Three Little Bunnies

Found a great card pattern in Wishes called Medallion. A super cute bunny image in a Birthday Wish stamp set. Now to make them all unique.... let's play with some color!! Really the same cards just different color combinations to set them apart.

The first uses Blush, Petal and Chocolate. The second uses Creme Brulee, Juniper and Cocoa. The third uses Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf and Black. The sentiment if from March Stamp of the Month, A Little Everything as is the scallop. The cards are finished with big buttons and wonderful ribbons.

I can't decide which one is my favorite?!?!

Vanilla Cream Bunnies

I re-discovered an older stamp set that I love at Easter time. It's called Egg Hunt and it features a couple of bunnies and other Easter images that remind me of Peter Rabbit. The bunnies stamped in the background look similar to what you might find in a vintage fabric. I paired the vanilla cream base with chocolate and sorbet. { All these color names makes me want something sweet to eat! } The milk cartons were made on my sizzix big shot and they are filled with yummy chocolate.

Cheerful Cherries

I was inspired by a similar card in Paper Crafts Magazine. I used more spring colors and found a Close To My Heart stamp that would work for the cherry stems. The cherries themselves are made from ruby red gems that I've had stashed in my craft room so long that I don't remember where they are from! The colors are crystal blue, garden green, red, black and white daisy. This card just makes me happy, it makes me smile!!



P.S. If you like cherries, your going to love some of the new papers coming out in the Summer Idea Book very soon!

Spring Inspired

I love the change in the weather lately, with the exception of the few windy days. We had to mow the grass once already and the bushes and trees are full of new growth. Any day now I'll have beautiful roses blooming. Last night we enjoyed dinner on the patio... grilled steak and sweet potatoes...YUM!!

This season has also inspired some playful and cheery artwork. I will try to post more this week with little bits of Spring Inspiration! Enjoy!

Did you notice the pretty butterfly? It is made of Irresistibles Chipboard Die-cuts that will be offered soon in a new kit to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month.

March ~ Back to Basics

Back to Basics Club meets this Friday to make this spring 2 page layout. The colors are nice and light, but are anchored by chocolate brown. The design is graphic and will allow the pictures to be the center of attention. Club members will learn chipboard cheating as well as paper piecing. There is also a bit of tone on tone stamping with background stamps, but it's hard to see in this photo.

Spring Has Sprung

I can hardly believe that we had snow falling just a week ago. I took these photo's exactly 1 week from our snow day. The weeping willow filled in with bright green leaves and the bee's are humming all around it. I also have this little asain pear tree that was looking quite pitiful at winter's end. I honestly thought it had met it's doom. Look at these gorgeous pink blooms on it though.

Here's a fun card to celebrate the first day of spring. It is inpired by a similar card I saw in Paper Crafts magazine. The rainboots have liquid glass on them to make them appear slick. It's difficult to see, but the sentiment stamped tone on tone says: Happy Spring!

Sweet Lucky Charms

No artwork today just YUMMY images of the cupcakes my daughter and I made. We added some food coloring to the vanilla cake mix to turn them green and then iced them with vanilla icing. The finishing touch are Lucky Charms marshmallows on top!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May your day be lucky and don't get pinched!!

Big Boy Birthday

Cards for males are somewhat of a challenge. However, they can be fun too! I used neutral colors and minimal embellishments. The pattern is graphic and eye catching. My favorite part of this card is the scent. I wish there was "Smell-o-Blog" so you could get a sniff of the sweet butter cream frosting. I dabbed a bit of the scent behind the cake which was pop-dotted and then in the crease of the card to release the scent when opened. Go to the Scent my Cards website to see all the scents they offer.

Birthday Banner

Today is my daughter's 11th Birthday. Earlier I posted pics of her Birthday invites and promised pics of the Birthday banner we made too! We had a little party for her on Saturday with family and hung this in the kitchen where it could be seen by all. Each banner section had a little bit of my daughter's personality displayed on it. Like the girl chillin' and eating some popcorn reminds me of hanging out at home watching movies. She loves her music and singing along to all her favorite tunes, so for that I added her green ipod. Let's not forget the cupcakes. She and I both love sweets and Retro Bakery has the best cupcakes ever! They were a hit at the party, you must check out their site.

For the entire banner I used:

~ 9 bright and fun colors

{white daisy, orange, citrus leaf, bubblegum, sunflower, hydrangea, black, watermelon, heavenly blue}

~ 9 stamp sets

{A Birthday Wish, Spot on Background, Cupcake Sprinkles, Star Power, Love You Forever, It's Your Day, Ms. Chillin', Love Birds, Everyday Celebration}

~ 9 different types of embellishments

{brads, buttons, bling, flower, ric-rac, floss, sassy strands, wiggle eyes, ribbon}

~ 9 + products

{liquid glass, coloring pencils, cardstock both flat and textured, liquid applique, water color pencils, blending pen, piercing tool, scallop punch, cuttlebug embossing folders, ink, sponges, circle punch and hole punch}

In this picture you can see the banner and all the kids gathered around the fabulous assortment of cupcakes. {my favorite are the Red Carpet, she chose Cotton Candy for the topper and the one she ate} YUMMY!!!

Seriously Girlfriend it's a Party!

My daughter and I had a super creative bonding moment last Saturday. Her and I sat in my craft room and we picked out all the colors and stamps that we wanted to use to make her super Rockin' Birthday invites. She played a huge part in the design and helped out with several jobs.

We started with a page, random stamped on White Daisy with the Star Power and Ms. Chillin' stamp sets. Her color choices were bright and bold just like her personality. Here is the page:




Once the random stamping was complete came the chaos. Time to cut papers, stamp, color, emboss, ink, sand.... whew! Are we ready to assemble yet?



My daughters idea was to make each of them different. Not a single invite is the same. She did a fabulous job coloring all the girls on the card. I would have just made a solid shirt color with a solid pant color, but not her. She did them so colorful, like tie die, she called it "Rupert" style! {Rupert is a Hero contestant on Survivor}

Here's one of the cards up close:

The inside, just like the outside, was done in a different color for each card.

Wait til' you see the Birthday banner I've been creating for her all week long. It was a surprise for her, although I have my doubts that she didn't peek a little into my craft room!!! I'll post pictures of it soon, so come on back!

Flippin' Rock Star Pages

March club pages are totally rockin'! I love these new papers from the Spring Idea Book, probably because they are my favorite colors. I'm a big fan of the fall season and these colors come from the Autumn collections. There is lots of sanding and distressing on these pages, but the WOW factor is that huge 9x9 flip-up page. I saw the idea last year on Tresa Black's blog and absolutely loved that I could fit lots of photo's on one layout. {She was also the big winner of Close To My Heart's Clearly the Best Video Contest, check it out, so funny!}

This is what the ladies will be creating. It's just a base to add their own photo's and more embellishments. The possibilities are endless and the photo arrangements can vary widely.

Here is the 9x9 page protector flipped up. Inside is a 9x9 simply snapshot. Nothing is faster or simpler than that!!

I've completed my pages with some Disneyland photo's. This should give the ladies lots of ideas to use on their own pages.

Inside the flap I focused all of my photo's on the Disney parade. I got a total of 8 photo's just in this section, but as you can see they are not busy and your eye moves across all the pics well.

I used a little "adventure" tag with a clip to show where the page is lifted from. I also went for a big bold title with lots of color to match the page.

These Lots of Dots are amazing. You simply sponge them with ink while they are still on the carrier sheet. The tiny dots resist the ink and in no time at all your peeling them off the sheet and placing them on your project. So fast and easy and they look great!

Another fun addition to my pages are the Rockin' Top Coats. Again, these are so easy to use. You'll need to peel away a thin coating from the image. Then, I used just a dab of liquid glass here and there to adhere it to my page. Finally I inserted a few brads in the center of the stars to add security and dress it up a bit more. They are fantastic and the perfect companion to these papers.

I hope the ladies "flip out" for these pages. and Speaking of Rockin', stay tuned to see pics of my daughter's totally rockin' party invites, seriously girlfriend!

Veranda Cards

Playing with some new and old stamps as well as the Veranda papers. I really like these papers, the colors are so calm and pretty.

The first card was inspired from the Spring Idea Book page 30. There are 2 cards shown on this page featuring the Creative Basics Veranda Collection. They are some of my favorite cards in the new book. I decided to combine the two together to create a sweet and clever card. It uses the stamps Fringed Phrases and Love You Forever.


This card uses some older stamps. One of them is my favorite flower stamps called Simple Blossoms. I love this set because it contains a base image and outline image of a few different flowers. I rock & rolled the base image in the creme brulee, garden green and juniper colors then stamped it. I then used juniper ink to stamp the outline image over the base. It gave the flower more color and makes it really come to life. The other stamps used were Fringed Phrases and the vase is from With Love.

Baby Boy

I found out that my sister-in-law is expecting a baby boy. This will be her fourth. She has her own little army or team! I wanted to make her a special card to let her know that we are excited to meet her little bundle of BOY!

I used crystal blue B&T paper from Twitterpated and the stamp sets Treetops and TLC. I did some more sewing on this card as well, not very good, but it's o.k.!! To achieve the blue skies behind the white clouds I stamped the cloud on a post-it-note and sponged around it. The clothesline was made from some hemp. Oh, and the baby onesie is from an older stamp set called For Baby.

Piece of Cake

I was playing with the Stamp of the Month and a new scallop punch I received in January. I saw the scalloped background idea on another blog and thought is was very creative. I am really loving what others are doing with the Piece of Cake stamp.

The first card is done in bright summery colors and uses the textured cardstock. The second card uses B&T papers in primary colors. Yes, that is some "real" sewing you see on the white cardstock. Not really good sewing, but it added fun texture to the card. The glitter on the cupcakes also adds some great texture and makes those cupcakes POP!

Back to Basics ~ February Edition

Last month I told you about a new club I started this year called Back to Basics. Ladies meet once a month to create a 2 page layout with a monthly theme. The class is designed to keep scrapbooking faster, simpler, easier and well... BASIC! The cost is minimal, the products are minimal, time spent is minimal and you go home with fabulous pages.

This months pages features the calm and cool colors of the Veranda paper collection and the lovely Love Birds stamp set. Random stamped pages are done with coordinating colors and cut to fit both pages. The embellishments are simple yet add just a touch of interest with a cinched ribbon tied together with a button and floss. There are plenty of spaces for multiple photos and a large area for journaling.

I hope those attending this Friday will be delightfully surprised.

Valentine Treats Machine

It's Thursday. In our house we call it Survivor night! If you missed the premiere last week, you missed a great show and fantastic start to season 20. Go Heroes!!! Get caught up on what you missed here.

Now on to the artwork....

I made these cards for my children on Valentine's Day. I used a new stamp set and treats cup from the Stampin' Up mini catalog. They are super simple to use and make a card so much fun. So far the kids have not tried to open them, but it won't be long until they want to eat the chocolate inside.

I used some Blush textured cardstock as the base. It's great to sand paper and distress the edges. I also used some Tulip b&t paper from the Jingle collection and a sparkly twinkle brad.

Birthday Chocolate

So it's my sisters Birthday today {her and Abe} and this is the card I made her. We are both huge fans of chocolate and I know that she would want nothing more than some delicious chocolate on her B~day! She does not live in the same town as me, so I had to send her just a bit of chocolate to hold her over until her next visit. Hopefully on the next visit she can indulge in some of her favorite goodies I create. She loves my chocolate drop cookies and cakes, but nothing is more decadent than my flourless chocolate cake with ganache and raspberries on top!! Yummy!

Here is the card done with the Topstitch papers and the Piece of Cake stamp set.


This card actually has several layers giving it great dimension!



The buttons were all strung together on a single piece of hemp, then glue-dotted to the card.

Inside the envelope I was able to stick this candy bar also wrapped in Topstitch papers. The frame stamp is from January's stamp of the month; True Friends. The stamped heart is from Star Power and the sentiment is from Love of my Life. I was so glad to hear that it made it to her in one piece. I was worried that someone might get a whiff of the chocolate and steal it! Ha, Ha Ha!

I suppose I've been on a chocolate bar wrapping frenzy. Here are some more I did for my daughter's school leadership group. They get together every few months just to celebrate some of the members birthdays. It's a small contribution on my part, but I think the kids enjoy them.

All this talk about chocolate, Valentine's day must be near!! Last night I made one of my favorite chocolate treats; chocolate covered strawberries. Sweet juicy berries covered in dark delicious chocolate makes me very happy.

What is your favorite dessert to eat on Valentine's day? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear about it!