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!

Knock, Knock! Anybody Home?

I bet you all are wondering?  I know... it's been a few months since my last post, and I am sorry about that!  I hate neglecting my blog.  It's actually quite frustrating for me because blogging is an activity that I really enjoy and since I haven't been having the time to blog it only means that I've been having to do alot more of other stuff that I DON'T really enjoy! It also means that the Holidays were quite busy and it all seemed to happen in a whirlwind.  I mean really... is it already 2013?  Geesh! But, I am here now and I am glad to finally be posting again.  I would've posted a bit earlier last night but I have been unlucky enough to have caught the flu this weekend and in all of my couch seclusion, I've gotten swept into an all day Saturday marathon of watching the Food Network and HGTV.  When that happens, not much of anything else gets accomplished.  Maybe you can relate!

So last week all you mega crafters and scrappers out there know that the huge CHA Tradeshow took place in Anaheim, CA!  Everytime these shows roll around I am so envious of you all that get to attend and get to experience the event first hand... to peruse the new products and to meet fellow crafters and manufacturers.  I just keep telling myself one day I will attend, and I really hope I get to do so.  At least every cloud has a silver lining though.  If I couldn't be at CHA, at least some of my creations could be!  I was once again happy to have had a few more projects on display for the Core'dinations booth this Winter show, and of course I really want to share them with you here, BUT Blogger isn't allowing me to upload pictures at the moment!  Arghhh, frustrating!
First of all, Core'dinations in conjunction with Tim Holtz, revealed their latest and greatest new collection called "Kraft-Core Shattered"!  Actually, if you scroll down the page on that link I just gave, you will see my layout... it's the second one over titled, "Beautiful Tokens of Summer". This cardstock is soo cool, and I know you'll want some.  It totally looks like you've crumpled and distressed your cardstock, but it's even better, because although the look is there, absolutely no effort is needed to distress.  It's already done for you and there is a wonderful appearance of texture  without all of the added bulk... couldn't get any better, right?   I also have 3 other pages full of other Core collections that I had at CHA, and I will get back on and post those images too as soon as I can.  Hopefully good ol' Blogger will cooperate with me soon.  If anyone knows what's up and can help me trouble-shoot the photo uploading problem, I would greatly appreciate it!

I have all day Sunday left to relax and try to feel better before heading back to work on Monday.  I sure hope I feel better soon, because I am not liking this soreness in my ribs from coughing and sneezing!  I plan on catching up on some card-making if I feel up to it... fingers crossed!  Hope everyone has a great week ahead of you all and I hope to see all my bloggy friends back here soon.  I will try my best to not be a stranger again, lol! 

 

Home Is Where The Heart Is!

I love home!  And I LOVE MY home... as I was cleaning house some this past weekend, I couldn't help but to think how very lucky I am to have such a beautiful place to call my home each and every day.  I am truly thankful, proud and blessed to be "planted" here with my husband... home is where the heart is!  And with that notion in mind, today I am happy and excited to be sharing something wayy cute and "home-crafted" from one of my super creative online scrappy friends, Shanna Vineyard! 

Shanna has combined her love of hand-drawing and painting, mixed with her fondness of bright, happy colors to bring us all a kit that is different than anything you’ve ever seen! In celebration of her relocating back home to Arizona next week, she was inspired to create this kit, “Home Is Where the Heart Is” that includes over 50 different hand-drawn and painted images. The imagery can be used in your digital projects or can be easily resized and printed to cut out and use with your traditional scrapbooking and card making creations. The possibilities are endless and you will have them to use over and over again as much as you like for as many projects as you wish! So FUN!!!

I can't stress enough how cute this digital kit is!  I don't venture too far into the digi world myself, but I do on occasion dable with creating some Hybrid projects.  I must admit, I was quite flattered that Shanna would ask me to experiment with her new kit, and I really had a blast with it too!

Here is a little project that I put together with some of Shanna's darling pieces... a door hanger, fitting for Spring...

(Please click on photo to view details larger).

The Kraft house hanger is a piece that I found awhile ago at Michael's in the clearance section. I knew I could come up with something cute to do with it one day, and well, that day is NOW, lol! The circular "Home Sweet Home" phrase, the bird, the heart, the fence and the sun are all from Shanna's kit content. I printed out all my pieces onto Core'dinations Core Essentials and Whitewash cardstock and I also did some Cuttlebug embossing on the phrase (Meadow Lark folder) and fence (Distressed Stripes folder). Inking the embossed areas with some Tim Holtz Distress inks also really give the images a different look, as does printing the imagery on colored cardstock too!

I added some extra glitz to the sun by painting on some Smooch ink and spritz with a bit of glitter dust too. I then printed out, "The Amu's EST. 2000" and added the strips to the hanger with a bit of burlap beneath the bird and then finished it all up by tying some yummy chevron May Arts ribbons onto the wire. Cute, ehh? I really like my first Spring creation of the season... so THANK YOU, Shanna, for creating your fabulous kit! Now I just need some scrappy time to make some fun cards with the ton of other images I've already printed out! ;)

Visit Shanna’s blog to purchase this kit and see LOTS of other awesome samples that were created specifically to share with you today! In celebration of this fun, new release she is also doing a huge giveaway valued at over $275.00 with lots of fabulous new scrappy goodies and several ways you can win! So head on over and check it out! You don't want to miss out!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy your day! :)

Sous Sketch for February 17th!

Hey there!  Yes, it is time for another SOUS sketch reveal, and I myself am a day late getting mine posted here, but all excuses aside, the 16th was my Birthday and I guess I was in party mode, lol!  Sorry to be tardy!  Anywho, we had a cool sketch to play around with this week, designed by our very own, Leah Schaeffer!

 

So, here is what I came up with...

I wish I could've captured a better photo of this page, because it certainly does no justice for the richness and texture of these gorgeous papers from Teresa Collin's, Christmas Home collection!  And I just loved these photos of my husband stringing the lights on our Christmas tree this past holiday.  The  TC line was perfect for creating this page with them! The background base for this page is a sheet of the black Tim Holtz Kraft cardstock from Core'dinations... a definite favorite in my cardstock stash.  If you haven't gotten yourself some Kraft Core yet, you really need to.  I'm tellin' ya, it's the best!  Here I debossed a Cuttlebug border along the bottom edge and sanded over it all to reveal the Kraft core.  I also scored along the other three edges and sanded them as well.

 (Ohh, and a side note, I believe this is the first project in a long time that I have NOT used my Cricut cutting on it in some way, shape or form! Are you all gasping, lol?? I really just may go cut some bits and pieces to add to this down the road. I do believe I need some Cricut flair on this somewhere!)

That's all I have to share for now, but I do hope you'll join us over at Stuck On U Sketches and show us how you can work the sketch too!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Advent Calendar Day #19 At The Nook!

Today is the 19th... and that means it's the 19th Advent Calendar day at The Nook and I am happy to be the calendar host for the day!  If you haven't already heard about it, now is your chance to join in and help us count down the days til Christmas in a very exciting way and with some fabulous giveaways to boot! 

Everyday from December 1st up to December 25th, one Nook friend is hosting a giveaway on her blog as part of the Advent Calendar festivities!  I urge you to go back and take a look if you've missed out on any of the previous days because there is always fabulous inspiration!  If you check out the Nook blog you can find a link posted for the day's host, which today is me.  If you are coming here from the Nook's blog post, then I simply say, "Welcome"! 

Here is a list of all the participating blogs for the Advent Calendar... please visit!

1	Hilde	http://www.scoobieslilleblog.blogspot.com/
2	Antenucci	http://antenucci.blogspot.com/
3	Danielle	http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.com/
4	Lisa J	http://cutcreateandcare.blogspot.com/
5	Pam	http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com/
6	Meg Aaron	http://thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com/
7	Mag	http://magandscrap.blogspot.com/
8	Monique	http://moniquesscrapbook.blogspot.com/
9 10	Kate Vickers Sherri	http://www.scrapsation.com/ http://faithandscraphappiness.blogspot.com/
11	Lilith Eeckels	http://lilithandscrap.blogspot.com/
12	~jan	http://jantatomir.blogspot.com/
13	Carol	http://carolmonson.blogspot.com/
14	Arty Carty	http://blog.artycarty.com/
15	Tanya	http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com/
16	Annelie Maddoc	http://swewi.wordpress.com/
17	Nenne	http://www.creativenenne.blogspot.com/
18	Nicole	http://justnicks.blogspot.com/
19	Andrea Amu	http://imlivinonscraps.blogspot.com/
20	Marinette	http://www.scraptherapie.com/
21	Pysselpetra	http://mittkreativakaos.blogspot.com/

22 Samantha http://samawright.blogspot.com/
23 Anna Sigga http://annasigga.typepad.com/scrappalicious/
24 Jennie http://pappersverk.blogspot.com/
25 Leah http://www.leahkillian.com/

Now onto some holiday sharing and giving from me!  Today I was busy creating some holiday cards and I got to thinking that it would be perfect for me to make up a little card kit with the products I've used on my cards and offer it up as a giveaway for today's Advent Calendar!  Here is the card I created using one of my favorite new embossing folders... the Tim Holtz Alterations woodgrain texture fade! 

And even better, the woodgrain is perfect embossed on some fabulous Tim Holtz Distress Collection Core'dinations cardstock. I also used the Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge to cut out the cardinal from some Tim Holtz Nostalgic Kraft-Core. Isn't the green pine needles border a really neat detail?  That is my new Martha Stewart Deep-Edge punch that I just got on sale at Michael's for 50% off! I also got the wood buttons in the Dollar bin at M's and spritzed them with some Burnt Red Glimmer Mist. 

Okay, here's what's up for grabs... and yes, the Tim Holtz Texture Fade set with the woodgrain is included in my card kit giveaway!

 

There's enough to complete 2 cards!  If you'd like a chance to have this kit, just leave me a comment here in this post by 12 PM EST, Wed. Dec. 21st.  I will randomly draw a winner by December 22nd. 

Also, You don't want to forget to hop on over to Leah Killian's blog and get entered for the grand prize sometime between now and Christmas Morning. You could win a free subscription to the always inspiring Nook kits!

Friday To-Do list!

Yess, it is finally Friday!  And since I was supposed to work today but they called me and told me not to come in due to a low count kid day, well, that means I have more time to do other things here at home!  I just need to decide what all I should tackle first... there are many things I could easily put at the top of my to-do list! Painting for one!  Oh gosh, there are so many rooms in this house that we want to paint and the problem is, it's a big game of procrastination.  So I am thinking that removing the wall paper border down in our basement would be a perfect place for me to start this afternoon perhaps.  And I also believe it's a good day to start cleaning out some cupboards, closets and the hutch in our living room.  Then in between all that I guess I might as well do a few loads of laundry too!  I think that's a good start.  When the dh is home on vacation two weeks from now we plan to do some more painting, primarily the front door and the window shutters.  The door is white and the shutters are currently hunter green and we plan to re-paint them all a black/gray color.  Can't wait to see what it'll look like!

Before I move on to the to-do list though, I will share with you some of my latest cards that I made with Core'dinations cardstock.  They are all Summer related themes, so I hope you'll enjoy them!

This first card I used "A Child's Year" Cricut cartridge.  I love the nostalgic and silhouette imagery on this cart! 

For the sand and accenting on the starfish, I used Tim Holtz's Distressing powder in Frayed Burlap to give the perfect grainy effect with the Vintage and Core Essentials cardstock!

 

And this card was a fun and easy one to put together with coordinating products from SEI's "a FAIR day" collection.  I love the glittery accenting in this line paired up with Core Couture glitter cardstock.  I also used some Core Essentials spritzed with Glimmer Mist. 

And last... a card with some Core Essentials in the Pastels range.  Mmmm,some cotton candy would taste sooo good right now!  I cut the banners and cotton candy with the Cricut Carousel cartridge. 

And speaking of Core'dinations... I just had a great box delivered to me yesterday containing all the new releases of Core!  Girls, it all looks sooo wonderful... esp. that dreamy looking Tim Holtz Kraft Core line!  Ohh my, I can't wait to create with it all, so I guess I'd better write that down on my to-do list as well!    Think that's it for now.  But, I will be a busy girl for the rest of the day.  Time for me to crack the whip on myself!  Have a great weekend everyone :)

Let's Capture Our Memories DT Projects!

My first month of dt projects are finally up for reveal at LCOM!  For this month we were supplied with a fun box of vintage inspired goodies which included papers from the Tim Holtz collections.  Honestly, I was a bit unsure about how to begin... how to approach working with these papers.  I had the idea-ology Lost and Found collection, definitely more vintage in style, and not normally something I would use, but I believe I did a pretty good job of creating some well rounded projects in the end!  Sooo, here's a look at all my creations, and if you'd like to see more supply info..etc... you can check them all out over on the DT projects board at LCOM, HERE! 

This was my Anniversary card to DH for our 10th last month!  :)

 

 

 

Ohhh, and for the above card design, I must give credit to Calia Yang for her beautiful stamp embossed tags above!  I only attached them onto my card, but Calia created those beauties... thanks, Calia!  They sure did make for a fabulous looking card if I must say so myself!  :)