Blackbird...

...singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly...

This week over at CAS-ual Fridays, the challenge is to create a card inspired by a song title or lyric.

I was thrilled because my hubby is an accountant by day and a musician by night. He grew up listening to the Beatles and learned to play the guitar by listening to songs over and over and over again. I enlisted his help, but I must say that I came up with this one all by myself. Yep, you read it right. The first Beatles song that came to mind was Blackbird. I immediately thought of the bird image from PTI's Iconic Images. This song is pretty special to me since it was the first song that my hubby played for me on guitar when we were dating. Aw, so sweet, I know. It has such a sweet soft melody.

So I created my card using this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge: Black, white and a splash of brown.

My recent PTI order has lots of new ink and I am thrilled to be able to expand my colors. I used the new Kraft ink for my splash of brown. Can I say that I love this light brown?! I stamped it lightly with my Background Basics: Text Style I and I also stamped the bird image lightly in True Black ink. I gave my sentiment a little more of a smoosh since I wanted it more crisp. I had run my card through by cuttlebug with my Linen/Canvas IP first since I wanted the image and text to be somewhat faded.

And can you believe that this card is my first one layer card?! I know, I know. You just might see a few more of these from me. I am busy in my craftroom making that bubble dress and romper for my kiddos for Easter. I hope to show you those, well, before Easter ;) Thanks for looking!

Pages with Papertrey #7

Happy Friday to everyone! I hope you have plans for some relaxation and of course, crafting. My weekend is pretty busy already, but I have my fingers crossed. I hope to work on those Easter outfits that I desparately want my kiddos to wear. Only 1 week to get it done, yikes!

So I have been playing a bit of catch up on my scrapbooking. I am determined to steadily work on my son's baby album. I had a teensy bit of hope that I might have it almost complete before he turned 1, but alas, his birthday is only 3 1/2 months away and it doesn't look like that will happen. I will, however, keep working on it and I am so thrilled to have completed almost half of it so far.

At the beginning of the month, Leigh over at to the full issued us a challenge to use a Papertrey Ink sentiment stamp on our layouts. I absolutely love stamping on my layouts, so the challenge was to find a sentiment that I could put into Joshua's baby album. I selectively inked the word "happy" from Fillable frames#5 and the word "Baby" from Mega Mixed Messages. I added them to the end of my journaling block. These words describe him perfectly. He is a laid back little guy.

All of the patterned paper, chipboard, epoxy metal tag and rub ons are from the Becky Higgings Sweet Baby kit. I added PTI Dark Chocolate felt, button and twine. The embossed heart is a scrap from Valentine's Day last year. Yes, I had kept a few elements that I didn't use for my hubby's card on a small section of a bookshelf and I was finally able to put it to good use. I added some machine sitching to all of the squares except the journal block. I used Mini Scrapbook Series: Library Ledger for the lines.

I hope you are not too grossed out by one of the photos, but I spent many, many hours scrubbing my little guy's clothes. This incident sometimes occurred 3 times a day. It was a good thing that I was given a lot of 0-3 month clothes, I tell ya. Plus he was quite the spitter upper, hence the bibs. Oh, my poor dry, cracked hands. Despite all the time I spent cleaning his clothes, we had a lot of sweet moments at this age. He really was a happy baby.

Over the moon

I have a quick little update to share with all of you. I received news this week from Simply Handmade that a top I made for my daughter was accepted for publication for their September/October 2012 Sewing issue. It was a complete surprise and I am so thrilled.

The sad news is that I had to ship my garment to them and it will not return until after publication. I have my fingers crossed that it will still fit her when it returns. Only time will tell. Until then, I guess I have to make her another one in a different print ;)

Thanks for celebrating with me!

The Bold and the beautiful

Okay, okay. When I first saw this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, I couldn't help but think of the soap opera. Yes, I grew up watching this soap opera with my grandmother. Is is still aired today? I have no idea.

So now, onto my card. I thought I would be stumped to mix black with a pastel color. I am really more of a bold color kind of gal. I originally thought of pink, since the design team did a lovely job with that color choice. But I ended up using green. I love how these colors work together.

In making this card, the sentiment was the last step. Since it took me 3 attempts to get my Linen/canvas impression plate lined up straight on my green panel and it is adhered using my ATG, there was no chance at removing and trying again for a better stamped sentiment. Oh, well.



PTI March blog hop

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. I am so excited about today's PTI blog hop.  Since starting up my blog, I have had so much fun participating in the blog hop and I have gained so much inspiration from fellow crafters. Here is our lovely inspiration photo.

In making my card, I had started off trying to incorporate polka dots...nothing. And then I thought about stripes...still nothing. Since I do not have any yellow ink, it was becoming quite difficult. So I ended up stamping my entire cardfront with Background basics: Houndstooth in Aqua Mist. I added a ribbon flower that I had learned from Laurie Willison at Soapbox Creations. I used some scrap cardstock impressed with my Sunshine IP to add some texture. Thanks for looking and enjoy the hop!

Pages with Papetrey: sketch #6

Happy Monday to everyone! I hope you are all rested from the weekend. Today I have a layout to share with you. Last month Leigh over at to the full hosted our Pages with Papertrey sketch challenge. She is so talented when it comes to scrapbooking, especially when designing her own sketches.

 As simple as my page is, it seems as if it should have taken me no time at all to complete it. But I guess I just like to stare at it and mull it over just to make sure that it is what I want it to be. My son was 1 1/2 months old in these photos. When I finished the layout and looked back at the sketch, I realized that I did not incorporate the journalling. I guess I will add it on the opposite page for this 2 page layout.

The 12x12 cardstock is Bazzill, which is really more like a cream than what the photo shows. From the Becky Higgins Sweet Baby kit, I used the green grid paper, adorable puppy epoxy sticker, photo corners and the baby photo overlay. I used PTI's Dark Chocolate cardstock for the banners and title which I die cut using alpha block. I lightly inked up Library Ledger using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen and used Grunge Me using my old pigment Spring Moss ink. I guess my dry pad is perfect for light inking. The banners were inked with Vintage Cream using Grunge Me as well.

Thanks for looking!

Simple elegance

Today's card I am submitting for 2 challenges: Moxie Fab's Tuesday trigger and CAS-ual Fridays: Easy as 1-2-3.

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to create a card with: a pattern, an image, and a sentiment. I chose PTI's Background Basics: Diamonds for my pattern, a butterfly image and my thank-you sentiment. I love the soft colors and the simplicity of this card.

thanks *again*

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends! I hope you find that your weekend will be fun and relaxing. We will be enjoying the traditional corned beef and cabbage with my in-laws. I've got the crock pot loaded up with all of the trimmings and I am hope to get a little crafting done as well.

Teal...Electric Green...Tangerine...Jeans

Last night I made another simple thank you card for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge. I am a fan of theses colors, so I found my cardstock that matches best. I have come to realize that I need more thank you cards in my stash.  I made it based on this card. These colors also happen to be some of the colors in my son's nursery.  Yay for  a card that can be given to a boy or girl. Thanks for looking!

thanks

Hello blog friends! Happy Hump Day! I know that it has been a couple of days since I last posted. I have been working quite a bit as of late. The little time I have in my craftroom, I have been trying to work on my son's baby album. But late last night, I whipped up a card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge: For Sentimental Reasons. We are saying farewell to co-creator, Julie Renae. We wish her the best in her future endeavors. Here's to you!

My layered white cardfront is actually impressed with my Linen/canvas impression plate. It is hard to see in the photo with the direct sunshine.

Diva

Happy Saturday to everyone! Hope you all had a good week. I have a card to share today for this week's ColourQ Challenge. I fell in love with this inspiration photo.

I had a coworker of mine ask me to make her a card. She simply wanted a card and she happened to want coral and green. She asked for something "Diva". I used my Paisley and Alphalicious cartridges and zero stamping. How did that happen?! I used my Sunshine impression plate. Love that plate! I added glitter, because to me, diva=bling. Enjoy!

A few rompers

After I got home from work today, I quickly went to my son's room to pull out the clothes that I had mentioned from this post. Since he has outgrown them, I couldn't photograph him wearing them. So, you will have to excuse my poor photography since I don't really know how to photograph clothing.

The first pattern is Simplicity 2905. I made pattern E, but I did not add an applique.

 

The second pattern is Simplicity 4243. I made pattern C. I love the pintuck neckline and the adorable side pockets.

Thanks for taking the time to look. I have my fingers crossed that I will find the time to make him a romper for Easter. I also have a pattern for my daughter for a fun bubble dress that I hope to make for her for Easter as well.

a gift...

...from God.

Yes, that is how I view my children. My husband and I are so blessed to be called mommy and daddy. Blessed by God to care and nurture our son and daughter that He has placed in our arms forever. I constantly tell them that they are a gift from God.

Tonight I have the second half of the 2 page layout to share with you about "Being showered". As I sit here and type this, I just realized that I never did distress the orange patterned paper with my Tim Holtz Antique Linen to tone it down some. That layout is stitched and glued with heavy adhesive, there is no taking it apart. Oh well. All of the elements are from the Becky Higgins Sweet Baby kit.

The romper that my son is wearing I actually made for him before he was born. It is a size 3 months, so unfortunately I tucked it away. I tried sneaking into his room tonight to find it but I was making too much noise. I will try to unpack soon and take a photo of it to share with you. I also had made him another one in an adorable dinosaur print.

The baby shower my coworkers threw for me was just before I returned to work. Joshua was almost 3 months old. If you glance at the gifts we received, they had given me a lot of diapers and wipes. Can you believe that he is almost 8 months old and I still have not bought any wipes?!!! And we have dealt with plenty of diaper explosions too. Now that was a lot of wipes!

Green tea

After a busy weekend, I was able to spend some time in my craftroom this evening to create a card for a friend. She is celebrating her anniversary in the next few days. I used my Green Tea Leaves patterned paper. I love it because it is so versatile. The sentiment is from Heart Prints. And, it is hard to see in the photo, but I used Background Basics: Text style inked in Tim Holtz Antique linen. I finished it off with some buttons and twine.

Hey Baby!

Today I am thrilled to share with you that I am temping with the the Girl Fridays as the March guest designer at CAS-ual Fridays! Yes, that's right! I am so honored!

The challenge this week is sponsored by SimonSaysStamp and we are to create a card with a baby theme. They were the fabulous sponsor the week I won and I have enjoyed my goodies immensely.

    

I used Lawn Fawn's Plus One to create my card. The clouds are from Studio Calico that are heavily trimmed in Martha Steward coarse glitter. I recently found out that a friend of mine is expecting. Can't wait to shower her with blessings!