Happy Valentine's Day!!

Two more last minute cards, both with more irresistible images from Dustin Pike.  I added the sentiment in the bear's heart with a font called A Red Bucket. 

I used a couple of my QuicKutz embossing folders for the backgrounds, Nesties for the inner mats and flower and also a QK nesting flower die for the large petal flower, colored the images with my BICs, added a touch of StarDust Stickles and then popped up both images with some foam tape for dimension (which seems to be my current addiction). 


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Sprinkling Love Valentine Card

On a roll!  2 cards done this week, woohoo!  And no shoveling in 4 days!!  Life is GOOD, LOL!!

I adore this little bear image by Dustin Pike and I knew right away how I was going to use it.  I colored him (her??) with my BICs and added Stickles for some sparkle and foam dots for some dimension.  Gosh that loose heart was tiny and tricky, lol!  I would have liked to also add some machine stitching around the edges but time was short and I wanted to be sure my daughter receives this by Valentine's Day so I skipped it and popped it in the mail as is.  Next time!

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Birthday cake bear card

I took a break from shoveling and chipping ice and was able to sneak in a birthday card for my hubby (and just in time!).  I have such a hard time making "masculine" cards - how do you make a card and NOT use pastels or butterflies or ribbons or lacy borders or bling or cutesy images??  I tried to at least stick with darker colors (which look much deeper and richer in person) but I could not resist this Dustin Pike image - too stinkin adorable!  He's colored in with my BIC markers.  I also finally used my fancy schmancy new Spellbinders Labels Eleven dies - woohoo!  LOVE these!  Both the bear and the mat are pop dotted for some dimension.

Oh, I also snuck in a touch of Stickles on the candle, but at least I resisted glitterfying the entire cake!  LOL!!



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Icy beauty

Temps dropped last night and everything in our yard is frozen solid now.  I can actually walk on top of some of the snow, woohoo!  I'm no longer trapped in my driveway!  The ice storm yesterday coated the trees and this morning the sun came up and it was absolutely beautiful.  The branches sparkle in the sunlight and you can hear little "tink" sounds when they move in the breeze. 

I ran around the house taking pics this morning as the sun came up and I'm sure my hubby thinks I'm nuts, but after all this shoveling this winter I need something to make all the bad weather worth it, right? 

Here's a peek at my yard with some of nature's "bling"....

 

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What an UNBELIEVABLE winter!

My poor blog has been neglected and my crafting has come to a screeching halt all because of mother nature.  January broke all sorts of records for snowfall here and it has come close to breaking my poor back too from shoveling, lol!  We are averaging a storm twice a week and our total for the month was over 5' - craaaazy!

To celebrate Groundhog Day today I've decided that my peeps and I are heading over to Punxsutawney Phil's hole to stand guard and if he dares to pop his head out we will bop him with our snow shovels like a Whack-A-Mole!  I can't take any more winter!!!!!!!!!

Since I have no crafty pics to share I thought I'd share some snowy ones...and just to clarify for my desert buddie Deb, YES I do shovel all walkways and steps and doorways every time, lol!  ;)

Garage door onto deck...wow!

My poor deck is under there somewhere!

The only way to plow out!

My steps were in there yesterday...

Where do ya sit to swing??

Our very own mountain...

Where do you build a snowman when you are 5 and the snow is too deep to walk through??  On top of the snowbank of course, lol!

Even the kitties could not believe it is snowing again...

Just for fun and to mix it up a bit we are in the middle of a big ice storm today.  OMG will it never end??  Hopefully I will be able to stop shoveling and start crafting and blogging again soon.

Keep warm my friends!

Happy New Year!!!

Wishing everyone a

happy, healthy and crafty

2011!

And thank you to everyone who joined in the calendar blog hop and for all of your kind comments.  It was a lot of fun and so much amazing talent.  Big congrats go out to Colleen!!  Woohoo girl you won the Designer's Calendar cart!!  Way to go!  Be sure to give Karel your contact info asap so you can get busy crafting and show us what fantabulous goodies you create!   ;)

{{hugs}} to you all!

2011 Calendar Blog Hop!

Welcome to my first blog hop!! If you are hopping along the months then you should have arrived from Summer and Jennifer's blog at Cricut Diaries. If not, be sure to start at the beginning and check out all the amazing bloggers and calendar layouts!  The hop runs December 28, 29 & 30th.

Also, if you are hopping along you can be entered into a drawing for some fantastic candy because our host Karelj from One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity is donating a brand-new cricut cartridge: Designer's Calendar!!  In order to be eligible to win you need to leave a comment on each and every stop on the hop and include a way for her to contact you in each comment. She will choose a winner by random.org on the 31st and announce it on her blog and contact the winner personally. So keep hopping and good luck!!

Here is the list of participating blogs:
1. January and April: Celeste at Touched by a Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/
2. January and September: Jessica at Overjoyed Scrapper http://www.overjoyedscrapper.blogspot.com/
3. February: Christel at Scrappin' Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/
4. February and March: Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com/
5. March and July: Diane at Crafting This Moment http://www.craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/
6. April: Bonnie at A Scrap Above http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com/
7. May: Michelle at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
8. May: Natalie at Timeless Legacy Designs http://timelesslegacydesigns.blogspot.com/
9. June: Lisa at Lisa's Paper Butterflies http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com/
10. June: Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/
11. July: Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com/
12. August: Denise at Starlight Scrapper http://starlightscrapper.blogspot.com YOU ARE HERE!!
13. August: Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
14. September: Deb at If It's Groovy http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/
15. October: Rebecca at Creations with Becka http://www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com/
16. October: Lora at Notes From The Scrapbook Lady http://scrpbooklady.blogspot.com/
17. November: Belinda at Queen Bee's Musings http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/
18. November and December : Col at Col's Creative Corner at http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com/
19. December: Deb at Tidbit's Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com/


The layout I created is for the month of August. I love the summer months and with the snow and cold we are dealing with right now I needed to escape a bit and get lost in some warm thoughts.  And what says summer better than flowers, butterflies and kids chasing bubbles?  LOL!!

I no longer own a cricut, I replaced it with a Silhouette, but if you are a bug owner you can recreate my layouts easily using any similar cricut designs.  I've listed the materials and specifics below for these 12x12 layouts but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

PHOTO LAYOUT:
Purple mat = 12" x 12"
Periwinkle mat = 11.5" x 11.5"
Pink swirl paper = 11.25" x 11.25"
Light Pink Doily mat = 7.75" diameter (Silhouette design: "Scalloped Flowerd Circle" by Samantha Walker)
Lavender mat = 5.5" (Silhouette design: "Nested Frames Tags" by Alaa' K)
Photo is 4x5 but 4x6 fits nicely too
"August" font is Murray Bold and cut at 130pt and then shadowed
Periwinkle Loopy Border strip =1.25" x 10.25" (Silhouette design: "Loopy Lace" by Loni Stevens)
Misc leafy branch cuts (Silhouette design: "Leaf Branch" by Karla Dudley)
Butterflies were made using Martha Stewart punch and then I added Stickles
I added flat backed pearls to the doily mat
I added some doodling on leaves and fake stitching around mats using coordinating colored markers

CALENDAR GRID LAYOUT:
Purple mat = 12" x12"
Periwinkle mat = 11.5" x 11.5"
Pink swirl paper = 11.25" x 11.25"
Lavender Matt = 10.5" x 8.5"
Periwinkle Loopy Borders = 1.25" x 10.25"
Grid: I welded simple flowers in my cutter's software and cut from med pink, then printed the numbers on light pink paper using my printer and punched them out using Martha Stewart scallop 1" circle punch.  I also printed the days of the week on white cardstock, trimmed them to 1 5/16" x 5/16" and glued onto a green 10" x 1/2" strip.
I added another leafy branch, more Stickled Martha Stewart butterfly punchouts and doodled around mats.
I wasn't sure if I needed the year anywhere on the layouts but decided to add a hand drawn/cut tag and used floss for the tie.

Papers:
Purple and lavender cardstock and bright blue for butterflies is CTMH
Periwinkle cardstock is Bazzill
Pink swirl paper, green, medium pink and light pink cardstock is Creative Memories
Dark pink for "August" is American Crafts cardstock
Stickles color is Crystal

Thanks for visiting and Happy Hopping!

Your next stop is Gina's blog at Gina Thornton Stamping

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday filled with friends, family, love and laughter.  And may you each find a bit of magic in the season ;)

{{hugs}}

Snowmen note cards

I made four sets of blank note cards for teacher gifts using these adorable stamped SU! snowmen.  I colored them with my Bic markers, added a touch of stickles and matted them on cardstock embossed with my Cuttlebug folder.  Each set included two of each design and were bundled inside some SU! flat tin boxes that I covered in wintery DCWV papers.  The tins are a smidge smaller than A2 size so the cards are too which meant hand making the envies.  Thank goodness for my Kreate-a-lope envie template - the "RSVP" size was perfect! 

Thanks for visiting!

"Just A Note" card gift set

I wanted to make a note card set for a Kindergarten teacher and I decided to use a bunch of Dustin Pike images that I've been collecting.  I colored them with my Bic and Copic markers - no fancy shading, just simple solid coloring and a little "texturizing" on a few with the colorless blender.  I made a basic box to hold them from some very thick cardstock and added another image to the box top. 

These are pretty basic and only took a couple nights in front of the TV to finish.  I really should make a set for myself to have on hand too  ;)

Thanks for visiting!