A Hanging Heart

Here is a quick Clean and Simple card made with the Stamps of Life Hearts2DieFor set which you can see HERE.

I embossed the red cardstock with the Cuttlebug Hearts embossing folder.  You can't see the embossing in this picture but TRUST ME...it's there! :)  I embossed the heart with some Versamark and white embossing powder and "hung" the heart with some heavy crochet cotton.

CASAQ!  That means Clean and Simple AND QUICK!

I've entered this in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes  
Mark's Finest Papers: Simple Salutations


It is rainy here in Georgia today (hmmmm....reminds me of a song...) and we are looking at some pretty heavy thunderstorms throughout the day.  I think it sounds like a great day to craft!  Well....after a little housework...

blech....

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 4

....or as we Project Lifers say..."PL".  I'm such a part of a club, you know...  So, I finished Week 4 last night.  I really have been trying to do my pages on Sundays BUT I was busy this past Sunday afternoon/evening and just never got the mojo going. I got down to business last night.  I had used my worksheet that I posted a few days ago....you can see it here if you are using Design A of the Becky Higgins Project Life template or page insert. It save me a bit of time because I knew what photo was to go where and where I needed journaling blocks.
This week I failed in my quest to use things I already had as I bought this really cute journaling sheet from My Mind's Eye called Collectable.  It just worked perfectly for this week I thought.  It was a big week for us...my son turned 26 on Monday so I wanted to journal my memory of the day and night he was born.  We had a huge snowstorm in Atlanta (ok, for you northeners....less than 4 inches doesn't look like much but for Atlanta it is a city stopper)....and in the hospital I was in with him we had over 7 inches!  It was just so beautiful and so magical and I really didn't worry much about the chaos outside the hospital created by the storm because we were warm and safe inside.
Here are my layouts and a few closeups:

I am still doing a lot of cutting with my Silhouette Cameo....like here...this journaling box and the #4 which I created with my own little brain:

And this cute little stick figure tennis player which I bought in the Silhouette Online Store:

I also used a little stamp set from Hero Arts for this little journaling box:

And check out this tiny camera cut out with a Memory Box die:

There is another one on one of the layouts which is a slightly different camera....can you find it? ;)
And that's Project Life for Week 4.  Week 5 is beginning with some excitement for me....I'll post it next week! :)

Happy Crafting!

A Totally Cased (Well, Not Totally...) Card

A quick card here today...a quick post here today...you can do that when you CASE something.
And I CASED a card from one of my favorite bloggers, Creations With Christine, all the way! Well, actually it isn't totally copied because I made mine A2 sized and I used a Hero Arts stamp and a different banner set (mine came from Simon Says Stamp).
But otherwise they are pretty close!  I love CASING cute! :)

 And that is it for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting and may you find a great little project to CASE!


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Valentine Wishes

Here is a little Valentine Card made with a "LOVE" stamp cut from the Silhouette store.  It cut so well on this printed paper called "Love Note" by Fancy Pants....love this little paper pad!
This card worked up very quickly....I used some Papertrey Ink ribbon for a little tie at the bottom.  Very simple and really very fast.  Including the cutting....less than 10 minutes, I'd say.  (Read: more like 20.)

Don't you just love those love stamps? 
Also I wanted to share my insert page for my Project Life album.  Last week we celebrated my son's birthday and I had a few pages I wanted to use so I inserted an 8 1/2 by 11-ish We R Memory Keepers page protector.  It has slots for a large photo across the top which I just mounted to some printed paper and then two 4x6's.
Here it is with some white paper behind so you can see it.  Not a great photo but you get the idea.

And here is the reverse side:

And how it looks without the white paper behind it inserted in Week 3:

And here is a little closeup of the journaling box.  I used some Recollection puffy dimensional stickers to dress it up a bit:

And that's it for today!  Off to play some tennis!

And hopefully some....

HAPPY CRAFTING!

later....

Project Life Worksheet

There are many project life planners and worksheets out there....quite a few on Pinterest, in fact, but none met my needs.  I wanted a two week spread on one little ol' 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper so I decided to make my own.  Mine looks like this:

....and as I said prints out on one 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of standard ol' paper.  A whole week on one sheet...uh, yeah, that's what I wanted! If you want to dowload it click on the image above or HERE....it will not have the gray background (that's just so you can see it here) because who wants to use all that ink??? :)

Happy Crafting!  

Project Life: Week 3

I was able to get quite a few photos last week which left me with a different quandary than when I don't have many...which photos to use and which ones to omit?!  My daughter doesn't use a regular camera much...she's of the cell phone camera generation but at least now she is sharing those photos with me via Dropbox and I can get the full resolution files. So at least I'm getting better prints now!

I had fun getting my Project Life pages done.  I'm not totally finished, though....still have an insert I am putting in this week with some extra pictures.  But I'm glad I got the 2 12x12 layouts completed.

And here they are:

Left side:

 I used Basic Grey Fact and Fiction papers and embellishments for these spreads.  The "Week 3" box in the top left was one I designed myself in Silhouette.  It didn't take much time at all took forever because I forgot the whole compound path versus a grouped shape and the whole welding thing.  OK, if you don't speak Silhouettese that's ok....but really it should have been easy to do and now I will remember for the next time...well, that may not be true but I did write it down so as long as I remember where I put that little snippet I'll be good to go!  I do like the way it turned out.  I used a new to me Simon Says Stamp die for the banner.  Too cute!  Added a few hearts that I punched out with a Martha Stewart Punch and used a little glossy accents and some foam tape to give it a little more oomph.

I cut a couple of other things with my Cameo, too....the Everyday Life word art which was from the Silhouette Store and "remember this" which is from Ali Edwards....brought the design in to the Silhouette software, traced it and resized it the way I wanted it.

And here is the right side:

It's difficult to see here but "smile laugh and giggle" and the arrow are cut out with my Cameo, too.  The little badge is from the Basic Grey Fact and Fiction line.

The little journaling box was made with an EK Success border punch and the cutest little wooden banner from Studio Calico which I stamped on.

On the bottom left of the right layout (follow that?) there is a transparency that shows from the page before (last week's).  Not sure if I'm going to leave it that way or back it but for now you can see cute Tay-Tay through the transparency and when you are in Week 2 you get a teensy glimpse of week 3.  Not sure, though....not sure....but it is cute the way Taylor's eyes peek through the word "Genuine"!
See?

Pretty simple stuff and if I had remember how to weld, blah, blah, blah with my Silhouette it probably wouldn't have taken me 5 hours! LOL!  (Slight exaggeration!)

Fun, fun, fun!

Week 3 down....49 to go!

I'm entering this in the Basic Grey Challenges: Challenge 85 New Beginnings/Something New.
I used all kinds of new to me things....the banner die, the Basic Grey cutie embellishments, cut files from the Silhouette Store, etc.

Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

My little boy will be 26 years old on Monday.  I remember the day he was born...that night we had a big snowstorm in Atlanta which dumped over 7 inches of snow and the city was at a standstill.  Many of the nurses attending to me had to take double shifts as their replacements couldn't get to work.  They were all still great, though.  And I was glad I was in a nice warm place with a cuddly newborn!

So for my little boy I made this money holder card for him. What do you give a 26 year old? Why gift cards and/or money, of course!

Here is the all Silhouette card with a couple of cuts from the Silhouette store made with DCWV papers and some Kraft cardstock:

I added a  little Papertrey Ink ribbon and that was it.

Happy Crafting!

Great Deal!

Wow....Overstock.com has the Silhouette Cameo for $226.76  today.  It is a basic package but that is a really great price!...and it does include shipping! You can see it HERE.
AND if you go through my favorite rebate program, EBATES, you can get a 2.5% rebate....so you get back another $5.65 or so.  If you are not familiar with Ebates you can click HERE.

Anyway, the lowest I've seen the Cameo for is about $269 so this is a very good deal.  And if you do have a Silhouette the Silhouette America store is having a 40% off sale on software, tools, etc.  The code for that is JESSICA but is only good through today (January 17)!  So run and take advantage now!

Happy Crafting!

Christmas-y Layouts

I actually pretty much have all my 2012 Christmas layouts done.  But of course that doesn't account for the previous 11 months of 2012! LOL!  I freed myself up from scrapbooking chronologically many years ago so I don't stress about that anymore.

I took my scrapbook to my daughter's the other day and my grandson, David, had the best time looking at and talking about the layouts.  I got such great joy having him do that.  Just tickled this ol' Omie's heart!

Here are a few simple layouts done with some printed papers I got at a huge after Christmas Michael's sale.  I basically just slapped some photos down and added a few little touches.  They were pretty quick to complete and I'm glad they are done and now can be shared!

 and the companion side using a 6 slot We R Memory Keepers page insert.

And here they are side by side:

And here's another 2 page spread:

And the side by side:

And that's it for today!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 2

Two down and 50 to go!  Project Life Volume 1, that is!  I successfully completed Week 2 and really had fun doing it.  It all came together really quickly.  I kind of find each little slot is its own little layout and they are pretty simple and fast to do.  Now that I have a system....although who knows...next week the old system may not work!

I do need to learn a better way to photograph through page inserts.  The glare, the glare, the glare.  I tried to elevate one end a bit to reduce the glare which helped a bit but the photos could use improvement.  And I don't want to take my things out of the inserts for photographing...that would probably be the best way but I'm not going to bother with that, I don't think!

Anyway, here we go...week 2...the left side:

A sweet photo of my little lady, Taylor with a little <heart> you done with an Ali Edwards brush that I converted to a cut file and cut with my Silhouette.  I love those hand drawn rectangles!

 A couple of pieces of coordinating ribbon stapled to just add a little something to an otherwise flat journaling box. 

 And the right side:

 A little cut out rectangle from the Silhouette Store with some burlap and a button on top.

 And this is a transparency from the O'Snap kit I purchased last year.  I will leave this unadorned and unbacked (apparently my own made up word) and next week will try and put a cute photo behind it so you can get a glimpse of it.

This was so much fun.  I'm pumped.  50 weeks to go... *sigh.....

Happy Crafting!

Oh, the Things You Can Find!

I was looking through a little file I had the other day and came across some Christmas dies that I had cut out from some sheet a loooong time ago.  Probably had planned to use them but ended up not....they got filed away never to be seen again....until Christmas 2012!  I saw them and thought...well, these are still pretty darned cute and I think I'll use them on a layout.

I have no idea where they came from so can't help you there but they are at least 5 or more years old so probably not available.  Probably not the most trendy scrapbooking stuff on the market now but I liked them then and I still like the folksy little look now.

Here is the two page spread:

And of course I added some Glossy Accents because we cannot leave things the way they are, can we?

And here is a border done with a Martha Stewart punch that I also used a Hero Arts stamp on with some Versamark and embossing powder to give a little more dimension and glittery look.

Trust me...the glittery look is there.
And here's the right side of the layout:

The little cut out pieces were popped up on some dimensionals.  The journaling block was made with a Martha Stewart punch set, too.

And I just thought Mr. Santa was so darned cute.

 And to give you some idea of what they look like side by side:

That's it for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting!

First Cards of 2013

One of my New Year's "goals" is to do less cards just for the heck of it....and get back to some scrapbooking.  I tend to make cards because they are pretty but then I don't want to send them and I keep them for my collection.  Dumb.  But it is a fact.

But I decided to make a couple of sympathy cards last night with a cut file that is available for free at Bird's Cards.  The link for this particular file is HERE.  This site is wonderful for free files that Bird so generously shares. Anyway, this is a really pretty Calla Lily file.

Here are my versions:

One thing I did differently is this is one herkin' (thanks, Donna!) big card!  It's 8 1/2 by 5 1/2....I don't usually make cards that size but I have some invitation envelopes that size and it's time to start using them.

Pretty and elegant that file is....and it cut beautifully on my Silhouette Cameo.
I used Papertrey Ink paper and ribbon as well as a little sentiment I've had for many years.

Happy Crafting!

And Project Life Begins!

I have avoided the whole Project Life thing.  I have been envious of those who have done it but I've stayed away...didn't want to make that kind of commitment.   I don't always have the "sticktoitiveness" that one needs for a project such as this. I usually start out strong and then lose interest half way through!

My good friend, Donna Gibson, announced recently she was selected to be on the Design Team for Becky Higgins.  She will primarily be doing digital pages that she will later get printed using Becky's products.  I have loved Becky since she was a childless newlywed.  I loved her clean style of scrapping...I loved her contributions to Creating Keepsakes magazine and I was lucky to take a couple of classes from her over the years.  Anyway, Donna and some other friends and I started talking about Project Life and I got really interested.  I think I probably would have been better off doing the digital version BUT no....I have decided to get my hands dirty with paper and glue!  Not that digital is easier but at least you don't have the mess and it doesn't take you 30 minutes to find that little jar of buttons that would be perfect, you know?

Anyway, I have finished my cover page as well as my first week spread.  I will do my Project Life weekly...at least that's the goal!

So here.....without further ado are my first pages.  I can live with them....I think as I get going the flow will be a bit easier and hopefully I can work a bit faster.

This is the cover page.  Most of the papers are Oh Scrap! papers.  The photo is just a filler photo...want to get a better one of the kids and me....or my husband and me...still need to work on that.
Here is my cover: 

The "Make This Year a Great Year" was a digital stamp from Katie Pertiet that I cut out on my Cameo.  The arrow shaped journaling card was from the Silhouette store and I just adjusted the arrow a bit.  I added a sticker, some twine and a button because I just have a hard time doing flat sometimes!

 "'Heart' Life" is from a digital stamp cut on my Cameo, too, by the great Ali Edwards.

I love her hand drawn designs and they cut well on the Silhouette. Isn't it great?

The 2013 is chipboard I had that I painted and embossed with some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.  I let it bubble up in places to give a bit more texture.

"Here" is another cut from the Silhouette Store.

 Ok, so after all that I finally got to Page 1 and 2 documenting some of the happenings of week 1.
Here is the left side of the page and so sorry for the glare....how DO you get good photos through a page protector???

And the right side:

It's a start....know what I mean???

Happy Crafting!