Today is a Gift - Spring Home Decor

This week I was inspired by the beautiful Spring weather we are having, Crate Paper's Creative Weekly challenge (butterflies), and the Spring Home Décor challenge in the Moxie Fab World to create this...

ETA 4/2/13 - Just had to share that Crate Paper picked this as one of their runner ups for the challenge.  I'm featured on their blog along with several other talented crafters HERE!

Would you believe that I created this bright, spring décor mainly using Crate Paper's Snow Day collection?!  I had a lot of fun creating this and think it will now have a permanent place in my craft room.  If you are considering creating a framed décor item, I highly recommend embellishing at least part of the frame and removing the glass so you can include 3D items inside.  This adds much more interest to your project. 

Also, be sure to take a second look at some of your holiday/season specific papers...you might be able to use them in a whole new way!  In fact, Crate Paper's snowflake paper made some gorgeous butterflies when I was very intentional about where I punched the butterflies.  Although I didn't end up using them on this project, I thought I would still share a picture of them with you. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter!  Remember...today is a gift, so enjoy every minute of it!

A Little Hello...

Spring has arrived!  The sun is shining here and my tulips are popping up...we are enjoying riding bikes and going for walks....gotta love it! :)  I thought I'd share my 2 cards that did not get picked up for the most recent Paper Crafts submission call.   I created these cards using the 2 go-to sketches.

My first card uses the gorgeous Collectable: Unforgettable collection by My Mind's Eye. 

I love the colors in this collection and the fabulous chipboard pieces made this card easy to put together.  I was able to get more out of the scalloped border by cutting it into three pieces and for that bottom row I separated the two pieces where the flower is (since it would have just covered it up anyway).


My next card was created using Carta Bella's So Noted collection. I had fun layering all the frame stickers and using a frame to feature my sentiment too.

I am looking forward to the weekend...Easter celebrations and time with family.  But I'll be back before Sunday with a little home decor item to share!

Lucky no. 5

This past year, my middle child turned 5 and it was quite the event.  Not because we had some huge party but just because, to him, it seemed to mean a lot.  Months beforehand he would talk about turning five, how close he was to turning five, etc.  He told us he wanted us to hide and surprise him when he came downstairs on his birthday.  A lot of thought and conversations were had about him turning 5. 

Then his birthday came and he was so proud to be 5...making sure to tell everyone (repeatedly).  We did surprise him after dinner by telling him to clean up his room and then come downstairs.  We turned off the lights and yelled surprise when he came down.  He loved it!  I'm not sure why 5 is such a special year for him...maybe because he was born on the 5th, or because 5 seems to be more a 'big kid' age.  Whatever the case, it is special to him and it is special to watch his excitement and pride about being 5 so I definitely wanted to make sure to document it.

When I saw Bo Bunny's current challenge to use the word LUCKY on a layout, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to scrapbook my boy and his lucky no. 5!

I don't know if I was feeling St. Patrick's Day or just coordinating with the color of my son's sweatshirt, but I do love all the green and how it really pops off the white.  I used products from Bo Bunny's Double Dot, Peacock Lane, and new Surprise collections for this layout.  (The card stock is Bazzill, alphabet stickers are American Crafts, and I added Doodlebug glitter on the die cut present.)

I went really clean and graphic with this layout.  At first I was going to do a 1 page 12x12 layout but I really wanted to include the professional photo of my son and it just didn't go with the evening birthday photos.  So I decided to switch to a double page 8.5 x 11 layout so that I could highlight/separate the professional photo and I think it worked well. I even love the look of the title page by itself...but it just doesn't tell enough of the story alone.

I am also entering this layout into Chic Tags Sunday Challenge because it inspired me to use stars!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Cute and Simple with My Mind's Eye

The weekend is here...hooray!  One of my boys is fighting an ear infection and I am lacking sleep but other than that, we're good!  The current challenge over at the My Mind's Eye blog is to use their die cuts like their journal cards, titles, etc.  I immediately pulled out my Alphabet Soup playing cards (hoping they count) to make some fast and fun cards.  I just love all the adorable images on these playing cards.  I bought both the girl and boy sets back in 2010 and since each set comes with 52 cards (2 for each letter) I still have lots to play with...gotta love that!  :)

Anyway here are 4 cards I whipped up last night using the playing cards along with various MME papers, brads, and stickers.

Ahhh...summer.  Can you feel it?!  Since I have two of each card, I was able to cut the sails out of the second card and pop them up on foam squares to add dimension to this card. 

I love this little robot and thought pairing it with the new Boy Crazy collection would make a great Valentine/love card for one of my boys.

 

**OUT FOR PUBLICATION**

And finally....

The heart/polka dot flag on this card is actually the back of one of the girl playing cards that I just trimmed.  I love how the cards are so colorful and just the right size for card making.  As you can see, I just simply needed to dress them up a bit to come up with some fun cards in a short amount of time.

And if you are looking for more inspiration, here are the links to two more of my favorite cards using these Alphabet Soup playing cards:
http://capturingcreativity.blogspot.com/2011/04/welcome-home-etsy-inspired-challenge.html
http://capturingcreativity.blogspot.com/2011/02/wont-you-bee-mine-mme-challenge.html

To participate in the My Mind's Eye challenge or to see the other entries, click HERE.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Creating Keepsakes Magazine - Readers' Pick Poll

Hello friends!  Well, I have busy crafting away but don't have much to share yet since they have all been for possible publications (one already accepted...yeah!).  But I am stopping in today to share that one of my layouts has been picked for CK's Readers' Pick Poll!!!  There are 3 layouts up for voting and the one with the most votes will get published in the magazine! 

To vote, click this link and then click on the VOTE tab to see the the 3 layouts:
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/contests/readers_pick_poll.html

I, of course, would love your vote!  However, the other two layouts are fabulous too...so please just head on over and vote for the layout you like best! :)

Here is what mine looks like:

Quick and Easy Easter Card

Happy Saturday!  It is a lovely day here in the Pacific Northwest so we enjoyed some fresh air (after some spring cleaning) this afternoon.   Last week I stumbled upon a (new to me) company called Chic Tags...have you heard of them?  Well, they have some fabulous tags, journal spots, flair, etc.  I especially love these Note Clips, Road Trip Tags, and Autumn Days Mini Tags!  Cute, right?!  Anyway...they also have a challenge each Sunday, and although I don't have any of their tags yet, I decided to play along with their great color challenge this week.

  When I saw these lovely spring colors along with the beautiful examples from their DT, I was inspired to see what I could come up with.  I found these colors in my stash of Echo Park Sweet Summertime papers and, along with a little washi tape, came up with a quick Easter card. 

 

For my egg, I first layered the scalloped border stickers on a scrap piece of white paper and then cut it using my cuttlebug...this way the edges are nice and clean (compared to me trimming the stickers after the egg was already cut).  Love these colors together...so fresh and springy! :)  Thanks to Chic Tags for the inspiration!  If you are interested in checking out their Sunday challenge/blog, click HERE.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!