Happy Birthday, You're old.

Something I am forever lamenting is that I don't have enough birthday stamps. That's not really true, I'm just not usually inspired to make a card that just says Happy Birthday. That being said, DH told me his brother's birthday is coming up, so I decided to use a fun set of specifically birthday stamps from Paper Smooches I love the funny "you're old, embrace it" stamp and I think it can't be used often enough! I had some papers and scraps of paper from Pinkfresh Studios Up in the Clouds collection that I've been needing to use, and my Hero Arts Ombre Inks were on the table, so I set to work. I did grab my favorite Say Cheese stamp set by Lawn Fawn (I have probably used this die so much it was a FANTASTIC buy!) I stamped the polaroid, then used distress ink in vintage photo to vintagey it up. I backed it with Pinkfresh Studio Paper (that paper I used in the background was a scrap and it reminds me of birthday candles), then I stamped the sentiments, I trimmed out the Happy Birthday Sentiment and popped it up on foam adhesive. I trimmed another piece of paper to fit my cardbase and inked around the edges. Then I decided to use some glittery washi from Pinkfresh Studios a year ago to "tape" down the polaroid. It was really a quick little card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Dig Daddy

This is actually the first layout I completed using the March Clique Kits J'adore kit! It's my Mother's Father and really I just sat down with the kit, and started cutting  up some of the papers to make the mini that I actually was inspired to make when I first saw the kit contents, and there was some watercolor paper laying out on the table and this story of my grandfather taking my cousin and I for ice cream (specifically chocolate dipped ice cream cones from the Dairy Queen) just came to mind, so I wrote it out, threw some gelato color on the page and texted my mom for a photo of my grandfather. I had some frames and these wood veneer people in an iris container leftover from previous Clique Kits (I throw my bits into a container together sometimes). Those stamped ice cream cones are from Lawn Fawn : Here's the Scoop They are stamped with Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink ( I colored over the ice cream a bit with a brown marker trying to make the "dipped" part)

The cardstock was from my stash, but that background paper is my FAVORITE one from the kit, then I layered the add on papers from Bella Rouge under my photo. Those tones in the paper, I just love them for the  and those phrases from Cosmo Cricket, sigh... love those!

I'm noticing a trend for myself to just freehand cut my papers, I'm gonna see how this plays out, I'm just too impatient to pick things up off the trimmer to use it sometimes ;).

More Thank You Notes

I forgot that I hadn't posted the rest of the thank you cards that I made for my surprise shower gifts, I've made quite a few cards this year! I just stamped some of my favorite images and played with different coloring and watercoloring techniques. I did some embossing. I broke out some precious papers that I have been hoarding since Chrismastime. I also broke out some dies and did some diecutting (I got some new Paper Smooches dies I just had to use! LOVE the pinked circles!!!)

Watercolored with Distress inks and the stamp set is Paper Smooches: Cosmos

Background is distress inked and then sprayed with some Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl. I used the Paper Smooches Dies : Pinked Circles. Images on this card are from Lawn Fawn: Yeti Set Go, Here's the Scoop

The Papers on this card are from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Lucky Charms 6x6 paper pad, the folded "ribbon" is fabric tape from Maya Road. The twine was a piece of scrap twine just in my stash. The enamel shape is from the Amy Tangerine Stitched Collection, I also used the Paper Smooches Pinked Circle Dies and Lawn Fawn Yeti Set Go Stamp Set.

I'm sure you can tell that I just had a blast coloring the Yeti from Yeti Set Go. I love this little critter! I had also just gotten those Pinked Circle Dies and really love using them, they came on their own magnetic piece and I can't tell you how awesome that is! Great Job Paper Smooches!! The papers again are from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charms paper pad and the glittery pieces are American Crafts Glitter Tape, that enamel dot is from Amy Tangerine Stitched Collection. Those butterflies are from a Martha Stewart Punch that was the best money I ever spent on a punch because I have used it so much!! The Thanks is from the Lawn Fawn Love you a Latte stamp set.

One last card, and I really really love this one (who am I kidding I love them all and had so much fun playing with these stamps and papers. Still papers from Lucky Charms, Glitter Tape from American Crafts, My fav punch from Martha Stewart and and enamel shape from Amy Tangerine (I really wasn't sure if I'd use these shapes and LOVE that I incorporated them into the cards. They came in a Clique Kit and this is why I love kits, they send me things to try I might not have picked on my own.) The Thanks is from Lawn Fawn and their Love you a Latte set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, thanks to the snow I'm catching up on getting posts ready, this one I thought would be up last week. :)

You'll never know

I have been furiously making thank you cards for people lately. I think I'm almost finished, and in the meantime I made a card for my spouse, just because. I used papers from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charms Paper Pad and a vow from Maggie Holmes. Some Washi from SpiegalMomScraps  and Pinkfresh Studio. That string on my tag is from LawnFawn and the enamel type accent is by Amy Tangerine.

I used two dies. The stitched Tag is from Paper Smooches and the other shape is from Lifestyle Crafts.

Very simple element layering here and I think the card turned out pretty cute!

Let me know what you think. (I think that black washi just MAKES the card!)

Happy Hanukkah Critter Shaker Tag Attempt 1

It's no secret that I love watching youtube for inspirational videos... in particular stamping videos. ONE of my favorite people to watch is Nichol Magourik and I watched this video recently and have been obsessed with trying to make a shaker tag ever since.

I don't own any lovely dies with stitching around the edge to make my tags, but I do own a silhouette and I had some unusual tag shapes already in my library and I used one of them. I cut out several tags using the Teresa Collins Urban Market papers that were included in my Clique Kits Hanukkah Kit

I sized my tags as large as I dared and cut them out both with the window and some backing shapes without the window. I also cut a few of the exact same shape out of plain white cardstock so that I could reinforce those Teresa Collins papers. I used one of the plain white pieces of the cutout space to stamp my images, I used post-its to mask off my images to build up my scene. I colored in the narwhal and the ice with copic markers, then masked those areas off again and used Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans distress inks as my background for the sea and sky. Then I put the shaker card front over the back and sort of inlaid the colored images. Then I put foam tape all round the edges of my stamped shape and cut some clear packaging material for my window, dumped in some glittery snow and a star of David from the Hanukkah kit, then carefully attached my clear window to the front and placed the front of my tag over the back. Wha la--- it was ready and it worked, the stuff shakes around!!

I did feel that the top of the tag was a bit empty so I found my Paper Smooches Kibitzing Icons stamps and put eight candles with flames across the top and I thought it looked pretty good, I did see after I had put my tag together that there was some schmutz on my little narwhal and I also got some stray ink on top of the tag, but I'm begging forgiveness as this is my first attempt. I want to make some more shaker tags, they are CUTE!! LOVE IT! Thanks so much for looking!

More for the Special Order Baby Book

So my first post of May was this Baby Book that a co-worker of mine commissioned. Her baby is ADORABLE and she has been very busy filling out the book and thinking up pages she wanted to add. Here are the ones she ordered from me to round out the book:

I seriously loved digging out my box of Sassafrass Lass oldies but goodies and making these pages. I hope she likes them and I can't wait to see them all filled out!

Try Again

I've been debating in my head if I should share this layout or not, but I've had it ready to post for a few weeks, I used my September Clique Kits to put it together. I haven't had a lot of sunny days for photographing when I haven't been at work lately so I'm behind taking pics, but I have some more things to post very soon, including a PRIZE WINNING LAYOUT from a crop I attended in Tennessee!

This layout is based around a copy of an email that I was sent about not quite making the cut for a design team, I've scribbled my feelings around it and the fact that I'm going to keep applying! I love how this turned out, and I have to admit I was very sad to not make it, but it's ok, it just means it isn't my time!

Everything in this layout was from the September Clique Kit except the unicorn, I stamped this unicorn from Critters Ever After by Lawnfawn and watercolored it one day when I just felt like stamping and coloring, I had made some New Year's cards from the images but this unicorn was left over so I used it on my layout. I love that unicorn!

Happy Birthday!

I'm still making cards! I have finally printed my July photos so I can catch up on my summer album and I JUST got my new Clique Kit to play with and it is AWESOME!! Here is my card for today. This card features the stamp set Bon Voyage from Lawn Fawn and Happy Birthday from Paper Smooches. I colored the images with Gelatos.

The paper is from Crate Paper Boys Rule Collection and Basic Grey Capture. The Polaroid image is from Say Cheese which is my ALL TIME favorite and most used Stamp set from Lawn Fawn. That 3x4 card is from Boys Rule as well. The Washi tape came from a past Clique Kit. Thanks so much for dropping by!!!

Happiness is Guest Blogging

Wow! I am LOVING this Simple Stories album that I am working on as part of my Clique into Summer class over at Clique Kits! I guess I have really kind of tricked myself into doing project life and I LOVE it in this small scale... who knew! 

Just before the June Kits came out, Clique Kits invited me to do some guest blogging. This THRILLED me because I have been LOVING their kits, it was very exciting to become a member of a kit club at their Debut kit... and I just can't say enough good stuff about how awesome their customer service is and how fantastic their kits are... I'm loving the exclusives that they offer and they have a private facebook group for subscribers and it's quite a fun group of crafters from all over! 

All that said... I HAD to  scrap my guest blogging spots... the screenshots aren't terribly exciting, but my name is there and I stamped the date using Smitty's ABC's from Lawn Fawn. I used part of the exclamation point as a dash, most of the supplies here are from Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine which came as part of the kit for Summer School (the kits sold out but the classes are fantastic!). There are also some leftover pieces from my stash thrown in. I had most of this page ready and waiting for the final guest post that I did... and when it was done I printed it out, stamped it and slapped it into the pocket then stitched it closed. I did just leave two of those 2x2 cards exactly the way they came, I can always slide them out and add something or not. 

Later this week I will show you an ongoing page that I have started in the book, I LOVE these little pockets... have I said that yet? LOL. That Clique Kits sticker came on something in one of my kits and I held on to it. The star is from Freckled Fawn and came in a previous kit. Those stamps came from the Store at Clique Kits, I think they are in the June Store, they are from Elle's Studio and I'm using them all over this little book, they are SUPER usable on layouts! Fantastic!!

Bee Happy, You are my dad!

Father's Day is this weekend and I'm sending out my card to my Daddy today. I combined SEVERAL stamp sets from Paper Smooches and Lawn Fawn for both the background and building the sentiment. The heart is a "page" out of a Maya Road Canvas book, The "washi" is fabric tape from Maya Road as well (can anyone say ... warehouse sale). The background paper is from and old K &Company paper pad I've been hoarding for several years now. I edged everything with distress ink in vintage photo.

Breaking down the Lawn Fawn:

 bee, trail and "happy" ... Hello Sunshine

dad and ! ... Say Cheese Too

Breaking down the Paper Smooches:

you are ... Chit Chat

my ... Hooties

background honeycomb ... Geo Graphic

The background is done with Gelatos and the black ink is a Faber-Castell Big Brush pen. I added my own comma. I love the super handmade look... I think my Daddy will love this card!

Now that I'm in a stamping mood, let me share with you the Summer School kit from Clique Kits AND some stamps I pulled from my stash to use with it (possibly).

A Pocket Page about Bees and the White House

I've done several pages already about my friend Monica's visit from February like these and this one and I've had this one partially sorted into a pocket page protector (this one is from Echo Park, I ordered one of their Photo Freedom collections last year) but had never finished with the embellishing and journalling until NSD10K got me into gear! Here is the completed page... it covers our walk by the White House and our trip to an awesome bakery!

The papers here are just Kraft mixed with prints from Chickaniddy Crafts Date Night collection. I LOVE that paper from the 6x6 pad with the little dance footprints on it because we WALKED a LOT that day! I used the Wish You Were Here stamp set from Lawn Fawn to decorate one of my pockets... LOVE that stamp set!! Those kraft arrows are from Maya Road, The stickers and little epoxy hearts are from Chickaniddy Crafts, The slide frame is from Crate Paper, The Pier Colleciton, The flair is from October Afternoon.

Entering Lawnscaping Challenge number 79!

I have been away from home petsitting and ITCHING to try out some of the techniques I learned at TRUESTAMP 2014. OH my goodness! I was so glad I was not within reach of my stamping supplies while I was participating, but all the good new things I want to try out (and buy...LOL). LOVED that event. If you like online classes I highly reccommend!

Anyway the challenge this time over at Lawnscaping is Try a new Technique.

The Lawn Fawn gang of Kelly Marie and Chari taught a class at TS2014 highlighting interactive cards. I used the technique shown by Kelly Marie to make this card for a very special and "cardworthy" person who has a birthday coming up.

Here is another pic of the card lying flat... it's hard to get good photos of shaker cards...

I used Sharp backdrops to clear emboss the background onto watercolor paper and used various mists to do a soft wash of colors for the background (the front piece of paper is actually green but it is so light it doesn't really read green in the photo). Then I stamped out the hats from Hats off to you and colored them with the same mists used in the background. The banner is from Home Sweet Home and the sentiment  is also from Hats off to you. I used the Technique of using Matte Medium to form the twiddly bits at the top of the hats... and the poofs as well. Then I used Stardust Stickles to add a hint of glitter. The sequins came out of a pack of Lawn Ornaments that I had bought in December and I used the white and green ones, along with some seed beads from my stash in my shaker. The shaker is the actual front of the card and I am SO happy at how it turned out. 

Jen McGuire Inspired!

I have some favorite inspirational people that I like to watch to learn new techniques, or how they may use techniques the I already know, but in new ways. Jen McGuire posted this video last week:

I LOVE distress ink and this technique inspired me to get out some Lawn Fawn and Paper Smooches stamps to see 1. What did I already have in my own stash that would give me a similar card and 2. What would other images give me? So here is what I came up with: (the chevron paper is from the Sketchbook Collection by Amy Tan... using my stash you see :)!

Paper Smooches Calico and Chit Chat

Paper Smooches My Peeps and Chit Chat

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops and Here's the Scoop

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops and Here's the Scoop

Lawn Fawn Woodgrain Backdrops

Christmas Cards 2013 part 4

This is a card that I made especially for someone... I'm not saying who. :)

I used paper from the Studio Calico Magical Collection and stamps from Lawn Fawn, three sets... Yeti Set Go and Critters in the Forest, Hats off to you. I had this idea for a tie dye christmas tree for a few days, this one is colored with different colors of glimmer mist. After painting on the mist, I took a copic marker and colored the base, my yeti is painted with mist as well. I used Distress Stickles in Rock Candy to glitterize the tree and the Santa hat. I LOVE IT! Those letter stickers are from October Afternoon, the black paper is stamped with snowflakes from Yeti Set Go and the music paper is glimmermisted and misc from my stash. 

Thanks for looking :)

Christmas Cards 2013 Part 2

I actually made these cards first, and sadly I only had three Kraft card bases left in my stash because I LOVE these and I'm trying to be good (are you listening Santa?) and use what I have, so I just made these for the Kraft Card Bases that I had. I used String that I won from Scrapbook Circle that came from EndlessInkabilities Etsy shop (she has some really cool stuff, check her out!). I used my trusty Silhouette and created my own little triangle shapes to wrap string around in various colors. I used the Let it Snow stamp set from Lawn Fawn for the greeting and came up with this:

Simple and beautiful!

Entry for the Lawn Fawn 2014 Catalog Contest

I really love Lawn Fawn... they make the cutest stamps. I got out all my fawny stamps to make a card and at first I wasn't going to make a Christmas card... but then had the CUTEST idea... so I took a piece of watercolor paper and my favorite snowy background stamp from Let it Snow. I heat embossed the background with white embossing powder then used Broken China, Faded Jeans and Peacock Feathers distress inks to make my evening sky. Then I sprayed the whole thing with Perfect Pearl Mist in Perfect Pearl. I cut two pieces of the watercolor paper and sprayed them with the same mist to use as snowbanks. Then I laid these aside to dry. I stamped out the castle from Critters Ever After a couple of times after masking off the door pulls so that I could use some candy treats from Sweet Christmas in their place. I stamped the unicorn from Critters Ever After and the trees from Sweet Christmas and the Santa hat from Hats off to You. The sentiment is partially from Sweet Christmas (um, yes I cut one apart, it's ok, it still stamps). And I used Smitty's ABC's to spell out magical. I used white embossing powder for my sentiment and colored in all the images with copic markers. I added two layers of Distress Stickles in Clear Rock Candy over the snowbanks when the Perfect Pearls mist was dry. Then one layer over both trees. I used Gold Stickles on the Santa Hat. I used pop dots between castle layers and the tree on the left. I used multiple layers on the unicorn because I LOVE that little guy and wanted him to stand out! I also used Crystal colored stickles on the horn and hooves because, I can... and I think it makes my unicorn more magical.

And for a better photo...

Lawnscaping Challenge #70, Take 2!

I am definately enjoying the Polka Dot Lawnscaping Challenge!

I pulled out my Creative Girl paper pad by Cosmo Cricket and then used the Happy Hanukkah set from Lawn Fawn. Oh yes, There are some sprays from Tattered Angels and some Distress Paint in Pewter. LOVE that stuff! I sprayed some crepe paper and used it under the sentiment banner. LOVE using crepe paper in my crafting. This is my favorite Hanukkah card so far this year!

It also has just a couple of peeks of glitter tape because I'm practically obsessed with the stuff right now! OH.... that polka dotty circle paper... it came out of the Simple Surfaces paper pad by Cosmo Cricket, I almost forgot to let you know! Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Lawnscaping Challenge #70, Take 1!

I adore the polkadot/ star snowy background from the Let it Snow set of Lawn Fawn Stamps. So when I saw Challenge #70 was Polka Dots I couldn't resist making a card from this set, and since I needed some on hand I also used the Happy Hanukkah set.
I used a kraft cardbase that I had on hand, Some fine White embossing powder from Inkadinkadoo, some paper from the new Cosmo Cricket Creative Girl 8x8 paper pad, some scraps of a piece of paper from Glitz Design's Yours Truly Collection and two Wilton brand doilies. I stamped the Menorah in Spice Tin colored Ink (Jenni Bowling for Ranger Dye Ink) and then filled in the flames with gold stickles. I also brushed around the edges of the doily with the ink and REALLY swiped the inkpad on the doily I layered underneath the first one.
This card is fairly simple, I then stamped Happy Hanukkah on a scrap of the Glitz Design paper and embossed, then cut the flag end and adhered it to my card. That background is simply one of my favorties. I think it's so fun and versatile!

Thanks for looking!

Simple Card with a Standout Sentiment

I was so inspired by Lawnscaping Challenge #69 that I made yet another card that could have fit this category. It was too late to enter, but I still wanted to share:

I guess you can tell I was in a hurry to take this pic as well....

I don't know what it is about working the closing shift that makes me so much more tired than opening, anyway it's Saturday and it is a working Saturday for me, I have a layout in a partially put together from a sketch stage staring at me on the table and I know I'll finish it over this weekend and this card here has inspired some more that are just bubbling away inside my head so I'm going to be very crafty on my days off I feel. 

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Lawnscaping Challenge #69 ... #2

So I just had to make at least one more card for this week's Lawnscaping challenge! This week's challenge is about letting Sentiments Shine!

I pulled out a bunch of stamp sets: Sweet Christmas; Let it Snow and  Yeti, Set, Go. The background papers are Glitz Design from the Vintage Blue 6x6 pad and Yours Truly. Some American Crafts Glitter Tape and the bling was just left over from another project and was laying on my table... the yard was in packaging from an order I had placed with Lawn Fawn. The card base is just a plain kraft card base that I inked up with a calender type stamp from Glitz Designs Uncharted Waters Stamp set.

Here's the Card I created:

I accented with some burgandy stickles! LOVE glitter that doesn't rub off ;).

Have a great day!