Maddie Halloween Banner ~Generations Crafting~

Maddie Halloween Banner

Wow what a pleasure this was to do! This may be the most fun I have ever had in putting together a project (that wasn't scrappy or card related)!

My sweet and growing up too quickly niece is turning 10 just before Halloween and I made this for her!!!! And I guess they were excited about it and already have the house decorated for Halloween (of course I wasn't going to wait to give it to her! LOL!)

This was a DT project for Generations Crafting (it will be posted on their blog on thursday)! Have you seen this line? Amazing! Check it out here! Bo Bunny Whoo-ligans is my FAV line for this Halloween! Plus really, each side has some amazing prints..really cool and different, could SO be used for things other then Halloween. Love Halloween colors but don't celebrate the holiday? This is STILL perfect!

I am going to do something a bit different in my post...I am going to let you look at the pictures and post my products at the end. May be easier this time! LOL!

Here's what I did!

~purple, orange and polka dot papers~ Batty, Boo and Dot

~halloween characters cut from Monsters

~all stickers from Sticker Combo (Bo Bunny offers the MOST when it comes to matching stickers, great start for wanting matching embellishments for your paper line).

~embossing/wet~UTEE on black chipboard letters (Cosmo Cricket), irredescent embossing powder on spider web

~embossing/dry~ Cuttlebug~ die, bats, spider and skull. folders, seeing spots and boo to you

~Black Soot distress ink

~Spiced Maralade, Rock Candy and Black Soot distress stickles

~Glossy Accents and Crackle Accents

~Spider web, Fence, Butterflies and Branches Martha Stuart punches

~assorted gems and lots of googly eyes! LOL!

I think this might just be the most amount of different product/techniques I have ever used on a single project!

1st Birthday ~Papertrey Ink Blog Hop~

1st Birthday

Ok all I am pretty excited to be joining in on Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop! They coordinate this with their monthly new release and its a chance to see their wonderful products in action! I am very excited to see what everyone is doing!

You can find the "hopping" info here!

Now their challenge this month is to show off those stamping techniques that we've all learned from our fellow crafters! And maybe give a little shout out along the way! So with that in mind, I thought and thought about what were my favorite techniques and where I had first heard of them. I got into stamping by (long story short) finding this lot of stamps on Ebay through a message board post. I asked some stamping questions and one kind lady responded with...Versamark! I didn't get it at all but purchased it anyways...and now, of course, I couldn't live without it! =) Thanks to one kind suggestion from a fellow stamper!

My second "technique" used, though not sure if you'd consider it really a technique, but is using stamping to dress up die cuts. Also using stamping for spicing up plain cardstock!

This LO is of my youngest son on his first birthday (a few months ago).




Okay so Papertrey Ink...I only have 3 products from them..their Kraft cardstock (and seriously, it's the most divine paper weight ever! wowza!) Distressed Stripes and Polka Dot Basics 2. Maybe the coolest most versatile 2 stamp sets out there and something, personally I think EVERY stamper could use! But hey, that's just what I think! LOL!





I used Distressed Stripes with Antique Linen and Old Paper distress ink to create a little pattern on the bird nest and beaver. And Polka Dot Basics 2 on the title (with smallest dots) in Versamark, also on the grass and birdie and background paper (with larger dots).






Here is another way to use Distress Stripes, as journaling lines, stamped again in Versamark.


And I think that covers most of it...I am pretty tickled to be joining this hop and look forward to seeing all the great projects and maybe meeting a few new friends! Hugz, Leah

Indian Summer/Hero Arts ~Generations Crafting~

Indian Summer

I have seen this card style before but this is my first time making it! I recently got my very first set of Nesties and had a great time layering these.

The beautiful and rich papers are on clearance at Generations Crafting, Indian Summer by Basic Grey.

The sweet flower is a Hero Art Cling. Check out the sweet variety they have to offer!

I also used the Indian Summer papers to decorate my Fall village on top of my mantle. The little village was a gift from my Mom! Isn't it fun!

Here is a close up of the banners and leaves I punched and dropped around some of the buildings. Pretty sweet! I also like this because its a great way to use up scraps and its something I can change every year!

Want some cheap paper? Stuff you can't get at the local craft stores? Check out the sale section at Generations...you'll be pretty excited to see the deals there!!!

Growing Up 2gether ~SOUS September 17~

Growing Up 2gether

Today is such an exciting day at Stuck on U Sketches! Not only is it another challenge day with another great sketch to use...but it is our reveal day with our brand new Design Team!

Please check them out and leave them a little love....

Here is what I did this week with the double page LO we had to work with....

A close up of page 1. These little photo's of Jordyn are precious to me because they show the red she had in her hair before her first birthday...she's totally all blonde now!

My finger sucker and rosy cheeked boy! =)

I am really enjoying using some letter stickers for my titles. Not a new idea at all but not something I have done much. That is until I started using some from Basic Grey...such nice quality!!! These letters and most of the embellishments all came from Generations Crafting (except for random ribbon stash).

Basic Grey cardstock stickers. LOVE those! OMGosh! The star and arrows and brackets are from Bo Bunny Learning Curve. Love those embellies as well! Want a little more dimension to your stickers? Try sticking them on your extra chipboard and cutting them out with scissors! Perfect touch!

Gorgeous Primas (also at Generations Crafting). And fabulous brads are from Basic Grey Basics line as well. Ruler is a clear stamp from Maya Road.

Bea, Stine, Lisa, Fern, Annette and Debbie...I am SO happy you are with us now! Hugz!

My Finished Blogiversary RAK for Beatriz!

Beatriz's Mini

I celebrated my first year of blogging recently (or like in July, but who's counting...) and I offered to make a mini album for someone! And that someone picked from a mix of wonderful commenters was none other then my blogging friend, Beatriz from Amazing Grace blogspot! I was pretty excited to make this for her and then again, just a little bit nervous because I think she is such a talented paper crafter! I like what I make, I do but sometimes I wonder what other people think! Anyone else like that?

So anyways...here is the mini I made for her...I always take too many photos, like always but I don't want ya to miss a thang! LOL!

Beatriz, I hope that you like this! And I wanted to tell you that the entire album was inspired by the wonderful relationship you have with your husband! With all the ideas out there, I wasn't sure what to do. Then I saw this album I had and thought about what home meant to me, and that was family, my kids and my husband. And I immediatly thought about your cutie pie husband who always seems to be your sidekick (oh, I am sure he'd love me saying that! LOL!) So I was hoping that this little album could be about the two of you!

The house chipboard album I believe came from Michaels. I rarely get to shop there but wish I would more often just to stock up on those great mini albums! The bird is a wood piece that came in a set, I also have some wooden hearts. I used Picket Fence Distress Crackle paints. It was really flaky on this but I guess it adds to the charm!

Tag page. Memory piece is a Maya Road stamp.

Pretty purple shimmer paper from DCWV.

Open to reveal 2 more spots for photos.

A simply decorated page with some matching distress pieces and a hand made fence.

I used a Hero Arts Cling stamp with Versamark and Perfect Pearls.

More tags, a large Prima flower. Stamped image is also Maya Road.

Pull out section for photos or journaling.

Made this chipboard piece act as the strap to keep these tags and goodies in!

And the back page, another large Prima and some chipboard!!!!!

Monkey Around ~Generations Crafting~

Monkey Around

I have another project to share with the wonderful line, Oliver and Olivia by Basic Grey. You can find these lines and many more at Generations Crafting!

I am sure most of you have seen the line, but do you have it? Do you have boys in your life? This is a great line for guys...guess I've been on a roll with these boyish LO's!

Well boyish? I actually added some prints from Olivia as well...I took inspiration from the green in Scotti's outfit and the pink in Jordyn's.

Oh my! These are 2 of my favorites! Ok, I say that a lot but this set is something I've waited to do for awhile! Don't know what's going on with me lately (maybe its my baby Cody who is almost done nursing, so I am feeling sentimental these days) but I have been missing those days when my little ones (who are still only 4 and 6! LOL!) were really little!

Thanks for letting me share!

Cambridge LO's ~Generations Crafting~

Spread your Wings

I had the best time ever putting together both of these LO's! I was lucky enough to use the Bo Bunny Cambridge line from Generations Crafting to make both of my projects.

Now I don't normally buy matching embellishments with the paper lines I get but this time I had Cut Outs as well as Combo Stickers. I had the best time fussy cutting pieces and parts out and using up those stickers! Here I chose Chess as my main background.

Here is an example of me doing both! The title was a large sticker that I placed over some of the printed paper. I used the scallop border, circle sticker from the Combo Stickers. And fussy cut that other piece (that I'm not even going to try and spell right now...LOL!) from Cut Outs.

Sometimes I feel so torn about double sided paper! But I solved that problem but folding this corner to show off the cool green, text paper on the other side. I added more from Cut Outs, more stickers. And some brads from Kaisercraft.

Last bit I wanted to show you was more detail from just below the other shot...I layered some rub ons from Basic Grey all over this page and fussy cut more from other prints. Can you see here on the stickers that I scratched them up using a pair of scissors? I loved how funky that turned out, perfect with this line!!!

To Cool 4 School

My main background paper was Dot and I fussy cut the large image from Cambridge to use in the top left corner. I fussy cut out the "pocket" and popped that, fussy cut the crown from Cut Outs and popped that as well.

Have you ever tried playing with the color settings for your photos to make your paper? I tried that here by printing in sepia, the color match was incredible with the mustards from this paper line! I really enjoyed trying this technique...

Here is more detail of that....

More border stickers, lace and other little details (such as X staples to keep everything in place).

My title built from Combo Sticker letters, tag from Cut Outs and felt border from Queen and Co. I accented that by adding some Shabby Shutters Distress Stickles to the felt. Very cool IRL!

Last little pic is just the fussy cut crown and Liquid Pearls I added....

Hope this shows you how far picking up a couple embellishments or coordinating paper/sticker packs can go with your projects, making them fun AND easy!

Remember you can find my projects as well as the other Design Team members on the Generations Crafting blog...and guess what! They do the BEST giveaways over there! And I do mean the BEST...check them out HERE!

Year of Blogging Birthday Top 10!

Birthday Top 10

Hi Everyone! I thought I would do something fun today! Today is my 32nd birthday and I am posting my top 10 projects from my year of blogging! I actually had a great journey looking at everything but I have to say...I feel like I make a lot more then was on there! LOL! What I should of done is posting my first couple projects and then showed you some of the recent ones...I think I am really improved a lot this year! Which is an exciting thought!

So without further ado...I give you my top 10!

Aug 09

I liked this so much because I think it was one of the most creative ideas I have had! I took the actual pants that the kids were in and used the pocket! This was also one of my first projects using Distress Inks...oh what a year of inking! LOL!

Sept 09

This was another first for me. The first time I really paper pieced and built my own creation...the birdhouse. I so enjoyed it...maybe I need to do it again! The title was also the first time playing around with UTEE (kind of making my own epoxy letters).

Oct 09

This is a simple one but what I like so much was the photo itself and how I played with the background by trimming and matting the pieces. This photo of Justin was also from our early years together...maybe one of the only ones I have of just him....

Oct 09

OMG! I am sorry but I do have to say that I think these monsters are one of the BEST creations I have made! And as a matter of fact, I was thinking of making them again and offering a cut file or something for them! They were beyond easy and there wasn't much in DS (the head shapes, nose and that's about it!) But man, oh man do I love those guys!!!

Nov 09

This for sure is something simple but I think it's a really nice, clean and elegant card...sometimes I do something that I would not mind making a repeat of, and this is one of them!

Dec 09

I do like this LO but in terms of LO's maybe it isn't my favorite but I did choose it because of the "journaling." Well not exactly journaling! I told my own little fairytale like story about my daughter, telling all about her, what she likes to do and her personality. I think it was a really neat way of sharing about a child without making it just your average journaling...

Feb 10

This one is special because Pixar Cars was a huge part of my son's life, and therefore mine! LOL! I had a great time choosing these cuts, designing this and putting the page together. And distressing is always a blast as well!

April 10

Another Glitz challenge for us ladies at Stuck on U. What I like about this is the background and using everything to kind of mess and entwine together....

July 10

The next 2 of pretty recent. But I chose this because its so darn happy and how much I love the tone on tone buttons accents...and my first (terrible) job at stitching! LOL!

Aug 10

And another very recent one...but a top 5 fav of mine! Not sure what it is about this...maybe just the simple colors and how much what elements I did add, really pop on the page. And of course, any baby page will be something I will forever treasure!

Thanks for letting me share....hope you all are enjoying the long weekend (and hopefully its a "long" one for most of you!) Take care!