Smile

Hello paper crafters. Today I'm happy to share a card I posted on the KinderStampO blog as a guest designer. KinderStampO has a great selection of flowers, trims, and other bling that you just NEEEED. The theme for this project was FUN IN THE PARK. 

Initially, I pulled out bright pinks and teals, but decided on a more elegant feel for my card. Here's what I created:

As you can see, I thought of a fun day at the park, laying among the flowers and smiling. Who doesn't like a day to escape responsibility and just enjoy the scenery?! 

I started by sewing patterned paper onto the card front, adding a doily and the sentiment. Next, I layered several punched out pieces, flowers, and bling. The heart was punched out of white cardstock and inked with a dye ink pad. The hard surface of the dye ink pad made the harsh lines you see. I added more stitching to the collage of embellishments, only this time a little less structured. 

You can find the bling, doily, and paper flowers in the KinderStampo Online Store. Make sure to check out the KinderStampO blog to find more inspiration.

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Kraft, Sugar, Blueberry)
Stamps: Market Street Stamps
Ink: Memento (Rich Cocoa)

Challenge Time :: Valentine Treats

This is my second post for today. If you've found your way here from the Practical Scrappers blog, please scroll down to view my post on wood veneers. Thanks for visiting!

Today marks a new challenge at the A Muse Studio Challenge Blog. Are you ready?! Tobey Shepherd is our host the next two weeks and has a great prize for a lucky winner. I do hope you'll play along with us. Tobey challenged us to create a Valentine-themed gift or treat for someone special. I've been working on full sized Valentines to send out to friends; therefore, I created a card with A Muse Studio products. 

I'm still crazy in love with the doilies A Muse Studio released in their Valentine Catalog & Inspiration Guide. Haven't seen it yet? Download it here. After adhering the doily to the card front, I added some faux stitching. Next, I layered on a kraft circle, a few paper flags, and some bling. How cute is this little speech bubble?! I stamped it onto white cardstock and a second time onto kraft cardstock. I then cut out the heart and adhered it to the white image. I must say, I'd love to receive this fun valentine... I can't wait to send it off to someone dear to me!

CARD SUPPLIES

Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar, Grape), American Crafts (Dark Kraft)

Patterned Paper: A Muse Studio (Buttercup Polka Dot)

Doilies: A Muse Studio (4.5 inch)

Bling: A Muse Studio (Black Pearls)

Stamps: A Muse Studio (Sending My Love)

Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black), ZIG Writer (Black)

*You can purchase A Muse Studio products in my webstore.

On Trend :: Wood Veneers

Wood grain patterns and wood accents have been popping up everywhere! It comes at no surprise that the On Trend Team has chosen to show off some great ways to incorporate this trend into your paper crafting. For my project, I chose to add a small wood veneer banner to a card. Take a look:

I really wanted the sentiment to be the spotlight of this card. Therefore I stamped the phrase on a wood veneer banner from Studio Calico. I used StazOn ink, a solvent based ink that doesn't wipe off, smear, or run on glass, acrylic, and wood. I kept the other elements of the card simple to further draw your attention to the sentiment, choosing to add a single layer of vellum and a few paper scraps. As an additional element, I headed over to my sewing machine and stitched a few crazy lines around the vellum.

To finish off the card, I stamped the compass image onto the vellum with StazOn and added a few pieces of bling. 

Head over to the Practical Scrappers blog to see what the rest of the On Trend Team came up with this week. They have some fantastic ideas on incorporating wood into your paper crafting projects. I just know you'll be inspired to give this trend a try!

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Kraft, Blueberry)
Patterned Paper: A Muse Studio (Buttercup Polka Dot)
Vellum: Paper Cut (29lb)
Bling: A Muse Studio (White Pearls)
Wood Veneer: Studio Calico (Banners)
Stamps: A Muse Studio (Sending My Love)
Ink: StazOn (Jet Black)
*You can find A Muse Studio products in my webstore.

Sketch It Saturday :: Hugs & Kisses

Hello folks! It's another Sketch It Saturday with Unscripted Sketches, and they've got a great sketch for you to try out this week! 

And here's my take on the sketch:

I left the large circle in the same position, but changed the card to a landscape design. The design was also changed by moving the two smaller circles and adding a heart and sentiment. But that's the great part about a sketch - It's just a starting point for creativity! 

We'd love to see what you create with the sketch. Link up your project at Unscripted Sketches for a little blog love! 

 CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: Paper Cut, American Crafts
Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers
Stamps: We R Memory Keepers
Ink: StazOn (Jet Black)
Punches: Marvy Nesting Punches

Bon Voyage

Good morning! I'm here today with 

a great card sketch from Practical Scrappers! 

Here's my take on the sketch:

I started with these fun stamps from Market Street Stamps, digging through my stash for bright colored travel papers. Luckily, I still had some pieces from the Travel Light collection by We R Memory Keepers. I inked all the edges and added some faux stitching to liven up the card. Before attaching the airplane to the card front, I adhered a small piece of Baker's Twine and tied it to my sentiment. 

Head over to the Practical Scrappers Blog to see how my fellow design team members interpreted the sketch. They've created some great inspiration for you! 

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: American Crafts, Paper Cut
Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers (Travel Light Collection)
Stamps: Market Street Stamps (Bon Voyage)
Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), ZIG Writer (Black), ColorBox (Black)

Roar

This is my second post for today. If you're looking for the Secret Birthday Blog Hop for Jess, please scroll down to the next post. Thanks for stopping by!

It's been ridiculously cold here in Wisconsin the last week... We're talking NEGATIVE NUMBERS! Luckily, Use It Tuesday is challenging us to Warm It Up! This week's challenge was to Use Red, Orange, and/or Yellow in your project.

 Here's the project I created for inspiration on the Use It Tuesday blog:

I had these three photos in a 12x12 page protector inside my scrapbook just waiting. The pictures were a little blurry and orange. One had not enough flash, and the others had too much. I wouldn't even include them normally, but they mean a lot to me. Believe it or not, my roommate and I talked non-stop about the giant t-rex long before arriving to New York. It was highlighted on our itinerary. We're just a little crazy like that. The Use It Tuesday challenge was perfect!

Remember, Use It Tuesday calls for you to use your hoarded supplies! One might say the hoarded supplies in this project were the pictures! The polka dot and calendar washi tapes, along with the flag paper clips have been in my Smashbook stash for more than a year just waiting to be used. 

I made the pieces of washi tape small with dramatic tears in hope it would mimic slash marks - Jurassic Park destruction. For the title, I used the negative, left over packaging of some chipboard letters to trace t-rex. This is a great for when you're in a pinch - Ran out of the letter "e?" Don't want to get out your die cutting machine? The colors just don't match? No problem! Just trace any letters or negative you do have!

Now it's your turn. Create a project with one or more colors - Red, Orange, and/or Yellow - and link your creation to the Use It Tuesday blog by noon EST on Friday, February 1, 2013. Please make sure to mention you are playing along with a Use It Tuesday challenge so we know you are participating! 

As always, one lucky participant will be randomly chosen to be a featured guest designer in an upcoming challenge! Will it be you?

PAGE SUPPLIES

Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar)

Patterned Paper: BasicGrey (Fact 12x12)

Embellishments: BasicGrey (Fact Fabric Stickers), K&Company (Flag SMASH Clips)

Washi Tape: K&Company (Black Dots SMASH, Calendar SMASH) 

Super Secret Birthday Blog Hop

Happy HAPPY birthday to Jessica of KinderStampO! We're celebrating with a super secret blog hop! Here's the card I created for Jess:

You can find the doily and flowers in KinderStampO's online store. I love all of their gorgeous trims and embellishments. The flowers were cut off their wire stems and hot glued onto the card front along with some patterned paper and faux stitching. 

For joining in the birthday fun, we're giving one lucky winner a $25 gift card to the KinderStampO store! To be entered into the drawing, be sure to comment on each blog post. You're headed to Amanda's blog next, but here's a full list in case you get lost.

KinderStampO

Susannah McManus

Kelly Elisa Kammerdiener

Raffaela Perego

Cat Beaty

Cathy Derouche

Mandie Wade

Aissa Rodriguez Segarra

Haidee Shableau

CJ Shumaker

Nicole Laha (me!)

Amanda Tibbitts

DD Crafts 

Linda Myquillingnest

Lilli Solstrale Nikolaisen

Jennifer Peekhaus

Shana Tedrick

 Thanks for stopping by... Jess, have the most wonderful birthday!

CARD SUPPLIES

Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar)

Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee, American Crafts

Doily, Flowers: KinderStampO

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), ZIG Writer (Black)

On Trend :: Arrows

Good morning! I'm here with another fun trend to try: ARROWS! The On Trend Team shows effective ways to use this trend in your scrapbook layouts. To take a look, head over to the Practical Scrappers blog. Here's the page I created for today:

This page is a collage of photos that I had snapped with my cell phone as I was walking through the city one afternoon. Arrows have been showing up in my layouts and cards a lot recently, so I wanted to do something completely different with today's page. I started by stamping a bold border around the page with an arrow stamp.

I originally planned to have a large title across the bottom of the page; however, I ran out of thickers. This became a great opportunity to use another arrow! With a smaller title, I added a transparency die cut arrow to join the title to the photos, moving your eye from the bottom corner to the photos to the journaling. Arrows can create movement on a page as well as bring attention to a focal point.

I've been looking for a creative way to use these wood veneer banners from Studio Calico. So fun! I strung them on some bakers twine and adhered it to my page. To add a few more banners, I wrapped washi tape around the twine and cut to size. 

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you're inspired to use arrows on your next layout!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: American Crafts (Dark Kraft), Paper Cut (White)

Patterned Paper: BasicGrey (Fact & Fiction)

Stamp: Market Street Stamps (My Thoughts Exactly)

Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Washi Tape: K&Co (Black Dots), Studio G

Embellishments: BasicGrey (Fact & Fiction), Studio Calico (Wood Veneer Banners)

Sketch 195 :: Card Making with Stickers

Welcome to Sketch it Saturdays with Unscripted Sketches! As you can see, I'm running a bit behind on my post... so sorry! If you've never heard of Unscripted Sketches, every Saturday morning we post a sketch for the week. Flip the sketch, rotate it… create a card, a scrapbook page, or anything your imagination comes up with! There is no right or wrong way, as long as you are using the Unscripted Sketch as the inspiration and basis of your creation!

 

This week, we not only have a great sketch for you, but it's time for our monthly PIGGYBACK CHALLENGE! During the piggyback week, we add an additional, optional challenge. This week's challenge element is to use STICKERS! 

 

For my card this week, I started with a great sticker from Penny Black Inc. Penny Black has a great collection of clear and wood mounted stamps. In addition, they carry sticker sets that can easily be turned into beautiful cards. I punched three circles from black cardstock and used them as the bottom element of the sketch. Because the stickers was larger than the sketch called for, I didn't add the second rectangle, and opted for a small sentiment to the left of the image. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the designers' creations this week... They've all used stickers in unique ways. Now pull out your stickers, old and new... I can't wait to see what you create with them!

Have a great day...

All of my craft time in my studio the last few weeks has been devoted to scrapbooking. I'm happy to finally be documenting my recent trips and memories into an album; however, I've missed the excitement and instant gratification that comes from card making. Therefore, I spent my afternoon making nothing but cards. Woo hoo! Eleven cards and two tags later, I have a little something to show you... This card using the most adorable image from Penny Black. Hope you enjoy :)

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: American Crafts, Copic X-Press It Blending Paper
Stamps: Penny Black
Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic Markers

Layout Wednesday

You can find me on the Creations Galore blog today with a layout I created for my newlywed friends using BoBunny's Detour Collection.

My Life In Pictures

It's been a while since I've shared my weekend in pictures... So I've rounded up some highlights from the last two months to share with you all. 

I tried my first vegan cupcake... 

From my favorite coffee shop, Kavarna.

My pops turned 50 on Dec 21st, the scheduled day of our world's end... It didn't, and we celebrated with a surprise party, his family and friends, and a wall full of memories.

Christmas Eve was spent with close friends and family... Candlelight church service and the Chinese buffet! An odd but delightful tradition.

Christmas! So many kids... I can't wait until next year when my little niece or nephew will make his appearance.

I lost my first game of Settlers of Catan... But let's be honest, I won't be building real life villages any time soon. 

I started Project Life! I invested in lots of protectors and have incorporated them into my traditional scrapbooks. 

Planning pages! Finally documenting my recent trip to NYC.

My recent look... High bun, bangs, and no make up. At least I dressed up and got fancy for New Years Eve... and then didn't take any pictures to prove I looked good. hahahaha 

Spending every possible moment with my bestie, Anna. She's moving in less than a week! I'm so happy for her and yet soooo sad. I'm going to miss this face.

Creating lots of Make N Takes for Creations Galore, my day job. Beyond the projects, customers, and classes, I love inspiring future generations of crafters!

After Christmas Party! My friends are adorable...

NEW products from A Muse Studio... Sending out lots of Valentine's this year!

And lastly... Glitter. Everywhere. On me, on my schtuff, in the carpet... oh my. Even my eyelashes. I've officially learned a valuable lesson. Don't use glitter. I mean, be careful.

Thanks for stopping by and catching up with me. I'll be back tomorrow with a new crafty project!

DIY Valentines

This is my second post today. If you've traveled here from the Practical Scrappers blog, please scroll down to see today's snow themed layout!

It's a new year and time for new challenges at the A Muse Studio Challenge Blog! Woo Hoo! Tracey is hosting the first challenge, and it's to celebrate your new goodies. Show your love for something new to you by combining it with one of your favorites. Whether your paper crafting favorite is a color, tool, or technique, use it to showcase one of those new, never been used items we all have. 

Link up your project to the A Muse Studio Challenge blog by January 26th for your chance to win some great A Muse Studio products. You can find out more here.

When I heard Tracey's challenge to use our new items, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! I picked up some A Muse Studio glassine envelopes a few months ago and hadn't taken them out of the package. With February 14th quickly approaching, today was just the right day to use those envelopes to make some pretty valentines!

My favorite paper crafting technique is paper piecing. I'm a sucker for detail cutting! I started out with a doily and some washi tape from the new Valentine catalog. Next, I stamped the heart, from the Sending My Love set, onto kraft cardstock and patterned paper. After cutting them out, I adhered them to the front of the envelope and added pearls. In the open space on the left hand side, I added the names of the recipients in permanent, acid free marker.  

To coordinate with the CA-UTE envelopes, I created these Valentine cards:

 

I started out with the card base, adding faux stitching with the same permanent marker. After cutting a layer of kraft paper, I added pieces of washi tape and rounded the corners. Of course I had to add the piece of doily I trimmed off the envelopes to the card front. This I Heart You stamp is also from the Sending My Love stamp set. I first stamped it onto white cardstock and then again on patterned paper. I cut out the patterned paper heart and adhered it to the white piece. 

Creating the set of cards and envelopes was fast and easy. You could create a set to give away as a gift or give away individually to those you love. Who says Valentine's Day has to be for couples?! I'm going back to the days of grade school and handing out valentines to all my friends. 

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar, Kraft)

Patterned Paper: BasicGrey (Fiction 12x12 Paper Pack)

Pearls: A Muse Studio (White)

Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts (1-inch Corner Rounder)

Marker: Bic Ultra Fine Acid Free (Black)

Washi Tape: A Muse Studio (Valentine Collection)

Doily: A Muse Studio (4.5 inch)

Envelopes: A Muse Studio (Large Glassine)

*You can find A Muse Studio products in my webstore

On Trend :: Snow Themed Layouts

Last week the temperatures here in Wisconsin rose and the sun came out, melting most of our gorgeous snow. Then the temperature dropped drastically last night, turning all the water to ice. What a deadly, ugly combination. Luckily, the On Trend Team is showing off some beautiful snow themed projects on the Practical Scrappers blog today. You're sure to be inspired to add some snow to your next layout or card! Here's the page I added to the post:

I'm currently pulling together old photos and creating an album of life highlights. One of the highlights is this great trip with "the boys" ice fishing. The card ride to the lake and back was nothing short of ridiculous fun, and I think these photos show off a bit of that. 

I chose these bright papers to bring out the green and red in the photos and added blues and yellows to keep it from appearing too Christmas themed. This entire trip was exciting and adventuresome, so I didn't want muted blues and purples that usually appears in winter themed layouts. Color can play a huge role in the mood of your page. 

The snowflakes were cut with A Muse Studio dies out of white cardstock. They seemed to get lost on the paper. Therefore, I brought attention to them by outlining them with a marker and adding a black pearl to the centers.

All of the papers used on this page are from paper stacks. As you can see below, I wasn't too careful when tearing out the background page. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the small tear until I had several pieces permanently adhered to the page. To rescue the piece, I adhered a small strip of coordinating paper behind the background paper to complete the corner. After adding a few embellishments, you can hardly notice the mistake! 

Thanks for stopping by today. Don't forget to head over to the Practical Scrappers blog to find even more snow themed inspiration! 

 LAYOUT SUPPLIES
Patterned Paper: BasicGrey (Fact 12x12 Paper Pad), DCWV (Mainstreet Stack)
Cardstock: A Muse Studio (Sugar)
Dies: A Muse Studio (Snowflake Trio)
Bling: A Muse Studio (Black Pearls)
Marker: Bic Acid Free Ultra Fine (Black)
Embellishments: BasicGrey (Fact & Fiction Die Cut Transparencies)
*You can find A Muse Studio products in my webstore.

Sketch It Saturday :: Superstar

Good morning! I'm here today with a new sketch from Unscripted Sketches, and I'm positive you're going to love this one! 

I was so excited for this sketch. There's so many possibilities. Here's the card I created:

The arrow is stamped with black StazOn ink on a patterned vellum and cut to size. To balance out the arrow and star, I added an additional stripe along the bottom of the card. Looking forward to sending this card to a superstar in my life. 

Head over to Unscripted Sketches to see all the great projects our Design Team put together and to enter your own creation! I can't wait to see what you make!

CARD SUPPLIES
Cardstock: American Crafts, Paper Cut
Vellum: Paper Cut
Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers (Poplin), Pink Paislee (Junk), Kaisercraft (Playful)
Stamps: Market Street Stamps (My Thoughts Exactly)
Ink: StazOn (Jet Black)
Punch: EK Success (Folk Star)