ColourQ | Challenge #169

This week's ColourQ challenge features a beautiful color combo. One I will definitely be using again soon. The colors were taken from a Christmas stocking, but I couldn't bring myself to make another Christmas card... I am ready to move on to another holiday! Or in this case, a card for a good friend of mine who lives 3,000 miles away. Just to put a smile on her face. :-)

Here is my take:

 

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Papertrey Ink) Frilly Flowers, Super Stripes, (Hero Arts) Year Round Sentiments. Ink: (Papertrey Ink) Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Smokey Shadow, (Stampin' Up!) Pear Pizzazz. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) Pear Pizzazz, (Papertrey Ink) Pure Poppy, White. Other: Buttons, gems, white thread, white ribbon.)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

RetroSketches #44 | Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes

Happy New Year's Eve! 

Mark and I are babysitting a couple of cute little boys tonight, so we will be ringing in the new year in our pajamas (with a couple of diet cokes). Party animals, I tell ya'! But 2012 was an exceptional year, and 2013 is already looking to be another good one. 

While Mark worked on his motorcycle last night, I finished up a few cards that have been sitting on my desk for 2 or 3 days. I will post them separately because I am a little short on time and I might not get to them all tonight. Having 4 kids is hard work! 

First up is a "bee-utiful" (sorry... I couldn't help myself!) card for Retro Sketches Challenge #44, and this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge - Anything Goes. 

I used Paper Smooches Bee Mine stamp set and Papertrey Ink's Hexagon Cover plate die (used as an embossing plate) for my card. I stamped a few of the embossed hexagons with the dotted hexagon stamp from PTI's Happy Hexagons stamp set:

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Paper Smooches) Bee Mine, (Papertrey Ink) Happy Hexagons. Ink: (Ranger) Archival Ink - Black. Cardstock: (Avery Elle) Kraft, yellow. (PTI) White, Smokey Shadow. Other: Copics, twine, button, washi tape.)

I just love the big bee. 

And I call Mark "honey" most of the time, so the sentiment is a favorite of mine now, too. 

Finding a stamp set that is cute and has a personal connection is so cool. :-)

I'll be back soon! 

Mama Elephant Color Challenge + Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

Hi! I hope everyone had a relaxing week. I am not sure which has been busier for us... before Christmas or after Christmas! The tree is still up, although I did get the boys' gifts put away last night. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of purging and organizing before our move... only 6 more weeks! 

This week's Tuesday Trigger image (on the Moxie Fab blog) is simply stunning, so I pulled out Papertrey Ink's With All My heart and Wplus9's Background Builders: Knit to create my card. I was inspired by the lovely aqua, white, red, and yellow color combination:

(Supplies - Stamps: (Papertrey Ink) With All My Heart, (Wplus9) Background Builders: Knit. Ink: (Papertrey Ink) Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse. Cardstock: (Papertrey Ink) Aqua Mist, White, Pure Poppy. Dies: (Papertrey Ink) Limitless Layers Hearts, Parisian Lace. (Simon Says) Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars. Gems: Hero Arts. Ribbon: Stampin' Up!. Other: Clear Embossing Powder.)

 The second card I have to share is for Mama Elephant's Color Challenge.

I used the two small stars and a sentiment from On Target. It is hard to tell in the photo, but I added a strip of adhesive and white Martha Stewart glitter to the bottom of the card:

(Supplies - Stamps: (Mama Elephant) On Target. Ink: (Hero Arts) Soft Pool. (Papertrey Ink) Pure Poppy. Glitter: Martha Stewart. Gems: Hero Arts. Cardstock: (Papertrey Ink) White, Pure Poppy.)

That's it for me today! If I don't make dinner soon the entire Taylor clan is going to revolt. And possibly starve to death, I've been told. :-)

Take care!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

(If only I could get Evan to smile at the camera without looking irritated. I might start bribing him with money.)

Erin.

Slip-n-Slide | Digital Layout

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! The kids are counting down the hours until they get to rip into the presents under the tree, and I am looking forward to having Mark home for (almost) a full week! This stay-at-home mama loves having an extra set of hands to help around here. :-)

My dear friend and fabulous designer, Karla Dudley, is moving to a new home! Pixels and Co. is opening in 8 days and I can't wait to see the new store! In the meantime I have a layout using her newest kit and some fun photos of Evan.

Evan is such a fun kid. He loves life. He loves to play outside & go to cool places & he loves water.  These pictures aren't perfect, but they capture him and his personality so well. 

The kids and I are going to do some baking and cleaning tomorrow before Mark comes home from work, then they will finally get to open some presents! They have been so patient and I know they are excited to find out what is under the tree. If I don't pop in before Christmas day, I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas! 

Erin.

Avery Elle | A E I {Heart} U Challenge #1

Hello there! Is anyone else counting down the days until Christmas? Evan's last day of school was today and the boys are bouncing around here like they have each consumed copious amounts of sugar. I don't know how I am going to contain them until Tuesday! I might be to blame for the sugar overload... in the form of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Evan thought I was the coolest mom ever for making it for him. I love how easy to please he is at this age. :-)

(In order to get this semi-fake smile, not the full on fake smile I got the first 20 photos, I had to threaten to take away his Wii. I quickly went from being the coolest mom ever to the worst mom ever. I, however, only feel a tiny bit guilty because we are making memories here, dammit! )

Anyway.

I should have spent the evening wrapping presents, but instead I created three cards for Avery Elle's first ever A E I {heart} U challenge: create a card that sums up your personal paper crafting style. I used Lots of Love, Picture It, and To the Point for my cards:

(Supplies - Stamps: (Avery Elle) To the Point, Lots of Love. Cardstock: (PTI) Aqua Mist, White. Ink: (Hero Arts). Patterned Paper: (PTI) Soft Stone Patterns Pack. Other: Gems, twine, embossing folder.) 

(Supplies - Stamps: (Avery Elle) To the Point, Picture It. Ink: Fresh Ink. Cardstock: (PTI) Simply Chartreuse, White, Harvest Gold. Patterned Paper: (PTI) Soft Stone Patterns Pack. Other: Washi tape, staple, gems, embossing folder.)

(Supplies - Stamps: (Avery Elle) To the Point, Lots of Love. Cardstock: (Avery Elle) Celery, Kraft. (Papertrey Ink) Stamper's Select White. Ink: Hero Arts mid-tone ink. Other: gems, buttons, white string.)

I am completely sold on this company. The stamps are so easy to work with and I love the graphic images... right up my alley! 

Thank you so much stopping by and leaving comments. They always make my day. :-)

Erin.

Great Impressions | Happy Valentine's Day!

Good morning! I know we are a week away from Christmas, but I received some new Valentine's Day Great Impressions stamps this week and I just had to make a card using them. And I used a lot of glitter. And gems. And the combination of pink/purple/aqua, gems, and glitter makes me giddy. :-)

I used three Great Impressions stamps today: Simple Elegance (probably my favorite Great Impressions stamp, well, ever),  Happy Valentine's Day, and Jar of Candy Hearts. The cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist, Plum Pudding, and Stamper's Select White. I found a big bin of ribbon that had been hiding behind some buttons, and the striped ribbon was perfect for my card. I don't know where I got it, but I love the soft pastel colors & horizontal stripes.

Aren't the glittered hearts fun? I used heart dies by PTI and covered them in Tombow liquid glue before dumping some Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter on top. I tried using Stickles first, but the paper was too warped to work with, and Stickles take a while to dry. The Tombow glue dries quickly and the glitter really sticks to it. I also used Tombow glue and Martha Stewart glitter on the candy hearts in the jar to add some sparkle. 

And today is my parent's anniversary... Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! We love you! 

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by! 

ColourQ | Challenge #167

Happy Sunday! I can't believe it's been 5 days since my last post... December is really flying by! Evan has four more days of school before his winter vacation starts. I know he is looking forward to a few weeks off! 

This week's ColourQ Challenge was very much a challenge for me! I was unsure about the colors... but I am pleased with how my card turned out. I decided not to create a Christmas card, but instead I made a card for one of my sweet friends using Papertrey Ink's Over Under Easy and Button Up stamp sets. 

I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark and embossed it with white embossing powder on Lucky Limeade cardstock. I don't own a Sage Shadow ink pad, so I substituted Fresh Ink's Blue Sage ink pad. It's the not an exact match, but it's close enough.

I used Papertrey Ink's Heart Prints dies for the red heart. The medium heart was die cut first, then I placed the small die cut in the center, held it in place with a sticky note, and ran it through my Big Shot. I added a Making Memories button to the center with a glue dot.

I hope everyone has a great week! Only 9 more days until Christmas. :-)

Great Impressions Stamps | Hello!

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great week. I am proud to say that my Christmas cards are finished and most are going in the mail today! I think this is the earliest I have ever gotten my cards mailed. It is usually December 23rd, or worse, the day after Christmas, when they finally make it into the mailbox! 

Because my cards are done, I decided to create a bold and bright "Hello" card using a fantastic Great Impressions stamp. I used Great Impressions Twirly Backgrounds that I cut apart (eek!) to make three individual stamps. For this card I only used the large and small star burst images. 

The large star burst was stamped in Concord Crush and Bermuda Bay, and the smaller star burst was stamped in More Mustard and Cajun Craze. I rounded two corners of the white panel before adhering it to a piece of More Mustard cardstock. The speech bubble is chipboard, made by Pebbles Inc., that I traced onto Bermuda Bay cardstock and stamped with VersaMark ink. The "HELLO" frame is by KI Memories.

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Great Impressions) Twirly Background. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) Bermuda Bay, More Mustard, Whisper White. Speech Bubble: Pebbles Ink. Frame: KI Memories. Badge: Hello Forever. Enamel dots: My Mind's Eye.)

Isn't the Twirly Background stamp fun? And cutting apart my stamps is becoming less... painful every time I do it. In this case, it made stamping the multicolored background so much easier. No masking, no sticky notes. I just alternated stamping between the four colors and I was done!

Today's card was inspired by this week's Retro Sketches challenge. 

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by!

Cloud9 December Blog Hop

Good morning! I can't believe it's already time for the Cloud9 blog hop! This  month's inspiration photos are both beautiful and I hard time deciding what to create. I really like the gray walls with pops of red from the first photo, and I used that as my jumping off point for my card.

 I stamped the background with Wplus9's Background Builders Knit in Soft Stone ink from Papertrey in. The snowflakes are from Folk Art Flurries, and the sentiment is from Pretty Patches: Tree. The only non-Wplus9 stamp that I used the red stripe stamp, which is Papertrey Ink's Super Stripe. 

I used tweezers to apply gems to the center of each of the big snowflakes. The buttons were threaded with red and white twine by Stampin' Up!.

The boys cannot wait for Christmas... Jack asks me every day if we can open up our presents. He is very excited! Mark pulled out the tree last night & we spent the evening sorting ornaments & getting the tree decorated. 

White I was looking through Pinterest a few weeks ago I saw a photo that I wanted to replicate & I thought I had pinned it, but of course I couldn't find it last night. But I played around with my camera settings and this is what I came up with:

 

I wish I had put Jack in a darker shirt instead of white, but I really like how it turned out. My dad called it "artsy", and I agree. And I know when they are both 6 feet tall, I can look back at this picture of them so little, holding hands, and remember how cute they were. :-) And ten seconds after this photo was taken, Jack looked at me and said "are we done yet?" and Evan took off running into his bedroom. At least they were still, quiet, and happy for a few minutes!

Have a great week!

ColourQ | Challenge #166

I have one more card to share today, this one for ColourQ's Challenge #166. I pulled out Wplus9's Folk Art Flurries (again!) and four shades of blue: 

 

I don't have Cool Caribbean, so I substituted Stampin' Up's Pool Party ink + paper. 

I also pulled out Papertrey Ink's Framed stamp set for the first time. When this set was released last year, I fell in love with it and purchased it right away. But I have had the hardest time using it! It just never worked the way I wanted it to. I am so happy it worked for this card! I used an acrylic block with a grid on it to line up the rectangle + sentiment, and used Midnight Muse ink. The background cardstock is Bazzill's Swiss Dot, which matches the Midnight Muse ink perfectly:

 (Supplies - Stamps: (Wplus9) Folk Art Flurries, (PTI) Framed, Peaceful Pinecones. Ink: (Stampin' Up1) Midnight Muse, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Pool Party. Cardstock: (Stampin' Up!) Pool Party, Whisper White. (Bazzill) Blue Swiss Dot. Other: White ribbon, white pearls.)

More beautiful snowflakes & a lovely color combo. I love making Christmas/holiday cards!

I am also entering this card in CAS-ual Fridays Knotty or Nice challenge. 

See you next week!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger | Shimmer & Shine

I am completely in love with snowflakes this holiday season, especially gorgeous (and detailed) snowflake stamps! My favorites this year are Wplus9's Folk Art Flurries, Papertrey Ink's Snowflake Medley stamps & dies and Winter Penguin, and Hero Arts' Christmas Reindeer. When I saw this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger inspiration photograph, I immediately thought of using PTI's Snowflake Medley die + silver embossing powder. I also love the cream and silver color combo from the photo. I added Papertrey Ink's Sweet Blush to my card for a little bit of color. 

Here is this week's inspiration photograph:

Here is my take:

 (Supplies - Cardstock: (PTI) Vintage Cream, Sweet Blush. Stamps: (PTI) Stylish Sentiments: Holiday. (Wplus) Folk Art Flurries. Ink: (PTI) True Black. Versamark. Impression Plate: (PTI) Peace Be Still. Patterned Paper: (PTI) Soft Stone Patterns Pack. Glitter: Martha Stewart. Chipboard: (Wplus9) Wafer Board. Other: silver embossing powder, button, ribbon.)

I cut the snowflake die out of Wplus9's Natural Wafer Board and embossed it 4 times with silver embossing powder, letting each layer cool completely before applying another layer. The smaller snowflake was also cut out with wafer board + vintage cream cardstock. I smeared clear glue all over the cream piece and applied white Martha Steward glitter all over it. I let it dry completely before adhering it to the silver embossed snowflake, and adhering a button on top. A sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Stylish Sentiments: Holiday finishes off the card nicely!

I am also entering my card in this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge: Knotty or Nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

2012 Holiday Party | Digital Layout

Hey there! I hope everyone is having a good week. I have a layout to share today with one of the pictures my mom took before Mark's company's holiday party on Saturday. I fiddled with this layout in Photoshop for hours before deciding to rotating the whole thing on an angle. And I'm so happy with how it turned out! I think this is my first "angled" layout, and I will definitely do it again.

(Supplies (all supplies are Karla Dudley Designs) - Staples: Digi Essentials. Washi tape: Jubilee. Stitching: Digi Essentials. Alphabet brushes: Tall Man Alphabet. Wish sticker: Winter Frost. Brush: Bokeh Luv. White frame: Framed | One. Patterned Paper: Winter Frost.)

My mom and I went shopping for a dress on Friday (yes... one day before the party!), but I love the dress we found. White House Black Market is where we ended up & they are so helpful & friendly. My favorite part of the dress is definitely the feather/flower black belt. Oh! And my sparkle shoes. I need to take a picture of those. I purchased them for last year's party, and they are awesome. Too bad they have no support (or cushion) and kill my poor little feet!

If you get a chance, pick up the new Scrapbooking Babies and Toddlers idea book by Creating Keepsakes. I have a layout in there all about Jack. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Great Impressions Stamps | Glitter Pine Cone

Good morning! 

This week I'm sharing a project using a fantastic pine cone stamp from Great Impressions Stamps. It is a small stamp, only 1.5 x 1.25 inches, which is why I used it to create an adorable tag!

I did some selective inking to create the green sprig & the brown pine cone. The berries I colored with Copic markers, then added stickles on top. 

(Supplies - Stamp: (Great Impressions Stamps) Pine Cone Sprig. Cardstock: (PTI) Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, White. Ink: (PTI) Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate. Die: (PTI) Tag Sale #1, Limitless Layers 1.5" Circles. Ribbon: Ribbon Carousel. Other: Copics, Stickles.)

I will add a "to" and "from" stamp to the back so I can attach it to a present. 

I am also entering this card in this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge: Gift Tags!  

That's it for me this week! Thank you for stopping by & I will see you next week with another post for Great Impressions Stamps.

Fab Friday 07 + Make It Monday + Retro Sketches

Hey there! I am still trying to resolve my printer issues, but I was able to create three cards last night while I listened to Christmas music. Yay! 

First up is a card for the Fab Friday Stamping Challenge blog. I pulled out Papertrey Ink's Super Stripes & Party Poppers stamp sets, along with Mama Elephant's Midnight Letters stamp set. I created the plaid pattern on the bottom of the card with three different super stripes in Sweet Blush, Enchanted Evening, and Aqua Mist (all PTI). I added glitter to the party poppers using my Spica glitter pen:

Next I have a card for this week's Retro Sketches challenge: 

I just love the set by Mama Elephant, called On Target. Super trendy and easy to work with. The large bullseye image was heat embossed using Stampendous white embossing powder. The arrows are stamped with PTI's Pure Poppy and Aqua Mist ink.

My last card is for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge to use glitter as a detail on a card. I pulled out Party Poppers again for a fun birthday card. I used my Spica glitter pen to add glitter to the circles on the popper in the corner:

I will be back in a few hours with this week's Great Impressions project. Thanks for stopping by!

December Daily - Day Two

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I can't believe how little time I've had to post the past two weeks... we have had company for the past 15 days, plus I came down with a cold/flu that hung around for way too long. I spent all day last Tuesday in bed while my parents took care of Jack. I am so thankful they were in town to take over the household duties... I don't know how else we would have survived! 

I am working diligently on my December Daily album, but nothing is going as planned! My photo printer is out of ink, so I am uploading to Walgreens until I can get to Wal-Mart and buy replacement ink. I tried to print my journaling card with my other printer and the colors are coming out funny... maybe that one is out of ink, too? Mark is going to look at it when he gets home. I also pulled out my red StazOn ink pad to stamp on the cream album, but the ink pad has turned gloppy and chunky... definitely not what I was expecting! So I guess I need to make a trip to Michaels in the morning for a new red ink pad. 

Despite a few setbacks, the project has been a lot of fun to work on. I am using Studio Calico's December Daily kit & album, 4x6 overlays by Ali Edwards, silver super fine embossing powder by Ranger, snowflake dies (which match the stamp set Snowflake Medley), natural wafer board (awesome product!), and last month's Studio AE stamp set. 

I don't have full spreads ready yet (due to printer issues), but I can share my photo page from yesterday:

The "Merry & Bright" brush was added in Photoshop using an exclusive Ali Edwards brush from Studio Calico's 25 Days of Christmas class. The journaling font is Georgia (my go-to font for just about all my journaling). And the beautiful lazy susan the flowers are sitting on was hand made by a dear friend (hi Ray!) for Mark's college graduation. 

And a big thank you to all of you who participated in the Great Impressions + Ribbon Carousel Blog hop. Please visit the Ribbon Carousel Blog and the Great Impressions Blog to see if you are a winner! 

(Hopefully) I will be back tomorrow with completed pages and a card or two. Goodnight!