Birthday cards

While going through my stash, I came across a partially used sticker sheet of chipboard birthday stickers.  With no immediate projects in mind for these, I opted to make some birthday cards.

First up, I found some card bases from my Michaels card pack stash that were the right color and style.  Cut a white banner from card stock. Stamped with an Ali Edwards stamp and added pho-stitching. Placed the chipboard layered sticker and added some red sequins for a bit more sparkle.

This card went together even faster. Same banner, just found the hugs sticker tag to mask the other sentiment on the tag. Added some yellow and white twine and this one was done.

Last sticker from the sheet said party. Used another banner and placed the sticker on it. Used a sentiment from Ali Edwards' birthday stamp set and this one was also done. 

Love using these stickers up that would otherwise be sitting in my stash. Love how cute the cards turned out!

Thanks for checking out some more of my stash bashing cards. More cards coming soon!

Maddie's Baby album - First Home

 I have completed another layout for my daughter's baby album. 

The good thing about the CK/Becky Higgins baby kit that I am using is the pages with prompts included.

This layout is a good example of this. It has journaling cards/strips that are about baby's first home as well as a matching title and chipboard frame that matches the monthly ones for the rest of the album.

I also used this kit as part of Shimelle's Design Decisions class for challenge #6, which was to use a kit of supplies to create a layout.

The thing is, like Shimelle, once I got working on this layout, I realized there wasn't enough in the kit that was inspiring me to make the page. A short dig into my stash and I found a Bella Blvd summer collection that had a house border strip in a pattern as well as the house to cut out. I was amazed at how well the colors all coordinated with the baby kit that I was already using!

I also found some paper from KI Memories that was a good match for the colors that I used on the photo mat and strip at the bottom of the page. 

From the baby kit, I used the first home as well as the base papers, and photo corners.

Used another doily from my stash to layer under the title and chipboard circle frame as well as the cut-out house. 

I used my Martha Stewart fringe scissors to add "grass" and added texture to the layout as well as punching some white card stock with a pair of cloud punches and made a doodle border inside to match the clouds in the patterned paper else where on the layout.

I added our address to this layout using some rubber stamp numbers from Stampin' Up! that I stamped cut out and folded in half and stapled with my Tiny Attacher. I used white foam Thickers and then Simple Stories tile alphas for the rest.

I fussy cut a flower from the Bella Blvd paper and added a brad on top to coordinate with the other brads I used throughout the layout.

I used brads where I would have been tempted to use enamel dots. To give myself some flexibility with placement, I cut the prongs off the backs of them and used foam adhesive to attach them to the page.

On the second page of this layout, I added the same Thickers for the title. I made a bit of a grid with the photos I had for her room and filled the gaps with a fussy cut flower and more fringe paper.

I didn't like the design on both the inside and outside of the pocket, so I added patterned paper to the front of the pocket and added a fussy cut flower from the Bella Blvd paper and added some brads.

The remaining border strip of houses made its home in the grass and embellished with a few more brads-- man, I have a ton! I think my yellow brads were almost all used up, though!

Love that the kit has these journaling card strips that gave me plenty of room for my journaling. I did trim the front two down a bit so the titles on the tops could be read all at once when in the page protector.

Love that I am making such progress with Maddie's Baby album as well as meeting challenges for Shimelle's Design Decisions class.

Thanks for visiting!

Cards using leftovers from Baby layout sticker sheet

After making the 2 Month Layout for Maddie's Baby album, I was left with a sticker sheet that had very little left. Instead of putting the stickers back into my stash, where they may remain for all eternity, I decided to use up what was left on some cards.

I had an entire clothesline left so I used it all on one card. Made this card super cute and super fast. The entire sticker sheet was a sticker and had a border all the way around I cut the corners off and made photo corners from it. Stamped a baby sentiment from Ali Edwards. 

The base of this card is from a Michaels card pack.

I used the last remaining sticker, the bib and placed it in the center of a piece of textured white card stock that I punched with a scalloped square punch. Since the corners were missing from the border, I created my own with a Stampin' Up! corner punch and used the border around the card. Stamped the same sentiment with an Ali Edwards stamp.

Two fast cards created, and a sticker sheet completely used up. Love the cards and that I used up some of my stash! Be back to share some more stash bashing cards soon!

Maddie @ 3 months

I am sharing another layout for my daughter's baby album.

I have been using Becky Higgins' Baby kit through CK for this album, but have been mixing in products from my stash as well. 

For this layout, I used some inspiration from Shimelle's Design Decisions class. I used the sketch for challenge #12, since I opted not to take the color challenge. 

The background paper is from from My Girl from American Crafts and the floral is a pattern from Amy Tangerine. The other papers came from the baby kit.

In the sketch, Shimelle had bunting at two points in the grid. Instead of creating a banner, I found the baby clothes line stickers in my stash. The line is actually wire on brads, but it came on the sticker sheet that way. 

Although, I wasn't thrilled with the contrast on the top line on the floral paper, with the dimension it has in person, it stands out enough for me to leave it.

One of the reasons I continue to use the kit is for the monthly numbers with the chipboard frames. I wanted it to stand out a bit more, so I layered a doily from my stash behind it as well as some fussy cut flowers. 

I also used a fabric sticker from the My Girl collection with some pink glitter washi tape and a puffy flower sticker.

Here is the other clothes line  as well as a close up of more puffy stickers, glitter washi and a fabric sticker. The camera is cut from an Amy Tangerine paper.

Thanks for checking out my layout! Have a great day!

Maddie @ 11 months

Today I have a layout from my older daughter's baby album. She is now eight years old, and I haven't gotten her album completed. I have it on my priority list this quarter, to try and complete as much as I can. The photos are all printed and it is just a matter of getting it done.

I gained inspiration from this layout from Shimelle's Design Decisions class for challenge #11. Shimelle's challenge was a color challenge, building off the monochromatic layout, but since creating my own kits based on color isn't my thing, I opted to get inspiration from her sketch based on the layout she created.

The biggest difference between her layout and mine, was the size of photo used. I am using 5x7 photos for the most part in this album, opposed to her square 4x4. I think it still works, the journaling card just doesn't hang as low compared to the photo in mine. 

The background paper is from American Crafts My Girl collection. The journaling card is from a cut apart sheet from Photo Play's About a Girl collection.

I am using the CK/Becky Higgins Baby Kit for this baby album, so the tabs and chipboard frame came from there. 

I layered some Amy Tangerine floral paper in there as well as a green grid from the kit. 

Used some flat sequins to embellish.

The number and chipboard month frame also came from the kit, as so did the sticker border and chipboard star. Layered a doily from my stash to add a bit of contrast between the pinks.

Found some metal charms that were baby pins and blocks to add to this layout that add another layer of texture and dimension.

Hoping to share more finished pages from this album and other challenges completed from Shimelle's class so visit again soon!

Maddie's Favorites Things @ 5

This is a layout I created for Challenge #7, #8, #9 of Shimelle's Design Decisions class.

Challenge #7 was to create a layout that you recreate from year to year. 

I have started journaling the same favorites list from the kids around their birthday every year. Fun to look back what has changed and what hasn't. Pulled Maddie's list from when she turned 5 and found some photos near the time that I document the list.

Challenge #8 was a color challenge. I was to create a kit (and 2 more, that I chose not to create) that was monochromatic. I chose a herring bone patterned from Dear Lizzy as the starting color and collected things from my stash to coordinate. I found way too much in this color, but had fun shopping my stash for it!

Challenge #9 was to create a layout using the monochromatic color kit.

The background paper is from the SEI Dill Blossom collection.

I used brads to give a bullet point effect for my journaling. Placed my journaling about the photos on the tag by the title.

The 5 is from Heidi Swapp. It was a textured white die cut that I used some of my Distress Ink to color it. I used my water brush to push the ink around, until I was happy with it. The chipboard sticker is from a Basic Grey /Kelly Purkey collection. 

The gold glitter die cut was from a Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes ephemera pack. The brads are from my stash and are a fuzzy texture.  The button die cut is from Stampin' Up!.

The @ wood veneer is from a Project Life pack, I believe.

The "favorite" came from a Dear Lizzy card pack. It was pre cut and I backed it with some glitter paper I got from the dollar hot spot at Target. The tag with the glittered corner is from the same ephemera pack as the leaves at the top. The button die cut was also from Stampin' Up!.

I layered a doily from my stash under all of the pieces.

I used some arrow rub-ons from Amy Tangerine and outlined my tile alpha stickers from Simple Stories.

The lower embellishment cluster was placed on the other half of the doily. It has an acrylic arrow that has been in my stash for some time, along with pieces to coordinate with the other clusters on the page... Stampin' Up! button, gold glitter star,  fuzzy brad, and wood veneer heart.

While I enjoyed changing up my process a bit for this one, by working with color first, I didn't enjoy putting all of my supplies back that I didn't use when I was done. I don't tend to design by color so I don't organize my supplies that way. I usually stick with things within a collection so I store my supplies that way. 

Loved bashing my stash on this one, though. Felt good to use up some stuff that I have been collecting. 

After this was completed, I wondered if it was it bad that I didn't design it around HER favorite color? :)

Card making -- in purge mode

I was in a bit of a scrapbook slump. Didn't feel that I had the time to devote to an entire layout. Since my kids are out for the summer, I don't get the same uninterrupted time to create.

As I was sitting in my crafting space, that is adjacent to my kids play area, I noticed some things floating around that needed a home. The first I noticed was a bird that I had stamped and let my daughter color with water color pencils and then "paint". This little bird has been sitting nearby, waiting for a project to call home.

I had purchased a card pack from Michaels that had silver foiling on all of the cards. I found this one that looked like confetti, and with a bit of glittery washi that I found in the Target dollar spot, my little bird had a home. 

I added the "wishes for you" sentiment from Ali Edwards' birthday stamp set and it was complete.

Something else I noticed in my stash was a search and find stamped image my mom had given me. It is a stamp she owns, I believe, and stamped one for me. I needed a Father's Day card, so I searched the image over and found all the words that "fit" and circled them. Added a label that says "best dad" and called this one done.

Happy to get some creating done. Happy these pieces have found projects to live on instead of trashed. Happy to have cards ready to give away. 

Just happy.

Have a few more cards to share from my summer creating. Come back soon!

Snow Fun

In Shimelle's Design Decisions class, challenges #4 and #5 were together.

Challenge #4 was to look through old layouts that I already had completed, and create my own sketch from it. Then decide on three decisions I liked about the original and would like to repeat. The last step was to put the original page away, wait a day or two, and create a layout using the sketch and 3 things.

So my original layout that I chose is here.

The three things I chose were the embellishment clusters, journaling on journaling cards, and border punches used.

For challenge #5, I found my photos and started the layout.

I used Winter Time collection from Echo Park. It has been in my stash a super long time and long overdue to be used on a layout. 

One of the things I changed up on this layout compared to the original, was the number of photos I have on the strip. I also varied the sizes and staggered them a bit. 

Where there had been leaves, I replaced with snowflakes, but made more of a triangle of them on the page. The snow flakes came from the sticker sheet with the collection pack.

I used an edge punch that was embossed snowflakes, a Martha Stewart one, I believe, that I used on this layout instead of the notebook edge. 

For the second page, I used one pattern paper for the bottom, as is, unlike the shape the original had. 

I used two journaling cards, like the original, but placed them in a different spots, so the snowman wouldn't be covered up.

Layered a 3x4 cut apart card from the collection to house my sticker title. 

Pulled out some square brads from my stash that matched the collection. Anytime I feel like using enamel dots, I go through my brad stash first, now. Less forgiving but same end result.

Had some mini colored paper clips that matched the brads and thought they worked perfectly to attach the little sticker tags from the sticker sheet.

Used the same snowflake border punch on this side of the layout as well. 

I matted the photos on this page to add a little contrast from the white background.

It was tough photographing this layout due to all of the white, so forgive my lack of stellar photos. 

Thanks for checking this layout out!