Ahoy there

Hello Happy Monday I started this page on the weekend and just finished it today, this was a quick one to do and didn't need a lot doing to it as the paper did a lot of the work. I bought a travel stack of paper mainly for our holiday coming up to Italy later this year and I noticed it had a nice tall ship piece of paper in there so I thought it would be good for these photos of when Darren visited us in 2010 and we went on a all ship on Lake Michigan. All I did was cut out the title from the 3 birds on Parade cartridge which was perfect with these photos.Thanks for looking.

Overlay card

Hello hope you're having a nice weekend. We did our shopping this morning and this afternoon I finished this card. If you saw the one yesterday with the stenciling you will see what I mean with this one.

This is the actually the stencil I used yesterday to sponge ink through. I think this is just as lovely too. I cut a square yellow card then a shimmery copper coloured layer. I then put my overlay/stencil I kept it simple as I didn't want to detract from the lovely inked overlay. I added a Prima flower and then I cut a banner from Artiste at 3/4 inches and inked around the edge with some Distress ink. I stamped a greeting from a Close to my heart stamp set. Thanks for looking.

stenciled card

Hello Happy Friday, I am looking forward to my weekend with Greg, but first I have some dogs to walk and go tot the gym and Greg and I are treating ourselves to a massage later as we've been working hard at the gym and we haven't had one in ages!

I had this card sitting on my desk for about a week, I used a sheet of lime green cardstock for another project and I made what was left into a 5" square card from my Art Philosophy cartridge. So today I had a bit of time this morning before I leave for the dogs and I thought i would try out something new I learned from some other blogs I follow. I cut a patterned green layer then on the CCR and my Edge to Edge cartridge I cut out this very nice overlay with flowers at 3.5". Normally you could just use the overlay on it's own and it looks lovely but I decided to make mine into a stencil. So I taped it lightly onto some more white cardstock and then used my distress inks in 3 colors -peeled paint, wild honey, and faded jeans  . I used a make up sponge to sponge all over the stencil. I took the stencil off and voila a really pretty background. I showed it to Greg and he was wowed! I then used Artiste to cut out the banner at 1" and I used the matching stamp and the same green distress ink to stamp the sentiment. I cut a butterfly out of a scrap using Artiste at 1.5". I kept the stencil I made as it looks lovely as well so waste not want not I will use that on a card as well in the future. Thanks for looking have a nice weekend.

Go Wild

Hello I have a lovely page today the last one on our San Diego zoo day. I had one photo left of us at the front of the zoo and I saw an idea for this page online and I decided to do my own page with a similar version. There were lots and lots of cuts on this page on my Cricut. It took me a little while to go through and put them all in the Cricut Craft Room to organize them but well worth it. I used Create a Critter and Create a Critter 2 for the layout. I started with a blue patterned cardstock and then a strip of zoo themed paper along the bottom and I added a border from my stash. If anyone has a Cricut and is interested in the measurements just ask as there are too many to type here. Greg loved my page I did too, it turned out so cute. Thanks for looking.

San Diego Zoo

Hello I am quickly uploading these photos before I go and walk Ivy with Greg, been busy today and just had time to post this so you could see. I did most of this last night and just finished it now after I finished all the housework.

I did a double page spread on San Diego zoo as there are always lots of photos when you visit a zoo. Greg joked to me that Dad is on the page and then he said the Gorilla, I agree haha..just kidding. I cut my font from my Traveller cartridge with shadow. The "Wild Thing" down the bottom is a Jolee's sticker and the cute Giraffe and Lion are from Create a Critter. The buttons I got on clearance at Michaels. I kept it my style which is simple and not too fussy and I love it, thanks for looking.

Greg's birthday card

Hello Happy Saturday, I am really glad to have Greg back, he came home with some nice treats too but best of all I love it when he's home but he says he is too so it's equal! I started making this card for Greg during the week for Greg for his birthday, I was just waiting on the little dumbell die cuts to arrive. I really like how it turned out. The card is called an "upright Z fold card" it was something different I haven't tried before and I really like how it turned out. I actually didn't use my Cricut for anything on this card it was all done by hand, apart from the dumbells die cuts. I didn't have anything like this on my Cricut cartridges but I found some on Ebay. The stamped image is so cute. I was very lucky I saw this stamp on a card on a lady's blog in Thailand and I asked her if I could send her something in return or pay her for the postage could she stamp it for me as I know that after this card I wouldn't use it again if I bought the stamp and she very kindly offered to do that. The image was actually 2 little animals at the gym but the other image was a jump roping hedgehog and as Greg is my muscle man weightlifter the image I chose was perfect, I coloured this with my watercolor pencils. I know Greg will love this, the theme is perfect for him as he loves to lift weights, I am so proud of him, he looks so good and I love to work out with him, we're a muscle couple! Have a nice day, thanks for looking.

Latte Lover

Hello I made this layout today, I got a bad headache though but I wanted to finish it and it turned out really nice. I found this picture of me at the cute little coffee shop in San Diego that we stopped at each morning. I normally don't like to scrapbook photos of just me, I prefer to always scrapbook both of us but Greg was waiting in the car when I got my latte so he took this photo of me. I used my Artbooking cartridge to cut out the overlay with the circle in the middle. I think my choice of papers go really well. I used Love you a Latte cartridge to cut out the latte title and the cute little coffee shop. I cut the other part of the title out of Extreme Fonts. The heart I had left over from a card project yesterday and it just so happened to match the colors in this page. I cut the tag from Fabulous Finds and did my journaling on Publisher. I added a heart brad, a flower which I stamped on with a background stamp with blue ink and a yellow brad for the flower centre. I inked around the title with Distress ink. I had the perfect stamp with espresso on it to go in the window of the coffee shop. I also stamped 2 take away coffee cups in brown and cut them out. I love how this turned out, thanks for looking.

San Diego Zoo - Elephant Odyssey

Hello Happy Thursday only one more day till the weekend, looking forward to that! The sun has come out now and the light snow has gone it's getting warmer too, tomorrow is going to be nice for a day at least! But at least there are signs of Spring, we're hopefully, we deserve some nice weather!!

I started doing my San Diego Zoo scrapbook pages yesterday, I finished this one now before I go on my lunchtime rounds to see the dogs. I ordered some zoo papers as I didn't have any and hey arrived a couple of days ago so I decided to start on them. I love this paper it's so cute with the elephant so for this one I decided to do a page on the Elephant Odyssey enclosure at the zoo, we had a really good day at the zoo. I used my Cricut to cut the circle from Art Philosophy at 9", the font was from Zooballoo I think at 2", the cute Elephant was from Cricut Sampler at 2.75" and for the San Diego Zoo banner I just used some mini alphabet stamps to stamp on a scrap of the grey dot paper i used for the elephant. I really like this page, thanks for looking today.

Some new things I leaned on a card for Greg

Hello I had some time today after I'd been out dog walking and then finished my housework and I decided my reward was to try out some new things I've learned recently on a card for my beloved : ). This was really just a test of the things I've learned but I'm actually quite proud of it and Greg will love it I'm sure. I am always keen to try out and learn new things as I don't want to keep doing the same things over and over so I was having fun doing this little card. The first thing I tried out was making my own background using a sentiment stamp and I liked how this turned out. The second thing is called emboss resist with distress inks. So I used a heart background stamp I got for $1 ages ago at Michaels and stamped this with Versamark ink. I then put white embossing powder over the top and heat set it with the heat gun. I then used distress inks, I am starting to collect these when I see them on clearance as I love them, so far I only have 2 but I have 3 more mini ones coming in the mail. So I used a makeup sponge and dabbed it on the ink pad (I used a separate one for each color) and then rubbed each color across where I stamped, I sort of mixed the colors too and it made the hearts really stand out, I really love how it looks. I then used my Cricut to cut out the hearts. I put the large one straight on the card but put the smaller one on 3D dots to pop it up. I finished it with some ribbon. You can do a lot with distress inks including using water mixed with them. I just need to get a little misting bottle on the weekend to try. Hope you like it, thanks for looking.

Another treat box for Greg

Hello another treat box I made last night for Greg, I saw a video on YouTube on these "sour cream" containers and I saw one that looked like a carrot for Easter to I thought I would try it to put the rest of the mini white chocolates Easter eggs in for Greg. It was very easy to do and looks very cute.

Recipe:

6 x 6 sheet of American crafts spotted card (I didn't have any plain orange but I actually like the orange and dot paper better) - this was cut down to size I will put the link to the project at the end for the measurements.
Brown scallop- Art Philosophy cartridge cut at 2"
Spotted flower - Art Philosophy cartridge cut at 1.75"
Pink circle - same cartridge cut at 1.5"
Stamp - Verve stamps

The stem on the carrot is just a scrap of green card and I got my scissors and cut "fringes" then rolled it up and then stapled the entire scalloped circles together and used strong tape to tape it onto the carrot. I didn't have a crimping tool to crimp the ends but I just used strong tape and it was fine. I think my carrot will look cute sitting next to my bunny treat box.

Thanks for looking

Link: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/sour_cream_container/

Easter egg card

Hello one more post I had some time to put this one on before it gets dark and before I get dinner. I've been busy today!

This was my last Easter card I need to make it turned out really nice, I love the bunny washi tape, I got it for only $1 from Joanns, it's so cute.

Not sure I'll continue with the recipe format on here, sometimes I can't remember what I use but if anyone's looking at these and want to ask what a particular product or item was I'm happy to say. I put the washi tape in diagnol lines across the top then I stamped the Easter egg border in Versamark ink and then embossed it with white embossing powder and heated it, I love how it looks on the Kraft card. I used my markers to color in the bits on the Easter eggs. I used a Verve stamp for the greeting. I cut the eggs from Create a Critter 2. For the blue egg I added some blue glitter on the dots. Thanks for looking, have a nice day.

Easter treat box for Greg

Hello I have a treat box to show you today that I made for Greg, I love how it turned out and it's nice to think about Spring, we're all eagerly awaiting it. I saw an idea on a great blog that I follow called Jayne Designs, I love Jayne's projects. She had a lovely chick on there for Easter recently and I decided to take inspiration from that and do a little bunny instead.

I filled it with mini Lindt white Easter eggs as Greg loves white chocolate.

Recipe:

Triangle box - cut at 5.5" from Sweet Tooth cartridge
Bunny - cut at 3" from Create a Critter 2, the bunny was actually a full standing bunny I just cut his head off.
I used my Critter faces Peachy Keen stamps for the cute face and used some pink chalk for his cheeks and some white freckles using a white gel pen. I used a black pen to draw on whiskers.
Ribbon - from my stash
Tag - sized in the CCR from Base Camp cartridge
Stamp - Studio G - I got it on Saturday for $1 from Joann's - bargain and I love the sentiment.
Heart sticker from my stash

Thanks for looking today

St Louis

Hello happy Friday, I"m looking forward to the weekend, Greg and I are going out for brunch which we haven't done since last year so a nice weekend coming up.

I have lots of photos that I haven't even scrapbooked yet. I'm currently waiting on my order to come with some zoo themed papers I was going to scrapbook San Diego Zoo so I thought whilst I'm waiting on those I will go back and scrapbook some of the trips we went on whilst being here.

This one was on St Louis when we went with Darren when he visited in 2010. We had a good time there and enjoyed going up to the top of the Arch. I thought the title was perfect, I'm being a bit old here but I remember the movie "Meet me in St Louis" with Judy Garland.

Recipe:

Orange patterned paper - Pocket full of Posies DCWV stack
Blue patterned paper - K & Company and a scalloped square cut from Art Philosophy at 11".
I used a layout idea from the Artbooking cartridge and cut my photo frames from that in some blue DCWV shimmery paper from the Pumpkin Spice stack.
Font - Don Juan cartridge sized in the CCR and cut with a shadow in shimmery blue and white.
Stickers - can't remember the brand, I bought them especially for this page though. Greg gave me the idea to use the arch sticker in place of the "N" in the title - ingenious!

Thanks for looking, have a nice weekend.

London Eye

Hello happy Sunday, I made this page today, I was going through my albums and I knew I hadn't finished our UK trip from years ago so I thought I would do this page on when we went on the London Eye. I kept the page simple and I love it.

Recipe:

White cardstock - DCWV
Cloud Paper - an old Spring stack from DCWV
Ferris Wheel - cut at 3" from Artiste
Font - Opposites Attract sized and welded in the CCR
Sticker on photo - Basic Grey
Border along the bottom - My Little Yellow Bicycle
I went around the font with a glitter gel pen just for a bit of sparkle

Valentines dinner

Hello everyone a very happy Friday and it is here, it's almost the weekend and we have a good weekend coming up, lots of good stuff, movies, shopping and the theatre!

I made this page late this afternoon I finished all my housework and had some time and better still I got to sit with Greg whilst he was working, I love to share my craft room with his office.

This page is of our Valentines Day dinner this year, I love how this page turned out. I actually recycled some of the items on the page - the 2 large pink hearts were on Greg's gift box and were kept for a page and the cute bear was part of our napkin rings I made.

Recipe:

Pink card stock base - American Crafts
Patterned paper (I love this and bought it especially for Valentines Day) - Doodlebug Design
Patterned heart paper - an oldie but a goodie from Bo Bunny, I've had this ages too and have been saving it for a special page!
Pink Border, Love you More sticker and You and Me Sticker - Doodlebug Design
Hearts - Art Philosophy and embossed with a cuttlebug folder
Mini black hearts - Recollections stamps then cut out and layered on top.
Be Mine Valentine Bear - Love Struck Cartridge then stamped with CTMH sentiment stamps
Vellum - cut into a border and stamped with a MFT stamp set (I love this saying)
14.2 stamp at the top of page - Recollections stamp set
Black and white polka dot washi tape - I got this in the clearance section at Michaels last week

Thanks for looking, have a nice weekend.

Scrapbook layout - Bridgnorth

Hello Happy Thursday, the sun is shining today, it's cold but at least the sun is shining. Rather than think of it being cold I just look at the positive, well at least it's not snowing and the sun is shining and I have my gorgeous husband right here with me!

I did this page on when Greg and I visited Bridgnorth in the U.K a few years ago now with some family, I am going back doing a few pages on older photos I haven't scrapbooked yet, I am way behind but I'll do just them as I come to them, it's a fun hobby not one to be stressed about! : ). We had a lovely day with them, we're looking forward to seeing them again in October on our way to Italy.

I'm also going to email this to Kim at Sunshine Creations and Crafts, she is doing Daily Motivational Projects during March, Friday is "Frantic Scrapbook Friday" and she's asking her followers to join in and have some fun with completing projects on whichever day you choose. I do love my scrapbooking and was able to join in this Friday, I"m a day early but she said I could send it as I won't have chance tomorrow.

Recipe:

Cardstock - DCWV Neutrals stack
Patterned paper - same as above
Title - Cut from my Opposites Attract cartridge, welded together in the CCR and then I used the shadow function to cut a plain green layer to go underneath
Railway car/tram - Folk Art Festival Cartridge sized in the CCR. I just cut a strip of black to resemble the track.
Tree - cut from Folk Art Festival sized in the CCR, green dot paper DCW Polka Dots 6 x 6 stack
Journalling - scalloped circle same cardstock as the tree cut on Art Philosophy at 2.5", then my journalling was done on Publisher
Flowers - Prima Flowers

Hope you like my page, busy day for me now, have a nice day.

Easter card using watercolor pencils

Hello, I have a card that i finished last night, this one is another Easter one but I thought I would try out my watercolor pencils again as they do take a bit of practice but I like how this turned out. I love the saying on this card too it's funny and cute.

Recipe:

Blue square card - made from a scrap of DCWV cardstock in my stash - 5 x 5 inches
olive green border - scrap then embossed in a Cuttlebug floral border embossing folder
Yellow mat - scrap again and embossed in a Cuttlebug floral embossing folder
Green sparkly tape ribbon - Recollections
Stamps - Jillybean Soup both image and sentiment stamped on watercolor paper and coloured in with Inktense pencils and a paintbrush dipped in water.
I also coloured in the egg shell with a glitter gel pen.

Thanks for looking today : )

One more Easter card

Hello one more Easter card, we've had a good day today, Greg has finished painting our bathrooms (2) feature walls and our bedroom, it's in a lovely Olive green, looks so much better than the blue, he did a great job. It will be nice for us to enjoy it but also nice for when we sell as it's a more sale able color.

Anyway I made this card today, Greg said it was his favourite and I agree it's so cute. This one took more time than the others so I will be selective who I give it to, someone who appreciates the work that goes into them!

Recipe:

Green premade card - DCWV
Spotty layer - DCWV
Yellow layer - scrap from stash
Green spotty layer - DCWV
Stamps - Bunny and Sentiment - Verve Stamps
Grass - Easter 2010 cartridge sized in the CCR
Tulips - Walk in my Garden catridge sized in the CCR

The bunny was stamped on scraps of papers and cut out, otherwise known as paper piecing, he's so cute, he really makes you think of Spring sitting there with his tulips. I look forward to seeing and walking around with Greg looking at the tulips in Chicago (probably April!). Have a nice day.

Some Easter Cards

Hello Happy Sunday, I have made some Easter cards lately and thought you might like to see. I love them all and it's nice to think about Spring and Easter! I bought a new embossing folder which is the Easter Egg one I have been trying to think of different ways to use it, this one uses distressing.

Card Recipe:

White pre made card - DCWV
Blue scrap of white core cardstock
Embossing folder - Darice Easter Eggs, then distressed using some sand paper
Banner - Artiste cartridge sized on the CCR out of a scrap of pink
Stamp - Doodlebug
Rabbit - Easter 2010 cartridge sized in the CCR using scraps

This card turned out cute, I rubbed ink over the raised Easter eggs in a different shade of pink

Purple premade card - DCWV
Border - scrap of blue card punched with a Martha Stewart border punch
Embossing folder - same as above
Ink - Martha Stewart pink
Scalloped circles from Easter 2010 cartridge sized in CCR
Stamps - My Creative Time

This one I did a few weeks ago I thought I would just show it with some other cards, I dug out my 3D decoupage sheets that I've had for years and thought I would use them as I had this cute bunny in there.

Card - cut from Creative cards cartridge
Purple - scrap of cardstock underneath
Stamp- My Craft Spot
Bunny - from a 3D decoupage sheet cut in pieces and uses 3D dots
Small flower stickers from my stash.

Valentines Page

Hello Happy Friday, this page has taken me over a week to make, no time this week but that's ok I am happy to be busy! I love this page though, I decided to do this one on our Valentine's Day this year, I love this photo of Greg and I so I decided to do a "10 Things I love about you" theme with little envelopes and tags. Each tag has a thing I love about Greg. Greg loved it and I do as well. We can look back on the tags years and years from now and I'm certain all of the things I love will be the same probably with a few hundred more : )

Recipe:

Background paper - Crate paper pad
Envelope papers - all from a Recollections Valentine's pad I got from Michaels.
Mini Envelopes cut from Wild Cards cartridge cut at 2"
Tags - sized to fit the envelopes on the CCR from Holiday Frames and Tags Cartridge
Title cut from Artbooking Cartridge
I love you Sticker - K & Company
Ribbons - all from my stash