Happy Birthday to...

ME! Yep, today is my birthday and I thought I'd take a moment to celebrate with you all! Let's have a little party, shall we?!

First we'll need to decorate and you know those pom pom tissue paper flowers are all the rage so I whipped up a few yesterday.



These are soooo easy to make and there are so many fun tissue paper colors out there to use! My scrapbook store put a tutorial on their blog for how to make these if your interested. Check it out HERE.

Next up I have a birthday card to share. Yesterday Emma's Paperie was celebrating their birthday and posted a contest to create a birthday project. So, I used more of my Making Memories Flutter collection and the tissue paper pom pom idea (but on a much smaller scale) to create this card.


Now, who would like a little cake?
Isn't this cake so pretty? I found it on Martha Stewart's site here.

And no party is complete without a few presents, right?!

So my first gift to you is a copy of the March/April Paper Crafts magazine. Just leave me a comment telling me something about your birthday...when it is, a great gift you have gotten, or a fun way you have celebrated. I will pick a winner this Friday to receive the magazine so be sure to come back by to see if you won!


My second gift is to offer you 10% off any purchase from my Etsy shop this week...beginning today March 7th through midnight Saturday, March 13th. In order to receive the 10% off please purchase the items you would like and put Birthday Bash in the notes to seller. Then you can wait for a revised invoice from me or you can go ahead and pay for the items and I will refund you the 10%.

I have added lots of new items to my shop lately...some fun felt and corrugated embellishments as well as surprise boxed sets of my handmade cards. Who doesn't love a surprise?! :)



I hope you've enjoyed celebrating with me...now I'm off to do a little celebrating of my own!

Celebrate Beginnings (Etsy Inspired Challenge #78)

Hello (and welcome if you're new to my blog)! :) This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge had me so filled with ideas that I didn't know where to start! I was really inspired by all the beautiful colors in our featured shop this week, Fantasy Art of Maigan Lynn. Maigan is so talented and there is so much detail to her paintings. I was also inspired by the great products our sponsor, Glue Arts, gave me to try...I wanted to create a bunch of different projects just so I could try all the different adhesives out! :)

But, for today I am just going to share one of my projects...a layout using the Making Memories Flutter collection. Having two boys, my layouts rarely have a feminine feel/colors but Maigan's shop inspired me! :)

I still have a few details to add to this layout like some journaling and maybe an extra embellishment or two but I thought it was still completed enough to share. Plus I was really proud of the folded fan flower I created so I just couldn't wait! :)



Our wedding was beautiful and I have always wanted to document some of the little details that made it extra special. We were lucky enough to celebrate the beginning of our marriage on a gorgeous summer day, at a beautiful venue, surrounded by family and friends...it was a wonderful way to start our married life together.

Consider documenting an important beginning in your life...it will be a wonderful thing to look back on later to see where that moment has taken you and how it has changed your life.


For this layout I used Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro and let me tell you it is fabulous! (Please note that I did receive this product for free...however the opinions I am expressing would be the same if I had bought this product.) I have NEVER been a tape runner kind of gal. I love my glue and always had problems whenever I would try an adhesive runner. Until now. The Glue Glider Pro is easy to hold, easy to roll, and easy to replace the cartridges. When I first saw it in my scrapbook store I was interested in purchasing it but decided not to because I thought it would be like all the adhesive runners I had problems with in the past but I was so wrong. So if you are a glue gal like me but want to give an adhesive runner a try, I would highly recommend the Glue Glider Pro from Glue Arts. It is way faster and less sticky than using glue too! :)

Okay now you know with the Etsy Inspired Challenges we always have some great prizes you could win if you play along. This week you could win 3 beautiful 4x6 prints from Maigan Lynn's shop or a great prize pack from Glue Arts (which does include the Glue Glider Pro!)

All you have to do is find your own inspiration from Maigan Lynn's shop, create a project based off that inspiration and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog (challenge#78) by Friday at noon! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

I'm sure these lovely ladies have some great inspiration for you today too!

• Ashley
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Joy
• Laurel (March Guest Designer)
• Lisa (March Guest Designer)
• Shannon
• Tiffany

Have a wonderful weekend!

Up for the Challenge

On Monday, Wendy Anderson issued a challenge over on the Making Memories blog. She challenged people to create a Spring layout and an extra challenge of using the Flutter collection on a boy page. Wendy created a beautiful example of her own and since I have 2 boys and I was lucky enough to win the Flutter collection from Making Memories during CHA week, I knew I had to give this challenge a try!

I rarely (if ever) use any pinks or flowers/butterflies on my son's layouts but the Flutter collection does have a lot of nice green, orange and blue colors too so it is really great for girl or boy Spring layouts. Here is what I came up with last night:

I really love how this turned out. Thanks for the challenge Wendy...I'll have to incorporate these colors into my son's layouts more often! :)

All the products are from the Making Memories Flutter collection except for the cardstock (Bazzill Basics) and the two flower buttons (Creative Cafe). The ladybug and butterfly are popped up on foam squares for dimension.

Hope the sun is shining where you are today! :)

A break from the norm...

Well, I have been a crafting fool lately and I do have lots to share with you all but today I thought I would take a break from all that and work on my photography skills a bit. I am so loving my new Canon DSLR and even just pointing and shooting it takes better pictures than my other digital camera. But I really want to take AMAZING pictures so I am practicing whenever I get a chance and playing around with the settings and photographing different things. Here are a few of my favorite nature photos that I took:



This photo is my absolute favorite of the bunch. I have already printed it up in a 5x7 size to frame. I took this picture in my yard and let me tell you the flower/scenery really didn't look quite this pretty in person but with the close detail of the flower and blurring of the background I think it looks gorgeous in this photo.



I am looking to take a photography class in the near future so if anyone has taken a great one online I'd love to hear about it!

Etsy Inspired Challenge #77

Yeah it's Saturday! We have lots of fun times planned with friends and family this weekend...can't wait!

For this week's challenge we have a fabulous sponsor, Sakura of America. When I first began scrapbooking 8 years ago, their Metallic Gelly Roll pens were the first pens I bought. And I love the white Gelly Roll pen they have too. Sakura of America was generous enough to send me a few new pens and products to try out for this challenge and I am totally in love with their Quickie Glue pen!

So this week I was inspired by my Sakura products as well as our great featured Etsy shop this week, United Thread. First up is a fun little Easter project.

Now what crafter wouldn't love this little bucket to show up at their door Easter morning! :) For the egg tag I used my oval Nestabilities and decorated it using my new Souffle pens from Sakura of America. Then I just added some coordinating ribbon from American Crafts to finish off the tag and bucket. This project was actually inspired by this painting from United Thread. The egg shape of the water made me think Easter and the bright blue reminded me of my Target dollar spot buckets that I had! :)

Next, I was inspired by this Honey Comb painting from United Thread. I loved the golden color and was also inspired by the white space.


Here is where my inspiration took me...

For this card I used Sakura's pretty gold Sticklers and the Quickie Glue pen that I mentioned earlier. What I love about the Quickie Glue is that it has such a fine tip and application that you can even use it on sentiments. I'm sure with a little more practice I'll be able to make it look even better! :) The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the glitter I used is Martha Stewart.

Oh, and just a little tip for glitter...I find that using a small dry paintbrush is a great way to get those extra glitter pieces (that seem to want to stick around in all the wrong places) off your card.

Wow, I am a little long winded today. :) Okay so go to the Etsy Inspired Blog for more details on how to play along in the challenge for your chance to win a great prize from United Thread and Sakura of America!

Be sure to check out the rest of the DT too!

• Ashley
• Courtney (February Guest Designer)
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Joy
• Lisa (February Guest Designer)
• Shannon
• Tiffany

Okay friends, have a wonderful weekend!

Love is all you need

I'm so thankful for all the loving people in my life. When I got to design with the BoBunny Persuasion collection for my scrapbook store I knew it was perfect for documenting one of my greatest loves in life, my husband. Here is one of the layouts I created:


I thought this patterned paper was so pretty that I didn't really want to do a lot to take away from the beauty of it. So, I just added one of my favorite photos from our wedding and a few extra touches to create this layout.

This week I am busily working on some more projects for my scrapbook store, some magazine submissions (hoping to get at least a few more projects picked up this year), and several things for my Etsy shop.

I will be back Saturday to share my Etsy Inspired Challenge project and you are not going to want to miss our sponsor this week! :)

Smoky Lilac

Well, while I should have been working on some new items for my Etsy shop this evening, I just wasn't feeling overly creative...a busy day with my boys! :) So instead I put together this lovely treasury!


I'd greatly appreciate it if you would check it out HERE on Etsy and give it some clicks and maybe a comment too! :) I am in love with that felt bowl! Which item is your favorite?