So Lovely

   I finally used my last page of Bo Bunny's Country Garden collection. I really like the bright, vivid colors in this collection, and I always love butterflies! I think this collection came in my My Creative Scrapbook kit from spring of 2012, so it was time to wrap it up! I had one photo of Sophia that I've been meaning to scrap, and I thought the blue tones worked well together. 

Here are a few of my other Country Garden layouts:

Thanks for visiting! I have the pleasure of listening to little girl giggles in the background while I'm typing, which can make any day brighter!

Giddy for Cupcakes!

  Since it's Stampin' Up retired product season again (insert sad face here), I stocked up on a few last-minute goodies I've been eyeing for a long time. One was the ADORABLE Cherry on Top hostess set. The stamp set comes with a cake plate and a variety of interchangeable cupcakes  to stamp inside. After seeing a tutorial by Dawn Olchefske, I decided to try her view master card with a twist. True and instant love resulted.

This little piece of heaven uses Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, and Daffodil Delight paper and ink, some black embossing powder, my new chevron embossing folder (Yay!), Apothecary Accents and Circle dies. You guessed it ... the cupcakes inside the cake plate spin to reveal different colors and patterns. WHEEEEE!

My sentiment is living inside the card, stamped in Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry ... with a fussy cut cherry on top. I cut the sentiment out with my Labels Collection Framelit die and layered over a piece of DSP cut with the Decorative Label Punch.

This might just be my favorite card EVER. Maybe, just maybe. :) Here's a link to Dawn's tutorial. I hope you'll find it inspiring too!

Have a lovely weekend, my friends!

Bright and Summery Pocket Cards

  I've been on a mission to restock my card stash over the last few weeks, and thanks to a lot of online inspiration, I've been reminded how much I love interactive cards! This week I made a couple of pocket cards in some bright summery colors.

This card was super easy, and I love what the gold embossing powder does for the images in this Apothecary Art Stamp set! I colored the image with Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade, and Pool Party Ink and my blender pen. The card base is decorated with some scraps of the retired Attic Boutique DSP. The little butterflies are cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslit die. My favorite!

If you'd like to try a pocket card, here's a link to my favorite tutorial by Beate Johns at Splitcoast Stampers. All her videos are amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrH-I8Op-O0

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mojo Monday 295

   I found a little treasure in my stash this week ... a little tag with a denim bird that my fabulously talented crafting mentor, Kristii Lockart, made as a thank you gift for a class I attended a long while back. I decided that this adorable little focal point needed to finally find a home on a project, and the Mojo Monday sketch for this week seemed perfect.

  Here's the sketch:

And here's my take with some help from Kristii:

  The papers for this sweet pastel card are scraps from Bo Bunny's Country Garden and long-retired Webster's Pages. I've been using Stampin' Up's Beautiful Wings Embosslits a lot lately to make these sweet little embossed butterflies. Isn't Kristii's little bird just perfect? 

  Thanks for stopping by today, my friends! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Montana, and it's a great day for planting flowers!

Mojo Monday 294

  The long weekend meant a play date with my beautiful and talented sissy! I love sharing this hobby with her, and we always have so much fun! If you haven't checked out her blog, you should! (Here's a link!)While I was at her place she pulled up this cute sketch on her Ipad for me, and I'd been itching to try some gold embossing with my Apothecary Art stamp set. 

Here's the sketch:

Here's my card:

  I used some scraps from the Dear Lizzy line and embossed my image in gold. I used a blender pen to color my flowers in Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, and Pool Party. I embellised with some seam binding that I dyed with Pool Party reinker. (Not sure why it looks so green in the photo!?!) Some little pearls in the corners top it all off.

  Thanks for the fun play date, my dear sister! I hope we can do it again soon!

Basic Gray Fiction Memory Book

  Hello, friends! As most of you have probably seen, memorabilia books (aka Smash Books) are all the rage right now. (Stampin' Up has even come out with a line in its upcoming catalog, and Recollections now has their own line too.) Since I love a good mini album and know lots of people who do, I can see why this trend has taken off like wildfire. Pre-made mini albums are convenient, offer tons of coordinating products, and make scrapbooking really accessible to people who may not like to plan 12x12 layouts. (A square foot of space really is a lot of space!)

  As cool as these pre-made products are, they certainly aren't cheap, particularly all the coordinating embellishments. Since I'm a cheapskate with a fully equipped craft room, I decided I could take on one of these projects myself for a lot less. I was inspired to try after finding the entire line of Basic Gray Fact or Fiction on clearance at my local craft store. I picked up the 12x12 paper pad for $5, the sticker sheet for $1, and added 3 packages of embellies for $1 each. 

  I cut a selection of the papers down to 6"x 8" and made some plain chipboard covers. I embossed the covers by leaving my honeycomb embossing folder open and running the pieces through my Big Shot on the regular tab setting. The subtle effect turned out really cool! Then I punched and wire bound the pages to create this cute and simple little book. A few scraps of paper and a few  canvas flowers from the $1 embellishment package, and a book was born!

  This was so simple and cute that I used the 4x6 scraps from this book to make little books for each of my daughters as well. I have enough paper left to make limitless embellishments (perhaps another post) as well as at least 2 more books. That's 5 memory books for $9!

  So, what do you do with memorabilia books and why can't you do whatever that is with a regular mini album or scrapbook page? Short answer: you can. I plan to use this book to collect the stuff of everyday life. Like this:

Photography wasn't allowed at this event, but there was stuff I wanted to keep to remember the experience.

I've had these photos forever and just couldn't seem to get them scrapped. In they go! 

  Programs from Christmas plays and musicals, recital programs, and tons of other photo-less or tough to scrap memorabilia can go in this little book to be kept on a shelf and remembered, all for much less than it's off-the-shelf counterparts.

  Thanks for stopping by, my dear friends!

A Tag Just for Fun

   I got in the mood last weekend to make something just for the sake of making something. People who know me well know that I like practical things, so this really was sort of a wild hair. I found a tag I liked on Pinterest and did it Unrepentant Crafter style with some bolder, brighter, French-themed colors.

 

  I used a black tag base and layered on some dictionary print, a deco shells border, and a strip of silver glimmer paper. I embossed and cut out the black oval, and stamped and cut out some elements from Established Elegance and Creative Elements stamp sets in Not Quite Navy on Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake cardstock. Some Cherry Cobbler Boho Blossoms and a canvas rolled rose added the finishing touches, along with a little spritz of Chocolate Chip ink. I used some Midnight Muse ribbon, crochet trim, and baker's twine for the tie at the top.

  I have no idea what this guy will ever be used for, but it sure was fun to create! Thanks for stopping by today, my friends!

Pinwheel Thank You

  A few weeks back I needed a quick card for a super nice boy who came and did a guest performance at a group lesson we had for the piano studio. Since the card was for a young man and was signed by a big  group of elementary-age students, I wanted the theme to be light and cheerful, and my Stampin' Up pinwheel die seemed JP! (That's shorthand for Just Perfect!)

  I used a Lucky Limeade card base and layered on some white and Tempting Turquoise DSP. I cut a Real Red strip and used my honeycomb embossing folder and edgelits dies to create the banner. I used some scraps (Cosmo Cricket, I think) to create the little pinwheel. The sentiment is from one of my Papertrey Ink sets. So fun!

Little Darlings Pocket Card

   Hi, friends! The last few weeks at our house have been so busy that I haven't had time to post a single thing. Since the house is quiet and it's a holiday weekend, I thought I'd take a few minutes to flood my blog with some projects I've been working on.

  The first is a companion card for my cousin to match the mini album I'll be sending off any day now. Any day, I promise! I had to get the card done first, right?

  Pocket cards are among my favorite types of card folds. The interactive element makes them really fun. I left this one pretty simple and just used some cutouts from the paper collection to decorate the outside and the pocket. 

  More to come! Thanks for stopping by!

Little Darlings Mini Album

  When I found out my cousin was having twins, I was just over the moon! All babies are special, but since my experience as a mom has been completely in pairs, I have a special affinity for multiple little bundles of joy and the special moms who *wink* survive them.

  When I had my twins, there were a lot of experiences I had that were so unique. Capturing these in a traditional baby book wasn't quite enough. I did one book for each girl, but there are things about being a mom of twins that can't be captured in a traditional book designed for singletons. Too much of the experience is shared between the babies for a single book to ever capture that relationship.

  When I learned of the impending boy-girl set of twins and saw Graphic 45's Little Darlings collection, I hatched a plan. (This plan has been many months in the executing and now the little darlings are more than a month old!) 

  I decided to make a gate-fold mini album with one "side" for each baby (the side with the pink binding for baby girl and the blue side for baby boy), along with journaling cards and spaces that could be shared between them and relate to the special circumstances that only multiple families experience. Here are some photos of the end result:

I fussy cut and popped out some of the elements on the cover and highlighted them with glossy accents. The baby on the cover overlaps the center break in the album.

The inside cover has space for each baby's name and essentials. I wanted to use standard photos sizes, so the 4x6 photo mats overlap with one for each baby.

Each side has pockets and flaps to tuck wallet photos and journaling spots for each baby. The inside back is green with space for shared photos and experiences.

The pocket pages hold double sided journaling tags. Some have a section for each baby, and some relate to both. 

This project really was a labor of love, and I hope my sweet cousin and her new family enjoy it for many years to come. Thanks for stopping by today, my friends!