson's third birthday. It is clean and simple, but I wanted that little extra something. So, I got out the liquid applique and used it for the airplane exhaust. A shot with my heat gun was all it took to get that puffy smokey look, and I was all set!

The papers were all from my scrap bin....so I can't be sure where they originally came from. The ink I used for the sentiment is White Daisy from Close to My Heart. I used Midnight Blue StazOn for the plane. The plane is from the CTMH stamp set called Flyin' High. The ribbon and buttons are from one of the big chain craft stores....I can't remember which one....

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Winner!

2008-10-11T22:59:00.002-04:00

Well ladies...the winner of the stamp set from my blog candy post is Christi! You can email me your snail mail address at colleenharshaw@yahoo.ca and I will pop this in the mail for you. Thanks for always being here with encouraging words, Christi!

Have a great weekend!

For the Shoebox!

2008-10-08T11:13:00.000-04:00

I recently made a whole slew of cards in an attempt to have a bit of inventory on hand. Whether the cards would be used for a holiday craft fare, or whether they would just be kept on hand for those 'just in case' moments, I wasn't sure. But, I am glad I have them.

I know that you can't tell that I have been stamping lately...since none of the projects have been posted here...but I am swimmingly busy with my life at the moment. My Usborne Books adventure is taking off more than I imagined it would...and I can only hope that the momentum will continue, because it is a really good kind of busy...aside from the fact that it takes away from my stamping time, that is.

Now, back to the cards! As I was getting into mass production mode I decided to focus my designs on some of my solid stamps....there by eliminating the need to colour in images....because I know that you know....that takes so much time!

This series of four cards were made using a stamp set from Close to My Heart called 'Construction Set'. The patterned papers are from a stack by Amanda Blu called The Boy Collection. The brads are from JoAnn Essentials line and the layers are all stacked up with dimensionals.

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win an acrylic stamp set!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Finally...Some Eye Candy...

2008-10-05T09:09:00.004-04:00

....and some BLOG CANDY too!

I have been so delinquent in my posting as of late, that I feel like I need to offer up a little something for my readers who continue to come back...I know there are at least two or three of you out there! LOL!

Seriously though, things are good, just incredibly busy in our household right now. I know that a lot of you can relate!

So, continue to the bottom of this post to see the blog candy that is up for grabs!

This card was made for a very dear friend of mine. She has always been generous and kind. She is a practicing Catholic, and I know that Angel Wings (one of the upcoming Stamp of the Month Club stamps over at Paper Pretties) is an image that will mean a lot to her. She and her husband recently had our whole family to their house in Cape Cod and they were wonderful hosts! They took us clamming (our very first time!) and then cooked up a marvelous meal! I wanted to send her a special card, and this is what I came up with.

The patterned papers are from Sandylion and they were paired up with Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip from SU! I used my rectangular nesties to cut out and mat the image. Angel Wings Sophia was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. I used Dazzling Diamonds on her wings and liquid applique on the bottom of her gown. A shot with my heat was all it needed to puff up and look warm and cozy!

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things and I used my word window punch to punch it out. Dimensionals to fasten it onto the card, a dash of ribbon, and I was finished!

Now, onto my blog candy!

I have a set 14 acrylic stamps up for grabs. They are made by K & Company and the set is called Special Occasions. The set includes stamps that say things like Delight, Treasures of the Heart, Remember, Happy, Simply The Best, Girl Stuff and Celebrate.

All you have to do is leave me a comment and I will announce the winner next Saturday!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Calling All Scrapbookers.....

2008-09-25T08:24:00.007-04:00

.....and wanna be scrapbookers too!

I have a challenge for you today! My last official post and challenge as the Prettie Pages Girl over at Paper Pretties....and it's a good one!

For this challenge, I want to you scrapbook on a white background. Make your layout about the photos and keep them the focus. Skip all the layers and the embellishments and just keep it minimal! Let's see what you can come up with!

You have until next Thursday, October 2nd to upload your layout to the Paper Pretties gallery under weekly challenges. Be sure to use the keyword PCS3 so that we can find all of your creations! If you are chosen as the lucky winner, I seem to think that Christie might have a little goodie from the Pretties Boutique to send your way! Get cracking!

Here is my sample:

I used Bunny Slippers as my Paper Pretties stamp and my layout features photos of my daughter sleeping. The title is made from chipboard letters covered in various patterned papers from my scrap bin. The swirls in the corners of the layout are acrylic stamps from Inkadinkado, stamped in Sweet Leaf ink from Close To My Heart.

Bunny Slippers was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. I then cut her out and adhered her with dimensionals to my layout.

I journaled in a pale purple pen from CTMH around the perimeter of the photos.

And there you have it! I look forward to seeing what everyone creates!

Thanks for stopping by today!

It's Coming To An End!

2008-09-24T14:11:00.002-04:00

My time over at Paper Pretties as their Prettie Pages Girl is coming to an end...sigh. I have one more challenge for you, so be sure to check back tomorrow, and then my job there is officially over! On to new and exciting things!

I have a Paper Pretties card to share with you today. This is Angel Wings, and she is the stamp of the month for October. Isn't she adorable? I would love to use her on my Christmas cards this year...but I refuse to mass produce an image that I have to hand colour! Can you imagine how long that would take?! I guess I will save her for my scrapbook pages and my very special cards!

The base of this card is black card stock. I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder. It's a bit hard to see in the pic...but the whole base is embossed. I used my nestabilites to cut out my main image. She was coloured and blended with OMS and then her wings were given a layer of dazzling diamonds. She is really pretty and shimmery in person. :) The bottom of her gown was covered with liquid applique and then heated with my heat gun. This was one of my first times using liquid applique and I have to say, I love it! You will be seeing a lot of it here in the future, I'm sure!

The sentiment is from MFT and I used my SU! hodge podge hardware in silver for the frame. The ribbon is from one of the big chain stores....JoAnn, perhaps? I can't be certain.

Like I said, be sure to check back tomorrow for my last Prettie Pages challenge!

Thanks for stopping by today!

A New Adventure!

2008-09-22T11:46:00.004-04:00

In case you have noticed that my posts have been a bit sporadic lately, it is because I have started on a new business venture recently! You are reading the blog of a new Usborne Books Independent Consultant! Usborne is a fantastic company that sells educational, non-fiction, and engaging books through retail outlets as well as in home parties. Since I am such a newbie, I am working hard at building my business and scheduling parties! Keep your eyes peeled for a link to my Usborne website to appear in my sidebar soon. You can then go there to check things out and more importantly, to shop! I already have a customer in my fellow Prettie Girl, Jana (thanks for your order, Jana!!). :) Jana used to live overseas in Germany, so she has an appreciation for Usborne....the only English books that I could find when my family lived in Switzerland!

Now, back to my project! I made this fun (and ultra easy) note card folio recently with one of my favourite colour combos...pink pirouette and chocolate chip. The base is pink pirouette, the patterned paper is from Sandylion (LOVE this paper....must get more!) and the ribbon is from American Crafts. Isn't it gorgeous?! Must get more of that too......

I just realized that I don't have a photo of the inside of the folio....I must remember to take one next time I make this project. It is very straight forward....the bottom of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock is folded up two inches and that is it. Ta da! Done. I used sticky strip to seal up the sides of the folded up pocket and included four of these flat note cards and four envelopes.

The blooms on the note cards are from Making Memories and the brads are from JoAnn Essentials.

There you have it! Thanks for stopping by today!

Oh, and don't forget to stop by for my Paper Pretties scrapbooking challenge on Thursday! I will have a challenge and a layout to share. See you then!

Still Cleaning!

2008-09-20T09:29:00.000-04:00

This is one of those cards that was the result of my efforts to clean up my desk and use any unused stamped images that I had laying around.

I had stamped some images WAY back when at my friend, Joanne's house. This was one of those images. The stamp is from SU! Pun Fun. The card stock is SU! barely banana. It seems like either barely banana or chocolate chip make an appearance on every card that I make lately! I don't know what it is....they just work for me!

The sketch is a variation of one that I found by Ingrid Danvers over at 2 sketches 4 you. I used white grosgrain tied around the middle and then I looped SU! hemp twine threaded with a charm. I haven't used charms in ages...so it was fun to get to incorporate this one! I used my distresser around the whale image and the image itself was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS.

Pretty straight forward! Make sure you stop by again soon....I am going to have a Paper Pretties scrapbooking challenge and layout to share on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Old Project, New Image!

2008-09-17T10:09:00.005-04:00

I have a Paper Pretties project to share with you today! I have shown these little note card sets a million times before (and you will probably see them a million more!), but I have never made one using a Paper Pretties stamp! I used Howdy Girlfriend on this set, and I love how it all came together in the end! I originally saw these little note card sets over on my friend Joanne's blog.

The papers are Deja Views Blue Raspberry Paisley and Blue Raspberry Stripes. I love these papers...now I have to figure out where I bought them so I can go and buy more! On the front of the note card holder I stamped the bottom half of Sophia from Howdy Girlfriend and then water coloured her with SU! water colour crayons and punched her out with a circle punch.

That is hemp twine from SU! that you see wrapped around the flap.

Inside the little box you find four of these little note cards. Here I stamped the top half of Sophia and then coloured and punched her out. I used my Fiskars Threading Water punch along the bottom edge and then mounted the card on a kraft base. The ribbon I used on the cards was purchased at Target on clearance. I love clearance! hehe The ink is StazOn in Timber Brown.

Here is a close up of cute little Sophia. You can get other stamps just like this one by joining the Stamp of the Month Club over at Paper Pretties. Each and every month you will get some 'happy mail' and find a new stamp in your mail box! Click on the link above to get all the details!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You!

2008-09-15T17:51:00.000-04:00

My husband celebrated his 34th birthday just a few days ago. It is so hard to believe...we met each other when he was just 19! I was 17 back then....wow....where does the time go?!

For Kevin's birthday card, I tried something really different than my usual style of card. I had my new MFT set Nature Calls, and I really wanted to use it. So, I decided to create a scene. I am really not a 'scene kinda girl' but, this is what I ended up with. It has kind of grown on me now that it is finished and I see it sitting on the mantle every day...but it really isn't one of my favs.

I actually used three different stamp sets on this card. The tree and the bear are from MFT Nature Calls, the clouds are from my Hanna Stamps Route 66 set, and the plane and the banner are from MFT Going Places. The bear and banner are popped up with dimensionals. I distressed the edges of the card stock on the top layer and then layered it onto dark green card stock with a Kraft base. The ribbon is SU! twill tape. The message on the banner was hand written with a Le Plume marker in dark brown. The message reads 'Happy Birthday! We love you beary much!'. That pretty well wraps it up!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Yummy Coffee....

2008-09-13T21:29:00.004-04:00

I don't know what it is....but I am really into coffee stamps. I must have three or four different stamps and stamp sets that fit into this theme. To me, the thought of coffee evokes images of coziness and friendship and a good chat. All things that I love!

I have two different cards to share today....both using the same sketch and each with a different coffee image. These cards came to be because of my mission to clean up any unfinished projects. I had several stamped images that I hadn't used yet...they were sitting in a pile. It is my goal to get them all used up and have a nice stack of completed cards by month end!

The paper is from K & Company. I am such a fan of this line...it has such an earthy feel to it....I just love it! The sketch came from Andrea Walford's blog. She used it as part of one of her Simply Saturday posts.

The stamps are SU! Pun Fun and MFT Hot Stuff respectively. The buttons are ??? from my button drawer. No packaging to be found...they were all in a Ziploc baggie. :) The scalloped borders were done with my Fiskars Threading Water punch....have I mentioned that I love that thing?!? LOL

The ribbon is cotton twill tape from Twill E Dee...I have no idea where I got it from. I have never even heard of that brand before. It was in my ribbon box though!

Well, I think that's it for today.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Need A Little Love?

2008-09-10T18:35:00.002-04:00

The card I have for you today uses the stamp set Made With Love from over at Paper Pretties. I actually stamped this image quite some time ago, and then abandoned it for something else at the time. Poor Lexi was sitting around half coloured....it was tragic! LOL!

I recently reserved a table for myself at a fall fair in our area with the intention of selling some of my handcrafted cards and gifts. So, I am on a mission to finish all of the unfinished projects sitting in my workspace in order to bulk up my inventory! But, I digress....

Back to Lexi and my card!!

So, I finished colouring Lexi and layered her on two shades of pink card stock. The patterned paper is from my scrap bin...but I think it originally came from a Provo Craft Super Slab. The sketch is from Lauren Meader's blog.

I used a bit of ribbon scrap that I had in my 'ribbon scrap jar' and then added one new item to my card......an SU! filigree brad. Isn't it cute?

All in all....it was a very eviro conscious card! I used up lots of scraps and added only one new item.

Oh, and don't forget.....Christie over at Paper Pretties is extending her HUGE 45% off sale for another week! The coupon code is the same "Labor Day" (case sensitive) and the sale will go on until Saturday, September 13th at 11:59 pm CST. Now get going!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another Tote and a SALE!

2008-09-07T15:21:00.005-04:00

This little tote is a variation of one that I did as part of a class taught by Lauren Meader at The Paper Tree in New Hampshire. The original version was actually more of a folder....but I wasn't following the instructions closely enough and I sealed up all of the loose edges, and therefore ended up with an enclosed box! LOL! I ended up preferring the box....so I have gone ahead and made more of them since.

This is one of the versions I made recently......

The box itself is made from an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of vellum card stock. I used brown StazOn and the SU! Define Your Life stamp for the sentiment on the front. The scalloped edge was made with my Threading Water border punch by Fiskars....LOVE that thing!! The blooms are from Making Memories.

I made two different versions of this card set, for two different totes. The outside of the totes were identical, I just varied the paper and ribbon on the cards inside the tote. I used She's All That from SU! and stamped one image on each of four cards. I used my Fiskars border punch on each of the cards. The ink is Brilliance.

I love these images from She's All That because a card comes together so quickly with them. Because they are solid images, there is no colouring! I find that colouring and paper piecing can be so time consuming! The tricky part with solid images is getting a nice, consistently coloured image...without any spottiness to it. The way I like to do this is by using a thin foam mat to stamp on top of. I have a number of Close To My Heart acrylic stamp sets, and each of their sets comes with one of these thin foam mats. The foam mat allows for a bit more 'give' when you stamp the image, and therefore you get a more solid looking image. Give it a try!

Some exciting news.......

Christie, over at Paper Pretties, has decided to extend her HUGE 45% off sale another week! You better get on over there while the gettin' is still good! There are going to be some changes over at Paper Pretties in the near future, and Christie really wants to get her inventory cleared out to prepare for all of the exciting NEW stuff!! The coupon code is the same "Labor Day" (case sensitive) and the sale will go on until Saturday, September 13th at 11:59 pm CST.

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

I Found Something!

2008-09-04T21:06:00.004-04:00

I really wanted to have something (besides Disney photos) to share with you today, since I have been gone for so long! That posed a bit of a challenge though, since I haven't stamped in over a week now. Gasp!

I went through my photos, and found this little number that I hadn't posted yet! Yeah!

I made this card for a very close friend. It was her birthday on the second. I purchased this Huggybella stamp ages ago with her specifically in mind. You see, my friend Tara has this curly, wild, big hair. I have poker strait, fine hair....which up until fairly recently, was always very long. When I saw this stamp, my mind immediately went to Tara and I! I knew I had to have it!

Tara's favorite colour is blue...so the colour choice came together quickly. I used scalloped scissors for the scalloped edge along the bottom, and my new-ish rectangle nestabilities (I've had them for a while now...but not yet used them much...) to mat the main image.

I coloured the image with coloured pencils and blended it with OMS. The ribbon is generic white grosgrain from one of the chain craft stores (Michael's, JoAnn, or A.C. Moore). The kraft base is from SU! The buttons are from....?? I would have to run upstairs to find out. If you really need the info, leave me a comment and I will get back to you. LOL! I guess I am not feeling very ambitious right now.... The button at the top left of the card, and the dragonfly (see below....it's a bit hard to see) are from the same package of buttons.

I then used my piercing tool from SU! in order to punch the trail of the dragonfly. Once again...it is a bit difficult to see, but if you look at the close up above, you might be able to see what I am talking about.

Overall, this card came together quite quickly, and I am really happy with the results. I hope my friend is too!

In Paper Pretties news.......read below......right from the Paper Pretties site!

Big Sale - I Mean HUGE...
So who's ready for a sale? Now, wait a minute - I don't mean little sale here - there ain't going to be no 10% or 20% or even 30% sale tags at this sale - NOPE NOPE NOPE! Tonight we're beginning our week-long Labor Day 45% off EVERYTHING in the store sale!!! Yep, you read it right - 45% off EVERYTHING for 1 week starting NOW!!! All you have to do when you check out is enter the coupon code Labor Day (case sensitive). Just a hint: Many of the things in the sale category are already marked down so you'll be getting 50, 60, all the way up to 80% off of some of those items.So what are you waiting for - get going and shop while the shopping is good!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

We're Back From Disney!

2008-09-04T20:47:00.004-04:00

We are back from a fun, fun, fun trip to Disney World! We arrived home earlier in the week....just in time to start school. It has been a busy week! Getting back into the swing of things and establishing new routines takes some energy! (I am sure many of you can relate!)

Now that I have waded through most of my pile of laundry and stocked up the fridge, I need to catch up on some blurfing and blogging! I feel so out of the loop! I have no idea what is going on in bloggy land! LOL

I hope to be back soon with some new projects to share, but in the mean time, I have a couple of fun photos from our trip!

Here are my two little angels with Mickey and Minnie in the Magic Kingdom.

Of course, my husband and I had to get in on the action too!

Thanks for stopping by today....I hope to be back soon!

Paper Pretties Scrapbooking Challenge!

2008-08-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

Well ladies....I have a challenge for you today! I know that many of you are wonderfully talented card makers, but that many of you don't scrapbook! So, the challenge this month is going to give you card makers a chance to try your hand at some journaling! I challenge you all to love your handwriting and journal, in your own hand, on a scrapbook page.

Use your Paper Pretties stamps if you have them, and if not, feel free to play along anyways! You have until next Thursday, Sept. 4th to upload your creations to the Paper Pretties Gallery under weekly challenges. You can use keyword PSC2.

Here is my sample:

The patterned papers that I used are from the Chatter Box Reading Room Collection. I LOVE this collection! It is one of those that has been in my stash for a while...just waiting to be cut into. I feel like I should enter a support group or something.... "Hi, my name is Colleen and I hoard pretty paper...". :)

The stamps that I used are Sealed With A Kiss from Paper Pretties and Office Accoutrement from SU! I did my journaling with a Le Plume pen in dark brown. The flowers were stamped in White Daisy ink from CTMH onto chocolate chip card stock from SU! and then they were cut out by hand. I then coated them with clear embossing powder and heated them with my heat gun.

My main image was coloured with CTMH water colour pencils and then blended with OMS. I used an edge distresser around my journaling block and a corner rounder on all of my photos.

Red buttons in the flower centers and brown metal photo clips provide little accents to tie the page together!

Thanks for stopping by today and I can't wait to see what you create!

Growing Up Fast!

2008-08-26T13:24:00.004-04:00

I recently made this card for my little nephew in Canada. He is having his 4th birthday, and he will be starting Junior Kindergarten right around the same time. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone, and make him a birthday card with Look Out World from Paper Pretties.

This card gave me my first chance to practice with my new rectangular nestabilites that I purchased over at Papertrey. I got the rectangles to start, but hope to add to my collection over the next few months... *wink*.

The yellow cardstock is Barely Banana from SU! I don't know what it is...I never used yellow before, but ever since I got this package of Barely Banana, I use it on everything! I used my slit punch on the corners of the mat for the main image, and then tucked the stamped image in behind the slits to hold it in place. I then put a button on each corner and tied a piece of American Crafts ribbon around the center behind the main image.

The sentiment is stamped in Midnight Blue StazOn, and the little spiral clip on the right side covers the tiniest little blemish of ink....but shhhhhh.....don't tell anyone, ok? :)

Mr. Cooper was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS.

** Be sure to join me tomorrow for my Paper Pretties Scrapbooking Challenge! I will be posting my challenge one day early this month because we leave for DISNEY early on Thursday morning! **

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Fun Day!

2008-08-24T21:42:00.009-04:00

Last Saturday I made the drive to New Hampshire to a scrapbooking store called The Paper Tree. The purpose of my trip wasn't just to shop (although I did some of that too!), but instead it was to take three classes being taught by the Lauren Meader!

The first class was by far and away my favourite of the day....we made this adorable little stationary kit!

It almost looks like a little lunch box, wouldn't you say?!

The belly band slides either up or down, and then the top flips up and the whole thing folds open. Lauren said that this is her favourite project to date....and I have to admit that I love it too.

This is what the box looks like when it is unfolded. There are four monogrammed cards (and envelopes) in each side of the box.

This is one of the cards. I monogrammed my project with a "T" for a lucky friend who has an upcoming birthday! It is in the mail on its way to her as we speak. :)

I have since tried to recreate this box....and I finally figured it out after a couple of mistakes. I jotted down some rough notes while taking the class in hopes of being able to make these boxes again. Let's just say, it's a good thing I worked through my 'rough notes' before tucking this little baby in the mail to my friend! LOL

Have a great day!

Genuine Boy

2008-08-21T21:16:00.005-04:00

I have a card tote to share with you today. I have made these totes before, and featured them on my blog many times before...but they are so cute, and they make great gifts....so I can't resist!

This particular tote was made as a gift for a woman who is having a baby boy. The request was to make the cards appropriate to be used as thank you cards for potential gift givers.

I used papers from a Provo Craft Slab with American Crafts Ribbon that reads 'genuine boy' on the outside of the tote. The brackets around this sentiment were traced and cut out of card stock. I used plastic punctuation from American Crafts as my pattern for this task. The buttons are random ones that came from my Mom's sewing stash the last time I raided her button bucket.

I decided to use the kangaroo from Just So Hoppy by Melanie Muenchinger as the main image on my cards. I stamped the sentiments 'It's a Boy' and 'Thank You' onto the balloons in the set, and cut them out and popped them up using dimensionals. Both the kangaroo and the balloons were coloured using coloured pencils and then they were blended using OMS.

The scalloped edges were made with scissors and then I ran the scalloped pieces of card stock through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. Linen thread serves as the string for the balloons. I LOVE the linen thread from SU!. I have been using it a lot lately. It gives a similar feel as the hemp twine to a project (IMHO), but it is much finer and easier to work with.

I made two cards of each design and tucked them into my trusty tote. I just got an email from my friend today (waving 'hi' Stefanie!) and she LOVED it!

Stay tuned for more totes later in the week!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Way To Go!

2008-08-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

This card was so much fun for me to make! I have a neighbour who asked me to make a humorous card for her brother-in-law who was turning 5o. I immediately thought of the set 'Way To Go' that I purchased over at Gina K.

The toilet was stamped onto the blue card stock and it was then coloured with a white water colour crayon from SU! The toilet paper holder was stamped directly onto the card base also, but I then stamped it again on white, trimmed it out, and layered it onto the main image to give the look of dimension. I actually popped up the dangling end of the tissue with a small dimensional to make it look as though it is hanging. The plunger was stamped onto a separate piece of card stock and then coloured, cut out and popped up with dimensionals.

The black and white tile floor was made from scrap that I had left in my scrap bin from a 'page-a-day' scrapbooking calendar. I pieced it around the toilet base and then the plunger was put on top. The sentiment was stamped in black StazOn on twill tape. I used black brads and paper piercing to accent the corners a bit and added stickers to punched circles highlighting the recipient's age....I am sure he appreciated that!

Inside the card I stamped the above birthday message (from the same set). I added the little toilet brush to finish it off! Who could resist a smile after seeing that?!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-08-16T13:00:00.001-04:00

My husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on August 9th. I posted the card that my son made for my husband...but I realized that I still haven't posted the one that I made! So, here it is!

I made a card previously that I really liked...you can see it here. Since the card was well received...I decided to use the same technique on this card base also. I ran the base through my Cuttlebug using the script embossing folder. I then used White Daisy ink from CTMH to highlight the embossed areas. The stamp is Sealed With A Kiss from Paper Pretties. The sentiments are all from the same set also. I stamped the main image on water colour paper and then cut a heart in the front of the card and put the stamped image behind. I used thin red ribbon to stitch around the heart to highlight it. Luke and Lexi were coloured with water colour crayons.

The big, red brads next to each sentiment are from Imaginisce and they are called Jingle Brads. The ribbon is from A. C. Moore in the clearance bin. I bought it after Valentine's Day and it has been hanging around here ever since.

I have mixed feelings about this card....it is WAY busier than anything I generally make...but, it is going to be around for a long time since I gave it to my husband! Maybe it will grow on me.....

Don't forget to check out the sale that Christie is having over at Paper Pretties! You can find the details here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Going Places

2008-08-15T11:55:00.004-04:00

Phew....what a week! I haven't gone to bed before midnight once this week...and it is catching up to me!! I have been doing a lot of stamping in the evenings...but that means that I haven't had much time to blog...or see my poor husband! I think he is feeling a bit abandoned! :( I have finished a lot of projects that were on my 'to do' list...but I still have a ways to go. The good news is that I will have a lot to share with you over the next few days! :)

The card that I want to share with you today incorporates two past Prettie Girl challenges. First, first Jana's sketch challenge, and second, Jessie's challenge to use three embellishments on one card. My three embellishments are dimensional stickers, ribbon and brads.

This card is for the birthday of a woman who is a travel buff...so, what better stamp to use than MFT Going Places?! Christie has MFT stamps over in her online store here. She also has a sale going on right now! Here are the details:

"From Friday August 15th until August 31st:

When you spend $25 in the Paper Pretties Boutique, you can choose any one of the Paper Pretties' sentiments for free.

When you spend $50 you can choose a Paper Pretties' sentiment and a roll of American Crafts ribbon.

When you spend $100 - you can choose a Paper Pretties' sentiment, a roll of American Crafts ribbon and you'll get FREE SHIPPING!!!

When you check out, simply leave us a note in the comments box telling us which sentiment and which ribbon you'd like and we'll make sure it gets put in your order! Orders over $100 will automatically not be charged shipping. *Please note that these offers cannot be combined.*"

Now, back to my card! The patterned paper is called Legacy Collage by Beth Cote. I used SU! Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and cardstock. I also used some Barely Banana too...love that combo! The travel words dimensional stickers are by K & Company and the brads are JoAnn Essentials. I then used an oval punch and arrow punch for my accents.

I think that sums it up! Thanks for stopping by today!

A Prettie Boy??

2008-08-09T17:03:00.004-04:00

Today is the 11th wedding anniversary of my husband and I. When our little guy, Noah, heard this, he decided he wanted to make Daddy a card (I didn't get a card!). Noah is 6 years old....and he has been exposed to my crafting since birth. So, needless to say...he knows his way around my craft room pretty well! He also has a craft desk full of supplies in his own room too...but I digress.

Here is a photo of Noah's card. He chose the medium himself....foam instead of paper. He then cut out all of the layers for the main image himself. I helped him with the stamping. He chose the heart and the sentiment from Sealed With A Kiss by Paper Pretties. He then gave his image a dash of red, and then moved on to the inside of the card.

Noah wanted to make a smiley face so we chose brads for the eyes and nose and we used a gel pen to draw on the mouth. Noah then added his personal message.

What do you think Christie? How about a junior, junior design team?! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kids With Fur

2008-08-08T11:29:00.002-04:00

Last night I managed to get my challenge card completed...you know...the one that was supposed to be posted on Wednesday? I don't know what has been going on with me this week...but man, have I had problems creating! I am happy with how this little card turned out...so maybe my mojo is coming back! Let's hope so!

This challenge was issued by Jodi, and it was to make a 3 x 3 card. Wow....that's tiny! I didn't realize just how tiny until I cut my card base! The challenge was then to find a Paper Pretties stamp that would work!

I decided to use this cute little dog from Rainy Day Friend. The idea of cutting out these squares this way actually came to me in my sleep. I love how it looks. I really wish I would get inspiration in my sleep more often! It came together so easily.

The sentiment is from one of the MFT sentiments sets. I used a white gel pen to make the dots that frame the images. I added two brown brads and a bit of brown and blue grosgrain ribbon to finish things off. The image was coloured with coloured pencils and blended with OMS. The papers are all from my scrap bins.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Pizza, Anyone?

2008-08-07T22:10:00.003-04:00

While blurfing around the other day, I came across a tutorial for this cute little pizza box and note cards by Jen del Muro for The Cat's Pajamas. You can find it here. The cards measure 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 and the box itself is 4 inches square.

I am one of those deprived little souls who doesn't own Nestabilities...so I had to change the top of my box. I did go with the cupcake theme though...because, really....who doesn't love cupcakes?!

It's difficult to see the colours in this second photo, but the yellow is SU! Barely Banana. The green is some random card stock from who-knows-where. The cupcake stamps are from Inkadinkado and the set is called Birthday Cupcake. I used coloured pencils and OMS for the colouring. The cupcake on the top of the box was given a dash of SU! Dazzling Diamonds for a bit of shimmer and a red button for a cherry.

I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder on the top of the box as well as on the cards. The ribbon on the box top is SU! and the ribbon on the cards is CTMH. Some paper piercing and a few scallop punches and voila! There you have it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I Tried!

2008-08-05T13:06:00.002-04:00

I tried to upload this photo last night...but blogger wasn't having any of it! So, here I am trying again today...and blogger seems a bit more agreeable! :)

This is Bunny Slippers. Isn't she cute? She was just released to the public over at Paper Pretties on the first...but, if you were a member of the Stamp of the Month Club, you would have gotten her a whole month before that! It isn't too late...you can still join the SOTMC and get some of the 'oh so cute' upcoming stamps. Keep checking back...because you will see them popping up here, as well as on the other Prettie Girls' Blogs too! You can find all of the links in my sidebar!

So, back to my card!

I used papers from a Provo Craft Super Slab. The blooms are random...I really don't know where they came from. They were in my 'bloom box'. :) I stitched all of the panels with my sewing machine and purple thread. The edges of the main image and mats were distressed with my Making Memories edge distresser. The edges of the sentiment were inked with CTMH Hollyhock ink. The main image was stamped with StazOn...my 'go to' ink for everything! I used SU! watercolour crayons to colour the image. The sentiment is actually hanging there...it moves around....it isn't stationary.

Thanks for stopping by today!

It Was a Raging Success!

2008-08-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

On Friday night, we had another Stampin' In Your Jammies release party over at Paper Pretties. Four new stamps were released...so make sure you pop on over and take a peek! The party was a raging success...we broke the server....again. :) But, it bounced back and we were able to finish the party. What fun!

Prettie Girl, Charmaine, issued challenges at the top of each hour, and I have my first challenge card to share with you today! The challenge was to make a black and white card with one splash of colour. Some of the girls massaged this challenge just a bit....colouring in faces and hair too! LOL! My lady looks a little on the pale side, but I like her anyways! :)

The stamp is from Rubber Romance. {Christie has some of the Rubber Romance stamps in her store here. She also has several other manufacturers in stock too...so be sure to check it out!} I used a black card stock base and ran it through my Cuttlebug using the script folder to emboss it. I then used my White Daisy ink pad from CTMH to highlight the embossed areas. The image was water coloured with SU! watercolour crayons. The red scalloped edge was made with scissors. I used punches for the circle and oval shapes on which the sentiment is mounted. The sentiment is from MFT...Essential Sentiments, I think. I embossed the sentiment with super fine black embossing powder...although you can't really see it in the photo.

Don't forget....I have issued my first Paper Pretties scrapbooking challenge! You can find the link to the challenge here. You have until Thursday, August 7th to complete the challenge and upload your creation here...the Paper Pretties Weekly Challenges Gallery. Use the keyword PSC1....Pretties Scrapbooking Challenge One! Get crackin'....I know there are some closet scrapbookers out there! I can't wait to see what you come up with! And, as a little extra incentive...Christie might just have a little something-something to send to the challenge winner!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Scrapbooking Challenge AND a Sneak Peek!

2008-07-31T21:00:00.009-04:00

I have a challenge for you today! This is my very first Paper Pretties Scrapbooking Challenge! Now, I know with the busy days of summer being here...you all must have a ton of photos to scrapbook. If you are like me, you are perpetually behind on your scrapbooking, and the ability to make a layout using several photos at once can be a beautiful thing! So, with that in mind....my challenge to you is this.....

- create a scrapbooking layout using photo blocks
- the layout can be put on any size page...8 1/2 x 11, 6 x 6, 8 x 8, 12 x 12
- it can be one page or two
- don't be afraid to use photos from many different dates or occasions, but across a common theme
- don't forget to include your Paper Pretties stamps!
- you can post a link to your creations here, and in the Paper Pretties Challenge Forum too. I can't wait to see what you come up with! I know there are some other scrapbookers out there! Come on out and play!

Here is my sample for you...

I did a two page layout on 12 x 12 that incorporates nine photo squares and three Paper Pretties stamps. I have several pics to share....as I find photographing 12 x 12 pages challenging!

All of my photos measure 3 x 3 and then they were matted on two and three layers...depending on the photo.....

This photo shows the hinges that I used on my layout to hide my journaling. There are two photo blocks that have these hinges on them. This is Beach Bum....he is being released tomorrow night over at Paper Pretties!

This is Soakin' Up The Sun....

Here we have Bugs and Fishes...also being released tomorrow night!

Here is the two page spread in all its glory....bad lighting and all! LOL!

I can't wait to see what creations you all come up with!

Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Sneak Peek, Anyone?

2008-07-30T18:18:00.000-04:00

I am excited to show you one of the new stamps that is going to be released over at Paper Pretties on August 1st! It is our little guy Cooper...whom I'm sure many of you already know! The new set featuring him is called Beach Bum, and it will be released along with three other stamp sets on Friday! Join us over in the Paper Pretties Forum for Stampin' In Your Jammies. There will be challenges at the top of each hour (starting at 8:00 pm EST) and there will be prizes to be won!

Now, back to my card! This card was made from a sketch that I found on Lauren Meader's blog. The patterned papers are Colorbok Blue Pin Strip and the floral paper is from Me & My Big Ideas. The sentiment is from an acrylic set by Ting A Ling Accents. The inks are ColorBox Harbor and black StazOn.

Make sure you check back tomorrow too. I will have my very first Paper Pretties scrapbooking challenge for you! In my new role over at Paper Pretties, I will be posting scrapbooking challenges for you on the last Thursday of each month! Yes, the Prettie Girls scrapbook too!

See you tomorrow!

One Type Of Embellishment.....

2008-07-29T18:06:00.003-04:00

This is a Pretty Girl challenge from a few weeks ago. It was issued by Charmaine, and her challenge to us was to make a card using only one type of embellishment. I was very surprised at how difficult I found this challenge! I am not someone who goes for busy, busy designs and lots of bling and embellishments....I tend to be a bit more on the simple side (now, now...be nice girls!). :) I did however, have a lot of problems with this card!

I decided that my one type of embellishment was going to have to be ribbon. I used a couple of SU! ribbon scraps at the side of my image. The rest is really just paper and stamps. I used my new Cuttlebug to emboss the background of my card as well as little Sophia's dress (Swiss Dots folder). This little lady is from the Paper Pretties set called Rainy Day Friends. The yellow card stock is SU! Barely Banana and the green is just something I had kickin' around my stamp room. I used my ticket corner punch to jazz up the looks of the card base and then watercolor crayons to color the image. I would have loved to add some brads to the corners...but unfortunately, that would have broken the 'one embellishment' rule!

In other news.....there are a bunch of 'goings on' over at Paper Pretties right about now! Here's the dish:

- there is a contest for the next Cutie Pie taking place right now. The contest is open until July 31st at midnight. All you have to do to enter is use your Paper Pretties stamps on a card and submit it to christie@paperpretties.net before the deadline. The winner will receive all of the August releases for FREE!!

- August 1st is our Stampin' In Your Jammies release party for four new stamps sets and two new sentiments. You can join us at 8:00 pm EST over in the Paper Pretties Forum for some challenges, chatting and prizes

- You still have time to join the Stamp Of The Month Club in order to get Howdy Girlfriend one month before she is released to the public. All you have to do is register for the club before July 31st and you will receive your stamp during the month of August.

Thanks for stopping by today....and tune in over the next few days to all the Prettie Girls' blogs to see some sneak peeks!

Gratitude

2008-07-28T18:29:00.002-04:00

I bought the SU! set Define You Life several months ago. I love the set...but oddly, I haven't used it much! I did get to use it on this card though...and I hope to use it again in the near future!

So, as you now know...the gratitude definition is from Define Your Life. The large 'G' stamp is from a CTMH set called Boutique Alphabet. I then cut the 'G' out by hand. I used edged scissors for the bottom of the card, and then rubbed the edge with a brown ink pad. I used one of my SU! punches for the ribbon slots. The ribbon is a brown organdy. The patterned paper is from CTMH (I think!) and the rest is just plain old card stock.

Pretty simple!

Don't forget to get your Cutie Pie entries in to Christie for a chance to win the new releases free! You just need to send your Paper Pretties themed card to her at christie@paperpretties.net before midnight on the 31st of July.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday, Sis!

2008-07-27T22:23:00.003-04:00

I've been keeping pretty busy for the last few days...hence the lack of posts taking place over here! My husband was getting ready for another business trip and we were just hanging out around here and having family time. He left today....for four days....so I am back to my blog!

I have been working on quite a few projects lately....unfortunately, I can't share any of them with you yet! You will just have to keep checking back if I you are curious! :)

I went through my file of photos that I hadn't yet posted, and I came up with this birthday card that I made for my sister. She is on a weight loss journey...and she is down 40 pounds! I am so proud of her! I bought this little beauty from Hanna Stamps with my sister, Patti, in mind. I knew that I wanted to use it on her birthday card.

The papers are all from a scrap stack. The big blooms are from Making Memories and I used a rhinestone brad for the center of the flowers. The ribbon is Offray...from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts...I think. I used my ticket corner punch around the main image and she was coloured with watercolour pencils and blended with OMS.

I think that is it for tonight!

Oh, but before I go....don't forget about all of the exciting things coming up over at Paper Pretties! There is a contest for the new Cutie Pie going on. All you have to do to enter is use your Paper Pretties stamps on a card and send your submission to christie@paperpretties.net before midnight on July 31st. If you are chosen as the winner, you will win all of the new releases free! Our stampin' in your jammies release party is going to take place on August 1st at 8:00 pm EST over in the Paper Pretties Forum. You can join us there for some challenges, chatting and prizes!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Working On It.....

2008-07-24T13:24:00.005-04:00

I don't have my Prettie Wednesday challenge card completed yet (yes, I do know that today is Thursday!) but I do have something else super cute to share with you!

This is my first post with Howdy Girlfriend and I had so much fun working with her! This little lady is the August Stamp of the Month over at Paper Pretties. You still have time to sign up for the club and then you can have this little cutie too! You must be registered by July 31st in order to get Howdy Girlfriend in August. What are you waiting for....go!

Back to the card details now.... The cowboy paper is from K & Company and the polka dot paper is by Deja Views...the Cat's Life Collection. I used my scalloped scissors for the bottom edge and then used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite to set all of the eyelets. The wide grosgrain is from Michael's in the dollar bin and then I used SU! hemp twine on top of it. I also used hemp twine to make little Sophia's lasso. I used my Making Memories distressing kit to distress the sentiment and then colored pencils and OMS were used to color in the image. I think the rest is self explanatory!

Don't forget to join us in the Paper Pretties Forum on August 1st to see all of our new releases, play along in some challenges, and possibly win some prizes! To have a chance to win all of the new releases for free, you can enter the Cutie Pie contest by creating a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and emailing your entry to Christie at christie@paperpretties.net. She will choose a winner to be our new Cutie Pie and that person will receive all of the new releases FREE!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Simple Thanks

2008-07-22T22:10:00.003-04:00

I recently had a friend ask me to make a thank you card for her realtor. I wanted to make a single layer card...I have never done this before....and I have seen such a challenge ages ago. I finally took the chance to rise to the challenge and this is what I came up with! It's very simple, but I am happy with it!

The stamped image is from the SU! set called Right At Home. The sentiment is from an acrylic Ting A Ling Accents set. I used coloured pencils to colour the image and some areas were blended with OMS (odourless mineral spirits) and a blending stump. I then used my sewing machine to stitch around the main image in navy blue. The attempt here was not to sew perfectly straight lines...but to have the lines of stitching have more of a hand drawn feel. In other words...it isn't perfect, but I'm OK with that! LOL!

Oh, and in other news....Paper Pretties has an upcoming release on August 1st! Join us for Stamping in Your Jammies at 8:00 pm EST in the Paper Pretties Forum for some challenges and prizes! There will be four (yes, I did say FOUR!) new sets released as well as two new sentiments. There is also another Cutie Pie contest going on to boot! To enter, all you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps. You can then send it to christie@paperpretties.net in order to be entered for a chance to win ALL of the stamps from this release FREE!

Thanks for visiting today!

Do You Ever Think About......

2008-07-21T20:38:00.002-04:00

....the impact that our hobby has on the environment? The reason I ask, is because the topic of consumerism has been weighing heavily on my mind over the last few months. Our family made a move towards becoming more 'green' a little over a year ago when we moved to the USA. We have made so many other changes towards this goal....but my scrapping/stamping purchases haven't changed a whole lot. Lately though, I have come across some products that are available to the paper crafting community that would help to lessen our impact on the earth. I wanted to share some of them with you today.

Have you seen this brand of card stock? It is called Nature Preserve and it is made of 100% recycled paper. It is available at Joann Fabric and Craft Stores....and other places too, I'm sure!

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat2772&PRODID=xprd612898&AID=10273743&PID=1992680

Have you heard of The Stubby Pencil Studio? They sell eco art supplies. You can even buy eco watercolor pencils....made of 100% FSC certified wood from reforestation sources! Check it out here:

http://www.stubbypencilstudio.com/supplies/index.htm

The Stubby Pencil Studio also sells recycled notebooks (with owls on them!) and soy crayons too.

There is a company called Action Envelope that sells eco friendly (ie. recycled) envelopes. You can shop in their eco friendly online shop here:

http://www.actionenvelope.com/ae/control/recycledShop

Target now carries a line of recycled, sustainable notebooks, binders, journals and accessories. The brand is Greenroom Eco and you can find their website here:

http://www.greenroomeco.com/

I also stumbled onto this great site recently. It is for a company called Eco Art Works. They actually sell hemp watercolor paper! You can find it here:

http://www.ecoartworks.com/stationery/paperpacks.html#watercolor

Check out this site too:

http://craftingagreenworld.com/

Just some food for thought......

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

He's Getting Golf Clubs!

2008-07-19T07:59:00.000-04:00

I made this card for a friend to give to her husband for his birthday recently. She told me that she had gotten him golf clubs. So, the first thing that came to my mind was my golfafella, of course! This is the first time I have used him, but I look forward to playing with him again! :)

I had a specific paper in mind for this card....it was bright and loud.....like the pants that you picture older men wearing on the golf course! LOL! The paper was actually from a HUGE scrap stack that I purchased at Costco....it was 360 sheets huge, to be exact!

My little golfafella was paper pieced and then the remainder of the image was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. Once I finished this...I still didn't like how it looked. The background was too open....too white. The solution I found was in one of my Hanna Stamps sets....I used the clouds from the Route 66 set to fill in some of the gaps. I then used chalks and a sponge dauber to create a soft background of grass and sky. Then I was happy!

The sentiment is from a set called Spunky Greetings by CTMH. The eyelets are from Making Memories. The ribbons are SU!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Some New Toys....

2008-07-18T11:23:00.000-04:00

As I am sure many of you are aware, during the fourth of July week Micheal's had some 50% off coupons floating around. I decided that was a good time to make some purchases and take advantage of the opportunity to save some money!

I am now the proud new owner of a Cuttlebug and a Crop-A-Dile Big Bite! I went back a few days in a row with a coupon printed from my email and made one purchase each day.

I already own a Quickutz...but I am ashamed to say that I don't use it nearly enough! The amount of embossing that you can do with a Quickutz is limited because the dies and embossing plates are only 2 x 2 (for the Squeeze tool, which is the one I own). It makes it kind of tough to emboss the entire front of a card. I since found out that all of the Quickutz dies that I currently own are usable with the Cuttlebug, and Quickutz supplies are not readily available in my area (in a retail store). All of these things combined with my 50% off coupon convinced me that the Cuttlebug was a good choice. OK...so enough rationalizing about my spending habits and on to my card!

I have a neighbour who recently had a baby girl and I used my new Cuttlebug embossing folder (D'vine Swirl) to emboss the front of the baby card I made. My Coluzzle oval template and knife were used to cut out the stamped image of the baby boot. The scalloped edge (for those of us who don't have Spellbinders Nestabilities) was made using a technique I saw on Andrea Walford's blog. You use a small oval punch, cut the ovals in half, and then layer them around the edge of your image. The effect is that of a scalloped border. I then used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in each of the scallops. The papers are all from my scrap bins....the ribbon is from CTMH.

Stamps sets used were Little Angel from CTMH and Circle of Friendship from SU!. And there you have it!

Have a great day!

Prettie Wednesday....Sort Of....

2008-07-16T10:52:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago, Jules challenged us to use trash on a card. Yup...you read that right. She wanted us to go dumpster diving to find our supplies! That is really doing a favour for the earth, wouldn't you say?!

I did use a piece of trash on the card that I have to share with you today, however, there isn't a Prettie stamp on it...gasp! Actually, there is *almost* no stamping on this card at all! I used a stamp only for the sentiment...and the rest was just some creative handy work!

For the shirt, I made myself a little template out of cardboard that I found in my recycling box and tweaked it until I was happy with the shape. I then made the shirt out of my patterned paper using the template. The shirt is popped up and the collar of the shirt is popped up another level, as is the knot of the tie. The circle was cut using my Coluzzle circle template and knife. The papers are all from my scrap bin. The sketch was the Sketch For You To Try from July 12th....although I opted not to use a divided circle on my card. The ink is Sweet Leaf from CTMH. I used brads from the JoAnn Scrap Essentials line and an SU! punch to make the upper corners.

The sentiment stamp is from an acrylic Stampendous set called For Him. This tie was stamped from this set also.

My piece of trash is the soda ('pop' in Canada!!) can tab that connects the ribbon to the sentiment. As I was making this card I also realized that it uses a circle...so it can count for the challenge Danielle issued a few weeks back to use a circle on a card too! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

2008-07-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

....I don't even know Jimmy! :) A good friend recently asked me to create a birthday card for her brother....you guessed it....his name is Jimmy. So, this is the card I came up with for the Jimmy whom I don't know.

I used my wallstreetafella for the main image. Apparently, Jimmy works for a computer company and he has a law degree. I envisioned him to be a professional fella...and that is why I chose to use my wallstreetafella.

The image was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. The sentiment is from my SU! set Warmest Regards. I used an SU! punch to punch out the sentiment and then cut the mat for the sentiment by hand.

The circle cut out for the main image was made with a Colluzle template and blade. The tabs at the top of the card were made with the SU! word window punch. Eyelets attached them to the card front and they were adhered to the card base with adhesive.

The papers were all from my scrap bin! Trying to do my part to save the earth...... :)

Thanks for visiting today!

My Stamp Space Revealed!

2008-07-13T20:17:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Christie asked the Paper Pretties team for info about our stamp rooms and how we like to organize things. I finally have some pics to share of my beloved stamp space! It is always a work in progress...as I change things to accommodate my ever growing inventory of supplies. My room has recently been tweaked again...and this is the result! Beware...this post has a lot of photos!!

This is a view of the room as you enter.......it is kind of a shock to the senses....

Acrylic stamp storage....CTMH stamps are in their own cases (which I LOVE) and the others are in CD jewel cases and labelled with a label maker on the spines.

Ribbon spools are stored on doweling below the stamps.....

You gotta have your tunes!

The famous scrap bins that I am forever talking about!

Paper storage......four cubes high......

All the small stuff........

Lots of baskets and boxes hold things from small mat stacks to tags to wood mounted stamps.

Wood mounted stamps and stamp sets.......

The clock that I had to add to my stamp room.... A few too many scrappy hangovers and I quickly realized that I needed to keep better track of my time when working at night!

My little sketch stack... As I blurf around, I draw out the sketches that I see on scrap pieces of paper. They are held together with binder rings and I flip through them when looking for inspiration. The scrap paper comes from my page-a-day calendar or the back of junk mail!

My punches are currently in this basket...but I would like to try storing them in an over-the-door-shoe-hanger with clear pockets. I have heard that some of the other girls use this method and like it.

The former bed side table for our guests now doubles as more storage space for me and my supplies!

Ahem....this is supposed to be the guest closet....but, hello, I needed more space! :)

The wall mounted shelves above my work table.....

Oh yeah....and there happens to be a bed in this guest room/stamp room too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I'm Back!

2008-07-11T17:26:00.000-04:00

I just finished a week long whirlwind visit with two of my sisters. They were here visiting from Canada...and although I loved the visit...it left very little time for stamping or blogging!

I just have to tell you...one of the things we did together was go to a Bon Jovi concert! It was a blast! We took the train into the city, did a bit of sightseeing, had a great dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen, did a hand off with the kiddies to my husband, and then went on to the concert. The concert was great...and the people watching was even better! The concert goers ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. Right in the front row was a man with a full head of grey hair who danced the whole night! LOL! I was starting to worry he was going to knock someone out with his elbows!

So, in light of the fact that I haven't stamped in over a week, I have a card to share that I actually made about two weeks ago for the third birthday of one of my daughter's little friends. Her name is Meredith...so that explains the 'm' on the front of the card.

This card was made with papers from a Making Memories Paper Packet called Garden Party. I actually bought it at Target...and it was on clearance! :) I layered up all of the papers...inked up some of the edges to make them stand out, and stitched around my main image with my sewing machine and brown thread. The image is Cuddle Me from Paper Pretties. Sohpia's dress was paper pieced and the rest of her was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. I used two colours of ribbon and tied them together behind Sophia. The 'm' is chipboard from a chipboard kit that I purchased on clearance from Joann Fabrics and Crafts.

For those of you out there who are new to this craft, or who are contemplating getting into this craft, I just want to let you know that it is possible to produce beautiful things without spending your whole paycheck. The point I was making above, about purchasing items on clearance, just shows that there are supplies to be found on a budget. You don't have to purchase everything from SU! or CTMH to produce beautiful work. I use MANY papers from paper stacks...by far the cheapest way to purchase paper. I save ALL my scraps and I am often able to make a whole card with papers just from my scrap bins. I shop all the clearance bins at the big chain craft stores and watch for specials at the online stores that I love to shop (who doesn't love free shipping?!). Don't forget about your Michael's and Joann coupons that come in the flyers too! You don't have to have every latest and greatest gadget to be able to enjoy this craft and benefit from it as a creative outlet!

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

Happy Birthday, Charmaine!

2008-07-04T23:16:00.000-04:00

One of our own very talented Prettie Girls is celebrating her birthday tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Charlie!

In honour of Charlie's birthday, we are throwing her an online birthday party! How fun is that?! I signed up to "bring" the balloons to our virtual celebration, so here they are!

I chose to use Flutter By from Paper Pretties as my main image. Instead of sending off a butterfly, she is sending Charmaine a bunch of birthday balloons!

Be sure to check out all of the other Prettie Girls' blogs in order to see the rest of the celebration. You can find them all here:

Carolina http://creativepad.typepad.com/

Christie http://www.littlepinkflowers.typepad.com/little_pink_flowers/

Danielle http://www.fatcatstamper.blogspot.com/

Donna http://stampamaniac.blogspot.com/

Jana http://www.stampwithjana.blogspot.com/

Jackie http://www.stampingsister.blogspot.com/

Jackie P. http://www.thescallopededge.typepad.com/

Jessie http://www.canyousayaddictedtostamps.blogspot.com/

Jodi http://www.stampingalatte.blogspot.com/

Julie http://www.stampinwithjulie.blogspot.com/

Michelle: http://michellerodgers.blogspot.com/

This card will be in the mail to you tomorrow, Charmaine! I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Pretties Pajama Party Challenge Cards!

2008-07-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

We had our Pretties Pajama Party last night....and wow, it was really hoppin'! We actually crashed the site...more than once! There was lots of chatter and lots of excitement about the newest releases...Soakin' Up The Sun and Off To School Sophia.

The first challenge of the evening was a sketch challenge. I don't seem to be able to get the sketch itself into blogger successfully at the moment...but here is the card that I made for the challenge.

I decided to use the My Favorite Things set Punny Farm for the challenge. Christie has a great selection of MFT stamps in her store here.

The card measures 5 x 5 1/2 and the base is kraft from SU! The other papers are all from my scrap bins...but I do believe some of them are from K&Company. The little chicken eyelets were purchased in Canada at a stamping store in the town where my parents live. They have this great concept there which I love. They call it the 'eyelet buffet'. You pay a flat fee for a small container and then you can mix and match eyelets until you fill it as full as you can. The girls who work in the store even showed me how to tap the container so the eyelets would settle and I would fit more in! LOL! I love it because then I can buy three chickens instead of ending up with 10 or 20!

My little farmer friend was completely paper pieced with the exception of her boots and buckets. The chickens were stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, blended with odourless mineral spirits and then cut out and popped up with dimensionals. Around the farmer's feet is a bit of linen thread from SU!

Our second challenge was to make a card using our high school colours. My colours were blue and gold. Once I heard the challenge I immediately thought of sports and cheerleaders. I used Paper Pretties stamp Flutter By, but I took the butterfly and the flower out of her hands and replaced them with pom poms made from EK Success fibers. The patterned paper and the 'go team' tag are from Creative Imaginations. The ribbon is from Close To My Heart. The blue and gold card stock is from The Paper Company.

Our last challenge was to create a 6 x 6 scrapbook page. For this challenge I used papers from a Provo Craft Super Slab by Karen Le Mieux. The stamps are Cuddle Me, Sealed With A Kiss and Look Out World...all from Paper Pretties.

I punched out the heads of each image....I was thinking of The Brady Bunch when I did this! Then I went on a hunt to find a family photo that was small enough to work! I am used to having the confines of a much bigger page to work with when scrapbooking....so this really was a challenge for me! I coloured the images with coloured pencils and them blended them with OMS. The vellum title and subtitle are from the Colorbok Life's Blessings line. I used my ticket punch on the corners of the title and that was it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Prettie Sneak Peek

2008-06-30T10:07:00.000-04:00

I have my sneak peek for you today! This is Off To School Sophia. Isn't she cute?! Last month she was sent to all of our lucky Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month Club subscribers. Now, she is being released to the public, so you can have her too!

It isn't too late....if you sign up for the Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month Club before midnight tonight, you can still get the July release. Let me tell you....the next Sophia is just as cute as this one!

There have been a couple of challenges issued which I am behind on...so unusual for me, I know! *hehe* Anywho, I decided to combine my sneak peek with not one, but two challenges! I am going for maximum productivity! The most recent challenge, by Christie, was to make a green and white card. Mission accomplished! The challenge before that, issued by Joni, was to use your own drawing or handwriting on a card. I drew in the dragon fly and the butterfly that are flying around Sophia as she skips off to school. Mission #2 accomplished!

Now for the details....the background patterned paper is from a Close To My Heart paper packet called Discovery. Sophia's dress is paper pieced in Making Memories Garden Party paper, also from a paper packet. The stamp is Paper Pretties (of course!). The ribbon is from an SU! share I recently participated in. The rest of the image was coloured using Faber Castell coloured pencils.

Don't forget to stop on over to the Stampin' In Your Jammies Release party in the Paper Pretties Forum on Tuesday, July 1st at 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges at the top of each hour and prizes to be won!

See you there!

All Business Today!

2008-06-29T21:31:00.001-04:00

You will have to stop by again tomorrow in order to see my Prettie Sneak Peek....unfortunately, I am not able to photograph with much success at night!

BUT....I have lots of news to share!!

Firstly, the new guest designers have been announced over at Paper Pretties and yours truly made the list again! You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find me! :)

Secondly, there is a Cutie Pie contest going on over at Paper Pretties as we speak! All you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and send it to Christie at christie@paperpretties.net, and she will chose a winner from the entries. Besides getting to call yourself a Cutie Pie, you will also get all the stamps from our July 1st (CANADA DAY release) for free!! You have until June 30th at 8pm CST to get your entries in!

Thirdly, we have another Stampin' In Your Jammies release party on the calendar! Join us at 8:00 pm EST on Tuesday, July 1st over in the Paper Pretties Forum. The very talented Charmaine will be issuing challenges at the top of each hour. There will be prizes to be won and two new stamp sets will be released! You can be the first to have them!

See you there!

A Wedding Card and Another Prettie Pajama Party!

2008-06-27T17:14:00.000-04:00

Today I am posting a wedding card that I recently made for a neighbour. He was going to be giving it to his nephew and soon-to-be-niece-in-law (is that even a real term?!). So, I wanted the card to be elegant....not too feminine (since it was being given from uncle to nephew) and definitely not pink!!

The papers I chose were bronze metallic from The Paper Company, patterned paper from Sandylion, shimmer card stock from SU! and black card stock. The image of the bride and groom are from the set Life's Special Moments from SU!. I stamped the image in Encore Metallic Gold Ink on shimmer card stock. I then embossed the image with gold embossing powder and heated it with my heat gun.

The groom was coloured with basic Crayola coloured pencils and then blended with OMS and a blending stump. I used my glue pen on the bride's gown to add some dazzling diamonds for a beautiful shimmer. The giant eyelets at the top of the card are from SU! also. The ribbon is from Joann's.

Those are the details for my card...but don't forget...there is lots upcoming over at Paper Pretties! Our next Prettie Pajama Party is going to take place on Tuesday, July 1st at 8:00 EST over at the Paper Pretties Forum. There will be two new stamp sets and two new sentiments released. Come on over to join us for challenges at the top of each hour, and lots of chatting!

There will also be a Cutie Pie contest taking place. All you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and send it to Christie at christie@paperpretties.net, and she will chose a winner from the entries. Besides getting to call yourself a Cutie Pie, you will also get all the stamps from our July 1st (CANADA DAY release) for free! You have until June 30th at 8pm CST to get your entries in!! Good luck!!

We hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by today!

More Thanks

2008-06-25T16:41:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided to continue right along with my theme of posting all of the 'thank yous' I had to make for the end of the school year. This card features one of my favorite little fellows.... Cooper. He reminds me a lot of my little guy. :)

My card base on this one is kraft from SU!. The patterned paper is from Provo Craft and it is OLD!! It has been in my stash for forever!! I used my water colour crayons to colour in Cooper (Look Out World from Paper Pretties, of course!). The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from either Mike's or Joann's...I always forget which...

The image was matted on black card stock while the patterned paper was layered on white. Sometimes I wonder...is it necessary to state things that are that obvious?? LOL... The buttons are from my mish mash of buttons that originally came from this four gallon ice cream pail full of buttons at my Mom's house. She has been sewing for years and years and never gets rid of anything. I am sure some of these buttons are older than me!

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by!

It's Your Day, Friend

2008-06-24T21:53:00.001-04:00

I recently made this birthday card for my friend, Audra. She was my very first friend here in New England...and she is still the closest one!

She celebrated her 29th birthday (*wink, wink*) and I wanted to make her a cute card with one of my favorite stamps! So, out came my MFT set, Time For The Bubbly. It is so fun...and just what a mom of three needs on her birthday....some quiet, a glass of wine and a bubble bath!

It is a long card...probably about 6 1/2 by 3 1/2 if I had to guess... The ribbon is from CTMH. The eyelets are Making Memories. The wallpaper was paper pieced and the rest of the image was coloured with coloured pencils. My Spica glitter pen was used on the bubbles. The card stock is all generic and from either Joann's or Michael's. The floral pattern was added to the background with a vellum overlay. The vellum is from DCWV. I used my SU! corner punch and set three eyelets on each corner to finish things off.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Swiss Teachers Get Gifts Too!

2008-06-23T20:41:00.000-04:00

I made this little tote quite a while ago for my friend in Switzerland. She needed it as a teacher's gift. I have posted totes like this several times before...but they always make such nice gifts that I find that I go back to them over and over again.

The patterned paper is from DDDesigns7. It is made in Quebec, Canada and the wording is all in French...very appropriate for someone living in Geneva! The card bases are all made of plain grey cardstock, layered with a moss green. The stamped images are from a CTMH acrylic set called Fresh Picked. They were stamped in ink also from CTMH. The ribbons are from either Joann or Michaels...I can't be sure which.

I used the same paper and ribbon for the tote itself. The image on the front of the tote is from an MFT set called Can Ya' Dig It? I stamped the wheel barrow and then cut it out. It is adhered to the front of the tote with dimensionals. The mini blooms in the barrow are from Making Memories.

That pretty much sums it up!

Thanks for stopping by today!

To The Man In Our Lives...

2008-06-19T13:17:00.000-04:00

As you all know, Father's Day just passed. I made a few cards for the occasion, but have yet to post any of them! So, the card I am posting today is the Father's Day card I made for my husband.

The card base is made from standard scrap stack cardstock. The distressed looking brown paper is by K&Company. I used one of the sentiments from MFTs 'Let's Hear It For The Boys'. It was stamped on a circle and then suspended within the front of the card. The reverse side of the circle reads 'Dad' and it is from Gina K's King of the Grill set. This is the first time I have ever made a suspension card...and I must say....it wasn't difficult! The directions can be found over at Split Coast Stampers in the tutorials.

The main image is Wallstreetafella. He was stamped with StazOn and then coloured with my water colour crayons. I used my sewing machine to zip around the image as well as the background. Once I had the sentiment suspended, I felt the card looked a little bare. So, I added the brown ring around the sentiment and paper pierced around the circle with my piercer. I then added the two bits of ribbon on the right with my standard office stapler. You gotta have a bit of metal on a guy card! I just can't seem to get away from that....

Of course on the inside of the card there is a wonderfully personal and sentimental message...but I won't be sharing that with you! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You Teachers!

2008-06-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you...I don't know how teachers keep their wits about them much of the time! I recently spent a bit of time in my son's kindergarten classroom for end of the year activities. My son and his peers are now entering the phase of childhood where the begin to lose their 'cuteness' and their misbehaviour just becomes pure irritating! Ughhhh....

In an effort to thank these wonderful teachers for all of the shenanigans that they must tolerate, I made them each a card and a card tote.

This was one of the cards......

The papers are from K&Company. I used brown StazOn to stamp both the image and the sentiment on the front of the card. The sentiment is from the Circle of Friendship set from SU! The watering can is from the set Simply Special by Paper Pretties.

I coloured the image with my watercolour crayons from SU! and my aqua painter. I then stitched the image to layered brown and black mats. It was adhered to the front of the pocket card with dimensionals.

The ribbon I used is from CTMH. The big eyelet is from SU! as are the stamp and the punch I used for the sentiment on the front of the pocket flap. I used my corner rounder on the flap and the top corners of the card. The punched edges of the sentiment were inked with brown StazOn to make it 'pop' a bit more against the pale colour of the front flap.

.....and there you have it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Cleanin' Off The Dust

2008-06-15T21:10:00.000-04:00

I bought a Quickutz ages ago...and I haven't used it much since. I really need to make some time to play with it....and just see what I can make. In an effort to do that, I recently completed the following scrapbooking layout (in case you are wondering...it was part of a gift album...that's why I am making Christmas layouts in June!).

I needed a two page layout, and I only had one photo to work with. The layout was an 8x8, and the size was ideal for using my Quickutz to fill in some of the gaps. One page of my layout features the photo, and the second page features some of my Quickutz fancy work. :)

On this page I used silver cardstock and Christmas paper from SEI. I used a snowman die, a snowflake die and a Santa die. They were mounted on red and then green cardstock and I used my corner rounder to soften all of the corners. The wide red grosgrain ribbon that covers the seam in the middle is from Michaels. White brads make up the centers of the snowflakes.

The other page also features Christmas paper from SEI. Once again I used red and green cardstock for matting and my corner rounder for continuity with the other page of the layout. A snowflake and wide red grosgrain ribbon are the common elements that tie the two pages together.

Lastly, a white gel pen was used to write the date above the top right corner of the photo.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Fly

2008-06-11T13:37:00.000-04:00

When I worked on my school bus layout for my Prettie Wednesday post last week, I was already thinking about my layout for this week in the recesses of my mind. I worked through it in my mind as the week progressed and then the time to execute was upon me! How does that always happen so quickly?!

This layout features my husband and daughter playing at the beach last summer. My husband was throwing her up in the air and catching her, and I captured the different stages of the game with my camera.

The papers are all from a Close To My Heart paper packet called Discovery. I LOVE this paper. It is one of those special things that I have been hoarding for quite some time now. It seemed too pretty to cut!

The stamp is from Paper Pretties....of course! It is Flutter By Sophia. Her caption of "Flutter your wings and fly" is what gave me the idea for this layout. She is just adorable...perfect for use on a page about my adorable daughter! :)

I also used two other stamp sets.....both from CTMH. The first is called Fluttering Love and the second is called Boutique Alphabet. The alphabet stamps were used for the title "FLY". It was stamped in CTMH ink called Hollyhock, and then the letters were cut out by hand and a dash of Dazzling Diamonds was added to each letter. The Fluttering Love stamp set was used for the butterflies you see throughout the layout. Sophia is holding one in her hand and they are also scattered on some of the photos. The butterflies were stamped in Hollyhock ink also, and then they were cut out by hand. My Atyou Spica pen was used to add some sparkle to the butterfly wings, but you may not be able to see it in the photos.

I used a Fiskars arrow punch to punch two arrows that help to draw attention to certain elements of the layout that I wanted to highlight.

Sophia was mounted on the layout using a large, white brad so that her image can rotate to the side to reveal journaling about the photos and the day they were taken (the journaling still has to be added!) in behind.

Yes, this photo is an upside down photo of my layout. I wanted to show how the butterfly in Sophia's hand is layered up to give the effect of dimension. Sophia is actually holding three butterflies! The other butterflies on the layout are all individual butterflies that have had their wings popped up with dimensionals.

The last thing on the agenda for today is announce the winner of the blog candy!! Drumroll please.......

The winner is number one!! Cindy Vernon. :) Cindy, please email me your snail mail address to creativeexpressionspapercrafting@yahoo.com.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Musicabella

2008-06-10T12:45:00.000-04:00

I recently had a friend who asked me to make a card for an occupational therapist. She wanted the card to be musical and/or artsy in nature. Since I had just gotten my new Bellas, it was a no brainer as to what stamp I would use.

I inked up my Musicabella with brown StazOn and off to work I went! I used my Coluzzle blade and oval template to cut out my little Bella and then I trimmed up the oval mat by hand. Bella was coloured using water colour crayons and an aqua painter. The ribbon is from Michael's (or maybe Joann's....yeah...I think this one was from Joann's).

I can't tell you where this patterned paper is from....it was from my scrap bin and I swear it is as old as the craters on the moon. The card base and the mat for Bella are simple brown cardstock. The sentiment is from MFT's Essential Sentiments set.

Stay tuned...the blog candy winner will be announced tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

She's All That Times Three

2008-06-09T20:39:00.000-04:00

I purchased this cute stamp set from SU! and it sat without being used for far too long! I finally decided to correct that! I made three different variations of this card...all with the same paper, ribbon and stamp, but with subtle differences in how they were assembled.

The stamp set is She's All That. The ink is from CTMH....it is called 'Blush'. I used decorative edged scissors to cut out mats for the main image on all three cards.

In this first sample I messed up the mat so many times while cutting that it ended up being cropped very close to the image! I cut the image out with my Coluzzle knife and oval template, and then used the oval template to cut out the mat in one size larger. Once I had the larger size oval, I used the decorative edged scissors to cut around the mat to get the fancy edge. I then pierced along the top and bottom of the card. I used my SU! punch to punch the slits in the image oval and then I threaded the ribbon through and tied it in a bow. The papers are from.... who am I kidding...I have no idea! The ribbon is from Michael's....isn't it pretty?!

On this version I used my corner rounder and skipped the piercing. A couple of cute pink brads on the bottom corner (Making Memories) and it was done!

On this version I used my ticket corner punch from SU! and pierced on all four corners. The rest is the same.

So, what do you think? Which one do you like the best?

Oh, and don't forget there's one more day to leave a comment and have a chance to win the blog candy! Just scroll back a couple of posts. The winner will be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Family Man

2008-06-05T20:59:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine needed a Father's Day card recently. The description that I was given was that he is an engineer and a family man. Since I don't own an engineering Fella, I opted to go with the Grillafella....grilling, family, fun....they all kind of go together, right?

First I stamped my Fella in StazOn, and then I coloured him with coloured pencils and blended him with OMS. I stitched the stamped image onto a navy blue cardstock with my sewing machine. The plaid patterned paper was from my scrap bin....and I can't remember where it originally came from. The wide maroon grosgrain is value ribbon from Michael's The sentiment stamp is from the SU! Circle of Friendship stamp set. The tab was made with a tab punch and the 'dad' was spelled out with Alphabitties stickers.

The buttons are random buttons that I found in my Mom's old sewing stuff. If I know my mother, they probably came from my grandmother's house 40 years ago. So I can't confirm their origin! LOL

And, here is a close up of my little Grillafella.

Thanks for stopping by today, and make sure to scroll back a couple of posts and leave me a comment in order to have a chance to win some blog candy!!

Waiting For The Bus

2008-06-04T18:15:00.001-04:00

For my post this week I decided to make a scrapbook page for my son's album using Back To School Sophia and Cooper from Look Out World. Look Out World can be purchased from Paper Pretties, but in order to get your hands on the likes of Back to School Sophia, you will have to join the Paper Pretties Stamp of the Month Club! Your membership includes a new stamp each month, and little Sophia was the stamp for the month of June. Isn't she cute?! For details on the club, just go here.

The background for this page is white cardstock. I started out by sketching the road and sidewalk in pencil. I then used green acrylic paint and a paint comb from my Making Memories Distressing Kit to create the grass. The sidewalk was coloured using Crayola coloured pencils and then blended with OMS and a blending stump. The road was done with pencil first, but when it didn't blend as I wanted, I went over it with a sponge dauber and stone grey StazOn.

For the kids heading to the bus, I stamped two Coopers and one Sophia...masking them in between. I used black StazOn to stamp them and then Crayola pencils to colour them and OMS to blend them. I cut them out by hand with small Fiskars scissors and a Coluzzle craft knife.

For this version of Cooper, peeking out from behind my son's photo, I used a light table and traced him in black pen so that I could get a reverse image. He was coloured using the same technique as the other kids.

Each of the photos were double matted. The largest mat for each photo was distressed using a v-blade from my MM Distressing Kit. The journaling was written on a DCWV tag and then tucked behind one of the photos. It slides in and out to reveal the story behind the photos. Both the title and the school bus are Jolee's. One is from the Jolee's By You line and the other is from Jolee's Boutique.

Thanks for stopping by today, and don't forget to leave a comment on my previous post in order to have a chance to win an extra large oval Fiskars punch!

Blog Candy, Anyone?!

2008-06-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

So, we finally made it home from Canada! Twelve hours in the car with two children does not make for a happy mommy. Phew... But, we are back, and all in one piece!

I thought that I would like to celebrate my return to my home (and to my stamp room) with my very first blog candy! Anyone who has been here knows that this blog is quite new, and therefore I haven't had the chance to join in the fun of giving stuff away...yet!

For my first blog candy, I have an extra large oval squeeze punch by Fiskars. There is actually a story behind this punch. I bought one a while back, and it broke after I used it only two times.
I called Fiskars customer service to complain about that...they aren't cheap punches, after all! They lady I spoke with was very kind, and assured me a replacement punch. Well, several weeks later two boxes appeared on my door step. How does one put a punch into two boxes you ask? Well, the answer is that they don't. I was actually sent two new punches. I don't know why...but I have decided to share the love! :)

So, one of you can be the lucky owner of this brand spankin' new, still in the package, large oval punch. Just leave me a comment below, and in a week or so, I will use random.org to choose a winner!

Good luck!

Teachabella

2008-05-30T12:07:00.000-04:00

I have started getting some orders for 'teacher cards' for the end of the school year. For Mother's Day I got the endorsement to go ahead and order myself some Bella's that have been on my wish list for some time. Teachabella was one of those stamps. Here she is in her first appearance on my blog.

These papers are all from Close To My Heart. I used the my SU! punch to create the scalloped edge. My Silent Setter was used to punch the holes in the scalloped boarder. Miss Bella was coloured with my SU! crayons and an aqua painter. She was stamped in black StazOn. The ribbon is also from CTMH.

This card was created from a sketch but I can't be sure of the source at the moment. We are still in Canada, so I am blogging from my parent's house and don't have access to my notes at home. It will be nice to get home and back to my stamp room! We leave tomorrow morning and have about 12 hours to drive over a period of two days. It will be a loooong trip. With lots of, "Are we there yet?". Wish us luck!

Hopefully, the next time you hear from me, we will be safely home!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Simply Special Grandparents

2008-05-28T16:09:00.000-04:00

I have a Paper Pretties scrapbooking layout to share with you today. This two page 8 x 8 spread was made as part of the anniversary album that I was working on a few weeks ago.

The photos depict a couple with their only grandchild. They were also the recipients of the album...it was a 40th anniversary gift. The man is French Canadian, so I made the effort to incorporate some French throughout the album as a tribute to his heritage.

On the above page I used French patterned paper from DDDesigns...a French Canadian scrapbooking company. This line of papers can be purchased at La Scrapbookerie. The stamp and sentiment are from Paper Pretties.....the set is called Simply Special. The ribbon is Dashes, Dots and Checks in blue from Michaels. I used black StazOn ink and water coloured the image of the watering can using water colour crayons. The date is written in white gel pen just above the photo. My SU! corner punch was used on the sentiment.

This page uses the same patterned paper as above. The stamp is Define Your Life from SU!. The brackets are from a Kit of the Month foam stamp set from CK Media. The brads were from an 'eyelet buffet' at a Canadian scrapbooking store. It is a concept that I love. You purchase one of several different sized containers for a flat fee and then you fill it with brads and eyelets until it is full. As many as you can fit in there, you can take. You get to mix and match whatever you want for the fee paid. I love it because then you don't have to buy a package of 24 black Mickey Mouse head eyelets when you only need 4! I used my corner rounder punch around the photo and the ink used was Outdoor Denim by CTMH.

Don't forget to pop on over to Paper Pretties to check out their new Stamp of the Month Club. If you decide to join you will have access to great stamps at a very reasonable price! Go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hybrid Music Man

2008-05-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

I have to say...this card was fun for me to make. I needed a father's day card for a friend who's step dad is very musically inclined. The challenge was that I didn't have any musical themed stamps that 'worked'. I have since corrected that problem. :)

I had a new musicabella stamp, but I didn't really feel it was appropriate for a father's day card! So, I decided to use my beerafella instead. I stamped both a beerafella image and a musicabella image on water colour paper. I cut the music note out from the musicabella image and then fastened it onto the beerafella's hand where his beer used to be! I am sure he was none too impressed about that! LOL! The new image was then coloured using watercolour pencils and blended with OMS.

The paper that I used for the background is positively ancient and I have no idea where it came from...I found it in my scrap bin...of course! The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from Mike's. The sentiment is from MFT Let's Hear It For The Boys. I cut out the oval for my musicafella with my coluzzle oval template and knife. The corners were done with my corner punch from SU! and the brads were probably from the Joann Essentials line.

My musicafella was popped up using dimensionals on black cardstock. Here is a close-up of the cute little fella.

Thanks for visiting today!

It's Nana's Birthday!

2008-05-27T01:50:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago my friend needed a birthday card for her Nana. I thought that the stamp set 'Happy Mother's Day' from MFT would be very appropriate. I simply left the 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment off my card.

This was a sketch from somewhere...but we are actually in Canada right now...so I have limited access to my notes and I can't remember where it came from!

These papers are all from a scrap stack. The flowers are from Joann Crafts, as are the rhinestone brads.

I stitched around the stamped image with my sewing machine and then water coloured it with my SU! crayons. I stamped out extra lilies and hand cut them. I then curled them up a bit and adhered them at their bases with my Scotch Quick Dry liquid adhesive. I have to say, it is my 'go to' adhesive for anything difficult to adhere these days. It dries clear and quick....two things I like. It also has a great, strong bond and I use it for bulky embellishments like buttons or metal.

The image below shows the layering of the lilies and leaves. It gives a nice touch of dimension to the project.

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek and Prettie Wednesday!

2008-05-21T22:36:00.000-04:00

I have my second sneak peek for you to see. This stamp set is called 'One of Those Days' and it is one of the three sets that will be released over at Paper Pretties tomorrow night at 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges at the top of each hour and prizes will be awarded to the challenge winners! And......ANYONE WHO ORDERS PAPER PRETTIES' STAMPS DURING THE RELEASE PARTIES WILL RECEIVE A 25% COUPON FOR THEIR ENTIRE NEXT ORDER!!

Now, back to the card......

I decided that I wanted my little chicky friend to be wearing some feathers. Well, I remembered that my son had some feathers in his craft supplies....so I turned my house upside down looking for them. And guess what? They were nowhere to be found! I probably found them on the floor one day and threw them out....

I really didn't want to make a trip to the craft store just to get a few feathers...so I headed to our bedroom. My husband has this feather pillow that he is always complaining about. He says that the feathers poke through in the night stick him. So, I figured if they poke through the pillow, I should be able to pull some out! LOL

After I gathered up my feathers I set to work on colouring them yellow. I laid them on a scrap piece of paper, held them with my tweezers and dabbed at them with a Honey coloured ink pad from CTMH. I also coloured in my little chick with the same ink and an aqua painter.

After all of the ink was dry (this took longer than I thought it would!) I used my Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere the feathers to the image. I then gave the whole mess a good blast with my heat gun. By this point I had honey coloured ink up to my elbows. Don't be misled....this was not a tidy process! The egg was then paper pieced with SU! shimmery white cardstock. I used my paper piercer to pierce the holes around the image and hand stitched through the holes with yellow thread.

I stamped the sentiment and used my SU! punch to punch it out. The two mats behind the sentiment were hand cut. The small piece of ribbon tied on the right is from Making Memories trims and ribbons...the 'family' line. The papers are Creative Imaginations - Sonnets.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can all make it to the release party over at Paper Pretties!

Check Back Soon!

2008-05-21T09:41:00.001-04:00

I'll be back later today with another sneak peek for you! Be sure to check back to see a new stamp called 'One Of Those Days'. It is one of the three new sets being released tomorrow night over at Paper Pretties. Be sure to join us at 8:00 pm EST for the release party. There will be challenges at the top of each hour and prizes to be won!

See you there!

Hmmm....a Serious Priest.....

2008-05-20T14:17:00.000-04:00

I am currently working on some Father's Day cards for a customer. One of the said cards is going to her father-in-law who is an Anglican priest. He is also a very serious man...no room for humour in this one!

I went straight to my Close To My Heart stamp set called Faith. I knew that this praying hands stamp was part of that set, and it seemed very appropriate. The patterned papers are from CTMH also. I used StazOn ink in brown to stamp the image.

The wide grosgrain ribbon is from an SU! share that I just purchased. I must say, I quite like it! :) I distressed the edges of my image with a v-blade. I then used my sewing machine to stitch around the image and the back panel. It all came together with some adhesive and dimensionals.

The Happy Father's Day wish is found on the inside of the card. Although it is simple, I love how this turned out. I have to say that, in my opinion, it is hard to go wrong with browns and blues! They always look great together. I do think I am getting into a bit of a rut colour wise....I am going to have to make a concerted effort to branch out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek!

2008-05-20T13:33:00.000-04:00

I have some exciting news to share......there are going to be three new releases over at Paper Pretties on Thursday, May 22nd. Join us for the online release party at 8:00 pm EST for the chance to be one of the first to purchase this adorable little guy! Isn't he just the cutest thing?!

The moment I saw him I had visions of the scrapbook pages that I could make for my son's album. But, for today, I have a card for you instead.

Little Cooper is part of a set called 'Look Out World'. He comes with a sentiment that says 'Look out world, here I come!' Instead of using that sentiment for my card, I used 'Thanks For Your Support', which I purchased over at Gina K. That sentiment suited the thought that I was trying to get across.

The patterned paper was from my scrap bin. I believe it is from SEI. I loved how the random letters tied in so nicely with the school theme. The brad is from Making Memories (tropic minis). Cooper was coloured with water colour pencils and then blended with OMS. The 'teacher' part of the sentiment is made from letter stickers by Generations Now. The ribbon is Simply Grosgrain from Joann Crafts.

A bit of paper piercing around the edges of the main image, some dimensionals, and I was done!

**So, don't forget to pop over to the Paper Pretties Forum on Thursday night! The time is 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges at the top of each hour, and prizes will be awarded to the winners! I can also tell you, that the other two stamp sets are equally cute! Be sure to check it out!

**Oh, and I forgot to mention that this sketch was from Cupcake Challenge #16 over at Taylored Expressions!

Thanks for stopping by!

Organization Needed!

2008-05-18T08:36:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you....I am a very organized person....most of the time. My scrap/stamp room is very organized....however, I am having some problems with my photo organization!

I have project photos all over multiple memory cards, on the hard drive of my PC and on my blog. Most of the time I completely forget to use a watermark, and when I do, I then save those photos in yet a different location! I need to get organized and develop a system for my project photos that is going to work for me!

My main purpose for starting this blog was to keep track of my projects, because otherwise I would never take photos of them! I have made countless things...and not photographed them. I have made and given away at least three entire scrapbook albums without ever taking photos of the hard work I put into them! I kind of wish I could ask for them back in order to photograph them at this point....

Well, you live and you learn, right?!

On a positive note, we will be traveling to Canada soon. On that trip we will see my parents and hopefully I will get a chance to photograph the album I made for my Dad for his 60th birthday.

This card was a card that I made last month for my Dad's birthday. It got lost in one of those many files that I mentioned above....and I forgot about it until I found it recently. It even has a watermark!

The image is MFT Let's Hear it For the Boy. It was water coloured with water colour crayons. The papers are from my scrap bins. I used a corner punch and staples on the upper left corner. The metal hardware is from CTMH. Metal seems to be something that I have been using on my masculine cards a lot recently. It just screams testosterone to me! LOL

Thanks for stopping by today!

Two Step Stamping

2008-05-17T16:09:00.000-04:00

I'm on a roll with the Anna Griffen paper lately....so I decided, why change it?!

The floral stamps I used on this card are from Close To My Heart. It is a two step stamping set and I really enjoyed using it. I haven't done much of this technique lately, so it was nice to get back to it! The stamp set is called Simple Blossoms. The sentiment is from my MFT Simply Said set. I find I go back to this sentiment over and over again. It always seems to be the right size for the card that I am working on!

I stitched around the white cardstock with my sewing machine. The flowers and leaves were stamped and then hand cut. Some of the leaves are flat and some are layered for dimension. The blooms are all popped up with dimensionals. The ribbon is shear and such a close match for the card that it almost gets lost. It is from Close To My Heart also.

The inks that I used on this card are all from Close To My Heart too. I don't have the colours at hand right now...if you really need to know, just leave me a comment and I will get them for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Prettie Wednesday!

2008-05-14T12:40:00.001-04:00

It's time for my weekly Prettie post! And, in an attempt to turn over a new leaf as far as challenges go, I used acetate on the scrapbook page that I have to share with you today! :)

This page started with two Paper Pretties stamps. I had the idea of using Luke from Sealed With a Kiss along with Sophia from Cuddle Me. Lexi got the axe for this layout! LOL! I thought that using Luke and Sophia together would make a cute father/daughter themed scrapbook page. So, I went digging for photos of Kevin and Rebekah together to see what I could come up with.

I started with patterned paper that I adore. It is from Creative Imaginations and it is called 'strength'. The words on the background of the page are all about fatherhood. There are words like leader, wisdom, strength, devotion, loyal and guidance. What I love even more than the sugary sweet words are the colours. Blues and greens...my favourites!

I haven't had the time yet to fiddle with Microsoft Paint and my scanner...so you'll have to settle for photos of my 12 x 12 pages for now! I hope to be able to scan them in the near future......

Here is a close up of Luke and Sophia with the acetate frame I used as part of the challenge. Thanks to Joanne for giving me the frame! When I was on the phone with her one day we discussed the acetate challenge posted by Christie...she was kind enough to offer up this frame that she already had on hand... It helps to have friends who hoard stuff too! LOL!

Sophia's dress was paper pieced and Luke was coloured with water colour pencils and blended with OMS and a blending stump.

The frame was treated with two colours of ink....StazOn Stone Grey and a brown that is part of my Making Memories Distressing Kit. I also used fine grain steel wool to distress the surface of the acetate a bit. The last step was a layer of Mod Podge to set everything and to make sure that the buttons on the corners wouldn't fall off!

The 'Daddy's Girl' title is from EK Success. I used Marvy punches and paper scraps for the hearts. The journaling is done on notebook paper that was in my recycling bin, with a CTMH Legacy Writer in black. The edges of some of the hearts were inked with Outdoor Denim ink from CTMH.

Behind the journaling there is some vellum that was torn and then crunched up. I love the texture it gives to a page. I find myself cruching up lots of things lately! :) The edges of the cardstock were also distressed using a 'v' blade from CTMH.

Some of the cardstock was from my scrap bin and some was from DCWV. The mini clothes pins are from The Card Connection and have been in my stash FOREVER. I was so proud of myself for having used them!

Make sure to pop on over to Paper Pretties today. Jules will have a product review there for you to see. You can find it on the Paper Pretties forum under Product Reviews. The product she will be reviewing (Maya Road Chipboard Blossoms) and all chipboard in the Boutique will be discounted from now until Saturday at 11:59 p.m.!

Have a great Wednesday!

Girlfriends

2008-05-13T11:21:00.000-04:00

When I made this card, I did several different variations of it. All of the girls are wearing different clothes, but the nitty gritty of the card is the same. So, I won't torment you with looking at all of them!

I have had this stamp set for a while and hadn't even used it! It's a sin! It is Meet Me At the Cafe by MFT.

The cardstock comes from a scrapstack that I got at Costco. The floral patterned paper is from Anna Griffen (I think!). The striped paper used on the cafe awning was from my scrap bin.

The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from Michaels. The images were coloured with a combination of water colour pencils and crayons.

This card is a variation of one that I saw on someone else's blog...but I can't remember who! In an attempt to give these ladies the credit they deserve, my best guess would be that I found it here or here. Having said that, I am getting much better about writing down where I find things now. :)

I hope you all have a great day!

Challenges

2008-05-09T18:34:00.000-04:00

I have been totally out of the loop when it comes to challenges over at Paper Pretties. I am just now figuring out what is going on! LOL! I think part of the problem was that I post my weekly projects on Wednesdays....the same day that the challenges are to be posted. I have been so focused on posting my weekly projects, that I have been missing out on the challenges. I am going to attempt to change that!

So, from what I can tell (after the fact!) the last two challenges were issued by Danielle and Joni. The were to create a masculine card and to use paper piecing, respectively. I decided, in the interest of getting caught up (albeit a bit late!) that I would kill two birds with one stone and make a card that met both criteria!

So here is my masculine paper pieced card! And, it was for a customer order to boot! How great is that?!

I used MFT set Let's Hear it for the Boy. The rug and recliner were paper pieced with scraps from my scrap box. The rest of the image was coloured using water colour crayons and pencils. The image was then fastened to a piece of cardstock which was distressed with a distressor from CTMH. The card base is generic brown cardstock and the patterned paper behind the main image was from my scrap box. I scrunched it up and then smoothed it out to give it a messy, distressed, rumpled, manly kind-of-look. LOL. I used staples on the corners, and yes, that is the tab from a pop (a.k.a. 'soda') can on the top corner! Lately, my masculine cards have all been adorned with assorted metal things.

From what I can figure out now...the next challenge was issued by Christie and it is to use acetate.

I think it is due on this coming Wednesday.......I think.....

40th Wedding Anniversary

2008-05-07T16:31:00.000-04:00

I have been working away on a 40th wedding anniversary album for a friend recently. It is a gift for her parents, and her father happens to be French Canadian. I was excited to be able to incorporate some beautiful French papers that I have had in my stash since I lived in Geneva. They are from a company called DDDesigns that operates out of Quebec, Canada.

I had some photos...but many of them were not great quality. I was trying to figure out how to make the most of what I had to work with. One of the photos is from 1968...and it is of the car that the bridal couple rode in on their wedding day. I wanted to incorporate the photo, since I didn't have many to begin with, but it wasn't a strong enough photo to carry a layout on its own. I knew I would have to be pretty creative with the layout.

Luke and Lexi (Sealed With a Kiss) is one of my favorite stamp sets from Paper Pretties. I am always trying to think of new and creative ways to show this cute little couple off. I had been thinking of portraying them kissing in a car....so when I received the old photo from my friend, the pieces came together.

I did a two page 8 x 8 layout. First, I sketched the car on bronze shimmery cardstock and then cut it out. I then stamped Luke and Lexi in StazOn and coloured them using SU! crayons and an aqua painter. They were then attached behind the windshield of the car. Rhinestone brads made cute headlights and a silver gel pen provided accents on the hood of the car and bumper.

The French phrase you see on the page is the equivalent to what we would say in English when pulling the petals off a flower....'he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me', etc. The more literal translation doesn't mean much in English....it is, 'I love you a little, a lot, passionately, like crazy'.

On the opposing page I used the old photograph. I made a black cardstock frame to help draw attention to the photo. I then covered a chipboard arrow with the same patterned paper used on the opposite page. Some heart shaped brads from Making Memories were fastened to each corner of the chipboard. The swirls next to the photo were made with a foam stamp from a Kit of the Month by Creating Keepsakes. A bit of black dashes, dots and checks ribbon was the finishing touch.

Well, I am just about finished this project. I plan to get it in the mail tomorrow. I hope the recipients like it!

Have a great night!

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday to You!

2008-05-05T22:38:00.000-04:00

I got an email a little while back from Julie Masse over at Paper Pretties. The email was to let us know that May 1st was Christie's birthday. So, I got hoppin' on a card. I actually started out with a sketch, but my card ended up looking nothing like it. That is often the case with me and sketches!

The stamp set that I chose is from CTMH. It is a really fun set....with four different shoes and 'pocketbooks' (known as purses where I come from!). This sexy, slinky dress is the main image in the set. I used red ink...ColorBox Chianti, to be exact. It is nice that the images are solid ones, alleviating the need to colour them in!

The papers are from K&Company...the K-ology line. The flower came in the same kit as the papers. It is one of those kits that has been in my stash since forever! I decided that with Christie's birthday on the horizon, the time had come to cut into it!

I can finally post this card....since Christie should have received it by now....although, I have to say that my mail to Canada seems to be taking longer recently....

Oh well, happy birthday Christie! I hope you are enjoying your cruise!

Happy Mother's Day....Sort Of....

2008-05-03T18:20:00.000-04:00

I had a card club customer (try saying that 10 times fast!) recently who needed a birthday card for a friend. I really wanted to use my new stamp set from MFT...Happy Mother's Day. The little hitch in that plan was that the card wasn't for a mother!

I decided to go ahead and use the stamp anyways, and I just masked the wording that goes around the perimeter of the image. A woman holding a flower pot can be appropriate for a friend, right?

I think the blue patterned paper is from Anna Griffin. I stitched around the perimeter of the image and the background with the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. I used a bit of dashes, dots & checks ribbon to make the little tabs on the right hand side. Rhinestone brads hold the ribbon in place.

The left side looks a little plain to me...but I really love this patterned paper and I didn't want to cover it up with another embellishment. So, I decided to leave well enough alone!

The image was coloured with SU! crayons and an aqua painter. I stamped a few extra lilies on a scrap piece of paper and then coloured and cut them out too. I then used some Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive to layer them on top of the flowers in the main image. I curled the flowers upwards from the stem and tried to show it in this photo....although, not very successfully. I seem to have problems with close up photos being out of focus sometimes... If anyone out there has any tips, feel free to share! I am not above advice! :)

Have a great day!

Prettie Wednesday with Lexi

2008-04-30T09:51:00.001-04:00

I have my Paper Pretties post for you today. I made two cards using one of the newest releases, Made With Love. The main image in the set is of Lexi holding a tray of cookies. It has so many possibilities...especially with Mother's Day just around the corner!

For my card base I used a shimmery pink cardstock. I then took a piece of brown cardstock and cut an oval from it using my Coluzzle oval template. With the idea of wallpaper in mind, I added floral patterned paper from Chatter Box behind the cut out oval, and then added Lexi on top of it. Lexi was stamped with brown StazOn, water coloured with SU! crayons, cut out (that took a while!) and then added with dimensionals. Phew.....

I used another piece of my pink shimmery cardstock on the top layer, also with an oval cut out. Four mini buttons were glued onto the corners. I used decorative edge scissors to add a bit of white cardstock to the top and bottom of my main image.

The sentiment was a combination of an SU! punches and hand cutting. The ribbons are from CTMH. I really love their ribbons. The colours always seem to work for me.

My second card is a real mix! I used Lexi from Made with Love again, but then I added the sentiment from Looks Who's Perky. The tea cup and tea bag are actually from an MFT set called Hot Stuff. The swirly border around the sentiment is also from Look Who's Perky. I then coloured in the swirls with a Le Plume brown marker. The tea bag and tea cup were paper pieced using water colour paper and then they were coloured with SU! crayons. The brads are from a Making Memories mini brad assortment. The papers are all the same as my first card.

BTW....these cards both measure 7 x 3 1/2....I decided that long cards were the way to go this week!

Have a great day!

She Loves Lavendar

2008-04-26T17:17:00.000-04:00

I recently had to make a card for a customer, and the info I was given about the recipient was, 'she loves lavender'. So, that was where I started! I pulled out all the purple papers I could find, and picked the ones that I thought worked the best together.

I saw a card using this sketch over on Andrea Walford's blog...and I have really been wanting to use it. It seemed to work in this case, so with my sketch and papers selected, I just had to choose my stamp.

I decided on Sending You Sunshine from MFT. I really like this stamp, and since I haven't had much chance to use it, I thought I would give it a shot. The recipient is actually very musical, I was told, but unfortunately, I don't have any music themed stamps! Gasp! I guess I will have to buy some! *wink* If anyone out there has any favs, leave me a comment and let me know! I don't have any in mind at the moment....

The ribbon is from CTMH. The patterned paper is from Anna Griffin (I actually know the manufactuer this time!).

I don't know what was going on when I took this photo...but nothing seems centered in it.....hmmmm.....I must have had two kids hanging off me and screaming......

Mother in Law.....

2008-04-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

This card was made for one of my card club customers. She needed it for her MIL, who loves blue flowers. I decided to use my Gina K Spring Blooms stamp set...I had just trimmed it up, and was waiting for the chance to use it!

I actually stamped some extra blooms and added them using dimensionals to give the card a bit more depth. I used my Coluzzle oval template to cut out my ovals. I then stitched them together on my good old Kenmore sewing machine.

I coloured the blooms with my SU! water colour crayons. The ribbon is from CTMH. I used scissors to get the decorative edges on the navy cardstock. The papers are from.....you got it....my scrap bin! One of them might be from Anna Griffin, but I can't even be sure about that. Some of the scraps in my bins are older than my children (6 yrs. and 3 yrs), so I can't always be precise about where they came from! Add to that the fact that in the fairly recent past we have lived in three countries, and I really can't hazard a guess! LOL.

Oh, and I almost forgot....this sketch was from over at iheart2stamp on March 29th!

Have a great week!

This Is How I Feel!

2008-04-25T16:11:00.001-04:00

The sentiment on this card expresses how I feel in my life lately! I feel like I am two steps behind where I should be! This week I feel like I made a bit of headway...so maybe there is some hope....sigh.

I made this card for my friend's daughter....whose birthday happened to be three weeks ago. Hence, the sentiment on the card. I LOVE this stamp....and I am sure that I will be getting a lot of use out of it!

The stamp is from Just So Hippy from over at Gina K. The papers are from a Super Slab by Provo Craft. I used watercolour crayons from SU! and an aqua painter to fill in the image.

The sketch was mojo #30 over at Poetic Artistry.

Have a great weekend!

It's Wednesday Again!

2008-04-23T12:46:00.001-04:00

It's Wednesday again.....where does the time go?! I haven't even posted since Friday, and now it is Wednesday and time for another Paper Pretties post!

I have so many things to post...on this blog and my other blog, but I just have to find the time!!

I have a fun card for you today! I hope you like it!

These stamps are from Sealed With A Kiss over at Paper Pretties. I came up with the idea that I wanted Luke and Lexi to be kissing through a window....and I needed an anniversary card, so the two came together. Why would married folks be sharing a kiss through a window, you may ask? I like to think that Luke was rushing out to work (I wish I had a briefcase to put in his hand!) and couldn't resist coming back to steal just one more kiss. LOL! Isn't that what your life is like?! :)

In this close up shot, you can see the scoring at the corners of the window frame. There is actually quite a lot of scoring on this card, but much of it can't be seen in the photo. The whole side of the building has scored bricks on it, and the sidewalk segments have been scored also. In other words...it doesn't look quite as plain in real life! :) The scoring gives it a lot of texture and many of the elements are popped up with dimensionals to give it depth.

The papers are from Cloud 9 Design...The Wood Stone Collection. The paper on the wall is called Naples and the paper that is on the sidewalk is called Florence. Luke and Lexi were stamped on watercolour paper and then were coloured with SU! watercolour crayons and an aqua painter. The mini blossoms are from making memories. The wallpaper behind Lexi is from my scrap bin.

That sums it up! Have a great Wednesday!

Mini Note Cards

2008-04-21T17:36:00.001-04:00

The first time I ever made one of these little tins, it was with my stamp club girlfriends.....led by friend and SU! demonstrator, Joanne. Basically, Joanne stands over us with a whip and says things like 'no talking' and 'stamp!!'. It is more or less just a sweat shop. *wink*

Seriously though, we all have great fun and always get to make a new project to take home. One of those such projects was a 3 x 3 mini tin with four note cards and envelopes inside. I scooped up one of the extra tins, and this is what I came up with.

It definitely makes a really cute little gift. I will likely make more in the future!

The flower on the lid is a chipboard flower covered in cardstock and then distressed a bit around the edges. I used a sanding block and a bit of ink on the edges to get the look that you see in the pic.

Just for the record....the swirl on the lid of the tin is a rub-on. It was a NIGHTMARE to get it on there. I don't know if the surface of the tin was too shiny, or the rub-on I had was just crappy. Either way, it wasn't easy! I ended up doing two coats of mod podge over the lid in order to make sure it would stay. I had little faith that it would have stayed put otherwise!

In the end it turned out OK, and into the mail it went...to my friend in Switzerland. I am actually so behind on posting, that she already received it! LOL! She loved it. :)

She's a Girly Girl

2008-04-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

One of my recent projects was one of these cute little card totes....requested by my friend, Stefanie. She needed it for a b-day gift for another friend and I was thrilled to help out!

I was told the following....the gift is for a woman who is a 'girly girl'. She has three sons, and rarely gets to enjoy the 'girly' things in life as a result.

I went straight to my Chatter Box papers from the 'Cottage' line. I have several different sets of this paper, and love them all. They are some of those papers that have been in my 'stash' for a very long time simply because I couldn't bear to cut them! This selection is really feminine without being too over the top and flowery.

I chose some fun shoe stamps from one of my Close to My Heart acrylic sets as a starting point. I had a hard time finding an ink to match my papers....I guess that is what you get when you aren't loyal to any one line of products! I found a chalk ink in my stash that matched surprisingly well, after a bit of searching and testing. I stamped the shoes onto white cardstock (four different styles.....of shoes, not cardstock!) and then punched them out with my Fiskars oval punch...which broke in the process! No worries though....a call to Fiskars, and they are going to replace it for me!

Here are two of the four cards....

I felt the cards still needed a bit of 'something', even after adding rhinestone brads. So, I sprinkled some dazzling diamonds onto each of the shoes for just an added bit of shimmer. A bit of stitching with my sewing machine would have been nice too.....maybe next time.

For the front of the tote, I used a chipboard flower which I covered with a complimentary pattern of paper. The center of the flower is actually a button coated in Crystal Effects Lacquer, which was then sprinkled with dazzling diamonds while it was still wet. The whole thing was then set aside to dry.

Have a great weekend!

Simply Special

2008-04-16T11:27:00.001-04:00

The cards I have to post today all use Simply Special.....one of the new stamps released last Friday over at Paper Pretties.

My first card has two versions...the only difference is how I attached the sentiment. The image was stamped with StazOn onto water colour paper. I then used water colour crayons and an aqua painter to colour in the image. It was double matted and the largest mat was sewn using my grandma's old sewing machine. I am so glad to have it back! It was in storage for the two years that we lived in Switzerland, and then when I got it back it didn't work properly. After a (expensive) tune-up, I finally have it back! .....Now I just need another table in my scrap room so I can leave it out all the time.... *wink*

Back to the project! So, after sewing the mat, I attached flower punche outs with mini buttons for centers. The sentiment is from MFT Simply Said....I used two sentiments together to create the one I wanted. The sentiment was attached using white gross grain ribbon and one of my SU! punches (slot punch, maybe???) Once I completed this card, I opted to make another and change up how I attached the sentiment.

Everything about this card is the same as the one above with the exception of the sentiment. This time I opted to attach it using the same punch and gross grain ribbon, but with the ribbon attached at the sides instead of at the top of the sentiment.

My third sample was a bit trickier. I decided that I wanted to use the watering can and the flower pot separately. So, out came the tape! I masked off the pot in order to stamp the can and then did the reverse in order to stamp the pot. I used several different stamp sets on this card....one for the leaves, another for the stems, another for the butterfly, and another for the streams of water coming from the can. It was a bit finicky, but I was happy in the end.

The stamps were Paper Pretties Simply Said (of course!), and CTMH Little Treasures (butterfly), Life is so Good (sentiment), and Solo "A" (stems). I used Making Memories mini blossoms to make the flowers that are growing in the flower pot, with Craft Essentials (from Joann Fabrics and Crafts) rhinestone brads for the centers. The images were water coloured with SU! crayons and the background was chalked with a sponge dauber (CTMH).

Off to make lunch! Have a great day. :)

Old Stuff....

2008-04-15T09:54:00.000-04:00

I was just checking out what I had on my memory card, and I found a few images that I have never posted. I tend to do that a lot.....

I don't have many details about these cards, because they are old...but I will do my best!

The first image is a birthday cake that I found in the Michaels dollar bin. It is an acrylic stamp that actually has flowers on the cake. Because I was making this card to be a bit more masculine, I masked over the flowers when I stamped the image. I water coloured the cake with SU! watercolour crayons. I used my SU! word window punch to make the tabs along the right hand side. First with white cardstock and then I added another layer of blue 'denim-ish' looking paper. How's that for a technical term?! Some layered mats for the cake, a bit of ribbon, a few buttons and some dazzling diamonds on the candle flames, and voila. C'est tout!

My second card is (obviously) a feminine card. The image of the flower cart is from a CTMH acrylic set of stamps. The image was coloured with watercolour crayons. The circular sentiment is from SU! I used my scallop punch and circle punches to mat the sentiment. I used decorative edged scissors on the purple cardstock on the right side to give it a bit of a feminine finish. The mat for the main image was punched with an edge punch which then allowed me to weave the purple ribbon through and tie it at the left side. I then added two paper flowers with rhinestone brads for the centers.

These cards may or may not have originated from sketches...I honestly can't remember. I really need to start writing this stuff down!

Have a great Tuesday! :)

Paper Pretties Pajama Party

2008-04-13T13:28:00.000-04:00

Friday was my very first Paper Pretties Pajama Party. There were three new stamp sets released during the party....Made With Love, Rainy Day Friends and Simply Special. At the top of each hour a challenge was issued, and we all had to complete the challenge and upload it to the gallery within that hour.

The first challenge was to create a summer card.....no pastels and no earth tones....just bright, bold colours. This is what I came up with......

The stamp is Flutter By and it was stamped with StazOn. The colouring was done with watercolour pencils from CTMH and they were then blended with OMS and a blending stump. Ribbons are all from Michaels. The flower brad is from Memory Makers (I think....).

The second challenge was to create a card using glossy cardstock. I didn't have any on hand...so I used metallic cardstock instead. During the PJ party, one of the girls said that glossy cardstock is really just photo paper! I have a ton of that...I just didn't know that they were the same thing! LOL. Anywho, this is what I came up with.....

The stamp is from Rubber Romance...I think her name is Jane. I stamped her with....what else....StazOn. She was coloured with watercolour pencils and crayons. I used a blending stump and OMS to blend the colours. The ribbon is from Michaels. The patterned paper is Sanylion Designs and the background paper is a bronze metallic from Micheals. I stamped the swirls onto the background with clear pigment ink and then embossed them with clear embossing powder.

The third challenge was to create a long card. Anything longer than the traditional 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I decided to go really long and created a card the size of a business sized envelope. It measured 9 1/4 x 3 3/4. Here it is......

This card was made with a whole lotta layers of cardstock. It is a colour palette that I love. It was actually inspired by a pottery barn catalogue! That is where I get some of my best inspiration! Junk mail and catalogues.... I have a couple of binders and notebooks where I store pages torn out of catalogues, sketches that I have jotted down, tutorial printouts, etc. That is where I go when I am seeking inspiration.

So, the stamp set is Look Who's Perky, the brads are from Joann Essentials line, the ribbon is from Joann also, the images were stamped with StazOn and then paper pieced with paper from my scrap bin. Save those scraps, girls! You never know when you will need just the littlest bit of this or that. I used the tiniest scraps for this project!

Overall, the pajama party was a success....once I got over the stress of the timeline, LOL. It was a quick pace and I had fun rising to the challenge and doing something new.

I hope some of you will join in next time!

Sweet One

2008-04-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

Recently, one of my very good friends contacted me wanting me to make some note card 'thank yous' as part of a gift she is giving to a family with a new baby girl. I was happy to do it.....I always have fun making things that are themed for little girls....I guess it is my inner girl coming out!

Quite some time ago, I saw a great little tutorial on my friend Joanne's blog. It was for a little box filled with four note cards and envelopes. If I remember correctly, I think Joanne said that she had gotten this template from her upline at SU!.

I made the outside of my box pretty much exactly as Joanne made hers, with the exception being that I used cardstock and then added patterned paper to the front and back of the box only. The papers are by Me & My Big Ideas -Vintage Scrappy Chic - Baby line. The cardstock is from DCWV. The image on the front of the box is from the SU! So Many Scallops set. I stamped it in brown StazOn and then punched it out with my scallop punch. I then punched a second scallop from brown cardstock and rotated it just enough that it shows behind the scallop with the image on it. Then a slightly larger circle was punched, the edges were inked and it was added as the bottom layer. The image was then fastened to the box using dimensionals on the bottom half, with the top being left loose so that the flap of the box can be tucked behind it.

As Joanne did in her example, I fastened the corners with brad. These are jumbo pink brads from.....I can't remember where.

The note cards are beige cardstock mounted onto the same line of patterned paper used for the exterior of the box. The ribbon is from Michaels. The brads used on the top left corner of each note card are mini brads from Colorbok. The sentiment is from the SU! Lots of Thoughts set, with the 'many thanks' cropped from the rest of the stamped image. The edges of the sentiment were then inked to make it pop a bit more and it was fastened with dimensionals.

Have a great Friday!

Scrapbooking Prettie Style

2008-04-09T16:27:00.000-04:00

For my post this week, I decided to do a two page scrapbook layout. These pages are 8 x 8 and were created as part of a 40th anniversary album.

The patterned paper is from the Autumn Leaves Foof-a-la Thrift Store line. The papers in this line are all really pretty and they have a really 'vintage' feel to them....making them appropriate for a 40th wedding anniversary album! The main cardstock is from Bazzill Basics and the accent colour is from a scrapstack.

The 'now & forever' was made using a stamp from the Michaels dollar bin. The '&' symbol was then coloured using Stampin' Up! water colour crayons and a water brush / aqua painter. It was adhered to the page with dimensionals. The 'truly blessed' sentiment is a rub-on that comes from the Colorbok Life's Blessings line. The wide gross grain ribbon is from Michael's also.

The image of the lovebirds is from Paper Pretties (of course!). It was first stamped with Stone Gray StazOn and then Luke was coloured using CTMH water colour pencils, with the exception of his skin, which was coloured with SU! water colour crayon. The pencil was then blended using odourless mineral spirits (OMS) and a blending stump. Lexi's shoes were coloured with a silver gel pen. Her dress was coloured with an Atyou Spica Clear pen, giving it a sparkle that can't be seen in the photo. Her hair was done with water colour pencil and OMS and her skin was done with SU! crayons.

The date between Luke and Lexi are Generations alphabet stickers. Luke and Lexi were cut out using my Coluzzle circle template. I used my corner rounder punch in order to round off the edges of the text box and mat as well as the mats for the black and white photo on the opposite page.

Don't forget to join us for Stamping in your Jammies over at Paper Pretties on Friday night beginning at 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges, prizes and the release of 3 new stamps!

See you there!

Losing Track.....

2008-04-07T18:24:00.001-04:00

I received two new stamps from Paper Pretties last week, and eagerly went to work using them on the weekend. For some reason, it didn't register that they were yet unreleased stamps, which means that I can't yet post what I made with them! Ooopsie!

So, I went into my photo files to find a card that I could post for you today, and this is what I came up with.

I have to say, I love this stamp set from My Favorite Things. It is called Time for the Bubbly, and you have seen me use it here before. As a matter of fact, I think I even used the same colour scheme too!

This sketch was from Poetic Artistry....it was the Mojo Monday #27 sketch.

I really wanted to give this sketch a try....but I quickly realized that if I did, I was going to end up covering up part of the image that I didn't want to cover. To solve that problem, I opted to use vellum for the strip at across the bottom. I then used four rhinestone brads that complimented the colours in the patterned papers.

The sentiment was embossed with silver embossing powder and then zapped with my heat gun. The wallpaper was paper pieced and the rest of the image was coloured using a combination of Stampin' Up water colour crayons and Close To My Heart water colour pencils. The bubbles were given a dash of SU Dazzling Diamonds, although you can't tell from the photo. The papers were all from my scrap bin...but originally came from scrap stacks.
Join us over at Paper Pretties for our Prettie Pajama Party on April 11th starting at 8:00 pm EST. Stay tuned for some sneak peaks of the new releases later in the week!

Other Creative Endeavors

2008-04-04T13:05:00.000-04:00

My son had a birthday earlier in the week and hit the big number six! He is completely enamoured with Scooby Doo at the moment, so it was no mystery as to what kind of cake I would be making (no pun intended)!

I bought the Scooby Doo cake pan weeks ago because he was so worried that they might run out of them at the store. I baked the cake the night before, and then spent the entire afternoon mixing eight different colours of icing (from scratch!) and decorating the prized pup.

SIX hours later, and this was the result......

I had a very happy little boy on my hands.....and it was all worth it! :)

Hoppy Birthday

2008-04-04T12:50:00.000-04:00

I needed to make a couple of children's birthday cards recently, and while flipping through the stack of miscellaneous papers on my desk, I found a Stampin' Up! inspiration sheet that gave me the idea for this card.

Even though I don't own All Wrapped Up by Stampin' Up, I have stamps that are almost identical from one of their competitors (shhhhh!), Close To My Heart. The CTMH sets are called Little Treasures (the jar) and Frogs (you guessed it....the frog!).

Papers are Bazzills cardstock and the bubble paper is from my scrap bin. The jar was stamped in black StazOn....my 'go to' ink for just about everything lately. The frog was stamped in New England Ivy from CTMH. I cut out the jar and the frog by hand and I then added some Crystal Effects from Stampin' Up! to the spots on the frog's back, as well as to his eyes to give him that 'bulgy eyed' look. The frog was popped up on some dimensionals and three little brads were added to the bottom right corner.

The first part of the sentiment was made using alphabet stickers and the second part was a 'happy birthday' stamp with the 'happy' masked off.

Have a great weekend!