Now That Was Easy...

Remember that simple project that I was having such a hard time with a few days ago...here it is! And as you can tell, it's not that complicated! I finished it up last night in about 20 minutes and had a good laugh about how difficult crafting can be on one day and so easy the next. The problem I was having with this project was figuring out what image to use inside the chipboard frame. I knew I wanted this adorable frog from a Papertreyink set but wasn't haven't much success using the other elements from this set, mostly because the available stamping space was so small. Last night the light bulb went on! Use another PTI set, Life, which we received for free at the Stamp NE event and is fast becoming one of my favorite sets. This project, once one figures out what they want to stamp in that framed space, is super easy to create and would be such a nice treat for a parent or grandparent. The overall size is 4" x 8", folded in half each side is a 4" x 4" square. I used a picture of our boys, one that adorned this year's Christmas card, and used PhotoShop to make the photo black and white. The cardstock, ribbon, and button colors pop so well against the black and white. The chipboard frame is covered in cardstock from Stampin' Up! and has been stamped in white ink with a SU! polka dot background stamp. The frog was embossed with green embossing powder so he's nice and shiny in real life. I used sentiments from both of the PTI sets; on the front, pictured first, I used the "My Son" sentiment twice...seeing as we have two sons, and on the inside "Life (I added three dots)..." is inside the frame and "is so much better with you in it" is stamped right on top of the photo. I did edge the frame in white ink but someone needs to tell me how to get it to stay white! My white always seems to either rub off or sink into the cardstock...Maybe I don't use enough to begin with...Humm...

We're hoping for a warmer day here in New England...it was so cold yesterday for mid-April and the natives are restless! We need some warm weather so these boys can get outside and get rid of some of that energy! :-) Enjoy your day!

Keep it Simple Sunday

Tonight's Keep it Simple Sunday was turning into "oh my goodness, how long can it possibly take to create an easy, attractive card Monday!" LOL! Ever have one of those days? My Keep it Simple project started last night and by 11pm I still hadn't finished what I started! My husband had a good laugh when I came around the corner of the living room without a card in hand! So much for simple...However, I will have a fun project to show later this week. ;-) Tonight, I tried channeling Nichole Heady (she does the most amazing designs that are clean and simple...I've never seen one of her cards I didn't like!). I chose to start with a straight forward layout. This is a wonderful way to create a card or background for a card...Take two pieces of cardstock and stamp a background design on both pieces of paper and then layer them on a base. For this card I used a polka dot and word background stamps from Stampin' Up! The polka dot piece has been given a scalloped edge and (here's a true confession...I can not leave those little scallops alone!) added tiny rhinestones from Taylored Expressions. A piece of SU! ribbon was tied around the card, a sentiment added (really think I needed a larger, bolder sentiment on this card...next time!), and popped up a dark blue butterfly on the front as an accent. This basic design can be used again and again, you can change sentiments and background stamps, flip it on the horizontal, or attach a tag to the ribbon. I think I might even have a fun design to share later this week, using the scraps from this card....hummm....Stay tuned! Enjoy!

Sketch Challenge and Basic Grey

I took a trip to my local scrapbook store today, Wholly Scrap (how's that for a name? LOL!), and was enticed by some beautiful Basic Grey paper....so...I bought it! Then I quickly drove home, put the kids down for their naps, and ran down to my studio to cut up my new paper to make a card! Since I was in somewhat of a hurry, I decided to check out the latest Splitcoast Sketch Challenge. It's actually last week's challenge but it's a clean and simple design so I hoped I could finish my card before any little ones stirred. I tipped the card on it's side, creating a vertical box (vs. horizontal, which was in the online sketch) for my layout. The stamp set used is from Stampin' Up! (and one of these days I'll actually remember to write down the name of the sets!) and that oh so lovely paper in the background is Basic Grey...isn't it yummy? I popped up a few of the flowers, the "dreams" banner, and the butterfly. (You can click on the image for a larger view.) And because I can't live with too much white space and Jodi does such a great job with piercing to "fill" in the space (her designs rock BTW)...I did just that! You know what, a little piercing sure does do the trick!

Enjoy!

Keep it Simple...errr...Wednesday

Yeah, I'm running a bit behind on posting my Keep it Simple project...The good news is that my card was actually finished by Sunday but my ability to get a photo taken, downloaded on the PC, and posted on my blog eluded me! My card is a cute 4" x 4" size, which is perfect for mass producing. After Stamp NE we agreed that we needed to send cards to all of our sponsors, thanking them for their amazing generosity. Since we need to send cards to a whole lotta folks I knew I needed to come up with a simple design, something that would be quick to remake. I am grateful for my wonderful Stampin' Up! catalog that contains so many simple layouts and this card layout was roughly based on a layout in the catalog. This sweet birdie set is a new one from SU! and this is one of the first times I've inked up the stamps. I just love the bird stamps!! (SU! has matching chipboard too!!) The papers are from SU! as well. I struggled with leaving the card so plain (boy, do I have a hard time with white space! LOL!) but decided it looked best without ribbons or brads. I did, however, add some piercing in each corner. As one of our Stamp NE attendees said, "when my card needs something, I just add piercing!" That was the perfect solution for this card! :-) Well...we got a late start this morning so I need to finish up my coffee and get on with the day! Thanks for visiting!!

Big News!

Let's see...how do I start most of my blog posts lately? Oh yeah, that's right by apologizing for the lack of content being posted! LOL! It continues to be busy in our household...we've just recently sold our house and bought another one so on top of work, being a mom, and crafting I now get the joy of packing our house! *bleck* However, we are thrilled with our new home and can't wait to settle in! The next few weeks may be a bit quiet but I'm working on getting some great projects created so I'll have lots to share while I'm setting up my new studio! On to more exciting news!! Notice my little badge at the beginning of my post?? I have been asked to join the staff at SNR (Scrapbook News & Reviews) and I am downright thrilled! Anne, from A Faith Perspective, emailed me a few weeks ago about the possibility of joining their team and I just about jumped out of my seat with joy! SNR is the brain child of Kate Koch, who started the online magazine about a year ago. SNR's goals are to be customer-driven and reader-based, attracting all genres and subjects. In the online magazine you'll find in-depth articles, tons of detailed layouts (with photos), broken down by style, skill level, and technique. SNR covers all types of scrapbooking as well as a section on stamping. This is a wonderful monthly magazine and perfectly priced at $4.99/month and $49/year and I'm over the moon excited about being on staff! For now, my role will be to work with one of their newly formed stamping groups. I'll be on hand to help with articles, layouts, and/or videos. You'll probably also see a few scrapbook page layouts pop up in other areas of the magazine as well, which I'll help out with as time permits. Please follow one of the above links to check out the magazine...I just know you'll love it!! Be back with crafty things tomorrow....promise! :-)

OK, so I'm desperate...

My stamp room has been painfully neglected lately. It's so bad that I'm posting a card from years ago that I can't remember if I shared or not! If it's been over a year since something was posted on a blog, can it count as new? LOL! I'm hoping you'll forgive me if you've seen this one already...I plan to be back with new and exciting cards very soon! This card was created way back when I purchased one of the first Papertreyink sets. (The butterfly is PTI and the background, sentiment, and flowers are from Stampin' Up!) The woven background was created by first stamping random floral images on a piece of white cardstock. I then cut the cardstock into thin strips and wove the paper together. Once I had the size I wanted I snipped all of the ends to make them into an even rectangle. (I happened upon this weaving idea after having a bunch of thin strips of paper left over after making a card. I was sitting at my craft table fooling around with them and noticed that they were very easy to weave together. The weight of the cardstock holds the strips together quite well.) The flower, sentiment, and butterfly were added to top. I wish I had a better photo of this card (I scanned this image) because the flower is embossed and each image is mounted with dimensional tape so it's not quite as "flat" in real life! :-) Well it's Friday night and I'm off to spend some down time with my hubby!! Enjoy and have a lovely weekend!

SALT Challenge - Easter

This week is was Esther's turn to set the challenge for the SALT team and she chose Easter, or more specifically the real meaning of Easter. You can read her write up on the SALT blog. Well...I have a confession to make. We don't do much to celebrate Easter in our house or even in our church. I'm sure the Pastor might make mention of it being Easter Sunday but I suspect that it would be something along the lines of, "we celebrate Christ's Resurrection every day!" Ah, us New England folks, always so to the point. :-) We joke about it but in reality the birth of Christ and His resurrection should be a daily celebration, not something that is only thought about twice a year. For if that's the only time it's pondered then one has to give serious consideration to the spiritual state of one's heart. The Bible never recommends or commands us to set aside a day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We are, however, commanded to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul each and every day. My study Bible (the Reformation Study Bible) states the following on the resurrection of Jesus (supporting Bible texts are also noted):

"Christianity rests on the certainty of Jesus' Resurrection as an occurrence in history. The Gospels have it as their goal, with the empty tomb and Resurrection appearances, and Acts insists on it (Acts 1:3, 2:24-35, 3:15, 4:10, 5:30-32). Paul regarded the Resurrection as indisputable proof that the message about Jesus as Judge and Savior is true. (Acts 17:31) Jesus' Resurrection demonstrated His victory over death (Acts 2:24), vindicated Him as righteous (John 16:10) and indicated His divine identity (Rom 1:4). It led on to His ascension, and His present heavenly reign. It guarantees the believer's present forgiveness and justification (Rom. 4:25, 1 Cor. 15:17) and it is the hope of eternal life in Christ for the believer." (John 11:25, 26, Rom. 6)

The Resurrection is good news to the believer and unbeliever alike! The believer can joyfully look forward to eternal life with Christ and the unbeliever can have assurance that Jesus is who He claimed to be. There is hope, there is life, there is relief from burdens, judgement, and eternal death...but it is only found at the foot of the cross. May God be pleased to grant each of you a renewed (or new) love for Christ this Easter! Just a few closing remarks on my card...(After writing so much of Christ's work, it seems trivial to talk about a card, doesn't it!) The lovely paper is from Crate and the flowers are from Stampin' Up!, as is the ribbon and ribbon slide. The sentiment? Hey, it's from my Just Rite stamper! I've had it for ages and just inked it up. I'm sure you'll notice that awful smudge on the right hand side. I squeezed the "risen" onto the image area, which caused a bit of a problem for inking the stamp. But I was determined (translation stubborn) about using two different font sizes on the sentiment so...I tried and tried but keep getting the smudge. I decided it kind of looked like an exclamation point! I considered Photoshopping it out but figured you guys would forgive a girl a smudge...won't you? Even though it's totally making me twitch right now... :-) Head over to the SALT blog to check out all the beautiful creations!! Are you loving our new design team or what?? Fantastic stuff! And make sure you check back every week as we're starting to post more frequently!! Enjoy!