Spring is in the Air!

I wanted to make a card for my Grandmother and when my awesome sister sent me the Serenade Cricut Cartridge - I knew that I wanted to do a card celebrating Spring!

I used a premade 5x7 card and cut a light blue piece of cardstock to 4.75x6.75 inches.  I then embossed it with my Sizzix Three Dots (found in the Birthday Set #2) and inked the edges in a medium blue.  I used my Serenade cartridge for the tree branch (3 inches), the bird (2 inches) and the cloud (1 inch).  I glued my tree branch and the shadow together and then embossed it with "stripes" from the Cuttlebug Animal Prints embossing set.  I inked it with Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distressing Ink (which is my favorite ink).  I glued the flowers on and then popped the whole thing up with Pop Dots.  I glued the bird pieces together then embossed it with the "feathers" from the Cuttlebug Animal Prints embossing set. I inked it with some blue ink to really bring out the texture.  It is also popped up using Pop Dots.  The title frame was cut from Accent Essentials and I used MS Word to make my sentiment.

I added a piece of  4.75x6.75 inch light green cardstock to the inside of the card.  I stamped it with some small flower stamps and another sentiment.

I am entering this card in two challenges.
1.  Charisma Cardz Spring Has Sprung Challenge
2.  Fantabulous Cricut Emboss it Challenge

I know my Grandmother will love this card (especially with the latest pictures of her Great-Grand-baby inside).  Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment.

I have been slowly working on my daughter's baby album.  I did a two page layout showcasing the very first photos that were taken the night she was born.  

I used several different Cricut Cartridges for this layout.  The title "Our Precious Gift" was cut from the Jasmine cartridge at 2.5 inches.  The subtitle May 7, 2010 was cut from Plantin SchoolBook at 1.5 inches.  

This heart was cut from Paper Pups at 1.5 inches.  I added Pink Stickles to the word  love.

New arrival was cut from New Arrival Cartridge at 1.25 inches.  The hearts were cut from Gypsy Wanderings (border option) at 1 inch and  I added more pink Stickles to make them pop a little bit more.

These flowers were cut from Gypsy Wanderings at 1 inch and finished with some green and pink Stickles.

Sweet Baby is cut a 2.25 inches and Girl is cut at 1.5 inches - both are from Gypsy Wanderings.  I again added a little sparkle to the flower on Girl with some more pink Stickles.

I used this small photo as a pocket for a tag with her birth information one one side and journaling on the other side.  This was the information cut from New Arrivals cartridge cut at 3 inches and I cut the words apart and only used time, weight, and length.  The tag was cut from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cartridge at 4.75 inches.  I added some pink ribbon (after I took my photos).

The first Page.

The second Page.

While these pictures are some the most unflattering pictures (after 18 hours of natural labor I wasn't thinking about how I looked) I will ever scrap of myself - they do represent one of the moments I am most proud of in my life.  I have always loved children and wanted to be a Mom.  Once I held my little girl for the first time, I had such a peace and joy fill my heart and I knew in that moment that my life had changed.  She is such a beautiful blessing and everyday my husband and I are thankful for our precious gift.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.  As always, I enjoy reading your comments.

Hi, everyone! I recently received the Liebster Blog award from my super talented sister at Faith-Abigail Designs.  She is a constant source of inspiration and I just want to say a huge Thank You to her for choosing me for this award.

The rules are simple and as follows:

1). It's a blog award handed over to your favorite five blogs, that has less than one hundred followers.
2). The award is passed on to the five, by commenting on their blog, telling them that their blog is one of your favorites and that it has been chosen for the Liebster Blog Award.
3). The one who receives the award posts a link back to the person who gave it to them, and five of his/hers favorite blogs (you are allowed to choose the person who sent you the award if you wish) with less than one hundred followers.

Choosing the following blogs was not easy; there are so many talented crafters in the blog-o-sphere right now and choosing only five blogs to recognize was no easy task. In no particular order...


1.  Donna's Dreamworks
2.  Janet at LadyLuvBug
3.  Karen at Little Scrap Pieces
4.  Evanna's Paper Palace
5. Daley's Dailies

Please show these very talented ladies some love by checking out their blogs. And thanks again to my awesome sister!

Father In-Law's Birthday Card

My Father In-Law's Birthday is today and I wanted to make him a card, but I couldn't decide on what to do, so once again I turned to challenges to find my inspiration.  I am entering this card in four challenges; Claudia and Company (about a boy), Celebrate the Occasion (masculine birthday), The Cuttlebug Spot (gate fold cards), and Pile it on (love plaid).

I used some of my older paper stash for this one (so I have no clue what paper line this is from).  I used my Cuttlebug Spot and Dots embossing folder.  The Happy Birthday and Crown (inside of card) is from Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Happy Birthday #2 set.  I also took this opportunity to use my new E.K Success morocco lace border punch.

I normally make my husband write on the majority of the cards we send, because his penmanship is so nice...but he was asleep unavailable so instead you get to see my handwriting.

I really enjoyed making this card and I appreciate all the inspiration from the different challenges.

Valentine Card

This is the Valentine Day card I made for my husband.  I was really procrastinating until I saw My Pink Stamper's Pinkalicious Blog Hop Friday Challenge.  Her challenge is to use black and your favorite color, well I love all colors but I have been especially drawn to alot of pink lately.  Then I remember the boy and girl cameos on Gypsy Wanderings Cartridge.  I made this card in less than 15 minutes and I absolutely love it and I know my husband will too.  So, thanks Robyn for the challenge, it was exactly what I needed to get my creative juices flowing.

This is a gatefold card that I cut 5 3/4 inches high.  I cut the decor tag at 5 inches, the cameos and heart at 2 inches.  The cameos and heart are popped up with some dimensionals.  I really like the simplicity of the card and I can't wait to see what my husband says on Monday.
Thanks for stopping by and looking and please leave me a comment.

Celebrate Spring Card

I created this Celebrate Spring Card for the Bitten by the Bug 2 Fence Challenge and My Pink Stamper Challenge.  I don't have the Cricut Lite Bloom Cartridge, so I used the Gypsy Wanderings and the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge.  I am really looking forward to planting some flowers and enjoying a beautiful spring after the long winter we have had.

The fence was cut from Gypsy Wanderings at 1 1/2 inches, and then embossed and distressed with platinum ink.  I cut the word "Celebrate" at 1 inch from Gypsy Wanderings.  I cut out the center spike of the fence and liked the overall look much better.  I cut the clouds, both flowers, the little blue bird and the word "Spring" from the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge.  I used several different Cuttlebug embossing folders and tone on tone ink for some added dimension.

Unfortunately, I couldn't capture all the wonderful detail this card has (I will try to take some better pictures tomorrow, if we get a sunny day as promised).  In the meantime, Thank you for looking and please leave me a comment.

Christmas Layout Finished!

I began working on this Christmas layout two weeks ago.  After battling several viruses that are going around (everyone in the family has caught something different), I finally finished this layout.  These photos came from my husband and I doing a quick "photo session" with our daughter.  We were trying to get a great photo for our Christmas card and we ended up several .

I used the "lacy" tree from the Christmas cartridge.  I unchecked the ratio button on my Gypsy and resized it to 6 by 11 1/2 inches. The title "Christmas" is also cut from the Christmas cartridge at 2 1/4 inches.  For the rest of the title "Faith's First", I used Plantin SchoolBook and cut it out at 2 inches.  

I double matted the photos with red and pink cardstock and distressed them with gold ink.  The background paper is from DCWV Christmas stack.  

All comments and any suggestions are welcome as I'm always trying to improve my paper-crafting techniques.

My Twin Niece and Nephew Birthday Cards

I made these two cards for my twin niece and nephew.  I wanted something the same but not exactly the same.

I used the Paper Pups Cricut Cartridge for all of the accent elements.  The dog is cut at 5 inches, Happy Birthday is cut at 1 ½ inches, and the hat and present are cut at 2 inches. 

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment.