A Pebbles Inc. Americana Home of The Free Layout

As promised I'm back today to share a layout using Pebble's Americana collection.  I had so much fun with this one!  I decided to create my page's theme around one of the cutouts from the collection that says "One Nation Under God".  I usually am a bit shy when it comes to being vocal about my faith and belief in God, but I thought it was important to document my values for my children and future grandchildren.

For my title I used some of Pebbles glitter foam thickers in combination with an older set of red rub-ons by American Crafts called MiniMarks (ginger font).  I decided to play up the natural feel of this collection with some wood veneer stars, buttons and twine, using them in combination with the die cut shapes and pinwheel from the collection.

For my journaling I printed it on vellum using my printer's specialty paper setting, giving it plenty of time to dry and then used 3M Spray Mount as my adhesive.  This product is awesome at giving even coverage without any visibility, but it's also lethal stuff so make sure to do it inside a big cardboard box and in a spot where you have plenty of ventilation.  ;)

Pebbles really knocked it out of the park with these papers!  I love how they can be both Patriotic as well as just a pretty red, white and blue picnic sort of line with a focus on the florals and ginghams (I have another layout in the works that has nothing to do with the fourth of July that I'm hoping to finish and share later in the summer).

I'll be back on Thursday with a new link up challenge for Lori Whitlock's blog.  Hope to see you then.  ;)

A Pebbles Inc. Americana Red, White & Blue Birdhouse

With the Fourth of July fast approaching I thought it was time to finally share one of the fun projects I've been working on!  I decided to alter THIS unfinished wood birdhouse that I picked up for a steal using a coupon at Michaels using Pebbles darling new Americana Collection!

To start I painted all my "seams" with white paint (by seams, I mean any corners that might be visible after adding my paper).  I then set to work covering it with paper.  The most challenging spot was the front so I took out my ruler and created a template on a piece of office paper.  After I got it just right, I used it as a pattern piece to cut out my patterned paper.  It was my first time approaching a project this way and it was wonderful--Super nice not to not waste precious paper.  After I got the front done, the back was basically the same (minus the two cutouts).  Every thing else was straight and easy.  ;)

To decorate my house, I added the banner stickers from the collection onto printer paper and cut them out so that they would not be sticky and attract dust when on display.  The "Proud To Be American" sticker was the perfect size and position to have my perch come out of one of the flowers.  I cut a star and scalloped circle on my Silhouette and I was done.

This was a really fun little afternoon project to make and I love how the wood slat paper looks like a faux treatment on my real wood birdhouse.  Now I'm on the hunt for a cute red bird to inhabit it.  ;)

I'll be back on Monday to share a Patriotic layout from this same collection.  Thanks for hanging with me today.  :)

"All About Me" Layout using Doodlebug's Sprinkles Vellum!

I have a new layout up on Doodlebug's blog using a staple in any paper crafter's arsenal: Vellum!  But not just any vellum, Sprinkles Vellum.  I am smitten.  I love it's translucent quality and those sweet little raised glossy polka-dots!

To fully show off it's translucent qualities I cut two butterflies on my silhouette in two different sizes which I layered on top of each other and then tied with doodle twine to form my antennas.I found that it was easy to hide my adhesive on the center of my bottom butterfly with the multiple layers (although 3M spray mount is an excellent product when in doubt--Just make sure to do it inside a big cardboard box because it can ruin any surfaces it lands on).  ;)

To form my diamond background I altered and cropped a square lattice card design on my Silhouette software and then cut diamonds slightly larger from different colors of the sprinkles vellum which I glued with a Zig glue pen to the backside.  I embellished the design with sugar coated brads applied at each point.

To repeat my color scheme I used small tone-on-tone polka-dot (and striped) prints from various 6x6 collection pads for my journaling strips.  I love that Doodlebug has a consistent color scheme year after year so I know I will always be able to mix and match.

There are so many fun ways to use this amazing product.  Make sure you keep checking back to see all the cool projects the team has up their sleeves.  :)

A Graduation Themed Layout for Shimelle Laine

Hello there!  After several previous false alarms, I finally do have a post over at Shimelle's Blog (for real this time).  ;)

She was looking for some people to fill in as she enjoys time with her new sweet baby and I was all too happy to help.  For today's layout she requested some ideas for graduation themed layouts so I pulled out some more of Doodlebug's The Graduates collection and a cute sketch by Creative Scrappers.  Here's a little peek of what I created.

Make sure you swing by her blog for a full view, along with lots of other great ideas.  ;)

A Hugs & Fishes Watercolor Card & Copic Marker Sale!

What says hello to summer than a couple of cute fish?  Today I have a card to share that I made using an older stamp set called Fishy Fun by My Cute Stamps.  

I created my background by inking it up with my distress inks and a foam applicator and then flicking drips of water on it to create the look of bubbles.  After they were dry, I stamped my waves and seaweed over the top.  For my fish I decided to finally break out my Faber-Castell Aquarelle watercolor pencils and then blend the colors with a paint brush.

Sadly I didn't have time to make a good example using my Copic markers for today, but I wanted to let everyone know about an amazing sale happening over at the Carpe Diem Store!  All Copic sketch pens are $3.99 (and Ciao markers are $2.79) through Monday, June 23rd, with automatic free shipping on orders over $35.  The sale prices will show up after you've added them to your cart.   I have been holding out for this sale for a long time so I was super excited to find them for such a great deal and pass it on to all of you!  

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  :)

A Technique Tuesday Card with Stamping on Cork

I've been busy trying my best to cross things off my ever growing "to do" list, but I wanted to pop in to share a card I made awhile back where I stamped and heat embossed on cork.  I used Technique Tuesday's Chevrons Two Step set  to stamp across 3 cork tags with Versamark ink and various American Crafts Zing embossing powders.

My tags were cut out using an old Sizzix Originals die which I set with We R Memory Keeper eyelets and topped with American Crafts twine bows.  I finished my card with a sentiment from another one of my favorite Technique Tuesday stamp sets called Simply You by Ali Edwards.  

It's a lot of fun experimenting with stamping on unusual materials.  I hope I have inspired you to try something new.  ;)

An 80's Retro Cassette Tape Card

Hi there!  I would like to apologize profusely for my repeated incorrect posting of a graduation layout.  I made this a couple months ago without knowing the date it would go live on Shimelle's blog and I keep pushing out the post date waiting to see it pop up, but with the busy days of school wrapping up I kept forgetting to push it out more.  I thought I had resolved it yesterday, but apparently not so I'm very sorry.  Hopefully it will be on her blog for real sometime soon.  ;)

I'm the meantime I thought I would share a card which was featured in the June issue of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking magazine.  I made this for an article asking designers to focus on creating cards around a specific song and this is what I came up with using one of my many favorite 80's songs...

To create my card I used a "Retro Cassette Tape" by Sarah Hurley found HERE at the Silhouette store and sized my length to be 5-1/2" long to fit in an A2 sized envelope.

Thanks so much for stopping by and again my apologies for the repeated mix-up.  ;)

The Last of My Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen Creations

Back today to share the last two cards from my guest spot over at Jillibean's Card Kitchen Club blog.  I think these last two were some of favorites.  ;)

For this card I cut the sentiment from a journaling card from the Bite Sized Bits paper and an airplane from the Pea Pods diecuts.  I chose to fussy cut and remove the white border from my diecut to give my design a more cohesive streamlined look.  I love that these diecut shapes can be used either way.  ;)

Up next I have a thinking of you across the miles sort of card.  I made this card with my Japanese mother-in-law in mind.  I had fun using the yellow seam binding tape for my bow with two heart stick pins that came with the kit.  For my sentiment I cut apart the same "thinking of you" sentiment in two different colors to better fit the vertical space on my card.

I can't leave without say a BIG thank you Jillibean Soup for inviting me to play along.  :)

I hope you've been inspired this week.  It was super fun and I enjoyed the challenge of creating of trying to only create with the one box of supplies.  I think we should all do that every once in awhile to stretch ourselves creatively.  ;)  

Lori Whitlock June Blog Hop: Fairy Princess Layout

Hello & welcome to Lori Whitlock's June Blog Hop!  Today I thought I would share a fairy princess layout I created using some older shapes of Lori's.  I came across this equally old photo of my daughters playing dress up from 7 years ago and was overcome with how much I wanted to pinch their little cheeks.  They're older and sassier now so got me feeling nostalgic for  the "good ol' days" of make believe and dress-up.  ;)

For my title I cut it out twice from both white and green and then cut away the extra words from the green so that I could break up the title a bit and accentuate the phrase "your dreams."

To create my scene I searched Lori's shapes for anything that would work as a princess and I came across her darling Tooth Fairy cutting file.  With the omission of a couple of teeth die cuts, I thought it worked perfectly!  

To dress her up, I added Glossy Accents to her eyes and Stickles glitter glue as trim (my favorite color is Stardust because it seems the best at matching any project).

I cut the castle out and accented with more of the stickles.  For my project I mixed and matched a variety of patterns from several different Echo Park collections including Lori's Hello Summer collection and different Dots and Stripes & Style Essentials collections.

To create my layout I used the following SVG cutting files by Lori:

• Layered Titles 2
• Simple Borders
• 6 Clouds
• Tooth Fairy (Silhouette Store only)
• Castle (Silhouette Store only)

In honor of today's hop, Lori is generously offering 30% off at her store through June 16th.  

Be sure to check out all the other inspiring projects at my fellow teammates blogs and leave them some love.  Brigit is your next stop in the hop.  :)

• Lori Whitlock
• Corri Garza 
• Mendi Yoshikawa (you are here) 
• Brigit Mann 
• Lorrie Nunemaker 
• Stephanie Chavers 
• Ashley Cook 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

A Couple More Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen Creations

I'm back to share two more of my cards from  Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen Club.  :)

For my first card I wanted to focus on using the darling kraft tickets from the collection.  I cut the word "snap" and the camera from one of the journaling cards on the Bite Sized Bits paper.  I love that the letters fit perfectly and made a super cute banner with the help of some bakers twine!

My next card used the word "snap!" and the camera from the Pea Pods diecuts, pairing it with some matching camera patterned paper from the collection and some pearls to add a little dimension.

The little cameras were some of my favorite icons from the collection so I had a lot of fun making both of these.  I'll be back later in the week so share my last two cards.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  :)

A Hello Kitty Layout with Doodlebug's New Sequins!!!

I have a layout up on Doodlebug's blog today featuring a new favorite:  SEQUINS!  I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I am in love with these.  There are so many fun ways you can use them and I love that Doodlebug's bottles come in so many colors with so many variations within each bottle!

I thought for my layout it would be fun to create a radiating design where the sequins started out more tightly placed and then got further apart as they move away from the circle.

To achieve this I started by adhering the bubble gum sequins about 3/16" apart (I just eyed it) along my die cut circle using Ranger's Glossy Accents.  I found that this adhesive worked well and was easy to apply in small amounts as I went.  I also discover after it dried I could easily flick off the beads of glue that oozed through the hole of some of the sequins.  As I progressed I just slowly set them further apart as I moved outward.

To complete my layout and create my visual triangle, I embellished with some Velvet Hydrangea flowers by Petaloo and topped them with Lily White Jewels.

If you haven't already, run to your nearest store and grab these.  They come both as larger bottles and in an awesome (and adorable) assortment pack.  The Doodlebug team will be sharing lots of cool ways to use these over the next two weeks so make sure to watch their blog.  ;)

More Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen Creations

I'm back today with a couple more cards that I created as the June guest designer for Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen Club.  their blog.

For this card I wanted to showcase all of my favorite prints from the collection so I chose a diagonal design and cut my papers into strips, sewing the edges of some of them with my sewing machine.

For my bow I used the wide organza ribbon in the kit, folding in half and then doubling it for the band that wrapped around the card (to reduce the opacity).  I made the actual bow separately, folding the ribbon back and forth and then gathering it in the center with a little needle and thread.  I then folded the last of my ribbon twice and knotted it around the center of my bow, hiding my knot in back.  When I was done, I just used some strong adhesive to adhere my bow to the other band.

For this card I lined up the office tags to form the base of my design.  I removed the twine that they came with and tied them with some baker's twine from the kit.  After adhering them to a piece of sunny yellow chevron paper I cut the word "happy" from the Bite Sized Bits paper and finished my design by embellishing with stars from the Pea Pods diecuts and some pearls from the kit.

Totally easy peasy, yet I think still fun and happy.   Check back tomorrow for a fun layout I created using Doodlebug's SEQUINS!  ;)

Jillibean Soup Card Kitchen June Guest Designer

I was honored when Kimber asked me to be a guest designer for Jillibean Soup's Card Kitchen Club this month.  If you haven't heard of them they are a fun club that sends you a new coordinating kit of supplies with enough paper and embellishments to make 8 cards each month (with enough extras to squeeze a couple extra cards or a layout).  This month's kit focuses Jillibean Soup's Sightseeing Stew collection and today I have two of my eight cards to share on their blog.  On a side note, aside from chalk ink and thread, every single paper and embellishment I used on my cards came with the kit.  :)

First up I have a card where I lined up 6 arrows from Pea Pods diecuts along the right side of my card.  I paired it with the coordinating arrow paper from the collection and a sentiment from the Pebbles Phrase sticker sheet.

Next up I thought it would be fun to use a 3/4" circle punch to punch the numbers from the filmstrip patterned paper to create a grid design across my card.  To add some interest I punched 5 extras to pop up with foam tape in a random pattern.  For my sentiment I cut new v's on each end of the Pebbles pennant sticker so they would match and the sentiment would be centered.  I thought it would be fun to write or type of a sentiment inside that said something to the effect of "Age is just a number..."

Check back tomorrow when I'll be sharing a couple more cards using this fun kit.  :)

A Lori Whitlock Ice Cream Birthday Party Layout

Hello there!  I am excited to share a  layout with you that is up on Lori Whitlock's blog!  I've always had a thing for cute ice cream cones so I was happy to finally be scrapbooking my daughter's 4th Birthday when she decided to forgo the typical cake or cupcakes and just have ice cream.

For my title I paired Lori's Perfect Type font with her Happy Birthday Banner.  I was tickled to discover I could spell out the word "party" instead by using just select letters from the "Happy Birthday" phrase.

For my ice cream embellishment I used the ice cream cone from her Patriotic Icons set with a cherry borrowed from her Cupcake Banner Set.  To finish off my layout I used a tab from the 7 Tabs set.

On a side note, I used darling papers from Doodlebug's Sugar and Spice collection.  I loved how well they matched my photos and theme--I think they're so versatile considering this is actually a baby girl collection!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the sweet comments that have been left.  They always make my day!  :)

A Technique Tuesday & Disney Little Mermaid Banner Layout

Hello there!  Today I have a layout to share that I created for Technique Tuesday with a focus on their fun and versatile banner dies. Company owner Bev Grey has created a quick little video showcasing some of the many ways you can use these dies on their website HERE.

For this layout I wanted to have the banners take center stage so I used a white on white approach for my background.  I die cut two border strips from white cardstock on my Silhouette and THIS polka-dot print to mimic the look of bubbles.  I love the texture and extra detail it gives my project without adding a lot of visual distraction.

For my banners I decided to cut them in a variety of aquas and lavenders to compliment my photo and layer them in an offset pattern to create the look of the Little Mermaid's scales.  I then stamped them with the coordinating banner stamp, using it as a guide to pierce holes for my hand stitching.

These stamps and dies are a lot of fun and are a great staple to any crafter's arsenal.  To create my layout I used the following products:

• Banner Months Stamp Set by Ali Edwards
• Sentiment Tabs Stamp Set by Ali Edwards
• Banners - DIY Steel Die
• Technique Tiles - Office collection (for tab)

Other coordinating banner stamp sets include:

• Today Banners by Ali Edwards
• Hello Santa Banners by Ali Edwards
• Giving Thanks Banners by Ali Edwards
• Family Banners by Ali Edwards

Thanks for stopping by.  :)