My final card for Helmar

Today is my final post at Helmar!  It's hard to believe that my 6 months with them is already coming to an end.  I love their products and had a blast but for now at least am stepping away to focus on other things!  Here's the card I created for my final project:

My post focuses in on using fabric blue to adhere things to burlap.  You can check out more of the post here.

On to the next adventure - Thanks for a great 6 months Helmar!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Stickers: Pebbles Inc

Die Cuts: Pebbles Inc

Chipboard: Studio Calico

Twine: The Twinery

Baby Boy Card - Imaginisce

It's baby season, it seems each week a new friend is having a baby!  And a lot of them are boys this year!  So I thought I'd dig into my Welcome Baby line from Imaginisce and create a baby card to share!

This line is all blue and white with a few small splashes of brown thrown in.  Today I focused on the blues and whites and pulled out some die cuts to play with!  The giraffe paper on the bottom gets a bigger sidekick from the giraffe die cut.  The Baby Boy die cut was perfect to use as my sentiment.  A doily, button, and ribbon add a little extra texture and dimension to the whole thing and help to finish it off!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Die Cuts: Imaginisce

Ribbon: CutCardStock

Doily: SRM Stickers

Sketchy Saturday - Week Four

Time for another Sketchy Saturday - can't believe I've already done four weeks of this!  Here's the new sketch for this week:

I managed to get my hands on some pieces from the new Springtime Collection from Doodlebug Design. They have parts that are Easter related and parts that are just spring...I used a little of each.  They matched this yellow dress so beautifully!

The sketch has a whimsical feel to it and I opted to go that route with my layout too!  I decided to play with the tree sticker and build up from there. I created the pieces of the tree from their stickers and added some yellow stickles as a final touch.  I also created a whimsical cluster above the pictures featuring that adorable sun sticker!  As you can see the sketch actually has very little on the right side - but I decided to add a rolled banner that included my title.  I decorated the title with some cute stickers and the year.  

My talented friend Cathy also played along this week and you can find her sketch interpretation here. Thanks to those of you who have shared your creations with me over the past couple weeks....I love seeing your interpretations!  If you create one this week I would love for you to share it on my facebook wall!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Design

Stickers: Doodlebug Design

Enamel Dots: Recollections, Studio Calico

Basketball Layout - Paper House Productions

Have you noticed lately that there are two different realms of scrapbooking going on?  One is very artistic based and one is very theme based.  I am going to be honest with you - I love to do both.  Sometimes I just want to scrap a pretty picture and play with techniques and whatever moves me.  But other times I really want to stick with the topic and theme.  Today is a theme day!  My oldest son lives and breathes basketball, so getting him to pose before his last game was an absolute must!

Timmy had such a fun season and improved soooo much from last year.  He was on a team with a couple other guys his age and talent set really complemented one another.  To create this layout I used all pieces from Paper House Productions (except for the wood stars).

-Add a 4 inch strip of white paper to the blue patterned paper

-Cut out an 8 inch circle from the basketball paper and adhere that to the left side of the paper - overlapping the outside edge a little.  

-Add a white cardstock banner to the top right corner 

-Add your pictures so that they overlap  both the basketball and the blue paper.

-Choose three foil player die cuts and put them on in a diagonal route...from bottom left up to the banner

-Attach the Cardstock border sticker to the top of your banner and the 3D Basketball sticker just below it.

-Pick out an appropriate phrase from the foil die cuts...I went with slam dunk.  Attach that to the bottom corner between the picture and the star.

- Finish it off by adding journaling, numbers for the year (or perhaps a team name), and some stars

I created a sketch to go along with the layout. I made it more generalized from the basketball theme.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Paper House Productions

Stickers: Paper House Productions

Cardstock: American Crafts

Wood: Studio Calico

XOXO - A Painted Card

Do you ever get in the mood to just experiment with your supplies?  This card was the result of some experimenting!  I wanted to try painting with my mists and that was the jumping off point!

I knew I wanted to hand stitch the sun and clouds and then fill them in with painting.  I didn't try to be exact just stroked it on there.  I then also did some yellow painting around the outside of the frame.  I then just started pulling out coordinating supplies that would add to the sunshiney and artistic feel of the card.  Brush script stickers from Amy Tan along with her patterned paper and stitching template add to the edginess of the whole thing.  I brought in some dimension by using chipboard hearts, brads, and buttons.  Rubon stars were my final touch.  I had so much fun putting this card together and love how every element pops on it!

I am entering this into the current issue at Paper Issues: Count Your Lucky Stars.

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce, American Crafts

Chipboard: Studio Calico

Stickers: American Crafts, Bella Blvd, Paper House Productions

Die Cut: Imaginisce

Buttons: Imaginisce

Kiwi Lane Designs: Pocket Page Birthday Spread

I am up at Kiwi Lane Designs today!  This month we teamed up with We R Memory Keepers for our creations!  They sent some birthday pocket page pieces so I decided that was the route to go!  Especially since I still needed to scrap pictures from Timmy's 7th birthday (he's almost 10).  Here's the spread I made:

I love to do pocket style pages for birthdays because I take tons and tons of pictures!  And as you can see from this...not every picture is worthy of a full blown layout but still is a part of the story!

I used a variety of Kiwi Lane Templates throughout - including accessories and border templates.  Each one adding a little something special to the page.

I also did my outlining throughout to make certain elements pop.  I think my favorite of all the pockets is either the "Celebrate Good Times" one or the "Life of the Party" one - I like how unique the Kiwi Lane templates made those!

I am also linking this up to the Paper Issues Current Challenge: Count Your Lucky Stars!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: WRMK

Templates: Kiwi Lane

Stickers: GCD Studios

Wood: Studio Calico

Adorbs but Goofy

I'm up on the Chicagoland Scrapbooker Magazine blog today!  This month we focused on "March Madness" things that we are mad about in our papercrafting.  I decided to focus in on outlining/doodling.  No big surprise there right?

We took this silly picture when I was very, very pregnant with my youngest son!  I finally decided to document it :)  I played with a variety of lines and products to achieve the color scheme and look I was going for and then topped everything off with lots of outlining.  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts, Bella Blvd

Stickers: Bella Blvd, American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, Pebbles Inc

Washi Tape: Bella Blvd

Wood: Studio Calico

Sketchy Saturday: Week 3

***If you are looking for the Paper House Productions Blog Hop or the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop you can find them in the next two posts ***

Sorry for the late posting - I have had not one but two of my little boys get knocked out with croup this week! Thankfully it looks like we are on the mend!  Here's a new sketch for you to play with this week! 

I have had the "From Me to You" collection from Pebbles screaming at me to be played with...so for this week I pulled that out!  I stuck with the squares idea and used those to create my colorful background...but I changed it a little and added some pictures into my squares! This sketch allows you to incorporate a lot of patterns and colors...perfect when you have several papers you want to play with!

I didn't start outgoing that direction but it just was screaming for more pictures, so I went with it!  I love how it turned out and how much the pictures pop off the page!  My friend Cathy created a sample layout too and she went with circles - you will definitely want to check it out here!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Pebbles Inc

Stickers: Pebbles Inc, BellaBlvd

Wood: studio Calico

Heart Pearls: Doodlebug Design

As always if you create something with this sketch, I would love to see it!  Share it with me in a comment here or on my facebook wall!

Paper House Productions: Wedding Blog Hop

This weekend I am participating in the Paper House Productions Blog Hop!  They challenged us to create projects with their new "To Have & To Hold" line and today we are sharing them with you!

To celebrate the hop, Paper House is  giving away an extra special "Wedding Mega Collection" that includes a gorgeous Paper Pad, our best Bridal 3D Stickers,Chalkboard Stickers, and even new Canvas Stickers (plus much more! Valued at over $60, you'll definitley want to enter to win this great prize!

There's a few ways to enter - the first two are freebies by liking us on Facebook and signing up to receive Facebook notifications from us (we don't want you to miss any of our great project posts!). But the big entry comes from commenting on each of our designers' posts! If you do (and there's only 8 to hop through), you'll get +10 entries into our drawing! That sounds like a deal!

Here's the list for the Hop:

Giorgia Rossini

Bev Code

Kim Kendell

Susie Bentz

Christine Meyer ***You Are Here***

Erin Reed

Larissa Heskett

Irit Shalom 

Make sure to hop through each designer down the list to be eligible for the most entries! When you're done, just hop back here and let us know! The hop will be running all weekend, so you have until Sunday at 11:59pm EST to get  your entries in!

Now, on to my projects and my own additional giveaway!!!!

First up is a card that I made using patterned paper and cardstock stickers from the set.  I created the cute hearts with the tux and dress by simply putting those stickers on  paper and then punching them out with my heart punch.  Adding some pearls helped up the bling factor!

This layout also incorporates several pieces of the patterned paper and cardstock stickers.  The cake is part of the paper!  I topped that paper with some ivory cardstock to help set it apart.  I added the cardstock border sticker with some bling and banners.  

I have a couple of springy sets of stickers to give away today! 

To enter you can do any or all of the following:

1) Be a follower here (see the sidebar)

2) Become an email follower (see the sidebar)

3) Follow me on Bloglovin

4) Become a fan on my facebook page

I will announce a winner early next week!  Thanks for stopping in today - head on over to Erin's next!  And make sure to stop back and Paper House to get in ion the prize!

Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop 

where we are Scrapping our Stash.

 We have a smaller list this month so it shouldn't be hard to check out all the fun!  In case you get lost along the way - here is the list!

Practical Scrappers Blog Hop List

Practical Scrappers

Wendi Robinson
Marcia Dehn Nix
Christine Meyer ***You Are Here***
Claude Campeau
Heather Sweet

Patty Selah
Majken Pullin
Jennifer Haggerty
Erin Morehouse
Lee-Anne Thornton

Bobbi Smith

Kelly Jean
Lisa Peeples

Nicole Laha

Alison Day

For my project this month I knew I wanted to make use of some old GCD Studio papers that I had, but they were in a 6 X 6 inch pad.  So I needed to get creative.  I love to do grids and they seem to be really trending right now - so I went that route!  Here's the sketch I created to go with the layout:

And here's the actual layout!

Once I had created my grid I just pulled out my stash of die cuts and started pulling out ones that matched.  Somehow, miraculously, they came together to make this.  I was so excited watching as it all sort of just fell together! My final touch to help some elements pop a little more was to do some simple outlining.  I have been doing a lot of that lately, a lot!  I love the punch it gives to elements and since this fabulous hobby is all about doing what you love, why not?  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: GCD Studios, American Crafts

Die Cuts: Pink Paislee, Elle's Studio, Jillibean Soup

Stickers: Pebbles Inc, Carta Bella, Bella Blvd

Wood: Studio Calico

As a Thank You for stopping by I am doing a giveaway! 

 Here's what I am going to be giving away:

One sheet from each pattern in this line and a pack of coordinating bakers twine from The Twinery.

You can do any of the following to enter:

1) Be a follower here (see the sidebar)

2) Become an email follower (see the sidebar)

3) Follow me on Bloglovin

4) Become a fan on my facebook page

Leave me a comment letting me know which you did so I can make sure and enter you the correct number of times!

Now hop on over to Claude's Blog

Winner Winner

Congrats to Carla from Utah - you are the winner of my bakers twine from The Twinery!  Shoot me an email at practicalscrappers@gmail.com to claim your prize!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You (card)

I said it before and I'll say it again - I am really loving the new Plus One line from Amy Tan!  Definitely one of my favorites of the new releases!  In honor of St. Patrick's Day I thought I'd share a green card (it has nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day...but it is green :))  I am also entering this into the current challenge on the Northridge Publishing blog asking for a card using stitching.  I went for hand stitching using, of course, an Amy Tan embroidery template!

The black diagonal stripes were created using her stitching template.  The awesome green, patterned paper base is also from her.  I added some simple chipboard hearts from Studio Calico and a chipboard speech bubble from Pebbles.  The sentiment had to be a black and so I reached into my stash of SRM Stickers and pulled out this perfect one!  Bakers twine from the Twinery topped with a clothespin from my American Crafts stash are the final touches.  

Spring Birthday Card

***If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop, You can find it here***

I have some new Doodlebug goodies that were just screaming to be played with, so the other night I made some time to just play!  Today I have a happy little birthday card to share with you from that!
I am also linking this up at the current issue of Paper Issues!

I love this style of card from Doodlebug because it is ready made and not just a traditional A2 card.  The square in the center is a cut out and the card is folded over three ways...I made it to stand like an easel by adding of their doilies at the bottom.  I love the little Doodlepop Bug too because he is just plain cute!  I used stickers from several different lines from them.  Everything on the card is actually from Doodlebug except for the enamel dots.

Sketchy Saturday - Week Two

***If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop, you can find it here***

I had so much fun with this sketch that I created TWO layouts this week with it!  I shared the first on my post on Thursday, which you can find here.  Here's the sketch for this week:

For my sample I decided to dive into my new stash of Plus One from Amy Tan.  I always love what she creates for American Crafts.  But this is definitely my favorite in the last couple years....I love the combination of the black and white with lots of bright colors and it is fully of fun and sassy words.

It was the perfect choice to create a a layout of a night out with some of my sassy friends.

I went with fussy cut flowers in lieu of a doily/circular shape but other than that I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  I was especially excited to use the paper that you see in my base.  It actually comes like that....split right down the middle.  Super inspiring and fun!

I am also entering this into the Paper Issues "Tip-toe thru Tu-lips" current issue!

My friend Cathy joined in playing along again this week - make sure to hop over and check out her interpretation!  I love how different they turn out!

Remember if you play with this sketch, I would love to see what you create!  Leave me a comment here or on my facebook page so that I can check it out!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Stickers: American Crafts, SRM Stickers

Die Cuts: American Crafts

Flair: Studio Calico

Doily: SRM Stickers

Enamel Dots: Studio Calico

Rub-Ons: American Crafts

Rainbow Home Decor

***If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop, you can find it here***

I was up on the Imaginisce Blog on Wednesday with one of my favorite projects EVER!  Because of all the other fun things going on...I decided to hold off on sharing this for a couple days!

To create this, I cut out the quote on 12 X 12 white cardstock and then just backed each word with different patterned paper from Imaginisce.  I then added some Irocks in coordinating colors.  Black washi tape lined the top and botom and I added a frame.  It was fun and I love that it can be a beautiful inspiration piece hanging up in our house!  If you want to see more close-ups you can check them out at Imaginisce!

I am also linking this up at the current Paper Issues Challenge: Count Your Lucky Stars

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Irocks: Imaginisce

Washi Tape: Queen & Co

Happy News & A Giveaway!

***If you are looking for the Samantha Walker Blog Hop, you can find it in the post directly below this***

I have been sitting on some fun news and am excited to share that with you today!  I am joining the design team for The Twinery!  I have long been a huge fan of the bakers twine from them!

I have tons and tons of projects that showcase their twine but I was able to create a quick layout featuring a bow with my favorite of all their colors: the Marigold Stripe Bakers Twine.  I have never been able to keep enough of that color around!

I created this fun little layout using some brand new pieces from Simple Stories "Homespun" line.  I love the rich, bold colors in that line!   I had fun adding some personal touches - a heart with a 6 on the ruler (we have six in our family) and creating a twist on the word FAMILY.

And there's that pretty bakers twine!  I am looking forward to that adventure and sharing even more twine creations with you!

Supplies Used:

Bakers Twine: The Twinery

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories, American Crafts

Chipboard: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories

Here's the rest of the 2014 Twinery Team

New Designers

Denise Hahn

http://www.inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

Jen Cuthbertson

http://www.jencuthbertson.blogspot.com/

Christine Meyer

http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Grecco

http://hugsarefun.com/

DoBea Alberts

www.plumpoppystudio.com/blog

Rebecca VanDeMark

http://www.caravansonnet.com

Andrew Roberts

http://downundercrafter.blogspot.com.au/

Melyssa Connolly

http://www.fantastink.blogspot.com/

Suzanna Lee

http://www.lifestrivialities.typepad.com/

Tobi Crawford

http://tobicrawford.blogspot.ca/

Jeanne Jachna

http://akeptlife.blogspot.com/search/label/Poppystamps

Stacey Schafer

http://stampinwithstacey.blogspot.com/

Anita Mulcahey

http://happypapercrafthappenings.blogspot.com/

Melania Deasy

http://melaniadeasy.blogspot.com/

Katarina Damm-Blomberg

http://krumeluran.wordpress.com/

Returning Designers for 2014

Monika Wright - Sr Designer

http://iloveitallwithmonikawright.com/

Jamie Cripps - Sr Designer

http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/

Ashley Bores - Sr Designer

http://heartmadelife.com/

Amy Crockett

http://www.scrappingmommy.com/

Tifany DeGough

http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/

Jaclyn Miller

http://designsbyjax.blogspot.com/\

And how about a quick little Giveaway to celebrate????

I have a package of the Green Shimmer Metallic Bakers Twine to give away to one of my readers!  15 yards of beautiful twine!  

To enter all you have to do is either:

Become a follower here (if you aren't already)

and/or

Become a fan on my facebook page

Leave me a comment letting me know which you did and I will pick a winner at the end of the weekend!

Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop: Lucky

Welcome to the Samantha Walker Creative Crafters Team Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Samantha's Blog!

We have a fabulous giveaway this month sponsored by Spellbinders!

It is the Spellbinders® Botanical Swirls Expandable Pattern.

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 theme for the hop is Lucky!  I have been enjoying playing with rainbows and such while creating St. Patrick's Day themed projects.  Today I created a layout making use of Samantha's free file from this hop along with some hearts from her Heart Pennant Banner.  As I was discussing my plans with my creative mother, she suggested a bunch of hearts coming out from the clover...so I have to give her a shout-out :)

Now onto how I created this layout!

First off I created my own file making use of the free Nesting Shamrock file and Heart Pennant Banner:

 I am a big fan of using the negative space - it's trendy and it saves time having to glue down each and every little piece that you want to use!  I lined the back with rainbow colors and simply attached it to a black base making sure it would all hold together!

I also made use of Samantha's For All You Do Vintage Label Stamps from Just Rite throughout the layout.   I used words in various locations that describe my little sweetie.  I also used a couple of the labels and filled the center with pictures of her.  I originally started off wanting to do all four kids...but it was overwhelming the layout.  So I went with just my daughter.  I actually fussy cut out the labels and cut out the center, again making use of the negative space!

This was one of them that I didn't use but it will be appearing sometime soon in a layout.  I really love how these look for framing pictures!

Supplies Used:

Samantha Walker Rough & Tumble Stickers by Echo Park

For All You Do Vintage Label Stamps from Just Rite

Shamrock Nesting File

Heart Pennant Banner #54446

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 Jamie's Blog

Practical Scrappers March Card Sketch

Today is the premiere of the March card sketches at Practical Scrappers.  I created this sketch and my card to go along with it!  Want to see more of my sketches??? Click on the tab above titled: "My Sketches" and you can see all that I have shared at this point!  

Looks complicated doesn't it??? You have to check out the interpretations....there are some amazing ones and some that are not overly complicated!

My butterflies are all fussy cut or punched from Imaginisce paper. Actually they are all from just one paper in the new Welcome Spring line.  The big one and the medium ones are fussy cut...they I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch to line them up on bigger pink, light blue, and navy blue ones so that I got some pattern to them.   I added a doily beneath my collection just to add some different texture to the whole thing!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Cardstock: American Crafts

Enamel Dots: Studio Calico

Sticker: Jillibean Soup

Kiwi Lane Designs Basic Sketch

I played along and created the sample today for the Kiwi Lane Designs Basic Sketch!  Here's the sketch:

And here's my version!

The only big change I made was changing the brackets to circles.  I did that to pair up with the circle elements I used throughout the layout.  I always find two pagers challenging...so this was another good opportunity to stretch myself a bit!  I have had these pictures for awhile (obviously as Bo is almost 18 months now).  Just haven't found the right paper match for them but I think the Imaginisce got the job done!

Try to find some time to play along with this sketch this week and get in on the chance for a prize!  You can find all the details at Kiwi Lane!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce

Buttons: Imaginisce

Die Cuts: Imaginisce

Stickers: Imaginisce, Bella Blvd

Cardstock: American Crafts