Add a Fourth of Fun

Today I'm sprinkling a dash of creativity, adding a Fourth of Fun, and mixing up a big scrap bucket of card fronts!
Occasionally, there are nights I successfully bring myself back downstairs after tucking the kids into bed. Earlier this summer I discovered a way to make a table I can work off while sitting on the couch and it's opened up a few more hours of crafting for me! As hunny and I watch our fill of the Orange is the New Black, I sort through my scraps and find interesting color combinations to play with. Sometime I'm really happy with the results, and sometimes I just love the idea of what I've made, but not really the card itself.

That's the case with this card to the left; I actually like it a lot more photographed and here on the blog than I do in real life. It was fun to create though, and that's what matters most to me. The cute little paper flower was made by folding strips of paper and then topping it with a fussy cut flower and a pearl. A peek-a-boo sticker from the kids and an assortment of additional blings bring the focus onto the flower. Thank goodness I have every color bling under the sun to compliment all the shades shown here, thanks to Queen & Co and their value priced booth at CKC each year!

Speaking of bling, I need to go make some Fourth of July cards for the peeps I'll see. I've got some blue and red star blings that are just dying to get on something.
Have a safe and fun, festive Fourth- and make it crafty!

Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Blog Hop

Welcome to the Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Special Challenge & Blog Hop. The incredible design team at UK's Charisma Cardz have this week teamed up with my peers at Die Cut Crazy to bring you some wonderful inspiration from the world of Die Cutting, as well as a fab packed April Edition which is available for download on all IOS Apple Devices via the Newstand & in PDF format from the website. We've been hard at work creating beautiful Easter and Spring projects to inspire your own crafting with your die cuts.

This week at Charisma they have an ‘ANYTHING GOES’ Challenge where you can join in by linking or emailing Charisma with your cards/designs- and of course as always there are some fabulous prizes to be won! The  winners will be announced next week on the blog, AND featured in next months issue of Die Cut Crazy. Fame awaits you!
As well as this we have a spring influenced blog hop, showcasing all the designers. You should have a look around! For each comment you leave at each stop we’ll be drawing some random winners for prizes. This could be YOU...
If you just joined our hop, be sure and go back to the Charisma Cardz Challenge Blog to start from the beginning! But first, my little Spring Fling Mini-Album!

Ah, Spring...there's just nothing like the feeling of the earth stretching towards the sun all around you, is there? There's also nothing like the feeling in your legs and back after a full day of gardening, which, lets face it, usually is just weed pulling with a nicer name!

You may have guessed, I'd much rather be creating with paper die cuts next to a window than sowing seeds out in the sun! What's a crafty girl to do? In a few months I'll drag a used bassinet outside and soak up the sun. This table is just the right height and has a bit of wind protection around the top edge, making it perfect for outdoor crafting! 

As the days get longer and the rain falls less often in our state, we approach the most beautiful weather of the year. You can see that trend reflected in many online mood boards and in our favorite YouTube crafters too.

In the spirit of following my own passions while honoring the traditions of another, I chose to create a custom seed collector for the master gardener in my life, my mom!

I found the idea for this fun mini-album on the Score-Pal blog. It was really easy to put together and even easier to customize. What really makes this mini ideal for seed collectors are the tabs that slide in and out of the pages- ideal places for envelopes holding a bounty of beauty waiting to burst from the ground!

The base of my pages is the "B" side -or maybe it's the "A" side, I can never figure out how that works- of a beautiful soft pink, DearLizzy's Neapolitan: Delightful Bouquet 12x12 sheet.

 As the name suggests, a delightful bouquet is indeed on the reverse and helped me to pull and mix in colors for my project, like Heidi Swapp's Primrose Color Shine Mist.

Here's a fun idea I recently shared here on my blog: next time you have a few extra holes punched out, cover them with some Liquid Glass or another clear-drying hard glue. Let them dry overnight, and you'll wake up to your own custom enamel dots!Sprinkle amongst ink splatters and enjoy the bling!

Me & My Big Ideas die cut notecards, some generic small manilla envelopes, layered with Graphic 45's Secret Garden die cut tags and pockets made every page pop with a little bit of unique, and then I tied on an orange ombre ribbon to close it all up.

No, I may not have a green thumb; instead, I possess have a tombow mono-ink splattered thumb that can tie a mean bow tie! Let's see your next die cut covered mini; just tag it on instagram or Twitter with #DCCMini, and you may see your creation in next month's issue!

 Thanks for stopping by the Charisma Cardz Meets Die Cut Crazy Magazine Blog Hop & Challenge! I hope seeing my project leads you to create your own Spring/Easter piece.  Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by, I love to read those comments!
 Next up in the hop is Eemeli. Enjoy!

In case you just joined the hop at my site, here are the other bloggers to hop about for inspiration:

You are Here -->--->Anna Bradshaw - craftwithanna.blogspot.com

Going on to Eemeli's site--> –> www.eemelike.blogspot.com

Stacey – www. lasatas.blogspot.co.uk/

Natalie – http://ngcards.blogspot.co.uk

Charisma – www.charismacardz.blogspot.com
Carlyann – www.sweetncrafty.blogspot.com

Emma Pountney – http://tinyurl.com/m42q998

Sarah  – www.sarahshandmadecardsx.blogspot.co.uk

Mandy – www.mandysparkles.blogspot.com

Marie – www.cardmakingmazza.blogspot.co.uk

Jo  - www.determinedcrafter.blogspot.co.uk

Vee- www.bearykrafti.blogspot.com

Susan – www.mixamatoasties.blogspot.co.uk

Lorraine – www.travellingcolours.com

Emma – www.emgoescardmaking.blogspot.co.uk

Tina – www.tinamarie997.blogspot.co.uk

Dianne Grayson's work will be featured on Die Cut Crazy's home site! Get your copy of April's issue on your IPad. You will see MANY ways to use your die cutting equipment to produce incredible works of art. I've been inspired again and again by my peers manipulation of die cuts. Some styles are whimsical, like fairies, cartoon like stamping and paper piecing, or animals. Lacy borders and doilies seem to be another beautifully textured inclusion. "Add feathers, and voila it's Fans-chy!" As my daughter Rainie would say :-*. I love making a few little deluxe paper animals with my cricut and a lent Pooh Bear cartridge- thanks DF!
Don't forget, instagram #DCCmini to show off your die cut mini album!

Bonanza!

At the Library today we really hit the jackpot!
First we were gifted these beautiful -handmade- headbands from our friend Christina. I've always wanted to adorn my girls with larger than life headwear, and she saw my envious glances at other children's hair-dos and even made them neutral colored to go with every outfit we own. They are so cute and also actually worked to keep Rainier's growing out bangs out of her eyes.


The next surprise came from Andrea, whose daughter Penelope is just about the happiest baby on the block. She looks around at us all with joyous wonder in her eyes and a big toothy grin on her face. I love all her very girly outfits and joked that I called dibs on her hand me downs... well I should joke like that with more cute kids' parents, because she brought us a big bag of beautiful, cotton clothes today! At first I thought that since they are like, 12-18 months clothes that Sunday would need to wait  a bit to fit, but apparently she wears a 12 months jeans now. And then I realized, well, this dress really is a shirt now... lol don't know why it's so hard to cycle through the outgrown clothes but I think it's because they have the associated memories of our growing kids within their fibers.

Came home to find a huge garbage sack full of 3T clothes for Rainie! Apparently her dad found them "out back" somewhere. So overhaul of kids drawers will be my project tomorrow. Not very crafty, but certainly delightful!

Remembering Those Berry Good Times

It seems like just yesterday we were walking out the front door (sometimes as early as 7:45) in the morning to gather our fresh berries growing around the yard. Huckleberries, Wild Raspberries, Salmonberries, Slough berries, Blueberries,and of course, Blackberries!
We'd bring them inside and enjoy our pickings with yogurt, on our oatmeal, or just straight off the bush if we found an especially delectable selection!
Well those glory days are in the past, but we'll be able to relive the joys of straight-from-the-bush-consumption whenever we see this scrapbook page. And fall is definately here, and brings with it it's own joys; sweaters, the changing colors of the leaves, muddy shoes, and more, guiltless, time inside for scrappin'!
I hope you enjoy taking a quick trip back in time with me to scrap these adorable pictures of Rainier enjoying her freshly picked wild raspberries. This page came together really quickly, I was working off a sketch which featured three circles and ribbons too. I used Bella Blvd stickers and Echo Park papers, and Basic Grey die cuts, cupcake toppers, and paper backgrounds, too. It was such an easy page to create, I'm thinking of teaching a fall version next month up at Michael's. Let me know if you're interested in signing up!

Something Entirely Intimidating

I'm so excited but also nervous about having just submitted my photos for the SEI design team call. This was the second time I've gone through my layouts to look for representations of my work, but this is the first time I was doing so with my favorite paper crafting company in mind!
These snapshots of Rainier deep in concentration ended up in my submission for Scrapbooking Club Kit Contributer. I'm not sure if I could have applied for more than one Contributer spot, I would have liked to have submitted photos for Cardmaking. Using products all manufactured by the same company makes it so easy to create elegant cards. Of course, the Papercrafting spot would suit me the best since I don't limit my work to just scrapbooking or cardmaking, but also home décor and mini-albums too.

Seriously, I love all things SEI and would love to be offered the opportunity to work with their new products and, maybe, in the future, the possibility of teaching for them could come about?!
Wow, that would be ah-may-zing to say the least. And then I wouldn't have to try to break into their trailer with my crop-a-dile like I've been known to do :-) Hey, when they park it in the lot of the hotel I'm staying at while the Creating Keepsakes Convention is going on, they're just asking for it- if you ask me!
 Wish me luck, and Here's to a Labor free, Super-Charged Crafty Monday!

Just Be Yourself

Isn't part of the fun of having children, that you can identify yourself in their features and actions!? I love seeing my little mini-me strike a pose, whether she looks like me ( right hand picture) or Ray (squinty eye on the left side). However she looks, she's a doll in my opinion!

Creative Catch Up

First I started with my colors, Rainier helped me pick these patterns after watching the latest episode of Glitter Girl's Adventures. I started following her example but somehow my first patterned strip ended up on its side and collected everything on top of itself!

Adding in these Heidi Swapp journaling cards and some banner pieces  and I thought I was done. When I showed my honey the end result he suggested I use different photos, and I love how these three 4x4 shots of the girls riding together in a shopping cart for the first time goes better with the Oh Happy Day title I found in my cut-ups bin.

 Later in the day I decided pie was needed...

And finally these four cards developed from the scraps on my desk. I was playing some serious catch-up with my creativity being at a low after a week of summer fun with my family. My mom came over and helped me Saturday night and most of the day Sunday, though, so of course she needed a card. I saw Jen Gallagher tie a ribbon around her frame, had to try that. I took some process photos of the Home/Comfort card for DieCutCrazy, and then painted one of my last wood veneer pieces from a four pack I bought at Michaels last week by K&Company.. The card with the scalloped banner was from a mini gelato tutorial I posted on Instagram

 

  Whew! I feel on top of my craft space now!

Frill Ride

I have this huge assortment of ribbons and other fibers that I'm never using on my layout, so I attempted a fuzzy border on this photo of Rainier rock in out in the living room earlier this year. My dad Ed sent her the horse for Christmas, all the way from his house in New Jersey, so I get a real warm and fuzzy feeling inside when I see her on it!

While we were at the Scrapbook Expo earlier this month I picked up some Studio Calico wood veneer pieces (finally) and so after inking them a bit, I had to add those to my layout, as well as the piece of paper I was testing my new wood parquet stencil on, part of a 12x12" sheet out of the Indie Chic collection, and a bit of the paper tapes we picked up too. All perfectly justifiable purchases since I used them right away :-)

I couldn't come up with a title on my own, so I asked for help from Ray. He suggested, "Thrill Ride." I asked him, did you look at any of the girly stuff on the page?! Ha, ha, I played off his title ~and my observation on his lack of observation~ and came up with "frill ride." I love it!

Rainier really is about the sweetest soul I have ever encountered; these small phrase stickers echo my heart's sentiment perfectly!