A Card, a Page, and an Altered Gift

I have some quick artwork to show you this morning.  Do you remember that it is National Scrapbooking Day tomorrow?  We are celebrating the whole weekend at Archiver's, so I am on my way to work.  Lots of fun things going on in a lot of places for NSD!

The first project I am showing you fits into two challenges - Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab (the picture below) and the Heart 2 Heart challenge which is using two ribbons.

I have used all CTMH products for this card:

This next project is an altered canvas.  You can pick them up at our local craft stores in a variety of sizes.  I needed a gift, and I thought this would be lovely.  First I sprayed the canvas with wheatfields glimmer mist.  It's such a nice base for additional work.  From there, I used a glimmer screen and sprayed again with moonlight glimmer mist.  I did the same with the flowers - two coats of glimmer mist.  The letter was cut with my Slice, and I covered it with glossy accents for extra shine.

Finally, I put together a page with some photos we toook of Chanel last week.  What a cutie!!  I've used Bo Bunny papers for this, AC Thickers, CTMH ribbon, and some random accessories.  You have to admit this is a way cute picture of our beagle sleeping with her favorite toy!!

I'll be back later this evening to check out what everyone is up to today!!

Backyard Girl

Over at a blog for Adorn It, the gals are having a challenge using three elements:

1. You must have something scalloped
2. You must have a picture of yourself in the layout, and
3. You must use little letter

I haven't seen much Adorn It at all, so you can imagine how happy I was to see it come in at Archiver's!  I grabbed three sheets of paper, and this is the layout I came up with:

Items used are Adorn It Bee Happy and Bug Buddies paper, some gems, and a little random ribbon.  The flower is a gerbera daisy from my "big vase of random flowers for crafting" (yes, that is what I call it) and I made the center paper flower with scraps of Adorn It paper. 

These are the cutest lines!  Cute little bumblebees, flowers, and lots of other flying bugs that are really cute.  If you have a bug-lovin' kid like I did, this is a great line to look for! 

Need 4 Speed

Do you remember - or even have - one of the Little Tykes cars?  Shane loved his, had a gas station for it, and even fixed it with his "tools."  One of the best things I thought about it is that it wasn't motorized.  he had to walk or run ot move it anywhere - great exercise to for a very active little boy!

Bo Bunny has a layout sketch challenge going on:

I grabbed two sheets of Grease Monkey paper and the matching sticker sheet to complete this layout.  That's it.  One of the reasons I love Bo Bunny is all their matching accessories for a page.  So easy to finish a layout!!

If you haven't seen pictures yet from Shane's birthday dinner last night, scroll on down to take a look.  We had a fun evening celebrating Shane's 21st birthday!!

OCC Sketch Card and Pictures from Dinner Tonight

I wanted to quickly get this card posted for the OCC Sketch challenge. This one was a little challenging for me, but that was a good thing.  I pushed my comfort zone a bit and ended up with results that I am happy with.

Items used are Bazzill Swiss Dots paper and flower; CTMH Silhouette Level 2, ivory ribbon, and sparkles.  Slice cards used are Think Pink and Tag Maker.

Now I'm going to share some pictures from Shane's birthday dinner.  We had such a lovely time celebrating with Shane, Grandma Rose, and two of Shane's friends.  It was so nice out!  We were able to sit on the patio and have a very enjoyable evening.

Happy 21st Birthday, Shane!

I do not know where the time went in raising this precious boy.  But I can't really call him a boy anymore, can I?

I can't even begin to tell you how fast 21 years went. It seems like yesterday that I was on bedrest waiting to deliver Shane.  This child of mine came out talking!  He was raring to face this world the instant he was born, and that is exactly what he has done!

Shane is determined (some would call this stubborn) and has been all his life.  He forges ahead, learns his lessons, and gets on with things.  I am so very, very proud of the tremendous man that he's become.  He has a tremendous work ethic, shows great care to his friends, and always says "love you" when I see or talk to him.  This is a scary world for young people, but he met it head on and remains true to himself.  I really love that quality in Shane.  He is not afraid to be exactly who he is, and what a fine young man that makes him!!

We are taking him out to dinner this evening, and I couldn't be happier!  I thought he'd want to spend his 21st birthday with friends, but I am thrilled that he chose us!! 

Happy Birthday, Shane!!  Your mom loves you like crazy!!

Inspirational Card Sketches

I found this sketch and knew just what papers I wanted to use and just what card I was making.  Here is the sketch from ICS:

I'll tell you more tomorrow, but Shane is going to be 21!  So I had to be busy making a card for him.  All of the products used are CTMH. 

I cannot believe my sweetheart of a man is going to be 21!  Where have the years gone?!

Get Sketchy

This was a fun sketch to work with from Get Sketchy:

I used Bazzill Swiss Dots CS and flower, May Arts ribbon, and a sentiment from CTMH.  It turned out to be a very clean and simple card.

American Crafts Pet Project

This week at American Crafts, the challenge is pet-themed.  Now they wanted a card or layout, but I turned it into a project using some of their adhesive backed fabric.  I'll enter it anyway just cuz I had absolutely so much fun using the adhesive backed fabric.  I LOVE this fabric and hope that we see a lot more of it on the market! 

This is a regular photo block that I picked up on clearance at Archiver's.  CTMH sells nice photo cubes, and if need be, you could cut a 4x4 block in the garage!  The fabric worked nicely on this (and all altered projects) because there is just no need to worry about what adhesive to use and whether it will stay.  As you can see, I used two different types of fabrice paper to compliment each other.  The flair button on top and letters are also American Crafts.  The ribbon is May Arts and the buttons are CTMH.  You know I could have easily gone overboard with embellishments (because that's just so much fun to do!), but look at that picture!  I want that to be the first thing people see when they look at this block.

Look What I Got in the Mail Today!

I am feeling quite blessed to have the sisters and family that I do.  Today I received my birthday gift from my sister Linda.  I opened this gift and started to cry.  She just knows me so well! 

Don't you think she should sell these somewhere?  On the backside of the bag, there are swirls and the word "crafty."  Oh so very, very cute!!  If you haven't see y e-mail yet, Linda, thank you so much!!  I just love it and can't wait to show it off!!

One of my other sisters, Patti, had sent me a Starbuck's gift box for my birthday.  Do you think these girls have me pegged?!!  :)  What I know is this - I am very, very blessed!

Heart 2 Heart Challenge Sketch

I was really intrigued when I found a new CTMH blog, Heart 2 Heart.  Being a former consultant, you all know how much I love the product.  I think you should check them out if you have the time!  So this week they have a sketch to play along with:

I decided to turn this into a layout because I've had a single picture of Shane sitting on my desk for some time.  It's one of my favorites of him when he was just 11 years old.

Items used: Veranda Level 2 paper & Stickease; On Target Dimensional Elements; Borders Dimensional Elements; Spring Blossom Mini Medley Accents; Colonial White Ribbon; Sparkles; Square Window Charms

Cards, Cards, Cards (and then a few more cards!)

I told you yesterday that I would have some work to show you.  So I am going to show you the fruits of my labor today.  I made 8 of each of the next cards that I am showing you this morning.  I have the card swap at work, Mother's Day bags to fill, and Operation Write Home cards to send.  Cards never go to waste in my house!!
First I'll show you a couple of challenges that I did.  The first is for Stretch N' Bubbles.  I was so blessed to win free images from them last week!  What a fun thing to open my e-mail and find such cute images.  It was hard to pick one to go along with this week's sketch!

This is the little mouse image.  I thought it would make a nice card for a soldier to send home.  I used Basic Grey Kioshi and CTMH's TLC stamp set.  I am still so new to coloring, but it's really fun to use all the different mediums to give it a go.  (Kim, I know you are out there - are you surprised?!)

The next card is a sketch from Card Patterns:

I used American Crafts I Do paper with CTMH's Soulmate stamps set.  The flower is from the bridal section at Michael's and the ribbon is Little Yellow Bicycle.

The next card is Graphic 45 paper and a retired CTMH stamp set and is for the card swap at work:

The following cards are very simple.  You know what is funny to me is that my husband likes these cards the best of all the cards I made yesterday.  I guess there is something to be said for clean and simple with a good stamp!

(stamps for this and the next card are SU! and Inkadinkado)

(stamps - Unity and SU!)

(Unity stamps)

Well, I think it's time to switch over to some altered items and pages.  I can't say there won't be a card or two mixed in, but I think I'd like to finish some albums I've been working on.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring day!  The birds are singing like crazy here, both my furry pets are snoring right now, and life is good.

Transparency Card

I am home for a couple of days and my house is clean and laundry is done.  So, that being said, you just might see an overflow of projects from me in the next couple of days. Hope you like what you see!  I know I'll have fun creating!!

I saw this sketch over at Stampendous.  I wanted to use my American Crafts adhesive fabric, so I combined it with their challenge to use 2 or more Dear Lizzy products.

I have several Stampendous stamps, but this particular one is a favorite go-to stamp so I couldn't help but use it.  I embossed the sentiment to make it pop a little more on the adhesive fabric.

Items used: Grafix plastic paper; Stampendous cling Hugs & Laughs stamp set; American Crafts Dear Lizzy paper & adhesive-backed fabric paper; American Crafts Dear Lizzy flair; Color Me Crazy flower; chocolate Zing embossing powder; Versamark; random ribbon

I am Missing You

You know how much I love Bo Bunny's Mama-Razzi paper. I've pulled it out for many projects, and I couldn't help but use it for this Bo Bunny card sketch:

I added a touch of gold embossing powder to the top layer of my paper flower to age it even more. I found that Color Box chestnut roan matched the paper perfectly, so that is what I used for stamping and distressing.  The sentiment is from the Close To My Heart TLC stamp set.

A Little More Pink

I wanted to make a special card for Jerry's grandmother's 90th birthday, so I grabbed some more Melody Ross pink and went about making a card.  I used this week's sketch from ICS.

I used Homespun Chic sugar-coated paper for this square card.  Don't you love the pink and green together?  I had one of these flowers on my mini album in the previous post, too.  They are so easy to make, and because I also have to be a frugal paper crafter, you will probably see a lot more of these homemade flowers in my work.  SO easy to cut those layers, and then mold with distress crackle paint.  CTMH fabric brads are so perfect for these flowers because they add the vintage element.  The hat pin is from Making Memories, and I purchased the ribbon at Wal-Mart.

Beautiful Brave Girl

My friend Jamie, who designs for GCD Studios, put up a challenge over at Two Peas in a Bucket.  First of all, I need to tell you what a fabulous artist Jamie is!  Please visit her site and leave her some great comments.  You will love her artwork!

This is the picture that Jamie left for inspiration:

I created a mini album with Melody Ross Homespun Chic papers, tags, and chipboard phrases.  I made a flower for the cover.  For directions to make this flower, go here to GCD Studios.  I took the flower just a step further by coating it with clear rock candy Distress Crackle Paint.  It gave the flower a little sheen and firmness.  I used bulk ribbon, prima flowers, and some pink gems.  All of the edges are distressed with white pigment ink.

I'll share the inside pages with you as well:

I left this book blank because I have a couple ideas for it.  Not sure if I'll keep it or use it for a gift.  Melody Ross has created such beautiful papers and accessories.  It was truly a pleasure to work on this!!

American Idol

So tell me, who out there is watching this season of American Idol?  We are such fans, but I've had such a hard time grabbing on this year - until the last couple of weeks.  And I think I've finally picked my favorite - Lee! 

Love the deep, raspiness in his voice - and he seems so humble.  So I've finally picked who I think should go to the end.  Of course, that means nothing - LOL! - just my two cents!!

And speaking of American Idol, I was so happy to see Adam Lambert back to mentor.  I loved his honesty - especially since this has been a little bit of a sleepy season.

Even more though, it was really great to see him sing again.  That's a great song (did you know that Pink wrote it?), and I've never heard him put that twist on it.  Whether you like his personality or not, you can't deny that he has a fabulous voice.  I heard that's he's going to be in the Twin Cities, so I'm thinking that I just might get tickets.  That would be a fun night out with Shane!!

Vintage LO

Quite by surprise, we received these pictures of my Dad when he was a little boy.  I am not certain what age he was in these pictures, but I am so grateful to have received them!  I was especially touched by the picture  of him as a little boy holding a baseball bat (that is seemingly way too big for him) and his baseball.  My Dad loved baseball, and I spent many afternoons watching it with him.  Eventually I went on to join the boy's little league team (there was no girl's team way back then), and he was one of the coaches.  But that is a story for another day.  The highlight of this post is the LO I created with these pictures.  For this LO, I grabbed a sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches:

I took a few liberties with the sketch, the biggest being that I did not "tilt" my pictures.  For those of you that have followed my blog, you know that I like straight lines on my pages.  I used Bo Bunny Mama-Razzi paper for this LO.  Bo Bunny is so nice because they sticker sheets, border strips, and tags.  LOVE matching elements!

Here is the journaling up close:

Scrapbook Challenges Sketch #194

I found this sketch on Scrapbook Challenges:

I really liked the ease of this sketch, and the fact that it really allows you to showcase your pictures.  Here is what I put together using Basic Grey Origins:

These pictures were taken at one of our lovely state parks her in MN.  It was just a perfect day, and I was able to get some great pictures of this spot when we were hiking.  Shane was just 9 years old here, and he loved to hike and camp.  I still think he would go if I asked, but if not, I am sure glad I have these memories!