so there i was : January 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

January Paper Smooches Blog Hop

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the Paper Smooches February release with you! FOUR new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase at 12:01am, Eastern time...on February 1st. There will be an Anniversary celebration at the Paper Smooches blog on February 1st, so please stop by and celebrate with us! You will find our new releases HERE

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize!

FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog

The prize - a $25. gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.

Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win! (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes)

You have until midnight MT on Sunday, February 2nd to leave a comment.

Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, February 3rd to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.

To increase your chances of winning:

Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop

Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop

Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog)

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Webster's Pages, Alphas American Crafts, Doodlebug Sequins and Enamel Dots, Felt, Paper Smooches Stamp Hooties, Paper Smooches Metal Dies Owl Icons/Leaves 1/Hearts/Trees 1 and font Right Type!)

Thanks for joining me today. Happy Stamping!

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Her Goal | Technique Tuesday

Yeah it's Friday and I am off on a new adventure. It's kind of why I decided to share this particular layout today. This is something I made about 8 months ago for Technique Tuesday. I was tasked with using the metal banner die and corresponding stamps in a fun border. I layered lots of the banners in 2 colors to create the border along the right side of my layout. For added interest I stamped on the black banner pieces and then hand stitched over the stamped image.

(Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, Patterned Paper Heidi Swapp/Basic Grey/ Bo Bunny, Alphas Thickers American Crafts, Studio Calico wood veneer star, Twine, Ink VersaFine, Stamps & Dies Technique Tuesday, DMC Floss, and font Veteran Typewriter)

So much has changed for my daughter since I did this layout. I think her goals have morphed and grown in the the last 8 months. She moved up to a competitive traveling team and rather than focusing on flying she has decided to work on her tumbling skills. This weekend we are traveling up to the Seattle area for our first away competition and I am super excited to see the girls show their stuff.

Do your kids have any goals even if they might change or they seem silly I think it's a wonderful thing to document? Now that I have given you a topic go get crafty. XO

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Happy Things | Lily Bee

Good morning crafters happy Thursday. At the end of 2013 after over a year and a half I decided not to continue on with Lily Bee. It was a hard decision and not one I came to easily. I simply adore the product but after the recent joining the Paper Smooches design team I thought it was best for me to step down to make way for new talent. This was my last project I did for the blog in December. We were tasked with designing handmade gifts and I couldn't resist making a covered journal. I used the new Washi tape along the spine and even added one of the adorable new wood houses as part of the closure.

(Supplies Used: Compositon Notebook, Lily Bee Patterned Paper/Washi Tape/Wood Veneer, Hemp Twine, Slhouette Cutting System/font and black pen)

Covered composition notebooks make the best journals. I gave this one to my daughter who enjoys writing short stories. So while this was my last official Lily Bee design team project look for Lily Bee product to show up often in my projects (like in yesterday's layout).

Happy Crafting

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Stamping for Scrapbookers | Paper Smooches

As my teenage daughter would say happy hump-day. I thought it would be fun to talk about stamping today. I am fortunate to work with 2 popular stamping companies; Technique Tuesday and Paper Smooches. I like to think my style of stamping is geared more toward scrapbookers.

This is my one of my latest Paper Smooches layouts. I played around with several new dies and stamps from the January release.

(Supplies Used: Cardstock Bazzill, Patterned Paper Lily Bee, Alphas Jillibean Soup, Wood Veneer Embellishments Studio Calico, Hemp Twine, Timy Attacher Tim Holtz, Vellumn, Ink VersaFine/VersaMagic, Black Pen, Stamps/Dies Paper Smooches and font)

I used the Paper Smooches Pinked Circle die to create the banner and I alternated stamped sayings and wood grain stamped backgrounds on the banner pieces.

For all those non-stampy scrapbookers out there I challenge you to try a little stamping on your next layout. The wonderful thing about stamps is they are not a 1 time use product. They can be used over and over again and never look the same. Stamps are worth the investment.

Happy crafting!

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Monday, January 20, 2014

Fun with fonts | Jillibean Soup

Happy Tuesday from crafty land. With my CHA hangover behind me I am back holed up in my office feverishly working on crafty projects. While I didn't really get a chance to really explore at CHA I still came home supercharged.

This Jillibean Soup layout is really all about the title. I found this font via Pinterest and used my Silhouette to cut out the letters. The font wasn't smooth so I spent quite a bit of time fixing the rough edges using the free Silhouette Studio software. I think the extra effort I put into this title was work it.

(Supplies Used:Cardstock Bazzill, Jillibean Soup Patterned Paper/Alphas/Corrugated Shape/Stickers/Die Cuts, Enamel Dots My Minds Eye, Black Pen, and fonts)

My playful title is balanced out with my clean and simple design. I love design elements that don't over shadow each other, the photos or my stories. I often begin the creative process by pulling everything I want to use on a layout and then I edit. I have discovered that in my old age I cannot deal with clutter. I think this is evident in my work. I wish I could layer and embellish my little heart out like some of my favorite scrapbookers but I simply cannot wrap my head around it. So I will stick to what I do best, clean and simple.

Thanks for stopping by today happy crafting.

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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Jillibean Soup CHA wrap up part deux

Good morning as promised I have just a few more photos to share from the Jillibean Soup booth.

These next photos hopefully show off some of the little details from the booth. We are so very fortunate to have such a wonderful design team. The projects in the booth looked really fabulous. If you are a Jillibean Soup fan don't forget we are having a design team call check out our blog for more details.

I hope you have enjoyed this close up peek into the Jillibean Soup booth. It's an amazingly creative space that I am proud to represent.

Happy Crafting

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