Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Paper Sweeties Plan Your Life Series - February 2018!


It's time to Plan Your Life over at Paper Sweeties!  I'm celebrating Valentines Day in my planner!  Paper Sweeties has some awesome stamp and die sets that are perfect for creating Valentines projects.


I started with the beautiful heart doilies from the With Love Sweet Cuts set... one of my faves!


I added one to both sides of my two week layout.  I love that these dies cut out the center separately from the lacy outside... it lets me use two different design papers or the same!


Love this adorable pup from the Sent From My Heart stamp and die sets.  The mailbox and grass are all from there too.



And the Happy Mail set was perfect to add a little Love to this side.

So happy you stopped today!  As you can see I have a pretty busy couple of crafty weeks so I better get to it!

Be sure to hop on over to see what all of my Paper Sweeties teamies are up to:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Lilian Forsyth 
Lisa Bzibziak (You Are Here)




Outlawz January Progressive Challenge With Di's Digis!


Super de duper quick post!  I play along each month with the Outlawz progressive challenge and this digi from Di's Digis is sooo adorable and I've been wanting to color it up for a while, I had to do a quick card this morning... under the wire... on the due date!  I used the heart papers from MFT again and at this moment am realizing I didn't do a good job of covering what I meant to cover...lololol!  Oh well, I'll fix it, but for now, here we are!  I have to go!  Late for work!!!

Be sure to check out my post up on the Coffee Lover's Blog today as well!

See you soon!

Monday, January 29, 2018

Three Amigos Anything Goes - Few More Days!


Super quick post today just to remind you that there are three days left to link up to the Three Amigos Anything Goes Challenge for January!  You have until 11:59 on the 31st to link up!  I sure hope you'll join us!

A friend of mine makes Valentines every year for some kids in a local children's home.  There are 90... yes 90 children who don't have parents to take care of them.  It's heartbreaking!  So she and her group three times a year make enough cards for all of the kids and bring them and other items to try to make their lives a little brighter.  She was concerned that she wasn't going to have enough and might have to make a whole bunch on her own so I told her I'd make some.  In the end some other ladies came through and they have enough with a few leftover to be sold in the Home's boutique.


I came to the game late, so I needed a quick design and thought I had the answer when I bought a couple sheets of Doodlebug paper that had cute sentiments on them, but when I went to start cutting them down I realized they weren't all appropriate for all ages.  So, although there was coloring involved with this adorable CTMH Operation Smile Punny Pals set... and they're little so it really went fast.


I just LOVE these cute little animals with their punny sayings-most good for any age!  And I used Little Dreamer papers for the background hearts and stripes (think unicorn papers) and some Fundamentals in matching colors.  I figured out my design and it was easy peasy from there!  It was easy to keep the color palette limited and I got them all done yesterday morning.  The rectangle layer was cut using a Stamplorations die and the stitched hearts with an MFT die set.  I also had the perfect little puffy conversation hearts in just the right colors and added a few Brutus Monroe sequins.


Off in the mail to her today so she can get them to their recipients on time.  Not only are the cards going to children in need of some love, but a percentage of the sale of these Punny Pals sets go to Operation Smile also, so awesome all the way around!


Thanks for stopping!  I'll definitely find out when the next set goes over to the home and make some ahead for the next time.



Thursday, January 25, 2018

Unicorn Dreams-You're Purrfect!


I'm up on the Little Acres Creations Blog today sharing this fun interactive card using the January Release stamp set, Unicorn Dreams, Doodlebug papers and some dies from Lawn Fawn and CDD!  Hope you'll hop on over for more pics and info on how I made it!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Peace Love Coffee - But Not Necessarily In That Order


Stopping in for a quick post because I realized I was running short on time to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays More Coffee Please challenge!  And since it was the perfect chance to use some of the new coffee stuff I won from CAS-ual Fridays I definitely wanted to play along!  You should check out this challenge and I also made sure to check out the Tic Tac Toe board over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge because ... why not??  You can use the twist or not with this fun challenge that re-boots every Thursday.  I like to try to play with the twist because you get extra chances to win prizes each month!

I made this foiled flower background using some transfer gel and foil products a while ago when crafting with some crafty friends!  You just take a stencil and apply the gel like you would texture past with a spatula... let it dry.. and then place the foil over and run it through your Minc or laminator.  This foil was rainbow colored and I thought it was perfect because it had a flower and purple in it (Tic and Tac)!  And it's also cool with my sentiment.  I cut the panel out using a Waffleflower background die.. so pretty...


I added a purple heart cut out of some foil cardstock and then cut two of the little cups from the Coffee Cup Fri-Dies out of another piece of paper I foiled way back when using a paper that was printed on a laser.  I placed them around this awesome sentiment from the Peace, Love & Coffee stamp set and scattered a few heart shaped bling (Toe!) around as well... in purple of course!


That's it!  Love that I had these foiled beauties around waiting to be used... it made for a quick, easy and pretty card!  Now on to a project for a friend!  Thanks so much for stopping and be sure to check these two challenges out!




Monday, January 22, 2018

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #248



Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  Today I'm playing along with a few other challenges as well!  My Coffee Lovin' Cohort Laurel Seabrook hosts a challenge that I found last week called Inspired By and the Inspiration Photo is below.  I was inspired by the black and white and gold and the patterns and my mind went to this paper from the jack paper pack.  I was also inspired by the beautiful Vintage Roses stamps from Altenew that she used in her project.  I got that set so long ago and have been afraid to use it because of the layering.  So this weekend I pulled it out and was surprised at how easily these came together and I didn't even end up crying like I have with some layered sets...lol!


So I checked out the Altenew challenge blog and chose my colors from the Sketch Challenge which allows you to be inspired by the Sketch, the colors, the composition, or the elements or all of the above!  I chose the colors since I already had the Atlantic Hearts sketch to use... and they were perfect!  AND I checked out the Tic Tac Toe Challenge over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday and found a row I could definitely work with.  The board is below and I chose the diagonal Flower, Embossing, and Butterfly which was also just right for this card!  That pretty butterfly diecut is from Memory Box and the gold foil paper was just the ticket.


And I've also had this awesome sentiment set from Altenew in these fun fonts, Painted Inspiration forever!  I bought it at a stamp show back in NY at the Right At Home booth... embossed in gold... 

So thanks for stopping by!  Hope you will play along over at Atlantic Hearts this week!  And you may want to pair it up with some of these other challenges as well!

Here's this week's sketch!


And this is the color pallet that inspired me:


With a little bit of pretty black and white geometric pattern and a touch of gold:


And the lower left to upper right diagonal combo from here:



Sunday, January 21, 2018

Cutting Cafe Inspiration-Anything Goes January 2018


Welcome to some Cutting Cafe Inspiration!  This time around it's Anything Goes!  Regina let us pick any file we wanted to work with and I chose the Polaroid and Camera Fun Template and Printable Set.


I decided although this is a layout from a Santa Train Ride, I wanted to use these Jack papers and complements... I mean ... Santa is kind of lumberjacky isn't he?...lol!  

I used the cutting files on this two page layout using pics from (so) long ago!  The cameras, the hearts, the flash and all of those black arrows, the filmstrips and the awesome polaroid frames that frame some of my favorite pics are all in the cutting file!


 Along with some ephemera I had, some extras on my desk from previous projects, and a few diecuts I love the way this layout came out.  When I decided to do a layout, I went to one of my favorite places for inspiration, Yvonne Yam's blog Do More With Less and one of the many gorgeous and fun layouts in this post here!  Can you tell which one?

I'm playing along with the Heart2Heart Challenge, Picture Perfect!  I'm also playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to Add A Sentiment. 


Don't you just LOVE those cameras???  So cute cut from patterned paper.  There is also a polaroid camera in the cutting file and two larger ones that are shaped cards!  Not to mention a bunch of really cute printable sentiments.  That Happy die has been sitting on my desk for months... MONTHS!  It ended up being too big for the card I wanted to it for and I'm so happy because I love using it on this one!

So yeah... that's me with my two boys.. they are 28 and 23 now!!... and that smile of mine...lol... that's what you get when I try to smile for a picture and why most of the time I prefer to be behind the camera...lol!


I had originally cut the polaroid frames from white paper, but with all of the white in the background they got lost and then I came across this cool print in the paper pack and knew it would be awesome... I think I was right.  I layered them over the white ones because it made for a thicker frame.  Most of the snowflakes were leftovers and the cups of cocoa are from MFT.  And yes, I'm missing some journaling, but I'll add that before I put it away... maybe...lol!!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you'll try out this Polaroid and Camera fun file!  It did make for a lot of fun on this layout.  Also make sure if you haven't already, you head on over to Yvonne's blog and check it out!  Now be sure to get over to the Cutting Cafe Blog and comment there for a chance to win some free files and for links to all of my design teamies' projects for today... don't miss the awesome!


Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Caffeine Fueled Paper Play with Poppy Stamps


I'm up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog today and I'm playing along with the Poppy Stamps Snow Day Challenge!  Hope you'll hop on over and check out the details and maybe even play along!

Here's a Sneak Peek!




Monday, January 15, 2018

Paper Sweeties January 2018 Blast From the Past Favorites! - Day 3


Welcome to Day 3 of Paper Sweeties Blast From The Past Favorites!  Today I'm sharing with you a project I made using Emma... my favorite little Sweetie!

I started with a background I created a while ago at a crop with friends.  One of the girls showed us all how to use a Gelli Plate with acrylic paints.  All I added to the background for this project were the snowflakes.  I used the three snowflakes from the Thanks Snow Much stamp set and stamped them randomly on the background with Versamark ink and heat embossed them in white.  

I'm playing along again with the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC437.. inspiration photo is below!  You should check it out!


Then I colored up and cut out Emma and stamped this adorable sweater dress and pair of boots from the Tackle Life One Cup At A Time stamp set.  I stamped the dress on some sweater paper.   I didn't have quite the right color to go with my background so I used the pattern that had mostly white and colored some of  the sections with a coordinating marker.  The sentiment is from the same set and I stamped and heat embossed it on a banner cut using the Sweet Borders Sweet Cuts then I stamped, colored and cut out the fun to go cup from the Coffee Plan Your Life Series stamp set.

Thanks for stopping again!  Hope you've enjoyed our blasts from the past!  And if you haven't checked out what everyone else created for you today, then be sure you do!