The greatest love...

For me, having children is the best thing that has ever happened to me and the reason I started to scrapbook. When Taylor was born, I wanted to create a baby book for her and tell the stories of her birth and how she was growing and learning each month. Then somewhere along the way, I discovered a passion for creating while preserving our memories. I've always been into creating things, drawing, etc. and took several art classes in high school and college, and actually wanted to go to college for my art (but somehow ended up in teaching), but I love now that scrapbooking combines all of that for me...and I get to create keepsakes that hopefully will be meaningful to my girls down the road! Today I made a layout with some hidden journaling and wrote little love notes to my girls under the flaps/tags. I really want to let them know how much I love them and have it written down in words for them. (kinda sappy, I know)
I used some of the new Fresh Twist papers from Melissa Frances and several other items by MF: border stickers PP09, border stamp set ME10, Fontastic letter stamp set ME17, Mom transfers FW043, and the Summer Breeze floral stamp set ME12.

Other supplies: brads - Making Memories, pink flower - Maya Road, other flowers - silk from craft supply, black ink - StazOn, olive ink - Stampin' Up, dimensional paint and a metal stencil by Anna Griffin.

The little swirl on the top tag was created by using a metal stencil and some dimensional paint. My dimensional paint was white, so first I added some tan paint to it and mixed it up on a paper plate. Then I laid the stencil where I wanted it on my layout. Using an old credit card, I picked up some of the dimensional paint and scraped it across the stencil, then carefully lifted off the stencil and let it dry. After dry, you can chalk over it a little bit with brown chalk to get darker and lighter shades of brown.

Here is the stencil I used. Any kind of stencil would work for this.
I used this technique about a year ago on this card (on the chipboard) and then painted over it with red paint....
Here are some "how to" pictures:
Lay the stencil over the chipboard or paper....
Give it a try, it's really fun and a great way to put those old stencils you have in your stash back to use! I'll be back on Monday with some Pink Paislee creations. Have a wonderful weekend!

Is it spring yet?!

I've been working on some layouts the past few days with fun, bright colors...I think I'm ready for spring and the warm breezes! We had 8 more inches of snow the other day..Ack. You know you have a lot of snow when a guy comes by with a big Bobcat tractor and pushes the snow that has accumulated over the entire winter away from the road in everybody's yards!

Today I created this little layout of Kati with some of the new Melissa Frances Fresh Twist papers and ticket and All About Me Transfers (title, journaling and stars). I love the colors in this new line and punched them up a little bit with some cardstock strips. I made the black and white strips myself with scalloped scissors and a hole punch. The orange strip is by Bazzill. The pink 3 is Pink Paislee. The background paper is actually a new die cut paper and comes just like this.


I asked Kati these questions for my layout today and she answered quickly. It's funny how they know even at age 3 what their favorites are! I have more layouts to share soon created with some new Pink Paislee. I really want to focus on doing layouts more often, so hopefully you'll be seeing more of those from me! Have a happy Tues. eve!

Love and children...

I just got back from a visit with my hair stylist and I feel like a new woman! It's been way too long since I last had my hair done (since last October...eeek!). Kati also got her hair trimmed. It was her first time! I had to keep her curly yellow locks and bring them home. I meant to bring my camera to take some pics, but forgot.

Here is a little project that I made for my hair dresser and friend, Katrina. She had a baby girl not too long ago. Isn't Lily such a sweet name? This is a keepsake box by Melissa Frances, which I painted white and left some of the brown showing through for a worn look. I covered the top with Bonnie paper by Melissa Frances which is yellow, but you can't really tell from the pics. I added a rub on to the ribbon, a resin frame, 3D sticker (all Melissa Frances) and some Pink Paislee Enchanting chipboard letters to spell her name.
If you add a rub on to a ribbon, just make sure to press extra hard to get it to stick.
And a little card to go with it, also Melissa Frances products, except the pink letter stickers which are Pink Paislee Fashion Script. The little shoe is another 3D sticker.
Today some of my projects are being featured on the Dream Street blog, including this little mini album that I made recently of my family. "House of Love" Almost all of the papers here are from their new "Heartsong" line. I love the happy, springy colors!
Added some Jenni Bowlin ribbon, a resin piece from Melissa Frances, and some Pink Paislee Fashion Script letter stickers.
This was actually a card by Worldwin, but just by adding photos, it turns into a quick mini album. Here is the link to these cool cards! Accordian Tag
Be sure to check out the Dream Street blog! There are a ton of posts and projects coming by the design team this month! Have a good weekend with your loved ones.

Old friends...

Recently I signed up for Facebook and have found a long lost friend of mine from college. I never thought I needed to sign up, but it is really cool how you can connect with people that you've lost touch with! She just had a baby boy....her first, so I've been working on a little something for her...
I used some denim fabrics, lights and darks, from old jeans of ours and a lot of different blue cotton fabrics, stars and stripes and plaids. So much fun. I hope she likes it. I need to make time for more quilting, because I love it so!
And the next challenge over at Card-a-licious will be up soon! The challenge this week was to create a Friends card with ribbon and the color green. The card challenges really stretch my creativity!
I created a little purse card with an arrow handle with the ribbon. The green paper is by Cosmo Cricket - Girl Friday and the orange paper is Dream Street - Heartsong. I used a button by American Crafts "Flair" and a Melissa Frances rub on.

Well, I hope you are having a sweet day! My girls are playing Rock Band and having fun together. It's feeling like a lazy day today. Hugs,

February card kit now available...

If you are looking for a fun kit for the boys in your life, I hope you will check out this fun mixture of October Afternoon's Night Light papers and Cosmo Cricket's Li'l Man collection. There are tons of great colors in this kit and patterns on the back of all the papers (except 1 by Making Memories). Here are the 5 cards you will receive instructions, photos and patterns to re-create them!

(Some of the papers are girly too!) This card was created with 2 tags from the kit.

Click here to purchase: February Card Kit

Taylor has the week off from school this week for "winter break", so we have lots of play dates planned and such. Today we went outside to play in the snow... it *warmed up* to 33 degrees today. A heat wave! Here's a pic of my little family from today:
The snow wasn't sticking together very well, but we managed to get a bit of snowman put together, none-the-less. lol Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Happy Valentine's Day! What are you up to? Today we took the girls swimming at the YMCA and then out to lunch for Valentine's Day. Hope you have had a wonderful day too!

We have a winner for the Cut Cardstock give-away....

Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 26 Timestamp: 2009-02-14 23:08:51 UTC

harrahx2 said...

Lovely projects and some beautiful paper.

February 6, 2009 3:12 PM

Congratulations! I'll be e-mailing you for your mailing address soon.

Here is a little card I made just for fun the other day. I was inspired by a card that my daughter Kati received from her grandma in South Dakota. I used some new Enchanting Paper by Pink Paislee for the background and punched out hearts. I don't know if you can see it, but I used the sewing machine to stitch swirls on the background around the border of the card. Then I just cut wings and a little body from some October Afternoon Norm's News paper (houndstooth) and the red polkadot paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Li'l Man collection. Sticker letters are Pink Paislee Fashion Script, and I used some of the little dots from the sticker letters for the cheeks.
Never thought I was into *paper piecing*, but I guess that's what you would call it. ha
Take care and have a good night.

Next card kit coming soon!

Thank you all so much for visiting my blog and for your sweet comments! I appreciate each and every one of them. Don't forget you have a couple more days to leave a note HERE for the chance to win the cardstock and envies from Cut Cardstock!

Wanted to pop in and show you the next card kit from Create My Keepsake. The e-mail for purchasing will be going out soon to members, so keep an eye out for it. The kits that are leftover will be available for purchase to non-members on the 15th. Tell me..what do you think? It's a fun one this time with lots of bright colors!Papers are October Afternoon - Night Light and Cosmo Cricket's Li'l Man. Here are a few sneak peeks.... instructions, photos, and patterns will be included for 5 cards for the kit this time. The papers are all double-sided, so there are SO many possibilities in this kit!!