Butterfly Birthday!

Happy Saturday! Well the holidays have come to an end around here. Life is returning to normal...Christmas decorations are down...today was a pretty typical Saturday doing all the cleaning chores and we dive back in to reality with early church tomorrow morning! But for today, I made a card to show you!

I specifically made this one to participate in what claims to be the last challenge from the Nacho Average Challenge blog! I really enjoy their sketches, even tho I'm not usually so great with the color challenges, so I will miss them for sure! And therefore I had to play along! And so, my first card of 2016 uses Soft Sky, Night of Navy and silver!

Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly Basics, Sprinkles of Life
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Soft Sky, Night of Navy card stocks, Silver Glimmer DP (retired??)
Accessories: Butterflies Thinlits, Big Shot, Pearls, Dimensionals, Hexagon Punch

It's a pretty simple card, but it's also a pretty card. And I was a total slacker with a birthday recently so clearly I need to have more on hand!
This one has the big butterfly die cut out of the glimmer paper which is in my retired stash... Then the littler butterfly is stamped and die cut, and popped up on a Dimensional, with a pearl on top! The greeting is just stamped and the end is flagged with the Hexagon Punch. That's it! Pretty and sparkly and done!

December Daily meets Project Life!

Today is more scrapbooking, but of a totally different flavor.
In 2009 I did a December Daily album as my first try at digital scrapbooking. It is an 8x8 hard bound album, which you can view it HERE, HERE and HERE. While it does live on the bookshelf year round, it is put in the box with the Christmas books once we decorate, and I think everyone has picked it up this month and flipped thru.
I've wanted to do more December Daily style albums but that is the only one I've actually accomplished. And so, earlier this month I printed off some photos and started our second one- for 2015. HA! This one is 12x12 because I seriously have a photo-taking problem. No really....Christmas morning, just the morning, between the big camera and mine and my husband's phone, even deleting the bad/blurry photos, we have 270 shots. And then we went to visit family.... Anyway!!! I thought I'd use the Project Life supplies the way they were intended, hahaha, so I got a PL album, and the holiday themed cards and accessories that came with my PL Seasonal Snapshot stamp set from the Holiday Mini.
These are the pages I have so far, and I'll apologize in advance for the lousy photos. They're in divided sheet protectors so there is going to be a glare, no matter what I do, no matter where it is. And if not, its going to be just a bit blurry. sigh... just pretend.

This is what it looks like when you open the album...you see all of page one, and page three is peeking out behind....

 Page 1

 its back...

 Page 2

its back...

Page 3

and this takes us all the way to December 7th, hahaha.... (but I did start on November 27th). I think I like Project Life, but it takes a little bit of getting used to... I definitely need to play more! *grin

June Pages

Today I am sharing the June calendar pages with you!
Both layouts really focus on the photos more than anything.

This is my parents' page, and these are several of the family pictures we did in June. (the main photo hangs on the wall very near the calendar so I left that one off) We do our own because scheduling that many people for a photo is hard enough without adding in a photographer. Also, my dad has a really great camera, so all you really need is a tripod and a neighbor to pull faces and get all the kids to look that way, haha..... done and done!

And for my inlaws, all but one photo comes from our family vacation, so again, I wanted the photos to be the stars of the page. I also liked the quote I was using as my starting point so I included it too. To make the "sun", I layered two star punches of the same color, and then added a blue one behind it for a bit of definition.

More Cards In The Mail!

I keep waiting for the sun to come out and thaw my porch off so I can photo things, but that is not in the forecast, haha...When the high only gets to 19* the porch is going to just stay frozen.
But there was enough light to take these pictures and share the cute cards I've gotten from other demonstrators:

A "mushy" card!

Happy Monday afternoon! We had a really wonderful Christmas, and two full days with family...and then a small crisis with our refrigerator...so today I am trying to get a handle on the house and the laundry and and and...! Hence the later-in-the-day post. I'm glad I still have stuff ready to share! haha!

One of my long-time best friends (20 years...! ACK!) has been a stamp customer of mine since I signed up. She had a subscription to Paper Pumpkin for a few months this year and absolutely loved it. Her husband decided to surprise her with a new subscription for Christmas, and asked me to "make a mushy card to give her", to let her know that was her gift. haha!
I tried to stick with traditional "love" colors haha, (just red and black- the lighter shades of red are just stamped off) and then I went a little over the top with the embellishments. But I gotta say- I really like how this card turned out!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Words of Truth, Hello Life
Ink: Real Red, Memento Black
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Paper Doilies, White Jute Ribbon, White Taffeta Ribbon, Red Striped Ribbon, Pearls

April Pages

Quick post today- I did tell you I had enough projects to share something every day, and I meant it! So as promised, here are two more calendar pages for your Sunday!

These are the April pages. My parents April was one of the first I made, vs the second page today, which to me just sort of looks like a big spring-colored mess....sigh. I really need to do these pages throughout the year to avoid the burned-out-look....

March Pages

Happy Saturday to you! I hope your Christmas was as nice as ours! Today we'll be out and about visiting family, and I am sharing calendar pages with you! Specifically the March pages for both calendars.

First my parents, which again, super simple. I literally just sprinkled on some sequins for something else...

The page for my in-laws also turned out pretty simple. I did use a sketch for this one, found HERE.

Merry Christmas to you!

Today being the actual holiday, I saved this card for the last. I'm not super skilled at layering embellishments, but somehow this one just came together. I wanted to really feature the music paper, and I also wanted to use this stamp set that is still current from last year. And I think it all worked out because I LOVE this card!

Supplies:
Stamps: Gentle Peace
Ink: Versamark, Mint Macaron marker, Crushed Curry marker, Soft Suede marker, Chocolate Chip marker, Wisteria Wonder Blendabilities (retired), Old Olive Blendabilities (retired)
Paper: Cherry Cobbler card stock, Watercolor Paper, Home for Christmas DP
Accessories: Burlap Ribbon, Mint Macaron Lace Ribbon, Glitter Ribbon, Black Embossing powder, Heat Tool, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

This is my family last night, with our new Christmas jammies and our tree.

And this is how much snow we woke up to...it started falling last night about 930 and I think it stopped around 1030 this morning...we got at least 6.5 inches.

I also wanted to share this three minute message about Christmas, set to my favorite song:

And to again thank you for supporting my business and leaving comments on my blog and brightening my day!

...by the fire with care...

Today is Christmas Eve! And I really am 99% ready!! We're still going to bake and frost cookies today, and take a few plates out, but we've taken treats to most of the people we typically visit. I am finishing up one last gift that is largely home-made, but other than that, gifts are wrapped! The kids and I are going to have Christmas classic movies on (Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas, Frosty The Snowman...) while we do the cookies and I am excited that is all we have!

So just a bit of inspiration in case you're still looking...!

This card ended up pretty detailed so I went ahead and claimed it for someone specific, hence the number of stockings, hee hee...

Supplies:
Stamps: Festive Fireplace, Jingle All The Way
Ink: Memento Black, Island Indigo, Real Red, Tangelo Twist, Chocolate Chip marker, Soft Suede marker, Real Red marker, Tangelo Twist marker, Hello Honey marker, Crushed Curry marker
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Lost Lagoon, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Tangelo Twist card stocks, Nov 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Old Olive stocking)
Accessories: Big Shot, Festive Fireside Framelit Dies

And I ended up needing one more card (how does that happen? I write a list...I make all the cards I need...I don't get addresses for some, I add two...and I end up short on cards???) so I gratefully used the latest sketch from NAC and put this one together for a friend who likes kitties:

Supplies:
Stamps: Festive Fireplace, Happy Scenes
Ink: Memento Black, Soft Sky, Tip Top Taupe, Pool Party marker, Real Red marker
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Holiday Fancy Foil Vellum
Accessories: Big Shot, Hearth & Home framelits, Festive Fireside framelits, Hexagon Punch, Dimensionals

I do have a post scheduled for tomorrow (truthfully the last week or so has been scheduled way ahead of time) so feel free to stop by! And if you don't, I hope you have a very merry Christmas too, or just a nice Friday, whoever and wherever you are!

Pretty Paper....

I have a lot of song lines as post titles this month...blame it on the Christmas music someone has had running for weeks... (my son put it on way before I did). I do mix it up with my other playlists, but I probably have it on for some of every day...

Today's cards were actually made the same time as THESE, I just wanted to mix up the design of the card. First I made this one, with the cool candy cane print:

Supplies:
Stamps: Seasonal Snapshot 2015
Ink: Real Red
Paper: Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla, Real Red card stocks, November 2015 Paper Pumpkin DP (green stockings), Home for Christmas DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Festive Fireside Framelits Dies, Dimensionals

Then, I decided I liked the back of that stripe so much, it could be it's own panel, on practically the same card! I liked it simple, but both of my kids thought it was too plain, haha....

Supplies:
Stamps: Seasonal Snapshot 2015
Ink: Real Red
Paper: Mint Macaron, Home for Christmas DP

Then I thought I'd go back to card #1 and try a different print- this time from the Season of Cheer DP!

Supplies:
Stamps: November 2015 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Memento Black, Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, November 2015 Paper Pumpkin DP (green stockings), Season of Cheer DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Festive Fireside Framelits Dies, Dimensionals

Cards In The Mail!

This is the last post before Christmas, maybe for the year, of the Cards In The Mail swap I get to participate in. But this is one of my last chance to share the Christmas ideas with you, so here you go!
Let me know if you have any questions as to the supplies they used. I think everything today came from the Holiday Mini!

November Paper Pumpkin #4

Today is the first official day off school for Christmas break. I am SO glad the shopping is 99% done, the gifts are wrapped, the neighbor gift treats are delivered, the teacher gifts are delivered, ...most of the cards have been mailed... really, all I need to do is keep the house clean and send the kids outside to play in the snow between Christmas specials and Christmas music and hot cocoa! ...hahahaha.... and laundry and dishes and life....
Back to the cards...!

Talk about milking it for all it's worth!! This is my fourth post on this one kit. And I used up scraps again, in another fun and kind of creative way.
(this is before I die cut out all the stockings and wreaths I shared HERE)

First, I had all the strips trimmed off the card bases that I cut in half to use as card mats. Then I trimmed off the excess from the die cut sheets too, like this:

I also had a small stash of the same trimmed bits from the 2013 kit I recently shared. So! I alternated these strips, and adhered them to some white card stock. Then I ran them thru the Big Shot, with the Stars Die. And here is the finished product!! What do you think??

And then!! I used the negative cut part on two more cards!!! these two aren't perfect, but they aren't the worst thing I've made, haha... So there's some creativity for you!

Supplies:
Stamps: November 2015 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Real Red card stocks, November 2015 Paper Pumpkin, November 2013 Paper Pumpkin
Accessories: Big Shot, Stars Die, Dimensionals