Pay It Forward!

My super-sweet and hella-crafty friend Paula offered a Pay It Forward giveaway on her blog and now I'm doing the same... If you'd like to be entered to win a small stash of scrappy supplies leave a comment below. For a 2nd opportunity to win pay it forward on your blog, be sure to let me know in the comments so I can put you down twice.

Pay It Forward closes at noon on Friday (09.11/09) Winner will be drawn and posted on Friday afternoon.

30 Candles!

A 30th birthday card with 30 candles!

This layout of this card was inspired by my incredibly crafty friend Karie. Thanks for the idea!

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink & Bazzill
patterned paper: Daisy D's
ribbon: misc scrap
stamps: Stampin' Up
markers: Copic
glitter: Stickles

White on white on white...

A few months ago Karie posted a gorgeous card that was 99% white. I thought it was beautiful! I had never thought about using white on white on white...just seemed wrong to me until I saw her card. Definitely have to make more of these!

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink
flower: Heidi Swapp
bling: Heidi Swapp
stamp: CTMH ink: Ranger

Facebook anybody?

My sweet friend Paula has an awesome pottery business, Plays With Mud. She has created a Facebook fan page for Plays With Mud but needs 1000 fans to secure that username. I'm a fan, are you? If not, you should be...her work is gorgeous! I have several pieces and love them! So, if you're a Facebooker check out the Plays With Mud page and become a fan! Check it out and spread the word...

Graduation Stationary Set

My awesome friend Karie showed me a gorgeous stationary set she made for her kid's teachers. I begged her to teach me so I could use it as a graduation gift. After tons of pestering she'd had enough and gave in! LOL!




The box holds a monogrammed card set, a small 2.5 inch square note card set, some gift tags, postage stamps and a gift card. It's not exactly how Karie made hers, but this one fits my needs.


The monogrammed cards:


The small note card set:


The gift tags:


elements:
cardstock: Prism, Bazzill, Stampin' Up
patterned paper: Heidi Grace
bling: Heidi Swapp

Owl Miss You!

I was commissioned to create a good-bye, good luck card for a great friend of mine. She's pretty awesome and a very talented crafter herself, so I feel quite honored when she asks me to create something for her!

I think this little owl is just adorable! I made it w/a die cutter when I had a crafty slumber party on my last visit to Cincinnati to see Karie. We stayed up all night making owls! LOL! I think I'm going to buy that die myself and make some more cards like this.

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Archivers, Stampin Up
patterned paper: Basic Grey
ribbon: scrap, so I'm not sure...maybe May Arts

Update: I'm continuing to use scraps of patterned papers and cardstock for my cards. I did cut fresh patterned paper for this one, but I loved it and had to use it. But the cardstock, except for the base, is all from my scraps stash!

One last thing...I jotted a sketch down that I used for this card and for the life of me can't remember where I got the sketch. I'd like to give credit but I need to figure out where it's from first.

I'll miss ewe!

Isn't that sheep darling? My so very crafty friend, Karie, sent me a picture of a card that had a very similar idea of a sheep. It used a flower die cut to make the feet and head, but I don't have that cutter. I improvised and used a heart die cut that I have and did some tracing and cutting. The flower would have been much easier but this worked out alright.

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin' Up and Archivers
patterned paper: Pebbles Inc
ribbon: Michael's

Bra-vo!

I know I've been slacking...sorry! But I've been getting some scrapbook pages and cards done. Now I just have to get them photographed and on here. I really need to get my light box out and start using again but I have some stuff sitting in my spare room that needs to be donated before I can make room for the light box. I'm going to make it a goal to get that stuff taken care of soon...hopefully before we head out for vacation in a couple weeks.

Anyway...here is a cheeky (get it?) little card I made for a special someone's birthday. No names in case by some miracle he looks at this blog. :D Not sure of a sentiment for inside yet...any ideas? I was trying to be punny (another great joke, huh?) but nothing has come to me.

I even fancied up the back of the card w/a pair of undies ;) I got the idea to make this card from my awesomely-crafty friend, Karie, she made one a while back. I've been meaning to give it a shot and finally had a skin colored cardstock on hand. I happened to luck out and have this pretty, ruffly-ribbon in my stash; it was perfect...I only wish my undergarments were this pretty!

Hope you like!

elements:
cardstock: Prism
patterned paper: Daisy D's
ribbon: not sure, but might be May Arts
bling: Heidi Swapp

Cheer up!

Another card made with a stamp from my sweet friend Karie! She gave me two Bellas, how awesome is that?!

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink - white base, Stampin' Up & Bazzill small accent pieces from stash
patterned paper: scraps from stash donated to my by my friend Scheffie
rub-ons: Doodlebug
markers: COPIC
ink: Tsukineko Brilliance Graphite Black

I have sweet, wonderful, awesome, generous friends!

I have a great group of friends! We might not all live close-by each other but through email, Facebook and phones we keep in touch. Thank goodness for technology...makes moving away and keeping in touch so much easier!

My sweet friend Karie, who (or would that be whom?) is also very talented and crafty gave me a couple new stamps to add to my stash. Bella Stamps! I love Bella Stamps! They are just darling and so fun to color and paper piece their outfits. I guess they're my version of paper dolls. ;)

Again, loving my pebbles So Tweet Collection paper, I had to use more. The birds and colors worked so well with my Veggiebella image. The Birdies...I just love them and it was perfect as my background and corrdinated so well with the Chirp that I used to paper piece Bella's clothes and basket. Isn't she just darling?

elements:
cardstock: Papertrey Ink - kraft
patterned paper: Pebbles Inc - So Tweet Collection
ribbon: American Crafts
markers: COPIC
ink: Tsukineko Brilliance Graphite Black

A sweet little Valentine...

My GOOD friend Karie created a pretty Valentine and I love it so much I wanted to CASE (copy and share with everybody!) it. I didn't have the exact stamp set and I wanted to make a 3x3 card so I could get eight cards out of one piece of 12x12 cardstock, but the idea is the same. I think I'm going to use these for GQ to send to his little cousins for Valentine's Day.

Some digital work for a GOOD friend...

My GOOD friend Karie asked me to create a new blog header for her. Here is what we came up with. Be sure to stop over to her blog and take a look at all her crafty creations!

Using more scraps...

Using a few more scraps of patterned-paper and felt from my #1 scrap supplier Paula I made this card. I added the ink border on each piece of patterned-paper to give it a bit more dimension but I'm not sure how I like it...still deciding. I need to get a machine and sew the lines instead of faking it with marker all the time. Once I have room for a sewing machine I just might give it a try.

For once, I'm ahead of the game...

I don't normally have my Valentine's Day cards made this early. It's usually a day or two before. But I had some ideas in my head and needed to get them on paper before mommy-brain kicked in and I forgot!

I made all of the cards with paper scraps, no freshly cut paper here. For the Hearts & Kisses card I used jewelry wire to create the hanger and attached using some metal glue. It was much easier than what I thought it'd be. The Love cards were made using patterned-paper and felt scraps that my sweet friend Paula gave to me. I found a nice quote for the inside of the card and the flowered paper Paula gave me went perfectly with it. (so did the felt, I love the color combo!)

"Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons."
- Kahil Gibran

I stitched the word Love onto the felt with embroidery floss. I figured out an easy way to sew onto felt or fabric with any freehand wording or art. I'm probably a bit late to game figuring this out, but in case you're wondering how I did it, I'll share... I cut a piece of scrap cardstock slightly smaller than my felt. Then free handed the word Love onto it in marker. Next, I used a paper piercer to punch holes along the word. Lastly, I used adhesive to place on the back side of my felt and stitched away. Having the cardstock on the felt made it much easier to work with; otherwise I would have been fighting between my length of floss and floppy felt. It was sew simple!

More digital work...

Ever since Paula asked me to do some digital work for her I've been teaching myself how to do more and more with PSE. I'm no where near being a graphic designer but I'm certainly having fun learning different pieces of the program and creating. (I made our holiday card this year digitally...I'll post that later, it's on the other computer.)

Recently my friend Melissa asked me to create some gift certificates for her jewelry business, MJennings Designs, LLC. She now has one that can be used year round and one that is holiday inspired. I gave her the files rather than printing and mailing her hard copies and now she can print however many she needs, whenever she needs them.

Thank you Melissa for asking me to create these, I had fun working on them!

Holiday Gift Bag

We have a holiday party this weekend and I felt our hostess gift was lacking a little something presentation wise. I happened to have scraps of the Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding collection, which is the paper Paula used on the coaster set gift we're taking. So I quickly added the little penguin panel. It's made completely from scraps of paper, ribbon and a lonely metal tag I've had laying around for a couple years. It's not too easy to tell from the pictures, but the penguin was colored with Copic Spica pens for a bit of sparkle, his hat and scarf are paper pieced, and the hat has a little bit of white flocking on the ball and brim. Just a few touches to give it a little something extra.

Thanks for looking!

a contest...

Hop on over to Paula's blog and offer some ideas to fill her advent calendar. Your brilliant ideas will get you entered into a contest with an adorable prize pack! Click here for details and good luck!

Gorgeous butterfly note card set...

I got these gorgeous three-dimensional butterflies from Kristine at Beach Cottage Studio. I thought they'd make a lovely little note card set and I was right! I just love the simplicity of the butterflies on the kraft cardstock with out much other embellishing. They don't need any; they're beautiful on their own.

If you'd like to get your hands on these note cards, they are for sale in my etsy shop. I think I'll buy some more butterflies and make more of these cards. They'd be perfect little stocking-stuffers or teacher gifts.

Sorry about the lighting on these photos. I really need to get a light box. Paula sent me a great tutorial for making my own but sharing a craft room with a play room doesn't allow me to leave it out with out 4 y/o hands messing with it. I need something that goes up and down quickly and can be hidden away from my curious little guy :D

A beautiful bread platter...

I bought this gorgeous peace platter from my wonderfully creative and talented friend Paula. I was going to give it as a gift but loved it so much I couldn't give it away! It's just perfect how the word peace is surrounded by all the lovely and calming swirls. I just love it!

I have a yummy loaf of pumpkin bread sitting on it right now. I'd take a picture of it sitting on the platter except I had to wrestle a little with the loaf to get out of the pan and it doesn't look nearly as pretty as the platter. But it still tastes awesome!

If you're in the Charlotte or Fort Mill area on Saturday, November 15th, you should come and check out all the awesome pottery pieces that Paula makes. Her shop, Plays With Mud, will be participating in the Sips & Sweets Holiday Extravaganza along with lots of other artisan and direct sales vendors. Perfect way to start or finish off your holiday shopping list!

woo hoo! happy dance...

I made my first Etsy sale today! I'm so excited! And I have to thank my friend Paula for suggesting I open an account and try to sell my stuff. Now I have to get busy listing some of my cards.

Here is the link for my shop if you ever want to take a peek... www.gqzmommy.etsy.com Don't look right now, it's empty, but I'll restock very soon!