Como Park

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!!  This layout is using a sketch from Page Maps, and it is for the June layout on Sketches4All.

I have used all American Crafts products for this page.  I so seldom get to use pinks and the other girl colors - this was fun to make!!

While I had my American Crafts scraps and embellishments out, I thought I'd use them to create this birthday calendar.  There are six flip pages on this Maya Road base, so I put two months on each one. I'll finish this off by typing lists of birthdays and adding it on the backside of each flip page.  All items are American Crafts except for the silk ribbon and Maya Road base.

A Few Cards to Share

I have been working on some cards for OWH, and I thought I might as well squeeze in a few challenges along the way.  The first one I'll be showing you is a card for American Crafts.  The challenge is to use 2 or more American Crafts items.  I've used Dear Lizzy patterned and fabric paper, Thickers, and an embellishment from the I Do line.  The fence and banner are from the fabric paper, and I just cut them to size.  I put Ranger glossy accents on the rose to give it some shine.

The next card is a sketch from Clean & Simple.  I do have trouble in this area, so I always say this is a great challenge for me!  I've used the new Brave Girl stamps from Unity for this card.  I think this is a great stamp set for pages and cards.  The cardstock and patterned paper is CTMH, and the ribbon is May Arts.

The last card is my take on the CPS sketch for the week.  I really wanted to use a couple more Brave Girl stamps.  That border is Fiskars Upper Crest punch, the paper is CTMH, and the ribbon is May Arts.

How has your week been?  It's been very rainy here, but it is a welcome rain to our grass, plants, and trees.  I start teaching a new class at work tomorrow using Hero Arts and Glimmer Mist.  Take a peek here to see the cards I'll be teaching (Colorful Creations).  As always, I am VERY excited to be able to teach new ideas!!

I haven't been feeling the best this past week.  So I haven't been in my craft room too much, but rather saving the best of me right now for my husband and work.  All things pass though, so I quite certain that in a few days I'll be up to par again!  Keep checking my page because I've got some new products in my craft room that I'll be creating with in the days ahead!

Find Joy Every Day

It is a beautiful day here in Minnesota!  Right now I am listening to the robins sing out my craft window.  So wonderful!!  The sky is blue, the trees are rustling with the light breeze, and all is well in our corner of the world.

I chose to grab a sketch today from Card Patterns, and I incorporated it with a challenge from American Crafts.  For AC, the challenge is to create a card or layout with 2 or more pieces from the I Do line.  Such soft beautiful colors!!

This carnation flower is so simple to create. It is simply cutting scalloped circles and cutting on the scallops.  Fun!  I made a white flower and then distressed with a soft pink chalk ink.

Items used: American Crafts Dear Lizzy and I Do papers, CTMH white daisy CS, American Crafts Remarks and brads, May Arts ribbon, Making Memories pin, Hero Arts stamp

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.

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

Happy Monday Afternoon!

I already posted a few cards this morning that I did over the weekend, now I'm going to share some that I did today.  Scroll on down if you want to see that first post!

My first sketch is from Basic Grey:

For this card I used Kioshi papers.  You might now recognize it as that because it is the gorgeous backside of the floral papers. The sentiment is Hero Arts, the stamped flower and paper flower are CTMH, the gems are random, and the stamped butterflies are CTMH.  LOVE this butterfly stamped on vellum! That's a clear button in the middle of the stamped flower.  I used a little glossy accents to adhere it to the houndstooth paper to make it match the card.   This card is also suitable for the Just Add Ink wild card challenge.

The next card I'll show is for the American Crafts challenge which is to add 2+ flairs to your project.  I really like the AC flairs.  They are a ton of fun!  The paper is from the AC Dear Lizzy collection, and the oval in the middle is the AC self-adhesive paper.  Butterfly stamp is CTMH, and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

The last sketch in this post is from OWH Stars and Stamps:

I used Tim Coffey paper along with a couple of CTMH stamps - TLC and Treasure Life.  I embossed the sentiment with Zing! vanilla.  The ribon and gems are random.  This will also fit the Just Add Ink challenge.

I spoke with my mother this a little while ago. She has COPD, and that makes the pneumonia much more difficult to deal with.  She is on continual oxygen to bring her level up, and they are working on getting her cough stopped.  Thank you to all of you who have posted or e-mailed to let me know you will keep her in your prayers!

A Layout and a Journal

This is my second post for the day, so scroll on down if you'd like to see a Christmas page with the new Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper. I popped a movie in my laptop while I was working, and I seem to get a lot more done that way. Great movie - August Rush. Have you seen it? If you like good music, you'll like this movie about a child prodigy.


Okay, I had so much fun making this layout! I came across some pictures of Shane when he was just 18 months old. What a happy little boy! And his hair was even trendy then!!


Items used: CTMH Animal Cookies paper and matching Stickease, CTMH Circle Charms and clip, American Crafts Thickers.

I was in need of a new journal so as always, I grabbed a composition book to alter. This is so easy to do! The inside covers are lined with coordinating paper. The tags and paper are Cosmo Cricket Everafter. Ribbon, photo hanger, large flower, and buttons are CTMH. Blue flower is Bazzill . Now I can write in a pretty book again!!

Simple Pet Layouts

You know, as I took out these pictures today, I thought of something. So often I work to make the most beautiful layout filled with lots of flowers, embellishments and "things." That's great! I love looking at those layouts in my books - and I will be making a lot more of them.
However, sometimes I think I just need to relax in this hobby, this craft that I love so much. I don't want to take too much time working to make a layout just perfect, so that I eventually lose that love. I also think that it can detour people from looking a blog. I want to make things that people can easily copy without much fuss. Just a revelation I had today! LOL! Enough rambling now.
For these two layouts, I used Cloud 9 pet paper. Because the colors match, I can easily put them in the pet book side by side even thought the backgrounds aren't the same. I captured my sweet pets sleeping. And what funny personalities I've got in my house! I used Thickers letters from American Crafts, and the small embellishments and sayings are random. Didn't take much time or product, but I did what I wanted to do - showcase my sleeping beauties!
**If you'd like to see the layouts larger, just click on them.**