More Stencil Fun!

Quick post here today...here is another card I made with the Moroccan inspired stencil that I used the other day HERE.

This time I used Hero Arts ink daubers and sloshed in the ink.  I love the splotchy water colored look it left.  And the colors were fun and bright!

The stamps were from Simon Says Stamp and the burlap flower came from the SSS August monthly kit.
Here is a closeup of the burlap and stamps:

And that's it for today...it is beautiful outside where I am and I feel the NEED to get out in the sunshine!!!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday with a Touch of Acetate

I love Shari Carroll.  She used to work for Hero Arts and you know how I love Hero Arts.  Her design style has always been so appealing to me and I have never ONE time seen a card she made and said "Ewwwwww!".  She recently went to work for Simon Says Stamp which is way cool...because not only can she work with Hero Arts things, I assume,  but also with all the great products Simon Says Stamp has to offer.  A win-win situation for me!

She recently posted a card on the Simon Says Stamp Blog which you can see HERE.  I love this card with the die cut sentiment and the touch of acetate.  I thought...well, I can do this. Sort of....when I made mine I was out of town and only had some supplies with me.  But the good news is that I used up some more paper scraps I had from some old Simon Says Stamp card kits.

Yay me.   I used what I had on hand.

Yay me.

Here is my card:

 I was most happy to use up that flair I had....it had been sitting around and I was wondering what I'd ever do with it!  Yay me.
The top layer with the acetate is adhere with some foam tape to give a bit more dimension and lift it off the patterned paper behind it.
I love the look of white on white...and I love that wood grained paper from Simon Says Stamp.  The "happy birthday" sentiment is also cut with exclusive Simon Says Stamp dies.  I do love the die cuts that Shari used but again I used what I had on hand.  And my hand does not own those.  Poor me.

The word "celebrate" was stamped with a Paper Smooches stamp.

It was fun to do...and a big thanks to Shari Carroll for always wonderful inspiration!

Happy Crafting!

Stencils!

I have stencils from at least several hundred years ago when I first started scrapbooking.  I had tons of those letter stencils that I would painstakingly trace and then cut out by hand for titles and sentiments on both cards and scrapbook layouts.  Fast forward a couple of centuries and I couldn't tell you the last time I hand cut letters out with any regularity!  I have the fabulous Silhouette Cameo who does all that hard work for me and I also have some letter dies, as well.

But stencils have made a resurgence in the paper crafting field (at least to me) and it isn't about lettering so much...they are being used in so many other ways.

In the August Simon Says Stamp Card Kit shown below a stencil was included.  It is a Simon Says Stamp exclusive stencil and has that Moroccan look to it.

I got out my Ranger Distress Inks and just splotched here and there...and blended a bit.  It was very fun and quite easy to make the background.

 Kind of reminds me of a winter sunset at the beach...
I used some Sizzix framelits to cut out the circles and create the black circle frame.  I mounted with some popdots and added the flair and thought "how fun!".  I was happy. 
Here is another picture of the flair without out the glare....Flair with no GLARE!  I'm a poet! ;)

Happy Crafting!

Coffee, Chocolate and Wine!

I just love a great stamp set!  I love Hero Arts.  I've said that before.  Before Archiver's closed their doors forever (*sob*), my wallet and I found ourselves shopping one last time.  I bought a couple of stamp sets for old times sake and because I "needed" them.  I feel like I did my civic duty to help Archiver's resolve any outstanding debt it may have.  My friend, Cyndi, also did her duty as well.  Many times.... In fact, we are surprised that we, alone, did not keep Archiver's solvent.  *sigh*....

Anyway, onto new things and now that my favorite store is closed I will just have to order online to get the latest and greatest Hero Arts items!  heheh...

Here is a stamp set I bought and at first glimpse it looks cute and ok....but I only bought it because it had the words "chocolate", "coffee" AND "wine" included.  Three of my great loves.  I thought to myself "This is the perfect stamp set! It covers everything!".  Here is the set:

So, I got busy and basically made 3 versions of the same card.  Here they are:

 

I just used white Zing embossing powder, some basic colored cardstock and some printed papers from Lily Bee which came from a previous Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the Month.  On two of the cards I used a spell binders scalloped die to cut out the mats.

Here are the 3 together....

What a fun set.  I love it!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Christmas Pages

It was rainy here yesterday...I mean, rain pretty much ALL DAY!  So what does one do on rainy, icky days?  Why eat junk food, watch reruns of Gilligan's Island (seriously...but mostly because it came on after Roseanne.  I love Roseanne.  She was my role model as a mother.  ;)  Anyway, I was too lazy to change the channel once the Roseanne marathon was over and it went to Gilligan's Island!), take a nap and CRAFT!  I finished up my Project Life Christmas pages and also made several cards!  I was so productive! 

So here are the pages...not much too them.  I sent some notes to my daughter about what we need to make sure we do this next Christmas in terms of photos.  1.  We need to make sure that we get a group shot of all 3 kids.  2.  I need more photos of the fronts of people and not their back. 3. My daughter and I need to fix ourselves up a bit more for photos.  LOL!  4.  I need to make sure I hand the camera over to someone and get in one or two pictures.  Yep!  NOT 1 PHOTO OF ME OF Christmas, 2013!  Lol.  It's like I was non existent!  Oh well... 

For these pages I used the same Simple Stories paper pad that I had purchased at Michaels in that fabulous sale: 

*ooops....I see I did not journal on the photo of Taylor coming down the stairs .... I will take care of that, I promise!

I made this little 3D paper bow with a die from Simon Says Stamp.  It's so cute!

Now I can sort of officially say DONE.  I do need to add some paper to the backs of the last page in my album so it's not naked....but 2013 is DONE!!! 

Now onto PL 2014!  I still am on the hunt for ways to simplify the process!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 52

I don't know why it has taken me so long to finish out 2013 and my Project Life.  I seem to have loved the process from weeks 1-50.  The last 2 weeks have been killers!  LOL!  But week 52 is done.  With that you would think I would say "I AM DONE"! ...but no....I still have tons of pictures from Christmas Day and have decided to do separate pages as there are too many for an insert.

The Never Ending Project...

LOL!

But I guess we hope that LIFE is never ending, huh?  So profound.  ;)

Here is the left side:

I used papers from a paper pad I bought at Micheal's by Simple Stories and most importantly, bought it at a huge, huge discount! Pennies on the dollah...pennies on the dollah! 

I cut the "Week 52" letters and numbers out on my Silhouette Cameo.

Here is the right side:

I did these pages while I was away from home without all my supplies.  I could go back and add some buttons, twine, etc....but I think I will just leave them the way they are.  Simple and most importantly, DONE!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that you are having a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I am!  I am spending it with my 3 little Valentine's...David (4), Taylor (2), and Wade (4 months).  They certainly fill my heart!

I had to quickly come up with a few Valentine's cards...I had some printed paper and some dimensional heart stickers...all from American Crafts and made these cards very quickly.  I'm always trying to make the quick and easy card and usually fail...these were truly 5 minute specials.  As you can see....but they were cute and fun nonetheless, I thought.

Ok, yeah....like  piece of background paper, a cardstock base, a little strip and a premade dimensional heart sticker.  Can't get any easier.
Then I made this one for Taylor and even stamped a bit (love the OMG I {heart} you stamp!) but other than a few pieces of cut paper...there was nothing to this.  She liked it though...but probably liked the lollipop glued to the outside the best.  ;)

I made the one below for my grandson, David...the little alien, stitched border and the blue design the alien is standing on were stamped with Simon Says Stamp exclusive stamps from the January card kit of the month:

Isn't the little alien cute?  Would have been cuter with some googly eyes but I didn't have any on hand.  Next time....

No chocolate, flowers, or jewelry for me but I do have 3 little tots that fill up my heart and I will take them over all the roses, chocolate (yeah, even over chocolate) and jewelry in the world any day....not just Valentine's Day.

Happy Crafting!

More Fun with Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day.  I love chocolate on Valentine's Day.  I hope someone gives me some chocolate! ;)

Here is another card I made for Valentine's Day.  The circle background is part of a card purchased in the Silhouette online store.  I just cut redid a few things about it to suit my plan for the card.

The printed paper is American Crafts as is the dimensional sticker on the top. 

Easy peasy but fun to do.  I love the way the Silhouette effortlessly cut the background.  Zip, zip, zip and it was done!

It is beautiful in my neck of the woods today...off to do a nice walk with the dog!

And although this doesn't have anything to do with papercrafting or Valentine's Day... isn't this pretty?

Happy Crafting and Happy Sunday!

You Are Loved

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!  I need to get making cards! 
Actually, I did make this card yesterday with items from the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for January which you can see here:

Here is a card I made inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Vicky Papaioannou at Clips-n-Cuts HERE.  I loved the confetti heart die she used (a Simon Says Stamp exclusive) which I don't have so I used a file from the Silhouette Online store and cut it with my Cameo.

I found a coin envelope file at the Silhouette Online store, too which I thought was really cute.  One thing I've learned (a Susan tip) is to get rid of score lines which are cut on the Silhouettes (Cricut does it, too) as I find that when you fold you often get a torn look.  It's because the "score" lines are really perforated and I think the cuts are too deep and go through the entire paper.  I just cut my shape and then score them with a regular manual scorer.  Those of you not into paper crafting (Becky, Niki, Donna) may have no idea what I'm talking about and that's ok! LOL!

But those of you who are into the paper arts...well, you will know what I'm talking about!

The "you" is cut with red cardstock from a metal die from a Simon Says Stamp Exclusive which also comes with some great stamps.  I added a few crystal sequins and a heart punched from cardstock.  I also used a red Wink of Stella to go over the heart and the die cut to give it a little non-messy sheen.

The little tickets came with the kit and are made by Fancy Pants.  They are so cute and slid right in the coin envelope! 

I liked this card so much I think I'll make another!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 51

I'm finishing...I'm finishing....
I actually have finally completed weeks 51 and 52 for Project Life.  That is a major accomplishment for me and I'm proud of it...and I am most happy to say "I'M DONE"!  Well, not quite done...as I have an insert layout or two to finish and I do need to complete some touches to make it totally done!

But it's getting there.  And as I struggle to close out 2013 I am getting behind with 2014! LOL!!!

If it weren't for 3 cutie pie kiddos who are growing way to fast and a huge event for us this year with the wedding of my son...well, I just might skip 2014 altogether!  But no...

I was not at home when I did this layout so I didn't have my huge stash of stuff and made do with what I had on hand. 

I used some papers from BoBunny...and now I realize I have a whole 6x6 pad so maybe when I get a chance I'll add a few things!  Who knows...?

Here is the left side:

I used my Silhouette to cut out "Week 51" with the Impact font.

I love the photos on this page...especially the one of my son in law holding the baby and both are fast asleep.  I also love the photo of me reading to the children...they do love books and stories.  And I love, love, love all the ladies in the top photo...what great times we have together! (These are the ladies I play tennis with...although a few were missing!)

Here is the right side:

 What great stories these photos tell!
I made the journaling card by cutting out the one panel and then layering it with some foam tape.  I added a button and some ribbon to spiff it up a bit! ;)

 

I added a little ribbon  to the following journaling card in another attempt to "spiff" it up!  LOL!

And that's if for today, my friends!

Happy Crafting!