My Wood Bunny!

Today I thought I'd share an older project with you that I did for the CreativeXpress blog which I had never shown here on my own blog previously!  I love to add personal pieces of home decor to my home when decorating for the different seasons and holidays... somethings that are unique and not seen in every other person's home (not mass produced  holiday decor).  So it's always fun for me to think, "what can I make myself... or what can I re-use and alter to make it my own"?  When I got the assignment to use the Easter 2010 cartridge from Cricut back in the Spring, right away I thought it would be neat to create a standing bunny decoration and make it from a block of wood. 

I first needed a pattern to use, so I selected which image I wanted to use from the Easter 2010 cart. I then used a piece of regular cardstock, adhered it to my 12×12 mat and selected the “fit to page” function on my Cricut Expression machine. This cut the bunny shape to 11 1/2″. The cardstock piece then was used as a pattern to have my bunny cut from a block of wood using a scroll saw (my brother helped me out with this very important part)!

 

Once I had the wood block bunny, I then painted it white with a can of spray paint and then I even sprayed on some Marshmallow Glimmer Mist to give it a little sheen.

To decorate the bunny I chose 2 different Basic Grey patterned papers, a pink floral (Eva collection) and the green and white houndstooth (Sultry collection). I used the pink floral paper as the shadow, cut at 11 1/2″. I inked the edges of the cut image with “Rouge” ink and then adhered this to the wood bunny with Mod-Podge medium. I then cut the regular bunny layer at 11 1/2″ from the houndstooth print and inked the edges with “Moss Green” ink. I faux stitched around the edges of this piece, inked the bunny nose area with the “Rouge” ink and attached cut pieces of hemp twine for whiskers before applying Mod-Podge on the back and layering it over the wood bunny. To complete the bunny, I added a green Kaiser pearl for it’s eye and a white pop-pom for it’s tail. I tied on a pretty green double dot ribbon from BoBunny around the neck for a bow and also added some floral accents which I transformed from white to colored with Glimmer Mist sprays.

Somehow the above picture of the bunny tail keeps getting turned about, but you get the idea! Anyway, I love that you can take images from the Cricut cartridges and now transform them into fun pieces of holiday OR everyday home decor!  Hope maybe I've sparked an idea with you all today, and if you too decide to make some kind of personalized home decor using your Cricuts or other diecutting systems, please do share them with me!  I never get tired of being inspired! 

BoBunny Wall Decor from a Card Sketch!

Yesterday, a new Tuesday card sketch was posted to the BoBunny blog, and I was so inspired by the sketch, only not for a card!  I've been wanting to create a piece of wall decor for my computer/catch-all room using one of the mushroom Cricut cuts and a cute little punny saying that I came up with, so when I saw Juliana's card sketch I thought it was perfect for my wall decor design.  I loved the layers for this design and I had a lot of fun playing with all my BoBunny goodies for this last night.  For now I have this framed in a black 12x12 frame from Michael's but I plan to find a brown or white frame for it to match my room decor.  I hope you all like this as much as I do... it looks really cute hanging up in my room! 

Based on this sketch:

Everything used for this is BoBunny and the solid brown and white cs is Couture Cardstock. 

Another One Bites the Dust!

 Another one of my design team positions, that is!!  And I must say, it was one of the best teams that I've ever had the priviledge of designing for.  But sadly, it has all come to an abrupt demise and I am totally bummed! :(  Anyway, one night last week I was informed that I no longer design for Couture Cardstock. Major financial changes within their parent company, Cardstock Warehouse, has resulted in a complete reorganization and the result is a very abrupt and immediate end to the Couture Cardstock company that I have known and loved designing for these past few months. We are  not certain as to the future of Couture Cardstock, all we really know is that the direction in which the parent company has decided to go, no longer includes the services of the former staff, including our president, CarrieAnne DeLoach, and all of us designers. If you have any questions, you may contact the Cardstock Warehouse staff directly.   :( 

So yes, I am not happy at all.  I LOVED working with the Couture cardstock brand and designing for CC really pushed me into new directions and allowed me to grow in my card designing. I will miss my position drastically... all the CC designers were extremely talented and each had her own unique style, making it one top-notch, amazing team!  I only wish the best of luck to all these wonderful ladies as they go onto their future creative endeavors!  You ALL are fabulous!

Needless to say, the very same night I was given this depressing announcement, I had just finished completing my Couture card designs for the upcoming CHA show for this month!  Talk about a stake through the heart!  Knowing that all the CC designers, including myself, put in so much hard work preparing their projects for display at CHA and now they are no longer needed, is to say the least, very disheartening! Ahhh... well, I will be sure to share them here on my blog and in my galleries as soon as I get them all photographed, so be on the look out! 

Sorry I don't have anything creative to share with you today, but it is the 4th of July today and we were at a family picnic for most of the day.  Now we are home for a bit and dh is taking a nap... and we are thinking about going to the movies later to see the new Adam Sandler movie, Grown-Ups!  I want to go watch it at the drive-in, so we'll see... dh rather have us go to the mall theater to watch it!  I don't think he wants to see the double feature of Toy Story 3, lol! 

So before I end this post for the day, I thought I'd share a few pictures from our day at the Creation music festival we went to this past Thursday... it was freakin' awesome!  Being among some 50,000 praising fans is definitely a site to behold!  Here's a view of the sea of people...

We made our way up pretty close to main stage!  Luckily it was in the 70's that day so we didn't have to contend with the horrid heat as we have in past years. 

This photo is of Michael Taite from the group, The Newsboys, formally from DC Talk!  The Newsboys really put on a great show!  We are big fans of Michael Taite and have seen him several times with DC Talk so it was really neat to see him perform with the Newsboys now too. 

And the last photo above is a group shot of Casting Crowns.  This is another of our favorites.  We've seen them in concert now twice this year and both times have been phenomenal! 

Okay, I gotta go, but... I hope everyone has been having a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend... they always go so quickly, don't they?! 

Couture Cardstock + Cosmo Cricket = LUV!

So yes, last month at Couture Cardstock we got to partner with one of the coolest leading companies in the scrapbook universe... Cosmo Cricket!  I was assigned the Couture "Harvest Moon" collection to design with and it paired perfectly with Cosmo's Earth Love line.  I had a lot of fun playing with their product and coming up with these card designs.  All of my cards can be seen in the Couture Cardstock inspiration gallery under the Harvest Moon heading, but you can also see them here too because, like it or not,  I'm gonna show them to ya! Lol!

This one was posted on the Couture blog previously.  I love the primitive look of old-fashioned braided rugs, and you can see that on this card I took inspiration from that look to handcraft the spiral rolled flowers shown here.

 All you need to do is cut strips of 12″x 1″ cardstock. I used both Corn Husk and Persimmon from the Harvest Moon collection. Then take your strip of cardstock and wet it and pat dry to make it flexible for rolling the strip lengthwise. After you roll the strip, twist the length fairly tight and begin to roll in a spiral. You then secure the rolled spiral to flower cuts with glue-dot adhesive. I then finished my spiral flowers by misting with Old Lace Glimmer Mist and inking them with Coffee Bean Brilliance ink to add more rustic charm.

This next card was also featured on the Couture blog and it's one of my favorites with the Earth Love line from Cosmo...

In case you'd like to create one of those darling pinwheels for yourself, the cut is from the Mother's Day Cricut cartridge! 

And here are two more of my card designs to round up this group...

For this card, I cut my pennant shapes out with the Cricut and then used the negative piece as my card front.  I stamped the small leaf pattern onto a lighter colored cardstock and adhered the pennant negative piece over top with foam tape for dimension. 

The folded card design with the branch was cut using the Wild Card Cricut cartridge! I cut out an extra branch and embossed it with the Cuttlebug using the Victoria emboss folder.

Okay, I suppose that's enough show-n-tell for one day, lol! 

For now I am keepin' busy tryin' to wrap up some Couture Cardstock projects for CHA that is coming up real quick here in July!  I can't wait to finally share those with you as well :)  CHA is always such a fun and exciting time for us scrappers and crafters! 

I hope everyone has a great week!  I am looking forward to Thursday as I'll be going to one of the largest outdoor concert/festivals in the country for contemporary christian music... Creation Fest 2010!  Can't wait!  We would like to go for the entire event but we can't this year so we are just going for the entire day/night on Thursday.  Thursday's line-up includes some of our very favorite groups including, Letter Black, Remedy Drive, Red, Newsboys and Casting Crowns!  We're gonna see them ALL... so excited!  Hope that the rest of you have something exciting to look forward to this week as well!  :)

One of those bittersweet days!

Yes, today I am having one of those days.  A day that is most definitely bittersweet.   Bitter because I am a mother left without her baby girl to hold, when I'd give most anything to do just that today!  Sweet because today is our angel Amelia's remembrance day... she was welcomed on this earth for her brief visit 2 years ago today already!  It's moments like this that I realize just how quickly time passes.  I can't believe Amelia would be 2 right now... and Ava her big sister would be approaching 4 this coming Oct.  What I wouldn't give to be watching them grow into the beautiful young ladies that I know they would've been.  What I wouldn't give to be able to help Melia blow out her Birthday candles today.  What I wouldn't give to be able to take a walk with my girls on a gorgeous day like today.  What I wouldn't give to wipe some tears after a scraped knee... or to kiss that boo-boo all better.  I'd give anything to have all those moments and more!

Wishing Amelia a happy heavenly Birthday... sending you all our love and kisses, sweet-pea, and wishing more than anything we could be with you! 

  Heaven Will Hold You

By Wendy Silva

Your spirit was brought to us

from a wish made of love.

We couldn't believe it when we

realized we'd been blessed from above.

In my womb you were growing slowly, but

I found peace knowing you were there.

Then came the tears of loss and I wanted

to know how life could be so unfair.

I had to realize that because you were so

special, God needed you more than I.

It helps me when I feel His loving

hands wipe away my tears as I cry.

I know that someday we will be together

again, but for now I'll keep you in my heart always.

Know that I love you more than words can say

and that God will protect you while we are apart. 

Ya Win Some, Ya Loose Some!

It's that time of the year for Paper Craft's Gallery Idol contest, and of course at practically the last moment, well, the last day of open auditions (card submissions), I decided to throw a handful of my "Thank You" related cards into the mix.  This morning they announced the Top 20 finalists to move on in the competition, and of course I was hoping that one of my cards would progress onto the next stage, but alas... ya win some and you loose some, and of course I sadly lost!  But, hey... we all can't be winners.  Just need to try harder next time, right?!  Anyway, since I have been quite neglectful of my bloggy here, thought I'd share one of the cards I submitted for PC Gallery Idol  ... again, the theme was Thank You cards.

I used Webster's Pages pp and journal card.  The large flower and mirror were both cut using my Cricut and the flower was misted several layers with a mix of Glimmer Mists (I believe Coffee Bean, Old Lace and Antique Brass).  The flocked flower is a Prima with a pearl brad in the center from Michael's Recollections.

I also have some cards that I can now share with you that I did for Couture Cardstock!  These were both using the White Monochromatic collection.

For this above card, we had also teamed up with Prima for the month so I was able to create with some of their beautiful floral product!  I love how this turned out with their jewel and crystal embellishing on my handmade denim pocket with distressing and Glimmer Misting in Fall Breeze!  I also added stitching detail to the pocket with a white gel pen. 

And here's another...this one I used the honey-comb/flower die set from Cuttlebug and I cut out the honey comb design and then used them as masks to mask out the background in yellow using Lemon Zest Glimmer Mist...

Onto other news, sad news... I recently found out that Serendipity Scrapbooks is closing it's doors!  It is always sad to see a store/company go, and it's even sadder for me because I haven't had much time there yet!  I just joined the Serendipity community 4-5 months ago and I was very happy there already and felt at home.  Being a part of the DT there for 4 months was an absolute joy!  I loved the kits there that Kristen put together and the inspiration seemed to always be endless.  Serendipity will certainly be missed by me!! I can only pray that Kristen will be blessed in her future endeavors because she is one creative lady!!

Pink Paislee and Exclusive Serendipity = a Fabulous Combination!

I believe you too would agree!  I've said it before, but I'll say it once again..." this month's Serendipity kit rocks "!  It does for sure :)  Such a classy looking kit this is for May... it's their altered kit for the month featuring Pink Paislee's Bayberry Cottage and "exclusive" papers to Serendipity Scrapbooking, Kristen Simmond's own "Delightful Dalliance" collection!  The colors of both are just wonderful with all the tones of turquoise blue, raspberry pink and weathered white and black... oh, and lime green too! 

Anyway, I am so excited to share all my projects that I made with this kit.  I was able to make a mini book (address/info book) and 3 scrapbook pages, but I still have a good amount of product left to make at least 2 more pages and some cards.  AMAZING kit!  You may get yours... HERE :)

Thanks for letting me share these!  I just love that page I was able to create of my grandmother! 

Well, looks to be another rainy Monday here in PA. Not too happy about that, I wanted to hang some wash out on the line today :(  Maybe I'll just hold off on the laundry now for another day then... sounds like a plan! 
Hope everyone has an enjoyable week ahead!

I'm Back!

You ask from where?  Lol... nowhere really.  Not like I left on vacaction or anything, although I wish.  I just don't know where time seems to go.  It's been almost 3 weeks I think since I updated my blog, but I have been keeping super busy. 

Not much to chat about today, but I do have a card creation that was posted over on the Couture Cardstock blog the other week.  We were lucky to have a product exchange with Prima Marketing, and this card features some of the gorgeous floral accents I was givin' to create with. 

Couture Cardstock teamed with Prima creates classic elegance, and I just love the combination! When I saw the packets of white paper and pink tinted canvas flowers from Prima, I could only imagine how terrific they would look dressing up a pretty spring hat. The White Monochromatic family of Couture Cardstock,  combined with Prima's romantic elements definitely inspire my Shabby-Chic side!

The Hat Stand image cut from the Heritage Cricut cartridge was the perfect choice for providing the romantic element that I wanted for this card. A sheet of Prima IOD patterned paper was used to create the 6x6 card base, as well as additional flowers to adorn the hat. Three different sizes of artisan label frames (Cricut- "Just Because" cards cart.) were cut from Alabaster Columns cardstock. The top layer was given added dimension with foam adhesive and once the embellished hat stand, which was cut from Winter White was adhered to the front, the entire card was given a spritz of Old Lace Glimmer Mist. All of these products work together so well to create the perfectly Shabby-Chic inspired card design!

Also, the new May kit for Serendipity will be up soon on the 1st of May!  This one was a gorgeous kit to design with so I look forward to showcasing what I was able to create with it.  For now though I will leave you all with a lil' peek...

and...

Did you take notice to the Pink Paislee yummies?  Yes indeedy... they make me swoon!  :D  Make sure to come back here after the 1st if you want to see more :)

One more thing... if you like on-line crops, be sure to come check out the fun week-long crop that is being kicked off today over at Creative Cookbooking...The Iron Chef Cropetition!  I'll be posting my challenge a bit later today! 

From Guest Designer to Design Team Member... Officially!

Yes!  That's right!  I am officially a dt member at Couture Cardstock now!  I am very excited about this opportunity because my Cricut LOVES cardstock, and Couture Cardstock is fabulous!  Their collections consist of a variety of different weights and textures and are wonderful for manipulating and altering with all the fun crafty products, like punches, mists and paints!  Definitely check their cardstock out because I guarantee you'll love their quality too!  Anyway, thanks for letting me share my good scrappy news for the day!

No Foolin'... I'm Guest Designin'!

Happy April 1st!  No jokes today though, lol! But, rather just some cool scrappy news for me for the day!

Last month I mentioned that I had some scrappy news to share real soon, and now I can finally tell you about my guest designing spot for Couture Cardstock!  Head on over to their blog posting today and you can see the 3 card projects that I did for them using their wonderful Silk Road Monochromatic family of cardstock.  Beautiful yellows... perfect for Spring!  Here's a peek at one of the 3 cards I made for CC...

Today being the 1st, also means that Serendipity's new kits will be up.  Be sure to check them out because this month's certainly do not disappoint! 

Well, today looks like it's going to be one gorgeous day here in PA!  Looking forward to spending sometime outside for sure!  Have a great one! :)