New Interior Designs!

I'm so excited that I finally got around to trying out Stampin' Up!'s Decor Elements! It's taken me a while, but I finally took the plunge. Wow, are these things easy? I used the gorgeous tree here in my dining room. I'm considering making some words about family to put on this wall with the tree, just need to find the time.

I also recently repainted my kitchen and needed to add something to an area that had been previously stenciled. So I added these Flourishes and I love them! It's so cool, it looks like they are painted on!

So, needless to say, I am a big fan of Decor Elements now. I've got lots more to put up....though most are waiting for some wall repair/repainting before I put them up. I have some flowers to put up in my daughters' room, some words for my bedroom, and of course a bunch of things for my craft room once I finally get around to repainting it! I'll post pictures of everything as it gets done.

Nursery Necessities for a Friend

I went to a baby shower for an old friend of mine this weekend, it's been a while since I've been to one of those! It was so fun to pull out my Nursery Necessities stamp set to make her a card to accompany her gift. I had a hard time thinking of what color combination to use since she doesn't know the sex of the baby yet, so I chose a little inspiration from the baby blanket that I gave her (see below). The yarn that I used for the gift was light purple, blue, aqua, and green (fairly gender neutral, I think). So I chose the colors Ballet Blue, Pale Plum, and Certainly Celery to compose this card. I also felt like using my Cuttlebug, so I pulled out my Nestabilities dies and Swiss dots embossing folder. The ribbon is from the retired Fairytale collection of ribbons from Stampin' Up!. I sponged the edge of the embossed Pale Plum paper with ballet blue ink.

March Scrapbooking Class

This month's scrapbooking class includes a variety of themes. We'll be making this spring page above, an adaptable Pirate-themed layout, and a winter layout for those remaining winter photos.

Recipe for above layout:
Stamps: A Great Friend (to be released in the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog)
Inks: So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Papers: Very Vanilla, So Saaffron, Certainly Celery, Flock Together DS Paper
Accessories: Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, Nestabilities Scalloped Square

This next layout has a pirate theme, but can easily be converted to any other them with the use of different die cuts. The detail of the papers are hard to see without blowing up this picture, but there is a wavy print on some of these papers from the Flock Together DS Paper Collection.

Stamps: Best Friends Alphabet
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Papers: Flock Together DS Paper, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, Basic Black
Accessories: Black Gingham Ribbon, Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge
Note: The edges of all the papers (except background) are inked with black ink, directly from the ink pad.

This last one was hard for me to create because I just don't want to think about winter anymore!

Stamps: All Through the Year, Big Deal Alphabet
Inks: Bashful Blue
Papers: Holiday Treasures DS Paper, Naturals White, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Old Olive
Accessories: American Crafts Double Sided Ribbon, Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge, Corner Punch

Classy Cards: Fun with a White Gel Pen

This month all the cards in my card class used the Signo White Gel Pen...something I consider to be a papercrafting necessity. I also used 2 new stamp sets that I've been enjoying lately. The first 2 cards use the new set "Ever After." I purchased this set because of the Lily of the Valley stamp that is used in the above card. I just love Lily of the Valley, it smells so nice and is one of those early spring flowers. I just wish that it was a larger flower that I could put in a vase in the house.

Here's the recipe for the card above:
Stamps: Ever After
Inks: Garden Green, White Gel Pen
Papers: Flock Together DS paper, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Whisper White
Accessories: White Organdy Ribbon, Ticket corner punch
Notes: The edges of the patterned paper are sponged with Garden Green ink. The flowers of the Lily of the Valley are colored white with the gel pen. I masked the focal image with some scrap paper and sponged Garden Green ink around the mask to create a frame around the flowers.

This card uses the heart from Ever After, another beautiful stamp.
Stamps: Ever After, Wonderful Words
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip, White Gel Pen
Papers: Bella Rose DS Paper, Pink Pirouette, White, Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Photo Corner Punch, Vintage brads

Notes: I created a faux stitched look with the white gel pen and paper piercer here. I also sponged the edges of the patterned paper with chocolate chip ink.

This last card uses the new Sale-A-Bration stamp set Botanical Blooms.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Wonderful Words
Inks: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze
Papers: Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper, Baja Breeze, Ridinghoood Red, White Gel Pen
Accessories: Cutter Kit, Flower Slide

And the winner is....

Belinda, who created this adorable layout to display her son at his first Tiger Cub Pinewood Derby. For my first Scrappy Mama Challenge, we only had 2 entries, but hopefully we'll get more in the future. The other entry was from Paula, who made the cute layout below:

To choose the winner, I used the "coin flip" tool on Random.org for the first time. I assigned "heads" to Belinda and "tails" to Paula. I had the computer "toss" 3 coins and the results are shown below. I know...I'm such a geek, but I think this is neat (you can even pick what kind of coin to toss).

Congratulations, Belinda! I'll be sending you the adorable prize kit shortly. Stay tuned for more challenges, and spread the word about this blog so we can get more entries (ideas) next time. I know I have some work to do to make it a bit easier for people to link their entries to this blog.

Preparing for Crops

Here's a tip that I've discovered over the years that really helps me get the most work done at my crops and other scrapbooking gatherings with friends:

MAKE YOUR OWN KITS!

I used to bring my photos to crops and bring as much of my stuff with me as was physically possible because I never knew what I might need. Instead, before I go to a crop, I set aside some time to group photos with the papers and accessories that I will use to create each layout. I pack everything for that "kit" in a 12x12 Craft Keeper and then it's all together making assembly so much quicker and easier.

I hope you'll try this for your next crop, you'll be amazed at how much more you can get done!

Botanical Blooms Thank You

This is the first card I've made using one of this year's Sale-A-Bration sets! The Botanical Blooms is, for now, my favorite 2009 SAB set. I used some of my old stash of supplies to complete this one: including a sheet of retired Real Red Prints paper and some mulberry paper.

Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Wonderful Words
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Papers: Real Red Prints DS paper, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, White Mulberry
Accessories: Paper Piercer and template

I think it would have looked better if I had embossed the "thank you" on the patterned paper. I haven't used my heat tool in so long! Quite often lately, my youngest daughter is sitting on my lap while I stamp, so embossing is not always very practical!

5 Days left for Sketch Challenge!

Just 5 days left before I draw a name for the winner of my first sketch challenge! Here's another example that I whipped up last week with some extra kit materials. The details for the challenge can be found here. I can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

Papers: Starburst Storytellers Paper, Tempting Turquoise Textured Cardstock, Green Galore, Real Red
Accessories: Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, Startburst Storytellers die cuts

My first Scrapbook Page

Since I recently finished my 2008 album, I was a little reminiscent about when I started scrapbooking. I'll never forget how I was introduced to this great hobby. A friend of mine named Sue brought me into her car on our lunch break to show me her Creative Memories scrapbooks. We played volleyball together, and I remember her saying that it's less expensive than playing volleyball....now I'm not too sure about that!! I guess it depends on how addicted you are to either volleyball or scrapbooking! Anyway, she invited me to a monthly evening crop at her house, and I started going to all the local stores to get all the "necessities. That was about 10 years ago (WOW!) and here I am still loving it! I thought it might be fun to show you all my first scrapbook page:

This pages is about my precious Abu who passed away a year ago. These pictures were taken when he was only 8 weeks old. What a cutie!

March Layout Challenge

I'm excited to offer my first ScrappyMama Scrapbooking Challenge this month. Since most people I know tend to scrapbook 2 page layouts, I'm going to provide a 2-page layout sketch for you all to try. You can then take a picture of your layout , post the picture on splitcoaststampers.com, your own blog, or some other online gallery, and then link it in a comment to this blog post. For every picture you post, you will be entered into a drawing for this month's blog candy, a page kit with supplies from StoryTellers Club.

The deadline for entry into this challenge is Sunday March 15th. I will be drawing a winner on Monday, March 16th. The winners picture will be posted on this blog that week.

The sketch that we'll be using is one that I found in the March issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine by Becky Higgins.
The prize drawing is a page kit from StoryTellers Club that is "Love" themed. You could use these papers to make 4-6 layouts if you add some more cardstock of your own, it comes with so many die-cut embellishments. Included in the kit is 2 sheets of double-sided patterned paper, and 3 sheets of coordinating die-cut embellishments.

Good Luck everyone! I'm excited to see what you will come up with!