Susiebee Studios in da House!

Just a few weeks ago a very talented and sweet friend asked if I would have some time to help her with a project. I love to help, and the kind of help she needed is one of my favorite kind to do  :o)
She needed a few people to play with her new paper line, and then share what they had made, I can do that!! So BIG congrats to Susan Weckesser on her product line Susiebee Studios, and BIG thanks to her for letting me "help/play" with her papers, so fun!!!

I am really excited for her, she is living her dream!
These papers are so bright, and beautifully designed using Susan's personal art, I felt inspired to make of layout of Laurel from her graduation picture that reflected that same idea, live your dreams! The title is fly, and how appropriate is it that we use all of the hard work we do everyday to get us closer to our dreams?

I added a little stickles in scattered straw from the distress line on some of the darker parts of the yellows in the sun and stars and the flower, and some bright sparkly yellow stickles on the lighter parts of the same images. Just a little extra dimension besides the parts that I had fussy cut out.

A banner, kite, flowers, clouds and sunshine...
so many of the things that make me happy, and all on one layout, sweet!!!
I hope you will stop by and congratulate Susan, and maybe find some time to live a little of your dream today, I know I was inspired to live a little of mine  ;o)

B-

Grateful to Have Tyler Home!

It has been a little over a week since my last post, and I want to thank everyone who came by to see my little "reject" card and for all of the really nice comments, so thoughtful and kind!!
Here it is with the small change of going from a baby card to a welcome home card. Nothing earth shattering, just a sentiment change and a design line around the card base.

My family and I spent the last week anticipating and preparing for my oldest son to arrive home after being in Brazil for two years serving an LDS mission. His flight was scheduled to arrive at 3:55 p.m. on Thursday afternoon and we eagerly awaited him at the airport, constantly checking the arrival board to see the change from "on-time" to "arriving".

My status at facebook was:

"At the airport waiting....
Big stomach butterflies from anticipation!!!!
If I get any more anxious that stomach might fall right out of my butt!!"

There were some very funny and appropriate replies, but the one that made me giggle and seemed the most realistic was from Leslie Ashe. She said "or if butterflies are following you, we know why  ;D happy waiting!"

Thank goodness (or there might have been butterflies following me around!), Tyler's flight ended up arriving a few minutes early, at about 3:47 (give or take a minute, lol!) I spotted him and snapped a few pics as he made his way out of the secure terminal area and spotted me spotting him  :o)

As soon as he saw all of us, he started walking a little faster, trying not to be rude or to break into a run. But he was dodging other travelers like he was in an obstacle course, and then bee-lined right into my arms and we hugged for a few long sweet, happy, sobbing mommy moments before I remembered I needed to share him with the rest of the family  <3

Another missionary mom whose son was not on this flight but one soon after was so sweet and grabbed a family shot for us, thanks to her for letting me be in the picture!!

The rest of our afternoon was spent doting on Tyler and his every whim :o)
It was awesome!! We had pizza from his favorite pizzeria (The Pie!), we got our 7-11 trip in so he could have a big Dr. Pepper and we put in Iron Man 2 and sat back and enjoyed watching it with the sound so loud you could feel the furniture shaking, good times!

Welcome home Tyler!! I am so proud of you for serving with a loving and generous spirit, and thrilled to have you home where I can enjoy your wit, charm and enthusiasm for life!
I love you!
B-

Sweet Baby Boy

The emails requesting projects for the latest Paper Crafts project Go-To-Sketches 2 went out today and I was thrilled to have a few cards make it into this special issue! But with all calls come rejects and I thought it would be fun to share this one tonight, because tomorrow I am going to do a little makeover on it and have it ready to give to Tyler when he gets home in just 6 days!!!

Watch for this special issue to hit the stands, because with only 288 cards being selected from 2,760 submissions, it will be knocking our socks off!!
B-

Happy Birthday Kit

Very excited about this kit, I worked on it during December. It is now in the Scrap and Paper Shop ready to for you to make at least 6 cards (with plenty of product leftover to make more!) with a price of under $3 for each, you can have a card for most every birthday occasion.

And in other news, our son is only one week away from being home!! We are so excited, he shared some really cool pictures from the center point of the South American continent last week, hopefully someday soon we can go back with him and see all of the places that he has been telling us about for the last two years  :o)

B-

UTEE and Mold and Pour Beauty!

Okay, that sounds kind of cocky, but I sure do love this little card that was made with Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 line and some very unique embellishments that I created using UTEE and Mold and Pour products. I am always wanting the "perfect" match for my projects, and this technique with these products lets me get great results!

I wrote a tutorial over in the CLASSroom, would love it if you would pop by and check it out  :o)

Happy crafting!!
B-

Graphic 45 Le Cirque and a UTEE Coated Metal Flower

Just a quick share of a project that I created a tutorial for over in the CLASSroom.
I LOVE the new Staples line from Graphic 45, they pieces have such a beautiful finish, and they are so versatile. This project incorporated the Le Cirque paper line, but this card would have been just as fun and beautiful if I had used any other products because that flower is so stunning. I hope that doesn't sound to braggy, but I didn't create the flowers or think up UTEE, some other amazing people did that, I just sprinkled and heated a little happiness to make a really unique piece of art.















I hope you pop over and check out the how to do, it is a lot of fun, and there are a lot of different results that can be achieved with just a few small adjustments.
















I am so excited that I can hardly sleep, my son will be home in 15 days!!
Can you even imagine how the anticipation is swirling in our house?!!
So happy!
B-

Winner!!

We have a winner thanks to Random.org!
Congrats to Elaine Allen!!






















I will get this sent out as soon as I hear from you!!

Happy Valentines to everyone!!
B-

A Share The Love Give-A-Way!!

It was so fun using the products from Skipping Stones Designs in January, and Heather had sent me a set to give away! In all the commitments I had for projects that needed to make CHA deadlines, I had forgotten to do the give-a-way for the Heartsong set that she had sent, so lets do it now!! To make up for my tardiness, I have a set of Echo Park "Be Mine" paper to go along with it, a fun way to share the love!














Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win by Sunday at midnight. I will randomly select a winner Monday morning as the valentine that will get this sweet set of goodies!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!
B-

A Doodlebug Hi!

I made a really cute card for one of the Paper Crafts calls awhile ago, and it has been left unloved hoping that another call would come along that it works for. But alas such has not been the case and because it is made from the Doodlebug Sweet Love collection that is ridiculously cute, it seems like a great time to share it!

All of the flowers are from the Icon sticker sheet some are adhered right to the Hero Arts kraft card stock and other were put on Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares to give them some fun dimension. Of course the flowers have fantastic spot glitter on them that is hard to see in this picture, and those buttons are from the Green Doodlebug button card (delish!!) Some random machine stitching in a green thread that is the same color as the buttons adds another element of texture that I really like  :o)
Hope everyone is having fun getting preparations made for their special valentines!
B-

Paper Smooches Co-Hop!!

Have you heard?

Kim Hughes opened a stamp company on February 1st called Paper Smooches!  On The first day of every month, she is releasing 3 new whimsical and fun clear stamp sets that she hand draws.

Kim asked me to create a card using one of her February stamp sets.  I used  Birthday Buddies on the card that I have created.

She offers high quality photopolymer clear stamps, shaped card templates, a design center and so much more

There will be a monthly challenge on the The Paper Smooches Blog. (Free digi stamps are involved) Participants will be eligible to be a guest designer for the following month.
Now if you would love to see more fabulous inspiration, head on over to Teri Anderson blog!!

Here is a list of some of the Industry's top designers who are also playing with some Paper Smooches Stamps today:


Michele Boyer
Alli Miles
Lori Craig
Julie Campbell
Carole Burrage
Karolyn Loncon
Kim Kesti
Betsy Veldman
Maren Benedict
Debbie Olson
Melissa Phillips
Carly Robertson
Julia Stainton
Becky Olsen
Teri Anderson
Kyrssi Ng
Heidi Van Laar
Heather Pulvirenti
Laurie Schmidlin
Lisa Johnson
Lori Barnett
Jessica Witty
Asela Hopkins
Rae Barthel

Please help me welcome  Paper Smooches Stamps!!
B-

Live, Laugh, Love

These simple words can create a beautiful and well lived life. Chloe is such a beautiful girl inside and out, and is so good at finding balance in all of those things. I want to be more like her, and appreciate her example to all of us every day. The newest Hambly on this is the gold Silhouette Overlay and the Remixed Wood Grain in brown on gold shimmery paper and again I have left some design room for Washi tape. The bright pink with the delicious brown and richt gold is such an elegant and whimsical combination, just like Chloe, and it makes me smile from ear to ear!

I just love this picture, she looks like she has an interesting secret doesn't she? (maybe she does, lol!!)

B-

Vintage 1991

Okay, so this ended up being my favorite project that I made from the new releases. I got the shipping notice Monday and the package of product on Wednesday afternoon. Not sure what Allison would be sending, I didn't know what kinds of pictures to print, so I just waited to see what would arrive and go from there. I have to admit that I am pretty proud of myself for getting three layouts done that night and finished a fourth they day before I left amongst the hair cut appointment, laundry and packing. I was inspired by Laura sharing how many projects that she had made this month (29!!!) so here is my inventory of what I have made in the last month:

• 100+ of flowers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.
• 50 hand pleated and hot glued (burns to match) rosettes
• 25 cards for various circumstances (Doodlebug, Graphic 45 and Skipping Stones)
• 8 layouts for various circumstances as well (Doodlebug catalog and display, Hambly, and for a book project)
• 3 tussy mussies that are in the Graphic 45 booth loads of fussy cutting for those!
• 2 party hats for the Graphic 45 booth as well
• 1 mini-album 
• and last but not least 1 gift bag that was for a book project as well.

So there isn't much time in there to sleep, exercise or eat, but somehow I survived and had a blast doing it all! I seriously tell myself everyday that I am the luckiest girl, I get to do what I love everyday  :o)

I  used the newest rub-ons from the Photography and Silhouette sheets, and the lace rub-ons that were released last summer. The Birds on a Wire Overlay is a new release as well, and is so amazing!! I want one of everything in every color, this release is so fantastic!!

It is so hard to believe that it was almost 20 years ago that Laurel came into our lives, that makes her vintage in my book  :o)

B-

Girly-Girl

Time for another Hambly sneak!
Love the happy yellow banner rub-ons, and was inspired by the technique Dina did a few months ago on the Hambly blog. I had learned this technique when I had gone to Ranger U, but had forgotten about it until she did her FAB tutorial. I just sprinkled some of my Adirondack Alcohol inks onto the backs of the pre-cut circles and then sprinkled and swirled Alcohol blending solution with it. So fun!! The gray Baby Buggy Overlay and Pink Silhouette Overlay are so beautiful, and I wish you could see how colorful and beautiful this is in real life! I did leave some space on it so we could put some of the new Washi tapes on it when it gets to the show, so if it has changes, I will be sure to re-photograph and share!

So grateful you stopped by to see what was going on, and hope you have a wonderful day!!

B-

He & She

Sneak Peek #1 of Hambly Mustache Overlay in brown, I used it with other of the brown overlays in the different styles to compliment it, and then used red to give it a little pop of color. Love these pictures, they have the most natural smiles and easy happiness about them  :o)

Love the 'staches, can't wait to have a little more time to play with them!

B-

It is Almost Time!

My bag is actually packed before midnight, I have most of the things checked off my list and the few things that aren't soon will be! I will get to be in bed at a reasonable hour and be well rested for my exciting trip to Los Angeles for the Craft and Hobby Association Winter trade-show! My super cute and incredibly talented friend Laura Vegas will be my roomie, and she had the best way of describing this show to her Steelers super fan husband, it is the "Super Bowl of scrapbooking"!

I made quite a few projects with the Once Upon a Springtime line from Graphic 45, and this is one of my favorites! The papers are so fun to fussy cut, and they have an elegant whimsy that is absolutely delightful!

Thanks for stopping by, and I am going to try and get some Hambly projects pre-posted here so there is something to look at for the next few days, and be sure to visit next week, a couple of my very dear friends have some big things in the works and I can't wait to gush about them!!

B-

Curtain Call Card

I promised a sneak peek of what I had been up to, and so here it is! It has been a fun couple of weeks working with Graphic 45's newest releases, they are fabulous! There wasn't much opportunity to snap some pictures because of the tight time frame to get them made and then handed over, but I did manage to catch this one before it went out the door. I used the Curtain Call line and some of the products from the Staples collection that they do as well.






















I thought it would be fun to share a few more peeks of product as they lie on my desk...

Maybe you can find them hidden amongst the mess, lol!!!
















Off to create some more, the newest Hambly arrived today (SWOON!!!!), and it is calling out wanting to be played with  :o)

B-

Banners, Butterflies and Glitter, Oh My!!

This has been a fun month as a guest artist with Skipping Stones Design! They have beautiful art, a very talented team and I was thrilled to be included with the stellar artists that were guests as well this month. The last project used this sketch that was created by Amy Sheffer:

I used the "Always Here" set with my Tsukineko Glue Pad and Art Glitter in Damask Red to get the beautiful look for the butterfly on my card. The papers are by Making Memories from the Sienne collection and make for such a beautiful banner and background, love the colors they used in this group!

Skipping Stones has free shipping if you use the code "freeship" at checkout and be sure to become a subscriber to their newsletter to keep up with all of the goings on! This Thursday a special coupon code is going out in it just for the subscribers, you don't want to miss that!!
Anyway, thanks to Heather and Kandi at Skipping Stones Design for letting me play along!
And come back to visit soon, I am going to share a few pictures of projects that will be on display at CHA in the Graphic 45 booth.

Best!
B-

Art-Full Horizons For Free?

You have to say that like Adam Sandler does in the movie "Bedtime Stories" when he is thinking he is going to be getting a cherry red Ferrari "for free"...
Not really, that isn't what will give you the opportunity to join the Art-Full Horizon event for free, but if you head over to the Art Full horizon blog, the details are all there, and it is easy to play along. It has to be given away to someone, so why not give it a try and then maybe it could be you!!!

In other news, I am exhausted and have been working until 2 or 3 in the morning and getting up at about 8 or 9, but I am loving what I have been making! There are piles of work still waiting for me, and I promise that I will share pictures of something soon, but for now all I can do is string you along and let you know that the paper crafting industry is amazing!!!
B-

Whirl-wind, Wacky, Wonderful Wednesday of the Week!

It has been a whirlwind around these parts, having family around while we all discussed our loss and treasured our many memories was a wonderful way to spend the short amount of time that we had together. One of my amazing uncles said it so beautifully in the memorial service, "there is much consolation in a life well lived". It has given me much to think about and some new goals in how to prioritize in my decision making. I feel very blessed to have a large and involved family in my life!
The whirlwind part is that it is also the time of year where I have the opportunity to work on projects for the Craft and Hobby Association trade show that is in just 10 days and there are many deadlines for making sure that these projects make it into shipping crates that need to be on the way to the show by this Friday or Saturday. Juggling the commitments that I had made prior to the passing of my grampa, and the desire to spend as much time as possible with my siblings that had traveled very far and a great expense made for a very wacky schedule and the loss of a few hours of sleep. But it is all worth it to feel the love of my family and also send some of my creative spirit on its way.Makes me a very lucky girl!
In the midst of all of that, I have also been a guest artist for the month with Skipping Stones Designs, and this weeks project features the new release called Birthday Purses. It is such a cute and very clever set with the fun and quirky sentiments and the beautiful purse images, so fun to use!

The Cosmo Cricket Delovely is so bright and cheerful with this set, and the card came together so easily! Love it when that happens  :o)

I am off to enjoy my wonderful, wacky, whirlwind of a Wednesday. There are beautiful Graphic 45 papers from their two new releases on my desk waiting for me to play with them, and who am I to say no...

B-

{love}

It has been a bit of a rough week with my Grampa going into the hospital last weekend with bacterial pneumonia and slipping into a coma on Sunday and then passing away on Tuesday. We are having services for him tomorrow, it will be a very love filled gathering as all of his 7 children will be there most of his 30 grandchildren and a good portion of his 65 great grandchildren as well. And while it is always bitter when you lose someone that you love very much, my faith that he has gone on to spend eternity with his cherished wife and adored mother and father carries me through my grief.
It is funny that for the last 3-4 weeks I have been thinking about him a lot. No reason really, just pondering him, his life, his choices and how lucky I am to have had such an inspirational example in my life for so long. He was a very simple man that could fix almost anything. So creative in his problem solving and even though they didn't have lots of worldly possessions, his family never lacked for anything. He worked constantly, even at night when he had to be exhausted from all of the days work and the service that he provided to others he would sit to watch the television with my gramma and he would make clothes hangers. When we visited for the night if we wanted to watch with them we were expected to make hangers too. It was fun, easy and made us all feel productive even in our most relaxed state of the day. I am sure that there are thousands of those hangers in all of the families and friends closets and most of his grandchildren could show others how to make them if we had the supplies at hand.
Anyway, I feel extraordinarily blessed to have his example of selfless and unconditional love in my life and feel that it has helped shape me into a lot of who I am today.

Good bye for now Grampa, I hope that I can follow in your steps knowing that you followed in the steps of the Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Until we meet again, I will keep you with much {love} in my heart.
B-

Skipping Stones Designs Blog Hop

Welcome to the Skipping Stones Design Blog Hop to celebrate the release of two new sets, Heartsong and Purse Birthday! Today the DT and Guests of SSD will be featuring cards using Heartsong. If you've just happened upon my blog today, make sure to start from the beginning at Skipping Stones Design. You should have arrived here from Jennifer Ingle's blog.

Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means we're showcasing another great creation from our Guest Sketch Artist this month, Amy Sheffer. We'd love for you to play along with the sketch and link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog. A lucky winner that joins our sketch challenge will win either a free stamp set or half off any stamp set in the store!  and then when you are ready for another beautiful project, hop on over to Kandi Phillips blog

The Heartsong combined with Pink Paislee's Sweetness made me giddy with  happiness. I had to be a little cheeky and make sure to put one of the cute notes from the set as the body for the butterfly, and if you look really carefully you can see the music notes used in Adirondack Pigment Sunshine Yellow on the background. A subtle detail that tied it all together for me.

Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means we're showcasing another great creation from our Guest Sketch Artist this month, Amy Sheffer. We'd love for you to play along with the sketch and link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog. A lucky winner that joins our sketch challenge will win either a free stamp set or half off any stamp set in the store!

Starting Monday the 10th and going until Monday the 17th at midnight Skipping Stones Designs are having a buy 3 get of FREE sale.
Make sure to enter the code:"1free" when checking out to recieve the discount!

Thanks for bopping by  :o)

B-

A Fly By Hi

It has been busy around here and I have been a little under the weather. I have missed blogging, but don't have to much to say except "hi" so I though that this little cute card would be a fun way to thank you for stopping by and give you a little "hi" as you head on your way  :o)






















I hope everyone has a fantastic week!
B-

I thought it would be fun to share another Skipping Stones Designs project that I have made. I love the Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime collection, and it was perfect with the Dandelion Dreams and the Always Here stamp sets to make a sweet hello card!

Do you have favorite go to products right now? What are they?
With CHA just around the corner I know that what I am grabbing for will change a little and it is always so exciting this time of year to start watching for the sneak peeks! What company's sneaks are you waiting anxiously for?

B-

Guest Artist this Month for Skipping Stones Design

I am thrilled to be designing as a guest artist this month at Skipping Stones Design! They have a guest sketch designer as well as some other wonderfully talented stampers. This is the sketch for the week with more to come, and if you are interested in playing along with everyone, you can go to this post and share a link to your projects.





















The stamp set I used will be released soon and is called Heartsong. It is full of beautiful images and wonderful sentiments, I loved using it for the Valentine project that I had imagined would work beautifully with the sketch.





















Some of you may not know this about me, but I rarely use sketches so this is going to be a very fun and inspiring month of stamping and going outside of my comfort zone. If I can do it, so can you  :o)
Thanks so much Heather and Kandi for inviting me to play along!!

B-

Campfire in January?

It is the perfect time for a campfire! The kids are back in school, the house is quiet and it is too cold to be outside doing all the outside things that I love to do, so a little October Afternoon Campfire is the thing to do on a crafty winter's day!

Carter and Dave went with their Boy Scout Troop on a camping trip for Memorial Day weekend and they built huge fires, ate tons of junk food, hiked and fished. They had a wonderful time, and I hadn't scrapped the pictures they brought home (much happier to have those than the fish they caught, lol!) yet. Along came the Campfire line, and it was a match made in heaven for me!! Scrapping goes so much faster for me when I don't have to push to use product for pictures. It seems to all fall into place when the product is inspiring the pages practically make themselves and the stories come to life.





















If only everything were that easy life would be a cake walk ;o)






















I think January is the perfect time for a campfire, don't you?
B-

p.s. if you are interested in winning 9 packs of patterned paper, head over the CLASSroom and leave a comment!