A card for My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge #33!

Hello there!  I know this is kind of last minute posting this card tonight, even though I actually finished this one up at our girl's scrappy weekend last week!  I meant to get it posted earlier but THIS weekend was kind of a blur... why does it always seem like that? Really!  Anyway since the deadline for this MME blog card challenge is 12 midnight, I think I'm still pretty safe with about an hour to go!  So first, here's the card sketch...

and here is my card creation...

I used a mix of papers and a diecut from the Lime Twist and Lost and Found Two collections along with some Core'dinations Vintage cardstock, and Cricut cutting! 

The sweet heart chains and butterflies were all cut with the Teresa Collins Sophisticated cartridge... totally one of my all time faves! I really do love the soft Shabby Chic inspired designs of these MME papers!  Okay, that's all I really have to show for tonight's post but I will have some more cards and a layout to share that I also made at last weekend's scrappy get-together later in the week!  See ya then!

SOUS Sketch Reveal for March 16th!

Today is Friday, Yay! So excited because the long-awaited scrappy weekend with my friends has finally arrived! I've taken off work for the day, and I couldn't be any happier that I can get away for a few days with the girls! Now let's just see how much craftiness I can actually get accomplished! ;)

Also for today there's a SOUS sketch reveal up, with yet another sweet sketch to create with!  For my page today I broke out some older My Mind's Eye from their Meadow Lark collection to create this layout about my niece.  Such a terrific black and white line! 

Here's the sketch by SOUS's own Sandi Clarkson...

and this is what I did with it...

I also used the Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge for my cuts here and the flowers are Petaloo paper flowers in Marine Blue, designed to specifically match up to Core'dinations cardstock colors!  Fun!  I love the look of the Marine blue paired with the black and white combo!

Okay... sorry to be short and sweet this morning, but I really do have a bit more packing to get back to.  Everytime I tell myself not to pack eveything I own... afterall, I'm not taking a U-Haul of my scraproom!  Always so hard to narrow down though.  Enjoy the weekend you all, and please don't forget to join in on our sketch challenge at Stuck On U Sketches!  Bye!

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! :)

Is It Spring Yet?

Well, I know it's not Spring yet, but I think I am wanting it to get here more and more every day!  Arghh, I just need some nice beautiful weather to get me out of my gloomy lil' slump I've been in.  I'm really wanting to be not so cold... and I really want to see some gorgeous green grass with pretty pops of flowers scattered here and there! Yes, hurry up and get here Spring!

I know I took one look at this week's new SOUS sketch and I was immediately thinking Spring too! 

Sandi's sketch depicts florals, a butterfly and even the word Spring, so how could I resist wanting to create something with the long-awaited seasonal theme myself?! So for today I threw together a happy I {heart}You card! 

I used the basic elements of the sketch but I decided to use a clustering of three Studio Calico chipboard clouds at the bottom of my card in place of Sandi's trio of oval shapes, and instead of using a photo or rectangular element on the large floral accent, I opted to use a chipboard butterfly over my floral doily accent.  The floral doily shape by the way, I cut out using the exclusive Cricut Expression 2 Cricut Alphabet cartridge.  That cart has so many great doily shapes included on there, and I'm sure I'll be playing around with those images quite alot! The chipboard butterflies I colorized with some Smooch Spritz sprays and then I also embellished them and the doily accent with some Glam Rocks using the Imaginisce I-Rock tool.  Fun stuff!  Ohh, and do you love that teal chevron ribbon?? I sure do... it's from the fabulous May Arts company!

And of course I can't forget, Core'dinations!  I gotta have my Core cardstock... the Jillian Spotted Core really puts me in a Spring mood.  I just love it... esp. in that aqua shade! 

Okay... that's all I've got for this post, but I do hope you will go check out the rest of the designers creations on the SOUS blog.  Those girls can all seriously rock a sketch!  Have a wonderful Friday you all!  ;) 

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!

Truck Load Of Love!

Happy Valentine's Day to all the love-birds!  Hope it was a great day of celebrating with the loves of your lives and that all my friends were lavished beyond measure... and perhaps enjoyed some chocolate too!  I know I did... maybe too much, lol!

Good news... terrific scrappy news!  Something fun to share today, as I am now enjoying a new dt gig!  I've joined a team of super crafty ladies at Crafts Unleashed... the inspiring blog for Consumer Crafts' on-line store!  And today I am stoked that my first project is posted, so I would be thrilled if you could all go and check it out and let me know what you all think.  Here's my "Truck Load of Love" embellished card...

I did of course use Core'dinations cardstock on here along with my ever faithful Cricut, and you can find all the deets over on my Crafts Unleashed post!  I will also have another project feature later on in the month that I can't wait to share, so do stay tuned! ;)

Well I must go and throw together a little dinner for my LOVE, but I also wanted to show another card that I recently had in the Core'dinations booth at CHA earlier in the month!  Although, I wish I could have been at the booth WITH my card! But one day perhaps... one day,lol!

This card features the new Brights collection pack from Core!  I love that with such vibrant cardstock, no patterned paper is necessary!  And while on the topic of Core, before I forget to mention this... are YOU Hard Core?

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Okay, that's all folks!  Again, Happy Valentine's Day to all! XOXO!

MME #31 Challenge

It's time for the My Mind's Eye Blog Challenge #31, and I decided to be last minute again, because the date crept up on me!  But I did really love the sketch and had a plan of what photo I wanted to use so I just went with it!

My niece Lera just got engaged on August 28th of this past year, and I had the honor of taking her engagement photos!  This is my first layout with the photos I took... this one with a picture of her new engagement ring! For the MME challenge we were to follow the sketch and use the theme "New" within the page.  So here's the sketch photo followed by my take, "Newly Engaged"...

(Please Click on Photo to view larger).

I did turn the sketch on it's side so that I could use a horizontal photo. I used some MME embossed Core'dinations cardstock here as my background and then I also combined papers from the older Meadow Lark line with the newer Love Me collection! A variety of Cricut cartridges were used for this too, including, Elegant Edges, Wall Decor and More, Sweethearts and Lyrical Letters. 

I'll share with you some close-up details as well! 

That's all I have to show for this post... like I said... last minute, in the nick of time, lol!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great week ahead!  ;)

Getting Patriotic With A Sous Sketch and BoBunny Card Challenge!

For today I have some red, white and blue!  I know... it is a bit early to break out with the 4th of July cards, but it is never really out of date to celebrate patriotically, and besides, this Bo Bunny Liberty collection is a wonderful classic line that I just had to cut into for this week's SOUS sketch and the latest BoBunny card challenge!  

First up, it is Friday so that means it's time yet again for another terrific sketch at Stuck On U Sketches!

Our sketch for the week is brought to you all from Nanné, and we also have a wonderful guest designer in our midst this week, Debbie Burns. For this sketch, I totally envisioned a card using Nanné's fun block design!  I did flip the direction of the sketch around and upside down for my interpretation.  I used Core'dinations cardstock and a tag and I cut up 1" squares from the BoBunny Liberty collection.  The middle piece I stamp embossed the flourished star, also from the Liberty line, onto a piece of Cambridge patterned paper, also from BoBunny. 

(Please click on image to show enlarged !)

I also included some BoBunny stickers, a denim strip and pearl accents on here.  The flocked flowers are all Maya Road, the Baker's Twine from The Twinery and the tiny type alpha stickers are Cosmo Cricket and Carolee's Creations.

 

Be sure to take a look at all the other designer's creations over on the SOUS blog... it's always a feast for the eyes.  You can also play along with us and share what you create using the sketch... we'd love to see you there! 

Next up is my card that I did for the Tuesday Card Challenge at BoBunny.  For the challenge which is due on Jan. 24th, you need to use the following items on a card:  Ribbon, at least 2 buttons, patterned paper with dots, and chipboard.  Easy and fun enough! 

Again, I used the Liberty collection pattened paper, rub-on and pearl accents.  I also used a strip of denim and some ivory buttons from other BoBunny lines.  The chipboard stars from Fancy Pants I misted with Sapphire Glimmer Mist. That fabulous twill ribbon is from May Arts and my diecuts were cut using the Cricut Stand and Salute and Jasmine cartridges.  I also love the Vintage blue Core cardstock with this Liberty line... a perfect match-up! 

Okay, that's all I have for today.  I think I will no doubt be snowed in for a good part of my weekend, so I think that might be beneficial to me... crafty-wise, lol!  We shall see!  Have a great weekend, my friends!  Enjoy :) 

A Page for SOUS,Jan. 6th and Jan. Core Color Challenge!

It's Friday... time for another reveal of projects done with the latest sketch over at Stuck On U Sketches (SOUS)!  I really loved all the opportunity for layering with today's sketch by our own SOUS designer and co-creator, Nanne Harry!  You too can play along with this challenge... just make sure to link your project to the inlinkz tool at the end of the Jan. 6th posting.  You have 2 weeks, so go get scrappin!

I also went with the snowflake embellishing for my page.  I had a stack of new papers from the latest Winterland and Saint Nick collections at Fancy Pants that I bought last weekend and I just had to cut into them! Now here's what I came up with...

And for whatever reason, these photos here aren't reading clear... everything looks so much prettier IRL!  I also used Cricut cutting for the blue-grey lettering on the Take Note piece (Paper Lace 2 font) and the coral color snowflakes were cut from the Wrap It Up cartridge.  I layered those with some clear glass micro-beads.  The other felt snowflake embellies are also from Fancy Pants... I painted on some Glimmer Glaze and Glimmer Glam to those to make them "sparkle" some! 

Also the colors I chose to work into this page were inspired by the latest January Color Challenge at the Core'dinations blog...

So play along with us on this color challenge and you could have a chance at winning some fabulous Core product...  All entries are due by January 31st either link to this post or post your entry on Core'dination's Facebook page. Please note: due to CHA falling at this time, we may be delayed in posting a winner until the 2nd week in February.

Have a terrific weekend!! :)

Happy New Year... With a Recap of My Top Ten Layouts of 2011!

Happy New Year 2012!  I do hope everyone had a terrific and memorable holiday season!  We had a very nice and low-key  New Year celebration ourselves... did some fun outlet shopping and enjoyed eating a delicious meal at one of our latest favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse.  And of course we couldn't help but join in with the countdown to the ball drop in Times Square!  But, I have to say, I am really looking forward to getting back to some normal routines and schedules around here!  And I have missed scrapping and crafting.  Sure, I did squeeze in some bits of time in between all the hustle and bustle, but I am ready to get down to some serious business, lol!  I guess that first means I need to clean up my craft room which is a total wreck!  Here's proof...

Such a disaster!  I can't possibly create til it's back to order.  So this week I will be doing some major organizing and purging. 

  So, does anyone have any scrappy or crafty goals for the year ahead?  I know I was completely blessed in 2011 by reaching some awesome publication goals!  The most awesome aspect as far as the publications was that I had projects featured in every single issue of Northridge's Cricut magazine which debuted this past February.  I'm also excited that I will also have projects featured in all the upcoming 2012 issues thus as well!  And of course the number one crafty thing that excited me for 2011 was that I joined the Core'dinations Cardstock DT.  What a great and rewarding ride that has been.  I must say that I will make it my primary goal to continue on with Core'dinations for a very long time... I love and believe in this company and their products sooo much! Core cardstock has totally improved the look and the way I craft!  And, as far as other fun goals to aim for... I sure wouldn't mind being featured as a cover girl!  I really would be stoked to have a project of mine featured on the cover of a Cricut magazine!  Wow, what a thrill that would be for me :)

 For today I also  want to join the other blogger scrappers who have shared their Top Ten layouts of the past year, 2011 on their blogs!  I wanted to do this the previous year but never did, so I thought I would get it done this time around.  As I was looking back through my files though, I realize that I probably didn't do as many pages this past year as I did cards.  The card making bug had really hit me pretty hard, lol.  Also, various pages which I would have loved to share as favorites have been out for publication too, which is a good thing, but I just can't show here right now. 

Okay, so here goes... my Top Ten Fave pages for 2011 are...

* TIS THE SEASON *

- Using Webster's Pages and featuring Gemstones Core'dinations cardstock.

* EAGER BEAVER GROUNDHOG *

- Nikki Sivils product with a mix of Core'dinations cardstock.

* VALENTINE MANTLE DECOR *

- A hybrid page using Chris Hertel designs and lots of Cricut cuts.

* LOVE INSPIRATIONAL & UNCONDITIONAL *

- My Mind's Eye product with MME and Vintage Core'dinations cardstock.

* OUR WEE PUNKINS' *

- No cardstock, mix of My Mind's Eye collections.

* SUMMER BLOOMS! *

- My Little Shoebox product with Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock.

* LIVING PROOF *

- Basic Grey Out of Print collection with BG Whimsy and Ornate Core'dinations collections.

* ENJOYING TALL TIMBERS *

- Pink Paislee Nantucket collection with Pink Paislee Modern Prints Core'diantions collection.

* TOGETHER *

- Basic Grey Nordic Holiday with BG Ornate Core'dinations cardstock.

* WINTER WONDERLAND*

- Basic Grey Nordic Holiday collection with a mix of Core featuring Glitter Silk and Vintage.

That's it!  Now I just maybe inspired to share my Top Ten cards of 2011... in some other post!  Enjoy the rest of the week... I'm already looking forward to Friday!