Monday, April 30, 2012

Inking Edges Tip Video

Yesterday I shared my Mini-album using The Scrapbooking Queen's stamps.

While I was working on this fun album I discovered I had been inking my edges all wrong. Instead of patting around the edges, I learned a new way that goes much faster & looks nicer. I decided to make a quick video to show you.

I do not do videos that often but when I figured this out I was pretty excited. Hope you liked my simple tip and it was useful to you.I am sure I am not the first to figure this out, but I had to share for those, like me, who had not discovered this yet.

Stop by Wednesday to see the fun wall display I am finishing up to celebrate the band at my school making it to Super State this week!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

A Birthday Fit For A Queen

Good morning everyone. I hope you are having a great weekend. Yesterday I spent much of the day working on several different projects to share with you this week and this one I am the most excited about.
The Scrapbooking Queen has started her own line of stamps and is currently showing off her second release of stamps. She is also having a Design Team Call to find people to work with her new stamps.I am so in love with stamps and ordered two of her sets right away.  I used them to create this fun refurbished album for a friend's birthday.

As you can see I started out with this black and white album I found in a dollar bin at a local store. I decided to change up the ribbon on the outside because I wanted red to play a bigger role in the overall look. Next I started to cut out different images to add to the pages. I started with a fun label shape from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge and on the black pieces I inked around the edge (I will share my inking tip video tomorrow!)
I also used the Close to My heart Cartridge to cut out the little banner pieces that I stamped all my sentiments on. 
I cut some fun extras to add to the pages using several other carts: a castle form Doodlecharms, XOXO from Wild Card, cupcake off Simply Charmed and the wonderful crown off Disney's Happily Ever After Cartridge.
All the sentiments are off The Scrapbooking Queen's sets: "Queen's Birthday" and "Royal Saying". These sets are just so much fun and I am having a lot of fun working with them to create projects.
I decided to add the fun bow to the outside at the last minute and am so glad I did as I think it made the whole book that much more special. I will be back tomorrow with the simple inking tip I discovered while working on this book. Wish me luck on making the Design Team and check out The Scrapbooking Queen's stamps on her site.

Friday, April 27, 2012

The Queen's Cupcakes


I love the new stamps from The Scrapbooking Queen and she is having a design team call to set up a team to promote her new line. Even though you do not have to, I wanted to make projects that used her new stamps so I have been playing with them all week and this is one of the cards I made with the Queens's Birthday set.
Isn't this a fun sentiment? The whole set is about making you feel like Queen for the day! I cut these fun cupcakes using the Birthday Cakes cartridge and added a little gem for some sparkle. I hand cut the tag after tracing a blue one in my collection. Of course I added a little cupcake on the inside as well. Hope everyone has had a great week and looking forward to the weekend!!
The Design Team call information is all HERE and you need to submit by Monday April 30th. Wish me Luck!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

No Cricut Thursday #14

I am a scrap supply junkie and when I see fun Page Kits on clearance I almost always snap them up. The problem is I rarely remember to use them, BUT...I did last night.
This 2-page layout was made using the American Crafts kit, Dear Lizzy and it screams spring (I'm not kidding the stickers all talk about Spring).
Last spring, when my sister's family was visiting from Nashville, we all spent a day at the Arboretum. The weather was perfect and they have such fun places to play for all ages. I used a bunch of the elements that came with the kit:
-Brown crinkled ribbon
-Fun spring themed stickers
- Many of the 2-sided papers
- Flare Button Stickers
I also added a journal box that I created to look like a sheet of notebook paper. 
A fun spring layout (my second completed layout this week) and using all of my on hand elements, no machines.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Hugs & Kisses Box

I just got 2 sets of stamps from The Scrapbooking Queen's new line and was having some fun with them this weekend. I made this cute and simple little box as my first go around with the Queen's Birthday Set.
The box is off the Love Struck 2010 cartridge and I made it as big as my mat would allow. I used the fun and bright Creamy Cardstock Stack from DCWV for this. I added a silver heart to fill the space before I put the box together.
Because I had some Hershey's Hugs around I selected this fun stamp from the set:
I added a fun polka dot bow to the top to finish it off. To be totally honest this was just something I was playing with and I was not overjoyed with the results, but I love the stamp set and plan on using it much more so I can enter fun projects in her Design Team call. This box is all about the Tuesday Link Up (see the right sidebar!!)

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Thank You for Time!

Today, I am thankful for having some time to once again get to know my Silhouette Cameo machine. I have been selecting cuts very slowly to purchase (I have a feeling a gift card to the store is part of my birthday gifts next month!) and today I selected a set of detailed borders designed by Jamie Koay to buy and try out.
I made a simple thank you card for my card stash. I am learning that the blade settings are not that easy to get used to. This Paper is from the American Crafts page kit, Dear Lizzy, and was very thick. I had to cut this border twice and I did not get it cut in the right place on the mat which is why I ended up with a card instead of the original layout I was thinking of.
The stamp I used for this card is from the Close to My Heart, A Little Thanks set and I embossed the background with this cute Paper Studio embossing folder. When I was just about done I felt that the front needed something else so I pulled out a fun sheer flower and a button to add on. In the end, I think it turned out just right. Hope you are having a lovely day whatever you get to do. Hopefully I will have lots to post this week after my time today.
The inside of the card with
more paper from the American Crafts Kit.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Cousins Layout

Good morning everyone and Happy Weekend!
Today I have a simple layout to share that I have been thinking about and planning all week, but was waiting for my cold to go away before I got to it...The cold is still here, but at least I am not sneezing so much that I worry about messing up my page.
 I love the fun Spring Stacks from DCWV. This layout uses sheets from the Fresh Floral Stack and solids from the Spring Fling Collection.  I wanted to be be a simple layout with big features so I planned for a large flower and pieced it together using different cuts from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge. 
For my simple title I used Cindy Loo font, but I stretched it in my Gypsy to make it a little taller. I added a simple blue ribbon to hold it together. 
Now I think I have to go take a nap so I can hopefully go shopping this afternoon with my lovely sister-in-law who is in town this weekend. I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

No Cricut Thursday # 13: Blog Book

Okay technically the photos in this post will show Cricut use...but this is not a Cricut project.
I use Shutterfly as my photo printer about 90% of the time and therefore often get coupons for free things like prints, cards and photo books. When I get the chance to make a free photo book I almost always take it.

Recently, I got two coupons back to back. I made my niece a photo book of her recent trip to Disneyland using the first, but did not know what to do with the other. My husband suggested that maybe I make a book of photos form my blog,seeing as I give away my cards and bags it would be a nice way to always have those photos (other than on the blog). I am pleased with the results and just thought I would share a few of the pages I made. Thanks for stopping by to visit. This weekend I will share some fun cards and hopefully a layout or 2!



Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Love Box with Silhouette Cameo


My new Silhouette Cameo arrived on Friday and over the weekend I played with it a little to try getting the hang of everything. I am just taking my time getting to know the machine, but here are some highlights so far:
*Able to cut right away with only some basic directions
* It cuts my favorite fonts right off my computer so my printed journal boxes will match cut titles
* When it cuts fold lines they fold so easy SEE..
This little heart topped box is a Lori Whitlock download on Silhouette Studio. It comes with a heart shaped border as well, but I decided not to use that for this box. I made the box fill my mat and after cutting the box I measured the sides so I could cut the layers I added on. All the paper is DCWV Spring Fling (both printed and solid).
Next, I selected one of the many new fonts I have been downloading to use with the Cameo. This one is called "Creampuff" and I got it for free at Scrapvillage. It is very similar to the font on Hello Kitty Fonts and seeing as that is a favorite of mine I am sure it will be used often.
I wanted to have the letters pop out a little more so I used my Glossy Accents on the top heart closure and the letters. This is what it looked like while waiting to dry (Thankfully, I remembered to fold it up before putting the letters on as I wanted the letters to be in order with the "L" in front.) 

That is all for now. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I am going to link this up over at Sarah Hamer Designs for her Tuesday Link Up Party. 

Sunday, April 15, 2012

My New Favorite Challenge: Lunchbox Cards

Good evening everyone. Today I spent some time playing along with my new favorite challenge:  Just Elements at Chatter Scene. This challenge reminds us to put the cutting machines away and use those elements we have in our craft space. It is almost the end of the school year and my lunchbox card supply is in need of some serious replenishing. I found this scrap kit in my stash and thought it would work well with some of my fun supplies.
I made these four cards using all sorts of goodies in my scrap room: ribbon, floss, some self stick bling, cardstock, the kit elements and of course stamps. Here is the breakdown:
This card uses stamps off the Pink By Design Our Kids set. I added some fun sparkle to the bottom because, well my daughter loves it.
Next up, I used the You Are set also from Pink by Design to match up with the fun pop-up stickers in the kit.
For this third card, I used the Lunchbox Thoughts collection from My Pink Stamper to "point" out how I feel.
Finally, I played with my new large background stamp (can you say clearance?) It worked great on this paper to make a cool backdrop for the ribbon and sticker. Of course this one needed a little something on the inside as well. I used Scrappy Moms, Happily Ever After for the perfect sentiment.
Once again, I love this challenge even if I just got my new Cameo and love my Cricuts sometimes it is nice to create without. Have a great week.