It's been wild...

Hello blog friends! It's been wild around here this week so my little corner of the blogworld has been snoozing since tuesday. ack! If you are reading this, thanks for not giving up on me :) AND, I did spend a day yesterday at the kitchen table with my sweet SIL, Traci, and my two girls discussing the ways of the world and making baby shower invites for our cousins' upcoming arrival of a little bundle of joy so you could say a little crafting was going on here...oh YES you could! :)

Traci sent me some links to the baby registry and one of the items that came up was this changing pad cover from Babies R Us.

Look familiar? Traci had suggested we use a band of paper to provide some interest to our printed invites and I decided to make some custom designer paper with Microsoft Word which coordinates with the nursery set they picked out...'cause that's how we paper chicks roll, right?

Then I borrowed a scalloped circle die from my super crafty friend, Elise, and cut felt circles to adhere the stamped and colored monkey (also in their nursery theme) from My Cute Stamps, the Circus Animal set. This was sooo easy, and we duplicated this invite in hardly any time at all...especially when you are a group of girls crafting together...y'all KNOW what I mean, dontcha?

Thanks so much for stopping by, it means so much to me!

PTI Blog Hop {fall challenge} and Card Patterns #29

Hey friends! Just got done cleaning up a fabulous dinner for my sweetie's birthday. Whew doggies! It was sooo yummy...even yummier because my sweet MIL made it! :) I sat down to take a little blog break and realized I missed the blog hop window for Papertrey. Oh well, there was still plenty of inspiration so I figured, what the heck? and made a card!


I decided to gather additional inspiration from this card sketch from Card Patterns #29:

the sketch:

my card:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the left and then went to town with some luscious fall ribbon, a vintage button, twine, gems and a couple of my favorite Papertrey products: bitty dot paper, Damask Designs and Fancy Flourish stamps.

Check out the :BLING: bLiNg Bling! I just love these golden craft gems. It reminds me of when the sun glints off of the leaves when they turn all of those golden-orange colors. OOOOooh I can't wait for fall to get here with the gorgeous bright blue days, crisp morning air and, best of all, cozy clothing and a fire or two in the woodstove. Bring on the fall!

Thanks for hopping by. I really appreciate that you share you day with me!

Supplies:
Paper: Papertrey Ink and Georgia Pacific
Stamps: Damask Designs and Fancy Flourish by Papertrey
Ink: SU!
Craft Supplies: gems, vintage button, hemp twine and ribbon

SPCC#11 .....hello tree

Happy Sunday friends! I had a flash last night that the SPCC challenge #11 colors were perfect for a tree! I had to give this challenge a second shot since I had this idea burning a hole in my pocket and hey....did you all know the prize is copics this week? That is SO exciting to me so I decided to run with my idea number 2!

the challenge:

my project:

Sorry about the dark picture, it's night time and I usually use the daylight hours for photography. Anywhoo, I used some great stamps from My Cute Stamps called Spunky Nature for stamping the little sprouts along the bottom and for stamping the leaves on the lighter circles in the tree. The darkest green circles (with polka dots) are a DCWV DP. I stamped and circle punched the pieces that form the leafy tree and the trunk has been handcut and randomly folded and inked to simulate wood grain. More green galore colored accents were added in the form of buttons, flower sequins and ribbon.

This seems like a fun card just for saying hi to a friend so I grabbed this hello stamp from the Papertrey Friends til the end set, stamped and popped it up on foam dots. A little swiss dots cuttlebug also fit well here....but then, if it's up to me, Swiss Dots fits EVERYWHERE! ;)

Thanks for coming by today. I hope you had a great weekend. I sure did!

Supplies:
Paper: Georgia Pacific, Stampin Up! DCWV
Stamps: My Cute Stamps, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Stampin Up!
Embosser: Cuttlebug
Sequins: Doodlebug
Craft Supply: buttons and ribbon

CPS 129....in love

Hey friends! Here again today with the CPS sketch challenge! Please scroll down for the My Time to Create Challenge today with Lauren Meader and the MTTC team!


Back to CPS and sketch 129...

the challenge:

my project:

The papers, except the vintage sheet music, are from KI Memories wedding kit. Aren't they pretty together? The paper ruffle is made from a 1" x 12" strip folded and sewn onto the card front.

Finally got a chance to pull out some dew drops for this card. I have been waiting for papers with the right pink in them to use these. I love how the light bounces in them.

The ribbon flowers are a fun touch too. I will definitely use more of these in the future.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies:

Paper: KI Memories and digi paper from Mari Koegelenberg at the Digichick Boutique

Ink: SU

Craft supplies: sewing machine, pinking sheers, ribbon flowers, ribbon, dew drops

My Time to Create Template Challenge #05 and SPCC#11...sweet picnic

Happy Saturday Friends! It's time for another challenge with Lauren Meader and the My Time to Create Challenge team. It's template time! Time to make something with one of Lauren's My Timeless Templates offered at Papertrey Ink....there are even two freebies so give em a try if you haven't already. And, I'm also using color inspiration from the fabulous Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Challenge blog. Have you seen this one yet? Always amazing eye candy over there!

the challenges:

my project:

The template challenge is two fold this week....use a template AND make it school themed. So this little basket called Pack a Picnic has been transformed with green galore cardstock from Stampin Up and stamps from Stampin UP and Papertrey Ink. This is the perfect shade of green for those snappy granny smith apples! Might as well start off on the right foot with your teacher and bring him or her an apple in a super fun container!

I added the brown to the outer edge of the stamped apple by first inking it up with green galore and then rolling the stamp edges into the brown ink. A very time honored stamping technique that never fails to impress me!

The fun part about 3-D projects is that they show well from every angle! I used a stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the row of small apple stamps and the "basket grid" is the grid stamp from Papertrey's Guidelines set. The handles are strung onto the button floss that is then threaded through the side of the basket and taped to the inside. I think the buttons really give it a little something special. :)

Are you ready for some amazing inspiration from the design team? Check them out:

Lauren Meader
Alicia Weiman
MacKenzie Bruckler
Maria Levine
Kendra Wisenbaker
Kristen Beuter
Tracey Cuccia
Pam Imholtz
Jen Tapler
Odette
Lisa Kind
Tamara Harder

Don't forget that Lauren will be picking her fave five to highlight this week. You will find the Mr Linky on Lauren's blog so hook us up oh crafty ones. We can't wait to see what you are making! Thanks so much for coming by this week!

Supplies:

• Template: Lauren Meader
• Paper: SU! and Georgia Pacific
• Stamps: SU!, Papertrey Ink and Provo Craft
• Ink: Colorbox and SU!
• Punch: SU!
• Other craft supply: embroidery floss, brad, buttons, gingham ribbon

Card Patterns sketch 28....all you need is love

Happy friday! Whew! Another wild week has flown by...but that's nothing new right? I needed a card to insert into the wedding tussy mussy I made here. That tussy mussy "envelope" is a bit over the top so just a simple card will do the trick! Card patterns has another great sketch this week and it is SUPER adaptable to many translations...I can't wait to see what everyone links up for this sketch. I, on the other hand, followed the sketch almost to the letter LOL!

the challenge:

my card:

Sweet and simple, ey? I love it! Lots of dots and some sweet accents did the trick for me. Thanks for coming by today. I wish you all a sweet and simple weekend full of love :)

Supplies:

Paper: Papertrey Ink and Georgia Pacific

Embossing: swiss dots by cuttlebug

die: Provo Craft

Corner rounder: CM

Craft supply: sewing pins, foam tape and ribbon

Paper Flower Tussy Mussy...you "mussy"-n't miss it :)

Hey friends! Just a quickie to say I am honored to be the project of the day over at The Hybrid Chick. I crafted up a paper flower tussy mussy for a friend's wedding shower that turned out just as I pictured it in my head. Love when that happens, don't you? Also, this project started with a child's party hat template from Kelleigh Ratzlaff's August Grab Bag over at the Digichick Boutique. With a few changes, this party hat went from juvenile to uptown style!

The above picture is just one of my photo shoot leftovers that I felt like posting because it's sooooo romantic with the low lights. Just giving myself a little photography love...ignore me ;)

So I'd love it if you'd shoot on over to the Hybrid chick blog and check out my project in step by step format, with hints and tips along the way...and then I'd REALLY love it if you gave something like this a try and shared it with me. And also check out all of the super talented creative team projects...they are sure to get your mojo flowing. Thanks so much for stopping by! See you at the Hybrid Chick :)

It {IS} easy being green...

Hey friends! My daughters ask me all the time what my favorite color is and I can never answer with just one. Chalk it up to my indecisive nature, but I just can't narrow things down to only one signature color...I like lots! But for today, let's go GREEN! I tend to love a good celery or lime and, on occasion, a shamrock or kelly green. It's been along time since I just went all monochromatic and simple on a card, and hey it was fun!

I realized while I was putting this card together that I have to have at least 5 (but usually more) supplies to make a card, not counting a cutter and base cardstock. Papercrafts just recently had a call for making a card using only 3 supplies and for the life of me, I couldn't pick only three...again that indecisive thing crops up. I guess that kicks me out of the clean and simple style club for sure. LOL! Question of the day: I'd love to know, how many supplies, minimum, do you need to make something, not counting cardstock, cutting tool and adhesive?

Have a happy day and thanks for coming by!

Supplies:

Paper: Georgia Pacific and DCWV spring stack (DP)

Flower: prima

button: vintage from the stash

craft supply: ribbon and embroidery floss

Do you {Believe}...?

HI friends! First of all, do you believe that I am posting a Christmas project?!!? It's true, before we know it, the holiday season will be upon us. Now normally, I'm not this early but when I saw the excellent vintage Christmas digi kit by Mari Koegelenberg called Noel for release tomorrow at the Digichick Boutique, I just KNEW I had to pair it with one of my favorite templates from Kelleigh Ratzlaff called Star Spangled.

All of the papers and the cute "Believe" tag are from Mari's kit. There are a bunch of cute tags to choose from but, for us, "believe" was most fitting this year. You see, with an 8 year old and a 5 year old, we are always entertaining questions about what is real and what is just "imitation snow" shall we say about Christmas. For most things, I answer that sometimes the strongest "truths" are the things and experiences we BELIEVE in. If believing in the magic of Christmas brings you joy, then I say go for it :)

Here's a great closeup of all of the elements..digital papers in stripes, foliage and vintage sheet music, cool digi tag, a chunk of a holiday pick from the craft store, tiny pine cones from last years cinnamon pine cone display, ribbon, stickles and glimmer mist. The pine cones were dabbed with white paint and then rolled in clear glitter and the tag was trimmed with scallop scissors, inked and then sprayed with glimmer mist. The star was first made from printing on white cardstock and assembling per the template directions. I then printed the two DP onto light weight printer paper. The light weight paper made it easier to glue onto the sections of the assembled star and then seal the seams of the paper with a line of copper stickles. Inking the seams of this project also works well if glitter is not your thing.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a good one :)

Supplies:

Digi Kit: Noel by Mari Koegelenberg from the Digichick Boutique

Template: Star Spangled by Kelleigh Ratzlaff from the Digichick Boutique

Paper: Georgia Pacific

Scissors: pinking and scalloped by fiskars

Stickles and paint dauber by ranger

Glitter: Martha Stewart and glimmer mist by tattered angels

Ink: Colorbox

Craft supplies: small pine cones, ribbon holiday pick

For my {deer}

Happy tuesday friends! Thanks to the amazing Cathe Holden who shared this cool black and white scan of deer from an 1887 almanac, I had the perfect centerpiece for my outdoorsy husband's upcoming birthday card. Cathe is an amazing graphic designer and there is always a visual treat for the eye whenever you visit her blog. Be happy, check her out :)

I printed the silhouette image in black on white cardstock. Then, to smear proof my sheet, I gave the image a light coating of matte finish clear spray paint. Then I went to work with some Stampin Up dye inks and an inking sponge. I think this image would make a stunning header for stationery too...hmmm...maybe I'll have to revisit that idea. Anyway, I mounted the inked piece onto black cardstock and then some smoky shadow cardstock from Papertrey. Stitching with my sewing machine finished off the blank space.

Check out the smoky shadow....doesn't it remind you of wool socks on a brisk fall day? Not too much longer and it will be time to pull those socks out of the drawer.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate your visit. Also, I want to share a huge thank you to Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo challenge site. A top 5 spot was bestowed upon me for last week's card and it is my honor to wear a new badge on my side bar. Thanks Samantha!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific and Papertrey

Ink: SU!

Digital art: vintage almanac image offered by Cathe Holden at http://justsomethingimade.blogspot.com/

My Time to Create Color Challenge #4 (MTTC04)...the butterfly effect

Hey everyone! Coming to you live from a cabin by the river in northern Cali...thank YOU blogger scheduler! It's time to get creative with Lauren Meader and the gals of the My Time to Create Challenge design team! This week it's all about the colors, dahlings, and they are quite lively for sure. Don't forget, Lauren will be highlighting the top five projects that are linked up with the Mr Linky on her blog for the color challenge. Could be YOU! I hope you give this challenge a try :)

the challenge:

my project:

As you can see, I was inspired by ALL of it...even the display graphic for the challenge. LOL! I couldn't help myself, these butterflies from the Indie Arts cricut cartridge were P-E-R-F-E-C-T! And, I'll tell you a secret. I bought this cartridge when it first came out....for THESE butterflies...and like everything precious I hoarded them as if they were too precious to use. Can you imagine?? I mean they are a DIE CUT! I could cut them over and over again but no, I had to save them for a "worthy" project! LOL Well, all I can say is thank you My Time challenge. It is time for these pretty butterflies to be free.

OK, enough of my crazy talk...how about some more inspiration?

Check out these uber-talented papercrafters and then let your creative juices flow for your own little bit of play time. Can't wait to see what you make!

Lauren Meader
Alicia Weiman
MacKenzie Bruckler
Maria Levine
Kendra
Kristen Beuter
Tracey Cuccia
Pam Imholtz
Jen Tapler
Lisa Kind
Tamara Harder

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a creative day!

Supplies:

• Paper: Papertrey Ink and Georgia Pacific
• Cartridge: Cricut Indie Arts
• Other: buttons and embroidery floss