Oh Dear!

Oh dear, I must apologize, I've gone a whole week without posting. My mom has been visiting, and I've been having so much fun, that it just slipped through the cracks. Well, my mom's gone home now, and I thought I'd post a card. This card was done with images cut with my Silhouette, Sampin' Up! stamps and card stock, and My Mind's Eye patterned paper.
Scraptiv!ty's April kit release is Thursday, so check back here Thursday and Friday and I promise to have lots of new projects both days using the kit. It's one of my favorite kits so far, you won't want to miss it!

A tale of 2 cards

Well, I know I've said it before, but I do like stepping out of my comfort zone to make cards. It helps me grow as a paper crafter, but it's not always ad successful as I'd like it to be. I have 2 cards today. 1 is 100% in my comfort zone and the other is way outside it. 1st up is the not so comfortable card.

This is for Moxie Fab World's Doilies and Lace challenge. Vintage, shabby chic, or whatever you want to call it isn't really my style, but hey, it was fun to give it a try. Most of what you see up there is from my February Scraptiv!ty kit. I cut some of the lace into strips and twisted it up to make the lace flower. Then I used some brown ink to dirty it up a bit. All of my non-kit items came from A Walk Down Memory Lane (AWDML) and include the journaling tag from My Mind's Eye, the pretty stick pins from Jenni Bowlin, the i love you stamp from Heidi Grace, and the Sunburst border punch from Fiskars.

Now up is a card that's 100% in my comfort zone.
This card uses paper from My Mind's Eye Andrea Victoria Collection. The border punch is one of my favorites, Apron Lace by Fiskars. The Happy Birthday stamp is by Cornish Heritage Farms. The rhinestone brads and ribbon are from Stampin' Up!

Erin go Bragh!

A happy St. Patty's Day to you all. I'm and Irish girl through and through (at least on my mom's side), so I wanted to make sure to stop in and wish you all a Happy St. Patty's. This is a repeat card for 2 reasons. 1. It's one of my favorites and is perfect for St. Patty's Day (Erin go bragh translates to Ireland Forever). 2. Moxie Fab World is having a lace and doilies contest. You can find the details here. That lace made from glitter is perfect for the contest. If you haven't already, you can get this lace and doily kit (full of gorgeous paper, too) from Scraptiv!ty.

Deja Dino

If you're thinking these photos look a little familiar, they are. I used a few of these photos before on this layout. My parents got a pet dinosaur, Kota, for my boys for Christmas. It's really pretty amazing, you feed it, it makes noise, plays music, and you can ride on it, it even falls asleep if you scratch it under its chin. After scrapping the pics of the boys taking care of Kota for myself, I decided that I couldn't let my extra My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Stomp papers, brad, and chipboard stickers go to waste, so I decided to do a page for my parent too.
As you can see, I left a blank space for journaling, so my parents can write what they'd like to on the page. "Dino Dudes" was cut using my Silhouette and a free font from DaFont.com called Rock It.

Another Post !?!

I know, 2 totally separate posts in 1 day! Can you believe it? Here's the deal, I just received the new American Crafts new Heat Wave Line (which I won when they were doing a CHA sneek peek give-away). This line is so full of summery goodness. I think I caught my husband rolling his eyes at how excited I was opening my AC box full of papers, flowers, rub-ons, Thickers, chipboard pieces, and more! I can just imagine using this line for sweet summer photos like this one: But for now that will have to wait. I stepped out of my comfort zone a little (ok, a lot) to make this card for my sister's 30th birthday later this month. I thought I would be kind and not put a big 30 on the front.
Just in case you don't know, every Friday AC releases a new challenge you can play along with here on their blog. Entries are due by the Thursday after the contest is announced. Wouldn't you know, this week's challenge just happens to be a card challenge!
Supplies:
American Craft Heat Wave:

Cherry Cowabunga Papers

Beach House Glittered Paper Flowers

Swell Remarks Stickers

Surfs Up Flair

Wake Mini Marks (rub-ons)

Niki Riki Thickers

My Mind's Eye Sketch Challenge #9

My Mind's Eye has another sketch challenge going on. You can click here for all the details and deadlines. The sketch has a twist, it must also include a "blast from the past". I have so much fun with these sketches, I hope you'll consider playing along too (if you haven't already!). Here's the sketch:
And here's my take:

And a few close-ups:
All of the paper is Ooh La La from My Mind's Eye. I just love the way the colors in this paper combine to add to the vintage feel of the photograph. The pearl brads are from MME's Lush Line. The regular pearls are from Kaisercraft. The border is punched with Fiskars Sunburst border punch. The brad in the middle of the flower was made using MME paper and my I-top brad maker.

Stamping Olympics - Love

THIS CARD IS COMPLETELY STAMPED! The background was created using stamps, inks, and embossing powder. I created a similar card for my local scrap store, A Walk Down Memory Lane, using patterned papers. I was inspired to re-create it using stamps instead. The stamps sets are Cornish Heritage Farm's Collage Elements I and The Greeting Farm's Sweet Deal. I stamped images using SU! Chocolate Chip Craft ink, SU! Certainly Celery Craft Ink, and Versamark ink. I then embossed these images with American Crafts clear embossing powder. Finally, I sponged on ink (Ranger Distress Ink Broken China, SU! Bashful Blue, and SU! Certainly Celery). The ink will not stick to the embossed images leaving home made patterned paper.