Joy Ornament

Hello! Whew!  I took a long break---and it was so nice:)  The kids go back to school today.  My youngest already told me twice yesterday that she is going to miss me a lot today because she will be away from me all day again :(  Guess we had too much fun! 

Anyway, I am slowing getting back into my craft room as I have had little time to fit much in between putting up the Christmas decorations and visiting with family.  I do have an easy ornament project to share today, however.

Remember the advent calendar I made a few weeks ago?  I had several tins left over from it and thought they would made cute ornaments.  Here is the first one I made:

 

I used Echo Park- This & That: Christmas chipboard on the inside and paper to frame the outside edge using Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies.  I used an SRM sticker (Fancy Sticker Sentiments: Christmas) to layer over the outside of the tin.  I punched a hole in the top of the tin using a Cropadile and then threaded the hemp through to create a hanger.  A little bit of Marashino baker's twine and a heart stick pin (Little Yellow Bicycle) finish off this easy project.

Speaking of baker's twine---Did you see the two new colors that The Twinery just released---Platinum Shimmer and  Gold Shimmer? Heavenly!  Might have to give some of that away soon ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Pub Rejects :)

Here are two cards I made for a recent call that didn't make the cut :(  But.... I really enjoyed making them so I thought I would share them here!

They are both cards made with things found in the KITCHEN.... and with SRM Stickers :)

For my first card, I took a doily and placed it on the cardstock and then dabbed white paint over it.  The doily served as a stencil and I was able to create a fun-funky frame for my sentiment. I really love how this turned out:

Supplies: white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Doily- 4 in. (Wilton); acrylic paint- white (Plaid); SRM sticker- Fancy Sticker Sentiments- Thanks; patterned paper- Paradise Beach: Green (Echo Park)

Next, I used a staple in most kitchen's--toothpicks!  I cut the toothpicks and colored them with a Sharpie black marker and then added them to the card to form the sentiment:

Supplies: white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Sharpie black marker; toothpicks; decorative brad- Season's Greetings (Echo Park); sticker- We've Got Your Sticker- Sweet (SRM Stickers); patterned paper- Splash: Sunkissed Starfish (Little Yellow Bicycle), Sweet Day: Blue (Echo Park).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tag Wall Calendar

Hello! Happy Monday! Thanks so much for all the comments and emails from my last post.  I just love my super fabulous blog friends!

Last year I created a wall calendar made up of tags that hang on this birdcage in my kitchen.  I decided to update the tags for 2013 since it has been a big conversation piece in my house.  The tags feature SRM Mini Calendars and a LOT of other SRM stickers (listed below!)  You can see in the detail pics all the other stickers I used (including lots of border stickers!) Here is the finished product that was on the SRM stickers blog last week:

SRM Stickers used:
Stickers by the Dozen- Valentine’s  #62004

We’ve Got Your Border- Halloween  #57005

Express Yourself- St. Patrick’s Day #42036

Freestyle Winter #50001

We’ve Got Your Border- Valentine’s #57007

Mini calendar 2013 Standard #48009

Mini calendar 2013 Decorative #48008

Sticker Sentiments- Life is Good #51014

Year of Memories 2013 #48007

Express Yourself- Water Fun #42039

Express Yourself- Graduation #42019

Quick Card- Class of 2013  #52043
Express Yourself- School #42020

Other supplies used are from these companies: The Twinery, Ranger (Distress inks), Gina K Designs, My Favorite Things, Bella Blvd, October Afternoon, Little Yellow Bicycle, Echo Park Paper, My Little Shoebox, Lori Whitlock (Penguin Silhouette Shape).

Thanks for stopping by!

A True Friend

Hello! Happy Tuesday!  Since we celebrated labor day here in the states yesterday, this is going to be one of those weeks that I am always a day off!  YES, I had to double check the day before typing that!

Well, today I have a card to share that I have worked on little by little.  I was trying to play along in the Moxie Fab Challenge: The Asymmetry Challenge.  In doing so,  I discovered that when you create a design that happens to turn out asymmetrical, that is one thing....but trying to create something asymmetrical is quite another.   I started off in several different directions but finally went with this design.   I like that the sentiment is in black to draw your eye toward it, with only a few other small details on the card being black to keep your eyes focused on the important part :). Otherwise, every other element was in 12 different positions before they were finally glued in their final place.  

Supplies: stamps- My Favorite Sentiments (My Favorite Things);  cardstock- Ivory (Gina K Designs);  Patterned paper- Escape Collection (Little Yellow Bicycle); baker's twine- Ocean (The Twinery); sewing machine; ink- tea dye distress ink (Ranger), Memento tuxedo black (Tsukineko); ribbon-Offray; flower and pin- Wild Orchid; rhinestones- Recollections (Michael's).

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 2

Hello again!   The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop!!! As you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!
Today we are working with the new sets: Tropical Nature and I Do!

Here are my samples:
The first card features I Do!

I folded over a printed shaped frame to create the card base.  I stamped the fella in tuxedo black ink (Memento) to make a fun anniversary or wedding day card.  I added a little flower made out of twine on his lapel.  I stamped the 4 ever sentiment in Fired Brick ink (Ranger).

Next, I used the "+" and "=" from the I Do! set and coupled them with the images and sentiment from Tropical Nature to create this equation:

I stamped the pineapple and then added a little drink straw with a black pen and then stamped the trees. Since I was using clear stamps I was able to separate off the "in the sun" sentiment from the rest of the sentiment so I could stamp it by itself.  (This is one of the benefits of clear stamps...you can make a quick vertical cut to use it in pieces and then you can place it on the block back together to use as a whole sentiment again!)
Fun sets! ugh?

Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration from the rest of the team:

• Gina K
• Becky Oehlers – Illustrator I Do!
• Theresa Momber – Illustrator Tropical Nature
• AJ Otto
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Giovana Smith
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Lori McAree
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

 Thanks for stopping by!

You are My Sunshine

Hello! Happy Tuesday! My kids are finishing up their last week of school---summer vacation is now in sight :)  Woohoo!
Today I am sharing a project I had featured on the SRM Stickers blog yesterday.  A cute summer card and coordinating tube.

For the treat part, I used a skinny tube and altered it by using a chipboard shape I had lying around (Little Yellow Bicycle) and adding the sentiment up the trunk. I added a heart shaped button to mimic the cinnamon hearts I filled the tube with.

For the card, I altered a silhouette shape I found for the sun beams then framed the sentiment in a sun shape and stitched around it. I used SRM Sticker Sentiments- Summer (#51011).

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Inspired Birthday Card

Hello! Just wanted to pop in and let you know I have a post up on the Cardmaker Blog today.  Come see how a Tiffany & Co. bag inspired this card:

 

I would love for you to check it out! -------> Click HERE!

Supplies used: White cardstock from Gina K. Designs; Swoon 6 x 6-inch paper pad, stickers and stickpin from Little Yellow Bicycle; Splash Blue and Yours Truly Grey patterned papers from Echo Park Paper Co.; Fancy Sticker Sentiments-Birthday from SRM Stickers; silver cord from Stampin’ Up!; Recollections pearls from Michaels Stores Inc.; Perfect Petal Trio Die-namics die from My Favorite Things; artisan ornate oval frame Silhouette file by Samantha Walker from Silhouette America Inc.  

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Monday!

Karing for Karen

*****If you are looking for The Twinery/Clearsnap post....you can find it HERE!

Welcome to a special blog hop we are calling, Karing for Karen-- A hop for a very special friend of ours, Karen Knegten.  Here is a birthday card I made for her (her birthday was last week):

 

Supplies: cardstock- pure luxury white (Gina K Designs); patterned paper-Berries and Vines (Gina K Designs); branch with leaves die (Sizzix); Scarab vintage seam binding (Ribbon Carousel); stamp- Sweet Strawberries (Gina K Designs); adhesive pearls (Recollections, Michael's); baker's twine-Shore (The Twinery); stick pin- (Little Yellow Bicycle); ink-Olive (Memento Dew Drop)

If you have been around the stamping community for any length of time at all, you might have run into Karen. She is always participating in challenges, offering us wonderful inspiration with her awesome talent! About a month ago, Karen had to have surgery for two brain aneurysms. She is still in the hospital and we are having this blog to inspire more of you out there to send in some cards to Karen AND to her family that is caring for her too! So hope you feel inspired with our little hop for you today. Below you will find all of the links to all of the girls participating...these are from the CSS Alumni group and the Design Team from Gina K Designs. Enjoy and be inspired to send a card or two in!

Here is the address for sending the cards to:

Karen Knegten
c/o R.S.V.P. Rental Services
350 W. Northwest Highway
Barrington IL 60010

Here is the list of friends who are participating in the hop today:
Carolyn King (you are here!)
Tina Gilliland
Giovana Smith
Lee Murphy
Theresa Momber
Deb Felts
Vicki Dutcher
Cathy Tidwell
Melissa Shultz
Tera Fujan
Cheri Weston
Joy Hadden
Linda Payne
Sue VanDeVusse
Jennie Harper
Betty Neville
Geri Utterback
Brenda Turner

 Thanks for stopping by!

SRM Wedding Ensemble

Hi there! Today I have a post up on the SRM blog :)  It's my birthday so you really should go check it out!  

Fine.....here it is:   I created a wedding set using SRM tubes and stickers:

 Here is the card:

I used the Swoon collection (Little Yellow Bicycle) on the bottom of the card.  I layered the SRM sticker on some cardstock and then matted it over a cardboard frame (LYB).  I added the ribbon pleated embellishment (LYB), some stick pins (LYB), the felt flower and a rub on.  The white SRM sentiment along the bottom was offset by some rhinestones.  I finished by inking all edges with Tea Dye Distress ink.

And here are the tubes, dressed in their finest attire:

 

For the tubes, I used two different Silhouette files.  The dress file was actually to make a dress box but I ended up altering it (excuse the pun!) to make it just a dress.  I cut it with my silhouette and then embossed it with the Textile embossing folder (Cuttlebug; Provocraft) and then sponged over the pattern with Antique Lined distress ink (Ranger) and then I added some pearls.  I cut the tux out using black, silver and white cardstock.  I rolled some Marachino baker's twine (The Twinery) to create a little rose boutonniere for the tuxedo.   I filled the tubes with some candies and then added some stickers along the bottom.

SRM products I used are: Skinny Tubes (#38004)

Stickers-
Say it with Stickers- Anniversary (#39029)
We've Got Your Sticker- Forever (#53008)

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a GREAT one!

Sight Words Box

Hello!  Today I have a fun project I created using an amazing Lori Whitlock file.  The original use of this box is for a Valentine's box.  You can see the graphic of it HERE.  It is a super cute holder for all those Valentine's the kids will be getting next week.  I thought it would be fun to take the same exact file and show you another way to use it so that you can see that it isn't JUST for Valentine's Day!

So, I used the same file (but shrunk it down a bit using my Silhouette Studio Software) and made a flash card box for my 6 year old.  She gets new sight words to study every few weeks and I thought this would be a cute way for her to store the index cards. It makes it easy for her to grab the box and study by herself too: 

I added a star index card so that she can place the words she already knows behind the star and the ones she is still working on in front of the star.

The box was cut out using some October Afternoon patterned paper and some chalk stock paper for the front panel.  I used embellishments from Little Yellow Bicycle and from October Afternoon to  decorate it:

You could also make a cute note holder for beside the bed or at your computer desk for different notes you want to jot down or for computer passwords.  The possibilities are endless!

I know my daughter loves her new sight word box so hopefully that will make studying more fun for her.  Here is a link to the Valentine Box I used.  Here is a link to Lori's online store!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Favorite Releases from CHA!

Hello!  I am finally recovering from the time change from attending CHA earlier this week.  CA is a lot farther of a flight from PA than it was from Texas and it hit me harder than usual.  I just downloaded some of the product pictures I took and thought I would share some of my favorite products that will be coming to stores very soon!

First up---this Scissor Mouse by Westcott.  This is really cool. There is a blade underneath and you run it along your paper just like a computer mouse.  It runs smoothly and the best part---you don't have to put it on a mat...there is a protector underneath that protects the surface so you can cut anywhere:

SRM Stickers new release includes these crystal clear border stickers- We've Got Your Border-- that you can add to anything---cards, scrapbook pages, the Tubes, ribbon etc! Fun to be able to create your own patterns:

I love these 3d pieces from Studio 490 (Ranger).  You can stamp them with coordinating stamps, add patterned paper and/or ink:

Paper Smooches (Kim Hughes) released new stamps for CHA that will be available in March.  The collection features wonderful backgrounds and some more adorable hand drawn images that we all know and love:

October Afternoon had a big display of their Sprinkler sprays in so many colors that coordinate with their papers and I really liked the new collection called 9 to 5:

Little Yellow Bicycle always has fun papers and embellishments and I was excited to see what was new with them.   The Escape (June release) features these papers and embellishments. Cute!

 And this is Splash (May Release)....soo cute. Love those fish and the circle paper:

 Jillibean Soup stands out to me because they have their own style, never confused with another brand.  I love the little Cool Bean Buttons:

They have some great paper lines coming out too---this one is called Southern Chicken Dumpling Soup! (I love how they name their lines!)

 Echo Park Paper has several lines being released and they have some smaller collections being released with the thought that those collections are needed but you might not need a whole collection.  The themes of these range from 4th of July to sports.  Very cool.

They also have some full releases coming out and here are two of my favorites--
Note to Self:

 This & That:

Clever Handmade is a new paper company by Heidi Grace that features paper but also other products that enable you to go beyond the typical paper projects...definitely clever stuff!

Here is a look at the Decorative Iron ons:

 And this is one of my favorite lines called Above the Clouds:  (VERY cute but hard to photograph with the lighting)

Finally, Nikki Sivils has some really cute lines---
I loved these--- Audrey and Exit Here:

 

There was so much to see and look at that I am sure I missed a lot of great things.  I was really interested in checking out the new paper lines and products that were new and unique.  One other product I really liked but failed to get a picture of was by Imaginisce--the ribbon cutter. It cuts and seals the ribbon in one step. Very cool!

CHA was so much fun but now I can't wait to get my hands on all the new stuff!!!

Thanks for stopping by!