It's my life

Petaloo and Graphic 45 Blog Hop Day

I just wanted to share a layout that I did for the Petaloo and Graphic 45 blog hop/cross promotion.  I posted all of the details on the Petaloo blog so if you want to know more click here.

This layout is probably a little out of my comfort zone.  I am not usually a vintage style scrapbooker.  I love the papers but just don't seem to have pictures that complement them. The picture that I used though ended up being perfect for this particular assignment.  I think I may have used a filter of some sort in Photoshop to give it a more softer look and feel.

Here are some close up shots of the gorgeous Petaloo flowers.  These are from the Darjeeling collection and if you haven't seen the colors that Petaloo is releasing for Winter CHA 2012 you will want to go here and here.

I love the colors and textures of these Darjeeling flowers.  They also are completely ready for you to apply to your page.  The package contains about 5 or 6 flowers in different sizes and different centers.

I've been working on a lot of things behind the scenes for design teams and such and I am slowly being able to show them on my blog. Until then....

Have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Day- January's Anything Goes

 

Hello everyone!!  Thanks for stopping by for this week's Simon Says Stamp's challenge.  This is a fun week where Anything Goes!!  That's right.  Link up anything that you created starting today that has to do with cards, paper, scrapbooking, home decor, etc.  We are hoping to get more than 1000 entries for our challenge this week so let's get started.  The design team also had to use Echo Park products on their challenge cards so I broke out my Happy Days 6x6 paper pad to make my card.

My card this week is a super sweet and simple card.  I used some die cuts, pretty paper, ribbon, and my secret weapon.  No, don't worry, it's not going to hurt you.  Rather, it's going to make life easier and bring a whole new way of looking at the way you make cards.  My secret weapon is SRM Stickers!!

The cupcake and celebrate sentiment are clear stickers from SRM Stickers and the best part of it all is that you can get them at Simon Says Stamp!  Whenever I stick one down on cardstock I am always amazed at how beautiful they look and how clear the sticker is.  It just looks as if you colored, stamped or printed them right on the cardstock.

Oh, and I have another fabulous secret to tell.  This past week I happened upon a blog post by Becca Feeken that contained a tutorial on how to make peg bows!  Hello, where have I been?  Under a rock?  Well, I finally figured out how everyone is tying those gorgeous bows for their cards and the amazing part is that it is so easy to do.  My husband constructed mine and I got to try it out yesterday.  I am hopelessly hooked.  

So now it is your turn.  A $50 gift certificate to the Simon Says Stamp online store could be yours but you have to make something first.  So let's go!!  Link up your card here to be eligible to win!

Happy Days 6x6 paper pad

Happy SRM Stickers

My Favorite Things Open Scallop Doily Duo Die-Namics

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Imaginisce Monthly Challenge- Winter Theme

Did you know that Imaginisce has a monthly challenge on their blog?  Well they do and it is always a lot of fun to enter. This month the challenge was to create something with the theme of Winter.  

Well I decided that it would be fun to create a monthly calendar and and desiginate January as the Winter month!  So I pulled out my drawer of Imaginisce paper and saw just what I was looking for.  A half sheet left of paper from my favorite Christmas collection by Imaginisce from about 2 years ago. There was just something about the colors and patterns in this line, Polar Express, that I could use again and again. I had saved every little scrap of paper from this collection so I had just enough to create this calendar page.  The calendar page measures 6x6 and I plan on doing a new page each month and letting my husband put them on his desk.

Then because I had already used up all my embellishments from the Polar Express line I got out my cardstock die cuts from this past Christmas's line, Santa's Little Helper, and used three of the snowflakes for my embellishments.  Then I stamped the little snowman,cut him out, and then colored him with Copic markers.  Then I used foam dots for dimension.  

The calendar that you see here is a new product for me. In the past when I wanted to make calendar pages I would try to make my own but that was so time consuming.  So enter SRM Stickers!  Recently I was asked to design for SRM Stickers and just got my box of DT products.  I was thrilled to find that they have two different sets of calendar stickers and let me just tell you, they are fabulous!  I placed the clear calendar sticker on some white cardstock and you don't even know it is a sticker! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Rules for Imaginisce's monthly challenge found here.

 

Valentine's post

As Valentine's Day fast approaches I am inspired to share a Valentine project that I did for a Petaloo and Jillibean Soup cross promotion.  I posted it on the Petaloo blog in December along with some Christmas projects but I thought that I needed to wait to share the Valentine project on my blog until after the holidays.

I can't tell you how easy and fun it was to make this cute little Valentine's mailbox.  The makers at SVG Cuts have thought about every little detail, including a door that actually works and opens so that you can collect your Valentines cards.  

When I saw the Jillibean Soup collection Hearty Barley I knew that I wanted to use it to make my mailbox!  The woodgrain on the kraft paper is a perfect complement to this fun gift!!  Also the journaling cards included in the Hearty Barley line double as Valentine cards and fit perfectly into the mailbox slot.

I embellished the front of the mailbox with Petaloo's Rose clusters and Mini Rose Clusters as well as Stickers from the Hearty Barley 12x12 Cardstock sticker sheet and Die Cuts from the same line.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful crafty day!

Supplies used:  Petaloo Pink Petite Rose Clusters and Pink Mini Petite Rose Clusters and SVG Cuts Valentine Mailboxes, Jillibean Hearty Barley Collection

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Day- A Sketch

Well we have another fun challenge for you on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog.  Each week I see many of the cards that are made for our challenges and I have to say that it is very inspiring to see how everyone intreprets the challenges. Such wonderful work and creativity.  

So on to our challenge for this week.  Domi created this wonderful sketch for you to work with.  You can see what the design team created by visiting the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog or do what I do and hop around the links and get inspiration from our challenge participants.   

So here is my card!!  I decided to use some of my beloved Hero Arts stamps!!  Both heart and sentiment are from Hero Arts.  I also wanted to start creating some Valentines cards early so I wasn't rushing around at the last minute.  I thought that this sketch was the perfect place to start.

I colored my heart with Copics.  I chose the colors from the palette of the patterned paper which is Springtime by Echo Park.  The background paper was embossed with a Sizzix folder.  The paper broke down a bit in the folder which exposed the white core.  I thought it was a great look for my card.  Very similar to sanding the embossed areas.  I finished off my design with a few Petaloo flowers which are made of a very soft Mulberry paper and a yellow gingham ribbon.  The sentiment came from a small stamp set from Hero Arts which is a must have in any stampers collection!!

Copic markers used:  Y06,Y08, RV02, RV23, RV25, G24

One lucky participant in our challenge will win a whopping $50 gift certificate to the Simon Says Stamp store which has anything and everything you could ever want in a paper crafting and stamp store!!  So just create your card based on the above sketch and link it up here on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog.  You never know, you could be this week's lucky winner.

 

Here I have gathered all of the links to the supplies I used to make my card.  You can find them all at Simon Says Stamp!

Hero Arts Clear Love Everyday 2011	Echo Park Springtime 6x6 pad	Sizzix Textured Impressions folder Christmas #6	Hero Arts Clear Classic Messages
Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles Large	Hero Arts Pink Pearls	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad and Refill	Copic Markers

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So excited to announce...

I'm so excited to announce that I will be part of the 2012 SRM Stickers Design Team.  

Here is the fantastic lineup.

 

Aimee Kidd

Valerie Mangan

Carolyn King

Tenia Nelson

Clare Buswell

Michelle Bertuzzi

Amy Duff

Corrie Jones

Liz Weber

Tracey Taylor

Christine Ousley

Shannon Morgan

Jan Tatomir

Jamie Cripps

Shantaie Fowler

Be sure to stop by the SRM Stickers blog for a chance to win a sample of SRM Stickers BRAND NEW collection for CHA Winter.  Just comment on their blog here.

I can't wait to get started so check back in the next week or so for my first project!

A New Layout with Got Sketch #137

I am going to just put it out there.  I'll admit it!  I am a sketch-a-holic!  There I said it!  Can't take it back.  I really don't know what it is about sketches that just get my old wheels a-turning but they do.  Sometimes I mix it up and sometimes I follow it pretty closely.  It just depends!  So I guess that is why I am so happy to be a part of Valerie Salmon's Got Sketch Masters Team!!  I get to play with pretty sketches all the time.

So I am happy to announce that the Got Sketch blog and design team is starting out with a big bang this year, 2012!!  We've got a double page sketch for you to try.  

Here is my layout.  You can see the original sketch on this Got Sketch blog post plus 7 samples of layouts from the other girls on the team. They are amazing and I love how even though it is all the same sketch they all look different. First, I will show you both pages.

 

Then a close up of each individual page.  These are pictures that I took of Garrett in the beginning of December.  I am trying to keep up with each month and highlight some of the things that he is doing or accomplished.  I might even go back and use this same sketch for the first 4 months and then continue on with it until his first birthday.  It's a great sketch to use and it has so many spaces for pictures.

The papers I used are from Fancy Pants.  It is a really cute line with colors for both boys and girls.  You can see that I had fun with the rubons from this line.  Some of them look like a couple of the stuffed animals that he has.  The flags hanging on the top were cut out from the border page.  Unfortunately it was the only page that I only had 1 of so I had to make do with putting it in the center of both pages.  If I ever find more I will add on to the banner so it stretches across the whole top.

For me, journaling on my computer and then cutting it out in strips is the easiest way for me to journal. I am really going to try to do better about putting some kind of journaling on my pages.  I don't always do that and when I looked back at some of my old layouts of my kids as infants to compare them with what Garrett is doing I didn't have the information I was looking for.  So I promised myself I would work harder starting now!

I'll be announcing some scrapbooking classes that I will be teaching in the Birmingham, AL area so if you are one of my students from Scrapbook Mania I hope that there will be something for you that you will like.

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Day- Spots and Stripes

Welcome to this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog post!  Sorry I missed last week's challenge but I was spending some much needed time with my extended family for the holidays.  My kids just love visiting their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

So today our challenge on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog is going to be an easy one.  So no excuses right?  Just create a new card that has some kind of spots or stripes on it.  You can use patterned paper like I did or emboss, stamp, cut, paint, or punch them on your card.  It's up to you, so let's be creative!

Here is my card for the challenge.  The design team for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog are also incorporating some sort of Memory Box product.  I used one of their dies.  I love them!!  They are so delicate and detailed.  I have quite a few and a ton more on my wish list.  Check them all out here.

The Memory Box die that I used is called Fauntleroy Crest.  You can see it on the side cut out of the red cardstock.  To create my card base I used Lily Bee's Jingle 6x6 paper pad.  I know that Christmas is over but I still think I can get some use out of this paper for some winter themed cards.  The flowers that I used are from Petaloo.  These new flowers are part of the Petaloo Premier Devon Collection.  They come in 8 different colors and 3 different sizes.  I love using them on my cards.  

The image that I used on my card is part of the Pure Innocence Collection by My Favorite Things (MFT).  I just love these cute little stamps.  So fun to color and they come with the sweetest sentiments.  This particular stamp is called Flurry of Love.  I colored it with my Copic Markers.  

Here is a list of the colors that I used.  E000, E00, E41, E42, E25,E27, B93,B99, B0000, R20, R37, R39

I hope you will join us with our challenge this week.  I love seeing all of the wonderful cards each week made by our participants.  As always, Simon Says Stamp Online Store gives only lucky random winner a $50 gift certificate to the store.  That is a fantastic prize and will buy you lots of wonderful stampy stuff!!  

 

MFT Pure Innocence Flurry of Love	Memory Box Fauntleroy Crest Die	Lily Bee Designs Jingle 6x6 paper pad
http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/servlet/the-8363/ranger-stickles-glitter-glue/Detail	Copic Markers	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad and Refill

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