Autumn Love * A Layout Revamp*

Have you ever had a layout that just sticks in your mind after you've "finished" it? This was one of those layouts for me! I photographed it and put it away, but it still didn't "feel" finished to me. So I pulled it back out and went to work on it! Here is what it looked like before:

And here is what it looks like now that I fiddled with it a bit:

See It On 2 Peas

I like it much better, don't you?
What I did to change/fix it: The title and leaf die cuts just weren't "popping" the way I wanted them to. So, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain and Barn Door Distress inks, and backed them with red washi tape. I really wanted to tie it all together with the red, dark brown, and orange that I already had little touches of, so that is what I worked on next. I added some Jenni Bowlin vintage buttons in red and orange, tied them with brown and white baker's twine, and added a couple of little ruler border stickers that had the cream and dark brown.

My little printed tickets seemed just a little bit too pink to me, so I inked them a little more heavily with Barn Door and Walnut Stain Distress Inks...now, they are just the right color!

Just to balance all of the embellieshments and make the photo stand out a little bit more, I added a strip of golden yellow grosgrain ribbon to the right side of the photo, which I love, because it adds a lovely bit of texture.To finish it all off, I inked the edge of the whole layout with Walnut Stain.

So, what do you think? Do you like the newer version better? Did I improve it, or should I have left well enough alone?

February Counterfeit Kit

I had soooo much fun playing along with the Counterfeit Kit Club blog last month, so I couldn't wait to see what they had for us this month! They didn't disappoint! The kit they chose to scraplift this month was an awesome kit from Scraps Of Darkness kit club, shown below:
The first thing I thought when I saw this kit was, "Very French, very sexy, and a little, well, dark." Not exactly my normal style, but gorgeous, and I want to push my creative boundaries, so I made a kit as similar as I could, and even made my own version of all of the add on kits from my stash:
My February Counterfeit Kit:


Kit contents:
Making Memories Red Glitter Love Notes
SEI Chocolat Noisette (2) , Eclair
Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Starry Night, Berry Frost
Teresa Collins Damask Invitation and Damask Decor
Creative Imaginations die cut flourished paper
GCD Studios Paris Nights Collection Black shimmer with cream polka dots(2), Vintage parisian collage
Bazzill Wild Pansy Diamond Print Glazed cardstock
3 printed digipapers:
Red Uptown Houndstooth from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff from MyGraphico
Hearts and Diamonds from Family Game Night Papers from Design House Digital
Argyle Print from Jessica Sprague Echoes of Asia kit (was green, I played with it in Photoshop)
decorative vintage pins that I received in a swap
Spare Parts gemstone flower brads
2 ANCIENT red leather photo corners from Making Memories
pink twine
Prima Say It In Crystals
Prima pink and black Crystal Flowers
2 ZVA Creative flourishes (pink and lavendar)
1 light green Prima flower
Basic Grey Painted Brads
With Charm mini golden frame
Doodlebug rub-on letters (partial pack)
Anna Griffin Peyton Collection journal tags
American Crafts Remarks journaling sticker books
1 vintage ephemera french receipt
black tulle
black grosgrain ribbon
small pink and white flowers



A close up of my patterned papers:


My Cardstock Add-on kit: ( I ran out of cardstock very early last month, so I needed some more this month!)So here is my cardstock list:
SEI Chocolat Raisine, Rose (1 each)
2 Wasau White with silver shimmer
1 Bazzill burgundy Swiss Dots
2 Bazzill ?blueberry?
1 Paper Studio textured burgundy cardstock
2 Bazzill pale lavendar
2 Bazzill light pink
2 Walmart black

My Romance Add-On Kit:
Thickers Tiara Accents Glitter Shapes
Thickers Sprinkles white glitter chipboard letters
Making Memories Garden Party shimmer letter stickers partial sheet
Maya Road Cherry Blossoms rub-ons
ZVA Creative flourishes
Jenni Bowlin Journaling Cards
Tim Holtz Grungeboard shapes
Basic Grey Undressed chipboard shapes
assortment of seam binding and trims-pink, red, and lavendar
Pink Heidi Swapp Felt Butterflies
Making Memories Vintage Findings medium kit-"Love"

My Color Add-On Kit: I made my own Glimmer Glams for some of these colors:
Crimson, Silvery Onyx, Concrete shimmer, Hot Lips hot pink sparkle, Ruby Shimmerz, Homemade dark Cherry Shimmer, Homemade Plum Crazy shimmer, Pink Sparkles puffy paint, Pink, Lavendar, and Denim Distressed Stickles, Silver Making Memories paint(if yours are sort of dried out like mine, you can add a bit of warm water and shake really well to get them flowing again),Rose Tea Glimmer Mist, and Tim Holtz Picket Fence Crackle paint. I plan to make some stencils/misting screens with my Cricut, and I will share those when I am finished!

This was so much fun to put together, and I cant wait to make some decorative pebbles, flourished heart and masks, and maybe turn some of that Grungeboard and chipboard into faux metal accents! And make pages and cards too, of course! And of course I'll share it all here when I do it!

This week, I was very inspired by Lindsay's Birds And Branches Digistamp set, so I decided to join in on several challenges. The first card, I used the Cute bird Stamp, and a Happy Birthday stamp by Ink It. The scalloped circle behind the bird was cut with my Cricut and Storybook cartridge, and embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The ivory circle was punched out, inked and stamped w/Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The butterfly is a punch by Martha Stewart. I did this card for the sketch challenge at Pagemaps blog, and butterfly for Flutterby Wednesdays, and the color combo challenge (light orange, dark brown, and ivory) at Tuesday Morning Sketches.
This is my favorite card that I made tonight. I made this card based on the sketch this week at 2Sketches4You, and follows the "O"ne Paper challenge from ABC Challenges. the digi is from the Birds And Branches Collection, and the sentiment is last weeks' freebie from Lindsay's blog. I punched it out and inked the edges with chalk ink by Martha Stewart. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, and the patterned paper is some ancient Hot Off The Press from my stash.
The third card was inspired by the sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday -it didn't come out exactly like the sketch, but that's what I started with. The shimmery navy cardstock frame is by Wasau Paper, cut out using an svg file from Mujka design at MyGrafico, one more fab birdhouse from the Birds and Branches collection, some sheer red ribbon, and a Birthday sentiment from Making Memories. Thanks for for looking, now head on over to Lindsay and the other designers' blogs, to see what goodies they have for you today!
Lindsay (she has some freebies for you!)
Rebekah Doak *February Guest DT
Tamara
Lisa
Shannon
Leanne
Melissa
Cindi
Erin
Tracey
Micki
Janet
Diana

Valentine Banner

Do you ever feel a little let down when you take down your christmas decorations? I know that I
do! I even teased my husband and told him that I was going to take the christmas ornaments off of the Christmas tree and turn it into a Valentine's tree, lol. But instead, I decided to start making some Valentine's decorations. I LOVE the banners that I have seen on 2 Peas and some other blogs. Well, now Lindsay has made it easy to make some FAN-ta-stic ones using the Cricut and SCAL, called Pretty Banners svgs,with several different types of banners-swirls, plain, scalloped,circles,and stars. She also includes printable JPGs for you to cut by hand if you do not have one. And, even better, everything at her My Graphico Shop is on sale, 25% off for today and tomorrow only! Run, don't walk, to get your digistamps and svg files while they're on sale!
I made the whole banner with one sheet of white shimmer cardstock (which I used for the scalloped banners and the lettering), and one sheet of purple cardstock (that I used for the swirl and plain banners), some eyelets, ribbon, and digistamps from Lindsay's Love Grows Here digistamp kit. The challenge at the Digital Tuesday blog this week is to use embossing, and I am using my new Cuttlebug as much as possible, so I embossed the plain banner shapes with the D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, which I think added a nice touch, and went well with the other swirl cut out banners. I added tiny light purple heart shaped eyelets to the corners of the banners and threaded a sheer pink ribbon through. I am really happy with the way it turned out!
Now, hop on over to Lindsay's blog, 'cause she has a freebie and some eye candy for you-and then you can make your way on to the other designers' blogs for a lot more great projects!

A Christmas Wreath from Paper

Starting today, for the next few weeks, I have several Christmas crafty projects to share with you. This is my pride and joy for the season.I actually made it about a month ago. It took several days, and ALOT of work. I cut the wreath and holly leaves using a free file from Dan's blog last year( I think he may still offer the file for a small fee), and a free poinsettia cut file from Lora's blog. I cut the leaves out of various different cardstocks with glitter, shimmer, pattern, and different shades of green and white. After I cut them all out, I dry embossed some with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Stylized flower folders, inked direct to paper on some, then attached each leaf invidually, shaping as I went (I rolled the edges around a round rub-on stylus). I cut the poinsettias out of 2 shades of red card stock (one shimmer, one matte), then dry embossed the veins of the flower by hand with a stylus and added Stickles to the veins on the top layer for glitz and to help it stand out. I cut the little gold centers out of a bunch of silk flowers from the Dollar Tree and added the shimmery red and gold bow (which I FINALLLY learned how to make myself, thanks to Martha Stewart!). Thanks for looking (and stop back tomorrow for more crafty Christmas goodies!)


Side view:

Cupcakes forever!

*Scroll down for free svg!



The challenge at Cupcake Crafts this week was to make a sweet birthday card, with the option of including a cupcake on it somewhere. So, I used this week's awesome sketch from 2 Sketches For You (above). For this card, I used these fun new Swirly Cupcake and the 2 Cherries digistamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. And now, she is running a special-spend $5.00, get a free digistamp. Be sure to check it out, she has lots of adorable new stamps!

I cut the card base out of white gold Wasau shimmer cardstock, and the pale green is from the DCWV Metallic cardstock.The green/brown patterned paper is from the Chocolate Cherry collab digi kit, I just printed on some Georgia Pacific white cardstock, and cut the bracket shape using my Cricut and SCAL. I added some cream colored trim (I think I got it from Walmart). Then, I cut the scalloped ovals from my Storybook Cricut cart, then inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Walnut Stain, and Martha Stewart Brownstone ink. I glued the 2 scalloped ovals together, then attached to the card with pop-dots above and below the trim. I then attached the cupcake digistamp, which I had already colored with Copics, and accented with Stickles. After that, I attached the 2 Cherries digistamp, which I had also colored with Copics and Stickles, and to finish it off, I added a little bow-shaped button from Dress-It-Up, and the sentiment, "Cupcakes Forever", an acrylic stamp from Studio G that I stamped on a scrap of the white gold cardstock with MS Brownstone, and inked the edges.

Thanks for looking, now head on over to the rest of the design team member's blogs, someone has a free digistamp for you! ;)

Lindsay (owner)

Olena

Melissa B

Melissa C

Kim

Tamara

Row

Janet

Leanne

Tracey

Katt

Lisa

Diana (August Guest DT)

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff...And Freebies For you!

Today I am sharing two cards with you. The first, I used this week's sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches, and made an anniversary card for my parents. Thirty-one years! We should all be so blessed/lucky! The background of the card is Basic Grey Wisteria, then I used a scrap of light blue distressed graph-style paper for the triangle, and attached a border underneath the edge that I made from a shimmery white gold cardstock from Wasau paper, with my Martha Stewart doily edge punch. I attached a pale yellow scalloped oval that I cut from the Storybook Cartridge. To finish the card-I printed the Filled Butterfly digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff on a transparency, then used Broken China and Silver Stickles for the body and antenae of the butterfly. Added 3 small pearls, and I think I came up with a pretty anniversary card for my parents!

The second card was just for fun. I wanted to fulfill the Dare You To Digistamp Friday Challenge, and this week's was "distressing". So, I made this shopper silhouette from some clip art, to be cut on my Cricut with SCAL. If you would like a copy of this svg, click here. I used the Shopping Bags digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, and printed it out on different paper scraps, which I shaded with Copics, and decorated with various gemstones/glitter pens/Jolee's. The chipboard sentiment and ribbon are from Die Cuts With A View, and the background for the card is shimmery Wasau cardstock. I distressed it by inking the edges of the card and chipboard with Tuxedo Black Momento ink. Thanks for dropping by, now hop on over to the other design team members' blogs to see what they have in store for you! One of these girls has a free digistamp for you, but you have to find it!

Lindsay(owner)

Tamara

Kim

Katt

Tracey

Row

Olena

Janet

Leanne

Melissa B

Melissa C

Lisa

Diana (August Guest DT)

My Girl (July LO#13) *for Triple the Sketch

My LO for today's post is based on this fun sketch from Triple The Sketch, and the challenge at Dare You To Digistamp is to "Make any thing but a card". I used patterned cardstock from Me and My Big Ideas for the background (the flocked stripes are so yummy!), and pearlized White Gold Wasau cardstock under the photos. I used Doodlebug Frills, the Oriental Poppy digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I have been dying to use, and black vinyl Thickers for the lettering and swirl. Don't forget, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff is running a sale through the end of July: buy $5.00 worth of digistamps or card kits, and get a free digistamp of your choice! Now, head over to the other designer's blogs, and see what eye candy they have cooked up for you. One of them has a free digistamp for you!

Lindsay (owner)

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

Melissa B.

Melissa C.

Row

Tamara

Tracey

Olena

Leanne

Katt

Kim

Janet