My Love List & Love Cards: My Creative Scrapbook

It's Friday and I'm here to share the last of my February main My Creative Scrapbook kit projects with you.  The first is a simpler page that documents a recent favorite photo of my daughter and I and my list of current 'loves'. 

Because the background paper I chose was so very busy, I chose to keep my design simple and limit my embellishments.  A kraft background is always a good go-to neutral when designing with lots of color and pattern. The extra added papers, diecuts and stickers are all more on the solid side and tie back into the different colors from the background paper.

With my kit leftovers, I created two quick cards for my sweet valentines.  I couldn't resist making this cute and funky porcupine the focus of one of my cards.  Isn't he fun?!

And I'm pretty certain this one will have to go to my hubby!  I love those lip stickers!

 

Thanks, as always, for joining me on my blog today.  I hope you have a happy weekend, filled with all things crafty!

 

Just Nick Cards



Good morning! I'm popping on here quickly today to share some recent cards I've made with a slew of fun Just Nick Studio cut files!

This first watercolored design uses Just Nick's Butterfly Background file.

 

Supplies used: Just Nick butterfly background cut file; Stampin Up inks; Hero Arts ink: Felicity Jane stamped sentiment; Doodlebug sequins and gems; Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock; machine stitching.

And a close of the design, in which I stamped this pretty sentiment from Felicity Jane. 

This pretty card features not one but THREE Just Nick files: Stems for Stephanie, Stems and Card Sentiments 1.

Supplies used: Just Nick cut files - Stems for Stephanie, Stems, Card Sentiments 1; Recollections cardstock; Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper chipboard hearts, photo overlay and vintage buttons; DCWV glitter cardstock and text paper; machine stitiching

The Scripty Phrases file is one of my very favorites from the Just Nick store.  I knew it would pair just perfectly with this love themed paper from Chickaniddy Crafts.


Supplies used: Just Nick scripty phrases cut file; Chickaniddy Crafts patterned paper; Crate Paper patterned paper; Doodelbug Designs enamel dots; Scotch/3M foam adhesive; Other - crochet thread

I used the 'hello' sentiment from the Word Brushstrokes file to create a simple and eyecatching focal point for my card.  Not only does the cut file serve as my greeting, but also creates added interest to the design since I've turned it into a shaker box. 



Supplies used: Just Nick word brushstrokes cut file; Chickaniddy patterned paper; Doodlebug cardstock and sequins; foam adhesive, ribbon, button, crochet thread.

 

To see more details surrounding each of these cards and cut file designs, hop on over to the Just Nick site and blog!

Fall Cards & Neighbor Treat: NEW DCWV fall Stacks

Good Monday morning, friends!  I've been busy crafting up some seasonal projects that I'm excited to share with you.  DCWV has released some brand new fall themed stacks that are available at Joann's stores and online now, both in 12x12" and 6x6" sizes. 

The Harvest House stack is rich and autumnal and the scaled down patterns in the 6X6" stack were ideal for a card. 

Supplies used: DCWV The Harvest House 6X6 Stack and glitter cardstock; Just Nick Studio stems cut file; Maya Road decorative chipboard frame; Teresa Collins gold adhesive dots; American Crafts twine; Echo Park 'thanks' metal die; Silhouette

I fussy cut a couple of the leaf designs directly from the patterned papers and used my electronic diecutting machine and several of the more solid pattern designs to cut out some additional leaves.  Throw in some vellum, glitter and specialty papers and you've got a beautiful layered design. 

Stacking the leaves amongst each other creates lots of texture as well as a home for my diecut sentiment.

 

 

The Spooky Delights stack has loads of fun Halloween elements and icons that work for both cute and scary projects.  I couldn't resist fussy cutting this trio of festive creatures to adorn my Halloween greeting.

 



Supplies used: DCWV Spooky Delight 6x6 Stack and cardstock; Maya Road ribbon; American Crafts twine; Jillibean Soup enamel stars; foam adhesive.

To ground my scene, I cut out the "Happy Halloween" label, popped it up on foam adhesive and embellished it with some coordinating May Arts ribbon. The combination of elements makes for a fun and festive seasonal card.

I used the 6X6" stack on my card, so I wanted to try out the 12X12" stack of the same design, for another fun project.  This one is perfect to fill with treats and hang on an unsuspecting neighbor's door.

Supplies: DCWV Spooky Delight Stack; May Arts ribbon; October Afternoon buttons; Tombow Extreme adhesive; Other: black crepe paper and crochet thread.

To construct the cone, I used a  favorite 12x12 sheet from the stack.  I simply rolled the sturdy paper into a cone shape, trimmed along the top edge for a clean finish, and secured the paper onto itself with Tombow Extreme adhesive for a nice secure hold.

 

Now comes the really fun part - the embellishing!  I whipped up a simple crepe paper fringe to decorate the top of my cone and used some coordinating ribbon to make my 'hanger'.

 

I didn't have to look far for the remainder of my embellishing, either. The Spooky Delights stack includes lots of fun tags and elements that are perfect for fussy cutting.  A few of those fun and festive images strung onto my ribbon hanger and my project is nearly complete.  Last but certainly not least, it's ready to be stuffed full of candy and goodies!

 

I hope these projects inspire you to create something fun for the season!

 

 

 

Cards

Hello and happy almost Friday!  I know it's been a little quiet around here.  The end of the school year combined with baseball season has us busy, busy, busy!  Once the dust settles from all that activity I hope to be around to share lots more with you.  In the meantime, I thought I'd pop on here real quick to share a couple cards I created with my Bella Blvd stash of supplies.

One can never have enough hand crafted birthday cards on hand, am I right?!  Somehow I still manage to be scrambling to make one, five minutes before we are running out the door to each and every birthday party!  Anyone else have this problem? 

I couldn't dare pass along a store bought card - the bar has just been set too high at this point! LOL!  So to prevent this last minute scramble (at least for one upcoming birthday), each time I sit down to make a card I try to always craft one of the birthday variety.  Lucky for me, Bella Blvd's bright colors pair well with a fun and festive birthday greeting.



Supplies used: Bella Blvd - patterned paper, chipboard letters & shapes, stickers; Doodlebug - enamel dots; Other: machine
stitching, computer font, foam adhesive.

That chipboard cupcake was just begging to be center stage on a card!  Using it to replace the letter 'A' in the word cake and topping it with a star shaped button, makes it extra special!  When paired with a typed out sentiment and fun patterned paper, the card really doesn't need much else.  Still I managed to sneak on some star shaped stickers and enamel dots to really enforce the celebratory theme!

 

Supplies used: Bella Blvd - patterned paper, stickers; Doodlebug - enamel dots; American Crafts - black twine; Other: foam adhesive.

This triangle paper has always been a favorite of mine, both in color scheme and pattern!  I knew I could make a simple yet striking card front out of it by simply cutting out and popping up some of the triangles on the background design.  I even added in a few triangles that didn't appear on the original piece of patterned paper to add extra interest and kick up the design.  Once again, a scattering of tone on tone enamel dots adds texture and interest to this simple design.

 

Thanks so much for joining me on the blog today, friends!  I hope you weekend is relaxing and crafty!

DCWV/Tombow Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY

 

Hi and Welcome to the Gold and Cork Blog Hop with Tombow USA and DCWV! We have 2 days full with gorgeous projects using GOLD and CORK! You probably came here from Jennifer Priest's blog but if you happened to stumble across my blog initially, go to the DCWV Blog to start at the beginning of the hop! 

 

 

I've put together a trio of cards using the DCWV's gorgeous Gilded Stack and a whole lot of awesome Tombow adhesives to keep everything stuck down and in tact.

 

 

Supplies used: DCWV Gilded Stack, DCWV Gem Stickers, DCWV Star Mirrors; Tombow Mono Multi Glue; Tombow Xtreme Adhesive, Tombow Foam Tape.

All three of the cards I've put together for this post have a cream colored card base, with a front panel cut from various papers from the Gilded Stack, to 4.25" x 5.5" to completely cover the card front.  To be sure these gorgeous gold papers don't separate from the underlying card base, I made sure to adhere them with the Tombow Xtreme Adhesive for extra stick and security.

 

I wanted my buttons on this card, to peek out from under the sentiment square.  Since buttons are dimensional, I needed to add some layer and dimension to the 'Hello' piece.  The Tombow Foam Tape was the perfect width to lift that sentiment piece up off the card base and leave room to tuck my button accents partially underneath.

The next card uses more of the Tombow Foam Tape, to lift the wood patterned paper panel off of the background paper. 

I wanted to add some additional sparkle around the card's sentiment, and DCWV gems and mirrors seemed to be the obvious choice.  To ensure that the bling doesn't move as it goes through the mail, I used the Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue to secure the mirrors and gemstones in place.

 

For the final card, again the Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue was a necessity!  All of the gem stickers I adhered to this card front were placed over top of the slick foil dot surface.  The liquid glue provided for a secure hold that the normal adhesive might night guarantee, especially as it travelled through the mail.

 

More Tombow Foam Adhesive Tape was used to attach this card's sentiment strip and the fussy cut ampersand, creating an overall look of lots of interest and dimension.

 

So, now on to the really fun part of this post  - the GIVEAWAYS! There are plenty of prizes to be won!  To win, visit and comment on the participating blog posts. You have until March 31st at 11:59 EST to comment. A winner will be picked randomly and announced on April 1st 2015.

DCWV will be giving away: The DCWV Gilded Stack, a 4x4 Cork Stack, Insta Kraft Album, Accordion Album and a set of birthday photo props!

 

 
Tombow will be giving away: Tombow Xtreme Adhesive, NEW Tombow Adhesive Dots, NEW Tombow Foam Tape and everyone’s favorite the Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue!

 

Remember to “Like” Tombow USA and DCWV on Facebook.



 

Your next stop on the hop is Sara Andrews!

Watercolors and Washi

Happy Saturday morning!  If your weather has been anything like mine here in the Midwest (cold, snow and more cold!) you are in need of some warm and happy inspiration, like me!  I've got just the solution for you and it involves watercolors and washi tape!  Are you intrigued?  If so, scroll on for a look at a duo of cards I put together for Love My Tapes...



Supplies used: Bazzill Cardstock; Love My Tapes washi tape, lace tape; American Crafts twine; Pink Paislee stamps; Hero Arts ink and embossing powder; Stampin' Up ink; Doodlebug enamel dots; Other: machine stitching, embossing folder and foam adhesive. 

Now I didn't set out to combine washi and watercolors, originally.  Although, it ended up being quite a happy match, don't you think?!  You can read more about the evolution my design process took for these cards on the Love My Tapes blog.  I hope you'll stop by and say HI!

Washi polka dots and another shaker card

Hello!  I'm just popping in for a minute to direct you to a little tutorial I have up on the Love My Tapes blog today.  I've made this fun birthday card featuring a shaker element and washi polka dots...




Supplies used: Love My Tapes - washi tapes and adhesive, Bazzill - cardstock, Me & My Big Ideas - clear sentiment stickers; We R Memory Keepers - circle dies; Other: silver seed beads, sequins, foam tape.

I hope you'll stop on over and give it a peek, and even better - give this technique a try for yourself!  If you do, be sure to check out and enter the giveaway they've got going on over there!

Shaker cards

Hi crafty friends!  Sorry for my unannounced absence!  I didn't intend to stay away from the blog for quite so long.  But with the holidays and new year's resolutions (recommitting to exercise!) thrown into the mix, I've had to prioritize a bit.  I'm sure you can relate!  The good news is, while I was away, I've also been busy crafting so I'll be around this week with lots to share!

Today I'm bringing you a couple of cards I created.  If you haven't noticed, shaker cards are making a bit of a comeback in the crafting world.  I was in need of cards for a few special people, so I decided to throw my hat into the mix and create my own version of the latest card trend.

For this first one, I resurrected some Imaginisce stamps from long ago.  Despite their 'age', they make for a sweet sympathy card for a friend who recently lost her dog.  I stamped the dog on white cardstock and colored her in using colored pencils and blending with gamsol, to match the coloring on my friend's beloved pooch.  I stamped and cut out two clouds to fit within the shaker window.  To give the background of my card some subtle interest, as to not take away too much attention from the showpiece shaker, I used an ink blending technique.  I stamped the cloud onto the sticky part of a post-it note and cut it out to create a mask for which to blend my ink over top.



Supplies used: Imaginisce - stamps (cloud and dog); Hero Arts - sentiment stamp, black ink; Diecuts With a View - cardstock and glitter paper; Simon Says Stamp - heart dies; My Favorite Things - oval die; Tim Holtz - distress inks; Scor-tape - adhesive; Fiskars - scissors; Other: colored pencils, foam adhesive, scrap sheet protector, glass beads.

I used an oval shaped die from My Favorite Things to create the window for my shaker card. Some ink blending behind the window, creates a nice sky look at the back of the shaker. Did you know you don't have to use any special material for the transparent part of your shaker?  For this card and the next, I cut up an old damaged page protector to fit in the window.  Talk about trash to treasure, huh?!  My shaker is filled with clear glass beads and sweet little hearts diecut from DCWV cardstock and glitter paper.  This DCWV glitter paper is my go to for manual diecutting.  It cuts wonderfully and leaves behind no mess!  I used a red sheet from the Holiday Glitzy Glitter Stack to cut my hearts.

On this next card, I thought it would be fun to create the shaker in the 'paper' part of the typewriter stamp.  It's kind of fun and unexpected touch, isn't it? Aside from a sprinkling of diecut hearts I kept the background pretty simple.  Because of that, I felt it was missing a little 'something', so I grabbed a small strip of glittery patterned paper from DCWV's Candy Cane Lane Stack to accent the right edge of the card.



Supplies used: Simply Iconic - stamps (typewriter and sentiment); Hero Arts - black ink; Diecuts With a View - cardstock, patterned paper and glitter paper; Simon Says Stamp - heart dies; Tim Holtz - distress ink; Scor-tape - adhesive; Fiskars - scissors; Other: foam adhesive, scrap sheet protector, glass beads.

More glass beads and tiny diecut hearts fill up the shaker.  This time I stamped the sentiment on the card base, so that it would end up in the background, inside the shaker box, for another interesting spin.

 

Thanks so much for joining me today as I dabbled in the shaker card world!  Hope you'll come back and visit me soon.

 

Catching up with Love My Tapes

Happy Sunday friends!  I hope you all enjoyed a nice weekend, and for my American friends, I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with family, good food and abundant blessings.

I wanted to pop on real quick tonight to share a couple of projects I had up on the Love My Tapes blog recently.  The first one is a page to match the season.  While these pictures are technically from last winter, the recent snow we've had and my stack of cozy, swater-like fabric tapes had me itching to scrap this memory!




Supplies used: American Crafts - patterned paper, cardstock, heart punch; Jillibean Soup - background patterned paper, Love diecut word; EK Success - Martha Stewart snowflake punch; Doodlebug Design - sequins; Love My Tapes - blue fabric tape; Other - machine stitching, Veteran Typewriter computer font; Silhouette portrait.

Here's a closer look at the blue fabric tape.  It does a great job of drawing your eye to the title and framing it out on both ends.  The texture and pattern remind me of a warm, cozy sweater so that also made it a perfect match for this page!

To get more details on this page, hop on over to the this post on the LMT blog.

My next project was created with my Thanksgiving hostess in mind, but really you could send a card like this anytime of the year!  Switch up the colors and icon and it could work for just about any season.  Here's a look...



Supplies used: LMT- ivory lace tape; Bazzill - cardstock; Stampin Up - embossing folder; Doodlebug Designs - sequins; Hero Arts - ink, leaf stamp; Jillibean Soup - stamped sentiment; American Crafts - twine; Other: foam adhesive.

This particular project features LMT's pretty lace tape.  For more info and a closer look, check out this post on the LMT blog.

That's it for today!  Join me back here tomorrow and I have two cute pages to share.  See you then!

Guest Designer: Basic Grey

I was thrilled to recently receive an email inviting me to be a guest designer for Basic Grey.  Ummmmm, you want me to create with my choice of your beautiful paper collections AND you'll feature my work on your blog?!  YES, please, sign me up!

If you follow me on instagram, you might have guessed from the sneak peeks I've been sharing, that I've been keeping this little secret.   Todays' the day I get to share all of the projects I have been working on in their entirety!  I used a mix of Basic Grey's Second City collection by Kelly Purkey and the Capture collection.

Second City has many travel themed icons and phrases, which are great for documenting your trips and/or vacations.  I wanted to use this collection in a bit of a different way on my first page, though.  All of the purples in the collection, reminded me of some photos I had not yet scrapped of my daughter when she was just learning to cruise and walk.   The travel themed phrases 'let's go', 'take the scenic route' '& adventure' worked just perfect to document this milestone. 



Supplies used: Basic Grey Capture & Second City - patterned paper, stickers, diecuts, flair, 3x4 cards, chipboard; Other: veteran typewriter font, foam adhesive, twine.

I loved that I could combine pieces of Second City so easily with the Capture collection. I might not have paired these two initially, but they share some common colors that really allow them to coordinate well.

 

 

Sizing my photos down to 2x3" and arranging everything into a 3 x 3 grid allowed the design to stay cohesive.  I was able to include four pictures, plenty of journaling and lots of different layers and textures.  Take for instance this title piece - I used multiple stickers, diecuts, chipboard, stitching and twine all layered together.  If I had done this type of layering all throughout the page, it would be chaotic.  Focusing the textures and layers among select pieces of the grid, instead, allows for movement through the page, and still keeps the focus on the pictures.

 

 

For the second of the two layouts I completed, I couldn't help but to go pretty literal in theme and memory. I used Second City to document a fun memory from a girl's trip my mom, sister and I took, this past summer.

 

Once again, I was drawn to the purple in this collection, which surprisingly is actually is a color I never reach for!  I love how it provides a somewhat 'neutral' background for all of the added details and layers happening on this page.

 

Supplies used: Basic Grey Second City - patterned paper, transparent & paper diecuts, wood embellishments, letter stickers, flair; American Crafts - twine; We R Memory Keepers - cardstock; Silhouette - Vegas script title; Other: Bebas Nue font (title), Veteran Typewriter font (journaling); machine stitching.

Aren't those feathers great?  I mixed a diecut paper, transparent and sticker feather to create a cluster alongside my photo.  The '3' circle diecut couldn't have been more perfect to represent a picture of the three of us.

 

Lots more strategically placed diecuts and stitching work together to frame the photo.  I loved the wood veneer pieces that accompanied this collection.  Boy are they sticky, too!  There will be no worries of coming back to this page in the future, and wondering whether or not the heavier embellishments have stayed in place!

To create the title I used a combination of letters cut from my silhouette along with the great tiny letter stickers included in the collection.  That orange ombre paper was too fun not to use for the title!

 

 

These two collections make for some pretty fun cards, too!  Again, I went for it with a cluster and mix of feathers behind my sentiment.  To continue to carry the color throughout the card design, I used the transparent triangle pieces to carry the eye from the top of the card to the bottom.

 



 

 

I knew this cityscape image would be the perfect compliment to a 'missing you' greeting.  The alphabets included in each collection are a great size for cards.  Since they are small enough to work on a card, they allowed me to customize my sentiment just perfectly!

 



 

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my excitement today!  I hope you'll swing on over to the Basic Grey blog also, to get another look at my featured projects and read my answers to the 'baker's dozen' questions.  If you do, make sure you comment and say HI!

 

 

Weekend inspiration

Happy Friday, friends!  Do you have any plans to sneak in some crafting this weekend?  It's definitely on my list of to-do's for the next several days - if I can eek out some time between soccer games, kids birthday parties and a date night with my hubby!

In the meantime, I wanted to pop in quickly to share a couple of projects I've had up over on the Love My Tapes blog.  As I mentioned in my last post, our household is fully immersed in the back to school routine, so I couldn't resist creating a few projects with that theme in mind. The first was a set of lunch box notes, with a simple washi tape background.



Supplies used: Studio G - kraft notecards; Love My Tapes - washi tape; Fiskars - star punch; Heidi Swapp - sentiment stamps; KI Memories - smiley stamp; Hero Arts - black ink; Other: scrap cardstock/paper

Click here for more details on this project and a closer look at each of these sweet mini notes!

Another project I shared, would be perfect for the new or even seasoned little readers in your house - washi adorned bookmarks.



Supplies used: Love My Tapes - washi tape; Stampin Up - bookworm stamp, punch; Studio G - cupcake stamp; American Crafts - cardstock, colored pencils; Hero Arts - black ink; Other - gamsol

You can click here for a closer look at these bookmarks and easy instructions to create your own!

And today on the LMT blog I'm sharing a recent scrapbook page, that wouldn't be complete without the added texture and dimension of some pretty lace tape borders.




Supplies used: American Crafts - patterned paper, diecuts, wood & epoxy embelishments; Jillibean Soup - kraft diecut title; Love My Tapes - lace tape; Stampin Up - scallop border punch; Other - machine stitching, crochet thread, circle punch

So, now that you've got a few ideas, I hope you'll make it a priority to get crafty this weekend.  If you do, I hope you'll come back and share with me what you've made.