She's got the whole world...

. . . in her hands! When I saw this bella that's the song that got stuck in my head. In fact as I'm typing this it's still going on in my head, lol. I originally set aside this scrap (the stripe/flower double sided paper) for the little hippie Anya, but this gal was calling to me and I just loved the idea of her wearing a fun yellow top with jeans. I colored her using pencils and gamsol like usual except that I didn't gamsol her pants so they would look more like denim. I love the globe. With Earth day last week I'm still loving seeing that stuff around. And with globe and map art still so popular right now there's not a shortage of that eye candy ;) Anyway, thanks for popping by and have a fab Friday!

Supplies : Paper - October Afternoon; Cardstock - Bazzil; Flowers - Prima; Buttons - Doodlebug; Sentiment printed from computer; colored with pencils and gamsol; outlined with copic N0

Feeling Groovy

I'm feeling groovy about coloring ;) One because I've been having so much fun with it and two because these cards are using up more scraps! You'd think with all the scrappy projects I've been doing I'd have used them up by now but I still have about half of what I started with this year, which is quite a lot, lol. It's getting smaller though, bit by bit. I keep thinking if I can just find the time to make more kid projects to use them up on the pile will go down so much faster! Of course when I do get that time I end up using it to make other things like this card! My next kid's project is supposed to be big patchwork snakes. At least that's what Cait says. Audrey wants an apron and blankets for her dollies. All of which involve sewing, not paper. I'm sure the snake will need a fun box or cage to sleep in and the lollies could always use more furniture. But instead of any of that I've been coloring. Ah well, at least I'm having fun with it. I need some time to make grown up things as well, right? ;) Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday!

Supplies : Paper - Scenic Route; Bazzil Cardstock; Flower by Prima; Candy Dots by Pebbles; Button by PTI; Sentiment printed from computer; Colored with pencils and gamsol;

To the Moon and Back

That's how much I love you (on the inside). Isn't this guy such a cutie! Sparkle RAKed me a bunch of darling Greeting Farm images quite a while back and I've been hoarding saving them until I was in the mood to color again. It's taken forever for me to get any coloring mojo back but after the past couple weeks watching Caitlyn being super artistic and shading her coloring book pages I caught the bug. Of course when I color she stops coloring her page to watch me. When I asked her what she was doing she said "I'm coloring with you mom." "Don't you mean you're watching me color?" "Yeah, whatever." ha! Caitlyn has just started saying 'whatever' and everytime she does it totally catches me off guard. I got my first attitudey "Whatever Mom" last week and I can't remember what I said to induce it. Probably because Paul and I got such a good laugh out of it before we tickled and teased her about saying 'whatever' to me. Anyway, about the card. I actually CASEd one of Sparkle's cards, she always makes such cute ones and I knew if I copied one of her designs I'd end up loving the card. She actually used a sketch #16 from Sketch Girl for her card so I headed over to check the sketch too. Enjoy and have a Happy Monday!

Supplies : Paper - October Afternoon, Sassafras, My Minds Eye; Buttons and Cardstock by Papertrey Ink; Glitter Cardstock; Basics 1 card for Slice (stars); mini brads by Queen Co.; Sentiment printed from my computer; Coloring done with pencils and gamsol;

A Pink Christmas

Supplies : Stamps, Inks, and Cardstock from Papertrey Ink; Rhinestones by Kaiser; Ribbon by Pebbles;

Sparkle always makes the most darling cards. Her card today was for her weekly Christmas Card Challenge. The theme this week is to use mainly Pink. I haven't played in months, but the theme and her card inspired me to break out my stamps which I also haven't done in a while. Here's my first card. I simply pulled out pink cardstock and inks and played a bit. Paul was laughing at me because I was singing Christmas songs while I stamped these cards ;)

The second card was something I've wanted to try for a while, to use that deer from the Forest Friends set as a reindeer silhoutte. I love how pretty and elegant this one came out. So different from most of the cards I make.

I love hot cocoa, so of course I had to make a cocoa card ;) Each year I stock up on all the fun flavors by Stephens. I make it my own special way so that it's very warm, but not hot, using milk to cool it down and make it creamy. This last winter was the first time I saw the Pumpkin Spice hot cocoa and it's become a new favorite ;) It was so nice to get to play with my stamps today. I hope you enjoy the cards! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely Sunday!

Pout Pout Face

Supplies : Paper by Cosmo Cricket, Bo Bunny, Scenic Route, and My Minds Eye; Flowers by Sassafrass; Glazed Brads by Basic Grey; Thickers Letter Stickers by American Crafts; Mini Circle Letters by Jenni Bowlin; Apron Lace Punch by Fiskars; Kraft Cardstock;

Her Pout Pout Fish Face. Have any of you read The Pout Pout Fish? We picked up ours at the school book fair in the fall. I remember flipping through it and thinking it was just so Audrey. It's currently her favorite book and she even reads the chorus line of "I'm a pout pout fish with a pout pout face, so I spread the dreary wearies all over the place. Blub, bluubbb, bllluuuubbb." And she is HILARIOUS when she says it because she tries to make her voice all low and slow like a sad fish, lol. I posted this picture on my year review and what's awesome is the author even left a comment here about her pout fish face. How fun is that!

I found some more woodgrain paper in my stash, which worked perfectly with the photo and with my desire to play more with woodgrain goodies ;) A couple months back I made a bunch of layouts with some BoBunny paper that I loved and practically used all up. This is the very last of it, the white floral. I didn't buy every pattern, but each piece I bought I have used up. In a hobby that's so easy to collect things I get a huge feeling of accomplishment when I finish off a paper line, lol. Enjoy and have a fab weekend!

Namaste

Supplies : Papers from Scenic Route and Octocber Afternoon; Earthlove Chipboard by Cosmo Cricket; Remarks letter stickers by American Crafts;

We love yoga in our house. It's my favorite exercise whether the vigorous workouts or more relaxing stretch sessions. The girls share my love for yoga and often get out their blankies, lay them on the floor just like my yoga mat, and try to follow along with the poses. Their favorite - the Tree Pose. With this layout I wanted to emphasize that by using a woodsy background and some brances paper. Don't you just love all the woodgrain papers that have been out? Dawn McVey just came out with a woodgrain background stamp set for Papertrey Ink, it's so lovely! This is definitely a to have item. Maybe I can convince Paul to get me some crafty goodies for Mother's day ;) Enjoy and have a happy Wednesday!

Catchin' Cabin Fever

Supplies : Paper by Cosmo Cricket; Borders by Cosmo Cricket; Rubons by BoBunny; Earth Love Chipboard by Cosmo Cricket; Kraft and Green Cardstock from LSS;

I mentioned giving some love to some of my older papers and as I was looking through my stash I came across some Mr. Campy papers. They are so fun and even though I've been feeling a bit more like playing with bright and springy colors I thought to try to see if I could play with them to make a few pages. The title comes from a border paper that has titles like this or other borders across it. The leaves, acorn, sweet, and journaling border were also cut from that same border paper. I love these winter photos of the girls snacking on some graham crackers and hot cocoa. It reminded how even though they were itching for the warmer spring weather that there are a lot of fun things about being stuck inside during the cold. The weather around here has been nice. Warm sun and cool breezes. The girls have been wearing their darling summer dresses, I broke down and had to get some of those Liberty of London tops and dresses from Target. They are so pretty! Enjoy, I hope spring is finding it's way to wherever you live and if it's still cold I hope you're enjoying hot drinks and snuggled up book reading under a cozy blanket!

A Little Redecorating

I'm so bad when it comes to getting before/after pictures because I never remember to take the before ones, lol. Anyway, this little project came after having our walls pretty close to the same in our living space for the last 4-5 years. I like to change something around each season, but I usually stick to changing out the flowers in one of the vases or pillow covers or maybe moving things around on the piano and bookshelves. But I finally got tired of the old pictures on our walls which were all 4 years or older so I decided to switch it up. Here's where the biggest change happened. This wall originally had a mix of different sized black frames with color pictures in it, a collage that was filled with old pictures from 4 years ago when Audrey was about 3 months old. I took the frames from under the clock, turned them vertically and then added some blue paper in the candle holders for a pop of color. The vase and tulips were my only purchased addition, coming in at under $9 for everything including the river rocks inside. I printed out more recent black and white photos to fill the shadow box for a look that's much more streamlined than what we had before. This is my favorite part of my quick little redecorating project.

Here is where those shadow boxes were originally, only they were set straight across horizontally under the clock with color photos of Cait when she was 6 months old and the candle holders were left plain white. Now the space is updated with 3 matching frames taken from the hall and the photo collage I mentioned. I used a small 1/4 yard piece of Lantern Bloom fabric by Michael Miller to mat new black and white photos from our family pictures taken last summer. I'm loving the black and white photos and that blue is one of my favorite shades.

The striped pillow is a simple pillow cover I made for one of my Pier 1 pillows that we got when school started in the fall. The pillow was a pretty chocolate with embroidered fern like leaves; lovely, shimmery, and silky, but I've been in the mood to change it. I used 1/3 yard of this striped fabric from Lantern Bloom to whip together a pillow cover. Which worked out great for the previous pillow cover since it definitely needed a wash after all the abuse my kiddos put it through. Paul would just toss it aside, he doesn't like 'silky' he says and much prefers the plush and cotton pillows we have now ;)

And here's the pillow I made for my desk chair out of the scraps from the frames and the stripe pillow. It was another of that same chocolate embroidered pillow. I wanted something fun but didn't want to cut into any more of my lantern bloom fabric (which I'm saving for a lap quilt), so I used the scraps to make a simple patchwork. I used some plain chocolate fabric to finish the pillow cover and love how it came out. The only patchworks I've done have been kiddy or little girl garden fabrics so it was a real treat for me to use more grown up designs ;) I know it's nothing spectacular and it's hard to see the difference without before photos, but I love the change especially since I got to do it using stuff we already had and spending less than $10 for a fun addition. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our apartment! Thanks for popping by and have a lovely Sunday!

Little Spring Purses

I've gotten back into sewing lately and though it's coming along a bit slowly, it's been fun to do something different. My girls love purses and bags, they get it from me, so with some fat quarters I made them each a little purse to put in their goodies - usually littlest pet shop toys and lipsmackers ;) I didn't use a pattern or anything since they are so simple. The top purse is Audrey's and the bottoms Cait's. I love that the fabrics fit them so well. I tried to get a little bit of the inside in the second picture to show the fun lining. Both of them have been loving their purses, especially Audrey, she takes it everywhere! She even wears it when she rides her scooter, lol. Thanks for visiting!

Thinking of You - Dear Lizzy Scraps

Supplies : Papers, Rubon, Flair button, and Remarks Dimensional Stickers from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts; Apron Lace punch by Fiskars

To finish of the last bit of that floral paper I decided to make a card and that would also help me use the thinking of you rubon as well. I let the paper do most of the work and kept it really simple. Going through this paper line has been so fun, I only have a couple sheets left but I think for now I'm going to take a break from them and play with some of the fun I Heart You goodies from AC that I got a while ago. I've been eyeing some pictures that would be oh so cute with that paper. I also have a bunch of other older papers that need some lovin ;) Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy the card!

Girls Club

Supplies : Paper, Rubons, and Flair Buttons from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts; Thickers letter stickers and Cardstock by American Crafts; circle punch by EK Success;

Another Dear Lizzy layout. I hope you all aren't sick of this stuff yet! Here's a much simpler layout inspired by Kelly Purkey again. I notice even if I'm not completely lifting a layout it helps to find one thing that really inspires me to create. For this layout it was the huge circle scallops along one focus photo/paper strip. I offset mine and added the title and journaling to the side since my photos took up more room and I didn't have that extra space beneath the photos for the title like she did. Some rubons and a flair button to dress it up ;) I love the way this one came out. The journaling is about us three being such girly girls. Poor Paul! What is he going to do when they are teenagers, lol! Enjoy and thanks for popping by!

Paperscraps House

Remember how I said I wanted to put something on the back of the town I made? Well here it is, a little house for Mao (Audrey's tiger lovie) or their littlest pet shop toys. It was created much the same way, starting with a sketch on the back of the poster board town. I glued down the rooms first and then made the furniture from memory. With a less detailed project like this I didn't need to keep the sketch visible so I simply created each room, measuring and gluing as I went. The big sections were part of my purging pile of papers, but all the rest was from scraps. This was much quicker than the town and just as fun. I had a hard time deciding which angle to approach the furniture from though. In the end I did a simple mix of forward and top facings to make all the home's goodies. The bath mat cracks me up and it's one of my favorite accessories. Audrey wanted it to be Mao's house and since he's a cat I thought a dead fish bath mat would be hilarious. Even though it started out being for Mao, they usually play with their pet shops on it. My favorite room is the laundry room. If my washer and dryer looked that cute, I'd probably have no problem getting the laundry done, lol! Thanks for popping by and have a lovely Sunday!

This Ride

Suppies : Papers and Remarks Stickers from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts; Remarks and Thickers letter stickers and cardstock by American Crafts;

A layout with me in it ;) Last year Mich tried to take some family photos of us. The girls weren't being cooperative and it was a bit hot and muggy that day, but we did at least get a few cute shots! These were some candid shots which actually came out much better than the posed ones, lol. My favorite part of this layout is the flower cut outs. I cut out some of the individual flowers from that pretty pattern paper and then used some 3D squares to pop them up! This layout I did without a sketch or lift/inspiration from another layout. I'm not sure if I love the layout design, but the photos and my pretty flower border make up for it I think ;) Enjoy and have a lovely day!

Baby Clothes

Supplies : Dear Lizzy Paper and Rubons, and Thickers Letter Stickers by American Crafts; Apron Lace Border Punch by Fiskars

The little dresses in this paper remind me of baby girls clothes, which I'm sure I've mentioned before ;) With that in mind I used this odd little scrap to make a simple and quick baby card using some other scraps as well as some of the rubons I wouldn't be using on a layout. My SIL up in Washington is due in May and every ultrasound she's had they haven't been able to determine whether the baby's going to be a boy or girl. I'm rooting for a girl, but we'll see ;) Enjoy and thanks for visiting!

One Fine Lazy Day

Supplies : Paper, Remarks Stickers, and Rubons from Dear Lizzy by American Crafts; Thickers letter stickers, Minimarks Rubons, and Cardstock by American Crafts;

I just love this Dear Lizzy line! It's hard to not create with it ;) After the busier dolls layout I did a while ago I was looking to try something a little more simple. Kelly Purkey's Times Square layout was perfect inspiration. I had some fun embellishing using both stickers and rubons on top. More summer pictures of the girls last year. It's so hard to not scrap every single one of those because their outfits were so fun and bright plus they are just cute cute! Enjoy and thanks for popping by!

Paperscrapsville

It started out as a speech therapy homework assignment. Then it turned into a sketch. The next day it ended up being an entire papercrafted town! So maybe I went a little crazy with this... maybe ;) Crazy aside though one of my crafting goals this year is to whittle down my scraps and this project used up an enormous amount of them since nearly everything here uses scraps! The homework assignment was fairly simple, to talk about different places in town to help build vocabulary and familiarity. Just a warning this is a long rambly post ;)

I made this sketch on my dying poster board for the activity, the one I use to back my layouts for pictures. This way it didn't end up in the recycling bin and we could play with the Littlest Pet Shops to work on Audrey's speech therapy questions like "Where should kitty go to buy bread?" "Who is in the grocery store?" "Where is Lizard?" and there would be a good visual to help her. So now homework is more of a game rather than information regurgitation and she loves it, both the therapy game and playing on her own.

Here are some close ups. The idea to do this initially came because Caitlyn said "Now color it Mom!!" I will admit I am hard pressed to color even a whole page in the coloring book let alone an entire poster board! So the idea of coloring this board was incredibly daunting to me. Even so, looking back coloring probably would have gone faster, lol. But I had a lot more fun this way. And then using up all those scraps... major plus! I didn't glue the buildings down until I was almost done making all of them since I was using my sketch as a reference and it also allowed them to play with the board until I finished.

Each building was made separately, doing it in those tiny chunks made the project seem easy and the best part was that I wasn't worried about matching the entire board, just the one building I was working on. Plus perfection wasn't the goal, I hand cut all of the curvy stuff and hand wrote everything, I think it looks more fun and whimsical that way ;) The road was made using 2 full sheets of textured navy cardstock, the sky and park grass each used a sheet of MME paper - all from my to be purged pile so that was another plus too. All the other patterns and cardstock were scraps.

The Police Station is one of my favorites, simply because of the silly little jailed guy. I changed the officer from a guy to a gal after gluing it to the board. The firefighters were requested by both Cait and Audrey since I drew them on the sketch. I was actually planning on not making them since I didn't think I could make them look any sort of decent but they turned out alright. We've decided the little guy is in jail because he tried to rob the bank.

Some stores changed between the sketch and finished project, namely the coffee shop and Target. While putting together buildings I realized we didn't have a bank and also that an ice cream shop suited a kiddo project better than a coffee shop since I won't let them try more than a teensy sip, lol. Anyway, that was my creation from homework assignment to massive play project ;) The even crazier part is now I'm thinking of other places to make like the zoo, the inside of a house, the school, camping grounds, etc. I still have a lot of scraps left...