Hugs to you...

Ok, I admit it. There's something very familiar about this card...hmmmmmm....well, why reinvent the wheel. I really liked that heart doily and that little girl stamp {together} so I tried it again with these Pink Paislee papers. This one is my favorite. These papers make me happy. Maybe it's the unexpected color combo or the pretty flowers? I'm a sucker for pretty flowers.

I mailed this card and the little mailbox from yesterday's post to my favorite sister-in-law. She lives in the land of never-ending snow and I'm hoping these will cheer her up! I filled that mailbox full of various chocolates. You can't imagine how much that thing holds. It should hold her over for awhile. At least until Easter when I make another one of these, stuff it full of more chocolate and ship it off. What? I still have 10 of these things left to decorate. She'll get one for every holiday this year. Well, I might have to rethink that...shipping chocolate from Georgia in July is not such a great idea.

Here's a few details on the card: Pink Paislee Sweetness papers, SU Greeting Card Kids stamp, Quickutz Fiesta and Phoebe,Spellbinders labels,renaissance hearts and scalloped hearts dies, Martha Stewart paper rose, pearls and felt heart, SU cardstock.

My plan is to spend the rest of the weekend blissfully working away on my vintage mini with no interruptions. We'll see how far I get with that...

Enjoy your weekend!

A Funky Vintage Target $ mailbox

I'm having too much fun with these little mailboxes! I'm pretty disappointed in my photography though. A lightbox would be a really good thing... This one is actually hot pink, not the red color in the pics. I tried natural light, Ott-lite, and every white balance setting on the camera and I just couldn't get that pink to come through. Oh well, you get the idea.

I know the vintage style is getting a bit overdone these days, but I find myself still drawn to some of it and these papers had the right mix of vintage and a funky color combo. I'm a firm believer that you can make any style of paper work with your own personal style. For me, it's all about the typography. I'm a font freak. So, while I'll never go over the top vintage, I can still make it work for me by including the things I love the most in the design process. That usually involves lots of dies, alphas, and/or border punches. These are my go-to items and things that make me excited to create. Just some random ramblings I've been thinking about lately.

The papers on this one are Pink Paislee Sweetness, alpha is Quickutz Fiesta, punches are Martha Stewart scroll heart and doily heart border, metal keyhole is Tim Holtz, pearls, paper rose,felt heart and sticker on the flag are Martha Stewart, ribbon is from the $ bin at Michaels, and that white crocheted thing that's supposed to be a rose was handmade by yours truly. I stuck it on there anyway. Thought it looked kinda cool;)

I'm saving the matching card for tomorrow's post. I create way too slow to post two in one day! Hope you'll visit again tomorrow!

Love and Hugs

Here's a little matching card to the mailbox I posted last week. I love these little images in the SU Greeting Card Kids stamp set! They're fun to color and so sweet. I think she's perfect on this one! I played with some new toys to create this card. I used my new Grand Calibur with the large scalloped squares to cut the base of this card. I was going for a postage stamp look and I think it worked out pretty nicely. The papers are more of the Martha Stewart Valentines paper pad and the card base is cut from SU kraft. I used a plain white heart doily that you can pick up for a couple dollars at any craft store. I think this package had 12 of them and I bought them in every size available. They're just fun to have around when you're working on Valentine's projects or layouts. I then cut a heart using Spellbinders heart nestabilities and topped it with the pink heart embossed with an SU folder. I used a package of Martha Stewart felt hearts on the mailbox, but I didn't have any small red hearts left so I cut felt with the Spellbinders die and ran it through my sewing machine to add the white stitching. The "love & hugs" is Quickutz Blossom.

I'm working on another little mailbox that I hope to share in the next few days!

$ mailbox love...

So, I know these cute mailboxes were the 'it' thing maybe 4 years ago?? but this is the first year I bought any of them. I don't really know whose mailbox sent me over the edge, a youtube video, somebody's post on a message board, who knows. I kinda bought 12 of them. I don't even know 12 people that I would give these to. But what does that matter, right? I'm going to send a couple to family for Valentine's Day and then I saw some really cute ones decorated for Christmas. And, of course, I'm gonna have to make one of these for myself:)

I used a lot of Martha Stewart on this one, the paper, postage stamp sticker on the flag, felt hearts, and the trefoil heart border punch. I found it easier to cover it with a few smaller pieces of paper rather than wrapping one large piece around the mailbox. I used my cropadile to punch a hole in the lid to attach a ribbon pull with a brad. Cut through that metal like butter! The large white embossed heart on the flag is a Sizzix die that Stampin Up sells and the postage on the front lid are Quickutz dies. The 'love' is Quickutz Nutmeg mounted on a Spellbinders label diecut.

Gotta make this one a short post today. I have a few more of these to make using a few paper lines I've been dying to work with and I still need to finish up that mini-album from my last post. Hope you all are staying warm inside and using snow days to create!

Hello!?! Anyone out there???

Last time I checked it was October and then BAM! ...here it is halfway through January and the past 4 months are just a total blur. I will NEVER I repeat NEVER go through building a new house EVER AGAIN. It has got to be one of the most stressful things we've ever brought upon ourselves. If there's one reason to do it, it's to get everything in the house that YOU want, not what the people before you wanted. Mission accomplished. I absolutely LOVE my new house! The only thing that hubby and I would maybe do over is adding a second 3-drawer cabinet in the kitchen, but we could always have the cabinet guys come back out and put another one in so I'm not losing sleep over it.

I finally have a dedicated scrap studio! I'm not sharing it with anyone. No guest futon, no office desk for hubby, but maybe I'll share it with my dachsie--she likes to curl up in the chair in the corner. Thought I'd share a few pics of the new casa and scrappy space. I've been working away on a little vintage paper bag mini album since the Christmas break. Almost done with it. I've got a few sneak peaks of the work in progress. I really want to do a video of it, but I can't figure out what equipment I need to make that happen and I've never uploaded to youtube before. It's something I definitely want to try this year. For now, the still frames will have to do. I was hugely inspired by Tracy over at Tracy's Treasures. She has made some gorgeous mini-albums and really nice videos showcasing them. Maybe I'll ask her how to do the videos...

Here's the outside, I have yet to take a good pic with the garage door down! It's a 5 bedroom,3and1/2 bath home. Very deceiving from the outside, but this house is pretty darn big on the inside. Probably way more house than we really needed, but I don't intend to move again so I wanted to get it right this time!


The kitchen

The master bath



My scrap studio


The way it looks right now--yikes.

Vintage mini-album teaser...


I promise my absence from blogger is over now! Check back soon for more pics on the mini and hopefully a video??

'Tis the season for gift packaging...

And even though this gift is for a retirement party tonight(military retirement,people...we're not that old yet), it gave me all kinds of ideas for Christmas this year. I'm not going to lie. Stenciling this box took a little over an hour, but it was SO worth it. I couldn't find any good masculine looking gift bags that didn't have a fish and tackle on them(how cliche is that?) so I bought some plain 'ole white robe boxes on sale at Hobby Lobby and dug out this SU! stencil I bought a few months ago. I have a total fascination with anything even resembing a medallion. When I bought this, I envisioned using it on a cover for a mini-album(still haven't got around to working on that yet), so I knew it would look awesome all over a gift box.

I used Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo, and Tea Dye Tim Holtz distress inks and the applicator and used some stencil tape that wouldn't tear the box as I positioned these. Originally I was just going to do the top of the box, but then I thought it would look really cool if I turned it on end and continued the stencil along all the sides. I started by dabbing the Tea Dye with the applicator all over the stencil, then used Vintage Photo from the center out(but not all the way to the edges) and finished with a little Spiced Marmalade in the very center. I love these autumn colors!


I made the tag using a Cuttlebug cut/emboss/stencil folder I found at Hobby Lobby as well. I had never seen these before and I'm really glad I picked this up. It was super easy to make a really nice detailed tag. There's 5 different tags on it too. It cuts and embosses with one pass and then there's a flap on the back that you lift up, place your tag back in it's place and stencil over the embossed areas if you choose. I used Vintage Photo on the tag and a PTI sentiment stamp with white embossing powder to finish it.

A thick ribbon tied in a knot with a bit of jute cording to attach the tag completes the packaging. If you were using a smaller stencil on a smaller box, it would be a very fast way of making your own unique gift box. I have a small Heidi Swapp damask stencil I can't wait to use now!

You know what this means, right? I'll be scouring the stores looking for cool stencils...

Hope you enjoy the Halloween weekend and save some of that candy for yourself!

Babies Babies Everywhere!

Supplies used:October Afternoon papers,PTI felt,Sandylion,Lawn Fawn stamps,PTI,Spellbinders dies,DMC floss,Martha Stewart border punch


It seems like everyone we know is celebrating new arrivals! Here's a little card I made for some good friends of ours that hubby served with in Korea. When I went over to Seoul to visit in September of '06, this couple had just become 'a couple' so it's especially exciting to see how their relationship has grown, attending their wedding 2 years ago and now the birth of their first child. So happy for them!

As you can see, I guess I wanted to play with felt. I think it added a little softness and made me think of swaddling little babies in those receiving blankets. I used a mishmash of stuff on this one, shopping from my stash. I've been reluctantly absent from the papercrafting world for months now while hubby and I are going through the {sometimes horrible} process of having a new house built. Unfortunately for the next 6 weeks or so, it will most likely consume my time and it's definitely consuming the finances, so FINALLY I might actually be forced to use what I've already bought!

I think some craft therapy for stress reduction is in my near future so check back soon...

A little more Lawn Fawn...

Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket paper,Bazzill,Martha Stewart punches,Spellbinders, Copics,PTI die,Lawn Fawn stamps.




OMG. Did you see the new Lawn Fawn stamps that were released last night?? I am LOVING every single thing they've done so far!!! Good for them--but bad for my pocketbook! I couldn't stop myself. I ordered all three new sets!! And then....I was SO close to the free shipping mark I decided to buy Harold's abcs too! I've been meaning to buy that set so it all worked out.

And the best part about my recent love affair with Lawn Fawn?? I've been actually USING them. {gasp}. I've broken in every set I've purchased so far. Here's a little birthday card for my sister-in-law using Bake me a Cake. You know what I love the most about this particular set (besides the fact it is hands down the best designed boutique-y cake out there)? There's a bazillion different ways to customize your cakes or cupcakes in this one since each little piece is it's own stamp! Very cool and very fun to play with. Sorry if I'm gushing about this little company. I'm so inspired by the way they started up their business just a few months ago, offering an AWESOME product, and they appear to be selling really well!!! It's nice to see somebody realize their dreams--especially in today's economic climate. YAY for them!

Now about the card...I guess I grabbed the wrong sheet of white cardstock laying around when I went to stamp my cake. I very carefully lined up all my little stamps and created this perfect tiered masterpiece, cut it out with my PTI die and then started coloring it in with my Copics. Huh?? What's wrong with these? Why are they bleeding all over the place and making a mess? I still don't know exactly what happened here, but my Copics weren't blending well at all and I suspect I wasn't using the Neenah cardstock. Anyways, I kinda liked how it turned out! I think it almost looks like a watercolor treatment. More importantly, there was NO way I wanted to stamp it and color it all over again because sometimes I'm lazy like that. I wanted a little bit of color on the edge of the scalloped oval and I didn't want to mat it, so I used a Copic along the edge and then gently smudged the edges with the Copic blending pen to soften the look. It was fast and easy and I'm sure a little trick I'll be using a lot.

Our trip to the Smoky Mountains was FAB! Absolutely the best family vacation I think we've ever had. I'll share a few pics from our adventure soon. I've finally started the beach vacation mini-albums and I can't wait to share those on here!

Our summer vacation is over here in Georgia, the kid started his senior year this week, and I'm enjoying all the extra time I'm getting in my scrappy room now that all the excitement is winding down and our normal weekday routine has returned. Hope you're finding time to do the things you love too!!

G45 and Lawn Fawn-the perfect pair!

Supplies used:G45 papers,Lawn Fawn stamps,Unity stamp(postcard),PTI label die,MS border punch and border sticker,SU! kraft cs,Primas,Tim Holtz distress ink and ep,Copics,Quickutz Eliza,Bazzill cs,doily and ribbon Hobby Lobby.

So here it is 3 weeks after our beach vacation at the in-laws and I'm just now sending off a little thank you card...better late than never, right?

I had a lot of fun with this! I bought a couple Graphic45 On the Boardwalk 8x8 pads to make mini-albums of our reunion for the family and thought I'd start out using it on this little card. It just so happens Lawn Fawn's new release this month (Swimsuit Season) features fun vintage swimsuits that were perfect for this! I love the style of their stamps. There's a little quirky fun vibe to them that just makes me happy!

Even with 2 of those 8x8 pads, I had to be sparing with these gorgeous papers since my mini-albums are going to use nearly every inch of them. I got a little inventive and used the back cover of one of the pads for the card front (the striped paper). Nothing's going to waste with these! Graphic45 is a new endeavor for me. I've always loved their papers and been in awe of those who know what to do with them, so I started studying the G45 gallery and their ning site. If you're a G45 lover or a lover of all things vintage, you HAVE to go check it out HERE! I'm planning on becoming a member and hopefully uploading this card soon.

I always write these ridiculously long blog posts so I'm sure I've lost most of you by now, but I wanted to share a few more details about the card. The flower is a bunch of paper Primas I've had laying around for years and I recently ran across THIS tutorial on breathing new life into them. Mine doesn't look nearly as good as hers, but it sure made those Primas look better than they did! I used Tim Holtz distress embossing powders on the postcard image. Not sure yet whether I like them or not. Let's just say they're 'different'. And--I got them really cheap on sale. Probably a good thing.

I've got a few pics from the vaca to share. I've got them all printed out now and I'm just about ready to start the minis. I'm so excited!

My in-laws beach house



The canal in their backyard



My crazy and totally fun sister-in-law Annie(Bloody Mary virgin no longer!)



My cutie-patootie kiddo



Me and my father-in-law



Bethany Beach,DE



My hottie hubby



Time to wrap this up. But first, I'll be MIA again for the next week while hubby and I take our son on a crazy thrill-seeking mini-vaca to the mountains. What else do you do with a 17 yr old kid?? I'm pretty sure that between whitewater rafting, ziplines, and bungee-jumping I'm gonna be pretty much done with thrills for awhile.

Enjoy your week!

Shopping for babies is SO fun!!

Supplies used:SU! brass template,stamp,BG papers,Michaels ribbon,KI Memories Sheer Delights,PTI felt,canvas,Spellbinders labels and scalloped square,Bazzill cs,DMC floss,Martha Stewart border punch,Copic marker.

Well, not fun enough that I want one or anything. My 'baby' will be a senior in high school this year and the only babies we better have in this house in the future are grandbabies! (and that better be a good long while!!) That's probably why I enjoy shopping for them so much though--I can hand over all that cuteness with no diaper changes or late-night feedings attached;)

So one of hubby's coworkers just had a little baby girl and if there's one thing I haven't had enough of in my life it's shopping for BABY GIRLS!!! Sadly, the stores had a really disgustingly sparse selection of cute baby girl clothes. Boy clothes cuteness was EVERYWHERE but I guess marketers think parents of baby girls want to dress them in drab colors like tans and army olive drab greens. I'm not kidding. This is what I saw this past weekend in 3 baby stores.Yuck. Leave it to the hubster though to score this adorable set of onesies and this little PINK sleeper on the clearance rack of all places!! Now I wasn't looking to go cheap or anything, but hey--who am I to argue with all that cuteness for under $10??



Of course, the best part about giving baby gifts is making the card and packaging! For the card I took a page straight from PTI's Nicole Heady on her post here. Just scroll down a little to find the felt ducky card. I loved the way she used felt to create comfy snuggly softness. I chose to use some canvas behind the little bear. And speaking of bears--he was created using a really old SU! brass template that I hunted and hunted for a few years back and bought from an ebay seller in Singapore. I don't normally buy from overseas sellers so that tells you how BAD I wanted that! He's been put to good use!




I traced him with a Copic E57 marker on SEI velvet paper. He's fuzzy and has that watercolored and drawn-by-a-child look about him. Do you recognize the papers? Probably not because you don't immediately think 'baby' when you think of BG's Capella line. I think they worked beautifully here and goes to show that thinking outside the box can yield great results! I finished the card off with a little $ ribbon from Michael's ( I really wish I would've picked up several spools of this since it's long gone and I LOVE it) and a scalloped edge of a KI Memories Sheer Delights sheet (another thing I really wish I would've bought more of and now it's discontinued).



I added some hand-stitching to the bag using the Tim Holtz ruler to punch the holes in an alternating pattern and some DMC floss. I wanted a thicker look to the stitching so I used a full 6 strand piece of floss and stitched for a good half-hour on this instead of whipping out the sewing machine. Crazy? Maybe. But hubby delivered the gift at the office in Baltimore today and he said the "ooohs and ahhhhs" were outta control! It's those little details, I tell you.

Hope you're finding time this week to do something crafty! I'm off to work on a beachy thank you card for my in-laws using some C.U.T.E. new Lawn Fawn stamps. Hope to share it soon!!