Hooray!

I am SO excited today!  I actually got picked for the top 3 at the Case Study challenge blog!  I am very, very happy about this!  If you'd like to see the card it's actually the next post down.  :D  So I'm just excited about that today.  I haven't gotten a lot of scrapping done this week, I've had one of those summer colds - yuck.

I did start working in my Smash book a little bit.  I added some quotes that I wanted to remember to the first page, I put a pocket right at the beginning to hold cards and bigger items, and then on the next page I actually started "smashing" in some various things.  I think this is such a neat catch-all concept.  Granted if you have a bind-it-all or a cinch, you could easily make one yourself, but I don't have those tools and I think $12 is worth it for the shear convienence of it already made up.

I love the little pockets.

This is a favorite Mark Twain quote and I think it works great in this book.

Various things - I can't wait to dig through my drawers for more stuff that I know I've stashed away.

So that's it for today.  I hope to have a new card for you guys tomorrow.  Thanks to all my new followers!  It really makes my deal to read all of your wonderful comments!  As always, Happy Scrappin!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 87

Today I have a card for the challenge over at The Play Date Cafe. These were fun colors to work with and I love how the card turned out. Here are the colors:


Here is the card I created. I used this great stamp from Hampton Art for the focus of the card. I heat embossed it in white for emphasis on the red background. Then I trimmed the edges with some decorative scissors. The blue behind it is embossed with my cuttlebug. Then I used some metal trinkets on the edges that I found at a little vintage shop I like.

I love how it turned out! The colors really seem to pop on the grey cardstock. And of course, that stamp is just stunning.

I also thought I would show what I do to the backs of my cards. I had two custom stamps made and this is one of them. Sometimes I will write the date on there as well. But I love how this stamp completes the card and people always know it was handmade, which is great. I got these made by a person on ebay who has all sort of designs.

So that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it and as always, happy scrappin!

Smash!

So my local scrapbook store got their second shipment in today of the Smash line. I was very excited to see these! I think these are great idea books. I know you can use composition books, but I like that the pages in the Smash books are sturdy cardstock and are already decorated. I have a ton of little things in my top desk drawer that I plan to smash. Things like quotes that I've found that I don't want to forget, little images and drawings, fortunes from cookies, cards, etc.

So I bought two of the books - the red doodle book and the pink pretty book. All of the books are really cute. The pink book I am going to use as my idea smash book. The red one I am saving for a special project. The hubby and I are going to try to get pregnant soon and I think this Smash book will be perfect for a pregnancy journal. It will be easy to smash little trinkets in, hospital bracelets, ultrasound photos, doctors cards, etc. Plus I will have a place to write down interesting things like cravings, or baby names I like. I can stick photos of ideas for the nursery or things that I would like to buy for the baby. I think this will be easy for me to do with little time and it will be really neat for people to look through! I am totally excited about it!

Anyway, all the little accessories are too cute as well. I basically bought one of each thing they had. There were a few items that I wanted that weren't available so I'll have to pick them up later - the bands to hold the books closed when overflowing and the little pink and white paper clips. I love this idea and I think it's perfect for those with little time. This won't change the way I scrapbook, I will still have all my pages and do my card making. But this is a great, artsy way for me to save ideas and journal without worrying too much about it. If I really enjoy this I might invest in a Cinch or Bind-it-all. But for 12.99 for these Smash albums and all the work done for you, I think that's hard to beat!

Until next time, Happy Scrappin!

Happy Father's Day

I am so behind this year on Father's Day. I just got my cards done so they will be late. But - I am really happy with them!


So my first step was to use the new Tim Holtz embossing folders that I got to create the backgrounds. Then I used a sanding block and a distress tool on it. The car paper is by Graphic 45 (totally loving their papers!). I used Ditto stamps for the Father's day sentiment both inside the card and out. A few scraps of ribbon and some metal gear embellies finish off the cards.



I am so thrilled with these cards. I know that my Dad and Father-in-law are going to love them. I am so glad that we are getting some more masculine papers and embellies out. A few years ago it was tough to do a card for a guy!


For the inside of the cards I just attached on more car image and the stamped sentiment. I thought this was visual enough and yet still simple. It also leave a bit of space for writing.


So that's it for today! I hope everyone enjoys the day and celebrates time with the dads in your life! As always, Happy Scrappin!

Happy NSD!

I hope everyone is enjoying National Scrapbook Day! I have been doing a few layouts for a few different challenges. I also went bowling this morning, so that took up a good portion of my day. I plan to continue celebrating by finishing up some layouts tomorrow though. For now I thought I would share a few layouts I completed today.


This one is from our vacation to Maine in 2009. I still have the whole album to finish of this vacation! This is my next big project that I'm hoping to take care of.

This one was for a journaling challenge. These little guys were pets of ours and they were the sweetest. I really love how this one turned out.


I wanted to point out that for my journal blocks I just used some standard index cards that I took distress ink to. Then I stamped a small image in the corner, a heart here. I used some Thickers for their names on the cards. I love the way it looks!

Hope everyone continues to enjoy their scrapbooking weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Play Date Cafe Challenge

Hi Scrappers! Today I have a simple card that I made for the Play Date Cafe Challenge. The card needed to be based on the following colors:


So here is the card that I came up with:


I used a simple grey cardstock for the base of the card. Then I took some decorative scissors to a piece of red cardstock. The patterned paper is out of the Mariposa DCWV stack, which I love. That gorgeous lime green Prima flower really makes the card pop! Love it! The "Hello Friend" is a brand new ditto stamp that I picked up at Michael's.

So that's it for today. I'm working on a few other challenges so I should have more posts this week. Until then, Happy Scrappin!

A Simple Mother's Day Card

Hi there Scrappers! If you're like me, then you're behind on your projects. I'm still working to finish up Mother's Day stuff, which I know is right around the corner. So tonight, I have a beautiful, simple card for you that would be great for Mother's Day or any other time for that matter.


This is such an easy card to make but that Prima flower just really makes it pop! I love it! I used Bo Bunny's Sophie line of paper to match with the Prima flower. I added some scrap ribbon and bling to jazz it up. The phrase is a Stampendous stamp, which is too cute and I distressed the edges of that white paper with some Antique Photo distress ink.

This card came together so quick and easy. I'm sure that I would have spent longer at Hallmark looking for the "right" card. I love that about card making. Each one is made with love.