Live Abundantly

I'm entering this card at The Paper Poppy (http://adayinthelifeofthepaperpoppy.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-poppy-sketch-little-hello.html) using the above sketch- which is the challenge- and it ends tonight! Both PP and the pink square behind the stamp is Best Occasions Jewel Punch-out Pack. The card base is Studio G. The ribbon is American Crafts Premium- Spring Pink. The stamp is Studio G Clear Stamps- So Much Fun set. I used Sharpie 80s Glam- Jellie Pink, Leg Warmer Orange, Valley Girl Violet, Banana Clip Yellow, and Argyle Green- to add color to the stamp. The sentiment is a rub-on from Signature Watercolor Collection Be Blessed Scrapbooking- Live abundantly. Be joyful and glad in heart. There's an angel after the word "abundantly". I adhered the striped paper down to the card with Elmer's Craft Bond Glue Spots. Everything else was placed using my XYRON 1.5" Create-A-Sticker Maker.

I decided to add a strip of the same PP with my XYRON from the front of the card to the inside to make it look kinda like a notebook. I'll write in it later. Please come back on Saturday, Feb 1, as I'm participating in a 14 Days of Love Blog Hop with Erica's Room (http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/).  I won't be participating all 14 days, but will be on the 1st, 7th, 10th, and 13th. Please hop along with us all 14 days! TFL and have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday & Snow Pics

I made this card for Julie to go with the 3Girl JAM bag I made for her in My Take on 3 Girl JAM Cotton Bags since her birthday is coming up in February. The card base is Studio G Cards & Envelopes for Crafting. The PP is Pebbles Lakeside 6x6 in Paper Pad. The flowers is Pebbles Die-Cut Wood Pieces- both bought at TJ Maxx on clearance! The Happy Birthday stamp is Skipping Stones Design (no longer in business) Peeps collection stamped with Versa Fine Onyx Black Pigment Ink. The twine is from Housecalls by Scrappin Madge September Hello Gorgeous Kit ( http://heartstringdesigns.blogspot.com/). I cut two holes in the fold of the card on the inside/outside to feed it through twice and then tied it. I wanted to give some detail to the front of the card to separate the Chevron pattern a little! I made this card for the Chevron January Card Challenge for Scrappin-n-Chattin (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/scrappin-n-chattin/info). Now for the inside spread:

I added My Mind's Eye Bella Bella by Carina Gardner 12x12 PP that I cut down to fit the inside and back of the card. I didn't measure it, I just placed the paper on the card and then folded it and cut the part of the paper I didn't want off and then trimmed the edges and used Elmer's Craft Bond Glue Spots and Studio G Multi-Purpose Glue Stick to adhere it to the card. The "happy day", birthday cake, and  "celebrate" I fussy cut out of Simple Stories Happy Day 6x6 Paper Pad and used my XYRON 1.5" Create-A-Sticker maker to adhere them to the card. You can see how I criss-crossed the twine to make it straight across in the front. The message square is also fussy cut out of Simple Stories. I thought the border on the paper would look good on this card and kinda match with the Chevron paper on front. A piece of the Chevron paper is hanging over the back, but I didn't take a picture of the back. All I put on the back was my Hero Arts Handmade from the Heart stamp and 2014. Not much to see on the back anyway.

Here are some pics of our snow we had last night. Well, these are actually taken this morning after the 4 in of snow fell. We have about 2 in of ice under the snow. It sleeted for a long time last night until it finally changed to snow. I took a picture of the ice, but it's not wanting to download. This is our vehicles. Yes, there is a car under all that snow. The first 2 pics are taken from inside the garage, so excuse the spider webs on the pictures. They're on the outside of the windows. The windows are small, but big enough to take pictures through!

 This is the front yard and some of the neighbors yards as well as the cul-de-sac & road to our house! It's somewhat clear now since kids have been playing out in the cul-de-sac.

 This is the view of our back yard from my bedroom window. I was holding the shade up with one hand and took this picture with my cell phone! The fish sun catcher was a VBS craft one year from teaching Pre-K! I forget it's there because my shade is pink and it's an older shade so it keeps my room dark at night! I can't wait to get out there and play in it soon. I'm hoping I can make snow cream if I can't make a snowman or maybe a snow angel! They're saying on the news that the snow is powdery. The town is pretty much shutdown except for DOT. It's too cold to go anywhere.

TFL and have a good day!

Brothers

I made these at the spur of the moment yesterday afternoon. Both layouts are of Mr. Ray (my stepdad) and his brother, James. The paper used on the LO above is Recollections Wood Slats to kinda go along with the corn hole game. The title "these are the moments" is from a family vellum stack that I got from Mrs. Gloria. I adhered it to my LO with my Xyron 1.5'' Create A Sticker maker and a strip of Pebbles Lakeside 6x6 paper pad and the pic mats are also from the same paper pad. The black swirly sticker is Le Creme Embellishments. I wanted to add something to that corner of the page and that was different! The football and baseball squares are fussy cut from DCWV All About Boys Stack and adhered with my Xyron sticker maker. The tag is from Story Tellers Club Dream Collection. I wrote with Sharpie 80s Glam Argyle Green & Valley Girl Violet- Mr. Ray & James playing corn holes. Mr. Ray is a huge Washington Redskins fan & James is the same w/ NY Yankees. The ribbon is Martha Stewart Blue & Green Playful Ribbon (6 spools of 12 total yards)- there are 4 blue/green spools and 2 brownish spools. Mr. Ray made the corn hole set for Father's Day last year, it was his present from his kids. Dustin found the directions and kit from the National Corn Hole Association so that they were made to the correct measurements. The UNCW lettering and Seahawks symbol are both decal stickers that were pre-ordered. My stepsiblings did help paint them. I should have gotten a picture of the second one, but it was cold that day and I just went out to take a few pictures. The date stamp at the bottom is My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing by Jen Allyson Tangerine "Hello" Stamps and I wrote 12-13-13 with Sharpie Argyle Green again. These Sharpies were just $3/97 for a set of 5 at Walmart a few weeks ago! :) The football and baseball stickers are Recollections Kids Stickers- there's also basketball and soccer balls- 2 sheets.

 
This PP is Echo Park Paper All About A Boy Superhero by Lori Whitlock that I won from Housecalls by Scrappin Madge (http://heartstringdesigns.blogspot.com/) August 2013 Life of the Party kit. The title Brother and the dots under it are Close To My Heart My Acrylix All You Need Stamp Collection. I used VersaFine Onyx Black Pigment Ink to stamp them with. I connected the dots with my Copic 100 Black Sketch Too pen. The sentiment- Family is what makes a house a home.- is also La Creme Embellishement stickers that I bought from TJ Maxx. I used My Mind's Eye date stamp again and wrote with Sharpie 80s Glam Leg Warmer Orange the same date 12-13-13. I decided the type the journaling on this one and used Microsoft Word 2010 Calligraphy font and typed James came to see Mr. Ray after not seeing him in 10 years. It started out as a surprise, but by the day of his expected arrival, the secret was out! These are some of our outside Christmas decorations. This was the only picture taken of the 2 of them the 3 days he was here, my mom may have gotten one on her cell phone. They do talk on the phone several times a week since Mr. Ray retired, but they haven't seen each other in 10 years up until now. James is married, but his wife has some health problems so she stayed home in VA. I didn't want to add a lot to this page because of the busyness of the paper. Oh, the pic mats on this page are Recollections Cupcake Cuties 8.5x11 paper stack- all cut off the same sheet. TFL and have a great week! I don't know what kind of crafty things I'm going to do this week, but I'm sure I'll find something! :)

My Take on 3 Girl JAM Cotton Bags

I won these cotton bags from 3 Girl Jam (http://www.3girljam.com/) from a blog hop I particpated in with them awhile back. I won a set of 6 and plan on selling the other 4 this spring! I'm going to give both of these away. The one above I'm going to give to Julie, a lady that just started teaching Sunday School with me the first part of January, for her birthday coming up in February. The cupcake ribbon at the top is American Crafts and I bought it at JoAnn's. I found the pink printable card from Scrapbook & Cards Today on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/#!/ScrapbookAndCardsToday) and Hazel Ruby (http://www.hazelandruby.com/store/digital/pretty-pocket-cards-3x4-free-printable) where you can also get yours if you'd like! There's 3 pages full of 12 cards. I can't wait to use the rest! Anyway, back to my bag. I decided to use Skipping Stones Design (no longer in business) Chic Happy Birthday stamp and used VersaFine Onyx Black Pigment Ink to stamp it. The cupcake sticker is Recollections Dimensional Stickers that's actually part of a coffee collection. I decided to add Ranger Stickles Waterfall (the blue outline and the flower), Cotton Candy, Crystal, and Green to give it some shimmer. I attached the You are AMAZING card with Studio G Multi-Purpose Glue Stick. 

 
 Here's a close-up of the bottom half to show off all the Stickles. No project is complete without what year I made it!


For this bag, I used Studio G Pinklight Design cupcake stamp. I've been holding out on using this stamp! I keep forgetting about it to be honest! I wanted to use it on the bag above, but I was afraid I'd mess up the blue outline so I went with this one! I then decided to add Ranger Stickles Christmas Red, Waterfall, Crystal, and Cotton Candy to accent the stamp! I may have gotten a little carried away with the Stickles, but it's hard not to! I did go over it some with a toothpick to even out the circle outline and smooth in some places on the cupcake. I'm going to give this bag to Robert for Valentine's Day! I wrote "I love you, Robert!" at the bottom with American Crafts Chromatix Grape after I took the picture and 2014, because I tried to add a sticker to this one, but it didn't wanna stick. I'm not sure what I'm going to put in these before I give them away. I'm thinking chocolate candy or bath products in Julie's and maybe a small note or a comic strip in Robert's. He loves comics! Now that I've made these 2 I can't wait to play with the other 4! Lisa, the girl that I just met at church not long ago, told me about a woman that lets her sale crafts in her front yard in the spring all the way up until it's too cold to be outside for $5 and you bring your own table. I was thinking I could sale some cards and the rest of the bags! They're 4 different sizes so they will be fun to decorate- 2 little ones and 2 big ones. I did realize that the Stickles was making the bags stick together, so I have a piece of paper in each to let them dry. TFL and have a good weekend!

Snow Day

I used the above sketch to make the following LO. I found it off of Ruth's blog- Paper and Musings ( http://paperandmusings.wordpress.com/) that she did for a challenge for The Creative Cutting Challenge, but I misunderstood the challenge so I will have to make something else now for that challenge! LOL! I still have a fun layout! Both pieces of PP are Recollections Bright and Jolly Paper Pad as are the pic mats. I used Studio G glue stick to attach the snowflake PP to the main PP/the mittens paper. The bling strand between the pictures is Studio 18 Rhinestones that I won from Jearise (http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/) from a blog hop I participated in a while back. The bling on the corners and the 3 at the top are from my stash- lost the original packaging & not sure where I got them, LOL! The title, Snow Day is Sticko Phrase Cafe Let It Snow Stickers With Attitude that I've had for awhile and almost forgot about!

Now for the close-up pics! I used Jim Holtz Crystal Stickles on every snow spot I saw on this LO to make the snow look real!

The ribbon on the tag is Bobbin Ribbon that I bought from Big Lots for $0.75 and I might be good for one more tag with this spool! The tag is Storytellers Club Dad Collection, but it's red, white, and blue like the flag of the USA so it goes perfect with this LO! :) I added "Living in North Carolina, we don't see much snow." using Microsoft Word 2010 in Jokerman font. I adhered it with my Xyron 1.5" Create A Sticker maker. The pictures are actually 2 different snow days- one of our backyard with the snow almost all melted and then one of our driveaway at night with a vehicle we no longer have- a Kia Sportage. It was wrecked and totalled out, but no major injuries involved thank God! I adhered the pictures and the tag with Elmer's Craft Bond Glue Spots. They are just like Glue ZOTS, but a different brand name! The snowman is a part of Snow Much Love, a file that I won from Scrapping With Lisa Designs ( http://scrappingwithlisadesigns.com/) and I added some black bling from my stash and some Crystal Stickles to make it look real.

TFL and come back later for another blog post of some 3 Girl Jam cotton bags that I plan on playing with later! :)

Hotel Bethlehem

First of all, do you like my new background?! I've been wanting to change it away from the pink for awhile and purple is my favorite color so this works. Yes, I love rock music! I don't know how to play a guitar, but who knows I might learn one day! ;)

Back to my LOs! Hotel Bethlehem was a Children's program put on by the kids of Broad Creek Christian Church in the early 2000s, 2001 (?). Anyway, I've wanted to scrap them and I know they're poor quality pictures, but you can still kinda make out who's in the pic. It was before we had stage lights- I don't know if you can see the spotlights all along the stage! Poor kids! I made both of these LOs for Yahoo Scrappin-n-Chattin (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/scrappin-n-chattin/info) for the Chalkboard Challenge and the Button-Up Challenge for January. The paper I used in the above LO is Monte Paper Mill Take 2 Classic Pictures that I won from Housecalls by Scrappin' Madge (http://heartstringdesigns.blogspot.com/) September Hello Gorgeous kit and the blue action flair button at the bottom is also from this kit. The title and the journaling in the bottom left square is written in EK SUCCESS Earth Colors Memory Pencils Silver & Gold. The WOW embellie is from my stash, one of the first scrap items I ever bought. I used Tim Holtz Stickles Silver to draw a swirly line under the title as well as under the flair button. The talented sticker is Me & My Big Ideas Soft Spoken Word Embellishments (they come with foam dots on them) and the Life is Good button is Studio Calico Wood Veneer. The stars in the corners are Jolee's All That Bling Red Silver Stars Dimensional Stickers that I found from work- TJ Maxx- for $0.70!! The pic mats are Recollections Fashionably Chic. For the journaling, I wrote Samantha Winfrey, Haylee- innkeeper, Trish & Kaylee Nappo- directors, Kaity Preston, Laurel Revette, Trisha Gable, Kerra & Terra Anderson, Maegan & Melaina Muse, Ashley & Tiffany Donovan, Daniel Smith. I couldn't remember everyone that was in the program, but that's who I saw in the pictures! I only had one of the Classic Pictures pages, so I couldn't do a 2 page LO, but I used some of the same embellishments!

 
 This paper is also from Housecalls by Scrappin' Madge, the same set, and is Echo Park Paper Company All About a Boy by Lori Whitlock Curious. The title, Totally Unique, is from the Girls sticker sheet from Momenta ATD Super Sticker Pack (another TJ Maxx find ;)). The picture mats are Monte Paper Mill Take 2 Picture Frames from the same Hello Gorgeous kit as is the camera sticker- Take 2 Accent Stickers, the banner that I wrote Maegan Muse and the shepherds,the superstar, smile, and welcome to tinseltown stickers. The big star is also Jolee's All that Bling Red Silver Stars. The heart is from the same pack as the WOW! on the previous LO- in my stash. We were required to add 3 buttons or more to the LO for it to be considered a Button-Up LO. I used Michaels Wood Embellishments that also include 3 tags that I will use later. I fed twine thru each button with a needle and had to remove the foam dots that came on these because they stuck to the paper they were on. They were only $2, so that might be why. Now for the close-up pics:

 this sentiment was in a vellum stack that Mrs. Gloria gave me. "These are the magic years... and therefore magic days... and therefore magic moments. author unknown."

This chipboard journaling notebook rectangle is also from the Hello Gorgeous kit and I added 2 more little bling stars. I wrote on it with American Crafts Chromatix Grape 3 and INC. Starlightz Glitter Gel Black. I wish I would have taken close-ups on the buttons they're 4 different designs! TFL and GO BRONCOS!! Sorry, I'm getting excited for the Super Bowl already and hope that the Broncos go all the way this year! :) Have a great weekend!!

Thank You Card

I decided to make a Thank You card for my step-aunt, Tammy's sister, Cindy. She came down from CT to take care of Tyler for 2 weeks and to help Tammy out around the house while my dad was in the hospital. I know I didn't have to make her a card, but I wanted to just to show my appreciation! On with the details of my card! The card base is Studio G White 5x5 and it's a set of 8 that comes with matching envelopes. I decided to cover the front with a piece of K&Company paper with ZOTS and then added a Studio G Thank You Chipboard Punchout, KI Memories Paisley Parade Rhinestone Swirl Sticker, and the top sticker is Sticko Funky Monkey. I wanted to keep the front CAS since the paper is so soft and has so much color to it already.

 
This is the inside spread. The "As it Should Be :)" sticker is K&Company Emma Rose Word Embossed Stickers and I wrote the note on that side since the sentiment took up so much room on the opposite side.The sentiment is from a vellum stack from Mrs. Gloria-"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. Author Unknown" and I wrote underneath "even if we aren't blood, we're still connected by God's love :)". The pink background paper is Recollections Butterfly Wings 4.5x6.5 Cardstock Paper that I cut down to fit on the card and punched with my WRMK Lucky8 Floral Die-cut Punch Inside & Outside Punch. The stickers around the vellum and holding the vellum corners down are Sticko Funky Monkey & I used ZOTS on both of these again to adhere them. I tried taking a picture of my back signature stamp, but the picture came out too dark and blurry. I changed up the ink this time to Studio G Red Dye Ink and that might have messed up the picture who knows? It's such a small stamp to work with as well! TFL and have a great weekend! I may scrap some more tomorrow, but not sure yet. I know tomorrow night is Special Needs Movie Night and I'm looking forward to seeing the kids as well as watching the movie with them!