Happy New Year...or is that Halloween?

Sorry for the absence. Between the holidays and the fact that my computer gave up the ghost so I was without access to any photos or software for awhile, I apologize. The family got an early Xmas present...new computer...and I'm back in business! Now that the holiday crazies are over, I promise to be a better poster :-)

This Halloween card was made for a recent pub call, but didn't get the love. I love bright colors, so I was happy with how this card turned out. The embossed cardstock is Bazzil, the paper and die cut are Doodlebug, the brad is Paper Studio and the sentiment sticker is SRM. I was at Archiver's recently and loaded up on their sentiment stickers, so you'll be seeing a lot in future posts I'm sure.

I'll also be back tomorrow with the January Creative Charms Kit and Deal of the Month. Have a great New Year's Eve and stay safe!

Cardstock, Punches and Paper Crimper - and Glue Dots!

*This is a recent post of mine over at the Create for Less blog.

I wanted to show that you can make a card without a scrap of patterned paper. All I used were a few different colors of cardstock, some punches and a few small simple embellishments. I love texture on my projects, but I always forget about my paper crimper, so I decided to pull him out for this project. It’s fun to rediscover “old” tools that you loved, but may have forgotten about.

Supplies:
Bazzill Blue Dotted Swiss cardstock. You can also use a plain blue piece of cardstock and run it thru the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots Embossing folder.

Bazzill Cardstock - greens, brown, pink

Pebbles Thank You Rub-on

Making Memories Wedding Pearls

Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

Martha Stewart Edge Punch Arch Lattice

Marvy Uchida Paper Crimper

EK Paper Shapers Circle Punch 1 1/2″

Buttons - green

Glue Dots

All Night Media Pop Dots

Directions:

• After creating the card base, it is time to make the tree trunk. Draw a tree trunk on the brown cardstock, cut out and run thru the paper crimper. Adhere the trunk to your card.


• Next get out your 1 1/2″ circle punch and punch circles from two different shades of green cardstock. (If you do not have a punch, you can trace circles and cut or use a circle cutter).


• Run the light green circles thru the paper crimper to give them added dimension on the tree.


• Layer and adhere the dark green circles to the card – overlapping the trunk.


• Layer the light green circles on top of the dark green circles, adding pop dots behind a few for dimension. Use Glue Dots on the other dark and light green circles.


• Punch three butterflies from pink cardstock. Adhere two to the tree “leaves” and one to the trunk.


• Add pearls to the centers of the butterflies.


• Use your border punch on the dark green cardstock to make grass. Adhere to the bottom of the card.


• Apply sentiment rub-on.


• Adhere 3 buttons on each side of the sentiment using Glue Dots.

Creative Charms September "Girl" Deal of the Month

This card was created using Creative Charm's September "Girl" Deal of the Month. I used the Playtime Girl Felts and the Red Gem Stickers. It was fun to make a girly card using more masculine colors. That cute little felt girl reminds me of my daughter who turns 8 next week. I'm sure it won't be much longer before she's asking for makeup and a cell phone...yikes! I layered embossed cardstock and patterned paper on this card. Since I had a lot to say, I also decorated the inside with the remainder of the sentiment and additional felt stickers.

If you would prefer a more masculine kit, be sure to check out September's "Boy" Deal of the Month. There are also new Dream Garden and Countryside mini kits and other new products so be sure to stop by the store. The Creative Lounge is also being updated with projects and project instructions.

18" Red Fancy Polka Dot RibbonYellow Fuzzy Ducks (4 Pieces) It's a Girl Epoxy Stickers (18 Pieces) It's a Girl Felts & Epoxy Brads (18 Pieces) Playtime Girl Felts & Epoxy Brads (14 Pieces) Pink or Purple Sparkle Buttons (12 Pieces) Red Gem Stickers (76 Pieces) Pink Purses & Crowns (4 Pieces) Assorted Girl Brads (3 Pieces) Assorted Flower Brads (6 Pieces)
Regular Price is $ 24.00. Yours for only $7.99 (65% Savings).

Lily Bee Designs Die Cuts

On this card I used the French Coture collection. The die cut is actually a scalloped square, but I cut off the top part (saving for another day!), used some photo corner die cuts as butterfly wings and then punched out another butterfly from another paper. Extras include Martha Stewart punch, Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pearls and American Crafts rubon.

On this gift bag the strip is from French Coture and the scalloped square (I cut off the sides) is from the Three Little Birds collection. I love when I can combine collections from a company. The tree brad is from Around the Block.

I had the good fortune to win some Lily Bee die cuts last month. I love the size of the die cuts because they are the perfect size for cards and gift bags...two of my favorite things to make! Don't get me wrong, they work on layouts too :-)

A Bit of Everything...

Here are some more cards I've made recently. I hadn't felt like I've gotten much created lately, but then realized I had a bunch I need to get photographed, written up and posted, so apparently I have been more creative then I thought.

This has Bazzill ribbon, Creative Cafe buttons, Fancy Pants Frosted papers, Jillibean Soup journaling spot, EK Success border punch and SRM stickers - Hello Quick Card collection.

On this card I used Bazzill embossed cardstock and buttons, October Afternoon Very Merry paper, Doodlebug sticker and American Crafts rubons.

This card has Bazzill cardstock and ribbons, Creative Cafe buttons, some more Fancy Pants Frosted paper, EK Success border punch, Doodlebug frills and an SRM sentiment sticker - Thinking of You collection.

Here is some more October Afternoon Very Merry paper and a variety of Doodlebug stickers.
*This card will be featuring in Scrapbook Trends Stamping Idea book in the summer 2010*

I went a bit shabby on this one. I used my Heidi Swapp edge distresser and Clearsnap chestnut roan ink for the shabby, Bazzill embossed cardstock and ribbon, Fancy Pants flower rubon, Queen and Company pearls and a Jillibean Soup sentiment stamp.

I Love Pink!

I've never considered myself a girly girl, but when it comes to papercrafts I love bright pink! I used to dress my daughter in this color a lot, but now that she is 7 she is starting to rebel! The Bazzill cardstock already had the embossed shiny pink dots. I used almost every scrap, although my daughter nabbed a bit for her school Valentine's box. I was nice and shared :-)

I also used Kaisercraft Allsorts paper and pearls, an EK Success felt butterfly and a sentiment sticker from SRM - Thinking of You collection.

This cute little monkey is from K and Company, ribbon is The Paper Studio and the sentiment stickers are from SRM - Thinking of You collection. I love that they are clear and easily blend right into your project!

Additionals on this project are Fancy Pants paper (Frosted Collection) and rubon, Kaisercraft pearls, Making Memories mini alpha stickers and a Martha Stewart border punch.

The rubon sentiment is from American Crafts and the green border is Little Yellow Bicycle. The pearls are Basic Grey.

I am sorry if I blinded anyone, but couldn't help myself the other day when I was crafting. And PS. I love the singer Pink too!

Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs 1-2-3 Intricacies Paper

Here is a card I made for the MOSD blog this month, featuring the 1-2-3 Intricacies Paper. It comes as an 11x11 paper, but I cut off a small piece to use for my card and still have plenty left over for other projects. I ran my piece thru my Cuttlebug Dots Embossing Template to give it some texture. The Bazzill cardstock, Jillibean Soup Alphabet Soup paper and Deja Views teacher sticker are from an earlier That Scrappy Girl kit. The ribbon is Bazzill and the school brads are from The Paper Studio. I added pop dots behind the white scalloped Bazzill paper so that I could tuck the ribbon under. The size of the card is 6x6.

Another Christmas Layout - October Afternoon Very Merry

It's a Christmas miracle! I made two layouts at the last crop! This was a picture I snapped of Parker and Emma right before Christmas (and right before she lost her two front teeth!) when they were dressed up for church. I would have loved this for my Christmas card, but of course I'd already sent them out by then, argh! I used October Afternoon's Very Merry collection, some Bazzill ribbon and embossed cardstock and Tombow permanent adhesive. I am getting braver on my bow tying and hopefully getting better!

Krusty Klaus - Crate Paper's North Pole Collection

*This will be featured in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes*

Here is a layout I made this weekend using Crate Paper's North Pole Collection. I have been wanting to make a layout about this goofy Christmas Eve tradition for a long time. On Christmas Eve Krusty Klaus visits my husband's family bringing gag gifts for all. He wears a moth eaten suit, dirty work boots, goggles and is generally just pretty crusty! This year he even brought reindeer poop (Cocoa Puffs). Last year Emma figured out Silly Santa was Grandpa, but had to explain to Parker how she figured it out - Grandpa is always missing, it looks and sounds like Grandpa etc...lol. You can find this cute collection from Crate Paper at That Scrappy Girl. Other goodies I used were some Bazzill ribbon, Making Memories mini abc stickers, Tombow permanent adhesive and a Martha Stewart border punch. And a lot of pop dots - I put behind the ornaments, the blue strips of paper and the main photo.

That Scrappy Girl December Kit - Cards and a Giveaway!

Here are a couple cards I made using December's Mistletoe and More kit. The first card I made layering Bazzill cardstock (adding pop dots behind some for dimension), using some Elle's Studio paper and die cut sentiment and a piece of paper from the Jenni Bowlin mini album. The second card I used Pink Paislee paper and a die cut.

That Scrappy Girl is giving away some Elle's Studio this week over on their blog. Be sure to stop by - the drawing is on Thursday.

That Scrappy Girl Kit Giveaway featuring Pink Paislee Twilight!

Here is a layout I made with the October add on kit from That Scrappy Girl. For this being an add on kit, I sure have made a lot of projects with it and still have some goodies left! How would you like to win the kit below? Stop by That Scrappy Girl's blog, leave a comment on Monday's post and the winner will be drawn this Friday, October 30th.

Just My Sketches April 15th Reveal - Jillibean Soup

Here is my card for Just My Sketches April 15th sketch. I was really happy with the way this card turned out. It actually came together fairly quickly. Sometimes I can move elements around for an hour until I'm happy. I was trying to figure out what item to put in the rectangle and looked over and saw the raw chipboard Bazzill keys I had bought recently. I then came up with the sentiment, dug in the keys some more and even found one that had a heart on it...perfect! The heart gems are by Martha Stewart and the papers are from Jillibean Soup and the Minestrone line. I have been wanting some of their papers since they came out and hadn't ordered any online yet. No one local has it yet...boo hoo... Lo and behold, I won some goodies and from Creating Keepsake's blog and among other things it included some Jillibean! I distressed all of the edges with my Heidi Swapp sander (love that thing) and inked up the key with my all time fave ink Clearsnap Chestnut Roan.

Sunglasses Required?

Warning: These cards came out a little bright!

This was made for a sketch challenge over at Paper Trey Ink. I have some of their products on my wish list! The textured cardstock is Dotted Swiss from Bazzill (I just got it last weekend and am loving it!), some Tinkering Ink paper, Hambly transparency, Kaiser gems, and a Colorbok sticker.

This card was made for a challenge over at the uber talented Melissa Phillip's blog. It was based on a bright colored, fun and funky purse. I love bright colors so this was right up my alley. Doodlebug flocked blue paper, some older Creative Imaginations green paper, Around the Block sentiment paper, Prima, Imaginisce and Making Memories flowers, blinged out with some MAMBI gems. P.S. Thank you Kim for the Imaginisce goodies!

Red and Black Cards

*Will be featured in the February 2009 issue of CARDS.

The black cardstock is Archiver's, red scalloped is from Bazzill, flower rubon is Daisy D's, Thanks is from Rusty Pickle and bling is Paper Studio. Card is 6x6.

Kraft cardstock I believe is Archiver's, red is Bazzill, butterfly rubons are Daisy D's, miss you is Doodlebug, butterfly die cut is from KI Memories paper, black bling is taken from a Prima swirl and white bling is from Paper Studio. This is a mini card at 3 x 3 1/2.

All the cardstock was from the August kit that we received last night at the Archiver's crop.