Category Archives: Photos

happy 16th

Posted on July 12, 2011 | 7 comments

It’s that time again. Another 16th birthday and time to teach another child how to drive. I’m not quite sure why the job always falls to me. It’s always  little nerve-racking to say the least.
Yesterday David turned 16 and I just can’t believe how quickly the years are flying by. “Guy cards” are not my forte but I’ve tried to combine a few of his favorite things together into a fun card for a 16 year old male. David loves music, wood and games and so this is what I came up with.

One of the elements I really rely on when creating cards for males is texture. For this card I’ve die cut a star from some corrugated paper and also used Distress Crackle Paint to alter the chipboard notes.

Quick Tip: Bingo Calendar Numbers are a great way to personalize a birthday card with the recipients age.

Supplies: kraft cardstock by Bazzill, patterned paper by Crate Paper and from Little Boy line by Echo Park, Tiny Attacher by Advantus, Brown Bingo Pieces by Maya Road, buttons by Basic Grey, twine, Nested Star Die by Spellbinders, Broken China Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger, Mini Pin by Tim Holtz, Journaling Ticket by Tim Holtz, Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger, Wonderful Birthday stamp set by Hero Arts, Lille Printed Paper Tape by 7 Gypsies

Lastly, here’s a fun photo of most of my crazy kids from our family party last night. I love it when they all get along!

Take care…

7 Comments

Posted in Card Designs, Photos

my girl

Posted on June 3, 2011 | 8 comments

Finding the time to scrapbook favorite photos and record special events is something I love to do. When I recently ordered a the beautiful February kit from Up the Street Scrapbooking, I didn’t really know what I was going to do with it. It was so pretty though, I just had to have it. I always adore working with Tara’s kits. “My Shabby Valentine” is still available at Up the Street and this layout seemed to just put itself together. I love it when designing goes easy like that!
ma jolie fleur

This layout translates “my pretty flower”. Using the French just sounds so pretty and seemed to go with the romantic feel of this layout. My daughter is named after a flower and that’s where the title inspiration came from. I took these photos of my beautiful girl last Friday night before she left for her Prom dinner.

You may notice that my photos have a vintage look to them to match the style of the layout. Kimberly Crawford recently tuned me into MCP Actions and I’ve become an addict as I love the different looks you can achieve so easily. If you’re new to photo actions, they are like a preprogrammed setting that you can run on your photos to edit them into various looks. They really ramp up your photos and make them look much more professional. Photo Actions are run with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements programs. Make sure you look into what you are purchasing as most actions only run in Photoshop. For these two photos I’ve used the MCP Throwback Vintage action from the Quickie Collection™ Photoshop Actions Action Set.

Sometimes it’s all about the details. Above I’ve distressed a little flower and placed it in a tiny Melissa Frances frame.

Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

 

8 Comments

Posted in Photos, Scrapbooking, Up the Street

a birthday wish

Posted on May 31, 2011 | 8 comments

It’s a special day in the Stainton house. I can’t quite believe my “baby” turns 6 today.

Yesterday we did a little impromptu photo shoot. I had to laugh as this little creative guy decided to take over and direct the shots. This morning he is busy taking his own photos. We bought him a little camera/video attachment to a learning game system he has. No one is safe.

Enjoy your special day Joshua!

Make a Wish

Here’s a quick and fun birthday card to celebrate his special day. By changing up the sentiment, it also becomes the focal point of this design. I love using two different fonts or types of letters to add interest and really make one of the words pop. The wood bingo star embellishment also doubles up as a dot for the i.

Supplies: kraft cardstock by Bazzill, sewing machine, Wood Bingo Motif by Maya Road, Campfire 8×8 paper pad by October Afternoon, ribbon, Black Tiny Type by Cosmo Cricket, chipboard letters by Cosmo Cricket

Celebrate today!

8 Comments

Posted in Card Designs, Photos

for my home…

Posted on March 23, 2011 | 10 comments

My home is my favorite place to be. It’s not fancy. It’s an old well-loved farmhouse that is constantly being renovated. It’s come a long way and we are slowly making it our own. We do this by doing the work ourselves and adding pieces of our own style throughout.

One thing I always love incorporating is text. Lucky for me it’s a great trend in home dec lately and I thought it would be fun to create my own frame using some papercrafting products I had on hand.

Printed Canvas Frame

This product uses Natural Sticky Back Canvas by Claudine Hellmuth. I {heart} this product! You can run it through your printer! Of course, you can paint it, stitch it, stamp it, ink it, die cut it, etc. etc. etc. too!

The texture is so cool…

Want to make one?

Open the above file by clicking on it and then print onto some Sticky-Back Canvas. I’ve used the Natural as I love the warmed look. I print it out at 8×8″ in size and then place right onto a wood 8×8″ frame from Michaels. The edges of the frame are painted with Claudine Hellmuth Charcoal Black Studio Paint.

Easy peasy!

Have a creative day!

10 Comments

Posted in Papercraft projects, Photos, Tutorials & Techniques

a little joy tag and a whole lot of snow

Posted on December 8, 2010 | 9 comments

Has anyone been following the 12 Tags of Christmas? Have you been to the CLASSroom to check out the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Touch? They are so fun and festive and a great way to try out new techniques.

This little JOY Tag is packed full of inky techniques and yesterday I had a wonderful time putting my own feminine spin on things. I hope you’ll join me today in the CLASSroom for the step outs. Also, don’t forget to stop by the CLASSroom each day and leave a comment. Ellen has some wonderful goodies to give away.

My last post was titled for the birds. Little did I know how apt that would be. We’ve been having record amounts of snow here. School is now closed for the third day straight.

And. it. is. STILL. Snowing.

Unbelievable!

One thing the snow has brought us though is many many birds to our new feeder. It’s on the porch so some of the birds were a bit shy but no longer are. We now have two pair of cardinals and they are so gorgeous.

The kids are enjoying the snow immensely. I’ve been trying to get some pictures but we have wide open spaces here, all you see is white and it’s hard to see in a photo exactly how much snow we have. We did have record amounts for one 24 hour period. Yesterday the total was up to 80 cm and it’s still snowing so for those of you who don’t do metric, I’m thinking it’s been at least a yard since Sunday.

I’m pretty excited. It looks like we’re going to have a very white Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by…

9 Comments

Posted in Ellen Hutson LLC projects, Holiday, Papercraft projects, Photos, Tutorials & Techniques

my big accomplishment

Posted on November 10, 2010 | 20 comments

I’m sure by the title you just can’t wait to find out what my big accomplishment is.

I hope you’re not disappointed.

It’s a photo.

And I’m pretty proud of the accomplishment.

It’s been three years since I’ve managed to drag my five offspring into a studio for a family photo. Those two teenage boys, especially the oldest, seem to have a camera phobia. At least of being in front of one. I guess I get that. I’m a bit the same way. But really, it makes it hard to record those memories.

Yesterday while driving home from the post office, the brilliant idea struck me that I would actually have all five home at once and it was a beautiful day. I was shocked to get only a minimal amount of arguing and the the promise that they wouldn’t have to go to a studio went a long way. Surprisingly it was my youngest, Mr. Loves2Mug4theCameraGuy, that was the most difficult. I’ll admit to being a bad mother and bribing with food.

5 minutes + 22 shots = 1 great picture + 1 extremely happy mom

So that’s the accomplishment. What do you think?

Now for the full family photo. I need one of those.

That’s my goal for next year.

20 Comments

Posted in personal, Photos

Zva Creative October DT Blog Hop!

Posted on October 25, 2010 | 131 comments

It’s time again for the Zva Designers to join together to share a project that we have created using some of our favorite Zva Creative products. I am hoping that you will take some time to join us for a little bit of fun again this month!

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes’ blog. She will have the complete list of all blogs that are participating in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play along, I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way. Hidden on 5 of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package …YAY! Those blogs will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it’s important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts now and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, Oct. 26th and the 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, October 27th on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Kim Hughes‘s blog as well (linked above). We will do our best to notify each winner, but it’s best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday…plus, you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post…you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer’s blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.

my blessings

This beautiful brown crystal flourish from Zva Creative inspired me to create a Thanksgiving themed layout counting my blessings. My children have grown up quite a bit since this picture. I think that’s telling me it’s really past time to get another family portrait taken, don’t you?! I added in a fun canvas brad border detail along the top of the layout. I love the warm look the Zva Canvas Brads give.

The Zva Creative Crystal flourish draws your eye through the layout from the title to the photo, embellishing it at the same time. The beautiful papers are from the Catching Fall line by Lily Bee Design.

And finally, a little white Zva flower tucked into an embellishment cluster.

Supplies: Canvas Brads BR01CB111, BR01CB110, BR01CB109, Brown Crystal Flourish CRB02CB103 and white flower by Zva Creative, twine, leaf trinket pins, Kraft Ticket, chipboard butterflies and Kraft Mini Tickets by Maya Road, Catching Fall line patterned paper and rub-ons by Lily Bee Design, Distress Crackle Paint and Stickles by Ranger, Tim Holtz Ornate Bookplate and Game Spinner by Advantus

The blog hop begins here: Kim Hughes

Your next stop is here: Julianne McKenna-De Lumen

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us!

131 Comments

Posted in Lily Bee, Photos, Scrapbooking, Zva