Jingle Belles : Lonely This Christmas

Hello and thanks for visiting my blog today!!! I nearly missed this week's prompt at Jingle Belles !!! Tomorrow is the deadline and I'm just getting my card done tonight!!! Stef and Lauren have partnered up with a cool  team, The Order of the Opus Gluei for this challenge so go check it out , but ,before you go , here's my card for this week's challenge. All we need to do is make a card ( your imagination is the limit!!!) and just so it won't be lonely we can make a tag, giftcard holder, box,etc, etc... to go along with it.

I haven't made a card with transparency sheets in so long but I had this dp that was strips of these cool snowman designs and winter-y  sayings and since it is part of my older Xmas dp stash , I decided to put it to  good use for this challenge.  I made the box with my Cricut and Wrap It Up cartridge. For my card I stamped  a few red and white snowflakes on the front and inside of the card and added mini rhinestones to random snowflakes. The sentiment is on the inside only. The giftbox is stamped in snowflakes and I used more of the dp for the band, along with a piece of red cs, punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

 Now I have a card and matching giftbox all ready to use this December!!  Yay!!!

Thanks for stopping by .... see you next time!!!

Just scrappin'........

Hi all! Oh, how I miss Crop Nights with my girlfriends!!! There is nothing like spending hours chatting, snacking and scrapping with good friends, is there???!!!  My girlfriend called me from Alberta , on her way to a cropnight and I felt so lonely.... missing her, my old home and cropping at my fav scrapbook store!! I love living here ( sooooo much fresh air and peace and quiet, life is  just so laid back..... what more could I ask for????) but I do miss Urban Scrapbook, Treasured Memories and Creative Scrapbooks ,my top 3 in Edmonton and I especially miss my girlfriends there, too!!  So after feeling a little sad , I pulled out some of my photos that I've taken since I moved back and I was instantly reminded why we came home. Plus , it RAINED  so hard this weekend.... the perfect excuse to stay inside!

I finished up quite a few layouts I had been working on .... they were starting to pile up!!!.... and managed to get a few more done!!! What a feeing of accomplishment!!! :)

I love the diecut dp from BoBunny... those colors are amoung my favorites right now. I covered the flower on the paper with a gorgeous Prima flower and I used a Hambly overlay over the kids photo. I played around with stickers and stamps for my title, and that was it!!! Very quick!!

 I colored the chipboard word "love" in Black Pearl metallic paint. The brackets are stamped in black and cutout and the diecut shape below is from Cindy Loo Cricut cartridge and is also inked up in black and stamped ( have no idea the name of this stamp.... it's one of my bargain bin finds!!!). The bingo diecut is from Jenni Bowlin designs, which I had purchased with a kids Valentine layout in mind , but I never actually put to any use until now. The papers are from Stampin Up's  Love Letter DSP.

This layout uses mainly papers and stamps from SU with the exception of the "Favorite" word. Again, I bought this for scrapbooking but it hasn't seen any ink until this weekend!!! Now that I've used it , I see so many possibilities!!!  I scrunched up some dp and then stitched it in place for a paper ribbon. The flower is a digi stamp from SU , which I colored and then applied a thin layer of gold paper glaze to it and then Stickles to the center.

I'm on a bit of a stitching kick these days.... and there lots of it here! Each strip is stitched in red and then the whole page is stitched in white ( my sewing machine sees more use now that I use it for scrappin' !). This is a Simply Scrappin' kit from SU.... I've had it since December . I hope to get a few more layouts done with it.

I found these tags, epoxy accents, paper pad and more from ColorBok's Friendly Forest collection on clearance at Michaels last spring , but it got packed away for the move. It took me so long to find all my crafting stuff and I only recently found this!!! I made a 2-page layout of a recent hike my kids and I did.

I used vellum adhesive for the quote blocks and then stiched them a bit with SU linen thread to keep them secure . The epoxy accents/ buttons are attached with a few brads. I added a journalling block and eventually I'll get arount to added some words to it!!!!

We went on a hike  during the Feather and Folk Festival on June 4th which was hosted by International Applachia Trails group . The hike was about 2 hours on the Starlight Trail on the Table mountains near my hometown  and it was such a perfect day to hike... beautiful views everwhere!!! The kids loved it and we are already planning to go again ,soon! The title was custom designed using my Gypsy and Cricut. Since the patterned papers were only 5X7 in size, I decided to not trim  them but, rather, to make the layout work around their size. I still have lots left over from this collection .... maybe I'll make a few cards with it!

So, these are some of the completed pages.... I still have several partially done.... another rainy day project!!!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!! Until next time... happy crafting!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #79: Father's Day card

Hi, I'm glad you stopped by today!!! Tomorrow is Father's Day and this week at Cricut Cardz Challenge , the DT made some really great Father's Day cards and they are inviting us to make our own FD cards and we can use whatever cartridge and colors we want!! Sounds pretty good, right???
I used my Wild Card cartridge for this card...... it's one of my older carts but it has so many great images on it that I don't think I could part with it!!!

Here's my Father's Day card for my hubby who loves to fish,if ever he can some spare time!!!!!!!

I played around with the shadowbox technique to make a rectangle box rather than sqaure. Check out Splitcoaststampers resource/ technique  section  for this tutorial . The card base, inside shadow box, fish and grass are cut from SU cardstock and the plaid paper is from a paperpad from DCWV. The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Thanks for stopping by ...... have a great day!!! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!!!

Jingle Belles : All Bundled Up!!

Happy Friday!!! It's finally here, the day that I get the honor of being a guest star on Jingle Belles!!! ****Yay!!!!****   For my challenge I selected a theme "All Bundled Up!" 'cause I love to bundle my layers, whether it be with papers or embellies, or whatever!!!  I usually rummage through my scraps and stashes of ribbons, buttons, or whatever else I can find in my craftroom, to see what works nicely together .

Here's my card for Jingle Belles:

There are papers , brads, journalling tags and even flourishes on this card!!! The more the merrier!! The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket , it's double sided so I get twice the use out of it. The pink border is the flip side.... I handcut following the lines of the paper and then added a few sparkly brads to the snowflakes. The flourish was cut with my Cricut ( Cindy Loo cartridge) in glitter green and pink and the  journalling tag ( from Kaiser Craft) is also layered in pink ... yup, lots of layers here!!!

Thanks for stopping by..... I'm really excited to see your Bundled Up creations!!!!

Shadow Box / Recessed Window Card

Hello everyone!!! I discovered Splitcoaststampers a few years ago and it is one of absolute favorite places for loads and loads of card ideas and technique tutorials.  Beate Johns is amazing and she does the best tutorials ever!!!! Most of her creations look so beautiful and fancy , yet when you watch her how-to videos , you can easily create the project ( 'tho mine never looks as good as hers!!!!!). I found a video on how to make recessed window or shadow box card. You can search the Splitcoast YouTube channel to find it.... you won't be dissappointed!!!

 So, anyways, here's what I made....

I pretty much cased Beate's card , I just used my own supplies to make it a summer BDay card. Wouldn't this style be perfect for a X-mas family pic card??? Or maybe for a birth anouncement? Oh, I can see a ton of possibilities!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.... have a super day ( hope it's sunny and warm whereever you are!!!).

Until next time.... happy stampin'!!

Jingle Belles : Oh Christmas Sketch,Oh Christmas Sketch

Happy Saturday! Every time I visit Jingle Belles I am reminded why I love the Christmas season so much...  and those lovely ladies, Lauren and Stef are always so darn creative with all their fab prompts!! Thank you so much ladies!!! I love the catchy title this week " Oh Christmas Sketch" and the sketch provided by the  talented Kirsty Vittetoe is sure to get your creative mojo going!!

Here's her sketch...........

I played around with some dp I had leftover from some scrappages and the  3 journalling tags are from College Press 's Joyride collection, which I really love. The sentiment is actually a rubon froma couple years ago from Stampin' Up! ( I really have to purge some of my old stash!!!). The buttons and cardstock base are also from SU . The dp is from Cosmo Cricket , I think!  The card measures 5.25 " by 5.25" , so it would fit neatly into my square SU envelopes, otherwise I'd have to make my own ( being the procrastinator that I am, that would be during my Holiday Mayhem in December!!!! lol ).

 Don't forget to take advantage of the special deals that Pixie Dust Paperie is offering to Jingle Belles !!! And, one lucky entry will win a fab prize..... good luck!!!

Thanks for stopping by..... until the next time.... happy stampin'!!!!

Wrap It Up : boy birthday

Hi again! When I first was looking at the cartridge Wrap It Up , I fell in love with it's versatilty!!! It has a little of everything and has become one my go-to cartridges these days!  Once I again, I used it to make three quick birthday cards for my little boy to give to his friends ( he has three bdays this weekend!!!!). At this age they all love their Playstations, Nintendo DSI's and Wii's and so when I saw that game- controller image I knew I had to make it for them. How perfect for these guys!!!

I cut the images at 2.5 inches and they were a perfect fit for a standard A5 card. The dp is leftover from my boy birthday layout ( see here) and the card base is Stampin' Up!'s Pear Pizzaz . I used Marina Mist, Whisper White and a leftover piece of orange for the controllers. The greeting is from Big Birthday Candles ( retired).

Thanks for visiting my blog.... hope to see you again soon!!! Have a great day!!!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #78 : Wedding Card

Happy Friday!! Just a few more hours and the weekend is officially here...* *woot-woot**!!! I would love to be outside right now , working in my garden ( such as it is!!!) or even lazing in the sun, but the weather is just not cooperating!!! Since it's pouring out there , I decided to enjoy some quality crafting time!! This week at Cricut Cardz Challenge we are invited to make a wedding card.... any cartridge and color scheme. Already there are so many lovely cards posted  by the DT and those submitted. I love looking at the gorgeous creations each week  don't you? It really gets me using my Cricut for more than just layouts.

 Anyhoo.... here's my card for this week's challenge.

I used the bride image from Wrap It Up and instead of using the layers , I kept it as a silhouette image and sprayed it with Glimmer Mist ( Marshmellow) for a little glitz. I sanded the dp ( Heidi Swapp) to achieve the  faded edges. The Baja Breeze seam binding matched perfectly to the paper ( yay!!!). The ring brads are from Making Memories and the stickpin in the bow is from Jenni Bowlin . The kraft cardbase is from a stash of papers my SIL gave me ages ago! Oh, and the sentiment is from SU's Word Play stamp set.

Well, that's my card for this challenge.... hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by !!

Birthday Scrappage layouts

Hi again! Yup, I'm back already with another post. I have three kids who all celebrate a birthday within a month of each other.... talk about craziness!!! With all the birthday fun comes a ton of pics , which needs to be scrapbooked,of course! One of these days I'm gonna get caught up.... yup,one of these days!!! My problem , now , is that I live in a very rural area and the closest place to get my pics printed is over an 1.5 hours drive ( if I remember to take my memory card with me!!!) so I usually print a huge stack at a time. Right now though, I made my kids Bday layouts without their pics.

I made the first three layouts using this paper pad I found at Winner's a couple of months ago. It has all kinds of yummy papers and tags and labels and alphabets.

Here's the first layout....done for my 12 year old daughter.

I rarely stamp directly on my pages as I'm terrified it'll be a disaster! Not this time ( whew!!).I stamped a few flourishs behind the patterned paper. I got out my sewing machine to stitch the rickrack on the top. All the elemnts used are from the package.

This layout was done for my eldest daughter, who turned 14!!!

I pulled out my Cricut for this  to make the banner, border and numbers.  The border is from Give a Hoot cart and is the border from the owl image, cut in half and the banner is from another cartridge which I can't remember the name of right now!!! ( seriously must write down what I use !!!!! ) I inked the edges on just about everything. I hand stitiched a border below the patterned strip , using some DMC floss in blue. I love the popcorn trim from SU spring mini , but I never found enogh uses for it on my cards, but it works nicely with all these colors, I think

.

My third layout....

I made this layout for my son who just turned 8 last month. ( where does the time go??). Most of the papers and embellies in this package are very girlish , even though there was a birthday boy tag in it.  I think this might have been the only paper that did not ahve pink in it. I really love the lime green and light blue together, especially with the dark brown to make it pop! The cupcake is from the package and I added a pearl ( you probably can't tell from the pic) to the flame. The circle mat is leftover from another project and I thought it worked well with this page.

and now, my fourth birthday layout..........

This was the only layout not created using the M&MBI paper pad. I used Sweet Treats cartridge to make the title . I love those bright circles in this dp , but they seemed a bit too much tobe used alone, so I cut a strip  and then handcut individual circles from the remaining piece to use around the photo mat. I have a really old Fiskars scallop border punch ( it still works great and I got it at such a bargain price!!!) that I used for the border. To give the circles a little extra bling I added some Glimmer brads to the centre of two circles and popdotted them up from the page.

Now I just gotta remember to print the pictures!!!!!

Anyhoo.... thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy my layouts!!!  



Cards For Men Challenge 12 : Black and Blue

Hi everybody! I don't about you , but whenever I need to make a card for a guy I seemed stumped for an idea. I found this awesome blog that is devoted to making cards just for men!!! Cards For Men has tons of inspiration and some really cool challenges to help you add to your stash of masculine cards!! This week the challenge is to use Black and Blue for your card.

The motorcycle is a stamp from Stampin' Up! but mine is a digi image I downloaded to My Digital Studio. I like that I can play around with size of the image with MDS to suit my project . I watercolored the bike with my Stampin' markers and aqua pen and for a little shine , I used a metallic paint on the wheels and handlebars / engine. The grommets are from SU , as well as the blue and black cardstock. The embossed strip is a Cuttlebug folder called Diamond Plate, which I love for all my masculine cards that involve wheels!!!! The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes.

So that's my first submission to Cards For Men ..... this could get really addicting!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Happy stamping!!!

Jingle Belles : Let It Sew, Let It sew, Let It Sew!

Good day y'all! Hope you're having a great one!!! Do you like to sew on your scrapbooking/ cardmaking projects? Well  if you do, then Jingle Belles has the perfect challenge for you this week! Let it Sew is this week's theme....  so dust off your sewing machine, rubons or faux stitching , and if you're feeling really courageous , try some hand stitching!!! Once again the Belles have some stunning samples for us! I really like the faux stitching on Stef's card .... it looks so realistic and Lauren must have oodles and oodles of patience to handcrank her sewing machine around each letter!!!
I love to add a little ( or alot!) of stitching to my projects ..... it's about the only time my sewing machine gets used anymore!!!

This cute little gal is a digi stamp I bought at TiddlyInk . I colored her with my WonderColor Crayons.I used Stickles for the hat and drress trim.the sparkles never show well in pics!! :(   For my stitching , I sewed the ribbon on to the front and I stitched the buttons together!!!

I got the idea for this variation of the side step-card from this week's tutorial at SplitcoastStampers.

The DP are leftover's from my SU Christmas stash.

Anyhoo... that's my card for this week's JB.

Thanks for stopping by!

My little boy ... the country singer!

Hi again! I wanted to share with you some pics of my little guy performing in his school concert. He just turned eight years old and started acoustic guitar lessons this past fall. He just loves the classics ( Johnny Cash happens to be one of his favs!!). What was so special is that he sang , and played , an entire song in front of all the parents and families!!! Normally, he would not like to be center stage all by  himself, but he practised so hard for this and he didsuch an amazing job and, of course, I'm still beaming with pride!!

Here he is with his backup singers ( a.ka. his classmates!)

He sang Proud Mary and was awesome!!! Aren't they so darn cute????

Anyways, thank you for letting me share this with you!

Cricut Cardz Challenge #77 : Flower card

Happy Friday! I've got a couple of posts today, since it seems like forever since I sat down to my computer. I was too late in posting for last week's challenge at Cricut Cardz Challenge , but I really enjoyed looking at all the great entries! There is so much talent out there!!!! This week I did manage to get my card done in time and I'm gonna post it in time,too!!!! We are given lots of creative liberties with this one..... we can use any cart, any theme , any color we like as long as we use the card feature. I wanted to use some of my newer cartridges , so I searched through Wrap It Up and found this cute little flower card.

I cut the card at 6 inches using SU's Concord Crush as the cardbase and So Saffron for behind the flowers. I added a little pearl to each flower for a little detail . The sentiment and rosette ( I inked with Concord Crush) are from satmpin' Up! and dp is a piece of scrap paper I found in my stash. I cut the label, for the sentiment, from Just Because cartridge.

So that's my card.... pretty simple!

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in blogland!