Vacation LOs - Part 2

Here are some more vacation LOs. I am working on other stuff right now that I don't want to post here just yet so until I can post them, you will have the total pleasure of seeing my vacation LOs. Luckily I have quite a few of them done so I have something to post on here for the next couple of weeks or so. And as you know, I love the Color Challenges and I will keep posting them as well. My posts won't be as many, but I will do enough to hopefully keep you interested. :) Thanks for checking in, I love it when people stop by.

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up! (kraft)

all other supplies - Little Yellow Bicycle

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #15

Back with another Raspberry Suite Color Challenge. When I saw this challenge for the first time last night I got such creative jolt that I had to make a card right away. I am usually one to not make a card until the last couple of days or so, but this time I just had to sit down and get my card done because the colors inspired me so much.

I pretty much new right away what stamp set I wanted to use because I love the flowers and the stem in the For All You Do stamp set by Stampin Up!. Gotta love Stampin Up! I also love to use my scissors and I was craving a little cutting and this was perfect for me. Please tell me I am not the only one who loves using her scissors. :)

This last picture kind of gives you the the dimensional feel to my card. I used foam adhesive on the largest flowers and just curled the edges on the medium sized flowers and kept the smallest ones flat to the card. To help polish off the flowers I added a pearl gem to the center of each. Love the elegant feel of it. Thanks so much for looking!! Have a great day!

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up! (very vanilla)

stamps - Stampin Up!

ink - Colorbox (clearsnap)

pearls - Hero Arts

Vacation Layouts

I have been working hard on our vacation album and I thought I would share a couple of pages with you today. I am hoping to post all of our vacation layouts for you to look at. I have 15 pages of my 40 page album done so far. I had to stop for a little while to make a couple of mini albums for family and some cards but I am hoping to get back at my album soon and get it done by mid September or so. It is always good to have a time frame because it keeps me moving.

Supplies:

kraft cardstock - Stampin Up!

all other supplies - Little Yellow Bicycle

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #14

Wow, I was so excited when I saw the colors for this week's color challenge. I am not one to use dark colors and I loved the fact that this challenge took me out of my comfort zone. I have been in a real creative slump lately and this was just what I needed to help put me out of that slump. My creative juices got flowing and I knew right away that I wanted to do an anniversary card with these colors because the boldness of the colors remind me of the kind of elegance that you get from weddings. And anniversary cards should be just as special.

Isn't THIS stamp set great. It is designed by Dawn McVey for Papertrey Ink, the very person that does these wonderful color challenges. So glad I had a beautiful stamp set like this to make this card, it just added to the elegance I wanted to create.

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI, SU (very vanilla)

stamps - PTI

gems - Hero Arts

ribbon - Robert Stanley Collection

ink - Clearsnap

Mini Album - Maine

Wow. I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted last. Sorry for that. I just haven't spent that much time on the computer lately, no drive to keep me on there. But, I am back with a mini album I created in 5-6 hours or so of our vacation to Maine. I made this as a gift for our Aunt Bev since she wasn't able to join us on this vacation. We sure missed her. I just wanted to be sure to include pictures of all the families that were there and in a couple different locations. BTW, she loved the album and I was so happy to make it for her.

Supplies:

chipboard book - Cosmo Cricket

patterned paper - October Afternoon

stamps - Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up!

gems - Hero Arts

letter stickers - American Crafts

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #13

Here we are with another challenge. I really liked the colors for this challenge because a stream of ideas came into my head the minute I saw the colors. There is so much you can do with this color palette that the possibilities are pretty much endless.

I have been in the mood for simplicity lately. And what is more simpler than this card I made using Stampin Up! stamps. I just had to break out this stamp set I just got and the awesome butterfly punch. That is by far my new favorite punch by Stampin Up! You gotta love their products and I always get so giddy when the new catalogs come and this one did not disappoint.

Thanks for stopping by. I always love it when fellow crafters visit.

Thank You, Hero Arts!!! Blog Hop

Hi Everyone. Thanks for visiting my site for the blog hop that Ashley created to thank Hero Arts for being such a great company. I couldn't agree with her more and I appreciate the thought and time she put into this to make this happen. Thanks to you too, Ashley!! And if you want to follow along on the blog hop, visit HERE and have fun!!

So, without further ado, here is the Thank You card I created for Hero Arts to show them that I appreciate all they do and the wonderful products they create. You couldn't find a more creative, kind, generous, eco friendlier company than Hero Arts. And for all those who run, design and work for the company they are great as well. We all so much love and appreciate everyone who has a hand in making Hero Arts a successful company. Kudos to you!!!


For this card I used my favorite stamps, the heart winged butterfly and the raindrop background, and my new favorite stamp, dots and flowers. Here are the numbers for them in case you want some enabling.
F5158 - Heart Winged Butterfly
S5213 - Dots and Flowers
S5101 - Raindrop Background
and I also used CL142 - Clear Design Thank You Messages

To go along with this blog hop Ashley came up with a couple of questions for all of us to answer, so here we go:

1. How did you get started using Hero Arts products? While visiting Jennifer McGuire's blog one day she mentioned about a new blog going up called the Hero Arts blog. And I had never heard of Hero Arts before and so I thought I would visit there and see what it was. Come to find out it was this wonderful stamp company who decided to start a blog to showcase their products and to give us all inspiration for creating. Right then and there I was hooked and I made my first order shortly after that. And my ordering hasn't stopped since. I am now a proud owner of many Hero Art stamps and I love everyone of them.

2. Tell us why you are thankful for Hero Arts. I am most thankful for Hero Arts for bringing out the stamping side of me. Their daily inspiration and great products were enough to really bring out all my creativity. Also, I am thankful for their generousity. They are such a kind, stamping family and are always giving. It is amazing the prizes they give away all for just being a part of the Hero Arts club. How wonderful is that? And one other thing I am thankful for is the great Hero Arts flickr family. Those girls are the best and I look forward to creating with them and talking with them. You couldn't find a nicer group of people, they are a family to me.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #12

Yippee, I was so happy to see that I didn't miss a color challenge while I was gone on vacation. I am so bound and determined to do every one of these just because I love them so much. It is funny because when I saw this color challenge I was thinking the same thing about my coleus a few weeks back about how great the colors were and what they would look like on paper. I guess now I get to put my creativity to work on that.

I was looking through all my stamps trying to find something that I haven't used in a while and this great stamp set from Papertrey Ink just popped right out at me. It is such a great stamp set and so many uses for it. Not to mention the sentiments are great with a great font.

And do you see my latest purchase? I got a new border punch from Martha Stewart. It is this one HERE. I love it and it can look great on feminine and masculine cards. Border punches are my addiction for the moment until I find a new one. :)

As always, thanks for looking and I am so happy to be back home with all my crafty stuff.

Last Post Before Our Vacation

Hi all. I just wanted to get one last post on my crafting blog before we go on vacation. We are going to Maine this year and with the whole Batta Family. It should be so much fun and we are anticipating some beautiful scenery and wonderful hiking adventures. Not to mention the ocean and lighthouses. I am so excited to see the lighthouses, don't know why, but I am. I just think of it as a beautiful work of solitary architecture along the shoreline. A beacon of hope for many ships who once passed. A lot of history in some of those lighthouses. I plan on taking many pictures and posting them on my family blog so watch for that in my sidebar under Family Blog.



This first LO I did was for a Hero Arts challenge. We had to create something with the theme vacation in mind. And speaking of vacation, these pictures are from 7 years ago when we all went to Montana. I don't know why I haven't scrapped them yet, I am thinking it is because I did a 12x12 album which takes so much long than an 8x8 album (which I have done for all our vacations since). No better time than the present, right?

Here is my second LO for you. This was also created for the Hero Arts Challenge. And I am still using the same vacation pictures from Montana. These little paper flowers I made are so simple to do. I just tore out three large circles from cardstock and three smaller circles. I then crumpled them up and curled the edges a little and then put a solid black circle in the center with a light blue brad. If you would like to create these but with a little more flare and more colors, visit this post HERE on Dawn McVey's blog. She is the master and creator of these beautiful flowers.

I hope you all have a wonderful upcoming week. Be thinking of me when I fly out Saturday morning at 5am on a 44 seat plane. I am a little freaked out about riding on that stinkin, small plane. But it is only to Minneapolis. I can do this. Or maybe I can do this with a little tranquillizer. :)

Supplies River Rafting:

cardstock - Bazzill Basics Paper

patterned paper - October Afternoon

stamps - Hero Arts

gems - Hero Arts

letter stickers - American Crafts

journaling sheet - Making Memories

butterfly punch - Martha Stewart

ink - Memento (black), Colorbox (blue)

Supplies Going to the Sun Road:

cardstock - Bazzill Basics Paper

patterned paper - October Afternoon

stamps - Hero Arts

letter stickers - Adornit (black), American Crafts (white and blue)

ink - Memento

brads - BasicGrey

One Wild Party

Here is a LO I did for my son's birthday. I got the color inspiration from the string of triangles across the bottom of the photos. I cut those out of some American Craft patterned paper. Big bold colors should be used for birthdays anyway.

I couldn't resist using THESE cute little animals stamps from Hero Arts. It was a chore cutting them all out, but I didn't mind it too much. I tend to like the art of cutting sometimes. I just thought the stamps go great with my title, One Wild Party.

Supplies:

cardstock - Bazzill Basics Paper

stamps - Hero Arts

patterned paper - American Crafts

letter stickers - American Crafts

ink - Memento