Many Thanks! CFC19

Hi friends! I had a ball this weekend - made 17 cards! Woop Woop! I really had so much fun doing it too. Today I wanted to share my Thanksgiving cards:

I’m entering them into Cas-ual Fridays’s #19 Challenge!

The design of this card was actually inspired by THIS card by Savannah O’Gwynn. Cute huh?!? Of course the Turkey is from Lawn Fawn’s newest mini set “Turkey Day”. So cute. The inside is stamped with “Happy Turkey Day” which also comes with the mini set. The "Many Thanks" stamp is actually my all time favorite free “Thank You” stamp from Lawn Fawn. I love those Thank You stamps & feel like it's such a nice little gift to their customers/fans!!! Isn’t this Making Memories’ patterned paper lovely?!? It’s the Autumn Splendor collection - LOVE! That plaid just makes me super happy! I just randomly cut a bunch of strips and made the into banners. and tied some twine boys. Some have brown twine, some are orange, and some have both. They're all very similar, but different :).

I’ve made 8 (so far) for myself and a set of 8 for my Grandma. She’s taking the train down to visit & will be here this Friday!!!! I’m so SO happy!

That's all for me today. Was the Lawnscaping Blog Hop not the coolest thing ever?!?!? I think that's why I got so crafty this weekend - I was MAJORLY inspired!! If you missed it, the chance to win prizes may be over, but you can still go there and hop around!! You just may find some new blogs to follow!! It was fabulous! I feel so grateful to them for letting me participate! Big thank you to Laurel & the girls!!!

Some more owly fun!

Hi there! Hope Wednesday is treating you well, it still feels like Tuesday to me. Then I remember it’s Wednesday & it’s like BONUS!

I wanted to share a few more Halloween cards I made this weekend with you. I was just playing around. Making cards for my nieces up in NYC. Experimenting with Lawn Fawn’s Critters in the Forest, Hats off to You, and Making Frosty Friends sets. Yesterday’s card (you can find it below this post) is my fave Halloween card so far.

If I had to choose, this one would come in second:

I used Lawn Fawn’s Bon Voyage Cloud and the snowman coals from making Frosty Friends as a thought bubble ;). The sentiments are from Smitty’s ABCs and Hats off to You. I cut “Hal-and-loween” apart from the Hats set. No biggie - it goes right back together! I’ve done this to a few Lawn Fawn Sentiments. Works perfectly because they’re amazing quality stamps! Too cute - although my sentiment is a bit wonky in there. I like the dog as a butterfly/ fairy. Cuteness.

This was actually the 1st card I made:

As you can see, I was smitten by the witchy owls with sparkly hats - flying on brooms! But this card got too busy real fast. I had this whole idea... Halloweeny woodland critters in... costumes. Yea, that didn’t really work out for me. I wanted to share it anyway. Just cause.

EEP! I also just got a few spools of Divine Twine - YUM! Orange & Brown - “needed” em! Isn’t the little packaging so cute!

I’m gunna keep this on my desk at work for a little while. Makes me happy & God knows I could use a little happy at work. Been a rough couple of months.

Can you tell I’m loving the grassy Fiscars punch?!? LOVE it! In other news, I’m reading the Help, I can’t put it down. I read half of it yesterday - didn’t get to bed until 1am! I would’ve stayed up later, but 5am comes so quickly! Also, I simply can not wait until the Lawnscaping Blog Hop Friday!!! You’ll be joining us right?!? Hope to see you there and I hope you have a wonderful day friends. {{Hugs}}

Final card in Grandma's Set.

Happy Thursday!

Today I wanted to share the final card that I made for my Grandma's vintagey card set. This was actually the 1st card that I made for the set. I love how it came out!

Again, all of the products, except the stamps (which are from Lawn Fawn's Just My Type and Just My Type Too sets), are from My Minds Eye's Lost & Found collection. When I finished this card, I realized that I am totally in love with their burlap! Also, they have fabulous brads - such great colors/patters. I really love this paper too because it just has such a great vintage look! Perfect with this Lawn Fawn set!!

Well, that's probably all for me this week! I'm deliriously happy to have a 4 day weekend!! So much to do (fun stuff, but still). I have to finish up the shower invites I'm making for a friend and have BIG plans for the Lawnscaping Blog Hop that starts next week (September 9th - September 11th!!). I'm so excited about my project and hope it comes out as planned - I've been plotting it out for over a week now and just got my Lawn Fawn order in - woot woot!!!! Wont you join us and hop along?? There will be fab prizes up for grabs and I'M SURE you will leave feeling MAJORLY inspired!!!!

Have an amazing day friends - and a great weekend!

Have a Whale of a Time!

Hi there!! So, yesterday's post was not supposed to be posted onto MY blog, but the Paper Niche Blog {what.a.dork}. Thank you, though, for your sweet comments about the upcoming class!! I'm really excited about it because it incorporates lots of my favorite goodies {Lawn Fawn, Crate Paper, Rustic Twine} and cool techniques {handmade flowers and a pinwheel - which I LOVE!!}. So, thanks girls - for the love {even though I am totally a dork}.

Ok, back to today's post. I have a card to share :D. I actually made this card this weekend, and thought I'd enter it into the Card Patterns #123 but... I was late. Story of my life. But I really like how it came out - my 1st time using my new Lawn Fawn Critters in the Sea Stamps - they're SO fun!! So, here is a look anyway:

and here is a look from the top - a textury view ;).


I used October Afternoon's Seaside Collection for this one (I'm really loving & plowing through my 8X8 pad of this awesome paper!). I cut the "watery" paper in half along the waves & then popped up the bottom half. Then I paper pieced the cute sea critters and added googly eyes to them for fun! I also used the tiny clam shells as a banner {it says HI, but is kind of hard to make out) and attached them to Maraschino Twine using Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher. When I finished the card, it just seemed to plain to me, so I added the Papertrey Ink buttons with some more of the twine (from The Twinery) wrapped through it. On the inside I paper pieced a banner (from Lawn Fawn's Bannerific) and stamped "have a whale of a time" on it (fit perfectly) and tied on some twine bows. Unfortunately, the picture did not come out nicely, but very blurry every time I took it.

I think it's a fun card ;). Would be perfect to send to my sweet nieces up in NYC. Anyway, that's about it for me. I hope you have a great day!!!

August Card Class with Heather!!

Hi there everyone! Hope you're having an awesome week so far! I just wanted to share the info on my next card class {again}: "Flowers, and Stamps, and Pinwheels...OH MY"!!






This is one of my personal favorite classes yet! We will have a blast creating 4 beautifully fun cards! Not only will we be stamping using Lawn Fawn’s Sophie’s Sentiments and Bannerific Stamp Sets, but, we will also be making 3 handmade flowers and a pinwheel (squeel!!!) out of... you guessed it - PAPER - Crate Paper's beautiful Emma's Shop Collection to be exact!!! These are techniques you can carry over into your future card AND scrapbooking projects. They are so fun and addicting to make, that once you get started, you wont want to stop!!!!

Tools Needed:
Basic Kit, including Paper Trimmer, Tape Runner, Edge Distresser {such as Tim Holtz’s Distresser), Fine Point Scissors, Small Glue Dots, & Wet Glue {such as Glossy Accents or Fabritac}.

The class is on Friday, August 19th from 3:00-5:00 p.m. and the cost is $20.00. I really hope to see you there!!!

Lawnscaping #11/WeeMemories #59/Moxie Fab Challenge Trio

Good morning all!! Hope your weekend was good. Mine was nice. Had lots of fun family time, and I loved the MTV Movie Awards last night ;). I'm SO not up with MTV now-a-days... can't keep up with the Jersey Shore & 16 & Pregnant stuff... just not the MTV I used to like. But I have to say, I do still like the awards show. YAY Twilight! I took a LONG time to get onto that bandwagon, but I'm a Twihard now ;). Still feel a little embarrased to say that, but it's ok. {Admitting you have a problem is the 1st step}

Today I wanted share a card I made to enter into the Lawnscaping #11 and the Wee Memories #59 Challenges. I do so love both of these challenge blog so much!!! If you don't already you should really check them out & play along too. There is SO much inspiration going on at those two blogs!!


EEP! I almost forgot, my inspiration for this card (and a few others for my class) came from the Moxie Fab “Sew Excited” Challenge!! Can’t forget to mention THAT!
and now here is a look at my card:

and:

So, this card is one of 4 I made for my July class at Paper Niche!! {I’m super excited about that - and will share the rest later on in the week} I had fun working on all of the samples this weekend :D.

Both the patterned paper & the cutesie little “pocket” slot is by Melissa Frances. It’s funny because I never really pick up that type of paper when I see it in the stores - I mean, it’s absolutely beautiful (!!!) but I tend to go for other patterns & brighter colors when I’m shopping... I have to say, I am SO happy I picked these up!!! I love LOVE love how beautifully they go with Lawn Fawn’s Sew Lovely set - and polka dots are too fun!!!!!

I covered both the card and the little tag pocket with patterned paper, and then I inked all of the edges with Weathered Wood & Spun Sugar distress inks - pretty huh?!? I finished it off with a bit of May Arts ribbon and a Jenni Bowlin Button. I love the pull out tag - “sew” fun huh ;). Hahahaha... sorry, couldn’t resist.

Well that’s my share for today. I may enter another card to these challenges as well... Don’t really know yet. I just finished one that I’m so super proud of... but not quite ready to share it just yet, so we’ll see. I hope you have an amazing day!

More Paper Niche (APRIL) Projects #s 3 & 4 & 5...whew!

Sheesh, I've been absolutely going crazy, I tell ya! I didn't realize that this didn't post!!! Had it all set up for Sunday, and... nope, it didn't. So, these are the rest of my projects made with Paper Niche April kit.

I just can't say enough how much fun I had with this kit!!! It was just full of goodness! Today, I'm sharing the last layout I made using the kit along with the 2 cards I got out of it as well. Here's a look: Sorry for the bad picture. I don't know what I did... Anyway. One of the things included in this kit, was a Jenny Bowlin Hodge Podge Mini Book. I love it, but honestly, I wasn't into using it as a mini book. instead, I decided to take it apart and use the seed packet page - which is now home to a tag including the LO’s journaling, and the clear bracket page. I really like how it came out. This is an older pic - from Mother’s Day 2009. I really love this picture. It makes me think. I really hope I don't take our moms for granted too awful much. I really try not to. They sure are good to us. They adore their grand babies. We never appreciated them as much until we had Christian, and now Alivia. They are amazing grandmothers!!!!

So, all of the Distress Inking is done with Antique Linen. Isn’t that Prima trim just fabulous?!?!? When I saw it, I had a moment ;). It’s just so lush!!! I also wanted to take the time today to share the two cards I made using the kit. Like I mentioned before, I’m SO happy Paper Niche is carrying Lawn Fawn Stamps. They’ve been my fave stamp company for a while now and I just love it that I can use them on my DT work for the kit because Paper Niche carries them in the store :D. I used the bodice from the Sew Lovely Set. One of the cards’ sentiment is also sew lovely, and the “congrats” is from Sophie’s Sentiments. Here they are: I used the abundance of Prima paper & trims form the kit, and some distressing with inks and the distressing tool. I like the shabbiness of them. My hubby says they’re very fru-fru ;). That's cool with me.

Any plans this week/weekend? My sister-in-law & 13 yr old niece are coming down from NYC (Long Island) for 10 days. They arrive this morning. I have to work today and tomorrow :(, but then I'll be off from Fri-Tues. Nice little homey vacation. We'll hang around town. Maybe hit our local little water park, it's usually a MUST when they visit. It's been record breaking heat here, already into the 90s. We'll probably also hit the beach, and the science museum. My kids are SO excited, I just can't even begin to tell you!! They LOVE it when Dawn & Kristen visit. LOVE IT!!! As for me, I also have Paper Niche's May kit awaiting me at home. EEK!! It's amazing. I know I say that every time, but I asked for some special goodies to be in the kit... and got my wish!!!! Can't wait to play.

I hope to post more this week, but who knows if I'll be able to. If I don't, I'll catch ya on the flip side (A.K.A next week). I should still be popping over to your blogs to visit in the meantime. I hope your week/weekend is great - full of fun, peace, and of course, crafty goodness!!!

Masculine "Happy Birthday" Card

Hi there! I’m back today to share a masculine “Happy Birthday” card. I’m pretty sure it’s my 1st masculine card... well besides the It’s a Boy Card I made last week ;).

To make it, I paired Lawn Fawn’s Bake Me a Cake Stamp Set with Sassafras’ Monstrosity line and came out with this:


I added a 7Gypsie tape/ribbon border for funness (is, that a word?!?). I used the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to make the ruffles, and then glued that to the card using Glue Dots (the tape/ribbon was sticky, but just didn’t seem sticky enough). I colored in the cake stand and candles with Copics, and I finished the card off with a handmade banner (the “Happy Birthday sentiment is also from Bake Me a Cake) and a Papertrey Ink Button. My boss’ B-Day is in May and I think it’ll be perfect for him.

Short. and sweet. Hope you have a lovely weekend. One of the attorneys in my office hooked us up with tickets to the Florida Panters (Hockey) game for Saturday. Those are the only plans I have so far. I also just picked up April’s kit from Paper Niche - so you know I’ll be getting crafty!!!

Lawnscaping Challenge #5 "WE JUST CLICK" card ;)

Good Morning!! Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was nice. Busy. Let the week begin...

So, I was REALLY stumped on how to take on this round fo the Lawnscaping Challenge #5. I'm also going to add it in for the Moxie Fab World paper Piecing Challenge. I think it definately works for that ;)

I'm telling you, after seeing the DT's work this round, I just felt like I couldn't measure up. I mean Laurel KILLED it!! The other girls were - AS ALWAYS amazing as well! I just couldn't think of what to do!!!

What I decided on, was making a "mirrored"/"reverse stamped" polaroid camera birthday card, using the Say Cheese Stamp Set.

It's a birthday card for my sister-in-law. She was very jealous of the card I made for my hubby using the same stamp (especially bec her b-day comes 1st). So, I decided to up the antie for her card. The way I made it, was by (using Colorbox Chalk Ink, in Charcoal) stamping the camera image onto the "cling" side of a giant Hero Arts Background stamp using Marie's technique. The Hero Background stamped worked the best for me and I just washed it off afterwards, and perfecto... good as new.
It took A LOT of trial and error, plus I had to get 3 perfect images (or close to perfect) because I wanted to paperpiece the camera. It was not an easy task, I had to try several different inks, and had to waste quite a bit of paper (it was double sided though, so I'll reuse the other side). If you give this a try, as Marie suggests, you also have to trace the image (I used a Black Copic Multiliner in 1.0) because the image will not really be crisp without doing so. Here's a look at my card:
I also used a glue pen to trace/fill in one of the hearts and used Martha Stewart's (fine) pink glitter to glam up the card a bit ;). I like it how it came out. It's not perfect, may not even be a great entry (because it's not TOO unconventional) but it is what it is. I'm just happy I made it out of this one alive ;). I made a commitment to myself that I'm really going to try to enter every Lawnscaping Challenge. I just really want to push and grow my cardmaking skills, so I don't want to not enter just because it's "too hard" for me. That's why it's a challenge, right?!?

Thanks for looking, and I hope you have a lovely day!

Two fun cards using "Say Cheese"

Hello again! I’ve been a busy card-making bee this week. Today I wanted to share the two cards I made last night using my newest Lawn Fawn Stamps, “Say Cheese”.
For this first one, I wanted to make a birthday card for my hubby using the CA-UTE Polaroid Camera and Picture stamps in the set. I thought of the sentiment (We really CLICK) early yesterday morning and had to keep it locked in my brain until I returned home from work (and dinner was done, kids in bed, etc...). I started the card off by (after cutting paper) inking the edges of the cardstock and card base with Ranger’s Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. It really complimented the colors well.

Then I paper pieced the camera (the camera, then the flas, windows, etc) and the polaroid picture using the new Sassafras Lass’ “Sweetly Smitten” line and popped it up with foamies. Isn’t the paper adorable, I just got it from 2Peas :D. I love the hearts, too sweet! Anyway, then I used Jessie’s ABCs and Sassafras’ letter stickers for the sentiment, at the last minute, I got the idea to add the “I {heart} you” sentiment coming out of the camera as well. I finished the card off with some more homemade crinkly ribbon (this one is Maya Mist in Turquoise & a little bit of Glimmer Mist’s sparkly green), and a heart pin from Maya Road.


For this next card, I used October Afternoon’s “Seaside” line for patterned paper, and used the Polaroid Pic as the image backdrop, and also the “Picture Perfect” sentiment from the Say Cheese Set. I also used Jessies ABCs to add to it and create my own sentiment “Hey have a Perfect Day”. The sweet birdie stamp is from Fly Free and the banner is Bannerific. I paper pieced them and added some rustic twine (with knots instead of bows) and hand drew the birdies “trail”.

Thanks for peeking. I have just begun playing with this set. I have so many ideas. A lot to do with scrapbooking!! Can’t wait to get them onto paper!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

A few Baby Shower Cards

Back with a few more cards today. One of the attorneys in my office asked me to make him two cards for two baby showers he has to go to this weekend (poor guy - a double in one weekend). One of the couples is having a boy, the other couple is having a girl. I was kinda stumped when he asked, I was KICKING myself for not ordering the Lawn Fawn Plus One set yet along with the Say Cheese sets I just received yesterday :(. I had to stay within my budget though. I like my hubby & he's going to kill me if I don't get my spending under control. My opinion though, those Plus One stamps are the ultimate baby shower stamps. I’ll be saving up for and getting them soon.

Anyway, then I remembered this adorable HamptonArt Kewpie Baby Stamp I have in my stamping stash!!!! I’ve had it for the longest - when I saw it I KNEW I HAD to have it! I remember loving my Kewpie Babies when I was a little girl. My mom made me a bunch of (crocheted) clothes for them, and a little purse that folded into a bed for them to sleep in. I {Heart} Kewpie Dolls. So, this is what I came up with using that stamp as the jumping off points:
Here is the Girl Card which I actually made back when I first got the stamp. Never ended up giving it to anyone, so this was a perfect occasion. For it I used Bazzil Cardstock and Basic Grey patterned paper. Finished it up with some twine and Papertrey Ink buttons:
Now onto the Boy Card
Ok, now this one was real fun. I love how it turned out, but it took me forever because the baby stamp is a wood-mounted stamp that has a long image. The baby I used was the last baby on the stamp, but it was still tricky. I used a Versamark Cats Eye Ink Pad and dabbed it onto the baby for precision. I kept getting some of the words above or below the baby... or the empty space of the foam would get ink on it and transfer onto my clean cardstock...or I put the image too close to the edge...or too far away from it... Then I finally got the baby perfect and the (Studio Calico) “bathroom people” images didn’t get a full impression!!! What the crap!!! Trial and error I tell you, but in the end I love how it came out. For this card, I used Neenah Cardstock and Basic Grey’s Wander paper. So fun for a boy card. The bracket was cut from my Slice - this card is a lot like the card I made yesterday for the Cardpatterns Sketch #105 Challenge. I finished it off with one of Lawn Fawn’s lovely banners and an “It’s a Boy” sentiment from Sophie’s Sentiments. Fun boy colors.

The attorney is a single guy, so I wanted to send him with cards that wouldn’t be too awfully girly. But if you think about it, the girls are the ones who really appreciate the cards (from a baby shower or anything else, really), so I think he’s good.

Ok, that’s all for me today. I can’t wait to get to playing with those awesome Say Cheese and Say Cheese Too Lawn Fawn sets. I have big plans for this round of the Lawnscaping #5 Challenge!! It's a fun one... "Use a Lawn Fawn Stamp in an Unconventional Way". Hmph. I have an idea... but the "unconventional way" part has me stumped. I'll give it a shot and do my best. I love playing along with their challenges. The Dt is so inspiring!! Just go take a LOOK at Laurel's card! Now THAT is using a Lawn Fawn Stamp in a unconventional way. That girl brought it!!! Lets see what the weekend brings. It'll be a busy one. My mom, the kids, and I are going to a craft fair on Saturday, that should be fun. It's also our turn to teach Sunday School and cook dinner for the youth groups this weekend. Busy-Busy. Have to fit in my craftiness with alla that, but like most crafty women, I'll be crafting wee into the night! Have a fun day!

CardPatters Sketch #105 - a Happy Birthday!

Good morning crafty girlys. Super happy today is my Friday :). Hope you have been having a good week? Mine has been OK. I’ve been feeling pretty crappy. Still dealing with the aftermath of the car accident I was in back in November. Seeing the Chiro again tomorrow - hopefully that’ll help :(.

Anyway, I have been crafty (just not up to my usual drive). I made this card for my friend Ronnie. She’s a great friend, I wanted to make sure to make her a really special card. Her Birthday was Wednesday. I'm entering this into the CardPatters Sketch (#105) Challenge. It's my 1st challenge with them and the sketch was awesome. Here's a look at it: And here’s a few at my take on the sketch:

I paired October Afternoon (Fly Me a Kite) patterned paper and Lawn Fawn’s Bake Me a Cake together to make her a fabulous cake ;). Like the crinkly ribbon?? I made it myself using Snug Hug Seam Binding and Maya Mists. You can find a great tutorial over on the Noel Mingon Blog. I bookmarked it a hundred years ago, but my 1st attempt wasn’t great (I’m sure I used way to must Glimmer Mist). In the tutorial, they use Glimmer Mist, but through trial and error - and personal likesies, I found that I really prefer to use Maya Mist. The colors are richer (here I used Red & Orange), and I like my sparkle, but I like not sparkly too. Quite often, actually. I also sprayed the seam binding with water (from a mini mister) first - I found that it helps you get a better coverage without caking it on and making it stiff.

The bracket was cut with my Slice (@ 3 and a half inches). I popped it up with foamies and twisted it around to be off center for added fun and texture. I finished it off with some crystal pins for pretty. Before I forget, I also inked up all of the paper edges with Antique Linnen ;). I finished the card off with a simple Happy Birthday stamped on the inside of the card.

She was happy with it and that made me happy. Well thats all for me today. I hope you have a great day :).

OH! Before I forget!! Look at what I got!! I’ve been dying for these!! So many possibilities, especially for scrapbooking!! I ordered them from i{heart}paper. It was my 1st time ordering from them (found them on LF's facebook). So happy I found them too - they have the May Arts ribbon I've been wanting SO BADLY! Now I have a few goodies to play with this weekend!

WOW, Lawn Fawn sure is popping ip everywhere! 2Peas is officially carrying most of the Lawn Fawn Sets! This. Is. Awesome! Now, when you order your goodies from 2Peas, it’ll be super easy to add some LF to the cart. I’m excited!

Hello there!

I've been up to my knees in DT work! Plus it's Science Project time, and although my son's only in Kindergarten - and it was not mandatory - he insisted on doing one. Will share more about those things another time. Today, I wanted to share some B-Day invites I made for my niece, Paige. She'll be 10 on March 24th. {She was born on my wedding day :D. So, I will also be married for 10 yrs on March 24th.} She's having a pool party with just a few friends (5) and my kids at my mom's house (she lives with my mom) and asked me to make her invites. I proudly accepted! Here's a look:

As you can see by the fun - precisely cut - images, I used my Cricut. The "Create a Critter" cartridge just seemed perfect! I got this cartridge for my birthday last year and haven't even given it a try yet, so I was happy to finally get/take the opportunity to use it. It has so many cute and fun critters to play around with. Paigepooh picked the sweet whale as the main star of her invite, which I think is an awesome choice!! The "Splash" sentiment and the balloon are also from this cartridge.

So, I started out with American Crafts Cardstock (as the base - which measures 7" by 4 & 1/2 - and then cut all of the images in different bright/fun AC paper. I LOVE this cardstock! It's so lush, the texture is amazing! I chalked around the edges with purple Colorbox chalk ink to add a little pretty. Next I laid out the images and got an idea where my stamping would need to go. Then I used Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs stamp set to finish off the sentiment. For fun I used added pretty bakers Twine in "Caribbean" and then painted Stickles onto the "splash" with a paint brush for good coverage.

Now, here's a look at the back: As you can see, I used AC cardstock (The base of the back measures 6 & 3/4 by 4 & 1/4), and again chalked it in Colorbox purple chalk. I also stamped/paper pieced a this Lawn Fawn banner from the Bannerific set, and used Jessie's ABCs for the sentiment again. The banner is stamped onto Bo Bunny paper from my stash. Before I forget, the black ink here is archival, not dye, which is what I usually use. The archival is a little wetter/stickier, which helps because for the party info stamp, I heat embossed it with Stampedious' Kaleidoscope embossing powder for added sparlke. I finished it off, with "Pink Sorbet" bakers Twine (both colors of twine are from the Twinery - doesn't twine just make everything better... I sure think so!)

I made six invites total (one of which is for me to keep. What? I had to, they're so cute... plus my kids are invited, hee hee). I love how they came out.

What's MOST important is, Paigepooh loved them. She said it made her feel special that I made them for her. That makes my heart happy. She always supports my "art". Did you know, she happens to think I'm an artist (which to me is still strange - to think of myself as an "artist", but she says my papercrafting IS my art, so that makes me an artist). One day, I hope to see myself as she sees me. I'd probably be a lot kinder to myself.

I can't believe she's going to be 10. She's been living with my mom for 9 and a half of those 10 years. We've raised her like a "village" my mom, Sal & I. She may not have her parents at her concerts, birthdays, plays, principal breakfasts, honor roll parties... but she has 3 people who adore her who are always there. 3 people who support and care for her all the time. She's one of the things I live for, one of my most favorite people on this Earth. I love her as much as I love my own babies, and I make it a point to let her know all the time how loved and special and amazing she truly is. Sometimes I think she needs to hear that more than my own kids do.

Anyway, thanks for peeking. I hope you have a great day! xoox

Anniversary card for Lawn Fawn!!

Hello again. Well, in case you didn’t get enough of my fabulous flower yesterday, I have another card using a similar (card) pattern. I made this card for the fabulous LAWN FAWN STAMP CO.. Kelly Marie mentioned a little while ago (on Facebook, maybe) that Lawn Fawn's official anniversary is March 1st :D. That Kelly Marie is always so sweet, helpful, and encouraging. I couldn’t let their anniversary go by without sending them a little love. I hope it makes them smile, here's a look:


For this card I used My Minds Eye’s Stella and Rose - Hazel - collection. {I picked up a 6x6 pack this weekend - and a few extra 12x12 sheets of the graph/ledger page in the collection - I’m a sucker for these!!} and couldn’t wait to use it. Perfect for another beautious handmade flower (again, I found the amazing tutorial for this flower on the Crate Paper Blog). The brad in the center is by Pink Paisley. I decided to use that lovely Get Sketchy #75 sketch for this card too, only I changed it up a bit, kind of tilting the sketch. I paper pieced another lovely Lawn Fawn banner (adding a Sophie's Sentiment: "Happy Anniversary") and the purty birdies from the Bannerific set as well - and popped those little guys up with some foamies. To finish it off, I added some rustic twine for a little pretty.

I started my creative journey as a scrapbooker. I was all about the scrapbooking - and I still love doing that. Then I started making cards (a little while before I found Lawn Fawn’s blog) but their awesome stamps, amazing Design Team, Kelly Marie’s informative video tutorials (not to mention her general “sweetness” - she just makes me smile), and YOU, all you other Lawn Fawn/stamp/card lovers... the Lawn Fawn Community ;), you have REALLY inspired me in ways that have catapulted my card creativeness and I truly appreciate that! I've learned so much from you all, and I love the little “family” I’ve made through Lawn Fawn. So many of you girls who have welcomed, uplifted, and encouraged me along my journey came from our shared love of all things Lawn Fawn. Thanks lovely ladies!! I wanted to post and mail this card today - so they get it in time ;). Maybe if you’ve got some creative spare time, you could make/send them a card too. I’m SURE it’d make them smile :D. Hope you have an awesome, awesome day.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Neenah
Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye (Hazel)
Stamps: Lawn Fawn (Bannerific, Sophie’s Sentiments)
Ink: Momento
Boarder Punch: Fiscars
Circle Punches: Fiscars/Marvy
Brad: Pink Paisley
Glitter: Martha Stewart (coarse & fine)
Twine: Papertrey Ink
Foamies: American Crafts

Lawncaping (#3) Challenge - Additional Submission

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thanks so much for the sweet comments on my OCD card & all my other projects!! It always means so much to me that you take a few minutes to give me some blog love. I've said it before & I'll say it again, I think that's super important - not just cause I want comments - but because I think one of our purposes here, in life, is to lift eachother up and share the love. It makes me feel so good to know someone likes or is inspired by something I do - or is just being nice & saying hi!! It's a wondeful thing - this blogging experiance. It's wonderful to get to "know" people through their art and creativity!! I appreciate every friend I've made! Life can be hard (even in a fully blessed and happy life), it's nice to have a place to go where other women create, inspire, and share the love!

Ok, I'm not just posting today to get all ooshy-gooshy on you ;). I wanted to make another card (to redeem myself...to myself, maybe) with the same kind of concept as yesterday's card. OH! F.Y.I: I heard from Laurel over at the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog & she said you can make as many entries to the challenges as you want, just number them. AWESOME!

So, here is my #2 entry into this round of the Lawnscaping Challenge - I'm also going to enter it into Moxie Fab World (Paper Piecing Challenge): Isn't it a cutie? I used 6 - yes SIX - Lawn Fawn Stamp Sets on this card. Critters in the Burbs (bunnies & the tree), Bake me a Cake (little hearts on tree), Partly Cloudy (cloud), Bannerific (banner), Harold's ABCs (sentiment on the outside of the card), and Silly Valentine (sentiment on the inside of the card..."Some Bunny Loves You" ;) teeheehee). I made it for a teacher, Ms. Tenes, at my daughter Alivia's preschool. She was in the hospital for about 3 weeks, and just returned to school this week. I'm so happy she's back and feeling better! She's not my daughter's teacher, but takes care of her in aftercare, and she's just one of those people who you can tell were MADE to work with kids!! She is so sweet to my baby girl & in turn, Alivia LOVES her so much! She really missed her while she was out.

So, I thought it'd be cute to use the Critters in the Burbs bunny and, make a whole lotta them - as her little students. I have to say - I love how it came out. I made another little picture tutorial too because I think you'll really like how I made it. I thought it was a neat idea (if I say so myself) because I got all "recycley" (nice word huh) and used the cover sheet for the paper pack (Basic Grey's "Hopscotch") I just picked up. I stamped the super cute bunnies (18 of them!) onto the little "sample" squares on the cover page of the packet. Ok, maybe that sounds odd, here's a look: . As you can see, I stamped the bunny into the little square swatches, and I think it worked out really nice for the card, because it meant the images on the patterned paper were smaller (very cardworthy - without having to use a 6x6 paper pack). Next I stamped the tree (also Critters in the Burbs) onto some Bristol art paper and used an Inkadinkado Mask to cover the image while I Distress-Inked up the card base with Ranger's Tumpled Glass (Edges done with Broken China) and the Tim Holtz Blending Tool. I also inked the edged of the (Neenah) card with it as well. Then I heat embossed the cloud from another Lawn Fawn (Partly Cloudy) set (twice - once directly onto the card, and then again on the Bristol paper.) & then used distress inks on that as well and then paper pieced it leaving a little edge so you could see the blue. Also, you should know, the embossing ink i used was Ranger (Tim Holtz) Distress Embossing Ink...thats why it's not a full image (its actually a little distressy, as you can see). Then I popped up the pieced cloud with foamies for prettyness.

Then I paper pieced the tree using the "Hopscotch" paper and stamped the cute little heart from Bake Me a Cake onto it. Next I stamped the Bannerific banner with a "Welcome Back" sentiment using Harold's ABCs. Let me just say, Lawn Fawn's letter stamps are AMAZING! I love the fonts and how easy they work. The grass is just a little strip of paper that I hand cut into grass (I have the Martha Stewart scissors, but don’t feel that I get the same effect as hand cutting) and then chalked with Colorbox (green) Chalk Ink. Lastly, I added the bunnies in onto the grass. THEN I got real creative and cut the arms/feet of the bunnies apart and hung 4 of them off the banner. Just for a little something extra and different. ok, one more looks at the card:
I hope you like it. I really Sorry, I forgot to photo the inside sentiment ("Some Bunny Loves You" but it was there ;).

Hope you have a wonderful day! I'm hoping to have a scrappy weekend. My hubby, son, and niece will be going to Monster Jam and Alivia & I will be going to a Valentines Day Dinner at Church. She's my date ;). Have a great weekend.

Lawnscaping Challenge #3 - Second Entry...

Good morning! Hope everyone's having a good day so far! Ok, so I made a card inspired by this round of the Lawnscaping "All About Love" challenge. I'm not entering it (I dono how many entries you can add... gunna look into that, oh well... doesn't matter though, because I’m not too crazy about it anyway) I just wanted to play a little bit with the theme - SO FUN! I used four Lawn Fawn stamp sets for this card: Bannerific, Critters in the Burbs, Harold's ABCs, and the cute heart from Just My Type II.

Here’s a look at the card:
Like I said, I'm not too awful happy with how it came out, in all honesty. I mean, it's cute (hard not to be super cute with all the Lawn Fawn on there!), but it was waaay too late when I got started which means it was WAAAY too late when I finished it. When I saw myself going overboard (with the hearts, mainly), I should have put it down and came back to it another time. But I didn’t. Siiiiigh... I got warm (thanks girls) reception on Facebook, but I still can’t help but feeling like I totally “OCDd-out” (feel free to use my made up words whenever you want) on it.

To make it, I started off with plain white (Bristol) art paper (purchased at an art supply store by my house). What I NEED to do already is head over to Amazon.com & pick up some Neenah Solar White Cardstock... but that’s besides the point right now. Then I stamped that adorable Lawn Fawn tree (I used Momento ink for everything) onto it. And used (really super cool) Inkadinkado’s Stamping Mask Paper (got that on my recent AC Moore adventure) to mask off the tree while I inked up the entire card with Ranger's Tumbled Glass and it's edges with Broken China (Distress Inks) - it worked wonderfully (highly recommending that masking paper!)! Then I did a bunch of paper piecing with my Lawn Fawn Lovelies and patterned papers (the top of the tree, little birdie, tire swing, banner, & grass are all Glitz Designs and the tree trunk is Bo Bunny).

Then I stamped the sweet squirrels onto the Bristol paper and colored them with Copics (which I had some fun with) and paper pieced them onto the card. I stamped the acorns directly onto the card and also colored them with Copics, stamped on the cute little “boingy” things, and attached the grass (which I just hand-cut). Thaaaats when I went absolutely too crazy with the hearts... and I finished the card off with some twine for the tire swing (which was an idea I got from the ultra-fabulously-talented Laurel) and popped up the banner and cute littler birdie with foamies.

I dono, what do you think? Too much right? Just a little? Don’t worry, it wont hurt my feelings... Constructive criticism is all good ;). I wasn’t even going to share it on the blog, but here it is anyway.

I’m working on something (that I DID put down last night when it got too late) that seems like it’ll be super cute, so, hopefully I’ll be back to share it tomorrow. Have a crafty day!

The hubbys Valentine's Day Card 2011!

Good Monday crafty gals. I know I was MIA all last week. I have just been so busy with something super exciting and, so, while I was getting my craft on in major ways... I just can't share about it yet (psssst... come back on Thursday!!!!).

This weekend, amidst all the crafty chaos, I did take the time to work on my hubby's Valentine's Day card. I've had the idea floating around in my head for so long and was super excited to get it onto {pretty} paper.

OK, I was blog hopping one day and happened upon a blog (don't remember where - sorry) where the lady said she bought her hubby a card in a vintage store that had a library card on it and said “I’ve been checking you out all day”. Isn’t that the cutest (tee hee hee)!! So, a few months ago when I saw that Papertrey Ink has a library card stamp, I had to scoop it up ;).

Here’s a look at the card.
I started with a (Neenah) card stock base and covered it in Lawn Fawn’s Teeny Tiny Backdrops (hearts) stamp in Hero Arts’ “Punch” Ink. Then I got out my “Valentines Stash” and choose Fancy Pants “Vintage Valentine" as the patterned paper to work with. Next, I made a library pocket and stamped the Library Card stamp onto pink (Fancy Pants) paper using Hero Arts’ Latte Ink, and chalked all of the edges of the card and library card pocket with Colorbox (Red) Chalk. Then I used my new Studio Calico Stamp (the heart & “bathroom people”) and finished it off with Lawn Fawn’s fabulous Jessie’s ABCs to write out my sentiment “Sal, I’ve been Checkin’ you out all day {heart} Heather”. The inside of the card is stamped with the “(That’s what she said)” stamp that also comes in the Studio Calico set and “Happy Valentines Day” from Lawn Fawn’s Silly Valentine set.

I really adore how it came out. I think it's as good as my half-hearted “vision” - better, actually. I’m sure Sal will love it too because it’s a clever little phrase. Time will tell. I think I'll give it a go, and enter this into this week's WEE memories challenge - which is Free your Creativity - Anything Goes! Wish me luck!

I hope you have an awesome day!!! Back later this week (THURSDAY!!) With a buncha sneaky peeks of what’s to come.