Sew Glad We're Friends

I found a tutorial for this quilted card on Splitcoast stampers. It does take a fair amount of patience to cut and line up the squares and triangles perfectly. I used my paper trimmer to make the squares but it might be more accurate to use the Cricut.
After it was put together I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Floral Fantasy embossing die. The heart hanging from the button has a stamp on it that says "Sew glad we're Friends."
Thanks for looking!

Monogrammed gift card set

I like to make sets of cards for personalized gifts. This is a set I made awhile ago but never posted. The cards are 3x3 and simple to put together once I found the look I wanted. I used my JustRite monogrammed stamps for the image. I cut the circle out with Plantin Schoolbook and the scalloped circle behind it with Home Decor. Then I just cut out some decorative paper that I liked (slightly smaller than 3x3), glued a ribbon around it, and mounted it to a 3x3 square of coordinating solid cardstock. I made the envelopes as well and lined them with paper--some with the decorative paper and some with the coordinating paper.

This card shows the same card but with a blue scallop and ribbon and with the envelope lined with the decorative paper.

I made a drawer box to hold the cards. The directions are from Splitcoast Stampers here, but I did have to modify the measurements to fit my smaller square-sized cards.

Here's the box and the envelopes. I think this makes not only a nice personalized gift but in a way that is packaged nicely for presentation and storage. Hope you like it!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day.

Monogrammed card

Recently I needed a few simple, quick cards to send. I looked around in my scrapping supplies and found a nice double sided paper-a solid green on one side and a striped print on the other- that I thought could work. Here's the result.
I used my Just Rite monogram stamper (love that they are interchangeable and SO diverse) with one of the Damask borders. The circle was cut with Plantin Schoolbook and the scallop with Storybook. I embossed the green band with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder and ran some white ink over the raised dots for a little more dimension. I bordered that with some grosgrain ribbon from Big Lots. The bottom border is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch.
Here's a closeup of some detail:
Thanks for looking!

Ventura Beach

I love how this page turned out! The pictures are actually printed in color, but with the sunset just right and the silhouettes on the beach, they looked like they were printed in black and white. I used 1 piece of shimmery paper for all of the embellishments. The charms along the side are from Life's A Beach and the letters are a ttf "traveling typewriter." It is a little hard to see, but on the arrow I used some letter stamps. It says "LOVE," pointing to my 3 favorite boys at the time. I'm so lucky now I have 4 boys to love!
Easy page. Thanks for looking!

Belle-pt. 2

This post is very similar to this one, but for Noah's book. He did not enjoy meeting the princesses as much as Jonah. I think he likes the idea of the Disney characters more than the actual characters themselves. He is my shy boy. :)
The elements are arranged a bit differently and I used a different Belle from Dreams Come True. The flourish in the corner is a Fancy Pants stamp, and it is embossed in clear embossing powder. Belle's name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose. The border across the middle of the page is Martha Stewart's scallop dot punch.
Thanks for looking!

I'm a Little Airplane Now

We live fairly close to a local airport, and it is a favorite spot of our family to play. It has an observation area with a little runway painted on the ground for the kiddos to pretend that they are airplanes taking off and landing. Here's my Jonah, arms outstretched, pretending he can fly and probably singing, "I'm a little airplane now." It's a song he heard on Sesame Street sung by Jonathan Richman.
The child silhouettes are from A Child's Year. The journaling block is from Graphically Speaking. The title is from Zooballoo and Plantin Schoolbook (airplane). The airplane silhouettes on the end of the ribbons are a ttf cut with SCAL.
The airplanes across the top are stamps, but I no longer have the packaging, so I don't know the company. The patterned paper is from DCWV. I finished off the page with colorful ribbons and buttons. I wanted the pages to be bright, playful, and whimsical.
Here's a close up of page 1:
and of page 2:
Journaling is simple, using the 5 'w's.

Who: Jonah & Mommy
What: pretending to be little airplanes
When: February 2009
Where: Van Nuys Airport
Why: because it's fun to use our "imashinations"

(intentionally misspelled to capture his pronunciation of the word)

Thanks for looking!

Monogrammed Card Set

We are having dinner tonight at a friends house, and this monogrammed card set is the gift I made for our hostess. The picture above is of the belly band that goes around the box, with the cards in the background.

I embossed the band with the Cuttlebug folder 'Floral Fantasy' and inked it with Tim Holtz's distressing ink. The ovals, the red top note, and the circle are from the Storybook cartridge. I outlined the shapes with red stickles and embossed the monogram and smaller oval with gold embossing powder. The monogram itself and the damask border are Just Rite stamps. Here is a better picture of the belly band:Some of the cards:
More cards:
There are 6 cards in the set; 3 of each design. This design is using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' folder. The background shape behind the monogram is my own design made using SCAL. It has slits in it so that the ribbon can be threaded behind the monogram. The pictures don't show the detail of the monogram and border well, but I used perfect pearls on them, which makes them shimmer in real life. I used copper on some and gold on others.
The other 3 cards look like this:
I made this box, which houses A2 cards perfectly, using directions from the Splitcoast stampers site. You can find the directions HERE.
I used Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot border punch on the top of the box.
Here's the gift, packaged and ready to go for tonight!
Thanks for looking!

Mulan

Mulan was the first princess that Noah seemed to enjoy meeting. He actually walked up to her and wanted to hug her.

Mulan is cut from the Happily Ever After cartridge. Her name is a ttf (Herculanum) cut in SCAL. The frame is an .svg file from Paulo's blog. The flower border along the top is a stamp from Fancy Pants, stamped in glue and glittered with a copper glitter from Martha Stewart.

Thanks for looking!

in all things give THANKS

Our latest challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs was a color challenge from Kristina Werner's blog. I thought of Thanksgiving when I saw these colors and pulled out a couple of our family shots from 2008 to scrap. Here's what I came up with:
I used Storybook for the white borders and the photo corners. I sometimes forget how much I love that cartridge! Home Decor was used for the scalloped circle border. I designed the title using SCAL. Here's a close-up of it:
I decided to use the negative image of "THANKS" and I really like how it turned out.

The circle at the bottom right corner is a customizable stamp from Just Rite Stamps. It was my Mother's Day gift and I LOVE it! It makes monograms so easy but you can use it for more than that, as I did here. To go along with the theme of Thanksgiving, I decided to put "Give Thanks 2008" in the center of the circle, and then list some of the things I'm thankful for as a border. It takes some time to assemble (the letters are pretty tiny) but I think the results are well worth it. Here's a better look:
Thanks for looking!

Belle

Here's my Jonah with his favorite princess of the day, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. He just went right up to her and gave her the biggest hug. She was such a great princess in person!

Belle is cut from Dreams Come True at 4". Her name is cut using 2 different true-type fonts in SCAL. The rose is a ttf as well. The photo corners are from an .svg file from Paulo's blog. I used stickles on parts of Belle's dress, on her name, and on the rose.

In the corner, I used a large stamp from Fancy Pants--I didn't want it to overwhelm the page, so I just stamped it in VersaMark and embossed it using clear embossing powder.

Thanks for looking!

Mojo 98 projects

I was so inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch for the week that I did two projects with it.
Here is the first:

This card is actually also a submission for a chance to win some wonderful blog candy over at Crafty Goings On. Karen is generously offering the chance to win a set of 72 copic markers. Her contest ends on August 9th, so be sure to check it out!
I used stamps for the 'cherish' definition and also for the background behind it. The butterfly is cut from a TTF using SCAL. The circles were cut with Plantin Schoolbook. I handstitched around the edges of the square.

Here's my second project:
This is 'sort of' a card. I have a hard time with birthday cards--the outside is always fun to make and decorate, but I'm always intimidated with the amount of space to write sentiments on the inside. So, instead of a traditional card, I wrapped her present and used the sketch to decorate it as if it were the front of a card. Then, we'll just sign our names to the back of the gift and call it good!
I used Plantin Schoolbook for the circles, the 42, and the yellow ric-rac. You can't tell from the picture, but the 42 is cut out 3 times for added dimension, and popped up with pop dots to make it stand out. I used thickers for 'happy' and rub ons for 'birthday.'

Thanks for looking!

simply WILD about you

This is the card I made for the most recent challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had to make a project with an animal from any cartridge. Be sure to check out everyone else's work, too, when you have the time. There are some really talented members on the design team. There were so many cartridges with animals to choose from--I had a hard time but I finally settled on Zooballoo. I just love those animals, and I think they look really cute using nontraditional colors. I used Opposites Attract for the title and I thought I'd use some older paper with animal prints for 'wild.' The circle stamps behind the title are some of my new stamps from JustRite Stamps--I love them and you'll be seeing more projects in the future with them. It's actually one of the borders to be used with a monogram or message inside, but it can stand alone, too. I love that all the stamps are so interchangeable. More for the $$.

Thanks for looking!

dream

The journaling reads:

"I've always loved sitting out on the rock jetty at Morro Bay, with the sea stretched as far as the eye could see...listening to the waves crash against the rocks & feeling the ocean spray...
Secretly, I fantasized about being proposed to at this very spot...ideally it would be as the sun was sinking low on the horizon, with my groom-to-be on one knee, presenting me with a beautiful diamond ring.
Little did I know that, less than 4 years later, a boy named Scott would make this romantic dream of mine come true!!"

This is my submission for the challenge over at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. We had a color palette to work with, and we were encouraged to use our Cuttlebug along with our Cricuts, of course. I based the design off a sketch from PageMaps. You can find it in the February 2009 archives here--you'll have to scroll down a few to find it.
I used Thickers for the title, Plantin Schoolbook for the hearts and the bracket, Swiss Dots and Perfectly Paisley embossing folders, and some buttons along the bottom of the journaling. The faux stitching is done using a stamp from Studio G and lightly tracing it with brown and red pens. The subtitle on the heart was made using rub-ons from Autumn Leaves. The paper is from the DCWV summer stack.

Thanks for looking!

Flowerpot card-thank you

Here's another flowerpot card I promised in a recent post. This was actually the first one that I made. I used Walk in My Garden for the flowers & leaves, and I used stickles to add some sparkle. The stamp is from Studio G and the border on the flowerpot is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch. Here's what it looks like when the sentiment is revealed:Thanks for looking! I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. If you or someone in your family is a member of the military, a special thank you to you for your sacrifice! Happy Memorial Day.

miss you

This card was a breeze to make and I love the simplicity of it. It is not my original design and for the life of me I cannot find the artist from whom I stole the idea. I'll keep looking though and make sure to link her blog to this post when I find it. I guess that's what happens when you add about 50 blogs to your bookmarks all in a day...it's hard to find exactly what you're looking for, eh? :)
Anyway, I used Stampin Up' stamps for the flower (Botanical Blooms) and the sentiment (Little Hellos). The border is Martha Stewart's Scallop Dot punch. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Thanks for looking!

My Friend-Flowerpot card

Ee gads! My poor neglected blog!! I've been working on a few projects since I last posted that I hope to get uploaded here within the next week or so, so keep checking back. And thanks for my small and mighty group of followers-- you are an encouragement to me! Here's a card for all of my blogging friends today:
I stole this idea from Dawn who got this idea from Stephanie. So, it's by no means my idea at all! But it's cute and I wanted to make a few. You can find directions at either link above if you want to make one of your own. The flowers pull out from the flowerpot pocket to reveal your message. So fun! I love it! (You will be seeing a few different versions of this over the next week as I upload all of my projects.)
For these sunflowers--(aren't they so cheerful?) I used Cricut's Walk in My Garden cartridge. The stamped sentiment is from Studio G.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Mother's Day, Mojo-style

Well it's that time of year again to work on Mother's Day cards. Once again, Mojo Monday pulled through with an awesome sketch that I used to make 2 cards with 2 different looks for 2 special mothers. Without further ado, here they are:
This one is for you, Mom Staley. So, if you're reading this, you get a sneak peak. That's okay, though, because unfortunately your card will probably not arrive on time for Sunday. As I was about to mail it, I thought I might add a finishing touch of stickles around the heart and then I remembered that it has to dry before I put it in the envelope, and the deadline for the mail to go out today had passed by the time it had dried. So, when you are feeling like you have a lame daughter on Sunday who "forgot" about Mother's Day, please feel free to visit my blog and see the card that should be arriving on Monday. Oops. ;)
I used Memory Makers patterened paper and black and cream cardstock for this card. The heart was cut with Graphically Speaking and the black paper was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. I do not know the brand of the stamps or the ribbon. Here's another view:
And this one is for my special mother-in-law, Rose. This one should be there in time for Mother's Day. :) I used the DCWV "Pocketfull of Posies" stack for the patterned paper. The scallop is a Martha Stewart border punch, "Scallop Dot." The ribbon is from American Crafts and I used stickles for the flower and for the border around the sentiment. The orange paper is embossed with the Floral Fantasy folder.
Another view:And here is the sketch that I used for both of these cards: It is Mojo Monday Sketch #85.
Thanks for looking, and I hope all the moms reading this enjoy their Mother's Day weekend!

Heritage

I created this layout for a challenge at Whimsical Scraps and Bugs. The challenge was to use sketch #81 from Mojo Monday (pictured below) and a favorite verse or quote. If you have looked at my blog recently, you'll already know that I love Mojo Monday for their creative card designs. This time, though, I wanted to use the sketch to create a layout. I chose Psalm 127:3 for the verse which says, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." The picture is of our firstborn on Easter of 2007 with my hubby Scott. The paper is from the DCWV "All About Boys" stack. The title font is from the Cricut Calligraphy cartridge and the frame for the verse, the stars, and the circles at the bottom are all from Graphically Speaking. I hand-sewed the borders and the circle around the stars. The circles at the bottom have a stamp on them that says "a son is a blessing; a son is a gift." Brads in the center finish it off.

Thanks for looking!

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!