Very SU! Day

I had a very crafty Christmas, how about you? I got to give hand made gifts to my family (who always appreciate the time that goes into hand made items), and I received some great new gadgets to play with too. I haven't had time yet, but stay tuned, within the next week or so I should be able to show you some creations I've made with the I-top I got for Christmas!!!!!! Now, on to some cards.Today's a very Stampin' Up! day. Everything you see is from SU! unless otherwise noted.This card uses the Praying for you stamp set, eyelet border punch, green grosgrain ribbon, and Little Leaves Sizzlits Die. This card uses one of my all time favorite SU! stamp sets, Baroque Motifs. It also uses gold embossing powder, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, and 1/2 pearls (Kaisercraft)
A little sneak preview for the week...I'm working on a fun layout using Making Memories Just Chillin', line, my Silhouette, and some very "boy" pictures. When I finish it up, you all will be the first to see it!

Winner Winner!

I know you've all been waiting for this, so without further ado the winner of the give away is:

Rosalee who said...

Very Cool Projects. My favorite is the ornament. TFS
XXX Rosalee

December 15, 2009 8:32 AM

Congrats Rosalee! Send me an e-mail at potaylor@hotmail.com with your address and I will ship your prizes out to you.
Thank you everyone for playing a long. I truly enjoyed reading all of you kind comments. I hope you all found some inspiration along the way.
Today I have a card that uses one of my favorite stamp sets from Stampin' Up! It's called Once Upon a Time. Love it! All of the inks, card stock, embossing powder, etc are from SU! as well. Now off to do some last minute Christmas baking!

Buttons and Bookmarks

Happy Friday! I was planning on having this post up yesterday, but got a little busy with holiday plans. That seems to happen a lot this time of year, doesn't it? Every year I like to make a little something for all of the women I'm related to (grandmas, mother, mother-in-law, sister, sisters-in-law, aunts, etc.). This year I decided to do these pretty bookmarks. It's 12" of ribbon per book mark (I used a pretty faux suede ribbon that I found at my LSS). On one end I attached a Button Blossom from Sassafrass. You get 7 of them in a pack for less than $4. They come with adhesive on them, but I reinforced it with some E6000 craft glue (any strong, clear adhesive would work). On the other end I sewed a coordinating button. Most of my buttons are from my Autumn Leaves bag-o-buttons, but any large buttons will do. I also reinforced the button with glue as well. I gave out 5 of these at a family Christmas party last night. I decided about 1 hr. before we had to leave that I wanted to put them in a pretty package. So, I had to come up with something I could do 5 of in 30 minutes or so. Here's what I came up with:
The box template was cut on my Silhouette SD from Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co. and Pink Paislee Amber Road paper. I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole on each side and tied the ribbon on the inside of the box forming a loop to hang the box from. Finally, I finished the box up by putting a button on the front, and a button on the back of the box.
Have I mentioned I love buttons? When in doubt, I reach for my buttons. Do you also remember that I have a giveaway going on this week? I was thinking, I should add this to the giveaway. What do you think? So, now the winner will receive the Stampin' Up! Stamp Set, the Kaisercraft rhinestones, and a hand full of buttons. Comment once per post this week to be entered. You have until midnight on Saturday to comment. You will receive 1 entry for each post that you comment on from this week. Random.org and I will pick a winner and have it posted by Monday morning. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're enjoying all your Christmas crafting as much as I am.

A Few Fast Christmas Gifts

First, thank you all for your kind comments! They make me so happy that I just need to add these pretty KaiserCraft rhinestones to the giveaway.Remember it's going on all week, so leaving a comment on this post will enter you a second time for the drawing. The prize now includes a stamp set and the Kaiser Craft rhinestones!

Here's a set of Christmas ornaments I made. Instead of trading cookies with the neighbors, I give them one of these when they bring me home made goodies.
I struggled photographing these, but I think you get the idea. I just accordion folded strips of paper and put them into the ornament, used a rub-on on the outside, and tied a pretty ribbon through the top. Easy and pretty! These are a bit flatter than the classic round glass ornaments. I found these at Michael's.
My 3 year old made the following ornaments this year. Very similar, but more kid friendly:
The ornaments are plastic instead of glass (I found them at Hobby Lobby). They came with white foam balls inside. I put the foam into a plastic bag, added a few drops of ink from Stampin' Up!'s reinkers and let him shake, shake, shake away. He thought "a little glitter" would be good too, however, his version of "a little" was quite a bit! I then taped a rub-on onto the ornament and let him rub like crazy. Taping it on made it so he didn't have to worry about it shifting while he worked. I removed the tape and the rub-on backing when he was done.

The last project is something a friend of mine and I made for our MOPS steering team this year:Everyone got to take one of these beauties home with them from our Christmas party. The terracotta pot was painted red and dressed up with a pretty ribbon. 20 punched out circles form the ball on top. This great Christmas paper is from Crate Paper (one of my new favorite companies!).
I hope you're all having a very crafty Christmas!

6x6, Print and Cut, and a Give Away

As promised, it's Saturday and I'm here with a new post. You might want to get comfortable, it's going to be a little bit of a longer post today. First off, some background on today's project. I started out in the paper crafting world as a card maker. Then, about 3 years ago, I made my first scrapbook. It was a 6"x6" scrapbook, and I loved the ease at which it went together. About a year ago, I made my first 12"x12" scrapbook, and haven't looked back. I fell in love with all the extras you can add to a page that large. Recently I've decided to make a 6x6 scrapbook of Christmas, with a page for each kid every year. I want the book to grow each year with us. So, I've been working on this book and have been really struggling to let my style (which includes a love for lots of layers) show through without overpowering the picture. It's been tough! Here's a page I did from last year's Christmas (I just finished it yesterday) to show you what I mean about trying to find balance. I'm happy with how it turned out, but man did it take me a long time to do something so simple!Now, I'd also like to draw your attention to something pretty cool. As you probably know, I LOVE my Silhouette SD. A very cool feature with this, that I just tried out for the first time is the print and cut feature. You can print a design on your printer and then run it through your Silhouette, so you don't have to cut out each little item. The "1st day of Christmas" and all 3 "Merry Christmas" tags are print and cut images. Here's a close up.
My mind is full of the projects I want to do utilizing this very cool feature!

Last but not least, for today, I have a give away. Just leave a comment on any of my posts between now and next Saturday to be entered to win. You can comment 1 time per post. Comment on multiple posts and you will be entered multiple times. And for the prize? This fun Stampin' Up! Christmas stamp set:

Home Again!

I'm home now from what was an amazing vacation. Thanks for your patience with my blog while I was away. My husband and I got to spend a whole week together in Italy, and it was amazing. Here's one of my favorite pictures from the trip.
We visited Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome. Yes, I'm ashamed to admit it, we were the ultimate tourists and even took the obligatory pictures of us holding the leaning tower of Pisa up...
I'm planning on scrapping our trip, but we took over 600 photos, so the size of that project is a little more than I want to think about right now. Maybe after the holidays. So instead I have 2 cards, just for fun today. Oh, and did you see that while I was away my blog went up over 1000 hits? Check out my blog on Saturday for a little give away I'll be doing in honor of that mile stone!

Scraptiv!ty Release Part 2

Day 2 of Scraptiv!ty's December kit release showcases some of the great Piggy Tales papers in this kit.
Here's a fun book mark set. The book marks are magnetic, so they hold your place on the page as well as the page. Very cool!
Here's a quick and pretty card. The butterflies are an extra add on you can purchase to go along with the December Kit. They are from Chatter Box. The words are hand stitched.

I set this post as an auto post, so as you read this, I'll be away on vacation. Because of that, it will be a few days until you hear from me again. Thanks for your patience!

Scraptiv!ty's December Kit Release

I have been having so much fun with Scraptiv!ty's December kit! I have boys and the 5 Little Ducks papers from Piggy Tales included in the kit are perfect for boy pages, baby cards, and even a little wall art. This month's technique is making your own stamps. The kit comes with a few items to do this, and I can't wait to incorporate this technique into more of my projects. Today I've got 3 projects that showcase this technique.

For this layout, I used penscore (blue moldable foam) and rubber bands included in the kit to make a lined background for the journaling tag.

For this card, I used the same piece of penscore and bubble wrap to create a very subtle background stamp. Finally, I used an included stamping tool to make the circles and squares in the background of this canvas, which also happens to be a baby gift for my best friend who just had her first baby!

Just in case you haven't guessed, this kit also comes with a TON of buttons!
Check back tomorrow for 2 more projects using the S! December kit.

Gobble Gobble

That's turkey for Happy Thanksgiving! I have so very much to be thankful for, that I won't bore you with my whole list, but I will say that I'm thankful for the chance to relax with my family, watch some Packer football, and eat a little turkey (okay, maybe more than a little). Here's another thing I'm thankful for, a chance for crafty time to make projects like this:
While this is a bit of a girlie spring version, it also translates nicely to Christmas. In fact, a friend and I have teamed up to make a dozen of these out of Christmas paper. This version takes 20 equal sized paper circles. Just score a triangle onto each circle, fold up the edges, and attach into a ball shape. Slide a wood dowel into the ball and "plant" into a painted clay pot.
Here I used:
Paper: Die Cuts With A View Sweet Stack Card Stack
Ribbon: SU! Rose Red Double Stitch Ribbon
Button: SU! Corduroy button

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Beautiful Boy

Way back at the beginning of October I won a free Scrap kit from the Fiskateers and Little Yellow Bicycle. First, a little plug. If you're not a Fiskateer, check it out over at www.fiskateers.com. Tell them Samantha T. #6363 sent you. The unique thing about the Fiskateer community is that it's all about people who 1. Love Fiskars and 2. Love to craft. This is not a paper crafts only community, it's people who love to sew, knit, do floral arrangements, and/or paper craft.
Also, if your not familiar with Little Yellow Bicycle, you can check them out here. LYB does beautiful papers, funky embellishments, and (my personal favorite) fabulous board books. They even have paper that's pre-cut to fit their mini books. I've made quite a few baby books for gifts this way!
Alright, on to the layout I promised. The hardest part about this layout was deciding what to use. The scrap kit I won was so packed full of beautiful papers and lovely embellishments from LYB's Autumn Bliss line that I couldn't decide what not to use! I know you've all been there...you just can't decide which side of a double sided piece of paper you like better.
First up is a page called Beautiful:That Beautiful Boy is my youngest. I took these pictures just at the beginning of fall when the weather was perfect and the grass was still green! The papers used here are Bronze Tonal, Autumn Argyle, Blue Linen, Multi Geometric, and Autumn Stripe. What photos can't show is the great texture these papers have. Some of the parts of the paper are shiny and raised a bit (I believe they call it Thermography over at LYB). I also used the Clear Cuts Shapes and the Epoxy Stickers (all from the Autumn Bliss Line).

Here's a close up of some of those Clear Cuts, Epoxy Stickers, and some hand stitching I did:The second page of the layout is called Bliss:
The papers used here are Bronze Tonal, Multi Geometric, and Autumn Stripe. I again used the Clear Cuts Shapes and Epoxy Stickers.
The Clear Cuts and Epoxy Stickers really add depth and dimension to the layout.
Hint: I used a fine tipped glue pen to adhere the Clear Cuts to the paper. I just traced the pattern with glue, that way the clear cuts are adhered, but you can't see my glue through them. Here's a close up of some of that detail:
One last picture of the pages side-by-side as they are meant to be a set. I hope you enjoyed this layout...oh, and if you want to see everything in this gorgeous collection click here to go directly to LYB's Autumn Bliss page on their web site. As you can tell, I really enjoyed working with this collection, it's just perfect for those great fall pictures!

Hop, Hop, Hop

Thanks for stopping by on Scraptiv!ty's blog hop. What's that picture above? It's a sneak peak of what's in store for December's monthly S! kit. Click here and here to check out what I've made with November's amazing kit.
Leave a comment below to be added to the drawing for a fabulous S! prize. Want to increase your chances to win? Click here to check out all of the Design Team members' blogs. Every time you leave a little love, you increase your chance to win, plus you'll get some amazing inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Come back tomorrow for a fun fall layout!

2 Sales and a Canvas

I have so much fun stuff to share tonight! I have 2 absolute favorite scrapbook suppliers (okay, I do some design team work for them, so I may be a little biased, but they're still really great!), and both suppliers are having awesome sales right now. Scraptiv!ty, a kit club for scrapbookers, is having an end of the year sale on a whole bunch of their past kits. They have seriously slashed prices (do I sound like a used car salesman yet?), and you won't be disappointed with Scraptiv!ty's amazing kits. Click here and here to check out previous posts I've done with the November kit. Even better, Scraptiv!ty's having a little party on Sunday the 22nd as they try to break their record for the most people on the forum at one time! Their having a blog hop (you'll get to hop by my blog), scrap challenges, a scavenger hunt (hosted by yours truly) and some fabulous prizes! Hope to see you there. If you're not already a member of the forum and gallery you can sign up here.
The second store I love is A Walk Down Memory Lane. I love them because they have a huge selection on line, and they just happen to have a physical store just down the road from my house. Every month they have a featured manufacturer that is on sale for 15% off all month long. November's featured manufacture just happens to be the amazing, stunning, fresh Pink Paislee. I have been creating all month with their awesome stuff. I've been dying to do another canvas since my last one (also done with Pink Paislee papers) turned out so fabulously. You can check out that post here if you missed it.
I painted this canvas with Medium Brown Studio Paint first, then painted over that with Tan Studio Paint. I only painted a thin layer, so the brown color could show through. This gave the canvas a nice antiqued look. I then layered up paper from Pink Paislee's Mistletoe & Co. Collection and the Amber Road Collection. The scalloped edge was made with Fiskars' Apron Lace border punch. I stamped "...and they lived happily ever after..." (from SU!) with brown staz-on ink. I sealed the whole project with satin finish Mod Podge. When that was dry, I added a Pink Paislee Amber Road Bella Brad. I did not punch a hole for this. Instead I snipped the brad "legs" off and added the brad with a super sticky glue. I love the way the black and white mixes with the browns and reds on this layout. Thanks for sticking with me on this extra long post today!

********UPDATE******Michael's is having a "Handmade Holidays" contest. I submitted this project. You can vote for me if you'd like here. Click here to enter it for yourself. If you enter the contest, leave a comment with the link to your project, so we can all vote for you too!

Quick Post

I've been a bad blogger, and for that I apologize. We got hit with the winter sick bug at our house, and I've been getting by on the minimum lately. Tonight's just one last quick post of an Imaginisce card. I'll be back tomorrow with a great Pink Paislee project, I promise. Until then, enjoy this fun teacher card.

Almost everything you see is Imaginisce's Teacher's Pet Line. The book worm (I just love that little guy!) was colored in with Copic Markers. The frame that he's stamped on was cut with my Spellbinder's Nestabilities die. The notebook edge was done with a Stampin' Up! spiral edge punch.

It's a Zoo

Seriously, lately my house has felt more like a zoo than a home. Maybe it's the little monkeys that occupy my house (aka my 2 boys), or maybe it's that fact that as the weather turns colder, and the days turn shorter we're "caged" in our home more. But, I have to admit I love the zoo, the animals that live here, and this crazy, crazy life, so in honor of all of you who often feel like you're living in a zoo, here's a fun Zoo Layout.All of the paper, brads, and chipboard stickers are from Imaginisce's Wild Things Line. The stitching was done by hand using one of Bazzill's stitch templates.

Take Time to PLAY

I created a fun wall hanging for the play room in our house from some great Imaginisce paper. Creating really served as a great reminder to take time to PLAY and have some fun with my boys. Sometimes I get so busy doing the things that, "just have to be done," that I forget to enjoy it all. So, remember to take time to PLAY today.


Supplies:
Paper - Imaginisce Let's Roll
Tools - Silhouette SD (used to cut PLAY)
Adhesives - Foam Dimensionals
Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain from Stampin' Up!
Button - Imaginisce

More Scraptiv!ty

As promised, here are the rest of the projects I made for this months Scraptiv!ty kit release. Now, that doesn't mean you won't be seeing more from this kit from me, this is just what I could whip up in 1 week. Today I've got 2 layouts and a tea bag holder (it's a bit of a hybrid between a card and a box). Everything used is from Scraptiv!ty's November kit except for the thread and the brads. So without further ado....
A layout

Another layout (I scanned the newspaper articles into my computer, and then printed the articles out as 4 x 6 pictures...much easier to scrap that way)And, last but not least, my favorite project, Tea for Two

I hope you enjoyed my projects from this month's release. If you'd like to see more from the other amazingly talented Scraptiv!ty designers, you can check out Scraptiv!ty's November Kit gallery here or check out the kit itself here.