Anna's Creations

This past Monday, Anna was out of school. I asked her what she wanted to do. Her response? Make cards! So, we sat at my desk and started crafting. The two of us sat together and just rummaged through the scraps I had laying on my desk and in baggies that I had put aside. She want to make a couple birthday cards. This one is for my niece, Lucy, who will be 4 on April 4th. Lucy is having a "zoo animal" party, so this card is perfect! It was all part of Anna's plan! This one is for *me*... aren't I lucky!? My birthday is on April 6. She wouldn't let me see the inside, but didn't mind that I saw the front. ;)

This is the one I made. It's not as fantastic as Anna's cards, but I am still learning from her. ;)

And, even Elan joined in the card making fun, but I regret to inform you that I forgot to take a picture of his creation. His card is piled up with festive goodies!

So, if you would be kind enough, please leave Miss Anna (she is six) some crafty LOVE! She gets so giddy when people comment on her craftiness!

My holly's not so jolly...

This week the Jingle Belles are rockin' it again with a fantastic prompt... "Holly and Ivy." I'll be honest, I don't have anything that remotely looks like ivy and I only have one holly stamp, and I usually use it for tags, and I couldn't think outside the box for some reason. What to do, what to do... make your own holly... with felt, buttons, and glitter, oh my!

I *like* this card, but I don't love it. Notice the BIG, F A T boo-boo? I stitched one of the leaves wrong... ahhh! I tried to redeem myself by adding red buttons for berries and showering them with glitter. Still, all I can see is non-uniform stitching. It's all good though, I'll send it to someone that won't notice, or at least someone that can't see well.

On a side note: the one thing I keep going back to to make my weekly holiday card is the Basic Grey "Jovial" paper pad. I love it and goes with pretty much any theme you work with. I love the prints and plaids!

And one more thing... It has been very easy for me to crank out these holiday cards each week. Why? Not only because Jingle Belles has great prompts, awesome sketches, and so forth, but I also have ALL of my Christmas stuff in one folder. That's right... paper, stickers, rub-ons, and embellishments are neatly gathered in a plastic folder for scrapbooking. So, when I'm ready to tackle the Jingle Belles challenge, all I need to do is reach for the holiday folder and BAM! A card is born.

Being Awesome

Hello, friends in blogland. Thought I would share this layout I did a while back... I submitted it to a couple design teams and a couple scrap calls and unfortunately, it didn't get picked up or given the "wow" I was hoping for! I think it's pretty great: Nothing really that spectacular, but I thought the spray ink and glittered buttons were a good effort of making mock fireworks! Sometimes, you have to be your own biggest fan... I am so okay with that! Here's a close up of the fireworks: I think I love my scrapbookk layouts because of the photos, not so much the design. Of course, I love the patterned papers and embellishments, but the pictures really tell the story and bring back the memories- that's what's important. Don't you think? And for all of you out there that haven't gotten that super cute card picked up in a call or had that totally awesome layout printed in a magazine or made the design team you wished to get picked for... Don't Give Up! You ROCK! That's right, you are creative and spirited and you enjoy the craft just because. And when you do get picked... Woo-hoo! But until then, I'll be an abnoxious cheerleader for you and me both! And while we are on the subject of being awesome... check me and my sister-in-law, Lara out: The Papa John's 10 Miler was this past Saturday. We did great, never gave up, ran those hills while cussing and belting out some Cake and Michael Jackson tunes. We ran our 10 minute miles and had a ball doing it. At this moment, it's not so fun going up and down steps since my thighs hurt so bad, but hey, what an accomplishment! I feel like a superhero! Until next time, you go, girl! Get out there and be your own biggest fan... we are awesome!

Etsy Inspired

I found the challenge blog from a friend I follow... it's called Etsy Inspired Challenge. I {love} Etsy, so I was sure I would love the challenge! This week, the challenge was to find a photo from the Etsy shop Fresh Metal Jewelry and create something that the photo inspired. I chose this photo: How gorgeous is this rosette necklace? Check out the Fresh Metal shop... you won't be disappointed! :) This is what the shops photo inspired me to create:

I love it! The paper and journaling card is from GCD Studio. The crepe paper is Jeni Bowlin, rhinestone is Recollections from Michael's and the ribbon is from my stash. Simple, but pretty darn effective. I'm just sayin'. ;)

Go visit Fresh Metal and pick out some inspiration!

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

The March Papertrey challenge is to use embroidery floss! I love to stitch on my cards and scrapbook pages, so this was a very fun challenge for me. First, I used my new Martha Stewart score pal and embossed the outer edges of my card. Then, I added the two patterned papers and following the "x" design in the paper on the top half, I decided to do a cross stitch pattern with my floss. I die cut the butterfly in raspberry fizz felt and punched another to layer. Lastly, I stamped my sentiment in chocolate ink.
Can't wait to gawk at everyone else's projects!

Gettin' Sketchy...

Hello again! Here is a quick card I did following the Get Sketchy sketch for this week:

I really like that bicycle sticker from Martha Stewart and it came in a pack of 6- 3 of them have banana seats... :). The sentiment and swirl stamps are American Crafts and the polka dot border is Papertrey Ink. Background paper is K&Co., Sweet Nectar paper pad- which I LOVE.

This was the sketch:
Hope you are "celebrating sunshine" wherever you are... it's storming here.

For the love of card making...

Oh, how I adore this card... the design, the colors, the embellishments. Jingle Belles has definitely become one of my favorite weekly challenges! I love their prompts, sketches, inspiration and the instant gratification of getting a card done in 25% of the time it would take to do a layout. AND, I'm totally getting a huge stash of Christmas cards done! Here's the sketch they used for this weeks prompt:

I am diggin' this sketch. I am saving it for future reference... I can totally see a birthday card in the making very soon!