The Ribbon Lady Is Tying The Knot! Blog Hop

Welcome to the May Arts Ribbonista surprise Blog Hop for Bethney (aka The Ribbon Lady). We recently heard the great news that Bethney got engaged and we wanted to put on a little something special for her. 

I've had the pleasure to work with Bethney on the May Arts DT for a little over a year now, but have known her for a couple of years. We've exchanged lots of stories- anything from our kids to our relationships, etc. When Bethney told me about her new relationship with this guy, Joe, I had a feeling she was in it for the long haul because he sure sounds like a keeper! 

 

I wanted to create something special for Bethney to add photos of her and her sweetie in, so I made this "Love" themed mini album with Authentique's Irresistible collection (which is one of the prizes you can win by the way... see details below.)

The black & white paper will be perfect for Bethney to match any of her photos with, engagement to wedding.

Thanks for joining us today! Bethney is very special to all of us Ribbonistas, so we hope you had fun celebrating with us today!

Hop right along down the list:

Candy Rosenberg

Charlene Driggs

Emily Lanham <----- YOU ARE HERE

Jen Shears

Jenifer Cowles

Karen Baker

Lalo IK

Virginia Fynes

Christina Colón

Courtney Lee

DeeDee Catron

Gini Williams Cagle

Jessica Kephart

Latrice Murphy

Rhea Weigand

Shellye McDaniel

Erin Thiem

Now... We're ALSO offering up a huge prize pack of goodies to one lucky random person who goes over to the May Arts facebook page and wishes Bethney a HUGE Congratulations on her recent engagement!

Prize includes a mix of products from Faber Castell / Design Memory Craft, Authentique, UmWowStudio, DCWV, Graphic45, Gauche Alchemy, Viva Las VegaStamps!, Core'dinations, Scrap N' Art Magazine, and Amazing Crafting Products.

Imagine Crafts® / Tsukineko® & Avery Elle Blog Hop!

Today is a fun day because Imagine Crafts® / Tsukineko® & Avery Elle have paired up for a blog hop!  There are going to be a lot of amazing projects on the hop today showing how well Avery Elle and Imagine Crafts / Tsukineko products work together.  We also have a fun giveaway, so be sure to visit all of the blogs participating.

For my project, I wanted to do something a little different than a card. When I think of stamping, I immediately think of card making... except my cards aren't the best so I usually try to leave that to the pros and don't embarrass myself by posting them here. I decided to make a tag since I'm on a tag making kick lately. I had my Authentique "Fresh" collection laying on my desk from a project last week, and I thought it went PERFECTLY with the Avery Elle "Knotty" stamp set that I picked out. Obviously, I also grabbed some of my favorite inks that always match everything so perfectly, my Memento Dew Drops!

I used one of my wedding photos for this tag with the intent to hang it in my craft room as a decor type project.

I really loved the sentiments in this stamp set, this one was perfect!

Now hop along and check out all of the fabulous projects along the way! Here is the entire list of blog hop participants:

Avery Elle / Jamie

Chunyuan Wu

 Nina Yang

Heather Campbell

JJ Bolton

Donna Mikasa

Kasia Curry

Linda Lucas (Lovely Linda)   

Eric Ericson     

Taylor Usry   

AJ Otto  

Renee Zarate   

Tenia Renee Nelson  

Kazuko Kocho  

Emily Lanham <------- YOU ARE HERE

Debbie Gaetz     

Maureen Cronin     

Jennifer Ingle     

Naghma Husain     

John Creighton Petersen

Now it is time for our giveaway! Leave a comment below and/or on any of the posts in the hop to be entered to win.  We will be selecting two random winners.  One will win a $50 Avery Elle gift certificate and the other will win $50 worth of Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko product! You have until June 14th to comment for a chance to win! The winner will be announced on the Avery Elle blog on Monday, June 17th.

Thanks for hopping with us!!

Products Used:

Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko- Memento Dew Drops: Summer Sky, Morocco, Gray Flannel

Avery Elle- "Knotty" Stamp Set

Authentique- "Fresh" Collection

May Arts- 445-15-01, AF38, NP34, SE01, 

Maya Road- Tulle Pleat Trim: Earl Grey, Trinket Pins: Cream Hearts

Standard #8 Tag

DCWV & Therm O Web Summer Lovin Blog Hop!

Welcome to the DCWV/Therm O Web Summer Lovin’ Blog hop.

Today, the design teams from DCWV and Therm O Web have brought together all the things we love about summer! The designers are have combined paper from DCWV’s Sunday Afternoon and Everlasting Love stacks, together with a variety of adhesives, mists and other fantastic products from Therm O Web!    

If you have come here from Karla's Blog then you're on track! If not, you should go back to the DCWV blog and start today’s leg of the hop from there!

For my Summer Lovin' project, I thought I would continue with the theme I've had this past week on my blog... Wedding! Love is in the air and it's definitely Wedding season! Do you have a friend or family member that you know who is getting married this summer? I've got a fun step-by-step tutorial today how to make some adorable wedding favors!

I'm sure you've sen these little containers before, right? They look like sour cream containers, but can be filled with anything that you like. At first I thought these looked complicated, but they are so easy to make! 

First, cut your piece of paper to 4.25 x 5.5 inches. 

Add some adhesive to the sections where the arrows are drawn above. 

Roll your piece of paper to form a tube, press firmly so adhesive will stick.

Close one end by pressing firmly so adhesive will stick.

Take a paper crimper to the end that is sealed. 

This will be your result. Add candy, bird seed, or whatever you want to put in the container to the open end. 

Seal by pressing firmly on the open end and crimp with paper crimper. 

If you want to embellish yo can. I absolutely love to add flowers to everything and this time, I wanted to give them a nice subtle sparkle. The Therm O Web Glitter Dust is AMAZING and it's one of my favorite products right now. 

For my project I used DCWV's Everlasting Love stack. This stack is great. The nice neutral tones allow you to keep your projects neutral or jazz them up with any splash of color that you desire to add. 

For my project, I thought pink was the perfect addition. 

Be sure to visit all the blogs today, and leave comments for your chance to win!  Two lucky readers will win a set of 3 stacks from DCWV, and an additional reader will receive an amazing gift pack from Therm O Web!   The more you comment, the more chances you have to win!

Next, hop right along and see what Julia has in store for you today!

Love is In The Air!

Woo hoo! I'm Guest Designing on the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog today! My SWEET friend Nicole (owner and designer of SSS) asked me if I could feature an older (but very popular) SSS set today, so I grabbed the stamp set and started thinking of ideas. 

When I first looked at the Sentimental Birds stamp set, I think oh, yes, I can make a sympathy card with this! Not today! I wasn't feelin' sympathy. So I decided to break out the new "Irresistible" paper collection from Authentique Paper. It IS the beginning of wedding season after all, right?! 

Here's what I came up with!

I had one of my wedding photos left over from another top secret project that I was working on with this paper collection as well as some scraps... so I grabbed a piece of MDF type board that I had cut and went to town! 

This project is one that needs to be displayed on a plate stand since it's just a flat piece of board, but it makes a very elegant decor piece.  It's a very nice & inexpensive wedding/anniversary gift idea! 

I just love the little sentiments in this stamp set. So petite but yet so perfect! 

I had some more scraps, so I also decided to make a little card. 

Aren't those little birds darling? I think they go perfectly with the Love/Wedding/Anniversary theme! 

The great thing is that you can do SO much more with this stamp set! Don't forget to stop by the Sweet Stamp Shop and pick yours up today! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Products Used:

Sweet Stamp Shop- Sentimental Birds Stamp Set

Authentique Paper- Irresistible Collection

May Arts Ribbon- Sheer Frayed Flowers, Grosgrain/Ivory Stripes, Faux Suade Leaves

Maya Road- Heart Trinket Pins

Petaloo- Beaded Peonies, Velvet Hydrangeas

ZVA Creative- Pearls

Always

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!

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! :-)

Happily Ever After Blog Hop- Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the Happily Ever After Blog Hop. Today is the last day of this hop so make sure you check out all of the wonderful projects from the entire hop and get in on some yummy blog candy! If you are coming from Lisa's Blog you’re on the right track. If you just joined us, you can go back to the beginning HERE and hop along with us.

Since today is the last day of the hop, I just thought I would share some of my own personal wedding photos and my little wedding story... I was going to do an album using my photos, but I figured I might save that for the upcoming Beach Blog Hop that I am hosting. I hope you all come back and check that one out too!

Almost 2 years ago I began going through a very rough separation from my daughter's dad. I'm a sucker for love, but when something goes wrong beyond my own control, I know when it's time to let go. Finally I made the step to file for a divorce. It was a very rocky road, but little did I know that true love was just around the corner for me. One night I went out with my brother and a few friends to get my mind off of things and I ran into a very old friend from elementary school. Brandon and I have always been friends since the 5th grade, but after Junior High, he moved away. He always managed to make contact with me somehow, weather it was calling the school to try to get me out of class just to talk to me, or messaging me on myspace, he let me know I was always on his mind. I ran into him a few years ago and he begged me to let him take me on a date, but I said no, I was married and had no interest in getting involved. I hadn't seen him since then until this night, when I finally gave in and gave him my phone number. It was about a month later when I was laving work and I got a phone call from him. He was working out of town and begged me once again to let him take me on a date. I turned him down but we continued to talk on the phone for a few months. Finally, on April 23, 2010, I finally let him take me on that date. It was one of the best nights I've ever had! I never knew that someone that I had known since I was a child would have so much in common with me! The following week he had asked me to visit him where he was working, in Harrisburg, PA. That's a little bit of a drive from where I live in Ohio, but I took the chance and went to see him. We had the time of our lives! During my stay I realized that we had a lot more in common than I even thought we did before and we started dating.

Here we are in Atlantic City, NJ, our first time seeing the ocean together.

We decided that we loved the beach so much that we wanted to get married there! It has always been a dream of mine to get married on the beach, so in September, we went to North Carolina and all of my dreams came true.

Here are a few photos from our wedding on September 17, 2010 in Sunset Beach, NC.

I can honestly say that I am married to my very best friend and that is something that everyone should have. Brandon has been chasing me since I was a little girl and I am so thankful that I finally wised up and gave in to that first date ♥

Today's project is one that I did in a series with yesterday's project as you can see below:

This is a chipboard multi-shaped album that I made using Basic Grey's Lily Kate line of papers. I just love how this album turned out!

Ok, now for some blog candy, finally!!! First, please make sure you're a follower of my blog as well as a fan of my facebook page! And if you haven't checked out my etsy shop yet, please stop by and do so, if you like what you see, add me to your favorites, I would really appreciate it!

After you've done all of that, leave me a comment on this post and let me know you were here and you will be entered to win this yummy prize!

What I have for you to win is an all in one Wedding Themed DIY Paper bag album kit! I know some of you have left comments saying you would love to try one of these albums, well, here's your chance! Make sure you do everything listed above to be entered to win!

I know this is a long post, but thanks so much for stopping by and checking out all of my projects for this hop! And a special thank you to Lisa for setting up this awesome hop!

Now Hop on over to see what Shawnee has in store for you today!

In case you forgot, here is a list of the complete lineup for this hop:
Lisa : http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Emily: http://www.createserendipity.net/
Shawnee: http://quiverofangels.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
Theresa: http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/
Inga: http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com/
Joy: http://www.joyslife.com/
Deborah: http://www.scrappingmamma.net/
Corrine: http://celebratingordinarymoments.blogspot.com/
Tristan: http://tristans-time-4-craftin.blogspot.com/
Tricia: http://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/
April: http://www.curlsngrins.blogspot.com/
Kimi & Pamela: http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com/
Scraps To Treasures: http://www.scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Janet: http://www.createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Lisa: http://bitbythecricutbug.blogspot.com/