All grown up...

It's really amazing how fast kids grow. You've seen this picture of my Emily in a previous project, but I had to make a layout with it for her album too. This is her first school picture ever! Yes, she goes to school twice a week for three hours, so she can socialize with kids her age, and she can give mommy a small break. It's really hard not having any family members close to me to help me from time to time during the week, so those three hours (which by the way fly!) are three hours that I get totally to myself. I usually run errands or catch up on things around here during this time, and if you know my Emily, you KNOW I need that break to not go crazy LOL. She's just the most energetic, persistent, demanding, curious, loud, smart, and loving kid I know. She melts my heart with one little smile. Sigh.

Anyways, as soon as I saw the kit this months, I knew I had to use these specific papers to scrap this picture. I thought it would be adorable, and look at it, isn't it? I know I'm not the best scrapper in the world or anything, but I LOVE this layout. The colors are some of my favorite, believe it or not, and the picture....ohhh I just love it people! LOL

First time I ever tried making zipper flowers. I think I need more practice, don't you think? Hehe. Like on my last layout I posted, I only need to add the journaling and this will be all done and ready to be put into her album.Yippee!

A Two Page Layout

As promised, here I am again with more of my November layouts, but first, I wanted to ask: did you shop 'til you dropped yesterday(Cyber Monday)? I sure did, barely slept, and I'm still on the hunt for stuff....toys to be exact, for Emily's cousins LOL. I am so super glad we are now able to shop online because it sure is a great way to get stuff with barely any issues.  However, there are certain things that I can't shop online for, because I definitely need to touch them, try them on, etc, but for many things, ohhh I SO LOVE online shopping! Hahaha

Ok. Back to the layout. I have not made a double layout in years! Well, this month I decided to make one, and here's what came out of that try :)

I used Pink Paislee mist-able fabric trims to make the three little puffy flowers you see. I hadn't used a transparency/acetate sheet in a while either, but love this one with the clocks on it. I now just need to journal on the journaling spot on the right side of the layout as well as on the small one on the left, and it will be finished. 

There's more to come, including the sneaks to my projects I made for the Paper Niche in the month of December. So excited to show you! See ya tomorrow!

Cyber Monday and Our Family

Hello friends! Are you all shopped out yet? I haven't even bought my first Christmas present, and I'm sick of the stores already! LOL Just getting some clothes for my daughter last week, and searching for the best "crafty" deals online, really tired me up. I have been totally busy at home, and the events just keep coming up. Ohhh the holidays!

Here's another one of my layouts I made for this month's Paper Niche kit. Love the colors on this one. Again, it's made up of a mixture of My Minds Eye, the Prima Printery Collection and American Crafts Amy Tangerine.

I gotta run now. More tomorrow, promise!

Lovely Emily

Hi all!

Every year is the same thing, all the stress of shopping for people, attending family gatherings, and all other things that come along the end of the year have already started. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and it is definitely busy around my house.....and it's only bound to get busier as the year comes to a close. I dread the stores now a days, the long lines, finding parking. How about you?

Today I wanted to share with you a layout I created using the Paper Niche's November Kit. It is a gorgeous kit and I had a great time creating with it. Can you tell?

As I look back at this picture, I realize how much Emily has grown in the last year. It's amazing. Never in a million years did I think that she would change so much, so quickly. In a blink of an eye she turned into a big girl.... I'll share the rest of what I've been able to make with the kit in the next few days, and I'll be showing you how much bigger she looks now, though if you follow, you , might already know :) Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Layout with a FUN Background with LSG

Hello everybody!

Today I wanted to share with you this neat hanging layout I created for my mother. Last year, I made her one, and she asked me to make another one for her this year. This one is a little bigger than the one I made before, but it turned out just as cute, if not cuter (to see the one I made last year click HERE).

I started with a plain old piece of 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 chipboard, which I covered in white cardstock. I then proceeded to make the background using some Starbursts Stains from Lindy's Stamp Gang. I made a very detailed tutorial video of exactly what I did with all the pieces on this layout, and you can watch it by clicking HERE. All the colors of stains and embossing powders I used are detailed there.

I love all the shimmer, and it truly does give me the feeling of winter every time I look at it. I hope she likes it!

Want to win a gift card?

Hello everyone!
Today I want to give you the opportunity to win a $25 dollar gift card. You want one?
Watch THIS video and see how you can enter to win one!
Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Super Simple Monday: Holiday Cards

Hello everyone!

I could not wait to continue with the Super Simple projects, so here I have four cards to share with you. They are all very easy to replicate and mass produce, perfect for the holidays!

The paper I used for all cards is HERE, and for this first card I used  THIS Inkadinkado Stamp set. I also used in all the cards some of this ribbon HERE.

For this next card I used a Spellbinder's die set which you can find HERE, a Fiscars border punch, and some great glitter dots you can find HERE.

The texture on this next card I embossed using a new Stampin up embossing folder from the Christmas 2011 Mini Catalog. I also used a Christmas Martha Stewart punch for the foiled border underneath the ribbon.

On the center of some of the embossed snowflakes, I dotted some silver ink using gel pens you can find HERE. A small detail that adds a little bit more interest to the overall design.

For this last card, I used THIS Inkadinckado Stamp set, as well as THIS Quickutz die.

I also used my favorite, button bling, which you can find HERE.

   

I hope you enjoyed these cards. For more details you can watch the video I made HERE.

I will be hosting a giveway next, so stay tuned on my YouTube channel for the video of the announcement.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really love reading them!

Super Simple Series

Ever since I created the simple Christmas layout of my daughter (you can look at the previous post if you missed it), I've been thinking about the forgotten beauty of simple projects. We are so into so many different mediums, and materials (which are SUPER FUN to incorporate into our projects), that we sometimes get a bit caught up in the fact that if we don't "add this or that", the project might not be as pretty as it could be. We forget that, what really makes a project stunning, is the use of color and design, no extras needed. Now, don't get me wrong, very elaborated projects are also stunning, and I love them. They are just a bit more time consuming.
So, after giving it some thought, I've decided to start a little series of posts dedicated to only super simple projects... things that will be super simple to recreate, mass produce etc. (NOT that my projects are super elaborated, or complicated----that's just NOT my style--------, but these will be EXTRA clean and simple). There won't be any specific days to these project posts...they will happen as they happen. You'll know I've got one by the title of the blog post, i.e. Super Simple Sunday, if the post lands on a Sunday, Super Simple Wednesday, if the post lands on a Wednesday etc. 
The cool thing will be, that from time to time I'll host a Super Simple Challenge and give out prices. How cool is that?

Well, now you know what I will be up to, so stay tuned for the future challenges. It will be worth your while to participate.

To start off, I want to share this Super Simple card I made for a friend's birthday. This card was a quick one to create, because the only time consuming thing was the coloring of the hair, and paper piecing of the image, but I had done that previously for a different project, and in the end I'd decided not to use the image. That is a cool tip for super simple projects: have colored images and/or other embellishments done before hand. It saves you a lot of time!

This card could have definitely been taken up a notch by switching, and/or adding some things around, but  it's clean and simple just as is, and that's how I used it.

I used a gold Atyou Spica pen for the hair bow and necklace, and I also added some gold pearls for the earings and neckalace. I put a chipboard frame on the image that I cut using the Baroque die and it's coordinating movers and shapers die from the Tim Holtz Alterations line.

I used some flowers from my stash and three extra gold pearls at the top for the final design element. Super simple, super clean, super fun! I hope you enjoyed!

Dimensional? Nah!

Hello there! 

Lately I've realized how I've managed to change the way I make my layouts. Before, I pretty much had one dimensional layouts, and would not even think of making things too dimensional, in fear of having them get smashed on my albums. All in all, I make things with the thought of having them last for a long time... the thought of having them get ruined in a short period of time scares lol.

However, it seems that I've grown out of that train of thought, because if you have noticed, my recent layouts are completely dimensional...the more dimension, the better! Who would have thought, huh?

I guess it all comes down to the new love of bulky mulbery paper flowers, foam tape, fabric embellishments, and so many other three-dimensional materials that continue to be introduced into scrapbooking today. As a result, we've all had to adapt to new ways of storing our layouts, (and I say we, because I know I'm not the only one on this boat lol).

At this time I'm really into dimensional layouts, but from time to time, I do go back to thinking simply, and for this layout that's exactly what I did. This layout is the epitome of simplicity, and as basic, and very one-dimensional as it is, I love it. It definitely shows that not everything needs to pop out of the page to be pretty, and that sometimes the picture and journaling do ALL the talking.

I used a bunch of the goodies I received from Scrapbuck.com to make this layout. Love the button bling I used. See how pretty those bling pieces are? To get some of your own you can click HERE.

I just love this child!

You can find more of the products I used HERE, HERE, and HERE. Thanks so much for stoping by, and going back to basics with me :) More coming soon!

SOOOO excited!!!!!!

Good afternoon everyone!
I'm so super excited because I've just had a winning streak in the last two days! I can barely believe it! It's been a long while since I've won anything, and I finally won not one, but three things!!!
First, I just found out I won a random giveaway on YT from a fellow scrapbooker staphanoid69. Then, yesterday I won the Iamroses blog hop, so some delicious mulberry paper flowers are coming my way really soon, yay! Love, love love!
Then today, just now when I put the baby down for her nap, I decided to check Tim's blog (Holtz), not realizing I'd totally missed his Etsy sale (he sold out of everything in 10 minutes! Seriously!), but I found out I was one of the 5 winners he chose for a spot on Jennifer Mcguirre's and Kristina Werner's Holiday Boot Camp Class!!!! Talk about awesome!!!

I've followed them for a long time, and like their simple approach to cards. This will be fun for so many reasons! I just had to share my happiness today. It's the little things in life sometimes that just make my day!
Thanks so much for stopping by. More projects coming soon!

Two more October Layouts

Hi y'all! 

Im back with the last two layouts I had not shared with you from the October Paper Niche Design Kit. Boy did it take me long to get these here! October was busy, and I don't think these next two months are going to get any better. If anything, I think they'll be worse with all the other holiday related stuff that's being added to my list of to do's!

Oh well, that's life, right? It gets busy!

Well, there are still a few October kits left ( if you are interested just head on over to the Paper Niche's Website or blog and get one fast!). It was really a nice one. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I appreciate and enjoy reading all your comments!

Christmas Mini 2011

Hello everyone!

The holidays are quickly approaching. Can you believe it? It seems like this year flew by! Sooner than we know it, it will be all gone, and 2012 will be here! Wow. It seems hard to believe, but it's the truth!

Today I'm sharing with you a Christmas mini album I just completed, using some of the fabulous product I received from Scrapbuck.com. I am really happy how it came out, and I'm totally in love with it's shape!

It the is perfect little book to hold Emily's first Christmas pictures. It's amazing, but she doesn't look like this at all anymore. She looks like a big kid now, almost two years old. To think that last year she was just a little baby! Time sure does fly when you're having fun!
I cut out the book out of light weight chipboard using the Quickutz nesting die I received, which you can find HERE. The paper collection I used is THIS ONE.

I really enjoyed using many of the 3D embellishments in my haul, and I think they gave just the right touch of whimsy to the mini. Some of the embellishments I used are HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

The embossing folder I used is this one HERE.

I really LOVE the finished look. The white acrylic paint on the edges of the album really makes it feel like winter season was there (even though it really wasn't haha---that's South Florida for you!).
For more info on all the products I used please watch the videos HERE and HERE, and don't forget to visit Scrapbuck.com to get products at awesome prices. I hope you enjoyed!