Saturday, August 24, 2013

Gossamer Blue Sneaks

Well, my summer of fun has come to an end. I officially went back to school yesterday. While I'm looking forward to a wonderful year, I am sad that my 'life of leisure' is over for now. Not to mention the fact that I hate that the craziness of school mornings, packing lunches, doing homework, etc. Oh well. Only 10 more months until Memorial Day!

I have been really busy creating, creating and creating. The past couple of weeks, I've been working on my September Gossamer Blue projects. I am in love with this month's kits. The colors are to die for!
I thought I'd share some sneaks of my project life spreads with you.

This is a spread that I made with the Life Pages kit, only. I just adore that card on the top right. I think it's my favorite of the set.


On this page, I used a bunch of the die cuts from this month. Traci Reed really outdid herself. How fun are those feathers?

Here's another peek using the stamp set.

 And On this one I used a bunch of the fun Heidi Swapp letters that came with the LP kit. I loved them!!
Be sure to stop back next week after reveal. My spreads have lots of 'hidden' goodies in them, and I'll share some ways that I added them.

Have a great weekend.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Pink Paislee Cards and a BPC Accents Class Giveaway!

Today, I have a couple of fun things to share. First up are my last two projects for my Pink Paislee GDT. This first card uses the Luxe line. I'm so loving gold these days. Those stars are just awesome! I added a pop of aqua by misting the word and coloring the gems with a Copic.



My next card uses the Hope Chest line. It is so soft and pretty! I layered some die cuts, trim, another Luxe star and a burlap butterfly together. It was quick and easy and I love how it turned out. 







So, do you like embellishing your layouts and pages? If so, check out
Angie Gutshall's new BPC class, Accents.




Simply Playful Accents, Easy embellishing ideas for scrapbook layouts
taught by Angie Gutshall
http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/playfulaccents.php
$14

Class Description
Would you like to add a bit of fun and whimsy to your layouts? What if you could do it in a way that was not only fun and playful, but also simple! In Simply Playful Accents, instructor Angie Gutshall will share more than 20 ideas for using items in your supply stash to add a little bit of pizazz to your layouts.

You'll receive 20 emails with before-and-after images, each showing how just adding a little accent here and there can take your layouts from blah to beautiful! You'll also receive four bonus emails with additional ideas and inspiration. Angie even shares her layout-creating process in a fun video tutorial!

Click through the link above to find even more information. 

Today, I am giving away a free class to one lucky blog reader. If you would like to participate, just leave a comment by Thursday, August 15, at 11pm. EST.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Reverse Confetti Blog Hop


Hello August and Hello REVERSE CONFETTI Fans!  It’s the 8th of the month –Blog Hop time!  I am so excited to be included in the fun! I have been a fan of Reverse Confetti since Jen released her first sets. Last month’s release was fantastic and today we are inspiring you with projects and cards using those stamps and any other previously released stamps from Reverse Confetti.  Along with the Confetti Crew (the fabulous design team), they've also invited some extra friends to join in on the action! Thats where I come in!

The hop started over on the Reverse Confetti blog, and you should have made it here from Laurie Schmidlin’s blog. It would be worth your while to start at the beginning of the hop, so you don’t miss a thing. We have tons of inspiration for you to see using all of Reverse Confetti’s amazing stamp sets!

I have several cards to share with you today. This first one uses Arrows n'  Elements. I used a couple of fun new Bella Blcd. die cuts and added some stamping to them. The little heart stamp was the perfect one to create a pattern for the cutout in the little card.




This next card uses the Celebrate Cake set. I was totally inspired by a card made by Betsy Veldman. You can see it here. I loved the idea of the inked vellum circles and thought they'd be perfect with the little cupcake stamp.

 I made this one for my sweet sister in law, Patty. Hope she likes it. :)


On my next card I stamped the solid circle background from Whole Lotta Dots. Then, I stamped over it with the linked circle background. This created the background of the card. I then added some Echo Park stickers and finished it off with the sentiment and banner flags from Arrows n'  Elements.



My final card is really simple, which usually isn't my style. But, given the burst of neon color, I like it.
I started off by using my neon Mr. Hueys in orange, pink and yellow. I squirted them on an acetate sheet and spritzed it with a bit of water.
Then, I placed the solid circle background from  Whole Lotta Dots in it and stamped onto the white cardstock. I punched a circle from the background that this created. On top of it, I layered images from Arrows n'  Elements. I finished everything off with some enamel dots and washi tape from Freckled Fawn.

So, those are my cards. I really enjoyed using the stamps and combining sets as I made them.

How would you like to win some Reverse Confetti goodies of your very own?  Leave a comment on each stop along the way for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to REVERSE CONFETTI. Comments are open until Monday night, August 12th at 11pm CST, and the winner will be announced on the Time for a Card Tuesday post on the 13th over on the Reverse Confetti Blog!

A few things before you hop along though, just to keep you “in the know”…

SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY (SFYTT)—Play along with us each month for your chance to win the ENTIRE NEXT RELEASE and to be invited to play along with the Confetti Crew as we sneak peek and hop with all the new stamps.  Click HERE for more details and link list.

‘FETTI FINDS—Link your REVERSE CONFETTI creations to the link list posted on the Reverse Confetti blog each Monday.  (Note:  Reverse Confetti stamps are required for ‘Fetti Finds.)  A ‘Fetti Fave will be announced on the Reverse Confetti Blog from that months’ entries.  The ‘FETTI FAVE will receive the ENTIRE NEXT STAMP RELEASE and be invited to play along with the Confetti Crew as we sneak peek and hop with all the new stamps.  Click HERE for more details and link list.
Celebrate the creative side of you!

I  hope you’ve enjoyed hopping with us today. Be sure and hop with the Reverse Confetti Crew on the 8th of EVERY MONTH for more REVERSE CONFETTI inspiration! Now it’s time to hop on over to to the talented Savannah O'Gwynn's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the hop order and list of all the participating designers over on the Reverse Confetti blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by! :) 


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Pink Paislee GDT Layouts

Can you believe it? I am actually posting twice this week. And I've already scheduled a blog hop post for Thursday - so that will make three! I'm on a roll.

A couple of weeks ago, I was featured on the Pink Paislee blog as a guest designer. I love Pink Paislee. Rebecca and Barry are awesome people and the company is wonderful. I was on their very first design team, so it was fun to be back as a guest.

Here are two of the layouts that I created. They sent me the Luxe and Hope Chest lines. This first page uses some things from the Luxe collection.


I used one of the masks and added some Gesso to it to tone down the silver. Then, I cut circles from some of the papers.

 I added mistable hearts and a Silhouette die cut title. I matted it all on the silver chevron paper.

Instead of adding mist, I decided to go with a cleaner look and used some gems. I think this page pretty much sums up my love for Trader Joe's!

My next page uses a fun technique that I learned from the fabulous Wilna Furstenburg. (I want to be her when I grow up!)

 I started by mixing some gesso with a gel medium. Then I added glitter to it and spread it onto the page using a PP mask. When it was dry I spritzed it with spray ink. The frames behind the photos were cut from another PP digital cut file.
 I finished it off by spraying one of the mistables for my title.

I did a couple of other projects and will be back later to share those with you.
Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Hello, Gossamer Blue!

I am so excited that Gossamer Blue's August kits are now live. And I get to design with them!!! I was thrilled when Lori emailed me and asked me to work with her brand new Life's Pages kits. I only started Project Life this summer, but am loving it. This was the perfect chance to work with her amazing kits and to design alongside some of my very favorite people. When I got my kits, I was floored. They were FILLED with goodies. I especially love the Life's Pages one. Unfortunately, it sold out right away, but hopefully you can snag the September one. Just LOOK at how jam packed it is!
 For $24.95, you get adorable cards (some in vellum), stickers, washi, tons of embellishments and a stamp set. They are being concepted my Michelle Wooderson and designed in conjunction with Elle's Studio!

Here are my spreads. I love my 6 by 8 size! It's so manageable. :)


On this spread, I created a pocked with the vellum card and filled it with some of the sequins that came as an embellishment with the kit.


 The fun thing about the cards is that they are printed on both sides so you can use them vertically or horizontally!


On this week's spread, I painted the gold embossed card with water colors.  I documented the day I got my kits. Look how cute it is in the little envelope with the sticker that shows the color palette for the month!

 See that card with the colorful circles? That's a GB excusive and I love it. There is matching paper in the main kit.

Our 4th of July Week was really busy. We were home for the holiday and then headed to the mountains. I used the adorable cut file, designed by Lori Whitlock, to create a page divider. (It says, Ready, Set, Go...I'll be using it a lot, for sure!)
 We love to hike, so rather than choosing just one of my favorite pictures, I created a collage with six of them. Then I had it printed as a 6 by 8 photo and I embellished it.


I also created a collage for my fireworks pictures. I stink at photographing fireworks, but editing them and making them small, definitely helped.

 So, those are my spreads that I made using the August kits. I just made an adorable tag book using some of my leftover cards and other goodies from the kits. Can't wait to share it.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head over to Gossamer Blue to see what the rest of the team made. If you're traveling, they are perfect. Even if you are taking some time for Staycations they are great. And, as you'll see, the papers and embellishments can be used for a variety of themes, not just travel.

Have a great day! :)








Thursday, August 1, 2013

CHA Recap

Yeah, I know. It's been a while between posts... oops. But, in my defense, I have been a busy girl. I spent the week in Vegas at CHA! Then, I flew back to the east coast and got in a car to drive to Cooperstown, NY for the Baseball Hall of Fame induction. The last couple of days have been spent unpacking, doing laundry, grocery shopping and hitting the gym to work off everything I've been been eating and drinking. It's been a busy, but awesome summer.

So, I thought I'd post some pictures from the show. As my friend, Sherri Funk, posted on her blog, the people make the show for me. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE seeing all of the product. But, if you're like me, you spend a good bit of time online. And getting to spend time with some of my online friends was so much fun.

Cindy and I had a couple of free days before the show. We took in a Cirque du Soleil show (my first time!), visited the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop (I'm a huge Pawn Stars fan) and hung out at the pool.

 Eating in Vegas was amazing. These are the fist tacos that I had at our hotel's mexican place. Yummm! I had them twice!
 Cindy and I had fun at the Doodlebug photo booth. They had the cutest products, too!

I love meeting up with my fellow Memory Makers Masters, Ronda Pallizari and Christine Drumheller. Ronda taught me some awesome mixed media techniques, too. I can't wait to incoporate them.

The show wouldn't be the same without Brandin O'Neil. She just cracks me up and I was so thrilled to spend some time with her.
 I met a couple of new friends at the Chic Tags booth. Veronica and Malika were so sweet. I loved everything in their booth, too!
 I ran into Kelly Purkey. She is adorable and I always love seeing her. Kelly and I go back a long time  to our Paper Salon days.

Jen Matott is another friend that I got to meet for the first time. Cindy and I loved spending time with her at the Faber-Castell booth. We learned lots about mixed media and Gelatos there, too.

April Foster is the owner of Studio Calico. She was really sweet and it was great meeting her. I love everything in their new release. 


Running into old friends is always a treat at CHA. Here I am with Catherine Tachdjian from Scrapbook and Cards Today. I loved reconnecting with her!  Summer Fullerton is behind us. She's another one of our Master's crew. We had a really fun time with them one night at the hotel bar.
Here's another group of ladies that I was so excited to meet! A group of us met online at the Scrapbook Nook's forum. It was so sad when it closed, but we keep in touch via Facebook. Seeing my fellow Nook girls, Sherri Funk, Shellye McDaniel and Carol Monson was awesome!


One of my favorite things about this CHA was meeting my loooooong time online friend, Lea Lawson. I was so excited when I found out she would be there. We ended up spending a lot of time together and had a blast. She is just as sweet in person as she is online. 

So, last weekend, I went from this:

 
To this:

Cooperstown was gorgeous. I'm so glad I tagged along for the trip. A group of 7 from our family road tripped it up there. This was the view from right outside our motel room door. 

Here's my favorite picture from the weekend. Ryan and his cousins all got these shirts. Isn't this a fun shot???


So, that's what I've been up to. I have some fun projects to share, and will post those soon. Be sure to stop by next week on August 8, as I will be involved in a great blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by. :)