Lala's World

Need a laugh? You have got to check out these pics!

2012-01-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend Amy told me about the most hilarious blog. It pairs pictures of the GORGEOUS Ryan Gosling with hilarious crafty sayings. After you read a couple, you cannot help but giggle helplessly. Here's a couple that I loved on the blog:

Even though I've read these a couple times already, I am still laughing copy and pasting these on my blog. To see even more of these hilarious photos check out http://handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com/.

Have a great night :)

Denise

Got any CHA advice?

2012-01-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

Hey groovy gals,

I am going to CHA trade show this year and was wondering if anyone had any advice. Having never been before I am sooooo super excited but blindly charging in. I cannot wait to meet up with my friend, Suzanne, who runs Color Me Creative Classroom, a fun site with tons of coloring classes, challenges, chats, and inspiration. I am going on the Monday and Tuesday of the conference and hubby is watching the babes. (He so rocks!) Are there a lot of make & takes? Should I bring anything beside comfy shoes and snacks? Also, I am going to take my camera and huge lens to take pics of all the cool booths. Any requests? I'm happy to take pics for you and add them here, assuming I can find the booth you want, lol.

Also, I am happy to announce that I am now a Product Advocate for Crafter's Companion USA. While I needed to step down as the Design Team Coordinator for both of their blogs because of time constraints, I was thrilled to be asked to be a Product Advocate. Guess they can't live without me...lol. But seriously, it is a perfect position for me. So if you see a post from Crafter's Companion on their F/B page, odds are it's me. And you will continue to see me make fun projects with products I love from them. (Which I was doing anyway after I stepped down b/c I love their products, shhhh don't tell ;)). I can't wait to meet up with them either. It will be so uber cool to put a face with a name.

If anyone else is going and wants to meet up, let me know in a comment or email :)

Have a fabulous night!

Denise

Practical Scrappers Round 2 of the layout competition

2012-01-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Whoooooo Hooooo!!! I made the cut for Round two over at Practical Scrappers! I may have a goofy expression on my face all day :))))) So stocked! Round 2 is up and open for voting. I decided to make my layout for that with Lara's school picture for last year. I hadn't had a chance to scrap it yet. (Tell you how behind I am with their school albums, lol.)

I started by misting my PP background paper with blue, greens, and a light pink. The middle paper looks like it's misted by it is just a pattern. A added some pretty lace ribbon along its edges. The hot air balloon pattern is from G45 and the scalloped circular from is from Pink Paislee. I added some flower rhinestones for a little bling and the green translucent flower on it is from Petaloo. I added green patterned rub-ons on the horizontal blue paper (so hard to see in the photo) and framed the card with the globe on it using an overlay. A little green lace ribbon is along the bottom. Lara's pic is matted with Bobunny's Double Dot cardstock. My favorite part is of course all the flowers (Prima and Pink Paislee) and the fun chipboard in the upper right. The patterned button with twine is from Websters. The cloud came in my Artdelightful monthly kit, so I'm not sure who makes those, and the pink bloomer ribbon was given to me by a friend, so not sure about those either. Whooo, that's a lot of stuff, lol!

There are 28 of us in the 2nd round and you can vote for 5 people this time around. If you like my layout, would you mind heading over there to vote? I'd really appreciate it! http://www.practicalscrappers.com/2012/01/second-round-of-layout-contest.html

Challenges I am entering my layout in:

Simon says stamp and show- Anything but a card

Truly madly crafty challenges- Anything goes

Unstampabelle challenges- anything goes

Scrappy frogs challenge - lace

Crafty purple frog challenges- anything goes

Creative Belli challenge- frames

Lil' red wagon- use 2 ribbons

Bild malarna challenge- flowers in quantity

Cupcake craft room- anything goes

My time to craft challenge- favorite embellishment

Papertake weekly- Buttons, bows, bling & blooms

Hotshot craft challenge- Flowers

Thank you so much everyone :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Denise

Would you help a girl out? (poll now closed)

2012-01-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! My Grinchmas layout is in a scrapbooking competiton over at Practical Scrappers. If you have time today (it's just for today), can you please check it out and it you like mine the best, vote for it? I'd really appreciate it. Next Saturday they will windle down the 70 entries to 25 and I think it would be really cool if I made it in. My layout is the 2nd one listed. Click HERE to go to their site.

Thank you so much friends. The poll is now closed. I appreciate all your help! I find out if I make the next cut on Saturday :)

Have a wonderful Friday!

Denise

Happy New Year

2012-01-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is fast approaching so today I have a New Year's card for my daughter. Since Lara was born in China, we always celebrate Chinese New Year and observe some of their traditions and beliefs. The kids' love having family over, eating lots of yummy Chinese food, and of course, receiving red envelopes.

Red envelopes containing money are traditionally given to single people and children during holidays. The red color of the envelope symbolize good luck and is suppose to ward off evil spirits. The amount of money traditional is an even number (which is lucky), rather than an odd number. The number should not contain the number 4 in it either, as the pronunciation of the number 4 resembles the word, "death". It is traditional to put brand new notes inside the red envelopes, as well as avoiding opening the envelopes in front of relatives out of courtesy.

The paper is My Mind's Eye newer line, Kraft Funday. All of the paper, twine, butterfly stickers, and ribbon was part of my new January Scrapbook kit from Artful Delight. The two hanging charms were in my stash. The beautiful asian stamps are part of new collection about to be released at Crafters Companion USA called Kanji. The background stamp is called Kanji Bamboo Shoots, while the smaller stamp is aptly named Joy. You can see more projects using this huge collection over at Crafter's Companion USA Information blog. The Happy New Year stamp was part of the stamp set, Humphrey the Elephant Auld Lang Syne.

I also used a beautiful card sketch from Sketch Saturday.

Challenges I am entering my New Year's card:

Sketch Saturday - card sketch
Simon says stamp and show - Show a red letter day
Simon Says Stamps challenge - Spots and/or Stripes
C.R.A.F.T. challenge - Celebrations
Craft us crazy - anything new and/or funny
Crafty creations challenges - something new
Divas by design challenge - new beginnings
I brake for challenges - Clean and Simple
Creative craft challenges - New Year's resolutions
Ladybugs crafts ink TLT challenge - Use your new stash
Cupcake craft challenges - something new
Kaboodle doodles - fireworks or celebration
Ooh-la-la-creations challenges - new beginnings
Stamp and create - anything goes
Truly madly crafty challenges - anything goes
The Corrosive challenge blog - Ring in the new year

Have a happy Friday everyone and, if you have Monday off, a fabulous 3 day weekend!

Smash Book - 2012 Bucket list

2012-01-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hey gals,

I decided to do something a little different this year with my New Year's resolutions. I came across a new group over at Color me Creative Classroom with Suzanne Dean called W R Smashbookin', Scrappin' and Journaling. Every month there is a new challenge to encourage us to get out and use our Smash books. (If you don't have one you can still join in, just make your own out of a journal or mini album.) Many of us are using our smash books as 2012 Bucket list/New Year's resolutions journal. I just love this idea! Not only can I keep my goals in mind, I can smash all the tickets/photos of anything I do that's fun along the way. No stressing over the right embellishments or being neat, just quick fun pages.

For my first two pages I used a quick quote vellum quote, some leftover butterfly and abc stickers, and a random butterfly die cut I had lying around. The quote says, "Do not go where the path may lead: Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson". The Paper is from DCWV Mariposa stack. (Top tip for Top Tip Tuesday - Smash books are a great place to use left over stickers, rub-ons, die cuts, and paper. In fact, these are the best embellishments for it because they are flat and won't add bulk to your book.)

The 2nd two pages were scraps I had from Cosmo Cricket, some Prima die cut starts, a page of a mini notebook from Bobunny, more leftover abc stickers, and a Goals sticker tab I had in my stash. I put my main 3 New Year's resolution on the left and some fun things I want to do in 2012 on the 2nd page.

I am entering my Smash pages in the following challenges:

Color me Creative Smash book challenge - First pages in my smash book

The order of the Opus Gluei - out with the old and in with the new

Hooked on craft challenges - try something new

Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes

Creative Craft Challenges - New Year's Resolutions

Simon says stamps challenge - Spots and/or Stripes

Enjoy the rest of your night :)

Denise

The Grinch

2012-01-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today I have a fun layout with the kids posing with the Grinch and his dog Maxx. During the month of December, Universal Studios decorates their park in Whoville style. They even put in a snow area where the kids can play. The kids went wild over this since they never see snow here in Southern California. We saw the Grinch right as we entered the park and the kids were so excited to get a picture with him. We love to watch both the original animated Grinch who stole Christmas cartoon, as well as the Jim Carey version every year.

Here's a close up of the them.

I found this digital images on the net. It was actually a coloring book page that I shrunk down to a smaller size.

I went nuts with the embellishments on this page, using all kinds of stuff; rub-ons, diecuts, Imaginese clear plastic snowflakes, tag, couple of ribbons, bling, and flowers. The paper is from MME and Echo Park. Not sure about the embossed green paper. I used red and green Ranger distress inks around the digi and the tag, and well as Copic to color the digital image.

I am entering my Grinchy layout in the following challenges:

Stuck on u sketches - sketch challenge
Scrappy Moms - cartoon characters
Anything goes challenge blog challenge - anything goes
Scrapfit - stars
One stitch at a time challenge - use embellishments
Critter challenge blog - baby it's cold outside
Really Reasonable ribbon ramblings - ribbon and sparkle
abc challenge - green
Craft your passion challenges - mythical creatures
Use it Tuesday - All about Winter
Dream valley challenges - anything goes

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

If you are interested, I have an awesome giveaway going on here. I am giving away:

Denise

Party

2012-01-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!! Man, this week went by fast! Like most of everyone I know, I started on my New Year's resolution to eat less and move more. So far, so good. I found this cool new FREE app called myfitnesspal. (Myfitnesspal.com) It keeps track of all my goals/food/exercise/vitamins/sodium/cholesterol etc. I have never tried doing this and it's amazing what you can find out about your diet. I definitely recommend it. You can even scan bar codes instead of looking up food.

Okay, enough about that, I've been working on a really fun banner for the last couple of days. I used my new January Scrapbook club kit by Artful Delight. It has the most delicious paper and gems in it by Studio Calico and My Mind's Eye. I wanted to make a party banner that would be non gender specific but still gorgeous. I am totally thrilled with how it turned out :))))

Here's a pic of the kit. The owner of the business, Leeanne, is really sweet and has a fabulous sketch challenge on her blog every month.

The base of the banner is actually part of a Maya Road brown chipboard mini album that I took apart and painted white. I cut the paper into banner shapes (complete with the punched holes) from my Cricut Cartridge Birthday Bash (page 64, size 6"). Before making the accordion flowers, I used an edge punch I had on hand and punched one side of my about 1 1/2" x 12 strips to give them a little pop. Then I just added some circles cut out of leftover paper from the kit that matched and added the matching Thicker letters and bling. The last thing I added was some red ribbon that I had from my stash.

Now I have a birthday banner (that isn't store bought and cheap looking) for future parties :)

I am entering my banner in the following challenges:

Simon says stamp and show - something old something new
Simon says stamps - new something
Sentimental Sundays - anything goes
Papertake weekly - anything goes
Really reasonable ribbon's ramblings - sparkle and ribbon
Pile it on - anything goes
Allsorts challenge blog - new beginnings
Incy wincy designs - anything goes
Totally gorjuss - happy
Southern girls challenge - show us your sparkle
Critter challenge blog - celebration
My mum's crafts shop challenges - something new
The pink elephant challenge - anything goes
Getting cricky - Celebration

Thanks for checking out my new project! If you haven't seen my giveaway, you might want to check it out HERE. I am giving away a Crafter's Companion Boxer board, Envelobox board, and Ultimate Advanced Construction Techniques DVD. I love them!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Denise

Last layout of the year

2011-12-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I had time to make one more layout before 2012. I used a cool sketch challenge from Basic Grey to inspire me. The pictures are of Nick and Lara on Thanksgiving. I used Basic Grey's June Bug collection. Doesn't it match the pictures perfectly?

Basic Grey has a bunch of challenges every month. You can join in at http://blog.basicgrey.com/.

I am also entering my layout at:

Basic grey Challenges - anything goes using Basic Grey
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - anything goes

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

Denise

Happy 2012 Giveaway! (Open to all)

2011-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of 2011 so I thought I'd end the year by giving away a FABULOUS present. Everyone knows how much I love Crafter's Companion and I wanted to share my love for my favorite tools they came out with in 2011. So I am giving away a Crafter's Companion Boxer board, Envelobox board, and the Ultimate Advanced Construction Techniques DVD!

You can make so many amazing things with these amazing projects including boxes, Enveloboxes, handbags, stepper cards, tealight holder cards, accordian box file, swing cards, mini desk organizer, treasure chest, hinged box, set of drawers, tealight basket, and more. Here are just a few things I've made with them:

boxes

Envelobox purse

treasure chest

tealight holder card

matching thick envelobox to send it in

Awesome, right? Okay, so how do you win these? To win you just need to make sure you are a follower of my blog (click join this site on right sidebar) and post about this giveaway on your blog (sidebar is fine). Once you have done these two things just leave a comment below letting me know. If you don't have a blog, that's okay too. Just let me know in your comment. You can also gain a couple of extra chances to win if you follow Crafter's Companion USA or like Crafter's Companion on Facebook. Leave an extra comment if you do either of these things. This giveaway is open to anyone and I will use a random generator to pick the winner on January 31st.

Good luck crafty friends and Happy New Year!

Denise

Imagine

2011-12-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Now that the craziness of Christmas is over, I have had a little more time to scrap. I received three DCWV Stacks as a present from my in-laws, so I decided to make a page with them. While I had DCWV on the brain, I went over to their blog and saw their December Scrap-a-holic monthly layout challenge was still open and used their sketch from Sketch Savy.

The DCWV stacks I used are Mariposa, Premier Photo and Brights cardstock. I picked up the large gold ribbon from the Dollar Tree and the three dimensional butterfly stickers from Momenta were also a Christmas gift. The roses in the corner are from Prima and the vellum quote is from Quick Quotes. The ribbon trim around the circle is from Prima or Websters (can't remember which). The pretty pins attached to the large bow are from www.shoeboxmemoriesdluxe.etsy.com.

As I type this up, Lara is busy getting in trouble. She "accidentally" hit Nicholas in the face...with Nicholas' punching glove. Hmmm, I think I need to explain what accidentally means.

Nicholas was also pretty funny today. There was an advertisement for the Dr. Phil show about the murder of Kaylee. One of his guests mentions duct tape not being a normal thing for a parent to use on a kid's face. Nicholas then randomly comments that you shouldn't put duct tape on kids' mouth b/c then they couldn't breathe. Then he said, "I wouldn't even do that to you mom. We don't have duct tape." If that isn't love...

Okay, I am entering a "few" challenges with my layout:

DCWV - Stack-a-holic December template
Flutterby Wednesdays - anything goes (must use a butterfly, fairy, or angel)
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings - anything goes with ribbon
Lil Red Wagon - something new (my paper)
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - anything goes
The City Crafter - Make the Cut (I cut around the butterflies in the paper and slid the large blue circle into the slits)
Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - anything goes
For Fun Challenges - use something new (paper)

Have a wonderful day!

Denise

Shop 'til you Drop

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning crafters! Hope everyone that celebrates Christmas, had a wonderful day filled with family and food! Since today is traditionally a busy shopping day, I thought I'd share the Shop 'til you Drop S.w.a.l.k. card.

To make this quick present card base, I used the card feature on the Hello Kitty Cricut Cartridge.

I colored my image with the new Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. These rich, beautiful colors are from Crafter's Companion Spectrum Noir markers. The markers have a fine nib on one side of the marker and a broad chisel point on the other. The fine nib make coloring in small areas easy. My favorite part of these markers though are the ability to blend colors together. You can see on her face where the pink of her cheeks blends into the lighter pink of her face. I used a little darker of a pink directly under hair as well, creating a very subtle shadow effect.

This is my last project for Crafter's Companion. I've decided to step down as the Design Team Coordinator of their two fabulous blogs in order to focus more of my time with my family. As their company starting growing and expanding with all its' successful launches, the position became too time intensive and was cutting into family fun. I am looking forward to following them now as a shopper :) They have some fabulous new stamp collections coming out this year!

Challenges I am entering with my Shop 'til you drop card:

4 Crafty Chicks - anything but a rectangle or square
Stampin for the Weekend - anything goes
The secret crafter saturday challenge - anything goes
Christmas cards all year round - anything goes
Paper Playtime - Say it with Sentiments and anything goes
Papertake weekly - Last Christmas card of the year
sttampin Royalty - Winter/Christmas

Have a wonderful day! Especially to those of you who are out there fightling the crowds for the deals :)

Denise

S.w.a.l.k. giveaway

2011-12-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

Crafters Companion USA is giving away another brand new S.w.a.l.k. stamp set to one lucky crafter. Just leave a comment on today's post over at Crafters Companion USA by Sunday at midnight and you can win this gorgeous stamp set that is perfect for New Year's! (Must be a U.S. resident).

Denise

The power of the iphone

2011-12-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone!

It Christmas break around here and the kids are loving their time off school. Today we went over to the mall and the kids told Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Lara was so brave and was all smiles for the camera. I've got all my shopping done and just need to do a couple more cards. I cannot believe that 2011 is almost over already.

Over the weekend, I made a fun page with my hubby and our niece and nephew. We were able to visit my sis and her family over Thanksgiving weekend and had so much fun. Chris tried to sneak off and relax in the guest room at one point and the twins followed him in. He was playing a game on his new iphone 4S. The kids were ENTHRALLED with it. They just hopped on the bed with him and cuddled up to watch him play. It was sooo funny.

I tongue-in-cheek used vintage-looking October Afternoon paper. After all, in a couple years this phone will be obsolete right? ;) I also distressed some of the paper and inked the edges. The vintage buttons are brads from Graphic 45. To give the layout a little pizzazz, I got out my i-rock and added bling in the center of random flowers all over the background paper.

The layout was inspired from a darling sketch over at Sketches in Thyme.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday and not too crazed with the holidays around the corner :)

Denise

Giveaway Friday

2011-12-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Crafter's Companion is giving away a brand new S.w.a.l.k. Winter Cheer stamp set away to one lucky follower. The stamp set is called Love You. It is sooo adorable!

Go here for your chance to win! Comments are open through the weekend.

Crafter's Companion winner

2011-12-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

The winner of my Crafter's Companion blog hop is....

Scraps2treasure said...

Great project - was wondering how you made the snow sparkly - have to try that myself lol. TFS new follower

Congratulations! Please email me with your name, address, and phone number so we can get your prize out to you. (lala3237@verizon.net)

Denise

Hugs for you

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning all! I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who commented on my blog hop post over the weekend. I really appreciated all the sweet comments. All of the winners of the hop will be posted tomorrow over at the Crafter's Companion USA Information blog. I will also post the name of my winner here, as well.

Today I have an easel card to share with you. I used Humphrey the Elephant Hugs for You stamp set. This stamp set is already mounted and ready to be used immediately out of the packaging. I think it is such a romantic image and perfect for your sweetie in your life.

I colored two of the stamps from the set with Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut them out. I love how the colors blended together. I used Double Sided Adhesive to pop my images off the designer paper. I printed an anonymous quote I found at Quote Garden onto vellum and adhered it to pink paper. I then added the pink strip to my card. I thought it fit perfectly with the image.

For the inside of the card, I added lace, white flowers, and pearls to add an even more romantic touch to my card.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday morning!

Denise

Crafter's Companion USA Christmas Blog Hop

2011-12-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Crafter's Companion USA Christmas blog hop!

If you are coming from Amy's blog, you are in the right place. If not, make sure you head over to Crafter’s Companion USA over here, where the blog hop starts. We are giving away a prize on every blog, including the entire set of our new Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to one lucky winner who posts a comment on every blog. These markers are so new, that you will be receiving our first prototype of them. That's 72 markers!

Spectrum Noir pens are alcohol ink based which have been designed specifically for crafters, but these affordable markers are also great for beginners, students and hobby artists alike. Each pen is double-ended, with a broad chisel nib for large area fills and a fine bullet tip for detailed work. Spectrum Noir marker pens will soon be available in 168 colour shades including a colourless blender. The colours blend seamlessly and can be mixed or layered over each other. These fast drying, alcohol based markers are acid-free and non-toxic, and the coloured ends of the pen allow for easy colour identification. The image colour has been reproduced as accurately as possible.

For today's blog hop project, I made an altered paper mache gift box to share with you.

I started my project by painting the outside of a paper mache circular box and lid with red paint. I avoided painting the middle parts of the base where paper would be covering it. Next, I took some leftover paper I had and wound two strips around the base of the box.

For the lid, I cut out an oval in my patterned paper and adhered it to the box top. I then wound two pieces of red ribbon over the top and adhered them inside the box top with quick drying tacky glue. I also added a few flowers and rhinestones along the ribbon.

My Humphrey the Elephant Feed-the-Birds stamped image was colored with my Spectrum Noir markers (same ones we are giving away). I love how the colors can be blended together. To create the snow, I covered the bottom area with glossy accents and the sprinkled glitter all over it. For the smaller areas around the birdhouse, I used Stickles.

I hope you were inspired by my project today and try your hand at creating your own beautiful gift boxes. I am giving away a Humphrey the Elephant Feed-the-Birds stamp set to one lucky random commenter. Please leave a comment before Sunday, December 11th at midnight for your chance to win. All the winners' names will be posted at Crafter's Companion USA News blog on Tueday December 13th. (Must be a U.S. resident to win).

Your next stop is the talented Khristen of Khristen's Craft room.

Thank you for stopping by!

Denise

Oh Happy Day

2011-12-05T14:36:00.001-08:00

It is windy today! I tried to take a picture of Lara outside to show her grandma-in-law how cute she looked in a dress she bought her, and this is how well that turned out.

Hilarious. I did manage to get a cute one later inside her classroom. Today was the first day Lara has gone to school since last Tuesday. Boy you sure can tell, because I wasn't able to get any scrapping done. So today I couldn't wait to make a page with some new October Afternoon goodies I bought during one of their Friday sales.

I just love the designs on their paper and darling circle and butterfly diecuts. The quote at the bottom says, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". The picture was taken on Halloween in Lara's classroom. She decided to be a doctor, so she could give out the shots. My layout was based on a sketch over at Artful Delight.

I am entering my layout in the following challenges:

Artful Delight - Sketch
Simon says stamps challenge - Anything goes
Fab N Funky challenges - Anything goes
2 Sisters challenge blog - Punches and/or Dies

I also wanted to share that Crafters Companion USA is having a blog hop this weekend. It starts on Friday. They are giving away lots of prizes, including all 72 Spectrum Noir alcohol markers that won't be available until January!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Denise

Sparkle challenge at the Crafter's Companion USA blog

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone! There is a new challenge over at the Crafter's Companion USA challenge blog. This month's challenge is "sparkle". Isn't that perfect for December? Seems like everywhere I look there is glitter and sparkly lights and ornaments. Thinking of that made me decide to make a sparkling Christmas tree card.

The Tree stamp is Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion Christmas Tree stamps. Though these stamps are to use as a guide when painting, I love stamping them and coloring them. I love that the stamps are all nice and big. This one in particular I keep reaching for. I love Christmas trees :)

I colored my Tree with my new Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and then cut it out. Next I painted the tree with Chandelier Glimmer Glam. The Glimmer Glam doesn't smear alcohol markers. Then I pulled out my Irock and adhered glam rocks to the tree. The glam rocks look more like ornaments than the rhinestones do. The paper is from Websters and the string of lights stickers across the top is from Echo Park's new Holly Jolly Christmas line, but the sentiment sticker was from October Afternoon's Very Merry collection.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp challenge - anything goes

Fab n Funky Challenges - anything goes

2 sisters challenge blog - Holiday

Craft your passion challenge - 'Tis the season

Creatalicious challenges - Christmas that sparkles

Paper Issues - Holiday Madness

Aud Sentiments challenge blog - any Winter holiday sentiments

Card Makin Mamas - Sentiments

The Paper Shelter - anything goes

Have a great day!

Denise

Hello Rudolph

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend full of visiting with family and friends. Today is my day to post over at Crafter's Companion USA and I decided to make a Christmas card.

Now that the Thanksgiving weekend is over, It's time for me to go into overdrive trying to prepare for Christmas. That means Christmas cards need to be made and sent out. This year I find myself using Humphrey the Elephant Christmas Collection for most of my cards. The images are not only gorgeous, but I find them very easy to color. As I've only been using alcohol markers for less than a year, this is important to me. I've found that grey colors are incredibly easy to blend together. I used Humphrey's Hello Rudolph stamp set and Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion Christmas Tree stamp set to set up a snowy Christmas scene. I love this Christmas tree. I bought it as soon as it was available at Crafter's Companion online store.

This is the first card that I have made using Crafter's Companion brand new Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. These blendable markers are now available for pre-order and you will be thrilled with budget-friendly they are. One side of the markers is a fine tipped nib, while the other side features a thicker chisel shaped nib.

To create the "snow", I covered the area at the bottom of the card with Glossy Accents and then poured white iridescent glitter all over the clear glue. I then shook off the excess and pour it back into my bottle of glitter. (We never want to waste anything, right)? This quick and easy snow creates an amazing effect on your card that you will want to replicate over and over.

Have a wonderful day everyone :)

Denise

On Strike

2011-11-21T11:40:00.001-08:00

It's a short week this week! Nicholas actually wanted to go to school early so he could get the two days of school this week over with. Lara was in heaven today because her school is having a huge Thanksgiving lunch today. And since she goes to school 4 days a week, she gets another one tomorrow! I made a Thanksgiving card this morning. It seemed appropriate. Both the turkey and the flag he's waving are from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge. The Paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

I'm entering it into the following challenges. Looks like we all have food on the brain ;)

Die Cutting Divas - It's Turkey time
Paper Cutz challenge - Let's talk Turkey
Simon says stamps challenge - Thanksgiving/Thanks
One stitch at a time challenge - Anything goes
Lollipop Crafts - Anything goes

Enjoy your day!

Denise

Happy Birthday

2011-11-18T11:36:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday!

I am so looking forward to this weekend. Nicholas is starting Cub Scouts and he has a den meeting and a Pack meeting. And we have heat again! Hurray :)

I made a quick birthday card today.

The paper is from K&Company and I used double sided adhesive tape to pop out my stamped image, Popcorn the Bear Party Time. I colored the image with Copic Markers and added a quick bow and sentiment.

Nicholas had crazy hair day at school. His hair was blue, orange, white, and green! What a face!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Denise

Meeting Santa

2011-11-13T15:04:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

Today I get to show my very favorite stamp of the new Humphrey Christmas Collection, Meeting Santa. I think the best part of Christmas is watching my kids tell Santa what they'd like for Christmas, talking about Santa on Christmas eve, and watching their excitement on Christmas morning as they see the presents under the tree. Though my son is nine already, he still believes Santa comes to our house! After telling him that Santa only comes to houses where kids believe in him, he doesn't dare not to! Happily I'll have a lot more years left of Santa Claus fun, as my daughter is only four.

I colored this precious image with Copic markers. To create the snow, I covered the area at the bottom of the stamp with Glossy Accents and then poured white irredescent glitter all over the glue. For the smaller snowflakes falling around Santa, I used a tiny dab of Crystal Stickles. For Santa's outfit, I applied white liquid applique and let it dry. Once liquid applique dries, you can heat the area with your heating tool and the applique will puff up and create a unique three dimensional effect.

I created the box using the The Ultimate Tool and The Boxer board in just a couple minutes and decorated the rest of the box with Echo Park's new Collection Holly Jolly Christmas paper and stickers, a little sparkling ribbon, and a flower by Prima. Making gift boxes with the Boxer board is so quick and easy, but the really wonderful thing about making gift boxes is the reaction that I get from the people who receive them. A handmade gift or decoration is always so appreciated.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I managed to see 2 movies! I took Nick to see Puss in Boots 3D and saw Tower Heist with one of my best friends. I was surprised that Tower Heist wasn't actually that funny. I expected it to be more of a comedy with a cast like Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it just wasn't what I expected. Puss in Boots was really cute and I definitely recommend seeing it. The weather was so incredible here on Sunday. Nick went to a friend's house, so Chris, Lara and I drove to Ventura Harbor and ate fresh fish and chips and scallops. It was awesome sitting outside and watching all the boats while we ate. We had to take off our sweatshirts it was so sunny and warm. We also stopped in Oxnard at one of the farms along the road and bought some fresh strawberries. They were sooo yummy!

I'll be sticking close to home today. I'm crossing my fingers that the company fixing our heater will can and fix the darn thing. After coming by last Friday, it turns out he misdiagnosed the problem so we are still without heat. Thank goodness we don't live where it's snowing!

Have a fabulous day!

Denise

Happy New Year Humphrey style

2011-11-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,

Since it's sneak preview week over at Crafter's Companion USA, I thought I'd share one here too. The Humphrey stamp is called Auld Lang Syne and will be available for purchase in the Crafter's Companion USA online store next week.

Aren't the partying elephants hilarious! The stamp set not only comes with Happy New Year, but it will also come with two other sentiments and an additional stamp that has champagne flutes, confetti, balloon, and a party hat grouped together. I'd show you...but what can I say, it's a sneak peak. Anticipation is good for the soul. These stamps are already mounted and ready to go as soon as you open up the package. The small balloons are a stamp from Humphrey's Birthday Conga stamp set.

I used American Craft's Confetti collection for the paper (so perfect for it!) and colored the main image with Copic markers. The orange background paper is glittered. The ribbon is from either Prima or Websters. I can't remember and I tossed the packaging. I used a sketch from Sketch Saturday for inspiration. To see more of these fabulous Holiday Humphrey stamps, you can check out Crafter's Companion USA all this week and next. They really are gorgeous stamps.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - card sketch

ARTastic challenge blog - inspiration from the painting 'Baccus'

Southern Girls challenge - Can you hear the music? (Auld Lang Syne)

2 Sisters Challenge Blog - ribbon

Shopping our stash - stickers, rub ons, or chipboard (stickers in the upper right hand corner of my card)

Have a wonderful day! I'm off to wait for an estimate on our heater that broke. Sure hope they can fix it today too, it's been so cooooold! Okay maybe not by East coast standards, but still it's too hard to be creative when it's 62 degrees...;) I'm too busy hudling under my electric blanket!

Denise

Soar

2011-11-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, today I have a fun layout using a photo taken at Knotts Berry Farm. I love buying those photos that are taken while you are on rides. They always crack me up because everyone's expression is so candid and funny; especially when you are going down a ride.

I used a frame from my Sentamentals cricut cartridge to frame the picture. The swirls were brown chipboard that I painted purple and then covered in purple glitter. I'm very sparkly today as a result ;) All the flowers are from Prima. The paper is from Quick Quotes, as is the vellum sentiment. I added rub-on stitching around it.

I am entering my layout in the following challenges:
Once Upon a Sketch - sketch challenge
Creative Inspirations - lashings of sparkle
Shopping our Stash - Stickers, rub-ons, or chipboard
Lil Red Wagon - Monsters or purple (or purple monsters)
Frosted Designs - Family
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Swirls

Also, we are having a week of sneak peaks of our soon to be released Humphrey the Elephant Christmas collection over at Crafter's Companion USA News blog. These stamps are sooo cute. You will definitely want to check them out.

Have a wonderful day :)

Denise

Crafter's Companion November Holiday challenge

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Did everyone have a great Halloween? I know I did! All that candy to pilfer while the kids are at school!!! Chocolate and coffee anyone? It's the breakfast of champions :)

It's November 1st and that means a brand new challenge over at Crafter's Companion USA challenge blog. This month our challenge is to use a Crafter's Companion and make a project celebrating a holiday. It can be any holiday, not just Christmas. But since Christmas is around the corner, I used the opportunity to get a Christmas card done.

I absolutely adore this Popcorn the Bear Stamp, Just for you. It was one of the first stamp sets I saw at Crafter's Companion and I had to buy it. I love the sweet image and the main stamp in the set is huge! I stamp it in Momento Black Tuxedo Ink and colored it with Copic Markers.

To make the puffed up Santa hats I used a "Snow Marker Paper and Fabric Embellishing pen" from Marvy. I think they just repackaged the regular Marvy's liquid applique and called it this to sell more during the holidays. Basically you paint with the pen and once it dried, heat up the paint with your heat gun and it will puff up the paint. The more you put on, the puffier it gets. It's actually really cool.

For the snow, I covered the area with Ranger's Glossy Accents and then sprinkled Joann's Craft Essential Crystal diamond glitter.

I hope you'll join us for our Holiday challenge. One lucky random winner will get all six of the latest Humphrey the Elephant stamp sets. These stamps are adorable and perfect for all kinds of occasions.

Have a great day!

Denise

Train ride

2011-10-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

I made a double page layout today. I don't make two many two pagers, but when I do it's usually because I see one I really like at Let's Scrap. I just got back the pictures I took of our train ride to L.A.'s Chinatown and decided to scrap them.

I used my expression for the die cuts. The train and the train signal was from Everyday Paper Dolls. I love how many images there are on that cartridge. I choose the tree from the Pagoda cartridge since it t had an Asian look to it.

The paper is from DCWV. I'm not sure which paper pads though. I've had them a while and the covers usually come off and get thrown out. The butterflies are from K&Company and are stickers.

This week has just flown by again. Lara and I have been sick again and she's on breathing treatments. I miss Summer and the lack of germs! LOL. Nick had his overnight party w/ three friends. Can you say LOUD? With all the wrestling and running nothing got broken and no one got hurt, so I'd judge it a success.

I thought I'd share a photo of Lara with her new nemesis:

The witch starts talking and cackling when anyone walks by. Lara was terrified of her. She's been turned off, but before she was Lara would literally either hug the opposite wall to get by or crawl by on her hands and knees like a soldier. It was hilarious!!! Now that the witch is off, Lara enjoys smacking her when she passes her :)

Have a great weekend!

Denise

Christmas Rose Door hanger and barrette

2011-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Sheena Douglass' Paint Fusion stamps are absolutely beautiful. When I heard that she was designing a Christmas Paint Fusion collection, I couldn't wait to get my hands on them. I saw the Christmas Rose Paint Fusion stamps and immediately began to think of all the different projects I could make with them.

My first thought was that these beautiful flowers would be perfect to decorate a door hanger with.

This door hanger was very easy to make. I started by painting a plain door hanger with white acrylic paint. I let the first coat dry, and then added a second coat to make sure the brown was covered. While the second coat of paint was drying, I pulled out some white glitter I had on hand and sprinkled it all over the wet paint. The paint acts as a glue while it is wet, so the glitter sticks really well to it.

To make the flowers, I stamped out the leaves and flowers on my Paint Fusion stamp set and colored them using my Copic Sketch markers. The colors I used for the flowers were R81, R83, R85, Y35, and Y38. I used Copic markers G21, G24, G28 for the leaves. Once they were colored, I added them to the door hanger with a glue gun and Double Sided Adhesive Foam.

To finish it off, I added a pretty bow I made with some leftover ribbon and letters spelling out, "Lara's Room"."

While I was coloring the Christmas roses in pink, I also colored a rose in red to add to a plain barrette. For this Christmas rose I colored it with Copic Sketch markers R22, R24, R27, Y35, and Y37. Because I knew that this flower would be going on a barrette, I wanted to make it a little sturdier. To do this, I painted the flower with Chandelier Glimmer Glaze. The glaze has an almost starch like quality so it really stiffens up anything you use it on, as well as adding lots of glitter.

As you can see, the two projects were a huge hit with my daughter.

We will have sneak peaks of all the fabulous new Sheena Douglass' Christmas Paint Fusion Collection this week at the Crafter's Companion USA News blog. I hope you have a chance to check them all out. They are awesome!

Have a great day!

Denise

A mini album for my mom-in-law

2011-10-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!!! We have a big weekend going on here. We are having family up in the late morning for Nick's birthday and then 3-4 eight and nine year olds coming over for a sleepover party. Then Sunday we are going to an Organic farm to pick up a pumpkin. The place is really cool because it has a huge cornstalk maze, rides, bounce houses, animals to feed, and lots of organic fruit and veggies you can buy. Then more family is coming over to give Nick more presents. It's going to be so much fun!

Because it is my mom-in-law's birthday in October too, I made her a gorgeous mini album that she can put pictures into. I had made the container and cover of the mini album at a Color Connection weekend. It was a class taught by Prima. I finally got around to decorating the insides so I could give it as a gift.

I used lots of Prima rub-ons, papers, and flowers to decorate it. I also used a few Quick Quotes vellum quotes which I chalked up around the edges. I had to wait to post it because she often checks out my blog :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Denise

Steampunk Debutante

2011-10-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Just a quick card for today. This week went by in another blur. I have had an awful migraine the last few days but today I feel human again. Hurray! Good thing too because my son's 9th birthday is this weekend and he is having a few friends spend the night so I have a list of things to do. I went and ordered his cake today (Transformers is his theme) and bought 5 big bags of candy. I am going to have a candy bar for the kids. I got M&Ms, Skittles, Starburst (did you know they have a bag with only the red and pink ones in it? Yeah, that's the one I bought!), Sour Patch Kids, and 3 Musketeers. I made sure to buy stuff I liked too, just in case they need a little help eating it ;) Yes, there will lots of wired kids bouncing off the walls here on Saturday! I am going to have Nick pick out a couple WII games and a movie. We have a loft upstairs where the WII is and the kids can camp out there.

Okay, on to something crafty. My bff Stacy gave me a 6x6 paper pad of Steampunk Debutante, which is one of my most favorite paper collections, so I made this fun card with it. I'm pretty sure I will never get tired of this paper. I just love the cool images and colors. I added some clock pieces and silver bead ribbon, as well as a little bling. The roses in the corner were cut out of the paper and then I added some Stickles to them.

Enjoy the rest of your night :)

Denise

Crafter's Companion USA Design Team Call

2011-10-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Hope your weekend is off to a lovely start. We just rolled out of bed around here (it's only 8:30) and am sipping coffee. I wanted to let you guys know about the design team call by Crafter's Companion USA. As you know, I am the design team coordinator for the company and I have to say they are awesome to design for. I have been really blessed to be a part of their DT. So I highly recommend applying for our Design Team if that is something that interests you.

You can find all the details on their blog http://crafterscompanion.blogspot.com/2011/10/crafters-companion-usa-design-team-call.html. Just click on the link and it'll take you there.

Enjoy your weekend!

Denise

Merry Scaring

2011-10-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

This week has just flown by! Nicholas has miniumum days all this week, so we've been busy. I did manage to make a fun Halloween card today. To make it I pulled out my Tim Holtz Seasonal masks (www.timholtz.com) and chose a witch for the main image.

I glimmer misted the mask with Raven glimmer mist. I love how it turned out. The paper, ghost, and bats are from Making Memories. The cool "Merry scaring" rub-on was part of a Cosmo Cricket's Haunted rub-ons.

I am entering my card in the following challenges.

Simon Says Stamps challenge - Halloween/Goth
Simon Says Stamp and Show - things with wings (bats)
My Craft Spot - black with orange (or purple or green)
Scrap-Creations - Halloween
Paper Issues - Halloween
Shopping our Stash - Boo are You (Spooky and/or Black/Orange)
Studio L3: Grungy Monday - include www.timholtz.com Tim Holtz-themed Halloween art

Enjoy the rest of your day. It's almost Friday!

Denise

Delightful

2011-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee today. Literally. My first cup seems to have walked off by itself and I cannot find it anywhere! Today feels like Monday to me since Nick and I just flew back from Vegas last night. We had so much hanging out with my friend Stacy and her 5 kids. I think the highlight for Nick was definitely going to Chuck E Cheese for a couple of hours. My favorite thing was going to the local scrapbook store and making a Christmas tray with Stacy. So much fun.

One of the things I made over the weekend was a layout of Nick's school picture from the beginning of last year. He was growing his hair out at the time.

I bought a W R Memory Keepers Sew Easy tool over the weekend and got to try it on this layout. I can't sew worth a darn and I have to say I LOVE this tool. It took a little while to sew all the stitches but it was really easy.

The patterned paper, button, and chipboard is from MME Stella and Rose collection.

I am entering my layout in the following challenges:

Frosted Designs - Sketch challenge
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Distressing
K.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Bright Colors
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - Sparkle and bling
ABC Challenge - Anything Goes
One Stitch at a Time Challenge - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft Challenge - Anything Goes

Have a great day!

Denise

Kicking off a week of sneak peaks

2011-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I am so excited to get to kick off a week of sneak peaks over at the Crafter's Companion USA blog. Humphrey the Elephant is one of my favorite Crafter's Companion collection and I was so excited when I saw this absolutely darling new stamp from the Humphrey the Elephant Father's day stamp set.

Isn't that the sweetest image and sentiment? It reminds me of when my son was little and always pulling on his daddy's shoes and stomping around in them. Though the stamp set is called Father's day, I made this card for my son to give to his dad for Christmas. I have a feeling it's going to be a big hit with a handwritten note inside it.

I used my Cricut Expression to cut out the fun star shaped card (Birthday bash cartridge), outlined the star with white pencil, and added a brown ribbon around it. (Notice no bow, it's for a guy after all.) After stamping the image with my Tuxedo Black Memento Ink pad I colored this delightful image with my Copic Markers.

I used the following Copic markers for my little elephant: N1, N3, N5, E0000, E00, E02, E21, E23, E25, E27, E59, Y38, B00, B02, B05, R24, R27, R29.

I am getting seriously addicted to Copic markers. I haven't picked up a colored pencil since I started coloring with them. I hope you go by the Crafter's Companion USA blog this week and check out all the cool new stamps.

Have a great day :)

Denise

Winner of blog candy

2011-10-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I finally got a chance to get on my computer and get a winner picked for my candy. This first name the random generator picked was not a follower so I had it pick again and it picked #25.

Angi @ CokiePop said...

This is a great treasure to gather up after cleaning. :) Love this giveaway. Fingers crossed. :)

September 16, 2011 7:41 PM

Congrats Angi!!!! Email me with your snail mail and I will get your package mailed out to you.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Denise

4 More Pink Paislee cards

2011-10-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you everyone for the well wishes :) I am starting to feel better. I thought I'd share the last four Pink Paislee cards I made over the weekend for world card making challenges. The first one is my favorite. Probably b/c it's a Halloween card.

We had our first Autumn rainfall. Guess Summer is really over :( I decided to break down and go buy some new jeans for Winter. Though I only bought short sleave shirts to go with them. You know what's awesome about rainy days; you can rock out in the car and no one can see you doing it!

Have a great night,

Denise

WCMD and sick

2011-10-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I can tell school is in session. Both my kids got cold last week and went right into their lungs. So all weekend was about them taking turns on the nebulizer. I thought I managed to escape the cold but no, I woke up on Saturday with a mean sore throat. I've been getting progressively sicker (doesn't help w/ my asthma) but Saturday I was feeling good enough to scrap. Pink Paislee had a few challenges on their Live Pink Ning site so I had fun making quite a few cards with their challenges.

For all the challenges we had to use 75% Pink Paislee, but I always like trying to us as much of manufacture's products as I can for challenges like that. After all, they want to see their stuff, right? And I love Pink Paislee so it was easy for me. Here's a few I came up with:

Cross your fingers I get better quickly ('cause it really hurts on my left side when I breathe). Nicholas and I are flying off to Vegas to visit friends this weekend. We asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he wanted to visit his friends in Vegas. He turns 9(!) this month. If there's a way to keep him from hitting double digits I'd really like to know about it! So his big present is to fly w/ mommy to Vegas for a weekend of playing with all his friends. Happily we found some really cheap tickets. It's a rough life...not!

Have a great day,

Denise

Friendship Challenge

2011-10-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Crafter's Companion USA Challenge blog has another great challenge for you this month. The theme this month is friendship. So grab those Crafter's Companion's stamps and get crafting. I decided to make a card with our the new EZ mount Popcorn the Bear Birthday Cuddles.

The paper is from Scenic Route and I colored this darling stamp with Copic markers. The stamp set comes with several small stamps so you can decide on which sentiment you want on the little tag he is holding. I chose "Special Friend" for mine. I used some silver metal star paperclips around the image and the silver bead ribbon is from Websters.

This month's prize is: Six of our soon to be released Humphrey the Elephant Stamp sets, with a mini storage binder and a set of the mini panels to put them into!!! You'll definitely want to join us to when these adorable stamps :)

It's so funny because my bff Stacy is on the Crafter's Companion USA design team as well, and she choose the exact same image for this challenge too! How funny is that? We really are two peas in a pod.

I just bought a photography studio in a box sort of thing and got to play with it for the first time with my card. It's basically a 16x16 foldable canvas box with different colored backgrounds, some lights, and a tripod. With Winter coming, the light is not always great. And with two kids, I'm having a hard time finding some clean white walls to photograph my cards against! LOL! So not kidding. Here are two other backgrounds I tried.

Have a great day everyone!

Denise

Win the new Sealed with a little Kiss stamp collection

2011-09-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Crafter's Companion has an amazing giveaway on their news blog today. They are giving away all six sets of their new Sealed with a Kiss collection.

You can check out how to win at http://crafterscompanion.blogspot.com/2011/09/swalk-copic-coloring-tutorial-and.html.

Daydream Believer

2011-09-26T11:50:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

Today I have a sneak peak for you of one of the new stamps that will be available Thursday at the Crafter's Companion Store. There will be six brand new S.w.a.l.k. stamp sets! Love these images.

This little cutie on the card is one of the soon to be released S.w.a.l.k. stamps, Daydream Believer. Isn't she adorable? The flowers and butterfly also come with the set. Here is a close up.

We are celebrating this new launch with lots of tips and tutorials on the Crafter's Companion News blog. There may be a giveaway over there soon as well (hint, hint). So you'll definitely want to keep an eye out.

We've had a busy weekend around here. We had Lara's birthday party and she was sooo excited! She loved tearing into presents and eating lots of sweets and cake. She wants to be a chef when she grows up so she was so jazzed to get a chef's hat and apron from my sis, another apron from her greatgrandma, and a barbie kitchen from her Nana and Papa. She also scored a ton of art supplies (washable! yes!). I just love this picture of her hamming it up.

Have a wonderful day!

Denise

Paper Playtime's Halloween challenge

2011-09-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Paper Playtime's Challenge #56 is to make a HALLOWEEN project of your choice!

Now is the perfect time to get started on your Halloween cards and projects. I decided to use The Mini Monster's Cricut cartridge and make a card.

The vampire card is really quick and simple to put together. He also stands up well on his own.

Our sponsor for this challenge is THE SCRAPBOOKING QUEEN.

She is generously providing a PACK OF 6 ACTION WOBBLES to one lucky winner (must have a USA address).

These are great for adding some movement to your cards. Hope to see you over there.

Denise

Getting Dizzy

2011-09-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

Quick layout for today. Sketches4all is still having their big sketchathon so I picked a sketch I thought was perfect for some veritical pictures I took of the kids getting dizzy at the park.

The kids would ask me to turn them as fast as I could and then try to walk in a straight line. Remember doing that as a kid? Never gets old. The paper from Echo Park is so perfect for the pictures and I used up a good amount of brads along the edges. If you want to try your hand at this sketch, you can find the challenge here.

I'm going to be scarce around here the rest of this week. I'm working on DT projects and we have a crazy weekend planned. Friday night I am taking Nicholas to Phineas and Ferb Live, Sunday is Lara's bday party, and Monday we are taking the train to Chinatown in L.A. to walk around and eat dinner. Lara's been dying to go on a train and Chinese food is her favorite. She is so excited she can hardly stand it :)

Have a wonderful day,

Denise

Steampunk Debutante Home Decor

2011-09-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Since my husband had football on the brain today, I had some extra time to craft. I hauled out all my Graphic45 Steampunk Debutante Collection and a fun wall hanging that I've been meaning to alter.

All the images are cut out from the collection. All the bling is from Pink Paislee. There is a hook on the back of the house so I can hang it in my craft room. I thought about having it in my bathroom and putting some of my jewelry on it, but any time I leave jewelry out, little hands seem to find and hide it :)

I am entering my Steampunk House over at Simon Says Stamp and Show where the challenge is to show some Steampunk.

Denise

Dear Santa

2011-09-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

I made my first Christmas card for the year. And it's only September! It always amazes me when I see people posting Christmas cards throughout the year. I'm more of a wait until the last minute type. However, I received a warehouse box from Websters and it had one of my favorite Christmas lines in it, Waiting for Santa, so I made a quick card with it. Gotta love warehouse boxes! (I think the best ones are Pink Paislee's and Webster's).

I am entering it in the following challenges:

Sketch and Stash Challenge - use one of their past sketches (I used #7)

Simon Says Stamps Challenge - song (Santa Claus is coming to town)

http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/ - sky (snow, snowflakes)

Hope everyone is having a crafty weekend!

Denise

Big Box Giveaway

2011-09-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Out with the old and in with the new! I went through my craftroom and set aside everything I'd had for a while and hadn't used. The result was a pile so huge it completely fills this priorty Mail box I'm sending to one lucky person.

There are all kinds of stuff in the pile.

Albums, kits, idea books, digital scrapbooking

Acrylic stamps, rockers, diecuts

chipboard

Stickers and tags

punches, ribbon, flowers, Sizzix embossing folders,buttons,etc

Look good to you?

Be a follower of my blog and leave a comment below.

If you post it in your blog (sidebar is fine), leave a second comment for another chance to win. U.S Residents only please.

I will pick a winner using a random generator in 3 weeks (October 8th)

Denise

New Popcorn Pals collection

2011-09-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I have a card for you using a brand new stamp set called Popcorn Pals Happy Days. I absolutely LOVE these stamps, especially the image of the girl holding her feline friend while swinging. It's just so sweet.

Here's a close up of the stamped imaged. The attention to detail in the stamp are incredible. See the two birds and mouse sitting on the branches?

These stamps are definitely going to be my new go to stamps. I think this image would be perfect for an Autumn themed card as well. I colored the image using Copic Markers. The paper is Quick Quotes' Live Out Loud collection.

There are four new stamps set in the Popcorn Pals collections. I love that all the stamps are premounted and ready to go as soon as you get them. You can find all these stamps at the Crafter's Companion store here.

I'm thrilled it's Friday. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tonight :) I've been cleaning out my craftroom over the last few days and will be having a giveaway soon. Gotta get rid of the clutter! It's funny but I don't collect or hoard anything but scrap goodies. My bedroom is very minimalist in it's decoration and I love the clean look of it. I can't stand seeing stuff sitting out. But when it comes to scrapbook stuff, I am a total hoarder. Every now and again I gotta just get rid of stuff I have won or bought that I'm just not using. I did manage to clean out an entire drawer yesterday. Whoo Hoo! Lara is in heaven because I gave her a huge pile of stickers when she got home from school.

Have a great weekend :)

Denise

Playing around at Sketches4you

2011-09-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Just a quick card and tag to share with you. Both were part of Sketches4you End of the Summer Sketch-a-thon. I had a lot of fun making my butterfly card. I made a mask using a butterfly in the Home Decor and More Cricut cartridge and spraying it with Glimmer mist. I then cut out around the shape and added some pink bling and pearls. The smaller butterflies were also from that cartridge. I painted them with some Glimmer Glam, add some extra glitter while it was drying, and then added some loose rhinestones I had lying around.

I decided to use Pink Paislee's Old School Collection to make my tag. I still have quite a few school layouts I need to do, so this would be a quick addition to one of them. I seriously love the rub-ons. I don't think you can really see it, but I used one of their clear oversized cards for the base of it. The lined paper is actually underneath the card.

Thanks for looking :)

Denise

Two new cards for Crafter's Companion USA

2011-09-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

*** If you are looking for my Double Twisted Easel tutorial scroll down to the previous post***

I have two Crafter's Companion projects to share with you today as well. The first one I made for the Crafter's Companion News Blog. I used the Popcorn the Bear Birthday Collection CD ROM and the main image of the Popcorn the Bear Birthday Hugs stamp set. This stamp measures 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches! It's huge!

I printed out this paper for the background of my card.

I just love that I can decide on a color scheme for my card and print it out right away. No more shuffling through paper, mixing and matching. Here's a close up of the yellow and blue presents on the page. The really great thing about this background is that I could have printed this paper in a variety of other colors, rather than the blue and yellow. However, I was looking for softer colors and chose this one.

Then using my Copic markers, I colored the large present yellow and blue to match. In the left corner I tied a bow and wrapped it around the Popcorn the Bear background paper before adhering it to the front of the card.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Southern Girls Challenge - lots of layers or a birthday theme
The Stamping Boutique challenge blog - make a birthday project
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - ribbon
I Did it Creations Challenge Blog - Anything goes

The second card I made for the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog. This month's challenge is to incorporate a Crafter's Companion stamp with the theme Autumn.

I saw a fabulous card sketch challenge at Moving Along with the Times and decided to use it for my card. I colored this cute little mouse, from the Crafting Companions stamp set, with Copic Markers and added it to an orange backing. Then using my I-rock, I added orange bling along the edges. The flowers are from Prima and I added a little Diamond Stickles to the larger orange flower. Next I found a wonderful Autumn quote through Google (love Goggle!) and printed it out on vellum paper. I then adhere the vellum quote to a vellum tag using V2. I also found an acorn eyelet that went with the theme perfectly.

Thanks for looking at my two cards :) If you have a Crafter's Companion stamp, we'd love to see your fall projects :)

I am entering my Autumn card in the following challenges:

Moving along with the Times - Card sketch
Sentimental Sundays - Autumn
I Did it Creations Challenge blog - Anything Goes
The Paper Variety - Favorite Embellishment (Prima flowers all the way)
Stacy's Stamp challenge at Sketches4all - use a stamp

and linking my Autumn card to Craftaholics Anonymous linky party.

Enjoy the rest of your day,

Denise

Double twisted easel card (Tutorial included)

2011-09-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

*** I have a Double Twisted Easel card tutorial at the end of this post. It's super easy to make and you'll definitely want to give it a try!***

It's time for another great challenge over at Paper Playtime. This week's challenge is to create an Easel Card. I decided I wanted to go a little further and make a double twisted easel card. I just think they look so cool and are really simple to make. I'll show you how to do it in a bit, but first I wanted to share my card with you.

I went totally girly with this card. The beautiful ornate paper is from Quick Quotes, as is the "Dream" quote. To add a little color, I chalked behind the quote before gluing it down with V2. The Fairy digital image is from Whimsy Stamps and I have been dying to stamp and color it, which I did with Copic markers. You can find it here. I also added a little glitter on her wings with some Glimmer Glam.

In the bottom half of the card, I added lots of Prima flowers and a bit of with lace. Yummy! The larger turquoise flower is not only gorgeous but keeps the two sides of the card standing up.

Okay, here's a quick & easy tutorial on how to make this cool card.

To start you need a square piece of paper. The bigger the card you want the bigger the square. For this tutorial, I started with a 7" square.

First, fold the card in half like you would any other card.

Next, you are going to cut your card from the top middle of your card down to the fold of the card
(3 1/2 inches down).

Now that you have cut the card, you are going to fold back one of the sides of the fold. You will start at the top middle (where the cut starts) and fold the paper back toward the side of the card, as shown.

Then make the same fold on the other side of your card. That's it for cutting and folding. So you should have one cut and three folds total for the base of the card.

For the top of the card, you will place glue on the two folded down pieces. Only put glue where I have marked it. I like to use liquid glue for this next step so I can move the paper around until it's perfect.

On each of the marked glue sections, you are going to place a 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 square piece of paper. When you are adhering it, only the 1/2 the square will have adhesive on it. You will want to line up the square along the bottom and sides, making sure you can still close the card.

And that's it. Once you've made one of these, you won't need directions again. Once I had my base done, I quickly put together the rest of my card.

The last thing you will need to remember is to make sure you have a three dimensional embellishment in the center of the bottom half of your card. The embellishemnt will keep the sides open. You can see mine below are some small 3-D flowers.

I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and make one of your own. If you do, let me know so I can stop by and check out yours :)

I am entering my cards at the following challenge blogs :

The Paper Variety - use a stamp (used a digital whimsy fairy stamp in the first card)
Flutterby Wednesday - Use a fairy
Fresh Brewed Designs - use something new (my digital fairy stamp is new)
Simon Says Stamps Challenge blog - Multifold cards/creations (I linked it twice, one for each card)

Truly Scrumptious Challenges - Decorate the inside of your card

Stampin for the weekend - Use lots of pink
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - More than one fold

Thanks for taking a look :)

Denise

School Time

2011-09-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Gals,

Looking for a great sketch? Sketches4you is having an End of the Summer Sketch-a-thon. Each day one of their DT post a new sketch. I used my friend's Stacy layout for this page.

I just love this picture of when Lara was telling me all the letters she knew at school. I had this darling digital image from Jen's digi stamps. The bookworm was part of the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday. We've already gone to one kid party and have another one coming up in a few hours. Nick and Lara are sound asleep after jumping on trampolines for 2 hours :)

Denise

Crafter's Companion New Popcorn the Bear launch

2011-09-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hey gals,

I am so uncool. Today I drove my son to school, same as everyday, and as we pull into the driveway he says, "You might want to turn that off Mom". I replied back, "Turn what off?" His reply, "The music mom. Someone might here it and I'd be so embarrassed!"

Wow, apparently I cannot listen to music in the vicentity of any children, less I embarrass my son. The song was Lady Gaga's hit, "Eh, Eh, (Nothing else I can say)". I think tomorrow I am going to roll down all the windows, blast the song, while singing loudly.... Might be too cruel though. I sing, really, really badly.

Today I've been working on dt projects (I'll have 3 posts for you on Monday!), but I wanted to share the new launch from Crafter's Companion which is available today.

These stamps are big and detailed, you will love them. The CD has all these images and more plus includes:

Step-by-step projects
Backing papers and note papers
Matching inserts and envelopes
Gift tags and gift bags
Teabags and borders
Topper and decoupage
Pyrimage and alphabets
Interactive verse creator
And much, much more

You could plan a whole birthday with it from invites to cute gift boxes. You can find out more about it at the Crafters Companion Online Store.

Have a wonderful day,

Denise

Color Connection layout

2011-09-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Quick post for today. Lara only goes to preschool an hour and a half today and tomorrow and Nick's got early day too, so it's run, run, run. I didn't manage a layout that I had started over the weekend.

The photos were of my bff Stacy and I at the Color Connection Event hosted by Prima, Tattered Angels, and Pink Paislee. I thought it was fitting that almost everything is from them. The two exceptions are the brown pearls and this awesome vellum quote from Quick Quotes.

It was too perfect for the layout. I used a gorgeous sketch I found over at My Scraps and More. For some reason I can't seem to copy the sketch itself so hop on over there to play.

I entered my layout over at:

Quick Quotes blog - make a banner
My Scraps and More - Sketch challenge

See you later! Time to go pick up Nick and hit the park with some friends :)

Denise

Wild and Free

2011-09-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day! We are all relaxing around the house today getting ready for the new week. Tomorrow is Lara first day back to preschool and she is so excited about it. She has the same teachers she had last year so it should be an easy transition for her. Her first two days are short as well (an hour and a half, rather than the normal 3).

I did have time this weekend to make a layout using some of my Quick Quotes stash and a fabulous sketch. My girlfriend Stacy and I decided to make it at the same time, though with me in CA and her in NV. It's a good way to get scrapping :) The picture of my son, Nick, was when he had just come down a good sized Waterslide. He was pretty thrilled with himself :)

I got out my Expression to cut out the banner (Give a Hoot), circular shape (Cindy Loo), and scalloped edge (Accent Essential) on the right hand side. The rubons and chipboard embellishments are from MME and the glittered ABCs are Making Memories.

I am entering my layout into the following challenges:

Quick Quotes - banner
My Creative Sketches - Sketch challenge

That's it from me today. Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for looking :)

Denise

Winner of my 12x12 paper giveaway

2011-09-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

The random generator picked number 1 again! How weird is that?

Congrats Carrie K! Shoot me an email with your address (lala3237 at verizon dot net) and I will send out all the fun paper. You are going to love the all the paper and embellishments, especially the 12x12 vellum paper :)

Carrie K said...

I am posting this on my blog. I would LOVE to win!!

August 16, 2011 1:28 PM

Crafter's Companion U.S.A.'s "Fall" Challenge

2011-09-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's time again for a new challenge over at Crafter's Companion USA Challenge blog. This month we are cooling down the challenge by using Autumn as our theme. I'd sure love to cool off over here! It's been sooo hot here in Southern California. It never fails. School starts and the temperatures soar.

For my Autumn project, I used one of my favorite Popcorn the Bear stamp sets, Bunches of Love. This large stamp is perfect for any occasion. I decided not to include a sentiment for my card, so I could use it whenever I needed a last minute card.

I used my Cricut Expression (Songbird cartridge) to cut out the shaped squares on my card and inked up the edges with some brown chalk. The paper is from Close to my Heart. (Can you tell I'm trying to use that up? I need to make room for a couple of warehouse boxes I've got coming!) I colored the image with Copic Sketch Markers. I found a bit of ribbon I had left over from another project and added a bow to the bottom of the card, as well as some copper pearls along the edges. Like most scrappers, I hoard left over bits of paper and ribbons. You never know when you might use them, right?

Hope you've enjoyed the card today and will join us in the challenge. Our fabulous prize of a CleverCut 5-in-1 trimmer ($49.95 value!) is still the prize as we didn't hit the 10 person requirement to give it away. So come over and join. Talk about great odds of winning!

I am entering my card over at Ready Teddy Go Challenge where the challenge is "Autumn Colors".

Have a wonderful morning!

Denise

Crafters Digital Art Center

2011-08-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today. I made a card for a progressive challenge at the Crafter's Digital Art Center. It is all about creating and crafting with digis. I definitely recommend checking it out if you do either. This is the first progressive challenge I've entered as well. Every couple of weeks we are sent new digital images to create with. For the first challenge, I chose to use this beautiful digi by Anne's Digital Art.

Isn't the image so darling? I had so much fun playing with my Copic markers when I colored it. Lara really, really wants all my Copic markers. LOL. Guess Crayola just isn't cutting it. The paper is G45's On the Boardwalk collection. The flowers and bling are from Prima. I added a little sparkle to the butterfly with some Tattered Angels Chandelier Glimmer Glam.

I have linked my card to Make it Monday Link Party. This is a great website where you can show off a project of yours to other crafters, as well as get some crafty inspiration from other bloggers.

I am also entering it at Simon says Stamp and Show where the challenge is "Anything goes".

Have a good one!

Denise

Stamping Monday Challenge at Paper Playtime

2011-08-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's Monday... time for another great challenge at PAPER PLAYTIME. We are so glad you are joining us for our AUGUST STAMPING MONDAY CHALLENGE! Our theme for this challenge is VACATION.

How to play along: Make a project with the theme of VACATION using a Stamped or Digi Image/Sentiment. Easy Peasy! So for all you Cricut Lovers out there – you can still play along by adding a STAMPED sentiment. And for all you DIGI Lovers out there – use any Digi image or sentiment on your project.

You can enter as many times as you'd like as long as all your entries are NEW projects and NO backlinks to previous blog posts.

Here is my project for this week. The darling little bird is a digital stamp from AI Factory. I thought she could use a little hat too :) It is part of their Little Birdie Collection. You can find their store here.

The sign was cut from my Disney Classics Cricut cart and the vellum quote is from Quick Quotes.

Doesn't it make you wish Summer break wasn't over? I'd like to be laying by the Sea right about now...

Have a great day!

Denise

Moments

2011-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today I have a layout using some of my stash. I received this gorgeous paper two or three years ago at a Quick Quotes Private Reserve weekend. If you ever get a chance to go to one, I highly recommend them. I've been to two.

It's hard to tell by the picture, but I totally blinged out this layout. There is bling all along the largest brown square square. I also colored some clear bling blue with a Copic marker and put them all along the title of my layout (Moments). It's very sparkly :) The beautiful clear three dimensional flowers are from Pink Paislee.

I used a great sketch from Sketch Inspiration. It is a Ning site that has a new layout sketch up every Sunday. They always have great prizes so you might want to check them out if you haven't already.

I am also entering my layout in the following challenges:
Sketches In Thyme - Open sketch challenge
CropStop challenge - Anything goes
Oldie but a Goodie - Lots of Sparkle
Creative Cutter - Splish Splash (water)

I also got a blog award yesterday from Carri at Double Click Connections. Carri is super talented and shares amazing Cricut projects almost every day. I feel very humbled to have been chosen from her. Thanks Carri!!!

As part of this award, I have to answer the following 12 questions and pass this on to 6 people. Here are the answers to my questions:

Name your favorite color?

Pink (but not on clothes)

Name your favorite song?

Good life from One Republic (It rocks! I'd put it on my blog if music didn't irritate people. So upbeat! )
Name your favoirte dessert?

Creme Brulee
What wizzes you off at the moment?

Nothing right now... hmm that's strange ;)

Your favorite pet?

My 9 year old Shitzu Simba

Black or white?

Black (who picks white?)

Your biggest fear?

home invasion, What can I say? I'm married to a cop.
Best feature?

Sense of humor

Everyday attitude?

Have fun

What is perfection?

a warm sunny sky and my family around me

Guilty pleasure?

What isn't a guilty pleasure these days...I guess diet coke

When you're upset?
If I'm really upset I'll clean up the house while stewing. And then my house is clean and I'm not so upset anymore :)

I'm sending this off to some new and old blogging friends.There are other gals who I'd love to give this to but either I ran past the 6 person max or they had already received this award. (Stacy you know I'd put you first but you got this fabulous award from Carri too) I wanted to pick some fabulous bloggers that somehow hadn't received this award. These wonderful woman are so supportive of me. They leave me sweet comments even though I've been such a bad blogger this Summer. Having two kids home made it really hard to visit my blogging friends and leave comments. Heck, I had a hard time carving some me time to scrap. But these gals still left me sweet comments letting me know that I was still in their thoughts. These women are so awesome. If you don't already know them (they have all been around the scrapping blogging world for quite some time) you might want to click on their names and get to know them.

Caro
Staci
Angi
Cindy
Jinky
Barbara

I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir but I am so happy I stumbled on this amazing world of online scrappers. There are so many people I've met who I consider friends, so many awesome giveaways and challenges, and even better, so many design teams which I have joined and enjoyed creating for. I always said I'd never blog... thank goodness I don't admitting mind when I'm wrong. Blogging is pretty darn cool.

Hope you have a crafting weekend,

Denise

Best Witches

2011-08-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

School just started but I'm ready for Halloween! We LOVE Halloween here. I just love dressing the kids up in cute costumes and the kids love to stuff themselves with candy for days on end. Okay, I like that part too ;)

So when my bff Stacy gave me this gorgeous Pink Paislee paper, fiber, and stickers last weekend, I quickly made a card with it. My favorite part is the broken fence border from Martha Stewart that I borrowed from her. Think I'll be needing it. I can't remember who the stamps are from (also borrowed).

I used a card sketch from Sketch Saturday for inspiration.

It's Friday! Time to celebrate... Who Hoo. Whose scrapping this weekend? I am definitely hoping to carve out some time.

Be sure to stop by Stacy's blog too when you get a chance. She has 5 Tim Holtz giveaways going on right now to celebrate her bday.

Have a wonderful day :)

Denise

Celebrate LIfe

2011-08-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hey gals. Today I have a layout using Sketchabilities Aug 15th Sketch. After I turned the sketched, it was perfect for a couple of St. Bart's photos I wanted to scrap.

The photo was taken during a cloudy evening, right before we went to a 5 star restaurant for dinner with friends on the island. The sunset photo was our view from the condo we stayed at. I used the colors of the sunset picture to inspire my layout. The background paper, flowers, leaves, ribbon, and bling are from Prima. Aren't these large blooms gorgeous?! The dotted card stock is BoBunny and I punched a couple of them with a MS border punch. The butterflies were from some old BG chipboard which I added Stickles to. The vellum quote says, "You make me HAPPY when skies are gray". I tried out a new vellum adhesive runner I had received and sorry to say I don't like how it shows up. From now on, I am going to stick to Helmar's V2 spray because I know that it doesn't show underneath the vellum. Finally I added a couple rub-ons from CTMH and Imaginese.

I am entering my layout in the following challenges:

Sketchabilities - sketch

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog - Travel

Bearly Mine Challenges - bling

Incy Wincy Designs - Anything but a card

CropStop challenge blog - Anything goes

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything goes

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - ribbon

Hope you all had a wonderful day. It's almost Friday!!!!

Denise

Sweet Smiles

2011-08-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Today was Nick's first day of school but we really stretched out our Summer break for as long as we could though. We flew out to see some friends in Las Vegas and just got back yesterday at 10 p.m.! It was awesome. Tons of swimming and playing for the kids, and lots of scrapping time for me and my bff Stacy :) Today is her birthday but we celebrated it a couple of days early.

Here's one of the layouts I made of the two kids horsing around.

Of course I had to add lots of flowers, bling, pearls, and a bit of lace ribbon to it :) I also used Stickles all along the edges of the Prima flowers on the left hand side for a little extra sparkle.

I am entering my challenge in the following challenges:

Bearly Mine Challenges - Bling

Incy Wincy Designs challenge - Anything but a card

CropStop challenges - Pearls

PaperCraft Planet - sketch

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - ribbon

Have a wonderful night. Chris and I are starting a diet (ewe) today so I'm off to make South Beach's Chicken Capri.

Denise

Treasure box and card

2011-08-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! This week at Crafter's Companion USA blog we are showing off Crafter’s Companions' Humphrey the Elephant stamp sets. These darling elephant stamps are so versatile and great for any kind of paper project you might want to create.

Today I have a beautiful treasure box and matching card to share with you. We visited my bff Stacy and her family over the weekend and I talked her into making a treasure box as well. (You have to wait to see it till next week on the Crafter's Companion blog though.) It was so much crafting and laughing together all weekend long!

I created the treasure box using the Ultimate Crafters Companion tool, Boxer board, and The Ultimate Advanced Construction Techniques DVD. The Advanced Construction Techniques DVD made the the treasure box amazingly easy to create, as I just followed along using the step by step instructions on the video. Once I was done making the treasure box, I added some layered flowers, pearls and cream colored lace ribbon to the base and lid of the treasure box. The lid stays closed with a little bit of velcro. Everyting looks better with flowers and pearls, don't you think? These boxes would be perfect with some homemade goodies inside and given to someone special.

To create the matching 6x6 card, I used my Ultimate Tool to cut layers of matching paper.

The sweet stamped image of two friends sharing some ice cream is the Humphrey stamp set Friends Forever. Using Copic markers, I colored my stamped image and chalked around the white cardstock with purple chalk. To create the sentiment, "I treasure you", I choose a font I like on my computer and printed it out on vellum paper. I finished it by adding matching flowers and a bit of pearls along the bottom.

I am entering this in Pretty Little Ribbon Shop challenge which is to use ribbon on your project.

Hop you all have a great Monday!

Denise

Sugar and Spice

2011-08-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

I saw the cutest sketch over at Artful Delight and knew I wanted to use it with this beautiful picture I had of Lara. The picture of her is of her very last day of school. Since I wear sunglasses when I'm outdoors, Lara loves to wear hers. Since it was her last day I let her take her sunglasses to school :)

The fabric tag in the bottom right says Sugar & and Spice and everything nice. I think she looks really cute but a little sassy in the pic, so the tag worked for me. The flowers and bling are Prima. Isn't the big one awesome! I love all the glitter and bling on it. The tree is a CTMH rub on. The cool faux wood paper is American Crafts (as is all the other paper as well).

I am also entering my layout at Simon Says Stamp and show challenge blog where the challenge is to use Bling.

We are crazy this weekend but I'll be back on Monday with a new Crafter's Companion post. Have a great night!

Denise

Huge 12 x 12 Paper Giveaway (open to U.S. residents) and winner

2011-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

As we get ready for school to start next week, I'd thought I'd have a giveaway. I went through some of my random pattern papers and purged just over 125 sheets of 12x12 paper to give away. There are patterned paper, kid paper, vellum 12x12 sheets, specialty paper, some stamps, stickers, and a few random embellishements.

Pretty cool, huh? Since this giveaway is SUPER heavy, the contest is only open to U.S. residents. Sorry all my international friends. It would cost me a fortune to ship it. To win :

1. Be a follower of my blog AND post this pic in your blog w/ the link (sidebar is fine) or in your facebook. After posting it in your facebook just copy the blub and paste it in your entry.

Extra entries:

I am the Design Team Coordinator for Crafter's Companion, so you can get extra entries by doing any of the following.

2. Become a facebook follower of Crafters Companion USA.
3. Follow Crafter's Companion USA's Blog.

Alright, so that 3 chances to win. Please leave one comment for each thing you do, up to 3 comments max. Any comments that do not meet the above will be deleted. I will pick a winner using the random generator on Saturday, Sept 3rd.

Also, the winner of the Domestic Goddess die cuts is

Babe O'Mara said...

Oh, I'd love to win these clever sayings. Thanks for the chance.

Babe
youiesmom@att.net

August 12, 2011 3:13 PM

Have a great day!

Denise

Paper Playtime Anything goes challenge

2011-08-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Paper Playtime has a fabulous challenge this week... Anything goes! The design team got to play with some of their fabulous digital images. I chose this sweet school image to get to Nick on his first day back to school. (Though not in his lunch box b/c it's not cool!) The apple card shape was cut from the Wrap it up Cricut Cartridge.

Whimsie Doodles is offering a $10 Gift Certificate to their online store to one lucky participant in this challenge so you definitely want to participate!

Today is the last full week of Summer break for Nick. (Lara doesn't go back to preschool until the first week of Sept). I have to say that this Summer was the faster ever. Seems like I blnked and it's over. While I am looking forward to having lots of scrapping time, I am sure gonna miss having the kids with me. We had so much fun this Summer. I'm off to enjoy the day :)

Denise

I got published in SNR's newest issue!

2011-08-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Look what I got in my email today! Whoo Hoo! SNR picked up a layout I submitted for the newest edition that came out today. I am sooo excited about it :)

You've Been Published!

Volume #4, Issue #8 is available for your viewing pleasure. Please read this in its entirety as many e-mail us with questions already answered here.

Please note the following:

1) You should be able to access the magazine by clicking on Magazine on the main menu on the front page. If it asks you to pay for a subscriptions, please don’t. This simply means that we either didn’t receive your username or our system went wonky again (nothing new there!). We’ll need you to send us your username. Please e-mail your request to helpdesk@scrapbooknewsandreview.com. Do not reply to this e-mail as it goes to a no-reply e-mail account.

2) To view the magazine, click on Magazine and navigate through all the areas of the magazine, from In Each Issue to Mixed Media, by clicking on the appropriate headings.

3) Please let us know right away if you don’t see your layout, card or project. We’re human, we’ll gladly admit it – sometimes things fall through the cracks but that doesn’t mean we fell out of love with you. We just need to know!

4) It’s important to note that some layouts, cards and/or projects were not published if we didn’t receive adequate supply lists or appropriately sized images.

5) If you do not like the quality of the image that you sent, please feel free to send us a larger .jpg file and we’ll swap it out.

Again, thank you for your participation; it’s because of you that SNR is so darn fabulous! We sincerely hope you enjoy the August issue as well as the other two available issues. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at the helpdesk e-mail address or submit a support ticket on our site. We’re here to serve.

They published this layout of Chris lounging around in St. Barts. Just had to share it with you guys!

Have a good night, Denise

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger challenge

2011-08-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Cath at Moxie Fab always has a gorgeous picture on Tuesday that is sure to inspire you to get crafty. This week's Tuesday Trigger is this photo:

What a fabulous dress! The different overlapping fabrics look so beautiful together. I decided to create overlapping circles on my card with different designer papers, as well as make a flower with overlapping circles.

To use some of my stash, I created the entire card from a Close to my Heart collection that had been neglected. The quote reads, "{Creativity} is seeing the ordinary as extraordinary - Dewiit Jones". What a cool quote right? When I was done I made an Matching Envelobox to go with it, using my Crafter's Companion Envelobox board. If you want to try this challenge out, just click HERE.

I also want to inspire everyone to check out a quick video at www.marrow.org. It is about how you can help save a life by getting on the bone marrow registry. I received my first letter a few weeks ago. The letter stated I might potentially be a match to donate bone marrow for a 9 year old boy. Unfortunately, after further testing, I wasn't a close enough match to help him. I can only hope he will find another donor who is a better match for him. Thinking of that little guy wanted me to bring some attention to the organization. I've always found that paper crafters are very caring individuals. If you'd like to learn more just click on the link above.

Have a great rest of your weekend gals!

Denise

You color my world

2011-08-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

I saw this paint challenge at The Altered Alice. It is a blog is all about Alice in Wonderland. There is some seriously cool artwork over there. I decided to get out my Cricut for this one. I had the perfect cartridge for it, Disney Classics. It has a ton of Alice in Wonderland images.

I painted or half painted the little Prima Roses red. The eyes and tongue were just to small to cut on my Cricut, so I painted them with white and pink with a toothpick. I was holding my breath the whole time, so afraid I'd get paint all over. It's hard being a clutz I tell you. The "you color my world quote" is a Close to my Heart stamp. So perfect for the image. The rose border is from Crafty Secrets' Greeting from Wonderland acrylic stamp set.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!

Denise

Domestic Goddess Card and Weekend Giveaway

2011-08-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I made a fun card today to give to my husband. It's so perfect since he knows how little I enjoy cooking. In my defense, I'm pretty sure I've never had to use a fire extinguisher. Don't get me wrong, I do it to keep the kids eating right. But I'd rather not. Chris is in trouble in 20 years and the kids move out. Lean cuisine or lean cuisine? Maybe a little Kraft Mac and cheese occasionally. As you already know, I just love the cheap kind you get in a box. Yummy.

The quote in small print says, "Compaints to the cook can be hazardous to your health". Love it!! That's my kind of 50's woman :) These diecuts come in long sheets and are FULL of hilarious sayings and pictures on both sides. You can find Crafty Secret's store here. I am going to get a ton of milage out of my mine.

I have an extra to give away to one of you gals. Just leave a comment below and I'll pick a winner on Monday.

Hope you are having a fabulous Friday!

Denise

Fairyopolis gift box (and winner!)

2011-08-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have a fun Fairyopolis birthday box for you. Sometimes I like to make beautiful boxes with a sentiment and skip the card. It not only saves money but the recipient always loves them (and often reuses the gift box which is fabulous). I create my boxes with my Ultimate Crafters Companion tool. If you don't have one, I highly recommend splurging on one :)

I make the box bases with two 12x12 paper from my Fairyopolis Paper Pad. The scenic paper is from DCWV Bitten paper pad. After putting down some flowers on the box, I added this darling fairy from the Fairyopolis Summer stamp set right onto the flower. Finally I added the words, "Make a wish" which I created with my Cricut (Birthday bash cartridge and outlined it with white pen.

Not what you are all really waiting for...the winner of the my Envelobox Creator!!!

The winner is ...

Nisson Family said...

I'm a facebook follower!

Thanks so much!
Pam

Simply-Pam.blogspot.com .

Congratulations Pam! Please email me with your address and phone number to lala3237@verizon dot net within one week. I know you are going to love your new tool. I hope you share your creations with us on our Crafter's Companion facebook page.

Have a wonderful week gals! When school's back in session I plan to declutter my scraproom and offer up a cool giveaway :)

Denise

Crave the Wave Canvas

2011-08-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! It's time for a new challenge at Paper Playtime. The new challenge is to create a project with water. Living is Southern California, I always have lots of beach photos to use. My son, Nicholas, had asked me to make something for his room. I thought this cute photo of him, his sister, and cousin at the beach would be perfect for his room. He just loves his cousin, Grace.

I bought the 8x10 canvas at Michaels. They have really cheap canvas there. Then I used some paint to cover it on a light blue. The sand paper I made from a white cardstock. I first sprayed it with a gold glimmer mist and then painted it with Chandelier glimmer glam which gave it such a sparkly gold color. Finally I chalked up the edges with a brown chalk. I added some small shells to finish off the beach look. The wave paper is from American crafts and I used some Stickles to add a little bling to the top wave.

Lastly I used my Cricut to cut out the "Crave the Wave" saying and birds from the Life's a Beach cartridge.

Nick loved his canvas which totally made my day.

Make sure you enter Paper Playtime's challenge because we always have the best sponsors!

I will be back later today with my Crafter's Companion post and winner. We are at Legoland today so I will post as soon as we get back with the winner :)

Have a fabulous day!

Denise

Crafter's Companion Thank you challenge

2011-08-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

We have another fabulous challenge over at the Crafters Companion Challenge blog. August's challenge is to make a card or project thanking someone in your life. I don't know about you but I can always use more thank you cards. So that is what I made for the challenge.

For my card I used the White Bryony fairy from the Fairyopolis Autumn Stamp set and the Fairyopolis 12 x 12 Paper Pad. I colored my fairy in Copics and then added Tattered Angels Chandelier Glimmer Glam to her wings. The flower and leaves are from Prima and the "Thanks" stamp is from CTMH. I just love making girly cards with fairies and flowers :)

I hope I see some of you gals over at the challenge blog. You could win this amazing Clevercut 5-in-1 paper trimmer worth $49.95!

Also don't forget to enter my Crafter's Companion giveaway here. You have until August 7th to win an Envelobox Creator. This tool makes deep envelopes that are perfect for three dimensional cards.

Envelobox Creator Giveaway!!!!

2011-08-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

I am so lucky to be the Design Team Coordinator for Crafter's Companion USA. Their products are so innovational. One of my favorite tools of theirs is the Envelobox board. With this amazing tool, you can make envelopes any size and any depth. This is so perfect for bulky or specialize cards, such as the Tea light card I posted about a couple of weeks ago.

Not only are their products wicked cool, but they are a really generous company. They have given the entire design team an Envelobox to give away on their blogs to one lucky U.S. resident! Here's how you can own this amazing tool. Simply become a follower of Crafter's Companion USA challenge blog and leave a comment on this post. You must do this to win. If you'd like a couple more chances to win this post about this giveaway on your blog or sidebar and become a fan of our Facebook page. For each of these things leave a separate comment here. This giveaway will run for one week from August 1st through August 7th. I will pick a winner using a random generator on Monday, August 8th.

Every single design team member is giving away an Envelobox board, so be sure to check out all their blogs as well to increase your odds of winning one of these fabulous tools. You can find their blogs on the Crafter's Companion USA challenge blog.

Girls Rock!

2011-08-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! I have a fun double layout for you today. When I saw the sketch over at Let's Scrap, I knew just the pictures I would scrap. They are pics of Lara and her friend, Georgia, jamming w/ Guitars. They are such cutie pies!

The paper, ribbon, and rub-ons are from Cosmo Cricket. I just love the bright happy colors of Get Happy :) The banners were cut from the Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge. The title and guitar in the middle of the silver heart are from the Rock Princess cart. The heart is a piece of chipboard I cover w/ Silver Alcohol Ink. I also added bling on the banners and randomly at the bottom of the pages.

The two stamps I used are from Whimsy stamps (Star and Rock chick) and I colored them with Copics.

Hope this inspired you to scrap a layout or two. Have a great week everyone!

Denise

Monster card

2011-07-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey gals,

I'm posting on a Sunday?! Totally odd for me but I won some stamps recently and have been dying to try them out. They are from the Craft Lounge and are called Sweet Tooth Terrors. I was lucky enough to get to pick out a stamp set of my choice and I thought these were soooo cute. 'Course I just love any having to do with Halloween. The images are just so fun.

I used my Expression to make my card. I cut the "Monster" cut on the Mini Monsters cart at 6". How fun is the shape of the card? I chose this cut because it was the closest monster to my digi.

Here's the inside with the stamped image and sentiment that was in the set. The sentiment reads, "Step away from the candy". Hilarious!!! I colored the stamp with Copics. The candy corn surrounding the stamp are from K&Company and have gold glitter on them. Hard to see in the pic.

I am entering my Monster card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Shaped Cards
Simon says stamp and show challenge blog - Anything goes
Cricut Cardz - Holiday anything goes
Scrap-Creations challenge blog - Favorite Holiday
Sew Many Card Challenges - Anything goes
Crafty Hos Challenge blog - Anything goes (this is their last challenge!)

Hope everyone has had a great weekend :)

Denise

Bliss

2011-07-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

Being in St. Bart for 8 nights was sooo relaxing. Stacy got a picture of my hubby in the pool and it pretty much shows what we did the entire time. You can see the infinity pool and the gorgeous ocean behind it. Such a gorgeous view, we were constantly admiring it.

The paper is a mistable line from Pink Paislee. I glimmer misted both the background page, the "Bliss" mistable title, the blue tissue along the bottom of the pic, and the sheet of paper behind the pic. The aqua, green, and yellow were the gorgeous summer colors that remind of the beauty of the island. Pretty much went nuts with my glimmer mist. The stamps and blue ribbon on the layout are from Pink Paislee as well. The flowers and butterflies are from Prima.

I made a "sun" type embellishment using ribbon that I glimmer painted with "Chandelier". Then I used a self adhesive chipboard button to use in the center. The colored button didn't match at all so I used the sticky side to add a star glitter to it and then adhered the color front of the button to the page using a strong glue. Great way to change embellishments you don't like. Under it you can see a colorful striped ribbon that added just a little bit of additional color.

I used a beautiful sketch from Twisted sketches and am entering my page at Sketches in Thyme (open sketch).

Hope everyone has a wonderful week :)

Denise

Digi Monday!

2011-07-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's Digi Monday over at Paper Playtime! This biweekly challenge is Summer. So dig out those Summer stamps and make a project. You can use both traditional stamps and digital stamps. We have all kinds of sponsors for some lucky winners, including a goodie bag from Anary Designs. I made a couple of Summertime cards for this challenge. This first one is using a stamped image from Anary Designs, called Florist Gilli.

The second card I made was using a digital image from AI Factory Illustrations. The sun is part of a group of digis called Nature. It also comes with stars, moons, etc. Isn't it so cute?! The paper for both is from American Crafts.

Hope everyone have a wonderful Monday and crafty week!

Denise

tongue in cheek card (not for the faint hearted)

2011-07-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Today I made a risque card for my sis. She has been dealing with a lot of unhappy stuff lately, so I thought I'd send her a funny card to cheer her up. **Warning - It's definitely not PC, so don't read if you get offended easily.

It's that hilarious?! I won some digis from Bugagoo stamps and when I saw this one I laughed so hard. I knew I had to have it. It's called Stella Fairy Visit. I colored her with Copics and the paper is some really old Rusty Pickle. The pink glitter stars are from Prima. The one on the left looks red in the pic but is really a dark pink.

It's seems like forever since I've post! Oh wait, it has been! LOL. Summer is just zooming by for us. I haven't had much time to scrap or blog. But you all know how that goes. With kids around, crafting takes a backseat. Is anyone liking this new blogger? Half the time I can't get my reader to work right, so I'm definitely feeling out of the loop as far as other blogs are concerned. This is the first CHA that I haven't followed closely through other people's blog. Any really awesome new lines out there?

This weekend we are seeing some friends from Northern California and Chris and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary on Sunday. We are going minature golfing and eating at a nice seafood dinner with the kids to celebrate :)

Hope everyone has a great day,

Denise

Back from a fabulous vacation

2011-07-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I am back from the most relaxing vacation I have ever had! Chris and I went to St. Barthelemy with our friends Stacy and Ron. 8 nights of relaxing by the pool with friends. Absolutely fabulous. We read by the pool, played on the beach (saw some topless gals too), and went to a 5 star restaurant. I am still waiting for some pictures from Stacy (I didn't take a camera, gasp!) but here is a pic of the Villa we stay at. I also got great news that I am going to totally run both the Crafter's Companion blogs and am so so excited about it. I just love Crafter's Companion!!!

Be back in a few days. My sister is in town from Tennessee and should be coming over soon! I haven't seen her since last Halloween, so I can't wait!!!

Have a fabulous week.

Sunflower handbag

2011-07-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

My favorite flower is the Sunflower. I love how big and bold they are, not to mention the gorgeous yellows and oranges. When Sheena Douglass came out with Paint Fusion Sunflowers I was in heaven! These amazing stamps look fabulous with paint, but they are also awesome for coloring them with pencils or Copics. This amazing paper handbag was made using my Ultimate Crafter's Companion tool and Envelobox board. You can see the free tutorital by Sara here. I added various green, blue, and white flowers and leaves around the sunflowers, making sure my Sunflowers stayed the focus of the project. I also added some lace along the bottom around the entire handbag.

You can see that after I colored these wonderfully huge stamps with Copics, I added some Stickles to give it a little glitter.

I had a lot of fun decorating the back of my bag as well. I used another sunflower as the focal point, and added tiny yellow flowers with bling where the handbag opens.

To keep the handbag closed I used a small magnet.

I absolutely love this handbag. When my son saw it he said he wanted one too to hold his pokemon cards! Guess making a more masculine one is next on my list of things to make :)

Have a wonderful week!

Denise

Celebrate Summertime

2011-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's Monday which means It's time for another fabulous challenge over at Paper Playtime. The new challenge is to make a paper project with the theme, "Summer". You can make a card, layout, altered item, or anything else as long as you use paper.

Here's what I came up with:

Almost everything is from Pink Paislee's Soiree line. Love love love this collection, especially the gorgeous bling in it. I also used some Prima packaging (white transparencies), pink Prima flower, and Making Memories jewel brad (inside pink flower).

We always have the coolest sponsors over at Paper Playtime, so if you have time enter a project.

Have a fantastic day!

Denise

Christmas Card for CHA

2011-07-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share I card I made for Crafter's Companion today that is going to CHA this month. I used my The Ultimate Tool, The Boxer board, The Ultimate Advanced Construction Techniques DVD, and Popcorn the Bear With-Love Stamp set. This stamped image is really big so I had to turn him a little bit to get the whole image to fit on the card. I just love it.

I colored the stamp with Copics and added stickles and rhinestones to the poinsetta. The snowflakes are from Imaginese and the "noel" sticker is from Making Memories. It keeps the card closed. I also added a holiday rub-on to the celephane and put red tea light candles in the container part of the card. Well, I didn't have any red tea lights, so technically I put white tea lights colored with a red Copic! LOL. You can't tell the difference though.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful, fun filled Summer. Seems like it is just flying by!

Denise

Crafter's Companion July Sketch challenge

2011-07-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

July's Crafter's Companion Challenge is to use a Crafter's Companion stamp with a Pagemaps sketch. I absolutely loved this sketch when I first came across it. I used my Cricut to cut out the flowers (Mother's Day Bouquet cart) and used the Crafter Companion's Paint Fusion Poppies Stamp Set. These stamps are so gorgeous when painted, but they look beautiful colored in Copics too :)

Here is the original Pagemaps Sketch:

This month's fabulous prize is every single stamp set from Crafter's Companion's brand new Humphrey's Corner collection. That's 6 separate stamp sets!!! These images are so fabulous, you will love them. You see more of the stamp sets here. So if you have some Crafter's Companion stamps, I hope you'll join in our challenge this month :)

Have a wonderful day :)

Denise