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)

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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!!

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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!

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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!!

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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)

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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!
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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!!!
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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...

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{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.
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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)

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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!
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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?

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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!!

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

Playing With Claudine Hellmuth in my Craft Studio on a Snow Day

Playing in the snow? I wish, but the kids are a little old and crusty about all that anymore, so I am inside playing with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Line products instead. Nothing quite like getting gloriously messy is there? Her new stamps work so beautifully with her paint line, and I used Archival ink for the clear outline stamps just in case I needed or wanted to get it wet again for some reason before I put it all on the mini canvas.
Maybe I can talk my kids into a few snowballs and some cocoa later, but for now the craft studio is warm, cozy and providing plenty of fun!
Head over to the CLASSroom blog and leave comments on the 12 Days of Christmas posts for chances to win really great crafting products!

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Steampunk Graphic 45 and UTEE Jewelry

The Steampunk collection from Graphic 45 was the perfect paper for my UTEE jewelry! There is a post over at the CLASSroom with a tutorial and helpful hints for creating projects similar to this if you are interested. Very easy and great for gift giving, these are the kind of projects that people oooh and aaaah over and are amazed that you did it yourself. You can keep the smile on your face when you let them think that it took all day to make when in reality it was only an hour or so :o)

Be careful though, once you start making them everyone on your list will want one and you may have to start your own Etsy shop to keep up with the demand...

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Quick Gift Card and Money Holders

I wanted to share a quick way to make some gift card and money holders that will also double as tags and ornaments. It is fun when you wake up on Christmas morning and on the tree there are all kind of extra little goodies that have been left by Santa and the elves! And having a really great gift wrapped up with a cute tag letting everyone know who it is for that is also holding an extra little treat raises the excitement to a whole new level!





















 I used some really FAB Hambly products to make a few of these fun items and did a quick walk through to share how you can do it too!

For a money holder I started with a piece of Hambly Silver Chicken Coop overlay that was trimmed at 3" wide and 7" tall, then a piece of inexpensive laserjet transparency for the back at the same size.

 Stitch around three side, I left one of the long ones open because I wanted it to be easy to slip the money in and out, but if you are a prankster you could do it the other way.

 Carefully place a rub-on in the location you would like it to be, and starting rubbing!!






















 Add a place for the to and from and maybe a snowflake for the tree topper, it is all good!






















Punch a hole in the top and then add the cash and then it is ready to be hung on the tree or tied to a gift box! And who doesn't love a little cash? The perfect gift for all occasions!

If you are giving gift cards, do the same thing only measure for the gift card instead. This time I placed the inexpensive transparency as the top layer and put a rub-on there as well for a little more dimension, so cool!
Add the gift card and place on the tree or as the gift tag! The great thing about these bad boys is that they are re-usable too! Sturdy enough to use every year for the kids that are at home, or re-purpose as a page element for extra pictures or a pocket for some journaling, cute!!!

For a fun gift tag that can start as an ornament until you are ready to get it onto the box fold a pleated flower and then hot glue the ribbon or string on.
















Very festive, and again you can re-purpose to a page by snipping off the ribbon, and putting it on a card or page! I found the kraft card stock stickers came off pretty easily and it would look great with a button or a big bow in the center instead!






















And if your brain isn't ready to explode with all of these fun ideas, and you need a quick gift as well, place some of those gorgeous rub-ons  onto some glass containers and give the gifts of goodies!

Who doesn't love some delish snacks in adorable containers that can be used year after year?

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Tussy Mussy Tutorial

Do you love to make flowers, or interested in learning how? I wrote and photographed a really fun and easy to follow tutorial for making flowers and a Tussy Mussy holder for the flowers in Ellen Hutson's new E Magazine called Create that is on sale now in her digital download section of her shop.

 

This designing and photography for this project took a lot of creative energy and time, so please give credit back to me if you create the flowers or the Tussy Mussy. The magazine also has really useful information for coloring with Copic Pens, and some very interesting interviews with Claudine Hellmuth and Brandin O'Neill. There are also fun techniques to try and some really great templates included as well. 50 pages of really high quality information for your paper crafting cravings.

Perfect gift for yourself and a very inexpensive gift certificate can make it a wonderful gift to those hard to shop for friends and family that love creating as well  :o)

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I Have Been Keeping a Big Secret!!

And I am so excited that I can finally let the whole world know!

In May 2011, from the 27th through the 29th I will be in fabulous Palm Springs with some extraordinarily talented artists sharing and teaching what I love to do! Art-Full Horizons is an opportunity for people who love creating to come and enjoy time with others who love to do the same thing! An exciting schedule that is packed with all kinds of delightful events, a gorgeous place to hang out and lots of new friends just waiting to be made!
I hope some of you can come and play with us!!
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Snowflakes That Fall

So simple, but I love it.
Some snowflakes cut out of Hambly's gorgeous pearl white with screen printed gold snowflakes. I stitched the swirls on my sewing machine and then adhered the little snowflakes into place.
This picture of Carter being used as a shield by his daddy during a snowball fight is so super cute that I really wanted it to shine. Our family loves the snow and this picture captures that fun so beautifully :o)

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Peace On Earth

Not a lot of time to post, but wanted to share...

So here is a little Christmas card made with some Doodlebug and Basic Grey that makes me happy and keeps my priorities for this season straight, hopefully it works for you too!

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Glitz and Glam!

A really fun tutorial to make your own stamps and to recreate the look of this tag are up in the CLASS room.

It is one of the favorite tags I have ever made, the combination of the sparkle from the glitter and embossing powder mix with the metal details makes me weak in the knees!!


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So Very Merry

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? I was struggling to find some, we have been really busy and there just hasn't been the time or more importantly, we haven't made time to appreciate the reason for the season. A sweet friend and I spent the evening together at the Dickens Festival at the Utah State Fairgrounds and while it was light on the Dickens and heavy on the noisy and bustling, it was a great way for me to find my holiday spirit. I think taking the time to slow down and step away from everything that is constantly pulling on me was what it took for the merry to find a way in.
A card made with Doodlebug's adorable Christmas line is almost sweet enough to need a trip to the dentist's office to fill the cavities it creates. This is what the holidays are about for me, time with my loved ones appreciating all the reasons that we have to make merry. So nice to be reminded of that and get back on track.

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Day 6

Ellen has been working and playing so hard that she asked me if I wouldn't mind helping her make a couple of tags for the 12 tags of Christmas with a feminine twist over at the CLASS room. I loved doing this last year with Lisa, so I was thrilled when Ellen invited me to share some ideas there.

This is sneak peek of what you will find over there, instructions and all!
If you have time, play along, you will find loads of inspiration and some fun and time saving tips. Ellen and I share what we have learned from our trials and errors and pass this helpful information along to you!
Wishing for snow and lots of merry!
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There Was This One Time...

 One of the projects that I made as a Guest Artist for Pink Paislee was this layout. I love this color combination and the background treatment was fun to think up, The one layer was misted with a mix of Ranger Dimensional Pearls that had been diluted with water in a Mini-Mister. The circles were punched and then inked individually to get different depth of color to make them more interesting. I don't know how I thought of the diagonal stitching, but I had done it on this layout first and like it so much that I used it for the Hambly one I did with the squares. I will most definitely be using that again as I am so enamored with the results. The picture was stitched on three sides so that it could hold some hidden journaling. The paper has so much script on it already that I didn't want the story to have to fight for attention or distract from the design. The little butterfly was easy to color with more dimensional pearls that had been diluted and applied with a paint brush. It makes a great pull tab for the journaling card.

Laurel is such a great story teller, she always has fun anecdotes and thrives on the opportunity to share some of her days occurrences. We love that she is so open to sharing her life with us, and is quite entertaining.

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