Do I feel a Little Love in the Air?

Well the month of January has definitely flown by. I can't believe in a few short days it will be February. February brings Valentine's Day! A day where you take a moment to cherish all of the relationships and friendships in your life.

 

I had fallen in love with the Carta Bella's Devoted line. Its all of your traditional colors for Valentine's with a twist of two of my favorite colors: Grey and Aqua. This line is so cute and I am sure a few other projects will also be done with it yet.

 

I did a very simple layout with a pic of my brother and sister in law with their oldest child. I think this is such a great picture and I didn't want the layout to take that away. This picture along with some of the other pictures in my previous post were all taken by their super talented friend Jenny.

 

I used my mini heart punch and my simplicity doily border punch from Tonic Studio to make the embellishment that goes across the page. I punched the hearts out at regular intervals and then I made two border strips with the doily punch. I then backed the heart strip with a coodinating pattern paper and adhered it all together in one layered strip. I then used the actual punched out hearts on the corner of the layout.

 

Here are some close ups of the layout so you can see the details of the punches.

 

 

 

 

So what Valentine Projects do you have up your sleeve this year? I would love to hear about them. I have a few cards and special projects to work on myself yet!

 

Happy Creating!

Calendar Love

I have an annual tradition, each year I make my mom a calendar with photos of us lovely kids, grandkids and grandpups. Typically she gets it "close" to the start of the new year. It's fun finding the perfect photos from the year to showcase during the upcoming year. I love making the calendar layouts since these layouts are typically simpler, cleaner layouts then your traditional day to day scrapping. I had fun playing around with different lines in my stash and playing with some new fun washi tape. I thought I would share the layouts to help inspire creativity in the new year. Mom will get a sneak peek as well since she doesn't pick up the calendar till this weekend! I will keep a few layouts for surprise.

Every year we try to do at least one picture with the entire gang. This year we made use of the computer to take our picture. This line from Simple Stories lent itself well to this picture. I loved working with the bright papers and embellishments.

This picture is of my parents on vacation. I used Dear Lizzy's 5th and Frolic line for this layout. I also used the EK banner punch to add some fun to the page. Plus I needed an excuse to use all of the fun pattern papers!

 

Here is a cute layout of my niece and nephew with Santa. I had fun using some of my Christmas paper stash. 

My brother and his family had some super cute family photographs taken this year, so we had to include them in the calendar.

 Last but not least there has to be a layout of the crazy grandpup, who is loving all of the winter snow.

 I hope the layouts inspire some fun simple scrapbooking. I can't wait to dig into some projects this year. Happy Creating!

Some More Christmas Cheer!

I am back today with more card ideas! We just got ourselves dug out from the storm. We ended up with 14 plus inches of snow! It makes a for a beautiful winter wonderland. I hope you enjoy the card and tag ideas!

These were done with Echo Park's Seasons Greeting and October Afternoon's Merry Christmas lines and with Tonic Studios punches. I used stickles to color in the the snowflakes to give them some more sparkle. The tags were made all with scraps!

 

Here are all of the cards I made with Doodlebug's North Pole pattern papers and embellishments. I also used Tonic punches on some of these cards as well.





 

 

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

 

Happy Creating!

Holiday Projects Galore!

I love this time of year, I just wish there were more hours in a day to get all of the projects done that I want to! As many of you may know I make all of my holiday cards to send out and no two are identical! I am not one who likes to do a production line or mass produce if I don't have too! I love just getting everything out and seeing how inspiration hits! So here are some of the cards some will see coming their way this year! I hope it helps inspire you to create something special yet for this year or for next year!

Here are some items I made with Doodlebug Design's North Pole Line. I love the traditional colors of this line. I of course used some of my Tonic punches as well on the projects. I used the Simplicity Victorian Border punch and the Scalloped Arc Border along with the medium Holiday Tree and Multi Level Snowman punch.

                                                           
                                                               Here are there close ups!

I will be back with some more projects tomorrow! Stay warm (here in WI we are in the middle of a blizzard, 14 inches and counting!) Happy Creating!

Vintage Christmas Fun

I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner. This can be the craziest time of the year with  lots to do, place to go, people to see, parties to have. Let alone taking time to do some fun scrappy things this time of year.

I snuck some time for myself since I wanted to share some quick, fun and easy things that can help spruce up either your home, office, or table.

I have been hoarding this October Afternoon Very Merry paper for quite some time. I love the color combination on these papers. My inspiration to use this paper actually came from buying the cute little wire basket from Hobby Lobby. Isn't it amazing what can spark your inspiration!

So I did some traditional items for the holidays like my paper garland, and card and something a little less traditional- pinwheels! Yes, I said Pinwheels... they aren't just for summer! Come take a look!

 

Pinwheel How To:

For the larger Pinwheels I cut my paper to 8x8. I then measured from corner to corner. I drew a pencil line from the corner down to 4.5 inches and then from the bottom corner up to 7 inches. (Smaller is 6x6 and I went from the corner down to 3 and from the bottom corner up to the 5.5 inches.) I then cut on the lines. Next I punched the holes. Please see diagram.  I then took a border punch and did the edges. Next take the brad and gather the corners and then put the brad through the center and close it. The below diagram will help you place the holes.

 

The pinwheels are fun to use to dress up the candy containers for little visitors, or to decorate a table. They are also fun to use on a present as a bow to spiff up a special present for someone. You could also attach them to your garland for a fun window dressing. The options are endless and versatile for any occasion!

 

 

Garland How To:

For the garland again you will want double sided pattern paper, or cardstock since the color shows through. For this I took my paper and cut 2.5x 12 inch wide strips. I then punched down both sides of the strips. I then cut them in half since I wanted a smaller looped garland. Then just take end to end and staple take the next strip and link it and staple…

 Incredibly simple but oh so cute!!  There are so many fun variations you can do with this. You could alternate with cardstock or Kraft paper, you can make bigger loops to use on a mantle or for above a window or for a tree… you could stamp holiday sayings on them or you could take a punch and cut a pattern along it… I am sure this isn’t the last garland you will see. I just can’t believe it took me this long to think to use my punches on it.

Last but not least here is the close up of the simple card I made with my punches and some left over paper scraps.

I hope you enjoyed the vintage holiday projects and came away with a few ways to dress up a special present for someone, to add some unexpectant charm to a table or display, or helped inspire a holiday card!

 

Happy Holidays!!! And Happy Creating!

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Table Decor

I have a post to help you get your Thanksgiving table going from ordinary to fabulous without a lot of time! This month I was asked to make some tablescape items for Thanksgiving using Tonic punches. I was up for the challenge since I haven't made anything like this in awhile. I took some time to sort through my punches and see what might work well together. I played a little and then came up with some very crude sketches. Next thing you know Voila! I had some awesome pieces to make my Thanksgiving table look spiffy.


The items I made really didn't take much time at all. I took two pattern papers from the Teresa Collins Giving Thanks line and then 3 coordinating cardstocks to work with. Less is more and easier to work with.  I then used 4 punches to come up with my design. One was a border punch (Simplicity Dotty) and the other was a border strip (Simplicity Daisy). I then took the multi detailed punch butterfly which I love to use along with the mini leaf. This design would work with any of your favorite punches or diecuts as well!

Here is a sample of what it all look likes and close ups are below:

Place Card:

Napkin Ring:

Treat Bag:

Candle Wrap:

Menu:

Here is the setting all set up and ready to go. I hope you enjoy it or get an idea for your own table.

Happy Creating!

OWH Card Sketch Challenge- Halloween Style

Welcome everyone! Today's challenge was to make a card based on Missy's card for the OWH Card Sketch Challenge:

 

Here is the sketch to inspire all!

 

 

After seeing the card, I had a ton of ideas floating around in my head.  Its a very simple design which can easily be adapted for any occassion.

 

Since Halloween is just around the corner and I had just gotten some fun new Doodlebug supplies,I decided to do a Halloween card.

 

The hardest part to making this card was to decide what fun pattern papers to choose and what to use as my embellishment.

Here is the list of supplies you will need to make my card:

1- 5x7- Kraft Card
1- 4.75x6.75 piece of white cardstock
4-Coordinating pattern papers
4- Fun embellishments that relate to your theme
1-Saying/Expression
Some Bakers twine
Adhesive, Paper Trimmer, a Paper Piercer, and a border or strip punch

How To Instructions:

First I started by cutting my white piece of cardstock. I then found some coordinating papers to use as my strips along the card. I used a 6x6 paper pad so I then cut 4- 1.5 inch strips of pattern papers.

I then took my  Tonic Simplicity Border Punch – Scalloped Arc Border 

 Punch along both sides of your strips to create this design for the card. I then lined them up on the white piece of cardstock and trimmed off any excess paper that overhung the edges. This made for a precise edge with out any guessing or measuring on how long the strip needed to be exactly.

After the strips were in place I then placed my spider embellishments!

 I then used a paper piercer to pierce a hole in the paper right above each spider this way I could thread the twine through the hole and adhere it to the back of the white with some adhesive. I then traveled the twine to the top of the card and folded it over the edge and then tucked that end down with some adhesive as well on the back. After everything was in place I took my sticker Happy Halloween and placed that down and then adhered the white cardstock to the kraft base card.


That is all that is to it, Very Easy which is nice for cards. I  look forward to making other cards in different themes based on the sketch, I can easily see a nice winter one with snowflakes as the embellishment, or a baby card with stars as the embellishment.... so many choices!

 I hope this has inspired you to make a card or two!

Happy Creating!!

Halloween Cards

I had some fun playing with my Tonic punches and with some of my long lost stash of halloween scrappy goodies! I love digging though my seasonal stash of things and forgetting what I have and making things work together! Don't get me wrong I have new halloween goodies, but I felt compelled to use some of my older stuff first!

For these cards I used for pattern papers Authentique Glowing and embellishments are Authentique Glowing and Making Memories. As for punches I used the Scalloped Arc Border simplicity punch and the Tag and ticket Duo punch. I had a lot of fun playing with all the pattern papers and the fun little diecuts from the collection. I love that this has a vintage feel to it as well.

Here is the whole collection of them. 

Here is a close up of two tiny cards I did. 

This is one of my favorites since it has all the fun pattern papers!!

 



 

Another fun one that I used just the scalloped border punch.

This one I used the big die cut for the saying and I used the border punch just on the tips of the strips. 

 

I hope this gave you some ideas on what to do with some of your stash! I hope to have some more halloween projects yet this month so stay tuned!

 

Happy Haunting!!

A Chill is in the Air!

I would so be in heaven if I could find a place that was always wrapped in the beautiful colors of fall and the awesome crisp temperatures. Anyone know where this place exists??

Can you tell, I am so loving this weather? The nice cool crisp air, no more of the 90+ degree days.. I think we ended up with like 39 of those this summer.. Ucky-Not for me!

Fall is my favorite time of the year and I was so excited to see what Simple Stories Harvest Lane collection looked like. Needless to say I was not disappointed! Its a very cute collection with all the fun ,rich, earthy colors of fall. I made a layout and a card with the collection and I can't wait to make more with it since I have tons of fall pictures due to our yearly trips to Door County.

On the layout I used the following Tonic Punches:

Tonic Tools used: Edger Punch 3, Border Punch: Pumpkin, Maple Leaf and Fall, Simplicity Border Punch- Scalloped Diamond Punch, Duo Ticket and Tag punch.

Here is a close up of the heart embellishment.

The heart embellishment is a 4x4 piece of cardstock covered with layered border punch strips. I then used one of the 4x4 elements on the pattern piece of paper I then used my scissors to cut the heart out and then layered it on top with pop dots so you can see the fun pattern paper through the cut out.

Here is a fun simple card I made as well with the collection. This is geat for a new homeowner or someone who may have recently moved into their own place.

Here are the two projects together.

 

Well I hope my projects inspired you to make a fall project! Happy Creating!