On Vacation

I won't be posting until the week of May 4th--hubby and I are going on vacation!! Just a reminder for all who may be interested in participating that National Scrapbook Day is Saturday May 2nd. I'll have to take a day the following week to play.
Until next time...

Wedding Card

inside:
This is one of the quickest cards I've done but I like it! A card doesn't have to take hours to make and be really involved for it to be special and personal. Here's how it's done:
Cut a plain white 8 1/2 x 11" piece of cardstock in half width-wise at 5 1/2" Then take one side and scored it in half at 4 1/4". Next, emboss the front of the card using the Cuttlebug folder Bow Frame Card. Cut out the box inside the frame using a paper trimmer or craft knife, which will form a window to the inside of the card.
Using the Graphically Speaking cartridge, select the 'icon' feature and press the "Me & You" button to access the heart. Cut a heart out of a blue scrap piece of paper at 1" with 'real dial size' feature ON. Leaving the 'icon' and 'real dial size' features on, press your shift button and the "Me & You" button again. This time, cut a heart out of a pink scrap piece of paper at 3/4".
Use stickles to outline the embossed areas on the front of the card and the two hearts. For this card, I used silver for the front, pink for the pink heart and aqua for the blue heart.
Once dry, glue the hearts--a little offset towards the top--on a scrap piece of white cardstock, approximately 1 3/4" wide and 2 1/4" tall. Mount this scrap onto a silver piece that measures 2" by 2 1/2". Using your window as a guide so that the two hearts are visible from the front of the card, adhere these layers to the inside of the card. With a silver pen, write 'congrats' or other greeting on the bottom of the white layer, well underneath the hearts so that the sentiment is not visible when the card is closed.

Thanks for looking!

Attention Cricut Lovers!

Kristina over at Creatively Counting My Blessings is offering a Cricut cartridge giveaway--the winner will receive his/her choice of Kitchen Solutions, European Decor Solutions, or Stamping Solutions.
To be entered, all you have to do is sign up to receive e-mail updates from her new store, Your Memories Here, and then leave a comment on her blog (linked prior) to let her know. Easy peasy!

Thinking of You

I made these simple cards to serve as sympathy cards. The one on the left was for a lady who lost her mother and the one on the right was for a man who lost his wife. All of the paper is from Making Memories and the sentiment is from CTMH. I pierced the paper along the bottom leading to the sentiment and inked the edges of the paper with Tim Holz's distressing ink.
I added coordinating paper to the insides of the envelopes. This was the first time I've done this, but I do think it gives it that extra touch.
Thanks for looking!

These are a few of my {favorite} things

This was a challenge for the design team over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had to do a layout about ourselves...something that we often forget to do. There were a lot of options for this, but I decided to go the route of making a page about a few of my favorite things. It was fun to do, and it forced me to take a few moments to reflect and be thankful for the things that the Lord has given for me to enjoy. Here's my list, which is obviously not in any particular order :)

• My hope found in Christ (okay, this would top the list anyway)
• Chocolate
• Holidays (used the Christmas tree from Christmas Cheer on this square)
  
• The love among my family
• Faithful friends
• The beauty of Creation
• Good sleep
• Comfort of home (used the home from Joys of the Season here)
  
• Crafting

The title is from Plantin Schoolbook; the 'few' is from Opposites Attract. The brackets around 'favorite' are from Printing Press and the heart is from Graphically Speaking.
The patterned paper is from Making Memories, as are the stamps (Ransom) and the cardboard flowers. I used 'Thickers' for the word 'favorite' and for the brackets around the heart.

Thanks for looking!

Ashlyn's First Day of School

I was recently going through some older pictures and I stumbled across these ones from my niece's first day of Kindergarten. She's a teenager now! Unbelievable. She is such a sweetheart...just look at that shy/excited/nervous smile on her face! Anyway, I thought these would be cute pictures to use with my new Cricut cartridge, Sesame Street Font. How cute are those little characters peeking out from the letters? I think this cartridge is going to get a lot of use. The ric-rac cuts and the apple is from Plantin Schoolbook, and the patterned paper is from a DCWV stack.

Thanks for looking!

The Los Angeles Zoo--fauna

The lion was particularly photogenic this visit! But the wildest ones of the bunch?


The little monkeys that came home with us that day!
Thanks for looking!

The Los Angeles Zoo--flora

My sweetie had the day off yesterday so we took advantage of the extra time to have a family day at the LA Zoo. How fun to let the kiddos roam from animal to animal. There is so much scope for the imagination there! The weather was nice--warm but not too hot, and many of the flowers were in full bloom. I don't often devote a post to photography, but I thought I would share some pictures of the varieties of flowers we saw yesterday. Perhaps I'll share some animal pictures with you tomorrow or later this week.

Thinking of You

This is yet another MojoMonday card (sketch 79, pictured at the bottom of the post). I hope you're not getting sick of seeing them! I really want to get back to scrapbooking, but sometimes when my time is limited all I can finish is a card.
I've had the birdhouse stamp for a long time, but I'm not sure I'd ever used it. I used watercolors to color it in. The sentiment stamp (hard to see, but it is to the right of the birdhouse) is from Stampin Up! and it says 'thinking of you.' I inked the edges with distress ink to age it a little and to give it some more depth.
Thanks for looking!

You're "Tea"riffic

I made this card to donate to a stranger named Jen Tapler. She is going to have a charity auction for all the cards she collects with the proceeds going to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association. Jen is seeing firsthand the effects that this disease is having on her father, and I do hope that she will receive many cards that will further the work of the Alzheimer's Association.
As if that incentive is not enough, for those that participate before April 3rd (that's Friday so you have a couple more days), she is having a huge stamping blog giveaway (see details on her blog, linked above). Even if you don't get a chance to participate before Friday, you can still make a card (or cards) and send them to her before April 20th.
I got the sketch from this week's MojoMonday, seen below.
Thanks for looking!

Easter-Themed Wall Hanging

I just love Easter and the hope that it represents through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! I completed this wall hanging for a challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We were to alter flashcards and create an Easter-themed project. I decided to make John 11:25 the focal point. It says, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.' John 11:25" The flowers, leaves, and the frame around the verse are all from Cricut's Home Decor cartridge. The butterflies are from Graphically Speaking. I used stickles on the butterflies (black on the black part and star dust on the blue parts) and I folded their wings up so they are 'flying.'

Here are some close-ups:

Thanks for looking!

Same look, different Mojo--part 2

Here's my take on another Mojo sketch, #75. Again, I used the same stamps from CTMH (love them) and colored them with watercolors and stickles. I like using the same supplies (since they're already out, right?) to create similar but unique cards by altering the sketch.
Here's another view to show the dimension. I used pop-dots under the image and I left the dragonfly's wings free to 'fly.'
This card is a pop-up card. Here's the inside sentiment:
The "Thanks" stamp is from Inkadinkado. I cut out and stickled the leaves, flowers, and butterfly to give the card unity inside and out.
Another view:
Thanks for looking!

Same look, different Mojo--part 1

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in my first Mojo Monday card sketch and I so enjoyed the process that I pulled out that same stamp set (from CTMH) and worked on some previous sketches. This is sketch 77. I colored the images the same way--using watercolors and stickles for the shimmer. The circle that the dragonfly sits on is cut at 1 3/4" from Plantin Schoolbook and the scalloped circle is cut at 2 1/4" from Storybook. The background paper is from DCWV--The Stack VI and the orange paper was embossed using my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and I inked the dots to give it a little more dimension.
I will post my other card tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

Aha!!

So I've been working on taking better pictures of my projects. I see other blogs with pictures that are crystal clear with vibrant colors so I know it's possible. My husband has mentioned that he notices a difference between the colors in my projects vs. the colors in the pictures I post of them. I've tried a few things---adjusting the lighting, taking pictures outside, using a backdrop, etc. I have a nice camera, so I know it's user error and not an equipment failure. I am toying with the idea of building a white box (anyone have any instructions for this?).

Well today I saw this tutorial from Gina K on editing photos. Ee gads!! Why didn't I think of that? You don't have to be a wonderful photographer...with a few tricks you can fake it!!

Hopefully future posts will have pictures that reflect the truer colors of my projects--I'm excited to start playing with my photo editor!

Mojo Monday 78--Thank You

I loved this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and I knew right away what I wanted to do with it. I had the perfect occasion to make a thank-you card--Christina sent me a lovely RAK--a SU! stamp set. How fun is that? The set is called "Botanical Blooms" and I'm loving it! So, if you're reading this, Christina, thanks again!!
Thanks for looking!

J&N

This is the second page to yesterday's post. I simply cut up squares of black, gray, and white, and arranged them next to the pictures. I inked the edges of the white squares to go along with the theme of the page, "You color my world." The J&N are cut and shadowed using Plantin Schoolbook.
Here's a look of both pages together:Thanks for looking!

You {color} my world

I did this page awhile back, but never got around to uploading it to my blog. A layout my Mom did provided the inspiration for this page. Thanks, Mom!
I used Cricut's Opposite Attracts cartridge for the title. The journaling above reads:

The laughter. The excitement of discovery. The joys. The pride in seeing you learn new things. The tears. The wonder of watching you grow up. The hugs. The "kiss-a-roonies." The bedtime stories. The snuggles. The memories of you singing "Jesus Loves Me." The fights. The privilege in shaping and molding your little hearts. The silliness.
The tickles. The "beep beeps" when we go through a tunnel. That soft baby skin of yours. The sound of you making fire engine noises--complete with air horn. The thrill of running to see Daddy when he comes home. The messes. The love and compassion you show for each other.
The contagious giggles. The early mornings. The ability to make your ouchies all better. The trips to the zoo. The "peek-a-boo" games. The running to the window to see all the choo-choos go by. The whining. The fun we have at the airport. The bedtime prayers. The ride-on races down the hallway. The anticipation of the future.
The good. The bad. The {not so} ugly. What would I do without my boys?!?

You
{color}
my
world

Thanks for looking! Tomorrow I'll post the second page of the layout.

Discover Spring

I created this page for the Whimsical Scraps and Bugs challenge--we were to use black and white with one accent color, the word 'spring' and some bling. I stole the sketch from Passion Sketch--I rotated sketch 33.
This picture was taken in the spring of 2007--the first spring that Jonah was really aware of his surroundings and curious of the world around him. So fun watching him explore new things!
I stamped the white paper with a floral stamp from Fancy Pants and brightened it up a bit with pink stickles. I embossed the black, gray, and pink strips. I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder Swiss Dots for the black, Divine Swirl for the gray, and Stylized Flowers for the pink. I put pink stickles over the flowers and black stickles over the swiss dots and divine swirls. The flowers are stamps from Autumn Leaves--I put stickles on those as well and a skittle in the middle of each flower. The word 'discover' is cut from Graphically Speaking and 'Spring' is cut from Storybook. The pink ribbon is from American Crafts.

Thanks for looking!

With sympathy

I realized I didn't have a sympathy card in my stash when I needed one, so I had to make one. This is what I came up with--the sentiment and scroll is from the Calligraphy cartridge. The frame is from the Storybook cartridge. I embossed the background with the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder and ran a white inkpad over the dots for a little bit of contrast. I wanted to keep this one simple and to the point...sympathy cards are not my favorite to have to send. :(

Thanks for looking.

Mojo76

This card was inspired by the sketch over at Mojo Monday. I've mentioned them before on my blog, but it bears repeating that every Monday they provide a fabulous new sketch.

I used a stamp set from Close to My Heart on this one. I love the spring look to it and with temps nearing 70 this week, it's definitely feeling like spring is on its way. The background paper is watercolor paper, and I colored all of the stamps with watercolors. I forgot how much fun they are to work with and how nice the results are! I used dimensionals on some of the flowers to give it a 3-D effect, and the dragonfly's wings are folded upwards to imitate flight. I used stickles on the raised flowers, the butterflies, the dragonfly wings, and the stems to give the card some shimmer. The paper is from DCWV--the Stack VI. I pierced a circle around the sentiment at the bottom for added interest.

Thanks for looking!