Friday, October 28, 2011

Winner! Winner!

I am so excited to announce the winner of my VERY FIRST giveaway! As a reminder, the lucky winner will be receiving the magnetic bulletin board that I made for a recent Authentique post!


Thank you to random.org for taking all of the guess work out of the process. :)


Congratulations, Staci!! I LOVE seeing the layouts that you create with Blissful and I'm so excited that this project will be hanging in your craft room soon! Congrats again!!

Thank you everyone who entered!

I'm not perfect...

My Dear Friends,

I created a scrappy sin recently and I need to repent. :) I used a sketch from an AMAZINGLY talented paper crafter and I did not give her the credit she most certainly deserved.

In my post showcasing my "Too Cute To Spook" layout for Authentique, I mentioned that I used a sketch, showed the sketch and then didn't give the creator any credit. The sketch was created by a friend of mine, too, so that makes me feel EXTRA terrible. (In all honesty, I left the entire blog post unfinished as I usually write them late and night and I needed my Authentique blog post to go live so I could use the link in my blog post, but I digress...)

I'd like to take this moment to correct my wrong-doings. The sketch was created by Van Nguyen, whom I hope to craft like someday. Some people just make paper crafting look easy and Van is definitely one of those ladies. Van, thank you for inspiring me to create a layout which I love. I definitely could not have done it without your inspiration and I feel terrible that I didn't review my post before it went live. You are uber-talented and I am in awe of what you create. I am truly sorry.

Very Sincerely,

Cristine

Thursday, October 27, 2011

I'm feeling Sketchy...

I saw today's Sketchy Thursday sketch and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. First off, here's the sketch:

And here is the layout I created:

I used Authentique's Gathering collection because I thought the colors went perfectly with my daughter's hair and eyes. Plus, it's just a gorgeous collection. I used Glimmer Mist to add the splatters. I love that The Twinery's Caribbean twine goes so well with this collection. I'm completely in love with that stuff.

Just a little close-up of the title.

I used some of the Icons and Tabloids to embellish the top corner of the page. The little butterflies are so cute. :)

I made my first paper flower from this tutorial, which was done by a fellow Scrapbooksteals fan.

I love the simplicity of this layout and the colors. The Gathering line just speaks to me with the brown and teal colors. LOVING it!!

Hope you enjoyed this layout. Until next time...

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Need some Mojo?

Thanks to a fantastic sketch by the fantastic Kristy Lee (of Scrapbooksteals fame), I made a layout that is one of my faves to date. You know those papers that come in some collections that are printed with all kinds of stuff? They make you wonder, "Now how the heck am I supposed to use THAT?" Well I finally used one of those sheets and now I wonder why I didn't try using one sooner!

First, here is the sketch I used:

And here is the layout I created:


The only things I added to this page were the picture, the papers under the picture, some embellishments, some twine and some alphas. I didn't have to think about how to fill up the white space and I didn't have to add too many embellishments as the background paper was busy enough.


I am in love with this layout. :) The papers are from My Mind's Eye's Fine and Dandy line, which is one of my favorite collections EVER.

I hope I was able to show you how easy it is to use these fun background papers. Until next time!






PS Don't forget about my giveaway!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Cards for all occasions...

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd post some cards that I've made recently. There has been a lot going on here lately, with friends finding out the sex of their baby, dogs crossing over to the other side and family totally spoiling my girls. :) Here are the cards I made for those occasions.

The first card I made for my aunt, who came in town for my daughter's 5th birthday and spoiled the heck out of her (not necessarily a bad thing). :)

I used Authentique's Free Bird Series in Delight because the colors are vibrant and pretty. I also used a little twine to add a little more dimension to the card. I thought this would be the perfect card to say thank you to my auntie, who has managed to have a presence in my girls' lives even though she lives 2,000 miles away. I love her for that.

This next card I made for my brother, who had to put his German Shepard down this morning.

His dog, Divitt, is the only thing he's been loyal to for the past 7 years. Unfortunately, Divitt developed cancer in his leg and the tumor has been growing rapidly for the past few months. We had to put our dog down - who just happened to be my brother's as well, but we gained custody of him when we got married - a few years ago, so I know the pain of losing a pet.

This last card is for my bestie and her husband and has a double meaning. They recently found out the sex of their baby and the husband just got his first job after law school (after looking for a job forEVER).

They found out they're having a boy so I used predominantly masculine colors, but also used papers with mixed colors to liven it up a bit. I'm excited for my friend and her hubby as they venture into this new world of babies and new jobs.

Don't forget about my giveaway!! Until next time...

Monday, October 24, 2011

How About a Giveaway!?

Happy Monday, everyone! I woke up with a great idea this morning. First, I'll start by asking if anyone saw my blog post over at Authentique this morning? I made a cute magnetic bulletin board that looks like this:

Here's my great idea: I'm giving it away! To win this cute piece of organization, you must do two things for me:
~ Become a follower of my blog (over there-->).
~ Leave me a comment telling me what you'd use it for or who you'd give it to.

That's it!! Talk about easy, right?? Leave me a comment by Thursday, October 27th at midnight CST and I will draw a winner on Friday, October 28th!! {MUST have a US or Canada address only, please.} Don't forget to leave me an email address! I can't notify you if you're the winner if I don't have a way to! :)

Good luck to all!!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Too Cute To Spook...

Today I am featured over at Authentique's blog, so be sure to head over and check out my post! I created a layout using Authentique's Glowing collection, Glue Arts amazing adhesive products and some cute pictures of my hubby, daughters and nephew from Halloween last year.

I just happened to use a sketch created by the amazingly talented Van Nguyen, who was a guest sketcher over at Scrapbooksteals recently, as a spring board for this layout, so here is the sketch:


And here is the layout I created:


I think this is probably my all time favorite Halloween layout that I've ever done. It's not overly spooky, doesn't have bright colors (like the greens, purples, etc you usually see in Halloween lines) and is fairly simple. But I love it.

As I noted on my Authentique post, The circle was a labor of love. The patterned paper I used originally looked like this:


Because I didn't want this layout to have too many bold colors to distract from the colors in the pictures, I chose to cut out a bunch of the diamonds, using only the cream, black and mildly decorated lighter pieces. It was a bear to put together, but I am so happy with the way it turned out!

This was also the first time I tried bunching up ribbon and using sewing pins as decoration. (See my Authentique post for more detailed photos.)

Hope I was able to inspire in some way!! Until next time...

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Have a card or two...

So we all know (or maybe my new readers don't) that I do a bulk of my work going off sketches or other layouts/cards for inspiration. I still claim to not have a creative brain cell in my head, I'm just really good at faking it. :)

That brings us to today. I recently picked up Paper Crafts' Card Ideas for Paper Crafters magazine and I. Was. In. Heaven! It is filled with sketches and examples of cards from cover to cover. I found a sketch I really liked (hence the dog-ear in the picture) and decided to make a couple cards with it.

Here is the sketch:


And here is the first card I made:


I thought this card turned out really cute. My oldest daughter was invited to one of her classmates' birthday party and so I made it for her soon-to-be 5 year old friend. I used Authentique's Free Bird Series - Endless papers because they work really well for boy cards. (See this post for another example.)

Here is the other card I made:


I made this card for a friend who will be having surgery soon. I used some yummy My Mind's Eye papers that coordinated perfectly. I hope this card brightens my dear friend's day as she begins her rehabilitation journey.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more crafty goodness!

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Saturday, October 8, 2011

It's time for the Authentique Paper/Unity Stamp Co. Blog Hop!!

Welcome everyone!! I am so thrilled to be a part of this fun blog hop! If this is the first you're hearing of it, head back to Authentique Paper's blog to get started! Here is the line up in case you get lost along the way:


Don't forget to leave a comment because there will be some FABULOUS prizes!! Authentique is giving away two collection packs (one each for two winners), including a sampling of papers from EACH of the first 6 Authentique Paper collections AND a sampling of the amazing Free Bird Series. Unity Stamp Co. is also giving away two prize packs (one each for two winners), including the COMPLETE SET of Unity/Authentique co-brand stamps!! Holy fantastic prizes!!


Let's get this party started, shall we?! I had the opportunity to work with a couple versatile stamp sets to make these two cards. I love that the Unity/Authentique stamps come in sets that can be used together or separately.

For my first card, I used the Family is FOREVER set:


I loved the cute little line of birds in this set. It could be used for anything...from a get well card to a sympathy card. This card is a birthday card for someone special (don't want to say who in case she's reading this!) and I stamped the sentiment on the inside. The papers I used are from the Free Bird Series - Warmth collection.

For my next card, I used the Born an Original stamps:

I love this beautiful rose stamp. I decided to use an apple-colored ink to go with the Free Bird Delight papers I chose for the card, to make it bright and cheery. (Side note: If you don't have any of the Free Bird Series and you are a card maker, you NEED to go get some! What I love about these papers is that they are 6x6 sheets of paper either sold loose or in pads. And the paper is TEXTURED!! So not only do you not have to cut into a gorgeous sheet of 12x12 paper to make a card, you still get the same quality paper as if you were!)

Thank you for stopping by! As I mentioned before, be sure to leave a comment to be in the running for some amazing prizes! Leave a comment on each blog along the hop as winners will be randomly chosen from all of the blogs involved in the hop. Blog comments close Monday, October 10th at 11:59pm (Pacific) and winners will be announced Wednesday, October 12th on the Authentique Paper and Unity Stamp Co. blogs. {Winner MUST have a US or Canadian address to win.}

Next stop on the hop is
Christi Snow!








Supplies:


Authentique:
Free Bird Series - Warmth and Delight

Unity Stamp Co.:
Authentique Paper - Born an Original and Family is FOREVER stamp sets

Other:
twine - The Twinery ribbon

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Authentique Sketch Challenge

Hello everyone! Today over on the Authentique blog, October's sketch challenge has been posted! Since I created a layout for September's challenge, I decided to tackle the card sketch this month.

Here is the sketch:


And here is the card I created:


When I saw this month's card sketch, I knew it would work perfectly for a card I needed to make for one of our nephew's upcoming 3rd birthday. I used papers from the Endless line, a part of Authentique's new Free Bird Series. This line is filled with gorgeous oranges, teals, dark blues and browns. PERFECT for a card for a little boy!


I thought it would be cute to highlight our nephew's upcoming age on the numbered paper with a couple shapes I cut out with my Silhouette (on "b" sides of Endless papers). I also accented the area with a cute little star, cut out of another paper from the Endless line.


I thought I'd grunge up the banner, to make it a little more like our rough and tumble nephew. I think it turned out pretty cute. :)

Be sure to check out the Authentique blog and play along with this month's challenge! You have until Wednesday, October 12th to link your projects to the blog post. {Rules are on the blog post.}

Have fun!!

Supplies:

Authentique:
Patterned Paper: Free Bird Series- Endless

Other:
Ribbon - My Mind's Eye: Fine and Dandy
Tools - Paper distresser: Tim Holtz for Tonic Studios


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