Valentine's Cards

Today, we are sharing Valentines over at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS.  I decided to take the challenge to create a Valentine project literally and made a couple of cards using leftover papers and bits and pieces from my PAPER BAKERY LOVE POTION #9 SCRAPBOOK KIT.  Yep, so far I have made four layouts and three cards from one kit.  AND, I have enough left over to make another card or two.  That's a pretty awesome kit, if you ask me!

Here is the second Valentine I made with my kit (the third card is an everyday card that I will share later):

I do not consider myself a "card maker;" however, this kit contained so many cute design elements that even my simple cards turned out absolutely adorable.  I am sure they will put a smile on my Valentines' faces!

Have you made your Valentine Cards yet?  Better hurry!  Only 7 days left to V Day!!!

P.S. - did you know that both PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS and PAPER BAKERY have sketches posted each month?  If you like to use sketches to create your layouts and cards, you are going to love these!  Be sure to check them out (and tell them Krissy sent you).

You Are My World - Pretty Little Studio

Happy Thursday!  We have a new challenge over at PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO today.  Can you guess what it is?  It's a word challenge!  That's right, our challenge was to create something using the phrase, "you are my world."  Like all Pretty Little Studio challenges, you don't have to actually use that phrase in your project, it is just the inspiration.  I, however, chose to interpret it literally and made it the title for my layout about my very most-favoritest valentine - the hubster.  That sweet face of his still makes my heart go pitter-pat!

I am having a love affair with the color gold right now!  I may be a couple of months late to the gold party, but I prefer to think of it as being fashionably late.  Yes, I am Elizabeth Taylor-ing the gold trend - lol!  I can't help my obsession, though.  Gold is just so pretty!  It sparkles, and I am a lover of sparkly things (yes I am)!!!

I love, love, love all the vellum papers that Pretty Little Studio came out with in the WOODLAND CHRISTMAS COLLECTION, including this one with tiny gold stars.  And the cooler tones of my Starfish paper from the SAND CASTLE COLLECTION (still one of my favorites over a year later) contrasts nicely against my pretty sparkling gold!  

Speaking of gold, one of the very next things I intend to get from the PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO STORE will be their new gold foil stickers like these ARROWS!  I need them.  I think I could have found a space to squeeze one or two on this layout, don't you?

That's it for me today.  Do you like the gold trend?  Is there another new, hot trend that I should try out?  I would love to hear from you!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR PROJECT AND TUTORIAL

I have a confession to make.  I love Christmas and making Christmas projects, but every year I fail to get them all completed.  I always think I am going to have so much more time than I actually do!  And, I fool myself into believing I can get ____ number of projects done, clean my house from top to bottom, plan activities with my family and friends, bake, wrap gifts, bake some more, put up decorations, bake a little more - whew!  Makes me tired just typing about it.  

This year I decided to get creative and re-purpose a few of those unfinished Christmas projects into, well, non-Christmas ones.  This is my first one.

I had an unused branch cut from one of the bushes in my yard that I spray painted white some time during the first week of December.  It has been sitting in my garage ever since (don't judge).  Christmas may be past but Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and I thought this white branch would be perfect to hang handmade Valentine's ornaments from.  

Of course, I needed Valentine's ornaments and, being the ambitious girl that I am, I created a few simple Silhouette cutting files so I could make 3-D hot air balloons and hearts.  The link to these free cutting files is available at the end of this post.

Three dimensional objects, like these balloons and hearts, are actually very easy to make.  And they look so cute!  I dug into my scrapbook supplies and used the last pieces of paper from one of my all-time favorite lines (seriously must have bought these papers 4 or 5 times when they came out) - PINK PAISLEE'S Daily Junque Collection (from back during their House of Three collaboration).  I also used a little bit of Pink Paislee's Parisian Anthology (also from their House of Three days).  And, just to keep things interesting, I used bits and pieces from the Hey Kid and Color Wash Collections.  They all blended together like they were made for each other!  This is how my project turned out.  Pretty cute, don't you think?

I am going to use this as a centerpiece on my table for the next 6 weeks.

(a little Color Wash mixed with Daily Junque)

(more Color Wash and Daily Junque)

(Parisian Anthology and Hey Kid)

(more Parisian Anthology and Hey Kid)

(Note: my clouds are not 3-D.  They were simply made with my cloud punch.  I glued two pieces together with a piece of twine in the middle.)

Want to see how I made these?  You do?!  Okay - here you go - a little video tutorial made by yours truly:

And here is the LINK to the Silhouette Cutting Files that I created for this project.  These files are free, so all you have to do is download them.

Let me know if you have any questions and, of course, comments are ALWAYS appreciated! 

Happy crafting!

My Valentine (Practical Scrappers)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  Today at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS we are sharing our Pinterest inspired Valentine Projects.  I have been saving so many cool layouts that inspire me on Pinterest that this was the perfect opportunity to do something I haven't had the fun of doing in a long time - a lift!  And not just any lift but a lift by an artist that I L-O-V-E, MAGGIE HOLMES!  I lifted this fantastic layout (did I mention I love, love, love it?):

Like the original artist, I used STUDIO CALICO papers - although I am not a member of their kit club and bought mine from a scrapbook store.

 

My layout is about my honey-bunny, who is my very favorite valentine.  I thought the travel papers were perfect for my Maya Angelou quote, and I loved creating a layout that did not use the traditional Valentine pinks and reds.  Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the traditional colors, but my unique guy deserved something a little less...ordinary, for lack of a better word.

 

Here are some close-ups (oohing and aahing not required but always appreciated!):

My hearts were cut out using my Silhouette (of course), and I outlined them all with a black fine-tip marker.

I only glued the middle section of some of my hearts so the edges could be lifted up to add more dimension.

 

Got to have a cluster around the picture - got ta'!

 

Annnddd, I stitched all around my "earth" and added tiny brads and the stars from my punched background.

That's it for me, but head on over to PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS to see how the rest of the girls were inspired on this Day of Love!

A Pinterest Inspired Layout with Practical Scrappers

 

Do you love Pinterest? You do?! Well, so do I! That's why I was more than happy to jump into this Practical Scrappers' challenge to create something scrapalicious using some of my Pinspiration. And boy howdy do I have a lot of it! Don't believe me? Check it out HERE! To see what my pinspiration was for this layout, check out today's post at PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS.

 

Of course, I could not resist using papers and embellishments found in CRATE PAPER'S 14 Collection. Here are a few close-ups so you can see just how delicious this collection is:

 

Love all the hearts that came with this collection.  I layered them and sewed on them until they were juuussst right.

Check out the bottom of my layout.  I cut the bottom of my paper pink paper along the zig zag and created a space between the two pieces of paper.  I placed these fussy cut hearts into the open space and sewed several lines across each one.  I left my threads uncut - a technique I've seen my friends AUDREY, HEATHER, and LISA use and that I've decided I like.

Sweet little alpha stickers make up the title of my layout.

That's it for me today. But before I go, did you hear the good news? I am so excited and happy to tell you that, in addition to playing with Practical Scrappers, I am now also on the design team for (insert drumroll here) PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO!!! Whoo-Hoo!!! To find out more info, check out the post right above this one!

Happy Wednesday, and Happy Scrapping!