Valentine's Day Card Blog Hop

Hey there! If you arrived here from Sarah's blog you are in the right place! If not, feel free to hop back to the beginning over to Ellen/CardMonkey's blog and start from the beginning. Lots of fun stuff to see hopping along the way!

Here's my card for the hop --


The sentiment is a little harder to read because I stamped it on the polka-dotted part... "Through Rain or Shine you'll always be mine" an itty bitty stamp by Unity Stamp Co. (I stalked Archiver's for this stamp for quite a while! They finally got more in! Woo!)

Paper pieced her accessories, because every girl needs matching accessories!


Pattern paper: K&Co Die-cut Cardmaking Pad
Cardstocks: black - Close to My Heart
Twine: Maraschino by The Twinery
Bling: Lush Red by My Minds Eye
Marker: .7 CTMH Black
Embossing folder: Love Set by Sizzix
Ink pads: Black Tuxedo by Memento, Charcoal (chalk) by Color Box
Markers: Copics
Stamp image and sentiment: Rain or Shine itty bitty by Unity Stamp Co.

Quick little note... make sure you scroll down on my blog a few posts and take a minute to enter in the drawing for some lovely blog candy! :) I have a cricut cartridge and many other goodies I'm giving away to celebrate my blog makeover!


Okay friends -- the next stop on the hop is over to Selina's blog

Be sure to leave some love along the way (comments) for all of the fellow bloggers! :)

Thanks for stopping!!

And here's a quick list in case you get lost along the way...
1. Ellen http://www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
2. Shawn http://www.craftychicsblog.blogspot.com/
3. Elaine www.expressionsbyelaine.blogspot.com
4. Angie www.atuttletime.blogspot.com
5. Darlene www.talesoftayandbay.blogspot.com
6. Taylor www.southernscrapper2010.blogspot.com
7. Shawnee www.quiverofangels.blogspot.com
8. Nikki http://www.theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
9. Sarah www.simplyshaddock.blogspot.com
10. Jaime www.glitterstampsandpaperohmy.com
11. Sarah http://www.sarahvaitstamps.blogspot.com/
12. Liz http://www.skittles-and-scrapbooks.blogspot.com <--- YOU ARE HERE! :)
13. Selina http://www.mudpiereality.blogspot.com/
14. Angie http://www.luvs2scrapbook75.blogspot.com

Sugar and Spice and SPARKLES!

Okay, so I'll admit it... I may have gone a little glitter crazy with this layout. It sure was fun!!!

This is my little girl when she was around 2 and got her first tutu dress up outfit. She wouldn't take it off and in fact, we went out to dinner with friends that night and she wore it there too. I believe she cried that night when it was time to go to bed and she had to take it off. Goofy girl! She's still all about fancy and fru-fru things, so apparently this is when it all started!

Thanks for looking!


Some close-up shots of all the sparkles and fabulous glitteryness...



Patterned Paper: K&Company
Alphas: Thickers by American Crafts
Flowers: Prima and a few handmade
Bling Flourish: Recollections by Michael's Stores
Pennant Die cut: Lost & Found (Girl Collection) by My Minds Eye
Layered Stickers: Butterflies by K&Co.
Ribbons: Crocheted ribbon by American Crafts, Fringe by Maya Road

Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge 43

Hey friends! Just a quick post! Over on the left is the sketch for the challenge over at the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge blog and I wanted to post it before I forget!
(Also - make sure you check out the blog candy below this post -- I have some pretty big prizes I'm giving away to celebrate my new blog makeover!)

And here's my take on it!


Patterned papers: Greenhouse by K & Company
Felt ribbon: Berry Sweet by K & Company
Twine: Mandarin by The Twinery
Bling: Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards
Brads: Lush by My Minds Eye
Punches: Butterflies by Martha Stewart Crafts, Circle and scalloped punches by EK Success
Inks: Chestnut Roan Chalk by Color Box, Rich Cocoa by Memento
Stamp Sentiment: Signature Greetings by Paper Trey Ink

First Music Monday

Angelica from www.handmadebyangelica.com and Erin from www.erinleecreative.com have started a Music Monday Challenge

I decided to play along since I was crafting a bit this afternoon. I did more of a generic Valentine's Day theme for my card, but none the less I'm sure my sweet husband will like it. :) This is probably the simplest card I've made in a long time, but I wanted to play with my new stamps, too! I didn't really do any fun techniques with this one... but I wanted the bird cage and birds to look a little more worn... so I didn't press very hard on the image. Thats all. :)




Card Base: Kraft Paper by Bazzill
Patterned Papers: Be My Valentine by We R Memory Keepers
Twine: Maraschino by The Twinery
Bling: KaiserCraft
Border Punch: Traditional Eyelet by Martha Stewart Crafts
Stamps and Birdcage Die: Love Birds by Paper Trey Ink
Ink: Tuxedo by Memento and Broken China by Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink
Hopefully I will have more posts soon! I have the crafting itch, BIG TIME! Also, if you aren't a follower, please join up! I will be giving away some awesome blog candy pretty soon here. I have a little collection of prizes GROWING!

Holiday Cards and Gifts Blog Hop

Merry Christmas! The holidays are that time of year when papercrafters are going crazy, trying to finish all of their last minute projects for gifts and cards for those special people.

Join all of the lovely ladies in the Holiday Cards and Gifts blog hop to get a little inspiration for those last minute ideas. If you aren't joining me from Nicolette at Beyond Scrappin's page -- feel free to hop back to the beginning so you don't miss anyone.



My project is a fairly simple card that I made for my sister-in-law-to-be's Christmas/ornament-themed shower on Sunday! I didn't use a big sentiment just a tiny 'for you' in the corner so that it would be versatile towards her shower theme and yet still be a Christmas-y card. :) I'm rambling... so here it is!

Supplies used in this fun card:
Cardstock - CTMH
Patterned paper - 'Making Spirits Bright' stack by Hobby Lobby (an old stack!)
Stamp - Hero Arts
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers - Copics
Ribbon - Celebrate It (Michael's)
Border punch - Martha Stewart
Bling - KaiserCraft
Pen - Gelly Roll Medium

Popped off one of the ornaments for a little dimension and fun! :)

A little close up of some of the stuff I have going on towards the bottom...


Before I forget --- here is the entire line-up of crafters so you don't lose your place! :)
-Jamie at Glitter, Stamps, and Paper, Oh My http://www.glitterstampsandpaperohmy.com
-Jessica at Overjoyed Scrapper http://overjoyedscrapper.blogspot.com
-Jill at The Scrapoholic http://thescrapoholic.blogspot.com
-Stacey at Stacey's Creative Corner http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
-Mandy at the Polka Dot Spot http://stamping4u.blogspot.com
-Nikki at The Glamorous Side of Scrapping http://www.theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
-Crazy about Cricut at http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
-Nicolette at Beyond Scrapin www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com
-Liz at Skittles and Scrapbooks http://skittles-and-scrapbooks.blogspot.com/
-KarelJ at One by One the Flamingos are Stealing my Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com
-Sandra at Sandy's Scrapbooks http://sandysscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
-Kristin at Lil Sweetpea's Place http://lilsweetpeasplace.blogspot.com/
-Meighen at Scrappin_3rdeeschik http://scrappin3rdeeschik.blogspot.com/
-Ellen at Card Monkey http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
-Jennifer at Crafty Card Gallery www.craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
-Denise at Dee's Designs from my hearthttp://deesdesignsfrommyheart.blogspot.com
-Jesi at Jesi's Things http://jesisonaroll.blogspot.com/
-Dorly at Moderna Art & Designs http://modernadesignsart.blogspot.com/


Click here to go over and check out KarelJ's project next!!!
Thanks for hopping by! :)

Some Peachy Keen goodness - Playing catch up!

I just 'checked in' on my blog and I realized there are several projects I never posted! We've been busy around her.... we just moved a few weeks ago and getting settled has proven to be a larger task than I thought it would be! Moving is never that much fun, is it? Oh, but did I mention I have a larger craft room now? Wahoo! I'll share pictures of it when its finally organized and ready to be shown off. Ha!

Without further ado, here's a card I made my friend Mandy as a thank you for helping me with a few major projects for my friend's wedding in September. We cut, embossed, cinched, and tied 150 programs for her wedding in ONE afternoon! :)

Thanks again for helping me Mandy --- and here's the card I made for her!

Those are Peachy Keen Princess faces on those cherries... and the cherries are a PK stamp as well! Woohoo!

The 'Hey, Friend!" stamp is from a $1 Basic Grey stamp set that I found buried in my drawer somewhere. :)

I will be posting a few more projects to catch up and I'm also participating in a few blog hops coming up! Hopefully I get back into the blogging groove!

Pure BLISS!

For those of you who know me or even for those who have been following my blog for a bit, you may notice that I have hardly any themed stuff. For instance, wedding, Christmas, or most holidays... I have this major aversion to Holiday or themed paper. I like it, I think its pretty. I have a really hard time getting it to come out how I see things in my head without being what I would consider something to be over the top (*gasp* Did I just say that I'm over the top sometimes??? haha).

I've been married for a little over 7 years now and just recently someone introduced this site/blog to me suggested trying it for a challenge. (Scrapbooking From the Inside out has a lot of great challenges, check out their site!) I'm always up for a good challenge, so I figured I could do a wedding layout and really challenge myself. :)

Here is the end product --- I like it! What do you think?


I don't come right out and say that I love a page that I make myself too often, but I really really do love this one!

Here are some close-ups of details:



And for those of you straining your eyes trying to see what I wrote - I'm not ashamed of my love for my husband... so I'll share!
"This picture is taken with one of the few throw away cameras we had around during the reception. Granted its not a great picture of the two of us, but you can certainly tell just how happy we were this day! I love you!"

We just celebrated 7 years last week Monday, Sept 20th. You know how we celebrated? It was a normal day.... but thats okay. Its a nice reminder of how far we've come and what we have with our family and most importantly, our beautiful children. (We did go to dinner on Sunday night, the 19th to Buffalo Wild Wings, nothing fancy - but we used to go on a date every Tuesday night-Wing night when we were dating and first married.) Oh, and a leak in the basement... minor drama for the evening running to Home Depot before they closed to get the parts needed to replace some valves in the basement so we wouldn't have water leaking all over the floor. Yep, just another day in paradise. :)

And now I'm done being mushy for today... I promise. :)

Blog Candy! And a fun layout...

First up, here's some fun blog candy!!
To enter for a chance to win the blog candy, please leave a comment on this post and follow me! (Also, pretty please make sure I have a way to reach you if you are not a registered user with blogger! I want to make sure I can send the goodies to whoever wins!)

I will use random.org to pick a totally random winner on Sunday night... random is fun!

Now onto the goodies... I thought it would be rather appropriate to some "Dear Lizzy" goodies. :) There are 7 double sided papers and 1 adhesive backed fabric paper, for embellishments there are brown glittered thickers (alpha stickers!), fabric brads, crocheted flowers, Remarks phrase stickers, and some layered felt embellishments all from the Dear Lizzy line. I love the patterns and colors! I also threw in some of the new American Crafts premium ribbon and some white ball trim (you may notice I use this stuff a lot! LOVE ball trim!). (Sorry for the dim pictures, I forgot to take them when it was still light out!)

Up next, my friend Mandy was the guest designer over on Everyday Cricut this week - go check out her fabulous projects there and her blog - The Polka Dot Spot, too! :) She's sharing some blog love with me, so I want to give back to her! Thanks Mandy! Oh - and she has some blog candy you could win... make sure you check it out.


And the layout I wanted to share today... this is from my daughter's 5th birthday. The only thing she kept telling me she wanted for her birthday was a ballet ornament. So here she is opening her birthday present(she was born on Thanksgiving day and this year her birthday falls on Thanksgiving again!).... a ballet shoe Christmas ornament! It was super sparkly and hangs in her bedroom year round. :)

Some Basic Grey - Oliver and Olivia

A while ago I purchased some of the Basic Grey Olivia and Oliver lines. I did one of each and I figured I'd pair them up for a post. :)

Here's my handsome little guy....






And my not-so-little-anymore drama queen....

Peachy Keen Elephant!

So if you asked my son, he would say that this is a phelephunt... how cute, right? :) He's still mastering the harder words with more than two syllables.

I used a Peachy Keen Stamp - Happy go Lucky Elephant... love this little guy!

Some cards! :)

I made these a for a challenge and never posted them! Going through some of my back logs of projects and I will be posting quite a bit over the next few days, watch for some fun stuff! :)

A male birthday card...

(Patterned paper: Basic Grey Granole, embossing folder: Tim Holtz, cardstocks: Bazzill)


Just for fun...

(Patterned paper: some old stuff from my stash, Cardstock: Core'dinations, Border punch: Martha Stewart, Cricut cut: Hello Kitty Greetings cherry