Happy Valentine's day!

I still LOVE to give my teenage boys Valentine's and THEY still love it!  I quickly snapped these yesterday between the morning activities and track practice! ;)
I started their Valentine's with these-these cute little inspiring books came from Marshall's one says-make today amazing!  The other says if you change nothing, nothing will change.  The iTunes cards I already had on hand...

Next I measured the little books and cut out envelopes using my Silhouette and pattern paper from Jillibean Soup:

I wrapped a heart paper doilie around the edge and tied it with baker's twine.

I sealed the envelope with washi tape so that it wouldn't tear...

I added a few embellishments and tied the envelopes on top of 98 cent packs of candy for each of my boys-easy peasy!

Reindeer

oh how I love the cuts from JustNick Studios!  The new Reindeer Head cut made me think of nature, and I had this amazing mixed media from Jillibean soup to work with.  So I thought--why not?

as you can see I adjust the cut to fit on my wood piece making it wider and taller--seriously LOVE this!

 

I seriously love the sparkly red against the wood--this paper I purchased at Hobby Lobby and is quite thick.  I had to run it through my silhouette on double cut twice--and YES, I had it on the correct setting for thick glitter paper--it's THAT thick!  I decided I wanted it to pop so I added pop dots all along the back of it.

I wanted to share with you that JustNick studios is running a campaign until the 18th--check out the BLOG for more information and your free cut of the day!

hello.

I created something a little different and special for my mommy this year for Mother's Day.  I used the Hip Hip Hooray kit by Scrapbook Circle and came up with this:

 closeups:

 My mommy loved it--super fun and EASY!  Thanks for a visit today!!

love.

So we are coming up on Valentine's Day and I wanted to share another creation I made with thickers that are included in the Scrapbook Circle Today is Beautiful kit:

Super simple!  

1. I cut the hearts, scallops and banner with my silhouette (after measuring the letters to make sure that they would just fit)  

2. I did a simple zig zag stitch across the top.

3. I used pop dots to pop the hearts up off the background.  

4. little tip: because I didn't want the ribbon to tear through the paper I punched out two small circles. I adhered one to the back and one to the front for reinforcement--then I punched with my whole punch.

5. The gold ribbon used to tie it all together was purchased at Michael's (last year for a school project).

hello sasha.

I realized that I hadn't shared this SIMPLE little album that I made for a sweet friend and her daughter.  Sasha is adopted--she just turned 4.  I was SO happy for my friend and their sweet little addition.  I made this album with some leftover older American Craft products.

A few weeks after I gave this to my friend, she and her Sasha showed up with a handmade thank you card.  AND the album with her "special--most FAVORITE" pictures.  It sure made my heart happy to see that she LOVED this album and keeps it where she can look at it often.

Thanks SO much for visiting today--sure hope your day is WONDERFUL!!

2014 year in review

So as I was looking through my folders "trying" to pick a favorite layout for each month, I had a difficult time!  I ended up with 19.  2014 was a super creative year for me and I really had fun looking through what I created, remembering why I loved each creation (For American Crafts, Scrapbook Circle, and Jillibean Soup), so in no particular order:

thanks for the visit AND for hanging out with me in 2014!  Happy New year!

cheer peace merry bright & joy.

Wishing you a happy day!  This is a fun little creation I made for my guest design spot for Jillibean Soup:

I just love how this little beauty turned out--simple fast and fun thanks to my silhouette!  I don't have to much time today as it's my Anniversary--18 years today!  Can't believe how fast time has flown--thanks for the visit today!!

create today.

So I can't believe I haven't shared this creation with all of you yet!  I made this for a blog post challenge for American Crafts.  For full description of the creation process click HERE.

closeup of the title:

My favorites about this creation:
* I made it for my mommy--she is a quilter and YES she loved it!
* LOVE this line of paper!! (Plus One)
* I repurposed a frame--I spray painted it black.
* the quilting on this took FOREVER--but I love what it looks like up close.
* I was able to sneak some washi (see the bottom of the title card)

Thanks SO much for the visit today--hope your day is FANTASTIC!

girls camp 2014 mini album.

my girl went to girl's camp in San Diego this year--it was a BLAST!  I created a little mini album to put all of her pictures that they (I say they because she is not really a photographer) took:

 this particular of turquoise is her favorite--she really liked it when I showed it to her--now to get the pictures inside! ;)  I plan on printing them at a 3 x 4 size with an occasional 4 x 6 size hear and there..
here are some things that I learned on this experimental book:

1. I used the card stock measured at 1 1/2" x 7 to help reinforce the spine so that the paper doesn't tear.
2. I wrapped a 3" piece around the front and back to hold the covers together.
3. sometimes a little bit goes a long way--embellishments, I wanted to go crazy but I held off remembering that she was going to be putting pictures and possible journaling in here--I had to make room!
4.  This whole book was made of scraps from other projects--I LOVE the Plus One line, I save all my scraps!

That's it for today--thanks SO much for the visit!!