Monday, April 28, 2014

Pages with Papertrey sketch #31

Hello! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. The hubs and I had a great time enjoying some of the Florida Music Festival. If you missed my earlier post about this event, you can find out more here. I managed to find some time on Sunday afternoon to put this page together for Pages with Papertrey sketch #31. I had originally designed this page before even seeing the sketch. It is a bit off, but I believe my collage of photos works well with the sketch.

 
This page is one of the last 6 pages in my son's baby album. I have been using the Becky Higgins Sweet Baby kit. The 12x12 is patterned paper that is a part of the kit. I made my monthly images of my son into 2.5 inch squares, adhered them to a piece of rustic cream cardstock and trimmed off a small portion. I slipped on some photo corners  and then I adhered it to the patterned paper. I added the blue ruler sticker border that is also from the kit. I used my Tim Holtz tiny attacher for the staples and then adhered the chipboard stars that are also from the kit.

 
I love how this page captures just how much my little guy changed in his first year of life. I am so happy to have these memories.
 
I got the idea to take/make these monthly photos of my son from Susan Weinroth. She has a tutorial on her blog about how to make these onesies. As you can tell by the 12 month photo, I had run out of the white onesies and just couldn't bear to buy another packet of them for one photo session. So I just had him hold the cardstock up.
 
Well, that is all for now. I hope to find some time in my craftroom this week, but as we know, sometimes is just doesn't work out. Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, April 25, 2014

ELEVATORS, Florida Music Festival

Hi friends! Tonight is an exciting night for me and my husband, Andy. He and his rock band, ELEVATORS, were invited to play at the Florida Music Festival. This event kicked off last night and runs through Saturday. They will be playing tonight at 9pm and were are all pretty excited.
 
 
 
They currently have one recorded song and are  gearing up to record their first 5 song EP. In order to do this, they have decided to raise these funds through a KICKSTARTER.
You can check out their Kickstarter site and video at this link.
 
Have a great weekend!

DeNami Design Photo tutorial

Hello friends! TGIF! Today I am sharing a photo tutorial over at the DeNami Design blog. Head on over to check it out.
 
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

DeNami Design Product Spotlight, Wavy Stem Trio

Today is product spotlight over at DeNami Design. The design team is showcasing Cross and Vines by having a DeNami blog hop. You should've arrived at my blog from Lisa Petrella's blog. If you visit each design team members blog and leave a comment along the way, you will be eligible to win this stamp! You can also add this fabulous stamp to your shopping cart and save 10%, one week only.




For my first card, I inked up Stitched Circle in gray. Then I then I inked up Wavy Trio Stem in green and stamped it in the middle of the circle and colored the leaves with copics. Then I added some buttons using crystal laquer. I then used my circle nestie to trim out my image. I used my stamp press to place my Happy Mother's Day sentiment and then attached my image using foam tape.


For my next card, I used a grey card base and created my focal image in the same manner as above. This time, I trimmed it square and matted it with green cardstock. I stamped my sentiment from Thoughtful Greetings and punched it out with my one inch circle punch. 


Well that is all from me today. 

 
Wendy is your next stop!

Deb <------that's me

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Inspired by Barb

Hello friends! Today I have a card to share with you for this month's DeNami Inspired by
post. Today the DT and I are sharing our creations inspired by the lovely Barb Murphy. You can find her original card here.



Barb created this card when DeNami Design teamed up with Curtain Call. When I saw this card, it was love at first site...really! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to create a card that was inspired by this beauty.

 
Barb used some patterned papers for her creation. I knew immediately that I wanted to create my own using some DeNami stamps. For my background chevrons, I inked up Modern Borders in yellow across the entire cardbase. Yes, that's right! Even though I knew only a small portion was going to show through, I decided to do the whole cardbase, just in case (wink).
 
Then I inked up Solid Rose Accents in light pink in a random pattern and then followed up with stamping it in red right next to it. Then I added the leaf image in green. Lastly, for this panel. I used the same technique that Barb used inking up Teeny Heart Background in gray and wiping it off in a random pattern. I trimmed it on an angle and then used my ATG to adhere it.
 
I used my two way glue pen to adhere my doily and then trimmed it out. Then I used my tag die to diecut some white cardstock and graph paper. I glued them together since there isn't much weight to the graph paper. I inked up one of the butterflies from Fancy Flutters in red and coral onto the tag. I added some cream wrinkle ribbon with yellow and white twine and tied it in a bow. Then I inked up Decorative Love and trimmed out the banner. The final touch to this very layered and non-CAS card was using Crystal Laquer to adhere some Raspberry Pretty Pink Posh sequins.
 
I had such a fun time creating this card inspired by Barb's. It was totally out of my comfort zone but of course, it was as if Barb was holding my hand and leading the way. Be sure to stop by the DeNami blog to see what the rest of the design team has created.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Make Way sneek peak

Hello friends! Today I have a card to share over at the DeNami Design blog. Be sure to stop by and see my card in its entirety.

 
Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

DeNami Buttons and Bows blog hop

Hello friends and welcome to the first stop along the DeNami Design Buttons and Bows blog hop. We hope you find tons of inspiration along the way. If you get lost, you can head back to the DeNami Design blog for a full list of participants. The first participant of the blog hop is my daughter, Leah. Now I realize that she is my daughter, but her creativity astounds me. 



For Leah's card, she started off with some yellow cardstock for her cardbase. She wanted to use some of my most decorative buttons that she could find and she did a pretty good job. She wanted to tie bows of twine through her buttons. She tied all of these bows by herself. She wanted to create a little girl using her buttons so she chose a heart button to represent her heart. And since she wanted her in a field of flowers, she chose flower buttons and drew her stems and leaves with markers. She added a sun in the top left corner. When I asked her about a sentiment for her card, she did not want it to be a birthday card. I immediately thought of Hope Blooms and she said that it was perfect.

Here is what she had to say about her card:
 
"I made the human just to have a little bit of detail. But when I found out that I could choose from a lot of buttons, I decided to make flowers. And that's why it looks how it is."
 



Next up along the hop is right here. Me.

For my card, I used some soft stone cardstock for my base. I used a technique that I learned from Kristina Werner using vellum and copics. I used my butterfly die on the soft stone cardstock front panel. Then I used two different shades of blue and one green marker on the vellum scrap paper. I attached this to the inside using my ATG. Then I added a piece of white scrap cardstock behind it to really showcase the color. I stamped Get Well Soon for my sentiment. I added an aqua boutique button which I threaded 1/4 inch silk ribbon and tied a bow. I used this same technique on this card that I created for Pin-spired. Lastly I added some patterned paper to the bottom of my card.


 
Next up along the hop is the extremely talented Greta. She is the sweetest and always has such kinds words to share. I love seeing what she creates.
 
Don't forget about the THREE gift certificates that will be given away! One gift certificate will go to a random participant and TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop! You have until April 14, 2014 11:59pm PST to comment and be eligible.

Have a great rest of the week! Happy hopping!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Nearing the end and an update

That's right. Today I have the second page of month 12 to share with you for Joshua's baby album. I believe I will only have 4-6 simple pages left to finish the album. Yay!!!
 
 
 
If you have been following along with his album, then you know that the main part uses Becky Higgins Sweet Baby kit. The cream cardstock and arrows are the only part not from the kit. I did use my Silhouette to cut out the title and arrows. I did add some machine stitching through the title. If you look closely (although I blurred out some details of the journaling for privacy), you may notice some aqua splatters. I used Small Splatter from DeNami Design to create a bit of a water splash to compliment the photo.
 
So happy to be on the homestretch of his baby album. Work has been busy and so has the rest of life that I haven't had much opportunity to craft in large amounts of time. But like they say in "What About Bob?"...baby steps, baby steps.
 
On a side note, the hubby and I celebrated 11 years of marriage yesterday. Unfortunately after dinner, we forgot to take our group selfie. Oh well. And this was the first year that we did not buy each the traditional anniversary gift or give each other a card. Like I said, we've just been a little busy.
 
 He had a gig with his band, ELEVATORS, 2 weeks ago. He has performed at this venue once before and we had an awesome time watching their performance. They are gearing up for the Florida Music Festival at the end of the month. They currently have one song that is recorded. They plan on fundraising to earn some more money to record a few more songs and have an EP release. I am so excited for him and the rest of the band. You can find their current release here. (Btw, my hubs is the one on the left playing the blue bass guitar.)
 
 
Tomorrow is the DeNami Design Buttons and Bows blog hop, so Leah and I will be back to share our creations. That's right, my little girl has something quite creative to share. Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

DeNami Design Product Spotlight, Happy Easter


Hello friends! Today is product spotlight over at DeNami Design. The design team is showcasing Happy Easter. You can add this fabulous stamp set to your shopping cart and save 10%, one week only.
 
 


For my card, I kept it CAS and crisp using only white cardstock. I stamped Lily onto some cardstock, colored it with copics and then trimmed it out. I added another white panel on top of my cardbase. I used Happy Easter for my sentiment and then added my lily using foam adhesive. To finish off my card, I used some Crystal Laquer to adhere some Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

 
Make sure to stop by the DeNami Design blog to see what the rest of the design team has created.
 
Also if you would like to see the latest DeNami creation from Leah, you can visit this post. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, April 7, 2014

One Layer Simplicity, Merci

So, as promised, I have returned to share my daughter's card for the One Layer Simplicity challenge.
 
 Saturday morning, when I was in my craft room creating my card, she told me, "I haven't made a card for a blog hop in a long time." Quite often she creates a card and plays along with the DeNami Design blog hop. The current hop is a week away, but this little avid crafter created her card 2 weeks ago. So she was itching to create a card. I explained to her the theme, we discussed the stamps that I have in my stash and she got busy making her card.
 
 
To create her little scene in France, she inked up Cafe Chickies and colored it in with copics. Then, she drew her Eiffel Tower using a colored pencil. I do not really have many foreign language sentiments, so she inked up Merci from CAS-ual Fridays Big Thanks. Then to create her skyline, she inked up Chickie in Balloon and Small Cloud and finished her coloring. In case you do not know, my little girl is only 6 1/2 years old.
 
Even though I do not have an Eiffel Tower stamp, that did not stop her from creating her little cafĂ© scene in France. She even told me that she could draw France. I love that she doesn't let little things hold her back. She is so creative and I learn so much from her when she crafts.
 
Thanks for stopping by. Your kind words will make her day...week!!

Sending You Sunshine, One Layer Simplicity

Hello friends! On Saturday, I had hoped that I would be back with another card to cheer on my Florida Gators, but sadly they couldn't pull off the win against UCONN. Oh, well. They had an awesome season to be extremely proud of.


 
Today I have a card to share with you for the current One Layer Simplicity Challenge. This month's challenge is to create a travel themed card: a destination or mode of transportation to get there. For my card, I created a square mask using some scratch paper and removeable adhesive. I used a sponge to ink up the perimeter of the card using PTI's Aqua Mist ink. Then I inked up Palm Tree Silhouettes in Rich Cocoa Memento ink, wiped off the leaves with a baby wipe and then inked up the leaves in New Leaf. I used my copic marker to add a bit of shading underneath. I used Small solid circle to represent the sun and then added Sending You Sunshine for my sentiment. I missed the last two challenges, so I am glad that I found some time to play along with this one.

My daughter, Leah, saw my card and was inspired to play along as well. I will be back to share her card in a little bit. Let me just say that I love her imagination and creativity!
 


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Go Gators, Final Four!!!

Hello friends! Sorry the blog has been quiet as of late. When the creative juices aren't flowing, then there isn't much creating going on.
 
This morning, however, I managed to crank out this CAS card. I simply had to give another shout out to my beloved Florida Gator basketball team. Tonight they face off against the Huskies of UCONN. I am pretty excited and nervous at the same time about this game. You see, the Huskies beat the Gators in the regular season back in December by one point. The Gators played without their starting point guard, Scottie Wilbekin. So I am excited to see how the Gators bring their "A" game for some sweet revenge. This was also the last game that the Gators lost. Yes, that was waaaaay back in December.
 
 
 
For my card, I inked up Retro Borders 1 set in orange in blue ink on an angle. I recently purchased the Fiskars stamp press. Why on earth I never bought it earlier, I'll never know. I am totally in love. Anywho, I also inked up the basketball chickie from the All Star Chickie set and used my circle nestie to trim him out. I decided to leave out a sentiment because ... well, I just couldn't quite figure out where I wanted to put it.
 
That's all for now. I hope to be back soon to share another card for my Gators when they make it to the finals! Have a great weekend!