Nautical Tilda

Outfit:  B21, B24, B26
             R21, R24
             Y17

Hair:  YR20, YR21, YR23

Anchor:  N1, N4

Swimming By to Say Hi

Mermaid Anya

Hair:  Y11, Y15, Y26
Top:  RV21, R83
Fins:  YG21, YG23

Celebrating A Springy Birthday With Blog Candy

Popping in this evening with a birthday card using some fresh springtime colors.  This trio of green, honey yellow, and pink are combined with a tag embellishment for the Just-A-Scrappin challenge #4.

Card Base - Art Philosophy

5.75" Tall

Rosette - Ribbons & Rosettes

1.4" Tall (8 segments total)

Tag for Sentiment - Art Philosophy

Beige  - 1.55" Tall

Green - 1.35" Tall

The decorative border at the bottom was cut with a die from the STUNNING new Spellbinders Persian Accents.  I then added some "life" with Viva Pearl Pens.

To be entered into the drawing for the Cricut cartridge, please become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post.  I will use random.org to choose a winner on Sunday, April 15th.

Good luck everyone!

A Rose By Any Other Name

With my extra long weekend I decided to get some coloring done with  my Copics.  I created this thank you card to keep in my stash when I need a card and don't have time to make one.

Copics Used:

YR20, YR23, YR24

G40, G94, G99

For the sentiment I used Gina K All Occasion Tags with the coordinating Spellbinders Grommet Tags dies.  I then layered it over an embellishment cut from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two set.

Egg-celent Easter Treats

Today I'm posting a project I did for the kiddos in my family.  I picked up the clear plastic tubes on sale for $.75 each at a local scrapbook store and knew they'd be perfect for filling with Easter goodies.  It's my opinion that this time of year brings out the yummiest candy imagineable!  And I just can't help myself when it comes to passing these treats out to loved ones.

Cricut cuts were all done at 3-4" tall.

Lamb-Create A Critter

Bird w/Bunny Ears-3 Birds on Parade

Chick-Simply Charmed

Eggs-Easter Seasonal 2010

I should also mention that this project was done for Challenge #3 over at Just-A-Scrappin.  Head on over to check out the other DT projects for some egg-stra special inspiration.

Feel free to link up your Easter project to join in the fun!!!!!

Luck of the Irish

We've been having the most beautiful weather in Minnesota and I'm chalking it up to the luck of the Irish!  In celebration of St. Patrick's day on Saturday I've created a card to give my hubby.

Leprechaun cut from Simply Charmed at 3" tall

Triangles for banner cut from CM Art Philosophy at 1.25" wide

This card is my design for challenge #2 over at Just-A-Scrappin.  The challenge requirement was to use the color green and a banner.

Just-A-Scrappin Challenge #1 - Card Cutout

Our first challenge over at Just-A-Scrappin is to create a card using a cutout or frame.  My take on this was to use an image as my cardbase instead of the standard rectangle.  This comes at a perfect time to make a congrats card for a girlfriend of mine that found out recently she's expecting a boy!

The bottle is a cut from Gypsy Wanderings and is 4" wide x 7" tall.  I used my Gypsy to weld two of the bottle shapes together.  I also used the hide contour feature to only cut certain parts of the bottle.  A lot of hand trimming took place in order to get the nipple of the bottle a different color and to place the colorful striped paper behind the cutout portion on the front.

And now that I've hopefully spurred your creativity, hop on over to Just-A-Scrappin to add your creation to this challenge!

Side By Side.....Year By Year.....

In celebration of my hubby's parents' annivesary I broke out my new stamp set from JustRite.  The set is called Always & Forever Medallion Labels and I'm completely twitterpated with it.  It coordinates with the JustRite Nested Medallion Label for perfect borders every time.  I've used purple (her favorite color) and green (his favorite color) to put together a card that is neither too feminine nor too masculine.

The doily on the background layer is cut from the Heartfelt Creations Layered Elegant Swirl Die. I cut one side and then ran it through again with the die the other way to form a complete circle.

Each of the corners is embellished with fancy brackets that were cut using a die from the Spellbinders Fanciful Holiday set.  Gems were then added for a little bling.

I'm really hoping this card will get to them before their anniversary in MARCH!  Yep----I said it, March.  I'm not exactly sure why, but even when I get cards done way in advance they seem to arrive late.  I suppose it's because I'm always waiting to find that perfect gift to go with it.

Breathe In The Freshness Of The Sea

Today I have for you a card that exudes warmth and tranquility.  I worked on this card over the weekend, but didn't get a chance to color up an image to go with it until last night.  Copics were used in the BG and YG families to capture the salty freshness of a spring day near the ocean.

Trees: YG25, YG07, E47

Grass: YG07, YG67

Sky:  BG000, BG70

Clouds:  BG70, C1

Tower:  N1, N4, N8

The lighthouse and sentiment stamps are both by Stampendous.
The bow was made with a Bow Easy.

Pretty Princess

I consider myself to be lucky because I began scrapbooking very early in life.  Because of this I've been able to stay on top of pages for current events.  Now before you get frustrated because you're still working on Easter of 1994, hear me out!  Sure, it's nice to feel caught up and not worry about remembering details for twenty years worth of life.  But the more I think about it, I believe I'd prefer to be behind with my scrapbooking.  I go to several weekend scrapbook retreats (thanks to my oh-so-understanding hubby) and I see so many women reminiscing over their spirited and loving toddlers who have grown to be "spirited" teenagers in what seems like a blink of an eye.  I love the idea of reliving the past and being able to spend an entire weekend remembering events that meant so much to me.  Granted I have a fairly poor memory and will have to begin making notes so that I can remember all of those little details, but that won't be too hard to do.

With that being said, I created a layout today for pictures of me when I was just five years old.  It will be fun to talk to my mom and find out more about myself when I was little.  I'm positive it will be just as much fun for her as it will for me.

Sizzix Flourish #2 Bigz Die

Castle is from P.28 of Paper Doll Dress Up and is cut at 6" high.

I added a hidden journaling tag that slides behind this decorative square.

Under The Weather

Today my goal was to create a card for the weekly challenge over at the Cricut Circle blog. But when reading the challenge back, I missed basically every part of what the requirements were. Ha! I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes. I had fun creating the card none-the-less.

The main shape for the Get Well stamp was

cut from Ashlyn's Alphabet.

White Solid Background - 4"

The solid green and pattern green frames were cut by

layering two of the same shape.

Solid Green - 2.25" inside of a 3.4"

Pattern Green - 2.5" inside of a 3.25"

The stamp is by PSX and was colored with the following Copics:

Y28

YG17, YG25

Y15, Y11



Green Flourishes were also cut from Ashlyn's Alphabet

at 3" tall and 2.5" tall.

When Inspiration Strikes

This afternoon my 10 year old daughter, Kaitlyn was playing with a Finding Nemo watercolor book.  She had turned the page to the backside and was just painting away.  In her mind she was "not doing the best" work, but to me I saw a stunning backdrop for a card.  I loved the way the colors eased from one to the next.  I asked her if it would be ok that I turn her painting into a card.  This card is what I ended up with.

Since this was done on the backside of a coloring book page, the dark lines were able to be seen through the paper when held next to another piece of paper.  To eliminate this I sprayed the paper down with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray and added a script stamp on top in Tim Holtz Aged Mahogony Distress Ink.

My next step was to cut a butterfly from the Ashlyn's Alphabet cartridge.  It was cut at 2" tall.  I wanted to see more of the body for the butterfly, so I actually snipped the wings and adhered them to the base shadow separately.  All of these pieces were also sprayed with the starburst spray.  The picture above shows a little bit of the shimmer, but really does no justice at all to this product.

At this point my card was "done".  But something just didn't feel complete so I ended up adding the detail at the top left corner.  This was cut from a Memory Box die and then double embossed using the Lindy's Stamp Gang embossing powder in Midnight Gold.  I can't believe how shiny and fantastic this embossing powder is.  It truly looks like actual metal without adding bulky weight to the card.  I did add some extra weight by using a Tim Holtz embellishment over the sentiment though.

I'm also very excited to announce that I am one of the new Design Team members over at Just-A-Scrappin.  I can't wait to get going on some new projects for the blog!  Hop on over and take a peek at some of their awesome posts

HERE

The Magical Bubble

My son is going to be turning three in just a couple of weeks.  It seems like only yesterday he was a little jelly bean unable to tell me which toy he wanted or whether his snack would be a banana or grapes.  These days there's not much I can do to keep the noise level below a dull roar.  But every once in a while Logan discovers something that enamours him and makes him pause even if just for a minute.  A couple of days ago he discovered a Christmas decoration that had been missed when everything else was put away.  He stared at the magical little world where a happy village lay beneath whirling and dancing snow.  And in one instant I got this idea for a card using a snow globe like the one he held in his hand.  So here I have my creation showing my version of the magic bubble where all dreams are possible.

The dome itself is a Stamps In Motion wood mounted stamp from 1997.  I found it on Ebay not too long ago and knew it would be an amazing backdrop for many different scenes.  But when I tried to decide what to put inside the globe for my card, I just couldn't get past the mental image of a ballerina.  So off I went to scour the internet for digital stamps of a dancer.  I then happened to fall smack dab in the middle of a stamper's heaven (also known as The Paper Shelter).  They have sooo many cute stamps that will be a blast to color.

This image is called The Lovely Ballerina and was printed at 3" tall.  I colored her with the following Copics:
Hair:  E55, E53, E50
Skin/Lips/Eyes:  E00/R22/B91
Outfit:  B45, B34, B32, B91
Tutu:  C3, C1

I used a dauber and Brilliance Ink in Pearlescent Sky Blue to color the background of the dome.  The base was then paper pieced and popped up with foam dots.

Talk about perfect timing---I will be using this card as an entry into the DT Call over at TPS.  I'll also be using it for the Tic Tac Toe challenge over at The Crazy Challenge blog.

Just A Card Makin

Tonight I've created a card for a design team call at the Just A Scrappin' blog.  I've used one of my new fairy images to create an all purpose card to have for my next "emergency" situation.  It never hurts to have a few cards on hand for the birthdays/anniversaries/etc that pop up (seemingly) out of nowhere.  I use an awesome website (http://www.bigdates.com/) to keep track of all important dates.  But sadly there are many times I don't remember an important date until I get the email from them to remind me.  And of course by then it's too late to make a card and get it in the mail in time.

Come Softly

It's been quite a while since I devoted some solid time to my Copic coloring.  And I'll be honest---I've really missed it!  There's something very soothing about coloring an image; no reason to rush and no one to tell you it's wrong.  And just when I needed a push to get back to my calm place, I discovered a brilliant artist by the name of Ching Chou Kuik.  Her designs are available through Sweet Pea Stamps and could not be more amazing or fun to color.  This image is titled Come Softly and I felt inclined to color it as such.  Lately my favorite go-to color combo has been aqua, teal and brown and I adore how it looks on this card.

Skin:  E11, E00, 0 (cheeks R11)

Hair:  E13, YR20, Y21, Y11

Lips:  RV11, RV10

Eyes:  B16, B14, B000, W1, W0

Moth:  E44, E42, B26, B16, B14, B12, G02, G00 (w/a little spica pen for sparkle)

Dress:  B16, B14

This cute little rosette was made by hand sewing a strip of fabric (1.5"x6") along the long edge and pulling it tightly. I then used hot glue to adhere it to the card and keep the two ends held together. It was topped off with a small gem glued to the middle.

Well Wishes for a Special Little Girl

Not too long ago a member of my family discovered that they have leukemia.  Sadly this family member is only 3 years old.  Samantha has been quite the trooper dealing with the chemo, pain, sickness, poking, and prodding.  I made this cute card and medal/ribbon in the hopes that it would make her crack a smile.  Feel free to drop by her Caring Bridge website and leave some words of encouragement.  Her mom has been amazing at keeping all of the family and friends updated with a daily journal entry.  I'd love to let her know how much it's appreciated and how many people are touched by the strength of one little girl.

SEPTEMBER 2011
A pic of Samantha before the meds had kicked in and made her a cutie with adorable little chipmunk cheeks.

OCTOBER 2011
Here's a pic after the meds made her face swell up.  As you can tell, she's wearing the cute little ribbon I made for her.

 http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/samanthanechanicky