Because of You for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! March week 5 challenge

I used a sentiment from Verve's Just for You set, cut with a Spellbinders label 2 die, sponged with some Antique Linen distress ink.  The flower stamp was a free "thanks for shopping" stamp that Julee included in one of my oh-so-beautifully-wrapped orders.  I stamped twice and popped one over the other, then stamped and cut just the center out of my yellow dot paper.  Papers are the new LilyBee Designs This and That.  Border punch, twine, and a button.  And then, in honor of Sankari, our sketch host this week and the Queen of Liquid Pearls, I included dots of Liquid Pearls around the main sentiment panel.
Hoping to get this in the mail to Operation Write Home in time for the troops to use to send home for mother's day.  I'm packaging up a few others that I have in my stash.  If you have time to make or send some, they are still in need and are accepting until March 31st.  Thanks!

Sweetest Things birthday card

I used a digital image by Mo Manning called "What's Cooking?" for this card...isn't she the cutest little baker you ever saw? I colored her with copics and paired her with a sentiment from My Favorite Things' Polka Dot Greetings Frame die and stamp set. MME Stella and Rose papers. Some orange shabby wrinkled ribbon and a blue polka dot ribbon by SEI. An orange button and natural colored twine finish it off. This is a spin on a sketch from Papercrafts Go-To-Sketches publication from a year or two ago.
She will be a birthday card for a dear family friend (my "other" mother), whose birthday cake I'll be making.  I'm sure I must have looked like this sometime in my {very} early years!  LOL

A Few Scrapbook Pages

Scrapbooking has taken a backseat to card making for a while now.  I just don't usually have the time to plan out my pages, and until recently, had NO pictures printed to scrap.  But thanks to hubby, I now have a nice pile waiting to make it into my son's book.  I completed two pages at a recent evening crop with my local scrapping friends, and then put together another that same week at home.  I also have one I completed a little while ago but never posted.  It formed in my mind for weeks, and then came together super quick, thanks to using the online collage service through our local pharmacy.  
Woohoo!  Maybe I'm back on a roll.  I mean, my blog is titled "A SCRAPPER Mom's World."  LOL.


Without further ado...

First time blueberry picking at the Keel and Curley Winery. My son was fixated on getting every single blueberry on the bush he selected. My husband caught this terrific, vibrant photo of him, sweaty head and all. 

Papers are BoBunny and SEI. Sticker is BoBunny, altered with an MME brad and twine.  And a bit of shabby wrinkled ribbon that I picked up on Etsy. 

 My son wanted to make gingerbread men cookies. Unfortunately, he is allergic to wheat and dairy...and I have no gingerbread men-shaped cookie cutters. So we improvised and made some GF/DF sugar cookies with a little bear cookie cutter I had. Still decorated them with icing and raisins and cherry mouths. He loved them. 
Papers are October Afternoon. 
Stickers are Karen Foster, mounted on popped up scalloped circles cut with my Spellbinders dies. 
That cute banner die is from Taylored Expressions. 
Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers for "baking", letter stamps from My Favorite Things for "cookies." 
Sketch adapted from PageMaps.

We visited Tennessee towards the tale-end of the winter season 2010 to show my son snow. There wasn't too much left on the ground, but he still had a ball. We scraped together enough to make two tiny snow people, and have a few snowball fights (you can see him throwing one in the top two photos). 
Papers are BG Fruitcake (still one of my favorite Christmas lines, and favorite BG line). I stitched a bit, and then die cut some snowflakes with my Cricut, the largest two of which house the title and date, out of Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers.

This is the one from November.  I'd been cooking this one up in my mind for several months. I asked my son to pose for a first day of school picture, and this is what I got. He's such a ham! He was busting moves and striking poses: "pow, cha'." All that I could think of was the song by The Heavy, "How You Like Me Now." And a layout idea was hatched. The lighting in our house is poor, so none of the pictures was very clear or well-lit. So I had the photos printed as a collage. 

Papers and small square "tokens" are Extreme Boy by Junkitz. Title is Heidi Swap chipboard. I inked some chipboard stars and brackets. And there is a little pull-out card for journaling that peeks out along the right side of the layout (hard to see in the photo).

This may not be my best layout nor photography, but these pictures are priceless.  They capture the essence of my son so perfectly at this age.  He's even doing his famous "butt dance" in one.  ROF!  Love that boy.

Thanks for looking...

Card "Catch-up" (all my cards up-to-date)

I have gotten dreadfully behind on my posts again.  I'm crafting away, but between loading to two online galleries and posting to the various challenges I love to participate in, my blog, which no one frequents, gets neglected.  But I do like having a site for just me, and hopefully some day it will grow and my skills will improve enough to attract more attention.


Meanwhile, I thought I'd do a catch-up post to add the cards and layouts I've created since the last.  Bare with me...


Where Dreams May Go for VLV AND the Verve Get Your Diva On challenges
For the Viva la Verve! March week 4 sketch challenge
and my attempt at the Verve Get Your Diva On March color challenge: 

What a great sketch by Jackie Pedro!
The color challenge by Tosh was to use neutrals (I chose black and cream) with a pop of color (I chose an olivey-green that makes me think of the new growth of spring).
The frame is Verve's Framed Wishes, and the sentiment is from one of my two favorite Verve sets (so far), Blue Skies.
Papers are DCWV and MME Stella and Rose.
SU's scalloped edge punch and a rhinestone flourish by Recollections finishes it off. 

Butterfly Birthday

I made this for a dear family friend's birthday. Uses the Unity set for Webster's Pages, Dream Big, and a sentiment from GinaK Designs' Fanciful Tags by Nina Brackett. The papers are (again) MME Stella and Rose. 

I cut the large bracketed shape with my Cricut (because I don't have any of the Spellbinders large enough). The scalloped straight edge is by Fiskars. Stitched and added a few 3mm and 4mm rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.
I used a sketch from Papercrafts' Go-To Sketches special issue from last year.
The panel with the butterflies is a pocket to fit a gift card.

Plant the Seeds of Love for MFT Sketch challenge

For the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #11

The rest of the sentiment inside reads, "& watch them grow" 

The image is one of the Pure Innocence stamps from My Favorite Things, Blooming Good Day. I paired it with one of the sentiments from MFT's Green Thumb Mini (all the sentiments in this set go perfectly with this sweet little flower-watering girl).
Papers are my new absolute favorite, My Minds Eye Stella and Rose-Mabel collection.
I used MFT's Flower Border Die-namics, and topped the centers of the exposed flowers with some frosted flatbacked pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Happy Hello for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! March week 3 sketch challenge

I was fixated on that tilted panel, and kept envisioning the wonderful notebook paper stamp in Verve's Blue Skies set. But it's kind of small to fill the card front like in the sketch. So...I made a mini card! I love it. Have you noticed how perfectly sized the Happy Hello sentiments are for fitting on the notebook paper stamp? Like they were made for each other. I used the remaining MME Stella and Rose paper from my week 2 card. Zig-zag stitched around the outer edge and made a few "X" stitches on the side of the tilted panel by hand. I wrapped a bit of multi-colored yarn around the panel and added a few 2mm rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty. Last, I created a rolled rose from My Favorite Things' medium-sized Die-namic, and punched a couple "leaves" with a Martha Stewart punch.
I told Maureen (who created the sketch) that I could see using this sketch again and again, and I actually think I'm going to make a set of these mini cards using the different sentiments in the Happy Hello set!

The Rainbows of Life...for Mojo Monday #181 

For the Mojo Monday Sketch 181 challenge

I used a sentiment from My Favorite Things' The Great Outdoors set, along with the cloud Dienamics. The rainbow is from Unity's Could I Be Any Cuter? set, colored in with Copics and colored pencils/mineral spirits.
The papers are all MME, from the new Stella and Rose papers or the Fine and Dandy line.
The open pinking die is from TCP (Inside Pinking), and I used the negative side on the straight panel.
Aside from stitching, there is no embellishment. There are so many layers and such fun lovely papers, I thought it had enough without adding too much more.

Surprisingly to me, this card didn't get many views or comments on my galleries.  I really love how it came out.  It makes me happy.  I hope you like it, too.

Dance Everyday for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve March week 2 sketch challenge

This looked so much better in my head. But I'm not sure what isn't working for me. I LOVE the new MME papers. (I had to get all the 12x12 AND the 6x6. They have to be my favorite papers ever.)
And I love the sentiments in Verve's Beautiful You set; this one is no exception.
And I wanted to bring in the embossed musical notes to go with the dancing theme in the sentiment. Love my various Spellbinders dies. And what's not to love about bling from Pizzazz Aplenty?
It just had so much more Uumph! in my imagination. Ah, well, great sketch, and always enjoyable to participate in the Verve challenges. Check them out!

40th Birthday card for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! March week 1 sketch challenge

Love this sketch! It was perfect for a 40th birthday card for my hubby.
I used part of a sentiment from Verve's Birthday Bash set.
And I loved mixing some new favorite papers, Bo Bunny's Blast Off and MME's Stella Rose, with some old favorite October Afternoon.
The stars are die cut with MFT's Die-namics.
Some Glossy Accents on the small circles under the sentiment and on the blue star, and some star-shaped eyelets finish it off. 

Wedding Wishes for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! February week 4 challenge

I used the little frame from Verve's Sweet Treats set, with a sentiment from Love Story to create a wedding card for my brother-in-law.
Papers are from the DCWV La Creme stack.
Some shabby wrinkled ribbon and rhinestones.
The rectangular cream panel is embossed with Cuttlebug's swiss dots folder. And the frame is colored with copics. 

Happy Birthday for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! February week 3 challenge

I used Verve's Birthday Bash set and Basic Grey papers, with scraps of October Afternoon and DCWV to paper piece the balloons. The balloons are silhouette-cut and popped up. I stamped the tiny stars twice each, then traced around the edge of the opposite side on one each and sandwiched the baker's twine between the two matching ones to dangle. A Spellbinders lacey circle die, some shabby wrinkled ribbon from Bluebird Lane on Etsy, and rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty.

To the Moon for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! February week 2 challenge

I used the Little Star Plain Jane by Verve, but only stamped the outer ring of dots and stars. Then I used a sentiment from the Verve Love Notes set.
The papers are some old Inque Boutique Out of this World. The star border was cut with a die by My Favorite Things. Stitching, Liquid Peals on the small yellow stars and Glossy Accents on the tiny hearts. The large star brads were actually gold, but I colored them with a Copic marker (I still think that's so cool!)
This was a Valentine for my son.

Butterfly Border You are Fabulous card for Mojo Monday, and a gift for Melanie Muenchinger

For the Mojo Monday Sketch #176 challenge 

I just loved the embellished curve in this sketch. And the round option was calling to me. I won Melanie Muenchinger's A Year of Borders set (by Gina K Designs) as blog candy from Melanie herself, and have been itching to ink it up. I thought a thank you card to her was in order (this isn't the first time I've been the grateful recipient of her generosity). So I used the butterfly border as my curve. I stamped twice, and cut around the rows, separating segments here and there to make my curve. The butterflies are colored with Copics and then "Stickled" (can I make that a verb? LOL) for a glittery shine. I popped them over some black shabby wrinkled ribbon.
The sentiment is from Verve's Fabulous You set.
Papers are Basic Grey Curio.
And the fun shape and die cut little butterflies in the paper were cut by my Cricut using a wonderful free svg file from Images by Heather M http://imagesbyheatherm.wordpress.com/.
A few 2mm black rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty finishes it off. 

Some Bunny Valentine for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! February Week 1 sketch challenge

I paired Verve's Some Bunny with the heart and sentiment from Verve's Love Notes. The heart is silhouette cut, and then the red outline for the heart is cut with the coordinating Jotted Heart Die.
I loved this sketch, especially getting to use my scraps. There's some newer BoBunny with some old Making Memories and DCWV. The beautiful ribbon was part of the packaging on a recent purchase I made from Bluebird Lane on Etsy (isn't it great? And that was just the packaging!). A few 3 and 4mm cranberry rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty and some glossy accents on the heart in the sentiment finish it off.

A Box of Treats for SFYTT January Challenge

For the January SFYTT challenge 

I used MFT's A Box of Love PTI girl with a sentiment and that sweet swirly oval from Verve's Sweet Treat set. I stamped the oval directly onto the card front, then stamped again on white cardstock and cut out the middle with Verve's Embossed Oval die and popped it over the first stamp. 

Papers are BG and BoBunny, as well as dotted swiss cardstock by Bazzill.
The large scallop die is from MFT.
The main image panel and mat are Spellbinders.
Liquid pearls on the hearts and rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty finish it off. 

My Heart Belongs to You for VLV challenge

For the Viva la Verve! January week 4 sketch challenge

I used a sentiment from Verve's Love Notes and the little heart flourishes in the corners of the main panel from Verve's Sweet Treats. 
Dies are by Papertrey Ink. 
Wrinkled shabby ribbon from Bluebird Lane on Etsy. 
Flat-backed pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty. 
Liquid Pearls on the heart within the sentiment. 
Papers are Basic Grey and Making Memories.


And if you have made it all the way here, thank you so much for spending a bit of your time looking at my work!
I'll add the few scrapbook pages I finally got time to work on next.  And try my best to keep up with posting after this.
Thanks again!