For Some Super Stars!

With a new semester starting at school this month, a couple of my students were going to be exiting the reading program. They have been working hard and it really showed in their recent testing. I wanted to give them a little gift made by myself as a token of their hard work. I came up with these Super Star bookmarks. It's just my way of saying that I'm proud of them and that I hope they will keep reading!

I used the stamp set included in the Artiste Cricut Collection and made the cuts on my Cricut as well making this a quick and simple project. The dove tail ribbons were embossed to give them more texture. I kept the colors fairly neutral so they could be given to boys & girls!

front & back

Cupcake Tags

As some of you may know, I like to provide my customers a set of mini 3x3 cards with any purchase. Just for fun I thought I would make a couple of sets of tags in a bag. This will be a wonderful option to have on hand to attach to presents or gift bags. I also got to revisit that adorable Cutie Pie stamp set, so cute!

The mix of patterns and colors in the Paper Fundamentals collection lends itself to any design you wish. They can be used for both girl or boy or can be fairly neutral. Don't you just love that chunky Pixie twine!?

Just a Note >> I Love You!

This gorgeous Valentine card was inspired by multiple challenges! It's amazing how much we can push our creativity!

The sketch for my card comes from Freshly Made sketches this week.

As you can see I chose my shape to be a vintage looking typewriter, which happens to be a Stamp of the Month that will be available later this Spring!

For my base paper I chose the lovely Heartstrings paper in a Cranberry color. This is my favorite B&T paper currently in all of the paper collections. Using mostly cranberry in my card brings me to the second challenge over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. Yep, I'm a September Birthday girl!

Finally, the last challenge was proposed on CTMH founder's Jeanette Lynton's Blog, Make It from Your Heart. An inspiration Bingo board. Close your eyes and let your finger land where it may. Then choose your direction.

I landed on "Use Shin Han Touch Twin markers" and could go vertical or horizontal. I chose to use the "O" column. Now some of these may need explaining!

The first Bingo box is to use stitching. This required getting my daughter's machine out, because I obviously work with paper and don't really sew. I did alright though and the contrast of the white thread with the cranberry paper is lovely.
 

The next challenge was to expose the white core of the paper. This was achieved by both tearing the edge of the paper and using a distressing tool on the edges. This sketch really lent itself to the torn paper!

Next was to frame a part of your creation. In a way the black cardstock frames the cranberry paper on the entire base of the card. This was also done by framing the stamped heart within the typewriter paper.

Now if you look closely in this next picture you will see where the PML card came into play. I stamped the typewriter paper on a For Always Picture My Life 3x4 card that contained some script. A little ironic I realize, but it's still super cute!

Finally, the box I landed on originally! To incorporate the Shin Han Touch markers I wanted to use a heart stamp for the center of the paper on the typewriter. The shape and size of this heart worked the best, but it was open in the middle. A quick fix was to color in the middle with the Very Cherry Shin Han Touch marker and then I blended it together with the colorless blender marker.

That was fun playing along with those challenges, you should try one, or two, or all of them....at the same time!! Thanks for stopping by...

Truly Original!

Happy Monday! Today I have some time to get caught up on a couple of projects and challenges that I have been wanting to do all week! I rarely create manly cards or projects, so it is always great to be challenged into doing some!

First, I am playing along with Heart 2 Heart's Tic-Tac-Toe challenge. {see board game below}Within that challenge is to use a sketch which leads to the second challenge at Freshly Made Sketches! It is also a manly theme with some stamping, completing the tic-tac-toe, 3 in a row!

I used some Paper Fundamentals with a great shimmery arrow pattern on the front. I then die cut a circle through the entire front so that the message was revealed on what is the inside of the card. That curly mustache is simply floating in the circle. I finished it with just a few pewter sequins, not too blingy for the guys, just a metallic color to match their machines!!

Curious where the mustache is from?! It is actually found on the new Artfully Sent cartridge. I used the negative cut from a pocket card found on page 40. Here is what the project should look like when used as directed in the booklet.

I am always holding on to those negative pieces to use on another project. In this case I was seeking out the mustache alone and then completed the project as directed. So save your negative cuts....or look at a project completely different in the first place!

Lovely Mini's

I love creating mini cards, especially when I get to use some new products! Each of these cards feature some new papers or stamp set offered in the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. You will also notice some adorable Puffies on each of them too!

They just keep getting cuter as you scroll down right?! Remember that many items featured in the Seasonal Expressions book are available for a limited time.

Year>>Noted Desk Calendar

Yesterday I held a quick class to create this handy desk calendar. The ladies had the opportunity to play with the Year>>Noted papers and stamp set. I cut a notebook shape from the Artbooking cartridge and stamped it like a piece of paper to write down New Year's goals or resolutions. {A great reminder of your goals throughout the year!} I ordered the little calendar's from Taylored Expressions and think they are a perfect size and nice readable font. The calendar is finished with a little banner and a puffie bird!

January Crate Card Club

This past weekend I held by Crate Card Club. I had a total of 5 participants, including myself and as always we each brought a different idea to the table. With Valentine's Day next month we had a few cards in a "love" theme, but then the other cards varied in occasions!

To start I am sharing my own card. I went with the Valentine them, but this card "popped" with a different twist on it! My customers have been asking lots of questions about the Artfully Sent cartridge so I wanted to give them an example.

Love Bug~

Pretty simple card from with some heart embossing and that "awesome" You're the Bomb stamp set!

Then you open and the fun pops out inside! A super cute "love bug" with glitter headlights greets you inside!

Elegant Country Tree~

Fabulous Feathers~

Lovely Love~

Happy Tags Birthday~

This club is really turning out to be lots of fun. I love seeing the ideas and getting to be the student again! I wonder what you'll do next month?!

Dream Big

I love the trend of sparkly gold papers and embellishments recently. This month's special, Year>>Noted has a perfect color and pattern combination for adding such golden bits! It relates to several fashion trends in the retail stores also! My card today started with the sketch on Freshly Made Sketches. It is a very simple layered design on the upper half of the card, however I may have added a few more layers!!

As I mentioned earlier the papers come from the new Year>>Noted paper collection. You can see more about this special in the Current Specials tab at the top or click the image at the right. I used an older chipboard star that I covered with gold glitter paper. You can see just a little bit of gold dotted vellum in the background from an older monthly special. Finally, some gold sequin makes it perfectly polished!

Old is New for H2H

It's a new year and all new challenges at Heart 2 Heart Challenges Blog. They are kicking off the year with an Old is New challenge. I think the majority of us can admit to hoarding certain products in our stash. This is a great challenge to bring those stamps or papers back into the light and get some use out of them!

I saved my project to post today, because I feel it's perfect for a Throw Back Thursday! My old item is the You Rock papers and Rockin' Top Coats. Do you remember this collection? I had to look back through old Idea Books to recall when it was first released. Can you believe it was in the Spring 2010 book! That's 5 years ago now, yikes! I made it new again with a fresh, awesome You're the Bomb stamp set!

Rockin' Top Coats

Check out that old Outdoor Denim twill ribbon!

This guitar top coat is totally radical, no wonder I was hoarding it!!

Thanks for challenging me to use my old stash H2H! Personally I think this paper is Still Rockin'!

Valentine Badge Button Magnets

You may remember my Christmas chalkboard that I created using the Holiday Happenings badge buttons as magnets. I decided to change up the chalkboard display for Valentine's Day. This time I chose the Heartstrings badge buttons from the newest Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book. They are so easy to attach to a round magnet and now I can display some beautiful Valentine cards!

Be sure to check out all the new Heartstrings collection in the Seasonal Expressions 1 book and online here!

Totally Awesome for Mojo Monday

Hello and happy Monday to you! Today I have a simple card for you using the Mojo Monday sketch and some very cool new papers from the Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book called Hopscotch! This paper kit uses a very unique color combination of oranges, blues and the seldom used Ponderosa Pine! I also inked up the new Operation Smile stamp called You're the Bomb! This stamp has quickly become a favorite, so fun and the sentiments have a great script font.

To see more of the new items in the Seasonal Expressions 1 book click on the picture in the right hand column or ask me for a copy of your own!

New in January!

Be sure to click on the Current Specials tab at the top of the page to see the promotions and other offers available this month.

As usual there is a cute Stamp of the Month at a discounted price. It has great images and sentiments to help you complete your Valentine's projects.

This month we are celebrating National Papercrafting Month with a unique Year>>Noted collection. The Year>>Noted kit will be the perfect way to capture your yearlong scrapbooking adventure!

Lastly, if you love creating your layouts online, Studio J has a special limited Yuletide Express Collection perfect to capture your photo's from the Holiday.

Get all the details by clicking on the Current Specials tab or shop online here.