Top 10 Projects of 2014

I love seeing everyone's round-up of their favorite projects of the year.  Here are mine for 2014 in the order that they appeared on my blog:

Snowman Tag:

First Winter Snow:

I'm Yours:

Valentine Frame:

People We Love, Places We Go, Things We Do:

Another Day, Another Round of Candy Land: 

Fueling Up:

December Daily: Joy

My Elf:

Merry and Bright:

You can see last year's favorites on this blog post. If you did a post on your favorites, I love to see yours. Please link it in the comments. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my first layout of 2015. Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Valentine Sketch, Layout and Card: Fancy Pants Designs

Good morning!  I'm excited today to be up on the Fancy Pants Designs blog with a layout and card for Valentine's Day based on an original sketch. 

Here's a peek at the projects. I used the super cute Be Loved line.  

The card was really quick to make. I used one of the "Title Pieces" that comes with each Fancy Pants collection. These are the title pieces for Be Loved:

For the card, I stitched the "Be Mine" card to some pink polka dot paper and added a chipboard banner and a few buttons. Easy peasy.

 

The layout, sketch and other details are posted today on the Fancy Pants Designs blog. Pop over if you have a chance. I always love to seeing what the design team has been up to!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great week!

Shaker Card Tutorial: My Creative Scrapbook

I'm taking a little break from layouts today to show how to make a shaker card.  

I used the new Bundled Up line from Crate Paper, which was included in the December kit at My Creative Scrapbook. As soon as I saw the theme of this collection, I immediately thought it would lend itself well to a shaker card. I used sequins and tinsel from the kit as snow. 

To get started, I used a chipboard frame in the kit. I thought the frame would have just the right depth for the sequins to shake and fall like snow and it did.  

To the front of the frame, I attached a piece of transparency.  Vellum would work well too. I just stitched the transparency on. It is quite fast and easy to run chipboard through a sewing machine and I didn't have to worry about adhesive showing through. 

After stitching the transparency on, I cut a piece of patterned paper the same size as the frame and embellished both pieces with chipboard. 

I glued the paper to the back of the frame -leaving a small opening for the sequins and tinsel - then sealed it completely shut. Then I added the shaker to a card base. 

Here's a final look:

A fun and festive card!  I'll be back tomorrow with a project for Fancy Pants Designs.

December Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook

December is here!  It's the most wonderful time of the year. Bring on the holidays.

With a new month comes a new reveal from My Creative Scrapbook kit club. Here are peeks at four winter projects I made with the Creative kit this month.

The full reveal is December 5th. Thanks for stopping by!

Fancy Pants Designs: Layout, Card and Sketch

I accidentally deleted this entire blog post. Aaack!  I am going to try to recover the images now and fix the verbage later. Sorry. 

I'm up today on the Fancy Pants Designs blog with a layout, card, and sketch using the new Fall releases just released at CHA. 

You can see all the details and closeups on the Fancy Pants Designs blog.  

Thanks for stopping by!

PaperHaus Fall Splendor Blog Hop

Hello and a big warm welcome to the Fall Splendor Blog Hop with PaperHaus Magazine!  We are celebrating our FALL edition, which also is our 1 year anniversary. Yay!  I am delighted to be part of this team. 

Above is our Fall cover and you can read the issue using this link.

To celebrate the new issue, we will have a short blog hop each day through Sept. 15.  There are lots of prizes up for grabs each day. 

If you are following along on the hop, you should have arrived here from the PaperHaus blog.  I made a card with a glassine bag gift card holder using the pretty Fall hues in the Memories Captured collection from Fancy Pants Designs.

This collection has such a fun mix of yellow, orange, green and black. I think I am going to use this line to scrap some Halloween photos. I love the way that aqua blue is seeping into Fall and holiday lines this year. Did you notice that with the new CHA releases? 

Giveaway alert:  The cute little flair on the card front is from the Fancy Pants Designs collection, What A Wonderful Day. I received an extra set of this flair and I would love to pass it along to one of you, my readers. Just leave me a comment to enter. 

Today's blog hop is sponsored by Spellbinders and they have offered up a generous prize. You can find all the details on the PaperHaus blog.  

The winner of both giveaways will be announced on Sept. 16.

Next up on the hop is Jodi Baune. I know she'll have something amazing! 

A Layout and Card: Fancy Pants Designs

I'm up on the Fancy Pants Designs blog today, spotlighting the adorable decorative bags that come in each collection. I used the bags on a card and layout. Come check it out if you can. 

A peek at the card:

I used What A Wonderful Day for my projects. I adore this collection. It's a mid-release and just hit stores a few weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Love Ya Always: Fancy Pants Designs

Hi everyone. Happy Monday!  I hope you had a good weekend. 

I played a bit with What A Wonderful Day, a super cute mid-release from Fancy Pants Designs. I'll have more to show later this week, but wanted to peek in here today with this quick card. 

The hot air balloon was part of a piece of patterned paper that I cut down to size. I pop-dotted the yellow frame on top and added a sentiment. 

I'm really digging the cork trend.  Fancy Pants has a new variety of cork hearts, stars, arrows and labels. They are great for adding dimension without much weight.  Love them. 

I'll be back this week with some more projects from this line. Thanks for stopping by!

Fancy Pants Designs: Focus On Paper Strips

I have my first ever sketch up on the Fancy Pants Designs blog today along with a layout and card based on it.  Here's a sneak peek: 

The sketch, layout and card all focus on how to incorporate paper strips into your designs. I used the Down By The Shore collection for my projects and was inspired by this fun patterned paper of border strips. 

For my projects, I cut them apart and rearranged them. I hope you can pop over to see more.  Have a great week!

Vintage Summer: Little Yellow Bicycle

I was so pleased this year to see many fun new collections with a patriotic theme:  perfect for summer.  One of my favorites is Little Yellow Bicycle's Vintage Summer, which mixes stars and stripes with softer colors and patterns. 

The collection has a great patchwork pattern in one of the papers and I used that as the backdrop of my card, adding zig zag stitches to each row and colum. 

 

To make the tag, I punched a star in the chambray striped paper, then backed the opening with red stars.  I stitched around the star several times for added dimension and a rustic feel. To finish the tag, I added a few stickers, chipboard and a stick pin. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

PaperHaus Magazine: Summer Issue Blog Hop

Hello everyone and thanks for joining us for Day Four of the PaperHaus Magazine summer release event! The contributors are so excited about this new issue, which has a mixed media focus and spotlights guest artists Anna Dabrowska, Kasia Krzyminska, Nathalie Kalbach and Dina Wakley and has a special interview with Tim Holtz. 

Click on the link under the cover photo to see the full magazine. The techniques and tutorials in this issue will blow you away! 

http://issuu.com/thepaperhaus/docs/paperhaus_summer_issue_4r

In addition to mixed media, the issue is chock full of traditional summer themed work: cards, layouts and altered projects. 

We're so excited about this issue that we have a whole month of fun planned, including a new blog hop each day, June 1 - 7, with lots of prizes. Each hop will last one week, with winners announced at the end of the week. 

Here we are on the Day Four blog hop. If you are following today's hop, you should have arrived here from the talented Ivana Camdzic Stoicescu. Here's my summer card: 

Nothing says summer like vacation. I love this big sticker of the car all loaded up. It reminds me of those long road trip vacations we took as a kid.  I used a mix of manufacturers here: Echo Park Paper, Studio Calico, October Afternoon and Lily Bee Designs. 

Next up is Viva Las VegaStamps, our sponsor for the Day 4 hop. If you get lost or if you want to start at the beginning, please go to the PaperHaus blog.  Comments on this hop are open through June 11. Winners of the beautiful rubber stamps by Viva Las VegaStamps will be announced on June 12 or soon thereafter. 

If you missed the hop for days 1, 2, and 3, there is still time to catch up and to enter the drawing for prizes.  You can find the details on the PaperHaus blog. While there, you'll find beautiful inspiration and tutorials every day this month. Be sure to stop by!

WRMK Guest Designer & Giveaway

Hello everyone.  I'm so excited today to be a guest designer for We R Memory Keepers.  WRMK sent me some items from the hip new Feelin' Groovy collection and I had a blast playing with the bold colors and patterns. 

The Feelin' Groovy collection has a fun vibe to it, which makes it perfect for all kinds of celebrations: birthdays, graduations, new baby. 

I love that happy yellow patterned paper and made my own pinwheel to echo those in the pattern. 

For my layout, I used the paper named Groovy as my backdrop. The blue-green palette and icons reminded me of the beach and made a perfect backdrop for my page. 

The banners show some of the playful patterns in the Feelin' Groovy collection. I have additional close-ups and details of this layout on the WRMK blog.

Giveaway:  I have some Feelin' Groovy items from WRMK up for grabs as well as samples of twine and washi.  To enter, please follow my blog and leave a comment. The giveaway is open until midnight on Sunday. I'll draw a random winner and post it here next Monday, June 3. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

For the Graduate: Dream Big

My brother-in-law got his master's degree in Information Technology on Saturday.  Yay!  He was working full-time while going to school, so he was on the 7-year plan.  Slow and steady wins the race. We are all so proud of him!

 

A lovely cell phone shot from the bleachers of the master's candidates. 

Seven years of night school deserves a card, don't you think?  I made this one using the Down By The Shore collection from Fancy Pants Designs.  I love this green and navy combination. The collection is beach-themed but these particular elements and patterns worked well for a masculine card. 

The pennants that are included with each Fancy Pants collection add a touch of fun to any project. This pennant was from the Park Bench line and had the perfect sentiment for my card:  Yay!  

Also, today is my Design Team day on the Fancy Pants blog.  Want to see a peek of my project?

You can see the whole project and a tutorial on how I made the summer frame here on the Fancy Pants Designs blog.   

Thank you for stopping by. I'll be back on Friday with a new project. 

Hello Beautiful: Little Yellow Bicycle

Hello and happy Friday!  I started the week with a fun girl card and wanted to wrap up the week with another. It's always a treat for me to play with colors, patterns and icons outside my norm of snips and snails and puppy dog tails. Such is the life of a mom and scrapbooker of a little boy. 

I made this card, Hello Beautiful, from the pretty Fern and Forest Girl collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.  It's the counterpoint to Fern and Forest Boy and shares some of the same patterns but in a different color palette.  I love that Little Yellow Bicycle is purposeful in catering to both genders. 

I chose a bright purple-y herringbone paper as the base of this card and added transparencies as photo corners.  The transparency was a small frame from the LYB Clear Cuts and I snipped off 2 corners rather than using the frame as intended.  It's always tricky to adhere transparencies so that the adhesive doesn't show. Here, I just stitched right over it. Perfect solution. 

I loved the colorful chipboard pieces in this collection and featured them on the card by building a frame, pop dotting some elements.  The swirl is another  Clear Cut and here I hid the adhesive by gluing it to the back of the fairy princess and under the "beautiful" banner.  

To finish the card, I added a stick pin as the fairy's wand and tied it with a bit of twine. 

If you have followed my work, you know I am a HUGE fan of Little Yellow Bicycle.  I'm so pleased to announce that I now have a new badge to add to my sidebar: Little Yellow Bicycle is officially sponsoring me.  I'm tickled pink!

Have a great weekend, everyone!