Another Lizzie Anne creation

I am just crazy about the Au Naturale Set from Lizzie Anne Designs, which you can purchase here>>> Jacksonbelle Embellishments These stamps are [i]fabtastical!![/i]

Here is another project I put together. It was so quick and easy! I covered three coasters front and back with Rose Red Designer Prints Paper from Stampin' Up! and then sanded the edges to make them look a little shabby. I use mono multi when I am adhering a large area of paper to chipboard, I find that it holds really well, and I love the little bit of slip time you have. The adhesive stays slippery just long enough so that you can make sure your edges are lined up or your borders are even. I am so alignment challenged! I can't even tell you how many cards I had to pitch because I destroyed them using double stick adhesive tapes and had things all lopsided.

Anyhow...here are more details...the coasters are four inches square. I used my crop-a-dile to punch the holes. Very nice tool, if you don't have one, you need to get one! LOL!! The chipboard photo corner is colored with certainly celery classic ink from Stampin' Up! and then punched with the crop-a-dile and finished with pewter eyelets. I stamped the butterfly on a piece of scrap cardboard that came in a patterned paper pack. then colored it with SU! markers. The ribbons are SU! as well.

You Take the Cake

I am in love with the simple, clean look of white space. I am continually drawn to images of handmade cards that look like my card on the left. I used the You Take the Cake set from My Favorite Things. I stamped the image on the front of the card and then colored it with Prisma's and Gamsol. I wasn't quite happy with the look so I then stamped the image again on Stampin' Up!'s Designer Prints Almost Amethyst paper and trimmed it to look like wallpaper behind the cake diva. I then added Icicle Stickles and Light Orchid Ribbon (SU!)

This was my first attempt at Paper Piecing and I think I have a new technique addiction! Wowzers!!

I hope you have a great weekend. I hope to get a bit of stamping done. I want to make "Welcome Back" cards for the teachers using the Back to School Set from MFT...I"ll have to get creative for the male teachers though...LOL! DH is taking Zach to a John Deere gathering (I say gathering sarcastically) on Saturday. They are going to test drive all the latest and greatest in farm equipment, so I figure it won't be as civilized as a gathering. So the girls and I will craft the day away. :-D

Altered Paper Clip Swap - Group One

These are the Altered Paper Clips for group one of the swap I hosted at ASB I am so thrilled with this little collection of Clips. They are adorable aren't they? Clockwise from top left...Chan Dalrymple, Jenn Lambert, Patti Talbot, Melanie Robson, and me.





Here is a close up shot of mine. I used Certainly Celery Designer Prints Paper from SU! with coordinating Prima's and a snip of grosgrain ribbon. To make them sturdy I used my Cuttlebug to cut through a piece of thin cardboard (it actually came in the package of Outlaw paper I just received, you know, to keep the paper nice and flat.) I adhered the CC Designer paper to the cardboard and then used those big fat glue dots as the middle to hold the front and back together with the clip in the middle. The ribbon and brads are also SU!, the clips are from target.

Peek-A-Boo Card!

I love how this card turned out! It is one of the samples I created for a tutorial on hand-stitching that I wrote for A Shade of Blue's Blue Heaven E-Zine. Blue Heaven is a subscription benefit from which the funds go to support the site. It is a very small way to help keep the site running.








I call this style of card a Peek-A-Boo card. It opens like a standard card but there is a little card on the front where you can hide a sweet little secret message.



This tutorial is for a future issue. I'll be sure to let you know when it is published!! :-)

Details:
Stamps: Wild About You (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac (Stampin' Up!) Premium White Cardstock (TAC)
Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mega Scallop Square Punch (Marvy Uchida) Embroidery Floss (DMC) Stitched Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)
Misc: Pop Dots

More stuff coming...I promise!!!

I want to apologize for being a naughty blogger!!!

DH surprised me and the kiddies with two weekends away...back-to-back...ok the laundry alone is keeping me away from my stamps...but I have got to get back to business here! Here is a pic of the kids having a great time at Story Land in Glen, NH. We were on Alice in Wonderland's Tea Cup ride.

The kids had a blast, they loved the hotel the most though...it had a zero-entry pool which was just what Zach needed to overcome his horrible fear of the water. Now you'd think he has been loving the water for years, but not so...he wouldn't even go swimming at home with me holding him in a death grip. :D

My Papertrey order came in over the weekend and I have TAC and SU! orders coming in at the end of the week. Plus I have so many other little projects to get done! Ack!!!

Butterfly Birthday

It is inevitable that I get antsy for my PapertreyInk stamps as we approach the 15th of the month. This card uses Butterfly Kisses which is so amazing! I made this card for my sister-in-law. She was an avid gardener until some life events interupted her passion. She had filled her garden with flowers that attracted butterflies. It was wonderful to stand there and watch them flutter about the blooms.

I used Green Galore, Pink Passion and Basic Brown Classic Inks. The cardstock is Pink Passion, and Green Galore (all SU!) The white cardstock is Premium White Cardstock from The Angel Company, it is meatier than SU!'s Whisper White. I like that it lends stability to my cards and other paper projects. It creases quite nicely as well. The ribbon is from Michaels and comes on a wooden spool. I think I bought the ribbon more for the spool than the ribbon itself...I have a project that I need to photograph that uses the wooden spools...Next week sometime for that one though.

We're taking the children to a couple local adventures this weekend. I hope that you are able to enjoy your family and friends and are blessed with what will become happy memories.

"See" you on Monday! :-)

One last sneak peak today...

As I mentioned in a previous post I am hosting a series of 6 monthly ATC swaps over at A Shade of Blue. I am just about ready to swap out the Summer Fun Theme cards and wanted to share mine. I LOVE the way this one turned out. It is a matchbook card. The base is Sahara Sand. I topped the front flap with Tempting Torquoise cardstock and then punched Green Galore with the Giga Scallop Punch from Marvy Uchida. I bought mine at All That Scraps. The mermaid image is from Wildflower Stamps. I stamped her on Premium White Cardstock from The Angel Company and colored her with Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers. I then punched her out (that sounds funny, doesn't it?) with a Mega Oval Punch (Marvy Uchida.) I finished it off by layering her on the Green Galore and pop dotting that onto the ATC Front. I topped it with Orange grosgrain from Stampin' Up!

I love the way the colors pop on this...I shocked myself! I really like how this one turned out! ;-)

Sweet Sophia

Sophia, my almost 5 year-old, needed a name tag for her gym bag. There are three girls with the same 5$, Walgreens-purchased, bag. Go figure! So rather than just writing her name on the inside I made this name tag and placed it inside a clip-on badge holder . It needed to be quick, as we had to head out the door. This took about 10 minutes.
Details: Bdge Holder - Wal-Mart office supply section
Patterned Paper - The Angel Company
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!, Michaels
Stamps - Little Letters (Retired) Stampin' Up!, Alpha-hip (Retired) The Angel Company

Good Boots

I love the Green Thumb stamp set from Papertrey Ink. My daughters have boots that look just like this one. If they had their way they would wear them every day, too. The sentiment is so true! Don't you just feel better when you have the right shoes on...nothing can get in your way or bring you down.

Details:
Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Pixie Pink and Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Green Thumb (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads (Stampin' Up!) Mega Scalloped Oval Punch (Marvy Uchida) Flower (Prima Marketing)

Hello Froggy

Hello!

This little froggy is actually mounted to an ATC that I made for a swap I hosted at A Shade of Blue. I am in the process of hosting six more monthly ATC swaps at ASB. We just finished month three which was a summer fun theme.

Details: Cardstock - White (Premium white from The Angel Company) Cool Caribbean & Mellow Moss (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper - (Pocket Full of Posies Stack from Die Cuts With A View)
Stamps - Frog (Stampin' Up!) Hello (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories - Flower (Prima) Rhinestone (Target $ Spot) Ribbon (Michaels) Mega Scallop Punch (Marvy Uchida)

You're Blessed!

I just love this card! There is a story behind this creation (...isn't there always??) A beloved friend of mine, who was also the paraprofessional in my childrens pre-school has moved to Vermont. I am still reeling from her derparture. Tina is an amazing woman who can reach into the heart of even the most challenged child and come out with gold. My oldest daughter, Adrianna, is a child with many gifts, but she also has challenges that other children will never face. Tina and I met when Adrianna was three, just starting pre-school and incredibly shy. We didn't know at the time, but trouble was brewing behind those gorgeous baby brown's! Adrianna was diagnosed with epilepsy and started to regress intellectually just short of her fourth birthday. Tina was an amazing anchor for our family, and made sure that Adrianna had all the help she needed while in the classroom. She broke through a barrier that other adults inthe classroom were unable to penetrate. Adrianna began to shine like gold.

I made a thank you card for Tina, and she was blown away. Had she never been thanked before? I asked myself. No, it wasn't that. She was wild about the card. (It's so nice to be appreciated!) Well, I continued to make cards for her and the rest of staff that work with my children. Then one day Tina mentioned how all my cards are displayed in her home and that she wanted to start framing them. I was blown away now.

So, in the end, Tina has moved. But as a going away gift I made her a box of cards to send to her friends and loved ones. This card is just one of the 50 unique cards I made for her. And while it is meant to be a baby card it says so much more to me. Tina is blessed, while she isn't feeling that way right now, given the circumstances surrounding her change of address. She is blessed with one of God's greatest gifts...the ability to show love.

Details: Cardstock - (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper - (Stampin' Up!)
Stamps - Lion - (Paper Salon) Curly Frame - (Stampin' Up!) You're Blessed (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories - Scallop & Plain Punches (Marvy Uchida) RIbbon - (Stampin' Up!)