12 Days of Holiday Gift Giving

Welcome to the 12 days of holiday gift giving from my friends at Scrapbook and Cards Today. We are coming to the end of our holiday celebration I hope you have been following along. If not make sure you take a look at all the previous posts on the SCT blog they have been super fun and inspiring.  Not to mention there have been tons of give-a-ways too.

I made a little non-traditional holiday card and gift pouch from some of my favorite Jillibean Soup goodies. While red and green adorn your traditional cards I love to try and mix it up every so often. This little set features the fun combination of teal and yellow. 

 

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Kraft Tape/Stamp/Glitter Stars/Die Cuts, Lawn Fawn Twine, Colorbox Ink, Maya Road Clothes Pin) 

I created a background on my card from Jillibean Soup kraft tape. By Simply layering the tape and alternating the dots it looks just like pattered paper. 

Don't forget to stop by the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog to see more about the 12 Days of Holiday Gift Giving. There are lots of fun things happening including some pretty awesome give-a-ways. Happy Crafting!!!! 

 

Jillibean Soup Cards

Happy Monday crafters, today I thought I would share a few cards. I love making them and for some reason I always forget to post them on my blog. Then I end up flooding my blog with a bunch of cards all at once.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper and Stamp, Ink, Corner Rounder, Metal Dies My Favorite Things/Paper Smooches, Hemp Twine)

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Wooden Flag/Flash Card, Hemp Twine, Maya Road Clothes Pin, Spellbinders Metal Die, My Minds Eye Enamel Dots)

I know both cards are not holiday related but these could easily be recreated and turned into holiday cards with a simple swap of products.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting!

Everyone needs a little sparkle in their life

Happy Wednesday crafters! I love a little sparkle it just brightens up everything so I recently took some of my favorite Jillibean Soup alphas and added glitter. This was the result ...

 

I stared with a neutral colored Jillibean Soup alpha. I ran the alphas face down though a Xyron Sticker maker. This makes adheing the glitter to the front of the alphas a snap. 

Once the alphas are covered with glitter I sealed them with Crystal Lacquer. Crystal Lacquer is very similar to Diamond Glaze. This step helps hold the glitter in place but isn't necessary.

This is how my glittered alphas look on my layout. 

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Jillibean Soup Alpha Stickers /Patterned Paper/Tag/Glitter/Kraft Accessories/Diecuts/File Cards/Clothespin, Twine and Tiny Attacher)

 

You know that saying there is more than one way to skin a cat. This applies to to glittering alphas as well. While I prefer the Xyron sticker maker method you can achieve this same look from any number of simpler techniques. 

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting! 

Available today the Winter issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today

Good morning crafters and happy Friday! If you are like me you have hunkered down for a long cold winter so why not grab a warm cup of coffee or hot coco and download the winter issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. It's available to download for free today.
 
The cover art was done by the very talented Nicole Samuels. I really love the simplicity of this layout it totally speaks to my design aesthetic. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

I love CIRCLES

Hello crafters and happy Thursday. If you have followed me for sometime you might have noticed how much I like to use circles in my designs. Yup I am one of those people who when she finds something she like she over uses it. It's kind of like when you get a new outfit and wear it to death. Yes I am wearing my circles to death and I am okay with that.

This layout was my Colour Suite layout from the fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. While this week seems to be an ode to the circle I also seems I am reminiscing a bit over my son (AKA tech support).

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Pebbles/Jillibean Soup, Stamps Technique Tuesday, Ink Memento Lux, Wood Embellishments Studio Calico/Ellie's Studio, Alpha Jillibean Soup, Wood Dots My Minds Eye, Hemp Twine, Corner Rounder We R Memory Keepers, Circle Punches and Dies, Silhouette Cutting System and misc fonts)

I love how the circles make perfect homes for my embellishments. I like to play with floating them off the edges of my layouts and adding pop dots for depth. To read more about my fall Colour Suite make sure you check out the fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

December PageMaps

Hello December! It seems like only yesterday it was January can someone please tell me where Christmas came from. That's just a rhetorical question. Sorry for the late start this month the holidays just seem to kind of take over.

Each month I chose my sketch for a specific reason. I chose this sketch because of it's simplicity and use of a 6x4 photo. It really called to my old school scrapbooking roots.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Fancy Pants, Corrugated Paper Fancy Pants, Burlap Shapes Simple Stories, Wood Hearts Studio Calico, My Favorite Things Alpha dies, Kraft Embellishments Jillibean Soup, Enamel Dots Doodlebug, Hemp Twine, Maya Road Mini Clothes Pin, Scallop Die Spellbinders, Decorative Brad Basic Grey, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and font Kingthings)

 

I pretty much took a literal approach to my version of the sketch. I simplified a few of the accent items from the sketch when I translated my idea to paper. The abstract zig zag pieces on my layout were cut straight from the Fancy Pant patterned paper. 

Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Crafting!

November Colour Suite

Happy Saturday crafters it's time for the November installment of the Colour Suite a monthly colour challenge I put together for my friends at Scrapbook and Cards Today. I am going to start off today with a little announcement this will be my final Colour Suite I am retiring the challenge. I began my colourful journey over 3 years ago and I would like to thank all my guests and followers over the years for joining me on my little adventure.

This month I was once again inspired by an image I found on Pinterest.

This image was such an inspiration for this month's colours. I started by choosing the grey and blue I knew these colours were on trend and would make a great neutral base for any layout or project. I then selected the green (it's one of my favorite colours). By default once I selected the green that meant I would not choose the red. Red and green always say Christmas to me I know I am weird, it's one of my colour hang ups. So instead of picking red I selected the pink and orange. This is how the Colour Suite was created.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Pattered Paper Doodlebug, Decorative Envelopes Fancy Pants, Rubons Basic Grey, Metal Dies My Favorite Things/Spellbinders, Glitter Heart American Crafts, Decorative Brad Basic Grey, Flair Fancy Pants, Hemp Twine, Bow Studio Calico, Clothes Pin Maya Road, misc paint, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and font Kingthings downloaded from the internet)

This month I invited Diane Payne to join me and take the Colour Suite Challenge. I met Diane when she joined the Lily Bee design team and I immediately fell in love with her style. I love how she manages to mix clean lines with a little funk without over powering her photos. She didn't disappoint with her Colour Suite layout when she did exactly this. I was super excited she was able to join me for my very last challenge. Thanks Diane for playing with me this month.

While this might be the end of the Colour Suite you can always find the old challenges on the Scrapbook and Cards Today website. They will continue to be archived there and I hope if you ever find yourself in a colour rut you reach back and find a little colour to jump start your creativiry.

Happy Crafting!

Every photo tells a story

Happy Wednesday crafters! I like to think that every photo tells a story it's why I try to journal something on each and every layout. Journaling can be short and sweet, long and sentimental or somewhere in between. Once upon a time I stressed out about every word on my layouts but some where along the line the words started coming easier.

This layout started with a photo I loved. It was one of those spontaneous shots I'd like to refer to as a happy accident. So when I went to scrapbook this I focused on the story of how I caught this unbelievably wonderful moment.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Stickers/Enamel Stars/Stamp/Wooden Sprinkles/Wooden Nickles, Ink, Circle Punch, Tiny Attacher, Hemp Twine, Silhouette Cutting System and misc. fonts)

Please remember every photo tells a story, record your words and happy crafting.

PageMaps November

Happy November crafters it's the first of the month and that means it's time for another PageMaps layout. I have been in a wonderful creative groove with my PageMaps layouts for the past few months. I am thrilled that so many of these projects are now on my favorites list.

If you look at my last few layouts you can see a trend ... it's neutral cardstock bases. I often switch back and forth between patterned paper and cardstock backgrounds. It seems I might be in a style switch from patterned paper to cardstock.

Here is the sketch I chose to work with this month. I picked this sketch because it was kind of a non traditional take on the grid layout. I think the grid design is one of my all time favorites to work with. I love how each grid tells a different part of the story be it through embellishments, patterned papers or photos.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Fancy Pants Patterned Paper and corrugated paper, Jillibean Soup black tiny alphas, Wood Veneer Stars from Studio Calico, Metal dies from Technique Tuesday/Paper Smooches, Misc Tag and Silver Eyelet, Clear Red Stars from Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup kraft envelope, hemp twine, vellum envelope from Studio Calico and Kingthings font)

I confess I am not sure where the large bow came from. I think it might be Fancy Pants but I couldn't find it online. So if you possibly know who made the cute burlap bow please leave me a comment below. I am a bow addict and I might like to pick up another one.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween crafters I am feeling a bit sad this is the first year no one in my house has dressed up. While my son was done with trick or treating in 6th grade my daughter has embraced Halloween and if she wasn't cheering tonight I'm sure she would be out rain or shine. Today I am showing off one last Halloween project.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup 6x6 Paper Pad/Enamel Stars/Wood Veneer Stars/Stamp/Wood Flag/Mini Placemat/Wooden Sprinkle, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and Hemp Twine)

This card was totally inspired by the Jillibean Soup Mini Placemat. Mini Placemats are essentially designed to be used in pocket or Project Life scrapbooking pages but I don't craft this way. I enjoy the challenge of using these goodies on my more traditional projects. I saw this one and knew immediately it would make a perfect card front. I backed the cut outs with various patterned papers and topped it off with a variety of fun Jillibean Soup goodies. Viola this card was born.

Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Halloween. Sadly, I just came to the realization that without kids trick-or-treating there will be no candy to pilfer from my children. Now I am debating on if I should run to the store and buy a few bags to hide around the house.

Halloween Part III | Jillibean Soup

Happy Wednesday crafters, by now I think you have a good idea that I kind of dig Halloween. I thought you might like to take a short little tour of a few past favorite Halloween layouts/projects that I have featured over the years on my blog. Just click on the links provided below for a short little tour. 

4th Grade Halloween Party

Zombie

Halloween Banner

Handmade Halloween

It's a 50's Halloween

I am sure if I poked around a bit more on my blog I might even find more Halloween layouts hiding in the archives. The Handmade Halloween layout is super old I think it must have been done around 2007. I really loved how I included some of the original fabric from the costume on the layout.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup glittered bean board alphas/tiny black alphas/Enamel Stars, and Fabric trim)

Thanks for stopping by and stay spooky.

Halloween Part II | Jillibean Soup

Hello Monday today I am sharing another Jillibean Soup Halloween layout. I resurrected my little obsession for circles on this layout. I really love how the circles create movement and house tons of fun little extras.

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Jillibean Soup 6x6 Paper Pad/DieCuts/Enamel Stars/Wood Sprinkles/Clothes Pins/Alphas/Wood Veneer Shapes/Flash Cards/Wood Flags/Stamps, Hemp Twine, Circle Punches and font Veteran Typewriter downloaded from the internet)

I love to add extra depth and dimension to layouts with foam squares. Dimension adds just the perfect visual break notice the tone on tone look of the green star on the green grid punched circle without the foam squares this look wouldn't translate the diecut would have completely gotten lost.



Thanks for stopping by today. This is not the last of my Halloween love fest I have a few super cute cards to show off this week too so don't miss out.

Halloween Part 1 | Jillibean Soup

Happy Monday I have quite a few Halloween projects to share so I thought a I would spend a bit of time showing these off this week. Of all the holidays to scrapbook Halloween has to be one of my favorites.

I thought it would be fun to share my Halloween layout from the fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. I love going back and doing a historical page like this. I think you can get a good feeling as to why Halloween is so popular at our house from this layout

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup 6x6 Paper Pad/Wood Veneers/Die Cuts/Clothes Pins/Alphas/Enamel Stars, Black Pen, Metal Dies Scallop Border Die/Spellbinders and Words/Technique Tuesday, Silhouette Cutting System & Images, Hemp Twine and Veteran Typewriter)

These photos make me a little sad that my kids are moving on to a different stage in their life. I suppose it's more my youngest is moving on and there is no one to follow in her footsteps.

Thanks for joining me today. Stay tuned for another Halloween layout featuring more Jillibean Soup.

Happy World Card Making Day

Hello Saturday and Happy World Card Making Day!

Every year my friends at Scrapbook & Cards Today hold a huge hour by hour celebration in honor of World Card Making Day. Make sure you check back each hour to the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog as a new card, sketch and give away will be featured. I am honored to have Paper Smooches sponsoring my hour. Kim makes the cutest stamps and I had the honor and pleasure of designing for her for the first half of this year.

I chose this sketch that was originally featured on pg. 56 of CardMaps 4 which came out earlier this year. 

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/kraft envelope/file card/tab sticker/be happy flashcard tag, Scallop Border Die from Spellbinders, Stars from Studio Calico, Hemp Twine, Mini Clothes Pin Maya Road)

 

Let's be honest right now I am still snoozing in bed since it's a bit early on the west coast. You gotta love modern day technology that allows me to schedule my posts in advance. If you are an morning person and have stopped by during my hour thanks for joining me today and happy crafting!

2014 Planner Layout | Scrapbook & Cards Today

Hello Friday I am so glad to see you. After yesterday's announcement regarding the 2015 Scrapbook & Cards Today calender and planner I thought I would give you a peek at my project from the 2014 calendar.

This layout was super fun to create all the products including the stamps were from Stampin' Up. Not only did the 2014 calendar come with custom sketches it also included free custom digital cut files and techniques with step out instructions and photos. The word bubbles, tag and heart included on my layout were just a few of the free digital cutting files.

 

 (Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Stampin' Up, Embossing Powder Stampin Up, Stamps Stampin Up, Hemp Twine, Butterfly Stick Pins Jillibean Soup, Wood Stars Studio Calico, Corner Rounder, White Colorbox Ink, Scallop Border Die Spellbinders, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Silhouette Cutting System/Images, and font Veteran Typewriter)

I can only share the layout I don't have the original sketch anymore. My technique was a shadow stamping to look like chalkboard. To see more fun layouts and great techniques like this don't miss out on the 2015 planner.

Happy Scrapping