My Teacher

Since Caitlyn is moving to the next level class after winter break she will also have a new teacher. So I got a sweet picture of her with her teacher before she changes classes. I used the #5 Inspired Blueprints sketch for this layout. I love how it came out! These are some of my favorite scenic route papers from the fall and I finally dove in and cut a tiny bit of my cute graph transparency (the number strip). I also used the Teacher's Apple stamp set by Papertrey ink for the darling apples, the quote, and the sentiment on the photo tag. Caitlyn loves her teacher and always runs up to greet her when she gets to school. It is a little sad that she's going to have a different teacher already, but I'm sure the class will be great for her! New Year's Eve is coming up tomorrow :D Has anyone been thinking about resolutions? I've been thinking of some since November, lol. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Tuesday!

Christmas Cards for after Christmas ^_~

It's another Christmas Card Sunday! I have to say it feels a bit funny to be making Christmas cards right after Christmas, but I know by next year holiday time it will be worth it! Check out Sparkle's Blog for the challenge and her cards this week!

This is a 5x5 card. All the stamps are by Papertrey ink (Warm Happiness, Snowfall, and Snowfall Additions) and the paper is My Minds Eye. I had been wanting to do a snowball in the mittens but then changed it out for a yummy mug of cocoa half way through making the card. I love trying out color combinations that you wouldn't normally use for certain holidays! Even though this paper so says 'summer' to me I wanted to get out of my box and use it for something wintery.

I did two cards this week and actually took a tip from what Sparkle has been doing with those fun bitty cards. I don't usually make 4 1/4 square cards but I do make 5x5 cards and usually just end up using the left over as a practice stamp sheet or to let my girls draw on (I cut my own card bases from 8 1/2 X 11 paper). But this time I took the extra piece and made a 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 card with it. The smaller size was really fun to work with too! I did a religious themed card and I really love the way it came out with these colors! I also love the fun pop the ribbon gives to the card. Anyway enjoy and I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Father's Day Layouts

I really like scrapbooking holidays untraditionally every once in a while. And that's what I did with this last year's pictures. Instead of focusing on the day itself I just focused on Paul with the girls.

This layout is the more candid of the two. And actually these pictures are more accurate than the perfect smiling pics I like to try to get, lol. Paul loves being silly with the girls and many times all their laughter comes from making funny faces at each other! They really are his silly little birds though he is just as silly. I guess that makes him the BIG silly bird, lol!

I love this layout because of the statement. I've always liked the full quote but have never used it on a layout. Paul is such a great daddy and even with all the physical challenges he has with his health he still does all he can to be active in his children's lives. Audrey would go running to him when I had to pick him up at the college. And when he comes home the first thing Caitie says is "I missed you Daddy!!" I love that he is such a wonderful father and I adore watching him with the girls! Anyway, I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season! Thanks for stopping on by!

A Couple Birdie Cards

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas? We will be just hanging out and having a movie day today with the girls. They got the My Friends Tigger and Pooh Christmas Sleuth movie that they had been wanting and they didn't get a chance to watch yesterday so we will snuggle up and watch that today.

These are just some fun birdie cards I made to use up some more paper scraps. This one was very simple and quick to make. The follow your heart sentiment is from the Classmate Alpha set by CTMH, the rest of the stamping is from the Bird Basics set :D. I've been trying to use up all the funny little scraps after I create layouts so that my pattern paper scrap pile doesn't get too large.

And another simple card made to use up scraps and play around with this stamp set. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a sweet Tuesday!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!!

Here's some more pictures from last year. Every year we spend Christmas morning at our own home and just hang out, have a fun pancake or waffle breakfast, and open presents. Later we head over to my MILs home for more Christmas with extended family and Christmas dinner. Like Thanksgiving, I usually just get to bring a side dish as Mom loves to cook the big dinner ^_~ It's a really nice and relaxed Christmas, just the way we like it! These are pics from Nana's house. She has these large gorgeous windows so the lighting is wonderful in her home and I get such great pictures!

So this is the girls at Nana's last year. I kind of miss these cute meatballs they used to let me do their hair up in ^_~ Most all the pics look like they are of Audrey because Cait was wearing her red sweater. Cait has green ponytail holders in her hair though and a yellow shirt underneath. They could so be little twins, lol! I hope you are all having a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

So what is everyone doing tonight? We have a tradition of opening one gift the night before Christmas and reading Christmas stories both bible and others. It started out with the girls' first nativity set and the nativity story and then went to ornaments. This year we are trying Christmas pajamas that they will get to wear to sleep tonight. I think this is the one we will keep with too :D It's always fun to get PJs and getting to wear them the Christmas eve makes them extra special!

I created a layout with last year's Christmas Eve pictures. The girls were already in their PJs :D They had a blast getting their special ornaments that year. I used some Basic Grey paper and pulled the purple from that for the cardstock background. Covered circle chipboard makes the ornaments for this simple layout. Anyhoo, thanks for visiting! And have a Merry Christmas Eve!

Unforgetable Aspiration Cards

I can't stand small scraps, lol. So after making all those Unforgetable paper layouts I had to create some cards to get rid of the scraps. These are what I came up with using just the Aspiration stamp set. I am so proud of myself for using every single stamp in this set!! Just a note, these stamps (Aspiration) and papers (Unforgetable) will be available in January from CTMH :D

Just quickie posts this week. I hope you all have a Very Merry Tuesday!!

Color Challenge #44

This is a little late since I'm still doing some Christmas baking. I don't mind though as I love to bake goodies! Of course I love eating them too so it's a good thing I package them as soon as they are cooled to be given away, lol!! I want to thank everyone who has been playing in the color challenges this past year! It has been so fun for me to come up with these color combinations and see what you make with them. I get so inspired viewing all the different projects with the same colors, it really gets me thinking out of the box more often! I'm setting some new goals for next year as I want to start submitting layouts to publish so I won't be doing the color challenges come January. It's been such a fun year with everyone and it makes me sad to stop, but with all of the positive feedback I've gotten I want to try and see if my artwork is good enough for publication and that is going to be taking more of my crafting time. Anyway, I have another Christmasy color combo for you ^_~ To play use at least 3 of the colors and send me a link to your creation so I can see it and post the link to it here as well! Have fun with the colors and thanks for playing in the challenges with me ladies, it's been a blast!

Cranberry
Sorbet
Juniper
Ponderosa Pine


My Sample:

I made some super simple recipe cards to go with some of the shortbread I'm giving out. I've had a few requests for the recipe so I thought on the rest of them I would just give a recipe card to go with it as well. I used the Gratitude stamp set from CTMH for the flowers. Other than that it's just simply printing the recipe on white CS and then matting it on some ponderosa pine cardstock. There will be one more color challenge for next week. It will be the last weekly color challenge I host. I hope you have all enjoyed seeing and playing in the color challenges!

If you can't read the recipe on the card here it is, they are very yummilicious!

Cinnamon Pecan Shortbread Bars

1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 egg
2 C flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 C chopped pecans (separated)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 13x9 pan. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Add flour, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in ½ C of the pecans. Press dough in bottom of pan. Sprinkle remaining ½ C pecans over dough; press in lightly. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely then cut into bars.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Monday!!

Christmas Card Sunday #3!

It's Christmas Card Sunday!! Check out Sparkle's Blog for her challenge cards. Each week she hosts the challenge to make some Christmas Cards by Sunday. I decided that my color challenge card could be one card for this week and here is the other one I created. I'm thinking I'm going to have to make some more cards like this with these colors as I lovey them!

Usually I have a tough time creating religious Christmas cards that I really love, but this one came out better than what I had in mind! The card is inspired by my entry Christmas tree, it has a very homespun rustic look to it and this is the color theme I used as well. I used the Silent Night stamp set for the sentiment, star, and white stars in the background. Holiday Tags were used to create the background paper, both sets by Papertrey Ink. I have to say that my Holiday Tags set has been my most used Christmas set ever! I have been loving it! Anyway, don't forget to check out Sparkle's Blog where this challenge is hosted!

And since this is already about Christmas cards I thought I'd post a quick pic of the darling handmade Christmas cards that I've gotten so far this year. Thanks Sparkle, Jenn M, Laurel, Jena, and Marcia!! Your cards are looking lovely on my piano ^_~ Have a wonderful winter Sunday everyone!!

Heart of Winter and Unforgettable Layouts

If anyone follows my SCS gallery these aren't new. I made them the same day I did the Pose layout. I also created some cards that will be posted later this week as well ^_~ It's cold right now but I've been having so much fun going over our spring and summer pics from last year and scrapping those. Looking through them reminds me of what is coming up, the wonderful warmth of spring and all the fun my girls have after being couped up indoors during the winter. Playtime outside is usually only 20-30 mins the past couple months (that's if they even want to go outside after feeling the cold when we open the door, lol) compared to the average 2-3 hours they will spend outdoors during the spring and summer! They are little wimps like me when it comes to cold weather, lol! This layout uses a Dec Pagemaps sketch. I have really been liking the one page designs this last month.


Some of the misc pics of the girls, I seem to have to scrap every photo of them, lol. I used another Dec pagemaps for this one as well. Both layouts have some Heart of Winter and Unforgettable papers in them and both use the bird basics. All the snow was pretty much melted away yesterday, there was a little that still clung to the corners and the colder shadows and of course the mountains around us still held their snow, but there wasn't anything left to play with. Caitie was a little bit sad about the snow being gone on her way to school yesterday but she was all smiles again when we came home since she got to hand out her reindeer candy canes. Only her and one other boy brought treats for the other classmates which surprised me since everyone brought a lot for Halloween, but oh well. The less candy the better, lol! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful Saturday!

Let it Snow. . .

Let it snow, let it snow!! We have had some fun snow the past couple days and yesterday morning we had gotten enough the night before for it to actually stick :D The girls LOVED it!! It's rare for us to get more than a single day of snow here so they even had a snow day Thursday, lol. Cait doesn't go to school on Thrusday so it didn't make any difference to her, but a lot of my friend's kids were totally ecstatic!

Cait and Audrey got to play in the snow for a while. Aren't they too cute!!! I wish Cait had kept her scarf on at least long enough for the pics, she looked so darling! Audrey took hers off shortly after as well, but I had gotten a couple shots before she did. My camera was wrapped in a scarf to protect it from the melting snow off all the trees in front of our apartment, lol. We had so much fun and then came in when the girls' hands got too cold for some hot cocoa with marshmallows and soft peppermint sticks. What a fun day we had yesterday!

I didn't have a chance to play in the bella challenges this week. It is crunch time for us to finish up some last minute Christmas treats, mostly cookies and shortbread. Remember these fun little candy cane reindeer? I used to make these in gradeschool and thought Cait would love making them for the treats she wants to give today at school. We used glue dots instead of a glue gun like we did when I was little. And it is A LOT easier, let me tell you, lol. Cait put on a couple of the noses but mostly just delegated - "Mom put the eyeball here" "Mom, nose goes here" "Mom, fix the horns please" or Audrey's matter-of-factly "It's dead. The reindeer is dead. Eyeballs are gone, oh no," about the candycane I forgot to put eyes on and was just laying on the floor with antlers, lol. We've been having a lot of fun this past week!! And today is my birthday so I get to have extra fun along with no cleaning or cooking, yay! Anyway, I hope you all have a fabulous Friday!! Thanks for stopping by!

Pose

Supplies: Unforgetable Paper, Cardstock, Chipboard, Ribbon, Bigger Brads, and Aspirations stamp set by CTMH

You should be able to click on the layout to get a bigger picture since I know it's small in the post. I love these fun posing pictures of Cait. I remember trying SO hard to get some 'perfect' shots of both her and Audrey for some father's day projects I was making for both Paul and his dad. Most of the pictures Cait would pose for but not smile or she would make a face, lol. It was a bit frustrating at the time but as you can see I had to print and scrap the photos anyway :D She is my little poser and I LOVE that she will pose for pictures. Now if I can just get her to do her real smile and not the fakey one, lol!

And the semester if finally over!!!! Yay!! I get my hubby back for about 2 weeks now, lol. We are just going to take it easy since he is still having his relapse and has only been on his new medication about 2 weeks. So far there hasn't been any really bad side effects so I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way since the doctor says it's about 2 months before his body will be acclimated to it and we will know for sure whether he'll be able to stay on it. But it's looking good. The nice thing about these Rebif injections is that even though they are 3 times a week, it's only subcutaneously and the needle is thinner than the injections he used to have to take every day. It's also a much faster injection as well. Anyway, hugs to all my readers! Have a Happy Thursday!

Unforgettable and Aspiration

Supplies : Unforgetable Paper, Cardstock, Ribbon, Nail Heads, Aspiration, Chocolate Large alpha, and Chocolate alpha stamp sets by CTMH

I created this layout for the #5 IB sketch. I am loving these papers and stamps! They are so pretty and went perfectly with a lot of the summer pictures I took (yes I know they are spring papers, but they match my summer ones, lol). I experimented with the flower doing both solid stamping and then using the second generation with the stamp rolling method. Both look wonderful! I used my white gel pen to white out the little flower dots to give the flowers a little more pop.

Supplies : Unforgetable Paper, Cardstock, Ribbon, Chocolate and Aspiration stamp sets by CTMH; Thickers letter stickers by American Crafts

Another layout using these new Spring papers and stamps! This was one of my favorite pictures out of the ones Caitie posed for. I'm not sure why really, she just has this sweet and shy look on her face that I found stunning. I also LOVE this outfit. The journaling is about how amazing I think she is and some of the awesome things she does like making up songs (words AND tunes) for everything. Like if she has to get dressed in a certain outfit she'll make up a song about it or about what she is doing or a movie she saw... I love hearing all the funny stuff she comes up with! Anyway, more to come with these papers and stamps! Thanks for visiting!!

Christmas Cookies

I was going to have these ready for Monday last week for Paul's professors and other staff at the college that have been so helpful to him for Christmas. Thursday rolls around before I remember, "Oh, I was supposed to make cookies!" Friday is his last day of classes and after that it's just finals so I set to work baking that night, lol! I had wanted to make them all Christmas cards but that just wasn't going to be happening before the next morning so I opted to create some cute and quick tags with my 2008 Holiday Tags set by papertrey to go with the bundle.

Oatmeal Scotchies (It's on the Nestle bag ^_~)

1 C butter (softened)

3/4 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla or the grated rind of one orange

1 1/4 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 C quick oats

1 package (11oz) butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375. Cream together sugars and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix until well blended. Add oats and chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9-10 for crisper cookies. Makes about 4 dozen unless you make big cookies like me and then it's only 2 1/2 lol. These are super yummilicious! Thanks for visiting and have a very merry Tuesday!!

Color Challenge #43

Hope got me all Christmasafied with the Bella color challenge this week so this week I'm doing a very Christmasy combo :D To play use at least 3 of the colors and send me a link to your artwork so I can add it here! Have fun with the colors!

Tulip
Kiwi
Topiary
Colonial White

Carla's Lovely Spring I Love You Card
Sparkle's Darling Lattebella Christmas Cards

My sample:



Supplies: Cardstock, Ribbon, Buttons, Ink, Say it in Style, Bird Basics, Aspiration, and Intrinsic Backgrounds stamp sets by CTMH

You get some sneak peeks at some of the new CTMH stamp sets coming out in January :D The bird, background, and branch are from new spring sets. They are actually the only new sets I got and are an early Christmas prezzie from my hubby ^_~ I have a lot of new artwork coming up using these darling birds and the new Aspiration stamp set as well so get ready for spring!! Thanks for playing and have fun with the Christmasy colors!!

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #2

Have you heard about Sparkle's new Sunday Christmas Card Challenge? Head on over to her blog and check it out! She's made the goal to create 2 Christmas cards each week, by Sunday. An awesome idea for all us crafters that LOVEY to make each Christmas card unique but don't lovey the stress of making 100 cards all at once!

Supplies : Fruitcake Paper by Basic Grey; Cardstock by Bazzil; Ribbon and Sentiment (2008 Holiday Tags) by Papertrey Ink; Markers, Inks, and Buttons by CTMH

I used this darling Ellzybellz RAK image for my card this week. I don't need quite that many Christmas cards so I'm doing at least one a week but will sometimes do two :D I'm counting the two Christmasy bellas I made for the Bella Color Challenge and the Bella-Riffic Friday challenge as my 2 Christmas cards for last Sunday, which was week #1. I think this is such an awesome idea and I look forward to making at least one Christmasy card each week ^_~ Thanks for visiting and don't forget to check out Sparkle's Blog for the challenge and her cards for the week! Hugs to all my readers and have a lovely Sunday!

Bella Challenges #58

Supplies: Tinkerbella from Stampingbella; Boomdiada paper, Cardstock, Markers, Hollyhock Ribbon, and Say it in Style stamp set from CTMH; Craft sparkles; Silver Stardust pen and White gel pen by Sakura

Are you tired of me using up this Boomdiada paper yet? lol This is the last one that will use it for now ^_~ I made the card for the #58 bella sketch challenge. At first I was going to put 'have a fairy happy birthday' for the sentiment on this card but I just couldn't find a place for it to fit nicely so this one I thought went well with lil' Tinkerbella :D

Supplies : Lattebella from Stampingbella; Scrap papers from My Minds Eye and Scenic Route; 2008 Holiday Tags by Papertrey Ink; Inks, Markers, and Ribbon by CTMH; White gel pen and Stardust pen by Sakura

Here is my card for the color challenge - favorite green and favorite red. Right now my favorite green is Sweet Leaf and Tulip has been my favorite red since it came out. I used some scrap papers to match the colors as closely as I could and then decked out lattebella for the holidays :D

And for some good news Cait's speech therapy got reapproved AND she's moving up to the next level class in the early intervention preschool after winter break! She'll be working at level 3A now. She started at 2C this year and Kindergarten readiness is 3D so we are really excited! It's kind of on a trial basis to see how she does in a bigger small group setting (4 kids to one teacher as opposed to 2 to 1 or 1 on 1), but her teacher is confident that she will do very well. Anyway, hope you enjoy the cards! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Bella-Riffic Fridays - Prezzies!!!

Supplies : Tis-the-seasonabella by Stampingbella; Tis the Season sentiment by Hanna Stamps; Boomdiada paper, cardstock, creme brulee ribbon, markers, and brads all by CTMH; white gel pen and silver stardust pen by Sakura

Another fun Bella-Riffic Friday!! This last week's theme was Prezzies and I battled between using Prezzie Bella or this bella. The Christmasy bella won out and I used her with some non-traditional Christmas colors. I love using different colors for Christmas! Don't forget to check out the Bella-Riffic Friday Blog to see all the cards and to find out what this next week's theme is! Have a Fantastic Friday and thanks for stopping by!

Bella's Favorite Stamper Challenge #2

Supplies: Teapot Daisies by Stampingbella; CS, Boomdiada paper and creative basics paper, brads, markers, and Say it in Style stamp set by CTMH; White gel pen by Sakura

For December we are to case a card from Jessica's Awesome Gallery! She had so many fun cards it was hard to choose, but I finally settled on this one. Her card is SO much cuter than mine, probably because it is grumpabella and I lovey her, lol. That sentiment totally cracks me up too!! I changed up the stamp and sentiment and then used different papers. I kept with her card design as much as I could and carried out the same double matting on all the panels like she did. A very fun challenge! I hope you are all having a fabulous week! Only 15 more days til Christmas ^_~ Are ya'll done shopping yet?!

Once there was a Snowman. . .

. . . snowman, snowman. Once there was a snowman - cute, cute, cute. Then I tried to color him, color him, color him. Then I tried to color him and he went kapoot! LOL okay well if you don't know this little song than this probably doesn't make much sense, but that was what came to my mind when I finally finished this card.



Supplies: Pattern Paper by Basic Grey; Image by Ellybellz? (RAKed image ^_~); 2008 Holiday Tags and ribbon by Papertrey Ink; CS, brads, inks, and markers by CTMH; white gel pen by Sakura

So I was making this card for the 10th day of the 12 days of Christmas challenge on Paper Craft Planet. It's 9 o'clock at night my time when I start, so 11 EST and the project deadline is 12 midnight EST. I wasn't coloring fast or anything, but I slipped when shading the snowman with the blue. So I thought, why don't I try to use my blender pen to fix it? BIG mistake, lol. The first rule of playing with a RAK image, especially if you only have one, is to not try something new on it. For instance, trying to use a blender pen to fix a slip-up on non watercolor paper. So the snowman gets totally fuzzied and not in a cute way. Well, this is the only image I had so I was determined to save him. Suddenly liquid applique came to mind and well, as they say, the rest is history. He doesn't look too awful in the picture but I assure you, the camera is being nice to him, hehehe. Not every card can come out perfect though, right? The boy came out darling though! I gave him red hair like my hubby, so I suppose this is Paul :D Anyway, thanks for coming over to see my poor snowman card! Have a Merry Wednesday!

Penguins!

This card was made for the day 7 challenge on Paper Crafter Planet's 12 days of Christmas challenge. The challenge was to create a black and white card - think formal wedding - and if you want a dash of color. The penguins were already black and white so I took inspiration from them to try and make a simple but pretty card with them. I signed up on PCP just so I could participate in these challenges, lol. I'm still getting used to it. I think they are using the same engine that Inspired Blueprints is using but all I really do there is upload and leave some comments, lol. PCP has groups and so many more events and options and tabs that I'm still a little overwhelmed. Someone said it's like facebook but for scrappers. I don't have a facebook so I have no idea, lol, but so far it's been pretty fun.

Here's Caitie with her pizza face and wearing a couple of her prezzies (the Tink shirt and purse). Yesterday was her birthday. Where does the time go? It doesn't seem so long ago that she was Audrey's size and Audrey.... well I still rock and cuddle her like she's a baby even though she weighs almost as much as Cait!! LOL We had a small party at home since she has been sick. Today she woke up with a low fever and a sore throat still, but nothing too serious. She didn't get to go to school, but that didn't dampen her spirits, lol. She has been so cheerful and happy all day ^_~ We won't be able to celebrate with family for a couple weeks because of schedules, so we just did little special things throughout the day with her to celebrate and she got a couple prezzies which she loved! She picked pizza and cupcakes for dinner though I have to say my cupcakes came out all wonky this time. I filled the first batch cupcakes too full so the tops were all funny, lol, but of course no one minded but me. The main thing was that she had a blast and I'm so glad she did even though she was sick! Anyway, thanks for visiting and have a happy Tuesday!

Color Challenge #42

I was in the mood to try and mix and match some CTMH paper packs and that's what spurned this combo. Usually I purposefully try to avoid color combos that are in the paper packs just to kind of get everyone (myself included ^_~) out of the box and be more creative with the CS and single tone papers. But this time I took the colors from two paper packs and combined them, so we'll see how it goes. To play use at least 3 of the colors in a new project and then comment me here with a link to your creation so I can add the link to this post ^_~. Have fun creating!!

Crystal Blue
Desert Sand
Chocolate
Dutch Blue
Outdoor Denim (optional)

Nicole's Snow Day Layout
Alanna's Fun Bella Card
Carla's Sweet Flower Birthday Card
Sparkle's Darling Snowboardabella Card

My Sample:


Supplies: Caprice and Serendipity Papers, CS, Ricrac Rounds, Friendship Large Alpha, Classmate Alpha, and Friendship Alpha stamp sets, Buttons, Spirals, Ink, Waxy Flax, and Brads by CTMH; Snowflake punches by Marvy Uchida

I did a layout to try and get my scrappin' mojo back. I have a lot of pictures I have been wanting to scrap plus the New Year is inching closer and though I know I won't make the big goal of having 365 pages done, I want to at least get as close as I can. If I can make it to the 280 mark I'll be really happy! This is Audrey 2 years ago and I was so glad to finally scrap them! I've found it has become difficult for me to scrap my pre-digital photos, so anytime I get some of them scrapped I feel doubly accomplished!! Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have fun with the challenge!

Bellaversary Bash!!!

Supplies : Wreathabella from stampingbella; green pattern paper from my minds eye; pink glittle dot paper from making memories; cardstock, inks, markers, and brads from CTMH; Holiday Tags stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Ribbon Unknow; white gelly roll pen by Sakura


I only got to stay for the first 15 minutes of the bash before I had to leave but even that was really fun! Jamie had a fun add lib going on and the ones I got to read were pretty funny! Anyway, Saturday I was able to play a little and do the challenges for the bash. This card was for the first challenge I did, which was the Bella Signature Colors Challenge to use light green and pinks. So I took out wreathabella to do a totally Bella Christmas card ^_~

Supplies: Tistheseasonabella by stampingbella; Tis the season sentiment by Hanna Stamps; Fruitcake paper by Basic Grey; Cardstock, markers, and button nail heads by CTMH; Silver stardust pen by Sakura

This card was for the Bellaversary sketch challenge. I had a couple of these images RAKed to me and just had to use her for at least one of the challenges. The sentiment is just darling and I was going to use it on my first card but didn't have a spot big enough for it. Which was fine because it fit perfectly with this sketch ^_~

Supplies: Balloonabella by stampingbella; Pattern Paper by My Minds Eye; Baby Pink cardstock, brads, ink, markers, and say it in style stamp set by CTMH; Textured CS by Bazzil; White gel pen by Sakura; Ribbon Unknown

And this was the last card I did for the theme challenge. The theme was 2 since it's Bella's second anniversary. So I picked balloonabella because she had 2 balloons, gave her 2 mats, used 2 shades of pink cs, used 2 pattern papers, added 2 ribbons and tied 2 bows, used 2 brads and my sentiment has 2 words.

So last night I didn't get to stay because I was going out on a date with my hubby. We went to a dance concert which was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!! I loved it! And the only thing bad was that there were so many people in there TEXTING during the performance. I so wish someone would have come in and kicked them out! It was a college performance and I know a bunch of the people were there because it's an assignment to go to one of the concerts and write a short essay, but really is it so hard to not open your cell phone for an hour and a half? Sorry about my little rant. It didn't ruin the concert at all, it was just annoying how rude people can be (and they do this at movies too!). Anyway, the dancers did a fantastic job! I found myself getting favorites even after the 3rd performance, lol. Afterwards we went to dinner, just to Applebee's since we couldn't really decide what we wanted to eat, lol. It was a great night ^_~ Anyway, I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Bella Challenges #57

Supplies: Partybella from stampingbella; Paper by My Minds Eye; CS by Bazzil; Ribbon, Brads, Acrylic Flowers by American Crafts; Markers, ink, and Say it in Style stamp set by CTMH; White Gel pen by Sakura

This was a tough sketch for me. Circles always challenge me though, lol. I had the bottom right circle be on top of the image instead of behind it not just for the sentiment but because both the circles get so lost behind this image since it is a bigger bella stamp. I love these colors for summer and have been working on so many Christmas/Winter projects of late that is was so much fun to change it up.

Supplies: Bookwormabella from stampingbella; Paper, CS, Inks, Markers, Brad, Say it in Style stamp set by CTMH; white gel pen by Sakura; flower by Prima

And I thought the color challenge was going to be hard but once I started coloring in bookwormabella, it all just fell together. I love it when cards do that! I used the CTMH colors Dutch Blue, Clover Meadow, and Sorbet. Tomorrow I'll post my projects for the Bellaversary challenge. Have a Snappy Saturday!!

Bella-Riffic Fridays - It's time to CELEBRATE!

Last Friday's challenge theme was Celebrate in honor of Stampingbellas 2nd Anniversary! So I had to pick out bella's faves - pinks and green - to create my It's a Party card for the theme!! Don't forget that the Bellaversary Bash is happenin' tonight on the Bella Forums as well! Here's my card:



Supplies: Stamping Bellas from stampingbella (RAKed image ^_~); Paper by My Minds Eye; CS, It's a Party stamp, ink, and markers by CTMH; Flowers by Prima; Brads by American Crafts; Ribbon Unknown; White Gel Pen by Sakura

Don't you just love these girls!! They are so darling! I wish I looked half as fashionable while stamping. For me it's usually pajamas and socks, lol!! And yes I have even gone to crops in pjs ^_~ Anyway, lol, don't forget to visit the Bellariffic Friday Blog to see all the cards created for the theme challenge and have a great weekend!! Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Adorable!

Supplies: Pattern Papers, tags, cs elements, journaling prompt, buttons, and swirl by My Minds Eye; Blue Dot Eye Candy by P Inc.; Foam letter stickers by American Crafts; CS, ribbon, and foam snowflakes Unknown

I just love these papers. They are from the same My Minds Eye set as the papers I used in yesterday's layout and also the layouts with the snowmen. As you can see from how different this came out, they are really versatile! The elements are a modge podge from both this set and a bunch of other My Minds Eye sets. I used the same photo placement and sized in this one as the last layout and just changed up the background layout. A very fun layout to make! Thanks for visiting :D And have a happy Thursday!!

IB Sketch #4 .... Finally ^_~

So sketch #4 came out on the 15th of November. IB also had a designers call. The due date...Nov 30th. And of course I end up having to have scrappers block and can't create a thing for either, lol. It wasn't until Sunday evening that my block was finally lifted at Julie's house. This is not a rare occurance either. Everytime I'm blocked, once I finally get to scrap with Julie suddenly my block is lifted, lol. I don't mind though, I seem to notice that I have a very hard time creating under pressure of any kind ^_~ Anyway here is my layout for the #4 sketch.

Supplies : Pattern Papers, tags, and journaling prompt by My Minds Eye; CS, ink, brads, and Friendship Alpha set by CTMH; Foam letter stickers by American Crafts; Blue Eye Candy Dots by P Inc.; snowflake brads, ribbon, and staples unknown

The layout is about how my girls love all the baking I do in the winter. They love to help and they love even more to lick the batter bowls!!! A bad habit yes, I know, but it's so fun for them and I remember loving being able to lick a spoon full of batter on the occassions when my own mom baked. And why is Cait wearing her backpack? Well, I'm not quite sure, lol, but I think these were taken right after we found out she was going to start in the early intervention preschool so we had just barely gotten her that backpack. I remember her wearing it for entire days before school finally started for her, lol. Anyway, have a merry Wednesday and thanks for visiting!!

Papertrey Cocoa Gift Box Tutorial

Supplies:
1 sheet patterned cardstock paper
1 sheet neutral cardstock
1 sheet (or a half sheet scrap) dark coordinating cardstock
1 sheet (or ¼ - ½ sheet scrap) light coordinating cardstock
Scoring tool (Scor-pal or scoring blade for your paper cutter)
Scissors
Strong Adhesive
6x6x1 inch acrylic box or empty Papertrey Stamp Set Box

Other misc design supplies:
Circle punches
Scallop circle punch
Snowflake punch
Ribbon
Embellishments
Stamps and Coordinating Ink

Starting with the Cocoa Box, cut a 5” x 9 ¾” piece from your neutral cardstock. You will be scoring across the long way of the paper at ¾” , 4 ½” , 5 ¼” , and 9” . Here is a quick glance at where the score lines should be on your paper: Now you can turn your paper over to stamp whatever design you wish. Your scored lines should be raised on the side you are stamping.

After your paper is stamped, crease your cardstock at the scored lines like so and then glue the side flaps together. This is what your middle piece should look like after it’s done. You may notice that I didn't stamp all the way to the bottom. That is alright because that part will have the bottom cover glued to it so it won't show up in the finished design.

Next is the lid and bottom. Both are exactly the same for the cocoa box. Cut two pieces 1 13/16” x 10 1/16” from your patterned cardstock paper. One for the bottom cover and one for the lid. Starting long ways, scor on the wrong side of you paper at 13/16” , 4 5/8” , 5 7/16” , and 9 ¼” . Then score down the paper vertically at 1”. Here is about what it should look like.

You are going to cut on the red lines, following your score line. This will allow you to fold the base of the covers. The 13/16” flap will fold over to create the ends so make sure you are cutting the right score lines. Trim the extra flap on the right for easier construction. I fold the little flaps in first and glue the large center flap over them. Then I fold over the other large center flap and glue it.

Do the same thing for the other piece to create both top and bottom for the cocoa packet holder. Glue the bottom to the center base to create the cocoa holder. Do not glue the top. You want them to be able to get into the cocoa without tearing up the box. It helps a little to put the cocoa packs in it as soon as you get it together, that way the adhesive stickes better to the edges.

Lastly embellish it the way you like. I used the 2008 Holiday Tags stamp set by Papertrey Ink, CTMH cranberry ribbon, topiary safety pins, and cardstock, a pink marvy scallop circle punch and other circle punches to create my tag. Two coordinating colors of cardstock scraps were used to layer the tag and I punched the stamped image from the neutral cardstock I’m using for the centers. Glue dots were used to keep the ribbon stationary and I carried out the safety pin theme on the ribbon throughout.

The Candy Cane holder will be made exactly the same way but with different dimensions for it’s box. Note that with the candy cane holder the lid is larger than the bottom though. Let’s start with the center base piece again. Cut from your Neutral Cardstock a 6” x 6 ¼” piece. You are going to be scoring across the 6 ¼” length at ¾” , 2 ¾” , 3 ½” , and 5 ½” .

Again flip it over and stamp your design out, then fold it in and glue the flaps together. Remember that if you are like me and want to do as little stamping as possible, to only leave some of the bottom blank where the bottom cover will go. The lid is made to go on and come off so you will want to continue your stamping all the way to the top for it to look nice :D

For the bottom cut a 1 13/16” x 6 9/16” piece from your patterned cardstock. For the lid cut a 2 13/16” x 6 9/16” piece from the patterned cardstock. They will have all the same lengthwise scoring points. Score across each at 13/16” , 2 7/8” , 3 11/16” , and 5 ¾ “ . For the Bottom score vertically at 1”. For the Top score vertically at 2”.

The 13/16” flap will fold over to create the ends just like with the cocoa box. Fold them together just like the cocoa lid. Glue the bottom to the center base and leave the top free for the lid. Decorate as you like. Here is my finished Candy Cane box. Since it is a bit skinnier than the cocoa box I opted to just put a punched out snowflake instead of creating a stamped image. I continued the ribbon and safety pin theme and this time added a fun little spiral to the snowflake for embellishment. This box will fit four regular sized candy canes if you put them in two right side up and two of them upside down. It's already a pretty tight fit so I'm fairly certain that the fatter candy canes won't fit in this box.

Now you can use these boxes as they are in a mini basket with a couple mugs and a bag of marshmallows to go with the hot cocoa, but if you are like me and have some Papertrey Stamp boxes hanging around these two boxes fit perfectly inside and even have a little space above the hot cocoa box to put a little bag of marshmallows. I did not take off the polka dot stamp packaging. It is easier toglue your new paper and cardstock right on top of it.

You will need to cut from your dark coordinating cardstock one 2 1/16” x 12” and one 2 1/16” x 5 ½” piece. From your patterned cardstock cut one 1 ½” x 12 inch piece. Align the center of your 12” long cardstock piece to the center of the box and then wrap around. I like to crease the sides a little more before I glue it so that the paper lies more flush. I also glue down the cardstock before adding the paper. It seems to hold better that way.

The smaller 5 ½” piece will cover the space in the back. Before you put the back piece on though, glue on your pattern paper first. Once the back piece is on decorate the front as you like. I put the ribbon on right after adhering the paper then used the same two stamps I had used throughout making the mini boxes, the Snowfall set and the 2008 Holiday tags set.

You can use the scraps you had left over to create a cute matching card like I did here. You can even go a step further and add more fun dressed up recycled packaging to the gift set like I did with this empty CTMH embellishment tube filled with chocolate. The finished set:


I hope I did okay on my first tutorial, lol! Have a Happy Tuesday!!