Color Challenge from MPS

A new challenge from My Pink Stamper-woohoo!

 The colors that you need to use are: Teal or Blue, Green and Brown. At first I thought that might be difficult, but I pulled out my latest paper purchase and it was right there!

What I used:

The tree paper is from Basic Grey Jovial-I love it!

It's cut from Cricut cartridge Winter Frolic

Card is kraft paper from Michaels

Stamps are Kaisercraft

The other papers are scraps I had in my stash

"Snow" dots are white craft paint applied with a embossing stylus

Distress Ink colors used-Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint

There is a irock crystal on the top of tree

I had a lot of fun making the card, not much going on here at my store since it's snowing like crazy today. We've gotten 10" since last night and it's still going.

One more day of school for the kids-if they don't cancel. :)

Peace and Joy

Christmas Photo Book Project

I decided to make my Mom a photo book for Christmas. I have never made a little chipboard book so I was very excited to work on it. (She doesn't use a computer, and only looks at my blog if I show it to her, so I'm hoping I don't ruin the surprise by posting before the big day!)

Here are the pages after gluing the papers down with Mod Podge, sanding all the edges and then inking with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I used a Bo Bunny kit called Jazmyne. Very fun papers in purples, pinks and green. It was shown as a book for pictures of girls, so I just skipped all the "girly" stickers and put them in my stash for a different project.

Cover with sepia tone photo. Ribbons were part of the kit as well.

 Here are all the inside pages. I also inked all the chipboard accents and wow do they have some super strength adhesive on them! I had a tough time trying to pry one up to get a photo under it when I found a little mistake that I had made.

Letters cut from Winter Woodland. The card on theright opens up and has two more pictures inside.

Words are from Gypsy Wanderings

The card on the right is an acordian fold and holds 4 more photos underneath the flap.

Phrase is from Winter Frolic (and yes, that is my sister and me with our ear-flapper hats on at the Bentleyville light display. It was really cold.)

The End

I am sure I will be making more of these in the future. It is so fun to do a smaller project and be able to complete it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone....

one week until Christmas!! :)

Pink and Blue Christmas Card

I made a pink and blue Christmas card for the My Pink Stamper challenge. I had just received my new Winter Frolic cartridge and wanted to try it so it worked out great!! 

I had a hard time at first coming up with a pink and blue card but I really like how it turned out.

I am just finishing up my big photo book project for my Mom-will post soon!

Have a great day! :)

MPS Birthday Challenge

Though I should be making Christmas projects, I couldn't resist making a card for the My Pink Stamper challenge. 

I just got a little shipment from Oh My Crafts that included a set of Sizzix embossing folders in leopard and zebra and I had to try them out! I love it!!

The crown and words are from Gypsy Wanderings. I've never used the cartridge before. (I didn't realize all the fun images it contains.) The paper layers are dark brown, with hot pink, and then tan with embossing and distressed inked with Vintage Photo and Mustard Seed.

I have to get busy on a small chipboard album for my Mom and I have an idea for a little wall art piece. I'll post as soon as I'm done-hopefully before Christmas!

We have snow and COLD here. They are talking single digits for the weekend-BRRRRR!

Christmas Tree and Mantle

Yay...the Christmas tree is up and decorated!

It only took me a week. :)

Mantlescape complete as well. I've been loving the seasonal penants this year!

I spent the whole week working on the mantle. Every time I walked by I changed something. I had so many different decorations up and down, but I think I finally like the results! We are getting 'lake effect' snow today-very light and fluffy. It looks very Christmas-y outside today.





Have a wonderful evening. I will post more Christmas cards tomorrow.

I entered my banner over on Todays Creative Blog-lots of great ideas over there for the holidays.

First Christmas Card

First Christmas card made...one down, quite a few more to go! :)

I had fun doing it, but I don't think it photographed too well. Maybe I need to make a light box or something. Any suggestions for taking nice photos? What do you do? I've just been aiming my desk lamp at the projects to take pictures because the flash is too harsh. Stickles don't really show up. I'd be grateful for any suggestions. 

OK , so here's what I used for this card:

K & Company shaped card papers from the Yuletide collection

Christmas Solutions Cricut Cartidge for the tree at 4" (so pretty)

Gold Stickles

Ranger Distress Ink in Forest Moss and Vintage Photo

The stamp was a dollar stamp at Michael's (they get me every time!)

Decorated the store for Christmas yesterday and turned the music from jazz to holiday. Now I'm getting in the Christmas spirit. (Too bad it's raining right now instead of snowing!)

Hope everyone has a great day!

Thank You Nancy

Thank you to Nancy from BlueRoomINK for this blog award! I was very excited! Please go and visit Nancy's blog-she has very beautiful projects to share.

Now, this award does come with some rules so please follow along:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this

2. Share 8 things about yourself

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards

Okay, so here are 8 Things about me:
1. I love scrapbooking and have recently started making cards as well.
2. Autumn is my favorite time of year.
3. I have 2 wonderful children who keep me busy!
4. My husband and I work together every day at our decorating store (and believe it or not, we are still the best of friends. )
5. I live on beautiful Lake Superior-which is starting to freeze over with our recent frigid weather!
6. I didn't do 4am shopping on Black Friday-don't like mornings or crowds very much. :)
7. I love coffee-hot in the winter and ice coffee in the summer.
8. I am so happy to have started a blog and met so many wonderful fellow bloggers! 

I would like to send this award out to the following crafty ladies:

1. Scrappy Java Girl

2.Carol's Sweet Creations

3.Charlotte's Creations

4.Helen at Cricut Crafting Mom

5.Midwest Scrapping Mom

6.OwlBeeScrapin

7.Angela at Simple Creations

8.Jen's Stamping Blog

These are some of my favorite blogs to find some awesome projects. Thank you ladies!!



Thankful Banner

I retired the Halloween banner and made a Thanksgiving one for the mantle this afternoon. The pennants are burlap and I added some pieces of fabric, tied between the letters.They are hanging from a jute cord hot glued on under a piece of ribbon.  Click here to see the link for how I made the silver pumpkins.

It was a fun and easy project. I love how it turned out!!

Thanksgiving Card

Here is the Thanksgiving card that I worked on today. The cold, blustery weather is getting me into the mood to make holiday cards. 

Card Front

I used some Distress Ink on the striped paper and the tag edges. The tag was cut from the Winter Wonderland Cricut cartridge (4" and 4 1/2 "). The stamp is from Inkadinkado and there are copper colored irock gems on the tag. I added a cuttlebug pattern on the black strip but it didn't photograph too well. 

I like how the colors turned out-I just didn't have the background I was looking for but sometimes you just have to use what you have. There are no scrapbook stores around here for at least an hour and a half, so there's no running out to get something new. (Hmmm...maybe that means I need the Cricut Imagine, huh?)

Card Back

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Happy crafting!

Jillify It! Giveaway

I found a cute blog, and she's doing her first giveaway, so I thought I'd give her a little plug. Click here to check out her blog.

This week has been rough....anybody else strongly dislike the process of getting a new computer up and running the way you want it? Ugh!! Too many calls to my network guy, and too many calls to help desks that are all over the world. I think I've almost got it set now. It's really cutting into my craft time. :)

Have a nice, and creative, weekend. 

(They're talking up to 6 inches of snow around here!)

Sunday Haul

Woo-hoo...a trip to Michael's and Target for me this past weekend. I got some fun bling, a new blending tool and mini-misters, a 2-way glue, Stickles-which I've not tried yet, Glossy Accents-which I am very excited to try and some beautiful stamps!! The circle maker is from Target. I was looking at buying bigger circle punches but this will do so many sizes.

Thanksgiving cards are my next project.

Gobble-gobble-gobble!!



A Big Pink Thank You

Not much crafting going here-kind of a busy week for me. I will do better next week. :)

 I got my Gypsy update accomplished today so I am very excited about trying out the new cartridges! I've seen a lot of cute projects out there on the blogs.

Here are a couple of pink cards to say thanks to all my followers.

  Thank you all so much!!

The background is the Cuttlebug Pagoda coordinating folder with cherry blossoms. The kimono is from the pagoda Cricut cartridge. I'm not sure who made the stamp-it's about a year old so it may still be out there.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

My Home Away from Home

 I wanted to share my scrapbook "room" at work. I am very lucky to have a space to craft at our store (we sell home decorating products). Since the downturn in the economy, it has just been my husband and myself that work at the store. This time of year it gets very slow-not much painting and carpeting going in during the holidays. My husband said he wanted me to bring all my craft materials to work so I can be there to help if I needed to, but I can use my free time to work on my projects! 

I was hesitant at first (there's a lot to haul), but he cleaned off a whole shelf for my supplies and even installed a light for me under the upper shelf. I think it is going to be great! No excuses for me now if I don't catch up on all those albums. 

Have a great week everyone!!

BOOOO! Happy Halloween!!!

Here is the jack-o-lantern on our front porch. We carved it this morning (nothing like waiting until the last minute...) My 6 year old drew the face on but was not into the goo on the inside so he needed a little help. 

I hope everyone has a very happy and safe Halloween!

Christmas Cards are Ready

Here are a couple of my sister's Christmas cards that we worked on this past weekend. She did all the cutting and embossing. I did the little sentiment stamp. Then we formed an assembly line around the table and put the cards together. They really turned out cute I think!

Yesterday we had snow...Christmas can't be far away, right?!

This card was crafted entirely by my 14 year old daughter. I think I have a talented card-maker on my hands!

 It's so great to share this fun hobby with my favorite girls!!

Spooky Banner

Today's post is a home dec project courtesy of my sister. I cut the burlap in triangles (no edge treatment) and sponged on some acrylic craft paint with stencils. The twine is sandwiched between the burlap and the ribbon with hot glue. It was quick, easy and fun!  

Have a spooky and fun Halloween to all!

**Today is my dh's birthday...Happy Birthday! Thanks for always being there for me and supporting me in all my crafting endeavors!

Scrap Weekend Projects

Here are a few of the cards we have made so far this weekend. We discovered Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Class and wanted to try some of the techniques:

Distress Ink with a stamped image covered with Perfect Pearls.

Embossed resist with stamping over the inking. (Made by my daughter.)

Mini Monsters lollipop with 5 layers of clear embossing.

My sister is working on her Christmas card-will post later. Having fun...time for lunch!

MPS 30 MINUTE CHALLENGE

Here it is...pink, purple and green card challenge from My Pink Stampers' live Ustream challenge. We did it in about 25 minutes-FUN!! Spooky......by Paula, Andrea and Sierra. :)

We used Cricut Mini Monsters, Martha Stewart web edge punch and some paper scraps. The stamp is Inkadinkado.

Hope you are having a fun weekend!!

Crafting Weekend!!

  I am so excited! This weekend is our "Girls' Fall Weekend" with my Mom, sister and daughter. YAY!!

We are staying at the this beautiful condo with a view of Lake Superior. I scrapbook and make cards, my sister is making her Christmas cards and my Mom is a quilter. Of course there is a lot of talking, laughing and eating thrown in-my sister is a wonderful cook!! We are hoping the internet is working this year so we can post our wonderful creations over the weekend.

I am in the process of packing up my stuff-which is quite a project in itself! Have to decide what I think I will need, which is hard because I always think I'll use it all!! Hmmm...how to choose?

 Have a great weekend everyone!

Christmas Try

I was helping my sister with her Christmas card for this year and we were trying out different ideas. The snowflake background tag was one of our attempts that we put aside. When I came down to my scrap room today I thought it was just too pretty to toss, so I made a card out of it! The sentiment is from Cricut Celebrate with Flourish. I used Aged Mahogany and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and there are irock crystals scattered around (it's a little difficult to see them on the photo.) A little silver ribbon and you've got a winter note card!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful fall weekend!!!

Happy Birthday to My Girl

My "little" girl is 14 today! So hard to believe! She loves Hello Kitty so I made her a card just for her special day....

I used the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge and the Winter Woodland for the 14. The background is Happy Birthday from Cuttlebug. The stars were made with a Creative Memories star punch. Pink card from Archiver's. I posted it on the My Pink Stamper Challenge-Make Something Cute. 

I  love how it turned out. Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!

MPS Winter Challenge

I wanted to make a card for the winter challenge at My Pink Stamper that was not in the traditional winter-y colors so I went with pinks and purples. I also got to use my i*rock for the first time as well. It worked great! Very easy to use. Here's my card...

 

The recipe is-

• Achiver's Yours truley A7 Card in fuchsia
• Cricut cartridge-Winter Woodland (Let it Snow cut at 2")
• DCWV purples from the Neutrals mat stack
• White was a scrap embossed in the Cuttlebug with the snowflake folder
• i*rock clear crystals-2 sizes
• EK Success small snowflake punch 

Repost for my Sister

This is a re-post in honor of my sister for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A year after her diagnosis and treatment she completed the Susan G. Komen 60-Mile Walk this past August in Minneapolis. See the original post here. I love her very much and I am so proud of her!! You go girl!!!

Spooky Card

Don't be scared! I wanted to try out some of my new supplies for a cute Halloween card. I made it to enter challenge #8 on Creations with Christina. I used the Mini Monsters Cricut cartridge and my new Spots & Dots Cuttlebug folder. The paper is from Wausau papers and I added some Distress ink in Walnut Stain and Rusty Hinge. It was a fun, quick card and I used up some scraps.

Have a great evening!!

Sunday Haul

Fun new stuff!!

Here is a picture of my haul from today. I live about 1 1/2 hours away from a Michaels-the closest place to get anything crafty!! I was so excited when I saw that they had Cricut cartridges on sale I had to get the Mini Monsters-there have been so many cute cards made with this one lately! I bet you can guess what my next card will be. :)  I had to get the Martha Stewart web edge punch-so fun! I also got 2 cuttlebug folders-Spots & Dots and Happy Birthday. I picked up some black cardstock, ribbon, jewels and Perfect Pearls in Metallics (to feed my Tim Holtz obsession). We had a fun day shopping and it was a beautiful fall drive. See you tomorrow with a new card.

Lake of the Clouds

MPS Fall Challenge

Tonight's card is a fall challenge from My Pink Stamper. I used the Cuttlebug for the pumpkin background. The papers are from Wausau Paper (I don't know the color names). The pumpkin stamp is any older one from PSX that I love! Some Distress Ink and a couple of black eyelets. I tried using my Cropadile, but I think I need a refresher course on it-I had to resort to the hammer. Good stress relief!!

I had fun "posing" my card.

Fall Fun with Ranger Inks

Fall Card

This is my first attempt at using the Ranger Distress Inks. I used Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge,  Forest Moss, Dusty Concord and Aged Mahogany. Yes, I tried them all on one card! (I think it got a little dark on the right edge.) I stamped the sentiment in black ink and the background images in the Walnut Stain.

I know I have much to learn about this technique, but I love the effect!! Happy Fall!!

My Pink Stamper Challenge-Birdie Card

Challenge Card

Today I entered my first scrapbook challenge...it was from My Pink Stamper at http://www.mypinkstamper.com/ for her 5 millionth hit celebration. Congratulations Robyn!!

I had a great time making this card with some new supplies. I used the Cricut Lite Hoot 'n' Holler for the owl and Cricut Lite Celebrate with Flourish for the word art. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey Jovial and the solids are from DCWV naturals mat stack. The ribbon is just black 1/4" from my stash and I inked the edge with Ranger Distress Ink in walnut stain.

It was very fun to work on the challenge. I hope to do a few more soon!

Silver Pumpkins

I know it's been a long time since I last posted, but everyone is back to school and I should have a little more time to myself now. (I can always hope, I suppose.) Anyway, it is now time to start to decorate for autumn-my favorite season! I was inspired to change up my usual fall mantle decorations by this fabulous post on Remodelaholic:  http://www.remodelaholic.com/2010/09/silver-painted-pumpkins-halloween-decor.html which was inspired by Pottery Barn.

Pottery Barn version made of mercury glass.

Here is my before picture of my summer mantle-scape with beach themed items.

I bought some inexpensive faux pumpkins ($1 each) and spray painted them with a gray primer and metallic silver paint. My DH helped me paint them and came up with the idea of skewering them on screw drivers to let them dry without marring the surface. Good thing he had many screwdrivers in the tool box!

Here is the end result-I love it! It's traditional fall decor with a more modern touch. I used dark wood candle sticks and a twig wreath I've had for years. 

This is close up of the silver finish. It turned out to be not as shiny on this surface but I like the softer metallic look. It reminds me of stainless steel.

I love this picture. Let me know what you think.

Happy Fall!!