Curtsey Boutique Lovlies!

Hey there... hope you all are having a great week so far!  I know I am more than happy that tomorrow is Thursday and that means two more days until the weekend!  The hubs will be off work so I am hoping we can finally have a little bit of summer time fun together.  Seems as though we haven't had enough of that lately and summer is going by just way too fast. 

Today I am in the mood to share some of my latest favorite projects that I've created for Curtsey Boutique!  I absolutely love designing with bits and pieces from the Curtsey Boutique because there are always an array of perfect embellies to add to any project I'm working on.  Seriously, totally cute stuff.  Check out the shop if you love anything fancy, frilly, vintage or shabby chic! Please note however that the shop is currently on vacation and will re-open August 10th. 

First up I have a Burlap Drawstring Bag that I decorated.  The full tutorial can be seen HERE! 

 

 

I created the kraft paper flower by die cutting some kraft lunch bags from the shop with some Spellbinder's floral dies. I then dyed the canvas brad and wooden button and burlap butterflies (also from the shop) with some Ranger Dylusions spray ink. 

 

Next up is a sweet gift bag that I had created to enclose a bracelet that I had made for my mom to give to her for Mother's Day this past May.  This bag is just perfect though for gifting a surprise to someone for practically any occasion... birthdays, best friendships or simply "just because"!

 

 

 

I've used a lined pink treat bag, a plain white doily, a dyed yellow doily, a pink glittered bird, yellow rolled felt flowers and a torn fabric strip all from the Curtsey Boutique shop.

In addition, I used Diamond Dust glass glitter, a rub-on sentiment (Kaiser Crafts) and colored feathers all from my craft stash. 

 

And finally... here's a pretty Birthday card I put together!  This one uses another yellow rolled felt flower from the shop as well as some white seam binding that I dyed yellow with some Glimmer Mist spray. 

 

 

 

The cardstock used on here is all Core'dinations (Gemstones and Core Couture collections), and the Cardstock sticker embellie with Sentiment is a Core'dinations/Darice brand from the David Tutera card collection series.  Don't you also LURV the polaroid-like chipboard frame from Recollections that I picked up at Michaels?  I think they are cool... as well as the fabby looking Heidi Swapp resist paper on here too.   By the way... the butterflies... yep, Cricut cuts of course, lol!  These are designs from the Picturesque cartridge! I seem to cut these butterflies a lot :)  

 

So there you have it!  I have many more new things to share with you from Curtsey Boutique, but I will get to sharing them later after the shop and blog are back to their regular schedule next month.  Before I sign off for the night though, I just wanted to remind all my crafty friends that I am still patiently waiting to hear if I will be joining the May Arts Ribbon Design Team for 2013-2014!  The big announcement should come  on Monday, July 29th, so I do have the entire weekend to wait it out yet! Please keep your fingers crossed for me and if you like, you still have time to check out all of the finalists 2nd round audition projects HERE!  I really would love and appreciate all of your comments and support over there on the post too if you have any extra time!  Thanks friends... and take it easy!

 

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge with Core!

Hey there! The Cupcake Inspirations Challenge Blog currently has a fun challenge underway at their site and it's exciting because Core'dinations also happens to be their sponsor for the week too!

Here's the inspiration...

 

I fell in love with this color combo and decided to create a "Hello" tag, drawing from both the colors AND the fluffy texturing of the frosting as my inspiration. 

Lotsa texture created on here with Core cardstock in both the Pastel collection and the Tim Holtz Distress collection, embossing (Lifestyle Crafts - Floral Set folders), inking (Tim Holtz/Ranger), dimensional tape, vintage glitter (Stampendous! and Diamond Glass) and ribbon (May Arts)!

 

Both the bird/branch and butterfly die cuts were made with the Cricut Picturesque cartridge.

 

Thanks for stopping by and I do hope you will take some time to create something beautiful this week with this inpiration piece!

Core Is Hoppin' with Hampton Art!

That's right!  We have been blog hoppin' ALL week long with Hampton Art and it's been so much fun!  I hope that you have been greatly inspired as I have and I am happy to have you visiting me here today with my project too!  Hampton Art has loads of fun stamp offerings and of course stamping is a favorite technique to use with all our fabulous Core cardstock collections. 

Here's the line-up... but, if you are just starting the hop today, please find some time to go back and explore the previous days.  You won't be disappointed!

Hampton Art blog: http://blog.hamptonart.com/
Core'dinations blog: http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/cat...scrapbook-blog/

Monday: Adora Concepcion http://adoraconcepcion.blogspot.com/
Beverly Sizemore http://bevscreativepath.blogspot.com/
Debbie Standard http://debbiestandard.blogspot.com/
April Derrick http://memoryvilla.com/blog/

Tuesday: Britt Bass http://pinkpapercrowns.blogspot.com/
Vivian Keh http://contadinak.wordpress.com/
Ellen Sosnoski http://closeyourears.blogspot.com/


Wednesday: Gretchen McElveen http://gretchenmac.blogspot.com/
Nina Yang http://waffleflower.com/
Lydia Jackson http://lidibids-scrapnotions.blogspot.com/
Leica Forrest http://10-4livingoutloud.typepad.com/leica_forrest/


Thursday: Gloria Stengel http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
Dana Warren http://kraftpaperstamps.blogspot.com/
Debbie Standard http://debbiestandard.blogspot.com/
Melissa Oliveira http://www.bzzyfingers.typepad.com/

Friday: Gini Cagle http://ginicagle.blogspot.com/
Andrea Amu http://imlivinonscraps.blogspot.com/  * You are here... this is ME! *

This stamp set from Hampton Art that I got to use for my project is the "Blossom Sentiments" set by Kelly Panacci.

 It's a very fun and funky flower set that is perfect to design with as we head into Spring.  I was so glad to create something with a Spring vibe to get me away from the Winter blahh hum-drum!

So, I made a flower arrangement to welcome Spring... and let's hope that it is real soon as the good little fella, Phil, predicts!

First, I glued Darice 2 ply jute around a salvaged "bread crumbs" canister.  I diecut 2 " circles from shades of Pastel Core'dinations and then stamped a large floral image onto each with Tuxedo black Memento ink. All these were outlined with a silver Signo pen and colored in with EK Success colored pencils. I sanded around each circle and then sprayed each with Pearl Glimmer Mist. I created the flowers by adhering each of the stamped circles onto a dowel rod for the stem, using Adhesive Dodz by 3L.

These rods were spray painted Apple Green with American Accents by Rust-Oleum. I tied pieces of May Arts ribbons around each flower stem to mimic leaves. I stuffed the can with spanish moss to hold the flowers in place. To complete the project I tied a green mesh bow around the can and accented with a butterfly and tag which were diecut using Cricut Picturesque. Of course I used stamping and a sentiment to complete the look of the tag! 

Well, that is all I have to share for today.  Thanks so much for stopping by and remember to visit and comment on all the other stops along the way.  You just never know when you maybe lucky enough to score a prize! :)  Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday!

Ohh, am I ever glad it's Friday!  Another work week scratched off the calendar, also means it's PAY-DAY and SOUS sketch reveal day at the Stuck On You Sketches challenge blog!  Ohhh HAPPY Day indeed! 

Today's sketch was created by our own SOUS designer and co-creator, Leah Shaeffer.

I adore her sketches and this one was definitely fun to create from...

And, here's what I did using some lovely Fall pix from 2010...

Please click on photo to view the details better!  These pretty petals in a pumpkin were delivered to me from my hubby for our 10th Anniversary... he knows how much I love Fall, so he couldn't have put had a more perfect arrangement sent!  I used Glitz Designs paper, accents and woodgrain tiny alphas here.  The Pretty Petals title piece was cut using the Cricut Country Life cartridge and the decorative flower and leaf accents were all cut using Picturesque.  The frame surrounding the title was cut with Elegant Edges.  Other paper flowers here are from Petaloo and I added orange rhinestone centers from doodlebug design.  All cardstock is Core'dinations.

So there ya have it!  Please don't forget to come visit us over at SOUS and try out the sketch yourself!  We'd love to see what you do!  Hope everyone has a beautiful and enjoyable weekend!

Quiet Moments

Hmm, quiet moments are something of a rarity around here lately, but that's what my page today is all about!  I thought that it would be the perfect title for my layout that I created for the Stuck On U Sketches challenge blog today.  Sometimes the quiet moments are all you need!  Isn't that the truth?  Anyway, this page features one of my favorite photos that I took last summer of the hubster and our doggie niece, Jenna who we were doggie-sittin' for one weekend. But if you procede further on and take a look at my page, you will notice that I have titled my "QUIET" Moments page "QUITE" Moments instead!  Lol... major spelling error!  I will be fixing that, however I guess that's what I get for staying up late to scrap!  I seriously can't believe that I didn't even notice that while I was cutting out the letters and placing them... silly me! 
First of all, here is the cool sketch we got to play with this week...

And this is my page...

Remember, you can click on the picture to view my page is closer detail!  And again, so sorry for my spelling error! 

I love the blues and greens that I used here to reflect upon the serenity of the picture.  All of these papers are from the Pink Paislee Nantucket collection, and the embossed Core'dinations cardstock is all from the matching Pink Paislee Core Impressions line of Modern Prints, which happens to be some of my all time favorite Core cardstock!  For my page I also used the Cricut Picturesque cartridge to cut the dragonfly embellishment.  The "quite" in my title was the Paper Lace 2 font as well.  Other product here includes some baby blue chevron ribbon by May Arts, some green tinsil fiber from Darice, some decorative brads from Basic Grey, green paper flowers from Petaloo, pink alpha stickers from Pink Paislee and mini alphas from Glitz! 

So sorry to be so short today, but I've got a busy Friday ahead and must be running!  Like I said, where are my quite moments, lol!  I hope you all have a great weekend and be sure to stop by the SOUS challenge blog and have a look around to be inspired!  ;) Take care, friends!

My Mind's Eye Blog Card and Layout Challenges #26!

I had to finally get in on one of the awesome challenges happening over on the My Mind's Eye blog! It's been awhile for me, and I really loved the sketch for the card this month because it uses tags, which I think is a super way of embellishing a card front! So here it is...

  Style, Beauty... You've Got It, Friend!

By the way, here's the sketch from Anam Stubbington...

Card Challenge #26-

And, some more details of the card...

I used a few different paper lines from MME, including Stella Rose, "vintage" Wild Asparagus and Life Stories.  The flocked brown alpha chipboard letters and decorative brads are from the MME Lush collection. Those awesome butterfly and flourish design tags were cut using the Cricut Picturesque cartridge,  and the dressform accent was from the Summer in Paris cartridge.  Aside from the sketch, I was also inspired to create this card from a challenge at the Nook to incorporate things that are typically considered "masculine" onto a feminine card, or vice-versa.  I chose to use masculine elements for a girly card, so I incorporated some conventional masculine patterns and colors such as plaid, woodgrain and brown tones.  I also punched a notebook paper edge and distressed it because to me, distressing feels more rugged and masculine. 

I also had a special photo and some MME  "the Spider's Web" papers set aside for quite awhile, so I finally took the opportunity and used the MME layout sketch #26 challenge to help me get this page scrapped.  Here's the layout sketch, again by Anam...

And this is what I did with the sketch...

 Our Wee Punkins

Again, I also used some fabulous Life Stories on here and then a bit of the So Sophie and Lush lines.  I loved the detail of the embroidered lace patterned paper from the Witch's Lace paper and fussy cut some of that design as well as some of the folksie pumpkins from the Pumpkin Patch paper (all from the Spider's Web collection).  All this fussy cutting was perfect for challenge # 12 at the Nook's weekend virtual crop! 

Well, that's all folks, but thanks so much for stopping in... hope you've enjoyed my projects as much as I've enjoyed creating them!

My Scrapbook Nook's A Midsummer Night's Virtual Crop!

Are you looking to get some scrapping in this weekend?  Cuz that's what I'm doing!

And the Nook's virtual online crop, "A Midsummer Night's Crop" is happening right now!

All the Nook designers have been busy putting up some wonderful and creative challenges to help get the creative juices flowing.  Here's the deets...

Drop in this weekend and enjoy some great challenges, straight from the Bard of Stratford on Avon!

The winner will be crowned with roses, lilies, hydrangeas, daisies, pussy willows and all manner of delightful blooms from Petaloo - to the tune of a $100 gift box!

Join us here: http://myscrapbooknook.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?26-Virtual-Crop-This-Weekend!

I feel like I've been scrappin' up a storm all day, but in all actuality, I feel like a storm has come through and caused a path of destruction... seriously my scrap spaces are a sight for sore eyes.  I've been making more messes today then getting anything else done.  I opened a cupboard to get out my stand of embossing powders and in the process knocked over a container of glitter which was partly opened.  ALL. OVER. THE. FLOOR!  Then I went to grab something off the counter and SLAM went the tilt bin of buttons (seperated by colors).  ALL. OVER. THE. FLOOR! Urghh... you get the picture?! Anyway, I've got one page finished so far to show for the day.  I really had hoped to have much more done, but tomorrow is always another day :)

So before I scoot off here to get back to the croppin' here is my page, which I am thrilled to have finished because I've been wanting to do this layout about my gram for awhile now. 

This is for the Challenge #1 which is basically to create a page using the provided sketch and to use photo/s of someone who inspires!   I used lots of My Mind's Eye products here and Core'dinations!  The flower, leaves and flourish are cut using the Cricut Picturesque cart... love that so much!

Thanks for stopping by and if by chance you do venture over to the Nook this weekend, you could even mention that you were cordially invited by ME ... and I could get some extra sweet points!  All you need to do my friends is confirm in the following crop thread that I invited you, and complete and upload at least one challenge for the crop...

http://myscrapbooknook.org/forum/showthread.php?5347-Breathe-life-into-a-stone-bring-a-friend-VC-points-involved 

Hope to see alot of my friends in attendance!  :)  Have a great scrappy weekend!