A Scrapbooking Challenge AND a Sneak Peek!

I have a challenge for you today! This is my very first Paper Pretties Scrapbooking Challenge! Now, I know with the busy days of summer being here...you all must have a ton of photos to scrapbook. If you are like me, you are perpetually behind on your scrapbooking, and the ability to make a layout using several photos at once can be a beautiful thing! So, with that in mind....my challenge to you is this.....

- create a scrapbooking layout using photo blocks
- the layout can be put on any size page...8 1/2 x 11, 6 x 6, 8 x 8, 12 x 12
- it can be one page or two
- don't be afraid to use photos from many different dates or occasions, but across a common theme
- don't forget to include your Paper Pretties stamps!
- you can post a link to your creations here, and in the Paper Pretties Challenge Forum too. I can't wait to see what you come up with! I know there are some other scrapbookers out there! Come on out and play!

Here is my sample for you...

I did a two page layout on 12 x 12 that incorporates nine photo squares and three Paper Pretties stamps. I have several pics to share....as I find photographing 12 x 12 pages challenging!

All of my photos measure 3 x 3 and then they were matted on two and three layers...depending on the photo.....

This photo shows the hinges that I used on my layout to hide my journaling. There are two photo blocks that have these hinges on them. This is Beach Bum....he is being released tomorrow night over at Paper Pretties!

This is Soakin' Up The Sun....

Here we have Bugs and Fishes...also being released tomorrow night!

Here is the two page spread in all its glory....bad lighting and all! LOL!

I can't wait to see what creations you all come up with!

Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Sneak Peek, Anyone?

I am excited to show you one of the new stamps that is going to be released over at Paper Pretties on August 1st! It is our little guy Cooper...whom I'm sure many of you already know! The new set featuring him is called Beach Bum, and it will be released along with three other stamp sets on Friday! Join us over in the Paper Pretties Forum for Stampin' In Your Jammies. There will be challenges at the top of each hour (starting at 8:00 pm EST) and there will be prizes to be won!

Now, back to my card! This card was made from a sketch that I found on Lauren Meader's blog. The patterned papers are Colorbok Blue Pin Strip and the floral paper is from Me & My Big Ideas. The sentiment is from an acrylic set by Ting A Ling Accents. The inks are ColorBox Harbor and black StazOn.

Make sure you check back tomorrow too. I will have my very first Paper Pretties scrapbooking challenge for you! In my new role over at Paper Pretties, I will be posting scrapbooking challenges for you on the last Thursday of each month! Yes, the Prettie Girls scrapbook too!

See you tomorrow!

One Type Of Embellishment.....

This is a Pretty Girl challenge from a few weeks ago. It was issued by Charmaine, and her challenge to us was to make a card using only one type of embellishment. I was very surprised at how difficult I found this challenge! I am not someone who goes for busy, busy designs and lots of bling and embellishments....I tend to be a bit more on the simple side (now, now...be nice girls!). :) I did however, have a lot of problems with this card!

I decided that my one type of embellishment was going to have to be ribbon. I used a couple of SU! ribbon scraps at the side of my image. The rest is really just paper and stamps. I used my new Cuttlebug to emboss the background of my card as well as little Sophia's dress (Swiss Dots folder). This little lady is from the Paper Pretties set called Rainy Day Friends. The yellow card stock is SU! Barely Banana and the green is just something I had kickin' around my stamp room. I used my ticket corner punch to jazz up the looks of the card base and then watercolor crayons to color the image. I would have loved to add some brads to the corners...but unfortunately, that would have broken the 'one embellishment' rule!

In other news.....there are a bunch of 'goings on' over at Paper Pretties right about now! Here's the dish:

- there is a contest for the next Cutie Pie taking place right now. The contest is open until July 31st at midnight. All you have to do to enter is use your Paper Pretties stamps on a card and submit it to christie@paperpretties.net before the deadline. The winner will receive all of the August releases for FREE!!

- August 1st is our Stampin' In Your Jammies release party for four new stamps sets and two new sentiments. You can join us at 8:00 pm EST over in the Paper Pretties Forum for some challenges, chatting and prizes

- You still have time to join the Stamp Of The Month Club in order to get Howdy Girlfriend one month before she is released to the public. All you have to do is register for the club before July 31st and you will receive your stamp during the month of August.

Thanks for stopping by today....and tune in over the next few days to all the Prettie Girls' blogs to see some sneak peeks!

Gratitude

I bought the SU! set Define You Life several months ago. I love the set...but oddly, I haven't used it much! I did get to use it on this card though...and I hope to use it again in the near future!

So, as you now know...the gratitude definition is from Define Your Life. The large 'G' stamp is from a CTMH set called Boutique Alphabet. I then cut the 'G' out by hand. I used edged scissors for the bottom of the card, and then rubbed the edge with a brown ink pad. I used one of my SU! punches for the ribbon slots. The ribbon is a brown organdy. The patterned paper is from CTMH (I think!) and the rest is just plain old card stock.

Pretty simple!

Don't forget to get your Cutie Pie entries in to Christie for a chance to win the new releases free! You just need to send your Paper Pretties themed card to her at christie@paperpretties.net before midnight on the 31st of July.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday, Sis!

I've been keeping pretty busy for the last few days...hence the lack of posts taking place over here! My husband was getting ready for another business trip and we were just hanging out around here and having family time. He left today....for four days....so I am back to my blog!

I have been working on quite a few projects lately....unfortunately, I can't share any of them with you yet! You will just have to keep checking back if I you are curious! :)

I went through my file of photos that I hadn't yet posted, and I came up with this birthday card that I made for my sister. She is on a weight loss journey...and she is down 40 pounds! I am so proud of her! I bought this little beauty from Hanna Stamps with my sister, Patti, in mind. I knew that I wanted to use it on her birthday card.

The papers are all from a scrap stack. The big blooms are from Making Memories and I used a rhinestone brad for the center of the flowers. The ribbon is Offray...from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts...I think. I used my ticket corner punch around the main image and she was coloured with watercolour pencils and blended with OMS.

I think that is it for tonight!

Oh, but before I go....don't forget about all of the exciting things coming up over at Paper Pretties! There is a contest for the new Cutie Pie going on. All you have to do to enter is use your Paper Pretties stamps on a card and send your submission to christie@paperpretties.net before midnight on July 31st. If you are chosen as the winner, you will win all of the new releases free! Our stampin' in your jammies release party is going to take place on August 1st at 8:00 pm EST over in the Paper Pretties Forum. You can join us there for some challenges, chatting and prizes!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Working On It.....

I don't have my Prettie Wednesday challenge card completed yet (yes, I do know that today is Thursday!) but I do have something else super cute to share with you!

This is my first post with Howdy Girlfriend and I had so much fun working with her! This little lady is the August Stamp of the Month over at Paper Pretties. You still have time to sign up for the club and then you can have this little cutie too! You must be registered by July 31st in order to get Howdy Girlfriend in August. What are you waiting for....go!

Back to the card details now.... The cowboy paper is from K & Company and the polka dot paper is by Deja Views...the Cat's Life Collection. I used my scalloped scissors for the bottom edge and then used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite to set all of the eyelets. The wide grosgrain is from Michael's in the dollar bin and then I used SU! hemp twine on top of it. I also used hemp twine to make little Sophia's lasso. I used my Making Memories distressing kit to distress the sentiment and then colored pencils and OMS were used to color in the image. I think the rest is self explanatory!

Don't forget to join us in the Paper Pretties Forum on August 1st to see all of our new releases, play along in some challenges, and possibly win some prizes! To have a chance to win all of the new releases for free, you can enter the Cutie Pie contest by creating a card using your Paper Pretties stamps and emailing your entry to Christie at christie@paperpretties.net. She will choose a winner to be our new Cutie Pie and that person will receive all of the new releases FREE!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Simple Thanks

I recently had a friend ask me to make a thank you card for her realtor. I wanted to make a single layer card...I have never done this before....and I have seen such a challenge ages ago. I finally took the chance to rise to the challenge and this is what I came up with! It's very simple, but I am happy with it!

The stamped image is from the SU! set called Right At Home. The sentiment is from an acrylic Ting A Ling Accents set. I used coloured pencils to colour the image and some areas were blended with OMS (odourless mineral spirits) and a blending stump. I then used my sewing machine to stitch around the main image in navy blue. The attempt here was not to sew perfectly straight lines...but to have the lines of stitching have more of a hand drawn feel. In other words...it isn't perfect, but I'm OK with that! LOL!



Oh, and in other news....Paper Pretties has an upcoming release on August 1st! Join us for Stamping in Your Jammies at 8:00 pm EST in the Paper Pretties Forum for some challenges and prizes! There will be four (yes, I did say FOUR!) new sets released as well as two new sentiments. There is also another Cutie Pie contest going on to boot! To enter, all you have to do is make a card using your Paper Pretties stamps. You can then send it to christie@paperpretties.net in order to be entered for a chance to win ALL of the stamps from this release FREE!

Thanks for visiting today!

Do You Ever Think About......

....the impact that our hobby has on the environment? The reason I ask, is because the topic of consumerism has been weighing heavily on my mind over the last few months. Our family made a move towards becoming more 'green' a little over a year ago when we moved to the USA. We have made so many other changes towards this goal....but my scrapping/stamping purchases haven't changed a whole lot. Lately though, I have come across some products that are available to the paper crafting community that would help to lessen our impact on the earth. I wanted to share some of them with you today.

Have you seen this brand of card stock? It is called Nature Preserve and it is made of 100% recycled paper. It is available at Joann Fabric and Craft Stores....and other places too, I'm sure!

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat2772&PRODID=xprd612898&AID=10273743&PID=1992680

Have you heard of The Stubby Pencil Studio? They sell eco art supplies. You can even buy eco watercolor pencils....made of 100% FSC certified wood from reforestation sources! Check it out here:

http://www.stubbypencilstudio.com/supplies/index.htm

The Stubby Pencil Studio also sells recycled notebooks (with owls on them!) and soy crayons too.

There is a company called Action Envelope that sells eco friendly (ie. recycled) envelopes. You can shop in their eco friendly online shop here:

http://www.actionenvelope.com/ae/control/recycledShop

Target now carries a line of recycled, sustainable notebooks, binders, journals and accessories. The brand is Greenroom Eco and you can find their website here:

http://www.greenroomeco.com/

I also stumbled onto this great site recently. It is for a company called Eco Art Works. They actually sell hemp watercolor paper! You can find it here:

http://www.ecoartworks.com/stationery/paperpacks.html#watercolor

Check out this site too:

http://craftingagreenworld.com/

Just some food for thought......

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

He's Getting Golf Clubs!

I made this card for a friend to give to her husband for his birthday recently. She told me that she had gotten him golf clubs. So, the first thing that came to my mind was my golfafella, of course! This is the first time I have used him, but I look forward to playing with him again! :)

I had a specific paper in mind for this card....it was bright and loud.....like the pants that you picture older men wearing on the golf course! LOL! The paper was actually from a HUGE scrap stack that I purchased at Costco....it was 360 sheets huge, to be exact!

My little golfafella was paper pieced and then the remainder of the image was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. Once I finished this...I still didn't like how it looked. The background was too open....too white. The solution I found was in one of my Hanna Stamps sets....I used the clouds from the Route 66 set to fill in some of the gaps. I then used chalks and a sponge dauber to create a soft background of grass and sky. Then I was happy!

The sentiment is from a set called Spunky Greetings by CTMH. The eyelets are from Making Memories. The ribbons are SU!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Some New Toys....

As I am sure many of you are aware, during the fourth of July week Micheal's had some 50% off coupons floating around. I decided that was a good time to make some purchases and take advantage of the opportunity to save some money!

I am now the proud new owner of a Cuttlebug and a Crop-A-Dile Big Bite! I went back a few days in a row with a coupon printed from my email and made one purchase each day.

I already own a Quickutz...but I am ashamed to say that I don't use it nearly enough! The amount of embossing that you can do with a Quickutz is limited because the dies and embossing plates are only 2 x 2 (for the Squeeze tool, which is the one I own). It makes it kind of tough to emboss the entire front of a card. I since found out that all of the Quickutz dies that I currently own are usable with the Cuttlebug, and Quickutz supplies are not readily available in my area (in a retail store). All of these things combined with my 50% off coupon convinced me that the Cuttlebug was a good choice. OK...so enough rationalizing about my spending habits and on to my card!

I have a neighbour who recently had a baby girl and I used my new Cuttlebug embossing folder (D'vine Swirl) to emboss the front of the baby card I made. My Coluzzle oval template and knife were used to cut out the stamped image of the baby boot. The scalloped edge (for those of us who don't have Spellbinders Nestabilities) was made using a technique I saw on Andrea Walford's blog. You use a small oval punch, cut the ovals in half, and then layer them around the edge of your image. The effect is that of a scalloped border. I then used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in each of the scallops. The papers are all from my scrap bins....the ribbon is from CTMH.

Stamps sets used were Little Angel from CTMH and Circle of Friendship from SU!. And there you have it!

Have a great day!

Prettie Wednesday....Sort Of....

Two weeks ago, Jules challenged us to use trash on a card. Yup...you read that right. She wanted us to go dumpster diving to find our supplies! That is really doing a favour for the earth, wouldn't you say?!



I did use a piece of trash on the card that I have to share with you today, however, there isn't a Prettie stamp on it...gasp! Actually, there is *almost* no stamping on this card at all! I used a stamp only for the sentiment...and the rest was just some creative handy work!


For the shirt, I made myself a little template out of cardboard that I found in my recycling box and tweaked it until I was happy with the shape. I then made the shirt out of my patterned paper using the template. The shirt is popped up and the collar of the shirt is popped up another level, as is the knot of the tie. The circle was cut using my Coluzzle circle template and knife. The papers are all from my scrap bin. The sketch was the Sketch For You To Try from July 12th....although I opted not to use a divided circle on my card. The ink is Sweet Leaf from CTMH. I used brads from the JoAnn Scrap Essentials line and an SU! punch to make the upper corners.


The sentiment stamp is from an acrylic Stampendous set called For Him. This tie was stamped from this set also.


My piece of trash is the soda ('pop' in Canada!!) can tab that connects the ribbon to the sentiment. As I was making this card I also realized that it uses a circle...so it can count for the challenge Danielle issued a few weeks back to use a circle on a card too! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

....I don't even know Jimmy! :) A good friend recently asked me to create a birthday card for her brother....you guessed it....his name is Jimmy. So, this is the card I came up with for the Jimmy whom I don't know.


I used my wallstreetafella for the main image. Apparently, Jimmy works for a computer company and he has a law degree. I envisioned him to be a professional fella...and that is why I chose to use my wallstreetafella.

The image was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. The sentiment is from my SU! set Warmest Regards. I used an SU! punch to punch out the sentiment and then cut the mat for the sentiment by hand.



The circle cut out for the main image was made with a Colluzle template and blade. The tabs at the top of the card were made with the SU! word window punch. Eyelets attached them to the card front and they were adhered to the card base with adhesive.

The papers were all from my scrap bin! Trying to do my part to save the earth...... :)

Thanks for visiting today!

My Stamp Space Revealed!

A few weeks ago, Christie asked the Paper Pretties team for info about our stamp rooms and how we like to organize things. I finally have some pics to share of my beloved stamp space! It is always a work in progress...as I change things to accommodate my ever growing inventory of supplies. My room has recently been tweaked again...and this is the result! Beware...this post has a lot of photos!!

This is a view of the room as you enter.......it is kind of a shock to the senses....

Acrylic stamp storage....CTMH stamps are in their own cases (which I LOVE) and the others are in CD jewel cases and labelled with a label maker on the spines.

Ribbon spools are stored on doweling below the stamps.....

You gotta have your tunes!

The famous scrap bins that I am forever talking about!

Paper storage......four cubes high......

All the small stuff........

Lots of baskets and boxes hold things from small mat stacks to tags to wood mounted stamps.

Wood mounted stamps and stamp sets.......

The clock that I had to add to my stamp room.... A few too many scrappy hangovers and I quickly realized that I needed to keep better track of my time when working at night!

My little sketch stack... As I blurf around, I draw out the sketches that I see on scrap pieces of paper. They are held together with binder rings and I flip through them when looking for inspiration. The scrap paper comes from my page-a-day calendar or the back of junk mail!

My punches are currently in this basket...but I would like to try storing them in an over-the-door-shoe-hanger with clear pockets. I have heard that some of the other girls use this method and like it.

The former bed side table for our guests now doubles as more storage space for me and my supplies!

Ahem....this is supposed to be the guest closet....but, hello, I needed more space! :)

The wall mounted shelves above my work table.....

Oh yeah....and there happens to be a bed in this guest room/stamp room too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I'm Back!

I just finished a week long whirlwind visit with two of my sisters. They were here visiting from Canada...and although I loved the visit...it left very little time for stamping or blogging!

I just have to tell you...one of the things we did together was go to a Bon Jovi concert! It was a blast! We took the train into the city, did a bit of sightseeing, had a great dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen, did a hand off with the kiddies to my husband, and then went on to the concert. The concert was great...and the people watching was even better! The concert goers ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. Right in the front row was a man with a full head of grey hair who danced the whole night! LOL! I was starting to worry he was going to knock someone out with his elbows!

So, in light of the fact that I haven't stamped in over a week, I have a card to share that I actually made about two weeks ago for the third birthday of one of my daughter's little friends. Her name is Meredith...so that explains the 'm' on the front of the card.

This card was made with papers from a Making Memories Paper Packet called Garden Party. I actually bought it at Target...and it was on clearance! :) I layered up all of the papers...inked up some of the edges to make them stand out, and stitched around my main image with my sewing machine and brown thread. The image is Cuddle Me from Paper Pretties. Sohpia's dress was paper pieced and the rest of her was coloured with pencils and blended with OMS. I used two colours of ribbon and tied them together behind Sophia. The 'm' is chipboard from a chipboard kit that I purchased on clearance from Joann Fabrics and Crafts.

For those of you out there who are new to this craft, or who are contemplating getting into this craft, I just want to let you know that it is possible to produce beautiful things without spending your whole paycheck. The point I was making above, about purchasing items on clearance, just shows that there are supplies to be found on a budget. You don't have to purchase everything from SU! or CTMH to produce beautiful work. I use MANY papers from paper stacks...by far the cheapest way to purchase paper. I save ALL my scraps and I am often able to make a whole card with papers just from my scrap bins. I shop all the clearance bins at the big chain craft stores and watch for specials at the online stores that I love to shop (who doesn't love free shipping?!). Don't forget about your Michael's and Joann coupons that come in the flyers too! You don't have to have every latest and greatest gadget to be able to enjoy this craft and benefit from it as a creative outlet!

Thanks for stopping by today! :)