Create Serendipity

Something Delightful

2012-02-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday! I just wanted to share one of my projects that I made for CHA. This one is using the new Delightful line by Authentique.

I made this little altered set of wooden drawers for my daughter. She is anxious to get it back from CHA so she can display it in her room :-)

Make sure you check out my post on the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog today to see what beautiful ribbons I used on this project from their store! Also, make sure you check out the Ribbon SALE going on now!

Paradise ♥

2012-02-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! Today I wanted to share a layout that I made for the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs DT Challenge this week. I'm on a layout making kick that's for sure!

Here's the Sketch:

Here's my Layout:

I decided to make a layout featuring one of my photos from our Beach Wedding a few years ago in NC. I used papers from Graphic 45's Tropical Travelogue collection. Such pretty paper! For the frame I used LSHD's Fancy Photo collection files and I also used the Palm Tree Pattern on this layout. All of the other cuts are from the Silhouette Online Store.

Thanks for stopping by today!

A SWEET Announcement!

2012-02-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday friends! I have a quick little *SWEET* Anouncement to make!

I am now a *sweet tooth girl*!!! Not only am I joining the Sweet Stamp Shop design team, but I am joining as their leading lady, the new Design Team/Social Media Coordinator! I am so excited about this opportunity because I have been such a HUGE fan of the Sweet Stamp Shop since day 1!

Make sure you check out today's blog post on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog HERE!

Girls Love Sports Too!

2012-02-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Super Bowl Sunday my lovely crafty friends! Are you watching the big game today? If so, who are you rooting for? My husband is a Cincinnati Bengals fan and they are obviously out, but he's rooting for the Giants. I like to sit and watch games with him, it gives us time together, even though I don't fully understand football!

Today I wanted to share a little card that I made using the Sports Fever stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop. This set is soooo cute! I'm not a huge sports fan, but I HAD to have this set when it came out! I thought it would come in handy sooner or later!

Here's my card...

I went with a red/white/blue theme since that's the colors for both teams today.

Make sure you check out the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog today for a *sweeeet* giveaway, you could win some fun goodies along with the cute Sports Fever stamp set that I featured here today!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great Sunday!

My Girl

2012-02-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm always excited for the weekend because it means I can hang out with my family and be lazy! :-) Tomorrow I will be planted on the couch with my hubby watching the Super Bowl. I'm not a big football fan, but spending time with him, I am a fan of ♥ Not watching the big game? Do you need something to do during the super bowl? How about a sketch challenge? Authentique's February Sketch Challenge is up now! Come play along!

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on the sketch:

For this layout, I used one of Authentique's newest lines from CHA "Delightful" This line goes PERFECT with some of the photos that I have of me & my baby girl.

Thanks for stopping by today!

What an "Uncommon" Steal!

2012-02-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday crafty friends! I was asked today to send in some of my projects featuring Authentique's BEAUTIFUL "Uncommon" line to Scrapbook Steals for an awesome steal they are doing today! Not familiar with that line? Well check out these projects... you will fall in love! Oh and it's a great line for Valentine's Day too!

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure you check out Scrapbook Steals to take part in their deal today!

Sandy Toes & Salty Kisses

2012-02-01T08:00:00.046-05:00

Woo Hoo Wednesday! We're halfway through the week and happy 1st of February! Today I wanted to share one of my favorite layouts that I've made thus far in my layout making career (which isn't much if I might add!) Layouts are starting to come a little easier for me and I really enjoy making them! With each layout I make I am able to pull out a photo or series of photos and reminisce on that moment when the photos were taken. The photo in this layout is from a moment that I never want to forget...

Brandon and I have been really good friends since we were little kids (5th grade, maybe 11 or 12 years old max!) and he has been chasing me ever since. We both had gone our own ways for years after school and then got in touch again. He finally convinced me to start dating him in early 2010. He was working about 8 hours away in Harrisburg, PA at this time, so we spent a lot of time on the phone getting to know each other all over again. I decided to take a week off of work and go out to visit him in Harrisburg. The time we spent there was something special for both of us. We both realized that week that we had something special, I guess it has always been there but we never saw it before. This photo is one from that trip, we took a little day trip to Atlantic City, NJ (didn't gamble at all, I was just longing to see the ocean since it is one of my favorite places on earth to be) I have a lot of candid photos from this day that my friend took of Brandon and I, but I thought this one would be perfect for this layout. I really enjoyed reminiscing on this photo, so I just wanted to share the story behind it because this trip really meant a lot to me.

The papers that I used are from one of my favorite collections, Nantucket by Pink Paislee. I also used the wood shapes (they have been glimmer misted) and a piece from the ephemera from this collection as well.

The Polaroid Frame and the Banners are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs and the title is a cut from the Silhouette Online Store (LOOOVE this place!!!).

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy this layout as much as I enjoyed making it! :-)

Best of Gnomies

2012-01-31T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I have been waiting to post this project for a while, so today seems like the perfect day! I made another piece of altered driftwood! These home decor projects are really fun and easy to make, especially when the base is a found object from around the house or out in nature!

I ended up taking a cute little piece of driftwood and spritzing it with some glimmer mist. Then I started adding shapes and paper piecings until I got it where I wanted it. I used the ADORABLE Gnomies stamp set by Sweet stamp shop on this one. I've been holding on to this one for the perfect project. The little flowers are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs My Paper Garden collection. And the paper that I used is actually a new company to me, this is the first paper that I've owned from them but I LOVE it! It's from the Happily Lost collection by Lilly Bee Design. And how could I forget the pretty twine? I looove twine from Timeless Twine, their twists are perfect! I used the Strawberry Cupcake and Raspberry lemonade twine.

Thanks for stopping by today!

When you Hold a Heart... You Hold it Forever

2012-01-30T08:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday crafty friends! I always love Mondays because that means it's the day I can share my new weekly Challenge project for Little Scraps of Heaven Designs!

This week's challenge was to make a mini album... well, that one wasn't much of a challenge for me! I love to make mini albums! Actually, this one was a little more difficult for me because I tried a different style with different paper bags... have a look...

For this album I used Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Bear Holding Heart pattern and the Cupid Bear pattern. The paper that I used is Basic Grey's Valentine's Day line, Kissing Booth. I also added some Strawberry Truffle bakers twine from Timeless Twine, this twine is sooo pretty and it went along perfectly with this album! And last, the adorable paper bags are some of the many fabulous bags sold at Really Reasonable Ribbon, these are the Middy Bitty Kraft Polka Dot bags and the Pink Frosting Big Bitty Bags. OHHH and how could I forget the fabulous stamp? It's from The Right Words stamp set by Unity Stamp Co. :-)

Here's a little look at the inside, it's filled with loads of bling and flowers!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you will play along with our weekly challenge over on the Little Scraps of Heaven Design Team blog!

Plant Kindness & Gather Love

2012-01-27T08:00:00.006-05:00

Happy Friday friends! Have you all been enjoying all of the CHA sneak peeks this week? I know I have seen A LOT of new goodies that I want to get my hands on! I can't show you my projects with Authentique's NEWEST lines yet because they haven't been announced, BUT I can show you another one of my big projects that I sent off for CHA...

This is probably one of my favorite projects that I have made. I used Authentique's Gathering collection for this pretty flower bouquet.

I put many hours into making this project, I didn't count, but there were probably about 30-40 flowers and each one took about 20 minutes to make. I went through almost two 6x6 pads of paper as well as several 12x12 sheets of paper. I also had a hot glue gun blow up on me during the creation of this project. The end result was more than worth it! Now I have this beautiful piece of home decor and flowers that will never wilt and die!

Would you like to learn how to make these pretty flowers for yourself? Make sure you check out my post on the Authentique blog today for a tutorial!

Something to "Celebrate"

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo Wednesday! Hello all of my fabulously crafty friends! I told you I would be back with some more CHA sneak peaks, right? Well, today I am going to share a CHA project that i made with Authentique's new "Celebrate" line.

I had to try my hand again at another little takeout box. I picked this pretty silver one up at Michaels after Christmas on clearance for .30 cents! I am kicking myself for not getting more! These are so much fun to decorate and make little fortune cookies to go inside!

Here's a close up, if you look close enough you will see that I used some super *SWEET* stamps and did some stamp layering :-)

Here's a side shot, I used some of the Element stickers along the bottom.

And here's a look at the top, I wanted to show off the cute little pinwheel that I made. I thought it tied in well with this fabulous line. Now once this line hits stores you WILL want to purchase it! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I just love the colors, not to mention, the teal color is one of my favorite colors and when paired with the red/orange, just fabulous!!! Yet another reason I ♥ Authentique, they never cease to amaze me with their color combinations in all of their lines!

Thanks for stopping by today! Keep checking back, this isn't the end of my CHA project show here on my blog ;-)

Goodnight, Moon!

2012-01-24T08:00:00.014-05:00

Happy Tuesday! Here I am with my 2nd layout of 2012! That's almost more layouts than I made in 2011 already completed in the 1st month of 2012! I'm quite proud of myself!

Today's layout is from the Sketch Layout Challenge from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs, here's the sketch:

I thought this layout was sweet. Sometimes it takes me forever to find the perfect photo or series of photos to scrap. This was not my favorite photo that I have of Reagan as a baby, but I thought it went PERFECT with the new "Goodnight Moon" pattern collection from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

It took me a while to find the perfect papers for this layout. I wanted to match them to the photo but still fit with the theme I was going for. I had to dig deep into my stash, but I found the perfect papers. These papers are from the Close to my Heart "Sonata" line. This one was released several years ago and I have been hoarding them because I loved them so much, but I'm glad I held on to them!

My little angel was only 2 months old in these photos, it's crazy how fast they grow!

Thanks for stopping by today! If you want to enter your layout in this sketch challenge, CLICK HERE for more details!

"Genuine" Friends

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday friends! Since CHA starts next week, I just thought I would share with you one of my new projects that will be heading to California for CHA. I am so lucky to be one of the first to get to play with the new Authentique line, Genuine. This collection is absolutely STUNNING!

Here, see for yourself...

Now maybe you are asking yourself "What is that exactly?" Well... a few weeks ago we were having some very nice weather here in Southern Ohio and my crafty hubby decided to go down to the river and find me some cool pieces of driftwood. He swore I could make something neat out of it, so here is what I came up with! I ended up wrapping some wire around it and made a little sign to hang on the wall. Home decor is a new favorite of mine! Luckily my husband brought back a whole truck load of driftwood, this stuff is so much fun to alter!

I just LOVE that quote!!!

All of the shapes that I cut came from the Silhouette online store. I'm addicted to their files!

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure you stop by later this week for another sneak at some CHA projects that I've done!

Little Miracles

2012-01-21T18:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday everyone! I had meant to post this earlier, but this is the first time I've gotten to the computer today. I've been feeling kind of blah. I really hope I'm not coming down with something! Being sick REALLY cuts into my crafting time!

Here's a couple of projects that I made for the Authentique & Helmar cross promotion this week:

I picked up some of these little wooden frames a few weeks ago at Michael's and I thought they would be perfect to use with Authentique's new Baby collection, Miracle.

I thought this little star was perfect for a boy frame, and I used some of my pretty new Aqua Delight twine from Timeless Twine.

I made the bigger frame for the baby girl frame, I wanted to add the little onesie clothesline that I found in the Silhouette shop to this one. I also used some Timeless Twine on this one, the new strawberry truffle twine worked out beautifully with this little frame!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Me + You = LOVE

2012-01-19T17:36:00.002-05:00

Today while I was trying to get motivated (I surfed the web most of the day, my bad! ) I came across a fun challenge that I thought I would try!

I ♥ Market Street Stamps and their challenges are always fun, so I of coarse wanted to try the Paint The Town Color Challenge this month! I missed the past couple months because I've been busy with other things, but I REALLY loved this color scheme and had to give it a go!

For my little card I used papers from Pink Paislee's Nantucket Collection, which is one of my faves! Of coarse, I also used my favorite stamp set from Market Street Stamps, Simple Joys.

While surfing the web today I came across this fabulous sketch on the Silhouette Blog, so I combined it with the color scheme for my inspiration :-)

A Very Valentine Mini Album

2012-01-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

Hello my wonderful crafty friends! I completely spaced out this week (been really busy trying to get projects together to ship off for CHA) and I forgot to post this mini album & challenge!!!

Twice a month there is a fabulous themed challenge over on the Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog. The theme for the challenge going on now is "Valentine's Day". So here is my little mini album that I made for the challenge:

I used some K & Co Valentine papers & embellishments on this that I had stashed from a few years ago. I really like the papers, too bad I'm a hoarder and sometimes I forget what I have in my stash ;-)

If you want to join in on the challenge for a chance to win some fun prizes, CLICK HERE for more details!

Crappy Day?

2012-01-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

This week's challenge from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs is a card sketch. Now this one is right up my ally! Layouts aren't my thing and I'm trying to do more this year, but cards are my thing! I love to make them, they are quick and simple and the possibilities are endless!

Here's this week's card sketch:

And here's my card:

I made this card using the "Crappy Day" stamp from Unity and the Rough Edge Bear pattern & fancy photo collection from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. The pretty paper is from the Free Bird: Comfort line by Authentique Paper.

To play along with us this week, make sure you check out the rest of the design team's projects and enter yours for a chance to win some beautiful LSHD patterns! CLICK HERE for this weeks challenge!

Thanks for stopping by today :-)

Princess in Training

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday! :-) I hope you all are having a great week thus far! Here I am again today with another FUN challenge for you!

One of my New Years Resolutions (and no I'm not breaking ANY this year) is to make more personal 12x12 layouts to fill my albums. I tend to make mini albums, cards, home decor pieces, etc... anything but layouts! I love layouts, but a bigger canvas always scares me. I have all of these photos of my daughter to scrap, so it's a good time to start! She's 4 now and not getting any younger, and the photos keep piling up!

So for the Layout challenge this week... how about one from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs? Here's the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

I decided to do a layout from my daughter's first birthday party. The theme was "Disney Princess" so I thought this one would be a fun one to do. The paper that I used is from imaginisce - Fairest of Them All collection. All of the photo frames and the title are from the Silhouette Store.

I decided to add some letters describing the page with my Petite Type Circle stickers from Authentique. I rarely use these because I forget that I have them, but they are GREAT to describe themes or dates on layouts

The adorable little castle is a piecing from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. You can find the svg file for the castle HERE. I REALLY love this file! It was a great finishing touch for this page!

To play along with this sketch challenge for your chance to win some pretty new LSHD patterns, CLICK HERE!

Thanks for stopping by today! ♥

Family Mini Album

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! I just wanted to share another mini album that I made for my post today on the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog.

This is an itty bitty mini album. It's only 3x3 in size! It's hard to tell that from photos, but it's tiny! I am really addicted to making these because they are so quick & easy to make! All you need are the cute little paper bags that you can find in the party section of your local craft store.

The papers that I used are from Authentique's "Splendid" collection. I really ♥ the variety of colors in this collection!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happiness is a Direction...

2012-01-07T11:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday crafty friends! Are you looking for something fun to do this weekend with a chance of being rewarded with an awesome prize? Well... why don't you stop by the Authentique Paper blog today and check out the new January sketch Challenge!

Here's a little look at my card for the challenge...

Here's a full look at my card...

I used papers from Authentique's fabulous Free Bird series on this little card. The papers I used are from the Delight collection. I also used an Authentique Itty Bitty stamp from Unity called "Direction of Happy".

And here's the sketch that I based this card off of...

Don't forget to check out the Authentique Paper January sketch challenge going on now! Not a card maker? not a problem! There is also a layout sketch to follow as well!

Thanks for stopping by today! ♥

Chinese Takout, Anyone?

2012-01-04T13:58:00.001-05:00

Happy Wednesday! I woke up this morning ready to create! So what better way to start my day than with a couple of fun challenges?

One of my favorite challenges...

You can join the MSS Block party HERE.

And one that I've never tried before...

Link up with the Cas-ual Fridays challenge HERE.

I really thought that with all of the holiday madness, I had missed these 2 great challenges, but I made it just in time!

So here is my challenge project for both challenges:

I made a fun little chinese takout box with fortune cookies! The Cas-ual Fridays challenge was a Plain & Simple project using Kraft and twine. I used my new Silhouette Cameo to cut the cute little takeout box out of chipboard and I made the little fortune cookies using Basic Grey's Little Black Dress paper (goes great with anything kraft colored!!!)

On the box I used Market Street Stamps Vintage Wallpaper background stamp. I rarely use background stamps because they never turn out nice for me, but this one did and I LOVE it!

For the twine in my project, I used Cappuccino bakers twine from The Twinery.. LOVE t heir twine!! It's some of the best out there for sure!

For the little fortunes, I used Market Street Stamps Simple Joys stamp set. This one is by far my favorite and most used set that I have from MSS! I always say this, but it's sooo versatile!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you got your "fill" with my sweet little takeout box :-) Don't forget to link up to the Market Street Block Party and the Cas-Ual Fridays challenge! They both end tonight!

Eternally Blissful

2011-12-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday everyone!!! I cannot believe this is the LAST Friday in 2011! Are you all ready for the New Year? I know I am! My husband still won't let me take down my Christmas tree, he says it's bad luck to do it before New Years, so instead of doing that this week, I made this cute little mini album :-)

I used some pretty papers from Authentique Paper in this album, I've been preparing projects this week to send off to the Authentique peeps for CHA... not sure if I'm going to send this one or not yet... but it's a possibility :-)

Ok, I know I've said it before.... new things coming to my Etsy Shop... well.. I've slowly been adding a few things this week including a new shop section! Yep, I've added Tutorials to my etsy shop! Now you can purchase full step-by-step instructions that includes a material list for some of my albums to make your own! For some of these, I will offer kits if I have enough material to make them, but if you already own the product, you can purchase the tutorial for a lower price. These tutorials will range from $5- $15 depending on the difficulty level of the project.

You can find the tutorial to make this album for purchase HERE!

Splendid Things

2011-12-23T08:00:00.014-05:00

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Can you believe that Christmas is in just a few days? Seriously, where has the year gone?

I got a little tired of making Christmas projects shortly after I started on them this year (I know, I get burned out pretty quick unless it is a project involves the beach or something tropical themed!). So today I wanted to share a little project that I made today for my post on the Authentique Paper blog.

I figured that these little boxes could be used not only for Christmas, but all year round. I used paper from Authentique's Splendid collection and also added some beautiful ribbons from the Really Reasonable Ribbon store.

I made the little boxes with SVG Cuts FREE One-Piece Boxes SVG kit files! They are absolutely free with no purchase necessary! And they are very cute!

Make sure you check out my post today on the Authentique Paper blog to see more!

Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas!

2011-12-23T01:07:00.000-05:00

Are you looking for some last minute Christmas Gift ideas? Well look no further! I just wanted to share a quick little post to give you an idea for some cute gifts!

My friend contacted me yesterday to make some picture frames for her mom as gifts to give. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought these little wooden frames for .97 cents! First, I glued patterned paper on them and let it dry, then I painted the edges with coordinating paint, and then I covered the whole frame with mod podge for a glossy look. Lastly, I added embellishments.

Here are a few more that I made:

These each took maybe an hour to make. So if you're looking for something very last minute, try some picture frames! They make a great gift for anyone! plus, you can easily personalize them for fit the person that you are giving it to! ♥

Friendship Makes Life Colorful

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday friends! Today I wanted to share a project that I made based on something very important in my life, friends.

Some of you may have seen this little mini album over the past week... I entered it in a little contest over at American Crafts... and I WON!!! Without the help of all of my crafty friends, I wouldn't have won, so thank you all so much! I've gained so many friends in the online world over the past year and I'm so very thankful for each and every one of you!

So I'm sure you all want to see the fabulous goodies that I won, right?

Yep, I won an awesome Amy Tangerine prize pack full of daybooks & embellishments! I cannot wait to play with these!!! Thanks everyone who voted & a big thanks to American Crafts! :-)

Make sure you stop by the American Crafts facebook page and say hello! They do contests like this quite often and you could be a winner too!

Products Used:
American Crafts: Amy Tangerine papers, Thickers, Diamond Brads, Glitter Buttons
Pink by Design: Friends to the End stamp set
Really Reasonable Ribbon:Glitz Assortment,Curly Sparkling Fuchsia and Light Blue ribbons
The Twinery: Lemondrop & Honeydew bakers twine

Emily's Back to the 80's Birthday Blog Hop!

2011-12-18T00:17:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! Welcome to my fabulous 80's themed Birthday blog hop! If you've stopped by my blog today to hop, you're in for a treat! This is the beginning of the hop so make sure you make a stop at every blog because this hop is chalked full of talent!

This hop was organized by me to celebrate my birthday as well as my very last year in my 20's sniff! I figured what better way to celebrate than to take things way back to the era that I was born in! I sit here typing this post while rockin' out to some old school New Kids on the Block, one of my fondest memories of growing up in the 80's! :-) I was born on December 18, 1982, making me 29 years old today. Sometimes I feel like my childhood was sooo long ago, but then I start making projects like this and looking at old photos and it all just comes back to me like it was yesterday! ♥

So before we got hoping, I just wanted to share a little picture of me that I found from waaaay back in the 80's...

Yep, that's me & my mom back in the day!

And here's a pic from last year at an 80's themed party...

Totally tubular, huh? (And I really don't ever remember saying tubular back then! lol)

For my project I wanted to make a paper bag album. When I first got into scrapbooking, the first project I tried besides a layout and a card was a paper bag album. I fell in love and have been making them ever since! I haven't decided what I want to do with this album yet... I might stick it in my etsy shop, or I might just keep it for myself!

I used my new Silhouette Cameo with lots of various 80's svg files on this album. I was soooo excited when I found them! I also dug through my papers and found a line by Junkitz that went very well with the theme!

I added some page pull outs to the little pockets in the paper bags. For the photo mats, I wanted to give them a poloroid photo look. I look through a lot of my old pictures and I have quite a few on poloroids! I know, mine are kind of backwards, but I like how they look :-) I also stamped a different 80's sentiment on each one with the I Love The 80's stamp set by Pink by Design.

I really am happy with how this album turned out! I kept adding and adding and adding to it until it was just right! I hope you all were inspired and taken back a few decades with all of my retro 80's memorabilia and sayings in my little album! :-)

Who wants some BLOG CANDY??? A lot of the fabulous people in this hop have donated blog candy for you to win! All you have to do is make sure you hop through the entire hop and leave a comment on each blog to be eligible! We will give you until Tuesday December 20 to hop and comment (I know, it's a pretty large hop) and announce the winners on Wednesday December 21. You will have a chance at each of the following prizes, so there will be different winners!

Sarah from Pink by Design has donated an I Love the 80's stamp set:

Nicole from Sweet Stamp Shop has donated an Old School Rock stamp set as well as 3 80's colored Copic Markers (YG06 FV2 BG13):

Angelica from Market Street Stamps has donated a Computer Cutie stamp set:

Jeannie has donated an 80's colored embellishment pack:

Julie Ranae has donated a sampler pack of The Twinery's new colors:

Heather has donated this awesome prize pack:

Kathy has donated a Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge:

And I am offering an 80's theme DIY Paper bag album kit.... I will post photos of it later today :-)

Also, there are a lot of others offering blog candy that isn't listed here, so make sure you hop all the way through to win! Please leave a *UNIQUE* comment on each blog, all of my talented crafty friends have worked very hard on this hop to make it super fun for you all today!

Blog Hop Lineup:
Emily: http://www.createserendipity.net
Lisa: http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com
Abby: http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com/
Candace: http://www.papercraftsbycandace.blogspot.com
Nicole http://sweetstampshop.blogspot.com
Julie Ranae http://juliesopenwindow.blogspot.com/
Stephanie http://www.sweetstephcardcreations.blogspot.com/
Tanya http://nonnascraftcorner.blogspot.com/
Candace http://www.scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com
Elizabeth http://www.217creations.com
Angelica http://www.handmadebyangelica.com
Michelle http://www.scrappinwithmybug.com/
Erin http://www.erinleecreative.com
Sarah http://www.pinkcricut.com
Dawn http://www.designsthatdelight.com
Kathy http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com
Jeannie http://polkacabana.wordpress.com/
Cristine http://onescrappynovice.blogspot.com/
Heather http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/

Authentique Paper & Scor-Pal Blog Hop

2011-12-17T08:00:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone and welcome to the Authentique Paper and Scor-Pal blog hop! If you came from Steph's blog, you're on the right track! If you stopped by today and want to hop along, please start at the beginning on the Authentique blog! Make sure you stop by each blog, this hop it FULL of talent! Plus, if you comment on each blog, you will be entered to win some awesome prizes!

For my project today, I wanted to try something a little different (for me at least)... Since I got my awesome Scor-pal, I have been using it to make rosettes, which are really popular right now and it's the perfect tool to use to make them! So instead of just making something out of rosettes, I wanted to add a little more to my project.... so here is what I came up with!

I made this little purse/basket to hold little cards or candies... cute, right? I used Authentique's Blissful paper & embellishments. I never use this paper enough (maybe because I don't want to cut it up, it's soooo pretty!). I remember when I set eyes on it earlier this year and I was instantly in love! This is the line that lead me to Authentique and it was true love from there on out ♥ I used my scor-pal to do the folds on this little purse. I love love love using it for folds because they are always nice crisp perfect folds!

Here's a peek at the inside:

And a side view:

Here is a close up, as you can see I decided to add a little rosette, I also used my scor-pal along with my new Cameo to make it.

Thanks for stopping by today! Now hop along and see what Gini has in store for you today!

Authentique Paper – http://authentiquepaper.blogspot.com/
Tifany DeGough - http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/
Steph Ackerman - http://www.stephaniescraps.blogspot.com/
Emily Lanham - http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Gini Cagle - http://www.ginicagle.blogspot.com/
Misty Buck - http://mistylynnwhat.blogspot.com/
Lisa Andrews - http://www.scrappingwithlisa.blogspot.com/
Brenda Smith - http://theimperfectscrapper.blogspot.com/
Katie Tate - http://bothsidesofthepaper.blogspot.com/
Cristine Redmond - http://onescrappynovice.blogspot.com/
Kittie Franken - http://kittyfranken.blogspot.com/
Scor-Pal – http://scor-pal.blogspot.com/

Blog Hop Prizes: {*2 total winners*}

From Authentique Paper – Authentique Paper prize pack ($20 retail value)
From Scor-Pal – Scor-Buddy ($20 retail value)

To win:

All you have to do is visit each blog on the hop and leave a comment. It's that simple! Winners will be chosen randomly from all comments on the blogs. You must have a US/Canada address. Blog Comments Close onMonday, December 19th @ 11:59pm (Pacific)abd winners will be announced Wednesday, December 21st (on Authentique Paper blog and Scor-Pal blog).

Deck the Halls with Burlap!

2011-12-16T22:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday everyone! Are you all prepared for Christmas NEXT WEEK??? My how this year has just flown by! I know I say that every year at this time. I'm still not ready for Christmas and don't know if I will be even next week! I meant to make this post earlier, but with everything going on, it slipped my mind!

Last month I entered one of my new favorite challenges, the May Arts monthly challenge! The Ribbon Lady picks 25 entrants for each challenge and sends them a set of ribbon, the challenge is that you have to use every ribbon on your project. This month the challenge was using Burlap. I usually don't use a lot of burlap, but I had a lot of fun with this one!

I decided to go with a rosette wreath. I got my new Silhouette Cameo this week and wanted to play with it. The rosettes are from an svg file that I found at Lettering Delights. The fun & festive paper that I used is from Basic Grey's Jovial line.

Here's a close up and a side view:

This is also my project for the Really Reasonable Ribbon "Anything Goes" challenge! Make sure you check it out and get your project entered HERE! Also, if you're interest in these ribbons/burlap, check out Really Reasonable Ribbon! Bonnie offers some of these in her store!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend!

RRR December Blog Hop!

2011-12-13T08:00:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to the RRR Blog hop! If you came here from Jan's blog, you're on the right track! If not, make sure you start at the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog to start from the beginning and see all of the fabulous projects that the team made for today!

Have you checked out the RRR Ribbon club yet? This month on our hop we are featuring ribbons from the ribbon club assortment shown below:

Make sure you CLICK HERE to become a member of the awesome RRR Ribbon club!

For today, I wanted to share with you a little project for Christmas! I posted something similar last week when we did the recipe/baking projects on the RRR blog, and since I did a lot of baking, I wanted to make another little gift with my food/ribbon :-)

I had this cute little tin here in my craft room and added some of the beautiful winter white ribbons to it. The food inside is Oreo Snowballs, mine look kind of like dirt balls, but they were equally delicious! :-)

Now hop along and see what Jeanne has in store for you today!

RRR Blog - http://www.reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/
Trudy - http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/
Judy – http://jarfullofjoy.blogspot.com/
Joanna - http://scrap-making.blogspot.com/
Heidi - http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/
Misty - http://mommyof5kidz.blogspot.com/
Dawn - http://www.dawnscraft.com/
Gloria - http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
Jan - http://papercraftpleasures.blogspot.com/
Emily - http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Jeanne - http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Corri - http://buglvr.blogspot.com/
Cheryl - http://sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com/
RRR Blog - http://www.reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/

LSHD & Scrapping Bug Designs Christmas Gift Blog Hop

2011-12-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Scrapping Bug Designs and Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Handmade Christmas Gift Idea Blog Hop!

We are so glad that you have decided to hop along with us. Throughout our hop we hope to inspire you with lots of ideas for creating your own handmade Christmas Gifts this year .There will be some great blog candy along the way as well as a GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY of $100.00 in free patterns for Scrapping Bug Designs and $100.00 in free patterns for Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

If you just dropped by my blog today and would like to start at the beginning please hop on over to Chrissy's Blog. If you have been following the blog hop and have hopped over from Kandice's Blog, then you are right where you need to be.

For my project today, I decided to make a gift that anyone would love, young or old, boy or girl, there is nothing like a gift that goes straight to your stomach! :-)

I made this little French Fry box cut from my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and added some pretty ribbon, beautiful Authentique "Wonder" paper, a fab stamp from Unity, some Holly Berries & leaves from LSHD's Twas The Night Before Christmas Collection, and some very yummy Cherry Wink cookies!

If you would like to see the recipe for these yummy cookies, make sure you check out my post on the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog today! Also check the rest of the weeks posts there for more yummy Christmas treat ideas!

Now hop right along and see what Pam has in store for you today!

Lineup:
Chrissy Palmer http://scrappingbugdesigns.blogspot.com/
Deborah Foti http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Linda Mortenson http://linda-scrappinwmn.blogspot.com/
Cindy Phillips http://cpmemories.blogspot.com/
Nancie Brungard http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Jane McKinney http://www.janettarosedesigns.blogspot.com/
Angie Christensen http://www.capzscrapzcreationz.blogspot.com/
Liz Hagag http://scrappinwithstyle.blogspot.com/
Tracey Geneau http://traceyctmh.blogspot.com/
Jeana Sealock http://www.scraptoday.blogspot.com/
Kandice Jarrell http://www.kreativekandi.blogspot.com/
Emily Lanham http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Pam Pease http://geezypeaseypapercrafting.blogspot.com/
Paula Wells http://www.owlbescrappin.com/
Tammy Luiz http://scrapnewe.blogspot.com/
Leann Duncan http://www.scrapbookingbyleann.blogspot.com/
Lisa Rhodes http://www.lisakelly110803.blogspot.com/
Tricia Moore http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/

MSS Block Party!

2011-12-04T22:25:00.001-05:00

Happy Sunday everyone! Today was a lazy day here at my house. My husband sat around and watched football, and I crafted! :-) I decided to try a little challenge today... It's one that I wait for every month because I have a lot of fun using my Market Street Stamps!

So for this weekend's Block Party project, I wanted to do a little chipboard album. I've used the Comfort Food stamp set before on a little card, but today, I REALLY wanted to get some use of this set because it's one of my faves! So here is what I came up with...

I wanted it to say "Favorite Recipes" so I had to add an S off of the Soups stamp. I really just love the little apron!

Here are some pics at different angles:

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my little project!

Tis The Season to HOP! Day 3

2011-12-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Day 3 of this awesome hop! If you arrived here by chance please go back to the beginning HERE, if you hopped from Yolanda's blog, you're on the right track!

For today's project, I have another little mini toilet paper roll album. If you are interested in seeing more of these types of albums, please scroll through my blog! I also made one for Day 1 of this hop... I just can't get enough of these! They are so much fun to make!

For this one, I used the Tree Traditions stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop. Make sure you check that one out too! It's on sale right now!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the hop!

Lineup:
Elsa- http://JustaFewDesigns.blogspot.com/
Krystal- http://krystalsnight.blogspot.com/
Jules- http://www.thejulebox.com
Kimi- http://uniquescrappiness.blogspot.com/
Linda- http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/
Margaret- http://www.auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Stacie- http://creativyou.blogspot.com
Michelle- http://creativeoperation.blogspot.com/
Tmika - http://scrapdaworld.blogspot.com/
Sue - http://scrappingsuzieqtt.blogspot.com/
Yolanda - http://socrafty3.blogspot.com/
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/

Tis The Season to HOP! Day 2

2011-12-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Day 2 of this awesome hop! If you arrived here by chance please go back to the beginning HERE, if you hopped from Yolanda's blog, you're on the right track!

For today's project, I have a little card to share with you. I love making cards, I think because they are quick and easy to make and they will always brighten someone's day!

This card is also my card for Authentique's Sketch Challenge this month, so make sure you stop over there and enter the challenge for a chance to win some yummy Authentique paper!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the hop and come back tomorrow for Day 3

Lineup:
Elsa- http://JustaFewDesigns.blogspot.com/
Krystal- http://krystalsnight.blogspot.com/
Jules- http://www.thejulebox.com
Kimi- http://uniquescrappiness.blogspot.com/
Linda- http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/
Margaret- http://www.auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Stacie- http://creativyou.blogspot.com
Michelle- http://creativeoperation.blogspot.com/
Tmika - http://scrapdaworld.blogspot.com/
Sue - http://scrappingsuzieqtt.blogspot.com/
Yolanda - http://socrafty3.blogspot.com/
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/

Tis The Season to HOP!

2011-12-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog hop, Tis the Season to Hop. I have joined a bunch of talented ladies to share with you some awesome Christmas themed projects.
We will be hopping for three days from the 2nd through the 4th of Dec. Some of the ladies in the hop will offering Candy so look out for those neat gifts...also make sure you become my follower and comment all 3 days of the hop on all the participating blogs in order to win the Candy that Elsa will be giving away on her blog.

We hope to inspire you to create and give homemade gifts and cards this year.
If you arrived here by chance please go back to the beginning HERE, if you hopped from Yolanda's blog, you're on the right track!

This year I have become all about recycling. The easiest item to recycle into a craft project for me has been toilet paper rolls. I LOVE LOVE LOVE making mini toilet paper roll albums! Here's one that I made to share today:

For this little album I used Basic Grey's new Nordic Holiday collection. The little snowman bear is a pattern from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. And the sentiment is from the Snowflakes stamps set by Pink by Design.

I love to make these albums because it's really simple to tuck away hidden photos or journaling in the little side pockets.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the hop and come back tomorrow for Day 2

Lineup:
Elsa- http://JustaFewDesigns.blogspot.com/
Krystal- http://krystalsnight.blogspot.com/
Jules- http://www.thejulebox.com
Kimi- http://uniquescrappiness.blogspot.com/
Linda- http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/
Margaret- http://www.auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Stacie- http://creativyou.blogspot.com
Michelle- http://creativeoperation.blogspot.com/
Tmika - http://scrapdaworld.blogspot.com/
Sue - http://scrappingsuzieqtt.blogspot.com/
Yolanda - http://socrafty3.blogspot.com/
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/

Who loves Pink by Design?

2011-11-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

Well, it's obvious that I LOVE Pink by Design stamps! Who else out there does? I've been given $50 in gift certificates to hand out so I decided to split it into 2 $25 gift certificates! I already gave away one over the weekend, and I'm giving the last one away tonight! be sure to check out my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CreateSerendipity07 to be entered for your chance to win!

RRR DT Post

2011-11-19T09:13:00.000-05:00

Make sure you all stop by the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog today and see the fun & festive Turkey Day tag that I made using the Thanksgiving Owl-fits stamps from Sweet Stamp Shop!

RRR Blog Hop!

2011-11-13T07:30:00.008-05:00

Make sure you CLICK HERE to become a member of the awesome RRR Ribbon club!

For today, I wanted to share with you a little project for Christmas! I had a similar one posted yesterday, but I wanted to make sure that everyone got a chance to see this cute little project made out of toilet paper rolls! I ended up making a little Christmas flower Ornament. I plan on making several this year to decorate my tree with. They are so cheap and easy to make! The one I did yesterday was painted white and looked like a snowflake, but for today's project, I wanted to make a flower ornament.

I used one of the pretty gold ribbons from the ribbon assortment pack. You can't see the flower too well from the pic, but it's painted red and also a little shimmery because I sprayed it with glimmer mist.

Now hop along and see what Jeanne has in store for you today!

RRR Blog - http://www.reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/
Trudy - http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/
Judy – http://jarfullofjoy.blogspot.com/
Joanna - http://scrap-making.blogspot.com/
Heidi - http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/
Misty - http://mommyof5kidz.blogspot.com/
Dawn - http://www.dawnscraft.com/
Gloria - http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
Jan - http://papercraftpleasures.blogspot.com/
Emily - http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Jeanne - http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Corri - http://buglvr.blogspot.com/
Cheryl - http://sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com/
RRR Blog - http://www.reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/

Authentique Paper & The Twinery Blog Hop

2011-11-12T12:01:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the Authentique/Twinery blog hop! If you came here from Stephanie's blog, you're on the right track! If not, make sure you start at the beginning with the Authentique Paper blog so you don't miss out on any of the fabulous projects in this hop!

For a little blog candy, Authentique Paper is giving away an Authentique Paper prize pack ($20 retail value) and The Twinery is giving away a Colorful Bunch Sampler pack ($20 retail value). Leave a comment on each blog along the hop. The winners will be chosen randomly from all comments on the manufacturer blogs AND the designer blogs. {Winners must have a US/Canada address.}

Blog comments close on Monday, November 14th at 11:59pm (Pacific) and the winners will be announced Wednesday, November 17th on the Authentique Paper blog and The Twinery's blog.

Now on to my project for the day... I made a little Christmas ornament out of toilet paper rolls. For those of you who know me, you know by now that I am loving creating things from tp rolls! I got the idea for this little ornament from a Christmas wreath that I made last week. I thought well those little flowers also look like snowflakes! So here is my ornament:

I want to fill my tree with these this year.

I used a little tag from the Icons from Authentique's Journey line and tied a little bit of Denim twine from The Twinery.

make sure you become a follower of my blog or my facebook page! I plan to make lots more of these and I will post a tutorial in the next couple of weeks so you can make your own tp roll ornaments! They are so simple and inexpensive to make and oh so cute!

Now hop right along and see what Hera has in store for you today!!!

Authentique Paper – http://authentiquepaper.blogspot.com/
Tifany DeGough - http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/
Julie Ranae Murray - http://juliesopenwindow.blogspot.com/
Natalie Dever - http://dougnat.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Johnson - http://www.parkersprints.blogspot.com/
Emily Lanham - http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Hera Frei - http://cappuccinoandcolour.blogspot.com/
Heather Conklin - http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/
Deena Neimat - http://www.imakestuff.typepad.com/
Janeen Shember - http://suburbngypsy.blogspot.com/
Ivona Foster - http://blog.sugarsticksparties.com/
The Twinery – http://www.thetwineryblog.com/

RRR DT Post

2011-11-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

Today is my first post on the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog! Make sure you check it out HERE! Today I'm sharing a project that I've shared here before and also a brand new one that matches the old one! :-)

Hello Kitty Blog Hop!

2011-11-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the Hello Kitty Blog Hop! I am very excited that Dena asked me to help co-host this hop! We have lots of FABULOUS projects and prizes for you today, so make sure you make a stop on every blog! This hop is a 2 day hop, so you have plenty of time to get through all of the blogs. If you're starting at my blog today, you are at the right spot to start hopping!

I know I had a post up yesterday, but I thought I would make a fresh post to correct some broken links/add my project that wasn't here yesterday and also to bring the post to the top of my blog. Thanks everyone who hopped along yesterday!

Our Sponsor:
This hop is being sponsored by PSA Essentials. Libby has been so sweet to donate some blog candy for this hop and she's also joining us as a stop on the hop! If you aren't familiar with PSA, they manufacture self-inking custom stamps and have a variety of styles and ways to personalize. Their stamps come ready to go, with black ink already assembled so you can start stamping right away. And custom stamps are a great way to add personalization to your projects!!! I always add my "Create Serendipity" to the backs of my albums so everyone knows where it came from. :-)

Blog Candy Giveaway:
PSA Essentials is giving away 1 PSA Essentials stamper, 1 Hello Kitty Peel & Stick pack, & 1 ink of the winner's choice. To win, you must hop along and comment on every blog in the hop and also you must be a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog.
I must apologize for not having my project up yesterday! I had some serious computer issues this past week and finally when I thought everything was better.... I put my memory card in my computer to load my project photos, and the computer pretty much ate the memory card and deleted all of my photos! So I FINALLY got a new memory card.... here is my project:

I made this little mini album out of toilet paper rolls, I'm really loving making projects from recycled materials! For the cute little sparkly Hello Kitty, I used the Hello Kitty Greetings Cricut Cartridge.

Hop right along to Dena's Blog and see what she has in store for you today!

Lineup:
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/
Dena- http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Lisa- http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Jessica-Creative : http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
Tammy- http://thepurplemuse.blogspot.com/
Jearise- http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
Ashley- http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Lisa- http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/
Jenny- http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Bryan- http://www.scrapguy.blogspot.com/
Lynne- http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
Anita- http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Theresa- http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Candace - http://scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/
Libby- http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/

Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! Day 2

2011-11-05T03:01:00.001-04:00

If you are looking for the Hello Kitty Blog Hop, please CLICK HERE

Welcome to the Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!!!

Calling all crafters! We’ve gathered designers from some of our favorite manufacturers to show you ways to create something from the heart this holiday season. This 3 day Hop includes over 60 stops with inspiration brimming from every corner. Explore all thoughtful and frugal handmade gifts you could make for the holidays, all in one place on this Hop!

The Authentique crew has dubbed me the "Queen" of Toilet Paper Rolls. I LOVE to use things that I find around the house to craft with, and tp rolls are my favorite! I normally make mini albums out of them, but today, I thought I would try a different approach! Here is what I came up with:

Cute, right? Who knew that toilet paper rolls could be so festive!

Here's a closer look

Now I had all of these step-by-step photos taken and I was so excited to share them, but this week has NOT been my week with technology! First, my computer crashed, then as I was getting ready to upload photos, my computer pretty much eats my memory card and deleted all of my photos. So the above photos were taken with my iphone, thus not being the best quality. I plan to make more of these, so if you want to bookmark my site or become a follower, that would be great! I will post step by step photo instructions as soon as I get them.

For now, I will try my best to explain how to make this festive wreath!
1. You will need about 1 toilet paper roll for each flower. I made 10 flowers, so about 9-10 rolls will do.
2. Flatten your tp roll and cut 1/2 inch pieces.
3. This step is optional, but if you want your flowers painted, you can spray paint, or what I used, was acrylic paint. After the paint was dry, I sprayed with glimmer mist for a little sparkle.
4. Glue your petals together to form flower, I glued about 7 per flower.
5. Assemble flowers in a wreath shape and glue together. I used hot glue for everything.
6. Embellish! You can add buttons, ribbons, you name it! I cut some leaves with Authentique's festive papers, Wonder, and also used one of their headlines on the bottom.

And that's it! Now you have a beautiful festive wreath for the holidays! These would make great gifts for friends and family and they will be shocked when you tell them that it is made from toilet paper rolls!

To sweeten to Hop, Authentique Paper is offering a gift for one lucky hopper! For every comment you leave on the blogs in the Hop, you'’ll be entered to win a prize pack from one of the participating manufacturer sponsors (including this great prize pack shown below)!
{Authentique Paper winner must have a US/Canada address.}

Visit the list of blogs below and leave a comment on each by Nov 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM {PST}. Each day we will be sharing a brand new list of blogs with brand new projects for you to explore, be inspired by, and create from!

Clearsnap – http://clearsnap.blogspot.com
Spellbinders http://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com/Community/Blog.aspx
Hampton Art - http://blog.hamptonart.com/
Zutter – http://binditall.blogspot.com/
Graphic45 – http://g45papers.typepad.com/
Donna Salazar Designs – http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/
The Twinery - http://www.thetwineryblog.com/
Authentique Paper http://authentiquepaper.blogspot.com/
Jan Hennings – Glue Arts http://papercraftpleasures.blogspot.com/
Kim Sonksen – Donna Salazar Designs - http://kimsonksen.blogspot.com/
Jamie Harper – Hampton Art http://www.jamieharper.typepad.com
Jenny Suchin – The Twinery http://www.suchins.blogspot.com/
Heather Conklin– Authentique Paper http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/
Gloria Stengel- Graphic 45 http://gloriascraps.blogspot.com/
Christine Emberson - Spellbinders http://hope-chances.blogspot.com/
Julie Overby – Spellbinders http://joverby.blogspot.com/
Mary Dawn Quirindongo – Clearsnap http://mypinkmexico.blogspot.com/
Lea Sanders – Zutter http://leasanders.wordpress.com/
Tara Orr – Graphic45 http://eachmoment-onlyonce.blogspot.com/
Patti Milazzo – Glue Arts - http://pattimilazzo.blogspot.com/
Emily Lanham – Authentique Paper http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Jessy Christopher – Donna Salazar Designs - http://teacherjessy.blogspot.com

Cheers to creating gifts from the heart this holiday season!

Happy Hopping!

Hello Kitty Blog Hop!

2011-11-05T01:22:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the Hello Kitty Blog Hop! I am very excited that Dena asked me to help co-host this hop! We have lots of FABULOUS projects and prizes for you today, so make sure you make a stop on every blog! This hop is a 2 day hop, so you have plenty of time to get through all of the blogs. If you're starting at my blog today, you are at the right spot to start hopping!

Our Sponsor:
This hop is being sponsored by PSA Essentials. Libby has been so sweet to donate some blog candy for this hop and she's also joining us as a stop on the hop! If you aren't familiar with PSA, they manufacture self-inking custom stamps and have a variety of styles and ways to personalize. Their stamps come ready to go, with black ink already assembled so you can start stamping right away. And custom stamps are a great way to add personalization to your projects!!! I always add my "Create Serendipity" to the backs of my albums so everyone knows where it came from. :-)

Blog Candy Giveaway:
PSA Essentials is giving away 1 PSA Essentials stamper, 1 Hello Kitty Peel & Stick pack, & 1 ink of the winner's choice. To win, you must hop along and comment on every blog in the hop and also you must be a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog.

(Project coming soon!)
So sorry, I've been having A LOT of technical difficulties, my computer crashed, then camera won't read memory card... stay tuned for my project! I am so sorry about this! In the mean time, make sure you check out the whole hop for all of the fabulous projects!

Hop right along to Dena's Blog and see what she has in store for you today!

Lineup:
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/
Dena- http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Lisa- http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Jessica-Creative : http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
Crafty Homemade- http://craftyhomemade.blogspot.com/
Tammy- http://thepurplemuse.blogspot.com/
Jearise- http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
Ashley- http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Lisa- http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/
Jenny- http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Bryan- http://www.scrapguy.blogspot.com/
Lynne- http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
Anita- http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Theresa- http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Candace - http://scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/
Libby- http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/

RRR Challenge #35- Christmas Theme!

2011-11-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Happy November! Christmas is right around the corner now, are you starting to get in the holiday spirit? I know it was a little odd for me to be creating Christmas themed albums on Halloween, but I was getting a good jump start on the Holiday!

For my first challenge project on the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog, I made a mini album out of recycled toilet paper rolls. A list of materials will be below the photos, I'm going to try to start doing my posts this way so it will be easier for you all to identify with the products that I use.

Supplies Used:
Authentique: Wonder- 6x6 Bundle, Icons
Really Reasonable Ribbon: Sheer Woven Rosettes, Swiss Dots, Red Satin Double Ruffle, Sheer Iridescent Red, Sheer Iridescent Parot Green, Ivory Grosgrain
The Twinery: Maraschino Bakers Twine

We would LOVE for you to come play along with the challenge! If you love ribbon, make sure you stop by the RRR blog HERE for a chance to win and to play along!

Design Team Announcemenet!

2011-10-30T14:02:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo! I'm so excited that I can FINALLY make this big announcement! I've been holding it in for several weeks now (which is a long time for me to hold something in like this!!!) I'm proud to announce that I am now designing for...

I'm REALLY excited to be a part of this team! Who doesn't love beautiful yummy ribbon???!!!

Make sure you check out the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog HERE and make sure you visit the store by clicking HERE!

Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Halloween Party Blog Hop!

2011-10-22T00:01:00.056-04:00

Welcome to the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Halloween Party Blog Hop! If you came here from Margaret's blog, you're on the right track! If you are just stopping by and want to hop along, please start at the beginning at Leann's Blog.

For this hop, we were to make a Halloween themed party favor or decoration. I normally don't do party favors or decorations, so this was a challenge for me! Anyways, here is what I came up with...

I made this little rosette wreath with Authentique's Glowing line of paper and my new scor-pal. For the Bats and Ghosts, I used LSHD's Haunted Graveyard Pattern Set. For the eyes on the ghosts, I used The Uglies Assortment set from Peachy Keen Stamps. Cute, right?

Here's a little close up.

Now I cannot take full credit for this wreath, my dear friend Sarah shared this idea on her site not too long ago, but the cool thing is... you can make your very own rosette wreath too! CLICK HERE to see her tutorial!

Did you see the awesome candy that Tricia is offering?

To win, you must comment on every blog in the hop!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Now hop along and see what Jeana brought to the party!

Blog Lineup:
Leann http://scrapbookingbyleann.blogspot.com/
Patricia http://pattyandcharlie.blogspot.com/
Wendy A. http://scrappydownunder.blogspot.com/
Wendy L. http://wleitel.blogspot.com/
Nancie http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Margaret http://auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Emily http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Jeana http://www.scraptoday.blogspot.com/
Deborah http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Tammy http://tammyjennings.blogspot.com/
Angie http://capzscrapzcreationz.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://cpmemories.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://dawnsdesignsthatdelight.blogspot.com/
Tricia http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/

Love... Laughter... Bliss!

2011-10-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to share this project with you today! It literally took me all day to do, but once I got started on it, I couldn't stop! I rarely ever do home decor pieces, but I thought I would try something different to mix things up! I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out!

First, let me just say that the inspiration for this project came from the Market Street Stamps Special Anniversary Block Party... I would LOVE to win the grand prize, so I wanted to go over the top with my project! Plus, I used my favorite Market Street Stamp's set, Simple Joys. AND if you want to link up for the block party... it's not too late! Make sure you check out the Market Street Stamps blog to join in on the fun!

So here is what I came up with for my block party project:

This weekend I got a HUGE package of Authentique goodies that I could not wait to get to play with! My box was full of their beautiful new line, "Gathering". Once this line hits stores, I'm sure you all will want to have a stack of it, I mean, it's just a phenomenal color combo, not to mention their papers are fabulous!

A few months ago, I got this dress form from my dear friend Nicole. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I let it sit on my shelf until I was inspired to decorate it... I didn't want to mess it up! I got out my new Scor-pal and decided to make a dress... as I played with the papers and different folding techniques, I finally came up with the perfect dress! I decided to paint the form first, and then I just kind of went with it.

I was even inspired to decorate the back... I know that you don't always see the backs of these things, but since this was a 3-dimensional object, I thought I better give the back a little something :-)

Here's another close-up. If you click the photos, you can see the project in a larger scale.

Also, another inspiration for this project comes from a site that I'm very new to... Moxie Fab World! This weeks Tuesday Trigger was Finesse the Dress, so I was simply inspired by a dress, and since I had this form sitting here waiting to be altered.... I made me a dress!

And that's all for today! I hope you all liked my project! I normally sell my work in my etsy shop once I'm finished with it, but this one I just cannot part with! It's going to be stored in my bedroom... plus, it matches perfectly! :-)

Guest Designer at Sweet Stamp Shop!

2011-10-17T12:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today I am the guest designer over at the Sweet Stamp Shop! If you haven't checked them out yet, you must! I just love Nicole's whimsical designs! A lot of the stamps are designs from her BEAUTIFUL handwriting! I wish I could write that pretty!

Anyways... here is my little project for today....

Yep, I made a little tag! I rarely do tags, but I had a BLAST making this one... here is part of the reason why I had so much fun:

I worked at the Creating Keepsakes Convention this weekend helping with set up, tear down, and also doing make & takes... so I did find a little time to shop in between... and yes, I found a new love... Distress stains!!! I already had the inks, but I picked up quite a few of the stains and sat down to play with them when I got home. LOVE THEM! There's so much you can do with these! I sat and watched youtube videos all day yesterday! I bought more from the convention, but honestly, I mostly bought inks for all of my fabulous new stamps that I've bought lately! Yes, prepare to see me get inky in the near future ;-)

The stamps that I used on my project are from Sweet Stamp Shop's Thanksgiving Owl-fits set. I didn't have ANY Thanksgiving stamps, so I was super excited to see these in this past release!

Operation Julie's Smile Blog Hop!

2011-10-07T09:22:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to the FABULOUS blog hop to benefit Julie and helping her get her smile back! If you came here from Sankari's blog, you're on the right track! If not, you can start at the beginning at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog!

When Nicole asked me if I wanted to be a part of this hop, I was so thrilled. I am always happy to help out, especially if it's for a fellow scrapper, and in this case, it's for one who has a very huge heart herself. I'm sure you all have read about Julie's situation and understand why we are putting on this benefit for her. I for one do know how important it is to keep your smile, I myself have had dental issues recently and it is quite pricey when you have to pay for it out of your own pocket! Sometimes we put other things that seem to be more important money wise first. I know I do! I'm sure Julie does as well, but that is why we are here, to help her get her smile back! So Julie, I hope that when reading all of these posts today, it makes you smile, and hopefully soon, you will have those beautiful pearly whites that you once had before :-)

For my project today I had planned on making a beautiful little paper bag album. Well, due to some unforeseen situations here at home, I wasn't able to finish my album... BUT, I am going to be donating that album at the end of this hop to one lucky winner! I will post photos of it at the end of the hop. So sorry I wasn't able to post it sooner! It is valued at $35.

Since I didn't have that finished for you today, I did make a card, and this one was definitely inspired by Miss Julie :-)

For this little card, I used the Hello Beautiful stamp from Sweet Stamp Shop.

And just a little hint... the album that I am giving away... I am using the same "scheme" as this card... so yes, it will be FABULOUS! :-)

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are enjoying the hop! Now hop on over to the Avocado Arts blog and see what they in store for you today!

Stamptastic Tuesday

2011-10-04T01:01:00.013-04:00

Happy Tuesday! I'm so excited that I FINALLY got to participate and make a project for Pink by Design's Stamptastic Tuesday! Since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, the sets featured today are Save The Tatas and Breast Wishes. I have both of these sets and LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!! Make sure you stop by the Pink By Design store and pick yours up on sale right now for $14.99!

I made a little mini 3x3 paper bag album album using the "Breast Wishes" set.

Cute, right? The little bear on the front is the Think Pink pattern by Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

Here's a peek of the inside.... I used the Sweet Threads paper by Basic Grey.... it goes GREAT for the occasion, lots of pretty pinks!

Thanks for stopping by today! If you are looking for more great projects made with these fabulous stamp sets, make sure you check out what Sarah, Meriah, Paula, and Momo have made today!

Market Street BLOCK PARTY!!

2011-10-02T22:14:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE to play along with challenges? Especially when it's one from a stamp company that I love so much like Market Street Stamps! :-)

If you haven't checked it out already, you must check out the Block Party that MSS holds at the end of every month! Lots of fun and great prizes offered as well!

I'm a little late getting this posted, and also another reason why my photos aren't so good... I had to take them tonight, I normally take them in the daylight where I get more natural light, but desperate times call for desperate measures! I HAD to get this uploaded tonight so I could enter the weekend challenge!

I started on this mini toilet paper roll album yesterday, but didn't get it finished until tonight. Had to get all of my Sunday grocery shopping & errands done earlier today :-)

I used Market Street Stamps Blast Off stamp set for the cover. The paper I used is from Authentique's Free Bird collection and this one is called Endless. I think it goes perfect with this little album!

I don't make a lot of boy themed projects, but I wanted to give one a try tonight! I hope you all like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Pink by Design Halloween Blog Hop!

2011-10-01T03:01:00.005-04:00

Welcome to the Pink by Design Halloween Blog Hop! If you came here from Candace's blog, you're on the right track! If you're just stopping by my blog today and want to hop along with us, please start at Sarah's blog! Oh, another cool thing about this hop? Sarah will be choosing a winner, using random.org, from each and every blog stop- to win a Pink by Design Stamp set--so be sure to comment and/or follow on each blog!

Now on to my little project for today:

I made this Halloween mini paper bag album out of little tiny paper bags that I found at Hobby Lobby. They are soooo cute! This album measures a little larger than 3 inches in size. Really cute for storing wallet photos! I used Pink by Design's "Ghostly Greetings" for the sentiment on the front of the album.

And this album just so happens to be the Kit of the Month in my etsy shop this month! If you would like to make your own, please CLICK HERE to order your kit! There are only 2 available this month, so get yours while you can! :-)

Now I don't have any blog candy today, but I AM doing a little giveaway on my facebook page, so make sure you CLICK HERE and become a fan and get in on the weekend giveaway! :-)

Next, hop along and see what Candace P has in store for you today!

Full Lineup:
Sarah: http://www.pinkcricut.com/
Jenny: http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Tanya: http://nonnascraftcorner.blogspot.com/
Paula: http://morethanfavors.blogspot.com/
Bryan: http://scrapguy.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth: http://217creations.blogspot.com/
Meriah: http://tatteredtime.com/
Michelle: http://scrappinwithmybug-scrappinwithmybug.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/
Candace: http://www.scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/
Emily: http://www.createserendipity.net
Candace P: http://www.papercraftsbycandace.blogspot.com/

October's Authentique Sketch Challenge

2011-10-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Since today is World Carmaking day, I have a treat for you!!! After you check out my post, make sure you hop on over to the Authentique blog and check out the Design Team's inspiring projects and enter your own for the sketch challenge!

Each month there are 2 sketches, a card and a layout, for this month's challenge, I chose to do a card from this sketch:

Here's my card:

Products used:
Authentique Free Bird: Fair-Weather
Pink By Design "To The Moon" Stamp Set
Little Scraps of Heaven Designs "Hey Diddle Diddle" pattern set
Websters Pages Bloomers in "Butter"
My Minds Eye Lime Twist Twine in "Playful"
Doodlebug Star Buttons

Free Bird!

2011-09-29T16:55:00.000-04:00

Have you all seen the new Free Bird series by Authentique? OMG! It's awesome! I got my samples of it last week and I've had trouble deciding if I wanted to cut it or not! Finally, I decided to make a few cards for challenges, but trust me, it was hard to cut up this yummy paper! If you're a paper hoarder like me, you'll understand!

Here are the cards I made with the Freebird Delight line of paper:

The first card I made for the Market Street Stamps Sketch Challenge

I used the Celebrate Cake stamp set by Market Street Stamps on this card

My second card was made for the Unity Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge

I used Unity's All Smiles-June 2011 Kit of the month on this card

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

GUEST DESIGNER - You Had Me At Craft

2011-09-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm excited to announce that today I am a guest designer for Alex at You Had Me At Craft!

Since today is OFFICIALLY the first day of Fall, I wanted to do a little fall album with my new Harvest Gathering stack by DCWV.

I made this little toilet paper roll album with the beautiful DCWV fall paper and also added some little leaves from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Fall Leaves pattern. I used the Simple Joys stamp set from Market Street Stamps for the sentiment. I just LOVE this stamp set! It's so versatile for almost every occasion!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Girly Birthday Blog Hop!

2011-09-20T08:21:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Girly Birthday Blog Hop hosted by Candace at Scrappin 2 Little Princesses! If you came here from Lisa's blog, you're on the right track! If you stopped by today and want to start the hop from the beginning, please start back at Candace's blog!

Now before I show my project, I must mention that in order to be qualified for the prizes that have been donated for this hop ($15 gift certificate from Pink by Design and a $20 gift card to EAD Designs) you must to comment on all blogs in the hop and you and have until 11:59 CST (12:59 MST) on the 22nd to do so.

Now on to my project! A few weeks ago I got a custom order from my etsy shop for a VERY girly 21st birthday card.... here is what I came up with:

Cute, right? I used the Flirty Girl stamp set from Pink by Design and the Tiki time set from Market Street Stamps.

Now hop along and see what Paula has in store for you today!

Here's the Lineup:
Candace from Scrappin' 2 Little Princesses
Glora from Glora Crafts
Sarah from Pink Cricut
Jenny from Crazy About Cricut
Michelle from Scrappin With My Bug
Candace from Paper Crafts By Candace
Ashley from Scrappin' Pink Piglet
Tanya from Nonna's Craft Corner
Elizabeth from 217 Creations
Sherrie from Sherrie Scraps with Passion
Lisa from Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons
Emily from Create Serendipity
Paula from More than Favors
Kristi from Little Paper Sprinkles

Operation Julie's Smile

2011-09-19T15:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! I'm not sure if you all have heard about this yet so I wanted to share! I'm not sure if you all know Julie Ranae, but she is a very talented lady in the scrapbooking world and she has such a sweet heart! When my friend Nicole asked me if I'd be interested in this blog hop, I jumped right on the bandwagon! This is a great cause, so please read up and spread the word!

Here is a little more info on this taken from Julie's Blog:

There are times in this life when I just
shake my head and think...
'how did I become so blessed?'

I BEG you to please bear with me
through this post because there is
some pretty amazing news to share.....

Many of you may have heard that I recently
had to have emergency oral surgery which resulted
in the removal of my front teeth.
As a child, I struggled with brittle teeth due to
some health concerns and my parents did all
they could to ensure that I went into adult-hood
with the best teeth possible. Unfortunately with age,
the brittle teeth became a problem again and well,
long story short, the dentist recommended that
I bite the bullet and have them all replaced.

I made the appointment, had the consultation
and was handed a piece of paper that said to
bring $4,000 with me to have the rest of the teeth
taken out. I was in shock because the dentist made
reference to the idea that 'it could all be worked out' ; )

Well, here I am today, missing front teeth (and a few others)
and being frustrated because I believed that this was
a procedure that would be taken care of quickly.
The unfortunate thing, is that THAT amount was JUST for the
removal of the rest of my teeth...it does not account
for the 'permanent teeth' that would need to be put in place.

When my teammate Nicole Rixon of
Sweet Stamp Shop
heard what had happened, she contacted not only
our design team, but a variety of other friends
and teammates of mine and the following was born...

There will be a benefit blog hop called
'Operation Julie's Smile'
that will take place Oct 7-9.
There are a variety of
companies and design teams who will be participating
in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit.
So far, nearly $500 in prizes have been made available and will be awarded for both participants
and those who donate.

Operation Julie's Smile
is now asking for designers/teams who would like to
be a part of the benefit hop.

If you are interested
in getting involved in this creative fundraising event,
please contact Nicole Rixon at nicolehrixon@gmail.com
The deadline to be
a part of the hop is Wednesday, Sept 28th.
Participants will be notified of the blog hop order
between Oct 3rd-5th.
This blog hop is an opportunity to have fun,
feature your blog and raise money for a friend in need.
A donation button
will be made available to all who participate.

Every little bit helps and each donation that
comes in makes it possible for me to regain
a true smile...whatever your part in our
event, I thank you from the
bottom of my heart.....

To donate to Operation Julie's Smile, please click the button below

Christmas Anyone?

2011-09-08T08:00:00.002-04:00

I really didn't get into the Christmas in July thing this year, it was entirely too hot out for me to even THINK about Christmas. This week, it's been pretty chilly here in Ohio! Since the weather has been cooler, I thought i would get out some of my new Christmas papers and make a little card!

I used Authentique's Wonder collection for this card. Isn't is fabulous? I just love this paper! This won't be the last project you see me make with this paper! The stamp is from Unity Stamp Co called Christmas List.

Once Upon A Princess

2011-09-07T08:55:00.001-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I can't believe it's already Wednesday! The week sure does fly by when Monday is a holiday!

Today I wanted to share something that I made for my daughter. She asked me to make her a sign for her room with a princess on it. I recently scored an amazing deal on the Once Upon A Princess Cricut Cartridge at Joann's for $2.99!!! I've been wanting this cartridge for a while, so I couldn't pass it up!

Here's what I came up with for her sign. I used Once Upon A Princess for the Rainbow and the Princess. I used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge for the pennant and the background that the princess is on. For the Princess face I used the Princess Faces from Peachy Keen Stamps. LOOOOVE These!!! And they go PERFECT with this cartridge!

I also entered this one in the Peachy Keen Stamps Sketch Challenge! If you have some cute Peachy Keen Stamps, you should play along too!

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

Authentique September Sketch Challenge

2011-09-03T08:00:00.008-04:00

Today is the first day for the New Sketch Challenge over on the Authentique blog! Make sure you check it out and enter your project for a chance to win some yummy Authentique product!

Here's my card that I made for the challenge:

I used products from Authentique's Journey line

Here's the Card sketch:

I chose to do this one, but there is also a layout sketch as well.

I hope you all decide to play along! I can't wait to see all of the fabulous projects for the sketch challenge!

The Best Thing...

2011-09-02T08:00:00.008-04:00

Happy Friday everyone! Can you believe it's already September? Where did summer go? Before I take the weekend off to spend some much needed quality time with my family, I wanted to share a new album with you all! I am just in love with all of this Authentique paper and I think I feel like I am still in a dream and haven't let it sink in that I am on their Design Team! Here is my Authentique DT project for today, it's a toilet paper roll album featuring the beautiful & elegant Uncommon paper line.

*Hint Hint* There is also a little Pink by Design Sneak Peak in this album ;-) .... and I simply adore this new set!

To see the full album, make sure you check out my post on the Authentique Blog today!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fabulous holiday weekend!

School is Cool!

2011-08-31T07:00:00.015-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I thought I would share my Pink by Design DT project for today... it even has a few sneaks from the next PBD stamp release!

This is a cascading paper bag album that I made using Basic Grey's Oxford collection. The schoolhouse is from the Back 2 School collection by Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.
I also used one of Pink by Designs very new sets coming out this Friday! I used a total of 5 stamps from this new set... can you tell which ones they are?

I just LOVE this little crayon box!

Make sure you check out my post on the Pink by Design blog today for a little fun tutorial! And also be sure to stop by the Pink by Design USTREAM this Friday to see all of the fabulous new releases!

Gettin' Sketchy!

2011-08-29T18:10:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! For those of you who visit my blog quite frequently, you know that I loooove challenges! I participate in challenges here and there and not just because there are usually prizes involved, but because they really get me motivated to create. Another thing that I love is to use sketches. So sketch challenges are right up my alley!

I decided to start my week off by playing along with 2 sketch challenges. Both of these were made with the fabulous "Splendid" paper collection by Authentique.

The first card I made for Market Street Stamps Sketch Challenge #5 using this sketch:

For this card I used Market Street Stamps Homegrown Stamp Set.

The second card I made for the Unity Stamp Co Kit of the Month Challenge using this sketch:

For this card, I used Unity Stamp Co's June 2011 Kit of the month.

Both of these challenges are still going on, but not for long! So if you want to enter, get your projects made and posted soon! :-)

MSS Block Party!

2011-08-28T17:19:00.000-04:00

If you're looking for the Summer Halloween Blog Hop, CLICK HERE

I just LOVE challenges! And when I saw that Market Street Stamps was having a fun little weekend challenge, I had to join in!

Here is my project for this weekends challenge.

I used the Gone Campin Stamp set on the cover of this little chipboard album. I thought I would try a little something different with this album, so instead of opening up like a book, it is folded to be displayed or can be tied together and used as a coffee table mini book. The paper that I used for this album is the Campfire line by October Afternoon. Cute, right?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Summer Halloween Blog Hop

2011-08-27T00:01:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the Summer Halloween Blog Hop! If you came here from Dawn's blog, you're on the right track, if you stopped by today and would like to hop along with us, start at the beginning at Abby's Blog.

I just love Halloween and I've found myself buying more and more Halloween scrapbook paper than I do Christmas! I decided to play with my new Halloween collection by Authentique called "Glowing" I just love this paper!

I also used some of my new Close to my Heart stamps on this little card, they are from the August Stamp of the Month called "Wicked."

Now hop along and see what Erika has created for today!

Full Lineup:
Abby http://www.scrapbookaholicbyabby.com
Tricia http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/
Candace http://papercraftsbycandace.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://dawnsdesignsthatdelight.blogspot.com/
Emily http://createserendipity.blogspot.com/
Erika http://www.craftysprouts.com/
Janet http://createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Julie http://designs-by-julie.blogspot.com/
Katie http://happyscrappinmom.blogspot.com/
Kim http://rickettscricuts.blogspot.com/
Michelle http://www.scrappinwithmybug.com/
Nancie http://www.alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Raven http://love4stamps.blogspot.com/
Sandra http://www.365daysofcricut.blogspot.com

Blissful!

2011-08-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's my first day to post over on the NEW Authentique blog for as a Design Team member! I'm very excited to get the opportunity to work with such a fabulous company and a great group of ladies on the DT! Please check out their blog and continue to follow each day for inspiration from the fabulous Design Team!

My post today includes this beautiful album that I made using the Blissful line. I posted this here on my blog a few weeks back, but it was so pretty I couldn't help not to post it again! :-)

Supplies:
Blissful 6x6 Bundle
Blissful Noteables
MME Lime Twist "Happy Day" Twine
May Arts Black Lace 390-58-10
Pink by Design "Material Girl" stamp set

Don't Forget to VOTE!!! :-)

2011-08-23T20:51:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! In case you haven't heard, I'm in a little contest and I NEED YOUR VOTES!

Do you remember this album that I posted here a few weeks ago?

Well, it is one of the entries for the American Crafts Facebook Vacation Challenge contest! Would you like to learn how to MAKE THIS YOURSELF? Well, here's the deal... if I win this contest, I will post a step by step tutorial sometime next week that shows you how to make your very own fabulous album just like this one!

Here's how you vote:
1. CLICK HERE and make sure that you "like" the American Crafts fan page (like button should be at the top)
2. CLICK HERE to see a list of entries
3. Click the photo of my album (on the far right) and click the "like" button under my photo

And that's it! PLEASE make sure that your vote counts! You must "like" the photo for it to count, simply commenting does not count as a vote!

This contest ends FRIDAY MORNING, so please share with your friends, your family, and anyone else that you know with a facebook page! :-) Thanks so much everyone! Your votes are appreciated!

The Smurfs!

2011-08-19T12:33:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday everyone! I just wanted to share with you a fun little mini album that I made this week! Have you seen the new Smurfs movie yet? I haven't seen it, but my daughter has and she loved it! I grew up in the 80's and I loved the smurfs back then! I am loving it that they are making a comeback... now I can only hope and pray that they re-make Rainbow Brite! She was my fave :-)

I made this paper bag album using Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Beary Blue Dress Up pattern set. They are little bears dressed as smurfs. Clever, right?

I just love this album!!! The paper that I used is from the Oliver collection by Basic Grey.

And here's a little peek at the inside:

I added some matching handmade flowers and some more of the little mushrooms from the cover.

You can find this album for sale now on ebay by CLICKING HERE

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

Ok... so now I can Spill the Beans!

2011-08-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry for being such a tease yesterday on my facebook page... I said I had a HUGE announcement... well, I do! I just couldn't tell you... until NOW!

In case you didn't see yet... I am now officially a design team member for Authentique Paper! In case you missed it, you can see their official DT Announcement HERE.

Authentique is a new paper company and their lines are absolutely FABULOUS! So of coarse I'm completely thrilled to work with them! If you missed my post on the cascading mini album using the Blissful line, CLICK HERE.

Here's a quick little tag that I threw together also using Blissful.

I also used Pink by Design's Shop-a-holic stamp set for the sentiment.

Life's Short... Buy the shoes!

2011-08-15T14:47:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I have another treat for you today! I just finished a fabulous card and I just had to share!

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE the Color Cue challenge each month that Market Street Stamps has! I love challenges in general, but this one gets me outside of my box sometimes using color schemes that I might never put together myself!

Here's the color scheme for this month:

And here is the card that I came up with...

I used paper from the Olivia line by Basic Grey which went PERFECT with the color scheme! I used the Fashionista stamp set from Market Street Stamps on this card... my very first Market Street set that I ever got! I also tried a new technique... layering image stamps! I will try to do a tutorial on that at some point, it's so simple!!!

This project also doubles as my "Card Creating Tuesday" project for the My Cricut Craft Room blog. I used the new Close To My Heart exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge (which I absolutely LOVE) to cut the little pennant. There are sooo many little things to cut with this cartridge that are great for titles and for frames to stamp on! It's a must have cartridge in my book!

I hope you all enjoyed my project for today! :-)

Mickey & Friends Monday Guest Designer!

2011-08-15T08:00:00.012-04:00

Hello everyone and Happy Monday! I'm very excited today because my pal Jenny over at Crazy About Cricut is featuring me as a guest designer for her Mickey & Friends Monday section!

I must say, I haven't always been fond of the Disney Cricut cartridges simply because they are so intricate and take a lot of time to piece together, but the end results are always fabulous! I recently had an order for a Toy Story album, it took me a while to make the characters, but I love the end result! Plus, my daughter carried around the box to my cartridge all day and was naming off the characters, she had a blast helping me with this project!

I also made some of the other characters and featured them throughout the album...

And here's a quick tip... When you're working with the really small pieces such as teeth or the inside of the mouth... just use a white or a black gel pen to fill in! That came in really helpful for me while working with those little intricate shapes! :-)

Ahoy Me Hearties!

2011-08-13T08:18:00.001-04:00

Happy Saturday everyone! Are you looking for something fun to do today? Why not join in on the Little Scraps of Heaven weekly challenge! You can find more details HERE.

This weeks challenge was "About A Boy" and since I was blessed with a beautiful step-son just last year, I haven't had a whole lot of time to adapt to having a little boy around, so this was a bit of a challenge for me! I don't really know what boys like, so I figured, eh, Pirates is a PERFECT choice! I've been holding on to my Pirate's Life stamp set by Pink by Design for a while, so I figured I would pair it with the Pirate Bears Collection from LSHD. What a great combo, right?

I altered this mini band-aid tin that I got several years ago at Archivers, and now I'm all out of them... so I'm off to search for more tins today.

And lastly, I just wanted to add what a fun night I had last night with my hubby! We don't get out much and do stuff together, but I heard about this fabulous Seafood Festival going on downtown... so we ate some awesome seafood (it was so awesome that my husband ate 2 whole lobsters!) and enjoyed this view:

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! :-)

August Kit of the Month!

2011-08-10T08:58:00.002-04:00

Hello and Happy Wednesday everyone! Ever since moving, I've been a little slow at getting things back in order, but I think I've got it now! A few months ago on my facebook page, I promised that I would be starting a Kit of the Month in my etsy shop every month. Well, I have FINALLY finished the August Kit of the month and I think you all will LOVE it!

This months kit is called "Classy and Fabulous" and features the Hello Luscious line by Basic Grey and a sentiment by Pink by Design. This is a toilet paper roll album kit.

In this kit you will get everything that you need to make the album above along with instructions that include step-by-step photos. These kits are $25 each.

And here is a little video that I did to show you the whole album:

This kit is now available for purchase HERE. I will only be offering 5 kits each month, once they are gone, I will not be making more, so get them while you can! :-)

Oh Baby! Blog Hop - Day 3

2011-08-06T00:01:00.014-04:00

Welcome to Day 3 of the Oh Baby! Blog Hop hosted by yours truly! If you've stopped by my blog today for the hop, then you're in for a treat! Since this is your first stop, make sure you hop along with all of the rest of the blogs and see all of our fabulous Baby themed projects! You will also have a chance to win lots of blog candy along the way! This is a very large hop, so you have 3 days to check out all of the projects! This hop runs from August 4-6, so make sure you check back for new projects each day! If you missed Day 1, please check out THIS POST to see what you missed!

This hop is being sponsored by PSA Essentials. Libby has been so sweet to donate some blog candy for this hop and she's also joining us as a stop on the hop! If you aren't familiar with PSA, they manufacture self-inking custom stamps and have a variety of styles and ways to personalize. Their stamps come ready to go, with black ink already assembled so you can start stamping right away. And custom stamps are a great way to add personalization to your projects!!! I always add my "Create Serendipity" to the backs of my albums so everyone knows where it came from. :-)

Now on to my baby themed project for today:

I made 2 little altered band-aid tins to share today! For each day of the hop I will be posting a Baby Boy and Baby girl project.

Here's a closer look at each tin:

If you didn't hop with us over the past 2 days, please comment on THIS POST for your chance to win some blog candy!

I just want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this hop possible and thank you all for hopping along over the past couple of days!

My Baby Girl and Baby Boy Bundles are now up for purchase in my Etsy Shop if you're interested! These would make a fabulous shower gift! :-)

Now hop along to Jen's blog and see what she has made for today!

Sweet Stamp Shop GRAND OPENING Blog Hop!

2011-08-05T07:00:00.004-04:00

If you are looking for the Oh Baby! Blog Hop, please CLICK HERE.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the GRAND OPENING blog hop for the Sweet Stamp Shop! If you came here from the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog, you're on the right track, and boy do we have some sweet treats for you today! Make sure you go through the entire hop and comment on each blog to be entered to win stamp set prizes. You have until Monday to comment to be entered to win. You might even find some sweet coupon codes along the hop ;-)

I was very excited when Nicole asked me to join her in the opening of her new stamp shop! I have been a huge fan of her stamps for a while now, and now after getting to know her I have found that she is a wonderful person with a very giving heart and I'm thrilled to get to work with her on this!

***I'm going to edit this to add that I'm NOT joining Nicole as a Design Team Member at this point because I have other obligations right now, BUT you might look for me as a guest designer in the near future ;-)***

For my project today, I used The Core of It... Stamp set. I fell in love with this set when I first saw it! My new kitchen is red and yellow and I wanted a little something to match. I have been in need of a recipe tin because all of my recipes were just hanging on my refrigerator with a magnet!

Here is my new recipe tin that I made with these fabulous stamps!

I even made little recipe cards to match!

And here's a closer look...

Thanks for stopping by today! Now hop right along and see what Kryssi Ng has in store for you today!

Check out the Sweet Stamp Shop at all of the following places:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetStampShop
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SweetStampShop
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetStampShop
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetstampshop/

Coupon codes are good August 5th - August 8th

Oh Baby! Blog Hop - Day 2

2011-08-05T00:01:00.009-04:00

Welcome to Day 2 of the Oh Baby! Blog Hop hosted by yours truly! If you've stopped by my blog today for the hop, then you're in for a treat! Since this is your first stop, make sure you hop along with all of the rest of the blogs and see all of our fabulous Baby themed projects! You will also have a chance to win lots of blog candy along the way! This is a very large hop, so you have 3 days to check out all of the projects! This hop runs from August 4-6, so make sure you check back for new projects each day! If you missed Day 1, please check out THIS POST to see what you missed!

This hop is being sponsored by PSA Essentials. Libby has been so sweet to donate some blog candy for this hop and she's also joining us as a stop on the hop! If you aren't familiar with PSA, they manufacture self-inking custom stamps and have a variety of styles and ways to personalize. Their stamps come ready to go, with black ink already assembled so you can start stamping right away. And custom stamps are a great way to add personalization to your projects!!! I always add my "Create Serendipity" to the backs of my albums so everyone knows where it came from. :-)

Now on to my baby themed project for today:

I made 2 cards to share today! For each day of the hop I will be posting a Baby Boy and Baby girl project.

Here's a closer look at each card:

If you didn't hop with us yesterday, please comment on THIS POST for your chance to win some blog candy!

Now hop along to Jen's blog and see what she has made for today!

Oh Baby! Blog Hop - Day 1

2011-08-04T00:01:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the Oh Baby! Blog Hop hosted by yours truly! If you've stopped by my blog today for the hop, then you're in for a treat! Since this is your first stop, make sure you hop along with all of the rest of the blogs and see all of our fabulous Baby themed projects! You will also have a chance to win lots of blog candy along the way! This is a very large hop, so you have 3 days to check out all of the projects! This hop runs from August 4-6, so make sure you check back for new projects each day!

This hop is being sponsored by PSA Essentials. Libby has been so sweet to donate some blog candy for this hop and she's also joining us as a stop on the hop! If you aren't familiar with PSA, they manufacture self-inking custom stamps and have a variety of styles and ways to personalize. Their stamps come ready to go, with black ink already assembled so you can start stamping right away. And custom stamps are a great way to add personalization to your projects!!! I always add my "Create Serendipity" to the backs of my albums so everyone knows where it came from. :-)

Now on to my baby themed project for today:

For each day of the hop I will be posting a Baby Boy and Baby girl project.

For today's projects, I made 2 baby themed toilet paper roll albums. Each of these is made from 4 toilet paper rolls that have been painted with coordinating colors.

Here's a close up of each album:

If you are interested in making your own Toilet Paper Roll Album, check out THIS POST for a tutorial!

Are you ready for some blog candy?

PSA Essentials has been so kind to donate 2 of their baby themed stamp sets (pictured below), 1 PSA Essentials personalized stamp, and 2 inks. It's a $85 retail value!

To win you must do the following:
1. Follow the PSA Essentials blog HERE (1 entry)
2. Become a fan of PSA Essentials on Facebook HERE, tell them Emily sent you from the blog hop :-) (1 entry)
3. Leave a separate comment here for each entry
4. Make sure you visit all of the blogs in the hop and leave comments, this isn't necessary to win the prize, but everyone worked really hard on their projects and would love some comment love :-)

Now hop along to Jen's blog and see what she has made for today!

Emily: http://www.createserendipity.net/
Jen R: http://www.memorieswithjen.blogspot.com/
Dawn: http://dawnsdesignsthatdelight.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://bitbythecricutbug.blogspot.com/
Corrine: http://celebratingordinarymoments.blogspot.com/
Kathie: http://kathleessnippitsncricuts.blogspot.com/
Lisa P: http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Gill M : http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/
Nancie B: http://www.alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Kathy: http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com/
Kimmarie: http://kimmarieskorner.blogspot.com/
Janet: http://www.createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Kimberly: http://www.crafterberly.com/
Deborah: http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
April: http://www.curlsandgrins.blogspot.com/
Michelle: http://www.designsoncloud9.blogspot.com/
Gina: http://californiascrappin-gcinderella21.blogspot.com/
Anita: http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/
Dana: http://www.Danascraftycorner.blogspot.com/
Elsa: http://www.justafewdesigns.blogspot.com/
Rachelle: http://www.creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com/
Theresa: http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/
Lisa: http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Suzanne: http://cricutcraftingrammy.blogspot.com/
Libby: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/
Brynn: http://www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com

Love is the thread that binds us

2011-08-03T08:50:00.000-04:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you all are enjoying this first week of August! Wow, how time flies! I wanted to share a little mini album with you today and also wanted to show off this FABULOUS new paper line! I was shopping in Archivers a few weeks ago and saw this paper and had to have it! I just LOVE the colors in this collection! I picked up the 6x6 pad and the cardstock elements. I would have got the 12x12 paper, but my Archivers didn't have it yet. This line is called Blissful by Authentique.

I made this cascading mini album and added this sentiment by Pink by Design to the front. Doesn't it fit perfectly with this album? The sentiment comes from the PBD Material Girl stamp set.

I love this paper line so much that I will show you the full album :-) The black lace ribbon is some of the ribbon that I recently won from May Arts, LOVE IT! And also, twine is quite popular nowadays, so I stocked up on some of the Lime Twist twine by My Minds Eye.

The flowers and flourishes in this album are made from patterns by Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

I've had a lot of comments on my handmade flowers recently, so if you are interested in learning how to make your own, I did post a tutorial HERE on the Pink by Design blog today!

Marshmallows - A Campfires Best Friend!

2011-08-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

Wow, 2 blog posts in one day is a big thing for me! I usually try to do one a day, but with all of the traffic to my blog lately, I wanted to add another project that I forgot to post last week :-)

Do you like camping? Well, here's a cute little treat!

I altered this adorable little band-aid tin with the Campfire paper line by October Afternoon. The little moose is from the Great Outdoors Collection by Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. And the cute little sentiment is from the Gone Campin stamp set by Market Street Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure you check back tomorrow, I will have an awesome treat and tutorial posted for my awesome readers!

Feelin' Beachy!

2011-08-02T15:44:00.000-04:00

As I was sitting here trying to plan a trip to the Outer Banks, NC for my 1st wedding anniversary next month, I realized that I hadn't blogged about some of my newest beachy projects! I always try to share my newest creations on my blog, but sometimes I get sidetracked and forget to blog about them. And if you haven't seen my album that I made from my vacation to the Outer Banks, please check out THIS POST :-)

Here are a couple of projects that I made recently using the Sandy Toes stamp set from Pink by Design.

This is a cascading paper bag mini album that I made with the Margarita line by American Crafts. I just love this paper, maybe because it's so summery and makes me want to go to the beach right away!

Here's a view of the whole album.

And here is a little project that I made for myself. I made this little box out of a hamburger helper cardboard box. I was in need of something to store some of my stamps, so I altered this little box. I used the Lauderdale line of paper from Basic Grey. Another one of my Summer favorites!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Cocktails & Dreams Blog Hop

2011-07-31T21:03:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Cocktails & Dreams Blog hop hosted by Gill! If you came here from Anita's Blog, you're on the right track, if you were just stopping by today and would like to start at the beginning of this hop, please start HERE.

I must admit, when I found out about this hop, I was very excited to become a part of it! Though I don't sip on many cocktails anymore, I do love to look at them because they are so pretty and girly!

For today's project, I decided to make a card using the sketch from the Market Street Stamps Sketch challenge.

I made this cute little card using the Market Street Stamps Tiki Time stamp set.

Here's the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today! Make sure you keep hopping along and see what Maria has made to share today!

Here is the complete lineup for the hop:
Gill http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/
Becky http://beckscricards.blogspot.com/
Brynn http://flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com
Corrine http://celebratingordinarymoments.blogspot.com/
Lisa G http://lisagarrow.blogspot.com/
Jessica http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com/
Jenn P http://cardstockandcoffee.wordpress.com/
Alethea http://lilodesigns.blogspot.com/
Valerie http://canonburycreations.blogspot.com/
Jacki http://cardsbyjacki.blogspot.com
Shannon http://www.purplelionpaper.com/blog
Angela http://fistfullofglittercardsbyaj.blogspot.com/
Anita http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com
Emily http://www.createserendipity.net
Maria http://justgetscraphappy.blogspot.com/
Lisa P http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Haidee http://created2bunique.blogspot.com/

Put The Lime In The Coconut....

2011-07-30T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the last weekend in July! I just wanted to share with you a cute little Summer card that I made!

I used my Margarita Moments stamp set from Unity Stamp Co. I just love this set! I also used papers from the Margarita line by American Crafts. I just can't get enough of the bright colors in this paper line! LOVE IT!!!

Always

2011-07-29T17:22:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I've been quite busy this week, so I should have a few blog posts up over the next couple of days to show you what I've been working on!

Today I decided to try a layout, since I just posted another layout the other day that kind of goes with this one, I thought I would share this one.

Once again, I went with the FABULOUS Margarita line from American Crafts. I just love how this paper is so bright and colorful!

This is a good start to my Wedding album. At least I have 2 pages finished before my 1st anniversary in September!

I used the Becoming Butterfly stamp by Unity Stamp Co. When I saw this stamp, I knew I had to have it. It kind of sums up my life over the past couple of years. After going through a very rough divorce, I thought that was it for me, until I found my true love who showed me that there is so much more out there to live for. So in a sense, I became a butterfly :-)

Paradise!

2011-07-27T18:21:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! So sorry for the lack of participation here lately! I've been busy still unpacking/trying to organize after moving a few weeks ago! It's been a real pain!

Anyways, last week I met up with some lovely ladies at Archivers to crop and decided to start make a layout! I usually stick to mini albums because I like working on a smaller canvas, so maybe that explains why this one took me a week to finish!

I decided to scrap one of my favorite wedding photos from my beach wedding this past September. I ended up using the Margarita line of paper that I recently won from American Crafts. This paper is just so lovely and I thought it went perfect with my photo!

I also used my new FAVORITE stamp set from Pink by Design, it's called "Sandy Toes" Cute, right?

And I made these adorable little matching flowers using Little Scraps of Heaven Designs "My Paper Garden" collection. I also got the leaves from this collection too.

I know it's rare for me to share a layout that I have made for myself, so I hope you all enjoyed it! I know I did, look for lots more layouts from me in the near future! :-)

Winners Winners Winners!

2011-07-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

Ok, I've FINALLY got winners from blog candy and other drawings that I promised to give prizes for! So sorry it took me so long, but I've been in the middle of moving for what seems like the whole summer!

Winners of the 3 Pink By Design $10 gift cards from the Christmas in July Blog Hop Are:

1: Cynthia Vanderhoek said...

This Christmas card is so the style I love, colorful and whimsical. Love it. Thanks for sharing. Will see you tomorrow for more good stuff. Following you here and like you on FB. Went to Pink by Design, was already following her blog, but liked her on FB and signed up on her community sharing also. I love her stamps and seeing hers on your card makes me excited to possibly win.

2: Theresa said...

Love your card..like Judy, I'm in fl, so this is Santa on vacation after the big day :) I like on FB and am a member of the PBD community. TFS!
firelass51@aol.com

3: KAT said...

beautiful... and the colors are luschious...(sp) i'm already a follower of pinkbydesign. i would love this set of christmas stamps.

Winners of the 2 Pink By Design $10 gift cards from the LSHD Summer Blog Hop Are:

1: Nancie said...

Super cute layout Emily! Love it!

2: Maria said...

Cute layout! I already follow pink by design and I will check out the community as well!
Maria
mdowner at swnebr dot net

Remember a few weeks ago when I asked for you all to vote for me in the American Crafts Falir contest? Well, I offered a free DIY kit from my etsy shop... the winner of that was chosen by random.org out of the list of people who voted.... the lucky winner is:

Jamie Kaminski Lieungh

And lastly I offered up a prize for those who voted for me in the Craft it Forward contest that Scrapbooks Etc was holding. The prize I offered was a free DIY kit, some blank albums, and a mini album made by me... That winner is:

Rachel W K

All winners were chosen at complete random by random.org

All winners please e-mail me at createserendipity@gmail.com with contact info to get your prizes out to you! Those of you who won Pink by Design gift cards, please send me a valid e-mail address and I will forward it on to Sarah :-)

Color Cue Challenge #4

2011-07-18T19:45:00.000-04:00

I'm always up for a good challenge, and since moving, I haven't been scrapping as much, so I decided to enter the Market Street Stamps Color Cue Challenge here at the last minute :-)

I love color challenges! This one was fun because I think these colors are great together, and I also had won some paper recently that I thought would work great for this! It isn't dead on the color scheme, but it works!

I made this card with Cosmo Cricket's Ever After paper line and Market Street Stamps new Compass stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today! :-)

Cancer Support & Survivor Blog Hop

2011-07-16T07:31:00.001-04:00

If you are looking for the Christmas in July Blog Hop, Please CLICK HERE

Welcome to the Cancer Support & Survivor Blog hop! This hop was put together in honor of those who are currently battling cancer and also to the loved ones we've lost from cancer. I've lost a few wonderful people in my life to cancer, most recently, last week my 2nd cousin who was a wonderful person with a big heart lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Only four months to the date that his mother (my grandma's sister) lost her battle with cancer. It's a very horrible disease and for those who have been strong enough to fight it, that's an amazing thing!

Every year I send a little donation to Susan G Komen for the cure. I really admire those women who fight for their lives and battle breast cancer, and I'm always willing to give a little donation to try to help find a cure.

Here is an album that I made recently with the Breast Wishes and Save The Tatas stamp sets from Pink by Design.

I do have some blog candy to offer up in the post below this one, I am giving away 3 $10 gift certificates to the Pink by Design store, so check it out! :-)

Now hop along and see what Charlotte has for you today!

Here's the full lineup:
Erica: http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com/
Enjoli: http://mississippihippycrafts.blogspot.com/
Tina http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com
Amanda http://craftsbyamanda.blogspot.com/
Jackie http://jackrabbitscrappin.blogspot.com/
Tammy http://cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com/
Nina http://nina-hotpinkscrapper.blogspot.com/
Jamie http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/
Emily http://www.createserendipity.net/
Charlotte http://charlottes-creations.blogspot.com/
Heather S http://operationcricutdesign.blogspot.com/

Christmas in July Blog Hop - Day 2

2011-07-16T07:14:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Day 2 of the Christmas in July blog hop! I just love Christmas, and it's always a good thing to get a head start on it! So why not start 6 months early? ;-) If you've hopped to my blog from Shannon's Blog, you're on the right track! If you just happened to stop by my blog today and want to join in on the fun, please start at the beginning at Lisa's blog.

There are lots of prizes to be given away, including a grand prize given by Lisa! Like all hops, we do have a few rules to follow to be eligable to win a prize, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for the "Grand Prize" you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment for each day of the blog hop and also become a follower at "Scrapping With Lisa" on facebook.

This hop runs from July 15-17th, so you have plenty of time to make it all the way through the hop. Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY! Please come back tomorrow to see what new projects we have created. After all it's Christmas in July and who doesn't like Christmas.

Now on to my project for the day... Since I've been recently moving, I haven't had time to do a lot of projects, so I am showcasing some that I made this past Christmas since I wasn't blog hopping or anything back then, I'm sure most of you all haven't seen them... anyways, for today I have this paper bag album to share with you. I just loved this paper line, I believe it is by fancy pants, but i could be wrong on that!

Ready for some Blog Candy? Are you a fan of Pink by Design Stamps?

Check out the Christmas Wishes set shown above!

Boy Have I got a treat for you! I have 3 $10 gift cards to Pink by Design Stamps! I will pick 3 lucky winners at the end of this hop, but you have to comment each day and also do the following:

1. Follow Pink by Design on Facebook
2. Become a member of the Pink by Design Community and make a post there
3. leave a comment here on my blog letting me know you did both!

Thanks for stopping by today! Now hop on over and see what Deborah has in store for you today!

Here's the full line up for this hop:
Lisa- http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Shawnee- http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/
Rachelle- http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com/
Shannon- http://www.purplelionpaper.com/blog
Emily- http://www.createserendipity.net/
Deborah- http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Tricia- http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/
Janet- http://www.createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Theresa- http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Mickie- http://www.littlescrapcorner.blogspot.com
Jennifer- http://www.craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
Elsa- http://justafewdesigns.blogspot.com/
Carla- http://racincrafts.blogspot.com/
Bobbi- http://rockgirlcustomdesigns.blogspot.com/
Ashley- http://www.theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
April- http://www.curlsandgrins.blogspot.com/
Georgiana- http://www.carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com/

Christmas in July Blog Hop!

2011-07-15T08:48:00.000-04:00

Thank you for joining us to celebrate Christmas in July! I just love Christmas, and it's always a good thing to get a head start on it! So why not start 6 months early? ;-) If you've hopped to my blog from Shannon's Blog, you're on the right track! If you just happened to stop by my blog today and want to join in on the fun, please start at the beginning at Lisa's blog.

There are lots of prizes to be given away, including a grand prize given by Lisa! Like all hops, we do have a few rules to follow to be eligable to win a prize, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for the "Grand Prize" you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment for each day of the blog hop and also become a follower at "Scrapping With Lisa" on facebook.

This hop runs from July 15-17th, so you have plenty of time to make it all the way through the hop. Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY! Please come back tomorrow to see what new projects we have created. After all it's Christmas in July and who doesn't like Christmas.

Now on to my project for the day... I decided to showcase a little card that I made this past Christmas, I think it's suitable for "Christmas in July" because when I think of celebrating Christmas in July, I think Tropical Christmas! I fell in love with the "Tropical Christmas" stamp set from Close to my Heart (C1292) when I got it a few years ago. So I finally got around to making a card with it!

Ready for some Blog Candy? Are you a fan of Pink by Design Stamps?

LSHD Splash of Summer Blog hop

2011-07-09T01:00:00.021-04:00

Hello, Welcome to the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Blog Hop. If you are visiting from Margaret's Blog you are in the right place. If you just happened to visit my blog please start the hop on Tricia's Blog.
This is a ONE day blog hop that will last all day today, from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm. So sit back, relax, and enjoy viewing all the wonderful projects these talented artists have created.

Tricia's Blog http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/
Leann's Blog http://www.scrapbookingbyleann.blogspot.com/
Karel's Blog http://artandscraps.blogspot.com/
Deborah's Blog http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Patricia's Blog http://pattyandcharlie.blogspot.com/
Tammy's Blog http://tammyjennings.blogspot.com/
Julie's Blog http://designs-by-julie.blogspot.com/
Margaret's Blog http://www.auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Emily's Blog http://www.createserendipity.net/
Roberta's Blog http://www.txscrappermom.blogspot.com/
Charlotte's Blog http://charlottes-creations.blogspot.com/
Nancie's Blog http://alittlepieceofmebynancie.blogspot.com/
Corrine's Blog http://celebratingordinarymoments.blogspot.com/
Dawn's Blog http://dawnsdesignsthatdelight.blogspot.com/
Jeana's Blog http://www.scraptoday.blogspot.com/
Janet's Blog http://www.createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Nancy's Blog http://brujahrose.blogspot.com/
Lisa's Blog http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
LSHD DT Blog http://littlescrapsofheavendt.blogspot.com/

Now for my project for today! I want to apologize for not having more, but we have been packing and moving over the past couple of weeks and all of my craft stuff is boxed up still. I made this little digi page to share with you all. I just love the Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Hula Girl Collection! Whenever Tricia came out with these I instantly wanted to go somewhere tropical! I ended up doing this digi layout with photos of a cruise that I went on a few years ago to the Bahamas.

Since I didn't have many projects to share, I will offer DOUBLE blog candy today for you all!!! How does that sound?

Did you all see all of the new fabulous Pink by Design stamps released this month? If not, here's a few of my favorites that I had a little hand in helping Sarah design :-) And by the way, these stamps go AWESOME with Little Scraps of heaven Designs paper piecings! I make all kinds of projects using them both and they go hand in hand!

Today for blog candy I have 2 $10 gift certificates to the Pink by Design store for 2 lucky readers to win!

All you have to do to win is:
1. Follow Pink by Design on Facebook
2. Become a member of the Pink by Design Community and make a post there
3. leave a comment here on my blog letting me know you did both!

Thanks so much for joining us today. To be eligible to win the Grand Prize Giveaway you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment.

Your next stop is Roberta's blog, so hop right along and see what she has in store for you today!

Flair & Frills Birthday Blog Hop!

2011-06-30T10:11:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Flair & Frills Blog hop! We are having this 3 day hop in honor of Brynn's 30th Birthday! Happy Birthday Miss Brynn! If you were just browsing and stopped by my blog today, please start at the beginning of the hop at Brynn's Blog and check out all of the fabulous projects using Brynn's favorite colors, pink,black, white, and silver!

For my project today, I made this cute little birthday card:

For the background, I used the Zebra Background stamp from Pink by Design and for the sentiment I used Pink by Design's new stamp set Flirty Girl. I thought these stamps would go perfect for this card! For the flourish by the flowers, I use the Fancy Flourish collection from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

I had a lot of fun making this card, it was my first time using background stamps, so I did have a little trouble, but I think I like how it turned out! Pink & girly is always a fun theme to work with! :-)

Now keep hopping and see what fabulous birthday surprise Cheryl has in store for you today!

And here is the full lineup for the hop:
Brynn http://flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com
Elizabeth http://www.217creations.com
Nicolette http://beyondscrapin.blogspot.com
Lisa http://scrapaholic22.blogspot.com
Theresa http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
Michelle http://michellegranger.typepad.com
Emily http://www.createserendipity.net
Cheryl http://www.capturingamomentintime.com
Alyssa http://www.mythoughtsexactly.com
Sylvia http://bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com
Sandra http://365daysofcricut.blogspot.com
Rachel http://dillybelle.blogspot.com

Sketch Challenge #3

2011-06-28T21:23:00.000-04:00

I was playing with my stamps tonight and decided that I wanted to play along with the Sketch Challenge over at Market Street Stamps. I just love their stamps and their challenges are a lot of fun!

For the challenge this week you are required to follow a sketch AND add glimmer spray to your project.

I do own about 5 bottles of glimmer mist and I am always afraid to use it! So I watched a little video on how to use glimmer mist and learned I was doing it all wrong! You DO NOT shake your glimmer mist! Apparently that clogs the sprayer and that's why sometimes you get bubbles on your paper. I guess it's simple, you just have to gently swirl it before use!

Here is the card that I came up with for this challenge:

You can't see it too well from the photo, but I used glimmer mist on the swimsuit and also added some stickles to it as well.

For this card, I used the Chillaxin stamp set from Market Street Stamps. I also used the Scalloped Shapes from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs for the scalloped background behind the swimsuit.

I don't know if it is because I have been busy packing getting ready to move, or what, but my creative mojo has been lacking today! I hope you all like this little card and thanks for stopping by! :-)

Made it Myself Mondays & a Giveaway Contest!!!

2011-06-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks for stopping by to see my"Made It Myself Mondays" challenge project! I'm VERY excited to share this with you today... it's actually one that I posted here before, but I wanted to also share a tutorial with you all!

First... do you all remember the little toilet paper roll album that I did a few weeks ago? Well... I entered it in the American Craft's Flair contest and I got selected as one of the contenders for the grand prize this week! I will offer up another giveaway to one lucky winner that will be chosen out of EVERYONE who votes for me.... All you have to do is "Like" American Crafts on facebook HERE and then you HAVE to go to the photo of my little album and click "like" under the photo so to go to the contest to vote, CLICK HERE! That's it! It's simple!! I can use all the votes you can give me, so share with your friends and family as well and let me know that you did so and I will give you an extra chance in my little drawing... How about I give you a DIY Album kit of your choice? Sound good? Voting ends THIS FRIDAY, so please vote! :-)

Ok, now on to my project...

Here is the album that I posted a few weeks ago in THIS POST.

And here is how you can make your very own!

First, get out your supplies. I saved toilet paper rolls for a little while so I would have enough to try this type of album. I ended up using 4, though you can use more or less. Take your bone folder or your hands, either works, and flatten to toilet paper rolls.

I chose a couple of bright summery colors to paint mine with. You can use just any acrylic paint, the kind I used is by Making Memories. I just painted both sides of the toilet paper rolls and let them dry. I use the little sponge paint brushes, they are usually on sale for next to nothing at craft stores! I also use old boxes to paint on in case you were wondering, it’s easy to clean up! :-) This step is completely optional, if you want more of a vintage look, you could leave them plain.

Next you need to choose your paper for your album. I chose paper from the Heat Wave collection by American Crafts. I also chose plain cardstock to mat the papers on, this is completely up to you, I just like that extra edge around my projects. The mats were cut at 4 x 2.25 inches and the patterned paper was cut at 3.75 x 2 inches. Make sure you measure your toilet paper rolls to get the best measurements for your paper. I found by doing this that different brands of toilet paper have different sizes of toilet paper rolls, that’s something new to me! I cut out enough to have 12 mats, 1 for each page and 4 pull out tags.

This step is completely optional, but some have asked me how I get do the stitching on my projects. Well, I use a regular sewing machine! I stitched one end of each of the toilet paper rolls with a straight stitch and then stitched all of the mats with a zig-zag stitch.

After you’ve done all of that, take your crop-a-dile or a regular hole punch and punch a couple of holes in the ends of your toilet paper rolls. If you stitched them, make sure you punch the holes on the stitched end, you need to leave the other end open for your pull out tags. Assemble your album together with binding rings, I used 3/4 inch, but if you use more toilet paper rolls, you might want to go a little larger on these. I buy all of my binding rings at an office supply store, you can buy them there in bulk :-)

Glue down your mats to the toilet paper rolls. I used my atg because it gives a really good stick for projects like this.

Now for the fun part! I added ribbon to the binding rings and also stapled a couple pieces of ribbon to the ends of the pull out tags. In case you were wondering why I have a lighter sitting there… well, I always heat set my ribbons so they don’t fray. You can buy fray-check from the store, but I think it’s a little more time consuming, so I just lightly burn the edges of my ribbons. Be careful though! Some ribbons are more flammable than others! You don’t want to catch your project on fire, so use caution!

I wanted a bright & cheery summertime album, so I found some patterns of a sun and some clouds. These svg patterns are from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs. I also got out my stamps and embossing powders, for this project I used the Summer Vacation stamp set from Pink by Design.

After I stamped my sentiment, I wanted to add a little something extra to the clouds. I used a Quick Glue pen and some doodlebug glitter to add some dazzle around the edges.

Now it’s time to embellish! I absolutely LOVE to add flowers to pretty much everything I make! They are a great embellishment and can really dress up a project! After many years of wasting $ on expensive little glue dots, I discovered that a hot glue gun is one of the most essential tools that every scrapper needs! I use it to glue down all of my embellishments except the ones that I choose to make 3-d with pop dots.

After you’ve got your cover finished, you can add little elements to the inside of your album. I used some of the chipboard elements from the Heat Wave collection that matches the paper I used. I also added some flowers throughout. Don’t over embellish these pages though, the mats are relatively small and it might be hard to add photos if you add to much!

And there you have it, my mini album made out of toilet paper rolls! One cool thing about this project is that you can dig into your scraps and make this album completely from scraps! It’s a good way to use up materials instead of throwing them away.

Lastly, I need to make a little announcement... remember the post I made the other day about my "Believe" cards and the Scrapbooks, etc contest? Well... I WON this past week!!!! What that means is each week they have a weekly voting contest over at Scrapbooks, etc for their Craft It Forward program, at the end of each week, there is one winner. I am the winner from last week. So at the end of the month, Scrapbooks, ETC will pick one of the winners from the weeks that month and they will win the grand prize which is $ for Charity! So I hope and pray that they pick me because I would love to give some $ to the Bradley Angel House! Now those of you who voted, I promised a little giveaway. make sure that you post on my facebook page or let me know that you voted (if you commented here, I got ya!), I will do a giveaway later this week or possibly next week (we are in the process of moving so it could be a few days)

PLEASE Help by Voting For Me!!! (There might be a little prize if you do!!!)

2011-06-25T21:35:00.002-04:00

If you are looking for the Beach Party Blog Hop CLICK HERE

Hello everyone!!! I am posting this blog post to ask for your help! I need help from every single one of you!

Do you remember this set of cards that I made a few weeks ago?

Well, these cards have made it as one of the Top 4 on Scrapbook Etc's Craft It Forward contest this week! This is a contest for charity, so if I win, the prize $ will go to the Bradley Angel House for women who have suffered from abuse and domestic violence. I am currently in 2nd place, but there is 1 day left to vote for the week! PLEASE go and vote for me! You can vote once per browser per day (but I have been able to vote more than once on some days!) Share it on your facebook walls, ask friends and family to vote, etc. Just whatever it takes!

CLICK HERE to vote!!!

Please leave me a comment letting me know that you voted, and IF I make it to 1st place, I will give one lucky voter a little prize pack. I think that I will make it a nice prize pack and give 1 DIY album kit, a couple of blank albums... AND a mini album made by me :-) Does that sound good? Ok, well... what are you waiting for? GO VOTE!!!

Thanks everyone!