Dang, you guys!!!! :)

Man, the past few days have been such a BLAST.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind comments, and emails! It has been absolutely overwhelming! I even got these stunning flowers from my parents! Aren't they GORGEOUS!? 

I am so, SO excited. I was already having an awfully good time paper crafting, blogging, and sharing with my crafty friends. . . .but I think it's getting even BETTER!

Thank you for sharing the fun with me! 

Enjoy your Easter weekend, and I'll be back soon to share some fun, crafty messes that my kids and I have been creating over Spring Break!

xoxo

{Best day EVER . . .TODAY!}

I've spent the past month with butterflies in my stomach, waiting for TODAY.  Today. Today was never even in the realm of my crafty dreams and goals.  I am humbled, thrilled, blessed, and over-the-moon excited to announce that I have been invited to become one of Paper Crafts magazine's Go-To Gals.
A Go-To Gal?
ME?
Is this real life!?
I'm still in total shock! Every time I say it, (and I haven't been able to say it out loud much yet) I am awestruck again.  I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to share what I love and to work for the magazine that I adore.  Me. Working for Paper Crafts magazine. Seriously? (I told you, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it!)

I am excited to make new friends  and to continue to do what I love and what I've always done - to create, to share, and to be inspired - and hopefully to inspire you too!  Thanks so much for coming by today, and thanks for sharing in my best day ever! It's going to be an adventure!!! xoxo

PS - if you haven't been over to the Paper Crafts Connection blog, head over there. . .the returning Go-To Gals were announced yesterday, and the other two new Go-To Gals will be announced at 11am EDT, and 1pm EDT today!

(card goodies: stamps - Close To My Heart, cardstock - Discount Cardstock, jewels - Hero Arts, ink - Clearsnap)

{Sizzix} Easter eggs and me catching up!

I was away with the fam this weekend, enjoying a fun day at SeaWorld. 

Love to get away.

Love to come back home! 

Our official family picture from the trip. Lovely, eh? 

Came home to enjoy Spring Break with the second-grader and the three-year-old, which we ARE enjoying. . .in between wrestling matches, arguments, and general disagreements over important things like: who has the most army men on their team, who has more M&M's in their bowl, and who has received the most attention in the past 5 minutes.  The two of them are a pretty volatile combination right now.  We'll just say my patience is being seriously tested. 

Yesterday I cut out a bunch of Easter eggs, with new dies from Stephanie Barnard and Sizzix.  I made fun little scalloped strips, flowers - CUTE stuff, and got the boys all fired up about decorating paper eggs to give to family members this weekend at our Easter festivities. 

Guess which two little people lost interest after one half of an egg? And guess who ended up making cute eggs, while the boys played and argued {about such important things as listed above.}

Anyhoo, here's a quick picture of my cute eggs.  I attached them to a length of twine, using tiny clothespins, to make an Easter garland.  I have no where to hang my little creation, but I love the way it turned out! 

FYI. . .I'll be back at 9am tomorrow morning.

Join me. . .kay? 

(project goodies: dies - Sizzix, patterned paper - October Afternoon, pearls - Hero Arts, twine - May Arts)

{TSOL} Hexagon dies! Swoon!

Hexagons are so fun and trendy right now.  Who would have thought, right!? Other than Geometry class, I hadn't given them much thought until they hit the papercrafting universe by storm!!!!  I was super excited when The Stamps of Life came out with the oh-so-fun hexagons2love stamp set, and the background set, background4bees.  Almost immediately after that though, I knew I *needed* dies to match. 

And of course. . . 

Stephanie was already on it!

Hexagon dies.

I love that woman! 

Here are three cards I created using the hexagon dies, that were just released on the 20th!

After I created these first two cards, I realized that I pretty much used the exact same layout on them! It's funny how that happens, isn't it? I totally didn't do it on purpose, and I didn't think I was even thinking about the first one, when I created the second one! Too funny! I like them both though, and it just goes to show that when something works, sometimes it's worth it to STICK with it. (at least for a while!)

I based this last card off of a project that I did when the hexagon stamps were first released.  It's a little box (that I created with my Scor-Pal) and a little 3x3 matching card set. 

See? On this card set, I didn't use the dies - but it would surely have made the project come together faster if I had!!!! 

And before I leave you now. . . one more quick thing! The winner of my crafty box giveaway, and the coupon for free Purex Natural Elements Tropical Splash laundry detergent.  

The winner is. . . . .

 s. berry said...

love the cards you design. :) thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

March 19, 2013 at 3:41 PM

 

     Hooray! Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who participated! We are off to SeaWorld for the weekend . . .see you next week! I think it's going to be a *GREAT* week!  xoxo

{Sizzix} Two princesses . . .

 One of the treats I had a few months ago, was designing projects for Stephanie Barnard's new Sizzix products, for CHA (the big Craft and Hobby Association trade show.)  This princess stamp set and dies are a lot of fun to use, which says a lot, since I am not normally a "princess kinda girl".  I have two projects to share with you today, each with their own style and flair!

On this first card, I used the Princess stamps and dies, along with a fabulous textured embossing folder, and the Majestic Labels #2 Framelits dies.  This card came together so quickly, using all of the fun dies. I hardly did any cutting at ALL!!

and the inside of the card. . .

Onward to the second project. . . a little less princess-princess, and a little more ROCKIN' princess.  I created this birthday ensemble, which is actually complete with a matching crown, but I seem to have misplaced the photo! Shown here, you see a favor bag, a cupcake wrapper, and an invitation.  The metallic cardstock (from www.discountcardstock.com)  and zebra print ribbon really gave some POP to this ensemble!  I used some other assorted stamps for the sentiments from The Stamps of Life to finish off these projects.  (The "Jilly" rub-on letters are from American Crafts.)

Don't be afraid to try a totally different style than what you originally "see" when you look at a stamp set!  Break the mold, and try something new!! I bet you'll ROCK it! :)

Thanks so much for coming by today!!!

{Don't forget to scroll down to the next post . . .I'm sending a lucky friend a box of crafty embellies, and it could be YOU!} 

xoxo

An oldie but a goodie {and a giveaway}

I was going through some old photos and files in an attempt to clean out folders on my computer. I came across this little old card, and it made me smile.  I made it with some of the very first stamps that Unity Stamp Company came out with.  Angela, at Unity, invited me to be a part of her very first design team, and I created cards for her first little booth at CHA.  It was so exciting to be a part of a brand new company, and I will always be thankful for the opportunity she gave me!

I stamped this image, and then used colored pencils to add the shading on it.  It's an old school card, but it's a great memory!  (I wish I had matted the flower block and the sentiment- what was I thinking!?)  Oh well!!!!

I know I just had a household giveaway last week, but I have one more quick giveaway for you today, because Purex has been sending me goodies like crazy!!! This will be the last one for a while! .Purex has provided me with the perfect prize to match this tropical looking card.  Their new Natural Elements Tropical Splash detergent has a pineapple and coconut scent, and it makes me think of a fabulous tropical vacation!!! :)  They've provided me with a coupon for a FREE bottle, to share with a lucky blog commenter!

Along with cleaning out my computer files, I've been cleaning out my scrappy stash too. . . so I thought I'd share some goodies with you.  In addition to a coupon for a free bottle of Purex Natural Elements Tropical Splash detergent, I'd like to send a winner a little box of embellishments, die cuts, glitter, and lots of fun little bits of this and that to add to cards and crafty projects.

If you'd like a chance to win some crafty goodness, and a Purex coupon - please leave a comment! This is a quick giveaway because I'm going out of town for the weekend - you can enter each day through Thursday morning, the 21st. I'll draw a winner mid-day on Thursday before I leave town!
***giveaway is over, thanks for participating!!!******

Winners from the last giveaway, for Dial Coconut Water Body Wash, and Honey Bunches of Oats are: Deb C and Angie H! Congratulations girls! :)  

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!
xoxo

{Sizzix} Easter cards

 Easter is coming sooner than I think.  (I hope the Easter Bunny is on top of things, because I'm sure not ready yet!)  I have two cards to share with you today, using Sizzix products by Stephanie Barnard.  This large egg die is a LOT of fun to use!  This first card is 4.25x5.5, so you can see that the egg is a GREAT size.  I diecut two different papers, and then just sliced them with my paper trimmer to put together this egg.  There are a lot of fun possibilities with this! I think I'm going to diecut a bunch of eggs and cut them apart for my kids to play around with, (if I get my act together in time!)

I used coordinating Easter stamps, and dies to create the rest of this card, (that grass is diecut - how awesome is that!?)

And on this second card, I used these same products, to create the Sizzix Flip-It card.  The two images show the front and inside of the card.

This is the perfect time to start (and finish) Easter cards, before it's too late! Thanks so much for coming by today!!!!

{tutorial} Tshirt scarf and flowers

We all love Pinterest. And we all hate Pinterest. Don't we? We love all the fabulous ideas we find, but we hate how it makes us feel like WE never have any good ideas, and all the fabulous ideas we find SIT THERE on our boards doing nothing.

A YEAR ago, I pinned a really cool video tutorial on making a scarf from a tshirt.  {scarf tutorial here} I even got as far as buying an XXL tshirt from JoAnn Fabric ($3 - can't beat that!) and it sat in my drawer all this time.

But today, I got inspired.  I watched the tutorial again, and I made a scarf.

But then it needed a flower. And I didn't HAVE a flower.

But I did have a few more tshirts, that I added to the Goodwill pile yesterday. Soft comfy tshirts, that I struggled to get rid of, but really - it was BEYOND time to retire them.

So I Googled "make a flower from a tshirt" and low and behold, I found THE best tutorial, at Emily's Little World, and I made THE cutest flower!!!  Emily's tutorial is incredibly easy to follow, and her flowers are DARLING.  She drew a template and traced her flowers, but I decided to see if I could put a tshirt through my Big Shot, and low and behold - IT WORKED!!!! I cranked it through 3-4 times for good measure, but it completely cut through every time. I am SERIOUSLY impressed.  I'm not going to share my own tutorial, because Emily's is so terrific, just go see hers! :)

I'm looking at all of my old tshirts in a new light now, and maybe it will be easier to retire the rest that need to STOP being worn - because I can turn them into FLOWERS!!!  You could even use kid's tshirts that have seen better days - especially if you have cute little-girl pink tshirts!

These aren't great photos - I just took them with my phone, but you can get the idea.

I just stuck a safety pin through the back of my flower, and attached it to my loopy non-sew tshirt scarf.  I need to decide what other colors would be fun (and practical) to have, and I am going to be a scarf-wearing woman. . . . or at least make cute tshirt flowers for everyone I know! 

Come back tomorrow. . .that coupon giveaway that I promised, starts tomorrow! 

xoxo

PS - if you'd like to follow ME on Pinterest, click my new button in the sidebar!

{TSOL} A little more bubblegum love!

Just in case you didn't get enough bubbly fun a few days ago, I have a few more cards that I created using The Stamps of Life's new stamp sets, called bubblegum4me, and moregum4me, plus the coordinating background stamp, gum4backgrounds.

I love the way this gumball machine turned out, paper-pieced with polka dotted paper! (from My Mind's Eye)

And here's that background stamp I told you about! I embossed this entire thing so it has a fabulous sheen and texture in real life.  (awesome pigment inks and embossing powders from Clearsnap - the Donna Salazar Collection. LOVE these colors!) I wish I could have captured it in this photo - I promise, it is FABULOUS in real life! :)

On this card, I paired the bubblegum machine with some sweet little hearts, and a Valentine sentiment.  I added details with a silver pen, and glitter tape from Close To My Heart.

I've been doing some work on my little old blog this week.  Let me know if anything isn't working properly, or if you have any suggestions! Just trying to do some spring cleaning around here!! I got the fabulous little buttons on my sidebar, for Facebook, Instagram etc. .. for free from Her New Leaf. She has a variety of great colors, and lots of blogging resources!

I'll be back in a day or two with some great new household coupons to give away, thanks to Purex Insiders. . .they're very tropical, to help us gear up for Spring Break! Wooohoo! ;)

xoxo

POP!!!!! Make a Bubble Gum Handmade Card with The Stamps of Life

Bubblegum4me, and MOREgum4me . . . two of the new stamp sets for March, at The Stamps of Life!  Seriously, how bright and fun and cheery are these!?

On this first card, I stamped the bubblegum machine, and then I diecut the circle from the center, and stamped the bubblegum inside the card. (See second photo.) I paper-pieced the red parts of the bubblegum machine to finish it off.

 On this second card, I stamped the inside sections of the bubblegum machine.  The stamp sets come with super fun polka-dotty gumballs (and other super cute patterns too!)

In addition to these two sets, there's even a bubblegum BACKGROUND stamp! Oh my! I will share some fun samples with that set in a few days! Be sure to visit the TSOL gallery for lots of bubbly, chewy INSPIRATION!

(card goodies: cardstock - Discount Cardstock, patterned paper - Pebble Inc, ink - Clearsnap)

I have a few more goodies to share in the coming weeks . . .Honey Bunches of Oats, and Dial's new Coconut Water body wash have sent me coupons to share with you soon! 

Thanks so much for coming by today!

xoxo

We Click!

I have had this sweet little stash of Echo Park's This & That Charming paper and stickers sitting in my drawer.  I've made quite a lot of projects with it, but I have quite a bit left. . .so in my never ending attempt to USE UP what I have, I created two sweet cards to share with you today! 

I super SUPER love this one - and every time I look at it, I sing one of my favorite songs. And it's a kid's song. Seriously, I am SUCH a mom.  But it is catchy, and adorable, and I love it.  It's called Click Click, by Elska. Seriously - adorable. Go listen to it  and tell me that you don't love it! I dare you! (No, don't crush me.)  We have a free year of Sirius radio in our car, and of course the kid's station, Kids Place Live, is ALWAYS on.  But I am a happy chick when this song comes on! And then we replay it over and over - my three-year-old saying "Click Click" is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Have I digressed from the original point here?

The cards - yes, the cards. 

Refocusing. . .

I can do this.

Two cards made with Echo Park's This & That Charming. Here you go. . . .

Thanks for stopping by!

As you read this, I am probably recovering from my weekend crop with one of my bestest crafty girls, my mom, and my first night away from my guys.  I'm sure I'm exhausted and the house is probably a disaster. Hopefully I've created lots of fabulous things to share (and some to NOT share) over the next few weeks! 

Thank goodness for pre-dated blog posts, right?

Happy day, friends!

xoxo

PS be sure to scroll down to the previous post for a chance to win free cleaning goodies from Soft Scrub.  :)