Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone's having a spooky great time today!! I'll be handing out candy today as dd goes trick or treating with her friends!! I did a finish a layout today that's been sitting on my table all weekend long! I cracked open my new Silhouette Cameo this morning! I got it last Thursday and I was afraid to open it and use, but I bit the bullet, hooked it up and started cutting things almost immediately!! I cut the circles background that is on my layout as well as the butterfly which I used as a mask to mist over! Of course, no layout of mine is complete unless I've sewn on it - and there's a lot of sewing on here!! I journaled just a few of the many "jobs" that I do almost everyday!! TFL!

A quilted effect

Hi there, Valerie here!! I have tons of strips of patterned paper at the end of my scrap table right next to my paper trimmer that I just cannot throw away!! I love paper and I hate to throw away even the tiniest pieces of the gorgeous beauties. I've been looking at some cool quilts on Pinterest using strips and I thought that I would create a quilted effect on a card!

I used the butterfly die in the center of a piece of paper that I wanted to use on my card. I then sifted though all my paper strips to find the right combination to fill in my butterfly and attached the strips one at a time to the back of the punched butterfly. After the entire butterfly was covered I attached the entire piece to the center of a card base and did some sewing to further give it a quilted look! Easy peasy!!

layout of cute camera...LOL

Yesterday I posted about my cute camera find, and today I scrapped it!! LOL I got a new Selphy printer and I love that I can print smaller photos as well as 4x6 instantly! I used my October Studio Calico kit for this. I didn't think I'd use the circles stamp very much when I ordered the add-on that had it, but I LOVE it and I've used it on all the layouts (a whole two layouts so far heehee) that I've made from this kit. I stamped the tag (which I layered ubder a Maya Road envelope) with it using Powder ink by Jenni Bowlin. TFL!

My new cutie.....

I bought this aqua cutie today at an antique mall for a mere $10. It's the 5th in my collection. I don't know if they even work, I just like the looks (and sometimes the price!) of them!

Surprise Pictures!!

Sometimes it takes me forever to upload photos that I've taken with my digital camera, and when I uploaded a few the other day I was surprised to find these pictures of my son Jonathan. I hadn't taken them then I noticed in the reflection of his sunglasses that they were pictures he had taken of himself!! Silly boy!! I can always depend on him for a laugh!! I used my October Studio Calico kit to make this - I finally broke into the kit that's been sitting on my desk for over a week now!! I heat embossed the circles that I stamped with one of the SC stamps with some AC Zing (denim) - love that stuff!! TFL!!

A quilted effect....

I was inspired to try this quilted paper technique after seeing a picture of a pillow in one of my Country Living magazines. The whole front of the pillow was covered in fabric triangles that were kind of floppy and I just loved the look! It's hard to see the quilting when you look at the picture of my layout head on, but IRL it's got so much texture and depth! I really love this effect! TFL!

Me right now......

TFL!!

She's so frightful!!

Now that my kids are older I miss all the fun and excitement of trick or treating with them, but my youngest daughter did get dressed up last year to take part in a "haunted house" for charity! We've been lucky enough to recycle this dress for several years - it's been used in plays and Renaissance fairs, and for different trick or treating looks - but last year she was a ghoul child that lived in a huge spider web! She had all the little kids screaming for their parents...LOL!!

I was inspired to make this layout using the following picture and color scheme. I made a flower that stood out on my layout (just like the inspiration picture) and I liked the graphic look of the number in the inspiration picture, so I made sure I included numbers on my layout also.
I made the 3-d pumpkin using the Chipart chipboard pieces. I simply took a round shape, which I cut the top and bottom section off of and an oval shape which I covered with patterned paper and layered it on top of the round piece to make a pumpkin. I then a rounded corner rectangular piece at an angle for the stem of the pumpkin.
After some misting and inking and adding some vines and leaves it all came together!

I used a mix of GCD Studios Collections the patterned paper from the Great Outdoors, the Soul Food, and the Homespun Chic Collections and the super fun border and glitter candy dots from the Funhouse Collection!

Other products: Martha Stewart and EK Success punches, Jenni Bowlin buttons, Maya Road pins and mist, Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters, Martha Stewart artisan tape, Studio Calico stamp, Pink Paislee brads .

Thanks for stopping by and looking!! Have a fun creating!!

A Quick and Easy Christmas Card

Here's my blog post for Just Imagine/Kreaxions punch for today! I had some pre-made scalloped edge blank cards and I was looking for the perfect centers to decorate them and these came together so quickly!! I simply traced and around the star stencil and cut out the star and then I punched each star "point" using the 312 4 in 1 punch with the A insert! After punching I wound some twine around my "snowflake" and added a premade sticker to the center! Quick and easy!! I could easily make all of my Christmas cards in one afternoon!! Yay! Hope this inspires you to make some Christmas cards using one of the 4 in 1 punches! Have a great day!!

Fall Candles and a Border Punch obsession!!

To say I have a slight border punch obsession would be no exaggeration...I just love border punches and the way they give my projects depth and texture!! These are just some of my punches. Let's just say I have 32+ border punches (and counting...heehee) and leave it at that ;)!

I love to decorate during the fall season , especially with candles because they smell so scrumptious - can you say pumpkin pie and apple spices?? YUM - and the colors are just so gorgeous!! I decided to use some of the beautiful fall pieces of patterned paper that are in the Elementary My Dear Collection and several of my border punches to make some fun decorations for my new (plain) candles I bought to use for my fall decor.
Let my just insert right here that for safety reasons you CANNOT burn these candles with the paper on them - they are for decoration only. If you want to burn the candles REMOVE the paper decorations from them!!
For this candle (to the left) I used one of the new EK Success Dimensional punches to make the flower and the Dotted scallop edger punch for the layered patterned papers. I also used some of the fun chipboard shapes from the Funhouse Collection as an accent at each side of the flower on the burlap.
For this candle I just punched several borders using the EK Success Morocco Lace Edger Punch
and simply layered them on top of each other switching paper patterns back and forth for each layer. After adding the burlap, I attached some metal flowers (using stick pens) and I used more of the Funhouse chipboard shapes as accents on the smaller flowers.

For the last candle (in the back center) I just punched the edges of one piece of patterned paper with the EK Success Double Crochet Lace Edger Punch, added a little bling, some burlap and a cute little chipboard piece from the Fancy Chipboard Stickers - Soul Food Collection by Melody Ross. I love the way these turned out! They smell so good and look so pretty sitting on my mantle!!

Again, let me remind you that you CANNOT burn these candles with the paper on them as the paper will catch on fire! They are for decoration only! If you want to burn the candles, REMOVE the paper from them. I attached everything with stick pins so that everything could easily be removed for burning (if I ever decide to burn them!!).

Have a great day and have fun creating!!

Sunday sketch at Studio Calico

This is my take on Studio Calico Oct 2 Sunday Sketch here . This was a tough sketch for me - not really my style! But I wanted to give my layout a 70's type feel to it, so I used retro colors and I punched some borders using a Martha Stewart punch (which I cut to be circle borders) and then sewed in between each set. It reminds me of those funky things that everyone used to hang in the door jams and would either break and beads would go everywhere or my hair would always get caught up in them as they swished around! LOL TFL!

WCMD Cards!!

I wasn't really going to join on on this day - I make tons of cards but I rarely give them to anyone LOL!! But, Pink Paislee had some really great challenges going on, so I couldn't resist joining in! Here are my cards using Pink Paislee products! I love the Soiree and the Daily Junque lines, so everything I used is from either or both of those lines!!