{ Impression Obsession DT challenge - Celebrating mom }

I created a card for Mother's Day. I am still playing with my crepe paper, except I have a white roll, too. I love it. I used CPS #160 for the card. I started with Core'dinations whitewash cardstock that has a green core. I embossed it with a cuttlebug embossing folder. The Making Memories journaling note is stamped with Cover-a-card Medallion (CC032). I wanted an imperfect impression of the background. I lay my stamp down and when I cover it with ink I don't apply an even color. After I lay my paper on top and press with my hand, I make sure I don't press evenly. I love the way it turns out...

I made the crepe paper rose with white crepe paper that I sprayed with Shimmerz Spritz, first. It was left over from another project so it was dry, but it doesn't take long. I added some hand cut leaves and pink ribbon.

The sentiment is from Greetings Galore (CL48) that is stamped on Granny's Doily Circle tag from Elle's Studio. This was such a fast and easy card.

I hope you'll take the time to visit the other designers' blogs for inspiration! Dina, Jeanne, Jenny,  Kathy,  Julie, Deborah,and Laura.

***Would you like to see your card featured on the Impression Obsession blog? Email your challenge cards using Impression Obsession images to Shirley. Every week, cards will be selected to showcase on the Impression Obsession blog!!! You have until midnight this Saturday to enter your card. A random winner will be selected from the submissions to receive a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate! You can find all the info HERE.

{ Digital stamps and new Cricut }

Kathy Martin asked me to make a card with one of her new digital stamps Party Banner.  Check out her blog for more wonderful ideas using this stamp.  I used October Afternoon and My Mind's Eye patterned paper. The chipboard is painted with white paint and sprayed with Shimmerz Spritz. Here is a closer look at the banner.

I made my first official card using my new Cricut Expression! There are so many things I have to learn. If you have a Cricut and have any tips I would love to hear them. Link me to some Cricut resources and blogs I can check out.

I am making cute little Easter bags for Alex and his friends that I will show you as soon as I get a photo. Here, I am cutting grass for the eggs.

As I was getting ready to list this Life Mini album in my Etsy store I got a request to make one...perfect timing. I had several other people asking about it. If you would like one, email me and I will be more than happy to make one for you. I updated the store with some new items and I will be adding more.

{ CupCards {to go} GRAND re-opening day}

I am so very, excited to share with you that CupCards {to go} card kits will be re-opening beginning June 1st, 2010 with sneak peeks of the new kit/card creations all during the month of May from all the designers with blog hops & prizes. You can read all about it here. And, Sonda is having a giveaway, just visit this post to leave a comment and have a chance to win.

{ Elle's Studio birthday tag, Prompt 3 and 4 }

We are still celebrating our birthday at Elle's Studio! Each order will ship with a free Birthday Cut Out and a raffle ticket for every item you purchase! Raffle drawings will take place every Sunday in March! You can read more details about our celebration here.

Here is a little tag I made for the birthday celebration. I stamped the background with Wood Grain stamp and Shimmerz Spritz.

The rose is made out of crepe paper.

I added pink ribbon and a button to the Birthday Cut Out tag.

Prompt #3 - Ribbon - use up some of that ribbon! I used a photo that I had printed forever ago and it went perfectly with the prompt. Everything here is old, including the Scenic Route paper. .

I did not use my sewing machine to stitch the ribbon I used floss and sewed the ribbon in place by hand.

The journaling note by Jenni Bowlin pulls out from behind the photo.

Prompt #4 - cardstock...using all my cardstock scraps! I embossed white cardstock and made clouds I used my NEW Cricut to cut a scalloped border strip. The journaling is missing in the photo, but it's there now.

I ended up adding a little bit of my scrap patterned paper that was laying around.

I sprayed some crepe paper with Sea Foam Shimmerz Spritz and I love the way it turned out.

I think I am 2 prompts behind, but I have it under control. I am working on several different tutorials and projects that I will share on my blog.

I wanted to share a photo of Alex from the other day when we filled out our Census info. He is officially counted.

Have a great day! Let me know if you have any questions.

{ The Cutting Cafe' giveaway winner! }

Winner: marciastz...please email me --------->

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

{ Elle's Studio March Projects }

Elle's Studio March gallery is up on our Inspiration page. You have to check it out! Here is what I created this month!
For this layout I used a circle stamp from Whale of A Time stamp set to stamp a row of circles on a strip of cardstock. I added Granny's Doily circles, Peppermint Journaling tag, Vintage Label Cut Out and Scalloped Journaling Circle tag.
I used My Mind's Eye patterned paper and the new Sassafras Lass banner sticker. I layered strips of Cosmo Cricket paper behind the photo. The little butterflies are Hamton Art stamps that I cut out after stamping. The flowers on the bottom of the photo are from DRS Designs that I stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Watercolor pencils.
I am finally using some of my Core'dinations Color Core Whitewash Cardstock. I embossed circles on the bottom with Stampin' Up circle template and then used sandpaper to sand the edges. Since this cardstock has a color core the color is showing through.
I used Scalloped Journaling circle tags, Chic Date tags, Chic Note tags, XOXO journaling tag, 2009 calendar tag, Prompts Patterns and Journaling tag from Elle's Studio. I used Chic Date tag and Chic Note tag for the kites. I added Martha Stewart Baker's twine that I secured with white floss to the background.
Other supplies: Cosmo Cricket, Jillibean Soup, MME patterned paper, Sassafras Lass sticker banner, American Crafts chipboard letter stickers.
For this card I used XOXO patterned paper, XOXO journaling tag and XOXO cardstock. I found this adorable Martha Stewart butterfly border punch. It punches the butterflies, but the others stay attached. The, I punched some more butterflies for the card. The cute ribbon is from American Crafts that I found at Michaels for a dollar. It matches the papers perfectly!
***You still have time to enter the Blog Challenge.
The birthday celebration continues so make sure you check the blog for inspiration and prizes!!!

{ The Cutting Cafe' giveaway }

****Regina is hosting a giveaway and this set is up for grabs: Rain Rain Go Away Printable Stamp Set. Leave a comment here on my blog and I will draw a winner on March 25th. I printed the image on watercolor paper and used my watercolor pencils to color the image. The clouds are printed on Cosmo Cricket patterned paper to match the background. I used my large Marvy Uchida scalloped punch and added American Crafts ribbon to each side.

{ Impression Obsession DT challenge - "me" day }

The challenge is to show how I would spend a "Me" day. I didn't want to do a card for this so I did something different. I like little books with cute quotes and sayings about friends, love, life...and I decided to make my own. I just adore Sing Loudly (WP276) and Believe Birds (WP277) and the sets are perfect with the sayings from Life & Flowers (CL250) stamp set. I started by stamping a sheet of cardstock with Cover-a-card Wood Grain (CC034) stamp and Sunset Strip Shimmerz Vibez. Then, I stamped the journaling stamp from Journaling I (WP165) stamp set. After I cut them out I started decorating with patterned paper, trim and ribbon.

I used a different stamp for each background and all the different sayings. The album "formula" is pretty much the same for each page with fun little detail changes. Pretty simple and quick to put together.

When I was done decorating I punched a hole and added a ring and ribbon. The flower is from the same Life & Flowers (CL250) stamp set as the sayings. I stamped the flower on patterned paper and colored each one with a marker and added a little colored pearl to the center. What do you think? I can add some paper and a fun photo of me on each page or I can leave it like this. While I was experimenting with backgrounds for the above album I had this left over so I decided to make a little notebook to carry with me. I love to journal and write everything down and this would be a great place to keep things together. It's a small notebook, but perfect for writing down ideas and cute little things that Alex is saying lately. I used Cover-a-card Large dots (CC007) for the background with Journaling I(WP165) journaling stamp. I added some patterned paper and rick rack that was laying around. The beautiful bluebonnet stamp is from Sweet Delights (CL278) stamp set. I used my watercolor pencils to color the flowers.

I hope you'll take the time to visit the other designers' blogs for inspiration! Dina, Jeanne, Jenny, Julie, Deborah, Rosemary and Laura.

***Would you like to see your card featured on the Impression Obsession blog? Email your challenge cards using Impression Obsession images to Shirley. Every week, cards will be selected to showcase on the Impression Obsession blog!!! You have until midnight this Saturday to enter your green card. A random winner will be selected from the submissions to receive a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate! You can find all the info HERE.

{ Prompt 2 }

Here is page one of my album - paper scraps. Still doing 6x12 pages. I know that some of you thought the album cover was a card, I know, I like it so much I might make a card like that. This one should look more like a page, I hope, with the photo (of me).

I love my paper scraps. I have a little container on my desk, pretty small, that I keep these little strips. I pulled them all out and arranged them on the page. I didn't really worry too much if they all go together. Paper strips: October Afternoon, Sassafras Lass, Collage Press, Pink Paislee, Scenic Route, Studio Calico, white cardstock and Bazzill Just the Edge strip. I used a tiny bit of tape to hold them down and then I used my sewing machine to stitch the strips in place. I don't know if you can see the first (my last) row, I ran out of thread. I just kept sewing. The metal words (Making Memories) were still out on the desk from my cover page, and they fit perfectly. I stamped the bird cage from Believe Birds (WP277) stamp set by Impression Obsession. I love that stamp set. I have a fun little project coming up using the same set. I repeated the flower from the cover page, but I added more crepe paper to the base. My friend Dani has a great video tutorial for that technique. I got my watercolor pencils out! I love them, I don't know why I don't use them more. They are out now so I have no excuses. I painted the Jenni Bowlin journaling card with watercolor pencils. So pretty. I need more of those!!!! I still need to add journaling.

***There were some questions about my scrapbook room furniture. Thank you so much. I am glad you like it. The white shelves are from The Container Store - Elfa, and they go on sale all the time. My desk is from Ikea. The EZ View desktop I won on a blog!!! I thought it was this small thing that sits on your desk...imagine my surprise when this huge box arrived. The bottom of the EZ View is made out of two shelves from Ikea, the same ones that are holding my desk. The rolling carts are from The Container Store and they hold 12x12 containers, the smaller carts are from JoAnns and they hold my embellishments, stamps, punches.... Let me know if you have any other questions.

{ Something from Almost Nothing }

I'm taking an online class called Something from Almost Nothing taught by Shimelle. I just wanted to dig into my stash and use up some of the old supplies I have been holding on to. I decided to make 6 x 12" pages. I don't have an album, but I will figure something out. Prompt number one was to use metal on our title page. Can you spot anything really old here????? The papers I am using I received recently in a huge goodies box from Cards and Scrapbook Trends. Love the colors and I am using the left over stash from the cards I created last week: Bo Bunny, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon...The flower is made from crepe paper. You can see my original one here with a tutorial link. Yes, I am using metal circle frames from Scrapworks. I love that I had these (and more) in my stash and they went perfectly with my page colors. The metal "celebrate" word is from Making Memories, still new, in the package. I have total of two packages with different words. The felt butterflies by Jenni Bowlin need to be used up. I have been holding on to them for way too long. The hear pins are from Heidi Grace Designs. Here are some photos of my scrapbook room to show my stash, pre-class challenge. I know, it's clean, but only when the photos were taken. It does not look like that right now. Have a great weekend.

{ 2 Sketches 4 You Laura's sketch #47 }

I love this Beautiful Tree set from The Cutting Cafe'. So many fun trees to choose from. I used the grass from the same set. The sentiment is from Because Nice Matters printable stamp set. I printed it on a piece of paper that was left over from the tree and I added two little jewels.

I use Adobe Photoshop to arrange and print all my images that way I can get everything on one page. I print a sample page and adhere patterned paper over the sample images and print again. You don't need a fancy program to print these, Regina has wonderful instructions on how to print these images. Other supplies: BoBunny Press and MME patterned paper, October Afternoon journaling spot. Laura's sketch #47.

***Regina is looking for 3 or 4 people to add to the current Design Team. Read all the details HERE and apply.