Celebrate 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July creative friends!  I designed today's project for the Scraps of Color Blog.  I have a little secret to share...I have been making mini albums and layouts for other people so much that I have fallen behind in my personal scrapping!  Anyone else in that same boat?  The good news is, it's NEVER to late to document those special times.  I might not get every single picture from my kids' childhoods, but I can certainly capture some of my favorites, right?  For this project, I didn't buy any new supplies; I created my own "kit" from what I had on hand, and I made most of the embellishments to scrapbook these pictures of my daughter's 1st July 4th.

If you work mostly with kits, try something new by going through your stash and pulling papers that coordinate.  I pulled from some Americana, Christmas and Valentine's papers.  And yes, I hand cut all those pennants for the banner...call me crazy, cutting with scissors is like therapy for me lol!

I did use my Cricut for the title and the stars, and added a little faux stitching with a white Gelly Roll pen. 

Not excited about your own handwriting?  I printed out my own journaling for this page.  I printed out the text on the same size sheet of copy paper until I got the placement and font size the way I wanted it, I printed  it on my cardstock.  I could have kept working with this layout, but guess what, it doesn't have to be perfect...it's more important to get it done :)

Are you planning any July 4th layouts?

Supplies: Cardstock - Recollections; Patterned Paper - Heidi Swap Believe, Recollections Valentine, The Paper Studio Patriotic Words; Twine: Michaels; Burlap - JoAnn Fabric; Faux Stitching - Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Up, Up & Away for Father's Day

Have you finished your Father's Day cards yet? I have been hanging on to a stamp set with a hot air balloon for some time now, waiting for just the right project, I guess!   Finally decided to use it this year; think the cards turned out kinda cute in a masculine way!  I entered my cards Scrapping 4 Fun's Father Day Challenge here.

Seafoam green, Kraft and white...something about this color combo that is soothing to the eye!  

I've been using Versafine ink lately, and I'm really impressed with the quality of the stamped images. 

For this card, I altered the stamp with this jumbo sized button, so cute!

 Lots of layers and texture, just the way I like my cards!  The vellum cloud paper is from American Craft's Dear Lizzie line and it is layered on top of a sheet from DCWV's the Modern Meadow Stack.

Materials used: 

Recollections Kraft Cardstock, Recollections White Cardstock 

Have you finished your Father's Day cards yet?

Thanks for stopping by!

Card-Making for a Cause!

 I have been thinking about ways to do more for my community while doing something I'm passionate about, and my daughter's preschool Silent Auction gave me the perfect chance.  I donated a card-making class for 6 ladies and spent the past couple of weeks getting ready for it.  The girls had different skill levels, so pre-made kits were definitely the way to go.  I hosted the party Saturday night and it was a blast! 

I served some appetizers so, my daughter got creative and embossed the napkins for me...

To keep things simple, before the  class party, I folded the cards, cut the cardstock and made the embellies, like these punched butterfly with faux pearl centers. 

 I separated the materials for each card into a cute baggie.

For the first time ever, I went to Pinterest for some clean and simple (CAS) card inspiration.  I don't do a lot of CAS cards, so I needed help with layouts lol!  The ladies did great with the first card, a bowtie and shirt combo for Father's Day, inspired by this card.  I found the free bowtie printable here.  

 They got to emboss and stamp a little with this second Pinterest-inspired butterfly card found here.

They quickly got the hang of embossing with the Sizzix Big Kick and combined that with paper-weaving for a fun "Thank You" card.  We modified the original card pinned here.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday night and all for a good cause...I think I like this teaching thing! Do you craft for charity? Thanks for stopping by

It's all about the Hunt!

Hope you enjoyed your Mother's Day Weekend, my family made sure I did!  Wanted to share this get-well card I made.  Just a simple card, but I love the colors!  Their warmth makes me think of summer vacation (or maybe I am in need of a little break)?  Cardmaking for me is sometimes like a scavenger hunt...I enjoy looking for different supplies that coordinate and come together well...kind of like creating my own kits, I guess.  The papers are My Mind's Eye Stella Rose and the stamp, ribbon and cardstock cut out are from Michaels clearance bin.  The stick pin is from yours truly :)
Did you get in any crafting over the weekend?
Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Love ~ Still Craftin' with My Bug

Hello friends!  I know many of my scrappy friends have traded in their Cricuts for an upgraded cutting machine like the Silhouette or Cameo.  I'm excited about upgrading myself, but until then, I'm still scrapbooking and card making with my Bug!    Today, I wanted to share a couple of "baby" cards I made.  So simple, but so cute!

 All I needed was the cardstock, twine, a stamp and a few embellies.  I think the fun patterns of the K&Company Small Wonders Girl and Close to My Heart "Ivy Lane" papers make the onesies pop against the white base.

It's fun to mix and match papers!  Here I used DCWV Nana's Kids Glitter Stack and Sweet Stack.

 For the girl onesies, I added a few embellies to pretty them up.  The stamp is an old one from Michaels. Are you still scrapping with your Bug? Thanks for stopping by!

Bee-Cause You are So Sweet!

Today's bee-inspired card wraps up my Mother's Day Series this week!  If you love bees and vintage, I hope you've *caught* some *sweet* inspiration this week.  I created another digi-stamp for this card's sentiment, have you tried yours yet?

I added a kraft tag to the layers to switch things up a little bit.  My favorite cards always have texture and dimension :)  What about you, have you finished your cards yet?
Paper flowers: Recollections Bumblebee Stamp: Recollections Paper: My Mind's Eye: The Sweetest Thing ~ Honey Paper: DCWV La CREME matstack Digi Stamp: Me!
Thanks for stopping by!

Bee Joyous! Mother's Day Card Series

Happy Thursday!  Just popping over for my Queen Bee Mother's Day Card Series?  Check out the first post here.  Do you have a favorite shape for cards?  I used to have a thing about square-shaped cards...yes, even with the additional postage charge :)  For today's card, I put together some of the techniques from cards you saw earlier in the week.

The layering, chunky flowers, wood sentiment and hexagon shapes...bet you never saw such a pretty hexagon!  It has been fun seeing how many ways I can use these MME papers; when I sit down to design cards for Design Designs by Nancy, I try to stick to a similar color pallette for each batch.  Do you think these colors work well together? What are your favorite color combos? Paper flowers: Recollections Bumblebee Stamp: Stampendous Clear Stamps Paper: My Mind's eye: The Sweetest Thing ~ Honey Wood accent: Recollections Thanks for stopping by!