Allison's Birthday

So my baby had her birthday last week and I had her card planned out for months (ever since Graphic45 came out with their Halloween in Wonderland paper.  Since she was a little girl, Allison has loved  Lewis Carroll's books (Disney version, not so much) and every year I try to get her a little something Alice-related.  This year I knew I was going to use that Graphic45 paper...so perfect!  I knew it had to be a special card so I created my first, but not last, "pop up stage card" following Kim Score's very helpful tutorial found here.  Lots of fussy cutting and score-taping, but it was so worth the look on her face when she opened it up.

April made the cake and I helped decorate it with the checkerboard theme to go along with the card and here is the birthday girl with niece Lily and nephew Rowan ready for caaaake! 

City Crafter Challenge

The challenge this week over at City Crafter Challenge Bog is a card or project featuring "Little Children" and the sponsor is my very talented daughter Allison's CircusBoard Graphics.  Be sure to go check out the gorgeous work the DT and GD created with her Child's Garden kit.  I really love the soft subtle colors and charming vintage images of this set and figured I deserved to have some fun too! 

This sweet little gardener is fussy cut and popped on a mat embossed with Cuttlebug's Gracie's Frame and softly inked to bring out the beautiful detail.  I used some BG Nook and Pantry pp, some Webster Page's trim which was included in the Pixe Dust Paperie October kit (gorgeous!) and finished it up with a line of marching pearls and a simple stamped sentiment.   One of the really cool things about this kit is the unusual color palette--isn't it different and oh so pretty!



On a personal note, dear hubby had to have hip surgery two weeks ago and instead of finding a severely arthritic hip which they were going to replace, the surgeon found a massive infection in his hip joint capsule sooooo...as a result...and with some training...we're giving him three 2-hour IV infusions a day at home of a very serious antibiotic (two weeks down and four to go) and he gets to keep his original hip as a door prize.  Luckily he works from home and is comfortable sitting, so we're trying to get back to normal.   We have some terrific home care nurses who check in from time to time to make sure we're not making too many mistakes and then combined with 85 year old Grandma living here with hospice staff in and out, we feel a bit like we're living in a a bizarre medical reality TV show.  Never a dull moment.

Anyway, here's to a terrific Wednesday and happy creating!

Hugs,



Fabulous Fifteen

I have such a hard time coming up with ideas for teenagers.  Maybe it's just been too long since I was one.  Anyway, I found this disco cutie image on the web awhile ago and loved the colors and the energy and thought it might work for this card.  The fabulous sentiment was a Michael's $1 bin find and I inked and clear embossed the chipboard 15.  I thought all the circles in the pp definitely called for a disco ball treatment so a little bling and done.  Thanks for looking!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Kunz

This precious photo of my great grandma and grandpa was taken on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.   Annie and her little sister Mary immigrated to the United States from their beloved Switzerland when they were both young girls, working menial jobs at very low wages until they earned enough money to send for the rest of their family.   She married William Kunz who had also immigrated from Switzerland with his family and between them had ten children, their oldest being my grandfather.  They were beloved parents and grandparents.  Annie was known for her natural long dark hair which she would allow her grandchildren to braid for her and her wonderful cooking.  She died before I was born, but I have a photo of a 3 year old me sitting on Grandpa William J's lap when he was very old.  I'm very proud of my Swiss heritage and the sacrifices my ancestors made to make a new home in a new country.

The beautiful digital paper and embellishments come from the Art Nouveau collection found here at  Circus Board.  I absolutely love it.  I'm entering this layout in the following challenges:

City Crafter Vintage Challenge - vintage inspired

Simon Says 3 types of embellishments (ribbon, butterfly, pearl blossom) , 2 patterned paper

Thanks for visiting!

This 'n That

Those acrylic sheets were still sitting on my scrap table  from my last card project and I thought I'd make some of these cute little treat boxes using one of my daughter's new Halloween penant sets.  The purple Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland pattern paper was such a perfect match and in about 15 minutes look what was born.  Don't you love that little ghoulie guy with the bat wings (click for larger image)?   Susie McCormick offers a great tutorial for these little acrylic treat boxes at Splitcoast Stampers here.  There's an entire gallery there in many themes (Valentines, Christmas, etc.)  One even holds two golf balls with a "Fore You" tag.  Anyway, check it out and also check out Allison's Etsy offerings at Circus Board.

I've entered this in a couple of challenges:

2 Sisters Halloween Challenge.  There are some awesome goodies there so check it out!

Fairy Fun Fridays.  Tickets and Tags Challenge

Stamp Something Halloween Somethings Challenge.

After putting together some vintage graphic image sets for her Etsy shop, Allison then decided to try her hand at designing paper and her very first set is pretty amazing (I'm trying to be objective here, friends, but it really is).  I did a simple quick little layout using her "Child's Garden Set" which features lovely subtle turquoise and peachy tans and the result is a very soft sweet little page featuring my dear granddaughter Lily in her new gardening hat and gloves.   She's even included an embellishment set all inspired by this very old children's book illustration (click on image to really see the details but pardon my funky stitching).  The files print crisply and color true and just to share, she's sequestered away in her room working on a few more sets as I post this.  Goooo Allison!!!

If you have time to take a look at some of her creations, we would so appreciate any feedback and to hear what you think or if you have any suggestions.   Have a wonderful weekend, my friends and thanks for visiting.

P.S.  She also designed my blog header and has promised to redo my blog wallpaper.  Yayyy!

A Very Jello Birthday

Fun little acrylic card for a special October birthday girl. I won a bunch of Sheetload Shortcuts acrylic products awhile ago (they've since gone out of business) and I always forget to use them, which is what happens when you have so much stuff you forget what you've got. Don't laugh, I'll bet you know EXACTLY what I mean. Anyway, I absolutely LOVE this cute vintage Jello ad image and built my card around it.

Paper is Bazil CS and MME Alphabet Soup Girl. A little cuttlebug embossing on the background paper, some birthday ribbon, MS edge punching, some turquoise Thickers and Kaisercraft pearls with an SRM sentiment sticker inside and it all went together easily. Sorry about the glare--it's hard to get a good photo of acrylic cards. Thanks for looking!

Be Still My Heart

Stepping outside my comfort level here but this image inspired me to try to create a collage-y altered-y tag using one of Allison's Fairy Tale Graphic images. I just dug out my old walnut ink spritzer, threw some odds and ends from my stash together and stitched a little of this pretty new American Craft rose ribbon onto a piece of lace. I kind of like it.

Christmas Greetings

Happy World Card Making Day!

I'm having a lot of fun with my daughter Allison's graphic files. She's so talented in Photoshop and just opened an Etsy shop called Circus Board Graphics offering some of her collection of great images. Here's a quick little Christmas card using one of her images which I'm entering in some current challenges. She's got some great Halloween, Christmas, World Travel and Fairy Tale files up so far. Take a look at her goodies here.


Bah Humbug's challenge was Christmas Across the Miles
City Crafter's Challenge was flowers and frills
Tuesday Throwdown was using punches
Daring Cardmakers was to create a Christmas card.
Charisma Cardz Challenge was to create a Christmas card.
Creative Inspirations - Challenge 80 Christmas in September

I Predict Tricks

Quick little Halloween card made using one of my daughter's new Halloween graphic files. She really has some great images and will be offering them up in her new Etsy shop soon. I guess I'm now officially a one woman Design Team! Basic Gray Flourish stamps, some assorted feathers and a Sharon Ann timeless collection jewel brad, Dymo labels, MME striped paper, some jump ring earrings and a little ribbon. Fun image to work with. Here is the link to her Etsy shop if you want to check it out.

Hello

I've been having a ball all week working on a mini album of our first cruise last December (practice run for a larger one to do of our 7 day Alaska cruise earlier this month), but these great photos my daughter April took of her dog meeting our new little Chihua pup in August have been screaaaaaming for me to scrap them, so I did. I just converted the photos into b&w and kept it simple with some BG Boxer pp and shiny black Thickers. The chipboard flourish was inked black and clear embossed to match. My lss carries every color of the rainbow in embossing powder EXCEPT clear and here's my philosophy--who the heck needs all those colors if you already have lots of colors of ink pads? Clear works great PLUS if I mess up and there are any stray bits of powder, they're clear and don't really show. Anyway, here's Griffin meets Nimby and a sneak peek of my cruise mini album.

Page 3 of the cruise mini...

Have a terrific day!

Fabulous 50

My dear sis-in-law turns the big FIVE OH next week and she deserves to be reminded how fabulous she is. Used Cricut ACY cartridge for the matted shape, some wonderful new organza black ribbon and MME Market Street Princess pp (love it!). Forget where I got the swirly pearls. I've had the large numeral rubber stamps forever and picked up the "fabulous" stamp at Michael's in the dollar bin this week. Happy 50th Mary!

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I should add that the beautiful "glass" butterfly is the creation of a talented etsy seller. See her transparency creations here.

Sweet Cheeks

These cute bikini cards aren't new, but I'd never attempted one. Have to say it's one of the easiest cards to make but so clever and fun. I'm sending this along to my wonderful mom-in-law who left a piece of (ahem) lingerie behind when packing to return home to Texas after our cruise. I'm returning said piece to her with this card (inside says "missing something?' and below that "Note to self: Don't leave home without them.") Click here to see an entire gallery of these cute cards.

Cruising Time

We're off tomorrow to Seattle to begin our 7 day Alaska cruise, so won't be around to blog for awhile. For years we've heard friends say this was their very favorite cruise destination, so we're very excited! Hopefully I'll get some of my own pics but here's a preview of hopefully what we'll be seeing. Have a terrific week, dear friends and I'll catch up on your beautiful creations upon my return. xoxo

P.S. I told my hubby about scrapbooking cruises and he said he absolutely would NOT go on one! Dang. :-D

Another Birthday...

We knew when we brought my Mom out to live with us, it would be a blessing to our entire family. Little Lily loves her Great Grandma so much and she is such good therapy for Mom. Allison snapped this sweet photo of them cuddling yesterday and I had to share being as I just finished Lily's 4th birthday layout. Can't you just feel the love? :-)


Her birthday was in February, so I'm a bit late but I had a lot of fun with this one. The larger circle collage element lifts for hidden journalling and I love the look of paper ruffles so I gave it a try. Thanks for looking!

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Bazzil, BG Olivia, AC Dear lizzy ribbon, chipboard letters painted with MM acrylic paint & then Glossy Accents, stickles, Prima butterflies, Color Box creamy brown ink, machine stitching, MS edge punch for ruffles, Sharpie white marker and the little bird and paper used for the ruffle are from BG Two Scoops accents.

Meet Miss Olivia

I suddenly realized how far behind I am in scrapbooking important events this year. Finished up a 2 page layout of last Christmas (I told you I'm behind!) and am currently working on Lily's fourth birthday pages using this beautiful Basic Gray line. Sooooo pretty! I'm stitching, painting, glossy accent'ing and taking my time. Maybe I'll finish it and post it tomorrow. Until then, feast your eyes on this pretty paper and happy papercrafting!

Sedona Mini Album

This is a little mini album I made for Rowan's second birthday using photos of a recent trip to Sedona and Flagstaff (my daughter sweetly shares all of her photos with me). I used some of the last precious scraps of Cosmo Cricket's Wanted Collection (LOVE it!) For the cover I googled some silhouette images of a coyote and a saguaro cactus and set them against a giant cuttlebugged moon. I liked the look of the woodgrain embossing (Cuttlebug again). Glued some hemp twine for a border to emphasize the album shape and some BG chipboard mini alphas for the title. A few rubons and ta da! Photos are clickable for larger view. Thanks for looking and have a terrific weekend!

Challenging!

Don't get a chance to enter many challenges lately, but having my sweet 85 year old Mom living with us now has got me to thinking about how special this Christmas will be with her here to enjoy the family and great grandkids and was inspired to submit something. Here's my take on Christmas tags and mini cards for Caardvarks and Through the Window for Bah Humbug. The sponsor of Caardvark's challenge is JustRite Stamps who produces the most wonderful, quality stamps ever! The circled sentiment has been clear embossed and looks wet but didn't scan very well. Anyway, thanks for looking. Image is clickable for larger view.

Caardvarks Christmas Tag/Mini Card Challenge

Bah Humbug Through the Window Challenge

Stamped sentiment JustRite Christmas Stamp Ensemble; Cuttlebug's Grace's frame embossing folder (LOVE it!) ; PP: Graphic45 LeRomantique & Cosmo Cricket Wanted Collection; Bazzill CS; Snowflake punch; Offray ribbon; Color Box Dark Moss ink & Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distressed Ink, Kaiser pearls, Clear embossing powder and vintage print.

Who's Two?

ROWAN is!

New Cuttlebug Folder!

Mailbox happiness! The new Cuttlebug folder I ordered came and omigoodness, I LOVE it! It's called Grace's frame and I used it two ways on this personalized wedding card. So pretty, dontcha think? Paper is Graphic45 Le Romantique and was the perfect paper for this elegant frame.

Two Wonderful

Sweet little grandson Rowan will be celebrating his big TWO in a week.
Here is Grandma's birthday card. I like the inside almost as much as the cover. Happy Birthday dear little man.

Flutterby Birthday

I love Peet Roeven's work and one of her creations inspired this birthday card I made for my Mom's 85th birthday earlier this month. Paper is BG, butterfly images are stamped and embossed. Thanks for looking and have a terrific week!

Cards, cards, cards

A few cards I've made recently. My very talented niece Kelly who's attending BYU-Idaho turned 19 last month and I had been wanting to use this cute cherry paper. I've got a few more to post but I need to get good photos. Thanks for visiting.

Sometimes life gets complicated...

or why I have been missing in action for the past two plus months. In early May, my dear mother, who has been in a convalescent hospital for several years following a bad fall, finally agreed to let us bring her to live with us here in Arizona. It was not easy for her (she's lived in California for over sixty years) but she was brave and it has been wonderful having her here. I've still been creating here and there, but blogging was not a priority. Now that she's settled in, I'm hoping to have more time to visit your blogs and share a little on mine. We celebrated Mom's 85th birthday Saturday and here she is with her great granddaughter Lily and Nimbus, our new pup. Thanks for visiting, dear friends and readers.

Welcome Baby Colt

A childhood friend just became a grandma so I had to sit down and make her a little card. I love this Squigglefly digistamp of the bathtub baby which I colored using Prismacolor/gamsol technique, used my MS loop punch for the mat, some Cloud9 Design raindrops, sentiment is from SRM Stickers's Baby set, some ribbon and a button, a little crystal glaze for the puddle and it's done.

Doggie Thanks

So our neighbors phoned to offer us a sweet little 7 week old Chihuahua puppy and we accepted. She is unbelievably tiny and waaaay cute! We've named her Nimbus (she's the color of a cloud) and call her Nimby. Here's the little thank you card I'm sending.

PP is MME Quite Contrary, scalloped mat is from Cricut ACY fussed with in DS to create a square, sentiment is Justrite stamp nd c/s is Bazzill.

Happy Birthday Steve!

We celebrated my hubby's birthday this weekend. Here's his card. Inside says "Your childhood is calling....it's long distance."

Graphic45 paper, Liquid Pearls, Bazzill cs and a vintage phone photo I found on the net. Sentiment is computer printed.

Visiting Winter

In spite of some frustrating camera problems, dd April managed to capture some memorable photos of their drive up to Flagstaff to introduce Lily and Rowan to the wonders of snow. Credit for the the title is 3-1/2 year old Lily's. She very seriously informed me they were going to visit winter and it was far far away.

I Like your Style

Just discovered a terrific new (to me) blog featuring the work of some incredibly talented artists from the UK, NZ and Australia who have dubbed themselves "Daring Cardmakers." Here's my take on their weekly challenge: If the Shoe Fits. (card is clickable for larger view)

Vintage shoe ad from my stash, Graphic45 pp, MS edge punch, button & twine. Rock from my backyard.

So Cute!

RECIPE:
1 adorable 4 year old + 1 ruffly new birthday dress + 1 fluffy white puppy. Stir gently and add a sunny February afternoon = super CUTENESS! Lily and Moppet in Grandma's garden.

PP, Basic Gray, MME Quite Contrary, Prima flowers, adhesive pearls, MS border punch, leaves from Dollar Store. Cricut ACY & SB. Layout inspired by Nanne on Cricut.com

My daughter's newest endeavor...

....Just had to share some photos of my daughter April's beautiful hand beaded lanyards which she's selling now on Etsy. I promise you'll be blown away and I'm not just saying that because I'm proud. But I am. The bamboo tile centerpieces are hand placed, collaged and glazed. So gorgeous! I'll quote my other very talented daughter, Allison (who created my awesome blog banner by the way) on a Facebook post:

"DOES YOUR JOB REQUIRE YOU TO WEAR A BADGE LIKE A TAGGED ANIMAL?! April (my sis) has the most amazing beaded lanyards up for sale on Etsy - Take a look! (And admire the beautiful banner I made for her site. :P ) ttp://www.etsy.com/shop/IStandConnected

Easter Easel Cards (say that fast....)

I love CostPlus! These sweet little felt baskets were just begging to be filled, and then there's all that wonderful imported chocolate one aisle over.

Easel cards are cuttlebugged and feature digi-stamp images from Pink Cat Studio. MS Edge punches, BG chipboard letters, some stickles.

Easter Blessings

Quick card being mailed off to my Mom in California. She blesses our family in so many ways.

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Paper is MME Quite Contrary, sentiment is JustRite stamps, digistamp is from PCS colored with Prismacolor & gamsol and scalloped mat is Cricut A Child's Year.

Monkeying around

at the Phoenix Zoo...
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I made this 6"x12" Zoo album for Lily's 4th birthday using Teresa Collins scalloped covers (they were white, so I painted them a nice jungle green) and used the bind-it-all. Teresa has thoughtfully included 6"x12" page protectors to her line which makes creating albums for little ones with oft-sticky fingers much more practical.
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This is the cover. I'll post a few of the pages.