You're the Best!

Good morning!  Today I have a quick SRM stickers card to share:

 

Supplies: Stamps- Dot Spot (Papertrey); ink- Cat's Eye Archival dye ink pads (Color Box); Sticker sentiment- Congratulations (SRM Stickers); baker's twine- Lemondrop (The Twinery); Paper- A Boy's Life: Teal/Yellow, Playtime (Echo Park)

I cut the card from white cardstock and added the strip of patterned paper along the bottom.  I cut three squares from white cardstock and cut the fourth from patterned paper.  I stamped the design in each square and for the last, I added a SRM sticker to white cardstock, trimmed it and mounted it on the yellow.  I adhered all the squares to a piece of blue patterned paper and then tied some Lemondrop baker's twine (The Twinery) to the bottom before adding it to the card.

Thanks for stopping by! You're the Best!

Lori Whitlock Valentine Blog Hop

If you are here from CARDMAKER blog, see post below!

Hello! Welcome to the Lori Whitlock Valentine Blog Hop!  All of the designers are working with some of Lori's newest Valentine's releases to get you inspired to create your own!

I chose the Heart Shaped Box for my project:

 This box is so easy to make.  I used Echo Park's Yours Truly paper for it and only needed minimal embellishments, because it honestly looks fabulous on its own.  And this box is pretty big---It has a bag of Hershey's miniatures in it and there is still plenty of room in it... (ok, that could be because I had to sample a few!)

 

 To see more projects using Lori's files, head on over to these fabulous blogs:

Lori

Carolyn

Joy

 Natalie

Corri

Krissy

And. to help celebrate....Lori is having a sale in her online store---

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

PS: Yes, I have some CHA pictures to share.  I got home late last night so it will not be happening today. Hopefully I will have a post to share on the weekend :)

{Be Mine} Birdhouse

Hello! Happy Wednesday! I am officially freezing now. The temperatures here have suddenly taken a turn towards deep winter and I cannot seem to keep my hands warm! (But the kids are loving it!)

I was at home the other day and decided to play around with Echo Park's Valentine release called "Yours Truly." I truly love this collection. Since I was kind of looking to alter something---I want looking in my stash and found a wooden birdhouse I picked up a few years ago.

I took the little dowel out of it and decided to make it a cute Valentine decoration--to bring me out of the winter doldrums :)

Here is what I ended up with:




I painted the birdhouse with white acrylic paint and then after that dried, I covered the sides of the house and the roof with Helmar Premium Craft Glue and added the patterned paper. (I sponged the edges of all the patterned paper with Ranger Antique linen distress ink before gluing!)

I wanted to suspend the little clear heart from the top shingle over the love birds so I used my paper piercing tool (yep, I got a new one as my other one broke when i jammed into a locked bathroom door :) to make a hole up under the shingle. Then, I inserted a finding into it and the heart charm hooked onto the end.

I used some Maya Road felt birds to add the the Echo Park Yours Truly heart sticker. I also added some tiny rhinestones all along the outside part of the heart to dress it up a bit.
The bottom of the house is lined with some Twinery baker's twine. I used some Helmar 450 Quick Dry glue to adhere the buttons along the front of the house and to attach the lace to the roof. After adding the lace, I put a small row of pearls on the top edge of the lace.
The final touch was the little {Be Mine} tag courtesy of a SRM sticker.
Feminine and simple. Definitely helped to lift my mood a bit.

Supply list:
Wooden house (Hobby Lobby or craft store)
White Acrylic paint
Helmar Acid Free Glue, Helmar 450 Quick Dry
sponge
Ink-Antique linen distress (Ranger)
Baker's twine- (The Twinery)
Patterned paper and stickers- Yours Truly collection (Echo Park Paper)
Sticker- {Be Mine} (SRM stickers)
MicroFelt birds - (Maya Road)
Rhinestones/pearls - Recollections, Michael's
Buttons- (Papertrey Ink)
Heart jewel
Paper piercing tool
Pink glitter- Doodlebug
Lace ribbon - Michael's

Thanks for stopping by!

Cardmaker Blog Post

Hello! Happy Friday! Lots going on around here. I am attempting to get all the Christmas packages I have to send out finished up today :)

Just wanted to pop on here and let you know my very first blog post is up on the Cardmaker blog today--featuring my favorite card making tip!
You can find it HERE!

Have a great day!

Helmar Holiday Blog Hop

It's that time of year where we all start thinking of the holidays....so what better way to get into the Holiday Spirit than a great Helmar Holiday hop? You will find so much holiday cheer along the way and some amazing projects featuring all the different Helmar adhesives.

If you have been hopping along, you should have hopped here from Nikki Sivils' blog. If not, you can go to the Helmar blog and start at the beginning. There are goodies along the way and we don't want you to miss a thing.

For my project, I created a felt ornament:


I love creating ornaments and each year we try to make a few more for our tree. I used two pieces of die cut felt for this fella. After I lined the two sides up, I lined the outer rim with Helmar Premium Craft Glue. I stuffed the snowman with some more felt and then pinched the sides shut. This kept the snowman together for easy stitching. I attached the ribbon scarf with some Helmar Premium Craft Glue as well.

I used my Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner to attach the little heart to the banner top. The candy cane and the Merry and Bright banner are both from from Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts (by Bella Blvd.)

Supply list:
Helmar Premium Craft Glue
Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner
Patterned paper- Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts (Bella Blvd)
Die- Snowman (Papertrey Ink)
Felt- white, chocolate (Papertrey Ink); red (Joanne's)
mini clothespin
baker's twine - chocolate (The Twinery)
ribbon
button (Papertrey Ink)
Hemp (Hobby Lobby)
mini bell
stickles- orange (Ranger)
adhesive rhinestones- Recollections, Michael's


Blog Candy: Make sure you leave a comment at every stop along the hop because the Helmar elves will be giving away prizes to some lucky Helmar fans. Now hop on over to Jen Erickson's blog to see another wonderful Helmar Holiday project. The Holiday Hop will be open for comments until 11:59 PST on December 4th. Hope you enjoy this little holiday spirit from all of us on the Helmar team. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Merry Santa

Gettin' in the holiday spirit? I have a cute little project you can make for your kids or even make with your kids.
For my Merry Santa I used this digital file: Christmas set #2 from Lori Whitlock (Silhouette users you can find these files in the Silhouette store as well under Lori Whitlock's name!) I used the Santa image and just enlarged him to create this:

I trimmed his hat and his coat with some felt. I used SRM Stickers- We've Got Your Sticker-Merry to create the banner. I used some of the white sentiments on the chimney and on the SRM tube itself:


Here is a picture of Santa out of the chimney so you can see the tube:

Supplies list:
Santa Digital file-by Lori Whitlock- Christmas set #2
Silhouette
Patterned paper is by Echo Park (Season's Greetings and Dots & Stripes.)
Cardstock- white, onyx (Gina K Designs)
Felt - Papertrey Ink
Baker's twine- The Twinery (Marachino)
Stickers- SRM Stickers- We've Got Your Sticker- Merry
Tube- SRM Stickers
Adhesive- Acid Free Glue (Helmar)

Thanks for stopping by!

Gingerbread House

Hello! Today, as promised, I have my first "official" Lori Whitlock design team project to share with you.
For my project, I used the new Gingerbread House that Lori created. This house is incredible. Lori thought of everything....It literally takes 10 minutes to put together and then all you have to do is have fun and decorate it :) The file also comes with a gingerbread man, candy canes, a wreath, tree, candy, etc. ---Tons of stuff to decorate your house AND to use on other Christmas projects!

I love it....what a fun idea this would be to print out for the kids and decorate this instead of a candy one--->it lasts a lot longer and it is actually more fun!

Here is my house (I included lots of pictures so you could see it from lots of angles): I used patterned paper from two different Echo Park collections to make the house: Season's Greetings and Holly Jolly. The tree, gingerbread man and candy canes and candy are just some of the darling designs that come with the gingerbread house file.

I cut some felt for the roof and under the windows for some "snow." I used some stickers from Season's Greetings collection (Echo Park), like the string of ornaments, to further decorate the house. The gift and Merry Christmas sentiment are from Holly Jolly (Echo Park).

Here are a few more close up pictures:






This was such a fun project to create. I love how easy it was. If you have not already, give her 3D files a try...you will not believe how well-designed they are :)

Supplies--Gingerbread house *** file (Lori Whitlock for Silhouette); Patterned paper- Holly Jolly, Season's Greetings (Echo Park paper); adhesive pearls (Recollections, Michael's); black pearl (Want2Scrap); white felt (Papertrey Ink); cardstock- Kraft, chocolate (SU!); button; stickers- element stickers- Holly Jolly, Season's Greetings (Echo Park Paper); ink- Tea dye distress ink (Ranger); white gel pen (Ranger).

***Files can also be purchased in Silhouette store if you need .studio files!!

My fellow design team member Corri has a fabulous wreath on her blog today! Check it out...it is wonderful!

Hope you like this project!!! Thanks for stopping by today!

Sneaking in a card...

Hello! Sorry it has been so long....summer is BUSY.
Here is what we did yesterday---
Went for an early morning run.
Got kids fed...took my youngest to gymnastics class.
Then, took her to swimming lessons until noon.
Came home and grabbed lunch and then took my oldest to tennis lessons from 1-3.
Then, picked her up and she got showered and changed for her piano lessons at 4:30.
Then, picked her up at 5:00 and made and ate dinner.
Then, my son had baseball from 6:30 till 8:30 and then the team went to grab a bite to eat so I didn't get home until after 10.
Whew!
Life is crazy with three buggers all different ages...but it is fun.

Unfortunately my crafting time is pretty limited these days and looks even worse on my blog. A lot of things I have been working I cannot share at this time. But, I did manage to sneak in a bit of crafty time and (finally) ink up this new set that was designed by a sweet, amazing friend, Kimberly Crawford. This card uses her set Very Square Sentiments from her Mint Motif line:

I coupled this sentiment (one of my favs from the set because I make so many birthday cards!) with some October Afternoon designer paper (Fly a Kite)and some PaperTrey Ink felt and ribbon and buttons. I used a jumbo scallop die from My Favorite Things to create the edge.

The little crocheted flower is made by a very talented lady, AesaLina. You can find her crochet flowers and fun covered buttons at her etsy store, PixiePetals.

I will have more to share.....soon!
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday, Random.Cara

Today, my sweet Cara turns 14....it is hard to believe.

Although it is rare that she lets me take her picture...I managed to get one a few weeks ago that I loved. I turned it into a b&w for this layout: What I {heart} about YOU Here is a close up of some of the detail:

You can see some of the dimension in this picture:

I just adore that girl.

Materials used: cardstock- 12 by 12 ivory (Stampin' Up!); Designer paper-Fly a Kite: Firefly (October Afternoon); Fly a Kite and Thrift Shop 8 by 8 pads (October Afternoon); What I Like About You title stickers (Soft Spoken: Me & My Big Ideas); luggage tag (Jillibean Soup); rub ons- Farm Fresh, Fly a Kite (October Afternoon); Cream & Green Mini Market stickers (October Afternoon); phrase stickers (Creating Keepsakes); Eyelet lace die (Papertrey Ink); felt (Papertrey Ink); die cut-Hometown:Shapes (October Afternoon); ink-Antique Linen (Ranger); sponge; black adhesive rhinestones (The Paper Studio).

Thanks for stopping by!

PC Sketchy Hop

Hello! I am sooo very honored to have been asked by my sweet stamping friend Maren to join in on the Paper Crafts Go-To Sketches blog hop today!!! Maren and I met in person for the first time a little over year ago and I consider her one of my closest stamping buddies . I just *adore* her.

Today, you will see some fresh new cards created with some of the amazing sketches the fabulous Go-To Girls created for Go-To Sketches. In addition, you will be entered to win it by commenting on each of the participating blogs listed below!!!!!!!!! (Leave a comment on each blog to increase your chances of winning!) Three winners will be selected from all the entries!!!

The comments will close at midnight on Thursday, April 8.

Here is one of Maren's awesome sketches from the book:
Here are my takes on the sketch--

For this card, I created the card base and then cut another white mat slightly smaller than the card and embossed it with the textile embossing folder. I inked the edges with Sahara sand ink and attached it to the base.

I cut a small rectangle of designer paper and stamped the foliage stamp from Signs of Autumn (Gina K Designs) all over it in the same sand ink. I stitched the edges and attached it to the die cut designer paper shape.

Then, I stamped the sentiment with pumpkin and black ink. I added a strip of designer paper along the bottom and a piece of ruffled ribbon along the side. I adhered the sentiment on the panel with foam mounting tape.

I punched the butterfly out of the same orange designer paper and added some adhesive pearls.

Finally, I attached the panel to the card base.

Materials used: Stamps- Friends, Signs of Autumn (Gina K Designs); cardstock-white (Gina K Designs); ink- Sahara Sand, Pumpkin pie (SU!), Memento tuxedo black; Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart); Designer paper- Everafter: Something blue, Something old, Something new (Cosmo Cricket); adhesive pearls (Prima); ribbon (May Arts); Spellbinder labels four die; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); textile embossing folder (Provocraft); sewing machine.

and another...

I cut the card base from blue cardstock. I used a die to cut the curved rectangle from some October Afternoon designer paper.

I applied the rub on to the white mat. Then I die cut some felt to apply over the flower shapes for more texture. I tied a ribbon around the panel and added the sentiment sticker over the ribbon. Finally I added a button with a hemp tie and some rhinestones. Then I assembled the card, putting the section at a slight tilt for fun!

Materials used: Rub on-Farm Fresh (October Afternoon); sentiment sticker - Farm Fresh shape stickers (October Afternoon); Designer paper- Farm Fresh 8 By 8 paper pad (October Afternoon); felt (Papertrey Ink); flower blossom dies (Papertrey)Cardstock- white (Gina K Designs), Hawaiian shores (Papertrey); gemstones (The Paper Studio); ribbon-(Papertrey); button-)Papertrey); Spellbinders die-Curved Rectangle; Cuttlebug (Provocraft).

I know you want to win this beautiful issue from Paper Crafts. So don't forget to leave a comment!!!

....And then head on over to these inspiring blogs and leave a comment to increase your chance to WIN!
Amy Sheffer http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/

Carolyn King http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ (You are here!)

Joclyn Nielson http://www.hereiswhatido.blogspot.com/

Julie Campbell http://stampedinhisimage.blogspot.com/

Lisa Johnson http://www.poppypaperie.typepad.com/

Maren Benedict http://www.zanynotcrazy.blogspot.com/
Paper Crafts Connection http://papercraftsconnection.com/

Betsy Veldman: http://www.scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/paper_scissors_and_superh/

Kim Hughes: http://paperhugs.typepad.com/

Kim Kesti: http://kimberlykesti.typepad.com/

Jessica Witty: http://jesswitty.blogspot.com/

Teri Anderson: http://terisplace.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much, Maren, for the amazing chance to play along with your sketch! Love ya!

Thanks for stopping by!

Where has the week gone?

Hi everyone! Thanks for all your sweet comments. I truly appreciate every one of my readers.
We are so busy around here taking care of things and getting ready for the deployment...somehow many days fly by without notice!

Here is a quick card for today:
I used PaperTrey's Everyday Button Bits for this card. (A set I just couldn't resist!)

Reminder: Coming next week---Gina K Sneak peeks begin on Sunday night! Blog candy....and more!

I am getting samples ready to post so my hubby and I can get away for a few days without the kids...!

Materials used: Stamps-Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink); Memento black ink; ribbon-Spring Moss dot satin (Papertrey Ink); buttons (PTI); vanilla cardstock (Gina K Designs); Designer paper-October Afternoon; slit punch (SU!); hemp.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

A Totally Twilight Challenge

A TOTALLY Twilight Challenge: Wanna play along?

Just add your Twilight inspired card to this blog post and Judge.Cara will select her favorite. You have until Sunday, August 23 at 8:00 am central time to add your card to this post. Cara will pick her favorite and you will win a STAMP SET of YOUR CHOICE from Gina K Designs.

**********

A few days ago I blogged about how my daughters and I were working on projects together at the kitchen table. My oldest daughter, Cara, was making this Twilight poster: Someone asked that I post it...and that gave us an idea!

Today Cara and I made "Twilight" inspired cards. The cards we made were inspired by one of the four book covers.

Here is what we came up with:

First, here is Cara's card:

She was so secretive while making this---because she didn't want me copying her idea (This is verbatim from her!). I love what she came up with---the little forever tag and bling flowers are so much fun! And I love the overall design. (Can you tell I am so proud of her!?)


Here is my first card (I made two, cause I am fast!)

I was inspired by the same cover Cara used on this one---my checkerboard pattern just morphed a bit. I chose to make a teacher thank you card--taking inspiration from the apple on the first book.

Materials used: Black cardstock (Gina K Designs); Designer paper-Norm's News (October Afternoon), Everafter (Cosmo Cricket); sewing machine; apple-Rebecca Sower (EK Success); buttons (Papertrey); ribbon (Offray); stapler.

Here is my other card:

Removed for Publication

I used Arranged with Love (from Gina K Designs) to create the background. I stamped it once on white cardstock and then another time on black and embossed with white detail powder. I fussycut the black one and layered part over the original.

I layered some cardstock over some sheer red ribbon (taking colors from the covers) and added the friends rub-on. Finally, I added some adhesive rhinestones.

Materials used: Stamps-Arranged with Love (Gina K Designs); cardstock-white, onyx (Gina k Designs), red (SU!); white embossing powder; Versamark; Memento tuxedo black ink; ribbon (unknown); rub on-Make it Personal (One Heart One Mind); Mark Richards Crystals.

Hope you will play along!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Eclectic Get Well

*Note: I am away on vacation. This is an auto-post*

Hello! Today, I have a fun get well card to share. I recently purchased some designer paper from Sassafras---it is so funky and fun. I used it with some designer paper from We R Memory Keepers and October Afternoon for a truly eclectic card.

The ambulance is from my Nurse Feelgood set (Gina K Designs).
It is hard to see in the photo...but the scallops around the sentiment have little red crystals all around it.

Hope your week is GREAT!!

Materials used: Stamps-Nurse Feelgood (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; Copic markers; circle/scallop circle punches (SU!); gemstones (a muse); ribbon-Spring Moss (Papertrey); Designer paper-Whale of a Tale (Sassafras), Flower Frills-Grandma's Kitchen (We R Memory Keepers), Norm's News (October Afternoon); brad (American Crafts); rub on sentiment (Making Memories); corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

Thanks for stopping by!

Nuts for You

Hi everyone! Hope your week has been great! We are still away--just wanted to show you a quick card today!

I created this card with Papertrey's My Punny Valentine. Just a fun and easy card with lots of texture!
I will be home TOMORROW!

Thanks for stopping by!

CCEE Challenge and Thanks Papertrey

Hello and Happy Monday! This is a busy week. Today, I wanted to start off by thanking another fabulous company that helped with the Heart to Heart Card fundraiser for Caregivers of Alzheimer's disease. *Yep! Still thanking all the fabulous companies who generously donated to the cause.

Today---I want to say thank you to Papertrey Ink.

I recently picked up Damask Designs which was designed by the awesome Dawn McVey for Papertrey, so I decided to use it for my Monday CCEE challenge. This week we had to use adhesive address labels on our cards. Easy enough! I stamped the damask pattern on each label and then peeled them and stuck them to the black matted cardstock. I stamped another damask design and then used the small circle punch (SU!) to punch the design and add it onto a brad:
I love how dramatic the black and white looks. Check out all the other label-ed creations on the CCEE blog! Hope you will play along.

And here is another card I created with the Damask Designs. When I first saw this large image, I immediately thought of a chandelier. So.....I created a simple one layer card with that large image as the main focus. After stamping the design, I added some darker parts with a black marker (kind of representing shadows that all chandeliers give off). Then I used some Mark Richards tiny black crystal stickers to add the chain and some interest to the chandelier itself.

I used a larger black crystal sticker in the center. Finally, I stamped the sentiment, added some more crystal stickers around it and then tied the ribbon (Berry Sorbet) to the top.

Think it looks like a chandelier?

THANK YOU so much Nichole and Papertrey Ink for generously donating to a very worthy cause. I will never forget your willingness to help. I am so grateful.

******************************

Coming this week:

***TOMMORROW: I will begin showing MFTeasers of the new sets that will be released on Wednesday from My Favorite Things!

***Did you see? MFT is having an Idol Contest! Check out the IDOL thread HERE for all the details on how you can enter to win a $250 shopping spree!

***SU Blog Candy! New to you---15 sets need a new home. Stay tuned for this subscriber-only blog candy.

Thanks for stopping by!