We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!

Hi everyone in blogland. Just wanted to take a second to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been a fun year sharing all my craftiness with you and I hope you continue to visit my blog in 2010. I love what I do but I love it more knowing that you are stopping by and visiting. Thanks for sharing my love of cardmaking and scrapbooking with me and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!!!

Hugs,

Julie

Absolutely Fabulous

I don't necessarily feel absolutely fabulous today but I thought this card might cheer me up a bit. This card came together in no time at all and was a lot of fun to make. I originally submitted this card for the style challenge for the CARDS May 2010 call and since it wasn't picked up, I thought I would share it with you today.

The style challenge was to create a card with the colors baby pink, cream and black and you had to add a flourish for the element. I had just gotten this new to me sizzix flower die and I just got the inspiration from this flower and went with it. Sometimes all it takes is a new purchase to spark some creativity. I had to add some glitter to this card because the word fabulous just screams glitter to me. :o)

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

stamps - Papertrey Ink

brad - Making Memories

flower - Sizzix by Provo Craft

border punch - Stampin' Up!

ink - Tsukineko

glitter - Ranger Stickles

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #20

Yay, another fun round of color challenges by Dawn McVey. And can I say that I am totally in love with these colors. I love warm colors and the colors Dawn picked for her challenge are the true definition of warm. The aquamist color adds so much appeal that it is sure to be a standout color on any card that is posted to this challenge. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Supplies:

cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, stamps - PTI

border punches - Martha Stewart, EKSuccess

tea cup die cut - Cricut Stamped Cartridge

ink - Tsukineko

Sending a Smile Across the Miles

Hi everyone. I have my computer back to normal, yay!!! I was getting so frustrated not being able to upload pictures to my blog and I can't go without my pictures, otherwise you have to sit and read all my boring stuff. :o)

Anyway, here is a card I created using a bunch of deco scissors. I used five different styles of scissors and just layered them. Love how the look turned out. And I can't believe how the bow turned out. I never have good luck with bows and I am totally loving this one. Let's hope I have mastered the art of bow making because I go crazy not having a good bow on my cards. Even if I really want one on my card, sometimes I skip it just because I can't do the bows justice.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Supplies:

cardstock - Papertrey Ink

patterned paper - BasicGrey

stamps - Papertrey Ink

ribbon - American Crafts

flowers - Creative Memories

brads - Making Memories

ink - Papertrey Ink

deco scissors - Provo Craft and Fiskars

A Few LOs for You!!

Oh how I wish I could have a way to take better shots of my layouts for you. My camera just doesn't capture the true feeling of the LO and I don't have a scanner to use to scan them. Hopefully someday I can master taking pictures of a LO. Until then you will have to make due with these not so good pics. :)

This first LO is of Jordan's 6th grade year of basketball. I always have a hard time trying to pick a couple of photos so I try my best to fit 3 or 4 on a page. I have to do a little cropping here and there but I am happy because I am able to put more pics on a page.

This next LO is of Jordan's State swim meet. I have had a lot of LOs to do to try and catch up some so I have kept these pages pretty simple. After all, I still have three more kids to catch up on. And I'm not doing so good. But, I am happy with simple pages because it still gets my story across and that is the main thing.

This last page is of Jordan's Regional swim meet in Minnesota where 9 states competed in this meet. So exciting for Jordan and the rest of us. Again, I kept this page fast and simple but I was happy at all the photos I was able to include.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!!!

Birthday Wishes

MIA. Sorry about that. Sometimes I get in a funk and don't want to spend more than 5 minutes on the computer at a time. That definitely doesn't give me time to write up a blog post. I will do my best to be better. I guess I could just post some pictures for you and write very few words, but I feel bad doing that. Oh well, hope for some improvement soon. :)

This was a card I created for one of my nieces for her birthday. I hope the recipient liked it. :) I love the combo of pink and orange for a girl. It screams girl power to me with the boldness of the colors. There are three different stamp sets I used from Papertrey Ink on this card. All you PTI lovers out there can you name them all? Here are the ones I used in case you wanted to check them out: Polka Dot Basics, Vintage Labels, and Mega Mixed Messages.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I can have another post up this weekend.

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI

patterned paper - Sassafras

gems - Hero Arts

stamps - PTI

ink - PTI

border punch - EKSuccess

flowers - craft supply

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #18

Hi all. Quick post here before I take Riley to preK. Here is my entry for this week's color challenge. I knew I just had to use the new stamp set Take Note by PTI. I am getting a head start on my Christmas making stuff and I want to make a bunch of notepads to put in stockings and this is a good a start as any. Now I only have about 17 more to make. :)

Supplies:
stamps, cardstock, patterned paper, ink - PTI
border punch - Fiskars
circle and scalloped circle punch - EKsuccess

Computer Troubles

Hi everyone. If you follow this blog you have realized I haven't posted anything for a while and there is a good reason for that, I got a virus in my computer. The virus keeps me from logging on to the internet and emails. I am currently working on my husbands laptop. I am going to do my best to save all my pictures to a jump drive and try to post pics from there. I have plenty of craftiness done and would love to share it all with you so I will try to get all of this sorted out soon and get some posts up here. Hopefully I can get it done before the Raspberry Suite Color Challenge deadline is done. :) I can't miss that one!!!

Celebrate the Magic of Christmas

Just wanted to pop in and share a Christmas card with you. This card took only about 15 minutes to make, really pretty simple. I have been making some Christmas cards lately to see what design I like best and what can be mass produced in the least amount of time. Obviously this card didn't make the cut since I am showing it to you on the blog. I still love it though, but I don't really want to send buttons through the mail because I will probably have to pay extra postage with the bulk of pictures inside the card as well. I will say, it has been fun playing with some Christmas stamps in October. I makes me very happy. :0) And this stamp set is the Tree Trimming Trio, a new release from Papertrey Ink.

Supplies:

cardstock - Stampin Up! (very vanilla), Papertrey Ink (melon berry, dark chocolate, summer sunrise)

stamp - Papertrey Ink (tree trimming trio)

ink - Memento (rich cocoa), Papertrey Ink (ripe avocado)

buttons - Papertrey Ink (melon berry)

border punch - Stampin Up!

WCMD Challenge #4: Australia

Here is the last challenge for WCMD over at Nicole Heady's blog, and it is all about Australia. I never new I could come up with so much inspiration from the wonderful countries she spotlighted. Thanks for jump starting my creativity again, Nicole, I have had a blast with these challenges.

When I think of Australia, I think of very neutral colors. And I went with the most neutral of all, kraft, brown and white. And I love the detailing of the dotted lines bordering many of their pictures and designs, a great added touch to make something stand out.

With this card, I used the Polka Dots Basics stamp set and the Star Prints stamp set. I picked the star patterns that had straight lines in them so I could add more of the detailed dotted lines with my white signo pen. For the background I just randomly picked circles to draw dotted lines around, I thought doing all of the circles would be too distracting.

Also for this card I was inspired by the stars you see in Australia. I believe Australia is one of the few countries along with many African countries that don't have hardly any lights that light up the night. Instead you have pure darkness, and because of this darkness, you can see all the beautiful stars that light up the sky. And hence, that is why I chose the Star Prints stamps set to go along with this last challenge.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

WCMD Challenge #3: India

Are you up for another card? I hope so because I have one for you that is inspired by one of the most beautiful countries in the world, India. When I think of India I think of beautiful people dressed in wonderful, intricate, beaded garmets. There is such detail to their clothes and beautiful bright colors. For my card I wanted to play of the beads and the details.

For this card, I really wanted to use beads so I strung them across the bottom part of my card. And to add some detail I made sure I to add flourishes, gems, intricate border and the beautiful designs of the Damask Designs stamp set from PTI. The label on my card is from a new release called Vintage Labels from PTI. LOVE IT!!!

As for the sentiment "I Love You", doesn't the Taj Mahal in India remind you of love? That is why I picked the sentiment I did. And that is from the Damask Design stamp set as well.

WCMD Challenge #2: Mexico

Here is another post for today. I got challenge #2 done for Nicole Heady's blog. I am loving her challenges so far, so much inspiration to be had. And speaking of inspirations, I am inspired by the bold colors, full ruffled skirts, and large flowers that you often find on many garments in Mexico. A card makers dream to work with such an array of beautiful colors and flowers.

So as you can see with my card, I made a big flower, full ruffled trim and used beautiful bold colors. Another quick card for me to come up with because of the inspiration. And of course I had to use my favorite Polka Dots Basics stamp set from PTI and also the Fancy Flourishes set. The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages stamp set. The only thing not PTI is the brad and that is from Heidi Swapp.

Thanks for looking!!!! Have a wonderful evening.

WCMD Challenge #1: Japan

Hi all, I am back with another card for you for World Card Making Day. Over at Nicole Heady's blog, she is having 4 challenges for all us cardmakers. The first challenge is to make a card inspired by the beauty of Japan. When I searched the web for Japanese Art, I came across many pictures of architecture. And the picture above was my inspiration for my card. I love the tiered roof and the beauty of this building. A true representation of Japan.

For this card I used the Background Basics: Spots and Dots and Mega Mixed Messages from Papertrey Ink. And all the paper is PTI as well. Gems are from HA and punches are from Stampin' Up!.

WCMD and Raspberry Suite Color Challenge

What better way of getting into the spirit of World Card Making Day than to make a card for the Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #17. I absolutely love these colors that Dawn McVey chose, I love them so much that I am going to make a Christmas card with them as well.

This card came together so quickly and I think it is because of my new love for the Polka Dots Basics stamp set. I love this set and see many future uses with it. Now I just need to get the Polka Dots Basics II set. Along with the Polka Dots stamp set I also used the Cupcake Collection and Fancy Flourishes (another favorite). All of these stamp sets are from Papertrey Ink.

I hope everyone enjoys WCMD and that the creativity flows!!!

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI

stamps - PTI

ink - PTI and Memento (brown)

ribbon - Robert Stanley Collection

embossing folder - Quickutz

Recent Projects

Hi all. Sorry I have been gone for so long but I am ready to show you some of the projects I have been working on. All of them were submitted to the PTI Guest Star Stamper for the month of September. I was lucky enough to get an honorable mention for my timeless template submission. So happy for that. If you would like to see the blog post announcing the winners and honorable mentions, CLICK HERE.

This picture above was my honorable mention win. There are templates you can purchase every month from Papertrey Ink and I really loved the templates for these "tucked away" boxes. Actually there is a large template for these boxes and a small one, I just decided to put the two on top of each other to create the look of a wedding cake. I thought to make these gift boxes as an idea for weddings and giving them to your bridesmaids and groomsmen for small gifts like jewelry and cufflinks and such.

I created this votive candle holder for the Autumn project category. This was one of my favorite projects because it was so easy to make and adds a lot of cuteness to this candle.

For this one we had to create a Halloween treat project. I decided to make a treat bag you could fill with goodies along with a wrapped candy bar and a card. I have always been so hesitant in the past to buy seasonal stamps, but I was so happy when I decided to go ahead and get some halloween and fall stamps from Papertrey Ink. I love everyone of them and plan on using them for Zach birthday goodies for his classmates and for the kids' Halloween parties. Should get a lot of use out of these stamps.

Here is the last project I made where we had to create a Thanksgiving project. I decided to make a nametag for a table setting. And along with this I made a "thankful for you" card. I thought it would be kind of cute to have these at the dinner table for a family Thanksgiving. Everyone could pass their cards around and inside the card we would write down why we are thankful for that person and it could be a keepsake for them to take home and look at whenever they want.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #16

Hi there. Normally I am not one to do two cards for these challenges, but since we had more than ample time and because I love the fall so much that these colors inspired me I went ahead and made another card.

As for the pumkin, I saw someone else make one like this but using regular ovals instead of scalloped ones. I was so in love with the way they made their pumpkin that I had to try it. I feel so bad that I cannot remember who it was that inspired me. I will do my best to search some more and come back here and give them some kudos.

Supplies:cardstock - Stampin Up! (kraft, very vanilla), PTI (summer sunrise and dark chocolate); stamps - PTI; ribbon - Robert Stanley Collection; twine - PTI; button - PTI; ink - Memento; glitter - Stickles (Ranger Ink); border punch - Fiskars

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #16

I LOVE the fall and what better way to start the season early than with these awesome colors. I was so giddy when I saw the colors for this challenge. I could work with these colors all year long, never get sick of them.

It was so amazing how quick this card came together. I knew in my head how I wanted to do the design of this card and it all just kind of went from there. I used the new 2009 Autumn Tags set from Papertrey Ink for the stamps. For the background stamp though I used the Hero Arts Raindrop background stamp. I wanted to add some texture to this card as well so I embossed the brown cardstock with THIS Cuttlebug embossing folder and added some rustic twine.

Supplies:

cardstock - PTI (summer sunrise and dark chocolate), Stampin Up! (kraft, very vanilla)

stamps - PTI, Hero Arts

ink - Memento

twine - PTI

other - Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampin Up! exclusive Sizzix die cut, EKsuccess circle and scalloped punch

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