August PTI Blog Hop ::Brown Bags!::

hi there! thanks for stopping by and participating in PTI's blog hop :D should be tons of fun to see all the inspiration... i know i'm excited!

first up, though, before my brown bag is something that could go INTO my bag if i hadn't gobbled it up last night...

doesn't all that yummy frosting make you want to drool? hehe... i know i was slobbering a bit after i made them last night. but not for long. that cupcake settled quite nicely into my tummy.

okay, onto the challenge...

we were asked to dress up a typical 'brown bag' like you used to put your lunches in.

wanna hear something funny?

i HONESTLY did not even know that this was the blog hop challenge until this morning. yesterday, i was making these exact bags for 'fun' with my friend Helene...

yeah. talk about weird! so i figured i'd share them tonight (i was going to share them sometime!) and here we are:

i chopped off the tops of both these bags with a decorative border punch or scissors.

i added a flower, some die cuts (the butterfly from PTI was thanks to Paulina from when we crafted a week ago... well, really, all those die cuts were hers :D) and a brad... then there's the PTI Signature Greetings stamps too!

i love the doily and polka dots on this one... makes me smile!

thanks for stopping by, i love reading your comments! :D

hope your day is fabulous and all that...

i really do hope your day was fabulous... because otherwise, that just wouldn't be fun, now would it?

hehe... well, i'm ba-aack! i've been in Idaho for a week (got back Saturday after a long 12 hour drive) doing my last Vacation Bible Adventure of the summer with my church. it was good, it was HOTTT, it was tough, and i learned a lot.

i'll miss the busyness and the hardness of the VBA when school starts in two weeks, but right now i'm seriously just enjoying some down time. i made some cupcakes tonight, along with one layer of a cake that i'm baking for my brother's upcoming 24th birthday. i also made jell-o last night... first time in forEVER. it's been yummy.

oh, and i totally had some delicious burrito today with some shredded pork from the slow cooker that was just begging to be let out of the freezer for a taste :D

so yeah. my bits and pieces of summer have definitely been yummy.

now, on to the cards for today. they feature Dawn's PTI Signature Greetings and an Impress flower. there's also PTI's Polka Dot Basics II on the bottom of each of these stamped in VersaMark.

these cards were super fun and easy to whip up... all i did 'special' was emboss each flower image and add some matching ribbon to coordinate it all together...

hope that these bring a smile to your face... they sure look cute all lined up together :D

okay, i'm off to finish the icing for the cupcakes, and then i'm going to watch "Zombieland" which i normally wouldn't watch (especially on my own), but my sister, brother, and DAD all thought it was funny. so yeah. i'll probably put in a cute flick like "Confessions of a Shopaholic" soon after to soothe my mind while i polish off the remainders of the 12 cupcakes i just baked.

ack, my life. :D

thanks for stopping by! (please say hi... it makes me SOOO happy!!)

Embellish Challenge: quirky, cutesy, clean

OOF-DA!

it's friday! :D

i am so happy for today for a few reasons: i have homemade bread in my kitchen for toast (breakfast/ lunch/ dinner... doesn't matter. heck, i even eat the stuff after i brush my teeth! :D), i get to see Paulina for the 2nd time in 2 weeks and i get to STAMP with her!!!, PLUS >> i have another challenge card for you!

this one comes from Embellish Magazine, and the inspiration is amazing... check it out:

and the challenge also has a twist... you have to make your project quirky, cutesy, or clean!

so here's what i came up with when i matched the colors to the challenge...

what do you think? i'm pretty sure that i've used this cupcake stamp, ohhhh, a BAJILLION times since i bought it (seriously one of the best investments i've ever made), and doesn't it look so awesome with all that dimension and glitter and those BUTTONS for a cherry!???! hehe. *pats self on back*

i like it, but i'd love to hear what you think... please leave a comment for me to smile about :D

i hope you have a wonderful friday, friends... and that your weekend is AMAZING too!

...hello! (2S4Y + Denami)

happy thursday. i wanted to share with you some 'everyday' things that have been happening with me...

first off is the delicious looking bagel sandwich in the photo above. i made it. it was dinner on monday. it was AMAZING. (aka: NOM NOM x10!) it's piled high with lots of stuff, which explains its open face. so from the bottom up: mayo, spicy mustard, co-jack cheese, turkey, ham, cucumbers, red peppers, bacon, and avocado slices (sprinkled with salt). DE-lish! *you jealous yet?*

hehe... anyway, up next is a combo challenge card: 2sketches4you Laura's #58...

plus another entry into the Denami Product Challenge (inspired by the technique that Wendy used on the card featured over at the blog today)...

and here's the card:

featuring Webster's Pages, felt flowers, a border punch, DeNami Glitter and 'hello' sentiment, and some Polka Dot Basics II, and some pearls and buttons!

there's still time to enter both challenges, so hop on over there to get some serious inspiration as well as a shot at snagging a top spot!

thanks for stopping by... i'm off to play some water polo tonight and hopefully not get injured in the process (i'm wearing my mouthguard now to prevent any more chipped teeth! :D *toothy grin... hehehe, j/k about the toothy grin part**)

TA!

summer play & birthday blessings!

well, i know that back to school is coming up fast... eek! don't let me think about it too much. i've already been into my classroom several times this summer, and it's creeping up too quickly for my liking.

one way to prolong the vacation days is to make summery cards! here i have a few that are similar to the one i made last week... lots of layered goodies (brads, buttons, chippies, flowers, etc) that make it a happy fun project :D

this first one with 'play' as the sentiment has some of my new fav. ribbon on it... May Arts :D such fun stuff in the perfect color combo too!!

and then here comes a different color scheme... but the paper still comes from WeRMemoryKeepers (the patterned paper from above and below) and most of the embellishments come from the same companies i used for the 1st card. spy that fabby ribbon again? :D

the 'blessings, you're so sweet' card went postal to my brother Lincoln who just turned 22 last week... he's over in PA, and i miss him a lot sometimes. back last year he was in a video production class and he acted in this music video that CRACKS me UP! every time i watch it. so check it out HERE if you're interested :D

and this last card has basically the same stuff, except i must have had a flower fetish at the time because i LOADED this baby up with tonnnns! of the petaled variety :D

well, it's a quick one... thanks for stopping by, and for all your lovely comments. i love hearing even what your favorite colors were in my cards (i aim to please!) xoxox and take care!

Denami Product Challenge #3

WOW! >> two posts in one day?? :D hehehe... i'm getting greedy i think!

but hooray and yay, another challenge post! i love these opportunities to stretch myself or jog my creativity... it's a good thing :D

this time i'm participating in the DeNami Design Product Challenge (#3!) that involves using produced by the company... and this time, it's...

GLITTER :D hehe... love this stuff... i only have two of the colors shown above (yellow and pink), but DeNami also offers some awesome gold and red glitter (perfect for holiday cards + projects!) that i have and love love love.

so, for the challenge, you're asked to also use a DeNami image... so i pulled out a fun little sentiment that's perfect for anyone, and based my color scheme off of the butterfly image i was going to use, and also the glitter colors i had available! :D

so here we go! i think that this card is a little bit on the classy side of what i've been making lately... it's not super fussy or layered... just some fancy flourishes stamped with the glue pad and then covered with the 'citrine' glitter, the butterfly image popped up, Kaiser bling, May Arts ribbon, Polka Dot Basics II, and of course, the DeNami sentiment 'miss you.'

well? what do you think? i love reading your comments... you're ever the kindest :D hope you have a great day, and if you haven't checked out my other challenge card for 2s4y, you should hop over HERE and do that :D

thanks for stopping by!!

2S4Y Kazan's #58

happy saturday to you all! it's going to be a relaxing one for me... maybe visit a friend or two... we'll see :D definitely sleeping in!

i thought it was high time i jumped in a played with a 2sketches4you sketch! it's been a while, and Kazan had a great one posted this week:

usually i make cards for 'whatever' and end up not having enough of any kind that i 'need', but for THIS one, i had someone specific in mind...

my grandma, or 'Nana,' as i call her, hasn't had a handwritten note from me in forever, so i thought it was about time to send her something sweet.

i used a lot of goodies on this one, but when i showed it to Paulina (like a pre-screening of a movie... hehe!) she thought it was great and not too busy! (thanks for that bit of encouragement hon!) btw, we got to have a lovely evening together... saw a movie, grabbed dinner, and totally caught up on so many things (who knows, we may have even talked about you ;) hehe!) such a fun way to spend a friday night!

here's a close up of some of the goodies up top... Sassafras brad, yellow mini-clothespin, a white rosette, some flora and fauna stickers layered on graphic 45 paper and a Sassafras chippie frame, on top of a cream doily shabbied up with some yellow ink, and then of course the pink crinkle ribbon, Colorbok epoxy button w/ PTI button and the pink rhinestone. you can also see a bit of the yellow polka dots from PTI's Polka Dot Basics II poking up from the top and bottom of the distressed patterned paper.

for the sentiment i used PTI's Big and Bold Wishes, the flourish, and some little flower buds from Delightful Dahlia (colored in with some pink markers and a white gel pen... and some glitter from DeNami Design).

oh, and i couldn't resist decorating the back too... so more graphic 45 paper, a bit of a border punch, and brad/ button/ clothespin from the same as above.

so what do you think? i know Nana will love it (don't grandma's have a lovely habit of always loving anything handmade? :D) thanks for leaving your comments... they're always appreciated, and usually they totally make my day :D (and by usually i mean ALWAYS.)

go have some weekend fun! xoxo

sweet smile :D and blog award!

hey there!

happy friday to everyone... hope you're planning on having some fun this weekend.

i just got my hair cut (it's the same way i normally do it, just... shorter!) and i tried to re-create the salon look that my hairdresser did for me yesterday. does anyone else have the problem where it doesn't look quite like it did when you left? haha... i tried really hard, i really did :D but anyway, i'm planning to have some fun this weekend. i'm going to see "The Other Guys" with my friend Paulina (seems like we haven't met up in FOREVER!) and i'm ready to have some laughs :D

tomorrow is an 'open day' for me which is good because i won't have many more of those left before school starts. let me just tell you... teachers don't want summer to end!! *le sigh*

but there is some more fun planned... at church on Sunday night i'm going to be going to an ice cream feed... who doesn't love ice cream??? :D

and here i am to share with you some sweetness... i love this paper from DCWV Sweet Stack, and it's perfect for these girly shabby chic cards :) yummy enough to eat, right? hehe :D

there's some lovely lace layered on top of a Fiskars apron lace border punch strip... then there are some roses and May Arts ribbon with PTI buttons, Colorbok sentiment circles, MS punched butterflies topped with rhinestones, and then some Colorbok strawberry buttons on top of MM white glitter flowers. and don't forget the doilies! i cut them in half and layered them behind the middle portion--you can see them peeking out from the sides. i also used PTI's Big and Bold set for the pink scroll image stamped up at the top of the card.

essentially, both of these chock full of goodness! such fun to make, and i'm so happy to share this yumminess with you. hope you enjoy! (calorie free... hehe!)

so a while back (actually a month ago) the sweet Amy gave me a blog award! Amy has a super unique and lovely style that inspires me every time i visit... she has truly mastered the art of using her Cricut to add something special to just about every project she makes (you've made me jealous of your savvy Amy!!) go check out her blog and leave her some love...

and now... i would like to pass this blog award on to the following 5 people for their fabulous blogs that always inspire me... (there are seriously so many more blogs out there that i frequent like a stalker :D hehe! but for this i'm just passing it on to five lovelies!)

Paulina of PrettyPinkPosh

Heidi of VanLaar Designs

Amy of Tsuruta Designs

Andrea of Creative Paper Trail

and Karen Baker of The Bald Dragonfly

(and an honorable mention/ shout-out goes to my sister Cecelia of Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia... but she doesn't fully count for this blog award since she doesn't paper craft :D unless you count devouring hundreds of books in a short amount of time--hehe!)

so that's a wrap... you would be doing YOURSELF a favor by dropping by these blogs to check out their latest and greatest... serious eye candy happening at every single one :D

thanks for stopping by and checking everything out. now go out and enjoy your weekend! XOXO

summertime!

it's summertime indeed... i woke up late this morning to some sunshine through my window :D

and i have been dressing in t-shirts and capris (and occasional tanks) along with the summer ESSENTIAL >> flip flops! :D

so in honor of the weather, the clothes, and the general happy feeling that summer brings, i thought that i'd translate the fun-ness of summer into a card:

lots of goodies on this one... brads, glitter, flowers, scallops, chipboard, buttons, felt, twine, funky paper, flowers, ribbon, flowers :D and all sorts of good stuff.

i thought that i'd share with you some of the things that i've been up to lately...

helping a good friend move into her new house (lots of screwing things in/ unpacking/ eating take out...), going to see a few movies (saw Inception and will be seeing The Other Guys this Friday), playing water polo, and eating as much NOM NOM (aka delicious!!) food as i can, which brings me to this:

isn't it just darling? i have a friend who loves pandas, and we've been nom-noming our way through lots of good food lately, so this made me smile today... hope it does the same for you! :D you can find it at delia's HERE. and if you want to know what 'nom nom' is all about, just watch THIS super cute video!

thanks for stopping by! i'll be sharing some more summer fun cards this week! :D

dusting off the camera

so it's been a few days since my last post, and it's not for lack of projects to share... *le sigh*

i just haven't been photographing things! so i rectified the situation and got some photos taken and edited to share with you. these cards feature an Impress flower stamp (that i received as a bday present from the lovely Paulina a few bdays ago) or an Impress damask stamp, PTI Signature Greetings stamp set, as well as PTI's Polka Dot Basics II, and some ribbon.

simple simple.

you may notice these cards from the teaser i gave you last week...

i made a whole bunch of these in different colors and with different sentiments. i cut the circles with my Cricut, and attached them directly to the card base after i embossed the flower/ damask stamp. makes a great statement without too much work!

thanks for stopping by... i'll be getting some more cards edited to share with you soon!