CAS-ual Fridays Release Day 2 - Dashing Stamps and Snow Fri-Dies!

Welcome to Day 2 of the CAS-ual Fridays Release!  Today we're showing off the new Dashing Stamp Set and Snow Fri-Dies.  I was all set to create a card for today but I've been thinking lately it's time I slapped some pics on a page and made a layout.  And when I thought of the sentiment Dashing Through The Snow, I remembered how every year when my kids were small we'd go on the Santa Express and what dashes through the snow better than a train?!  So this idea came to me!

I chose some papers from a leftover pack that I've had for quite a while in my stash.  When I planned the pages in my head my color scheme was different... mostly blues and white... but when I found the pictures I wanted to use there was a lot of red (I mean Santa, right??) so I was happy to find these papers easily.  I started by adding the two wide strips and then I splattered on some acrylic paints in white, blue, and black.

I chose a few of my favorite pics from the day to be on this layout.  This will be the first page of my layouts and the rest will be in photo pocket pages.  I started scrapping this way a few years ago... I took A LOT of pics every time we did something so I was finding it hard to scrapbook all of them.  And I love the look of a page with just a few photos on it so this method is perfect for me!  I can really go to town on the one or two layout(s) and plop the rest in pocket pages!  I'll decorate those just a bit so they coordinate with this page, but it will be quick and easy!

In this upper left corner, I stamped the "Dashing Through The" sentiment from the stamp set.  I fussy cut it out and then die cut the Dashing word from glitter paper and layered it over the stamped image. 

I love how it gave the Dashing word an outline to make it stand out!

And then the second part of my sentiment over in the bottom right hand corner of these top photos

That Snow word die... gorgeous, right??  

I finished decorating my page using the snowflakes from the Funky Flakes Fri-Dies cut from glitter paper and those beautiful borders from the Lovely Links Fri-Dies along with some embellishments, stickers, and sequins from my stash.

And then down here a few more photos... you know how old photos with a point and shoot camera are... they're perfect for cutting small photos to add almost as an embellishment to your pages.  Oh!  And those pretty glittery hearts?  A lovely by-product from my Lovely Links cuts... it's like a two-fer!

And this week is Anything Goes over at Double Trouble Challenges and until Wednesday at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday too!  I'm playing along with both!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Be sure to check out what everyone else has made using these awesome new stamps and dies!

Find all of the new products for this release.. already available in the shop here...orders placed during the release will begin shipping November 5th.   And here's a code for you to save some $$ should you decide to shop!

Mini Album Makers Challenge June 2018

I have a quick post for you today!  I was asked by a co-worker to make her a card for her granddaughter who had just gotten engaged... and then this happened!

I'm linking it up to the June Challenge over at the Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog!  You can check that out here!

I've always loved making these Accordion Albums and they are really so quick to make and aside from a few challenges, pretty easy!  The papers I chose were from a couple old CTMH packs and then various flowers and embellishments... Prima, CTMH, die cuts.  And of course used some beautiful crinkly seam binding that I bought at an antique store near me.  It's not antique ribbon, but one of the booths has a selection of beautiful crafting supplies like the ribbon, bags of buttons and spools and such... LOVE going there!  Luckily I have a big stash.  All I had to do was print the pics and I had everything else I needed in my home!

You only need limited supplies and a few pics.  I've made them before as birthday cards and so I asked her to get me a few pics and told her I'd make one of these... she really had no clue what it was and agreed.  It's basically made with two square pieces of cardboard, three square sheets of paper and whatever embellishments and paper you want to use.  

As I'm getting ready to go on vacation right now, I don't have time to go into details on measurements and such.. and to be honest it had been so long since I made one, I used an older one I'd made and made it up as I went along, but I promise I'll post another in the future, keep better track of what I'm doing and include a photo tutorial with measurements for those interested.  I can tell you each space is around 4 1/4 x 4 1/4... the three sheets I folded were about 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 and the two cardboard pieces (to create the cover and back) were about 4 1/4 x 4 1/4.  Again, these measurements are approximate, but it's made to fit 4x4 pics... I'm positive you could do whatever sizes you want and create different sized albums...maybe I'll do that for my next one and change it up!

One of my favorite "pages" in this album is this one...lol!  This is the song for their wedding and I googled the lyrics, typed them up in Pic Monkey and added a couple pretty overlays.  Then I printed it on my laser and foiled it with some Gina K foil and my Minc.. Love it!

The hardest part of this album is that there are only four spaces that you can use a whole, uncut picture.  The rest must be cut diagonally, so you want to find pics that you can trim to 4x4 and that will lend themselves to being cut diagonally without say going through someone's face.. 'cause that would be just weird..lol!

I was quite challenging for this one because I didn't have a large choice of pics and they were all pictures my co-worker had taken from her granddaughter's facebook page so not the best quality... but I made most black and white or muted colors in picmonkey and I think I made it work!

The other challenge here is decorating without too much bulk on the inside... I loves me some layers and bumpy stuff, so I struggled a bit with that as well, but in the end it all came together. Hoping this will be a keepsake for them.  She delivered it this past weekend and they went dress shopping.. I got to see the pics and I'm already thinking maybe I'll get to make another one after the wedding!...lol!  But now I better start thinking about what my next one will be.. my fur babies.. my furless babies?  Maybe the flowers from the cacti in my garden... ooh... yes... I think that might be it!

Thanks to all of the girls over at the Mini Album Makers Challenge for all of the inspiration!  I so enjoyed making one of these again!  Now I have to finish packing!  Flying off tomorrow for a crafty weekend!  Come back tomorrow for an announcement regarding Three Amigos for July and a cute birthday card for my son!

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!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #240

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  You're finally there!  My last layout for my mini album!  I'll be posting pics of the whole thing in a while if you're interested.. but for now, here it is!

I flipped the sketch and swapped out some shapes... gear and compass for flowers and diamond shape for the oval.

Thanks for going on this ride with me and my mini album and hanging in there with me!  It was a lot of fun and made putting this album together pretty easy since the layouts were already set for me!

Here's the sketch and hope you'll play along with us this week!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #239

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  You still have a couple days left to play along with this sketch!  I used it for another page in my mini album and guess what!  Only one more page left to finish it up!

Here's the sketch and hope you'll play along this week!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #238

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I'm almost through all of my pages for this mini album!  Here's the layout I made using this week's sketch.

Hope you'll play along with us this week!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #237

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I'm back with another page from my mini album!  Don't you roll your eyes!  We're almost at the end...lol!  I had so much fun making and decorating this album!

This sketch was such a pretty one... loved the chance to use so many pretty flowers!

And this cutie pie is not so little any more... but she is still a cutie pie!

LOVE this sketch!  Thanks Michelle!  Hope you'll play along with us!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #236

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I have another pocket layout today!  This was a fun sketch... love the stripey background and I used gears instead of hearts and an arrow instead of a bow... well... you know why!

Can't wait to see what you create! 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #235

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge! Used this sketch on one of the mini pocket pages from my album.

Hope you'll join us!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #234

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I'm sharing a page from my mini album... hope you're not getting bored with them!

Used some retired CTMH papers and various dies.  What will you create using this sketch?

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #233

 

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I'm sharing the cover page for my Mini Album... might be my favorite...

I had to "relocate" the sentiment/flower/banner cluster on this sketch because of the picture... couldn't cover up my lovely niece!  I used some more of those lacy stickers from the Dollar Store... wish I could find more!

Can't wait to see what you create using this sketch!