This month felt so rushed for some reason.  I really don't know why as the month before last I was creating my cards the day they were due to be posted on my blog.  I worked on my cards for this reveal on Sunday.  Maybe it is because I had to finish my Christmas cards of which there were 32.  Yes 32 homemade cards and I had only decided on a design the week beforehand.  I swear this coming year will be different. 
But I digress.......this month our kit was from Mary.  Sorry for the photo the white seems to have blown out a little bit.

There were so many fun things to try out from the clip to the washi tape.  I tried for simple again but you know me everything has to be grunge.  So I just inked the heck out of everything.

On this card I used my new beautiful bows and sentimental flourish dies.  I just love MFT they have the cutest dies.  Shhhhh....don't tell the husband.  My monitor is just crazy so I am hoping the white on this isn't all blown out as the paper is actually a beige stripe shaped in a v.  So sharp.

I love this new winter wreath die by MFT.  It is so delicate and was just perfect on this paper highlighting the washi tape at the bottom.  How fun this die is!

This last card I used the really cute little clip that was included in my kit along with the zipper flower.

I had such fun making all of my cards here are the three of them together.

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what I did make sure to check out the other ladies.  You can find them here:

Joni
Diane
Beth
Mary
Mara

You can also visit us here:

Scrappinmojo

Our November card club reveal is today.  It was my turn to send out the goodies this month.  I had a bit of a hard time deciding what to choose but I found the perfect set from 7Gypsies at Michael's that I knew would work out great.  Once I sorted it all out I added some additional fun items from my stash.
Here is the kit

In making my cards this month I decided simple was the key.  So all four I kept pretty simple.
Here is a picture of all four.

This first one I used the bit of packaging from Prima that I just loved.  I also used the cut out for the corner as it just added that extra something.  Behind the bird cage is a bit of mulberry paper.  Cute but simple.

This next one I decided to use the packaging again for both corners as I really liked the look.  I used a background stamp on the card itself to mimic wood after coloring it with my Copic airbrush system in a nice olive green.  Then I added a bit of flocked paper with a piece of beige ribbon that is almost like fishnet.  Topped off with a greeting and some bling on the ends.  Again simple but elegant.

On this one is my favorite new stamp by Prima.  The piano is so whimsical all I did was add a little color with one of my Tim Holtz distress markers to the inside circles in places.  This card I also used a background stamp then two sheets of patterned paper along with the corrugated piece colored with the Copic airbrush system under the piano stamped image that was cut out.  A little bling in the corner and a music bar for interest and here is another very simple design.

I saved the best for last.  I loved this piece of tissue paper and was trying to figure out how to incorporate it into a card accent.  The perfect solution was to run it like a piece of ribbon through the ribbon holder.  I used some distress ink in Picked Raspberry to outline all the pieces on this card.  The buttons have some brass colored metallic thread to finish them off.  I stamped the little balloon with a small Happy Birthday stamp that I had in my stash.

I hope you enjoyed my reveal today.  If you have some time go over to the other ladies in our group to check out what they made this month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Joni
Diane
Mara
Beth
Mary

Today is our reveal for our card making group.  Of course I am totally late as usual along with being completely challenged on how to get my pictures from my new Iphone onto my computer so I can upload them to my blog.  That took me forever to figure out next time I just use my normal camera.

The kit I received was from Beth J this month.  Lots of great goodies were included as you can see.

I was opening my laptop to check out Pinterest so I could get some ideas when this first idea popped into my head.  After that the ideas just flowed it was wonderful.

Hope you enjoyed checking out all of my cards.  Come back next month to see what we create with the kit I am sending out.

Terri

If you have time check out the other ladies in our group.

Joni
Diane
Mara
Beth
Mary

There is a contest over at the PageMaps blog this month with a sketch that was perfect for the graduation picture I took of my girlfriends daughter.  I used some new patterned paper and this adorable stamp I bought at the Stamp/Scrapbook Expo in Milwaukee last month.

 

Why is it that when you take a picture standing over something it always looks crooked?

Here is the link to the blog  http://www.pagemaps.blogspot.com/2012/06/sweet-shoppe-digi-sketch-contest.html#comment-form

Thanks for looking!

Terri

I discovered, by way of my sister, the coolest new thing for scrapbooking.  It is by Heidi Swapp and is called the Memory File.  Of course I went right out seeking this new found fun system.  But to my dismay I was not able to find anywhere the photo flips.
I decided to check out Heidi's blog to find out everything and anything I could about this new system.  She had a great demonstration on how to construct your own.  So I dug through my bigger scraps, found some file folders and a few page protectors and away I went.
Here is what I came up with .  I did this walk with my sister in law, nieces, nephews, great nephews and all their other family & friends.  It was for Easter Seals and was for a great cause.  We had so much fun even though it was colder and misty when we started to walk.

I hope you enjoyed my little project!

Until next time :)

I am currently taking a really fun art class online with Junelle Jacobson.  I am having so much fun but most importantly learning that I don't have to be perfect.
So without further ado here is my cupcake drawing.

I hope you take the time today to look around and find something fun to draw.

Thanks for looking!

P.S.  More to follow.

April Fools!

Today is the 1st of April. If you went by our weather a few days thought it was June or July then it was back to maybe March or April. Whatever the weather today is the day to play jokes on friends and family. I am not going to play a joke on you but I am sure it will get a giggle or two out of my followers.
I am going to share my latest venture. I am currently taking a class by Junelle Jacobson called The Art of Wild Abandonment. So far I have drawn, not so successfully, some radishes that looked anything but and the owls I am going to share with you in a moment. I want to put a disclaimer here that I don't by any means usually draw. As a matter of fact I am usually the one with the stick figures even the dogs and cats. I use pictures or any other clip art I can find including mediums from my scrapbooking that does the 'drawing' for me. So this is really outside my comfort zone but did I have a blast doing it. So without further ado here are my funky owls.

And here are some close ups:

In the closeups you can see the added wings on some of them, three to be exact, that I really am not sure I care for too much but it was part of the lesson. It did add dimension so I might just fix one of them as it looks a little odd.

Our next lesson is a clothes line I think and once I am done with it I will post for you all to see.

Thanks for looking!

Choosing paint colors

This is really hard and I really wish my sister lived closer to assist me in the choosing of colors for the house. Currently the house is yellow and I really want to bring it back to some more earthy tones. As my living room faces north however I need to not make it too dark.
Here are my choices:My son likes the color in the middle of the upper right more than I do. I think these are too orange for my taste.
I like the middle shade here on both of these two chips.
But I am not sure about the accent wall being one of the darker shades.

What do you think?

Mid March?

Wow it sure does not feel like March at all. We have had three consecutive days in the 80's. Where is the snow we usually have and the 40 degree weather? At work it has been unbearably hot as they don't turn the air on until mid April. With the sun beating in on those glass windows it is like an oven in there.
Anyway I wanted to come and share some of my latest creations.

The tag is from Tim Holtz's blog as he is going to share tags with us all year long instead of just at Christmas. So much fun using this mosaic technique. The only thing that I didn't care for was that the embossing powder I had was metallic. I have since ordered the matte finish cement color so I can duplicate this technique for a swap I am participating in over at Scrappin Mojo.


This next one was done using my eclips machine. I really like the versatility and am so glad I made this purchase. I also stamped the background using some clear embossing ink. I love how that turned out as it didn't overpower the rest of the layout and allows the focus to still be on the photos. My silly Belle thinks the sink is her water bowl.


Closeup of the bird and the stamping in the corner.


Another closeup of the other corner showing the stamping and the flower cluster.


I found this old picture of Bill while cleaning. He was a freshman in HS and obviously played football. I had purchased this paper and the school banner from the craft store up in town. All i added was some ink and the chipboard corner that I colored using my copic airbrush system.


Thanks for looking hope you are having a creative weekend.

More creations

Where did the month go? And such a strange month weather wise here in the Chicagoland area. We really have not gotten any measurable snow and what we have gotten has melted with the almost 50 degree temps not long after.

However, today it is snowing. So pretty to look out the window to see the snow softly falling. And when it is like this out it seems so quiet and peaceful. Ok until the neighbors get out their snowmobiles and go out on the lake. I don't think they will be doing that today though as it has been too warm and the lake is not completely frozen anymore.

Here are my Great Nephews from Christmas this last year. From oldest to youngest so we will start with Cooper.

I was a little more detailed on this layout and worked on it for over 3 days. I kept going back to do something else but the end result was well worth it. I used so much different media on this layout from my copic markers to Shimmerz pearlz and vibez on the doily behind his picture. The tag with the little snowman is just a regular tag that someone had on one of my Christmas bags a few years ago. They didn't write on it and I thought it was too cute to throw away. I also used leftovers from my Christmas cards, the reindeer and snowflakes. The sticker letters are from my stash along with the brads, rubon stitches and little gift sticker on my journaling.



Here is Finn my next oldest Great Nephew. I played with him on the floor for most of the day as he is so much fun. Isn't he the cutest with all that red hair. The photo turned out a bit blurry not sure why.
The little reindeer stamp in the corner I made quite some time ago. I used Flower Soft on the antlers and snow underneath the deer. And yes I used my slice to cut out his name. Must use what we have right? :)

And last but certainly not least is my newest Great Nephew Brady. He was born this last November. He was a sleepy guy but I got to hold him for a little bit despite all the wires and monitors.The little blue buttons under his picture spell out his name. Those are really old and have been in my stash forever.

Thanks for all of your comments they mean so much to me.

Off to create more!

As promised I am back to share my layout that I did for my 2012 word that I chose. This years word is going to be 'Time'. For me this means simply more time for me. Be it reading, scrapbooking, working out, playing games whatever I chose to do I am going to make sure I do it.

Here are some close ups. The doily in the corner was punched from plastic then I used some Picket Fence distress stain on the back. I added distress ink to the clock face, butterfly wings, flowers and the letters for time then dabbed some multi matte medium as the color wouldn't dry on the metal.

This next project was made for one of my girlfriends. It is the felt bag that I found on Pinterest with a few changes. I made the handles thicker and added cotton fabric on the reverse side to give the handles more substance. She loves blue. The flowers on the front of the bag were done with an air gun for my Copic markers and a mask by Heidi Swapp.Inside the bag she found this



I love these configuration boxes by Tim Holtz. So versatile and easy to do. I made sure to include not only a picture of the 2 of us in Chicago under the Bean in Millennium Park but also a cute little bird cage (again Tim Holtz) some bottles filled with blue beads and finally her favorite thing items depicting Paris.

She was very surprised and just loved her gift.

Last day of the long weekend

Tomorrow it is back to work. Hoping the week is productive yet flies. I have so many customers that I need to get to closing it isn't even funny so if the work flows properly I should be able to get the majority of them done. Wish me luck!
Today I ran some errands with hubby and then came home to eat lunch. While eating I was reading my library book on my Nook, Undone by Karin Slaughter, great book and I just can't put it down. But down it must go as I want to finish working on the configurations box I am making for one of my girlfriends. She has no idea and I would like to have it done by next weekend to give her as a little surprise. I also made her one of the those felt bags from Pinterest in this really pretty blue color. I decorated the front with my Copic markers and a mask from Heidi Swapp. I reenforced the handle with some added material and really like how it turned out. I will take some pictures before I give her the loot and post it.
Make it a great day!

Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas

I just loved the 12 tags that Tim just did on his blog in December. I was having a really hard time coming up with a design for my Christmas cards this year. I saw him do this really cool technique then another and yet another. When I incorporated them all together I came up with my Christmas card for 2011.
Thanks for the inspiration Tim!
Here is my card the picture is a little bit light as I am learning how to use my DSLR in manual. What a challenge!

Happy New Year

I am making a promise to myself to get on here more to update all that is going on. I noticed my last post was in March last year. Wow that is a long time. Since then I went on vacation with a girlfriend, Denise, to Arizona. What a beautiful place I could see myself there someday. The air was such that I never once had a headache that was so amazing. The climate is so dry and it is the same every day. Sunny and 100. That was at the beginning of June.
At work I have a new boss. He is a very interesting person and fun to work for. He makes things interesting and really understands how our jobs effect us. He is also very smart when it comes to questions with underwriting as that is how I had first met him as my underwriter. Seems like ages ago when in fact it was probably only 5 yrs.
The first day of the new year here is very gloomy. Rain looks like it is changing to either icy precipitation or snow. I truly don't care much but my husband is at work today. Hoping this doesn't mess up his being able to leave early and be home by 2. I completely didn't buy anything for dinner tonight when I went shopping yesterday and don't feel like taking his truck to the store. My suv is still out of commission, another story, and not even here but at a friend of my son's.
Enough for now as I want to post my Christmas card and get it on Tim Holtz's blog before the deadline this morning.
Happy New Year everyone!