Belle Papier {pretty paper}

It’s the time of year that just keeps getting busier and busier! Can you believe just seven weeks left till Christmas?! Sorry if I’m scaring someone. I’ve started a little of  my holiday shopping already and hope to be mostly done by the end of this month. This year I really want to slow things down a little. I’m also making a commitment to actually MAILING my Christmas cards this year. Novel concept I know. sigh. That being the case I want them ready to go by the end of this month. That means a few more quick cards for me. Having just finished this super easy and quick Christmas card using Basic Grey chip stickers, I thought it would make a good challenge. So stick’em up and pull out your stickers. Let’s have some fun! Check out the challenge here…

Home for the Holidays

Supply List: Eskimo Kisses 6×6 paper pad & Eskimo Kisses Chip Stickers by Basic Grey, twine, sewing machine, Simply Smooth white cardstock by CHF, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger, rhinestone sticker by Kaisercraft

Happy creating!

Yes…you are on the right blog! Grin. Major facelift here. I just wish I looked so good! If you’re reading this on google reader or other feed, please come visit. I have a beautiful new blog template. Sara Williams rocks! She worked so hard to get it ready in time for World Card Making Day…October 3rd. Unfortunately some server issues made us wait until now but I’m just thrilled that it is working! No more grey!

Sara from Tweaks and Designs has just done an incredible job. She worked so hard to make the template “me”. The colors, the images, the feel is just so perfect. I love beautiful things and this new blog template is inspiring me to get creative. I need a bit of that right now!

The other thing that may have you wondering if you’re on the right blog is the photos. No paper crafts today. Over the past few weeks I’ve felt a need to do some fall nesting and just recharge my creative batteries by doing so home-related projects.  Here’s a little peek at some of the things I’ve been working on…

Another thing I’ve been working on is a new blog. I know. I think I’m a little crazy to be starting that as well but I really wanted to be able to go a different creative direction now and then and didn’t want to bore you here if it’s not your thing. It’s called finding beauty @ home and it’s a whole melting pot of things. Creative home projects, recipes, ramblings on being a stay at home mom, a few inspirational thoughts and whatever else I may think of! LOL If that’s something you’re interested in, stop by and say hello. And if not… Don’t worry! I’ll still be paper crafting and posting here. I just need to find the right balance in my life.

Quick Tip: If you need to charge your creative batteries, switch creative gears for a project or two. You’ll be glad you did!

Thanks for your support!

Just a quick little post today. I’m running off to do some errands and take in the van as it is having some technical hiccups. I’m praying it’s not the fuel pump again. Hubby will be not so happy if it is. Big bucks to replace it and this would be the second time. Apparently the Astrovan is hard on them and I seem to be even harder on them. We’ve been told that keeping the tank at least half full keeps them from running into trouble. Of course, I’m guilty of letting the gas run down below that more often than not. Sigh.

My headache is finally gone (of course it may come back again when I get my bill )after trips to the dr. and massage therapist. I’ve been trying to take things a little easier and also have a lot of housework to catch up on so that’s why I’ve been a little scarce. I have this sweet little baby card to share with you though. Hope you like.

New Delivery

Supply List:

Simply Smooth White cardstock by Cornish Heritage Farms, 4×4 mini papers by Jenni Bowlin, transparency by Hambly Screen Prints, fabric embellishment by Crafty Secrets, sewing machine, flower by Imaginesce

 See you soon!
Julia

It’s just one day till Halloween and I wanted to have a little masking fun. I didn’t dress up and I didn’t even create a Halloween project but I DID create my own custom magnetic reusable mask and make another Christmas card. I’ve written a tutorial for the CLASSroom today and I hope it will make you take a look at your dies and punches and think of new ways to use them. You can find the tutorial here…

Joyeux Noel Masked Christmas Card

Happy Friday!
Julia

Thursday again and time for another challenge. Once again I wanted a challenge that would challenge me to use something I haven’t used in a while. This time it’s a color. When I first started card making 6 years ago…I was in love with purple, Lovely Lilac to be precise. That faded fast and I’ve had a bit of an aversion to the color since. As purple is still hot in the fashion industry we’ve seeing a lot of it in paper crafting as well, I thought it would be a good way to make myself give it a whirl again. I’d love to have you play along…check out the challenge here.

The gorgeous Basic Grey Wisteria paper was a great way to create with purple. The beautiful prints and different tones of purple made it easy for me to get a good dose of purple.

Ever After

Keeping it short and sweet today…here’s a few of the design details…

• Strips of patterned paper pieced and stitched together to form the background
• main image is a combo of paper piecing and coloring with Copic markers
• sentiment is stamped and punched and then adhered with dimensional foam tape

Supply List:
Stamps: Botanical Bliss set from All Things Considered line by CHF
Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento Ink
Paper: simply smooth white cardstock by CHF, Wisteria 6×6 paper pad by Basic Grey, kraft cardstock by Prism
Other: sewing machine, May Arts ribbon, flower by Prima, pearl sticker by Basic Grey

Have a great day!
Julia