Joys of Easter

Here's a layout I quickly assembled using some Easter elements from one of my StoryTellers Club Kits. This layout captures some Easter activities that the kids enjoyed on Good Friday, including an outdoor Easter Egg Hunt. The title was created using my "Making the Grade" Cricut cartridge.

Fun Summer Card

Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, and Green Galore are 3 colors that say "summer" to me. Here's a card that I made to play with the cute and funny "Just Beachy" stamp set. The faces on some of these fish crack me up! The black strip is embossed with the small polka dots Texturz plate and the Big Shot (not visible in photo). The greeting is from "Family Phrases" and is stamped on a circle punchout, framed with a larger green circle. An orange oval is placed behind the circles and black brads are used to anchor the label to the card. Black Gingham ribbon is used for an accent and the the patterned paper is from the Flock Together pack. The corner rounder is used to round off the background and the black strip.

Scrap-A-Stack Photos

Here are the rest of the photos from the Scrap-A-Stack, the first was posted on 5/17 for the Sketch Challenge. The intent of this class was to create 12 simple pages using the same sketch, but different colors, papers, and accessories. There are no titles and the pages are generic enough that they can be used for a variety of photos. Enjoy!

Classy Cards: Big Shot

This month's Classy Cards focused on using the Big Shot in a variety of ways, and also playing with some punches and rhinestones. This first card was made with the Manhattan Textured Impressions Die. The nice thing about this die (which is much like a Cuttlebug embossing folder) is that it practically mades the card. It's so elegant that you really don't need to add much else to the card. So for this, I just did some layering with Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip. The flowers are embossed on Very Vanilla. I added a greeting from "Short and Sweet" and layered oval punchouts. I used a Ticket corner punch on the corners of the Vanilla and added a blue rhinestone brad and Vanilla Satin ribbon for embellishments.

This next card uses Basic Gray, Going Gray, Whisper White, and Pixie Pink. I used the "Embrace Life" stamp set with Going Gray ink to add some pattern to the Going Gray cardstock. The White cardstock was "texturized" with the large polka dot Texturz plate and the Big Shot. I used the Simple Flower Embosslit die with some Pixie Pink textured cardstock to create the flower (so nice, embosses and cuts in one step). Pink grosgrain ribbon and a pink rhinestone brad finish it off!

This last card is an example of how pretty patterned paper can be used to quickly make a card in a pinch with minimal stamping. The patterned paper used here is from the Flock Together pack (keep in mind this month there's an awesome deal on patterned and textured papers!). I framed the patterned paper with some Garden Green and added a decorative So Saffron edge using my Eyelet Border punch. The greeting is from the "Great Friend" stamp set in the Occasions mini catalog, on a circle punchout framed with a scallop circle punchout. The base of the card is Tempting Turquoise.

May Layout Challenge

This is a little late in coming, but I'm excited to give you all a new sketch challenge to play with. I hope we will get more participation this time. This is actually the sketch that I used for last week's "Stamp-a-Stack" during which we made 6, 2-page layouts. I'm excited to see what you all come up with , feel free to share layouts with or without photos. The "deadline" for this challenge is Monday, June 1st. Due date for this challenge is Monday, June 1st. All you need to do is upload your creation to a blog or online gallery and then comment on this post and link to it. Unfortunatley, linking in a comment on blogger is not very user friendly, but it's not that bad if you just use the html code below:

In place of "linkaddress.com" place the web address of your creation, in place of "Link Name" you can write a title that you've given your creation. Feel free to contact me if you have problems or questions.

Blog candy for this challenge is another StoryTellers Club mini Kit...Owl themed this time. For some reason owls are in fashion now-a-days. I just saw a pair of jeans with an owl stitched on them!

Attention Feedblitz subscribers

For those of you who have been subscribing to this blog via Feedblitz, I just wanted to inform you that some Internet Subscribers have been cancelling your subscription without your knowledge. I'm not sure why this is happening, but if you discover that you haven't heard from me in a while, this may be the case. You are welcome to use some of the other subscription options which you can find under "Subscribe to" on the right side of my blog. If you choose one of these options you will be able to view the feeds in you web browser depending on which system you choose.

Sorry about any confusion that this may have caused. Unfortunately this subscription stuff is a little out of my control for now. For those of you who don't subscribe: in general, I update my blog on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.

Since I don't like posting without a little eye candy, here's a card that I made for the Mom for Mothers Day.

I used the Level 2 hostess set, Echoes of Kindness along with the Eyelet edge punch and on of my new Texturz plates. The colors used for this one include Ridinghood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, and Kiwi Kiss. I added some white Organdy ribbon on the flower focal point. Since I didn't have a Mothers day stamped, I just hand-wrote "mother".

My Mom made me a beautiful card for mothers day too - check it out below!

My New Craft Room

I'm so excited to share with you photos of my remodeled craft room! Last weekend I just decided to stop putting it off and started painting. Two days later....I was excited to have my new "happy place" ready to work in. In this photo above, you'll see the laminate countertop that my husband installed form me. I found this 8 foot countertop piece at Home Depot and my husband attached it to the wall and built legs for it. I put my plastic drawers that I already owned underneath it. I still need to buy some stools for it. The reason I wanted a countertop is because I often like to stand while I work and since I'm almost 6 feet tall, that can be hard on my back. Now I can stand while I'm preparing for my classes, cutting papers and gathering supplies as I move around the room.

My husband discovered these peg boards and I love them because I can change my storage arrangement as I discover what works best for me. A portion of this peg board (and countertop) is dedicated to art supplies for my kids. I love having my punches all out and visible instead of piled in boxes as they were previously. The are held up by a dowel that is braced by metal hooks in the peg board.

This is my "cutting station" with all my big cutting tools that need to stay out for everyday use. Yes, I just got a BIG SHOT!!!! I'm still playing with it, I can't wait to share some projects that I make with it.

Here's my desk. It's in the same place that it was previously, but I've now moved my ink pads and ribbons to the side wall with some new storage systems that I purchased on ebay (see below). Now this gives me more table space. Also, notice the "Create" decor elements from Stampin' Up! over my desk!

I still have some extra stuff that I have to find places for, but I thought enough has changed that you'd be excited to see it!

Alexa at 1

Here's another layout for Alexa's Album of her 1 year old photos...my little baby! For this one I used a Simply Scrappin Kit called "2 Sweet." I used half a kit to make this layout and another extra layout below and I still have more stickers and paper left! Colors for this include Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Gray.

Alexa at 2

Wow...I'm actually posting a layout with photos in it!! Haven't done that for a while. As many of you know I make an album for each of my children with one 2-page layout per year. Here is Alexa's layout for age 2. I used supplies from one of my StoryTellers Club kits...the paper was meant to coordinate with some Easter embellishments but I skipped those and just added some flowers that I made with my 5-petal flower punch and a small circle punch.