Happy Birthday Susan! Birthday Card Blog Hop

The Paper Craft Industry is full of some pretty amazing ladies.  One of those at the very top of the list is my friend Susan McShirley.  She is kind, supportive, talented, and full of awesome ideas. She is the owner of SRM Stickers and we think she is the best! She has been hard at work this week in Salt Lake City at a trade show and is headed home today.  We wanted to send her home knowing how much we love her!  So several of us from the SRM design team (both the current team and the team that just wrapped up) got together a blog hop to wish her a Happy Birthday!  You will see a whole bunch of posts with Birthday cards that were made just for Susan AND use her fabulous products!  We love you Susan - enjoy the hop!!!

Here's the Hop List:

Christine Meyer ***You Are Here***

Juliana Michaels  ***Head Here Next***

Lesley Croghan

Cathy Harper 

Cassonda Tadlock

Tenia Nelson

Shannon Morgan

Stacey Schafer

Michele Kovack

Shantaie Caudill-Fowler 

Tessa Wise 

Angi Barrs

And Now On to My Card!

I recently created a card with a vintage feel using goodies from SRM and Susan said I should play in that style more!  So of course I had to do just that for her birthday card!

I decorated the base of the card with the new 2 inch lace from SRM and some white sticker stitches.  I then added some vellum leaves (cut with my die cut machine) and then of course some flowers.  I topped the whole thing with Fancy Birthday Sentiment!

It's time to head to the next stop: Juliana Michaels

Enjoy the inspiration!

Paper House Productions - ColorWays "Gatsby" layout

Every once in a while  you get to work with a line that you really really love.  I work with a lot that I think are great.  But sometimes one just really catches you and inspires you.  Today I am going to share with you a layout from the new ColorWays collection from Paper House Productions titled Gatsby.  Gatsby has a rich golden yellow tone and some of the coolest patterned paper I have ever gotten to play with!  In fact, the more I played, the more ideas I came up with!  I can not wait to dive into this line more!  Today Paper House is premiering it on their site and I am going to share a layout I made with it!

So as you might expect from the Gatsby theme it has a lot of art deco elements.  I am gonna be honest, that is an area of art that I haven't dabble in, at all.  So something about it really got my juices flowing.  It is amazing for fussy cutting The background shape is fussy cut from one of the patterned papers.  I also love the fan shapes!  The line comes with so many great papers as well as an accent pack with gold foil accents, puffy stickers (as you see in the title work) and rub-ons.  It will not disappoint on it's own but it will also pair nicely with nearly anything in this color!  Alright, enough of my gushing! Head on over to Paper House and check it out (and get in on the giveaway)

Fancy Floral Mom layout

It's floral week  at JustNick and have there are some great projects to show you!  There are so many great floral options in the store - make sure to take a peek! For my post today I decided to use the Fancy Floral background and create a layout around it. I absolutely love how it is several different kinds of flowers!

Adding patterned papers to the back of cut file backgrounds is so trendy.  It takes a little bit of a time commitment but the end result is always fabulous!  There are a couple different ways to add the papers: you could cut out file multiple times using your different papers or just add to the back of your file and cut around them.  I've done both ways depending on how intricate the file is.  This one wasn't too bad to cut around - but if it was super intriciate I would piece it together!

JustNick also offers tons of great word files and I love to use those for titles!  For this layout I used a couple pieces from the Word 2 file.

One of my favorite things about using background cut files is that they don't require a whole lot beyond them.  Simply add some words and a few simple embellishments and  you can be done! Make sure to check in on JustNick this week to see more fabulous floral creations!

Traveling with your Scrapbook Supplies

 Last month I got to take a week-long road trip with my husband.  Because of some different issues (hello broken washing machine) I didn't get my design team projects done with the My Creative Scrapbook kit in advance of leaving.  So I grabbed my Creative Kit and a few supplies and took it along.  I didn't know if I would actually get anything done but it was worth a shot.

Here's what I learned, with the right tools in hand it is possible to do a lot from the road.  I actually got the better part of 3 layouts done and cropped hundreds of pictures!  Here's the supplies I took along:

Travel Supply List:

-Hard cover plastic case

-Paper Trimmer

-Scissors

-Circle Punch

-Adhesive Runner

-Glue Ball Point Pen

AND of course

-The July Creative Kit

My Creative Scrapbook has such good comprehensive kits that you really need little else to create beautiful projects!  Here's the layouts I did from the road:

For each one I wrote in the different parts that I did while we were driving.  

This one was the easiest to do from the road!

Not sure I would have made time to fussy cut all those waves if I would have been sitting at home!

So if you are setting out for some long drives this summer, grab one of your kits and see if you can't knock out some fun projects too!

Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop: Giveaway Alert!

I'm so excited to be back this month with the Scrapping Our Stash group and hopping!  I was on vacation last month and missed it! I always love seeing what the gals are doing with different products!

Here's the Entire List for the Hop:

Christine Meyer http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com ***You Are Here***

Katrina Hunt http://paperscissorsandglue.blogspot.com/ ***Head here Next***

Majken Pullin http://chocoscrapaholic.blogspot.com/

Wendi Robinson http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/

Sandy Ross http://itsafamilyaffairwithscrappynana.blogspot.ca/

Suzanna Lee http://lifestrivialities.typepad.com/

Laura Cox http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/

Lyne Schnable-Blodgett http://lynnseverydayideas.blogspot.com/

Audrey Yeager http://audreysreflection.blogspot.com/

Wendy Bergeron Coffman http://stampingrules.com

Charity Hotrum http://menemenetekeluniversity.blogspot.com/

Lee-Anne Thornton http://lee-annelovethejourney.blogspot.com

Alison  http://alisondaydesigns.com/

This month I used some supplies from American Crafts "True Story" by Shimelle line.  I adore the colors in this line!

Now I'm not gonna lie, this isn't a real old line....it just barely counts as stash.  But I did have the base made up for it (the stripes, pink, blue polka dots) and set it aside because it wasn't working for my current project.  So rather than let it get buried I pulled out more coordinating supplies and created a layout with it.  And the pictures are over a year old too and have been begging for a home.  Yes, I'm a big goofball!  

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Stickers: Studio Calico

Cutfile: JustNick Studio

Die Cuts: American Crafts

Wood: Studio Calico

GIVEAWAY

As a Thank You for stopping by today I am going to do a special giveaway of a $10 gift certificate to SRM Stickers!  They have a great selection of fun products that I know you will love!

You can do any or all of the following to enter:

1) Like my Scrapping with Christine facebook page

2) Follow me on Instagram @cameyer71

And definitely leave me a comment to let me know which you have done!

This giveaway will remain open until 11:59 pm on August 2nd!  I will announce a winner within a couple days!  

Thanks for stopping by today - hop on over to Katrina's Blog next.

Summer/Beach Blog Hop with Paper House Productions

This whole week Paper House Productions is highlighting their summer/beach products with special projects from their design team!  And of course that includes an amazing prize that you can find on their blog!  I have a layout to share with you that uses their brand new Beach Collection that is just being released!

Beach layouts are one of my favorite things to create and this new collection is absolutely gorgeous! It has amazing patterned papers and a great 12 X 12 sticker page with letter stickers and various beach themed stickers.  For my layout I used the blue wood paper for my background but then I fussy cut around the foaming water to create a wave like feature and added that to the bottom.

You can see some of the stickers included here - from a journaling tag to shaped shells to words - tons of variety!

I messed around a lot with the wooden pillars in different spots but then when I set them tucked under the foam and framing the picture,  knew I had it!  Love it when something just works so right!

If you love the beach then you are going to love this collection - it'll be hitting stores soon and available at Paper House so keep your eyes out!  

My Creative Scrapbook July Sketch

It's time for a new sketch with My Creative Scrapbook and you can find it at the My Creative Sketches blog!  The prize packagae is awesome and the rules are few so hop in and play along with us!  Here's what the sketch looks like:

And here's my interpretation using this month's main Kit (mostly) from My Creative Scrapbook!

I have been itching to play with the Pie Chart File from JustNick Studio so when I saw the large circle on this layout, it was the perfect opportunity! I backed each portion with a different pattern paper (perfect for using up scraps).  I decided not to have the long strips from the sketch come over that because it just was too much with the pie chart, so they slid behind.  The rest is just simply adding some fussy cut title pieces and embellies from the kit!  

Can't wait to see what you come up with using the sketch too! See you over there!

About Me - June Layout

I have been sitting on this layout for awhile...like weeks actually.  Time has escaped me for getting to blogging it and without having a design team deadline I didn't get to it.  So this is actually my June layout for my All About Me album!  I'll have to get rolling on July :)  This month I decided to do "Me In Words."

So my goal was no sentences!  Just phrases/words that describe me and things that I see in myself!  I skipped that voice in my head that said "be critical" and just said things that are good or realistic :).  I used the Echo Park line from Jen Gallacher again.  I am starting to get low on my supplies with that so I will probably start to move away from it and use other goodies.  

So here's my list of words:

Pastor's Wife (10 years & going strong)

Busy (by choice and just enough...I do best with a lot on my plate and occasionally get too much but try very hard to keep a good balance)

Loyal (sometimes to a fault)

On-Time (if I am late for something or miss a deadline it makes me crazy...I try to avoid it whenever possible)

Teacher (Part-time Music right now...used to be full time Middle School)

Happy (if you can't get me to smile, it's been a rough rough day)

Stay at Home Wife (not the job everyone wants but for me it is perfect)

Fun (this may be subjective....)

Extrovert (almost all the time)

Forgiven (by God, my husband, my kids....)

Aware (I am super conscious of things going on around me and how people are feeling about things)

Processor (Kind of goes with being aware.  I like to talk things out to process them.  Often with more than one person.)

Friend

Emotional (I cry way easier than I'd like, but that's who I am, people who are close to me see it and know it :)

Tough (Kind of a funny follow up to emotional but just because I am emotional doesn't me I give up...I get over things and work to better the situation)

Paper Crafter

Wife (15 years and going strong)

Creative (I am so thankful I have a hobby that allows me to express that!)

Tidy (not a neat freak but I do very much so like things picked up - my rule is to try to keep the house clean enough that I could have it guest ready in an hour)

Tired (this won't change for awhile...)

Social

Patient (hopefully this won't change for awhile either)

Young Living Oiler (love my oils)

Lutheran (LCMS Lutheran since the day I was born...Lutheran educated from Kindergarten thru college and wouldn't change a thing)

Mom

Sassy (another side of me that those closest get to see)

Night-Owl (and my hubby is a morning person....I'm almost always up until midnight and often it's just so I can be alone and do whatever I want for a few hours!)

Strong

Chatty (extrovert & stay at home mom, I'm afraid this unavoidable for me)

Driven (I set out after goals and do what I can to accomplish them)

I'm sure some of these you already knew, but I bet some of them surprised even my closest friends!  Especially if you don't live around me right now :)  I wonder how many of these I have in common with some of you!

Vintage Thank You Card

 SRM has recently released some new fabric bags.  They don't have to just be used as bags and I decided to challenge myself and see if I could find a way to use them on a card!    I love the romantic feel of the Linen Bags with Lace so I decided to create a card incorporating that one. 

I used the 3 X 5 Linen Bag with lace along with a 4 inch White Doily to create the base for my card.  It had a bouquet feel to it so I went with that and started adding flowers, leaves, and pins to play up that idea.  Although it looks like the flowers are tucked into the bag they are actually just placed at the top!

If you wanted to add a little gift inside the bag (jewelery would fit great) you could and the bag could easily be pulled off and opened! I didn't put anything inside of mine but did choose to top it with a sentiment.  I felt like the mood of the card called for a Fancy Sentiment so I used one from the Fancy Sentiment/Thanks set.

What kinds of different stuff would you create with a bag like this?

Supplies Used: 

Flowers: Prima

Sticker: SRM Stickers

Bag: SRM Stickers

Doily: SRM Stickers

Vellum & Cardstock: Core'dinations

Anniversary Trip Part 3

I know, I know I said I'd do this last week...it didn't take priority to some other things I needed to get done so I am just finally getting back to it!

As we headed towards leaving Maine we stopped in Kennebunkport for lunch.  Ben hadn't yet gotten a complete lobster for a meal and we knew there would be some good options there.  I googled "What is George Bush's favorite place to get lobster in Kennebunkport?" And it actually gave me a result.  I don't know if it was actually true or not but that is where we went.

I stuck with a steak sandwich and of course blueberry pie.  Ben enjoyed the lobster although I think he'd take good barbeque over it.

We drove around Kennebunkport and explored the town a little.  There are some beautiful homes in that town! After Maine we headed to Newport, Rhode Island for the night.  It was pouring when we got there and continued to pour all night, so we didn't get to see much :(

We did find a little restaurant that had a sundae called the "Holy Moly Sundae" - you can see why!  We tried it out but we came nowhere near finishing it.  That could probably feed our whole family dessert!  The next morning we drove around Newport and were once again wowed by the beautiful homes!  We headed to Danbury, Connecticut next and I barely took any pictures!

Ben wanted to try out Frank Pepe's Pizza so we had lunch there.  I was not impressed but he enjoyed it!  We then decided to see the Jurassic Park movie.  We didn't have big plans and knew it wouldn't be an option once we got back home.  We spent the night there in Connecticut before heading to New York the next day.

For the last 2 1/2 years I have had the privilege of designing for Paper House Productions.  I absolutely love their scrapbooking products and think their stuff brings out some of my best creativity.  When my boss from there heard we'd be in the area she offered a tour and of course I wanted to take her up on it.  We enjoyed a couple hours visiting with them and seeing all the behind the scenes stuff.  I got a sneak of all the new products coming out and you are going to love what they have created!  I love the company even more after meeting all of them and getting to know them a little in person!  And I guess I was all pictured out because I didn't take a picture there either!  I wish I would have!  

Our last night was spent in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.  

It was a really neat area and we both wished we had been there earlier in the trip as there was a lot to explore that we didn't have time for.

Tons and tons of wildlife!

We headed home - a 12 hour drive in a whole lot of rain.  We were glad to be back with the kiddos but very thankful for the time away together to focus on each other and our marriage!

My Creative Scrapbook Main Kit Layouts

I'm back with my last two layouts for My Creative Scrapbook this month!  Today I have two more layouts using the Main Kit which is packed with Jillibean Soup goodies!  

I loved the doily patterned paper in this kit and was really excited to play with it.  I also love that circle shaped pictures are trending again :) So I did just that, added my circle pictures right to the doily.  I used my metal die cuts to cut out the pictures so they came out just perfect!  To add some contrast to the whole thing I used a brown pen and did some outlining.  This was especially important for helping my fussy cut layout pop more!  

Because this kit has a lot of awesome girl colors and embellishments, I wanted to show that it also works great for boys.  We have several gals on the team who used it for boy layouts too - so if you are looking for more inspiration, hit up the Design Team Gallery!  Basically all I did for this one was skip the pink stuff and flowers :)  I loved incorporating some of the fun little tags with quotes!  Perfect for describing these silly pictures of my little man!  

Make sure to snag the kits you want while you can, they often sell out!

Summer Fun Layouts

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret today - these two layouts were 95% done in my car while we were on vacation!  I had intended to work on them the night before we left BUT our washing machine died.  So we had to hustle out and get a washing machine so that Grandma and the kids weren't without one the whole time we were gone!  So I grabbed my Creative Kit from My Creative Scrapbook and a few tools and took them along.  A couple days while we were sitting in the car, I worked away.  It was surprisingly easy!  I will have an upcoming tutorial on that for you soon!

This was my first creation with the kit!  I saw the grid paper and knew I wanted to cut it into some big letters!  That was the basis for my whole layout (well that and the pictures).  After i cut those out and lined up my pictures it was simple to add a few fun embellishments and call it good!  Love it when things come together quickly and smoothly!

This one has a different feel for me - almost a digital/pocket page feel to it!  But it was done in the car also (except the black doodling).  This was super easy!  I put my pictures and the "We All Scream for Ice Cream" and "Sweet Summertime" pieces down and then just filled in the spaces from there.  Each space got some stickers or a button pieces to add some more fun to them.  I have been trying really hard to keep more current on my pictures so that I don't lose those memories over time...this kit this month features three out of four layouts with pictures from our camping trip last month!  Yay!

I'll be back tomorrow with the last of my Main Kit Layouts!

My Creative Scrapbook Main Kit Layouts

This month I worked with both the Main Kit and the Creative Kit from My Creative Scrapbook.  It was the first time I got to work with the Main Kit and I totally loved it!  Today I am going to share with you two of my layouts from that kit!

This kit had me working a lot with circles - not sure why, but that's where my brain went!  The kit is full of Jillibean Soup's line Red Raspberry Soup and these Die Cuts are a part of it!  The colors coordinated perfectly with Lucy's first day of school pictures from last year that I finally got that scrapped!  Always love when I can knock out older pictures and I have been waiting for just the right stuff for that! 

To make my wreath, I cut out a 10 inch circle and lightly traced that onto my background cardstock.  I then just went around and added the die cuts! It required very little else other than a little clustering around the pictures!

More circles!  The background paper on this one totally inspired me but it wasn't right for the wreath in the layout above (I tried) so I decided to use letter stickers and circle the picture - making for easy journalling!  Adding the strip of butterfly paper straight down the middle helped to break things up a bit.  Around the picture I added die cut doilies and Prima flowers.  

I haven't put real dimensional flowers on a layout in a long time - but that was fun!  Made me remember why I love flowers!  The little wood flowers that you see are also part of this kit and were perfect for adding a little different texture to the layout!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more layouts from the Creative Kit!

Swimming & Camping Layouts

Today is the release of the new kits at My Creative Scrapbook!  I worked with both the Main and Creative Kits this month and loved them both!  Both are perfect for those summer/spring layouts that you have already taken or will soon!  

Here's the Creative Kit this month:

It's packed with Pebbles Inc & Doodlebug and is a fabulous combination of embellishments with texture and dimension!  Here's two of the layouts I created with it:

I worked a lot on this one in the car while I was travelling - stay tuned for details on that!  There is a ton of fussy cutting here - the waves, the word sun, the summer title...I love to fussy cut and this kit has that as an option!  I started with a base of the fussy cut waves and then added my picutres to it.  The diagonal cascade of circles leading up the sunshine helped give me a perfect spot for the title and embellishments that I wanted to add.  And those little yellow circles on the waves? Little tiny letters that say "swim" just add an extra little something.  This is one of my favorite My Creative Scrapbook Layouts ever!

More circles!  I love to design with circles, always have!  This time I created a base of patterned papers and the cloud washi tape.  I did another grouping of cascading circles and embellishments going in the other diagonal direction.  I didn't really realize the similar design of these two layouts until after I made them - but I think that's true for all of us - we have some things that we just do and they show up in a lot of our layouts!  I love that with patterned paper and embellishments you can repeat some things but still have a different look!

What are some things that you repeat on layouts?  

Awesome Fox Layout & Giveaway!

Yesterday on the Paper House blog I shared a sweet layout about my four year old and his best buddy “Awesome Fox.” Last winter Paper House debuted these Puffy Fox Stickers and I have been waiting for the perfect pictures to use them with!  

The Puffy Stickers from Paper House are great for adding dimension to a project but have a totally different feel and look from the 3D Stickers they also have.  I love that you can mix up the texture and dimensions with their different lines. They expanded the puffy sticker line a ton too - so you have a lot to choose from for all different occasions!

My background paper is from the 100% Country Paper Pad.  The bandana pattern and color was just perfect to coordinate with the sticker sand pictures.

I also used a patterned paper from the American Road Paper Pad to matte my picture and anchor the layout corners. Some simple die cut hearts in both patterned papers and cardstock along with enamel dots were my final touch.  

Giveaway:

If you haven’t already - check out the entire line of puffy stickers - I’m sure you’ll find something you love! In fact if you leave me a comment and tell me 3 that you love, you will be entered win those! I'll pick 2 winners on July 12th and post them on my facebook page that day - so make sure you are following me there too!

Boys of Summer Layout

I am up with a project at the JustNick blog today! Summer is in full gear and it's the perfect time to share how fabulous the Swiss Cheese Background file is for making those summer layouts! I absolutely love how this turned out with pics of my cutie pie boys!

There are a tons of ways you could use this file but I used it to have kind of a sunrise/sunset feel to it using lots of colors.  That was easily achieved by just adding a striped patterned paper behind the file.

I cut the file on a cardstock that was already embossed and it still cut super easy!  There are also tons of options for titles in the store and today I used the Summer Words file to cut out "summer."

I added some letter stickers to personalize the title to my layout and it was done!  One of the things I love about using background files like this is that you don't have to do a ton more to the layout - they give you a really fantastic base to start with and you can just add a little more!  As you can see I added a big circle and stitching to create a sun and a few little wood pieces and words - there is not a ton to this!  

Files Used:

Swiss Cheese Background

Summer Words

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: Core'dinations

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories

Stickers: Simple Stories

My Creative Scrapbook July Sneaks!

It's SNEAK PEEK time! I got to work with the Main Kit and the Creative Kits this month for My Creative Scrapbook - I loved both of them!  Here's sneaks of what is coming your way on the 5th - and BONUS you get to see some full layouts too!  I have a full one listed under the Creative Kits!

Our July Main kit sneak peeks:

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Our July Creative kit sneak peeks: 

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Our July Limited Edition kit sneak peeks:

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Our July Album kit sneak peeks:

by Angel Rodrigue

Now that you have a peek at what's coming, don't forget to reserve your kits :)

Please visit MyCreativeScrapbook.com for more information.