Warm Winter Fun- Sketches in Thyme

Hello! I have a new project to share, a layout! I was inspired by this sketch from Sketches in Thyme:

I stuck pretty close to this sketch because it worked well for the photos I had already printed out! The big snowflake was cut using Sure Cuts A Lot and my Cricut. I then sprayed and splattered the whole page with white spray ink. I layered on my patterned papers and title. To embellish the page, I found some snowflake rub ons (which I used up!), and some DIY Thickers that I added glitter to.

Materials:
Cardstock- American Crafts
Patterned Paper- Moxxie
Letter Stickers- American Crafts
Letter Die Cuts- Creative Memories
Pens- GelWriter, and Sharpie
Glitter- American Crafts
Rub ons- Fiskars

Last Christmas Cards!

Hello, I have a couple more Christmas cards to share today. These were also made for my kids' teachers and were inspired by this month's sketch at Stick it Down:

This card stayed really close to the sketch. I used my Cricut to cut the layers. The green layer was one piece that I cut apart and cut slits into. I then curled the sections up to create some dimension. I decorated the tree with some Liquid Pearls for the star and ornaments.

For my second card, I used the same design. I started by stamping the star and dot background in white on a kraft cardstock panel. After that dried, I stamped and heat embossed the tree. I finished off the card with a stamped and heat embossed sentiment and some Liquid Pearls on the star.

Happy Anniversary- CAS(E) this Sketch #252

Hello and Merry Christmas! I have a new card to share today. This was inspired by the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch:

I made an anniversary card for my husband's brother and his wife. This is a great sketch to use up some of those scraps. I found some coordinating pieces and cut strips of approximately the same width and added them to the card. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment. I decided it needed a bit more after I had done all that, so I added a few flowers to finish it off.

Christmas Cards- Playing With Alcohol Inks

Hello all! I have a couple more cards to share today. These weren't for any particular challenge, I just wanted to play with a technique that I saw on Tim Hotlz's blog many years ago.

I made a few of these plaid backgrounds on glossy cardstock using alcohol inks. For the card on the left, I finished it off by stamping the trees and sentiment and heat embossing the sentiment. For the card on the right, I did a little more. I used my Cricut to cut the snowflake, I stamped and fussy cut the little person and then colored it in. I finished it off with a stamped and heat embossed sentiment. These backgrounds are such a quick and fun way to make impressive cards.

Dreaming of a White Christmas Cards

Hello, I'm back with a couple more cards! This time I was inspired by the "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

Since we were going for mostly white, I went with a snow theme again. I started by dry embossing 4 cards with my snowflake embossing folder. Then for two of the cards, I stamped and heat embossed snowflakes on a piece of vellum. For the sentiment, I stamped and heat embossed a snowflake with glitter embossing powder and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white over the top. I wish you could see the embossing a bit more through the vellum, but I am still happy with the card.

Here you can see the heat embossing on the vellum a bit better, it is very pretty in person.

For the other two cards, I layered silver spotted acetate over the embossed background. I stamped and heat embossed a snowflake on vellum and then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment over the top. (Quick tip- If you are stamping on top of heat embossing, make sure you press firmly so your entire image gets stamped. I cut around the snowflake and attached it to the front of my card.

Sketch Saturday- Snowflake Christmas Card

Good morning! I will be sharing Christmas cards I have been making for my kids' teachers over the next few days. First up is a card that was inspired by this sketch from Sketch Saturday:

The circles in the sketch immediately made me think of snowflakes, so that's what I went with for this one. I started by stamping and heat embossing my star and dot background in white. I then took three different colors of blue ink and blended them over the top. To get the ink off of the white embossed areas, I ran a clean tissue over the whole card. I then stamped and heat embossed some snowflakes onto some vellum. I finished off the card by punching some scalloped circles from navy blue cardstock and stamping and heat embossing the sentiment and another snowflake. I attached those to the card using foam adhesive for some dimension. 

Birthday Cards for My Daughters

Hello again! I have a couple more cards to share. I made these a few weeks ago and never got them posted. I was inspired by this inspiration photo at The Card Concept: 

I loved the colors and sparkle. I started by inking up my card front with Distress Oxide inks in similar shades. Then I sprayed a background stamp with water and stamped it onto my background which gave it a nice, subtle pattern. I layered on some patterned papers and ribbon. The balloon and sentiment were stamped and heat embossed. After I had completed all that, I felt that it needed a frame, so I used liquid pearls to add dots around the outside.

I used a similar color scheme for this card, but this time, used some Altenew stamps to make the butterflies. I added some blue ink to look like sky.

December Calendar Page

Good morning! I am back with another project to share. This time, I am finally sharing my December calendar page. I completed this a few weeks ago, I just haven't had time to share it on my blog. I started with the November sketch from Stick It Down:

For the strips on the background, I used washi tape (and I actually used up a couple of rolls in the process! The papers are from Echo Park's "Twas the Night Before Christmas, Volume 2" which I won a couple of month's ago for commenting on one of their posts on Facebook! I added another pair of photos to the sketch because I wanted to include more. For my journaling, I decided to use round journaling spots and make them look like ornaments. I used stickers, die cuts and brads from various companies and collections to finish off the page.

I am also entering this in the Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge December prompt which is to use the words "merry" or "happy" and the colors red or green.

Winter Cards

 Hello! Once again, it has been a while. I have a bit of a backlog of things to share, so you can look forward to more consistent posts in the near future. First up are these two cards I made two weeks ago for an anniversary and a birthday. They were inspired by  a Jennifer McGuire post and the current Fusion challenge:

I used blue alcohol ink, pearl and silver mixatives and blending solution on glossy cardstock to make my background.  Once it was dried, I stamped the evergreen branches with Versamark and heat embossed them with silver powder. I added a couple of pieces of ribbon and finished off the card front with the heart that was stamped and heat embossed on vellum.

While I was at it, I made another background and card for my nephew's birthday. For this card, I cut the cake with my Cricut. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed on vellum and layered over the top. I finished it off with some ribbon.

9 Months of Growth

Hello all! I have a new layout to share! I hope to be getting to some more creating that I can share soon!

This is a layout documenting my growth through my 4th child's pregnancy (he'll be 5 in a little over a month, but who's counting...). I ended up leaving this layout pretty simple since there are so many photos. I started by cutting a full page background in a similar color to my background. I cut that in half and glued it to the center of my pages. I then took strips of striped patterned paper (which ended up being mostly covered) and added those to either side. I then splattered a few colors of ink over my background. I stamped the little labels for the stats and then wrote them out. The number in my title is a chipboard number, the rest was cut with my Cricut. I finished off the page with some star stickers and enamel accents.

I'm entering this in the current challenge at Challenge YOUrself: use ink or spray and include a photo of yourself. I am also entering it in the November 19 challenge at The Studio Challenges: create your background.

Materials:
Cardstock- Die Cuts with a View, My Mind's Eye, American Crafts
Patterned Paper, stickers- Echo Park
Chipboard- Pink Paislee
Enamel- Pink Fresh Studios, Bella Blvd
Inks- October Afternoon, EK Success, Tattered Angels
Pen- Sharpie
Die Cutter- Provo Craft
Cartridge- Makin' the Grade, Edge to Edge

Making Multiple Cards

Hello again! I was so busy the last month and a half, I wasn't able to make cards for all of the birthdays! I used some already made ones from my stash and got some help from my daughter for one as well. Once we hit November, I didn't have anything that would work for several events, so I had to crank a bunch out quick one evening.

First up is a set of birthday cards I made for 2 1-year-olds and a 2-year-old. For these, I stamped the giraffe with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink on dark brown cardstock. The balloons we stamped in a coordinating color and heat embossed. I fussy cut all of those pieces before adding them to my card fronts with foam adhesive. I added some stamping in the bottom corner in a coordinating color to add some interest. After stamping the sentiment, I used some twine and tied it around the giraffe's tail before gluing it down on the card front.

Next up, I made two anniversary and a sympathy card using some Altenew stamps. I inked the edges with brown ink and stamped the sentiment in the same color. I added some dots of gold glitter glue on the anniversary cards for some sparkle.

November Calendar Page

Hellooooooo! It's been very quiet around here for a while. I've been busy taking and editing family photos. I also had another wrench thrown in this fall that I will talk more about in the near future. ;) I am here today to share my November layout. I started with the two page sketch from PageMaps from August 2016.

I loved how many photos I could get on this layout and even figured out how to get a few more on than the original sketch suggested. I used Basic Grey "Grand Bazaar for my paper and many of the embellishments. I kept things pretty simple on this one since there are so many photos.

Materials:
Cardstock- My Mind's Eye
Patterned Paper, flowers, wood veneers- Basic Grey
Stickers- Basic Grey, American Crafts
Sequins- Jenni Bowlin
Liquid Pearls, Ink- Ranger
Pen- Sharpie
Stamps- KI Memories

October Calendar Page

Hello! I have a scrapbook page to share today. I got my October calendar page done ahead of time this month! As you may know, I am a family photographer, and it gets really busy this time of year. I will be spending a lot of time over the next month taking and editing photos, so I wanted to get this done! I used the double page sketch from Stick it Down:

I started with cream cardstock and added the patterned paper across the bottom. I then cut out the big leaf using my Cricut. I decided to use both the cut and the negative cut. I then splattered some inks on the pages. I added my photos. I dug out a bunch of different embellishments and made a few groupings around the page. 

Cards- CAS(E) This Sketch

Hello! I have a couple of card to share today, both using CAS(E) This Sketch sketches. First up is a wedding card I made based off of this week's sketch:

The invitation we received for this wedding was black with gold dots, so I decided to work from that for the card. I layered some acetate with gold dots over some black cardstock. I then took a piece of kraft colored paper and used Versamark and gold embossing powder to make the edge gold and layered that underneath. I stamped some flowers on my white card base and then attached the layered pieces. I finished off the card with a die cut "Congrats" that I inked and heat embossed to match the gold.

Next up is a card using the sketch from two weeks ago. 

I was inspired by the changing leaves and decided to try some watercoloring. I stamped and heat embossed my leaves and then painted them in with a generous amount of water. I dropped the color into the flowers and let it spread. I then painted a light coat of blue over the entire background. I finished it off with my stamped and heat embossed sentiment and some gold paint splatters.

September Calendar Page

Good morning! I figured that since we are now over a week into September, I should share my calendar page for the month! 

This month I was inspired by the two page sketch at PageMaps for July. I used a bunch of October Afternoon papers and embellishments from various places. 

I was also inspired by the Tic Tac Toe challenge at Scrap Our Stash:

I did the bottom row: arrow (middle left embellishment cluster), wood grain paper, and circle (patterned paper on left side of page).

Materials:

Cardstock- My Mind's Eye

Patterned Paper- October Afternoon

Chipboard- My Mind's Eye, Fiskars, October Afternoon

Stickers- Simple Stories, Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, October Afternoon

Flowers- Prima, KaiserCraft

Wood Veneer- Basic Grey, Project Life, American Crafts

Enamel Dots- October Afternoon

Pen- Sakura

Material tape- Making Memories

Ribbon- Michael's

Brads- Doodlebug, Basic Grey 

You Are Awesome birthday card- Altenew

Hello! I have a new card to share! I made this one for my niece who turned 20 earlier this week. I was inspired by the current challenge at Altenew:

I used the Painted Butterflies set. I started with the block watercolor technique that Jennifer McGuire demonstrated in this post. I used Distress Oxide inks since they are so fun to work with. I stamped the block onto my kraft cardstock background. I dried that with my heat tool and then stamped my butterflies. I picked up on the pinkish purple in the inspiration piece and used that for my butterflies. For the sentiment, I ran the same pink ink over white cardstock and dried that with the heat gun before silver embossing my sentiment.  I added a bit more sparkle with the silver sequins.

52 Week Photography Challenge- Week 35

Hello! I am back today with my photos for the From Moments to Memories 52 Week photography challenge. This week's prompt was easy, since it is what I do and I had a shoot this past weekend: Portrait! The shoot was a newborn shoot, but her older sister needed to get in on the fun since she will be 2 soon.

52 Week Photography Challenge- Weeks 30-34

Well, here I am again, waaaaay behind. I have 5 photos for the last 5 prompts to share.

Week 30- Reflections

We spent last week with my husband's sister's family in Illinois. One of the first nights we were there, I noticed the sky was beautiful and it was super still so the pond in their backyard had a perfect reflection in it.

Week 31- Transportation

I struggled with this prompt the most and I'm not loving this photo for it, but I decided I needed to move on! While we were in Illinois, we went to Legoland. This is my husband and daughter on one of the rides there.

Week 32- Clouds
This photo was taken the same night as the first one in this post, just shooting in a different direction.

Week 33- Morning

A couple of weeks ago, the kids, my parents, and I went to the Arboretum. It rained that morning, and throughout the day, leaving lovely drops on the flowers and plants.

Week 34- Wildlife

The kids and I went to the zoo yesterday. This white cheeked gibbon was howling away while we were there and I managed to catch this shot of it.

What Does the Fox Say?

Hello! I have a scrapbook page to share today! I am not usually inspired by product, but product inspired the title of this page. 

I started with the scraplift challenge at Paper Issues:

I loved the block style of the layout and that I could get several photos on one page. I was also inspired by the Tic Tac Toe challenge at The Studio:

I used the diagonal from the bottom left to the top right. I used papers and wood veneers from Basic Grey's Grand Bazaar. There is a fox motif running throughout the collection that made me think of the song from a few years ago, so I decided to use that as my title for this school page. 

I embellished my page with a border sticker, stickers, wood veneer, wood tags, enamel accents and liquid pearls.

Materials:
Patterned Paper, stickers, wood veneer- Basic Grey
Washi tape- My Mind's Eye
Die Cuts- K and Company
Pen- Sharpie
Enamel Accents- PinkFresh Studios, EK Success
Liquid Pearls- Ranger

Kid Birthday Cards

Hello! I have a couple of cards to share today that I made last week for two kids that are special to me and my family. 

First up is a card I made for our goddaughter, who turned 4 last week. I was inspired by this sketch from Stick It Down:

For my background, I was inspired by a technique that Jennifer McGuire posted a couple of months ago using watercolors and plastic wrap. I used Gelatos painted on with water for my background. I cut the balloons using my Cricut and then backed them with black cardstock to make them stand out against my colorful background. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed. I finished off the card with embroidery floss strings for the balloons. 

Next up is a card I made for our nephew who turned 3 using some scraps from a recent scrapbook layout. I had printed my journaling on strips and so there was excess paper cut off of each strip. I used those scraps and wove them together to make a grid for my background.  I cut out the dinosaur using my Cricut. I hand cut the banner for the sentiment and stamped the sentiment onto it. 

August Calendar Page- Stick it Down

Hello! I have my August calendar page to share today! I ended up using the June Double Sketch from Stick it Down:

I used October Afternoon's Summertime collection for my papers and much of my embellishment. I typed up my journaling and cut it into strips, one of my favorite techniques for these month in review layouts. I moved the bulk of my journaling to the top left corner because there was more space there. I finished off my layout with some die cuts, buttons and enamel dots.

Materials:
Cardstock- Michael's, Bazzill
Patterned Paper, sticker, die cuts, badge- October Afternoon
Rub Ons- Making Memories
Enamel dots- Simple Stories, October Afternoon
Buttons- October Afternoon, Oriental Trading Company, American Crafts, other
Ribbon- Michael's, Fiskars
Pens- Sharpie, Uniball Signo
Font- Calibri