Live in the moment

Life can get busy and sometimes it feels like I'm just living moment to moment.  I squeezed in a bit of crafting time today to create a card using embossing paste and Distress Inks.  I've watched a few tutorials on this and decided to give it a go because this week's challenge at Muse is this lovely card:

Bobby encouraged us to try stenciling with paste and I love the multiple colors she used.  For my card, I used a Tim Holtz stencil:

I inked multiple Distress Inks over the embossing paste - Wild Honey, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky and Walnut Stain.  Like Bobby, I set my sentiment to the side.  While I had my embossing paste and stencils out, I made a few more backgrounds for future cards as well. While my desk is messy, it's fun to keep experimenting, right?

I'm also entering this card into this week's AAA challenge - 

AAA Cards - Stencil style

where this image is our inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by!

Treasured Memories scrapbook layout

Hello friends!  One of my favorite places to get cut files is from Miss Kate Cuttables.  Their designs are creative and fun and I especially love that there's a daily freebie!  When I read about their guest design member call, I thought I'd give it a try with a scrapbook layout.

The last time I visited the home I grew up in, I took pictures of my bedroom.  I thought it would be fun for my children to see how it looked and a good memory for me. I used elements from the "Treasured Memories" and "Family Memories" MKC files for my pages:

 

I spent quite a while matching papers to the bedspread my mother has on the beds and found a 2001 floral Anna Griffin paper still in my stash (talk about using up old paper!).  Here's my two page layout:

The top border is from the Family Memories MKC and the dress form is from the Silhouette store. I gave myself a small 3x3 journaling block on the left page and double-matted the photos 

 I added a vellum piece behind the dress form to give it some contrast against the background.

There's also a few pearls on the waist of the dress form and I added some swirls behind the pictures.

This is one of those layouts that I worked on all weekend, little by little.  I'd cut something out, come back a few hours later, cut something else, etc.  Although scrapbooking your old bedroom isn't the most exciting subject, it's part of my past and I wanted to remember it - a treasured memory for sure!

I'm entering this into the guest design call for the Miss Kate Cuttables blog, which you can read about here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Daisy Girl Scout Kaper Chart

I'm getting ready for a year of Daisy Girl Scouts and wanted to make a fun Kaper Chart.  Kapers are chores that the girls do in every meeting.  After browsing through ideas on Pinterest (I could waste hours doing that), I found this picture as inspiration:

I don't know who created this chart, so I can't give them credit (if someone knows, please tell me).  My version is here:

The following items came from the Silhouette online store:

flowerpots - #42246

grass - #1075

bee - #61644

The butterfly is from A Little Hut

I made the kaper labels by using my Silhouette sketch pen, which was the first time I used it and I love them!  After writing the words "Craft", "Song", etc, I cut the ovals with the Silhouette.

I created the words "Kaper Chart" with the Curlz font and created a green shadow behind the letters.

I used fun foam to cut the flowers by hand and added a brad in the middle.  The flowers have pieces of magnet behind them so I can move them around the board.  I'm going to write each girl's name on a flower.   Actually, each item has magnets behind it so I can move everything around.  

I just learned that more girls will be joining my troop, so I'm going to have to make at least 2 more flowers.  That's a good problem to have!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

August Silhouette challenge blog - Challenge #16

Die Cuttin Diva's - Pinterest inspired

Craft My Life - Anything goes - no cards

This was a lot of fun to make and I hope the girls will enjoy using it this year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love ya to the stars

Happy hot Sunday to ya!  It's not only hot here in the deep South, but it's also very humid.  We're expected to hit 100 degrees on Wednesday!  Ouch!  I can't complain, though, because we've really had a mild summer -I  knew those hot days would come to visit us sometime!

I'm officially an empty-nester now that my son moved in to his college dorm this weekend.  Yeah!  I found time to make cards and catch up on some challenges.

My first card is inspired by Kristina Werner's galaxy card.  It was fun to play with acrylic paints and Distress Inks to create a sky for the Lawn Fawn sentiment:

I'm entering this card into the August Words 2 Scrap By challenge - From darkness to light

My next two cards are for Operation Write Home challenges.  I used Penny Black Critters stamps and colored them with Distress Inks.

My thank you card is for the Mid-month throwdown challenge - Gratitude

My final card is for the latest sketch challenge - #236:

Those little critters are so adorable!  I couldn't pass this stamp set by when I bought it at Absolutely Everything in Massachusetts.  There's other images too that I can't wait to color.

Well now I'm off to work on making a Kaper Chart for my Daisy Girl Scout troop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sending warm thoughts

This week is just zipping by because I'm busy getting my son ready for college.  I promised to not get all misty when I see him off this weekend, but I'm excited for this next big step in his life.  

I've been in a bit of a creative slump and decided I would just CASE ideas until my own returned, starting with the weekly Muse challenge card, provided by Therese Calvird:

All of that pink scared me, but I pushed myself to copy her colors and style using the SSS Everything Flowers set.  I stamped Colorbox Frost White as the bottom layer of each flower and then used Hero Arts black for the black circles.  Here's my version:

I masked the flowers to stamp the leaves, which I haven't done in a while and found it was loads of fun!  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession - Anytime Sentiments.  Now that I'm finished, I love the vibrant colors!  I hope you get a chance to play over at Muse too!

My next two cards are part of the Stretch your stamps 2 class homework.  I used the Avery Elle rounded diamond set to make graphic backgrounds.  I did a lot of stamping and experimenting to create these two cards:

The ribbon was the inspiration for my stamped colors.  I'm enjoying this class so much, even though I'm waaay behind.  I do come back later to the class lessons and make cards, so it's all good.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stretch Your Stamps 2 - Day one

I'm just getting around to posting pictures of the cards I made from day one of the Online card class - Stretch Your Stamps 2.  I've enjoyed the techniques and am trying to keep up!

Here's my cards:

The stamp is by SSS and I cut the "You" on my Silhouette, using the paper that I made using Distress Inks.

The second card is using background stamps with the technique taught by Shari Carroll. After making the background, I spritzed it with gold spray.  It's been a while since I pulled out my Distress Inks, so I was happy to get inky again.

Thanks for stopping by!

You are my inspiration

I've been back from my summer vacation for a week now, but my mojo hasn't returned.  Maybe it's still in Martha's Vineyard?  Changes are happening at Operation Write Home as we reduce the number of cards in preparation for the overseas drawdown, which is a good thing.  It feels like a bit of a letdown, so I'm going to focus on making cards for myself and participate in challenges.  Really - there are so many great challenge blogs and it's fun to play along!

I'm hoping that the next Online Card Class (Stretch Your Stamps 2) will help me find my mojo!  That starts tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it.  

In the meantime, I made a card for the August ODBD challenge, which is stars.  I used the DCWV glitzy paper to cut the stars and the embossed silver sentiment is from the Hero Arts You're a Winner set:

It's a simple card, but this was my second attempt.  At first, I tried to make a starburst and it just didn't come together, so I salvaged the stars for this card.  Sooner or later, I'll get my creative juices flowing again.

I'm also entering this card in the August A2Z challenge - Encouragement.  

I hope you're having a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by.