Three wishes...

"If you bumped into a genie and she offered to grant you three wishes. What would your wishes be and why?"

This was the prompt at the DESIGN X Experiment this week, and the talented ladies so kindly asked me to join them in this challenge! I had a lot of fun trying to come up with a layout, which I don't do a lot of these days, but I'm really trying to get better at that!

When I thought of wishes, stars came to my mind, so I decided to use the negative of the star chipboard, painted it with acrylics and machine stitched around the outside. Then I tucked the pictures of my two girls and husband underneath. I loved how the ribbon added some much needed color, so I wrapped it around the chipboard to frame it a bit. Journaling says, "I'd wish for my family: health, happiness and love!"

Be sure to check out the other gals' layouts, stunning work over there! Such a talented team!

Supplies:
Background paper and today sticker: Melissa Frances
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Paint: Delta Ceramcoat - Eucalyptus
Ribbon: (stripe) Fancy Pants, (plaid) Offray
Felt: Fancy Pants
Letters: American Crafts - Thickers
Fabric brad: Paper Studio
Rub ons: Pink Paislee
Machine stitching
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I've also been playing around with my Melissa Frances supplies, and I can't seem to get enough of this floral stamp..used it on 3 projects lately! lol I bought some much needed new ink pads from Stampin' Up! and now I am loving stamping again.

This is a little mini box by Melissa Frances. It comes with a tiny accordian album inside! I dressed it up a bit with stickers and buttons that come in the kit and a couple of stamps for a friend.


Supplies:
Friends mini box and accordian album, stickers and buttons: Friend Sentiment Box GN08
Papers: Piper - PA138 and Hope - PA151
Stamps: Summer Breeze Stamps ME12 (flowers) and ME19 (I adore you)
Glitter: Cheerful Glitter Collection AU01 (pink) and Classic Glitter Collection AU03 (green)
Other: floral sprays - craft supply, olive ink - Stampin' Up!, black ink - StazOn.
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More Melissa Frances on this card as well, I am so in love with all the resin pieces like this frame. I think those are my favorite product of hers! Decided to create a little button heart with my Basic Grey Euphoria buttons...

Supplies:
White cardstock
Papers: Peaceful, Piper and Thankful by Melissa Frances (everything here is, unless otherwise noted)
Friend sticker: Friends Stickers PP01
Resin frame: Chiswick Frame
Floral stamp: Summer Breeze Stamps ME12
Stamping ink: Stampin' Up! - Old Olive
Aging ink: Ranger Industries - Old Paper
Other: buttons, floss, twine, pearl gems, pop dots, machine stitching.
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Last, I just wanted to share a sneak peek of a layout I did the other day of my girls! It will be on the Melissa Frances blog sometime in October. I think this is one of my all time favorite layouts I've done so far! I journaled some very heartfelt memories... and isn't that what scrapbooking is all about? Really, I think we get caught up in the design of everything sometimes and forget to think more about the memories. So I'm excited to share this one soon...
IF you are still reading, thank you! lol I appreciate you visiting! Be sure to check back around Friday, I will have some information on World Card Making Day, a blog hop and a give-away!
~Danielle~

A fall "Family Photo Cube" project....

Good morning! Hope you are enjoying your first weekend of fall! I thought I'd share with you my little Family Photo Cube project that I did for the Scrap Pink crop over at CMK going on this weekend!To create this cube, I used 4 pieces of chipboard that were 6x6 inches each, scrapped each side, and then punched holes in the corners with the Crop-a-dile. Then I used about a 6 inch piece of ribbon in each corner, threaded them through the holes and tied them in the inside.

I can't get enough of these new Vintage Moon papers by Pink Paislee! I also used some of the new rub ons and Topsiders by them.

This is Kati at the pumpkin patch last summer. She was two years old at the time. Isn't she sweet? =)

On another side, I scrapped a photo of the 4 of us when we were on our vacation to South Dakota this summer. I hate pics of me, but I loved it of the rest of the family, so decided to use it. ha

It's a really easy project to make and you can display it for the fall with a candle inside or a vase of fall flowers! If you'd like to make one and play along in the challenge over at CMK, HERE is the link with all of the information! Projects must be loaded to the appropriate gallery by 8 a.m. CST on Monday, Sept. 29th to be eligible for the prize.

Can't wait to see yours! Thanks for stopping by today, Danielle

Scrap Pink!

Wow, lots going on today! First of all, I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom!! How old are you now? 26? :) Well, she sure does look that young and is so very beautiful inside and out! I love and miss you like crazy, mom!

This weekend is Scrap Pink! (...darn blogger, I wanted a dark pink, but can't find one...) If you haven't found a place to crop with someone this weekend for this awesome annual fundraiser for breast cancer awareness, check out Create My Keepsake. We are having an on-line crop with tons of fun mini classes and challenges and PRIZES! The fun starts tomorrow (Sat.) at 9 a.m. BUT...if you need something to do until then, check out the Scrappy Formula! You have 24 hours to complete the sketch and post it in the forum to be entered into the drawing at the end of the month. The Scrappy Formulas are posted each Friday, so stop by and play!

I've been busy creating some fun things for Melissa Frances, just waiting on the go-ahead to post them, so hopefully will be able to share them soon! Here is one card I made with a new postcard kit that they have! You can view the supply list and directions here on the Melissa Frances blog.




Have a great weekend,
Danielle

Couple of toots to share...

I always forget to post the cards that become published, so I thought I'd share one today that was in the latest issue of Paper Crafts, Holiday Cards and More3...
JOY card. You can see the directions for this card here on the Paper Crafts web site!

In other scrappy news, World Card Making Day is coming up on October 4th!

World Card Making Day is a holiday especially for card makers around the world to: celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family, and kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season.

Who:

The card-making community worldwide, including hobbyists, beginning card makers, manufacturers of card-making products, retail sellers of products, educators, and press are invited to come together to celebrate this holiday and creative passion.

Why:

It is a day to connect with fellow card makers both near and far, to applaud the creativity that powers the craft, and to provide an opportunity for card makers to connect and find resources that will empower, inspire, and encourage them in their card making.

How:

Use this site to find unique ways to celebrate this holiday, including:
1. Creating your own handmade cards from the dozens of sponsored ideas in the Inspiration Avenue section,
2. Sharing your unique designs with the world in the Creation Corner gallery,
3. Finding and visiting an Official World Card Making Day Retailer,
4. Discovering many fun activities in the Celebrate section.

Hope you will join in on the fun!
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One last thing I wanted to share... some of my work is being featured on the Queen and Co. blog today! Thank you, Anabelle for choosing me for the Queen's pick! Have a good day, everyone! =)
Danielle

Feeling like fall!

Wow, the weather is cooling off fast here and fall is underway! Our leaves are already started to fall off the trees, and I've been able to open the windows and enjoy the fresh air. Love this time of year! Taylor's birthday is 2 days after Halloween, so we really love to make the most of Halloween and combine the parties. Anyhow...all of this going on puts me in the mood for Halloween! Do you have any pumpkins yet?

I created this Halloween card for the Pink Paislee blog today with 2 clear acrylic album pages. (I’m hopelessly addicted to anything clear these days!) I first added a silver rub on to the front page from the Pop Fashion Accents rub ons and covered a chipboard square that I had with the Moon Glade paper from the Vintage Moon collection. I had some chipboard numbers from Maya Road that I covered with the Night Owl paper and cut a little flower from the Moon Pie paper. Next, I stamped the Oct. 31 bracket onto part of the clear packaging that my acrylic pages came in and added that over the numbers with a couple of pearl gems. Love to recycle. I topped it off with sprinkling a bit of black acrylic paint over everything with an old paintbrush!
A big thank you to Janelle Richmond over at Sketch This for letting me use her sketch!








On the left side of my card, I added a rub on tree from the Vintage Moon Icons and stamped/cut out the little bat from the Trick or Treat clear stamps. I had to pop it up with some fun wire and glitter it up a bit too!


Love how the layering really adds dimension and interest! =)

Have you seen the 2 new collections coming out by Pink Paislee soon? This is just part of the new Tinsel Town collection:

Tinsel Town postcards

Tinsel Town rub ons:

Tinsel Town ribbons:

...and the Sweet Cakes postcards

Sweet Cakes rub ons:

Sweet Cakes ribbons:

You can see the whole collection with the papers and all HERE: Tinsel Town and Sweet Cakes! I can't wait to try these out, aren't they so cute? =) Have a great weekend and stop by the Create My Keepsake forum and participate in the Scrappy Formulas with us today if you get a chance.
Danielle

Back to school!

I love back to school time! The fresh air, apple picking, going to the corn maze, gathering pumpkins...fall is so much fun! I took a few pics of Taylor before she left for her first day of third grade! I'm by no means a great photographer...I think I may have had my camera's ISO on too high, but I like how some turned out. I'm still playing around with it trying to learn everything I can do with it! Don'tcha just love her little bag? =)


In scrappy news, the September card kit is now available HERE! Grab one while you can! You will get directions to make these 4 fun cards:



And if you don't have any plans for the Scrap Pink weekend on Sept. 26-28th, stop by Create My Keepsake where we will be cropping on-line together with some fun classes and challenges! Here is a peek to my class, lots of yummy Vintage Moon here:

Thanks for all your views and sweet comments! I love to read them! I've been asked recently if I sell any of my cards, the answer is yes! I am currently in the process of setting up an Etsy shop, but in the meanwhile, please e-mail me if you see one you are interested in at dflanders71@hotmail.com.
Hugs,
Danielle

Lots of Pink Paislee to share!

I did two Pink Paislee layouts yesterday...yes TWO in one day! ha I have been wanting to scrap Kati's curls for so long now and this was such a quick layout to create. I used a Pink Paislee - Pop Fashion transparency as the base, added a Pop Fashion rub on to a Li'l Davis star and one below the star, cut a Topsider sticker in half and tucked it under the 2 photos and added my title with the new Fashion Script letter stickers. (All by Pink Paislee) Printed the journaling on the computer and tucked it under the transparency.

Curls layout*Will be in Paper Crafts' Recycle issue 2009*

Journaling: Kati, Everywhere I go with you, people are constantly stopping us and telling me how beautiful you are, how gorgeous your curls are. I mean everywhere! Grocery store, bathroom in the department store, school, doctor's offices, I can't even count the times people have stopped me to look at you! You are one gorgeous girl with those curls. Where did they come from? I have not a clue, but I'm so in love with them. And they go with your personality...always happy, bouncy and bringing joy to everyone! I love you!

The "Cousins" layout was done for the Scrappy Formulas at CMK this week. There is going to be a new sketch posted each Friday and you have 24 hours to complete the challenge. I chose to do one large photo instead of 3 smaller ones. For the sticker bracket, I used the "leftovers" of the Topsider sheet and cut out a bracket from it. Added some glitter over one of the stars.
Supplies used:
Transparency: Vintage Moon Paislee Page overlay by Pink Paislee
Stickers, rub ons swirl, paper, letter stickers, chipboard: Pink Paislee, Pop Fashion
Glitter: Doodlebug
Pen: Sharpie
Pearl gems

Of course, I had to add some glitter! I decided to separate my Topsider star from the sticker that goes with it, cover it with striped paper instead and use the sticker on its own.

I created this "Tips to Happiness" mini album for the Pink Paislee booth at CHA and realized I hadn't shared it here yet. All of the papers, transparency and die cuts are from the Office Lingo line, love the pinks and oranges together!
(Will be in Scrapbook Trends, Mini Album Idea Book, 2009.)

The album used is a Clear Scraps album. I used some of the new Pink Paislee - Pop Fashion stamps (butterfly and tips stamp) here.

Page 1 says, "Don't forget to laugh! You are always happy, Kati! I just love that about you!"

Page 2 says, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! I love how patient you are sweet girl!" Pictures are of Kati trying to get up on the slide. It took her sooo long and lots of practice to be able to do this! The numbers and borders are some of the new Vintage Moon rub ons.

Page 3: "Be grateful for what you have and take good care of each other." Picture is of Taylor and Kati at the beach one day. Kati was scared to go down to the water to fill her bucket, so Taylor was helping her. I stitched on the photo and used some Office Lingo die cuts, as well as a Maya Road chipboard bird. The tree, the swirl under the tree and the "grateful" are new stamps from Pink Paislee.

Page 4: "Enjoy the simple things, such as jumping in the puddles and getting wet!" Pictures are of Kati one day after it rained and she was enjoying the water. hee hee

Page 5: "Be true to yourself always!" The Pink Paislee stamp inspired this page. I found a picture of Kati at the beach that I loved for this page.

Added some gorgeous Pink Paislee, Pop Fashion rub ons! I love how they look on a clear album.

Well, that's it for me today! I have some errands to run this afternoon. Taylor is going back to school tomorrow, so I need to get everything ready for her! I'm so excited for her! (and me...sorry...I'm ready to get back into our routine. ha) Thanks for stopping by today and hope you had a terrific weekend.
Hugs,
Danielle

More sneaks!

Thought I'd pop in and share a few more sneaks with you of my card kit coming out in a couple of days! It's a yummy one!!
Lots of Scenic Route, Melissa Frances, and Sassafras Lass goodness with chipboard, rub ons, buttons, tags, ribbons and more!

Also, the party card in the post below is included in this kit! On a sad note...the kits may not be continuing, depending on the sales this month, so please - tell all your friends! *shameless plug- lol* I will post a link as soon as they are available on the 15th. Or you can visit Create My Keepsake to purchase a membership and receive the kit information early!

My hubby and I have a date night tonight, and I'm so excited! My sister-in-law has asked us if she could watch the kids for us, I love it when people offer, that was so nice of her. It's been a long week with the surgery and everything. Taylor is doing SO much better and is starting to play today! Even though it was a tough time, I couldn't be happier with how she is recovering. It is certainly a blessing. Thank you for all your prayers.

Hugs and Love,
Danielle

Next card kit available soon....

Thank you all so much for the sweet notes regarding Taylor! It meant so much to me to read your supportive words and helped me get through a tough time. Taylor is doing much better each day, I'm amazed at how quickly children recover from these type of things. She just came down the stairs by herself for the first time! We are hoping that she will be able to go back to school next Monday, but we'll see in a few days how she is feeling. I don't want to rush it and risk hurting it again, she has a pretty large cut on her lower abdomen...(I know...too much information...I'm sorry!)

In other news, my next card kit at Create My Keepsake will be ready soon. Here is one of the cards I created for it. This kit is loaded with fun goodies! You can check out the photos of the kit contents at the Create My Keepsake blog. Papers are some of the new Scenic Route Sonoma and Sassafras Lass Hog Heaven, also included are lots of extras...chipboard, rub on sayings from Melissa Frances, buttons and tags from Creative Cafe, cards and envelopes and some fun die cut shapes like this yellow flower shape:
I hope you will grab one when they become available on Sept. 15th for non-members (sooner for kit members). You will find it on Sept. 15th at Create My Keepsake under "monthly kits", and then "current kits".

I've been SUCH a bad blogger friend and I just want to say thank you to all of you who have honored me with this fun blog award recently!!
One more fun thing: this Friday (and each Friday from now on), Create My Keepsake will be hosting a fun sketch night! Each Friday a new sketch will be posted and you will have 24 hours to participate/create a layout from the sketch to be entered into a drawing at the end of the month! You can read the details here in the forum: Scrappy Formulas. Come and join us!

Well, I must be getting back to chores, etc. Thanks for stopping by today! ~Danielle~

Life is precious....

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for all your well wishes and support during the last few days. Things have been hectic, but are now slowly calming down. This post isn't scrappy related, but I just wanted to let you know that Taylor is doing much better, and your prayers have been wonderful for her.

We went into the hospital on Thursday at 7:30 and they started the surgery on Taylor at 8:30. I was able to go in with her while they put her out (which was another whole experience in itself if you've ever done that, you know what I mean). They called us at 11 and said the surgery went well. They put her in recovery and we were able to see her. She was still out, but came to now and then. (Was pretty much delirious at that point) She had to stay there until 3:30 because they didn't have any hospital rooms available. BUT I'm so glad they kept her there, because it was awful in the hospital room. She was so out of it and in such pain and our nurse was terrible, didn't help us out much at all. I tell you, this is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through as a mom. She cried and cried and I just felt helpless that I couldn't do much of anything for her. She vomited throughout the night and couldn't keep anything down. They did a caudol (not sure if I spelled that right), which is like an epidural so it would numb her from the waist down, but after that wore off, she was in a lot of pain again. Anyhow...my husband stayed the night with her, because my little Kati who just turned 3 wouldn't stay without me. (She's attached to me at the hip!) He said it was horrible. She was vomiting and nobody was helping him, even after he paged them several times and went out in the hallway to get the nurse. She had to share a room with another little baby who cried and cried. So neither Taylor nor hubby got much sleep.

The next morning, the dr. said she could go home that day (Friday) if she ate. So we finally got her to eat something, and she came home yesterday afternoon. She is doing much better now, but still has a catheter in until Sunday and can't move around much on her own. We bought her a Wii to keep her occupied a bit. She has to stay out of school for a week, and no gym class or hanging from the monkey bars for 6-8 weeks. So hopefully all will go well and she will recover soon. It has been quite an experience to say the least. But I may have to go through this again with Kati who has a birth defect in her heart.. but they can't do surgery on it until her heart is fully grown. I think the hospital stay is just as traumatizing for them as the actual surgery. Our nurse on Friday was absolutely the best! She helped us tremendously and was so kind and caring.

Taylor has to miss the first week of school. Her teachers were so sweet, they sent Taylor a get well note that everyone in the class signed, so that was so nice! I'm really looking forward to this year with them!

Going through all of this, I am reminded just how precious life is and to appreciate everything. Give those loved ones a big hug right now and tell them you love them!

Grandmas....

...are the best, aren't they? I woke up this morning and had an idea for this layout, so I got up early and worked on it, I couldn't sleep a wink last night anyway. Taylor's surgery has me worried. Actually it has her worried too...she woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. It's going to be a long week, but hopefully all will go well. Oops, O.K. back to grandmas..... what would we do without them? Kati and Taylor both really adore my mom and it just breaks my heart that we can't live there and be closer to her and my dad. Unfortunately the economy isn't as good there, and we would be struggling if we lived there. So I know we are better off here, but it was so hard to leave them when Taylor was one year old. When we were there visiting a couple of weeks ago, Kati followed my mom around and loved to help her garden! They would be the best of buds if they could hang together more often!

Grandma's Love:

I really want to focus on doing more layouts, even if they are simple and quick! Supplies used here: background paper, chipboard letters, rub on saying: Melissa Frances. Felt: Fancy Pants. Rub on swirls: Glitz. Flower: craft supply and button is Basic Grey. I'm off to do some painting today, we put in a new patio door and it hasn't been painted yet, maybe I can cross it off my to-do list today. Have a great day! ~Danielle~