My Thoughts Exactly Thursday: Project Life here I come, and an announcement....

(This is a long-winded post so settle down comfortably... ;-))

Today is my "My Thoughts Exactly Thursday", but it also is my last official post as one of their Design Team members. The key word here is "official", not "last", as I am sure you will still see plenty of MTE projects from me, just not DT projects. ;-)
My term comes to an end at the end of this month and I have decided not to renew it. I have really enjoyed my time with this wonderful cast of ladies (best DT ever!!... <3), and a part of me cannot believe this is coming to an end, especially since I have been with MTE from day 1. It's been fun to watch Alyssa and Brian shape this company up, and I know they are headed for success and I wish them the very best! :-D <3

But there are only so many hours in a day and I need more time... :-( This past year has been difficult and I have struggled to get some things done. My "crafting" goals this year are to scrapbook more (especially learn to digi-scrap), and to work on my photography skills (or lack thereof! ;-)) so, as the saying goes, something's gotta give... ;-)

Which brings me to today's project. You might be familiar with Project Life, a concept developed and sold by Becky Higgins. Basically you get a 12X12 binder and fill it with page protectors that contain different sizes compartments. Add pictures and journaling cards and you're all set. This saves you lots of time compared to "classical" scrapbooking. I have decided to hop on the Project Life bandwagon (as I am YEARS behind in my scrapbooking in general (by years I mean like 10 years or so?... *shame*))  and I think this will enable me to work on present pics while trying to catch up with the old ones in a more conventional way. So I have ordered a binder and pack of page protectors, and all I need now are pics and journaling cards...

So for today's project I made some using a variety of MTE sets! :-)  I used cardstocks and flashcards and made sure each had a little spot to jot down the date or a few words. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had making those! :-)

For this one I used the More Mini Thoughts set.

This one uses the very 1st set released by MTE, the Birds & Bees set.

This one also uses the More Mini Thoughts set.

That one uses the Big Thoughts set.

This one uses the Sweet Thoughts set.

That one uses 2 sets,  More Mini Thoughts and Under The Sea. I think it will go great with pics of my kiddos in the pool...  :-)

That one uses Many Thanks. I love that Polka dot Smash tape, and the pop of red. :-)

This one uses Big Thoughts,.

And lastly, this one also uses 2 sets: Big Thoughts and  Sweet Thoughts.

To hold my little cards I made a little pocket book using a manilla file folder. The sentiment is from the More Mini Thoughts set and the frame is from Holly Jolly Tags.

And that's it for this looooong post!!... Thanks for bearing with me!... ;-)

Don't forget to visit my fellow DT members today: Belinda and Tracy.

Wedding cut-out card

I made this card for my husband's cousin's wedding, using Lettering Delights SVG files. The front of the card is cut-out, I added some white cardstock inside for more contrast. The choice of colors comes from the fact that orange is the bride's favorite color and was used in their wedding's invitations.

This is one of those cards that doesn't photograph well at all (yes, my photographic skills also need serious improvement, if only there was 36 hours in a day...), especially since it needs to stay flat and keeps popping open... ;-)
When I was making the card, it looked to me like a floral cut-out card... but when I was snapping pictures I started seeing some sort of weird monster with orange eyes, pointy ears, and an open mouth, coming out from behind a floral panel... LOL Can you see it too? ;-P

This 2nd part is a little giftcard holder to go with it.

My Thoughts Exactly Thursday and my 1st step card...

It's My Thoughts Exactly Thursday! Today it's my turn and my evil twin Bee's turn to show you our projects.
So I made a step card! Believe it or not in 4 years of papercrafting I have never made a step card. They are really simple to make and they are a lot of fun. :-)

I used a svg file from SVGCuts.com for my card base, but if you like step cards go visit Alyssa's blog, she has an easy video tutorial on how to make them, plus lots of cool step cards of her own... :-)
The clam, seaweeds, starfishes, and crab, are svgs from Lettering Delights. And my sentiment is from the  Under the Sea stamps set.

I'm sending this card to my niece who's recovering from pneumonia, I'm sure this will cheer her up. :-)

Trendy Twine Tuesday: Thanksgiving Centerpiece

For this Trendy Twine Tuesday I made a Centerpiece for Thanksgiving. :-)

I had to take a TON of pictures, and do it again because they were blurry... I think I am suffering from the mental fog of Halloween Candy hangover... So settle down comfortably because there will be a lot... ;-)
My cat absolutely wanted to be part of the photo shoot and I didn't have time to fight him over this, so he is on all the pics... ;-) He was even nibbling at my project!!... >.<

I started with a little wreath from Michaels, then added some fall leaves that I bought on the side with a hot glue gun. Then I took popsicle sticks that I wrapped in Chocolate Truffle Trendy Twine (after putting some double sided tape on both sides of them for extra hold) to make my little posts, and I also used some Orange Truffle Trendy twine to make little "rings" to attach around my centerpiece...

I actually used toilet paper rolls as my base for those. I think I might have to make napkin rings now to match my project!! ;-)

Then I added little Fall details on my poles. I am grateful as a papercrafter to have so many options to get cool svgs so I used some of my favorite companies and put them all together in a happy circle!...
The Give Thanks caption was a freebie from SVGCuts.com.

On the other side I used this gratitude caption, also a freebie from SVG Cuts. :-)

The stunning sunflower is part of the 3D flowers collections at SVGCuts also.

The apple is from Lettering Delights.

The Fall caption and leaves are also from Lettering Delights. (I used Nestabilities for my base)

The Acorn is also from Lettering Delights.

And last but not least, my pumpkin is a tag from the Halloween collection at SVGs by Bee. I added a tiny bow of Twisted Lime Trendy Twine.

I cut every shape (but the Thanks/gratitude tag) twice using a mirror effect so that I could glue them on both sides of the sticks and make it look good from every angle. I used glue at the base of my stick to hold to the shape and then pop dots between the front and back of the shape to accommodate for the added bulk of the stick and give a tad of dimension.

I hope you liked my project today and will be inspired to make some Thanksgiving decorations on your own. If you do feel free to link them into the comments section.

For more Trendy Twine inspiration visit the design team members' blogs:
* Kimberly
* Alyssa

(This is my second post of the day, so if you are looking for the My Thoughts Exactly release post, just scroll down. :-))

Trendy Twine Tuesday

It's Trendy Twine Tuesday and here is my latest project with the new fall color Orange-Truffle from Trendy Twine. this color is perfect for everything fall so I decided to make a card for the Jewish New Year which was a few days ago. (Jews use a lunar calendar for their Holidays so it doesn't always fall at the same time.)

I really liked those autumn colors so I decided to make 2 different cards with the same layout and papers but swap them. I am actually not sure which one I like best!... ;-)

Apples and honey are images associated with the Jewish New Year (for a sweet year ahead) so the Autumn Flourish svg collection from Lettering Delights was perfect for my project.
I used the flourish under the apple as a base to glue my twine on. (I colored it brown first so that it would blend together better).

The flowers were made old fashion style... stamped and hand cut! (I can hear Bee(linda) gasps, as she's reading this... LOL ;-)) For the centers I punched a hole in the middle and twirled my twine around and made another hole at the end to tuck my twine in, this gives a neater result than trying to hide and glue the ends. :-)

Then I added a little sewing detail on the leaf (again punched tiny holes in the felt and used a tapestry needle) and tied my little tag with more twine... :-)

I wish I could tell you that no twine was hurt in the making of this project, but you know that I cannot lie... >.< So yes, I have to admit that there was a little bit of cursing involved... ;-) That's what happens when you have big clumsy fingers like me... ;-D
I recommend using a fast drying (and clear drying) glue for this type of project, and the use of tweezers to help hold things down as you go, and you should be just fine! :-)

And here they are, all together... :-)

This month, the twine on sale is Grape Fizz.
 
And don't forget to visit the Trendy Twine Blog for this month challenge! This time around you have to make a project using a pumpkin or Jack-O-Lantern and some twine... The winner gets a spool of Orange-Truffle, and one random winner will get 30 yards of Orange-Truffle. :-)

Onesie card

I made this simple onesie shaped card for my nephew's 1st birthday, using the Peek-a-Boo svg set from Lettering Delights. It's just wide enough to hold a gift card and still fits in a regular enveloppe. :-)

"My Thoughts Exactly Thursday" (part 2) : Birthday fishes

This is post #2 for the My Thoughts Exactly Thursday, so if you missed post #1 just scroll down...
I took tons of pics and thought it would be better to separate in 2 posts...
First let me tell you I am in LOVE with this card! I hope I don't toot my own horn too often, but it's not everyday that my card comes out exactly the way I wanted it!!... So I am so thrilled about that! ;-)

When I saw this koi fish in the Asia collection of Lettering Delights, I knew right away I would use it... If I ever had my dream house one day it would have a zen garden with a pond with fishes... :-)
But back to my project... ;-P Please bear with me for the load of pics...

I cut out windows in my card front and background paper with Nestabilities, and used blue vellum paper as my "water"...

To have this as a true window, I used the same background as the card's front (origami paper) on the inside to have a finished look...

To reinforce the "water feel", I crumpled my vellum paper before flattening it again, I just love all the wrinkles this created! :-)

For my sentiment I used balsa wood and a Nestabilities tag, and stamped birthday Fishes from the Under the Sea set.

Don't forget to visit Alyssa's and Bee's blogs today for more projects with My Thoughts Exactly stamps! :-)

My Thoughts Exactly August stamps release

It's that time of the month again: My Thoughts Exactly stamps release! :-)

This month there are 2 new stamps sets: Sweet Thoughts and Grillin' & Chillin'. The 1st one is all about, well, sweets!.. LOL And the 2nd one is about BBQ, picnics and pool parties... What better way to keep the summer spirit a little longer before Back to School sneaks on us?... ;-) 

As always, MTE stamps allow for a lot of playing around with words and creating just what you want... :-) You will see in the future how you can use those sayings in unexpected ways, but for today's projects I was pretty straight forward... :-)

For my 1st card I went all the way with the cupcake theme! And I used yummy Trendy Twine to make little sprinkles on my cupcake, just like one of the cupcakes on my background paper.... ;-) The digi paper and SVGs are from Lettering Delights. (It was my 1st time using photoshop to print digipaper and I was quite proud of myself, even if I had no clue what I was doing.... LOL Still I managed to make it lighter than the original, I even tried printing it on vellum but then it was a little too subdued...)

For my 2nd card I went with an ice-cream theme and used little tags to stamp my sentiment. Since MTE stamps come in little segments to assemble together, it's really easy to stamp them in all kind of different configurations... :-) I had a hard time picking between the Blue Berry twine and the Strawberry cupcake twine, so I decided to use both... :-D (And I used the new Kraft color to bring my little cone to life...)

Now that you have seen my projects, don't forget to visit Alyssa's blog. She has pics and links to all of the DT members' projects, plus a few interesting things to share with you!
For starters she will give away a stamp set to a lucky commenter, but also this month 2 of our talented DT members who design SVGs created a little surprise for you!: When you purchase the Sweet Thoughts stamp set, you'll receive the Sweet Shoppe Bag SVG (designed by Lenae from Sugar Gem) for free. And when you purchase the Grillin' & Chillin' stamp set, you'll receive the Burger-vite & its 2 envelopes SVGs (designed by my alter-ego Bee from Bee's Hive O' Drama) for free.
Both Lenae and Bee (aka Belinda) have projects using those SVGs on their respective blogs.
The cherry on top is a video of Brian (Alyssa's husband and the other half of My Thoughts Exactly) making his own card!.... ;-)
Don't forget to visit our other DT members' pages: Jennifer, Jessica and last but not least Thienly! :-)

Well I hope you enjoyed this release, and remember that there will be projects all month long (every Thursday) from Alyssa and the Design Team. :-)

Paper Dolls Guest Designer

It's Monday! I hate Mondays, but luckily it means another cool challenge over at the Paper Dolls's blog... ;-)
This week I have the honor of being one of their guest designers, my assignment was to use 3D flowers svgs designed by Jani  from Paper Compulsions.
I decided to use them in a more traditional somewhat flat format, which makes it easier to mail, LOL ;-)
Both flowers and leaves/folliage are from Paper Compulsions. The little fence is from Lettering Delights (Easter file in the Simple Shapes collection). And the bees are hand traced. The twine is from the Twinery.
(I didn't used a sentiment since I didn't make it for someone in particular... :-D)

I hope you'll find time to go play with the Paper Dolls this week!... :-D

For Stephanie and Steve

I made this card for my cousin Stephanie who is getting married next week-end! I doubt my card will make it on time unfortunately.... :-S My cards to Naomi have been talking a week! Insane!... :-(

Anyway, I had a clear vision of what I wanted in my head but my stupid Cricut gave me major trouble, refusing to cut little details correctly, I almost gave up, but you all know I am rather stubborn, and I was not ready to let the machine win!...
I'll spare you the different stages and the un-doing to do something else, here is the finished version and I am happy to say that I like it! ;-)

I used a method called paper toling, which means that you glue several identical shapes on top of each other to give them body and dimension, Here only 2 layers. The files are from Lettering Delights, from the wedding collection in the Simple Shapes. (Told you I love those simple shapes, already use them all the time! Today is the last day to get them on sale...) I just love the simple lines of that dress... <3

The twine is from The Twinery, love this muted color. I used ivory, turquoise and dark chocolate brown (which looks more like black in my pic) for my card since those are the wedding colors my cousin picked. Gorgeous pairing in my opinion... :-D

I didn't want to use a classic "congratulations" sentiment so I looked into my birthday sentiments stamps instead, and I was thrilled when I found this one, exactly what I had in mind! :-D I used copper embossing powder, I love the sort of "antique look" it gives... :-)

I'm so glad I was finally able to have the card look like what I had envisonned...  :-)

Whimsy Bee

As far as I am concerned, papercrafting is about having fun and being creative without boundaries....

So today I made a wacky card and I kind of like it! :-)

I used the little asian girl from the Asia collection of Lettering Delights simple Shapes Super Bundle, and turned it into a funny looking bee! ;-) (BTW, the bundle is only on sale till Sunday, so if you haven't caved already, check it out or you will kick yourself afterwards... I LOVE it, so so many options!...) The wings are from the bee in the bugs collection from the same bundle...

But anyway, when I saw this little china doll I thought bee, don't know why but it had to bee this way... ;-)

Now my hubby says that my bee looks constipated, I guess it's just the doctor in him talking.... ;-)

I finally digged into my hoarded primas, and I made little flower centers with clear dome stickers stuck on some matching paper. I would have liked to use big buttons, but since the card goes to France again I wanted to keep it rather flat... ;-)
I tried to give my bee little arms and really didn't like the results so I followed Alyssa's lead instead (see her Ninja card ) and bundled my bee with twine.... And I'm sure you have recognized the "bee-utiful" as part of The Birds & Bees stamps set from My Thoughts exactly... :-D

And voila, a wacky little card that is sure to have my daughter go "what on earth is this??..." when she opens the envelope! Mission accomplished! :-D

My Thoughts Exactly 1st release!!! :-D

                             

This is it!... The moment we have been waiting for... Today My Thoughts Exactly is finally launching their stamps collection and releasing their 2 very 1st sets!  :-)

This is The Birds & the Bees.

This is Under the Sea.


The stamps are acrylic photopolymer (same manufacturer as Papertrey Ink, so you know they're good! ;-)) which enables you to play around with them, like bending them like I did for this card...

The concept behind those stamps sets is a mix and match format enabling you to make all kind of funny sayings or puns. The stamps have been designed so that you can put them all together on one block and stamp in one step, or you can play around and deconstruct the sayings, use a different color for the focus word etc.... Focus words are a different size and/or font for a fun and whimsical effect. A cheat sheet with all the possible sayings is available on the site to help you jumpstart your imagination.

You can see and order the stamps here, and get more details on Alyssa's blog. 

Now a few words about my project for today... I made a card for my daughter who is vacationing in France and apparently having a "whale of a good time" so the saying was just perfect for me! ;-)  I used the Under the Sea set.

When I thought about using the little whale from lettering delights (the "Something Fishy" set again) I instantly wanted to make the words come out of the whale spout..., which is why I used blue ink to make it more like water, even though a black or grey ink might have brought more contrast.

My whale is of course on foam tape and the saying-spout isn't actually glued to the card, enabling more movement and a little bending away from the card for more dimension.
The wave is from a Cricut cartridge and the top was sanded, and the background paper is digital paper from the Splash collection by Echo Park, it was printed on tracing paper (a much cheaper alternative to vellum, for a very similar effect!... ;-)) The sun is from Lettering Delights.

I'm having lots of fun playing around with those stamps and you will see more projects with them very soon. Next Thursday I will have another project here for sure. If you missed it, my Bird card already uses My Thoughts Exactly stamps (this time the "Birds and Bees" set).

Every 1st of the month MTE will release one or two stamps sets and have a DT group post, meaning we will all post a project and take you on a mini blog hop if you like! The following Thursdays of the month the DT members will take turn posting, Alyssa will have all the details and link to all the projects every Thursday, as well as having projects of her own.

Now here is the line up of the MTE Design Team. To see all the projects for this July release, start with Alyssa's blog and you will then be linked to the following DT members in the order below...

Alyssa:                 My Thoughts Exactly
Bee:                     Dare to bee creative (<- you're here.)
Bee (Belinda):      Bee's Hive o' Drama
Jennifer:               Our change of Art
Jessica:                Crafty Rocket Science
Lenae:                 Sugar Gem
Thienly:               Mod Paperie

I hope you will enjoy seeing all the DT projects today and will be inspired to make your own projects with those wonderfully versatile stamps. :-D  If you have been following our line up from the start your next stop is Bee's blog. :-)



Wishing you all a great 4th of July week-end. :-D