My First Ever Digi Stamps!

I had one more Father's Day card to make for my Uncle today. He's really good to my brother, sister, and I and we've always been very close. He's had a really hard life and even served in Vietnam as a Marine. He's one of the toughest, yet most soft hearted men I've ever met, and definitely a hero to me!! So, of course, his Father's Day card had to be special too! I realized when I went to post it however, that I used the same Mojo Monday sketch as I did for my DH's anniversary card!! I must really like this one! ;O)

I have been on a bit of a teddy bear kick lately and noticed these super cute images on both Sparkle and Suzy's blogs. Both are incredibly talented ladies and I have been "lurking" (as Sparkle calls it) on both their blogs for about 6 months now! ;O) As soon as I have time, I want to sign-up as a follower of both blogs, just haven't figured that part out yet!!!!

Anyway, after seeing their work, I decided I had to have the Mini-Bears and Birds digi-stamp images from Angel's Landing. They are really incredibly priced, just $4.99 and you get 11 different images in both black and brown along with a ton of sentiments!!! You can't beat that and I thought they were just too cute not to try out! I've had them about a week now and finally got around to making a card with one today! It took me a while to figure out how to cut them out with my Cricut, but I have really enjoyed using them!!

This image is called Cubby Cousins and Bird. I used my copics to color him and his cute little bird friend. Copics/shading are new to me and I still have lots to learn, but they are so much fun to use!! I dabbed a little bit of Baby Pink chalk on both the bear and the bird's cheeks for some extra warmth. I also used Sarsaparilla Paper Pack, Twighlight and Colonial White cardstock, Twighlight and Chocolate Ink, and Beary Best, Western Flourishes, and Say It In Style stamps. The chocolate ribbon is CTMH, the button is from the Nature pack by Favorite Findings (I bought it at JoAnns), the flower is Bazzill Basics, and the hemp is just a random roll I've had for years.

I already have my eye on another set of digi stamps at Angel's Landing and another one at the Greeting Farm. This instant gratification thing may be a dangerous addition to my stamp addiction! ;o)

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend!

You're a Star!

I posted the Father's Day cards that I scraplifted from one of last year's CTMH catalogs back in May. But, those I did for all of my son's grandpas-he is lucky enough to have three grandpa's and one great grandpa! I wanted to make a special one for my husband, not only because he's special, but because he had to sign the others before I mailed them this past weekend. So, it wouldn't be much of a surprise that way!!! ;o)

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch! Can you believe it!!! I never manage to use the current week's sketch and still complete my card all in time to post it! So, my goal this week, is to link my card to their website...wish me luck, it will be my first ever attempt! ;O)

I have been desperately trying to use more of my stash and buy less lately. So, in sticking with that theory and for lack of a better "manly" paper, I used the same Building Blocks paper pack that I chose for my last layout. I also used, Cranberry, Sweet Leaf, Sunny Yellow, and Moonstruck ink and cardstock. The stamp sets used on this card are Vintage USA, Just Like You, Shining Star, Say It in Style, Star Struck, Wishing Star and Small Friendship Alpha! Whew, that was quite a few! I also managed to sneak in just a bit of CTMH Cranberry Ribbon and a star brad I picked up at JoAnns-I believe it was the store's brand.

Happy Day!

I used one of the March 2009 sketches from Page Maps to do this layout. It didn't turn out to be anything like I had intended/hoped, but I'm glad to be done. I thought this one would be a quick one to put together, but instead, I struggled with it for almost two weeks. Hard to believe since its so plain, but sadly, it's true!! ;o) I think that's why I've really enjoyed making cards so much lately. They take me hours to complete, but not weeks like my layouts often do!

The paper is from a retired pack called Building Blocks, along with Sunny Yellow and Cranberry cardstock and Sunny Yellow, Cranberry, Moonstruck and Sweet Leaf ink. I also used Cobblestone Alphabet, Journaling Jots, and Birthday Invitation (retired) stamp sets. The balloons I believe are from Jolee's By You, and I added some sparkle to the cake with Finishing Accents clear rhinestone stickers and red and yellow Stickles to the candles. The embroidery floss is Royal Blue from Making Memories.

Happy Anniversary!

My husband and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary today!! We don't really take our anniversaries very seriously, we usually pick out a "gift" that both of us will use and try to have a nice dinner. Instead though, tonight, we're going to take our little man to Bear's Tooth Theatre to see Aliens vs. Monsters! It's a fun theatre where you order dinner ahead of time and they serve you while you watch your movie...not to mention the movies are $3 and their food is awesome! Can't get any better than that! We're thinking about getting a new grill as our "gift", but we're going to wait until the end of the summer and see if we can get a better deal. We've pretty much spent every spare penny on putting our yard in this summer and a fence that should be installed any day. We'll be glad when all of that is done and we can put it behind us!

Anyway, my husband doesn't really care one way or the other about cards, so I decided to make one that I enjoyed instead! ;o) I absolutely love this retired stamp set from CTMH called Beary Much!!! It's great for babies, Valentine's Day, and apparently anniversaries!!! I stamped both bears using Memento Rich Cocoa Ink and colored them in with Copic markers. I am way new to copics and clearly still learning. They are so much fun though! I added a touch of Chocolate chalk for a little background color around the circle and Hollyhock chalk for their cheeks.

I used the Mojo Monday sketch above for inspiration along with Soul Mates and Say it In Style stamps, Serendipity paper, Chocolate and Outdoor Denim ink, Bamboo and Chocolate cardstock, and Chocolate ribbon. The dew drops are Spring Bloom colors from Robin's Nest and I put a touch of white in the bears' eyes using a Gellyroll pen from Sakura.

I Just Can't Quit Using this Paper and Stamp Set!

A friend asked me to come over and help her get an idea of where to begin with the whole cardmaking end of things. I didn't have much time, but grabbed this sketch off the Mojo Monday blog posted on May 25th and my apparent go-to paper and stamps. I don't know what it is about this paper/stamp combo that I keep coming back to it. I just love the look of them together and although I wouldn't have picked it myself, I love Vineyard Berry for the butterflies!!! I used the Emporium Creative Basics paper and the ribbon that came with it, Colonial White, Vineyard Berry, and Crystal Blue cardstock, Vineyard Berry and Cocoa (for the distressing) ink, Butterfly Wings stamp set, and of course, Robin's Nest Dew Drops from their collection called Water. I used the Accent Essentials cartridge for the two circles. I haven't decided what sentiment I want to use with this one yet, so I will add that later.

Clean-Up Day

This was so out of my comfort zone! But, it seemed like the perfect sketch for these pictures from the great day we spent cleaning-up around Anchorage. This was Sketch #21 from the Inspired Blueprints blog. I love their sketches, but all of them are a little outside my box and truly cause me to strain to be creative! ;o)

For those of you that don't live in snowy climates and haven't experienced a clean-up day, I'll explain. Typical garbage that comes out of the back of pick-ups or that's thrown out by litter bugs continues to happen all year long despite the weather. However, in the winter, nobody is out picking up trash because its too cold and the snow is usually pretty deep so it ends up getting buried by the next snowfall. Come spring time, our roadsides and parks are a total disaster. It seems like its getting worse and worse as more people move up here that have no respect for the state and as our homeless population continues to grow. But, it might also be because this was the first winter that the snow stuck on the ground the entire time (October through April) for a whole lot of years! I love real winters and was glad to see a real one back in Alaska despite the mess that comes along with spring!
Anyway, on to my layout. I had so much fun with this one, but love the paper so much, I could barely bring myself to cut it up! Ever have that problem? ;o) Its from the Paper Loft's Slug Bug line, so cute and such great earthy colors! I also used CTMH Cocoa, Sweet Leaf, and Daisy White cardstock. The title and circles were done with my Cricut, but I still managed to fit in lots of other stamps!!!

The only non-CTMH stamp was the fox. He's from Imaginisce's Twitterpated line, how cute is he!! The owl is from You're a Hoot, the fish is from World's Best Dad, and the Bear is from Wild Thing. I used my cricut to cut the circles and then stamped them with Intrinsic Backgrounds for a little extra texture.

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend!! Ours will hopefully be a little slow this week.

Play Time

O.k., so this isn't my favorite ever work. But, I'm so glad to have it done!! I swear my engineering education sucked all the creativity right out of me and I really have to make an extra effort. My husband makes fun of me for my right angles and is always shocked on the rare occasions I "break out" and use a circle! ;O) Anyway, the engineer in me determined that for the photos for my son's first year, I would use the same paper for each month of photos and just make it work despite the color mix. In this case, I used Simple Pleasures. These are the last two sets of photos for this paper and I really struggled to complete the layouts, but decided it is enough.

What I did enjoy was making my titles!! I have meant to try this technique a million times and decided that it was the extra spunk these layouts needed. All I did was cut out the titles with my Cricut on White Daisy cardstock (you could also use chipboard letters or CTMH's Color Ready Alphabets). But, before I removed them from the mat, I used a sponge to dab Twighlight, Desert Sand, and Cocoa ink on the letters. You always start with the lightest color and then progress to the darkest. It is so much fun and such a neat look!!

In addition to the Simple Pleasures paper and Twighlight, Desert Sand, and Cocoa ink, I used Twighlight and White Daisy cardstock, Chocolate Mini Medley accents, and Natural Hemp.

I should add that this layout came from CTMHs Imagine book and is entitled "Open Forum".

Pedal Car

Added Note 6/14: I forgot to give credit to the Scrappy Sunday Challenge on the Paper Craft Planet website for the sketch I used. I thought it went really well with my "Sweet" page that

I posted earlier and it used the inside of one my circles, so less waste! ;O) I love their sketches!! They are pretty simple, but easy to make your own.

This is another layout that didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, but it's done, right?!! For this layout I used Animal Crackers Creative Basics, White Daisy and Cranberry Cardstock, Cranberry Ink, and Homestead Alphabet. The ribbon I picked up at JoAnns and the tools are Karen Foster's Mini Charms. Looking at this now, I wish I'd cut out the centers of the "P", "D", "A", and "R". I originally intended to run the title down the side where all the whit space is and then the white wouldn't show. But, I just couldn't make that work like I wanted. I may have to peel them up and redo the title, I'm famous for doing that! ;o)

You're A Hoot

I can't get enough of the new CTMH You're a Hoot owl stamp set! I think I might have mentioned it before, but my little man's initials are O.W.L. and his nickname is "Hoot". I know he's going to hate us, but we thought it was cute before he was born and I can always claim it was the hormones...right? ;O) Anyway, because of his initials I've collected every cute owl stamp/paper I've come across. In doing so, I've come to love them myself!!! I needed a card for my husband's grandmother's birthday and decided to lift Janette Olen's card from Week #86 of the Mojo Monday sketches. Janette used a really cute Olivia Owl stamp from Sweet N Sassy stamps. But, I still like ours better and couldn't wait to try and duplicate her card!! I'm not sure mine turned out quite as good, the colors were harder to work with than I anticipated, I guess it comes from always using boy paper!! I did have fun using some pink for a change though!

I used Paper Garden for the patterned paper, petal ink, buttercup cardstock, and a textured pink cardstock from an old DCWV spring stack. For stamps I used You're a Hoot, No Peeking, A Birthday Wish (party hat), and From Me to You for the sentiment. I also used The Bird's Nest Dew Drops and lots of Stickles!

Last Of Easter Pics

I had a goal a month or two ago, to complete every one of the Scrapbook challenges on Paper Craft Planet. At the time, they had just started the challenge, and there were around half a dozen layouts to complete. I almost caught-up when summer hit! ;o) Below are a couple of layouts I did manage to complete however, using the rest of my super cute Reminisce shimmer paper and chipboard stickers. I just absolutely love this paper and could have made a dozen more pages with it had I bought enough!! There's also a little Creme Brulee, Sweet Leaf, Black, and Daisy White cardstock used for matting. I used my brand new Cricut to cut the "Egg Dyeing" title! I was trying to mimic the "Easter Egg Hunt" text pre-printed on the other page. I think it turned out pretty close.

The sketches transferred a little smaller than I had hoped, but if you'd like to see them bigger head over to Paper Craft Planet. I thought these two sketches worked really well together for a 2-page spread. The first one was posted on 4/19/09 and the second was posted on 3/22/09.