The Easter Bunny is Coming!

Happy Passover to you who celebrate Passover and a Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate Easter!

I made this little quick and easy Easter card from a cut in the Silhouette store...added a little paper and some ribbon and stamped a little sentiment inside and called it a card.

:)

Here it is:

 OK, the cute part of this card is the cut....nothing I did! LOL!  I just selected it and stuck my paper in and pressed cut.  The Silhouette did all the work and should get ALL the credit.

OK, so I just haven't gotten to do any crafting this past week....my friend is here for a visit and she is a non crafter (horrors) and all we've done is eat cheese and crackers, yapped, and drunk wine!  Life is good! :)

Next week I hope to be a bit more productive!!!

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

Happy Crafting and Happy Holidays!

Hello Friend!

This will be a busy week with little time for crafting.  No complaints here, though...my best friend of all time is here to spend some time with me!

Here is another card made with the same Tim Holtz blueprint set I used the other day although this time I used the camera.  So cute and I think I will just have to find a way to include that in some Project Life pages.  I think it's a great little stamped image!  I used BoBunny Mama-razzi papers again.  They are so much fun!

Here you go....
A little inking...a little stamping...a little cutting....

 I did use a few rounds of some cording I have and tied a few random knots in it. 

I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes.

Hope you all have a great day and rest of the week!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 12

Woohooo....on schedule!  I just finished Week 12 of my Project Life.  This was for March 17-23 which, of course, included St. Patrick's Day.  We love to celebrate that day....although I'm sure the way we celebrate is much different than how ol' St. Patrick himself would have imagined!

I decided that I would just use various greens and shamrock/Irish inspired items for my papers and embellishments.  I used all items I HAD...some of this paper is Making Memories paper that I have had for many years.  I love that aspect of Project Life....I am often able to use things I have on hand.

Ahhhhh....and I used my Silhouette a good bit this week.  You'll see.  Fabulous....

Here we go...left side first:

That's my son and his girlfriend, D'Ann, in the top photos.  We didn't get to celebrate with them but I think they had a good time doing their own thing with friends.

We do celebrate with corned beef and cabbage and this year I did it all in my crock pot with some Guiness Stout...all I can say is YUM!

Spring arrived one day and left the next....look at those temperatures for my area!  Brrrr!  I did not journal about that but in this case I think the picture tells the story....although I may go add a few words.  :)

And the bottom right is my daughter getting her first "official" ultrasound.  I guess they do one in the dr's office to confirm pregnancy but this was the first big one.

Here is my "week" card with a banner cut file from the Silhouette store.  I made the the "week 12" card myself in the Silhouette Software.

 Below is from a cut in the Silhouette store, too....I loved the way it looked and just added some Copic colored gems to the shamrocks.

Just a little Washi tape here with a Becky Higgins grid card that I cut down.

And to the right side:

Just above you can see my new grandbaby...is it a girl or boy?  We have no idea...I can barely make out the shape of a baby in an ultrasound except I can see the head on this one! LOL!  Anyway, we are thinking boy....but time will tell, won't it?

Another cut file from the Silhouette store....

A print and cut filler card I made in the Silhouette software....easy peasy....I cut an extra shamrock to layer to give it a bit of dimension.

 

And lastly a journaling card I designed myself in the Silhouette Softward.  Took less than 5 minutes and then I had a custom cut!  The shamrock was just a png file I found off the internet and imported.  Again...pretty easy peasy!

And that's it for Project Life for this week...

Happy Crafting!

Good Friend

Busy day today....off to play tennis...or more likely sit in the car in the rain until they call the match (!) and then to friends for a visit tonight.  A full day! ;)

I have the Tim Holtz mini blueprint stamps of a camera, typewriter and telephone...so vintage!  I really love his blueprint stamps....they work so well for paper piecing and being cling...the quality of the stamped image is always so good!

Archiver's has bundled the stamps with the BoBunny Mamarazzi papers which I just love.  They are so cute....and how can you not love the word "Mama-razzi"?!

Here is a simple card I made with one of the stamps....I actually stamped the background with the same typewriter stamps and some pumice Distress Ink:

I used a Spellbinder die for the main mat and just traced and hand cut the lighter colored mat behind it.  The notched strip was attached with the Tim Holtz mini attacher.  The typerwriter was cut out...and then I "OH MY GOD" cut my stamps so that I could use "good" and "friend"....the set comes with a stamp that says "life is good" and "hello friend".  I see my idols, Jennifer M and Vickie P do this all the time but the idea of cutting my stamps up gives me the heebie jeebies.  I did it though and it worked perfectly and they ARE easy to put back together! ;)
I did ink the edges of the little paper with the sentiment on it and distressed the edges a bit.

That's it, my friends....
I hope your day is not as wet as mine is looking to be!

Happy Crafting!

We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

Sometimes a new product come out that makes you think....wowie....this is a great idea!  Sometimes the ideas translate to good useful products...and sometimes not.  I saw a video recently on the new We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board and thought if it worked well...it might be a tool to have.

I love tools.

I like drills and hammers and screw drivers with the best of 'em...but what I really like are good scrapbooking tools.  Things that make paper crafting fun and maybe a bit less complicated.

And that's exactly what I found with the WRMK Envelope Punch Board.  It was inexpensive (retails for about $20) and is an all in one piece that makes envelopes easily and very quickly.

So what does it look like?....here it is:

It measures about 10 1/2 by 7 inches....smaller than a standard sheet of paper.  The board comes with a measuring guide across the top, a punch (the big blue oval thing at the top and center), a grid and over on the right is a little blue thing which is actually a scoring tool and bone folder.

The grid gives you the card size you can make an envelope for, the measurements of the paper to use, and also a number where you will start your process once your paper is cut to the correct size.  In fact, one thing that is great about this unlike using a regular scoreboard is that once you measure where you paper lays on the board that is the last measurement you have to make!  So easy!

Here's how it works... (and you will notice that WRMK has done a great job putting the directions front and center...well, front and left right on the board!...really if you just follow those instructions it is EASY PEASY!)
But....since I want to blog this... :)
For example, suppose you want to make a gift card sized envelope (for a card 2x3 1/2).  You would first cut your paper to 5x5 using your favorite paper trimmer.  Look where the bone folder is pointing below and you will see the score line will be at 2 inches.

In the photo above you can see I have placed the left edge of the paper at the 2 inch mark as directed on the grid.)  At this point I punched the blue oval thingy to start my envelope...just press down and punch!
And then I scored from the punch down to the edge of the board at a diagonal.  You can see the score line here:

Then....this is the non measuring part....you turn the paper one quarter of a turn counter clockwise like this and line your score line up with the Score Guide as shown below:

and of course, you punch at that point, too.  You continue doing this until you have all four score lines and punches and you will end up with a piece of paper like this (hard to see some of the score lines...but they are there...trust me:

At this point you can turn your punch board around and corner round the sharp corners like this:

After you've done this you fold on your score lines...add some adhesive and end up with this:

...which would also be called "the perfect envelope"!
Here area  few of various sizes I tried:

Now....I used the board for the first time today.  It is so easy to use....no big learning curve here...even a cave man could do it!  In fact...on the third try I decided to time myself.  From start to finish (including the time it took to cut the paper to the desired size) it only took me....drum roll, please......

are you ready for this???.....

ONE MINUTE AND 30 SECONDS! NO JOKE!!! I am totally serious on that!  Amazing!

Would I recommend it?  Certainly!  I think it will be a great addition...I can use it to mail cards (if I ever decided to mail any of the cards I am hoarding...)...I could use it for scrapbooking...I think this will be a wonderful and versatile tool.

Run and get one!!!

Happy Crafting!

I Like Your Style

When I got back from my month at the beach I was greeted with a Simon Says Stamp Kit of the Month.  I decided to join this club because I just love their products and knew I would not be disappointed.  And it's a great value, I think...lots of products to challenge you with and get your mojo going!
This was February's kit:

Wonderfully colored papers, cute embellishments and a stamp set that has the cutest stamps on it!
I found some great inspiration on line for this kit including a very cute card from the incredibly talented Vicky P. at Clips-n-Cuts HERE, some really adorable cards done with the kit by my new blogging friend, Lenny, HERE and a fabulous one by another new blogging friend, Grisel, HERE.  I knew when I saw all those wonderful cards that I needed to get going!  Such inspiration! ;)
Here is what I came up with....

I loved the softness of these papers and colors....very girly of course with the dresses and pearls and hearts.  All of the papers and embellishments are from the wonderful kit.
I can't wait to use it again!....still lots of stuff in that box! :)

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 11 (Right Side)

A quick post today....I finished up my layout for Week 11 and here it is:

Again, to match the left side layout as well as the insert page I used Heidi Grace papers and embellishments.  In her line there are some really cute layered chipboard stickers like this one:

My grand kids are my sunshine! :)
I cut the following to items with my Silhouette Cameo from items purchased in the Silhouette store.  I thought they were just perfect for this page.

And that is it for today...have to run...the day is waiting!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 11

I did finally get in my craft room yesterday to do a little work on my Project Life.  I only got part done but at least it's a start, right?  Going to work on the other part today...I think it's a great day for crafting! .... but first I DO need to do some housekeeping! Ick!

Here is the left side for Week 11:

....hmmmmm....now as I look at it I see I don't have the dates of the week on it but will add that shortly.
Last week was a big week in the world of religion as the new Pope was elected.  I think he looks like a kind man....sort of cute and chubby.  When it looked like the election was close at hand I watched with millions worldwide for the white smoke to billow from the Sistine Chapel.  And there it came....
Thrilling.
The other photo is of my cute little doggie girl, Isabella, who likes to perch on the backs of the chairs and couch so she can see what all is going on.  She is our alert dog....if an errant leaf blows by she finds it her duty to report.
I used papers and embellishments from Heidi Grace (40% off at Joann's this week).  Wonderful springy colors! :)
This was cut on my Cameo from a file in the online store.  I added some little fabric flowers and a little epoxy snail. 

 This little bird was also cut on my Silhouette...his "eye" is Enamel Accents and I just used a white Signo pen for some pen stitching.  The journal tag is also from Heidi Grace.

These little letters are also fabric stickers from the Heidi Grace collection and the arrow was cut with my Silhouette.

 And here is my "Week 12" title card....and again...I need to put the dates on somewhere....All cut with the Silhouette.  Love that machine!  I tied a little white seam binding around the little card with the 12 on it.

And yay for insert pages...my grandchildren were taken to a spring festival this past weekend with an Easter Egg hunt, a petting zoo and a visit with the Easter Bunny!  All photos were from my daughter's iPhone...not the best but at least the event was documented! :)
I used Becky Higgins' Design I for this:

And now....off to finish what will be the right side of this 2 page spread!

Happy Crafting!!!

A Stampin' Up Kind of Day...

My good friend Lisa T. hosted her annual Stampin' Up party today.  I haven't been able to go the past couple of years because I was out of town so I was happy I would be able to go this year.  Her demonstrator, Robyn Ryan always has such cute ideas she shares.
We did 3 little make and takes and they were each really cute and easily done.  All were done with Stampin' Up products, of course!
The first was is a little purse box done with a die that we ran through the Big Shot.  Too cute and since all the score lines are embossed when you run it through the die cut machine it was very easy and fast to assemble:

 Just plain old, cute, huh?
The next was a card also done with some dies (a dressmaker die and a dress die), some ribbon, a little bling on a punched piece and some sanding on some embossed paper.  Very cute:

I loved the little flower punch....I may "need" that some day!

And lastly we made this card with a telephone booth stamp...I love the red and black...go Dawgs! :)

I love that black and white ribbon.
Anyway, it was fun and Lisa was the perfect hostess!  Thanks, Lisa!

Project Life: Week 10

Bad photos ALERT!
LOL!  I got better at the picture taking of my Project Life pages but this week I reverted back to old habits and shot the pictures through the plastic.  I'm in a hurry right now but have had blogging withdrawal and needed a little fix before heading out.  Plus I used an insert page and wanted to show it.  I love the way it turned out and it could only be seen through plastic!

Here is the left side....and I used some leftover Simple Stories Fabulous things I had used in a previous couple of 12x12 layouts:

And the right side:

But if you look closely above you can see that the shells photo and the day beach scene is actually on a 6x12 insert page.  Love that!
Here is the insert page flipped and now you can see playground photos that almost look like their own 12x12 layout.  Follow me?

And here is the 6x12 insert page with my little hand holding it open for you:

 I dressed up this card a little bit with a sticker and some glossy accents:

And here is my "Week" insert card....I sewed!  I hate to sew but I don't mind so much on paper.  My mom used to laugh at me because I'd sooner throw something out than fix a hem or sew on a button but I will sew on paper!

I used some foam Thickers for the "10".

Well, it is cold here today but I am off to a tennis match!  Hoping for a win but we are playing a team that is generally waaaay better than us so expectations are not high! :)

Happy Crafting!

And sorry for the photos...maybe I'll fix them later....and maybe not!

It's My Anniversary!

It's my anniversary but not the kind of anniversary you are thinking of!  It's been 2 years since I started blogging on March 9, 2011!  I remembered it was around this time but didn't recall the date exactly so just went and looked it up.  I think I will have a glass of wine to celebrate this!
Cheers!
I did make it back from Florida and my fabulous 1 month at the beach.  My scrapbooking stuff is sitting on a pile on the floor of my room....now I  need to go through it all and put it away.  Ugh!  I took way more stuff than I used but I was glad I had those things "just in case".
I have spent my "anniversary" cleaning up my blog a bit and made some pages with tabs.  I still need to work on that but now at least I have a place where my readers or I can easily pull up my Silhouette Projects or my Project Life pages, as well, as Cricut projects.  Yay for ease of finding stuff! :)
I'm hoping to get back into some crafting within the next few days.  But first I need to get caught up on the hour sleep I lost traveling from Central Time to Eastern Time and another hour with this whole Daylight Savings Time thing!  I need a nap!!!

But after my wine perhaps....

Happy Anniversary, Expression Avenue!

Back to Reality!

I head back home to Atlanta today after my month vacation in Laguna Beach, Florida.  It's in the Panhandle just west of Panama City Beach...a nice little haven.  It looks like the snowbirds are heading back now and the spring breakers are showing up in flocks, herds, schools...whatever! :)  Time for this ol' gal to get out of here before I end up on the beach with them in MY string bikini! 

I really enjoyed my month here....I took more sunset photos than I can even count...I have a little waterproof Fujifilm camera that really does a wonderful job on sunsets.  Here is one straight out of the camera:

That's my little doggie, Isabella enjoying her last jaunt on the beach.  Man oh man, that little pup loves the beach....she runs and runs and runs!
I'll probably take a few days' break from blogging...my grandkids are coming over tomorrow and will spend the night so I know I won't get any crafting done.  :)  But that's fine...I can't wait to see them!
Well, back to the packing!
 The six hour drive back to my home is ahead of me!

Happy Crafting!

Vintage Football

We don't have many pictures of my husband as a child.  So I was happy when he gave me a couple of pictures of him in football uniform when he played the Pop Warner league in Hawaii many, many moons ago.  The original photo was badly damaged but was repaired and these are the result.  I just think they are great...he's so young and although he's never been heavy he is certainly very skinny here!  I also love the old car behind him...what is that...a Corvair?  I'll have to remember to ask him.

Lucky guy...he grew up on Maui.

I used Echo Park's This and That by Lori Whitlock...I thought these colors were just perfect.  This layout was QAS...Quick and Simple.  I haven't journaled yet and I may still add some buttons but this isn't the kind of layout where you'd add bling or lots of ribbon.  A football player just wouldn't have that!

Here it is:

Tomorrow I head back to Atlanta after my month vacation at the beach.  It's been a great month but I'm looking forward to getting back home and seeing the kids and grandkids!

Happy Crafting!