Dot & Whimsy

  Hello and a happy Saturday to you all!

It is my extreme pleasure to share that I will be a part of 

the highly anticipated 2015 Calendar/Planner brought to you by 

Scrapbook & Cards Today and Page Maps by Becky Fleck!

It's Pinterest Inspired Thursday at 

and we have this adorable, crafty photo as our inspiration:

Here are my two cards based on the inspiration found in the photo:

I was inspired by the tall, vertical pumpkins in the Pinterest photo, 

so I created a vertical woodgrain panel by cutting three strips, attaching them

 to a square of cardstock and then stitching them together. The strip of pumpkins

 and sentiment was inspired by the small cluster of pumpkins in the photo.

For this card I went for the total look of the pumpkins represented in the Pinterest photo.

 After die-cutting the circle shapes, I inked around the edges with a darker orange ink. 

Next, I die cut the leaves and stem and inked around those as well. I chose to turn

 the larger pumpkin into a jack 'o lantern by adding two enamel dots for the eyes

 and the letter "D" for the mouth. I used a black pen to color in one of the

 diamond shapes for the nose!

More ideas are showcased on the Bella Blog :)

Happy Thursday!

Yay!  I'm so happy to be sharing my first project with 

and their October "Heart It Races" Kit.

 

Today was Pinterest Monday and Madeline and I have used this

 photo for our inspiration:

 I was inspired by the different decorative strips found in the inspiration photo. 

Melissa and I shared a few cards with the new "Evergreen" Collection by

Evergreen is a Christmas holiday collection filled with beautiful

colors and artwork that Basic Grey is well-known for.  

If you love the traditional BG Christmas collections as much as I do,

then you will want to add this one to your wish list :)

 

Our challenge was to use the various shaped stickers on our cards.

Now with BG you have chipboard stickers and cardstock stickers, so I used

both on my two cards!  

Come on by the BLOG to see close-ups and cards by Melissa Phillips too!

I cannot express to you how much I truly, for real love this collection:
Grateful by Authentique Paper.

It's yummy beyond words with colors such as dusty pink,

vibrant oranges, rust, mint green and pine...it's soothing yet warming

at the same time!  If you love all things Fall and Thanksgiving, then you

must get this collection in your little hands!

I'm sharing a quick chipboard banner that I made with a precut pumpkin

shaped mini album that I found at Michael's.  I just traced, cut and pasted!

 Come on by the blog today and see close-up photos and

instructions on how I put it together :)

In the meantime, here are just a few of my absolute favorite

pieces from the Grateful Collection:

 

Beau-tiful, right?  Just click on the link above to see the collection in its entirety! 

Baccccck tomorrow!

A very happy Wednesday greetings to all of you!

I'm quite honored to have been invited to be a part of the 

card making team at the 

Kit clubs are near and dear to my heart...after-all, I operated

one for seven years...it was one of my babies :)  

I haven't been with a kit club since "the Nook", which was

over two years ago...I'm excited to be back at it with these really amazing kits!

"This Life Noted" Monthly Kit:

"Heart It Races" Grande Kit:

"Heart It Races" Add-On Kit:

"Heart It Races" Stamp Set:

"Thriller" Grande Kit:

"Thriller" Add-On Grande Kit:

"Thriller" Stamp Set:

Now WOW, aren't those some really GREAT papercrafting kits!?!

I can't wait to dig in...I have my first assignment due up soon, so I'll be sure 

to share.  Come on over and join us on the Scraptastic Forum and see daily

projects and info on the Scraptastic Blog!

Order your kit(s) and accessories today: www.scraptasticclub.com

Ciao, y'all!

 

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  

Today I'm excited to be sharing a sweet autumn card with

I really, really wanted to use my alcohol markers for the apple (Apple Delights)

 so I ended up stamping the image onto a piece of canvas material 

with Memento Tuxedo Black.

I used Marvy Le Plume: G656 Fresh Green, GB688 Emerald, OY848 Coffee

and PV778 Garnet.  I used a circle die to cut out the image and then

mounted it onto layers of larger circles.

The sentiment from the Falling Into Autumn set was stamped onto a small

piece of woodgrain paper with Memento Tuxedo Black.  

All patterned papers are from Doodlebug Designs' Happy Harvest 6X6 Paper Pad.

I love the unusual texture that stamping onto the canvas added to this

homespun card...it makes it extra cozy and fall-like :)

Thanks for visiting!

newest dies are in the house!

Here I have a "spooktacular" card using the 

two dies and the "Frankie & Friends" Collection from Simple Stories:

For the base of the card I folded a sheet of white cardstock in half

and lined up the Signature Emerson Die just beyond the crease.

For the woodgrain mat I used the Signature Finley Die and trimmed

down the top portion to fit the card.  I also used a smaller mat of the 

Vintage A2 Mat Die.  I topped the card with a couple of stickers from

the collection and it's all done!

Check out ALL of the newest dies on the Top Dog Dies Blog

and shop for dies at www.topdogdies.com

I hope you have a beautiful Autumn weekend!

Hello and welcome tothe

May Arts, Authentique and Imagine Crafts Blog Hop.

I hope that you've had a chance to check out all of the fun

and inspiring stuff that's happened throughout the week!

 I chose to use the brand spanking new Christmas collection, "Believe" to

create this pretty altered tree that I found at Hobby Lobby.

Along with that, I'm using some ink and textured spray from Imagine Crafts and ribbon
 and trim from May Arts!  I purchased the inexpensive tree with a vision of covering
 the slats with Christmas patterned paper!  The sides of the tree are longer than a
 12X12 paper, so I went with a strand of 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, which worked perfectly.  

 I cut the paper strips to a 1" width and distressed around the edges with some 
Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black.  Next, I blended the ink in with one of the Ink Blushers 
sponges by Imagine Crafts.  To the plaid strips I also added flecks of irRESISTible
 Colored Textured Spray (Bamboo Leaves).  I removed the spray applicator from
the bottle and gently flecked the paint over the paper. It's hard to capture in a photo,
but there is a nice, raised and shiny texture to this spray!

The sides of the tree were longer than 12" so I went with a 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in
covering the sides.  First I attached a border of the new Adhesive Scallop Trim by 
 May Arts with the grosgrain ribbon following on top of that.  To attach the ribbon,
 I used the Xyron 1.5" Sticker Maker to create an adhesive backing.

To the back of the tree I added some of the off-white mini pom pom trim.

 Instead of going with a large bow at the top of the tree, I added two layered
boutique-style bows to the bottom sides of the tree.  I really love the Faux Canvas ribbon...
it has the look of seam binding but holds its shape much better when making bows.

I used several die-cut shapes and some of the punch-outs from the  
Believe Collection for the focal point of the tree.  I distressed with the same
 Tuxedo Black ink around all of the edges and then layered on to the
 front with foam adhesive.

Authentique Paper- Believe Collection: "innocence" 12x12 paper; "tidings"
 12x12 paper; "ideal" 12x12 paper; "components" 6x12 paper die cut; 6x6 "bundle"

May Arts Ribbon-  5/8" Faux Canvas Ribbon; 5/8" Dot Grosgrain Ribbon;
Mini Pom Pom Trim; Scallop Adhesive Trim

Imagine Crafts- irRESISTible Colored Textured Spray Bamboo Leaves,
 Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black Ink, Ink Blushers Sponge Applicators

 Be sure to stop by the Authentique Paper Blog and leave a comment
for a chance at a Prize Pack!

This past week I shared a "What's App?" segment at

These segments focus on a variety of different applications that are available 

to make your life easier and more fun! Whether you are using your smart phone 

or computer, many of the apps out there are of little cost or even better, they’re FREE! 

For my layout project today I decided to focus on one of my very favorite

 online places called PicMonkey. PicMonkey is an online photo editor that 

offers all sorts of themes, overlays, primo effects, textures and more! 

For a small monthly fee, you can upgrade to a Royale account where 

you have total access to all of the features, fonts, etc. 

I took these sweet photos of our coach’s little boy, Easton. I’m really liking the

 look of several photos in a grid, but on the same photo sheet, so I went with

 that idea in mind. To begin:

Once you are at the PicMonkey website, select “collage”. 

This brings up a selection to the left: Ducks in a Row, Cards, Square Deals, 

Biggie Smalls, etc. I almost always choose “Biggie Smalls” because it will 

give you one larger grid and two or more smaller grids. “Square Deal” is

 also a nice feature if you’re wanting equally-sized photos in a grid

When you click on the option that you’re wanting, you will see a drop-down menu

 where you can select the design that you wish to use. 

Next, begin uploading your photos by selecting the “mountain” icon at the top left. 

You can also rotate the grid by using the arrows at the bottom of the photo template.

 When you have your photos in place (by dragging and dropping each photo

 to its placement) click on ‘save’ at the top.

After you have saved your collage you can move on to ‘edit’ the template with 

texture, fonts, banners, overlays, etc.

When I was ready to print the photo, I selected the “shrink to fit” option instead of the 

“crop to fit” option so that it kept my photo square. I printed the photo on a standard 

4X6 paper and then trimmed down…it matches perfectly with the 4X4 journal card.

In keeping with the sun motif, I cut a semi-circle from the Daytona paper found in the

 Solstice Collection and stitched it to the top half of the page. I added the gold 

geo foam shaped stickers to the top to mimic the sun’s rays.

 I love having these user-friendly photo-editing apps at the fingertips or at the keyboard!

 You can give a entirely different look to a cluster of similar pictures by placing them

 in a grid and take it one-step further with some of the cool effects and templates.

 Give it a try! 

 Visit the Pink Paislee blog for more ideas using their products :)

See you soon!

It's here and it's wonderful!

The Fall Edition of Scrapbook & Cards Today is now available

This issue includes:

Hello, hello friends!

This is what I'm calling a "Fast Friday" project that I made using

Pumpkin Finisher Dies and Halloween Trio Dies.

This project took less than 30 minutes to put together, so it's great

for any of those quick gifts that you're needing to whip up.

It all starts with a couple of wood berry baskets that I painted burnt orange.  Once dry, I attached them together with a large hinge at the back that I screwed in place.

I die-cut the jack'o lantern's face from black cardstock, ran them through a Xyron 3" Sticker Maker and then attached to the front.

To the top I added a ribbon bow along with a die-cut bat that I attached to a 

small length of pipe cleaner.  I also fashioned two other pieces of pipe cleaner

 in a qurly q fashion and then glued them all to the top with fabric glue.

Fill him up with paper shred and lots of yummy goodies!  

Dies: Pumpkin Album Finishers and Halloween Trio Set

Visit Top Dog Dies for more ideas using their dies, along with other 

major brand dies that they carry!

Have a happy weekend!