Happy Memorial Day!

MyGrafico is having a big Memorial Day sale! 30% off on all products, so don't forget to stop by Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff at MyGrafico to save 30% off storewide!

You're Teariffic!

Today, I was inspired by the Polka Dot Tea Party over at the Shabby Tea Room blog. As soon as I saw that adorable pink polka dot tea set, ideas started turning! I used The Teariffic Digistamp Set from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff- you can get the whole set for only $5.00-and you can use it over and over at different sizes!
I printed the digistamp onto pink paper with white glittered polka dots,twice at the same size, then I shaded it with my Copics, and layered it with pop dots.
I was also inspired by this week's sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches, and made the card to fit with other challenges this week.
The challenges I am entering are:

Shabby Tea Room: Polka Dot Tea Party
Cards Blog: Punny Sentiments
Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch
ABC Challenges:V is for Vintage
Alys Sunday Challenge: use ribbons or bows
Basic Grey Challenges: Punch it+must use Basic Grey (the border is a Martha Stewart punch, and the papers are Basic Grey)
Charisma Cardz: 3-d
Your Next Stamp: Use a border punch
Simon Says Challenge:Pink, green, and brown
Creative Card Crew: Pink and green
Quixotic Paperie: Emboss it
Lucy's Cards: use a Digital Element
Daisy Doodles: anything goes +digital image


Thanks for looking, now head over to Lindsay and the other designers' blogs for lots of eye candy and a freebie!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick
Melissa Craig
Rebekah Doak
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

10 Candles...A Layout A Year Late

I made this layout on Saturday, my little girl's eleventh birthday-kind of funny, 'cause this layout was about her tenth birthday, lol! Anyway, I started with a sketch from Sketch Inspiration, and used some fabulous Basic Grey Green At Heart, and a big flower from Prima. I love how the paper matches my girlie's bathing suit, and doesn't that flower (with the glittered green butterfly) just top this page off perfectly? Some products are just too pretty to sit in my scrapbook closet!

Sketchy Thursday June Guest Dt...

Sketchy Thursdays is having a call for a guest designer, and here is my entry. I took this photo of my daughter, Natalie, and have been waiting for just the right inspiration to scrapbook it. When I saw this sketch, and these yummy Kioshi papers from Basic Grey, I knew that they would work together to make a pretty page for my beautiful daughter. I made the flowers myself (I am sooo loving handmade flowers right now)The white flower is made from layers of white shimmer paper, vellum, and cardstock, and layered on top of a white doily that has been sprayed with various shades of Shimmerz: Ruby, Mango Madness, and Bed Of Roses. I attached all of the layers together by sewing a button in the center. The purple flowers were cut with my Cricut out of various scraps of purple cardstock, and the centers are a scallop circle punch by Martha Stewart, with some purple gems I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. After making the purple flowers, I spritzed them and the lace ( which was originally cream colored) with Rock-A-Fella Blue Shimmerz (kind of a purple-y blueberry color). The diecut title was cut with my Cricut and Once Upon A Princess cartridge, and embellished with Stickles. Thanks for looking, wish me luck!

Thanks to the Teachers...

I thought that I would take time today to say thank you to all the teachers out there. I know what an underpaid, underappreciated job it is, most of the time. I just want you to know, there are a few of us out there who truly appreciate what you do for us and our children. So, I made some thank you cards to give to my children's teachers.

I started with this week's sketch from 2Sketches4You, to base all of the cards on. I printed out a sheet of Lindsay's Stamp Stuff School Papers, cut into separate pieces (this is so great for making easy cards). I then mounted the papers to colored cardstock bases, and embellished with lollipop flowers that I received from a swap, and ribbons. Using the card fronts makes this so easy!
Challenges I am entering:



2Sketches4You: Sketch
Clearly I Stamp: April Showers Bring May Flowers
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog: Anything Goes
Bee Crafty: Something New With a Digital Image (I used digipapers)
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges: Mother's Day or Flowers
DareU2Digi: Anything Goes (with a Digi item)
Doodle Palace: 3-d/Pop dot your image
Drunken Stampers: Use your Scraps ( I used some big scraps I had for the card bases)
Fab N' Funky Challenges: Make your own embellishments (the lollipop flowers are all handmade)

Thanks for stopping by, now pop over to the rest of the Design Team Blogs, to see what you can do with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff digi stamps, digipapers, card sets, and svg files! And Lindsay has a freebie for you!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick
Melissa Craig
Micki Harper
Rebekah Doak
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

Handmade Flowers

I love flowers! I have seen so many tips, tricks and tutorials for handmade flowers, so when I saw this flower swap on 2 Peas in a Bucket, I jumped on it for the chance to try out some of the techniques I've seen. I also took some of the challenges that they were giving in the Fantabulous Cricut Crawl...
1. Diecut Flower Power
8.Inking/Drawing on die cuts
10. Paper piecing (use the Layers function)

Now, here's how I made the flowers:
1. Pink- I crumpled a bunch of white paper doilies and sprayed with Glimmer Mist and Shimmerz of various pink shades, then waited until they were completely dry and smoothed them out carefully (they rip easily, so be careful!), and layered with a drop of hot glue in the center. Then, I took a wide pink satin ribbon (about 2 inches, I think), pinched it in half longways (did I just make up a word?), and secured the end of the ribbon to the center of the doily flower with a drop of hot glue. Then, just keep pinching, twisting, glueing, and wrapping around in a circle, until you are happy with the look of the flower. When you are finished, just tuck the end of the ribbon under the twisted ribbon flower.
2.Blue- I had already joined this swap when Lindsay (Lindsay's Stamp Stuff) debuted her 3-d Flowers Svg Set, and I was SO excited, because I knew that it would be perfect to try for this swap. Instructions for assembling the flower are included with the purchase of the set. Before I assembled the flowers, I inked the edges with a light blue Bic Markit, then painted the flowers with Angel Wings Shimmerz. After they were dry, I assembled the flowers, shaped the petals with my fingers, and then put a drop of Martha Stewart Glue for glitter in the center of the flower, and sprinkled brown and black Doodlebug flocking.
3. Yellow- for these flowers, I cut out this awesome freebie svg file from Svg Cuts, inked the edges of each layer (with Copics and Bic Markits-I love using markers to ink the edges of intricate cuts, it makes it easier to get into the little curves), rubbed the center layer of the flower on a glue pad, sprinkled with glitter, then sprayed a clear acrylic sealer on the layer. I glued the layers together with a quick drying glue, and curved and shaped the petals and flower centers with my fingers, and did a fine line of yellow Stickles around the center of the daffodils.
4. Neutral (Black and Cream)-another one of Lindsay's Svg 3d Flower Files, I made these flowers with some yummy flocked paper by GCD Studios, shaped the petals with my fingers, and spritzed with Truffle and Treasured Hymn Shimmerz.
5.Green- First, I printed out a sheet of olive Uptown Houndstooth paper from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I cut circles out of kraft cardstock, and the leaves using Plantain Schoolbook, scalloped circles of the Uptown Houndstooth using the Storybook cartridge, and the smaller scalloped circle is a Martha Stewart punch, and I inked and assembled, and added a rhinestone to the center.
6. Red- I Love red poppies, so I attempted to make my own. I punched a 1 3/4 inch circle of dark brown cardstock, then attached LOTS of layers of punched red tissue paper scallop circles, and fluffed them out with my fingers. Then I punched a small scalloped circle out of the dark brown cardstock, then added dots of Martha Stewart glue for glitter, and dusted the centers with Martha Stewart Onyx and Brownstone glitter.

These flowers are so versatile-look for them in my upcoming projects, cards, scrapbook pages...I can't wait to use them!Thanks for spending some time with me-I hope the info on these flowers was helpful for you! Now, hop over to Lindsay's blog, and the other designers, they always have some crafty goodness to inspire you!
Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick (you are here!)
Melissa Craig
Micki Harper
Rebekah Doak
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

A Birthday Card for my Girlie...

Wow! My oldest, my little Catybug, is turning eleven on the 22nd! It just doesn't seem right! Anyway, when I saw the anniversary/birthday blog hop at Whimsie Doodles, I knew that this image would be perfect for her birthday card!
The "Happy Birthday" ticket is a digistamp freebie from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, find it here:
Here are the challenges I am entering this card into:
Whimsie Doodles- use any Whimsie Doodle image on a card or project
Card Patterns- sketch #63
By the Cute And Girly- Celebrations
Craft Your Passion- use pink and green
Lil' Red Wagon Challenges- Brads
Paper Cutz-Child's Birthday card with an animal
Paper Play Challenges- Stamp or digi with some bling ( I used 2 digis, and I outlined the happy birthday ticket with a Martha Stewart glitter pen, used a rhinestone brad, and put Stickles on the rosebud.
Totally Gorjuss- challenge #29 Pink And Green
Stamp Something- Birthday

Win a Cricut Gypsy!

BIG, BIG, BIG giveaway info:

How about a:

1) Cricut Summer Vacation cartridge
2) Cricut Summer in Paris cartridge
3) a pack of SEI Happy Paper (12" x 12" size)
4) a package of Tim Holtz grungeboard


AND....drumroll....

A Cricut GYPSY!!

How can you win?

Check out Joy's blog: Obsessed With Scrapbooking

Spoil Your Mom (or yourself) ...

With some new digistamps! Mygraphico (including Lindsay's Stamp Stuff) is having a 25% off sale!

I survived the Flood of May 2010!

I never thought that my little town could flood like it did...until it happened. Some people are calling it a 500 year flood, and I believe that 18 people in TN lost their lives (one that I know of in my county). These photos were taken on Sunday, when the flood waters had already started to recede somewhat.

All roads into town were flooded:

Here's one way:

Here's the other way (we were some of the last people to drive through this from town on Saturday, and it was the scariest thing I have ever been through) At first , we were behind a car and couldn't see how far the road was covered with water. It truly felt like we were going to be swept off the road-and it's about a 10 ft drop down into the fields beside the road, where it was under water. It was even scarier because we had the girls in the car. My husband, who is rarely scared of anything , had us unbuckling and was giving us instructions on what to do if we were washed off the road. I was praying so hard by that point...I am not a strong swimmer at all... but we DID make it across (thank you, God!)
The other roads were all torn up in places (the rushing water literally rearranged the asphalt), and sticks, trees, and other debris from the fields were washed into the roads:And there were other things that I have never seen before, such as the side of the road being washed away, so that the asphalt was not fully supported (see the small cracks on the edge?).And mini-water falls and "rapids" in the fields and roadside ditches:

Fortunately, we live on a hill, so the worst thing that happened to us was our driveway washing out into the road, and leaving two very deep gullies:Which, of course, the girls decided to go wading in...

All, in all, we were comparitively lucky, compared to Nashville, but several other roads around us are closed because of HUGE sinkholes, etc, I just couldn't get close enough to take a picture.

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Thursday

Wow, what a morning! I had no ideas last night, so I figured if I got up at 6 am, I should be able to get a card made, no sweat, by 9 am, right?Not so easy! The muse had left the building, so to speak, so it took forever to put together one card...by 8:45, lol! Well I thought, it's ok, I'll just do a quick post and I can get it done by 9. Right?!! Think again! The keyboard on my computer decides not to work. Grrr....I had to use my main computer to upload the photo, then disconnect and do my post from my daughter's laptop. Any way, so I am a little late, but I am here! For this card, I used a sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 67 , and some sweet digistamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Sew Pretty Digistamp Set . Everything vintage and sewing related is so hot right now, and this set is only $5.00! It can be reused and resized, over and over!The possibilities are endless!Now head over to the rest of the DT's blogs for some scrappy goodness!
Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cassandra Cushman
Cindi Hooks
Erin Bailey
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick (you are here!)
Melissa Craig
Micki Harper
Rebekah Doak
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

Scrapbook Pal Design Team Entry *Edited to add Photos

*I was very dissatisfied with the first photo I posted of this layout, so I added some photos taken with natural light to show the difference that natural light makes!

Photos taken in natural light:

Photo taken indoors (late at night,lol!) with a flash:
I put this layout together for a Design Team call over at Scrapbook Pal. I used some fantastic patterned paper (just love those colors!), and finally put that Once Upon a Princess Cricut cartridge to good use! The little teapot from p.61 was perfect for his layout, cut at 2 1/2 inches, along with the OUAP font for the word "teapot", cut at 1 inch, the butterfly on p.59, cut at 2 inches,and the flower from p.60, cut at 2 inches. The tiny yellow flower was cut from Plantain Schoolbook, p.76, at 3/4 inch. I shaded my die cuts with Copic markers and shimmery chalks from Pebbles Inc.

Blog Candy Alert!

Everyday Cricut is giving a Cricut Expression away here !