leaving the nest...

One of my co-workers is moving out of state, so I made a card for everyone to sign to wish him well on his new venture.

Since it is a "guy" card, I kept the frills and embellishments to a minimum, but I think it works. I printed the sentiment on the computer, and then stamped the tree and bird from the Olivia's Birdies set by CC Designs. I stamped the nest and the two birds sitting on it separately, cut them out, and attached them with pop-dots for a little added dimension.

The pretty edging is one of the new edge punches by EK Success. I have to tell you that I find these new punches much harder to punch than older SU and Fiskars style edge punches, and the smaller holes make them more difficult to line up. So while I admit to drooling over some of the new designs, I'm not sure that any more of them will be making their way into my craft room.

All that Scraps Wed. DT Challenge #25

Did you know that the All that Scraps design team has a challenge every Wednesday? This week was a sketch challenge, and I was itching to participate as soon as I saw the great sketch that Amy Rysavy came up with.

You are highly encouraged to use your CC. Designs stamps, so I pulled out Pajama Olivia and the stocking from the Christmas Scenery set. Isn't Olivia just the cutest thing ever?


I based my color scheme on the yummy Be Merry DP by My Mind's Eye, so this card turned out very girly! I used SU's Kiwi Kiss for the base, and then layered on Pink Pirouette. I used the Cuttlebug Christmas Ornament embossing folder on the Baja Breeze piece, and sponged on some Whisper White craft ink for added depth.

Olivia was colored in with copic markers, and then I paper pieced her outfit with one of the DP's. I decided that instead of layering Olivia on top of the Pink Pirouette scalloped circle, I would punch out the center of that piece and pop it up with pop-dots to make a frame around her. You can't really tell in the photo with all those stickles covering it, but the stocking is also a piece of the Be Merry DP and has pretty snowflakes on it that the camera just won't pick up.

The sentiment is from one of the new Holiday Clear Stamps sets that Wal-mart is now carrying. The rest of the set is all ornaments with snowflakes on them, so it was a must-have for me. (I love ornaments, and am a sucker for anything with snowflakes. You'd think they made that set just for me! LOL!)

I've been working on holiday ornaments, and will be ready to post some as soon as the glue dries, so stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

LOL! Now that I got that out of the way, are you ready to see another holiday card? Thought so!

I did a little shopping at Michael's last night with my 40% off coupon (shhh... don't tell DH!). I got the Martha Stewart branch punch that I've been looking all over for, and just had to use it to make a Christmas tree for Olivia from All that Scraps to decorate.


This card is so me. I LOVE decorating the Christmas tree, and usually spend an entire day figuring out the perfect placement for each ornament. (Yes, I know I have a problem...)

I used SU Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze for the base and first layer of this card. The "wall" and "carpet" are 2 of the gorgeous DP's (in my all time FAVORITE colors, mind you!) from the new Be Merry line from My Mind's Eye. (Stay tuned for upcoming posts of projects using the tree and snowman patterns...) The trunk of the tree is the branch from the Olivia's Birdies set, and the pot is part of the bird bath. They were both colored with copic markers, cut out, and layered on the card for a base for my branches. The branches were all punched out of Kiwi Kiss using the Martha Stewart punch, and adhered with a bit of Tombo mono aqua. I don't remember how many I used, but trust me when I tell you it involved a LOT of punching! LOL!

I then stamped Olivia (also from Olivia's Birdies) and colored her in with copic markers in shades to coordinate with the DP. Olivia was then cut out and placed on the card with pop-dots for some dimension. Olivia needed a little bling, so she got some stickles on her outfit and barrettes (I added some to the tree stand too). Once she was all pretty, Olivia was ready to decorate the tree.
First comes the garland - a lovely velvet rick rack from Basic Grey's Urban Couture line. I LOVE this rick rack and wish there was more than 2 feet on the roll! Waaa!!! Then Olivia hung all the pretty ornaments - Bella's Baubles (with Stickles added to some for more sparkle). She's holding the final ornament as she decides on the perfect place to hang it. The gemstone star is from my misc. bling bin, so I can't tell you who made it, but doesn't it look pretty on top of the tree?

When I was finished with all that, the card still looked a little bare to me, so I added a sentiment and photo corners. The dark pink layer of the photo corners is actually white paper I colored with one of the copic markers I used on Olivia's outfit. Neat, huh? Just give it a sec to dry before punching so you get crisp edges. The sentiment is from one of those great Studio G sets you get for $1 at your local craft store. I went a little crazy buying the holiday ones this year, but you can never have too many holiday sentiments, right? LOL!

Sugarplums...

I'm so excited! I was the lucky winner of the CC Designs Sugarplums Christmas Scene set as well as PJ Olivia and PJ Christopher from All That Scraps! I love these sets, and knew I had to have them when I saw the sneak peaks, so I was tickled pink to win them!


The card uses the tree from the Scene set, and a sentiment from a SU hostess set. The tree was water colored, and then I added red stickles for the garland and ribbon, and diamond stickles for the lights (click on image for a larger view). I added Bella's Baubles in gold for the ornaments. I ran the top half of the card through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder, and then added on ribbon. Don't you just love the red fiber? I found it at a dollar store and just had to have it for holiday cards! It has a really pretty sheen to it that doesn't come through well in the photo, but trust me, it is lovely!


When I first saw this set, I immediately knew I would have to break out of my comfort zone and make a scrapbook page for my niece and nephew. Anna and Ryan's mommy's both work full time, so I thought I would help them out a bit with a pre-made scrapbook page that they just have to add photos to. This one is for Anna.


Here's a close-up of the stamped portion. Everything was water colored, and then stickles were added to the tree, presents, stocking, flames, and Anna's hair bows for a little extra sparkle. The fireplace was placed on 3d-dots so that the fire looks like it is sitting in it, and then has the stocking attached with a mini brad. The DP I used for Olivia's pajamas was leftover from my September 3 Little DReaMs kits. I've been itching to use it on a holiday project since I first laid eyes on it! I added more stickles to it, because every girl needs pretty pj's for Christmas.

If anyone has tips for photographing 12x12 layouts, I'd love to hear them!

a little hello...

My birthday was at the beginning of September, and not only did DH get me some Copics, but I used my birthday money from family to purchase more. (check out www.oozak.com for the best prices) As a result, I've been on a bit of a Copic craze lately, and have been coloring like mad to try out my new markers. Here's my latest project:


I haven't done a pop-up card in a while, and thought that "Tilda throwing hearts" would be perfect for one. After coloring Tilda with Copics, I added a bit of accent with a white gel pen. It doesn't show up to well in the photo, but I also added some stickles to her wings and the lace on her dress and apron.

For the center piece, I used a sponge to apply some SU Soft Sky ink to the background. I then added the tree from Olivia's Birdies and some grass from Scenery Set (both by CC Design stamps), and colored them in with, drum roll please, Copics. (You saw that one coming, right?) ;) The Copics go right over the sponged background without any of the color distortion you would get with water based markers. Gotta love it!

Copic tidbit: Did you know that you can use your Copics to make custom colored brads and eyelets for your projects? Neat, huh? I didn't have any eyelets in an appropriate color for this project, so I used a pink Copic (RV10) to get the exact shade that I needed to match Tilda's dress.

You can find the instructions for free standing pop-up cards on SCS here. I know they look complicated, but trust me, these are actually pretty easy to put together. Just make sure you use a super-strong adhesive like Provo Crafts Terrifically Tacky Tape to stick the center pieces that form the base together or it might not hold up very well.

My sister has a thing for hearts, so this card will probably go to her. Shhh... don't tell her!