Happy Anniversary Card using Lawn Fawn!

My husband and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. 10 years!! It was important to come up with a special and fun card, and I really loved the sentiment from the Lawn Fawn Love You Tons stamp set. I paired the elephant stamps with the coordinating Lawn Cuts in Love You Tons as well.

I then colored them with Spectrum Noir pens. Layered some stamped hearts with die cut hearts using the Lawn Cuts Hearts set. The papers are both 6x6 papers from Authentique's Suave Collection (teal) and Studio Calico's Darling Dear (blue patterned paper).

Pin It

Colorblock Thanks Card

Sometimes inspiration comes from many places. In the case of today's card, it came from a colorblock tank that I spotted in Target. I'd put a link, but I cannot find it online. Maybe I'll have to snag it soon... Anyway, this card was so easy, that I made four more!!

I started with a kraft base for the card, then layered blue and cream cardstocks. The "Thanks" sentiment is a fun Lawn Fawn die cut (Scripty Thanks) that I picked up at my local Artco Arts and Crafts store. I originally had them in the same kraft as the card base, but it needed something, so I used some of my ColorBox ink in Atlantic Blue to make them stand out from the cream cardstock. Lastly, I threw on some Studio Calico (Atlantic) sequins, because everything looks better with sequins. Pin It

Xyron's 30 days of Holiday Projects: Easy Wrapping Ideas

Good Morning Xyron fans! Today I have a great way to wrap up those fun presents. Last year, I bought a crazy-huge roll of kraft paper. My thought was that I could wrap all of the presents in that paper, and decorate with pretty bows and other fun embellishments for whatever holiday or season they were for. Today I combined the kraft paper with some gorgeous American Crafts papers, twine and embellishments from Studio Calico and Imaginisce.

These were super easy to make. For this set, I used my Silhouette to create the fun snowflakes using American Craft's Peppermint Express patterned paper in Ornamint. If you don't have a die cut machine, simply use thinner paper and cut out snowflakes like you used to when you were little. Have the kiddos help for this too!

Start by wrapping your presents. You can see how plain they really look at the moment. Not too exciting, but that's super easy to change! After cutting out my snowflakes with my Silhouette, I ran those through my Xyron 9" Creative Station. 

 

I stuck the new snowflake stickers to the packages, then added green and white twine.

The tags were also cut using my Silhouette. I used the same Snowflake Tag Set for the tags and Imaginisce Colors of Christmas paper in Vintage Ornaments. I cut the snowflake from Neenah cover in Solar White, then attached each snowflake using Xyron's High Tack Adhesive Dots in 3/16". Once the snowflake was attached, I used the bling and Studio Calico's Magical Adhesive Banners to create a few sentiments.

Now, they are each packaged just a little differently from each other, and have so much more interest.
I color coordinate all presents that are heading to a specific destination (I tend to forget/lose things otherwise...) and this is one more solution I have in my gift-wrapping arsenal.

Products Used:

Xyron 9" Creative Station, Xyron Adhesive Solutions 3/16" Dots, American Crafts: Peppermint Express (Ornamint), Imaginisce: Colors of Christmas (Vintage Ornaments, Bling), Studio Calico: Magical (Adhesive Banners), Twinery twine (Peapod), kraft wrapping paper, Silhouette, Neenah coverstock (Solar White)

Pin It

Xyron's 30 days of Holiday Projects: Countdown Calendar

Confession time... I've been listening to Christmas Music for over a week now. Some of you may not think that you have to wait until Christmas, but I never followed that rule. And today's project just needs a little Christmas song to make it just right.

Today's project is super fun, and super easy. Everything is modifiable for both people with and without die cut machines, or die cuts.

To start, I grabbed a Tolsby frame from Ikea. The reason that I really like this frame is that it is double sided and comes with a stand that won't get knocked over by little (or big) hands. And at 99 cents... Can't beat that! I started by taking out the thin plexiglass that is in the frame.

I used both my Silhouette and hand cut (because of course I forgot to count the cover page...) the pages. Each page is 3.25 x 5.25" and has two hole punches on the top. For the Silhouette cuts, I just made rectangles to the correct size, and double checked that the holes would work. All of the paper is from Studio Calico's Magical line, and the embellishments are from American Crafts.

I used a couple of rings that I had lying around. Most craft stores have them for under a dollar apiece. I think I just eyeballed where the ring and the paper would go, but if you are going to machine cut, I would practice with scrap paper before running your nice cardstock through, just in case you have to change the placement of the holes.

I then cut out all of my numbers, 1-25. If you don't have access to a manual or electric die cutting machine, you could easily draw each number, print on white paper, or use stickers.

I then ran all of my numbers through my Xyron 9" Creative Station. Once they were turned into stickers, it was super easy to attach them to each page.

The white paper that I used to mount all of the numbers on was cut to 2.75 x 4.25". I used my Xyron Mega Runner to attach them all to each of the patterned paper pages.

 

Once the white cardstock was attached, I placed all of the numbers next. The trick with this, is that if you are completely perfect it looks great, and if you are a little haphazard (like me) and don't try to force it, it also looks great.

Once all of the numbers were placed, I used my white Signo Uniball pen to add some faux stitching, which makes the dark kraft paper look similar to gingerbread now.

Lastly, use stickers (these are American Crafts Peppermint Express Remarks), dimensional adhesive, some great gems and other patterned papers to decorate the cover and important days. I wanted this to be a perpetual calendar, so I'm not going to specify any days other than Christmas and Christmas Eve.

Now, my kiddos have a non-candy advent calendar that is self-contained (important with a toddler and pre-K kiddo!), and can teach the little one her numbers as she gets older.

 

See, it turns just easy!!

Supplies Used:

Xyron: 9" Creative Station, Xyron Mega Runner, American Crafts Imaginisce (Colors of Christmas Collection) Bling, Studio Calico patterned papers (Magical: Christmas Eve, Seasonal Sights, Candy Cane Lanes, Holiday Joy, Chalking it Twice, Making a List), American Crafts Peppermint Express Remarks, American Crafts/Imaginisce bling, American Crafts dark kraft, TOLBSY Ikea frame, rings, Signo pen, Neenah cover stock

Pin It

Pretty Pink Posh Craft Dash Marathon

Seriously... These Pretty Pink Posh Craft Dash cardmaking challenges are a serious blast. One day, I'm going to have to attempt a layout using the same idea. Today, I have three challenges that I completed both last night and today. SO much fun!!



This card uses a My Mind's Eye card base, some Simple Stories Sn@p paper, a few sequins, some misting, and a May Arts ribbon. I pop dotted that bicycle image to make it more dimensional. I loved the bright colors on this card, and I know of a few people that would love having this sent to them.

Time to complete this card, including cutting the pieces, etc. 9:20 min.

I knew when I saw this color palette, I knew that I wanted to create a cute birthday card using the fun pink, aqua and brown. I also had a perfect set of Thickers that I was planning on using. On this card I used some Core'dinations paper, Echo Park and MME patterned papers, a few Studio Calico chipboard pieces, fabulous brown Thickers, and a cute teal sequin. I really love those sequins. I also used my Silhouette and a Project Life cut for part of the sentiment.

Time to complete this card, including cutting the pieces, etc. 8:38 min.

To be honest, (and I think I've said this before...) I'm not a stamper. Not really. I try... I'm getting better. And I really have paid attention to a few of my fellow crafters who are MUCH better at stamping than I. I'm actually pretty proud of this little card. It uses some Crate Paper patterned paper, and MME and Studio Calico stamps. The inks are all from Memento (ImagineCrafts).

 

Time to complete this card, including cutting the pieces, etc. 8:13 min.

Seriously fun!!! Pin It

10 Minute Craft Dash... Creating Cards in No Time at All!

WOW. I have scrapped in 10 minutes before, and I thought that was hard. Making a card in 10 minutes that I actually wanted to use was even harder. You really don't want to see the first one I did. It had banners and fussy cutting, and marker. Not pretty. Created in under 10 minutes, but a total trainwreck. So... I went and looked at the challenge examples again (at PrettyPinkPosh) and kept it simple.

To make sure that I could stay within my 10 minutes, I first set out all of my supplies. Keeping everything close to hand made it easy to create without having to make too many decisions. 

See all of that stuff? Nope. Didn't use everything. I'm okay with that. Having it out gave me options. I went with what felt natural instead of forcing something that wasn't to be.

And just in case you were wondering... Here is my time left out of the 10 minutes. Seriously... It didn't even take 5 minutes!!! I can only credit that to a pre-folded card base, stamping directly onto the paper (a risk since I'm NOT a stamper... I credit some great stamping advice a few friends have given me lately), washi tape and embellishments that already have adhesive on them. The faux stitching was the most difficult and time consuming thing for the whole card.

Seriously FUN challenge. Really. I think I'm going to try it again. :) Pin It

I Love How Much You Love Her (GB February)

I love when my girls get along. Really, it is the most perfect thing to see. Miss I wants to read SOOOO badly. So, until this summer comes about, she "reads" to Ro. Which is pretty amazing to see. Both of the girls had no clue that I was snapping photos until Miss Ro checked me out. I was being pretty sly for about a second. 

This layout pretty much fell together using February's Gossamer Blue kit. I double matted the photos. They were originally going to be separate, but I really didn't like how that looked, so matted them again in pink. I used one of the title pieces from the Carta Bella paper. Then used the Carta Bella, Crate Paper and some Basic Grey letters I had to complete the title. Lastly, I embellished using a combination of Pink Paislee hearts, My Mind's Eye enamel dots and a Studio Calico heart.

Pin It

Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic Baby Cards

At work there are a few babies that are headed our way, and as part of my extra duties, I made the cards for the upcoming babies. These are all using Dear Lizzy's 5th & Frolic. I needed some cute baby friendly papers, and I loved the soft colors and muted patterns that 5th & Frolic had. I snagged the 6x6 and a set of die cuts.

Isn't the onesie cute?? It is a Silhouette cut that is used normally for cards. I just chose not to use both sides, and of course didn't cut out the truck. I scaled it down, layered various patterns, then added the die cuts, buttons, twine and a cute Studio Calico stamped sentiment. Pin It

Gossamer Blue: Project 12, the January Edition

I love the idea of Project: Life. The idea is fantastic. However, I don't really have the time. And currently, with two kids three and under, the energy. I have the tools. I got sleeves last Christmas, and bought a few more sets of the other sizes. So when Gossamer Blue started their Project 12, I knew that I could keep this version up. I started in December making a title page for the book. And officially started January 2013.

While I know that most people aren't going to be interested in the silly things that I or my family does, I know that my children one day will. I think it's going to be nice for them to read about what really went on each month.

I decided to put a "Highlights" section in each month. Not all events are photographed, and not all I really need to. However, I wanted to let the girls know that we did do events each month.

I used phone photos for this. It was fun being able to snap pics throughout the month of cute things the girls did, silly stuff to remember, Hipstamatic pics of random things.

And journaling. In my own handwriting. With a little bit of die-cuts from my Cameo. <3 br="">

I hope that you enjoyed seeing just a few of my fun little sections. While it's out of my normal scrapbooking style, it was lots of fun to do. Pin It

Three More Layouts, Two Kits, & One Sketch

I cannot believe that I haven't blogged for almost two weeks!! I have a couple of layouts that I have had laying around for awhile... The first two are using Gossamer Blue's fabulous December Kit. I snagged GB's first kit during their fantastic Black Friday special, and also grabbed November's Main Kit Add-On. It's super pretty, but with all of the holiday craziness... I haven't even cracked into it!

Anyway, here is my 3rd layout using my December kit. I loved how easy this came together. I just positioned my photo to allow for the date to show, circled it, placed arrows that pointed in the direction I wanted, added the mat and photo... A few embellishments and BOOM! DONE! I especially love all of the Sn@p! alphas. Using all of those colors was just too fun!

This one took a little more time and effort. I wanted a pieced heart, but hate when the pieces come up, so the pieced part is really behind the heart, which is cut with my Cameo. I used bits and pieces from random pieces that I had used throughout my three other layouts, and just made them all fit. Glued those down onto a piece of cardstock that I then glued and sewed to the background piece. Draped the fun garland on the heart, stitched that in... Then stuck the photo down, added washi, and a title. I really do love sewing, but it does take some time. Good thing I'm not a perfectionist with the stitch lenth :)

This was a super quick layout also! I used Studio Calico's Sock Hop Kit for this, with my lovely friend Venetia's Mid-Wid Mojo Guest Sketch. I love her ideas. She's also pretty darn fantastic at most crafty and artsy things.

Hope you liked the layouts! I have some more cards that I created using all of these kits too!! Pin It