Garden Beauties

Good morning everyone and happy Monday! We are finally home from California, happy and tired after all our activities with family and friends. It was so wonderful to get away, but now I’m feeling good about getting home and settling back into the old routine. I have missed my sweet pup, and I have missed hanging out with all of YOU.  I promise to come pay you a visit just as soon as I can.  Can’t wait to see what you have been up to!

Today I have a card to share that features the new challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room blog.  This week’s challenge, “Reflections”, is to create a project inspired by this lovely photo from Pottery Barn.

You can use the soft, neutral and shimmery colors in the photo or the theme … or BOTH! I found so much to be inspired by with this photo.  I love the color palette of the neutrals mixed with a touch of silver. I adore the shabby finish of the candlestick and the clean-lined edges of the mirror. Love the elements of nature combined with the metals. I love it all!

I used a mixture of neutral tones and light blue paper to mimic the reflective surfaces and color palette of the inspiration photo. A blend of white and cream tones adds a touch of depth and interest. The brown on the card base and flower stems represents the antique bronze finish in the photo candlesticks. I added a touch of shabbiness with Antique Linen distress ink and stamped my greeting in rich chocolate ink.

Our sponsor this week is Isabella’s Sketchbook.

Isabella’s Sketchbook is a digi-stamp boutique offering a variety of designs from delicate hummingbirds to vintage aprons. Isabella strives to offer designs that will assist you in creating your own beautiful work of art. This week’s winner will receive a $12 gift certificate to shop in Isabella’s online store.

I used Isabella’s Garden Beauties digital image for my project.  Printed the image directly onto a Jenni Bowlin ticket book page and colored the stems with a watercolor pencil and a blender pen.  I printed the image a second time onto cream cardstock and cut the blossoms out.  Adhered some of the flowers with pop dots to add dimension to the image, and colored the centers silver with my Stardust gel pen from Jetpens.

The lovely trims are from my dear friend, Kathy’s, Etsy shop. You will love it there.  Her shop is filled with beautiful hand-made treasures and unique trims and scrapbooking supplies too. Paper is The Girls’ Paperie, stamp from Stampin’Up’s Much Appreciated set.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you will check out this week’s challenge at the Tea Room and play along with us.  Can’t wait to see what you create!

Have a great day everyone!

Creative Pandemonium #65

Hi everyone!  Now that the holidays are officially over, and we are well on our way into a brand new year, the Creative Pandemonium challenge blog is back in full swing.   This week’s challenge is to create a page using the color green, polka dots, and at least 5 stickers.  I pulled out my stash of Webster’s Pages Nature’s Storybook collection to make this page.

I just love these photos.  They were taken about 8 years ago, when my little peanut was 3.  Love seeing pictures of our old house with all the flowers and trees in full bloom in springtime.  And look at my sweet parents.  What precious memories.

Papers are Violette Wings and Wishes Come True.  Fancy cut the tree and adhered it with pop dots in places to give it some dimension.  Thought the tree complimented the flowering tree in my photos, which was an element I definitely wanted to call attention to.

For the sticker requirement in the challenge, I used the Nature’s Storybook Die Cut Cardstock Stickers.  That large blue polka dotted frame is actually a sticker from that set.  Also added two butterfly stickers to my tree cut out, and two bracket stickers to my title work.

Additional supplies include the Nature’s Storybook Storyteller Alpha stickers, the Postcards From Paris Days of the Week Journaling Cards, and trims from the Botanical Trim Kit.

Feels so good to complete a page again!  I was having a bit of a dry spell. 😉  Hope you will check out the pages the other design team members created, and come play along with us!  We’d love to have you!

In other Webster’s news, CHA sneak peeks are continuing over at inspireME this week.  Check out this post to get a peek at some of our new embellishments and trims, as well as the 4 new paper lines.  You are going to fall seriously in love, I can promise you that.  CANNOT wait to get my hands on these new beauties!

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone!  Have a great evening!

Countdown to Christmas- Day 23

Good evening everyone!  Two days and counting.  Christmas is almost here.  I really like these last few days before the big day……I’ve finished the to-do list, for the most part, and can kick back with my family and enjoy.  I was just sitting on the couch chatting with my mom and gazing upon the tree and all the pretty lights and decorations.  These are the moments I want to savor. It doesn’t get any better than this.

With all the activity this last week, I haven’t been doing much scrapping, but I do have a few more photos of some of my decorations to share tonight.

I call this area my “gold ensemble”.  All my gold colored pieces ended up going here, including my gorgeous new gold tree I received for a present.  I am so excited about that tree.  I’m already thinking it will be a perfect “fall” tree for next year.  I don’t have many ornaments for it yet.  Perfect excuse to do some more shopping. Mom did bring me her collection of clear glass ornaments she had collected over the years which look pretty on the new tree.  I also have my wooden creche figures from when my kiddos were babies on the plate rack by my easy chair.  I got in the habit of putting them down low so that the kids could easily reach and play with them, and the tradition has just stuck with me.  Funny how little things like that happen without you even realizing it.

And although I haven’t been doing much in the way of scrapping, I do have one quick card to share.

Old Paper Salon papers, which I still love to pieces, Webster’s trims, and Prima crystals.  Added a little machine stitching and a rub-on greeting from Pebbles, Inc.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope to see you all tomorrow!

A Few New Webster’s Goodies

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  It’s been a beautiful day here today, and a special day, too.  My buddy, Michelle, had a rare day off, giving us the chance to get together to scrap and have lunch.  Did a little scrapbook shopping, as well, but……..we were pretty good in there, I have to admit.  Michelle really wanted to spend a lot of money, but I held her back.  You can thank me later, Michelle! 😉

Here’s a couple of photos we took in her quaint downtown area.

Spent the morning playing with my new Webster’s Pages goodies before we headed out to lunch.  I have been so anxious to get my hands on the new die-cut alpha Storytellers stickers, and they are every bit as fabulous as I had hoped.  And the new trims…………….sigh.  Pure bliss.  Gorgeous papers, gorgeous cardstock stickers, and fun new vellum journaling cards, too.  And the best news is, everything is now ready.  If you can’t find Webster’s at your local stores, you can get everything you need here.  Trust me, you will NOT be sorry.  Here’s a card I made using the new trims, cardstock stickers and papers from both A Sweet Life and Magical Wishes lines.

And here’s a small peek at a page I finished this morning.

I will share the rest of the page another time, but I just had to show you a small glimpse at one of the die-cut cardstock stickers and the adorable vellum frogs.  I also used one of the vellum calendar cards behind the photo, and of course the gorgeous Storytellers alphas for the title.

Thanks for stopping by everyone!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Project 365-Week 4

Got Pete out on the bikes today!  That’s now 4 days in a row for me!  That trail is definitely not long enough.  Think it’s only one mile out, and two miles on a bike is not cutting it.  Eventually, the trail is supposed to continue on, but for now, this means we will have to put the bikes in the car and drive to a different starting point.  Hate that, but I think I’ve been bitten by the biking bug.  Who knew??

Love all the new things that 2009 is bringing me so far.  I didn’t even put exercise down on my list of resolutions, but I’m really enjoying myself.  And having more fun is certainly part of my to-do list for the year, so I guess I’m following along with my ultimate game plan after all.  Still keeping up with my project 365, too, although I’m starting to fall behind in posting my photos.  Wonder if that’s a sign.  At least, I haven’t missed a day of photos yet.  Here are my photos for week #4.

I’m heavy on the Nik photos again.  That’s what happens when you only have one willing photo subject. 😉

Jan. 22nd

Jan. 23rd

Nik made this sweet little snowman project in preschool when she was 2 years old.  I love that it has her photo on it.  Yikes!  Just realized that it’s February now and that my snowmen will have to come down.  Time for Valentines.

Jan. 24th

Nik with her two gerbils, Ginger and Smoky.  And yes, that’s the same shirt.

Jan. 25th

Crop day at the Paper-Playground.  Here’s my friend Kathy from 2peas.

Jan. 26th

Yeah….here’s Peter with our hedgehog, Sonic.

Jan. 27th

Greek restaurant where I had lunch with my friend, Terri, to celebrate her birthday.  This cool mural was way up high above the order counter.

Jan. 28th

For Nik’s first day of track-out, we went to the library.

Thank you so much for hanging in here so long.  I just have one more photo to show you today.  The February kit from Paper-Playground just came out today, and I must show it off!

What do you all think?

Random Chaos #38

Hi everyone!  Just got back from cruising the local second-hand store looking for potential costume possibilities.  You would think that since I love Halloween SO much, I would be completely ready for it by now, wouldn’t you?  But that is truly not the case.  I am not ready at all.  Still need to buy my candy for the trick-or-treaters, still need to carve the pumpkin, and still need to finish off those costumes.  Pete has surprised me this year by deciding that he still wants to trick-or-treat after all.  I thought that at 13, I wouldn’t get him to go out.  But for him, his desire for candy out-weighs the “uncool” factor.  He’s surprised me even further by saying that he does want an actual costume.  He’s never one to have liked those ghoulish masks, and he won’t go without a costume, either.  I have to hand it to him for that.  If he’s going to go, then he’s going to do it right.  He said he wanted to be a Ninja.  Not too difficult if he was still a little guy, but pretty hard to find for someone his size.  Luckily, I found some black pants and a couple of black shirt options today that I’m hoping will cut the mustard with him.  Then we have a black hooded thing already left over from a previous costume, and he found the “appropriate” toy knife blade in the craft building of our state fair last weekend.  I’ve had to learn all about the proper ninja blade and how it differs from other blades, etc, etc.   Kinda gets my head spinning.  I have to admit that I kind of tune out a bit there. So now I’m hoping he will be set.  Also found a white, button-down shirt for Nik to splatter paint over for her artist’s costume, and Mom has been good enough to put a beret in the mail to us.  Should get here the day of Halloween.  Should.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.  And now bring on Halloween!  So how about it?  Are you guys all ready?

And now that all that shopping is out of the way, it’s time for me to share my page for the Random Chaos challenge blog.  This week’s challenge is to use a black and white photo, one heart, and something red.  Here is what I did.

Went deep into my stash to find this old school yearbook photo from 1979 taken of our advanced band group.  I played a lot of different instruments back in the days, but believe at this point I was playing the alto sax.  That is me in the front row, third from the right.  Aren’t we a hoot?  Ah, the good ‘ol 70’s.

The papers on this page are from Basic Grey’s Figgy Pudding collection.  Although traditionally a Christmas line, I was drawn to these rich deep colors to complement my black and white photo in this non-holiday page.  I kept the page clean and simple, as there is already quite a bit going on in the photo to draw the eye.  Just a simple title treatment, one journaling strip, and a few embellishments were all it needed.  And check out that gorgeous Webster’s Pages trim! Yum-O!  That stuff is truly a “must-have”.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a little peekie!  I really appreciate all your kind messages. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Cardalicious 2

Happy Monday everyone!  Has it turned chilly for you all these last few days?  We have definitely had a change in weather here.  It’s really starting to feel like fall.  In fact, it was downright cold this morning at 6 am when I had to get Pete up for school.  Cold and dark.  I finally had to break down and turn on the heat, even.  Nik and I had to wear heavy sweaters, scarves and mittens for our late afternoon walk yesterday.  I’m already missing the warm weather.  I do love fall, but I love the Indian Summer part of fall, not the cold part.  Brrrrr…..

But along with the cold, Monday brings a new challenge at the Cardalicious blog.  Now that, I can deal with!  This week’s challenge is to create a birthday card using at least two journaling tags/spots/cards on your design.  Often, when you think of journaling tags, you think of scrapbook pages.  But journaling pieces also add a fun embellishment to cards.  Here is what I did.

Most of the supplies on my card came from  Webster’s Pages, including their large journaling prompt cards. Trimmed down just slightly, the journaling card became the perfect fit for the second layer on my project.  I love that these cards come with prompts to kick start your journaling.  The “on this day” prompt worked perfectly with my birthday wishes sentiment.  I also included a journaling tag from K&Co. for the second journaling piece and a hand-made ticket cut from some Bee Balm patterned paper from the Reflections of Nature line.  The butterfly was trimmed from another journaling card.  And look at the gorgeous new Webster’s trim!!  I just could not love it any more than I do. If you all haven’t seen all their new trims, just scroll down a few of my posts to see the entire collection.  You will be adding them to your must-have lists for sure!

Do go check out the new Cardalicious blog if you haven’t already.  There is tons of inspiration there.  The entire design team really rocked this challenge.  Link me up in the comments if you play along!

Have a great day!

New Release from Webster’s Pages

I know I promised to share some exciting news with you all yesterday, and I’m sorry I never got the chance to do so.  I had such a busy day that I was never able to get near the computer at all.  Had to take my daughter to a pediatric G.I. specialist several hours away and it ended up being an all day experience.  Poor little thing has been sick for over 3 months and we are struggling to find the answers and get her on the road to recovery.  The visit went really well, though, and I am hopeful that we are now on the right path.  It is going to take some time, but I do believe we are going to make it.  And that is very good new for us!

So now that you all have been kept waiting…….are you ready for some good news yourself?  I am so excited to be able to share with you all a new line from Webster’s Pages called Hello Beautiful that is being released this month.  I could not have come up with a better name for this gorgeous new line.  Take a look.

And here are the matching journaling cards.

Hello, Beautiful, indeed!!  Artist Terri Conrad has done it again.  And did I mention that this new line matches their gorgeous new trims?  And did I also say that these trims are going to be available in bulk as well as smaller cards?  Can’t wait to get my hands on this.  How about you?  Hello Beautiful will be shipping within the next 10 days, and is available on the Webster’s Pages website for purchase if you cannot find it in your LSS.  How’s that for a piece of good news?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Random Chaos #31

Well, we did it.  We survived our first morning back to school.  But it wasn’t super easy. None of us were tired at bedtime last night, and of course we all had a rough time waking up this morning.  After walking Nik to school this morning, Glammie and I stayed to help the teacher run copies for her upcoming classwork.  Took three of us a full hour to get it all done.  And now Glammie and I have just walked home from having lunch with Nik in the cafeteria.  In less than an hour, Peter will be home, and then soon after that it will be back up to the elementary school to pick up Nik.  I’d say this day has certainly been revolving around school, school, and more school!  It sure is hard to get back into the routine after our three week break.

So now after all this academic activity, I think it’s time to turn to some scrapbooking fun!  Are you all ready for this week’s Random Chaos challenge?  This week is the opposite of last week.  Last week we were to use an over-sized photo, and this week the challenge is to use a very small photo(s).  Something wallet size or less.  Here is what I did.

LOVE the challenge this week.  I have had these two tiny pictures of my brother and me for years that I had never scrapped.  I mean these photos are really, really small.  One measures 1″ x 3.5″, and the other is 1.75″ x 3/25″.   My mom took one look at them and called them “little specks”.  I thought that was rather appropriate, but I’m so happy that I have finally scrapped them.  Once again, Janelle has given me just the push I needed to get it done.

And look guys…….I’m still getting mileage out of my September kit from Paper-Playground.  The paper on here is from the Vita Bella line from Little Yellow Bicycle, as are the gorgeous copper rub-ons and the filigree brad.  I love the combo of the organic, olive mesh trim with the silky organdy ribbon on the right side.  Gives this page a real textured feel, and I just love that about this kit.

Time for me to let Glammie have a turn at the computer before Peter bursts through the door and commandeers the computer!  Have a great day everyone!

Mummy Wrap

Once again, I feel very lucky this morning.  Hanna has come and gone through our area without our hardly knowing she was even here.  We had a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain, but by noon yesterday, the skies were clearing and turning into a beautiful day.  And this morning, too, promises to bring us another glorious day.  How nice for our last day of break before returning to school.  Ugh…….I had to say it.  Yes, tomorrow we head back to school to start our second session of this year.  The kiddos are not very happy campers about it, either.  And I will admit I’m not looking forward to having to get up at 6 am again…

But what a nice three week break we have had.  We got to take that trip up to Williamsburg to the Great Wolf Lodge, and the kids spent a week at the beach, as well.  And now we have Glammie visiting!  It has been wonderful having her here.  I’ve been so busy hanging out with her that I haven’t spent much time doing anything else.  But I did make a page last night that I can share with you now using my favorite September kit from Paper-Playground.  I just cannot get enough of that kit!  I’m loving how well the colors match so many of my photos and how easy this kit is to use.

You all may recognize these photos, as I’ve posted them before.  These were taken at Nik’s school fall festival that was held the last day of school before break.  I went and volunteered, so was able to capture a few of the highlights in pictures.  These photos of Nik doing the mummy wrap race were my favorite of the day.  And this activity was, by far, the favorite of the kids that day, too.

This page combines three of the patterned papers from Basic Grey with two colors of the Bazzill cardstock. I hand cut some more of those cute birdies for embellishment and also cut some wavy cardstock strips to mimic the mummy wrapping in the photos.  The title combines the Basic Grey mini monogram stickers from the kit with some Making Memories black alpha rub-ons from my stash.  And then for detail under the title, I layered all sorts of goodies from the kit, including a chipboard circle tag, some brads, another bird, both trims and the felt flowers from American Crafts.

Don’t know how many more projects I can still eek out of this much-loved kit, but I’m going to find out! ;)!

Have a great day everyone!