Paper Secrets 19

Good morning

here's my layout I did for the challenge over at PaperSecrets.  Each week we are given an assignment for a layout. I really don't care if I win the contest, it's just helping me to do more layouts that I should have done a long time ago (or some new ones in this case). If you participate and follow the guidelines you advance to the next week. We started with 27 and 10 moved on again last week, these ladies are serious about their scrapping.  I will keep updating you as I go along. Who knows, I might not be able to participate one week and then I am out, but until then, I am scrapping my butt off, (they used a different word, but my blog is family friendly...hehehe

So now I am a bit intimidated about a lot of white

area on my layouts...I am a firm believer of covering

every little spot...well....

not anymore...I just love how this layout turned out.

First I must say that having little Miss Bella to scrap

is a perfect page in itself, but I am absolutely in love 

with this page.  The only thing I do not like is my 

journaling, but that goes without saying.  

I hate my handwriting.

The only time I used my E-Craft was for cutting the mat. 

What I used for the layout is in red:

raw chipboard (leave raw , paint, ink, etc....your choice)
border punch
flowers/leaves
bling
fabric/felt
rubons
stamped image
hand or machine stitching
glitter/micro beads
ribbon/lace

Now this page inspired another creation and if you tune in tomorrow you just may get to see what I am talking about.  I will have my Festive Friday post in the early morning, but you all may be in for another post sometime tomorrow too.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Good morning

***If you are looking for my Festive Friday's card, please scroll down***

 welcome to another day of challenges over at Love to Crop.  Amy sure has kept me busy the last couple of weeks.  I was asked, just yesterday, if I could come up with a Fall project...oh boy.  I, of course, couldn't say no because I had been thinking about this project for a while now anyway, but I worked until early this morning on this...and I am tired...but I do love how it turned out.

Okie-dokie -- This time around, Amy is challenging you to pull out those FALL COLORS and create whatever your heart desires!!  She recently saw this yummy CAKE at her local Giant Eagle grocery store...  It sure put HER in the mood to use FALL colors:

Your project doesn't have to be a fall project or a CAKE (but it can be if you like), you just have to incorporate fall colors into your project!!  Feel free to make a card, layout, or other art project!!  This week, she has FOUR talented friends to provide some inspiration for the challenge!!  Make sure you pop over to her blog and check out the inspirations.   When leaving a comment, be sure to mention that you're stopping over from Love To Crop! so that she can pick another lucky winner for a little something-something!! :)  She gives out some super cute paper packets...I know, I've won one before...

So onto my creation:

I started with a chipboard circle cutout with my 

E-Craft and wrapped it with raffia and lots of hot glue.

I created the hanger with the raffia also

I really like the look

Most of you know that I am a Penny Duncan

stalker...I just love her flower cuts and you can

find this Hibiscus cut here.  She also has an 

excellent video tutorial there...

Now I pretty much followed her directions to 

a tee in making the flower, except I didn't have 

the stamens she used and my misting didn't 

turn out as vibrant as hers but I am still very 

happy with the way my flowers turned out.  

The stamens are from old silk flowers 

that I had laying around.

Cup your flower and hot glue around it.

It was so late last night while I was finishing 

this project that I did not cut the leaves for the

Hibiscus, but rather used some old silk leaves

that I also have in my stash.  From being a flower

designer I have so much of this stuff it's amazing.

I just hot glued the handmade flowers to the leaves.

I added a sheer ribbon with pearls to the top

and added 2 stick pins.

Now the stick pins I did a little differently 

this time.  I added tiny silk flowers to the 

stick pin also, these were the flowers 

that the stamens came from.  

Love how these turned out.

And here is my wreath.  Sorry for the bad 

picture, but it was 2:30 this morning when I

got it done and the lighting was bad and I was 

tired...I think I mentioned that before...

Now remember to hop on over to Love to Crop with Amy 

and create something with Fall colors to enter into her challenge.

• You may enter as many NEW projects as you would like as long as they fit in the challenge theme.
• Please include a link to www.lovetocrop.com so that others may play along.

I also linked this over at Craft Junkie Too TGIF...check out all the inspiration 

Decorate to Celebrate #8 "Anything Goes"

Good morning and Happy Wednesday, everyone! I am so excited to be a guest designer over at an awesome blog that I just recently found, Decorate to Celebrate!  Decorate to Celebrate is a super-fun challenge blog dedicated to showing off decorations for every celebration.  This is my first guest design spot over there and I am hoping for many more to come.  I've entered only one challenge so far and I won first place...click here to see what I won...it's AMAZING.  Thank you Rhonda, I can't wait to get my hands on that mini...

The theme for today's challenge is: Anything Goes...wow, so no direction there...well, this was actually easier than I thought it would be because I have a baby shower coming up this weekend and needed to make something special for this beautiful lady and her soon to be born baby boy.  Unfortunately she lives in another State and I will not be able to attend the shower, but I know she will be pleased with her gift.  She loves the things I make, at least she tells me that she does and making a shower gift is much more personal than just going out and buying something, so this is what I came up with:  Hold on to your seat, we are heading into a time capsule.


Now, remember when you had your first child and you wanted to save everything little thing to commemorate that blessed day?  I know I saved a lot of things from the baby and mommy bracelet to the coming home outfit.  But what do you do with those things?  Some things are too bulky to add to the baby book and other things are too little and get lost along the way...well how about building a time capsule?


This is what I started with:

Again, the recycler in me comes out.  I collected a lot of

these containers while working at the casino and they have

come in quit handy.  My dual paint and primer is my favorite

paint at this time also.  It adheres to plastic like a charm.

So spray painted the lid blue, next time I will 

remember to wear gloves...ugh.

I promise, no smurfs were harmed in making this project.

And this is what it turned into.  Now I wanted to take 

pictures of each step, but it was very late at night

and I had already ruined one container - 

do not leave plastic sitting too close to your hot glue gun...

ok, I've run out of excuses, but I think you can get the picture.

First I wrapped the entire container with a baby blue cardstock.

With my E-craft I penned, Name, Date, Time, Length and Weight

and highlighted each word with a blue watercolor pencil.

I also added a silver rattle rubon to the bottom corner,

now she will always know the details.

I added  a rub onto a strip of cardstock using a Martha Stewart 

border punch on which reads It's a Boy and some stick pins with a bit of ribbon.

I added silver stickers to the side of the bottle where

the measurements are and hand drew some lines.

On the other side of the bottle I added some dinosaur 

foam stickers...I wish I knew what her theme was,

it would have been a cuter idea...(afterthought)

Then I glued the cap from a real bottle on top of 

the lid to make it look like a real bottle.

Now I am heading out to purchase some baby items to put inside the "bottle" and off to the mail it goes.  A gift within a gift I say.  Now she will have a place to store all those "firsts" memorabilia from the time this little guy is born until???, well, that's up to her.  Wouldn't it be neat to give this to your child when he has a baby of his own?  Or when your child graduates...you know how we love to embarrass them at open house?  Or, you could take the "bottle cap" off and cut a slit into the lid and use it as a piggy bank to save up for his college future?  The possibilities are endless...

Thanks so much for stopping by today and thanks again Amy and Rhonda for letting me be part of your fabulous blog as a guest designer! Don't forget to make your own decorations for any occasion and link up at Decorate to Celebrate  I can't wait to see what you create!

Time Heals ... and question answered

Good morning,


Today I have a quick card to share with you.  I've been having a great amount of loss lately with friends and friend's friends.  It's amazing how one day you can be here and the next, your gone.  Remember to take time and tell your family, friends and everyone else you can think of how much you love them.  When you find yourself thinking of someone you haven't talked to in a while, pick up the phone and give a quick call.  Make sure you say "goodbye" as you run out the door and tell them how much you enjoy their company.  It's only takes a second out of your day, for tomorrow they just might not be here....

The sentiment is from Kandrewdesigns.com from her

Sympathetic Saying stamp set.

I pop dotted it to the same color background.

I made the stick pins and love how they turned out.

The ribbon had stitching in the center of it, but when

I attached it to the card it was too yellow...I then used

my red bic marker and colored every other stitch.

A friend of mine recently gave me a bunch of brass

stencils.  I researched and found a way to use them 

with my cuddlebug.  I had to play around with 

come different sandwhiched ideas, but I love the

way it turned out.  Then I also used a bit of

metallic rub ons to highlight the embossing a bit.

The other day I showed you my reorganizing of my craft room and I got a lot of positive comments on it, but I also got asked how I store my scraps???  I am so sorry that I forgot to touch upon that.  This is where I keep them:

The bins next to my cutting station are my scraps,

very handy after I've cut something.

This works well for me.  I've kept them

mostly within one color but I did combine

yellows w oranges and black w silver and gray

I do keep pattern and solid together also.

So far I have had no problem in doing that.

In fact, when I am in the scrap hunt mood its

nice to have pattern and solid together to 

coordinate right then and there together.

Hope this has helped to clarify some things.

Thanks for coming over today and I hope to see you back real soon.

Susan's Birthday Hop PINK and PURPLE

Good Morning 

Welcome to Susan's Anything goes Festive Birthday Bash Blog Hop to celebrate Susan E. Bermudez's birthday with anything goes to celebrate her birthday whether it be a card, favor, banner, or that something special. Hope you enjoy our hop while you check  the following blogs as we celebrate Susan's birthday with our usual creativity and craftiness!!! So, please stop by and make sure to wish Susan a very Happy Birthday along with some bloggy love!!

Grand Prizes with Sponsors:

1. Karber Digital Images (http://www.karberdigital.com/) will offer blog candy to a random commenter of the blog hop :)

2. Jen's Digi Designs - $15 gift card for liking her Face Book page and commenting on Susan's page with a winner being chosen randomly :)

Also, please, be sure to stop by Staci McD's site (http://preciousmem.blogspot.com) as there will be a $20 gift card to Designs on Cloud 9 to one commenter on her blog.

Some of the blogs may be offering candy so be sure to leave your comments along the way and don't forget to give bloggy love!

I was so honored to be included in this birthday hop, as I love birthdays, especially other people's.  hahaha.  Seriously, I love to make fun or practical gifts.  I like to add a special touch to the gift wrapping and decorate it up.  For today I wanted to share a super quick and easy, easy gift giving idea.


To start I make up a batch of bath salts in a big container so I always have some on hand for a special gift or when a soothing bath is calling me.  The mixture consists of epson salt, sea salt, powdered milk, oatmeal and baking soda.  The mixture is very relaxing and leaves my skin baby soft.  Now when I am ready to make up a bottle, I will add a fragrance depending on the person I am giving it to, this one has lavender in it.  I measure out how much of the bath salt I need to fill a bottle and then add 3 - 6 drops of fragrance oils.  If I want to "color" the bath salts, I will add a few drops of food coloring, not too much, to the bath salts in a baggie and smoosh it in.  Make sure you let the mixture completely dry before pouring into your bottle or else you will get clumps and it's not pretty.  Don't ask how I know this...


Now remember I used to work in a casino and we gave wine to our patrons in these cute little wine bottles.  The size of the bottle is approximately 1 glass full.  I collected a bunch and I mean a bunch of these bottles and could open my own glass bottle store with them (can we say hoarder?)...but they are very handy for this type of gift and recycling is always a good thing.  So anyway first wash your bottle thoroughly and make sure the bottle is COMPLETELY dry before adding your bathsalts.  Then decorate your bottle as you wish...I used a cute pink, purple and various other colored paper from my stash and therefore I do not know where it came from.  It has a bit of glitz and glimmer to it because birthdays are sparkly.

I cut the butterfly using an SVG simple shape on my

E-craft.  There are three layers of tulle that I hand-

cut and added beaded pins for the body.  I added

a few rhinestones to glam it up.

I've recently learned how to make my own "nesties"

with my cuddle bug and chipboard and love this new technique.

If you would like to know how to make them, 

leave me a comment and I might make a video tutorial.

I made a smaller butterfly just like the larger one and adhered it to

the tag and attached it with some ribbon.  

The sentiment is from the Coffee/Tea set at Kandrewdesigns.com

I hope you've enjoyed my gift for Susan and celebrating her birthday with me.  I am going to do a giveaway of a bottle of bath salts to one lucky winner.  Tell me what your favorite color is and if you could have anything for your birthday, what that wish might be.  I will be doing the drawing on Monday so you have all weekend to tell your friends to come and join me in celebrating Susan's birthday.

Here is the line up for day 1 of the celebration and remember tomorrow is another round of great blogs.

1. Lynne: http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
2. Amber: http://pixiperfectcreations.blogspot.com/
3. Angie: http://atuttletime.blogspot.com/
4. Becky: http://squirlygirlcreations.blogspot.com/
5. Berenice: http://karbersweetescape.blogspot.com/ YOU CAME FROM HERE
6. Brenda: http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com/  YOU ARE HERE
7. Christel: http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/ YOUR NEXT STOP
8. Cindy: http://www.cindys-greencricut.blogspot.com/
9. Deborah: http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
10. Erin: http://comfyonmycloud.blogspot.com
11. Gina: http://californiascrappin-gcinderella21.blogspot.com/
12. Kari: http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com/
13. Staci: http://precioushmem.blogspot.com/

We have divided this hop into two (2) days with different blogs for you to visit each day. Make sure to visit all!

this is tomorrow's lineup

1. Susan: http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

2. Amy: http://www.lovetocrop.com/
3. Darlene: http://twoscrappinlawyers.blogspot.com/

4. Faith: http://faithfulecreations.com/

5. Heather: http://blessed2cre8.blogspot.com/

6. Indira: http://craftyhomemade.blogspot.com/

7. Janet: http://ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/

8. Jearise: http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/

9. Linda: http://www.lindascreativity.blogspot.com/

10 Lori: http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

11. Maria: http://justgetscraphappy.blogspot.com/

12. Nicole: http://crashingcreatively.blogspot.com/

13. Theresa: http://thescrapbookingqueen.com/

Getting Cricky Blog Hop and U-stream Day 3

***If you are looking for my Lasting Memories layout, scroll down.***

Wasn't the U-stream and stamp release fabulous on Friday night?  What, you missed it?  Well, you can click on the link below and watch what you missed.

.

Each of Kristal's stamp sets benefit charity. At least $1 per stamp set goes to benefit the charity noted on the stamp set package. Kristal is donating to the following charities: Cancer Angels, Storefront Shelter for Homeless Children, Intrepid & Fallen Heroes, E. Glaser Pediatric AIDS  Foundation, Doorways Shelter for Women & Children (Domestic Violence), Wayside House for Women, Camp Good Days & Special Times, and Autism Research Institute. Kristal will donate $1 for every stamp set sold, retail or wholesale to the charity noted; and over time believes this will add up to some wonderful miracles for these special people. So you can feel good that each time you purchase a K Andrew Designs art stamp set, someone around the country is receiving some good help!

K Andrew's stamps are all made and assembled here in the USA, which is very important to Kristal. This ensures all product materials are safe and that jobs are being provided and maintained here in America.  You can learn even more about Kristal's stamps (and pick some up for yourself) by visiting her online store:

For my project, I'd like to share the "Sympathetic Sayings" set...

It's time for a new release--a sentiment set jammed pack with inspirational sympathetic sentiments and it's a larger set also! Each one just right to send out to someone going through tough times: death of a loved one, death of a pet, divorce, miscarriage, and other tough spots!
All preorders will ship by August 31'st.  

ALSO

Kristal will be offering FREE shipping this entire weekend for our ustream/hop! 

Also for everyone who spends $20.00 or more they will receive a special small 

stamp set FREE: Merci pictured below

No Onto My Project for the hop

This card was my favorite to make.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of them, but you know how one card can just jump out at you?  Well, that's this one for me.  I love my other cards also, but this one spoke volumes to me.  I used my cuddlebug and embossed the black background.  The flower was cut on my E-Craft in SCAL 3 and the sentiment fit perfectly on it.  I added some ribbon that I cut with my edges scissors and added a gold strip of embroidery floss.  

I also added another stick pin.

I'm also entering this card over at my friend Amy's blog at LovetoCrop for her ribbon challenge.  You have until August 25th to enter, so hurry on over there.

So now I've shown you all 3 different cards with the 3 new stamp sets and I hope you've enjoyed them. 

On Tuesday, I will be giving away the Fashionable Friends stamp set, so be sure to leave a comment on EVERY post this weekend starting with Friday night's and yesterday's and today's.  

That will give you three chances to win the stamp set.  

You MUST be a follower and of course comment on all 3 cards.  
I would really like it too if you would follow me on facebook or on twitter, but that is NOT a requirement.