Bella Blvd Thank You Note

I have a lot to be thankful for this week, every week really, but especially this week.  So today I have another thank you card to share with you!

I created this one using all supplies from Bella Blvd and love the color combo that comes out in it!  The two blues combined with the yellow and red adds and unexpected twist.  I fussy cut all fo the flowers and added those to the speech bubble - popping up a few of them!  A couple little flags add another element of fun to it.  Doesn't this card just scream "spring?" Too bad the weather doesn't...

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd

Flags: Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd

A Grid Style Thank You Card

I still had some scraps left over from playing with Daily Grind and decided to play a little more with cards.  For this one I made use of my one inch circle punch a whole bunch!

I used the punch to punch out icons from patterned paper and created a grid pattern.  I then outlined those with my black pen to make them pop a little more.  Some enamel dots and spelling out "thanks" were the final added touches!  Can't wait to get my hands on the new Simple Stories lines!!!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Cardstock: American Crafts

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Stickers: Simple Stories

These are a few of my favorite things...a layout incorporating some of my favorites

Of all the new lines from Imaginisce, I do believe that Welcome Spring is my favorite.  I love the bright colors, I love the graphics, and I really love that it has my two favorite colors to scrap with: navy and yellow!  I made use of this line for this birthday layout about my Lucy!  You are also going to see that this layout incorporates several other elements that are favorites of mine!

I had several posed shots of her like this from her 5th birthday party, so I picked my three favorites and lined them up.  Her dress was navy blue and bright pink making it a perfect match for this line.  I used my favorite Kiwi Lane Border Template to create a wavy border above the photos.  I also used my cameo to cut out the "smile" for my title and added a sticker from one of my favorite companies SRM Stickers.  Doilies are hands down my favorite embellishment right now and I am incorporating them on almost every project that I create.  I added texture by using a feather, burlap, twine, and chipboard.  So what are some of your favorite things to use right now?  I bet we have some in common!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce, Teresa Collins

Stickers: SRM Stickers, Simple Stories

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Chipboard; Bella Blvd

Feather: Bella Blvd

Die Cut: American Crafts

My third Imaginisce Scraplift!

I shared earlier in the week that I created two cards as "scraplifts" for Imaginisce.  What I didn't share is that I had actually created three!  One of my first cards was based on a card by one of my favorite scrappers Suzanna Lee.  But being the star that she is the card I was lifting from actually got picked up for publication by CARDS Magazine.  So today I am here to share my lift with you, but the inspiration for it you will have to wait to see until the July issue of CARDS magazine comes out!

 I did some serious fussy cutting on this one...cutting out the pieces of the butterflies and piecing them together!  

All the pieces from this come from the Welcome Spring and Child Memories lines from Imaginisce.  I did also add in some tape from Bella Blvd and a few Studio Calico Wood hearts too.  I'm enjoying playing with mists these days and using them for creating splatters...there is definitely some technique to getting that down without making a giant mess!

My final post for CutCardStock

 It's hard to believe that six months has passed and my term with CutCardStock is over!  I can't wait to see what fabulous creations the next team comes up with!  For my last project I decided to do a layout with a whole lot of paper piecing!

My base is a piece of Solar White Neenah Cardstock.  I then used papers from the Pop Tones line to create my chevron pattern. I also used some CTI Glama Marbled White Translucent Paper to create the heart behind my picture.  Here's the scoop on how I created my chevrons:

I cut out one of each color

And then cut them apart at each parallelogram.  Then I pieced them back together on the layout.

It requires patience but is worth it because of the results!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: CutCardStock

Irocks: Imaginisce

Stickers: Bella Blvd

Imaginisce Scraplifts

This week Imaginisce offered us up the challenge of Scraplifting a project.  Scraplifting is taking an element or elements of another person's project and doing the same with your own creative spin!  I decided to do cards and therefore created two scraplifts!

First up is this card which was created by the talented Aimee Kidd.  I loved the whimsical feel to it and the way she did three sections.  Here is how I recreated it:

 For my second project I decided to go a different route and lift from a layout!  Here's the layout from Cari Locken:

If you know me, you know I love repeated shapes and patterns, so this layout totally caught my eye!  Here's my lift of it:

I did the diamonds, I did the left side of the card, I just loved her whole approach!  If you want to see close up details...you can check them out on the Imaginisce Blog today!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Irocks: Imaginisce

Twine: The Twinery

Die Cuts: Imaginsce

Doily: SRM Stickers

Buttons: Imaginisce

Shaped Card Challenge

I am so excited that the Paige card challenge is back on the Northridge Publishing Blog!  I used to participate in those very regularly and decided to try to get back into the swing of things!  This week's challenge was to do a shape card.  Definitely a challenge - as I don't do a lot of shape cards.  But I hopped on my computer and found several that I had been um, hoarding, in my silhouette software.  This was the one that jumped out at me!  I also am linking this up to the Paper Issues current issue: Tip-toe thru Tu-lips

Triangles are so fun and I haven't seen many people play with this card, so I figured why not!  It came with the intricate flower overlay and that's where the real challenge came in!  I wasn't sure what to do - go matchy, go all different.  But something about the flowers was screaming Doodlebug to me.  So I punched out circles from a sheet of Doodlebug paper from the "Take Note" line.  I couldn't do it on my machine because the paper was pretty detailed...it would've taken forever to figure out how to cut it.  So I went old school with the punch :).  After I glued all those down, I popped the petals up, simply by folding them upwards.  I then used a pixie stick and created a little flag for my sentiment, adding a coordinating washi tape flag and heart.  Lastly I went in and added some IRocks from Imaginisce in between my flowers.  Oh so much fun to create - a great challenge!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design

Irocks: Imaginisce

Pixie Stick: Doodlebug Design

Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Washi Tape: Doodlebug Design

Cardstock: American Crafts

Celebrate - A Patriotic Layout

I have had this layout for awhile and haven't gotten around to blogging it, perfect for a middle of the week slump!

I love to play off of angles and change things up a lot.  Gives a fresh view on things instead of just straight on.  As you can see I did that multiple times on this throwing things in all different directions!  Imagine how different this layout would look had I kept the red background straight on and centered or the pictures straight on and centered.  It would still be pleasing to the eye but not have quite the surprise value that it does this way!  I also played with a lot of texture and dimension in this by using everything from crocheted hearts to chipboard to washi tape.  Possibly my favorite thing about this one is that I managed to include four photos - love it when you can get a bunch of pictures onto one layout! 

Supplies Used:

All the supplies are from Bella Blvd

3 Months - Baby Boy Layout

I am having so much fun playing with the newest releases from the recent CHA show!  Today I have a layout that features pieces from the "Special Delivery" line from Pebbles.  

For each of Bo's monthly photos, I have tried to really match the paper and embellishments to the stickers on his onesie.  This line with all the grays and blues was perfect for that! I decided to use the big "BABY" letters in the die cut pack as part of my focal point and surround the picture with them.  This got me going on a very horizontal feel and I just built from there.  This line is full of fabulous die cuts and stickers but I needed to find a way to add in some more texture.  That is where the wood pieces and my hand stitching came in!  I just did a simple straight line of hand stitching but it helps to break up the flatness of it all.  Looking forward to playing more with this line!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles Inc

Stickers: Pebbles Inc, Jillibean Soup

Die Cuts: Pebbles Inc

Wood: Studio Calico

Love You More Layout

First off I want to announce the winner from the blog hop this past weekend! Iris!!!

 Iris said...

Super cute layout and pretty blog candy. I follow you with Google friend connect and Like you on FB.

isoscia at aol dot comGo ahead and shoot me an email at practicalscrappers@gmail.com and I will get your prize off to you!

Now on to my project that was featured today on the Chicagoland Scrapbookers Magazine site!  The layout is based on this sketch created by me :)

I didn't follow the sketch exactly because, well, I almost never do :)  I cut the hearts out of my base and then added patterned paper behind them.  Outlining them with black made them pop a little more.  I added in the pictures of my little guy who likes to call himself "diddy kong" who is a character in the Donkey Kong family.  

The bright colors from Pebbles line "From Me to You" were perfect.  Let's face it, bright colors and three year olds just belong together!  I did lots of outlining and doodling giving it a whole lot of personal touch.  The final piece was to do splatters.  I don't know why I wait until last to do that!  At first I didn't like them, but once they dried, it was better.  I'm trying to embrace the splatters and messy fun :)

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Stickers: Bella Blvd & Pebbles Inc

Wood Arrows: Studio Calico

Mist: Studio Calico

Imaginisce Valentine Layout

With all the blog hopping I have been doing, I haven't had the chance yet to share my Imaginisce project that went up on Valentine's Day.  I did a lot of Valentine's projects over the last month but this was the only one that actually was about me and my hubby!

I made a sort of nutty decision when creating this and decided to focus in on red, black, and white for colors.  That was crazy because those aren't the dominant colors in the current lines from Imaginisce.  But I mixed and matched and threw in some pink to make it all come together!  I die cut and punched hearts as well as adding some IRock hearts and some wood hearts.  Tip: I sometimes forget that a title can be huge and take center stage.  It was fun to go to the computer and cut a title that would take up almost the whole length of the layout!  Other than my picture I wanted the eye to be drawn into the title and the hearts and I think I managed that with the big bold lettering in the title.   

 Hope you had a great Valentine's day with your loved ones!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Stickers: Imaginisce, SRM Stickers

Doilies: SRM STickers

Cardstock: American Crafts

IRocks: Imaginisce

Buttons: Imaginisce

Wood: Studio Calico

Practical Scrappers - Scrapping our Valentine's Stash Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop - scroll down a couple posts!

This month we are focusing on scrapping our Valentine's stash, or at least stash that has to do with love.  I never realized how much Valentine's stash I had until I started working on this project!  We are thrilled to have Kiwi Lane Designs sponsoring this month!  

Kiwi Lane Designs creates templates that help take the frustration out of scrapbooking!  And one lucky winner today will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane.  We are big fans of Kiwi Lane Designs and in fact have several members of our design team who either currently or in the past have been a part of their design team!  Details on how you can win this prize are available at Practical Scrappers - and details on how you can win a prize from me are at the bottom of this post!

Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers 

Krissy Clark

Christine Meyer ****You Are Here***
Kim Ryden ****Head Here Next***
Patty Selah
Charity Hotrum

Lissa Mitchell
Jennifer Haggerty
Alison Day

Bobbi Smith

Michelle Johns
Kerri Yarus

Cathy Harper

Nicole Laha
Lanette Erickson

Majken Pullin

Erin Morehouse

Lisa Peeples
Claude Campeau
Wendy Coffman
Lee-Anne Thornton

Now on to my Project!

I used an old Valentine's line from American Crafts along with some goodies from SRM Stickers and Bella Blvd.  I bought this American Crafts line after Valentine's last year with the intention of using it for magazine submissions for this year, but time fell short - so I got to use it for just plain old fun instead!  One of my favorite things to do with layouts is to use a grouping of photos that aren't necessarily from the exact same moment in time but show the kids personalities coming thru.  For this one I did one of each of my kiddos!  Can you guess which one is the family clown????  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Die Cuts: American Crafts

Stickers: Bella Blvd, SRM Stickers

As a thanks for stopping by today I have a giveaway!

I am giving away some pieces from this same line as well as some other coordinating goodies!

To enter you can do any of the following for up to 2 entries:

1) Become a follower here thru the follower button

2) Become a fan on my facebook page

Make sure to leave me a comment here or on facebook so I know what you did! 

I will announce a winner on Monday! 

Now hop on over to Kim's blog and see what she has to share!

"Special Delivery" Baby Boy Card

If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop Post you can find it right below this!

I have been enjoying playing with the newest baby line from Pebbles "Special Delivery."  I picked up pieces from the boy part of the line...cause there's just a few boys around this house....

The little duck is a die cut as is the polaroid I put him into!  I mounted that onto other paper and added some sweet stickers from the line.  I love the combination of the sky blue and navy blue topped off with my fave color to scrap with yellow!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Die Cuts: Pebbles

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Washi Tape: Bella Blvd

Twine: The Twinery

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop - Love

Welcome to the Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Nicole's blog.

We have a fabulous giveaway this month sponsored by Spellbinders!

It is the Spellbinders' Butterfly Garden Grand Impressabilities 

All you need to do is enter below. You can earn multiple entries by following us on Facebook, commenting below, tweeting about the giveaway, and signing up for the email updates. This giveaway is open to US customers only and closes on this Sunday at 11:59 PM MDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This month our blog hop is focused on love and there are tons of great files available from Samantha on this topic!  I oped to do a layout about my youngest son's first day of life with Daddy.  

I really wanted the Daddy heart to be the focal point of the layout.

First I sized it to an appropriate size for a 12 X 12 layout.

Then I added a circle around it and cut it out in the colors I wanted to use.

One of the things I wanted to try was tucking everything into one level layer - like puzzle pieces. Instead of piling it on top of each other.  So first I assembled the heart. Then the circle (with the heart part already cut out) went right above it.  And then I had one more piece that is the background of my layout (with the circle cut out) that I added on top of that. It created a really different look than Use a whole 12 X 12 topped with a circle, topped with a heart, topped with a word. For starters, it's doesn't weight a ton :)

Supplies Used:

Samantha Walker Studio Files: Daddy heart #44013

Heart Pennant Flags #54446

Rough & Tumble Collection

Keepin' Cozy Collection

Don't forget to sign up for Samantha's Newsletter 

through the Rafflecopter widget to receive your

FREE SVG and Silhouette Studio file! 

Click on the image below to head to Samantha's Facebook Page:

Valentine's Card

Today on Practical Scrappers they are playing with one of my card sketches!  Here it is and here is my interpretation!

I went very simple!  I thought about doing a layered freestyle collage type card, but I was low on time and mojo so I just went with fussy cutting some pretty hearts from an old Valentine's line and used the always perfect SRM Stickers as my detailed touches!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee

Stickers: SRM Stickers

Wood: Studio Calico

Embossing Folder: Crate Paper

KLD Blog Hop Winner

Congrats to the winner of my prize from the Kiwi Lane Blog Hop. 

Kimberly Fordyce!

Please send me an email at practicalscrappers@gmail.com to claim your prize!

The facebook winner will be announced on my facebook page!

Simple Stories "Daily Grind" layout

I've been off for a few days, giving y'all the chance to hop with the Kiwi Lane hop that was going on, but I'm back with lots to share this week!  First off, I have one last Daily Grind project to share as part of my design team work for The Scrapbooking Studio.

One of the most important things for me to document in my layouts is everyday life stuff.  The cute things that my kids do that quickly fade away (but I want to remember forever).  This layout does that.  Not only does it show some of Cooper's cute faces but it also talks about two phrases that he uses all the time.  I layered die cuts, patterned papers, chipboard, and stickers to pull together pieces from throughout this Simple Stories line.  

Coming up later this week...two more blog hops....which means two more chances at giveaways for you!

Supplies Used:

All supplies used are from Simple Stories

Kiwi Lane Blog Hop

I love blog hops and am excited to be joining a group of Kiwi Lane Fans in one today full of scrapbook inspiration with ideas to use their designer templates! 

 I am the last stop on the blog today so if you have just started here you should head back to Kiwi Lane and do the whole thing!  There is a great big giveaway of a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi store for commenting on the blogs and I have a giveaway too!  More details on mine after the layout!

I love Doodlebug Design's "Sweethearts" Collection and knew I wanted to play with it for this.  I created my layout using a couple different template sets: The Chevron Border set and the Sweetheart Accessory Set.  The Chevron border set is pretty much my favorite.  All I did was use it to cut out three borders and then cut them apart.  I reassembled them with the three colors in various places.  It is a super easy technique that really packs a punch.  

As a Thank You to all of you for stopping by today I am doing a giveaway of two separate prizes!  One for a follower here on my blog and one for being a fan on my facebook page!

-If you become a follower here on my blog and leave me a comment telling me you did so - I will enter you into a drawing for the Paradise Accessory Set and some Bakers Twine.

-If you become a fan on my facebook page and leave a comment on the wall there - I will enter you into a drawing for the Sweetheart Accessory Set.

I will announce the winners on Monday!

Now, head on back to Kiwi Lane and make sure to leave a comment and get yourself entered for the big prize!

A couple of "lovely" cards

I am blogging today at CutCardStock and sharing a couple of "love" cards!  I had so much fun creating both of these!

The different color combination on this one really makes this one pop.  I created my bottom layer of ruffles using an American Crafts border punch.  Once I had layered those on I added a row of Imaginisce rhinestones.

Next up I have a card featuring Doodlebug Designs "Sweetheart" Collection.  I love the combination of the kraft color with the red and pinks.  One of the patterned papers in the line is a graph style paper.  I decided to use it to cut out the word Love and then to cut out a little crossword looking piece for the focal point of my card.  I think this is my favorite paper in the collection!!! 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: CutCardstock

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design, Bella Blvd

Rhinestones: Imaginisce

Enamel Dots: Recollections

Ribbon: American Crafts

Doily: Jillibean Soup

Chipboard: American Crafts

"Daily Grind" by Simple Stories Cards

Time to share some cards from the Daily Grind line from Simple Stories!  I absolutely loved working with this line for The Scrapbooking Studio.  I love to think outside of the box with products and this line really challenged me to do just that!

This was the fist card I made and it uses everything from stickers to die cuts to chipboard.  I love the combination of the different "wood" papers with the red and teals.

For this one I was looking for a creative way to use the stickers that named the days of the week.  So I used them to kinda drive home the "Thank You" point, finishing the whole thing with "Everyday."

Supplies Used:

Patterned Papers; Simple Stories

Die Cuts: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories

Chipboard: Simple Stories

Rubons: Pebbles Inc

Kiwi Lane - Tip Time Tuesday!

I am up over at Kiwi Lane today with some fresh ideas on using the templates on your cards and layouts and combining that with Hemptique goodies!

For my tip time this month I decided to focus on doing outlining of the templates with a pen.  For my layout I did just black and used one template (the heart).  This layout tells the story of when my youngest son was born and went into the NICU.  The pictures reflect that waiting period...it was no fun!

For my card I did multiple templates and did both green and blue markers.  I love the whimsical feel this technique adds!  If you'd like to see more close ups you can hop on over to the Kiwi Lane Blog!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts, Bella Blvd

Stickers: Jillibean Soup, Bella Blvd, Momenta, Pebbles, Fancy Pants

Twine: Hemptique

Enamel Dots: Freckled Fawn

Samantha Walker Owl Creations

 Today is my very first post over at Samantha Walker's blog!  I am going to share with you one of Samantha's new files from this past week and how to use the various layers of it!  This file is an owl and can be found in the Silhouette Store now! I am going to share with you the pictures of the different projects - for the full blown tutorial you will want to head to this post.

 First up I am going to show you what happens if you use just the outline layer of the owl.

Because of all the detail in it - you get a striking image without having to do much to it!  

When you open the file you will get what is essentially three layers.  You will want to ungroup these and remove everything but the top outline layer. Tip: A gluestick was the perfect adhesive for attaching this owl...I tried several different things and settled on that!

For my second project I added in another layer!  I used this owl as an attachment on a jar of candy.

Last up I have an owl that I turned into a shaped card and utilized all the pieces available in this file!

So there you have it - from one layer to three!