Virtual Crop - iNSD Crop - Friday Recap

 

 It's time for another Virtual Crop by Victoria Marie.  It's also International Scrapbook Day on Saturday so there are tons of events going on all over the Web and at Local Stores and OH MY.   I'm excited I've set aside time this weekend.  I've planned all of my layouts for every challenge.  I've got snacks and a menu that I can handle for the Fam without too much trouble.  I'm ready to get going.

For the first layout we had to do one about ourselves.   EEEEP 5 things about me?  I was excited I just got some new listing stamps in my most recent Layle By Mail order.  So of course I reached for what was new.  The clip and the bullet points are in my new cool stamp set. 

 

 

 

 Next up is little Gracie.  She is really the sweetest/saddest dog.  Always with this look plus her super satin coat.  I used an entire package of doggie paper clips on this layout.  I stitched each one on with gold thread(UGHHH slippery stuff).   The boxes around them are rub ons because I'm going to make a dent in those this year.  Doodlebug alphas complete this layout.   

 

 

 

 

Virtual Crop - Mixed Media Madness - Friday/Saturday/Sunday Recap 6 Layouts

 

 Once again doing the Victoria Maria virtual crop Mixed Media Madness.  I love these even though this the weekend it was held this month there were other things going on and I had to leave the house a couple of times for events.  This of course made it so I got less completed during the crop but 6 layouts is still not to shabby.  

 

My first layout above is of my Grandmother, my Mom, Aunt and Uncle.  I love this photo and the mixed media on this one is Distress Oxide Ink with a lace stencil to create the floral background.  The paper and die cuts are Pretty Little Studios Miss Sadie Rose from my March Scraproom kit.  and I used an old border die as the border strip.  Love how this turned out.

 

 This Valentine layout is of the gifts for my family for Valentines this year.  A friend of mine makes these beautiful cookies(and their yummy).  I was so excited to give them to everyone.  Cookies are always a hit.  The challenge was watercolor.  I cheated I have a watercolor paper pad and used that since the colors were ideal.

 

Emily with her first set of mouse ears she was really little.  Lots of stamping on this one which was the challenge the background is all stamped with Echo Park Stamps the cameras are also stamped and Magic Starts Here as well.  The title I created on the Silhouette along with the Mini heads and bows.  Paper is by Basic Grey(I use it sometimes when I'm not saving it).  

 

 

 Longdogs, always together.  Much to Vienna's dismay I think sometimes.  I altered the chipboard title and the heart strips are cut from watercolor paper I painted.  Paper MME, vellum hearts are Studio Calico.

 

 

 I don't do a lot of masculine pages but I was excited to get to use Simple Stories Bro. & Co. from a Scraproom kit last summer.  The background is done with a Memory Box stencil and embossing paste.  Some little letters from Jenni Bowlin and a tag and some stickers from my stash.

 

 Lastly for this crop I did a layout of some birthday pictures of my brother.  I used Doodlebug paper and embellishments.  Stenciled the dots background with Distress Oxide ink and cut the title with my Silhouette.  Some of the 70's and 80's pictures I have are damaged by light but they are all that I have so they will all be documented eventually.

I know I didn't get a lot done this crop and Victoria Marie gives you a couple of weeks after to complete them.  I just find I'm so much more motivated during the crop weekend.  After it's over I tend to move on to different projects.  Maybe I'll come back and finish something half done but that's about it.  Still I think 6 layouts on a weekend I had other things going on is Awesome!    And it's always fun!

Hope someone is inspired by this.  Thanks for stopping by

Stamping on a Layout Challenge - Schnockered Scrappers Challenge

So this challenge is over on the Schnockered Scrappers Challenge Blog.   

 

For this layout I used some new(to me) Scrapbook.com stamps and my 12 x 12 Misty to stamp the Dec and the 25 circles at the top.  The pattern paper and embellishments at the bottom are from my Scraproom kit from December, the Simple Stories North Pole set.  I also stamped some of the words, Visit, Memories and documented, from another stamp set from Scrapbook.com.

 

The picture is my Grandma Vera and I during the holidays.  Gotta love the big hair in the 80's and can I say I do not remember that sweater at all.

 

So back to the Challenge Blog.  My intention was to create a drink for each month but much like in real life I cannot remember to drink or create drinks.  Maybe as we move along in the year?  It's that or change the name of the blog.   The idea is cooking in my brain.  We will see.

Thank you for coming by and taking a look at my layout!  Have a wonderful day.

Scrappy Saturday - HAWK (scraplifting yourself)

 

Scrapping again.  Following a challenge to scraplift ourselves.  I had this old layout with strips and the title with rub ons and circles stamped on the background from long, long ago?  It was in my gallery at TwoPeas.  I did something similar but stamped the title on circles and layered with foam tape over the scallop circle stamp.   I also did some additional stamping all around the page.  I'm generally happy with the way it turned out.  The papers are Photoplay from a Scraproom kit.

 

Below is my original layout.  I chose to type the journaling and didn't apparently notice the typo.  Oh My I guess that makes it even more handmade and special(ie. in a, does your Mom know any grammer? kind of way)  HA I do love the precious photo, this girl is 18 now and it's so hard to believe she will be leaving us to go to college in the Fall.

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by hope all is well in your world.

Pinata Time - The Scrap Room FB

Had fun creating this layout using the Scrap Room Facebook Group Sketch Challenge this month.  I used the kit Echo Park Hello Spring for this one.  I'm in love with the yellow stripes.  I fussy cut the butterflies and added some butterfly buttons from my stash, as well as rub ons(American Crafts), sequins, and a Stamp Set for the title.  I did stamp each letter and cut it out. 

Below is the sketch I was working from.  I did flip it on it's side to help with the orientation of my photos this time. 

  

Thank you for stopping by hope your weekend was great!  Happy Monday!

Festive New Year Tags in the Shop - Free Shipping

Up in the ETSY Shop now, just in time for the New Year and perfect for Wine Bottle Hostess Gifts these New Years Tags add sparkle to anything you can Dream Up!  You can even request different colors to match the theme of your event. 

Hope everyone enjoying the Holiday Events that are starting to happen!  Have a Great Day and Thank you for stopping by.

Christmas Cards - Christmas in July

Who'd have thunk it Christmas in July is almost over.  I've been meaning to share these cards.  I created sets of them for my Etsy shop for this month and going forward.

The stamp set is a retired one from Stampin' Up called Seasons of Friendship.  I love it for so many reasons.  I really utilized my stamp press with this one for the first time since I made a ton of sets.  The background paper(red) is  stamped with a Dot Background stamp and the word Joy is from a die cut.   I've always loved Red and Brown together for the Holidays it's warm and inviting.

Thank you again for stopping by!  Here's hoping everyone has an Amazing Weekend.  If your so inclined you can stop by my ETSY SHOP HERE and check out my other crafty items as well.  Toodles!

Day 4 of the Fab 5 Fall Cards - Memory Box

And we're back with another Fab 5 Fall Card.  This one is from my post over on the Memory Box Blog this afternoon.  It's a happy fall card using Memory Box Stamps and dies.

The first die I chose to work with today is the Counrty Fence Oval Frame die which I filled with fall leaves from the Autumn Birdie stamp set.  I layered some color onto the Country Fence scene and added one of the Turkeys from the Classic Tom Turkeys die set.  The happy fall is also from the Autumn Birdie stamp set as well.  I've outlined it and the oval with a Metallic Gold pen from Prismacolor.  This is how it looks outside my window right now.  Well minus the Turkey.  But with the leaves falling in all colors!  I love Fall and the crisp air and beautiful colors and tried to convey all of that here.

We're so excited your joining us for the Fab 5 Fall cards!   Thank you so much for coming each day!  We have one more day so be sure to stop back by tomorrow!  Be sure to check out Dianne's AMAZING card today on her blog I See A Pattern Forming!

I would like to add this to the following Challenges:


The Crafty Addicts - Challenge 2 -  Autumn Colors
Ruby's Rainbow - Challenge #115 - Autumn Leaves
Whimsy Stamps - Challenge #87 - Autumn Colors

Day 3 Fab 5 Fall Cards - Misted Leaves

 Hello WEDNESDAY!  We re more than half way through the Fab 5 Fall Cards!  How fun!  

Today my share has some misted leaves.  I actually misted an entire piece of watercolor paper with Distress Stains and Shimmer Mists then die cut them, with the LawnFawn stitched leaves, after the paper dried.  The thanks, also from LawnFawn,  was cut from copper mirror card and the for being so thoughtful comes from the LawnFawn set Many Thanks.  Everything is layered onto ivory cardstock and again on a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper.  The card base has a swiss dot embossed ivory piece on it.  Lastly I added some copper and lime green stickles for sparkle. 

Don't forget to check out Dianne's inspiring card over at I See A Pattern Forming today!   Only 2 more days after this.  Don't miss any subscribe over on the right sidebar --------------->>>.

Last night Dianne and I enjoyed an Amazing dinner with FABULOUS friends and Wonderful conversation.  It was very therapeutic and just what we needed.  We hope you're enjoying your week!

Thank you so much for stopping by.   Have a great day.

Day 1 Fab 5 Fall Cards - Many Thanks

 Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had an amazing crisp Fall weekend. We enjoyed ours and ended it with the Palatine Children's Chorus Fall concert.  

So today we are starting our Fab 5 Fall Card series.  I love this series because I Love Fall and everything that goes along with it!   I'm starting my Fab 5 Fall cards with a, Copic Colored image on kraft, card using a focal point image from LawnFawn's Happy Harvest stamp set.  Adore this little scarecrow with his little crow friends.  

For the corn I just masked off my scarecrow and birdies and stamped corn stalks over and over to create his backdrop of a field.  The dirt I colored in.  One of my little crows got cut out and put on the Many Thanks banner.  All of the patterned paper is from the LawnFawn Into the Woods 6x6 paper pack.  The kraft embossed piece used my Perfect Paisley embossing folder rubbed lightly with some fall color inks.   Finally I've added just a little bow in a dark brown twill.

Hope you've enjoyed today's card.  I will return tomorrow with another fall card to add to the collection!
Be sure to check out Dianne's blog at I See A Pattern Forming for her amazing card today!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a Wonderful Monday! 

Watercolor Fluttering

Good Morning,  I'm over on the Memory Box Blog today with a bright Spring card today.  I adore this new stamp Fluttering CS2210G I could not wait to watercolor it.  I stamped it with StazOn Cloudy Sky Ink by Imagine Crafts on watercolor paper by Strathmore.  I like the weight of the 400 series best for card making it makes it easy to flatten the piece to attach to the card.  The water coloring was done with a little palette set by Angora.   After the card was complete and dry I misted it with Imagine Crafts Shimmer Spritz in Sparkle all over the entire piece (which is really hard to see in the picture but super cool in person).  And then a little Stickles to each body to make it stand out even more..  Finally I added the word FLY with Alphabet Soup Uppercase 99154 out of yellow cardstock.  Everything was layered onto a purple paper.

I love how bright and vibrant it turned out!  Makes me happy!  Especially this time of year when it's sometimes rainy sometimes sunny.  Hope you like it!  Thank you so much for stopping by today!  Have a Wonderful Day!

And So it Begins - A New Year of Swaps

It's that time the final swap list is out for the Chicago Area Rubber Stampers or C.A.R.S. stamping group.  We meet at CraftFancy on the second Tuesday of every month except December.  The group has been around for a very long time since Desiree(she is the founder) had her stamp shop in town years ago.

This year I have decided to do only Christmas/Holiday Cards except for September and October where the theme dictates either a season or non-card.   In doing so I will create a couple of extra each month above and beyond the 16 required and keep them for my Holiday cards in December.  I'm excited to be getting a head start on the things I rarely get done around the Holiday's.  Seems wrong when  a card maker doesn't send out holiday cards. 

This is the first month's card the theme is Paint Chips so here is what I came up with.  I wend to the hardware store and let the color that inspired me lead me to what I would create.  As always I try to use those supplies I have collected and never or rarely use and/or a technique I've been wanting to try.  (I know you know it's never but I added rarely so I don't sound like a hoarder of craft supplies.....)  This time I've used some Stampin Up snowflakes(had to mount them) a Martha Stewart border punch and the greeting is from a My Favorite Things set which I do used but it was the perfect size.  The patterned paper is from my BoBunny Double Dots stash and just a bit of silver mirror card to give it some sparkle.

If your curious here is the entire swap list for the year:
January - Paint Chips
February - White on White
March - Bargello
April - Faces
May - Scene Behind a Window
June - Circles
July - Washi Tape
August - Stamp a Container
September - Fall/Autumn
October - Gift Tags
November - Recycle/Upcycle

As always we create 16 to swap with the group.

Thanks so much for stopping by hope your having a wonderful day!

Smile Lillies

Happy Columbus Day,  I'm over on the A2Z Scrapbooking Blog Today!  Today I am sharing a pretty card using an amazing Hero Arts Antique Gratitude CL780.  The focal point flower in this set is Amazing Lilies so I colored them like Tiger Lillies with watercolor pencils.  The background is also watercolored. The piece is cut into an oval and layered onto Orange Cardstock. The flower has gold Wink of Stella centers and stamens which are hard to pick up in the photograph.  The greeting "SMILE" comes from  Hero Arts A Little CL758.  It's stamped in black and then glossed up with Glaze Pen.  I created a background with a Hero Arts Stencil  and some Gold Embossing Paste on Kraft Layering Paper. There are a couple of little gold rhinestones for more shine at the bottom.  The entire piece was popped up onto a Kraft Card.   I hope you like it.  Thank you for stopping by today!

You can see all of the supplies I’ve used below.  For a 15% discount use the code Marnie15 in the A2ZScrapbooking Supplies store.

Don’t forget about the October Monthly Challenge the theme this month is Use 2 Hero Arts Products hop over to enter and you could win an amazing prize.

Products Used:

Hero Arts Antique Gratitude CL780

Hero Arts A Little CL758

Hero Arts Quilt Motif Stencil SA025

Kraft Cardstock

Poppy Cardstock

Hero Arts Kraft Note Cards

Gold Embossing Paste

Hero Arts India Ink Black

Foam Tape

Lavender Cardstock

Gold Vellum

Clear Glaze Pen

Gold Rhinestones

Watercolor Pencils

 

Gathered Blooms Thanks

Today I'm over on the Memory Box Blog with a pretty purple card.  I used a favorite new stamp of ours Gathered Blooms G2021 which I stamped and embossed in gold over a watercolor background created with Peerless Watercolors.  Once it was complete I tore around the image and added A Little Thanks 98575 in gold.  I added the finished piece to a violet card base with some turquoise seem binding.   The color scheme makes me Happy I hope it makes you Happy too!
 

Dies and Stamps that are Quick & Easy

More for Saturday's class at Craft Fancy!  Can't beat how fun, Quick & Easy these are.

September Is National Honey Month

And I love Honey!  On a toasted English Muffin or toast it's best with a warm cup of tea.  But I love to add it to marinades as well.  And I love to stamp honey related items as well.  I didn't really realize this until this year and I checked out my collection of beehive, bumble bee and honey related items.  Who knew I was collecting these things?  This is by no means a suggestion to any family member of what to buy me in the future, so forget you ever read this.  It's just an observation of my subconcious.  That and I can't stop thinking about brakfast this morning I think I should go make some toast!

Happy National Honey Month

Fall has arrived

Or so it seems here.  We've started this weekend with that cool crisp air that makes you think of apples, bonfires, hayrides and such.  It's super nice.  Can't wait to have all of the windows open and enjoy!

First full week of school here.  Unseasonably peaceful like we didn't miss a beat.  Knocking wood.   Parent orientation was fun.  The Birthday celebration from the Schnockers group was fun and lively!  And there was lots of Chocolate cake couldn't ask for more! 

Working Working

A couple of weeks ago I did a physical inventory of my Etsy stuff and reorganzied my Etsy filing system.  I decided I needed at least 100 items in my shop.  So I've been working and photographing and I have begun to add new items to my shop!     Working on getting to 100.  Here is a lovely Thinking of You card that was added today.  Getting a little closer!

Oooh our Craft Collective meeting was cancelled for tonight in case you didn't hear.  I'll be at work though come by for a visit! 

Wise Men Say........

It's actually been 12 years today since I married my best friend!  It seems like it was just yesterday we were in Vegas getting married!!!  Happy Anniversary Dave! 

Today we have one crazy day planned.  The kids get out of school for the summer before noon.  Lauren is coming after 1:00 for tutoring plus it is her Birthday.   I still have to put the finishing touches on her cupcakes.  Then Grandma is coming over to babysit so we can go out for dinner.  Phew! 

Summer Break is Near!

It really is it begins tomorrow at 11:21am.  The kids will come running out of the school and ready to begin their summer adventures!  This year has zoomed by!   Soon I will have a 5th grader and a 2nd grader.  Totally doesn't seem possible.

I've been working on teacher gifts for end of year.  I took some old cigar boxes I bought at the church rummage sale a couple of years ago and painted them layered paper and embellishments and made coordinating cards to go inside for 2 of the teachers.  Then for some of the other teachers I used did something similar with mini picnic baskets but the cards in those were 3x3. I also covered nuggets with decorated addres labels and put those in the boxes.    I went with a summery vintage feel for colors.  I have no idea where this came from?  I'm usually so bright with my colors.  But I had to play with pearls and pastels for some reason.  Below is a sampling of the gifts.