Christmas cards with basic/minimal supplies

In breaking up the Christmas card making tedium, I thought I would try coming up a couple cards using limited supplies.

I pulled a few Elle's Studio papers and basic punches and went to work.  The triangles on the tree card and the tree trunk were just free hand cut.  I added some black doodled lines to the triangles as well as the red polka dot panel.  The sentiment piece is a scrap.  I used the corner of a square punch to cut the ends and stamped a Verve sentiment.  A few sequins finished it off.

For the wreath card, I punched two sizes of circles from the same green papers and did the doodle thing on the circles and panel again.  The alphas were just freehand cut from black cardstock and I added a simple bow to the wreath.

Sometimes it's just fun to play a little and see what you can create with limited supplies.  These were so easy to do, and definitely kid-friendly too.  

Have a great end to your week and enjoy the weekend!

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Penelope and Serendipity Collections; Avery Elle - White Cardstock; CTMH - Black and Chocolate Cardstock

Stamps:  Verve - Peace on Earth

Ink:  Versafine

Other:  CM - Square and Circle punches; Neat & Tangled - Red Sequins; AC - Black 05 Journaling Pen; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Recollections - Red Glitter Ribbon and Foam Adhesive

three!

I realize that while I have been scrapbooking lately, I haven't posted any of my recent layouts.  I thought I would share one today.

These photos are from Carina's birthday.  She was so anxious for our dinner guests to arrive she waited out on the stoop/steps for them to come and I was able to get a few shots of her.

Hard to believe that in just a few more months she'll be FOUR!  Where does the time go?!

Anyway, this one is pretty simple.  I've got papers from Elle's Studio as well as Webster's Pages Recorded collection and a healthy sprinkle of Elle's Studio tags.

The title was created with my silhouette.  I couldn't decide which color to use, so I cut two and adhered them slightly offset to create a shadow.  I also added some stitching details for some interest.



Looking forward to the weekend.  It's going to be busy one, but hopefully the weather will be nice enough for us to get some outside time in.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Webster's Pages Recorded Collection; Elle's Studio - Penelope Collection; CTMH -  Outdoor Denim cardstock
Other:  Elle's Studio - Penelope Bits and Pieces and Serendipity Tabs; Tombow - Mono and Multi Mono Adhesive; 

Winter and Spring for Elle's Studio

The mailman brought me my recent Shutterfly order over the weekend, and I was able to pull together a couple more layouts for Elle's Studio's Use Your Stash weekend challenge.

This first layout is from this past Christmas.  It 'snowed' Christmas evening so I ran the girls out to my parents first thing in the morning as my whole family was in town, in order to get some sledding in with their aunts/uncle/cousin.  Shortly after I took the photos (like minutes) Carina decided she was not into it and wanted back inside, so my older sister ended up taking Ellie out.

I used the Serendipity line for this layout, and I have used more tags on this layout than I ever have on a single layout.  The cherish tag is actually part of the paper, and I thought I would create kind of a border of tags on the right side to go along with it.

The alphas are some old MME Luxe alphas that are actually a lighter shade of pink.  I darkened them up with a sponge dauber and some Tulip ink.

This next layout includes no photos of people!  And it's not about my family!  My favorite flowers are peonies.  We have two peony plants in our yard.  I always look forward to when those big flowers show up - to me it means spring is really here to stay.  I had snapped a few photos this spring, and as part of my efforts to scrap a little more about myself, thought they were the makings of a good layout.

I used one of the circle elements from my new Well Rounded stencil to create those bright pink flower like elements on the base page.  They are painted on using a paintbrush dipped in Dylusions Bubblegum ink spray.  Some vellum elements and a tag from the Serendipity exclusive kit and one of the You and Me stamps were added as well as some lines that I drew around the edges of the layout using a ruler.

That's all for today!  We had a happy family reunion this morning when Andrew arrived, heading straight to one of our favorite breakfast places as Andrew was craving bacon.  After two plus weeks apart, it's great to have everyone under one roof again!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Supplies Used
Celebrate Snow
Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Serendipity papers; Recollections - Vellum
Stamps:  Elle's Studio - Day to Day Happy Moments stamp
Ink:  Hero Arts - Soft Granite; CTMH - Tulip
Other:  Elle's Studio - Serendipity Cutouts, Tidbits, Lil' Snippets, and Limited Edition Vellum and Tags, MME - Luxe Alpha; Pigma - Black Micron Pen; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Peonies
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy
Stamps:  Elle's Studio - You & Me 2x3 stamp
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Elle's Studio - Serendipity Limited Edition Vellum and Tags; The Crafter's Workshop - Well Rounded 12x12 stencil; Ranger - Bubble Gum Dylusions Ink Spray; American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Berry Thickers; Scrapbook Adhesives - Black Photo Corners; Xyron - 1 1/2" Sticker Maker; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen

3 Peas in a Pod - Cocoa Daisy August Sketch and Elle's Studio Use Your Stash

I'm trying to do better about keeping up with my scrapbooking....I have piles and piles of photos to scrap....so I'm trying to complete at least one layout a week.  This week I decided to play along with Cocoa Daisy's August Sketch challenge, by happy coincidence Elle's Studio is sponsoring a Use Your Stash challenge this week and their papers and tags were perfect for this layout.

These photos are from a couple years ago when we were visiting Andrew's parents.  It's kind of crazy that Carina is now almost as big as Ellie was at the time.

Anyway, I was able to incorporate all sorts of fun goodies.  Elle's Studio papers and tags, BossyJoscie flair, SC veneers, Pretty Little Studio tag, Sketchbook Thickers, lots of things I have been hoarding.  (I'm also going through a craft area move/overhaul and have realized I have a ton of stuff and should stop saving things for 'the perfect time'.)

This one came together quickly and easily and has assuaged my scrapbooking guilt for the week.

Hope your weekend is going well!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Day to Day collection and Limited Edition Vellum; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Ink:  Hero Arts - Soft Pool Shadow Ink
Other:  Elle's Studio - Day to Day Tabs and Tidbits; American Crafts - Sketchbook Thickers and Dear Lizzy Brads; BossyJoscie flair; Studio Calico - Wood Veneer Asterisks and Badges,  Pretty Little Studio - Sandcastle Number tags; My Mind's Eye - Miss Caroline label sticker; Pigma - Black Micron Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Liquid Glass

More National Scrapbooking Day/Week

I really think we need to have National Scrapbooking Day once a month, or at least once a quarter.  What a great way to get me motivated to get some serious scrapping done!

The projects I'm sharing today I've been working on/conceptualizing all week.  They are primarily for the Basic Grey challenges that closed yesterday (no worries, I was trying to get to bed so I just linked my flickr photos to the challenges), but there are so many great challenges going on out there, that I have bundled some others in too.

The other thing that I love about NSD is that it's a great way to do some stash busting, I broke out some really old Basic Grey for the layouts.  I'm going to give you some of the basic supplies I used in the descriptions, but in the interest of time won't provide the detailed list.  If you have specific questions, just shoot me an email.

This first layout is for Kelly Noel's grid challenge.  I'm also going to link it up at Shimelle's for the Scrap with Squares challenge.  I lightly drew the grid with a pencil and then stitched over the lines.  The papers are from the Basics, Oxford, and Max and Whisker lines.

The photos are from this past Christmas.  My nephew Collin thinks Ellie is the best thing ever, and she was just cracking him up at lunch.

The next layout is also from Christmas, a cute shot of Carina and my sisters.  I'm using this week's Elle's Studio sketch, and this is for Shannon Tidwell's Patterned Paper Circles Challenge, Els Brige's Leave White Space at the Bottom of the Page Challenge, and Waleska Neris' Fussy Cutting Patterned Paper Challenge.  This one is also going to be linked up at Studio Calico for the Five Different Patterned Papers challenge as well as Shimelle's Fussy Cutting Challenge.

The papers are BG Basics, Jovial, Oxford, and the green which is kind of a watercolor painted type pattern didn't even have a collection name to it.  I used my Creative Memories Custom Cutting System to create all the circles.

Finally, a card for Joy Taylor's card challenge.  I'm also going to link it up at Studio Calico for the Stamped Patterned Paper challenge.  This was the perfect final challenge since I needed a Mother's Day card for my MIL. 

The flowers are from CTMH's Card Word Puzzle set, and they are stamped on one of the Paper Cottage 6x6 prints. The sentiment is also CTMH, Say it in Style, the twine is Trendy Twine, and the sequins are from Neat & Tangled. I also accented the flowers with some Liquid Pearls.

 

I've got more projects underway....still a couple more days until all the challenges close.  Hope you are having a great weekend!  We went and got my early Mother's Day present today....new hockey skates (the wheeled kind) and shin pads.  Probably not what you were picturing, but I am pretty excited about it!  

Elle's Studio Challenge and some exciting news

 



It's no secret that I love Elle's Studio sketches, so I was pretty excited when they annonced they were adding a new bi-monthly challenge. 

 

The current challenge is to use a tabbed tag as a frame on your layout.  Here's my take:

 

 

My nephew Collin is a HUGE fan of Ellie.  He's only six months younger than Carina, but they are not really interested in one another.  Ellie on the other hand is fascinating, and they were best buds over Christmas.  Here the two of them are reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear together. 

 

The tabbed tag and the base paper and red polka dot papers are from the Day to Day collection, and there are a couple older Elle's tags too.  I used some Bella Blvd and older CTMH papers as accents, and added a bunch of stitching. 

 

AND, here is my exciting news:

 

I'm joining the Artful Delight design team!  I'll be part of the card team, but for all my scrapbooking friends Artful Delight has both a scrapbook and card kit each month.

My term starts in May, and I'll be posting projects on Fridays.  Here's the official announcement.  I am pretty darn excited!  :)

 

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Elle's Studio - Day To Day Collection Papers; Bella Blvd - Birthday Boy; CTMH - Dotty for You
Other:  Elle's Studio - Day to Day tabbed tags; Pieces of Life Tags; The Twinery - Charcoal Twine; American Crafts - Black Prancer Thickers; Sewing Machine; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Therm-o-web - Zots adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen

 

 

On your marks, GET SET

Playing along with this week's Elle's sketch.

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I was going to pull out one of my new The Crafter's Workshop stencils, Layered Beads.  The circles graduate from the center of the stencil, so I lined it up a little lower on the page and used my sponge dauber to add color to three of the rows.  Then I turned it around, centering it over the first set of circles and repeated.  The effect is that the top and bottom rows have a smaller circle inside.



Three quarter inch circles from Glitz's Yours Truly 6x6 pad were added to the circles to add some color and emphasize the graduated look.

Glitz papers mat the photo as well as create the large pennant that the small Elle's Studio pennants sit on.  I added some MME enamel dots at the top of the Elle's pennants, I think they tie in the circle theme from the bottom of the page.



Since the photo is slightly off center, I thought it would be great to add the journaling on vellum over top of the photo.  A great trick - just put the vellum over lined paper when journaling so that it comes out straight/even.



The alphas are CTMH's canvas alphas inked with Outdoor Denim.

Hope your week is going smoothly!   

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Glitz - Yours Truly 6x6 papd pad; CTMH - White Daisy; Recollections - Vellum
Ink:  CTMH - Slate, Outdoor Denim
Other:  Elle's Studio - Bright Pennants, Lil' Snippets Tiny Labels; The Crafter's Workshop - 12x12 Layered Beads stencil; CTMH - Canvas Alpha Stickers; MME - The Sweetest Thing Honey Enamel Dots; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Can you feel the noise?

I've missed the last few Elle's Studio sketches, but I knew exactly which photo I wanted to use when I saw this week's sketch.

This photo just cracks me up every time I see it.  It's from this past Christmas.  When we're at my parent's house for dinner, we usually bathe the girls there before we head home so we can put them straight to bed.  This time, their cousin Collin joined them.  It was SO loud!  Bathrooms in newer houses have those high ceilings and just echo, but boy were they having fun!



I used a fun mish mash of products.  There's some October Afternoon, My Mind's Eye, CTMH, Punky Sprouts, and of course Elle's Studio.  Sometimes it's just fun to surround yourself with a bunch of stuff and see what happens. 

I added some hand drawn lines around the edges.  It's an easy, quick, low-tech way to anchor your page.  There's also a bit of machine stitching on that blue patterned piece.  The title was cut using the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  It's funny because my last layout had no title, and I seem to have over compensated a bit with this giant one.



Hope you are having a great day....half way to the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  October Afternoon - Farm Girl and Sidewalks papers; CTMH - Colonial White and Outdoor Denim Cardstock
Other:  Elle's Studio - Collected Large Journaling Tag, Collected Cutouts, Handmade Layers Cutouts; Punky Sprouts - Lil' Parchment Blossom; CTMH - Cricut Artiste Cartridge, Antiqued Copper Brads; My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing Label Stickers and Wood & Chip Buttons; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Zots Dimensional Adhesive; Sewing Machine

How to eat an ice cream pop

 

Carina eats everything with her hands....even when there is an obvious, built in solution!  It was amazing, and hilarious to watch her seemingly go out of her way to avoid using the popsicle stick....wait until you see the pictures of her and her birthday cake (which was Carvel).

Anyway, back to the layout, I'm using another Elle's Sketch today.  Since most of the photos are black and white I wanted this to be colorful and a little funky, so I turned to the Glitz Cashmere Dame collection.  LOVE this collection.

In terms of embellishments, I used some Elle's tags, washi tape, and added some stamped accents.  The sentiment stamps are from Mama Elephant's Good Times set, and I'm also sneaking one of CTMH's new sets which will be available on Friday.  This is the set that comes in the Chantilly Collection's Workshop on the Go.



Had a great time putting this one together.  Hope you guys are having a good week...we had a bit of a break yesterday as schools were closed, but it was back to reality today.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Glitz - Cashmere Dame 6x6 paper pad; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  CTMH - Chantilly Workshop on the Go stamp set; Mama Elephant - Good Times
Ink:  CTMH - Black, Sky, and Sunkiss Yellow; Distress Inks - Festive Berries
Other:  Freckled Fawn - Checkered Black Diamond washi tape; American Crafts - Black Nutmeg Thickers; Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Type stickers;Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Stop! Papa Time!

 

 

 

Couldn't resist the post title, although I did not go so far in the layout. 

I've missed the last few Elle's Studio sketches and wanted to jump back into it this week.

This photo is from our vacation this summer in Lake Lanier, Georgia.  It's never easy to get a photo of Andrew - especially when he's in vacation mode, but I was able to capture some quiet time that he and the girls had down at the lake one day. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out too since I was able to incorporate a lot of stamping (one of my goals for the year is to do more stamping on my layouts), and I got to try a new technique.

I'm using Mama Elephant's On Target set, a gift from my sweet friend Cheiron.

I used the target image to create a grid (I did measure it out in advance since i'm just not that good).  Then I stamped one of the arrows along the grid lines in second generation. 



The corner pieces are my first attempt at the current chalkboard stamping fad.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I think my embossing powder is a bit old because it's supposed to be white, but looks more off white.  In either case, it was a fun new technique to try.



I added some other stamped accents from the On Target stamp set in Garnet ink, and a some Elle's tags and Freckled Fawn wood veneer arrows, but overall tried to keep this pretty simple.



Thanks so much for coming by, hope you are having a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Studio Calico - Yearbook collection; CTMH - White Daisy, Vineyard Berry, and Black cardstock
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - On Target
Ink:  CTMH - Slate, Garnet, and White Daisy; Versamark
Other:  Elle's Studio - The Sweet Life - Lil’ Snippets: Labels; CTMH - White Daisy embossing powder, Liquid Glass, Dimensional Foam Tape; Freckled Fawn - Wood Veneer Arrows; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Grandparent's Day

Another great Elle's Studio sketch this week.

These photos are from the Grandparent's Day event at my parents' retirement community back in September.  My parents moved down to Virginia last year and are about a half hour away now (as opposed to 7 hours).  It's been wonderful for us all to see them regularly (and take advantage of free babysitting).  I especially appreciate it because when I was growing up, my grandparents were all overseas.  Andrew's parents are also pretty close, and it's so nice for the girls to have close relationships with their grandparents.

This was a fun, and pretty quick, layout to put together.  The base is a new CTMH color called Slate.  It's a great medium toned neutral which I think is going to get a lot of use around here.  Patterned papers are from Basic Grey's Paper Cottage collection, there are several Elle's tags, and those fun flat sequins are from a Polka Dot Whimsy kit.

The journaling is on hidden behind the top photo.  To hold it in place, I used dimensional foam tape - it serves a double purpose, adheres the photo and acts as a stopper.



I'm also going to link this layout up at Paper Issues because it contains gray AND Basic Grey.

Have a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Basic Grey - Paper Cottage 6x6 pad; CTMH - Slate cardstock
Other:  Elle's Studio - Noted Journaling Circle Tags, The Sweet Life Tidbits, Collected Note Tags; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Basic Grey - Konnichiwa collection pack alpha stickers; May Arts - Twine; Punky Sprouts - Lil' Lacey Blossoms; Polka Dot Whimsy - Red Sequins; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; 3L - Small Dodz

Waiting is the Hardest Part

Quick post to share my layout for this week's Elle's Studio sketch. 

These photos are from our lake vacation.  Carina and her cousin Collin were literally crying atnd banging on the door trying to get us to let them out that first day. 

I'm mostly using Echo Park Everyday Eclectic.  I love the patterns.  They are great for scrapbooking because they are pretty subtle, great for backgrounds.  I used three of the patterned pages, a liberal does of Elle's Studio tags, and some MME enamel dots and Dear Lizzy Neopolitan brads. 



That one brad on the right in the photo above is a Dear Lizzy brad base.  I had used the center of the brad to decorate a button on this card, and above I just added one of the enamel dots to create a new brad.

I also added some Liquid Pearls as accents to the pink strips of paper.  And Amy Tangerine foam thickers.

Hope you are having a good week.  Busy here.  I need to get as much shopping done before Friday as possible since my gift wrapper is coming over Friday night.  I play with paper all the time, but I ABHOR wrapping presents, just seems like a waste of time, I mean it gets ripped off in seconds.  Anyway, I have a good friend who really enjoys wrapping presents, and she comes over to wrap mine every year for me while we watch a chick flick.  She rocks.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Echo Park - Everyday Eclectic; CTMH - White Daisy
Other:  Elle's Studio - Pink Pennants, The Sweet Life Cutouts, Summer Lovin Large Journaling Tags; Echo Park - Everyday Eclectic Alpha stickers; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Journal Foam Thickers, Dear Lizzy Neopolitan Brads; My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing Enamel Dots; Ranger - Liquid Pearls; Dylusions - Vibrant Turquoise Ink Spray; Studio Calico - Plum Thumb Mister Huey's; Tombow - Mono Adhesive.

The Beat of Your Own Drum

After a couple weeks off, Elle's Studio's layout sketch is back. 

I've been wanting to scrap these photos for a while.  I just kind of shake my head every time I look at them.  Carina loves to 'accessorize' her outfits.  This morning she asked me to put one of her new barrettes in, which looked very cute.  Then she decided that she wanted to wear her swim diaper, and her crocs, and she wanted her picture taken.  I love how her pajama bottoms look kind of like capris since they got hiked up when she was struggling with the swim diaper.  The girl is a crazy mess, but pretty funny.

I've been working on incorporating more stamping in my layouts, and I managed to incorporate stamps from three different companies:  Neat & Tangled, Mama Elephant, and There She Goes.  A little sparkle, a little stitching, and done!  Although in all honesty, this one took a little longer than I thought it would....it's pretty simple, but it took me a while to pull together all the parts.



Hope your week is off to a good start.  First day back after five off for me, not too bad, actually managed to get a fair amount done.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Colonial White Cardstock; Jenni Bowlin Studios - Turquoise Tiny Dot; My Little Shoebox - Pretty Little Things; American Crafts - Pink cardstock (not sure the actual name)
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - Kindness Matters; Mama Elephant - Good Times; There She Goes - Oh Snap
Ink:  CTMH - Black and Hollyhock
Other:  Elle's Studio - Noted Journaling Circle Tags, Handmade Layers Cutouts, True Love Pennants; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Scene Glitter Foam Thickers; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; 3L - Large Dodz Adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen; Sewing Machine

Very Merry Christmas

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Elle's Studio and their weekly sketch challenge.  This week they issued a bonus challenge - for a card. 

Oddly enough, I've never actually used Elle's items on a card before.

I stayed pretty true to the sketch, and had a lot of fun playing with circles.  There are a variety of Elle's products - the small tidbit circles, pennants (my favorite items), and a journaling card was even used as the base/center element.

Oh, and I got to break out some of my Bossy Joscie flair too, so that was an extra bonus.

AND since I did use a journaling card, I'm going to link this up with the Moxie Fab World Journaling Card Challenge.

Just one more day til the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock - Recollections - Red Cardstock; CTMH - Colonial White card base and Topiary cardstock
Stamps:  CTMH - Say it in Style; The Alley Way Stamps - Christmas Magic
Ink:  CTMH - Black
Other:  Elle's Studio - The Sweet Life Tidbits, Collected Large Journaling Tags, Handmade Layers Pennants, Bright Pennants; BossyJoscie - Cherry Christmas Flair; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

FIVE!

This layout is so pink, but I kind of love it.  I fear I've been officially pinkified by my daughters.

This one is for the Elle's Studio's October Challenge (to use a 4x6 journaling tag for the journaling) and ScrapFit's High Flying Flag workout.

The photos are Ellie's five year photos from JCPenney.  I wanted to document my feelings about where she is at five, as well as recount her recent parent teacher conference, which went really well.  It was so nice to hear from her teacher that she is sweet, kind, a great example, never a problem, etc.  One of the things I worried about when she started public school (and still do) is that she'll change, become a mean girl, become calloused, but it was wonderful to hear that she is still her, and she is doing so well at school.

I again reached for GCD Studio's Sweet Tooth collection, I find myself gravitating towards it so often these days, it's just perfect for girls stuff, and I have a lot of girl photos.

That border in the center of the page is the Elle's Studio doily stamp, and the bottom border is fussy cut from one of the Sweet Tooth papers. 



The title is also Sweet Tooth, cut using the Cricut Artiste cartridge.

I created two washi tape and toothpick flags (one from Target and the other was some blog candy I received that is available at several online washi stores) to go with the Elle's Studio pennant flag.  I also created the little heart over the i with a doubled up piece of washi that was cut freehand.



Hope that you are all doing OK.  We survived the storm with very little trouble.  Monday was just rainy most of the day, didn't get really windy until around dinnertime.  Ellie and I both managed to wear our pajamas ALL DAY....Carina would have too if she wasn't such a huge mess when she eats.   Ellie calls the two of us the  'sweeties', and Andrew and Carina are the 'salties' based on our favorite types of treats.  So periodically she'd look at me and say "The Sweeties are still wearing pajamas!"    Anyway, we did lose power around 9 in the evening, so we just headed to bed early.  Thankfully, my parents never lost power, so we spent most of Tuesday at their place.  Our power came back on around 5, so we were able to come home and sleep in our own beds last night.  Could have been so much worse, and we feel very fortunate as the next neighborhood over is still without power.

Hope you have a great and sugar filled Halloween!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  GCD Studios - Sweet Tooth papers; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  Elle's Studio Doily stamp
Ink:  Hero Arts - Bubble Gum
Other:  Elle's Studio - Spooky Tales Large Journaling Tags, True Love Pennants, The Sweet Life Tidbits; Toothpicks; Target Washi Tape; Misc Washi Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Xyron 5" Creative Station

Apple Picking

I'm so excited about this layout!  I have been wanting to scrap some old photos of myself and have finally done one!

I really loved this week's sketch at Elle's Studio, and the bonus was that I got to use some of my leftovers from recent projects (die cut leaves and burlap trim).  Since I'm using some of my leaf die cuts I'm going to link this up over at the October Oozak challenge too. 

My best friend growing up was Karen Chen, and we would go apple picking with the Chens every fall (they had three girls the ages of myself, my younger sister and my younger brother).  I love this photo, those hats are crazy, and they are covering up the fact that we all have the same Asian bowl cut.  That's me on the right in case you are wondering.

I have been reluctant to scrap my old photos because I don't have any negatives for them, and while I want to preserve the memories, I don't want to have them permanently adhered into a scrapbook page in case someone wants to make copies, look at the back (sometimes there are handwritten notes), etc. later on in life.  These Scrapbook Adhesive photo corners are the perfect solution, and I love that they come in kraft.




Lots of machine stitching, and I even created an embellishment that is far from flat with some burlap trim, Elle's tags, die cuts, and button/twine.  Unusual for me, but I love how it looks. 





Hope you are having a great week!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  MME - On the Bright Side (red polka dot); SC - Memoir (orange); CTMH - Dotty for You (yellow); Misc cardstock for die cuts
Other:  Elle's Studio - Bright Pennants and Spooky Tales Large Journaling Tags; CTMH - Cricut Artiste Cartridge, Burlap Trim, Liquid Glass; The Twinery - Cappucino Twine; AC - Nutmeg Thickers; Misc Button from ETM kit (actually says Old Navy on it); Tombow - Mono Adhesive; 3L - Large and Small Dodz adhesive and Kraft Photo Corners, Pigma - Micron Pen Brown; Sewing Machine

4 Generations

I've been making so many cards lately because of WCMD, I needed to take a break and do some scrapping.

This layout is for Elle's Studio's current sketch. 

This photo is a really special one - from my grandmother's visit this past June.  My grandmother is an amazing lady, she's dealt with ovarian cancer, knee surgery, and this summer was the first time in a LONG time she was able to come out to the East Coast.  She'd never met either of the girls, and it was great to introduce them. 

I'm using CTMH's Avonlea papers.  Aren't they pretty?  They're perfect for a heritage style layout.  I did some fussy cutting from one of the sheets of paper to get some of the embellishments (flower and doily type emblem), the Cricut Artiste cartridge for the letters and numbers, and the sewimg machine to add some texture/structure. 







Hope that your day is going well....I ended up having to come home early.  Something I ate last night did NOT agree with me.  The good news is that I was able to catch up on the DVR and do some fussy cutting at the same time....feeling loads better now!

I'm going to link this up over at ScrapFit for their paper piecing challenge too.

Have a great evening, I'll have some more of my WCMD cards to share tomorrow.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Avonlea Level 2 Paper packet; Michael's - open stock vellum
Other:  Elle's Studio - Lil' Snippets, This Week - Gray; CTMH - Cricut Artiste Cartridge; Xyron - 1" Sticker Maker, 5" Creative Station; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Pigma - Black Micron Pen; Sewing Machine

I Wash it Myself! and Winner

Hey everyone, hope that you had a great weekend!  Mine was busy, but I was able to get a fair amount of crafting in, including this layout for Elle's Studio's current sketch. 

Carina wants to do EVERYTHING by herself right now.  Most of the time I'm willing to let her try, but there are things that she's just not going to get to do, for example, when I'm holding her in the pool and she pushes me away and says 'I do it myself'....

Anyway, it's another kind of soft simple layout.  I wanted to create a lot of layers, but keep things subtle, so I pulled out the vellum, I love how vellum looks when layered on top of vellum.

I've also got a whole slew of Elle's tags on this one.  If you haven't figured it out, I'm a big fan of Elle's Studio, and if you've never used them you should really consider it.  Their products are VERY reasonable. For example the pennant cards, which contain 8 pennants are only $1.00.  I'm guessing the average price of their products is probably on the order of $2.50 or so.  Really affordable and reasonable and often just the right touch to finish out your project.

Elle's is actually running a referral incentive right now, so if you do happen to try them out, stick my name in the comments section of your order....I will be truely grateful.  :)

Oh yes, and I owe you a winner for my giveaway from last week.  The lucky winner is:

SHIRLEY!  Shirley, please email me your address and I'll get your goodies out to your this week!

Anyway, hope you have a great start to your week, come back tomorrow for something fun!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy Cardstock; GCD Studios - Sweet Tooth papers; Michael's - Open Stock Pink Vellum
Other:  Elle'S Studio - Pink Pennants, Turquoise Pennants, The Sweet Life Collected Cutouts, Noted Journaling Tags; CTMH - Word Bubble Dimensional Element, Cricut Artiste Cartridge; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Sketchbook Remarks Stickers, Turquoise Glitter Thickers; Tombow - Mono Adhesive and Vellum Adhesive; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; Pigma - Black Micron Pen

Love @ First Sight

Another layout today (this has been a layout heavy month for me!) for my other current favorite place for sketches, Elle's Studio.

I've scrapped lots of photos of Carina's birth/first few days for Carina, but I was convicted recently that I haven't done any pages for Ellie.  And the fact is, Carina's arrival probably affected her more than anyone else.

We have been so blessed to have two girls who really love each other.  Of course we have normal sibling rivalry issues, but Ellie truly relishes the role of big sister and has since that first day.  She's always been protective of Carina.  I remember going to a birthday party for one of Ellie's friends when Carina was 2 months old.  One of the other moms offered to hold her for a while, and I was more than willing to oblige.  Ellie came over and wanted to know why someone else was holding Carina, and then went over and stood next to this woman until she gave her back....

Anyway, I had all my Elle's tags out and was planning to use a lot of them on this layout and create more layers, but after fussing over it for a while, I felt like the pictures just really told the story themselves.  I love the kind of CAS, soft look to this layout. 

Thanks for coming by, and don't forget to scroll down for a chance to win some candy.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing (pale polka dot paper); Teresa Collins - Tell Your Story (darker polka dot paper); Misc peach cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Other:  Elle's Studio - The Sweet Life Cutouts; American Crafts - Amy Tangerine Muse Thickers; Pilot - Envelope Address Writing Gel Ink Pen - Fine; Tombow - Mono Adhesive