CAS Easter

Surprise! Another post from me!!! Can you tell I'm thoroughly enjoying my extra crafting time?!
Over spring break, I had some extra time to blurf (blog surf) and check out some challenge sites.  I was too late for Colour Q but loved the bright colors so I used them anyway!

Then I found an awesome sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping.

Hand Stamped Sentiments and The Squirrel and the Fox both had Easter challenges and the colors were begging for an Easter theme so that's just what I did!

The layers of scallops were a first for me and I think next time I'll make sure to stagger them even more than I did, just for a better effect.  Other than that, this was a pretty basic card to make.  Thanks for popping in!

Card Recipe:  Cardstock-daffodil delight, tempting turquoise, certainly celery, melon mambo, whisper white, Ink-black Stazon, markers, Stamp Set-Gift Givers, Punch-scallop border punch, Extras-pear pizzazz seam binding

Tiffany's Challenge

Every month our SU group, The Crafty SisTAHS, get together.  Tiffany, my upline's upline, hosts the meeting and everyone takes turns with sharing, making a project, choosing a swap theme, and bringing snacks.  This month, Tiffany had a challenge for all of us to make a card using a sketch and some cardstock she gave us.  We were allowed to add a neutral color and any embellishments, but couldn't change the color combo.  The colors were wisteria wonder, cherry cobbler, and pretty in pink.  Very girly colors! So I pulled out the stamp, Packed For Mom for the first time; added some whisper white, and began to put my card together. I had a great time playing with this image! I knew I wanted to color some of the images and pop up the flower and the next think I knew...the dazzling details  and crystal elements came out and there was even some fussy cutting too!

A closer shot of the image...

I have to confess that I did use a different base than the one Tiffany gave me.  I knew I wanted to use bakers twine as the 3 ribbon/bows part of the sketch and couldn't wrap them with the base she gave us.  So I cut a new piece the long way for my card.  Hopefully, she'll forgive me for taking liberties with her challenge : )  I really enjoyed doing this and hope she will continue to offer these challenges.  I really didn't use wisteria wonder too much before, but now I think it's starting to grow on me!  Thanks, Tiffany!

Card Recipe:  Cardstock-wisteria wonder, cherry cobbler, pretty in pink, whisper white, Ink-black Stazon and several markers, Stamp Sets-Packed For Mom and Party This Way (sent), Punches-modern label, large oval, word window, 3/4 " circle, Extras- white bakers twine, cherry cobbler & original dazzling details, crystal effects, basic rhinestones, perfect polka dots embossing folder

The Only Quilting You Will Ever See From Me...

Don't adjust your computer screen... Yes, this is the 3rd crafty post from me this week!! And yes, you did see the word QUILT on my blog!

My regular followers are very aware of my love/hate relationship with sewing and also my very talented Mom and sister who do make quilts and other lovely sewn projects.  But don't worry! You will not be subjected to my horrendous sewing machine skills.  Instead, I have a paper quilt card to share.  The Friday Mashup has a challenge this week to use a quilting technique on your project, or use something you've forgotten (sitting in your stash forever), or 'mash it up' and do both.  I chose the first part of the challenge for my card.

This is not the first paper quilting project I have done.  Several years ago, I made a scrapbook page with lots of teeny, tiny squares and triangles and by the time I was done, the page was beautiful, but I was wiped out!  Trying to place all of those pieces and working from the center out was really a challenge.  This time around, I had a light bulb moment.  I was not using fabric, so I didn't have to put it together like a quilter would.  I cut a scrap piece of paper the size of my quilt block and started in the top left corner.  Then when I was done, I simply trimmed the edges, dry embossed,  and adhered it to my card front. Much easier and I actually enjoyed myself!!  So much so, that I am making two sets of these as a gift for my Mom and sister.  Won't they be surprised to receive quilts from me?!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, lucky limeade, pool party, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Ink-poppy parade, Stamp Set-Curly Cute, Extras-square lattice embossing folder, A GOOD TRIMMER

A Completely Shameless CASE

I have really been enjoying my spring break! I'm actually getting some cleaning and organizing done, laundry is back under control, and I even have found time to be crafty every day so far! Unfortunately, my internet connection has decided that this week would be a perfect time to do an impersonation of cold molasses pouring from a jar...  So it has taken forever to visit my blogging buddies and next to impossible to upload pictures.  I'm really hoping the entire week won't be like this!

On Sunday, I was organizing the files of wonderful cards I have found on the internet and saved to my computer.  Most of these were pre-pinterest and even though I did note who made most of them, I do not have direct links to the cards on the blogs.  I am bringing this up because I really wanted to CASE several of these and I think it is only appropriate to give credit to those who inspired me.  So, while I'm giving you the blog link for today's inspiration, it is not the direct link to the card.  Sorry...Did I mention my molasses-like internet connection?

Normally, when I CASE a  card, I end up changing bits and pieces of the card or changing the images.  Not today!  This is a shameless case of the gorgeous card made by Susan.  I don't even remember when I saw this on her blog, but I was so impressed by the elegance of this without too much fuss.  The only changes I made were the colors.  I was so stuck on which colors I would like best, so in the end, I used all of them!! Since these will be wedding/anniversary cards, I can always use a back up stash for those moments when I remember "OH! That's THIS Saturday?"

and a close up shot for more detail...

Well, I'm off to bed! Another fun filled day of running DD to practice, grocery shopping, and more spring cleaning will be waiting for me tomorrow!

Card Recipe:  Card stock-baja breeze, very vanilla, crumb cake, soft suede, basic black, Ink-basic black, Stamp Set-Fabulous Phrases, Extras-scallop oval punch, large oval punch, elegant lines embossing folder

Scrapbook Monday-The big 5-0

Hello and welcome to another Scrapbook Monday!  I am so glad you popped in to visit!

A few years ago, we had a surprise 50th birthday party for my sister.  Her birthday is a week before my daughter and she thought she was going to my daughter's party.  She was very surprised when she walked in and saw black decorations and lots of people yelling at her!  My oldest sister and I did the decorations for the party and my girls made her a crown made of black pipe cleaners and purple beads.  We also found these awesome pink and purple feather boas at the dollar store and had to buy two for the birthday girls to wear.

I also started an album for her as a gift and here I am, a few years later, finally working on the pages...Since we decorated with lots of black, I went with that as the primary color and accented it with purple (my sister's favorite color!).  I'm hoping to get this album finished this week and maybe she'll get it before her next birthday!

Today's page is when she walked in and was crowned 'Queen for a Day'.  There's not a lot of SU product on this since I already had a packet of black and ivory scrapbooking supplies from a wedding project many moons ago.  Using up more of my stash...Yee! Haw!

Don't you just love my little blinged out owl?  Owls are another of my sis's favorite things.  I tried to replicate the whole crown theme with pearls and I think it turned out pretty good.  Well, time for me to get back to work.  I'm forcing myself to do more cleaning than crafting for the first few days of my break.  Hopefully I'll make enough progress to spend my last few days being super crafty.  Wish me luck!

Page Recipe:  Cardstock-mostly 'stash' paper, garden green, whisper white, Ink-soft suede and concord crush, peach parfait, & crumb cake markers, Stamp Sets- Punch Bunch, Notes and Details, Extras- basic pearls, owl builder  & bird builder punches, scallop border punch, spiral border punch (ret)

Kristin's Blog Candy!!

Kristin Wilson Handmade is giving this away!

HUGE $100.00 Give~A~Way!!

I am giving away one $100.00 Gift Certificate to Scrapbook.com Superstore to one lucky winner!!

Have something on your wish list that you are dieing to purchase? Want any of the new CHA items? Look no further!! You could be the winner of my HUGE $100.00 Give~A~Way!!

Be sure to go to her blog and check out the details! Who couldn't use $100 in crafting goodness?!

A New Challenge Blog!

It never ceases to amaze me how you can find so many amazing challenge blogs just by reading other crafty people's blogs.  Makes life so much easier than aimlessly searching!  Through two different blogs, I located Twisted Tuesday Challenges.  This site is brand spankin' new and they are having a DT challenge.  Since I only found it last night, I am squeaking my entry in at the very last minute!!  The DT challenge was to use pastel/spring colors with black added somewhere and the twist is the creation must be square.  Well, I don't often do square cards and I was rolling ideas around in my head when the word creation popped out at me.  It did not say it had to be a card... So here is my scrapbook layout meeting all of the requirements!

                                

I used the sketch from Simply Stampin' Challenge.  See the pretty daffodils?  I learned how to make these from  Amanda.  Just use the 5 petal flower  and the Boho Blossom punches!  I inked the edges of the cup with pumpkin pie ink for a little contrast.  The pics show off the beautiful blooms on our trees. I love the color that bursts out in spring!!  It makes it so easy to find inspiration! Well, it was a little last minute, but I'm pretty happy with it and I have another page completed! YAY!! Wish me luck!

Page Recipe: Cardstock-wisteria wonder base, basic black, whisper white, certainly celery, barely banana, Lap of Luxury DSP (ret), Ink-whisper white (craft), pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, certainly celery, Stamp Set-Broadsheet Alphabet, Extras- 5 petal punch, Boho Blossom punch, eyelet border punch, certainly celery ribbon (ret), dimensionals

Scrapbook Monday- Seasonal Mini Albums Take 2

I was going to wait until next Monday to post this,  but I'm hoping that I will get some new pages done before then!  These are the fall and winter albums I made for our childcare center's auction.  This was a great project to use up a lot of older stickers and embellishments (not that you can tell that any are missing...).  Once again, I just took pictures of the cover and one set of inside pages as they were all pretty similar or basic.

The fall album...

and the inside... I have had these stickers for ages! Over 10 years I believe!!

This is the Chrismas/Winter album.  I think this turned out to be my favorite album!

I am considering doing this closer to Christmas as a class and offering a variety of stamps and embellishments to decorate the pages.  I'll have to play with that idea a little more!

Well, lots to do and hopefully some of it will be crafty! Only two more days til Spring Break officially begins!! Have a wonderful Wednesday and be sure to visit again soon!

Scrapbook Monday-And now for something completely different...

Hello all! No, this post is not about Spam, dead parrots, or any other Python related material!  But it is completely different from anything I've ever done with scrapbooking before.  I made my own mini flip albums.  These were inspired from Sarah-Jane's creation and also Lucia.  Sarah-Jane had the coolest way to make an album using one 12x12 piece of card stock and Lucia is always making her own journals and notepads.  Our childcare center just had a benefit auction and I made 4 mini albums; one for each season.  I kept these very uncluttered and simple because I had no clue who would receive them and what pictures would be placed in them. 

 It was so fun to make these and really simple! Just score a 12x12 page at the 6" mark, turn 90* and score at 6" again.  Then cut on one of the score lines to the center of the paper.  Fold the other lines and you are done!  I did end up trimming a little extra off of the scored line just so the album would fold and close nicely.  Sarah-Jane has a great tutorial on her site if you need more specifics or pictures.

This is the spring album. Paper and embellishments from my stash...

and the inside... These flaps lift up to reveal 4 other pages.  All of the pages were very similar so I didn't take pics of all of the pages.

This is the summer version.  Paper and title piece are from my stash.  I stamped some butterflies on the cardstock to add a little interest.

On the inside, I stamped and punched out several butterflies to make a simple border.

I will post the fall and winter albums later.  Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and in case I haven't mentioned it in the past hour... I'm on Spring Break next week!!!! (Can you feel my excitement?!)  Happy Monday!!

Album Recipe:  paper and embellishments from stash-unsure of origins!, Butterfly Prints stamp set, butterfly punch, Daffodil Delight ink

I Got A Liebster!!!

As I was reviewing the comments on my blog today, I saw one from a fellow SU blogger asking me to visit her blog.  Imagine my surprise at finding this...

 

I won a Liebster award!!!  Thank you, Susan at Stampin' Mom of Four, for honoring me!!  For those of you who don't know what this is or why I'm completely flattered at receiving this...

The idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.
So in the spirit of good fun, I am passing along the award to 5 other bloggers.  Please stop by and visit their blogs and encourage them on their creations with some lovely comments.  Becoming a follower (if you like) would be nice too, after all, the more the merrier!!

In order to continue spreading the love, recipients need to...
1.  Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2.  Reveal your 5 picks and let them know.
3.  Post the award on your blog.
4.  Bask in the love of other wonderfully supportive bloggers!
5.  Have fun and spread the love!

I recently received this award from two other blogging friends (click here to see more lovely bloggers!) and had such a hard time picking only 5 people.  So, this time I am picking 5 different bloggers to honor!!  Still a difficult choice to pick only 5...

1.  Carrie at Carrie's Scrapyard
2.  Moriah at Fuzzy Slippers Designs
3.  Juliette at Jules Krafti Krafts
4.  Mary at The Charmed Life
5.  Sarah-Jane at Cards and a Cuppa

All 5 of these ladies are not only amazing card makers and paper crafters, but they also leave the sweetest comments when they visit too!

Thanks again to Susan for being so sweet and thinking of little ol' me!

Grease is the word

Well, as promised here is the second manly card I created this week.  I starting out with the plan of CASEing Amanda, and somehow ended up here instead! This card really looks nothing like Amanda's, and I do have intentions of still CASEing her!! 

I recently received the stamp set, Party This Way, FREE! Yep, you read that correctly! This is also one of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets!  (There is still time to take advantage of the fabulous FREEBIES from this catalog!) Anyway...I was thinking one of the balloons would be a good backing for the sentiment.  As I stamped, fussy cut, and tried different positioning, the card took on a life of it's own.  The strips of paper moved to the side, the base was embossed, and one balloon turned into 3!  The only thing that remained from my original idea was the sentiment label!

I did make one mistake on this card. I asked DH his opinion... (What was I thinking?!) His response was that it 'looked good' but how did I make it look like it was greasy. Greasy... So from here on out, I do not 'distress' or 'grunge' a guy card; I 'grease' it!!

I'm getting ready for yet another busy weekend with little time for crafting, but there's only one more week until spring break begins! Woo! Hoo!  I am hoping to get a lot of scrapbooking done during that time! Of course, spring cleaning will have to be squeezed in there somewhere too...boo!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Card Recipe: Card stock-crumb cake, real red, bashful blue, Ink-real red, bashful blue, Stamp Set-Party This Way, Accessories- square lattice folder, modern label punch

Feeling Masculine...

I haven't spent nearly enough time in my crafty area, but today allowed a little time after everyone went to bed.  I was looking through my stash of cards and noticed there weren't many manly birthday cards.  Normally this would make me cringe since I tend to  have a creative block against this type of card.  But for some reason, as I was looking through my retired stamps, an idea popped in my head. Crazy!!  I had used this stamp set a looooong time ago and can't even remember what the card looked like, but I thought the sand dollar would look good in crumb cake.

The rest of the card just kind of fell into place.  The color combo came from the color coach.  I knew I wanted crumb cake and white, but couldn't decide on the other colors.  I have to say that I would not have put bashful blue with this combo, but I think it turned out OK.  When I saw always artichoke as one of the colors, I immediately thought of the denim jean ribbon that I had NEVER used before!  It is the perfect ribbon for a guy card! I didn't have any artichoke cardstock, but did have this retired DSP with both artichoke and crumb cake!!  Plus, this uses up some of my hoarded DSP that desperately needs to be utilized!

When I finished this card, I had enough inspiration left to make another guy card! But you'll have to wait til my next post for that one!

Card Recipe: Card stock-crumb cake, bashful blue, whisper white, Autumn Traditions DSP (ret), Ink-crumb cake, stazon black, Stamp Sets- Nature's Wonders (ret), Party This Way (sent.), Accessories- always artichoke denim jean ribbon

Scrapbook Monday-Another MDS!!

I had every intention of making a traditional page this week, but then my upline, Kelly, had a MDS post that really intrigued me! She had stitching on her layout and I didn't even realize MDS had that on there!! For those of you who are not aware, I am sewing machine challenged.  Yes, it's true...  My Mom and sister make beautiful projects, quilts, and even clothes, but I am missing this sewing gene! I actually go so far as to hide any of my machine work from my Mom!! I do a decent job with embroidery and cross stitching, but put me behind a machine and it's not a pretty picture! So... I was THRILLED when I found the stitching feature in the embellishments! Just look at my lovely zigzag stitches! Aren't they beautiful?????!!!!

Kelly also introduced me to the 'insert duplicate page' feature! Create one page then duplicate it and you can make little changes to the original version to make both pages personalized for each child! Can you just imagine how quickly I can make 2 pages at a time!!! I might actually get closer to being caught up!

I only converted one layout to a jpeg for my blog (still having uploading issues...), but I did use the duplicate feature on this layout.  The green may seem a little odd on this page, but I pulled it from the green lettering on DD's sweatshirt.  On the duplicate page, I changed the green to blue and made the journaling more personal for my other DD.  This was also the first time I created an entire page from a blank canvas.  Usually, I use the photo layout feature which helps with photo placement.

I hope you enjoyed my layout and learning process!  I promise to have some traditional goodies next time and spring break is just around the corner.  I am planning on getting quite a bit of 'play time' squeezed in there!

Layout Recipe: Villa, Stripe, Large Polka Dot, and Textile DSP all in melon mambo, whisper white for journaling block, whisper white zigzag stitch, Ice Cream Parlor buttons and ribbon knots, green galore matting and scallop oval.

It's good to be the queen...

When I made this card, one of my DDs commented that it looked like a card for a princess with all of the crowns.  Well, I don't know many princesses (maybe my youngest niece...) since my girls are way too 'tom boy' like to qualify.  If they were princesses they would be like Princess Winifred from Once Upon a Mattress. "She swam the moat!"  ANYWAY... I thought this would be a perfect card for a 'queen' sentiment.  

Something like...

"It's good to be the queen.  Enjoy your special day!", 

or "Hope you are treated like a queen, today!", 

or"May your day find you treated like royalty!"

or "Let them eat cake!"

This was another card from my club.  When we went to add the smooch spritz to the cards the ladies made, the squirter was a little leaky.  So, here's a tip for storing and transporting the spritz.  Be sure the tubes stay upright or you will have a really messy spritz tube!  This came together pretty easily.  I stamped the frame in chocolate chip, then stamped the sentiment inside the frame.  I also colored the inner frame using a blushing bride marker.  A little fussy cutting and then popped the frame over the ribbon using dimensionals.  When the whole card was completed, I used vanilla shimmer and blushing bride smooch spritz to add some extra shine and shimmer!  The stamp set is available through the sale-a-bration catalog.  You still have some time to place a qualifying order and receive this stamp set for FREE!!!

Card Recipe: Card Stock-crumb cake, very vanilla, blushing bride DSP from in color stack, Ink-chocolate chip, crumb cake, blushing bride, Stamp Set-Elementary Elegance, Accessories- blushing bride pleated satin ribbon, blushing bride and vanilla shimmer smooch spritz

Scrapbook Monday!!

It has been another busy week and I didn't have time to actually sit down at my crafting table to create a layout.  But as my luck (or bad luck) would have it, on Friday afternoon, I received a call from the girls' schools stating they were starting immediate dismissal for all children able to be picked up.  We were having severe weather warnings all morning and I guess they didn't want to risk having all of the kids if a massive tornado came through.  So, I went to pick up DD #1 at her school (a complete madhouse, let me tell you!) and DH picked up DD #2.  Then we stopped by our home long enough to grab a few things, including my laptop and Shadow, and went to my parent's house where we could all hang out in the basement.  We were fortunate that the storms bypassed our area, and didn't get more than some mild thunderstorms.  Later that day, it was heartbreaking to watch on the news that other areas received considerably more damage.

While we were in the basement, I decided to work on a few MDS layouts.  My Mom  was amazed that not only could someone make it look like a 'real' scrapbook page, but she loved the way it resized the pictures to fit the spaces!  Of course, Mom doesn't own a computer or have any interest in using one, but she still thought it was pretty cool! DD#1 also gave a lot of input on colors and embellishments!

I decided to use some pictures from our trip to TN.  Do you realize what that means?! I actually have a page completed using 2012 pictures!!!!!!! I can hear those pics from 2009, still on a CD, crying out in protest...."We were here first! Not fair!!"  Some day, I'll be so caught up that I'll have to take pictures just to have something to scrapbook...  No, don't wake me just yet; I'm enjoying this dream!

Layout Recipe: melon mambo base, whisper white frame, bermuda bay grosgrain ribbon, Stamp Set-Greatest Moments

Fresh Vintage Postage

At the risk of sending my friends and followers into shock, I have yet another post this week!! Astonishing, I know! I wanted to be sure to share a few more of my club creations featuring the sale-a-bration products while they are still available.

I LOVE this stamp set and paper together!  Add the cute ribbon and they make a vintage look so easy to put together! After looking at this card, I think I should have distressed the edges of the 'stamps'.  

On leap day, I took advantage of one of the shutterfly coupons and ordered 130 pictures! Since 101 of them were free, I couldn't pass it up! So I have now ensured Scrapbook Mondays for a very long time!!  Of course, this doesn't even put a dent in the CD, memory card, and hard drive photos that still need to leave cyber and digital land!  Of course, I could take a break from using my camera to catch up... Did I just type that with a straight face?!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Card Recipe:  Card stock-very vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Ink-pool party, lucky limeade, Stamp Set-Fresh Vintage, Accessories-postage stamp punch, Everyday Enchantment ribbon & brad pack (lucky limeade)

Celebrate with Sale-a-bration!

Celebrate good times. Come on! It's a celebration!

OK, now that I've put Kool and the Gang in your head for the day, on with the post!  Just wanted to remind everyone that you have less than a month to take advantage of the sale-a-bration deals.  There are lots of wonderful exclusive products and even a good selection of things from the regular catalog that can be yours for FREE with a qualifying purchase!!  If you would like to see everything that is available, see the catalog link on my side bar.

This is one of the cards from my February club meetings.  We used three things from the sale-a-bration catalog on this card. The DSP is Everyday Enchantment, the stamp set is Outlined Occasions, and even the pool party card base and lucky limeade layer are part of the 2011-2013 In Color card stock collection.

After a crazy and insane end of the month, I think I am getting a breather for a day or two!  Things are still busy, but a normal kind of busy, not the hands on my head, running through the hall, wailing "Calgon, take me away!"  kind of busy I've had.  Now if only I can get Mr. Internet Connection to play nice, and find a way to redeem the 'get out of laundry free' coupon from Lisa M!  It doesn't seem to be valid at my house!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day and thanks for stopping in!

Card Recipe:  Card stock-pool party, lucky limeade, very vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Ink and Markers-soft suede, lucky limeade, pool party, poppy parade, Stamp Set-Outlined Occasions, Accessories-square lattice folder

We Have a Winner!

Well, it's March 1st and I drew a winner for my blog candy.  Woo! Hoo! Drum roll, please!  And the lucky winner is...

Missy!!!!! 

Blog, tell her what she's won!  A NEW CAR!   Just kidding! 

Here is the blog candy that will be arriving in Missy's mailbox very soon... It's not blurry in person, I promise! My internet is still giving me fits!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and passed on the opportunity to others!