Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Party!

Hey everyone-- don't miss the new GCD Studios Design Team announcement at a blog party (with fun give-a-ways:) on Monday, April 6th! Click here to head over there.

Monday, March 30, 2009

A Little Baby Love


Just a quick post with an idea for an adorable baby gift (and matching card of course).
Simply stamp the monogram on a onesie & heat set. Add trim or ribbon to onesie and cloth diaper (for a cute stylish burp cloth). Add a couple of french knots for additional embellishment, and viola and quick little hand made gift for baby. Hope you all have a great week!

Products: patterned paper, acrylic paint (Making Memories), letter stamps and ink (Technique Tuesday), butterfly stamp (Hero Arts), ribbon (American Crafts)

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Another Card Night!

Ok, so I got sucked into another card night (which is why it is nearly 2:00 AM and I am wide awake). This one was a fun one though because I was listening to Christmas music making cards for Paper Crafts Magazine's holiday call. It's a good thing that Campbell didn't wake up and hear the Christmas music because it would mean 3 more months of holiday music for me (once that girl gets started, its hard to get her to stop--but who can resist the wonderful sound of a 4 year old singing "Its the most wonderful time of the ear.")

I have some good news to share-- a card that I showed you last weekend was picked as a winner of the Stamp It! Week Challenge on the Paper Craft Connections blog site. You can check it out here.  I was really surprised (and delighted) when I saw it posted there-- thank you Paper Crafts Connection!

Anyway, tonight's post has a couple of cards (yes I plan to get back to scrapbooking this week-- I've got a great pink layout waiting for me to put together as we speak). 

This card was another entry for Scrap-N-Style's Spring Green challenge (and the inspiration for the pink page that I plan to scrap this week). It strictly interprets the theme by the feeling that I get when I think of spring with a splash of green, since in southern Ohio Spring only starts with a splash of green if you are lucky. To note: If you are looking for a quick and easy card to make, find a great piece of patterned paper, cut it to the size of your card, simply add glitter, a few embllishments, a sentiment and ribbon. 


My best scrapping girlfriend Anita and I headed down to Louisville this weekend to Creating Keepsake's Convention. At these things they always have card and layout contests. This is something I created for Paper Craft Magazine's card contest-- the challenge was to make a birthday card for them since they are celebrating their 5th birthday this year. 

Well I think the hour has finally hit me and I may be ready to head to bed. I've been fortunate to have had a productive and fun weekend, I hope you all have had the same.

Take care all!!! Thanks for stopping by;)

Products: patterned paper (GCD Studios), cardstock (Archivers), ribbon (American Crafts, Michael's Stores Inc), ink (Colorbox, Technique Tuesday), glitter (Doodlebug), stamps  (Anna Griffin, Fancy Pants Designs, Technique Tuesday), embossing powder (Ranger), journaling box (7 gypsies). 

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Spring Green Challenge



































Ok, so lately I have been addicted to Scrap N Style's site-- there are some very creative scrappers out their! Here are a few projects I made for their "Spring Green" challenge.  The gist of the challenge is to interpret the theme however you like--check out all of the creative projects derived from two words, "Spring Green" at the challenge gallery.

I can't help but think about how much stuff we throw away as scrapbookers. My goal this year is to be a bit more green when it comes to my scrapbooking--for instance, I now make it an initiative to find and support manufacturers that use recycled materials in their products; I consciously try to reuse and recycle parts of the packaging; and I find a use for just about every last scrap (why I have so many card nights:) that I would normally discard.  

Every component of my birdhouse is some sort of left over, scrap or something that has been repurposed instead of trashed. This project also has dual meaning because for my family there is nothing more exciting than putting out our birdhouse and yard toys when the weather gets warm-- sure sign of spring!

My scrapbook page is created with mostly product from one of my favorite manufacturers, Jillibean Soup-- I just love their paper, especially their kraft paper which is made from 100% recycled stock! Spring Green!

Thanks for stopping by-- have a great weekend everyone:)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Try something new everyday...

...so today I tried stamp kissing-- I'm still reserving judgement on wether I like it or not, but it was a way to break out all of my old stamps/inks and get them back into use (and I got a lot of great ideas to try out for accents on my scrapbook layouts). If you are not familiar stamp kissing, visit this blog post at Fabulously Artsy-- there is a great video tutorial that I used to get my gears going. 

To note: I used a small butterfly stamp to kiss the large flower. This one color kissing basically removes the ink from the larger stamp revealing the cardstock or leaving a negative image.







This card shows a two color kissing technique where the darker ink of one stamp kisses off on a stamp with a lighter color-- here you see the black ink kissing off onto the brown on the flower. I then experimented by stamping it on different colors of paper-- you can see the results. Obviously I liked the stamped image on the lighter kraft paper best which is why I used it for central focus point on my card.

Remember the beauty of all of this is that it is fun to play around, try things out; nothing has to be perfect, right or wrong-- just enjoy the process! 

Have you tried any new techniques lately? If so please share-- I'm always looking for new things techniques and ideas to try out. Have a great Sunday all!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

More American Crafts Girly Stuff...

I love this layout-- there couldn't be better product for this picture that I took of my daughter after she threw herself on the floor in an absolute tantrum two seconds after walking in the door at the end of a long weekend. She was simply exhausted and the result was nothing but drama. I'm sure those of you with girls can relate:)


Just a couple of cards to use up my stash. I love the feeling of having nothing left over--it also make it easier to clean up (I hate to file:)  Good night!
Products: patterned paper (American Crafts), cardstock (Bazzill), felt strip (Queen & Co.), pearls (Kaiser Scrapbook) , markers (Dot-a-rific), buttons (Basic Grey), floss (DMC),  tulle (Bazzill), stamps (Studio G, Anna Griffin), ink (Technique Tuesday, ColorBox), scissors (Fiskars).

Monday, March 16, 2009

On a roll...


Yeah! Finally some time to scrap! Most of this product (crown, stripe & poka dot pp) comes from my favorite scrapbook store... Scrap, Paper, Scissors: A Scrapbook Studio-- for anyone in Cincy! Check back for more from this cute girly American Crafts line:)
This layout was based on a Scrapbooks Etc. "Make It Yours" Scrap Challenge (original layout by Jen Jockisch). If I ever just want to get myself scrapping again after some time off, I often will do an online challenge just to get the gears moving. 

New to my blog will be the To Note section of each post (if I don't give you something noteworthy, why stop by?). On this layout notice how certain crowns pop off the page-- this can be done simply by cutting crowns out of the scraps not being used in your layout and adhering them
 right on top of their mate with a pop dot. It makes for a fun dimensional effect when you have a large amount of pattern 
showing on your page.




Little gardens like this one are not only a great way to fill space on your page, but also a good way to use up your scraps!















Products: cardstock (Bazzill), patterned paper (American Crafts, K&Co.), rhinestones (Paper Studio), flowers (Prima, My Mind's Eye, Jillibean Soup, creative hands), border punch (Fiskars), chipboard letters (DCWV), pop dots (EK Success), adhesive (Creative Memories), buttons (Basic Grey)

Monday, March 09, 2009

A Little Green

Here's a little green for those of you preparing for St. Patty's Day! Most of this came from the Piggy Tales "Itsy Bitsy Spider" line.  It is a very cute line with some great rubons! 

Here I used the rubons as flower embellisments. I didn't rub them on, but just cut them out straight from their sheet & flipped them so the slick side would be out...added a few brads, a pop dot & you get an instant dimensional flowers!
I think rubons make a great frame for a larger photo--a trick I use often when I'm scrapping only one picture.
Products: cardstock (Coredinations), patterned paper (Piggy Tales), rubons (Piggy Tales), pompons & tulle (Bazzill), journaling boxes (Luxe Designs).

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Card night!

Ok so...tonight was card night. One of my New Year's resolutions was to use up my scraps, so I sat down tonight to use of some of my scraps from my Basic Grey Marrakech collection pack.

Products: glitter (Stickles), ink (Technique Tuesday, ColorBox), patterned paper (Basic Grey, K&Co.), pearls (Queen & Co.), stamps (Autumn Leaves, Anna Griffin), Tulle (Bazzil  Basics)
It also makes me feel good to break out my stamps--sometimes I feel like I neglect them when I work on my scrapbook pages.

Products: brad (Bazzill basics), floss (DMC), ink (ColorBox, Technique Tuesday), journaling tag (Luxe Designs), patterned paper (Basic Grey), ribbon (recycled from old PB package:)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

LOVE

Here is one of my favorites-- this is of my youngest Hadley, using the new Basic Grey Marrakech (a city in western Morocco-- I had to look it up, why should you?) collection pack. I think I might add some more journaling, but until I can find the right words, I think LOVE best sums it up. She's my little sweetie!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Paper Purse

Hello, a few of you have asked for the pattern for the purse posted below. Here it is along with a few photos of it's creation. I hope this helps, if not email me and I'll walk you through it.
Purse's body/strap--flap/decorative band--sides    
(red lines are scored lines)

Here are a few more things made with Jillibean Soup product. I really like the look of kraft paper (especially on scrapbook layouts as seen in yesterday's layout). I'm going to have to do a little research to see if I can buy it in bulk.


This is a great mother/daughter project (anyone planning the Mother's Day tea at your daughter's school?). I remember making these as a kid with construction paper and tape (my, how have things changed) and I now love making them for my girls to play with (Campbell and Hadley are only one & three, so they love playing with them but are a bit too young to make them yet).


In some ways I am very economical when I scrap, because I don't always buy all of the fancy embellishments. I often grab an extra sheet of patterned paper (especially if it has great designs on it like this butterfly) and simply cut out the features on the paper (ie. butterflies, flowers, etc.) to use as embellishments. Add a little Judikins diamond glaze and no one would ever know its just a piece of paper:)

Isn't it fun to use little photos on cards or invitations? Its kind of like a mini-scrapbook page:)

Ride the Wave

Ok-- so I have the feeling that blogging is a wave that I'm going to have to learn to surf, so here it goes...my first post.


This is a layout I just finished using products from Jillibean Soup--my scrapbook store just stared carrying them and I think I love them...I could very well become a bean stalker:)