Papertrey Playhouse Challenge #8

Better late than never getting this challenge done and posted. The challenge this time around over at the Papertrey Playhouse was to "make a Valentine's Day or love card for someone special in your life but the catch is to not use the usual colors like red and pink." This one was HARD for me!! Give me a one layer card challenge, or a use this product challenge and I am there...but take away my red AND pink...that was hard. I think I managed to pull it together with a little help from a few of the design team members. Can you spot which one's inspired me with this card???

I used Dark Chocolate, Fine Linen, and Melon Berry as my main color choices, then found pattern paper in my stash to go along. Enter Basic Grey's Hopscotch mini deck...love the patterns in this collection!! Chose three patterns that went well together and ran with it.

Love the framed sentiment so much!! You may be seeing more of these!! So easy to do and so dramatic looking on the card!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Scrappin' Sunday

I am a little late in posting this today, but better late than never right!! This layout is based on this sketch from Shimelle Laine. Loving her weekly sketches, though I havent't the time do do each one every week...just love that they are there for reference when I get in a scrapping rut.

This layout is half of the January 1st layout for my holiday daily journal that I am finishing up! (Only 4 days left to complete and some are already in the works...like this half of the 1st!!) My hubby and I went ice skating on the first!! Such a cool way to celebrate new year's day!! The University Of Central Florida has an event the last few holiday seasons called "light up UCF" where they have christmas lights to the hilt on many buildings, a ferris wheel (it is central florida afterall), a stage for live music, outdoor movies, a small ice slide for saucer sledding, and a small ice rink. Mind you that while I have gone ice skating before (I am from Central New York afterall), my hubby never has!! This ended up being a quick on the ice then right off the ice kinda thing for two reasons...first was the at the ice was horrible. I guess I was spoiled growing up with an indoor ice rink with a zamboni (not even a clue if I spelled that right) to keep the ice nice and smooth, but this ice was like peanut butter. I expected to push off and go, but no, I was stuck...reminded me of the commercial where the guys take off from the swimming blocks into caramel!! And the second reason...my hubby didn't listen to me when I told him to tie his skates TIGHT...so he kept wobbling and complaining that it was "killing" his ankles (I bet he listens next time)! So we got on then got right off...but now my hubby can say he's been ice skating! I plan to take him to a ice rink the next time we visit my family up north so he can get a real feel for it!! For now, this worked for us!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Lawnscaping Challenge #2

It's Challenge day for me and today I am participating in the new Lawn Fawn challenge blog. I love that this even exists!! If you haven't seen it, go check it out here!! The second challenge is to CASE a card done by Kelly Marie herself. Once I saw this challenge, I hopped right over to the Lawn Fawn blog to find something that really caught my eye...and I finally found the card on this post. I knew right away that I wanted to CASE that cute, simple, Merry card!!! Here's what I came up with...themed for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday, of course...

I used my new favorite pinking hearts border punch, some Martha Stewart baker's twine, an old Making Memories heart button, some American Crafts thickers, and the heart stamp across the bottom is from the Just My Type Too stamp set. I love how cute this turned out!! And it came together so darn quickly too!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Playing a little catch up

Wow...I can't believe it's already Sunday!! I totally missed my Thougthful Thursday post. I can tell you I was very happy to have three days off from work this week! I spent a lot of time getting crafty in my craft space, working on my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas (still not quite sure which category it fits into). It's really my holiday daily journal album...yeah, I'll call it that (mouthful that it is). It starts on Thanksgiving, then skips to December 1st where it becomes a daily through Christmas, then it skips ahead to New Year's Eve, and ending with New Year's Day, though the final page will be the goals my hubby and I have for 2011 (we don't call them resolutions). I hope to have it completed by February 1st.

Since my husband's birthday falls on December 12th, we decided that would be a great day to head to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party to celebrate not only Christmas, but his birthday as well. With the exception of 2009, we have been every year since 2005. We missed 2009 because of scheduling (we just couldn't work out a day when we could go and be out until after midnight). But we started planning early for 2010, making sure we fit it in somewhere. It's become one of our traditions that I missed so much the year we didn't go. Living so close to Disney, it's a great tradition...and now it's usually one of very few visits to the parks, if not the only one, we make each year.

Here's a layout I put together, inspired by the Scrapbook Stamping class over at 2peas. It's only one portion of the December 12th day of my album. You'll see I followed the sketch pretty closely, just shrinking it down a bit to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 layout (which I have not scrapped in a LONG time...usually I am a 12 x 12 scrapper)...

The love you stamp is from the new Studio AE January collection! I have watched Nichol Magouirk use these stamp sets for a few months and finally joined with the January set. LOVE it and I can't wait to get future months' sets!! I am thinking I may change out the Smooches image once the 2011 Birthday Tag set is released by Papertrey Ink, but I haven't decided yet (it was his birthday afterall). I am checking there daily to see if it's available yet!! I used my Silhouette to cut out the title!! I have been using that machine so much lately and I love that I have it!! Makes things so easy!! I even got out my sewing machine and did some stitching (around the love you image and stripes above the border punch strip). Let me know what you think!!

I will be back tomorrow with my Lawnscaping Challenge card (love the card I CASEd....so simple yet SO cute)!! Until then, thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Wordless Wednesday

Manic Monday - CPS #201

I am late with my post today! I had debated for quite some time on which challenge to take part in this week...the Lawnscaping challenge (the challenge blog for all who LOVE Lawn Fawn stamps...I'll be taking on this challenge next week), Finally Friday from last week over at 2peas, or the CPS sketch challenge. I went with the CPS challenge this week...mainly cause I wanted to use my NEW Labels 14 die (yes...I just got this beauty)!! I used some old My Mind's Eye Laundry Line paper and some new Basic Gray Hopscotch paper...add in some copic coloring, a few buttons, and a Papertrey Ink die I've had for a while but haven't use (ever, I think), and here's what I came up with...

Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Scrappy Sunday

So I had plans to share some of my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas album, but the photo quality is not the greatest, so for today I am just going to share my cover page.

The glare from the light on the page protector drives me bonkers!! Anyway, I am finishing up the album (yes, it's January and I am still working on my December album...I work in retail...nuff said) and plan to share the first half next Sunday (with much better quality photos) and the second half in two weeks. I'll share a better photo of the cover next week too!! Besides I want to decorate the album cover (I am using Pink Paislee's Parisian Anthology Album with the multi sized page protectors...LOVE it) and share that as well one of the weeks. Until then, thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Thoughtful Thursday

Yesterday, I featured a photo of my oldest "child" Rocky. I took that one afternoon in December when he was sitting in the window in my husband's office, soaking up the afternoon sun. I am not even sure what he was looking at now that I look back on the moment, I am just grateful to have captured that image on film. He's almost 11 years young and we've had him since he was about 9 months old. He was our first pet in our first apartment together. I wasn't working at the time, instead I was a full time History Grad student. I wanted a companion during the day so I wouldn't go stir-crazy all by myself. He kept me company during the day and slept in one of the desk chairs in our shared office while I worked the night away. To this day, I will never forget the moment he adopted us at the Humane Society back in 2000. He rules the roost and keeps the other four legged kids inline!! Now-a-days he can often be found sleeping in our bed, on the very top of the cat post, or in one of the three beds in my husband's office. He doesn't have as much spunk as he had back in the day. Every once in a while, he get's the "crazies" and plays with Bum (our2 year old cat), but that doesn't last too long, much to Bum's dismay. Just has that burst of energy, then it's back to sleep somewhere. But, I am grateful everyday for what a he and our other pets bring to our lives. True unconditional LOVE!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Deb

Wordless Wednesday

Manic Monday

Welcome to a new week and some new weekly features on my blog!! So many of my favorite paper crafting bloggers have regular features on their blogs, that I thought it would be neat to try it out here...yes I did just say neat!! So here is what I have planned. Monday's are going to be "Manic Monday's" where I will feature a card I made for a challenge that's posted out there in blog land. I am a child of the 80's and who didn't love the Bangles back then, hence the name for Monday's!! Then I will have "Wordless Wednesday" where I will just be posting a photo. It ma b a photo that I took the previous week, or it may be one I took a long time ago. I am getting rusty with my photography and I figured I could share my snapshots with you!! "Thoughtful Thursday" comes next. No photos, just words - random thoughts, what I am grateful for this week, etc. I started this whole blog-o to write more since I was just a basic journaler in my scrapbooks (you know - who, what, where, when) but I tended to leave out the why and how. So this will force me to write more! And then, since 2011 is going to be more, for me, about scrapbooking (where 2010 seemed to be more about cards) I am going to have "Scrappin Sunday's" so I am getting scrapbook pages done completely, instead of just partially...at least one per week anyway!! We will see how long this schedule lasts as I think I am asking quite a lot of myself...but I am just stubborn enough to try!!

So on to my first Manic Monday...

I made this card for the challenge over at the Papertrey Playhouse blog. It's our first of the New Year. Hop on over and play along too!! For this challenge, Adele challenged us to create a stamped background!! I love background stamps and I thought about using my Text Style stamp or my Polka Dot Basics stamp, but instead I broke out my Giga Guidelines Two stamp set and got very inky!! Here's what I came up with...

 I LOVE Scarlet Jewel and Fine Linen together (though the ink is Cherry Cobbler from Stampin Up)!! So classy and elegant!! Loved getting all inky with this one! Great challenge Adele!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

Something Old, Something New

As I mentioned yesterday, I love Valentine's Day product because I so love PINK!! I broke out some OLD Basic Grey for this card. I wanted to make a Thank You card to send to my sister and her family for our Chrismas gifts (yes...I am a little late in sending those since Christmas was TWO weeks ago...forgive me). My neice loves pink too...right now...so I thought the Bittersweet collection would be great to use. And since that line also happens to be the majority of what I am using to scrap my wedding stuff, I've got lots of scraps laying around!! I combined this OLD product with my NEW Banner Builder stamp set from Papertrey Ink to create a lovely Thank You card.

Oh and I am loving that Stampin Up's Cherry Cobbler ink is such a close match to Papertrey Ink's Scarlet Jewel paper!! I will be back tomorrow with the start of some regular features here on the blog. Thanks for stopping by!!
Deb

New Stuff

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged...and I mean really blogged. So is the life of a retail store manager during the holiday's. I spent every free moment that I wasn't working just trying to enjoy the season so I took quite a long break from blogging! But I am back and I hope to get onto a more regular schedule next week!! I have got a few things planned and I am hoping to have some regular weekly posts. So stay tuned for that!!

I was so excited to get my 2peas order yesterday and I couldn't wait to break out some of the new stuff!! I picked up some new Hero Arts stamps and some of the new American Crafts Love collection. I combined these with my new Tim Holtz Rosette die that I got for Christmas and made a super cute (and super PINK) Valentine's Day card. I love Valentine's Day if only for the colors!! Pink is my favorite color...so I am drawn to so many products out now!! But I am restraining myself from getting too much themed product because I don't need it!! I am still digging out from all the Christmas product!! Anyway, on to the card...

The background is the new Classic Fabric Design Cling Stamp from Hero Arts (LOVE that stamp and the Large Fabric Design Cling stamp) stamped with Blushing Bride Ink from Stampin Up! I die cut some Blushing Bride Cardstock, wrapped the bottom with some Pure Poppy Satin Ribbon from Papertrey Ink, then stamped the sentiment from American Crafts new One & Only Love stamp set using some versamark and embossed with AC's Zing Opaque White. Finally I broke out my new Rosette die with some new American Crafts Love collection pattern paper and attached a Girls' Paperie Tinsel & Twig rose button. LOVE that Rosette die!!! Makes these SO stinkin' easy to make!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope 2011 is treating you well so far!!
Deb

Hello 2011!!!

Wishing you a Happy and Safe New Year!!
Deb