2012 Scrapbook Trend #3: Baker's Twine

Hi and welcome to another project showcasing the top 10 scrapbook trends for 2012. Number 3 is Baker's Twine. This one is also not a 'new' trend for me, but it is always fun to try new and different ways to use Baker's twine.

I used the sketch from the challenge over at The Friday Mashup this week.

This cute little guy is from Bugaboo: Dino Heart. I thought he was perfect for a card I had been wanting to make for awhile: "RAWR means I love you in dinosaur." I always say 'Rawr' to my hubby, and to be honest, I don't think he even knows what it means. He thinks I'm just being silly and so he humors me, lol. So I have been wanting to make a card to let him know exactly what it means! Here is the interior of the card:

I didn't have a stamp that said "means I love you in dinosaur", lol. I thought about typing something up on the computer, but decided to use some stickers from MME instead. They are meant to be a little skee-wompus. The Valentine's stamp is from Whimsical Designs (With Love)

I have a tip for Top Tip Tuesday this week: In order to get the edges of my banner in that nice little pattern I actually took my Zig glue pin and drew a swirly line with the glue, then laid the twine over it. It laid perfectly!

These little beauties were some blog candy I won from Debbie Bakk at Debbie's Scrappin Corner. She MAKES these! Aren't they adorable?? As soon as I received them from her I had to make something! Thank you Debbie, I LOVE them!!

Supply list:
Cardstock: Colorbok, DCWV
Patterned paper: DCWV
Stamp: Bugaboo colored with copics
Mat: Elegant Edges
Stickers: My Mind's Eye
Stamp (interior): Whimsical Designs
Baker's Twine: My Craft Spot
Embroidered Flowers: Debbie's Scrappin' Corner
Stickles

Thanks for stopping by today, and make sure you come back later this week for my FIRST post as a Guest Designer for 4 Crafty Chicks! And stay tuned for 2012 Scrapbook Trend # 4: Nautical Motifs!!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Friday Mashup - Sketch + something new (the stamps are my 'new')
Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Valentines
Paper Sundaes -Valentine

2012 Scrapbook Trend #2: Spray Ink

Hello all and welcome to the 2nd installment of my 2012 Scrapbook Trends project. Today's trend is: Spray Ink. This is a trend that I am pretty familiar with and have utilized many times in the past (love this look!) HOWEVER, I did just recently acquire some opaque white ink from Studio Calico that I was very excited to try out (with kraft paper in particular). I saw this look in a magazine, and love it! I didn't think I would be able to get opaque white spray ink so I was pretty excited to find it! So here is my project:

You are all probably pretty used to seeing layouts of my dogs by now, lol! They are my 'fur' kids so the subject of most of my work. In this particular layout I wanted to highlight a silly little quirk of June's, which is that she LOVES to burrow under blankets, especially when they are in 'motion'. I was lucky to grab this shot of her when she was making herself comfortable under my quilt. Here are some close-ups of the journaling (where you can see the spray ink a little better) as well as the cute butterfly sticker in 'kraft color', also from Studio Calico:

Supply list:
Kraft paper: Bazill
Patterned paper & flowers: American Crafts
Butterfly stickers & spray ink: Studio Calico
Border punch; Martha Stewart
Twine: My Craft Spot
Buttons: Button Bonanza
Cartridge for title: Jasmine
Decorative Tape: 7 Gypsies

I am also entering my layout in the following challenges:
HeartSong Inspirations - Buttons and/or Brads
My Craft Spot - Anything Goes
PollyCraft - Favorite Things (my faves: MS Border punch, Kraft paper with spray ink, rosette embellies, American Crafts and my cute doggie June!)
Victorine Stamps - Anything goes
Totally Gorjuss - Keep it Simple
ScrapFit Weekend Warm-up - use Kraft

Stay tuned for my  next 2012 Scrapbook Trend project featuring... Baker's Twine!!

Pile It On Challenge # 05- Just Because

Hello everyone and welcome to a new challenge from Pile it On! This week our sponsor is Stamp n Doodle. The winner will receive 2 images of their choice! Our theme this week is 'Just Because', so please come join us with your 'Just Because' cards and link up with all those challenges!
I have to admit that this week was a bit of a stretch for me, a little outside of my comfort zone, but that is why I love challenges because they DO stretch you and you become a better crafter because of it, and I actually like how this card turned out.

I used the pretty bird image from Stamp n Doodle. I am not super familiar with bird species, but seeing as it is winter I went with a cardinal type of bird. Somewhere along the way of creating this card it became more of a masculine style, lol, but that is actually good because masculine cards are always scarce in my stockpile. The sketch inspiration was from this weeks challenge at Top Tip Tuesday.(**Here is my tip: when you are working with small die cut pieces like the birds on the banner, I usually run them through my mini-Xyron. It is just an easier way to get adhesive on the entire piece. If they are ultra-tiny (like the dots on i's or super small layers) I use my Zig glue pen.) This banner was cut from Rock Princess- I liked how the birds on it continued the bird theme in the card and then I ran it through my Cuttlebug. I thought this folder had a woodsy feel to it that fit with the rest of the card as well.
Other supplies used:
Paper: Colorbok, Stamp: Pink by Design, Twine: My Craft Spot, Digital Stamp: Stamp n Doodle, colored with Copics.

Here are my challenges for this week:
Top Tip Tuesday: sketch (see my tip above)
Stamp N Doodle - include an animal
Die Cuttin' Divas: Buttons, bows or bling
4 Crafty Chicks - Pokin' Fun (brads or eyelets)
Digi Doodles - Anything goes
Stampin' for the Weekend- embossing
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - animals
Card Makin' Mamas - Something old (all the paper is at least a couple years old!!)
Pixie Dust Studio - Include an animal
Victorine - anything goes
Crafty Catz - things with wings

Will you be my Valentine?

Here is another Valentine's card with a cute image from Meljen's:

This was a really quick and simple card once I got the image colored. The kraft paper is from Oriental Trading Co. (who knew they had scrapbook supplies! Some of their patterned paper is a little on the thin side for my taste, but this kraft paper is actually pretty good and I got 60 pieces for 6 or 7 bucks!). The other patterned paper is from Bo Bunny. I colored the image with copics:

Here are the other supplies used:
Copics
Stamp from Pink by Design
Crinkle Ribbon from Prairie Bird Boutique
Stickles (diamond)

I am entering this guy in the following challenges:
Meljen's - hearts
HeartSong Inspirations - red, white and/or ribbon
Kraft Journal - tie it up
Really Reasonable ribbon - Valentine's day
Poodle's Parlour - Valentine's Day
Wags n' Whiskers - Valentine's Day
The Secret crafter - Ribbons

2012 Scrapbook Trend #1: Wood Grain

Happy Saturday my friends! I posted a couple days ago that I saw a copy of the 'Top Scrapbook Trends of 2012' on the Scrapbooks Etc. Facebook page and I thought it would be fun to create a project with each one to try them out! I thought it would be a fun little project to try out some new things. The first trend is Wood Grain:

I have actually had this wood grain paper for a couple years and have just been sitting on it, so it was nice to have a chance to put it to use! I don't know if I love it on this page, but I definitely can see using this look with other subjects/combinations. My sketch was inspired by Creative Scrappers # 187. Perfect for my square photos. Speaking of the photos- I just recently discovered Instagram. I've been seeing it a lot lately so I had to give it a try. Well, now I'm hooked! I love the vintage filters you can apply, and the app just makes your photos look like they were taken with a better camera then they were, lol! This is my first layout with pictures I took with Instagram. Unfortunately the picture of the pictures doesn't quite do them justice but I love them! I think you're going to be seeing a lot more of these from me! The cartridge I used for all the image cuts is Paper Pups- an oldie but a goodie, and I used Cuttin Up for the title. The wood grain paper is part of a paper pad from Colorbok and all the other paper is American Crafts. I fussy cut the flowers from a piece of patterned paper to make the little flower embellishment and popped them up on foam for dimension. I'm not super good at fussy cutting, so just pretend those are clean lines :)

If any of you would like to play along I think it would be fun to give all these trends a try and see what we all come up with! Just leave a comment on this post with your blog link and if I get enough people who want to play I will set up a linky party! Next up is Spray Ink!!
Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you are inspired to create a wood grain project!
I am also going to enter this layout in the following challenges:
Bitten by the Bug 2 - Dimensional flowers
My Mum's Craft Shop- Flowers

Cooking With Cricut Challenge # 70: Anything but a card adding polka dots and yellow

Happy Wednesday and welcome to a new challenge with Cooking with Cricut! This week we are making Anything but a Card, while adding polka dots and the color yellow. Fun! I (of course, lol) created a layout. I've been sitting on these pics my sister gave me for awhile now, just waiting for the right inspiration. She took these of my cute nephew Sevyn in the tub and thought they would make a great scrapbook page. I am in love with these pics, couldn't be more perfect, right?! One of my fellow design team members said, this "gives a whole new meaning to 'bubble butt'"! LOL!

For the record, he did have slightly less bubble coverage, so I photo shopped a few more bubbles to cover him up a bit more! Didn't want to offend anyone, lol! The paper is from American Crafts. Once I came up with the title, I thought it might be cute to do a play on the road sign so I cut the rounded-corner square from George with the yellow stars, and turned it on it's side like a road sign.  The title is Doodletype and the brads are Doodlebug Design. I fussy cut the little banner from a patterned paper, and used my AC border punches as well. I hope you like my project and will want to join in our fun challenge this week!

100 Follower Winner and NEW challenge project!

Hello my wonderful bloggy friends! And a special ‘thank you’ to my new followers, and those that helped me to reach that 100 follower mark! Your support means the world to me! I posted earlier that when I reached 100 I would select a winner from those that commented on that post to receive a special prize…by random.org that person is…# 14 Patti Ross! Thank you SO much for your support Patti, and the nice comments you left! Please send me your address, and I will send you out a copy of the newest (February) issue of the Cricut Magazine. My email is hmpeterson08 at gmail dot com.

So I was reading the Scrapbooks, etc. Facebook page and they had a list of the top 10 trends in scrapbooking for 2012.  I thought it would be fun to create a project using each of those trends to try them all out! If any of you would like to play along, I think it would be fun to see what everyone comes up with! I will post the top 10 here, and will probably start posting my projects this weekend, and then every few days thereafter. If you are interested in joining the fun, just leave a comment and maybe I can get a little linky party set up so we can all see what we’ve come up with! Here are the top ten trends:

1.       Wood grain

2.      Spray ink

3.      Baker’s Twine

4.      Nautical motifs

5.      Chalkboard

6.      Doilies

7.      Honeycomb Shapes

8.      Numbers

9.      Decorative Tape*

10.  Western Motifs

So we will start on Saturday with a project using wood grain! Please comment if you would be interested in joining!

*For the record I added this one in, because the other trend- Divided Page protectors- just isn’t up my alley, but feel free to utilize the page protectors instead if you prefer!

Sevyn's New Hat

I don't do too many boy pages that aren't themed around a holiday or occasion, so it was kinda fun to do a boy page with boy papers! These are also part of the windfall I got from American Crafts last month, and I love them, they are so versatile for so many different boy-centered projects. I'm pretty sure it's last year's line, but it's called 'Chap' if you can find it anywhere.

These photos were actually taken on Christmas when Sevs was wearing the new hat he got, but I was kinda tired of Christmas pages, and figured I could make it work for a simple boy-page. I cut the stars from George, and the rest from Boys will be Boys. This cart was a recent acquisition thanks to my super generous MIL- thanks Jeannine!! I simply love this font! The brads are from Basic Grey and the red ribbon from Teresa Collins. I am going to enter this in the 'Boys; challenge over at My Craft Spot- how fitting! LOL ;) Thanks for stopping by today!

Lucky Dog

It has been a very productive weekend for me. Well, craft-wise, anyway, my house is still a mess, lol! It's all about the priorities folks! ;) Most of my work is for upcoming DT posts, so stay tuned! :) But I wanted to get in a few projects 'for fun'. I had a lot of fun with this layout of a scary thing that happened to our little fur-girl, June. It ended up with a positive ending, so I went with the more whimsical and colorful designs.

I cut a big doily-type image from Paper Lace for the background mat. The paper and embellishments, again, are from American Crafts. I didn't use to love them, but I do now! The paper I purchased at their warehouse sale last month is getting a good workout! I also used some border punches- the American Crafts for the zig-zag and Fiskars for the notebook. Love the notebook punch, too. That is why you've been seeing it- A LOT, lol! I also used a new product- the colored tape from 7 Gypsies, and I think I am in love with this stuff now too! Gonna be getting some more of those, so you will probably be seeing a lot more of that as well! And the title is cut with an oldie but a goodie- Cuttin' Up. Here are some close-ups of the journaling, so you can be in on the background story (printed on my computer):

Hope you like my layout, and thanks for stopping by! I am also entering my layout in the following challenges:

Jailhart Just Lovely Designs - Sunday's are Lovely linky party  Come join us!!
Whimsical Designs - anything goes
The Paper Variety - Fan fold embellishment (rosette)

Happy Birthday Holli!

Today is my sister's birthday- Happy Birthday Holli! She lives about an hour away and is a little under the weather so I won't be seeing her today. I wanted her to know that even though I am not around, I am still thinking of her and so I made her this birthday card.

Sorry for the poor quality (shadow-y) photo. We actually got some snow here today, so it is a little overcast and I couldn't get good light to take the photo. The image is from A Day for Daisies. I recently discovered them and am seriously in love with their digi's- lots of vintage stuff that I love! I thought this one was cute for a birthday card. Here is a close-up of her, I colored her with Copics:

The patterned paper is from American Crafts. It doesn't show well in the photo, but the mat paper (which is from Doodlebug) is glitter-y, and I added some stickles on the balloon highlights. My sister loves glitter, so I had to include some on her card! I used George to cut the circles and tag, and the stamp is from Pink by Design. I tied a double bow with some crinkle ribbon from Prairie Bird Boutique (using my NEW Bow Easy!!) and added a button with some Baker's Twine. TFL!

I am also entering the card in the following challenges:
A Day for Daisies - glitter
Party Time Tuesday's - birthday

Cooking with Cricut Challenge #69- Winter Warmth

Hi all! Today I am pleased to be co-hosting this weeks Cooking with Cricut Challenge with the lovely and talented Linda! Our theme is 'Winter Warmth'. Basically, what keeps you warm in the winter? Examples include hat, scarves, mittens, fireplace, hot cocoa, etc.! Include one of these elements on your project. I chose to do my project on the new coat I received for Christmas. I am probably about as sick of Christmas themed projects as you all are, but I had to do one last project for this challenge. I chose a non-Christmas-y color scheme.

All the patterned paper is from Bo Bunny's Winter Joy collection. It's last years winter collection, but the color scheme was too perfect not to use it! LOL!  The title is from Don Juan, stamp from Basic Grey and the brads and buttons are from Basic Grey and Doodlebug Designs. I also used a new punch from American Crafts for the fun green border. The cute kitties are a digi stamp from Paper Crafting World called 'kitties in winter attire', colored with copics and popped up on foam dots for dimension.

I hope you enjoyed my project and please come join in the fun- Can't wait to see your fun warm winter projects!!

I am entering my project in the following additional challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog - Use a snowflake or snowman
Jailhart Just Lovely Designs- Sundays are Lovely Linky Party
My Craft Spot - snow much fun
Shopping our stash - Border punch
Stuck on you sketches - winter fun
Getting Scrappy - anything goes
Sparkles - Use something new (my something new is the border punch!)

Happy Love Day!

Hello my crafty friends and Happy Tuesday! I created another Valentine Card, and I wanted to link up with the Getting Cricky with K Andrew Link up Love Party! I am SOO close to 100 followers!! I am hoping this party will help me reach that milestone. When I do I will pick one follower who leaves a comment on this post to receive a special prize! (Comments open to any of my followers- new or previous!) Thanks for all your support! Here is the card I created:

All the paper is from a DCWV stack. The ribbon is American Crafts- I tied it with the bow-easy- a great tool available from Really Reasonable Ribbon. Sort of like the fork method I posted about earlier, but many more size options! This cute digi is from Tiddly Inks. The stamp sentiment is from Pink by Design. My card was inspired by this sketch by Victorine Stamps for their challenge this week:

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!

In addition to the linky party, I am also entering my card in the following challenges:
Victorine Stamps - sketch

I woof you!

I'm trying to get started on making a few Valentine's cards. For this one I followed the sketch over at Whimsical Designs for their challenge this week. The cute dog digi stamp is from Bugaboo, colored with copics. Love the copics, and in some ways they are fool proof- they make it really easy to make something look good with little effort, but there are so many techniques I would still like to learn! I printed the sentiment from my computer and added some ribbon from American Crafts. I used the smooch spray to spray over a heart mask. It doesn't show up as well in the photo- hopefully this close up will help:

Here is the great sketch I drew from:

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Whimsical Wednesday - sketch
The Kraft Journal - stamp it
Frosted Designs - Paint
Tiddly Inks - celebrating

Cooking with Cricut Blog Hop Winner

Hello! Happy Monday! It has been snowing up here in Utah, so it is nice to have a day off to stay bundled up inside! I'm happy to announce the winner of the blog candy from the Cooking with Cricut Blog Hop this past weekend. By random number generator, the winner is #8 Melissa Sunshine Honeybee!
Melissa said: 
Teddy my mixed breed Hound that thinks he is part Cougar says woof. Like the layout. Thanks for giveaway chance.
Melissa
"Sunshine HoneyBee"
http://CreatedbySunshineHoneyBee.blogspot.com

Congratulations Melissa! And thank you so much for your support- it means alot to me!! :) Please email me your address info and I will get the idea books and stamp set right out to you! hmpeterson08 at gmail.

Road Warrior

It was my Dad's 62nd birthday this past week. I wanted to make a card for him of course, but like many of you making a masculine card is very challenging! My dad is pretty much interested in only one thing: motorcycles- he's a Harley guy! That at least  makes the subject matter easier, lol! I was able to find this digi stamp from Stampin' up (did you all know they made digi's too? I didn't!) I also used my Cuttlebug Diamond plate folder- perfect for a masculine project! The embossing didn't show up too well on this Coredinations cardstock, so I inked over it with some Tim Holtz ink. I added some twine from My Craft Spot and the sentiment is just typed up on my computer. I intended to add some eyelets, but I tore the paper so had to do a little cover-up job. We've all been there right! Anyway, pretty simple card and he really liked the personalization. I am entering this card into the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog's challenge: manly card. Great timing right! Hope you like it!!

Pile It On Challenge # 03: Fuzzy Friends

Hello and welcome to my second design team post for Pile it On! This week our theme is 'Fuzzy Friends' and our sponsor is Di's Digi Downloads. The winner this week will win a prize from this super cute digi shop so be sure to come and play along with us!

I have to admit this challenge was pretty easy for me, seeing as my two fur-kids are my favorite scrap subjects ;). I elected to do a layout again this week, instead of a card, so I could show off their handsome faces, lol! Here is my layout with a digital image from Di's Digi Downloads called 'Izzy':

All the paper is from American Crafts. I cut the filigree mat from Paper Lace and the title from Doodletype. The flowers and rosettes are also American Crafts, the border punch is Fiskars, and the buttons are from my stash! This is a pic of me and my two boxers-Cash and June- in a park last fall. Aren't they so handsome? I think so! LOL.  Here is a better look at the cute digi, colored with copics:

I am entering my project in the following challenges:
Heartsong Inspirations - torn paper or border punch
Pollycraft Challenges - Anything but a card
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes
For Fun Challenges - Anything goes
Little Darlings Challenges - Favorite color (red)
My Mum's Craft Shop - girls
Poodles' Parlour - add buttons
Stampin' for the Weekend - Out with the old (my old: patterned paper from my stash)
Stamp Man Challenges - use red (accent color for me :)
Totally Papercrafts - spots and stripes

Cooking with Cricut Blog Hop

Welcome to Day one of PaperCraftingWorld.com and CookingWithCricut.com’s first Blog Hop of 2012! Our theme is: “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue!”

If you have arrived here from the uber talented Melin at Cooking with Cricut you’re in the right place! If you’re joining us mid-hop, head on back to see Melin and start at the beginning so you don’t miss any of the wonderful projects our talented Designers have created!

Our Designers had to use something old from their craft stash, something new (a recent purchase or new technique), something borrowed (an element from a Cricut cut or from a PaperCraftingWorld.com cutting file or digi stamp) and of course, something blue.                             

This was a really fun theme, I really had to think outside the box for the 'something borrowed' portion. For my project today I created a layout:

My layout sketch was inspired by a sketch by Becky Fleck in the January Page Maps release, I thought it was really fun! All the paper is from SEI, with Bazzill cardstock. I added a pop of POW glitter paper from American Crafts. I posted about this paper HERE, it is really fun! The title is cut from Makin' the Grade- one of my favorite font cartridges.
My 'Something Old' is the paper and the cardridges.
My 'Something New' is the Fiskars notebook border punch, the POW paper, the camera used to take the photos, and the printer to print them with!
The 'Something Borrowed' is the scarf on my Create a Critter puppy. It came from the Winter Frolic cart.
The 'Something Blue' is the background paper of course!
Here is a close up of my Borrowed element, as well as the journaling that explains the photos :)

I have a little blog candy to give away! It is two scrapbook idea/inspiration books (One is a copy of the Cricut Magazine idea book- I love these books, they have so many great ideas of all the amazing things you can do with your cricut!) And a Pink by Design stamp set! All you have to do to be eligible for the prize is to become a follower my blog and leave a comment below. If you would like a second chance to win you can grab my button and post it on your blog. This is not necessary to be eligible for the prize, but if you do just leave a second comment telling me you did for a second chance to win! I will announce the winner of the blog candy on my blog on Monday January 16th.

Now head on over to see Yolie at Just Yolie, Just Create and see what she’s created!

Make sure you check in tomorrow at CookingWithCricut.com and see what the Day Two Designers have cooked up! Thanks for stopping by and hopping with us!
In case you get lost along the way, here is the full Saturday lineup:

Melin – http://www.cookingwithcricut.com
Heather – http://www.heather-p.blogspot.com You are here**
Yolie – http://www.justyolie.com Next**
Celeste – http://www.touchedbyabutterfly.com
Debbie – http://www.workinscrappinmomof4.blogspot.com
Charlotte – http://www.alittlebitofdetail.blogspot.com
Linda – http://www.lindascreativity.blogspot.com
Jill -- http://www.jaihartjustlovelydesigns.blogspot.com
Larelyn – http://www.handmadefromtheheart-designsbylarelyn
Jen – http://www.gator-4-life.blogspot.com

Winter Wood Crafts

Hello my friends, I decided to take a break from my usual papercrafting projects and work on a WOOD crafting project! ;) I like to decorate my house year-round, for every holiday, every season. I was a little short on 'winter' decor so I hit my favorite local wood craft store to stock up. I made this snowflake trio, as well as snowman and a letter set that I will post later. All the wood is cut and designed by The Wood Connection. I just did the 'decorating'. I hope you enjoy it!!

This is the 1st of 3 new decorations I have made for my home for January, I will post the others later ;)
To create the snowflakes I used acrylic paints and ribbon from Michael's. I added some blue jewelry wire to this project. It's fun to create those curley-q shapes with the wire. For the paper I used the Pow! glitter paper from American Crafts. I was only very recently introduced to this paper, and had never worked with it before. The paper curls very easily, which made it difficult when cutting out those intricate snowflakes, but boy is this paper awesome! About half the thickness of other glitter papers I've used (which I assume will make Cricut cutting easier? Stay tuned!...) and the glitter does not come off AT ALL. And it's super sparkly, probably doesn't show up too well in my photo! I will definitely be using it for future projects! Hope you enjoyed my trio, and stay tuned for a couple more wood craft project to come!

I am going to enter this project in the Really Reasonable Ribbon challenge: Ribbons and sparkle.

You're so cool!

I found this cute stamp from Bugaboo and thought it would be fun to color them like cardinals for a winter theme. I ran the mat through the cuttlebug (an art deco embossing folder) and layered the stamp on top with some twine from My Craft spot as a frame. The sentiment stamp is from Robin's Creative Cottage Snowman's Prayer set. I Hope you like it!

I am entering this card in the Bugaboo Catch the Bug challenge: Anything goes challenge. :)

Simple Valentine's Card

Hello! I was inspired to create this card from one I saw in Paper Craft's Magazine February Issue, by Angeline Yong Jeet Leen. It was so simple and elegant, yet the embossing really packs a punch! I wanted to make one just like it. Here it is:

Not much to it, obviously, but I used paper from my local craft store, Roberts (they're closing, so sad!!), the embossing is done by the Cuttlebug heart blocks embossing folder, stamp is from Hero Arts, twine is from My Craft Spot, and I colored the heart with copics!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Frosted designs- Cardstock only (no patterned paper!)
Wags n' Whiskers- white on white with one color

Bark in the Park

Good morning crafty friends! I created this layout as an application for the Patches of Pink design team. I hope they like it! My husband and I had some photos taken in a park with our fur-kids last fall. I wanted to do a project with some of the photos of our boxers, Cash and June. Here is my layout:

 All of the paper (including the kraft) is from American Crafts. I fussy cut some of the borders from patterned papers. I had been wanting to do a project with kraft paper and misting with white opaque paint, but I couldn't find any. I decided to create my own with a mini mister and some acrylic paint mixed with water. Not sure how successful I was, lol, but I did get some paint on the paper! I kept adding water until the mister would spray, but it still came out more in glops, then mist, but it worked! I might have to keep experimenting with that one! As for the rest, the flowers are American Crafts, the title is cut from Alphalicious, and the buttons are from my local craft store with twine from We R. I think that covers it! I hope you enjoy my project, and wish me luck!!

All I Want for Christmas...

Okay, so this is my last Christmas project (gotta save some photos for next year, lol!) I was messing around with the settings on my new camera and ended up with this photo. I don't usually like photos of myself but I actually liked this one so I decided to make a layout with it. I used a sketch from 4 Crafty Chicks from their New Year Blog hop for this project. It also doubles as an application to be a guest designer for them so wish me luck!
Here is my layout:

All the paper is from SEI. The brads are Basic Grey, the ribbon and border punch are American Crafts and the title is cut from Winter Frolic. The Christmas trees were fussy cut from an SEI patterned paper. Here is the sketch I used:

 I hope you like my interpretation! I am entering this project in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks - Sketch
For Fun Challenges - Something New (the ribbon, border punch, cartridge and camera!)

Dragon Friendship Card

I had a lot of fun coloring this dragon from MelJen's Designs, he is just so cute!!

The dragon is colored with copics and I added some stickles to add some whimsey to the detailing around him. The paper is from Pebbles. (American Crafts is based here in Utah and they have a big warehouse sale once a year. I am so lucky, I scored on TONS of absolutely darling patterned paper from them! You will be seeing alot more of it in the coming months! :) I also used a border punch from American Crafts (also scored at the warehouse sale, lol!) Tied a little ribbon, (surprise surprise, ALSO from American Crafts!) and done! I found this tutorial on how to tie bows using a fork on pinterest. I used it to tie this bow! It's a little tough, because this ribbon is probably a little stiffer than the ideal ribbon for this technique, but I still felt it came out pretty good! You can find that tutorial here.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

MelJen's Challenge blog- stars
Shopping Our Stash - Use a MelJen's Image
Victorine Stamps - punches
Heart Song Inspirations - Anything goes

We're all just a little bit flakey...

Hello my crafty friends! I have had a busy crafting weekend, so you might be seeing a lot of posts from me this weekend! We finally got some snow here in Utah, so I thought this snowman card was very fitting. I love this card. This digi stamp from Dilly Beans is absolutely adorable! I also just got some of the new Bo Bunny Snowfall collection papers, and I thought it would be fun to combine them!

The stamp is colored with copics. I added a border punched from my American Crafts border punch and a stamp sentiment from Robin's Creative Cottage Snowman's Prayer set. I thought it fit this motley little snow group really well! I heat embossed the sentiment, and popped it and the digi stamp up on foam dots for more dimension. All the patterned paper and stickers are from Bo Bunny and the kraft paper is from Bazzill.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Dilly Beans Challenge blog - Winter Wonderland
The Kraft Journal - Anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop - something new (Bo Bunny patterned paper!)
Whimsical Designs - On the Edge (borders)
Scraptastic Club - 1 main color, 2 accent colors (Tan with Dark blue and brown)

Black and White Valentine Card

Hi all! Here is a card that I kinda threw together. I had wanted to enter a couple challenges, and thought I had more time. Found out I had 3 hours, lol, so I hurried to put something together. Therefore, it is a little more on the simplistic side, but I kinda like that sometimes. Here is my card:

The paper and stickers are from Bo Bunny, and the pretty digi stamp is from Dilly Beans, colored with copics! Hope you enjoy my speedy card!
I am entering in the following challenges:

Dilly Beans Challenge Blog- shades of red and black
The Paper Variety - Black and white with a pop of color

ScrapbookPal.Com Design Team Entry

Hello everybody! Today's post and project is doubling as an entry to be on a new design team for ScrapbookPal.com. ScrapbookPal is an awesome online scrapbook supply store. I have gotten tons of supplies from them- everything from adhesives to Copics, and I don't think I have paid full price for one thing! I would love to be on their design team!
For my project today I wanted to make a layout of a favorite picture from Christmas. I wanted to do something a little more whimsical, so I decided to use this fun paper from Bella Blvd's Christmas Wishes collection. FYI- all the supplies I used to make this layout can be found at ScrapbookPal.com! Each product will have a link in case you would like to try it yourself! Here is my layout:

I used Bazzill cardstock for the base and the shadows cuts. All the cuts were done with the Winter Folic cartridge- I just purchased this cart from ScrapbookPal right before Christmas, and I am LOVING it! (they have it at a great price, too!) ;) I popped up the tree and reindeer on some glue dots to give them more dimension. **Here's a tip- when you're working with a Cricut cut like this where there are many layers and many of those layers are very small, I use my zig glue pen for adhesive. It has a smaller chisel tip, so you can get adhesive in those smaller places, not to mention more control. I also use my Quick Stik- this tool is awesome for picking up those small pieces and the other end easily removes gems from their backing for placement on your projects. I used it to place the star shaped rhinestones on my border- easy peasy!!

I added some stickles to the tree "ornaments" and the Reindeer's Christmas Light bulbs for a little more sparkle, and done! I hope you enjoyed my project, and make sure to head over to ScrapbookPal to stock up on all those supplies!!

Cooking with Cricut Challenge # 67: Something New

Hi and welcome to the first Cooking with Cricut challenge of 2012. In honor of the NEW Year, our challenge this week is to incorporate something 'new' into your project- a new technique, or new supplies or tools from goodies you might have found under the Christmas Tree. I got a Cuttlebug for Christmas and was so excited to add some embossing texture to a project! I also received some new copics (a newfound passion of mine- I'm self taught, just trying to learn all the techniques)! I used my copics to color this cute Digi from Paper Crafting World (Bear Holding Hot Chocolate). Here is my card:

I used the Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder, and then sanded a bit to reveal the white core of the cardstock. The patterned paper is from Echo Park Winter Park Collection. The stamp is colored with copics and I added some puff paint from my snow marker for the 'cream' and some stickles on the snowflake. Here is a closer look:

The stamp sentiment is from Robin's Creative Cottage and I used a border punch from American Crafts. I hope you enjoyed my project today, and I am so excited to see all the 'new' goodies you all are using!!

I am also entering my card in the Fantabulous Cricut challenge for this week- Hot Cocoa!!  

Winter Friendship Card

I had a lot of fun with this card. I am still playing with my new copics and learning to work with digital stamps. I think this one from Stamping Boutique is SO cute. It's not perfect, lol, but I like the way it turned out. :)

The paper and stickers are from Echo Park Winter Park collection. The stamp, as I mentioned above is from Stamping Boutique. It's hard to tell in this photo, but I added 3 different colors of stickles to glitz up the snowflakes around the little girl. My sentiment, from Robin's Creative Cottage Snowman's Prayer set is stamped on the interior of the card with another sticker from the Echo Park pack:

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

My Craft Spot - Winter Wonderland (Must use glitter)
4 Crafty chicks - Anything goes
Jellypark Friday Challenges - Old Year/New Year (My old: cardstock, Stamp/ My new: patterned paper, digi stamp, copics)
Paper Sundaes - Something Old/Something New (see above ;)
Party Time Tuesdays - Something New (patterned paper, digi stamp, copics)
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes

Robin's Creative Cottage Challenge: Let it Snow

Hi y'all and welcome to another challenge over at Robin's Creative Cottage! This week our theme is: Let It Snow. This week I chose to use Robin's Snowman's Prayer set as there are a lot of fun snow/winter themed sentiments that are perfect for this type of project. For this challenge I decided to do a more vintage style snowman card. Here is what I came up with:

The kraft paper is from Bazzill and the patterned paper is Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection. I used Joys of the Season to cut the snowflakes and snowman and then inked everything with Bazill ink. I did not cut the layers on the snowman as I planned to ink/draw them in.
I added some of Robin's cute snowflake stamps that are included in the set to the inside of the card to add some interest:

I also added some stickles to parts of the snowflake to sparkle them up a bit. So that's my project for this week, I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to see all of your snow-y projects! :)

Cooking with Cricut Cartridge Showcase- Art Nouveau

I am so excited to be showcasing one of my favorite cartridges: Art Nouveau.  One of the reasons I chose this cartridge is even though it is one of my favorites, I had never used it! You know how that is? So I wanted a chance to play and explore with the beautiful images on this cart.
I just LOVE vintage and my favorite era is the 20's. I think this cartridge has some very beautiful vintage art deco images, including animals, insects, flowers with flourishes and 20's era models as well as borders, frames and 2 beautiful fonts.  I wanted to show a little of the versatility of the cart. I have created 3 layouts, 1 card and a framed project to hang in my home.

This is a layout with a vintage look using one of the floral flourishes from Art Nouveau  (wisteria) as well as the pretty art deco border and font. All paper is from Graphic 45, with embellishments from Tim Holtz. Prima flower, crinkle ribbon from Prairie Bird Boutique. Bo Bunny letter stickers and brads from Basic Grey.

Many of the images on this cart do have multiple layers, but I think the manual makes it easy to figure out what goes where, and it even tells you the minimum size to cut out the image for the best effect. On this card the peacock, peacock feather and the frame are all cuts from Art Nouveau.
Paper is from Close to my Heart, Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante collection, KaiserCraft and Bo Bunny, brads from Basic Grey and stamp from Hero Arts.

Monograms are very popular right now and this cart has 2 beautiful fonts with shadow features and flourishes. I love these fonts for projects where you would want to  use a monogram. I created this project with my initial that can be framed to hang in my home. All paper is Bo Bunny etc. collection, ink by Tim Holtz, cardstock by Colorbok, smooch spray, Tim Holtz inks.

I have been ITCHING to use one of these gorgeous 20's era 'models' on a project, so I decided to make this layout. She is cut at 8 1/2 inches. This cartridge has several of these full bodied models, as well as "head shots" (not sure how else to describe them!) as shown in this next project.  All paper is from Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante collection, Tim Holtz ink, Basic Grey brads, Prima flowers, crackle accents.

For this last project, I had wanted to showcase another card but once I started working, I just had to make it into a layout! I love this paper and this is probably my favorite cut on the entire cartridge, so pretty and elegant. The flourish at the bottom left of the layout is also from this cart. All paper/stickers from Bo Bunny Garden Girl collection.
So there are a few examples of the different projects you can create with Art Nouveau. I hope I have inspired you to run out and get one for yourself! Thanks for looking today and Happy crafting!