We R Memory Keepers Bewitched

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I am so thrilled to be guest designing over at the We R Memory Keepers blog today!  I was lucky to be chosen to work with their new Bewitched collection.  Head over to their blog to see one of the projects I created.  Because they were super generous and sent me a lot of goodies to play with, I thought I would share the rest of the fun stuff I made. 

First up, the layouts:

And here are a few cards I made with the scraps:

Thank you for stopping by today!  Until next time...

World Card Making Day 2013

Happy (day after) World Card Making Day!  I was able to squeeze in some crafty time yesterday to make a couple cards that I wanted to share with you.  Coincidentally, yesterday was also my husband's birthday, so I decided to put an end to my procrastination to make him a birthday card.  And because I love using my Pinterest pins for inspiration, here is a card I pinned from Kristina Werner that I used as my starting point:

And here is the card I made:

I used My Mind's Eye's Cut & Paste Adorbs collection for this masculine card.  I LOVE how the inspiration card used wood grain cardstock.  I happened to have a sheet lying around that I was too nervous to mess up use, so I took the plunge and used it for the base of my card.  I also used a wood grain patterned paper from the Adorbs 6x6 paper pad to complement it.  

I stamped the banner and sentiment on the coordinating ombre paper with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder.  It really makes the sentiment pop off the paper.  A few extra coordinating touches and this card was done!  I love quick and easy cards!

The second card I made is for this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash challenge.  Here is the color scheme:

And here is the card I made:

I used my Silhouette to create a custom patterned paper and I am so thrilled with the outcome!  I used a silver sketch pen to sketch out the spider webs then used the blade to have it and the little bat cut out for me.  I LOVE when an idea in my head comes out the way I planned.  :) 

I stamped the speech bubble with Versamark and covered it with silver embossing powder to go with the silvery shimmer of the spider webs.  I threw on a few other challenge-coordinating accents as well as a silver glitter enamel dot and this was done.  I have to say for as complicated as this card was, I did it FAST!  I had 1 minute and 42.351 seconds left when I finished.  :) 

I hope you all had a wonderfully crafty day yesterday and are enjoying your weekend.  I will be back soon with some fall-inspired cards.

Until next time...

I've been Challenged...

If one thing is for sure, it's that there are MANY amazingly talented paper crafters in this world.  Luckily for me, I get to call many of them my friend.  The one and only Kristy Lee (formerly of Scrapbook Steals mojo-creating fame) was feeling creative enough to dish out challenges to some scrappy friends.  I decided I needed to be challenged, especially since I hadn't made a layout in what seems like forever.

This was the challenge Kristy gave me: 

• 1 page, three pictures (filmstrip style),
• manufacturer starting with "c" because your name does,
• misting
• chevrons

Well that was just the kick I needed to get scrapping again.  This is what I came up with:

I am in love with this layout.  I used Echo Park's Everyday Ecclectic collection, some MME washi and enamel dots, Mister Huey's mist and, most importantly, Bazzil cardstock with a core that was a bit lighter than the outside.  I used a doily mask below the paper, pressed hard on the paper, then sanded the impression it left.  I love that it turned out more subtle than using a white doily would.

Another friend, Venetia Holbrook, issued her own challenge.  This one was for anyone who wanted to do it.  I jumped on this one.

Here was her challenge:

This girl is on FIRE... 
This one's all about you. We all avoid it. Find that fabulous picture of you, not from 5 years ago, but of you now.  You are outstanding and unapologetic. You are awesome, you know it. You're living your best life. Now scrap that picture and celebrate you!
Journaling- must celebrate you as an individual.
Color- include your favorite color.
Embellishments- include one embellishment that represents something you love.

Scrapping about yourself is hard for some reason.  Raise your hand if I'm not alone.  :)  I had intended to scrap totally and completely about myself, but when I went to pick up the pictures I had printed for these layouts, the one I wanted wasn't there.  So, I chose another picture that depicts me as a mother.  This is what I came up with:

I hid my journaling because I really wanted the picture and the title to tell the bulk of the story. But if you pull out the tag, it talks about how I am human and I make mistakes.  I might bark at my girls too much or feel way too overwhelmed I get at times.  But what it really boils down to is that I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up other than knowing I wanted to be a mother.  I'm not perfect, but I'm trying the best I can.  And hopefully I'm not screwing up two gorgeous girls along the way.  :)

As for the rest of the challenge requirements, I dyed the seam binding my favorite color (any flavor of aqua, turqoise, etc.).  And for the embellishment, I chose some of my favorites:  flowers, flair buttons and enamel dots.  Oh, and the MME Collections paper is a fave, too.

If you are in a creative rut, ask a scrappy friend to challenge you.  You just might pop out of your creative coma to create something you're really proud of, like I did.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Until next time...

Studio Calico Mister Huey's Masks and Mists

***If you are looking for my final day as the 

Growing in Unity gal, click here!***

 

I am up today over at the Scrapbooksteals.com blog!  Make sure you head over to check out this card and the other projects I created using today's steal, Studio Calico Mister Huey's Masks and Mist!

Simple Stories Happy Days Collection

Today is my first post over at the Scrapbooksteals blog!  I got to use the Simple Stories Happy Day Collection, which is so great for creating cards and layouts  The photo sleeve-like system makes it super easy to create fast layouts and cards as well. 

Here are a couple sneak peeks at a couple layouts I made with today's steal:

You heard me say *sneaks*, right?  ;)  Make sure you head over to the Scrapbooksteals blog to see the rest of these projects, as well as many other scrapbooking ideas!

Until next time...

Feeling Funky...

If you've been following me for a while, you know that I used Pinterest frequently to find inspiration when I am making a layout of creating a card.  I thought I'd show you all a layout I created recently using a pretty funky sketch I pinned. (And I use the term "funky" loosely - it's funky to me because this novice brain wouldn't ever think to use a sketch like this.)

Here is the sketch, which comes from colorconspiracy.typepad.com:

And here is the layout I created:

I absolutely LOVE how this layout turned out.  It's so fun and different and yet still kinda me.  :)  I used Echo Park's Everyday Eclectic collection with a mix of various embelishments that I had lying around.

If you look in my stash, these are the colors that I have the most of.  :)  The pink flower was originally white, but I sprayed it with a couple different colors of Glimmer Mist to match my color scheme.  My newest obsession favorite embellishments are flair buttons.  So fun!

I love this cute little pennant.  :)  The canvass flag is from Maya Road, but I switched out the grommets to match my color scheme.  The stamp I used is from Studio Calico's exclusive Lawn Fawn set that was in their debut Card Kit.

Thank you for stopping by again today!  I hope this sketch/layout inspires you to venture outside of your comfortable scrappy zone.  Good stuff can happen if you do.  :)

Until next time...

Feeling Challenged...

Hello, all!  I know my posts are few and far between lately, but I usually show up with good stuff, so hopefully you don't mind.  :)  Today I am back with something I created for this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  This week's theme is

When I saw that the challenge was typography or subway art, I immediately knew I wanted to try and create a layout using Paper Smooches stamps.  Their sentiment stamps are PERFECT for this!

Here is the layout I created:

Here is a close-up of the burlap flower I made.  The pink flower was white until I sprayed it with some Mr. Huey's in Pretty Pink.  

I came to the realization recently that I have a "style" when I create cards and/or layouts of late.  For the most part, my style is shabby chic.  I think this layout does a good job of showcasing that.  I used MME's Nostalgia collection and created the burlap flower to go with it.  The muted colors go well with the colors in the picture.

I hope you enjoyed my latest creation!  Until next time...

Showing some Paper Smooches love...

I recently stated that Paper Smooches stamps were solely responsible for reigniting my love of card creating.  I reach for their sentiment stamps for almost every card I make lately.  The Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge Blog is looking for new design team members, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring.

I created this first card on Tuesday for my daughter's birthday using the challenge from May 28th (and some Pinterest inspiration):



Here are some cards I've created from some past challenges:

 

Here are a few more cards that I recently created while attending the Scrapbook Steals retreat this past weekend:

And, because I am on a roll, how about a few more that I've created:

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I don't have much of a creative brain.  Heck, I don't have much of a brain left period after talking to short peeps all day for the last six years.  :)  I do much better when I have a sketch or some sort of inspiration to follow.  That is why the SPARKS Challenge Blog is right up my alley.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my cards as much as I've enjoyed creating them!