Yummmm Cookies Layout Created for Another

Hi Ya Everyone!

  Something a little different today.  My lovely friend Sheila from She's A Sassy Lady went to the Dallas Stampede with me.  Sheila and Pam of The Bug Bytes came up with some table games - one of which was to draw names and each person create a layout for another person using personal photos.  The layout was to be put together partially and then the person to whom the layout was created was to finish putting it together.  Well Elizabeth of 217 Creations drew Sheila's name and then almost canceled the trip do to family matters so in the mean time I decided to prepare a layout just in case. Well the good news came and Elizabeth was able to come after all and did a wonderful page of Sheila's grand sons Justin and Gavin making cookies, but I had already prepared this layout. So when it came time to leave I gifted Sheila with these two pages and she finally had the opportunity to put them together.

This is Sheila's post - she also made a great video as she was putting the layout together - if you would like to see the video please stop by her blog HERE at She's A Sassy Lady.

Take it away Sheila!!!

You will love the ease that this layout went together and the detail that Melissa put into it.

Look closely at the letters and you can see she used a white gel pen on each one of them that offered a finished look to the design. She cut these words From My Kitchen.

Look at the letters on this page. They are from Nursery Rhymes and Melissa used the shadow feature and then her white gel pen to turn out AWESOME letters.

Just look at the detail to this Gingerbread man. It looks just like frosting along the edges! And look at the little bow tie around it's neck with the little buttons to finish off the look! Love it!

And look at my embellishments... these great buttons and look at the little cookie cutters they look so real and would you believe it wasn't until I was gluing on the second one that I realized they were actually plastic and not metal! They look that real!

Here is a close up of one of the pages.

And the other.... Don't you just love the look. And if you want a closer look just click on the photo for an enlargement.

I sure hope you enjoyed today's post. I know I sure enjoyed putting together a layout designed by Melissa featuring my grandson's Justin and Gavin. Thank you for your sweet sweet words of encouragement. Your comments continue to inspire me to keep sharing with you.

Whimsical Wednesday Guest Designer

Hi ya everyone!
  Stephanie at Always Crafting has a weekly challenge called Whimsical Wednesday.  Stephanie hosts with good friend and amazing crafter Jess over at My Scrap Diary.  This week they asked me to participate in their new challenge - use a stamp and any coloring technique you would like.  I am very honored that they would ask me to share my favorite coloring technique with you!  I chose this cute Mo Manning stamp called Step Sisters.  It reminds me of my two girls so I decided to use this for my coloring technique - Copic markers.  I just started using Copics in May and love them so much.  I am not Copic Certified however and it might be something I will eventually want to do.  However, I'll go into a few tricks I use to color my images. 

I typically start with three markers - sometimes they are in the same range for instance the pink dress on the older sister is colored using RV21, RV23, and RV25.  I always start with the lightest color RV21 and cover the whole image, then I take the next one RV23 and color the shadow region, then I go over this area with my RV25 then again with RV 23 blending into the lighter areas, then lastly with my light color again.  Often times I will return to the image with an even darker shade - R29 and do some extra shadowing to really make the color pop. 
I used my nestable and cut out the image and place the girl on this little tag envelope I made using my Gypsy and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More - layering them on some cute paper from American Crafts.  I cut out letters from the word sister from the cartridge Nursery Rhymes and layered those on the tag part of the card.  I then threaded a cute crinkle ribbon through both and tied them together. 

You have to check out Stephanie and Jess's projects.  Each used a different technique to color their stamps and they are just amazing.  They are so very adorable and just to temp you a bit - here are some sneak peaks!

Jess

Stephanie

Now, head on over to Always Crafting and join in on the fun!  Use any technique for coloring that you would like - just remember to use a stamp and enter!!!
Thanks for checking out my blog!
Enjoy!

A Little Halloween Decor - Meljen's Design Challenge

Hi ya everyone!
  This week at Meljen's Designs our challenge for you is to create something for Halloween!!!  I love Halloween for so many reasons.  Since this is the first year I've really been crafting that Halloween has rolled around I'm busy making decorations for our place.  I decided to make this long little sign using three cute Meljen digi's! Aren't they adorable?  I used ghost cutie, scaredy cat, and country star pumpkin.  They can all be found here. 

First, I colored these three cuties with Copics.  I cut them out using my circle nestables.  I also cut with my nestables a brown background circle so they would pop more on the Jack-O-Lantern paper from Basic Grey.  I cut Happy Halloween out on my Expressions using the Nursery Rhyme font.  I welded the shadow letters together and cut them in the same brown cardstock and then adhered these orange letters. 

This was a cute and easy project for Halloween. Don't forget to participate in the Halloween challenge at Meljen's!!!
Enjoy!

Hoppy Birthday Sheila!!!

Hey Everyone!
  Tomorrow is Sheila's Birthday - aka She's A Sassy Lady.  She is a wonderful inspiration and is always making the loveliest cards and layouts.  I'm so excited to give her this card.  Actually, it's already in the mail - but I have a feeling it's going to be a bit late!  So I'm giving it to her electronically here a day early so she won't think I forgot!! LOL  I made this card using her fabulous window technique using the Gypsy.  I found a perfect window with this scalloped edge on Mini Monograms.  Although, it had an extra window so I hid that.

 I took shadow letters from Nursery Rhymes and welded them together to spell Hoppy Birthday on the top and bottom of the window.  Finally, I attached the words with the little bunny shadow from Give a Hoot.  The balloon happened to fit right over the O in Hoppy!  I cut this all out and added an extra layer on the front.  The bunny was run upside down in my Xyron and I added some flocking to his belly and body.  Next, I added a bit of smooch on his mouth and gave him little black eyes and a nose.  I topped him off with a little rosy cheek using some chalk. 

I used a string instead of the cricut string for the balloon and popped the balloon over the O.  I also added all the letters to the top of the shadow.  The paper used was all Basic Grey - Cappella.  On the inside I placed a matching stripe and a black piece for a sentiment.  I wrote with my gelly roll pen on the inside!
Hoppy Birthday Sheila!!!
Enjoy!

Butterfly - Crafty Creations #81

Hey everyone!

This week at Crafty Creations we are challenging everyone to use a butterfly on their card, scrapbook page or project.  Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp Store.  While on vacation I decided to make a bookmark and card set. The blues and soft sand colors inspired this set. I also stopped by the local Jo-Anne's while on vacation and picked up K & Company paper. It matched my linen paper from DCWV so well that I had to use the two to create something right away. The beachy inspiration led to me picking up my Gypsy and welding two butterflies from the Hannah Montana cart together. I also took the word Hope from Give a Hoot and welded that to the bottom of the butterfly. I had a hard time coming up with the sentiment - I thought fly or soar, but none really made sense. Finally, I settled on Hope since a butterfly seems to struggle so much when it flutters around!! It's almost as if it's flying around thinking - "I HOPE I make it to that flower" LOL.

Anyhow, I used the shadow images to weld all pieces on my card in a light cream and tan patterned paper from my DCWV stack. Next, I cut out a blacked out image of the butterfly in a flowery tan from the K&Co paper. Finally, I cut out a top lacy sort of layer for the butterfly from another piece of K&Co paper in a turquoise blue color that had a bit of foil. I cut the word Hope out in a DCWV paper that matched all papers tying in the colors.
For the bookmark, I cut out elongated tags from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More in the foil paper I mentioned before and the same cream and tan I used as a base for the butterfly card. Next, on my Gypsy I welded shadow letters from Nursery Rhymes and formed a little line of letters with the butterflies from Hannah Montana attached to those letters. I used the same paper I cut Hope out of to place on top of the shadow letters. The butterfly layers were done in a similar fashion to my card. Finally, I added a bit of ribbon for the top in a number of varieties. I liked the bookmark but felt it needed a little something extra so I added some pearls as well.

I hope you like and don't forget to play along this week at Crafty Creations!!!

Enjoy!

Under My Umbrella - Jitterbuggin'

Hey everyone,
  I made this card for the Jitterbuggin' Challenge this week!  Sherri's sketch was fabulous and the rules were as follows:  use black and white with one accent color - (mine was blue my favorite color), use a punch (I don't have any since I have my cricut but I did use a die for some squares so I hope that counts) and use your cricut while following the sketch.    I had been checking out the Frosted Designs website today too and thought I would combine the two for both challenges since their rules were to use a song lyric. 

Now, my friend Jill and I laughed so hard at the song "Umbrella" when we heard Rhianna sing it because she says "under my umbrella, ella, ella, ella, ella" and it's sort of annoying - no offense Rhianna if you ever check my website.  But we did like the sentiment of being good friends and always being there for each other.  So, Jill did some leg work and found this same song sung by Scott Simon - check it out, it is a much better version of the song!  This is how my sentiment came to be and why I'm also entering it into the Frosted Design challenge. 
  The card itself is a 6x6 cut on white card stock.  I also cut the black and white square at a 5 and 3/4.  The image of the child with the umbrella is from Nursery Rhymes.  He has a goose with him, but I cut that out - didn't think it fit.  I also used Indie Art for the rain drops and welded two shadows together for the layered raindrops.  The sentiment is computer generated.  Once I layered the images using Sherri's sketch I thought the card needed a little more.  I took some sparkly blue brads and added three to the corner of the child's image, and then added some sparkly Stickles to the rain drops and the drips on the umbrella. 

I love the effect of the blue on black and white...I think I'll send this to my friend Jill!!!
Enjoy!

Family - My Sheri Crafts Challenge #13

I was really excited to do a card about family and My Sheri Crafts provided the perfect inspiration.  My family is my life - my time spent with my sweet husband and sweet girls (ok, sometimes they are rotten!) is my best time spent.  I always try to tell my hubby that he is my favorite person in the world and I tell my girls that they are my favorite little people too!  So this card was a quick one for me.  I designed with my basic grey paper in mind, love this paper - and it just sort of fit the theme.  I used my Gypsy and welded the children going around a tree (Nursery Rhymes) to the word Family (Gypsy Wanderings).  I cut the images and inked the edges with Close to Cocoa from Stampin' Up.  I decided to go ahead and sort of distress the whole image to make it a little more antique.  I popped the entire image from the card.  I added a few family stickers from a sticker stack I found.  Very quick and easy but I think it turned out lovely.

Enjoy!