Project Life: Week 39

I had a few minutes yesterday to finish up Week 39 of my Project Life.  I'm doing well....getting caught  up! LOL! 

Here is the left side:

The week card and the journaling card as well as the enamel dots are all from Doodlebug...I love Doodlebug...such cute stuff for kid pages.  Here's a closer shot of the "week" card:

I used Memory Box dies for "week", the brackets and the "39".  I put a little glossy accent on the little bluebird and some tiny googly eyes on the owl.  I love the googly eyes and I think the little kiddos will like them, too!
The "grandparent" stamp on the bottom right photo of the kids and me is a Unity Stamp.
Here is the right side:

I used a journaling stamp from Unity Stamps and papers from a DCWV stack from my stash.  The burlap and felt stickers were left over from a project from another week and are from Little Yellow Bicycle, I think.
I also did an insert page this week with a 5x7 photo of my grandson, David.   The front side is just simply the photo placed in a 5x7 Becky Higgins page insert.  Isn't he the cutest little boy?

 The back side I used a Becky Higgins 4x6 journaling card and added a little paper and some enamel dots and did a little good bit of journaling!

And that, my friends, means that Week 39 is FINISHED!!!  Woohooo.....which means I can get on to WEEK 40 and the birth of WADE!

It will be a few days, though...I'm back at my daughter's to help out for a few more days so am away from my crafty stuff.  And while I'm here I don't do crafting.  I play Batman and Babies and Dollhouse and Cars and read Curious George and New York Baby for the 116th times.  Life is grand!

Happy Crafting to you, though!

More Fun with Unity!

I've had a great time with this little Unity Stamp set.  When stamped these images are just so crisp and clean....no smudging at all!

Here is another fun girly card I made.....I have several friends who enjoy their wine/whine and thought this little stacked wine glass set would make a perfect card.  But I decided to send this to my future daughter in law who enoys a glass of wine from time to time....and is in the middle of wedding preparations and probably needs a little unwine-ding!

I love the little printed paper with the circus themed banner....I think wedding planning can be reminiscent of a circus! LOL!

I added some Enamel Accents to the top wine glass for a little more dimension.

And that's it, my friends!

Happy Crafting!

Shall We UnWined? Version 2

Happy Independence Day to all of you living in the USA!

It is a rainy day here in Georgia (do you hear Ray Charles singing?)...I think many picnics have been moved indoors and fireworks displays don't look too promising.   But it IS a great day nonetheless!

We are having ribs for dinner.  I "fake" barbecue them and my family loves them so that will be our little celebration.

Life is good...

Here is another card made with the Archiver's card kit and Unity Stamps.  I love the way these cling stamps stamp...such a clear and crisp image!

I used a LifeStyle Crafts embossing folder for the speech bubble and sanded it to get the image you see here.  I distressed the edges of the background paper...paper pieced the bottle and added some Enamel Accents to the hearts as well as some bling.  And I used a Corner Chomper for the duh...corners.

Easy peasy.  And flat....

Happy Crafting!

When Life Gives you Limes...

Well, oh my goodness.....the summer is flying by!  Here we are at July 2nd already.  We are officially halfway through the year.  Before you know it we will be dragging out holiday decorations and I will be grumbling! Bah Humbug!

I've been so busy lately.  I won't bore you with the details but have been spending lots of time with my grandkids....fun, fun, fun...but they DO wear me out!!!

But what better on a hot summer's eve than a nice cold and icy margarita?  Here is another card made with Unity Stamps and an exclusive card kit from Archiver's that I picked up last week.  I have lots of margarita lovin' girlfriends so this card will come in most handy!

Very simply done...just a bit of stamping, coloring in of the word "LIMES" with some Copic Markers and a bit of clear Stickles on the limes although I don't think you can see that here.  Simple and fast.  Fun.  Happy!  I think I want a margarita!

I'm hoping to get into my craft room this evening for a bit of Project Life fun....

Happy Crafting!

Shall We UnWINEd?

I was at Archiver's the other day...had professed to use some restraint as I was just going to meet up with a friend and NOT shop...yeah, right...but I had a COUPON (read: MUST USE TO SAVE MONEY!) that was for 10 sheets of 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock with the purchase of an exclusive card kit.  Well....duh...that was a no brainer.  Everyone knows that cardstock costs money so if you can get it for free...well, you just gotta do it!
;)
Heheheh....I like the way I think sometimes....
Anyway, this particular card kit had a really cute little set of Unity Stamps in it and here is one of the cards I've made with it.  I have lots of girly friends that I could send this to....let me tell you!
The kit included a paper stack from My Mind's Eye and I just chose some papers from it...stamped the wine bottle and cut it out.  The Unity Stamps are cling and stamp a really nice crisp image.
A simple card but I sure love this sentiment!
A little Pearl Accents for the hearts finished it off!

Hope you all have a great weekend with some time for unWINEding....

I am entering this in the following Challenge:
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes


Happy Crafting!

Just Buzzing By to Say...

I made another card with the cute Bees4Me set which is the stamp of the month set at The Stamps of Life.  It's just such a cute set to me....and I just love the sentiments included.

I even decorated the envelope!
The background clouds are a Unity Stamp.  I did the background with Distress Ink and then stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder.

 I put some fun sparkle on the wings with some Stickles.

And here's the sentiment on the inside.  I just love those little bees!

Another beautiful fall day here in Georgia...a great day for some tennis!

See you on the court!

or...

Happy Crafting!

Imagination Can Take You Anywhere

In yesterday's post I showed the things I brought back from my shopping spree at Scrapbook Expo.  Since I've gotten more heavily into stamping this past year or so I was delighted to see all the different stamping companies represented....and many new to me.  I didn't buy a ton of stamps because ...let's face it...they can be very expensive...but I had a great time looking.  One set I bought at a nice discount was a Unity Stamps set called Happiness Is...  I just loved this little girl on a swing.  And I love Unity Stamps. They are cling stamps and such wonderful quality...you always get a good image!

 I stamped the young lady with Ranger Archival ink onto some water color paper.  Colored her in with a combination of Stampin' Up and Close to My Heart inks as well as a little Distress ink. 

 I added a little "magic" to her hair and a few other parts of the image to simulate a bit more movement...she IS magic! :)

I mounted the image on black cardstock and then placed that on a Loolah paper that has text on it.  I'm entering this in the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge CFC60 which is for a clean and simple project using Text.

Today is the championship match of the ladies at Wimbledon.  Serena Williams vs Agnieszka Radwanska.  Power vs finesse.  My money is on Serena but hopefully the match will be a great one!

Happy Crafting!!!

Birthday Card

This will be a quick post today...why?  Because I am leaving shortly to help my daughter out with the little kiddos.

Her husband's nephew is celebrating a birthday soon (he'll be 13) and she asked me if I had a card.  No problem...it gave me an excuse to get out this set of Unity stamps that are well loved in this household (well, by me....my husband probably doesn't know they exist!)...but he loves that I have a hobby that keeps me happy and so indirectly he loves these Unity stamps, too.

I used Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride which is a very boyish line of papers....and very cute if I say so myself!  I used a Kraft paper as the card base.  The ribbon is from Paper Trey Ink.  Edges were distressed with Antique Linen Distress Ink and I also used Memento Tuxedo Black.

I love all the combinations of colors and prints.  So much fun for me to mix like this! 

I just finished the card and used some Glossy Accents which haven't dried so the stars and birthday candle look a bit cloudy but they should clear up in no time AS LONG AS I DON'T TOUCH IT!  :)

and a bit of a closeup....

On the run!

Happy Crafting!!!

The Remodel and a Card (SSS144 Challenge)

I am NOT into remodeling.  Our house stays the same year after year after year.  I see things I like and think how nice it would be to remodel our bedroom, our living room, our kitchen...but it just doesn't happen.  I find stuff like that overwhelming.  But...I sure would like for my husband to surprise me with new kitchen counter tops for my sliding down the hill and approaching 60th  birthday this year (still a few years away but getting closer and closer each time I blink!).  Probably not going to happen...but one can dream!  Of course, if it comes down to new counter tops and a trip to Spain...well, Adios, Amiga! :)

So, what did I remodel?  Why, my new Silhouette, of course.  The Silhouette is sleek and beautiful on it's own but a girl likes a little extra bling, doesn't she?
Here's what the Silhouette Cameo looks like with no extra ooomph...

Here's what she looks like all pretty and dressed up:

How did I do that so easily?  Looks like a lot of cutting, doesn't it?  HAHA...yes, there is a bit of cutting but I let the Silhouette do it!
I removed the plastic cover from the control panel....it's just a thin sheet of plastic:

I had already found this design in the library of the Silhouette software (one of 51 designs that came with the software) and I thought it was an iPod...but then I realized it was a control panel cut! Woohoo...
See?  Here is a screen shot of the Designer Studio software that I am using:

...and the little control panel thingy is highlighted with the purple circle above.
Well, cool...I just flipped it horizontally (it looked symmetrical but I didn't want to take a chance) and used some glitter paper I had on hand.  I decided to try cutting it upside down with the print side down, that is,  to see how it would cut that way.  I know with my Cricut that sometimes glitter papers don't always cut well because of the variations in thicknesses. 
Here it is cut but still print side down:

It cut perfectly...all I did then was peel it off the mat, punch a couple of small holes with my Cropadile for the on/off lights and stick it in the panel...and add the plastic cover back on.  Cute, huh?  I can dress her up for the seasons.  Right now I'm done with winter so decided to use something bright and cheerful!


Easy Peasy.

Now onto my card.  I saw this sketch on The Sweet Stop

Here's my take on it:

I found a free svg file at SVG Cuts Blog of a bumblebee and decided to tackle the job of importing svg files into the Silhouette and trying to cut them.  Well, I brought them in and tried to cut and nothing happpened!  Nada...nichts...nothing.  Hmmmm....thankfully for Google and Youtube I learned that you had to trace the file so that Ms. Silhouette knows where to cut.  Aha!  That made sense.  So, I did that and got my little bumblebee cut!

I used paper scraps I had to do the bee and October Afternoon Sidewalks printed papers for the mats and the trim.  I also used a little flower button that I did with the Button Studio from Epiphany Crafts.  The little sentiment which I just love is from the Happy Everything stamp set by Unity Stamps.  I cut the little frame with another image that came with Silhouette Studio software.  I just resized it to 1.75 inches so it was teensy and cute.

And that, my friends, is the end to a very long post...

Happy Crafting!

Taming the Beast???

I wrote about my phobia with my sewing machine.  I'd rather bungee jump than use my machine and I also don't like heights! (Ok that may be a stretch but you get the idea!)  I truly am deathly afraid of spiders...I can handle a snake but a spider reduces me to screaming mush (does mush scream?)!  My fear of sewing machines is not far behind.  I mean, I don't get a visceral reaction to my sewing machine like I do when I see an eight legged creepy crawly thing (*shudder*) but it's not far behind.
But what do you do when you fall off a horse...you get back on...so I decided to do yet another card with some machine stitching.
See?

Can you see the zig-zag stitching?  No?  Well, here's a better view...

Are you impressed?  Huh? Huh? Huh?

I think there is some irony that this is also a sympathy card...

Anyway, I used DCWV papers, the Mat Stack 3 from Paper Trey Ink, a little sentiment I had from another set called Woodlawn (that I bought at a craft show once and have never seen again), some ribbon from Hobby Lobby, the blue/green paper is from Paper Trey Ink and the butterfly stamp is from Unity Stamps Bevy of Butterflies (a great set for the butterfly lover). I also used a little glitter ink on the butterfly.

And that was it...a nice elegant and classic card WITH STITCHING!!! 

Next goal...do it again on a scrapbook page!  I did it years ago but I'm loving the look and want to try that, too!

Happy Crafting!

More Halloween Fun!

My daughter called me last night and said that she was certain that AG (Adorable Grandson) really has red horns trying to erupt in time for Halloween!  He is 2 years old...and you know what that means...TERRIBLE TWOS!  He is just such a little imp...there are no two ways about it!  And of course, when he's being devilish it's difficult not to laugh.  He loves to make us laugh.

And so I thought this little devil boy would make the perfect card for him!

I used a really cute stamp set I bought recently from Crafty Steals my favorite site for a deal of the day.  It is Unity Stamp's A Little Trick or Treat set which has really cutesy Halloween images on it!
I stamped the little devil on the orange cardstock...and then stamped him on white, colored him in with some Stampin' Up markers and then cheat cut him out.  By that I mean I didn't cut the tail out or the pitchfork and just adhered the figure directly onto the mirror image below.  It's just too hard to cut out that skinny stuff, you know?  But unless you look really closely you can't tell! I am a cheater...I confess.

I used papers from the Kelly Panacci Designer Mat Pad by K&Company. A little foam tape popped up the sentiment and some narrow black ribbon finished it off!

Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting!

A Few New Things...

We got back from our lovely week at the beach Saturday evening.  Yesterday I spent the day unpacking and I also had a tennis match (we won...YAY!) in the afternoon.  So...I never did get down to my craft room!

But today our mail which had been held for a week was redelivered and in the stack was an envelope from my favorite deal of the day site CRAFTY STEALS!  I had ordered 3 Paislee Pink 6x6 paper packs and a set of Unity stamps with a Halloween theme that were sooo cute.

Here's my new little stash...

Below is the very cute 360 degrees:

Next is the Queen Bee pad:

And lastly is the Bayberry Cottage stack.

Do I have a favorite?  Of course not...I love all my babies the same...

Happy Crafting!

Sometimes It's a Struggle!

I don't know why but masculine cards are a struggle for me to make.  I'm not talking about little boy stuff...I'm talking about cards for grown men!  I love ribbon, lace, bling....I'm quite the girly-girl when it comes to cards but those elements don't often work well on cards for men!

I needed a birthday card for a man so sat down to see what I could come up with.  I really had fun doing this...I did have to tweak a few things but was happy with the result.

And here it is:

BTW, I scanned this.  I never scan.  I barely even know how to scan but thought I'd give it a try tonight.  I'm not certain the colors are true but then they don't always show up accurately in photos either.  Anyway, this gives you a good idea of what the card looked like but it IS cuter in real life!

OK, I went ahead and took a photo of it this morning...this is straight out of the camera.  And in the background is my cute little dog, Isabella, who turned 2 yesterday!  Happy Birthday, Izzie....but now that you are technically 14 years old can you CALM DOWN A BIT????

Well, the colors look much better than in the scanned image AND you get to see Isabella!

I used Joy Ride paper by Cosmo Cricket and a piece of Papertrey Ink cardstock for the base.  Most of the stamps I used were from the Oh Happy Day set by Unity Stamps but I did use the star stamps from the Everyday Life set by Close to My Heart. I used Archival Ink: Jet Black.   Edges were scuffed up with the Tim Hotlz distresser and inked with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I also used a little Distress Stickles (Rock Candy) on the little candle to jazz it up a bit.  I also used a Fiskars border punch as well as an EK success one.  I also used a little twine that I picked up in the jewelry section at Michaels. I also used a good bit of foam tape to pop up some of the items on the card.

I think this looks manly enough...don't you?

Happy Crafting!

Am I Done or Not?

As I've mentioned before...I am a very slow scrapbooker.  I can spend hours and hours fussing with a layout.  I don't complain though because I don't mind.  I love fussing around with things...adding things...taking them away...trying other things...moving things around.  Matting...unmatting...inking, cleaning up ink.  I also admit I spend a lot of time locating things (which are usually right in front of my face!)...
but again...I love just about every single second of creating...and if it takes me hours and hours...well, so be it.
Sometimes I leave a layout and then come back the next day and finish it off.  Sometimes things might not look quite done to me but with a fresh eye I'm often happy with the result.
I worked on this layout on Sunday and think I'm done.  I may play around with a few more embellishments but I think I'm pretty happy with the look.
I used a bunch of different things on this layout of my cute grandson being all serious about something.  I love this photo I took of him.  He's not angry here...and only had this expression on his face for a few seconds but I loved it and just knew I had to scrap this photo.  Here is my layout:

Most of the paper was from the Close to My Heart pack called Elemental. I also used Techniques Tuesday stamps for the word "Sweet" and  Unity stamp that say "You Make Me Smile" and also one that has tiny hearts on it. I used some paint on the CTMH arrow and bracket, some CTMH buttons, a CTMH star stamp, a Spellbinders sign hanging thingy and some off white cardstock.  I also used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to cut that tag out.  I love mixing prints and colors on layouts...it is easier when you use papers from a certain line as these papers are designed to coordinate.

So there you go...I think it is DONE!

Last 3 Mini Cards

Here are the last 3 cards I made during the class at Archiver's on Saturday.  I wish I were signed up for another one this Saturday!  They really are fun and well organized and as I mentioned before many of the classes give you the opportunity to try out new supplies and products before purchasing them.

Here's the first card:

We used new bottle caps (that are already flattened). We stamped a grid image in black (I believe it was a Tim Holtz stamp) and then embossed it with the little bicycle image.  We punched it out with a 1 " punch and it fit perfectly into the bottle cap.  We punched out a circle from white cardstock and a scalloped circle from red...adhered it all to the Kraft card base, stamped it with the cute sentiment and we were done! Very simple but oh-so-how-adorable-is-that-? CUTE!
Here's the next card:

Yep...you see it here...we QUILLED!!! OK, I bought tons of quilling supplies about 6 or 7 years ago when quilling for cardmaking and scrapbooking was popular.  Well, it's come back and is trendy once again.  I always enjoyed that process...there is something relaxing to me about winding skinny strips of paper into coils and making them into shapes.  This is supposed to have a sentiment on it...but I messed mine up and had to fix it...so it is sentimentless in this photo but has since been fixed.  Cute, huh?  There is a card book out for quilling which Archiver's sold for $17, I think but here at Amazon it's just $11.13 although there would be a shipping charge....


I think I may just have to order that for myself though.  I'm certain I have quilling supplies in my craft/scrapbooking/disaster room but I can't put my fingers on the stuff right now (except for the umpteen tubes of quill strips I have!  I'm glad I saved them all these years though as I'm motivated to do it again!  Isn't this a cute card, though?

And here is the last mini card we made:

I really loved this little card.  We stamped with the gear image on acetate with StazOn and waited for it to dry.  Once dry we dabbed on the other side with gold and silver paint dabbers.  You can't see it here well but it has a nice shimmery look to it.
We cut out the gear image and stapled it to the cardstock with the Tim Holtz mini attacher which if you don't have one...well, run to your nearest Michael's or Joann's and get one!  It's a great tool to have on hand!

And that is the final card...we made all 9 cards in the space of about 2 hours.  Not bad....!

Happy Crafting!!!

More Mini Cards

Yesterday I put up a few mini cards I made during a class at Archiver's over the weekend. 
Here are a few more I did:

The card above was a simple double stamping technique...you know where you stamp on your base...then stamp on another piece of paper...fussy cut it out and adhere it to your original shape with a pop dot.  I love this look...and I love when people stamp the image multiple times.  I, however, am too lazy for that!  We did add some Stickles to the little bee for a little something extra.  CUTE!

The next card was a simple card but a new little technique.  We had a square of printed paper (double sided) and made a few snips in the paper and folded the flaps to create a pin wheel.  Very easy, very fast and VERY CUTE!

The third card I'll show today is this one:

We basically stamped the tree image and then used various paint dabbers (Jenni Bowlin) to give different colors to the trees.  We actually inked up a flat circle stamp and then just stamped over the trees.   I love the look of that sentiment but I'm not sure of the manufacturer...sorry!  We did use Hero Arts, Inky Antics, Memory Box, Savvy, Technique Tuesday, Tim Holtz, and Unity stamps (did I say I love Archiver's classes where we get to use all kinds of different product???!).


These mini cards are just great...and they are so fast and easy.  A few scraps of paper..a stamp...a border punch or two...and you can have a really cute card! 

Hope your week starts out beautifully!

Happy Crafting!

Just About the Perfect Day...

Yesterday was just about a perfect day.  It started off with a couple of cups of coffee that my husband made for me....ahhhh...how I love starting my day that way!
I met up with 2 wonderful girlfriends, Christine and Cyndi, for a mini card class at Archiver's.  It was great seeing them and sharing stories (I don't think I gave them much of a chance to talk yesterday as I had all kinds of stories about my trip to New England!).  We had fun in the class making 9 mini cards (3 inches by 3 inches) and got to use some new product and learned a few new techniques.  I generally like the classes at Archiver's...they are very well organized...they provide all tools and supplies and the prices for the classes are reasonable.  Plus you get to shop after!!!  Jennifer was our instructor yesterday and she did a great job.
Here are three of the little cards we made...
First was this Mickey Mouse punched card...very simple but cute with "Yippee" embossed with Zing yellow embossing powder.

We tied a little baker's twine around the top and that was it.  Really cute for a gift enclosure for a child or Disney fan, huh?  And I just loved the little touch of yellow with the red, black and white.
The second card was made on Kraft cardstock with a Unity Stamp:

No real new techniques here but I did like this stamp.  It's all in one...and stamped beautifully.  We distressed the edges of the Kraft cardstock, tied a little twine around it and stapled with the Tim Holtz mini attacher and added a bit of bling and that was it.
And lastly, for today, is this cute little card we made with one of the Inky Antics sets that were designed for use with Inky Antic's honeycomb paper.  You can see a card I made a few months back with those products HERE if you'd like (I used the inchworm set).

We colored and shaded with Copic markers which I have no idea what I'm doing with! LOL!

We used an EK Success border punch for the little pink paper and added some bling to it.

And here's the inside of this cute little card:

 

And what else made this day nearly perfect?  I babysat my two cute grandkids while my daughter and son in law had a night out to themselves.  They only went to dinner and were home within a couple of hours but at least they got a little time to themselves.  Since I belong to AG and AG only it is a bit difficult when NBG needs me as he does not like me picking her up.  But we had a little conversation last night about how NBG was sad and needed to be picked up but I was still his and he tolerated a few minutes.  LOL! 

Luckily NBG is already one independent little lady and is content to suck her fingers most of the time! :)

Here's David drinking my lemonade...

 And here's Taylor giving her Omie a little smile...(I changed this photo to black and white because she was wearing one of David's old sleepers and it was YIKES...blue and she looked like a little boy!)

Happy Crafting!

Don'tcha Just Despise...

....when you get a whole bunch of new toys but are just too tired to try them out?!  I did a little shopping today at Archiver's where there was a 40% off sale on all stamps and when I got home about 8pm there was my order from Paper Trey Ink! I ate a bit of dinner and now it's 8:30 and I am just toooooo tired to play!  Sad...

But the good news is that there is tomorrow...and I'll get going on something tomorrow. 

So I will just put up another layout I did recently of my daughter's annual trip to the beach.

I will tell you that I'm really proud of this 2 page spread because it was done almost entirely with Fancy Pants and Unity stamps. I did all the background stamping with it...the edges under the photos were stamped and then cut out.  I put a little bling on some of the little stamped images...a button here and there and a journaling block on foam tape.  I really loved the way it turned out.  I don't mean to toot my own horn (well, maybe I do...I am the Queen of my Blog, remember)...but it is much cuter in person! I rarely do a ton of stamping on a layout so this was particularly fun!

Cherished Time Together

I didn't get a chance to get in my creation mode on Monday.  We took the Little Guy to the pool and the heat just wiped me out!  We had fun, though...and that little 22 1/2 month old does not have any fear!  I think he will be swimming by next summer if not sooner!

I did manage to get in my craft room last night and played around with alcohol inks for a while but all I ended up with was a muddy mess.  But I had fun playing...one thing I learned is that glossy paper does not do well with an embossing gun.  LOL!  It warped my paper and created a bubble.  It was pretty funny looking!

So...I decided to pull out some of my Unity Stamps that I haven't used yet and came up with this card:

Sometimes you just make something and it works!  A lot of times I make something and it doesn't! HAHA!  But the process is what I do this for...not the end result...I just like making...you know?

I used DCWV Linen Closet cardstock and papers.  The stamps I used were all Unity and were from Cherish the Time, Throughout All, Roots and Wings, and Togetherness Generations cons.  I used Close to My Heart Desert Sand and Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip inks.   The flower was made with the Spellbinders Carnation die (I just double cut each layer, but didn't do the largest layers).  The ribbon is from Wright and the pearls are from my stash and I don't know where I got them but they could be from Michael's.  I used the Tim Holtz distress tool to scuff up the edges of the mat and my CM corner rounder to round one corner of the mat and card.

The picture doesn't do it justice...the colors are really nice and subtle.

I also made another Cars character from the Cricut Cars cartridge...this time I did the inimitable Mater!  I think he turned out cute, too. He sure did have a lot of pieces!!!

Happy Crafting!!!