PreKindergarten

Hi. Decided to share a LO with you today. I haven't been doing too much scrapping lately but I am hoping this page will jump start my desire to make more pages. I have so many pictures that need to be scrapped but if I could just tackle one LO a week, I should be caught up in no time. Can you say New Year's Resolution? That might be one I can actually keep up on. :o)

This LO is of my daughter from the 2009-2010 school year. We sent her to Pre Kindergarten instead of Kindergarten strictly because she was so young (just turned 5 before the school year started) and I wanted to capture this time in her life in a scrapbook page.

Gotta love that October Afternoon paper and those wonderful American Craft thickers. Be still my heart.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

cardstock, border punch, star punch - Stampin' Up!

patterned paper, stickers - October Afternoon

letter stickers, pen - American Crafts

Happy Birthday to a Great Friend

Hi!! Is anybody else extremely busy from the hustle and bustle of Christmas? I know, you all are, dumb question, right? :o) Thanks to having a few go to cards that I created a while ago I am able to have a card to post for you today.

There is just something about butterflies that I absolutely love. I have tons of dies for them, punches, stickers, stamps, you name it. and this huge butterfly die by Stampin' Up! makes for a great focal image on a card or page. Don't even have to do much with it to make it stand out.

And don't you just love the colors of that Echo Park patterned paper? Such an addiction for me collecting their papers. Good thing is, at least I use them. :o)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up!

patterned paper - Echo Park

butterfly dies, black twine - Stampin Up

label die - Spellbinders

stamp - Hero Arts (Sentiment)

ink - Tsukineko, Papertrey Ink (blue)

embossing folder - Cuttlebug

embossing and die cut machine - Big Shot by Sizzix

Masculine Happy Birthday

Hi!! Have a masculine card for you today. Raise your hand if you have troubles making a masculine card. Thought I wouldn't be the only one. :o) I never make a masculine card unless one is needed for a birthday. I even avoid challenges that ask for masculine cards, although I did do this card for a magazine publication call. Obviously it wasn't picked up, and hence my troubles with these kind of cards. Blaah.

Even though this card wasn't picked up, I still like it anyway. It has the colors for a boy card, the design, and the stars help punch it up a notch. I guess I will keep on trying my hand at masculine cards and if I find the secret to creating a great one, I'll share my secret with you. :o)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper - October Afternoon

stamps - Lawn Fawn (cake, sentiment), Papertrey Ink (background)

ink - Tsukineko

markers - Copic

Mini Christmas Cards

Hi everyone. I have taken a short break from the blog and now I am back with a few mini Christmas cards for you. About a month ago, my neice asked a couple of my kids if their class could make some Christmas cards for troops overseas. They were more than happy to oblige and it got me in the mood to create some cards as well. I made a good amount but in order to make them all in time, I went with the mini card route. These cards all measure 3.5 x 4.25.

LOVE this color combo. Actually I just love the aqua mist color period. It is so pretty paired with many different colors.

Not sure if you noticed already, but in order to make these cards even simpler, I made tags first and then just stuck them on the card. So simple and quick and then just added a few details here and there and you're done.

Have a wonderful day!!

hi!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a three day weekend here since the kids had Friday off with parent-teacher conferences this week. And we were blessed with some nice weather to go with our great weekend.

I have a shaped card for you today. I don't do very many of these but I may have to start making more of them. To make this one I folded my cardstock in half and ran it through my die cut machine with my Spellbinder label die. But make sure the die sticks off the folded end some so you can keep the fold in the card. Easy peasy.

Wow, and not only did I do a shaped card but I didn't even do any stamping on this card. I must have been in some kind of mood that day. :o)

Hope you have a great week!

Supplies:

cardstock, buttons, twine - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper, letters, sticker - American Crafts

ribbon - prairiebirdboutique.etsy.com

label die - spellbinders

die cut machine - Epic Six by Quickutz

Happy Birthday

Hi everyone. I have a girl birthday card for ya today. It was my neices birthday a couple of weeks back and she turned 14 so I wanted something girly for her but not too cutesy because she is a teenager. So I thought this was a happy medium for her card.

Don't you just love that Echo Park paper. One of my favorite paper companies. They never cease to amaze me with their beautiful designs and colors. I have been using them quite a bit lately and I think my other patterned papers are getting a little jealous. I guess at least I'm not hoarding it like I have been known to do with my favorite supplies. :o)

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper, letter stickers - Echo Park

border punch - Stampin' Up!

label die - Spellbinders

flourish dies - Quickutz

die cut machine - Epic Six by Quickutz

I Miss You.

Hi!! Been really busy lately. We have finally wrapped up pop warner and jr. high football, but still going on with the high school football (hopefully all the way to state) and so that has caused quite a bit of my absence. But, start next week we have winter swim and basketball starting. I figured with my kids growing so fast, other things can wait. I'm sure you all understand so I will try my best to post more cards and LOs for ya when time permits.

At least I have a card for ya today. A simple one but fun to make. I just love using my die cut machine and totally LOVE Papertrey Ink dies. They are great, cut great, and so many wonderful designs to coordinate with their stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Supplies:

cardstock, patterned paper, buttons, twine, dies (couch and label), stamps (couch, chair, sentiment) - Papertrey Ink

ribbon punch - Stampin' Up!

ink - Tsukineko (black), Papertrey Ink (purple)

So Cute

Hi everyone! I just had to pop in and share this LO that was totally inspired by Kelly Purkey and her first sketch in the Sketchbook 2 download. I don't ever download classes but when I saw that Kelly was offering the Sketchbook 2 class on her blog again, I just couldn't pass it up. Boy, was that the best decision I have made in a long time. I just know now that I will be patiently waiting for her next class to be offered because I am hooked now.

I have to say, this is a pretty simply LO, but I just love it to pieces. And it works perfectly for my vacation album. None of my pages in there are too time consuming, otherwise I would lose the motivation to complete it. I can't wait to use more of her sketches to help me finish this project.

Supplies:

cardstock, button, ric rac die - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper, cloud die cut, journaling card - October Afternoon (Road Map)

pen - American Crafts

letter stamps - Stampin' Up!

die cut machine - Cricut by Provocraft (Graphically Speaking cartridge - "cute" letters); Epic Six by Quickutz

ink - Tsukineko

border punch - EK Success

True Love

Just a simple LO for ya today. I normally don't make 8.5 x 11 scrapbook pages but I had a idea to start a new album just for myself that has everything in it that is important to me and means the world to me. And someday whenever I should leave this world I will know that I put down all of my thoughts and feelings, happy and sad, that represent me. So my family will remember the real me whether it is 50 years down the road or 10. I only have a few pages done but am happy with the start of this album.

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink (kraft)

patterned paper - October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup (flowers)

journaling spot - October Afternoon

border punch - EK Success

buttons - Papertrey Ink

stickers - BasicGrey (flourishes)

letters - Jillibean Soup

pen - American Crafts

Embellish Paper Piecing Color Challenge

Hi everyone. I have decided to do another Embellishmagazine.com color challenge. I just love the colors for this one and I love to paper piece. My scissors and I have a very close relationship. :)

For this challenge I knew I had to paper piece a flower, my favorite thing to piece together. It just brings the flower so much dimension making them feel more real. So first I stamped my image on green cardstock and cut that out for my leaves and then I stamped my image on yellow to cut out the flower part. I put it all together and this is what you get. And to even add more interest to the flowers, I added some glitter glue for a little sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

cardstock, stamps, ribbon - Papertrey Ink

pearls - Hero Arts

glitter glue - Ranger

ink - Tsukineko

border punch, corner rounder - EK Success

A Special Occasion

Happy day after Labor day to ya!! So wished our labor day was like labor week. It was so nice having my husband home and spending time together as a family. Very far and in between these days since coaching takes up a lot of his time now until November. At least we had a wonderful weekend together.

Here is a card that I created that I submitted to a publication call and it didn't get picked up. It was for a vintage card. I have to admit, this is really my first vintage card that I made. I typically don't go that route but have to admit, it was fun to create. Loved all the inking I did to distress my card and flowers. Felt good to get a little inky. Hopefully this won't be the last vintage card I make.

Don't you love those flourish stamps? New stamp set released in August from Papertrey ink. New favorite, and dies to match, yum!!!

Supplies:

cardstock, stamps, ink, flourish dies - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper - October Afternoon

flowers - The Paper Studio

gems - Kaiser Craft

beads - craft supply

label die - Stampin' Up! by Sizzix

die cut machine - Epic Six

Happy Anniversary

Hi everyone. Wanted to share a card with you today that I made for my brother and sister-in-law for their anniversary. First of all, I love the Year of Flowers stamps from Papertrey Ink. They are perfect for anniversaries and sympathy cards. So elegant and sophisticated. This card is using the Year of Flowers: Larkspur. I had such wonderful ideas floating in my head about this card. I wanted just a section of the flower showing with the rest of it faded out in the background. And the best way I could think of to soften the background was vellum. Oooo, this is going to be cool. I was so excited to complete my project and ready to put my vellum on when I realize after I adhered it, it didn't quite turn out like I had anticipated. The vellum wasn't thick enough to have the faded look I was envisioning. Oh well. Still happy with the card but a little bummed my great idea didn't pan out.

You can see the vellum a little better with this view. At least you can notice it is there but not in the fashion I was hoping it to be. That is what we should all love about our wonderful craft. It is fun to try new things and even if they don't come out the way you want them to, we are all the wiser for it.

Supplies:

cardstock, stamps - PTI

color medium - Copic markers

label die - Spellbinders

die machine - Epic Six

brads - Making Memories

ink - Tsukineko

Embellishmag.com Color Challenge

Hi everyone. It has been way too long since I have done a color challenge. This summer seemed to be full of everything and I didn't get a lot of the challenges done that I wanted to. But, when I saw that Lawn Fawn was sponsoring this color challenge, I just had to make the time to play along.

The theme is so perfect for this challenge sponsored by Lawn Fawn: quirky-cutesy-clean. All the words that describe them and their stamps. Who doesn't like quirky and cutesy. :o)

Glad I got a chance to play along and hop on over to embellishmagazine.com and check out all the entries so far, they are amazing.

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI

stamps - Lawn Fawn

hearts - Cricut cartridge Graphically Speaking

border die - PTI

felt - PTI

ribbon - www.prairiebirdbotique.etsy.com

embossing folder - Quickutz

ink - Tsukineko

corner rounder - EK Success

You are My Sunshine

Needed a little sunshine for my day so I went back in my photo archives and came across this little sweetie smiling at me. This is my nephew, Noah, and he is truly this fun and happy and he brings sunshine to any day.

Since I haven't photographed my LOs and cards that I have piled up I decided to look back and find some old LO or card to post. So happy I did because I forgot all about this LO I did for my brother and SIL. I think I posted this in my family blog but that was before I created my crafty one. So this will be new for most and I hope you all get a smile out of it like it did for me.

I didn't put any journaling on this LO so his parents could fill it in as they wish. So, hence the journaling card that is sitting there blank. :o)

Have a wonderful Thursday!!!

Warm Winter Wishes

Ahhh, just the sound of winter makes me cool off. After a long, cold winter I was so ready for summertime, but after these last consecutive days of heat indices over 100, I am ready for winter again. So funny.

Hopefully this card will help cool you off as well. I made this card for a recent submission call, but it wasn't picked up. I still love it though. It has cuteness written all over it.


When I think of winter, I think of snowmen. And as I was browsing through my Cricut Cartridges, this snowman from the DoodleCharms cartridge won my heart. He is just so cute and simple. For my card, I put him on a glittered snowy hillside out in the falling snow, also speckled with glitter.

Also, I created my card using the Storybook cartridge and I cut out two scalloped squares and adhered them together up top and tied it with ribbon for extra sturdiness.

Supplies:

cardstock, ribbon, stamps (polka dots, sentiment) - Papertrey Ink

Ink - Papertrey Ink, Tsukineko (black)

glitter glue - Ranger

die cut machine - Cricut by Provo Crafts (DoodleCharms, Storybook cartridges)

Make a Wish

Hi all. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. It is hard to believe that summer is coming to a close soon. Kids start school on the 25th so we have to make the best of their two and a half weeks left of their summer.

Speaking of summer, I just had to take a "Walk in the Park" with my new collection from Echo Park. The colors are so inviting and the patterns are great. Echo Park is my new love, have all of their lines so far that Two Peas in a Bucket carries. Go check them out HERE.

And don't you just love that cake. That cake is from my favorite stamp set by Lawn Fawn. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that I can build my own cakes and make them however I want. Awesome set. Check the set out HERE.

Have a great week!

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper - Echo Park

stamps - Lawn Fawn

ink - Tsukineko

alpha stickers - American Crafts

glitter glue - Ranger

Friend

This card was a little different for me. There is absolutely no stamping at all on it. That is a rare occasion but it turned out to be a fun one.

There was a submission call for friend cards and I remember my stash of Blue Skies paper by American Crafts and there is this great patterned paper that is full of words people use to address their friends. Perfect!! My card centered around this paper and I just took off from there. Love how something so simple as a piece of paper can turn into a card that is so much more than just a few words.

This card is really simple, but I think it is one of my favorites. And if you would like to check out this awesome set of patterned paper by American Crafts, just click HERE.

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper - American Crafts, Papertrey Ink (pink grid)

bird embellishment - American Crafts

border punch - Stampin' Up!

label die - Papertrey Ink

corner rounder - EK Success

die cut machine - Epic Six by Quickutz

Water Lovin

Hi all. Got a layout for ya today. I really need to get more on the ball with my scrapbooking. I have been concentrating on my cards so much lately that my photos have been neglected. So to get my creative juices flowing again for scrapping, all I needed was some awesome patterned paper and a sketch. I typically don't use sketches, but I have found lately that it really helps me to get my pages done quicker and so I can do more in less time. So, I think sketches right now are my new friends. And what's great about sketches is that you can take any part of it to inspire you or all of it. Love the freedom.

Here are some photos from a trip we took last year to Minneapolis for Regional Swim. We always have to have a hotel with a pool. All our free time is spent in the pool and the kids are as happy as can be. Happy kids = happy parents!!

Tried my hand at making my own flowers. Eh, they are OK. Not quite a pro yet like many a handmade flowers I have seen. I'll keep working on them though and find a style that suits me.

Supplies:

cardstock - Bazzill, Papertrey Ink (yellow)

patterned paper - October Afternoon

stamps - Papertrey Ink

ink - Tsukineko

pen - American Crafts

letter stickers - American Crafts (large blue), October Afternoon (small black)

stickers - October Afternoon

gems - Doodlebug Design

border punches - EK Success

Sympathy Card

Hi everyone! We are back from vacation and let me tell you, we had a wonderful time. We went along the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota and it was absolutely beautiful. Loved every minute of it and a great time together as a family.

So, since I have been gone, I don't have a recent card for you but I do have an older one for you that I did for a submission call but it wasn't picked up. The call was for a sympathy card, and for these kind of cards I like to keep them simple. I usually always put some kind of flowers on the card because they make me think of peaceful things, and we all want reminders of that when a loved one has passed away.

This daffodil stamp is from Papertrey Ink from their year of flowers stamps. Every month Nicole Heady introduces a new flower for that particular month and this flower was from the month of March. You can view it HERE.

Supplies:

cardstock, patterned paper, stamps, ribbon, scalloped border die - Papertrey Ink

ink - Tsukineko

gems - Kaiser Craft

markers - Copic

All Star Dad

Happy Weekend Everyone!! I figured since Curt never gets on my crafty blog I am OK to post his Father's Day card on here a little early. I am going away this weekend for a girl's weekend but I wanted to make sure to post my card.

I always put a lot of thought and love into the cards I make Curt. Even though he loves all my creations (being the awesome husband that he is) I still want to make stuff extra special for him. When I thought about his card I new it had to be sports oriented since that is so him, an all around athlete. I normally go with the lovey dovey stuff but this one was all about what he loves most besides his family. So, I hope you all think this card is super because that is how I think of him. He is super Dad, super Husband, and just a great all around person. Love him with all my heart and couldn't have picked a better man to be the father of our children and the love of my life.

For the pennant I made I had to use Hawkeye colors in it since he bleeds black and gold for his beloved team. And lately I have seen a lot of loose string being used to connect buttons and other embellishments and so I had to try it and I love the ending look, kind of a carefree and casual feel.

I hope all the Fathers have a wonderful day on Sunday.

Supplies:

cardstock, stamps, buttons - Papertrey Ink

twine - Stampin' Up!

ink - Papertrey Ink, Tsukineko

letter stickers - American Crafts

Two Wheelin

Got a layout for ya today. This one is of Riley trying to ride without training wheels. When she was four she thought that she was ready to ride without training wheels, but come to find out, she wasn't. So we put the two wheelin aside for a year and come this spring Riley was bound and determined to ride with only two wheels. And there must have been some sort of feeling in her that knew she was ready because once she got on her bike she took off on her own and she was riding like a pro. AAhhh, sweet success.

Photos are from last year on this layout. But, I updated the journaling to this year to explain the whole story.

Love those craft butterflies that I cut out of Jillibean Soup Paper. And also have to love those flair badges from American Crafts.

Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:

kraft - Stampin Up!

patterned paper - Jillibean Soup

badge and rubon - American Crafts

letter stickers - Pink Paislee

pen - American Crafts