Sassy and Scrappy

St. Patrick's Day Treat Box

2012-03-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello scrappers. It's my turn to share a project over at She's A Sassy Lady today...and it's a quick and easy one. I racked my brain for something creative and new to share with you, but it just didn't come together. I know you can all understand how that goes.

I am loving the 3-D boxes available in the Silhouette store, they are so easy to put together (no score board necessary!) and they are only 99 cents, can't beat that combo. So, I put together a little St. Patty's Day treat box.

Above is the box exactly as it came off my cutting mat. I also cut several shamrocks (also from the Silhouette store).

I decided to use a background stamp and embossing folder to spice my shamrocks up a little.

After stamping and embossing I added a little more embellishment to the shamrocks with buttons, brads and twine.

Generally when I cut boxes from the Silhouette I don't have to worry about covering up all the score marks because they're usually very small, but for this project I did decide to ink the edges. I like the added dimension and pop of color it provides. Obviously this is personal preference.

And the finished project...I told you it was quick and simple!

Details:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink-New Leaf and Stamper's Select White
Ink: Jenni Bowlin 'Seed Packet'
Buttons: Maya Road (wood) and October Afternoon
Brads: My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey
Twine: The Twinery
Stamp: Hero Arts 'Zig Zag'
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder 'Polka Dots'
White Seam Binding
Label Stickers: Authentique and October Afternoon

Thanks for joining me today! I'm working on getting my crafting mojo back so I hope to see you back hear soon.

Valentine's Day Lollipop Treat Holder

2012-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi scrappers, I'm sharing my She's A Sassy Lady design team post with you today.

I have a quick and fun Valentine's Day treat idea for you. Recently I've seen a lot of wrappers/holders for lollipops and cake pops all over the place and with Valentine's Day quickly approaching I thought it would be fun to create one for my nephew's class. So, I started searching the Silhouette online store...I didn't find a wrapper specific for my lollipops, but I did find a shape I could work with.

Below is a picture of the shape right after I took it off the mat. I did all my sizing or re-sizing as it were, before I cut. The score lines are made by the Silhouette.

All I did to get the desired wrapper was cut off the portion at the top. About an inch below the top note edge is a score line, which made it easy for me to see where I needed to trim. My measurements were all based on the length and width below this score mark.

Next up I used the bottom of the wrapper as a stencil to round my corners. ***Please ignore my nails which are in desperate need of a manicure, lol.

I placed a small glue dot in the center of my wrapper.

The glue dot helps hold the lollipop in place until the wrapper is all tied up.

Next I punched a hole on either side of the lollipop stick to insert my twine, and hold the lollipop in place.

To finish I added some robot images I colored with my Copics.

Now, in case you aren't a "colorer" (yeah it's not a real word, but I'm going to use it anyway) or want an option that's quicker, here's another idea. This robot is from the Silhouette store and if you fill up your mat you can cut a bunch a one time, which is always a great idea when you have a large quantity of anything to make.

Details

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye 'Love Me' and American Crafts by Amy Tangerine
White Cardstock: X-Press It
Black and Grey Twine
Hero Arts 'Robot Trio' Stamp
Crop-A-Dile
Spellbinders Nestabilities: Classic Ovals (Large)
Copic Markers: C3, C5 C7, R24, R27, R29
Tootsie Roll Pops

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon!

Valentine's Day Treat Box

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi scrappers! I'm sharing my monthly project over at The Bugbytes with you today.

I decided to get a head start on Valentine's Day projects. I found this milk carton in the Silhouette store and thought it would be perfect to fill with goodies for my nephew.

I stretched the image to fill the mat, when standing the box is just over 7 inches.

I decided to ink around the edges of the box. One thing I like about the Silhouette Cameo over the Cricut is that the perforations aren't as visible, so the addition of the ink enhances the box as opposed to using it to cover up unsightly cut lines.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to create an embellishment around the box.

The paper that I colored my stamped image on is a bright white, which doesn't fit with the vintage looking paper I chose, so I spritzed over it and inked the edges.

In the picture below you can see how the spray mist changed the color of the paper, it also adds the appearance of texture.

A close-up of the top of the box. The Silhouette cuts out the holes, so all I had to do was string my ribbon through and tie it closed.

In this picture you can see the colored and stamped image a little closer. I thought the robot was the perfect addition for a boy-themed Valentine.

Details

Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye 'State of the Heart'
Spellbinders Nestabilities: Classic Ovals (Large)
Martha Stewart Border Punch 'Valentine'
Martha Stewart Heart Punch
Sentiment Stamp: Papertrey Ink 'Mixed Messages'
Hero Arts 'Robot Trio' Stamp
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink 'Dark Chocolate' (Satin)
Ink: Papertrey Ink 'Vintage Tea Dye Duo'
Spray Mist: October Afternoon 'Brown Bag'
Neenah Solar White Cardstock
Copic Markers: C3, C5 C7, R24, R27, R29

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you back here soon.

Not Your Average Layout

2012-01-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year scrappers!

Now that the holidays are over and life is getting back on track I have a lot of scrapbooking to catch up on, so I decided I'm going to take it easy on myself. I purchased some divided page protectors from American Crafts, which you can see here. This is my first time using them and I have to tell you it was a lot of fun and so easy.

I started by printing three 4x6 photos. Using my Silhouette Cameo I cut a title and accents for my page. As a side note, I love my Cameo! I use thick cardstock, primarily Papertrey Ink, and it cuts beautifully, even thin details like you can see in the picture below.

I added some color mist to my cardstock. You should know, I make a big mess if I spray the paper while it's on my desk, so now I have a designated "misting" box.

It's a little difficult to tell from the picture below but I tested out where I wanted to adhere embellishments by placing the photos/paper in the pocket and then laying stickers, buttons, etc to the plastic. I also added stick pins to the layout by pushing them into dimensional adhesive. You can see that in the bottom right of the picture below.

A couple close-ups of my layout.

The Details:

Pattern Paper: October Afternoon 'Sidewalks'
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Silhouette Cameo: images from Silhouette online store
Stickers: October Afternoon
Star Stick Pins: Maya Road
Stamp: Technique Tuesday 'It's Ok'
White Embossing Powder-Stampendous
Sprinkler/Mist-October Afternoon 'Brown Bag'
Buttons: My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found"
Twine: The Twinery
Border Punch: Fiskars 'Apron Lace'
White Gel Pen

If you're looking for permission, I'm going to give it to you now...go easy on yourself. I love traditional 12x12 layouts, but I will admit, they take time. Allowing myself to use one of these divided page protectors saved me time, and right now that's important to me.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share with you today. I hope to see you back here soon!

Advent Calendar

2011-12-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello my scrappy friends! This year I made my first advent calendar and I'm excited to share it with you today. The calendar came in pieces that I painted and then assembled. It was a pretty simple process and allows you to embellish it as much, or as little, as you prefer.

I used one six by six paper pad for all 25 boxes. I created a simple template and then all I had to do was cut and paste. The real fun starts when you begin to add all the details!

Below are a couple of close ups of the boxes. I didn't do any die cutting on this project, of course that's an option.

A variety of embellishments including; buttons, brads, Thickers, ribbon, twine and stickers.

I know this isn't a traditional tutorial but hopefully it will inspire you to create your own home decor project. I've seen several variations of advent calendars at scrap stores. I ended up giving this one to my brother and his family, but next year I'd love to make one for myself.

Details:

Pattern Paper: Simple Stories '25 Days of Christmas'
Number Stickers: Thickers and Simple Stories
Sentiment Stickers: Cosmo Cricket
Brads: My Mind's Eye and Tim Holtz
Buttons: Jenni Bowlin
Hemp and Ribbon
Ink: Tim Holtz 'Tea Dye' and 'Festive Berries'

I wish you all happy and safe Holidays! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon.

Happy Holidays

2011-11-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hi scrappers, today I'm sharing a couple of holiday cards. I have a fun stamp set from Papertrey Ink with all kinds of "petite" images. I didn't want them to be overwhelmed by the card so I slimmed down my cards to 4 1/4 by 4-inches, which will still fit in a standard size envelop. I stamped a bunch of images and then colored them with my Copics.

As the holidays approach we all find ourselves busier than ever, so I wanted to simplify my cards, this way I can still deliver a handmade item without overwhelming myself in the process.

Details:

Rustic White Cardstock Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye: 'The Merry Days of Christmas' and 'Be Merry' (6x6)
Stamps-Tremendous Treats: Christmas, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Festive Berries (Tim Holtz) and Spiced Tin (Jenni Bowlin)
Hemp
Scallop Border Punch: Stampin' Up!
Circle Punch 1 3/4-inch
Dies: Papertrey Ink Mat Stack #4
Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope these cards provide some inspiration for you! I hope to see you back here soon.

Diaper Motorcycle

2011-11-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

Hello my scrappy friends. I finished another project for my sister in law's baby shower and it's absolutely adorable. I'm so happy with the way it turned out and it was so much easier to put together than I expected. I watched a wonderful video tutorial which you can see here. I changed a couple of elements but the construction is just like the video.

The ribbon covers a rubberband that holds all the diapers in place.

Each wheel is made up of 15 diapers. You can see the tire construction here.

One baby blanket joins the 2 tires together and the second blanket creates the handle bars. Once again I used ribbon to hide a rubberband on the handle bars. I wrapped a small washcloth around the bottle...I'm assuming this is a headlight, but I'm not really sure. Honestly the only thing that really matters is just how cute this darn project is! Lol.

I decided not to do a picture tutorial because the video is so wonderful, but if you're interested in more information or have questions please let me know. I'm sure this is going to be a hit at the baby shower.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you soon.

It's A Boy!

2011-11-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hi scrappers! Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I'm getting ready for my sister in law's baby shower on the 19th of this month, and one if my duties are the decorations. I created a banner using my new Silhouette Cameo, which I LOVE! It cuts my Papertrey Ink Cardstock so incredibly well and it amazes me every time.

I was able to use a font already on my computer and purchased 3 images from the Silhouette online store; the pennant, monkey and lion. Each image was only 99 cents! How fantastic is that?!

Look at these faces, I love my Peachy Keen stamps!

So, what can you expect from me next? More baby shower decorations, holiday cards and gifts and projects featuring Copic markers. I took the Copic certification class just over a week ago and I'm really excited about everything I learned. I still have a lot of practicing to do, but I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see you back here soon!

A Book Of Lists

2011-10-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hello my scrappy friends. Recently I've heard a lot of ideas for capturing all the fun and excitement of the upcoming holiday season; daily journals, a picture a day, etc. And while I like all of those projects, they don't seem attainable for me...I'm just being realistic. But I found another fabulous and interesting way to document the joy of the season, lists!

Yep that's right, lists. Now I will admit I love to make lists, yes it's part of my Type A personality, but these list are more fun than the general "to do" lists. Topics included in this file are:' The perfect Thanksgiving meal does not include', 'The people in my life who are probably the most thankful for me', 'The perfect winter day includes', 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas when', 'Childhood Christmas traditions I'll always remember', and many more. You can find this ebook at Ella Publishing and lots of other great stuff.

Now confession time, I had to scrap the idea of a tutorial today when I realized I didn't really know how to use my Cinch. It turns out I need a little more practice, lol. Anyway, here is the final product.

I think it will be really fun to not only answer these questions myself, but to ask family members to do it as well. I can either add pictures to this book and create a "real" mini album or remove the lists and add them to my scrapbook.

Details:
Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye "Holly Jolly"
Cricut: Kate's ABC's (book, lists) cut at 1.25-inches and Martha Stewart All Occasion Cake Art (A, Of) cut at 1-inch
Fancy Pants Rub-ons
Aqua Mist Grosgrain Ribbon from Papertrey Ink
White Crinkle Ribbon from My Craft Spot
Prima Eline Pearls
Twine from Papertrey Ink
Star Charm: My Mind's Eye Bits and Pieces

I hope you enjoyed this project. Perhaps you can create something similar to store all the wonderful memories and traditions that we create during the holidays. Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Blog Hop

2011-10-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hello scrappers! I'm so excited to be a part of The Bugbytes Blog Hop! Today you are going to see so many amazing and inspirational projects from my fellow Design Team members. For my project I decided to go out of my comfort zone and create a fall inspired home decor project.

I purchased the wreath and leaf collection at a craft store, I'm sure you can find something similar near you. I love those little pumpkins and berries!

Then I pulled out what I believe to be the best Cricut cartridge made in a VERY long time...the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy cart. This cartridge is packed with all kinds of images, 3-D flowers and a font. I haven't done any quilling before but I really wanted to try it and I figured this would be the perfect project to do that.

The flowers were cut at 3, 2.75, 2.5 and 2.25-inches. The longest part of this project was rolling all the flowers. I would cut several and then roll them while watching TV. After I finished that I started adding them to my wreath, usually in little groups of 3. Last I added the leaves and some of the little pumpkins and ta da, you have a fall home decor project...pretty simple, right?!

I finished my wreath by adding the 'FALL' banner. I used my Crop-A-Dile to make the holes and add eyelets.

Details:

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge: pennant and layer cut at 2.75-inches, FALL cut at 2.25-inches
Pattern Paper: American Crafts
Imaginisce Petal Roller
Divine Twine
Martha Stewart Hot Glue Gun
Colorbox Brown Chalk Ink
Stampin' Up Eyelets

If this is your first stop I encourage you to go to The Bugbytes and see the rest of the projects from the design team...there's even a giveaway! Here's the list so you can hop along!

Jen from 3catsandabug

Lori from scrappinmystressaway

Jeannie from nonnasscraps

Audrey from cuteandsome

Kymberlee from thepapermidwife

Allison from goodybagdiva

Kelly from kamscraftyplace

Debbie from debseclecticthoughts

Carole from onmycraftroomwall

Kate from sassyandscrappykate YOU ARE HERE!

Amylynne from amysscrappyspace

Mila - M&M from milamemories

Dayna Sabrina from sabrioletdesigns

Elizabeth from 217creation s

I hope you enjoyed this project and I appreciate you hopping by! I look forward to seeing you again. If you have any questions please let me know.

Fit For A Princess

2011-10-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hello my scrappy friends. I wanted to share this adorable card I made for my Mom's friend. I adore this image from Stamping Bella, isn't she the sweetest?!

I must admit, I can understand how people go Copic crazy! It's so nice, and even relaxing, to sit and color. It also appeals to my type A "neat freak" personality. I don't have paper, tools, cutting mats, etc. all over the place, which means my crafty space is tidy.

Details

Stamp: Stamping Bella 'Everyday Princess'
Black Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper: Basic Grey 'Out of Print'
Apron Lace Border Punch
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
Nestabilities Large Label Die
Glossy Accents
Button: Papertrey Ink

Thanks for stopping by. I'd like to invite you all back here Saturday, October 22 for the Bugbytes Fall/Halloween Blog Hop!

Trick or Treat

2011-10-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hello scrappers! Apparently fall is upon us, so I figured I might as well embrace it and make a Halloween card. I started by printing a digital image from Tiddly Inks and colored it with my Copics. I actually printed and colored 4 so I was able to knock out several cards in a pretty short period of time. Coloring the image is the most time consuming part, especially since I'm still a beginner in the Copic world.

After I finished coloring I cute each image out using a Spellbinders die. I used a larger size die to cut some coordinating pattern paper to layer my image on.

In this picture you can see the spider webs I cut with my Cricut. The little pieces are pretty delicate so I'd recommend using your spatula when removing the image from your mat.

Next I inked up a large rubber stamp to create a background for my card. I find it easier to place my paper on top of the stamp as opposed to placing the stamp on the paper. I've found that I get a more even impression.

And here's what it looks like after stamping.

I couldn't get a good picture of it, but I did distress the edges of the black piece of cardstock. I adhered two spider webs to the corners of my first layer.

I trimmed a piece of vellum to fit just inside of the black layer. I didn't want to cover the distressed edges. I placed my adhesive just in the area behind my image so it wouldn't be visible. Vellum can be a little tricky to attach and I haven't found an adhesive that doesn't show through, so some creativity is required.

Details

Dark Grey and Orange Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye 'Mischievous'
Vellum: Papertrey Ink
Spider Webs: Chic and Scary Cricut Cartridge cut at 2-inches
White Ink: Papertrey Ink
Ribbon: Stampin Up
Tim Holtz distressing tool

Thanks for visiting, I hope to see you back here soon. Have a great day!

Custom Background Paper

2011-09-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! I have my third and final layout to share with you today inspired by a class from boot camp last week. This class focused on creating unique and custom backgrounds with stamps from home. I have to admit, I don't know how often I'll do this because I have so much pattern paper that I need/want to use, but it's a great technique. And depending what your stamp and ink stash looks like you can have a lot of fun and express your individual creativity.

I started by picking out the stamps and colors of ink I wanted to use. I stamped a light polka dot background and then the flowers over that. I tried to layer colors and flowers in order to fill in most of the white space.

Details

White Cardstock: Bazzil (smooth)
Pink Pattern Paper: Fancy Pants 'Wishful Thinking'
Pink Houndstooth, Black Stripe and Polka Dot Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye 'Blush'
Stamps: Polka dot-Inkadinkado, Sweet Threads Set-Hero Arts and Basic Grey
Apron Lace Border Punch by Fiskars
Stickers: Crate Paper
Buttons: Papertrey Ink
White Embroidery Thread

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you again soon.

Scrappin' and Stampin'

2011-09-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! As some of you may have seen in a previous post, this past week I took part in an online scrapbook boot camp. I got a chance to learn some new techniques and wanted to share one of those with you today. The class I'm referencing today was taught by Nichol Magouirk and it focused on incorporating word stamps inn our layouts. I have done this in the past, but I wanted to share what I created for this particular challenge.

I started by picking out stamps that I thought would be appropriate for my pictures and the story I wanted to tell. Since this layout focuses on my nephew's birthday party the sentiment 'celebrate' was perfect.

In the picture above you can see the 1.5x12-inch border strip in the middle of my layout. I started by stamping in the middle and then worked my way out on either side. For this particular layout I wanted to use my stamps as a subtitle. I think in the future I'd probably make the strip thinner. Or perhaps the layout just seems too busy, but either way it's still fun...and it's done! LOL!

Details:

Kraft cardstock: Bazzil
Pattern Paper: Echo Park 'Little Boy'
BIRTHDAY: Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art cut at 1-inch with shadow
BOY: Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art cut at 1.75-inches
Stars: Martha Stewart All Occasions Cake Art-cut at 1, 1.5 and 1.75-inches
Stamps: Technique Tuesday 'Real Life By Ali Edwards' and 'Kids Are Cool by Ali Edwards'
Ink: Jenni Bowlin-Seed Packet, Spice Tin and Chili Powder
Vellum: Papertrey Ink
Buttons: Papertrey Ink
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have been inspired to create! I always appreciate feedback and I'm happy to answer any questions. I hope to see you back here soon.

Button, Button Whose Got A Button...

2011-09-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! Today is my first post on the Paper Craft Weekend Challenge blog. If you have visited my blog before you probably know that one of my favorite embellishments is buttons... I love buttons! I use them on cards, layouts and even home decor projects. When I was asked to create a challenge I thought it would be fun to use buttons in a way I had never tried before and share it with you, in hopes it may inspire you to create a project including buttons. Before I show you my new scrapbook page I'd like to share a couple of ways I have used buttons in the past (some of you may have seen these before).

First up is a home decor project:

I purchased this plain black frame and decided to spruce it up a little. As you can see I adhered buttons to the center of some of my flowers. I love the additional depth and texture they added to a "plain jane" frame.

Next up, a scrapbook page:

Here you can see I used buttons for wheels on my die cut car. I have done this several times and love how is spices up an other wise ordinary car.

For my project today I used buttons to create a border for my scrapbook page. This is the first time I've tried this, but I think the result is REALLY fun. I kept the rest of the page very simple, as always when I create a page I want the focus to be on my picture/s.

To adhere buttons I like to use glue dots, although on this page I sewed some of the buttons straight to the paper. What I love about buttons is that they're so diverse, and you can utilize them in countless ways.

Details:

Kraft cardstock: Bazzil
Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye 'Stella and Rose'
Buttons: Papertrey Ink
White embroidery floss
Labels: October Afternoon
Stamps: Technique Tuesday 'A Date With Ali' and 'The Observant Traveler'
Ink: Jenni Bowlin 'Chicken Feed' and 'Cough Syrup', Memento 'Tuxedo Black'
Color Mist: October Afternoon 'Paper Doily'
Brad: My Mind's Eye

So what is your challenge?! Buttons!!! Use buttons on a card, layout or altered item. To participate in this challenge head over to the Paper Craft Weekend Challenge and link your project. I can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

Love This Life

2011-09-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! I'm taking part in the Scrapbooking Boot Camp put on by Ella Publishing. I'm having fun learning new techniques and have been inspired by the creativity. I heard about this on the blog of one of my favorite scrappers Nichol Magouirk, who just happens to be one of the "Design Drill Instructors". The scrapbook page that I'm going to share with you today was inspired by a lesson from Lisa Dickinson on designing with grids. I haven't really done anything like this before, but I can see how versatile it can be. You can expect to see more of this in the future.

I used three 4x6-inch photos. I used my Cricut to die cut the title. I had a piece of paper from My Mind's Eye that I used for the journal spots. I cut it in half and used part on the bottom left and top right of my page. I like how it draws your eye diagonally across the page, bringing attention to the photos. It also helps break up a photo heavy layout.

This page was quick to put together which is always a plus since most of us are usually behind on our scrapping.

Details:

Title: 'love', life'-Nate's ABC's cut at 1.25-inches and 'this'-Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cut at 1.5-inches
Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye 'Hattie and Rose'
Twine: Papertrey Ink
Buttons: Papertrey Ink and Stampin Up!
Journal Card and Sticker: My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Technique Tuesday
Mini Paperclip: Tim Holtz

Thanks for stopping by. I hope this inspires you to try out a new technique or sign up for a crafty class. Have a great weekend!

Back to School

2011-09-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! I told you last week that I would share the goodies I made for my nephew's first day of school, so here it is. I went really simple on this one, but none the less they went over well with his classmates.

The supplies were simple: granola bars, pencils, twine, stamps, and a couple sheets of paper. One technique I wanted to share is how to set up your imagine when you want to use paper that is smaller than 12x12.

The pattern paper I had was 8x8 and I wanted to use as much of it as possible. So once I figured out the size of each tag (2-inches) I placed 4 on each row and then used the arrow key, which is similar to the enter button on your computer keyboard, between each set of 4 tags. You can see what that looks like in the picture above.

This photo shows all of the tags I was able to cut out on each 8x8 sheet. I love this feature because it really utilizes your paper.

And the final product. Like I said this was a really simple project, but still a nice favor to hand out in a classroom. You can click on the picture to enlarge it. I had a perfect stamp from TPC Studio which says 'first day of school' and then I added a 'from' sentiment from Papertrey Ink so I could add my nephew's name so his classmates and their parents knew where it came from.

Thanks for stopping by

Sending Smiles and Hugs

2011-09-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers, I've got a couple techniques I'd like to share with you today. Before I get to the card I want to apologize for the lack of pictures. My camera started acting up and all I could do was use what I had already taken. Hopefully this won't be an expensive fix, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Onto my card. I purchased this beautiful 6x6 paper stack from Authentique that I've been really excited to use. As I was thinking about what I wanted to create I realized I didn't have any ribbon that matched my paper, so I thought I'd try and create my own.

I started with white grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up, then I pulled out a few colors of glimmer mist, a pink and a red. I honestly didn't know if this would even work so I started with a really small piece of ribbon to test it out.

I combined my colors and the used my heat gun to dry the ribbon...and it worked! As I went along I compared it to the paper I was going to use and was really happy with the end result.

Next, instead of die cutting embellishments I created my own. I took the piece of paper above and cut out a few of the flowers.

I wanted to create pleating with my ribbon so I adhered glue to the back of a piece of trimmed paper. Again I apologize for the photos, but hopefully you can get an idea from the picture above.

Since the ribbon adds volume I adhered dimensional adhesive to the paper before adding it to my card.

Details

Base Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper: Authentique 'Uncommon'
Glimmer Mist: Starfish and Tattered Rose
Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
Brads: My Mind's Eye
Stamp: Technique Tuesday 'Sweet Somethings'

Thank you so much for checking out my project today. I'm sorry it wasn't very in-depth, but I'm sure you all can understand my situation...it was just one of those days.

A Card! And an announcement!

2011-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! I have a card and some exciting news to share with you today. First off, the card. My sweet little girl is from Some Odd Girl isn't she adorable?! I colored her with my Copics, which some day I'll remember to take a picture of so you know which ones I used.

I used X-press It cardstock to stamp and color my image. I die cut my image with a Papertrey Ink die, I'm sorry I can't find the name off hand, but if you're interested please let me know. I inked the edges with brown chalk ink.

The pattern cardstock is from 'Simple Stories' 100 Days of Summer. I added some twine and a PTI ink sentiment and voila, we have one adorable card.

Now for the big announcement...

Allison (from Goody Bag Diva) and Caroline (from Caroline’s Craftography) are thrilled to announce their new challenge blog – Paper Craft Weekend Challenge! http://papercraftweekendchallenge.blogspot.com You can expect a challenge with a project to inspire you every Friday and Sunday. The only rule they expect you to stick to is having fun! The challenges won’t be limited to one type of machine or project – so get your materials and get ready to use your stuff. There will be some tutorials along the way – and it wouldn’t be any fun if there weren’t friends occasionally stopping by – so please come join them and get ready to get your craft on!

If you're part of the Cricut Circle you know how fun these challenges are, and if not, here's your chance to find out. I'm also happy to share that I will be a guest designer in September! I'm really excited, so stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by, I've got to get to work on some back to school goodies for my nephew which I'll share with you next week.

Celebrate

2011-08-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers. I have a really fun card to share with you today. I know a lot of us struggle with making cards for boys/men and since I needed to make one for a birthday I thought it would be the perfect time to share a few ideas with you.

I find that using primary colors and basic patterns can be the best way to go. For this card I decided I wanted to use a digital image from Some Odd Girl. When it comes to coloring, some people like to choose the paper they want to coordinate with the image first, but in this case I did the opposite. Now that could make things more difficult but I tend to gravitate toward bold colors and patterns so I had plenty in my stash.

In the picture below you can see the colored image and the paper that I chose for my card. For some masculine cards I use more muted tones, but here you can see I really played up the colors.

When choosing colors and patterns it can be difficult at times make a "match", one easy way to get around that is to buy coordinating paper collections. But you can also dig into your stash and compare colors and styles that you like with one another and you may be happily surprised to learn that a lot of brands come together really well. This is what happened to me as I was looking through my paper and embellishments. So I encourage to not be afraid to mix and match.

I wanted to add some texture to the card and the first thing that came to mind was a scallop punch, and to be honest I've been known to use "feminine" items on projects for guys before...and I say there's nothing wrong with that. However for this card I used a notebook edge punch and I think it added a fun touch.

Before I go I want to let you know about an opportunity for you to win a Cricut Imagine! Some of you may have seen the post a couple of weeks ago where I talked about my friend Kymberlee, whose children lost their home and everything in it due to a fire. In order to help raise funds to assist her children my friend is has a special offer.

If you buy ANY size order at https://happinessincluded.scentsy.us/Buy?partyId=49047342 proceeds will be matched by myself and going directly to my daughter. PLUS all orders (any size) will be entered into a drawing for $50 in Scentsy Gift Certificates (2-$25s) good for a future order.

These are flame free candles and are absolutely incredible, I highly recommend them!

And if that weren't enough...

For every donation of $5 you will receive ONE entry (3 entries/$10 and 10 entries/$20) for a

CRICUT IMAGINE Package

with 4 cartridges (Better Together, Best Friends, Snow Angel, Nursery Tails)
2 EXTRA ink cartridges (4 total)
4 EXTRA Mats (5 total)

DONATE VIA PAYPAL using Kymberlee.Lake@yahoo.com

Please post as a GIFT on PAYPAL

If you'd like to learn more about this story or contact Kymberlee personally you can reach her at The Paper Midwife.

Smore Fun

2011-08-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers, how are you? I hope you all have been enjoying your summer, I certainly have! Although it took awhile for summer to show up here in the NW it eventually came around and it's been beautiful. My family, which included myself, my parents and my brothers and their families spent an amazing week at the beach. Oh and how could I forget my beautiful girl Ellie? She loves the beach, especially running, jumping and cooling off in the ocean. The sun was shining and we had a blast! Our evenings were filled with games, a movie and a fire every night...yes, every night. And if you have a fire, you have to have smores!

This layout tells the story of my nephew creating his own "perfect" smore. Personally I like a nice crispy brown smore that's nice and gooey on the inside, but Micah just likes to burn his!

For the left side of my LO I cut that cute little car and sign post from the 'Campin' Critters' cricut cartridge. Instead of cutting out sentiments on my cricut I decided to use stamps. I love how my sign post turned out. To rough it up a little I crumpled it, used my Tim Holtz distressing tool and then inked the edges.

The die cuts on the right hand page are from 'Campin' Critters' as well. I created a chipboard effect on my title by cutting multiple layers of each letter and adhering them together.

A side view of the left page. Here you can see the dimension and texture on the car. I used buttons for the wheels and rhinestones for the lights on the front of the car. I also adhered some vellum to the car to create windows.

A close up of my sign post, didn't it turn out great. I'm really happy with it. I thought about embossing it for more texture, but decided against it. I was afraid the embossing might make it difficult to read the stamps.

I added a couple of orange pearls and twine to the title.

I'm hoping you can see the dimension of the marshmallow in this picture. Aren't those little guys around the fire just too cute! Such a fun cartridge.

Details:

Pattern Paper-Fancy Pants 'Beach Bum'
Solid Cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Campin' Critters Cartridge-bear cut at 3-inches, porcupine cut at 2.75-inches, car cut at 3.75-inches
Create A Critter-fire cut at 2-inches
Mickey Font Cartridge-"smore" cut at 2-inches
Holiday Cakes Cartridge-"fun" cut at 2-inches
Stickers-Crate Paper
Brads-Sassafras
Stamps-Technique Tuesday 'Get Outside' and 'A Date With Ali' by Ali Edwards and 'Noah Alphabet' by Maya Road
Scallop Punch-Stampin' Up!
Old Lace Glimmer Mist
Buttons-Stampin' Up!
Ink-Jenni Bowlin
Deco Art Snow Writer (white) on marshmallow
Glossy Accents
Pearls-Prima

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you've been inspired to create a layout of your own summer fun. See you soon.

A Helping Hand

2011-08-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers, this is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy! Today's post is not your usual craft project, it's actually a call for prayers and support. On Saturday the 23 of July, a close friend of mine found out her children's home was on fire. Her twin daughters and their families all live together on Bainbridge Island, WA where their significant others are Coast Guards. In a freak accident their home was gone, they lost everything. Thankfully everyone was able to get out of the house. Praise God.

As you can imagine the loss and fear of what could have happened is overwhelming. Trying to start over and build your life from scratch with 2 small children is difficult, to say the least. So I would like to ask all of you amazing and supportive crafty friends if you could send a card of encouragement. Something that may help lift their spirits as they make their way through this difficult transition.

As a friend of their mother I just felt at such a loss. I was out of town when the fire happened and couldn't be as supportive as I would have liked. But I did decide to make some thank you cards for them to send out to those who have donated clothing, kitchen supplies, toys, etc for their family. I used my Imagine to quickly create multiple cards.

It was so easy to print out multiple sentiments and background paper for my cards. One thing the Imagine has, can't recall if the E2 does as well, is an 'art quantity' button on the print screen. I simply told it how many of each sentiment I wanted, loaded white paper and off it went.

If you'd like to help out in any way here is the information:

Sutton/Durrant Families

Fort Street Fire Donations

321 High School Road NE

Suite D3 #232

Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

For more information and pictures please head to my friend's blog The Paper Midwife

Details:

Imagine More Cards Cricut Cartridge
Bazzil Smooth White Cardstock
Solid Cardstock, Buttons, Twine, Ink-Papertrey Ink
Stamped Sentiment-Penny Black "Mimi and Miles"
Sewing Machine
White Sakura Gelly Roll Pen
Ribbon-Kimberly at My Craft Spot

Thank you for stopping by today. Any help, a prayer or positive thought will go a long way! I appreciate all of you.

Papertrey Ink Make It Mondays

2011-07-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers. I'm here to share a card I made for Papertrey Ink's 'Make It Monday'. This week we were asked to "color" with white ink. Something new to me, so I thought I should give it a shot.

I stamped the little ghost on kraft cardstock and then with a sponge dabber I colored in the image. Using my stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the ghost again. The white ink really lightens up the stamped image, so I tried to brighten it up a little. It didn't work as well as I hoped, but I'm too lazy to outline the image myself with a black pen.

This adorable little girl dressed in her pumpkin costume is from the same stamp set. I colored her with my Copics.

Details:
Kraft cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye (it's from last year's Halloween stack)
Washi Tape
X-press It white cardstock for Copic coloring
Stamps-Recollections

It seems like I'm leaving something out. If you have any questions please let me know. If you have time head on over to Capture The Moment, Papertrey Ink's blog and join the fun!

Scrapbook the Everyday Adventure

2011-07-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! I found this really great video by Shimelle Laine on scrapbooking the "everyday adventure" as she calls it. It gave me a lot of inspiration and I thought you might enjoy it as well.

Here's the link to Shimelle's youtube channel.

See you back here soon!

Following A Scrapbook Layout

2011-07-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! I'm so happy and honored to tell you all that I'm a Design Team member for the Bugbytes now! I feel honored to have this opportunity. Please head over there because all the DT members are so talented and I know you will be inspired.

For my first post I thought it would be fun to work with a sketch, so I chose the layout below from Page Maps. This is my take on the layout, of course there are multiple variations. The great thing about sketches is that you can switch things up to make it work for you.

Below is a picture of the sketch:

This is a picture of my finished layout...well finished as it can be without my pictures and journalling added. I normally include both of those, but this page was made in anticipation of the photos I'll take on my vacation. I'm really looking forward to spending a week at the beach with my family!

Alright, here you can see the die cut pieces I created for my layout. On the right is a rough idea of how I thought I would lay out my page. I didn't end up using the flip flops and sunglasses (but they are too cute and I know I'll use them for something) because I just couldn't find a good place for them.

I tried something new on this page. I stamped the sentiments on my journalling page and then colored them in with some Copic markers. I really like the idea of combining coloring and scrapbooking, so you'll probably see more of this from me.

To create another embellishment I used my circle punch to cut out one of the pattern circles. I love this paper and will probably use a bunch of these circles in the future to create a funky background for another layout. I have to admit that cutting up this paper was kind of difficult. I'm sure some of you can understand how difficult it can be to cut up paper you really like.

Okay, so my take on the sketch...I cut a similar "top note" shape to mat my pictures on. I placed my journalling card on the right just like the sketch, and stamped my title. Instead of using a scallop-edge on the horizontal piece of cardstock, I chose to use more of a wave shape, this helps to continue the beach theme of the layout. I added two embellishments, same as the sketch. A sticker page was included in this paper pack and it had a wonderful blue flourish, so I added that to the top of my page. Again, this image reminds me of water and continues the beach theme.

Details:

Brown Polka Dot Pattern Paper-October Afternoon "Fly A Kite"
Pattern Paper-Simple Stories "100 Days of Summer"
Solid Cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Pack Your Bag Cricut cartridge Seagull cut at 3-inches, Whate cut at 2.5-inches
Elegant Edges-Top Note shape cut at 6-inches
Peachy Keen Critter Face Assortment (medium size)
Brads-My Mind's Eye
Twine-Papertrey Ink
Stamps-'Perspectives' by Technique Tuesday and Ali Edwards, 'Kite Tails' by October Afternoon, 'Schoolhouse Backdrops' by Lawn Fawn
Ink-Jenni Bowlin
Copic Markers-R27, R29, Y15, Y19
Glossy Accents
White Sakura Gelly Roll Pen
EK Succes 1 3/4-inch circle punch

Thank you for taking the time to look at my scrapbook page today, and thanks to Pam for adding me to your incredibly talented design team! Please visit my blog to see what else I'm working on.

Summer Card Camp-Week 4

2011-07-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! This is a super quick post because I'm leaving for vacation in the morning. It's week 4, the final week of card camp and I wanted to give this color combo a try...even if I didn't have a lot of time to work on it. The colors this week remind me of the beach, which I love!

Fun combination, right?!

The card is 5 x 5-inch card. The small square are 1 and 1/2-inches. I also used a 1-inch circle punch.

Solid Cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper-Basic Grey "Sweet Threads"
Thickers
Buttons-Papertrey Ink
Martha Stewart heart punch
Brads-My Mind's Eye
White embroidery floss
Mini Paperclip-Papertrey Ink

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week and I'll see you all very soon. Oh and next Tuesday, July 25 I have a fun announcement. I love comments!

Design Team Submission

2011-07-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! I hope you had a nice weekend.I've got a really fun card to share with you. I decided to "throw my hat into the ring" and submit a project for a chance to be on Robyn, My Pink Stamper's Design Team. I'm sure she will have lots and lots of entries, so my chances are pretty slim, but why not give it a shot?! She gave us the following guidelines:

Challenge: Make a card, scrapbook page, or other Cricut project with your favorite Cricut cartridge using the following colors......

Orange
Brown
Turquoise
Green

I just happened to get an order in last week from Two Peas In A Bucket which had a stamp that was perfect for this color combination. We are also able to add 1 color of our choice, so can you guess what I picked? Red, of course!

Aren't they the cutest little monsters?! I colored them with my Copics. The card is 3 and 3/4-inches squared. I created it by welding 2 postage stamp shaped images together on my Gypsy. I colored the balloon twice so I could cut 1 out to pop up on the card. I also added Glossy Accents to the balloon.

Details:

Kraft cardstock-Papertrey Ink
X-press It cardstock for Copic coloring
Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye "Fly A Kite"
Tiny Tags Die-Papertrey Ink
B is for Boy-welded card cut at 9-inches
Stamp-My Pink Stamper and Stamping Bella "Monstahbash"
Copic Markers-sorry I forgot to write them down
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and Jenni Bowlin
Spellbinders Nestabilities-Large Labels
Glossy Accents
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen-white
Twine-Divine Twine (I think, sorry)

I'm happy with my card, even if it doesn't get me a spot on the design team. I'm also pretty impressed with my ability to stay within the color scheme. Color challenges can be, well, challenging! Lol! If you're interested in submitting your own project or want to see what everyone else has created you can check it out here.

Summer Card Camp-Week 3

2011-07-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers. I'm in week 3 of summer card camp and I have a fun card to share with you today. I actually created this card for camp and also Papertrey Ink's 'Make It Monday'. The challenge at PTI was to include a pocket on the front of a card.

Here is this week's color combo:

To create my pocket I simply sewed 2 pieces of paper together. I also used a scallop edger punch on my pocket. I used clear embossing powder to create the stripe background.

To create the star embellishment's I stamped a star image onto a piece of paper using red ink and then cut them out with my scissors. Then I added a button to the center and stitched it to the paper.

Details

Solid cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye
Stamp-Papertrey Ink "Tiny Tags"
Ink-Papertrey Ink "Pure Poppy"
Twine-Papertrey Ink
Brad-My Mind's Eye
Flower and Tag-Simple Stories "100 Days of Summer"
Stamp-Hero Arts "Oxford Collection"
Embossing Powder-Stampendous (clear)
VersaMark

Thank you for stopping by, I hope to see you soon. I love comments and if you have any questions please let me know.

Summer Card Camp-Week 2

2011-07-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! Two posts in one day, pretty amazing right?! If you're looking for my Sassy Lady design team post click here. I'm back this afternoon to share my card for week 2 of summer card camp. I'm having fun seeing all the amazing talent of the designers. At first glance I thought this color combo would be pretty simple, but I'm discovering that really sticking to the 5 colors can be challenging. We are able to use neutral colors like white, brown, black on our cards as needed.

Onto the card...here is this weeks color combo

I decided to use a colored image again this week. And let me just say that I'm still pretty new to the Copic world, and I still have a lot to learn. This is also the first time I've colored an animal and I don't quite have the texture part of it down, but I think he turned out pretty cute anyway.

I used the same technique I did last week of heat embossing a background stamp and applying ink after. This time I used 3 different colors of ink and I think the end result is really cool.

Details

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink and X-press It (Copic image)
Pattern Paper: October Afternoon "Fly A Kite"
Ink: Jenni Bowlin
Tag Die: Papertrey Ink
Twine: Papertrey Ink
Stamp: Stampendous "Dream"
Digital Image: Some Odd Girl "Tweet"
Embossing Powder: Stampendous (white)
Glossy Accents
Copic Markers

Thanks for stopping by, I always love comments. See you soon.

An Artist At Work Layout

2011-07-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers, this is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy! I hope you all are enjoying your summer with family and friends, I certainly am. The pictures I chose to scrap today are of my nephew decorating some $1 bird houses I picked up at Michael's, they are gifts for his Mom and my Mom (Grammy) for Mother's Day. As you will see in the pictures he loves using lots of bling and flowers. He had a vision, so I let the little artist run free with my supplies...well, with a little supervision. Lol!

Here is a sample of the paper and cardstock stickers I used.

I decided to cut a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue to add to my layout. Both of these items came from Nate's ABC's.

In the two pictures above I tried to show a little bit of my process. I cut and lay out my paper and embellishments where I think they will go, before adhering anything. As you can see I ended up moving things around.

This is a picture of the tag I added my journalling to. I used 2 different stamp sets and a border punch from Fiskars.

A close-up of the Cricut embellishments I created with the help of my Gypsy.

Instead of using one of my cartridges for the title of this layout I decided to used a combination of Thickers and alphabet stickers. I like the variation in color and style of the letters.

Left page

Right page

Details

Pattern Paper and stickers: October Afternoon "Fly A Kite"
Solid Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Thickers: American Crafts
Alphabet Stickers: My Mind's Eye
Twine: The Twinery
Glue cut from Nate's ABC's at 2.75-inches
Scissors cut from Nate's ABC's at 2 -inches
Buttons and Kraft Twine: Papertrey Ink
Mini Paperclip and designer masking tape: Tim Holtz
Border Punch: Fiskars "Notebook"
Stamps-Technique Tuesday, Unity Stamps

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my project today. I hope this layout will provide some inspiration to scrap or create a fun "summery", (not really a word, but you get the idea) card. I always love comments and if there are any questions I'd be happy to answer them.

Summer Card Camp-Week 1 card #2

2011-06-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers, here is card #2 for the first week of camp card challenge. I mentioned in the previous post that I was working on another card, well this isn't it. Lol. I had these images stamped and figured why not give the color combo another try. Do I love the pink and purple, not really, but overall I like the card. Does that make sense?

I tried a new technique on this card. I embossed the polka dot stamp with white embossing powder, and then applied the ink over that. It looks a lot more dimensional in real life.

Details

Stamps: October Afternoon
Copic paper: X-press It
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Twine: The Twinery

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend and a safe 4th of July!

Summer Card Camp-Week 1

2011-06-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! Wow, it's been a while, I hope you are all enjoying summer! I'm taking this awesome Summer Card Camp with Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire, two incredibly talented ladies. I'm really looking forward to all the fun they have in store for us, and of course all the great tips and techniques they're going to share.

Below is the color combination for the first week...pink AND purple, yikes! For those of you who have spent time on my blog know those are two colors I don't use very often, especially not at the same time. Well, I didn't actually use both in the first card I created, bad girl I know. I did create a second card, but it's not quite finished yet. I'll share it if I can figure out how to make it work for me, lol!

I colored another fantastic image from The Greeting Farm "Creeper Crew". Isn't she sassy?!

Details

Solid cardstock: Papertrey Ink
X-press it cardstock for colored Copic Image
Pattern Paper: My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose collection
Polka Dot Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Thanks for stopping by, I look forward to seeing you again!

I colored it!

2011-06-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

Yep it's true...I took the Copic plunge and here's my first card. I made this card for my SIL and I was pretty happy with the finished product. I still have to practice more on coloring and shading hair, who knew that would be the hardest part?!

That sassy girl is a Greeting Farm stamp, her name is Sasha and she's part of the 'Creeper Crew' collection 1. The card is a standard A2 size. I used cardstock from Papertrey Ink for the base of the card and all of the pattern paper is from My Mind's Eye 'Stella and Rose' paper pad. I love this paper stack! In fact, I have to admit I've purchased several 6x6-inch stacks in the last few weeks, they are so much nicer to use for cards. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

Here's a second birthday card, this one is for my brother. Another example of paper piecing! If you haven't tried this yet...you should! I love the results and it's so easy. For this card I used the Basic Grey 'Life of the Party' paper pad. I told you I love those little stacks! Once again I used Papertrey Ink for the base cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you back here soon!

Paper Piecing a Card

2011-06-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers, this is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy! Do you ever lose your crafty mojo or just get overwhelmed with projects you want, or need to do? I do. In fact lately I've been in a crafty funk. I wasn't sure where to start with my design team project this week so I pulled out this pack of Sassafras goodies that I recently purchased from Crafty Steals. As you can see from the picture below there's a lot of fun stuff! I also enjoy watching youtube videos, especially when I'm looking for inspiration. Recently I watched several videos by Kristina Werne r and got inspired to do some paper piecing, so that's what I'm going to show you today.

Below is 1, 6x6 piece of paper that I cut into strips.

There is no rhyme or reason to my cutting. I really didn't measure them, I just tried to get varying widths from very thin to about half an inch.

I cut a piece of yellow cardstock (papertrey ink) to 4 and a 1/2 by 2-inches. I applied adhesive to my cardstock and grabbed one strip and started adhering. This technique really allows you to let your creativity flow. It's also a great way to use your scrap paper!

This is what the yellow cardstock looks like after all my strips have been adhered.

A view of the back.

Next I grabbed my scissors and started trimming. I find it easiest to cut from the back side.

Next came the process of designing my card. I used Aqua Mist cardstock as well as Aqua Mist Bitty Dots ribbon, both from Papertrey Ink. The grid paper is also Sassafras and it's cut at 4 and 7/8 by 3 and 1/4-inches.

I used foam squares to adhere the grid paper to my card base. For my sentiment I used 'Thickers' and then added three brads, also from Sassafras. After looking at my finished card I decided to round the top right corner with my 'Corner Chomper', it just looked like it needed a little attention.

Another view of the finished card.

I appreciate you all for stopping by. I hope this cheerful little card will encourage you to just pull out some paper and start creating. I've also used this technique on a scrapbook layout and was really happy with that result as well. If you decide to try this, I would love to see what you create. Please stop by my blog for more inspiration, I'd love to see you there! Have a great day!

My crafty place

2011-05-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers. Today's blog post is a little different than usual, I'm posting a picture of me in my craft space. There is a challenge going on at the Cricut Circle blog and they are asking us to take a picture of our scrap place AND they want us in the picture as well. Yikes.

Alrighty, here I am at my desk. In front of me is my new Expression 2, love it! The binders to my right hold some of my acrylic stamps, like Peachy Keen. Most of my stamp sets are in CD cases, but some are still stored in my binder. To my left are two storage containers that hold all my 8 1/2 by 11-inch cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

To the left of my desk I have all of my pattern paper, which is primarily My Mind's Eye. The rest of it is Bazzil, Anna Griffin, Fancy Pants, and 2 packs of DCWV. I love paper! I have to admit, when I get new paper I look at it over and over and over! Is that strange? On top of my paper storage I have a Making Memories spinning tool organizer. I keep my adhesives and other tools in there. It's really easy to grab what I'm looking for. You might notice that I have about 5 Copic markers...well, I'm excited to say that I just placed an order for quite a few more, so keep an eye out for some "colored" images.

I found this little stand at Ikea for about $15. It fits perfectly under my desk and it's very slim so it doesn't take up much space. On top, I have my Scrap'n Easel and my Scor-Pal. The three drawers hold a lot of my most used items: pens, scissors, tweezers, stamp blocks, twine, chalk, etc.

My Imagine stand is from Ikea as well. This is a fabulous storage system. The drawers are really wide and can store a lot of scrapping goodies. It's also very sturdy.

This is what one of the drawers looks like. I have all of my ribbon spools in one place and looking pretty. In case you were wondering, it's pretty much all Papertrey Ink ribbon. The rest of the drawers have 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 paper pads, Tonic and Martha Stewart paper trimmers, buttons, bling, eyelets and Imagine supplies.

This bookshelf holds my Cuttlebug, extra adhesive, embossing folder, cartridge handbooks, ink pads, Janome Sew Mini, seasonal carts and my Imagine cartridges.

This is a side view of my scrapping area. Like I said, pretty small. I hope to have more room to expand one day...soon! I hope you enjoyed this little peak into my world. I'll see you back here soon.

For A Guy

2011-05-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers! I want to apologize for my shortage of posts lately, I guess I lost my crafty mojo for a little while. I'm sure most of you know what that's like. I want to share a banner and card that I made for my brother. He just graduated with his Master's Degree, so of course we had to party! I made a banner and matching card. I know a lot of people struggle with making masculine cards or projects so I thought I'd share these with you, and maybe it will inspire you a little.

There are a couple of things that I think are important when making a card for a guy: keep it simple and choose masculine colors and patterns. Now I will admit I've used flourishes and damask prints for boy pages, which is fine, I think it's important to keep the guy in mind. So for this card and banner I used a new paper stack from Papertrey Ink called "Argyle Socks". It has blues and greens in it and the prints include diamonds and of course, argyle. The solid cardstock is also Papertrey Ink, Enchanted Evening, Kraft and Smokey Shadow.

The banner pieces, layer and shadow, are from the Birthday Bash cartridge. The banner was cut at 6-inches. The font, both layer and shadow are from the same cartridge and were cut at 3-inches.

I attached eyelets with my crop-a-dile and used black grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up. As you can see from the pictures I didn't add any "extras", no stitching, bling, etc. This banner went over really well, in fact my brother took it home with him. Although I think it was more of a reminder to everyone who enters his house to continue to congratulate him and pat him on the back, so to speak. You know those youngest children are always looking for attention, lol!

The card is a standard A2 size, cut portrait style. I used the same paper stack and solid cardstock. The mat that I stamped my sentiment on is from the the Cricut Essentials cartridge that came with the E2. It's label number 2. I cut both the layer and the shadow, can't remember the size. To finish the card I added satin ribbon. I could have chosen to use the grosgrain again, but it's kind of a sophisticated card and I liked the look of the satin better.

And finally...a picture of the grad and his wife. I'm so proud of you Dudley and I love you very much!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you back here soon. Thank you for your comments and support!

Floral Embellished Picture Frame

2011-05-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Scrappers, another wonderful day at She's A Sassy Lady! This is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy with a fun gift or home decor item. I decided to alter a picture frame for my post today. Since Spring has arrived and we're nearing Mother's Day it seemed like a great time to once again pull out the Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut cartridge. I absolutely love this cartridge and have found many uses for it. If you're interested you can find some of my other projects with this cartridge here and here.

This is the patterned cardstock that I picked for this project. Isn't is great? It's not typical Spring colors, but the oranges remind me of the sun and the plaid is just fun, while the damask brings a sense of elegance.

This is a frame I picked up from Joann's. I think their frames are always on sale, or at least there are coupons available, which is nice. An 8 by 10-inch photo will fit inside.

I used my Lori's Garden cartridge and my Imagine to print the text script on a couple pieces of cardstock. I'm in love with this feature.

I cut out 4 different styles of flowers on my 4 pieces of cardstock. Here they are before being layered and embellished.

I used two different kinds of glue on this project, a liquid glue and my glue gun. I used the glue gun to adhere the flowers to the picture frame. I figured it would give me a little more time to put the flowers where I wanted them and would allow me to move the flower if needed. I also used black, white and yellow buttons, as well and white and black pearls.

To add dimension to my flowers and each layer I used a paintbrush to curl each layer. It adds to the 3-D effect of each project and brings it to life.

A close-up of the top right side of the frame.

Although I twisted the frame around for the picture, this is actually the bottom left.

Another view of the frame on my shelf. Yes, this is me and a sweet little family friend.

Details:

Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye "Ooh La La" Collection
Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cartridge-flowers cut at 2, 1 1/2 and 1-inches
Lori's Garden
Buttons-Papertrey Ink
Pearls-Recollections

I found completing this project much quicker than I expected. It didn't require a lot of tools and other than the frame, everything used in this project I already owned. I hope this frame will inspire you to create something for yourself or for someone special in your life...perhaps a Mom or Mother-In-Law. I always love to hear your comments and please come visit me at Sassy and Scrappy. Have a great day!

Hello...and cards

2011-04-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter scrappers! I'm so happy to be back in the blogging world. I picked up this cold/flu nastiness that's been going around and it really wiped me out. And then I had to get back in the swing of things after being out of it for a week or so...what a pain. Needless to say, I'm over it!

It seems as though I lost a lot of creative brain cells while I was sick, so it has taken me longer to get any of my projects done, but at least I managed to complete my Easter cards. I cut out a few people though, lol! What they don't know won't hurt them, right?! Since I had to make quite a few I kept them very simple, but I'm pleased with the results.

I used Kate's ABC's and Elegant Edges to design my Easter card. The card is a standard A2 size.

Solid cardstock (except brown) and ribbon are from Papertrey Ink, the brown cardstock is Bazzil. Pattern paper is from the Echo Park 'Springtime' collection. The rabbit and layers were cut at 3-inches.

Next up is a card for my cousin. She is celebrating her 16th Birthday! Wow, time really flies. Once again I used Elegant Edges on this card. I love that cartridge! The base and frame layers were cut at 4-inches. "16" is from Kate's ABC's and sized at 2-inches.

The solid cardstock is from Papertrey Ink. Pattern paper is from the My Mind's Eye 'Ooh La La' collection. The twine is 'Caribbean' from The Twinery.

Thank you all for hanging in with me. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter. I will be spending the day with my family, both immediate and extended. I'll be at church celebrating and then off to my aunt and uncle's house for food, egg hunts, karaoke, lots of laughter, and then some more food!

I'm on the countdown to the release of the E2! I'm so excited and I know I'll be up all night watching HSN. Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you saw something you liked and I love to hear what you think. See you back here soon.

Happy Spring!

2011-04-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hi scrappers! Well, it's finally here...the weekend! I hope you all are enjoying whatever it is that you're doing. I created a card for a couple of challenges and of course, I had to share it with you.

This card is a little unusual for me because...it's cricut-less! This card is 4 by 9.25-inches and will fit into a business size envelope. The floral layer is cut at 3.75 by 9-inches and the yellow layer is 3.25 by 8.25-inches. I embossed the yellow layer with a background stamp by Stampendous. I absolutely love how it turned out! The flowers were cut using a die from Papertrey Ink, it comes with 3 different sizes, but I just used the two smaller sizes.

The patterned paper is from Echo Park and the solid cardstock is of course, Papertrey Ink. I used the Wide Eyes Face Assortment from Peachy Keen Stamps. I'll tell ya, of all the peachy stamps I have, I think this is my favorite. The sweet faces are just too cute!

I popped up one layer of each flower and then adhered them flat to my card, except for the flower with the sentiment. I actually double popped-up that one. I hope that makes sense, lol!

To finish off my card I added buttons from PTI (the sentiment is from there as well) and used embroidery thread to each button. Oh and the white ribbon is PTI too.

I am going to enter this card in Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge as well as Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday. If you get a chance please check out both of these blogs, they are wonderful!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and I always love reading your comments. And if you have any questions please let me know. I'll see you back here soon.

Chocolate Easter Bouquet

2011-04-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey scrappers, this is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy. I'm happy to be sharing this fun project with you today at She's A Sassy Lady. Wow, haven't the projects around here been amazing! I gotta tell you these ladies are so talented.

Originally when I came up with this idea, I was going to use a tin basket that I found at Target in the dollar section. And then I remembered the picket fence box on the Wrap It Up cartridge and I thought it would be really cute, so that's what I went with.

I sized the box on my Gypsy and basically fit it to page on a 12 x 12 mat. When assembled it makes about a 4 x 4-inch box.

I decided to emboss my fence with the Cuttlebug folder Distressed Stripes. I could have let it be a perfect little white picket fence, but this seemed a little bit more fun and of course adds texture and dimension.

Here's a picture of the box as I sent it through the CB. I basically folded the box and lined up the folder to the edge of the fence and sent it through. It worked perfectly. After embossing I used brown ink around the edges and a light layer over the stripes.

The green layer cuts the grass. If you look closely you'll notice that not all four sides line up correctly. Only 2 of the 4 sides line up. That kind of drives me crazy! Instead of cutting more pieces I decided to just use some green ink around the edges.

A picture of the flowers before I layered and assembled them. As you can see, two of the flowers are cut with pattern paper. I embossed the lilac colored flowers using the Swiss Dots CB folder.

Here are the supplies I used. I found the sticks in the children's art section at Michael's. I applied crackle paint to create a stem. To adhere my flower layers, chocolate candy, and flowers to the stick I used my glue gun. Make sure it doesn't get too warm and melt your chocolate, lol. In order to create added dimension to my flowers I sprayed a little bit of water on the paper. This helps the paper to "move" better which is especially helpful with the thick Papertrey Ink cardstock that I use. Then I just rolled the flower petals around a thin embroidery needle.

Once the fence and flowers were all assembled, I placed some flower foam in the box and created my bouquet. I'm not the best at floral arrangements, so keep that in mind. To finish off my project and add a little more "Easter" to it, I placed some paper grass in the box. I thought it would be fun to put more chocolate in and around the basket as well. I mean, you can't have too much chocolate!

Here is a better look at the fence. I really like the way it turned out.

I love how this picture came out. It just doesn't get much better in my world than flowers and chocolate! Although you can see in this close-up that I probably went a little heavy with the glue gun, but the I wanted that chocolate to stay up there! I really love all the color and layers.

Details:

Box-Wrap It Up cut at 11.25-inches with layer
Flowers-Mother's Day Bouquet cut at 2, 1.5, 1.25 and 1-inches
Pattern Paper-Echo Park Springtime Collection
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink New Leaf and Royal Velvet
Embossing folders-(Cuttlebug) Distressed Stripes and Swiss Dots
Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint-Peeled Paint
Glue Gun
Flower Foam
Wood Skewers
Egg Shaped Chocolate Candy
Easter Grass

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my project today. I hope it inspired you and perhaps you can create an Easter or Spring home decor projects yourself. I'd love to see what you come up with. Thank you Sheila for allowing me to post today, and as always I enjoy your comments! If you have any questions please let me know. Stop my my blog anytime, I'd love to see you.

Happy Happy Everything

2011-03-31T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hello scrappy friends! I recently got this paper stack in the mail from Papertrey Ink and I wanted to use it right away. I love the color combination and patterns. These patterned papers match perfectly to PTI's 'New Leaf' and 'Spring Rain'. I love the combination and I thought it would be fun to make two cards with the same color combos and images, but change the background pattern.

I used Nate's ABC's for the umbrellas and boots image. The image reminded me of spring and went perfectly with my color scheme.

Instead of inking my edges, I outlined the umbrella with a blue marker from Stampin'Up.

I initially was going to outline the puddle with glossy accents, but once I started I decided to fill it in all the way. I'm really happy with the results and I think it creates some added interest and dimension.

Here are the two cards side by side. The difference in patterns if fairly minor, but each one really pulls out one of the two primary colors.

A close-up. I love Nate's ABC's, it's a fantastic cartridge! And I'm really looking forward to playing more with Kate's ABC's. I think I'm going to be using it for some Easter cards, so stay tuned for that.

Details:

A2 size card
Pattern paper sized at 4 by 5.25-inches
blue/green layer sized at 4.75 by 3.25-inches
Images-'Nate's ABC's' cut at 3.5-inches with layers
Cardstock and Pattern Paper from Papertrey Ink
Sentiment and Ink (dark chocolate) from Papertrey Ink
White Twill Ribbon from Papertrey Ink
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen
Glossy Accents

I hope you enjoyed these two cards and will perhaps find some inspiration. I appreciate you stopping by, and as always, I enjoy your comments. If you have any questions please feel free to leave those as well.

Keeping It Simple

2011-03-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hello my scrappy friends! I had a couple of cards I wanted to make and I knew I wanted to keep it simple, so I pulled out my Imagine and started creating.

For the first card, which is going to a very special little girl, I used the 'Best Friends' Imagine cartridge. I cut the adorable little girl out at 3.7-inches. For the base layer I cut out a 5.5-inch square and filled it with the floral design. The top note shape is one of the stock images on the Imagine. I cut it out at 3.5-inches and filled it with blue.

I ran the top note through my Cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder. The base pink layer is card stock from Papertrey Ink, as is the circle with the sentiment. I used the shape of the circle and my acrylic block to arrange my stamp so that it would stamp in a circular pattern. To finish off the card I added twine, a button and some stitching with my white pen.

Isn't she cute?!

Next up is a thank you card. The patterns and shapes for the card came from the 'Imagine More Cards' cartridge. I cut out a 4.5-inch square and filled it with the polka dot pattern. The next two layers are part of an image on page 15. I separated it into layers and only cut out the two pieces that I wanted to use (the blue and notebook paper). Those were cut at 3.3-inches.

The sentiment, along with the base and pink card stock are from PTI. I embossed my sentiment with black embossing powder by Ranger. The fabric flower is a "bloomer" by Basic Grey (I think). To finish off this simple card I added some buttons, a little twine, and stitching.

I really appreciate you stopping by and looking at my projects, and a special thank you to all of my new followers! I'm SO excited and happy to have you, all of you! Be on the look out because I'm going to be having a fantastic giveaway in honor of reaching 100 followers! I'm so grateful and honored that you stop to look at my work, and I hope to give you a little inspiration along the way.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'll see you back here soon!

Winner

2011-03-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

And the winner is...

Roberta!

(I'll be sending Roberta her goodies as soon as I get her address.)

Thank you everyone who hopped by, and especially those of you who took time to leave a comment! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again.

What It Means To Love You Blog Hop

2011-03-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning bloggy friends! I'm so excited to be part of my very first blog hop. This hop is all about LOVE and my friend Dawn, aka NurseViper, is the host. If you came to my blog first, please go back and start at Dawn's blog ScrappyRN. You're going to see lots of wonderful projects and of course, blog candy!

Onto my layout...

This layout is all about the people I love and what love means to me. I have learned that even through the most difficult times in my life, my family is always there for me! Their love is unconditional and without fail. The two pictures I chose to use are of my brothers (Jonathan and David), sister's-in-law (Carissa and Hannah) and my nephew, Micah. I wish I'd been able to find a picture of my parents as well because they are truly amazing, but if I added pictures of my entire family it would become a book and not just a scrapbook page, lol!

This is a close-up of the title of my page. I decided to use a button instead of the regular dot for my 'i'. I added a bow with some twine from Papertrey Ink. The stamp is from the set "Turn That Frown Upside Down" by My Creative Time.

I wanted to give you a close-up of the left corner of my page so you could see that grommet/eyelet (which one is right?) I attached to the bottom of the page. I did the same at the top left and threaded twine through. In this picture you can also see a close-up of the heart background piece. I really love how it turned out.

Details:

Pattern Paper-My Mind's Eye "Love Me Do" collection
Card stock-Papertrey Ink, except for 12x12 background paper which is Bazzil
Title-Kate's ABC's font and shadow cut at 1.5-inches
Layer 1-rounded edge square from 'George and Basic Shapes' cut at 11.25-inches
Photo Mats-same as above, cut at 4.25 by 6.25-inches and 4 by 6-inches (real dial size)
Yellow Layer-'George and Basic Shapes' cut at 11.25 by 3.25-inches
Heart Background Image-'Martha Stewart All Occasion' cut two at 5.42 by 5.26-inches and welded the two together with my Gypsy
Journal Tabs-EK Success Punch

Well what would a blog hop be without some candy? Included in my giveaway is a "scrapbook girl" journal, rhinestone border stickers, Spots and Dots embossing folder and a 5-page Colorbok chipboard album. In order to qualify for my blog candy please leave a comment at the end of my post. You will have until Monday (PST) at midnight on Monday, March 21. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you.

I hope you liked my layout. If you enjoy what you see on my blog, I'd love for you to become a follower, it means a lot to me. Perhaps today you can take a moment to give some extra love to those important people around you, and yes, that could include a pet!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Your next stop is the talented Liz at Liz's Lavender And Roses.

Imagine Cards

2011-03-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! I don't have a lot of details but I wanted to share a couple of cards I made today with my Imagine. I'm participating in a little online swarm with the circle for those of us who didn't get to attend the Stampede. Insert sad face here, lol!

The first card is 5 by 5-inches from the 'Better Together' cartridge. I used a top note shape from the 'I' stock images and filled it with a pattern from the cartridge. The twine is from 'The Twinery". I added a button and stickles for more dimension and texture.

This card is a standard A2. I used 'Lori's Garden' for the flower and the script background. I did cut two of the layers out and elevated them on the base image of the flower. The kraft and yellow paper is from PTI as is the blue satin ribbon. The slightly tilted (lol!) sentiment is from Unity. It's a new set I picked up called "It's Your Day" and I'm absolutely loving it.

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget about the blog hop tomorrow! I hope to see you there.

Blog Hop Alert

2011-03-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wanted to let you all know that Saturday I will be participating in a blog hop hosted by Dawn (aka NurseViper) at Scrappy RN. It's a hop all about love and what it means to you. I hope to see you on Saturday for fun and of course a little blog candy!

An Award!

2011-03-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much Stephanie! I was so honored when I received a note from Stephanie that she sent me this amazing award. You can check out her fantastic work at PaperandI.

So the rules of this award are that I tell you 8 things about myself and share this award with 8 fellow bloggers.

I adore my family and have no idea what I would do without them.
My girl, Ellie, couldn't be more like me unless she were human.
Scrapbooking has taken over my life.
Red is my favorite color.
I knew I wanted to be a pediatric nurse since I was in the 6th grade.
I love music, movies and the theater.
I can't stop listening to Adele's new album '21'.
I'm a smart ass and I love to laugh.

I am now passing this fabulous and stylish award to the following (in no particular order):

Alma at Alma's Pink Life
Allison at Goody Bag Diva
Caroline at Caroline's Craftography
Kristie at 2 Ducky Designs
Crystal at Design Create Inspire
Sherry at Macybella Designs
Cindy at Scrap-Obsessed
Amy at Amys' Digi-Scraps

I hope you all can take some time to check out these ladies and leave them some blog love. They are so talented and really wonderful women as well!

'It's A Dog's Life' Layout

2011-03-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning Sassy Lady friends, I hope your week is going well so far! This is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy and I'm so happy to be back this month to share my project with you. My layout is pretty straight forward, but I'm happy with the results. I've been struggling with a stomach bug the last few days, so I apologize for the simplicity of this post.

I always start my layouts by picking my pictures and then the paper. I don't know why, perhaps the fever was to blame, but even though all these pictures are on the beach I decided not to do a beach themed layout. Is that strange? I'm also blaming the fact that I couldn't sew a straight line to save my life on my tired, sick eyes, LOL! I'll use any excuse I can get.

Here is the cardstock I used. The pattern paper if from the DCWV 'Pet Stack'.

Here's a little tip that I want to share with you...I do a lot of welding on my Gypsy, but it's very difficult to weld shadows and have them match up. So what I do now, is cut the shadow layers in separate pieces and glue them on individually to the back of my welded letters. This gives me more control, and I think it looks better too.

In this picture you can see how some of the shadowed letters overlap on the back. Of course from the front you'd never know.

Here are my die cuts. I decided to leave them very simple so I cut them out in black, to match my sweet dog, and added some twine. I just ordered the sampler pack from The Twinery and let me just say, I'm loving it! And it can't be considered cheating on Papertrey Ink because they don't sell these colors, LOL.

Looking separately at the two pages you can see where all the elements come together. Of course I added a couple of buttons and some more twine.

The little paw print next to my title is a stamp. I used my VersaMark and black embossing powder to add another textural element to the page. I did some stitching around the two brown layers and to the base blue layers as well. It's difficult to see because I used white thread, but since it's all over the place anyway, it's okay with me.

Details:

Pattern Paper-DCWV 'Pet Stack
Cardstock-Papertrey Ink, Bazzil
Title-'It's A Life' Birthday Bash Cricut Cartridge cut at 1.25-inches and 'DOGS' Plantin Schoolbook cut at 1.5-inches
Die Cuts-boy with dog A Child's Year cut at 2.75-inches and dogs from Nate's ABC's cut at 2.75-inches and 3-inches
Circles-George and Basic Shapes cut at 3.75, 4, 5.75 and 6-inches
Clip-QuicKutz die
Buttons-StampinUp!
Twine-The Twinery, colors charcoal and lemondrop
Black Sakura Gelly Roll Pen

Thank you Sheila for allowing me to share my projects here and thanks to all of you for looking. I appreciate your patience with me this month and I'll do my best to 'WOW' you next time! As always, I appreciate your comments and support.

Boo! Layout

2011-02-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween! Alright, so I'm a little behind on my scrap booking, but who isn't?! So after all those projects with pink and hearts, I've moved to black and orange. I'm trying to "up" my layouts and learn new ideas and techniques, so I used a layout mat from a great book called 'Imagine' by Jeannette R. Lynton. I highly recommend this book to new and intermediate scrappers. And I love it even more because all the designs are for two-page layouts! Now, that's not easy to find.

So, the background papers are basically the same as they were laid out in the book. Of course I picked my own paper and patterns, which are from the Fancy Pants 'Alice In Wonderland' collection, My Mind's Eye "Boo To You' and Papertrey Ink. Then I added my own embellishments die cuts and stitching.

One thing about this layout that I really like is the tree which actually is on both pages. I got the tree from the Mini Monsters cricut cartridge and used my Gypsy to increase the size...what do you think? 'Boo!' is from 'Mini Monsters' as well.

Left page. I heat embossed a Unity Stamp with some black embossing powder from Tim Holtz. I think it added some nice dimension and texture to the page. The journal pocket is a die cut from Papertrey Ink.

Right page. A new idea that I used on both pages of this layout was to add some eyelets to the pictures and then tie a piece of ribbon to them. The ribbon is from Stampin'Up!

Here's a close-up of the heat embossed stamp. Isn't it cool!

Of course there are plenty of buttons on this layout (Stampin'Up!) along with twine from (PTI).

All in all I'm happy with the end result. I'm hoping to continue learning and growing, so stay tuned as I promise to share everything I learn with you. And perhaps you'll learn something along with me, or just see something cool you'd like to try. Either way, thanks for stopping by. I'll see you back here soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

I hope you are having a wonderful day! I have to admit Valentine's Day is not my favorite holiday and pink is not a color I use very often, but this year, well who know why, but I've used a lot of pink and created a lot of Valentine's Day projects. My Valentine this year is my handsome, perfect and incredibly intelligent 5 y.o. nephew, Micah. If you've ever been to my blog before I'm sure you've seen him since he's usually the center of all my layouts! If not, there's a picture of him on the left sidebar.

I've been making goodie bags for my nephew, to take to his Kindergarten classmates during each holiday this year, so of course Valentine's Day is no exception. I went super simple this time and used the pillow box from 'Wrap It Up' along with a circle punch, heart punch and some inexpensive ribbon I found at Michael's.

Here's a picture of a few of the boxes.

And then we thought it would be nice to make a little something for Micah's teacher as well. I picked up a few of these $1 mailboxes from Target and thought I'd decorate one for her. I used Martha Stewart's Valentine's Day paper pack to cover my mailbox. The pink ribbon is Papertrey Ink along with the flower dies and pink button. I used the Tim Holtz 'Paper Rosette' die and topped it with a heart shaped Martha Stewart punch. I think it turned out really beautifully and I hope she enjoys it. Of course I put a few little treats inside for her as well!

This mailbox is for my nephew. Red is his favorite color, mine as well, so I focused primarily on the colors red and black. The pattern paper is Bo Bunny 'Crush Collection' and the black cardstock is Bazzil. The red ribbon is PTI, as is the die cut. The hearts are from the MS punch and I used a circle punch as well. The "love" stamp was in the dollar bin at Michael's and I used red embossing paper to make it sparkle. I think it turned out really fun and not too girly, lol. I know he's going to like it and that's the most important part.

I hope you have a wonderful day and are surrounded by people who love you, because really that's what we should focus on today. I truly appreciate every one of you who takes the time to stop by my blog, and as always, I hope you like what you see and perhaps find some inspirations along the way. Thank you!

Holy cow another post!

2011-02-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

I blame it all on Papertrey Ink (PTI). They keep having these contests with the most amazing prizes, and you only have 2 days to get them finished...you see where I'm going. It's also fun because I'm trying new techniques and getting fresh ideas.

The challenge on Friday was to "Think Big". Make a project that incorporates something mega-sized! I don't have a lot of stamps so what could I do to make the stamp look bigger?...make the card smaller, lol.

I used the cricut cartridge 'Tags, Bags, Boxes and More' to cut this tag envelope. It's great because it can hold a little note or space to journal for a scrapbook layout in the back. I cut 2 matching tags, sized them slightly smaller, to use as a layer and one to write my message on and slip inside. The die cut, stamp, twine and button are all from PTI.

I decided to add the red button because I'm going to use this tag envelope as a little Valentine for my Dad. Oh, how sweet! Could you ask for a better daughter?...let's not really ask, lol!

Thanks to those of you who have stopped by to look at all my posts this week. I appreciate your support and encouraging comments.

3 Birds With One Stone

2011-02-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

It's almost Valentine's Day... and this week I managed to design one card that I'm going to submit to 3 different challenges! I'm pretty excited about it.

Challenge #1-Throwback Thursday at My Creative Time

Emma challenged us to create a project using the 'Wild Card Cartridge'- the card base and layers can both be found on that cartridge.

Challenge #2-Scrappy Mom's Terrific Tuesday Challenge

For this challenge we were asked to create a project using 'Simply Charmed'-the "LoveBug" and all her layers are from this cartridge.

Challenge #3-Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge 45

Here's the sketch we were given to work with, which I used to design my card.

On the inside of my card I used a $1 stamp from Michael's and a second heart that I cut out from the 'Simply Charmed' cartridge.

I almost forgot to mention that my adorable love bug is on an Action Wobble. She's too cute when she's shaking her "thang"!

Details:

Bazzil textured cardstock for the base of the card, cut at 5-inches
Pattern Paper-Bo Bunny 'Crush Collection'
Solid Cardstock-Papertrey Ink
Love Bug-'Simply Charmed' Cricut cartridge, cut at 2.75-inches
Circular layers cut at 5.82-inches (sized on my Gypsy)
"Love"-stamp from Papertrey Ink and embossed in red
Vintage Crinkle Ribbon in Scarlet Red from My Craft Spot
Peachy Keen Stamps-Wide Eyed Kids Face Assortment

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog. I'll see you back here tomorrow with a couple of Valentine's Day projects.

Papertrey Ink-Make It Mondays

2011-02-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hello. As most of you know if you've spent any time at my blog, I love Papertrey Ink (PTI)! And this week I've already shared a few cards I created for some wonderful challenges they have going on, you can see there blog here. Well, they are starting a new weekly challenge called 'Make It Mondays' where the designers will share new techniques or favorite things and then ask us to create our own version.

This week we were challenged to create a "Go-To Sentiment" card. Isn't that a great idea?! Well what better card to have on hand than a birthday card, in fact I really could have used one last week! Since I'm still building my collection of stamps and learning about this whole card-making hobby, I decided to keep it small.

This card is 4 x 4-inches. I used PTI fine linen cardstock and ribbon as well as Harvest Gold pattern paper from PTI 'Distressed Dots' paper pack. The sentiments are from several different PTI sets, all related to birthdays of course!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what else this wonderful company has in store for us this year. If you want to see this particular challenge go here and join the fun, or stop by next Monday for a new challenge.

As always thanks for visiting my small piece of the blog world. On Sunday/Monday I'll have some Valentine's Day goodies to share with you. Have a good weekend.

Papertrey Ink Color Challenge

2011-02-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

Hello. Here is my second entry for Papertrey Inks Color Challenge. This time I decided to use Maile's favorite color combination which is kraft, fine linen, lavender moon and harvest gold. The card she created is below.

I challenged myself to keep this card simple and understated. I'm so used to using bright colors and patterns, so this is a change, but I like the way it turned out. And this is the second card with no cricut! Crazy.

All of the supplies are from Papertrey Ink, except the embossing folder which is Sissix. Oh and I used a Martha Stewart heart punch.

Thanks for stopping by, see you back here soon.

Papertrey Ink Color Challenge

2011-02-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard Papertrey Ink is celebrating their 4 year anniversary! They are generously giving away some amazing prizes. Honestly I was hesitant about submitting a project because there are so many amazingly talented women, but I made a decision this year to put myself out there more. I really want to improve and becoming more active in contests seems like a great way to get my foot in the door.

Here's the challenge: Today we are issuing a special color challenge. Each of our talented Design Team members selected their favorite Papertrey color scheme to work with above. Your challenge is to pick one (or two, or three or ALL of them!) to work with.

I chose to use Lisa Johnson's favorite color combination of pure poppy, kraft, spring rain and vintage cream. All of the supplies are PTI, except the pattern paper with is Fancy Pants 'Wishful Thinking'.

I hope you enjoy this card. Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy your comments.

Challenge Entries

2011-02-02T22:34:00.001-08:00

Hey bloggies! I wanted to share a couple of projects I completed for two different challenges. The first one is Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #44 with a twist you can see the sketch on their site. The twist is to use monochromatic colors, as well as white or black as needed.

Well of course I knew I had to include a peachy face, so then what? I recently purchased a flower die from Papertrey Ink (PTI) and decided it was time to pull it out. All of the paper and ribbon is rasberry fizz from PTI as well. The punch is by Martha Stewart and the adorable peachy face is from the 'Wide Eyed Kids Face Assortment'...an absolute must have! I found the Valentine stamp in the dollar bin at Michael's and used some white embossing powder to add a little extra dimension. To make the card a little extra special I added an Action Wobble to my flower, so fun!

I think the card turned out pretty well. This is my first submission in a Peachy Challenge.

Next up I created a project for the Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge. We were asked to use at least 4 Cricut cuts and include something edible in the design. I found this fantastic scepter box on the 'Life's A Party' cartridge and knew I had to make one. I cut the box and all the layers at 10-inches. The paper is a combination of Martha Stewart, BoBunny and PTI. I inked all the edges of my cuts with Rose Red Memento Ink. The stamp I chose is one that is included in a Martha Stewart punch. I also embossed it with white embossing powder and I love how it pops on the red cardstock. The ribbon I found at Michael's in the holiday section.

I really hope you enjoyed these projects and may even find some inspiration to start your own Valentine projects and maybe even put yourself out there and enter some challenges. Thanks so much for stopping by! As always I love your comments and support. Take care!

Spring Layout

2011-02-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

Hello SassyLady friends, this is Kate from Sassy and Scrappy. I bought the Mother's Day solutions cartridge a couple weeks ago and decided I HAD to use it. I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed by the variety of flowers, but they seem to all mix and match really well. I also used some ribbon from my fellow Design Team member Kimberly at My Craft Spo t and I absolutely love it. And no, she didn't pay me to say that, lol. In fact, I didn't even mention who I was when I placed my order. So check her ribbon out here!

I started by trimming my blue patterned paper to 11 x 11-inches and gluing the center down to the white 12 x 12-inch paper. I didn't apply adhesive close to the edges of the blue paper to avoid "gumming" up my sewing machine.

Next up were the flowers. I picked 4 different flowers and cut 19 varying sizes. Here they are before being layered and embellished.
After layering the flowers I decided to add glitter. I used liquid craft glue and used my paintbrush to apply the glue to the edges of the flowers. I applied the glue fairly liberally and to each layer of the flower. Then I sprinkled the flower with some Martha Stewart glitter. Of course, you could always use Stickles as well.
And here's the end result. I think the flower looks "sugared" now. Isn't it fun!

Next up was some tearing. I know it's not easy to tear pretty paper, but you should give it a try at least once. It's kind of therapeutic, actually! I hold the paper down with my left hand and tear with my right. That way I can control how much of the paper is torn.

The next step was adding ribbon. I used a small amount of removable adhesive, it applies small dots and definitely disperses less glue, which I figured was a little safer for my sewing machine. I didn't adhere the ribbon straight down, hopefully you can see the folding in the picture below.
And here's what it looks like now, I really love how it turned out. As you can see in the picture below, I also inked the edges of my torn paper.

Next I started assembling my layout. Here is a fun close-up of some of the flowers and my journal tag.

I wanted to keep the layouts pretty simple on these 2 pages because I didn't want to have too much going on. I didn't want to detract from the pictures (to be added in the future) or the flowers. Here's the left page, with a little journal tag tucked into the flowers.

Right page. I love how the flowers add so much dimension, and the little worm is just adorable.

Details:

Cardstock-Bazzil (white)
Pattern Paper-Fancy Pants 'Wishful Thinking'
Bird-'Simply Charmed' cut at 2.25-inches
Worm-'April Showers' cut at 2-inches
Tree-'April Showers' cut at 8.50-inches
"SPRING" banner-'April Showers' cut at 2.5-inches
Flowers-'Mother's Day Bouquet' cut at 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2-inches
Buttons-Papertrey Ink
Ribbon-My Craft Spot (Denim)
Buttons-Papertrey Ink
Peachy Keen Stamps-'Character Face Parts' and 'Wide Eyed Kids'
Journal Tag-Die Cut from Papertrey Ink

I had a lot of fun putting this layout together and I hope it gives you some ideas and inspiration. As always, thank you Sheila for letting me share my work on your blog. I hope you'll come visit me at Sassy and Scrappy for more projects and fun.

Cards!

2011-01-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon! Even though it was a slow crafting week for me, I managed to get a few cards done. You might notice that I was really enjoying both the 'seeing spots' embossing folder and twine this week. Why change a good thing, right?

This is a standard A2 size card created using the 'Birthday Bash' cartridge. I absolutely love this cart and can definitely see myself using it for so much more than birthdays. The grass and cloud are from 'Create A Critter' and the sentiment is from the Scrappy Moms Designer's Choice set. The glitter is Martha Stewart.

This is a fun get well soon card. I used '3 Birds On Parade' for the cuts on this cartridge. I was hoping to get a better picture of the rain drops so you could see the glossy accents that I added to them, but I just couldn't capture it. I really like the added dimension and 'wet' look it created. The card base, standard A2, and layer are both from the 'Christmas Cards' cartridge. Of course I used a Peachy Keen stamp for the sweet little birds face. The sentiment is computer generated. I also did some inking around the edges and added some doodling for the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you back here soon and as always I enjoy your comments and/or questions.

Back to School Layout

2011-01-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends, I hope you're having a great week. Today I have a quick and simple back to school layout to share with you. What, I'm the only one behind on my scrapbooking?!? LOL. I thought I would take a brief break from holiday layouts and work on this layout before I start Valentine's Day projects. No, it's not your eyes, the picture is totally crooked! Sorry about that.

Like I said, this was a very simple and quick layout to put together. I cropped some photos, picked my images, paper, and went to work. I need to allow myself to do more of these kinds of layouts and not stress out so much about every detail. I'm not a professional, and the most important part of scrapbooking is to save and document memories!

Details:

Pattern Paper- Fancy Pants 'Little Boy' Collection
Cardstock- Bazzil (white) and Papertrey Ink
Center "Shape"- Nifty Fifties cut a 11.31-inches
Worm- Create a Critter cut at 3.5-inches with layer. I used the hide contour feature on my Gypsy to hide his face
Title- back and school: Birthday Bash cut at 2-inches with shadow 2: Nifty Fifties cut at 3-inches.
Stickers and Border- Fancy Pants Paper Collection
Button- Stampin' Up
Peachy Keen-Everyday Character Faces

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll be able to get a little inspiration or perhaps a little push to pull out some of those older pictures to scrap. Thank you for stopping by, your comments and feedback mean a great deal to me. See you back here soon.