I cannot begin to tell you how much my girls make me laugh.  And it's a good thing, because it certainly helps them out big time when they're supposed to be in trouble.  Anyway, this day below, was their 2nd visit to the dentist's office.  Thankfully, their first visit was incredibly fun and they don't have irrational fears of dentists like my husband someone I won't mention.  Now, a quick background point for all my readers:  My husband is a musician and as we all know, musicians usually beat to a different drum.  Often times their sense of fashion goes hand in hand with their creative musical flair.  So, I must submit, that my two daughters incredible sense of fashion comes from their Daddy. ; )

Isn't this how EVERYONE dresses up to go to the dentist?  Do notice that my youngest carries a penguin in her purse instead of the requisite yippy dog.  THAT, she got from me and it makes me proud.  So looking at how my two birds of a feather flock together...I now know that I have years of interesting outfits and fun times to look forward too.

Now on to the deets. I picked up the Cosmo Cricket Togetherness Deluxe Kit, for this one.  It is a very whimsical line with birds, butterflies, clouds and kites.  I used all paper for this layout and will use the embellies, Glimmer Mist and Flocking Powder for my next project....coming up soon.
 

I used a template to create the bracket die cut, which I cut in half put part on each side.  The paper line comes with a page of borders, which worked well with my Birds of a Feather theme.  I cut out some of the birds from the paper, faux stitched around the edge and popped them up for dimension.




Now go put on an outfit and accessorize it like no one is watching!!  And don't forget your penguin in a purse!

If you're not shopping for Halloween costumes, then you're either starting on your Christmas card making or buying presents.  The Holiday Season is officially upon us crafters anyway.  So let me inspire you with this new Christmas line from KaiserCraft.  Yes indeed, it's the very company that makes all the wonderful wooden MDF projects you love so much.  As soon as I saw this in the Sneak Peeks from CHA, I was hoping and hoping that this would make it into the Shoppe.  My delight was complete when I saw the Deluxe Kit that Tammy put together with this beautiful Vintage paper line. 

Here is a layout of my two "dress up" Queens.  This day, they were Santa's Helpers of course.  We did this photo shoot during the great blizzard of 2010 trying to shoo away the cabin fever.  It's a bit hard letting your 3 1/2 foot children play in 5 feet of snow!

My first step, since I wanted to pick up the red of the dress in the photograph was to cut the tan background off the sheet with the scrolling die cut.  I cut around the edges and used a dark red background to replace the old one.  The edges of the red cardstock are inked with the Mudslide Colorbok pad included in the kit.

TIP: Since the Colorbok pad is ink instead of Chalk ink, you can dab a makeup sponge onto the ink pad and use the sponge to ink your edges for more of a brushed and softer look.  Using the ink pad directly on the edges of your paper can give harsh, dark lines that do not give an aged look to your project.

Next, I created a Christmas tree of sorts by cutting out wavy triangles out of the green damask paper and distressing the edges with the Mudslide ink using the tip above.  I wanted the scrolling die cut to work as a frame, so I used my Swivel Exacto knife to cut out an edge on the inner part of the die cut...this is known as fussy cutting.  I set my Christmas tree inside the cut and removed any green edges sticking out the other side.




The mat for the bigger photo was created using the Martha Stewart Deco Fan around the page punches.  I only did two sides since I was tucking the photo behind the tree and another cut edge of the die cut at the bottom.  The snowflakes are made with the St Nick/Newspaper sheet and Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge. 

To give the snowflakes a more vintage and finished look, I inked the edges with the Mudslide ink.   I used both sides of the St Nick paper to create the snowflakes.  The fatter ones above were made with the Newsprint side and the skinnier ones were made with the St Nick side. I used Mudslide over the skinny snowflakes to darken them up a bit to contrast with the fatter snowflakes and yet still keep the design visible underneath.  My next step for all the snowflakes was to coat them with Rock Candy Crackle Paint.  While the paint was still wet, I grabbed some translucent sparkly embossing powder between my thumb and index finger, and gently rubbed my fingers together over the snowflakes as it lightly dusted them with the powder.  Using your fingers to rub the powder over top of your snowflakes will keep it light and even.  I used my heat gun lightly over the snowflakes to just melt the embossing powder so it wouldn't leave a milky sheen on the snowflakes and Crackle Paint, then I let the rest air dry to create the crackling effect.





So, now go panic...because you only have 95 days until Christmas.  Hah!!  Happy Scrapping!

Who here has had 100+ degree temperatures consistently this past month?  Anyone else digging all the Holiday action we have going on here? If you can't stand the heat, I say get inside and scrap something cool and delightful.  If Halloween's your thing, Patti has been creating some way cute items with Graphic 45's Alice in Wonderland Kit.  If you're a Christmas crafter instead, I have the new Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather for you.  We have two options for you in the store.  We have the Mitten Weather paper line or if you like matching embellies without the headache of picking them out, try the Mitten Weather Deluxe Kit. 


Here is project numero uno with the kit.  Aren't you digging the splash of purple?  It's such a nice addition to the standard red and green of Christmas.  It makes for a nice fluctuation between Christmas layouts or Wintry layouts.  Here is picked a little of both and grabbed these pictures of my youngest in her Christmas outfit from last year.  These turned out to be my favorite pictures of the whole season because I think she looks like a porcelain Winter Angel.

I used the Martha Stewart Layered Arches for the red edging to give the color splash.  I picked up one of my border stamps and stamped around the border to give my layout a frame and then added some Ruby Red Liquid Pearls in between the arches for color.  Now how often do you get to use Tinsel Garland on your layouts?



We can't wait to see what Holiday creations you are making.  Post a link in our comments section so we can be sure to check it out.

JustRite Stamps and Basic Grey...now that's what I call a marriage made in heaven.  Last month, I posted here on the blog, the wedding tag album I made using the Cappella Mini Album kit.  Now it's time to deliver the gift.  But wait, you can't give a gift without a card!  What to do...what to do...  I had this extra picture leftover from the album and I had wanted to use it but had no room left.  Why not use it on the card for a unique, coordinating accent to my gift. 

I was a bit tired of my standard 4x6 cards, so I stepped out of the box (literally) and decided to do a shaped card.   To create this shape card, you need cardstock (folded in half) and a set of the large scalloped Nestabilities.  First, place the largest nestability die over the folded cardstock, leaving the top edge off the folded seam, as seen in the photo below.  After running it through your die cut machine, you now have a folded scalloped card for your base.  Next, cut out a full scalloped circle, embellish it and then glue it down to the base.




Have you created an unusual shaped card lately?  Leave us a link to it in the comments below so we can see it too!


Card Details:
Paper: Patterned Paper (Capella Album Kit)
Stamp: JustRite Stamps - Loving Thoughts Set
Flowers:  Prima
Ink: Distress Inks by Ranger (Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Walnut Stain)
Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities (Large Scallop Circle, Large Label), Quickutz Flourish

Then come join me in a Tropical Paradise.  The layouts for this weekend feature Bo Bunny's Paradise collection.  This paper collection is heavy on orange, yellow and blues and I love it.  It definitely reminds me of my few and longed for visits to the Carribbean.  I've been down there on 3 separate occassions and the blues of the sky and water and the sunsets are unbelievable.

However, you don't need to book that trip to the Carribbean to use this collection.  There are plenty of beaches around and if you're landlocked...well, there's always pool pictures.  All of them go great with this collection.  I've chosen pool pictures for my first layout and a beach sunset for my second one.

To start, we have my husband and daughter kicking around in the pool.  It was her first "real pool" and she had a great time.  Although, I'm not sure if she had more fun playing in the water or chewing on her ducky.  I drew and pieced together the sun and then decorated it with Liquid Pearl (Lemon Yellow).

To decorate the bottom half with the patterned paper, I traced the scalloped die cut onto a transparency sheet.  I cut the scalloped border on the transparency and then traced it onto my striped paper.  Cut it out and adhere right inside the scalloped border to keep that window effect of the die cut sheet.  I also grabbed the cream colored crab from one of papers and baked him in sun a la my Copic markers.  I think he came out pretty good.  The title tag is made from 3 different Spellbinder Nestabilities, with the inner circle inked with Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Walnut Stain).


For the second layout, we head to the sunny or sunset-y beaches of San Diego.  My parent's were there visiting family and there's nothing like a California sunset, would you say?   I loved all the palm trees that accompanied this particular sheet of the Paradise collection and didn't want to lose them with all the pictures and punched strips on top.  So I pulled out my Swivel Exacto knife and cut just enough of the background palm trees to pull them forward to the front by slipping the circle and photo mat behind them. Pop up the palm trees for dimension.  The top two borders along the bottom are the Daisy Fan and Doily Lace Trim punches by Martha Stewart.  The bottom two scalloped border were hand traced with some scalloped packaging I salvaged from Scrapbooking supplies I received.


For the blue circle, I attempted to create a salty ocean effect by holding the circle at an angle and spraying Smooch Spritz on top.  I let the spritz run down the circle and then dried quickly with a Heat Gun.  I think it came out okay.  The edges of the circle and photo mat are dotted with Liquid Pearls (Lemon Yellow).


So, if you just aren't quite ready for that work week to start...why not scrap your summer fun.  We'd love to see what you scrap for summer.  Leave us a link in the comments section to your Summer layout so we can take a look!

Whew!  I have been Delovely-ing my entire scrap room.  I was able to make so many things with this bright, colorful Deluxe kit.  Here are the promised projects from last week.


First up...some attempt to control the Silly Bandz craze in our house.  If you have a kid, then you know what I'm talking about.  I found these two wood boxes at a local craft store in the clearance section.  The girls picked out their favorite pictures from the Delovely Die Cut card sheet and I got to work. 

Then I went to work on a stack of cards.  I went a bit Copic crazy I think.  For this card I stamped the Hummingbird (Inkadinkado) and used the other half of the flower from the box above to complete.  The dots are Liquid Pearls (Lemon Yellow) to create some flair.




This little cutie is a Tina Wenke stamp.  He paired quite well with the bright colors of the Delovely kit.  I created a window in the card by using the Large Label Nestabilities die. The border is the Double Loop punch by Martha Stewart. 




And finally, I grabbed several of the Die Cut cards from the Delovely card sheet and made this cute anniversary card.  The oval backgrounds are Nestabilities dies and I finished with faux stitching around the edges.




Can you believe it? Not a layout in sight.  This was very unusual for me.  But I have some layouts planned for my next project involving a little bit of Paradise.  Stay tuned...

Summer...Summer...Summer is certainly here.  We've had our third 100+ degree day in a row.  So what do I do in this heat?  Scrap of course.  Who can go outside in that kind of heat?  My girls have been begging me to decorate a bird house for them.  Bird house?!?  I don't do big projects like that...I'm a layout/card girl.  Well, I'm here to tell you, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  And, I had two very happy girls this morning when they saw the finished project.


I used the Cosmo Cricket Delovely Deluxe kit for this avian abode.  The colors are perfect Summery colors and simply push winter thoughts into the furtherest recesses of your brain.  So here it is.  The girls were gracious enough to lend me their little "peepers" for the photo shoot.

To create the roof shingles, for the top I used the Threading Water punch by Fiskars. For the bottom roof shingles, I had to get a bit creative.  I grabbed some scalloped packaging that came with a set of templates and traced the scalloped border, cut and inked the edges with Distress Ink (Worn Lipstick used here).  There are several wonderful floral patterened papers in this collection.  I cut out the big flower patterns, backed them with the bright yellow floral paper and used pop dots to adhere. The die cut card sheet had the most adorable birdies that I snipped out, inked the edges and pop dotted to the bird house.




 I loved the bright color of  the Doodlebug Sugar Coating that came with the kit and decided it would look perfect at the bottom (sort of a bird bath look).  Doesn't it shimmer!  The cute fence border is a Martha Stewart border punch.




To finish it off, I grabbed my JustRite stamps and picked this perfect little saying from the Seeds of Kindness collection.   These stamps are so hot right now and Lil' Lambs Boutique has a big selection for your stamping needs.  To create the dual colored stamp, I put the saying on the JustRite Wood Stamper and inked with Black Archival ink.  Then I carefully pushed the border onto the Wood Stamper and brushed Prussian Blue Chalk ink around the edges, being careful not to touch the center.  Stamp as usual and now you have a double color impression.  I attached the saying and a dragonfly charm with jump rings to the roof.




I have a couple more projects to come this week using the rest of my Delovely deluxe kit.  Stay tuned...

So today I have for you graduation cards that I finished off this evening.  I rounded up a passel of tools, inks and embellishments that I've received from the Shoppe and came up with 3 different looks.  The wonderful papers are from the Tim Holtz Lost and Found Idea-Ology paper stack.  These stacks come with 3 different sets of the same patterned paper (12x12 sheets, 6x6 sheets and ATC sizes with border strips).  All papers are double sided, with a patterned front side and solid color distressed back side. The Lost and Found collection is currently sold out but we do still have some of his other stacks found here.


I have been having a blast playing with the Tattered Florals Die from the Tim Holtz Alterations collection. There are 4 different size and shape flowers.  Here I cut two of the same flower and layered the lighter color underneath, curling the top layer slightly to give color differentiation between the background and the flower. 

More of the Tattered Floral die here but this time, I used the Spellbinders Flower Impressabilities template as a stencil.  I laid the template over the floral die cut and lightly sponged with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I used the same template on the inner yellow flower, but used Broken China Distress Ink instead.  I really liked the effect it gave.


The bottom of the card is cut using the Alterations On the Edge Die from Tim Holtz.




For this final one, I needed red for my accent colors to match the recipient's school colors.  I love the Prima Say it in Pearls swirls and wanted to use them somewhere, but I only had pink...what to do...what to do.  Well, I just got out my Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks and sponged them a reddish color.  I added several layers to get the color I wanted, letting each layer dry before adding the next one. After adding a few punched flowers; it was easy as that.




Congratulations to all the graduates of 2010!

Have a wedding coming up?  Need to find a gift?  Have your own wedding pics to scrap?  It's the season for it...tulle, lace, silk, flowers and cake.  We have a perfect kit for you!  The Basic Grey Cappella Mini Album Kit comes complete with page by page instructions for completing your project/gift.  The Cappella line is a relatively neutral based color scheme with pale yellows, light pinks, creams and greys.  This works nicely with any wedding color coordinating cardstock you might want to add for photo mats or punched flowers. As an advance warning, I did not follow the directions exactly and added my own flair.  I'll have a list of the extras that I used at the bottom of the post.


 To start, I wanted a touch more room side to side, so I could add photo mats to my pictures.  To accomplish that, I added a punched border to the bottom and side of each page.  You could add a border to each side or no border.  I opted for only two sides, because the Martha Stewart around the page combos have set standard measurements for matching same side corners.  I didn't want to take the time to fuss with measuring and remeasuring for the small tag album so two sides was all I chose to do.  For each individual tag page, I chose a different border punch. 

The cover page of the album is a great spot to load up on 3D embellishments.  I chose a cardstock rose, made with the new Tim Holtz Alterations die.  His tutorial for creating the roses can be found here.

The instructions for the kit called for mini tags inserted between the main pages.  I personally, didn't care for the mini tags covering a portion of the photos, so I altered mine and popped out the matted photo and created an insert for the mini tags.  Add a coordinating ribbon to use as a pull-out feature. The swirls below were created with Ranger Ink Liquid Pearls using a technique I explained here.  I added mini Got Milk flowers, from Prima, inked with Distress Ink by Ranger.




One note to add here.  If you decide to create a punched border and use it along the bottom/tops of the tags, you will need to splice in a short piece of matching paper at the top.  The length of the tags are just under 6" and the paper pad included in the kit is a 6x6 paper pad.  I added about a 1/2" of matching paper to the top of the tags.  It was very easy to cover the seam by adding a decorative design or tag to each page.  For instance, I used the Lace Cut border punch  to create the orange decorative strip at the top of this page.
If you like having an added border but don't want to worry about the extra pieces, than just do a punched border on the left and right sides.




The photos are all approximately 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  While creating my photos, I zoomed in to cut out most of the extraneous background, however, it's a good idea to leave some of it, in case you need to trim the sides of your photo down a little to fit in your tag album.  Because I added a cardstock mat to each of my photos, I found that I was trimming a little off each photo to accommodate for the mat.








I also opted to back some of the tags and sayings with coordinating cardstock.




If you are the type of person who loves coloring outside the lines, then you're like me and enjoy going off the edges with your embellies.  It's okay...it really is!  Don't be stuck by the borders...jump them.  You'll notice however, that if I had a tag going over the edge, then I inked the back of the tag with a dark neutral tone, so it wouldn't stand out as much (notice the tag in the picture below and it's backside in the picture above).






I have some beautiful rub on butterflies and couldn't resist adding one to my project.  I transferred it to a transparency sheet, cut around the edges and then heated the edges with a heat gun.  This curls the wings slightly so it jumps off the page.




I added a bit of dimension to some of the tags included with the kit. Below, I cut out an additional heart and internal wings from the solid paper in the paper pad, inked them with Distress ink and popped them up with pop dots. It's a nice little way to perk up your pages without creating thick embellishments for the inside part of the album.








If you find you don't want to use all the tags included in the kit, a good idea is to cut out part of the tag.  I cut out the word "Cherish" below with the little flourish to add to another tag.






Whew, and the end!


Supplies used:
Basic Grey Capella Mini Album Kit

Supplies used outside of kit:
AC Cardstock - all orange cardstock added
Various Martha Stewart Border punches
Tim Holtz Alteration Tattered Floral Die
Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz
Quickutz Flourish Die

Distress Inks by Ranger (various)
Liquid Pearls by Ranger (various)
Mini Got Milk Flowers by Prima

Various Sizzix Dies (flourishes, photo corner punches)
Ribbon

I was working with the Green at Heart Class Kit from Basic Grey.  They always come up with wonderful layouts that you can create, however, I also like the challenge of using the kit to come up with a new look.  Here, I took half the elements in the kit to create this page about Sisters.




I used a stencil to create the die cut background and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  The edge of the circle photo mat is the patterned paper, cut into strips and folded into pleats.  The Take Notes circle tag was perfect for my title. Each Take Note tag has an optional overlay (such as the flower pattern below).




I used the Pink Paislee 365 Degree Deluxe Kit to create this fun Fair page below.  The colors in this kit are so fun and bright.  I created a 12" swirl as a background for my photos.  After printing off the photos, I cropped them and added them to the swirl background, letting the edges of the photos overlap the ends.  After fixing all the photos to my template, I trimmed the edges into the swirl pattern.  I added a title, journaling a few embellishments and my quick and easy page was complete.   

Pink Paislee really went for the vibrance this release.  Today, I'm working with the Bayberry Cottage Deluxe Kit from the Shoppe.  The purply-pink, blues and lime greens just scream Spring to me.  


I decided to scrap the wonderful joy of having a digital camera and using some of those well...oops photos...that we can see right on the spot and immediately keep clicking that camera til we get just the right picture.  Anatomy of an Easter photo came about due to the fact, that it is almost virtually impossible to get a 4 and 5 year old to smile AND look at the camera at the same time.  "Look up please...both of you look up...now smile...um, eyes open?  Both of you, look right here at this little circle and on the count of three, open your eyes and SMILE!!!  Are we done yet???  I give up!"  Here is the result:

What's a layout without a Martha Stewart border punch.  Here I used the Layered Arches combo set to create the photo mat.




And then to complete the layout, I added lots of beautiful embellies from the kit, including those gorgeous Say it in Pearls and Roses mini swirls.  The shoppe is carrying lots of the beautiful Prima flourishes and swirls in several colors.


So, before you just gloss over those "mistake" photos...why not create a fun layout using them instead.

So I'm a touch late with my normal Thursday post but hopefully this will have been worth the wait.  After receiving the stunning Graphic 45 Le' Romantique Deluxe kit, my wedding shower gift problem was instantly solved.  Little did I know how long finishing it would take me.  Ha ha.  Below is an 8 page album using the Deluxe kit.


Take a look through the album below to see all the gorgeous papers from this line. On the front cover, I used the Tarnished Brass Crackle Paint to rough up the edge and finished off the corners with Idea-Ology Photo Corners.  All flourishes throughout were created with Liquid Pearls on transparency paper.

The album is filled with verses from the Bible that come in handy in a new marriage.  They come in handy in an older marriage too!






Chandelier stamp is by Inkadinkadoo.  All border punches used are Martha Stewart border punches.










And my final page, although I didn't do much to it, because I loved the paper so much.




I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter this weekend!