A Christmas Card

I actually made it into my scrap room last night. I made a Christmas card for a contest at ChatterScene! I used sketch 253 from the Mojo Monday blog! Here is my card:

I used scraps from a DCWV Christmas/Winter stack and my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for the scallop circle and tree. Thanks for looking. Hope to start sharing a lot more and on a regular basis once school starts in Sept!

A few new layouts

Here are some layouts that I've done this month.

I used my cricut cartridge Happy Hauntings for the word "party" and for the pumpkin. I discovered a spelling error on my pumpkin so it looks like I'll be redoing that! I used paper from a K&Company stack called SpookTacular that I got on clearance (75% off I think) at Michael's earlier in the year. Its all double sided and since I wanted to use both sides, I cut a section off, flipped it over and reattached it by using a strip of scrap paper on the back side.

I used my new Baby Steps cricut cartridge on this one. This was one of those extremely simple pages that took me over 2 hours to do because I searched and searched and couldn't find the right paper for it. I ended up making my own to match my DD's jammies. I used a stamp from CTMH's Stitched Together to to make the stripes. And because I didn't want to waste all of the purple paper, I cut out a section from the middle of it, layered my stamped paper over it, used the cut out for my title and I still have a good sized piece left over to use on something else. I've been feeling very uncreative these last couple of months so it was nice to get something done and I'm really looking forward to school starting again so I'll have more free time (and quiet time!) to scrap!

A few cards...

I've made a few cards in the past month and figured I should share! First up were cards for all my kids' teachers. I did 3 of the same card:

I used DCWV Stack 7 and Recollections Bold Basics on these. Next is a card I made for a cousin's baby shower.

This was made using scraps! And my first time ever using foam squares to pop up the image!! I made it to somewhat match the crib bedding they were hoping for!

I made a yellow owl but didn't like it so I made another pink. I used my Imaginisce Irock tool and gems for the eyes and flowers. The flowers are Recollections that I recently bought on clearance. Finally, a very, very simple Father's Day card made using DCWV The Guy stack and Recollections Bold Basics.

Sadly, that is all I've managed to make since my last post. Hoping to change that tonight though! Kids are in bed, my husband is out of town and my scraproom is clean!

Elements Challenge

My friend Chris at Get Inspired With Chatterscene has been having Just Elements Challenges. I love these challenges because it really is nice to create things without a machine! I almost feel like its more mine that way. :-) Here is my 2nd entry. I'm sharing 2 cards. One for my niece and one for my brother in law (her father!) but the one for my niece is my official entry. May is a busy months in my family. Mother's Day (times 5!) and my SIL's birthday always fall within a few days (or on the same day!) of each other and then at the end of the month, its my niece's birthday on the 22nd, my BIL's birthday on the 25th and then my husband's birthday (and our wedding anniversary!) on the 27th! We usually celebrate our anniversary on our "dating" anniversary but that also happens to fall in May! This year, we also had 4 birthday parties for friends from school or soccer. I'm so excited this month is almost over! LOL! I've been making a ton of cards because of this (which has been great!) but unfortunately, I've been so busy that I forgot to take pictures of most of them! :-( Here are the 2 that I did remember!

Both cards were made using the Recollections Bold Basics 8.5x11 paper stack and cardstock from my stash as well as Stampin Up stamp sets (Pennant Parade and Party This Way) and I also used my Stampin Up Pettite Pennants punch. Shanna, if you read this, you were SO right! I love that punch! Thank you for pushing me to get it! ;-) Here's a close up of my niece's card:

The purple paper matched the purple dots a lot better in real life! And here is my brother in law's card:

On this one, the browns were closer in color in real life. Tomorrow, I'm expecting a package from Close To My Heart. I'm finally getting the Art Philosophy cartridge and some stamp sets. I cannot wait for that package to arrive! I was hoping for today but it appears that Fed Ex wanted to keep my package one more day. :-)

Just Elements and Scrapbook Steals Mid-Week Mojo: Turquoise #2

Today is the last day to enter the Scrapbook Steals Mid-Week Mojo challenge! And I'm a last minute kind of girl so here is my entry!

Here is the sketch:

As usual, my journalling will be added after taking pictures so that my husband doesn't freak out about me sharing too much info online. Well that and I need to look up some info that I need. All my banners were cut by hand. I stamped the baseballs with a CTMH set called "Lets Play Ball". The title was done with a CTMH set called "Bubble Caps". The red circle strips were cut using my Fiskars Threading Water punch. I ran a 2inx12in paper through it once, cut most the excess off and ran it through again by lining up the holes and amazingly enough, IT WORKED!! I cut off the 2 end pieces that weren't complete circles and then cut my strip in half and rounded those edges a bit and now no machine was needed to complete this page! And because of that, I'm also entering this in Chris's Just Elements Challenge #4 on Get Inspired With Chatterscene!

A few happy cards

An old friend of my husband and I is going through a really tough time with his daughter right now. She's been having seizures since she was a few months old. For awhile they were managing them with meds but in the past year they've gotten so bad that not even maxing out her meds was helping. She started having 10+ every night and would stop breathing. Someone had to monitor this little girl around the clock because she would would stop breathing and a few times had to be resuscitated. On April 30th she had brain surgery to remove part of her brain and place electrodes. Today she had a second surgery to add more electrodes. She's doing amazingly well. This one was a bit harder on her than the one last week but Miss M is a fighter! However, she's still practically a baby. She only turned 5 a few weeks ago. My husband went to visit her in the hospital last week (she adores him) and he took her flowers. He said there was only one other bouquet in the room from her mom and dad. :-( We decided that we'd send her cards every few days until she is home. I've made 3 so far and the first went in the mail today. The first card for M was made using the Cricut cartridge Hello Kitty Font:

The next 2 cards were made using Create A Critter. For the frog, I also used Stampin Up stamps from the set called Turtle & Co. The Poodle was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder called Tiny Bubbles and the flowers were from a Stampin Up set called Itty Bitty Blooms. The sun was cut by hand and a circle punch. All glitter was added with Studio G glitter glue.

I hope these bring a smile to Miss M's face!

Scrapbook Steals Mid Week Mojo - Turquoise #1

Another last minute (and therefore, terrible cell phone picture) from me. Here is my entry for the Turquoise round on scrapbook steals:

This was the sketch:

I only have about 15 minutes to get this in so I'm posting and I'll do my best to take a new pic and give details tomorrow! Edit: Now, the new and better picture is up. I used cardstock from my stash. The pattern paper is Recollections from Michaels. I used the American Alpha cartridge on my Cricut E2 for the circle (cut in half) and my new Petite Pennant punch from Stampin Up. Everything else was cut by hand.

New Blog design!

Isn't it gorgeous?!?! Chris at Get Inspired with Chatterscene is AMAZING!!! I've known Chris 5-6 years now and when it was time to make my blog pretty, I just handed it over to her. She knows me so well and chose a perfect design for me! I love everything about it and can't thank her enough!

Brand New

Here is a quick layout I did for Chris's Elements Challenge at Get Inspired With ChatterScene. I apologize for the terrible pictures. They were taken on my cell phone and I'll redo them tomorrow!

Paper is DCWV, the mini stickers are Kaiser Craft and I'll have to look up the circle alpha because I can't find the packaging!

And a close up of part of the title so you can actually see the mini stickers!

Finally, can anyone tell me if my pictures are normal or huge? No matter what size I choose, they show up huge for me! Thanks! (Edit: I haven't taken better pics but I did resize these! They should be much better now.)

March DCVW Stack A Holic Template challenge

I stayed up and worked on a layout last night to enter in DCWV's Stack A Holic Template Challenge.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout:

I used the Flower Shower stack on this layout. I'll be adding my journalling later.

Just Elements Challenge

My friend Chris at Get Inspired with Chatterscene is having a Just Elements Challenge! The goal is to create something with NO die cutting machines! This is great because I have tons of stamps, stickers and ribbons waiting to be used!

Here is a card I made last night for this challenge:

The flower paper is from the DCWV Flower Shower stack. The green paper is from a package I got at Sam's Club a few years ago. The stamps are a CTMH set called Speckled Eggs. I hand-wrote the word Happy. I stamped with pigment ink and used an iridescent glittery embossing powder. Love this stuff. I bought it on clearance at Joann's about a year ago and will be very sad when its gone. Guess I need to start looking for a replacement. The ribbon is an ivory/cream color I got at Michael's (that stuff they put 3 or 4 for $1 all the time!).

Here is a close up of the stamping so you can see the shimmer and rainbow effect this powder gives.

I loved this challenge! Don't get me wrong, I love my machines but sometimes its nice to ignore them! Challenge ends at Midnight on March 25.

Scrapbook Steals MidWeek Mojo

This is my layout for the Amethyst #4 sketch. Here is the sketch:

Here is my layout:

Papers are from DCWV Flower Shower stack and DCWV/Recollections Bold Basics stacks. I will add my journalling later. This is a picture of my DD on the day she turned 4 months. It was a crazy day. She had a well check and shots, a friend had back surgery and my son who was almost 3 at the time swallowed a marble and it lodged behind his enormous tonsils and he was turning blue as I was in a panic trying to remove it. I think I want to leave this page with just her 4 month stats instead of the crazy drama but I need to look those up first.

Scrapbook Steals MidWeek Mojo

Here is the Amethyst #3 sketch on Scrapbook Steals:

Here is my layout:

I was trying to focus on just the colors of the chicken toy. Wish I had used some pattern paper in there. This layout just doesn't seem right for my daughter! Great for one of my boys but not my little girl! Was also hoping to get the #2 sketch completed this week but that didn't happen either. Hopefully next week I'll be able to do #2 and #4!

St. Patrick's Day card

I made a card to enter in the Krafty Girls Feeling Lucky challenge!

Front:

Inside:

The dot paper is from a huge package of paper I got at Sam's Club around 2 or 3 years ago. The plain side is the reverse of the dot. The stamps were a $1 set I picked up at Joann's and stamped with a Color Box pigment ink in Olive and embossed with an iridescent powder. The inside stamp was from the same set and I used just a basic black dye ink pad. I'll probably give this to my husband and truthfully, I am a teeny, tiny bit Irish but I loved the stamp and used it anyway!

Christmas Card Challenges

I'm determined to send cards out this year and not only send them but MAKE them too! My friend Kim found this blog: Weekly Christmas Card Challenges. They're on week 14 and the challenge was embossing. It could be wet or dry and I did both on my simple card!

I used my Cuttlebug and the swiss dots folder and a Stampin Up stamp, Color Box pigment ink in cranberry and an iridescent embossing powder.

Sandcastle

Just finished up this layout to enter in the February challenge at Love, Joy, Paper. This was the sketch:

Here is my layout:

LOVE this sketch and can't wait to use it again!

Scrapbook Steals Midweek Mojo Entry

Haha! No post in 2 months and then 2 in one day! :-)

I'm trying to get myself back scraping so I'm determined to enter lots of challenges. Scrapbook Steals has a Midweek Mojo sketch on their blog every week. Each round is 10wks and this current one is called Amethyst. You can see all the older sketches and current ones here!

Here is the current sketch:

And here is my Amethyst Week 1 layout!

DCWV Feb Stack-a-holic template challenge

Here's the sketch for this month's stack-a-holic challenge. I haven't entered in a couple of months so it was nice to scrap again (I haven't been doing much of that either!). Here is the sketch:

Here is my layout:

This is my youngest the morning of her first birthday! She just turned 4! *cry* Where does the time go?!?! All papers on this with the exception of the black with white dots (also DCWV though!) are from the Fresh Floral Stack! I used 5 different patterns. :-) I love, love, love this stack and think I'm going to have to go buy a second one just so I don't feel bad using this one so much! ♥

The entries are due tonight so if you have a chance today and want to attempt this, here is the link to the blog post!