House Mouse Baby Boy Card

Wow! I knew it had been awhile since I had posted, but I didn't realize how long until I saw the date of my last post! My goal of posting regularly went great the first of the year, but flu, birthdays, and teaching has been crazy!! Hopefully, I'll get back to this more regularly.

So, on to the card! Another one of my goal is to use up the stamped images that I have stockpiled. I stamped a ton of images to take on vacation last year to color and I need to use them up. I cut the card from Birthday Bash in baby blue cardstock from Hobby Lobby. That cart has amazing shaped cards for every button. The card was cut at Fit to Page which cut it at 5 1/2". The coordinating piece of blue plaid was cut at 5 1/2" using some baby boy paper I had in my stash. I cut the baby carriage from Heritage at 4". The stamped image was from House Mouse stamps, which I colored with my prisma pencils and cut out. I used pop dots behind it to give dimension. Everything was inked with brown cats eye chalk inks. The flowers were some that I crocheted last year and had in my embellishments. I added adhesive pearls from Hobby Lobby to the center.

I hope you have enjoyed this. Thanks for stopping by!

Organizational Journal

Today I want to share a great New Years project with you. Like many of you, the new year always gets me thinking of ways to be more organized. My life is insane with teaching full time, two children, and being very involved in the church we pastor. I like to keep a notebook in my purse to write down list or jot something down as I need it. I know we live in a high-tech age (my husband would be lost without his iphone!) but when it comes to things like that, I do better with a piece of paper. My goal was to make something pretty and fun that would keep this lists organized for me rather than just random scraps of paper or notebooks. It also helped me in another New Years goal which is to use the products and tools I've been collecting!

I started by cutting a test cut for dividers to see how big I wanted everything. I used the wonderful tabbed cards on From My Kitchen and cut them at 5" which ended up being just the size I was looking for. I then cut the covers out of my favorite chipboard--cereal boxes!! (Honey Nut Cherrios are some of the sturdiest.) I cut the covers at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" I then covered them with a layer of black cut the same size, red at 5" x 8" and patterned paper cut at 4 3/4" x 7 3/4". All of the patterned paper and solid colored paper was from a Christmas pad of paper I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. It has the most elegant patterns and several that had no Christmas designs at all which I used. I then cut the medallion from French Manor at 4" in red with the layer in black. The medallion got a little lost on the patterned paper, so I cut a layer of cream at 7 3/4" x 4". This layer was ran through my cuttlebug using the textile folder for texture and layered under the medallion. Before putting all the layers together, I used the Pink Stamper method to add black satin ribboon and a red and black satin bow. Once the cover was assembled, I used my irock to add the clear crystals to the medallion. The back of the cover was covered with patterned paper cut to fit. The inside of the back cover was covered with patterened paper like the front, then the outside was oovered in black with contrasting pieces of red and patterned paper .

The dividers were a lot of fun to do. I cut each one out in white cardstock at 5" using From My Kitchen so they would be sturdy. I then cut them out in cream, black and red to cover the front of each one. The back of each one was covered in patterned paper. The pattern that you see on the contrast piece on the front is what is on the back. The contrast pieces for each one were cut at 5" x 7" for the patterned paper and 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the solid cream piece. I decorated each divider with French Manor with Heritage for the tea set. The clock was cut at 5", the table 3" and the dress form at 4". The tea set I cut at 1 1/2" All of the stamps I used to decorate were from Close to My Heart. The cream colored piece on the one with the table was run through the cuttlebug using the textile folder. For the tabs I labled them using the font from Quarter Note cut at 1/2". I cut regular copy paper for the inside pages at 5" x 8 1/2". Then I bound it using my bind it all with 3/4" wires.

I hope you have enjoyed my project today. It was my first time making a journal type project. This was one of those that started out as one idea, then evolved as I went. But, I'm thrilled how it turned out. So what are you doing to get organized this year? Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly Thank you Card

Life is crazy!!! And as it usually works out, right after I join the blog motivation support group on the Cricut Circle Message Board, life gets so crazy that I haven't had time to post on the Message Board, much less my blog.

Last month my grandmother passed away. She was an amazing lady. One of her favorite things was butterflies. I made these thank you cards for my church and the school where I worked for the cards and flowers. I decided to use butterflies in her honor.

The base of the card was made from white 12x12 cardstock that was cut in half, then cut at a length of 9". This makes a card that is 6" x 4 1/2" and fits perfectly into the invitation envelopes that you can find the the Walmart office supply section. The brown and rose colored cardstock were both from Core'dinations the Nostalgia stack. I cut the brown 1/8" smaller than the front of my base, and the rose 1/4" smaller than that. The patterned paper is from the Laundry Line stack from My Minds Eye and was cut 1/4" smaller than the rose piece. All of the layers were inked with Chestnut Cat's eye ink. The butterfly was cut with the cuttlebug combo die and embossing set. I used cardstock from the jewled Core'dinations stack and sanded the embossing. Some pink skittles acctented the body. The tag was from the Heritage cartridge and cut at 3/4". The sentiment was from Penny Black, and stamped in Chocolate ink from Close to my Heart. I attatched in on brown satin ribbon from Walmart, and added the antique embellishments from the Paper Studio in the corner.

On the inside of the card, I cut the layers the same size as the front, substituting the cream colored cardstock for the patterned paper. The butterfly inside was cut at 1 1/2" from Home Decor in the patterned paper with a shadow from the rose color.

I hope you have enjoyed this card. I know my grandma would have.

50th Wedding Anniversary Album pt. 3 "On the Road"

Thanks for following me on this journey! The next layout is titled "On the Road". From the very beginning of my parents marriage they traveled as evangelists singing and preaching in churches. This was while my dad was still in the Air Force as well. This layout has newspaper announcements of some of their early revivals as well as pictures from some of the revivals.

The layout was done on navy cardstock with contrasting pieces from the Faith stack by the Paper Studio. The car is from Heritage and cut at 5" in core'dinations cardstock in gray. I love this car because it reminds me of the old Ford I've heard about that my parents first traveled in. The title is done in Plantin Schoolbook. The journaling tags are from a stamp set from close to my heart called Frame of Mind Thanks for looking!!

50th Wedding Anniversary Album pt. 2

This is the second layout in this album. I make two page layouts most of the time so I can add more pictures. If you missed my previous post, my parents have been married for 50 years and have been in ministry together that long as well. In fact, my dad has been a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God for 51 years. This layout is titled "The First Church" In 1963 they became pastors of their first church. It was also the church where they met, where they got married, and where they held their first revival. That's why I felt "The First Church" was a very appropriate title! The pictures on the page are the picture they had taken right before becoming pastors when they were traveling and preaching and pictures from inside and outside the church. Also on the page is the newspaper announcement of them becoming the pastors, and my dad's business card while they were there.

The base cardstock is burgandy core'dinations from the Nostalgia stack. The contrast piece is from a stack from Hobby Lobby called Faith. It has great papers with religious patterns as well as other pretty patterns. The pictures are matted in dark green. The title is cut from the Songbird font at 1 3/4" in the same dark green with a tan shadow. The church cut is from Heritage and cut from Core'dinations cardstock in two shades of brown at 8". All of the mats, cuts and contrast pieces have been inked with Cat's Eye chestnut ink. Thanks for looking!!

50th Wedding Aniversary Album pt. 1

I have been working on an album for my parents 50th wedding anniversary which was last week. I hate to say, but I didn't get the entire album finished by their anniversary. I will be showing what I have done in a series of posts, then the rest as I get it done. I realized when posting this, that I have never posted a layout since starting this blog. One of my goals is to get back to scrapbooking. I started this "obsession" to scrapbook my children. I bought my cricut because I could not achieve the pages I wanted on my own! Over the past couple of years, however, I've become a card maker. I enjoy making cards because they are a smaller project that I can get done in an hour or so, while layouts usually take me longer. So...hopefully you will see more layouts in the future.

I will tell you my scrapbooking style is very simple because I focus more on the pictures than the elements of the page. This is especially true with this type of album. I am redoing an album that my mother did years ago. Not only have my parents been married for 50 years they also have been in the ministry that long as pastors and evangelists. This album was one my mother did while we were evangelists as a child for people to see the history of our family. It features pictures of my family traveling, playing instruments and singing, and the churches they have pastored. It's very special to our family.

This first page is a simple layout of their wedding picture. I used pink core'dinations cardstock as the background since pink was their wedding colors. Behind their picture is the round doily cut from the cricut Mother's Day seasonal cartridge which I cut at fit to page in cream colored cardstock. I used brown chalk to antique the edges. The "Husband and Wife" title was cut at 1 1/2 " from the Heritage cart in rose Core'dinations cardstock (that will cut intricate cuts like butter!). The journaling tag is a charm cut from the Heritage cart as well cut in cream cardstock with a rose colored frame. I wrote the journaling in gold gel pen telling when and where they were married and added the gold ribbon from walmart. Thanks for looking!! I hope you'll continue to follow me in this journey through this album!

Vintage Birthday Card

Here is a card I made last night for my mother in law's birthday. I went into my craft room with something totally different in mind. While looking through my handbooks I ran across this teddy bear in the Heritage cart. My mother in law collects teddy bears, and I loved the fact that this one had an antique look rather than a kid look. Anyway, on to the card!!

I used a pre-scored card base. The bottom layer of my front is a burgundy core'dinations cardstock cut at 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches. I embossed the top 3/4 of the cardstock with the textile cuttlebug folder and sanded. the contrasting strip is from the DCWV Old World stack cut at 2 x 4 3/4 inches and the edges inked in black. The doily was cut from the Mother's Day 2010 cartridge at 5 inches from ivory carstock and inked with chestnut cat's eye ink. It was the flower shaped doily but I cut two of the scallops off to make it look folded. The teddy bear was from Heritage at 4 inches. The shadow and layer were to shades of brown core'dinations cardstock also from the Nostalgia stack. I used pop dots to give it dimension. The ribbon around the bear's neck and on the card are is from Walmart and the embellishment is from The Paper Studio. At the bottom I stamped Happy Birthday in Cocoa ink from Close to My Heart. The stamp is from a clear set called Party Invite from Stampendous.

On the inside of the card I layered more burgundy cardstock from core'dinations and ivory cardstock both inked. I added another bear cut at 2 1/2 inches. I hope you enjoy!!