Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Summer is sooo sweet. I’ve been finally printing off my photos from last summer and using them in layouts. It’s making me long for more beautiful days. I just love the beach…the sound of the waves and the endless lazy days with the kids.

I created this layout using my new Crop-a-dile 2 Big Bite. I loved the original Crop-a-dile so much that I just had to try out the latest version. I love how you can now use it on 12×12 scrapbooking layouts. This layout is part of a Craft Critique Review I wrote about the Big Bite. You can check it out here...

Yet another update…My dad is now home from the hospital. We’re taking turns staying over and keeping him company. I’m so grateful that he seems to be improving steadily. I’m hoping for some time to get things caught up though as I feel like I’ve been through a whirlwind!

Sweet Sweet Summer Days

I was actually wondering what to do for this design. I knew I wanted to use a 12×12 layout with my Big Bite but hadn’t come up with anything when the new May Page Maps link came in my inbox. I’ve actually never tried one of these sketches but this gorgeous layout just called my name. I love it when inspiration strikes! I knew with this stitched circle that I’d need a photo that had all the main elements to the right side. You don’t want that stitching cutting through the main focal point.

I was so excited to find this photo worked perfectly. It’s one of my absolute favorites. In person the silhouettes are so sweet. You can even see the water dropping off the little girl’s hand. The little girl is the daughter of a friend of mine and while older, she is so sweet with my little guys. This layout is called Sweet for those sweet summer days and sweet childhood friendship.

Part of the charm of this layout is the circular stitching and the eyelets that highlight it. To create my circle, I simply cut out another circle the same size as the orange one on my layout and adhered it with temporary adhesive. It was so easy to stitch around it the same distance from the edge all around and then remove. My Big Bite made it fairly easy to add in the eyelets around the design without worrying about the distance that my original Crop-a-dile could handle.

I love adding small touches of stamping throughout my layout. I especially love the quote from the Motivational Centers set by Cornish Heritage Farms. Make each day your masterpiece.

Hope its a wonderful one!
Julia

Supply List:

Stamps:
-Moments to Remember sentiment & What I love from the Ledger Me stamp set (The Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-Summer sentiment from the Great Canadian Stamp Set stamp set (The Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-Make each day sentiment from Motivational Centers set (Mona Lisa Moments line) by Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink:
=Black Stazon by Tsukineko
-Espresso Adirondack ink by Ranger

Cardstock: Prism

Patterned Paper:
-plaid by My Mind’s Eye
-dotted pale blue by Making Memories
-shiny polka dots by Making Memories

Accessories:
-jumbo ric rak by Creative Impressions
-flowers by Prima
-eyelets by Making Memories
-gaffer tape by 7 Gypsies
-vinyl stickers by American Crafts

Tools:
-sewing machine
-Dymo label maker
-Crop-a-dile 2 Big Bite by We R Memory Keepers

Do you have a favorite time? I’m mostly a morning person and am most productive in the morning. One of my favorite times of the day, especially in summer is the evening. Things are cooler, the light softer and I especially cherish the evenings spent walking on the beach. I can’t wait for those lovely times to come again. For the layout below, I put together a design using moments captured from a walk last summer with my family.

This layout was created for a Craft Critique review that I wrote about Creating Keepsakes Magazine. Creating Keepsakes is one of my favorite scrapbooking magazines. Although I don’t do many layouts these days…I’m hoping to get back into it more. Scrapbooking is how I got into stamping and card design and I love creating beautiful layouts. Even if you don’t scrapbook, Creating Keepsakes is a fabulous resource of designs, colors, products and techniques for any papercrafter. To create this layout, I used three different sources of inspiration from April’s issue…a layout design from the sketches pages, stapler inspirations from a Tools and Techniques article and from Alli Edward’s scrapbooking advice article…I used some hand-written journaling. Now I’m not so sure that anyone will be able to read it but hey… I tried and my descendents WILL have a copy of my handwriting.

While not used on this layout…my stamps seem to have found the postal black hole… I just wanted to let you know about a new release from The Rummage Bin line. Lesley has been hard at work and has two beautiful new offerings this month. Photo Op is a gorgeous fun scrapbooking set that can also be used in cards as well and a new backgrounder stamp called Shady Daisy. You need to check out the samples with these sets…some great fresh ideas! Scroll down to the end of the post to check out these new sets!

The Beautiful Time

I designed this page around a Sophisticated Swirls backgrounder stamp and some stamps from the beautiful Rummage Bin line by Cornish Heritage Farms….Beautiful, Time to Stamp, The Ticket Counter and Story Book. It is a bit hard to see in the photo but I painted the chipboard flourish with Old Paper Crackle Distress Paint to add texture. The Jumbo rick rack and brads are from Creative Impressions. Just in case you actually want to read the journaling but can;t…

Sunset. The glorious end to a blissful day.
Soft warm light, sand between my toes,
and the waves singing their lullaby. There’s
no place I’d rather be than with my family
at the beautiful time.

Wishing you a beautiful day…

Supply List:
Stamps:
-clock and time sentiment from Time to Stamp(The Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-flourishes and Beautiful sentiment form Beautiful stamps set(The Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-The sentiment from Story Book stamp set(The Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
-Sophisticated Swirls backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
-ticket from The Ticket Counter (the Rummage Bin line) by Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink:
-Burnt Umber Palette ink by Stewart Superior
-Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy & Antique Linen Distress Ink by Ranger

Cardstock:
-Prism Papers

Patterned Paper:
-Basic Grey

Accessories:
-paperclip from Creative Impressions
-brads from Creative Impressions
-rick rack from Creative Impressions
-Old Paper Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger
-flowers by Prima Marketing
-journaling Office Sheers by Maya Road
-flourish chipboard by Maya Road

Tools:

-stapler

Shady Daisy 

Photo Op 

It’s not too often I use just one flower stamp to create a design. A few years ago when I first started stamping, this would have been much more common. I love the idea of going back and creating simple designs. Or maybe…not so simple but with a limitation of earlier days when you had a limited supply list to work from. I love how it stretches your creativity to use stamps and products in new ways. Sometimes I think we lose that. That is what the Limited Supply Challenge is all about. I’m loving today’s challenge…to use a single flower stamp and a single sentiment if desired. No patterned paper, no Cuttlebug. I went a step further and limited myself to a single color of cardstock, using just three layers. Check out the challenge at LSC157 if you’d like to play along! :0

Springtime Friend

For this design, I simply stamped my flower image multiple times in Lettuce Adirondack ink. This flower is from the Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms 1 set from Cornish Heritage Farms. After stamping…I dotted my blooms with Liquid Applique and then gently heated with my heat gun. I then lightly sponged on rose colored chalks from my Pebbles chalk set. Very easy and very much like spring.

To define my edges, I distressed and stitched them for added interest. The Friend sentiment on this design comes from the Silhouette Blooms 2 set also by Kim. To play up the textural elements of this design, I added a strip of soft green May Arts ribbon and a moss velvet brad from Making Memories.

Thanks for stopping by…again! ….today. I certainly did not plan on blogging again but just couldn’t resist this challenge!

I just love checking out new craft books and magazines! In the best ones, there is always a wealth of inspiration to be found. I recently had the opportunity to review a book for Craft Critique and chose one I’ve been wanting to buy since I first heard of it. I love working from sketch layouts and when I heard that Tami Mayberry had designed the sketches for the CardMaker’s Sketch Book it made the top of my wishlist. Tami also designs the sketches each week for the Card Positioning Systems blog. For more information and the whole review…you can check out my article on Craft Critique today. For the instructions for one of the designs…just look below.

Friendship Wishes

For this design, I followed one of the sketch layouts in the above book. I love this layout and can honestly say I never would have come up with it on my own. I just love those little sentiment panels! To create this card, I used my Birdie Collection Crate Paper again and stamped on it. Actually…this card uses a grand total of NO cardstock. What I love about Crate Paper is their solid reverse side and I created my card base from the striped patterned paper. I know you can’t see it but the stripes are folded to the inside leaving a warm taupe base for the outside. I love how it adds to the inside of the card design.

I couldn’t resist adding a little stamping to the patterned paper. The Crate Paper stamps on so well with its beautiful matte textured finish. I used three different stamp sets from Cornish Heritage Farms. The flower is from the Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms 1 set, the ornamental shape is from Time to Stamp (The Rummage Bin line) and the sentiments come from the new Mona Lisa Moments Classic Essential Expressions set. For my inks I used the Burnt Umber Palette Ink by Stewart Superior and the Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink from Ranger.

To finish it all off…I just had to add in a few of my favorite things…a little freestyle stitching with brown thread, some darling little buttons from My Mind’s Eye and a small white hydrangea flower from Prima Marketing.

Sending out some warm wishes today to you, my friends! Have a wonderful day!

I love making baby cards. I guess I just love babies and everything to do with them! I didn’t design this card for anyone in particular…just because I had this patterned paper and “darling” title card. I just looked baby girl to me and so I added in the “precious baby” part of the sentiment with a Crate Paper rub-on transfer.

Darling Precious Baby

This was a super simple card design to create. A simple white card base covered with patterned paper and a scalloped edge on the right hand side. I used the EK Success large corner rounder punch to create these large scallops. EK Success carries at least three different sizes of corner rounders in their punch line. I love making different sized scallops with them.

To add a little embellishment to this simple design, I folded a Prima Martini flower over the top of the title block and adhered a jumbo copper eyelet from We R Memory Keepers with my Crop-a-dile. Also with my Crop-a-dile, I added little white eyelets in each of the scallops. The last two additions just make me think “girl”. Soft pink velvet ribbon and a little pink rhinestone sticker to dot the i in darling. This design was created for a review for Craft Critique on My Mind’s Eye paper line.

Thanks for stopping by today! Wishing you a fabulous week!

Wow I’m thankful that it is Saturday. Not much relaxing going on here but it is a NEW long weekend here in Canada. Monday is FAMILY DAY. Sounds a little dorky but hey! I’m up for another holiday no matter what its called! And yay…more time to get working on the renovation. And yes…it IS really good to spend time with your famile. We needed a holiday BTW…with none from New Year’s until Easter…we are due one! Actually…we’re hoping to take a little time off on Monday for some toboganning. With all this snow, might as well enjoy it…anyways…I hope!

Thanks, Thanks So Much

Enough rambling…you and I both have things to do! This design is a simple one using a sketch from one of the Paper Crafts magazine recipes. I love how the blocks are all collaged up the left side. A very simple card, this design just uses rub-ons and patterned paper for a quick fun thank you. This design was also part of a review on My Mind’s Eye paper that I wrote for Craft Critique.

Wishing you a super fun weekend! Spend some time with your family and Thanks, thanks so much for stopping by.

Supply List:

Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye, Ink: Chocolate Chip by Stampin Up Other: eyelet by Making Memories, rhinestone sticker, flower by Prima Marketing, rub-ons by Deja Views

It’s simply Saturday again today. I think these are always some of my favorite posts of the week. I love simple designs. For a long while I shied away from them but now {embrace} simplicity as a beautiful alternative and a breath of fresh air.

This design was created for a review on My Mind’s Eye for Craft Critique. I love their paper line and accessories! This design uses a 4×9″ card format to make the most of those gorgeous tall blossoms on the paper.

Birthday Blessings

This is a super simple design to create. I love the long three image acrylic strips that My Mind’s Eye released with this line. I used my paper trimmer to cut it down to just one image…the flower. Might as well get three projects out of it. On the reverse side, I swiped my Canvas Palette Hybrid in across it and heat set to get a semi opaque look. The little dragonfly is a MME rub-on that I quickly added. I then stamped the Birthday Blessings sentiment from the Classic Essential Expressions from Cornish Heritage Farms in Timber Brown Stazon ink. Brushed Corduroy Distress ink was sponged around the card to frame it. To fix my panel to the card, I stapled the one side. On the other, I used a Making Memories’ clip to hold a crocheted flower and hide glue dots underneath holding it all together. While simple, I really love this card.

Also…a little something to check out… Jacksonbelle Embellishments is having a super huge moving sale until Tuesday. Stop by and take a look when you have the time. I know I can never resist a sale and some gorgeous goodies.

Blessings to you today. Hope your Saturday is simply wonderful.

I love making altered frames! So much fun to do! This frame is a 12×12 frame and is perfect for using 12×12 patterned paper with. I created this frame to hang in my living room this Christmas season to hold a photo of my children this year. I love this picture. Do you know how hard it is to get five kids of varying ages to get close together and all smile at the same time?! I had to give them all credit for their patience. And each year…this is one of my favorite gifts….the gift of them to quickly and the memories a photo holds is something to treasure.

A Merry Little Christmas Frame

This frame uses Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper line and their fun Buck Naked Chipboard Ornaments. I love their products. I created this frame for a Craft Critique article a few weeks ago. You may have already seen it there. It is actually part of a tutorial article and if you want the instructions…check it out at…

A Merry Little Christmas Frame

You may want to check out Craft Critique today… lots of awesome blog links and starting tomorrow…our biggest carnival ever….three days of links to great Holiday projects.

How’s your countdown to Christmas going? I finally have my tree up…not quite decorated but it is up. The living room is decorated and the Christmas cards mostly out. Presents all bought and wrapped. Wow…it has been a busy year!

At Craft Critique, we are getting ready for our biggest Carnival ever! Three days full of great holiday links! We want to see your links for holiday cards, layouts, decorations, recipes, gift ideas….just about anything holiday related! The deadline for the carnival links is December 18th so be sure to get on it. You can check out the details right on the Craft Critique site at the following thread… Our Biggest Carnival Yet.

Have fun!

I thought I’d take a little break from Christmas designs and share a floral design I created not too long ago. I love the warmth of the coral flowers paired up with the vanilla and black color scheme. Just what my blog needed…a shot of color. It’s simple to create gorgeous flowers with this Three Step Daisy set by Kitchen Sink Stamps. Love all the various color combos and looks you can come up with. This card is really flexible…just by changing up the sentiment, you can use it for many occasions.

Grow with Love

If this design looks familiar, you may have seen it before. I originally created it for an article/review I wrote for Craft Critique on Kitchen Sink Stamps….I gave them a huge thumbs up. I was really impressed as they have some of the easiest to use polymer stamps I’ve tried.

It’s been a very busy day here. Lots of work to do that I can’t share right now. You’ll have to forgive me…I’m so exhausted tonight…I can’t even remember the patterned paper line! If someone can help a tired girl out…:) Take care my friends!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Black, Very Vanilla - Stampin Up

Patterned Paper:

Stamps: Three Step Daisy - Kitchen Sink Stamps

Ink: Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Old Olive - STampin Up

Other: Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers, heart snap, velvet brad - Making Memories, ribbon (Velvet and green) - May Arts, Flower - Prima