Pucker Up

Can you tell I'd been in an American Crafts kind of mood? This layout was another basic sketch case from another one of Susan's layouts. Casing or using a sketch helps me to just create when I'm lacking in time, that way I can just play with my papers and goodies - not worry about layout design ;) Anyway, I've adored this funny puckered up pic of C for quite a while and finally realized the colors go perfect with the lipstick print paper I got forever ago. Lately she's been big into The Little Mermaid again and everytime Sebastain says "You got to bat your eyes, like dis... You got to puck out your lips, like dis," she puckers up and says the lines right along, laughing while she's trying to say them like the crab. I miss being at home with them so much. I know right now I'm technically not missing out on anything since they are home all day, but I can't help but feel like I just don't have enough time with them. Since starting back to school, I've been even more grateful for the time I had as a stay-at-home mom, to be there every moment when my girls were babies and toddlers. Gosh they grow up so fast! Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the layout ;) And have a wonderful day!

Guess who loves you ;)

As usual life around here is a bit crazy and so I kinda, sorta, didn't get around to making my kids their Valentines until after Valentines Day. C shared some of her loot from class Valentines with A on the 14th and then yesterday they got Valentines in the mail from Great-Grandma and Nana came over to drop of more Valentines plus a couple balloons. I'm grateful for all that because I've had so much reading to do for my classes the past couple days. This morning I stole some moments to make their cards and they are getting their Valentines from Paul and I today. And tomorrow or Friday grandma's goodies should be arriving in the mail. So far they've been more excited about getting stuff spread out over a few days rather than sad at not getting these all on the Holiday ;) Which I am so thankful for! I'm so glad my girls have the same casual take on holidays and birthdays that Paul does. It makes my life so much less stressful, lol. Anyway, enjoy the post-Valentine holiday cards and have a wonderful Wednesday!

Quickie Valentines

A quick last minute Valentine inspired by my heartfelt thanks card a little while back ;) I think sometimes as a crafter I'm a bit hard on myself. This year C and I didn't make Valentines. As we were picking out her treats for her class at Target, I found myself feeling overwhelmed and tired and just too busy to devote more than a minimal amount of effort to class Valentines. So I did the unthinkable. I let C pick out some from the store. I know, blasphemy! I mean cardmakers just do not buy cards, right? But I discovered something: we had just as much fun slapping on the cards to the candy and putting heart stickers on as we ever did putting together handmade Valentines from pattern paper and stamped images. And I realized, as C happily posed for a pic with her hoard of candied cards, that it didn't matter whether what we did was simple and short or long and complex - so long as we did it together. Hoping you all had a great day together with your Valentines! Happy Valentine's Day!

Scooter Chloe Love

Scooter Chloe is my favorite of Sparkle's first stamp release. When I first saw Chloe these papers popped into my mind and I was excited to finally have her in my hands to combine her with them! I used the #56 sketch from 2sketches4you since it had a circle in there and I knew from the start I wanted to do a card with the image in a circle. I love her scarf and it totally makes me wish for fall. It's been getting up past 110 degrees here and even though it's only mid-July I am aching for the cooler autumn weather already! Enjoy and have a happy Monday!

Come Away With Me

A layout of Paul and I! These are rare indeed ;) Not that we don't want pictures of us. It's just hard to get any since we usually don't think about taking pictures of us instead of our kids. And the times that I do think about getting 'us' pictures I feel weird about asking someone else to snap some. Maybe it's just me being so used to always being the one behind the camera, hehe. Last summer Paul's sister did us the favor of getting a few pictures. The hot air balloon reminded me of two songs - Come Away with Me by Nora Jones and Hot Air Balloon by Owl City. While the paper, colors, and feeling of the layout are very Owl City, I loved the idea of using the other song as the title. So I got my balloon on there and used those cute alpha stickers, plus another ticket! I love the little scene the layout makes with the grass, flowers, and little bike going by on the bottom then the clouds and balloon above ;) I hope you enjoy it and thanks for visiting!

Sweet Summertime Paper by Echo Park Paper Co.

Dear Lizzy Paper by American Crafts

Farm Fresh Paper by October Afternoon

Alpha Stickers, Hot Air Ballon, Pinwheel, and Flowers Border Sweet Summertime by Echo Park Paper Co.

Token of Affection Ticket Quite Contrary by My Minds Eye

Rubons Be Mine and Dear Lizzy by American Crafts

Button Flair by American Crafts

I love... tag by October Afternoon

Love is in the Air

Supplies : Tiny Treats Valentines and Take Note stamp sets and Inks by Papertrey Ink; Paper and Cardstock by Papertrey Ink; Copic and Sharpie Markers;

After making the fun brayer fish card I posted yesterday I was in the mood to play with this little plane from the same stamp set. I know it's way past Valentines, but I have been loving these tiny images. I knew I wanted to make some fun clouds for a simple card and at first I was going to do a blue background and white clouds. Instead I ended up mixing it up and I love it! Inspiration was from Caitlyn's coloring, her use of colors made me go out of my box to have a fun flowered sky and blue clouds. She's been getting into monochromatic pictures lately too. When I had made this card she colored one monochromatic pink Hello Kitty page and one mono blue page - which is what inspired the monochromatic blue in yesterday's card. It's fun to see her pull out all the pink shaded crayons and go to work, she even does shading or adds darker lines here and there on her pages. Such a little artist! The other day she added 'paint' to Hello Kitty's face and hands on a picture because she was painting and Cait said she got messy, lol. Anyway, back to the card I also used the Ink Challenge on Practical Scrappers this week and sponged the edges of my clouds with Spring Rain to give them a little more depth. It just adds that little extra something ;) Anyway, enjoy the card and have a happy Wednesday!

I Heart You

Supplies : Paper by Bo Bunny; I Heart You title stickers by Pebbles Inc.; Silk flowers and Designer Brads by Bo Bunny; Woolies Indian Summer by Basic Grey; In a Stitch Blossoms by Sassafras; White Gel Pen; Cardstock by AC; Apron Lace Punch by Fiskars; Corner Rounder by EK Success;

I hope everyone is having a Happy Valentines weekend ;) I thought it would be fun to post a love page today. You might recognize the photo from my year in review. It's one of my favorites of Audrey. I have been so excited to use these Bo Bunny papers and this photo just went with them so well. I didn't have a story to go with this picture, other than that I was practicing (ever practicing) taking pictures of my cutie pies. So I decided to make a page just to tell Audrey how much I love her. I tell both my girls everyday that I love them, usually multiple times but for me it's never enough so I though just journaling that along with one of my favorite photos would be a great way to scrap a photo I love while adding meaningful journaling when there isn't a story. I used a January Page Maps layout, though I think it was for an 8.5 x 11. I just altered and flipped it to fit the scraps I had and I think it came out lovely. The journaling I took a little leap out of my comfort zone and used my white gel pen on the dark cocoa cardstock. I'm really liking the effect ;) Paul and I already celebrated Valentines last weekend since it was only time we could get a sitter, lol. So we went out to see From Paris With Love which is not a romance in case the title fools you, lol. We love action flicks so it was that or When In Rome, which would have been cute I'm sure but blowing up stuff on the big screen always outways romantic comedies (though I love snuggling up and watching those at home!) Then we went out for a nice quiet dinner and then hung out chatting just the two of us and we got a whole 4 hours together without kids, yay! I love when I get to date my hubby ;) Anyway, enjoy the page and happy Saturday!

Perfect Pear

Supplies : Paper by Sassafras; Cardstock, Fruitful and Punny Valentine stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Sans Small stamp set, Cocoa, Cranberry, and Sweetleaf inks by CTMH; Button by My Minds Eye; Jute by Papertrey Ink

Another Fruitful Valentine! I saw a card in Scrapbooks Etc. that said 'We make a great pear' and instantly thought how fun it would be to use the pears in the fruitful set to make a similar theme card. Making the pears was really simple. I stamped the big pear in sweet leaf on white and then second generationed the smaller pear next to it. Then I used the teensy heart from Punny Valentine to make the heart shaped seeds in the small pear then cut it out and glued it onto the big pear so that it looks like the inside. Both are pop dotted on the card ;) I think this would make a cute anniversary card as well, especially if you had some pear goodies to give. Enjoy and have a super Saturday!

My Main Squeeze

Supplies : Cardstock, Paper, Fruitful, Tiny Treats Valentines, and Heart Prints stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Sunflower, Cranberry, and White Daisy Ink by CTMH; Rhinestone by Kaiser

When I saw the lemon sentiments on the Tiny Treats stamp set I immediately wanted to break out my fruitful stamps to do some big lemons on a card. What I ended up making was this cute patchwork with all three lemons! I love the little hearts in the in middle of the treats lemons ;) This will probably be Paul's card with some lemony cookies. He LOVES cookies and it's been a really long time since I've made any lemony sugar cookies so that's one of the things I'll be doing for him this year. Now I just need to hunt down my recipe, lol. Anyway, to get the lighter color inside the lemon I second generationed stamped by stamping the image off on scratch paper once before stamping it in the middle of the darker rind. I hope you all aren't bored of my Valentine cards, lol. Thanks for visiting and have a terrific Thursday!

Hey There Cupcake

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Cupcake Collection stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Blush, Watermelon, White Daisy and Cranberry Ink by CTMH; Rhinestones by Kaiser;

This card is for my sister since her birthday is the day after Valentines. I thought it would be fun to make a very Valentine colored card ;) Last year I did hearts but not Valentine colors really so this year I'm going full on with the girly pink and red! I learned that she likes to bake so I'm thinking about getting her a cute whisk with some cupcake silicone molds, we'll see what I find. I used another old sketch from the 2 sketches for you blog and changed the position of the sentiment since it looked a little funny the other way with my card. Anyway, enjoy and have a happy Wednesday!

Love You Forever

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Heart Prints stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Watermelon, Blush, Cranberry, and White Daisy Ink by CTMH;

I used an older 2 Sketches 4 You sketch for this card. I tend to jot down sketches or ideas I like on a little 3x5 file card or my notebook and then work on them later. I don't always get to use them, but they are there if I need a jump starting point ;) Anyway, I wanted to make a lovey Valentines card and decided to break out my Heart Prints set since I haven't used it probably since last Valentines. I have the right punches now too so that made it much easier! I have to say though that this was kind of a tough card for me, I'm not used to making the tall skinny ones. But it was fun to break out of my usual routine plus a smaller card wouldn't of had room to stack the hearts like that and I'm really enjoying the heart stack ;) Thanks for popping by and have a spectacular Saturday!

Beloved You & Me - Sketch Friday

Supplies : Paper Beloved by My Minds Eye; Cardstock by CTMH; Aqua Mist buttons and White twine by Papertrey Ink; You & Me and Heart stickers by Pebbles Inc.; Basics 1 Slice card by Making Memories

It's Sketch Friday over at Practical Scrappers! Lucy created the sketch this week and it sported a cute Valentines theme with hearts so I thought why change a great thing and went along and did hearts on my layout as well ;) I broke out the Beloved papers and printed these two cute jammie pics of the girls from last year. Though they weren't taken at Valentines I loved the huggy little poses they were doing here. They share everything, even clothes sometimes, and I know that can't be easy for them. In fact sometimes they just plain don't get a long because one or the other is sick and tired of ALWAYS having her sister around, lol. But for the most part they are sweethearts and I love how by bedtime no matter what scruples happened during the day, they are back to best friends again. Below is the sketch. Remember to link it to the Mr. Linky at Practical Scrappers if you play along ;) Enjoy the layout and have a fab Friday!

Your Couch or Mine?

Supplies : Cardstock, On the Couch and Background Basics Hearts stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Black and Cranberry Ink by CTMH; Stickles; 3D foam tape

I know this is probably not what Lisa meant when she made this set, but the naughty version was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this sentiment. So with Valentines coming soon I thought it would be funny to make a Valentines card with it ;) I pop dotted the couch up for dimension and the hearts in the background are glittered up for a little bling. I took the design from a card I saw in one of the Scrapbooks Etc. magazines. I loved the simple clean lines and thought it would be perfect for what I wanted to do with the stamp set. Simple and sassy! Enjoy the card and thanks for visiting!

Mini Forest Friends Thank Yous

Supplies : Kraft cardstock, Raspberry Fizz and Pure Poppy Ink, Forest Friends and Cupcake Collection Stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Cocoa and White Daisy Ink by CTMH

I wanted to include some little thank you notes with some scrappy goods I sold and since I was feeling in a Valentinesy mood I broke out the pink, red, and white ;) The skunk is my fav, but this little guy has really been growing on me! I think it's so fun to get even just a small note of thanks when you purchase something. The Quilted Works store gives us a little chocolate with a note and I thought how sweet! Oh I could spend hours in there looking at fabric and it's a small store. I think it's worse than the scrapstore now since I have a pretty good idea of what I want to work with when I go scrap shopping. But fabric shopping is so different, probably because it's newer to me, so I am just in awe at everything! I got a free pattern for the lantern bloom quilt and I'm slowly buying up my fabric since I love those colors, I wear them all the time ;) Because all I've made are baby quilts and I haven't machine quilted anything I'm making smaller projects to practice so that when I do get ready to make my pretty quilt, I'll be able to do it more confidently. Anyway back to the cards, these were super simple and quick, no layers just some fun stamping and I used the entire 8 1/2 x 11 kraft sheet in about 10 minutes. These are 3x3 and didn't use up the sheet completely so here's what I did with the scraps.

Supplies : Kraft cardstock, Raspberry Fizz and Pure Poppy Ink, and Forest Friends stamp set by Papertrey Ink; White Daisy Ink by CTMH

Since my goal is to whittle it down my scrap pile even though they were odd sizes I thought just finishing what I began and making more thank you notes would work with these bitty strip scraps I had left. I ended up with a long 2 1/2 x 11 strip and a 2 x 6 strip. I cut the long strip in half and then folded each card for two 2 1/2 x 2 3/4 cards and one 2 x 3 card. Just little babies ;) And they were so cute and tiny I couldn't help but put some cute and tiny toadstools on them. Since the sizes were funny I played a little with the placement to get three different looks using the same stamps and colors. Enjoy and have a happy Wednesday!

You Are Dino-mite!

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Tiny Treats Valentines and Background Basics Hearts stamp sets by Papertrey Ink; Sharpie and CTMH Markers; Cranberry and Black ink by CTMH

I had an extra dino from the mini card set that I didn't need so I turned him into a simple big card. The circle is pop dotted up for a little more dimension. I wanted it to be more of a little boy card so I kept it really simple. It feels like Valentines is just right around the corner! This month has just flown by. I think a big part of it is Caitlyn being in school. Since she's started Kindergarten I swear the days whip by twice as fast. Geez, I wonder what will happen when they're both in school full time! I would hope that means more time for me, but I doubt that's how it'll work out ;) Anyway, I'm rambling. Enjoy the little card and have a super Saturday!

Mini Girl Valentines

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Tiny Treats Valentines stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Sharpie and CTMH Markers; Cranberry Ink by CTMH

Here are the girly ones. Like I pointed out yesterday there are some that would easily be boy ones like the dog and the pail. Now that I look at them they are all pretty unisex, handy for making school valentines and not having to worry about who gets what card ;) I didn't use the plain heart or the lemon in these though I did use the lemon in another card. When I started stamping the owl was my favorite of these, but now that their finished I'm really liking the pail, lol. Probably because of the bright blue. I suppose I could make a bright blue owl ;) I haven't bought goodies yet and I'm debating whether to do candy or something less sugary, lol. We'll see! Thanks for visiting and have a fab Friday!

Mini Boy Valentines

Supplies : Paper, Cardstock, and Tiny Treats Valentine stamp set by Papertrey Ink; Sharpies and CTMH markers; Cranberry Ink by CTMH

Super simple mini Valentines! I wanted to make a little project where I got to use most of the images in this set and mini Valentines for our nieces and nephews fit the bill perfectly. Plus this got Caitlyn excited for making her own again this year. I will be letting her color all of her own ;) These are the nephew ones. I used scraps from some of the Valentines cards I've been making to put these together. Aren't they too cute!! I knew I wanted this set the moment they started showing sneak peeks, there were just so many cute little animals and sayings. Plus I was so happy that there were a lot of boyish ones because all I really have is girly images. That dino is one of my favs, isn't he too adorable! The images came out fuzzy after I colored them, I realized after that I had used regular black instead of my brilliance pad, but the kids won't care I'm sure ;) Tomorrow I'll be posting the girls. Some of them could have been boy ones, we just have more nieces. Thanks for stopping by and have a happy hump day!

Be Mine

Supplies : Paper - Basic Grey Bittersweet, Crate Paper (circle), Making Memories; Valentines Stickers and Hearts by Pebbles; Cardstock by CTMH

Using Creative Scrappers Sketch #61 I made this quick 30 minute layout. I don't often scrapbook Paul or I unless we are with the girls and this was a fun layout for me to do since it was just of my hottie hubby. Plus it's his birthday today to it's fitting that the layout features him :D I kept it simple since the paper is my favorite part of this layout (other than the pictures of course!) Easy and quick. Too bad I don't scrap like this all the time, I'd totally be caught up! Have a fantastic weekend!