Last Day of May!

Boo hoo! It's the last day of May and the last day of National Scrapbooking Month. Did you get some scrapbooking done? I was able to get myself a bit more caught up. {Hey, I have to leave some pages to create during the long summer months!} I have one more final layout for you using more products from the You & Me Kit.

I did not follow the instructions in the guide perfectly as it did not quite fit my theme. I improvised my banner with some chocolate twine and lots o' dots irresistibles letters. I did not use all of the chipboard pieces either, so you may see those pop up on other upcoming projects!!

I'm a Top Spool

You may have noticed the new badge on the right side of my blog. I was chosen as a winner at Ribbon Carousel Challenges with my falling stars birthday card. I am truly honored and humble. I encourage everyone to play along and check out their blog if you get a chance!

Cupcake Inspired {RCC4 Challenge}

How cute is this picture! I love ribbon cupcakes! The bright colors and textures are just too yummy! Here is the card I created from this inspiring photo for the Ribbon Carousel weekly challenge.

I like pulling in bright colors from here and there. I have some sweet leaf ribbon across the base, then tied some sunny yellow twine around some white daisy brads creating a frame. The cupcake is a pretty basic stamp, but made even prettier with some glitter and bling! Take a closer look~

Mad Tea Party Pages

It's an ABC challenge on Heart 2 Heart Blog this week. Make "Anything But a Card"!!? No problem, I love creating all sorts of projects that are not cards. However, being that it's National Scrapbooking Month I've made a promise to myself to get some scrapbooking done!

You may remember these pages I posted awhile back from my daughter's Mad Tea Party. These pages showcased the results of all our guests with their mad hatter hats. I still needed to scrap the photo's from the party.


So here is the companion page that will proceed the other one once it goes in my album. It shows some pics of the decorations, food, tea, guests, and fun! I used some great new products, stamps and some of my favorite techniques.

Here is a close up of the left page. Instead of creating new embellishments I used the tags I made for the party.

Here is what the tags looked like at the party~

Why double your work? I knew I saved these for a reason!!

I love the eclectic irresistible chipboard and dot alphabet!

and the right side~

I made these simple lanterns to decorate the party and wanted to capture them for the page also. I was unable to incorporate them on the page like the tags, but our new little lantern stamp worked perfectly.

Chairs To You

The stamp of the month for May is really fun! It will lend itself to "homey" scrapbooking pages as well as "chairy" greeting cards! Here are a few more ideas I've come up with:

Beach Cruisin' in Cali'

I hope you have enjoyed my challenge projects this week, however it's National Scrapbooking Month, so let's look at some pages!

Using the Mayberry papers, Level 2 Stickease and a template from the new Magic book, I was able to scrap some recent photo's from our Spring Break. Following one of Close To My Hearts How-To books makes the page assembly so easy. Completing the page with Stickease images and just a few small embellishments takes no time at all.

That little bicycle stickease is my favorite! Just a few more days left in May. Come back soon for more scrapbooking inspiration!

Embossed Background ~ H2H Technique Challenge

Everyone is sharing their favorite technique this week on Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog. How do I choose just one! I enjoy learning new techniques and applying them often to various projects.

I absolutely love that we can create our own background papers with any of the stamps that Close To My Heart offers. I combined my love of background stamping with another favorite, embossing! Wet embossing is such an easy technique, because the product basically does all the work for you.


I stamped a flourish stamp on some Kraft cardstock with VersaMark ink. You can see that it stayed really wet on the Kraft paper so I was able to see where I needed to apply the black embossing powder.


Once it was all covered in embossing powder I simply heated it and watched it become shiny. Imagine this look on a larger scale in your home!

For this card I also used this months Stamp of the Month "Chairs to You", pleated juniper ribbon, mini pearl opaques and a canvas badge button. {lace ribbon and flower are not CTMH}

Clean & Simple {RCC3 challenge}

I recently discovered another challenge blog called Ribbon Carousel Challenge Blogspot. I missed the first couple of challenges, but that's o.k.! The basic rule is to create anything that comes on a spool, such as: ribbon, twine, jute, lace etc.

This week's challenge is to keep is Clean & Simple. I left some white space for you eyes to rest, while incorporating interesting embellishments and colorful twine.

You can practically hear the music! Take a closer look and you'll see that I've stamped the music notes behind the clear buttons.

You & Me Kit {plus extra's}

I received this month's You & Me kit last week and started creating! Using the handy instructional guide included I made the first two-page layout for some Easter pictures. It was so satisfying to get some photo's scrapbooked, which is the point of this month...{National Scrapbooking Month}!

I had some little extra pieces left over and simply could not let them go to waste!

With some extra cardstock, including the fabulous new Kraft cardstock, and stamped images from the awesome stamp set included in the kit, I was able to create 8 cards with a box.

The box~

I still have half of the kit leftover! Maybe I'll create a layout, maybe cards, or both. It's not too late to order your kit!!

Buttons for the Boys!

They're all "buttoned up" at Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog this week. I love embellishing my cards, scrapbooks and other projects with buttons. When I sat down to create something for this challenge, for some reason, all of the creations were masculine. These projects are great for the big and little boys!

This first card uses the new bicycle stamp. I've wanted to play with this stamp for some time now, it's so cool! CTMH's new buttons were perfect for the wheels. What would typically be seen as a flower design, I saw as wheel spokes!

How about some Birthday Party paper lanterns strung together with chocolate twine!

Finally, some party balloons! and don't forget those "button" brads embellishing the bottom corner!

Be sure to check out what the other talented artists created with their buttons....I mean, their wheels, lanterns and balloons!?! Go to H2H to see them all.

Calendar Club ~ April & May

Calendar Club meets this Saturday to create the April & May pages. Each has gorgeous spring colors and fun, whimsical themes.

For April's page they will learn stamp resist embossing with the butterfly stamp. It coordinates perfectly with the reverse side of the Wings paper. We will also get to have some fun with buttons!

For May's page we will be making these cute little pinwheels. They are simple to create and add a bit of whimsy to the page! This page will also get a spritz of creme brulee ink and sparkle!

Bon Jovi, You Rock!

This month is National Scrapbooking Month and I told myself that I must get my scrapbooking all caught up. However, these pages were not for me, rather they are for my sis-in-law. Back in March we had our big concert night and saw Bon Jovi, her favorite! She is also my daughter's God Mother and each year I try to create something special for her on Mother's Day! She doesn't get much time to scrapbook her own pages so when she saw these she was thrilled.

I used papers from the You Rock packet, Hope for Japan stamp set and my favorite chipboard irresistibles for the title.

I promise to post more of my own scrapbooking layouts this month! Come back soon!

Cards For Mom {part 3}

The final set of cards for Mom! This set was made using a kit that was offered a few years ago called Just Because. For the most part I followed the instructional guide, but a couple of the cards had my own creative twist on them. Here is the sturdy box they are stored in along with the personal card for Mom. It uses similar colors and some Stickease for the flower.


I believe there are a total of 14 cards all together.



Here is a close up of just a few~