Paper Smooches Sparks | Anything Goes Challenge

Good morning! Today's card is for this week's Anything Goes challenge. 

I pulled out Woofers and Tweeters, an adorable dog themed stamp set that is a lot of fun to color. My sister gave me a new 6 x  6 paper pad for Christmas (American Craft's Dots and Stripes), and I used a sheet of cranberry and white diagonal striped paper for the background.

I just love the dogs in this set! And the sentiment is too cute. :)

Make sure to hop over to the other designers' blogs for more inspiration!

Erin
Isha

Karin
Katie
Taheerah
Savannah

CAS(E) This Sketch | Challenge #58

One of my goals for 2014 is to use my Silhouette Cameo more. I've had my machine for almost two years, and while I use it occasionally, I'm not using it as often as I could be. I started on that resolution a little early and created a card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge using some Karla Dudley Designs cut files. They turned out so well... this machine really does cut like butter!

I cut out the flowers and leaves with my Silhouette, then turned them upside down and ran them through my Xyron machine. I used some Stampin' Up! glitter and poured it over each die cut, covering them completely. After shaking off the excess, I adhered them to my card using my tape runner on the bottom pieces, and dimensional adhesive on the top flowers. I love how shiny and sparkly it turned out! You can find Karla's beautiful flower cut files here.

(Supplies - Stamps: (PTI) Bigger Blooms. Ink: (Memento) Black. Cardstock: Papertrey Ink. Enamel Dots: My Mind's Eye. Cut files: Karla Dudley. Glitter: Stampin' Up!)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! 

Paper Smooches Sparks | Designer Drafts Challenge

Good morning! This week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is a sketch challenge (which are usually my favorite!). 

I pulled out Enjoy the Show for my card. The performing elephant is so cute & I used some gray polka dot and light aqua patterned papers to paper piece him on my card. The arrow paper (and aqua paper) are both from Carta Bella's Wildflower 6x6 paper pad.

Make sure to hop over to the rest of the design team's blogs... they have some amazing inspiration for you using this sketch!

Clare

Isha

Karin

Savannah

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Reverse Confetti | December Color Challenge

Hi there! December is a very busy month for us (as I'm sure it is for everyone!), and I am slowing down on my blog for the next couple of weeks. My parents are in town and will be celebrating Christmas with us for the first time since 2009. The kids are over the moon excited to have them here, and we are going to enjoy lots of family time together. 

I have a couple of new badges on my sidebar that I'm excited about. First up is my World Cardmaking Day Honorable Mention badge. My card will be published in the March issue of Papercrafts and Scrapbooking Magazine.

The Reverse Confetti badge is for winning their December sketch challenge with this card. And the 10 Minute Craft Dash badge is for winning their color/timed challenge with this card. Thank you to both Reverse Confetti and 10 Minute Craft Dash for the wins (and a couple of awesome prizes coming my way soon!).

Today's card is for Reverse Confetti's color challenge:

 

(Supplies - Stamps: (Reverse Confetti) Forever Fall. Cardstock: (PTI) White. Ink: (Memento) Black. (Memento Luxe) Rose Bud. Patterned Paper: Carta Bella. Button, sequins: Studio Calico. Enamel dots: My Mind's Eye. Other: twine.)

That's it for me today! Have a wonderful weekend!

Holiday Photos | Family Photo Shoot

Last month Mark and I took the kids to a professional photographer for a family photo session... our first one in over two years! We had a "mini session" with the photographer, and I am very happy with the photos. A few of them I will enlarge and frame, but most of them I compiled into a 7x7 inch Blurb Book that is scheduled to arrive Wednesday. I haven't used Blurb before, but after reading Cathy Z.'s review, I had to try them out. I created some simple templates in Photoshop, then added the finished pages to the photo book. The whole process took about 3 hours. Not too bad from start to finish for a complete photo book.

These are my favorites from the shoot. Our photographer was Kati Rosado Photography. 
 

I just love this... Jack with his tongue stuck out, and Evan covering his face. Too funny. 

After our photo session we took the kids to a wonderful dinner at The Mansion in downtown Melbourne. It was a lovely afternoon and I am so excited to get some of these photos printed! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 

10 Minute Craft Dash | Challenge #31

When Wplus9 released its Woodland Wreath stamp set in October, I was in love. This set has several different wreaths, additional images to add to the wreaths, and a handful of gorgeous sentiments. It's the perfect Christmas wreath set, and I used it on my card for this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash. I definitely would not have been able to complete this card without the matching die. The wood grain paper is from Simon Says Stamp. 

My total time.... 9 minutes and 24 seconds! Whoo hoo! And I love how the wreath turned out.

I have one more card to share today. I was perusing some of my favorite card blogs and I found this card (third card down). I love the gold ink with the scattered stars, and I decided to CASE it, using Wplus9's Folk Art Flurries:  

That's it for me today! I have every intention of posting more December Daily pages, and hopefully I will have some time to photograph pages 4-9 tomorrow. I'm still working away on my album and I'm really pleased with the results.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Papertrey Ink | Make It Monday #143

Hello, hello! I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Mark and I took the kids to see Frozen tonight and I absolutely loved it! The boys were laughing out loud at Olaf, the snowman, and Sven, the reindeer. After watching Despicable Me (and Despicable Me 2) over and over and over, I was happy to something different!

This week's Make It Monday challenge is all about whimsy. Danielle Flander's style is super cute, and I had fun trying it out. The "love" journaling card and banners are from Lily Bee Designs. The "you" stamp is from Papertrey Ink's Stitched Sentiments set.

I loved pulling out bits and pieces of paper, die cuts, dies, and embellishments. And the result is a lovely layered Valentine's Day card. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!
 

ColourQ | Challenge #218

I really like the color combo for this week's ColourQ challenge. Fun and fresh and it works well for holiday cards and everyday cards.

The typewriter stamp is from Studio Calico's Chai add-on kit (from last month, I think). The "xoxo", "love, love, love", and dot images are also from that stamp set. Above the strips of cardstock I used 1/4" score tape to adhere clear glitter.

I am still working away on my December Daily album & I should have time tomorrow to get pages 4, 5, and 6 up on the blog. This is the first time I've used a handbook from SC, and I LOVE the size! This year's album is quickly turning into my favorite mini. :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

December Daily | Days 2 & 3

Apparently December is the month for printer problems. My big printer ran out of ink (no big deal), but the replacement ink I purchased isn't working in my printer! I'm getting an error message that says the printer doesn't recognize the ink cartridge. And the Cyan ink exploded all over my hand when I opened it, dying my right hand blue. Awesome. 

I am using my little Selphy printer for all my 4x6 photos (and smaller), but I'm sending larger prints to Walgreens until a new ink cartridge arrives.

For Day 2, I documented some early December decorating. I created a few rosettes and a garland banner to hang around the living room window, and pulled out my button tree from a few years ago. Two milk glass jars have metallic red stars-on-a-stick with gold enamel dots (Basic Gray) on them. The red striped frame is from my Studio Calico December Daily kit.

A close up of the rosette picture. The Hello December overlay is from Ali Edwards. 

This is the left side of Day 3. I have a 6x8 inch print ready for pickup at Walgreens for the right side. 

Jack created this adorable stocking to hang on our tree, and I wanted to include his excitement in my album.  

Oh, how I love this album already. Despite some printer issues, the SC DD kit has made this project a breeze. 

Have a good night! 

Digital Layouts | December

It's been another busy month at Pixels and Company and I had the privilege of creating layouts using some awesome actions by Jennifer Valencia Photography. I used two of her actions: Color Pop and Beautiful Black & White. 

The photo on my first layout was edited using the Color Pop action. The photo was slightly under exposed and now it looks great!

My next layout uses the Beautiful Black and White action. I took these photos of Jack at lunch time in October... but I really wanted to capture his relationship with Foxy, his favorite lovie right now. Jack was sitting right in front of a large sliding door/window, so I had some lighting issues. The black and white action really makes Jack pop in the photos. 

Now I just need to get all these digital layouts printed! It's on my to-do list, but December is such a crazy month that I will probably put it off until January. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Reverse Confetti | December Challenge

Hi there! I have a card to share today for this month's Reverse Confetti challenge:

I used my Forever Fall stamp set with papers from Carta Bella's Hello Again collection. The gold glitter paper is from Michaels. 

 I'll be back in a bit with some December Daily layouts & a couple of digital layouts. It's been a busy start to December. Thanks for stopping by!

December Daily | Day 1

I can't remember the last time I was this excited for Christmas. Our first year in our new house, our first Christmas with my parents in 4 years, and a whole list of new traditions, projects, and festivities planned. Like last year, I am creating a December Daily. Unlike last year, however, I have a new(ish) printer, plenty of ink, and a new version of Photoshop CS6 that will (hopefully) cooperate! I created up to day 6 last year when my printer stopped working, and I quickly fell behind (and never caught up). I am not going to let that happen this year!

My photos today aren't great. I love our house, but it doesn't get a lot of natural light due to few windows (a Florida thing... fewer windows we will need to cover if we get hit by a hurricane!). I am trying to find a good spot to take photos, and I think the kitchen table is out. Today's pictures are darker than I would like, and our table is a glass top, which reflects the kitchen lights + my flash like crazy. But I am not going to stress about it now... I will just try a new spot tomorrow. 

Here's my Day 1. I had a hard time starting last night... I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach my album and I was a little flustered. Luckily Ali posted a sneak peek of her day 1 on instagram, and I was inspired, so my pages look similar to hers. 

It's a little hard to see, but I used the transparent "Peace, Love, and Joy" album insert from Studio Calico's December Daily kit in the top right pocket. Top left is a journaling card from a Project Life core kit... Midnight, I think?

The left two pockets hold the back of a December calendar, which I covered with gold shimmer paper, a punched star, and a gold enamel dot. The top label was stamped with red StazOn ink, and the sentiment is from last year's SC December Daily kit. Underneath is the backside of the Ho Ho Ho wood die cut.

Journaling card from Project Life and date label is from October afternoon. I used my type writer for the journaling. 

The bottom pocket holds a picture of our new elf, Franklin, and his book. Franklin arrived yesterday morning and the kids love, love, love him. Today they found Franklin playing Hi Ho Cherry-O with Buzz and Woody (from Toy Story), and tomorrow, they will wake up to a kidnapping! Franklin has been taken by a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and his gang of army men and strung up from our pendant lamp in the kitchen. I'm sure Ev and Jack will get a kick out of it. And if Franklin gets into enough trouble this holiday season, I might create a mini book (after the holidays!) of elf pictures.

On to Day 2! I will finish up today's page and post it tomorrow after I get back from the mall... I need a new dress for Mark's upcoming holiday party. And possibly new sparkle shoes. :)

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge | Anything Goes

Good morning! It's been a crazy week around here.... company over, Thanksgiving, football games and doctor's appointments. I decided to take a week off from blogging, and I am glad I did. It was nice to focus on my family and friends and food and the holiday. But... I'm glad to be back! 

Today is my first post for Paper Smooches Sparks as a design team member. And the theme this week is anything goes. 

One of the first Paper Smooches Sparks stamp sets I purchased was Space Cadet, and it is still one of my favorites. The cute little aliens, planets, and spacecraft are so much fun to color. But this week, I wanted to create a subtle background with these images, so I stamped them in blues, greens, and grays before adhering the stamped panel to my card. The sentiment is also from Space Cadet.

And make sure to check out the other Paper Smooches Sparks DT blogs for more inspiration!

Clare

Isha

Karin

Savannah

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 6

Hi there! It looks like Blogger is going to let me post my picture now. I am so sorry for the delay! 

For our last color combo, I picked this one from Design-Seeds, and we are using Wplus9's Fanciful Feathers stamp set.

Here is my take:

(Supplies - Stamps: (Wplus9) Fanciful Feathers. (Papertrey Ink) Rustic Wreath, Fillable Frames Sentiments. Ink: (PTI) Terracotta Tile, black. (Stampin' Up!) Crushed Curry, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler. Other: Buttons, enamel dots.)

I had so much fun creating cards for our color challenge this week. Make sure to stop by Leigh's blog and check out her take. Thanks for stopping by! 

 

E & L's Color Challenge | Delay

Hey guys,
I have my card ready for today's challenge, but I am having issues with Blogger. My card won't publish correctly. I am off to another soccer game this afternoon, but I will try again when I am get home. Hopefully I can get this resolved soon!

Thank you so much for understanding!
E

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 5

Good morning! Today's color scheme is bright and summery, and we are using Papertrey Ink's Lovely Layers stamp set. 

And here is my take. Leigh and I both have a set (or two!) of Crate Paper's The Pier slide frames, so it doesn't surprise me that we chose to use them this week. They are the perfect embellishment for my card!

 Make sure to stop by Leigh's blog to see her take on the challenge! I will share my last card for our color challenge tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 4

It's day 4 of our color challenge, and Leigh and I have each created a card based on this color combo:

And we are using Wplus9's Fresh Cut florals for today's challenge. I die cut a variety of flowers and stamped them using Papertrey Ink's Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Spring Rain, Fine Linen, and Sweet Blush inks. The sentiment is also from Fresh Cut Florals.

I am also entering my card in this week's Sketchbook Saturday, Challenge #109.

Make sure to hop over to Leigh's blog to see her card!

Thanks for stopping by!

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 3

Hi there! 


It's time for day 3 of our color challenge. Today I am featuring Waltzingmouse's Simple Sprig stamp set and this beautiful color combo:

I stamped the leaf image in both Hibiscus Burst and Winter Wisteria inks. I die cut leaves (Turning a New Leaf from Papertrey Ink) from vellum paper and adhered them to the front of my card, overlapping the stamped leaves.  I added a few buttons and enamel dots, and the title was die cut from Wonderful Words: Hello (also from Papertrey Ink).

You can check out Leigh's take on our challenge by hopping over to her blog!

Check back tomorrow for a new color challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 2

It's day two of the color challenge with the very talented Leigh Penner. Today we have chosen to work with a beautiful fall inspired color combo and Papertrey Ink's Mighty Oak stamp set.

And here is my take. In real life, the "purple" leaves are actually PTI's Autumn Rose ink. We had a very dark and dreary day here and I had a hard time getting a good picture. My office usually gets great afternoon sunlight, perfect for photographing my cards, but that was not the case today. 

**Edited with better photo. :)

Make sure to hop over to Leigh's blog and check out her take on today's challenge!

And to those of you who left comments on yesterday's post(s), thank you so, so much. I read each of them and appreciate the support! 

Have a wonderful day!

Two Announcements

I am delighted to announce that I am an Honorable Mention for this year's World Card Making Day contest! You can read all the details here. And my card will be featured in the March 2014 issue of Paper Crafts magazine!

I am also the newest member of the Paper Smooches Sparks design team! My term starts December 1st.

** This is my second post today. To see Day 1 of E & L's Color challenge, click here!

Have a wonderful Monday!

E & L's Color Challenge | Day 1

Good morning! 

Back in September I e-mailed Leigh Penner with the idea of doing a color/stamp challenge. Leigh and I were on the Fresh Squeezed Stamps design team together, and I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves to use a specific color scheme and stamp set each day for a week. We picked out color schemes from the website Design Seeds and matched them with a coordinating stamp set that we both own. Fun, huh? I am super excited to kick off the week!

For the first challenge, we are using this color scheme and Mama Elephant's Trifecta stamp set. 

I used the small triangle background stamp from Trifecta with Papertrey Ink's Soft Stone ink to create my background. I stamped it repeatedly at an angle, leaving a subtle pattern. I cut a large star from Stampin' Up's silver glimmer paper, then used a smaller die to cut a star from the middle and adhering a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock behind the opening. I created the garland with PTI's Confetti Garland stamp set. The label is from Label Basics and the sentiment is from Flower Fusion #3. 

Hop on over to Leigh's blog to check out her take on our first challenge. I will be back tomorrow with a new color scheme and stamp set! Thanks for stopping by!

Digital Layouts | November Edition

Happy Friday! We had a l-a-z-y afternoon here. The boys watched Monsters University and A Bugs Life (oh how we love Pixar movies on our house!), while I did some scrapbooking. We can be so busy that sometimes it's nice to just relax and watch a good movie (or two!).

I have been busy creating layouts for the designers at Pixels and Co., Karla Dudley, and Scotty Girl Designs. It's been a while since I've posted layouts, and I have quite a few to share today. You've been warned... this is a photo heavy post!

Our sweet kitty, Lilly, is making a couple of appearances today. She is just so darn cute, and has a habit of being underfoot (or on the table, or in the cabinet, or on the couch, or wherever else I am. All. Day. Long.). She is a very social cat and manages to be photographed often. We have another sweet kitty, Gabby, who is skittish and anxious, so I only have only a few photographs of her... and non in the presence of our kids! They tend to overwhelm her. Gabby's favorite spot is sleeping behind the couch in the master bathroom closet (Mark's "man cave"). It's hard to photograph a cat who sleeps in the most secluded part of the house all day!

Anyway, when Lilly was just a kitten, she followed Jack around the play room, fell into the toy box, and was very mischievous. Jack adores her.

Up next is a layout featuring Evan and Jack, and their friend, Nick. Getting three boys, ages 6 and under, to sit still and smile at the camera is nearly impossible. But I actually like the goofy shots... these photos show the true personalities of all three kids. And I'm shocked that Evan is the one kid smiling at the camera in all three photos... with his good smile! Not his "I would rather be eating worms than smile for one more freaking photo, MOM!" look that I have been getting a lot lately. Sigh. But for now, I get these three adorable, and completely goofy, shots of Evan, Jack, and Nick.

Bikes! Our weekends now include lots and lots of bike riding. Evan and Mark riding to the school and back (9+ miles round trip!). Jack and Mark riding to the park (.5 miles round trip!). Jack falling and scraping his knee twice while walking his bike across the street. Oh yes. The tears. The wailing. The sheer agony my poor, wounded child was in. Yes, it was very sad and I'm sure his knee hurt. He was bleeding some and required neosporin and a band-aid or two, but his carrying on was something for the record books. Jack is a wee bit on the dramatic side (which is one of the things I love about him the most).

Flashback to Jack, circa 2011. Baby cheeks! Chubby hands! Curly, blond mop of hair! Man these kids grow up way too fast. And I love, love, love this photo of Jack. So much so that I might get it blown up and framed. He loves digging in the sand with his beach toys. And only wearing swim trunks. And in this photo, he is so excited the by bird/boat/plane he has spotted in the distance. I miss Jack @ 2 years old. But Jack @ 4 is pretty cool, too.

Now we are going w-a-y back in time. Specifically, 2006. I remember this day vividly. Mark and I really wanted a family photo for our first family-of-three Christmas card. We drove onto the WSU campus (which was 2 miles away), set up the camera on a tripod, and took 100+ photos to get the perfect shot. Which never actually happened. Evan was too distracted by the grass! And the people! And the shiny object to our right! to actually look at the camera. But it was a really fun afternoon. (And this photo makes me miss Pullman like crazy.)

Is there anything better for a kid than baking Christmas cookies with Grandma? According to my kids, the answer is no. And Jack is very fond of sprinkles. :)

The photo template is, well, perfection. I used 7 seriously silly photos of Jack with a few anecdotes about my favorite 4 year old.  

And we are back to cat photos. When I work in my office, Lilly likes to sit on my computer. Or in my box of inks. Or, even more helpful, on my printer. So finding her resting on the spare desk is a welcome change to her usual (obnoxious) ways.

The final layout I have to share features a trio of Jack photos, all adorable (if I do say so myself). In the center photo he has his favorite accessory of the year... his very first mohawk. It's actually a faux-hawk, but he was damn proud of it. And had no problem telling the stylist at Super Cuts when he walked in the door that he wanted "a blue mohawk" after his hair cut. And she sure delivered! Jack sported the look for two days and was devastated when we finally had to wash his hair.

If you've made it this far, thanks for looking! So many wonderful memories captured on these pages. 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!