{ My Scrapbook Nook February kit }

Here it is...our February kit...Basic Grey Origins. This is my last month with the team and my last kit. We have an awesome special going on right now, too: The next 8 new members will receive our MEMBERS SPECIAL THIS MONTH: Retail Value paper collection of $35.00, yours free when you sign up for a year membership. Here is a layout I created with this beautiful kit. I added black sticker letters from my stash and my new Cover-a-card Wood Grain stamp from Impression Obsession. I sprayed the stamp with Licorice Shimmerz Spritz to stamp the background. I added a little journaling tag from Elle's Studio. For the card, I stamped the background with Cover-a-card Large polka dots. I was unsure about the colors, but I love them now! I love using things that are laying around on my desk, like this stamp. Have a great week.

***New Shimmerz Vibez available Feb, 2.

{ New Shimmerz Pearlz }

The new Pearlz are here!!!! Here is a little card I created using Ballet Slipper and Morning Mist Shimmerz Pearlz. I painted the chipboard butterfly with white paint. After it was dry I painted it with Ballet Slipper Shimmerz Pearlz. For the polka dots, I used a toothpick to "drop" Morning Mist Shimmerz Pearlz onto the butterfly. The flower is made out of tissue paper that was painted with Ballet Slipper Shimmerz Pearlz using a sponge. If you would like to make these flowers check out my tissue flower tutorial. I used My Scrapbook Nook January Kit paper and chipboard butterfly, and Elle's Studio new XOXO Bazzill Cardstock and XOXO Journaling Tags.

Have you seen this???? New VIBEZ coming out in one week!

{ Elle's Studio January Projects }

Here are my January projects for Elle's Studio. I love the new XOXO Valentine's line in the store. For the first layout I used the new XOXO Journaling Strips. They are long and perfect for journaling or as a background for a photo. I love this photo of Alex in the park. His favorite letter was "O" this Summer and I wanted to focus on that in this layout! I matted the photo on XOXO Paper. Other tags used: XOXO Journaling tags, XOXO Sweet word circle tags, 2009 Calendar tag, Scalloped Journaling circle tag and Helmar adhesive. Funny that both of my layouts are on a die cut patterned paper. Totally by accident. I layered a photo of Alex on these fun tags called Prompts, Patterns and Journaling tags. I repeated the circle design with Chic Note tags and Love Note circle tags for the trees. At the top I layered three Peppermint Journaling Tags. I cut them in half since only the tops are showing. That way I can use the other half on another project or two. I added a Vintage Fall Flash card to the right of the photo and Photograph Note tag for my journaling. For the card I used Peppermint Journaling tag and Vintage Love Flash card. I cut the Peppermint tag in half to make it look longer behind the Vintage tag. I cut the flowers from patterned paper and hand stitched the stems. For this fun little calendar I used Mocha Divine, Tropical and Ballet (Dotted Swiss) XOXO Bazzill paper that coordinates perfectly with our XOXO Valentine's line. The 2010 Calendar tags are adhered to XOXO Journaling Strips. There are three months on each page. The sides are tied with a ribbon. When June is over the ribbon unties and the calendar is flipped to the inside where there are the last six months. Let me know if you have any questions and I can take more photos. More details and a full Design Team gallery can be seen HERE.

***Elle is having a charitable auction for Haiti relief. She has put together a box full of 100+ products and the highest bidder takes it all!

{ Impression Obsession DT challenge - Shaped card, Project 365 - week 50 }

Shaped card = anything but rectangle! I don't make many of these because a rectangle is so much easier, but I love this one. I will make more shaped cards from now on. I used CPS #150 for this card.

Can you tell I had fun with this one? I am in love with NEW background stamps from Impression Obsession, especially the Wood Grain (CC034). I sprayed my Wood Grain rubber stamp with Sea Foam Shimmerz Spritz to get this impression. The little house is from New Home (CL187) clear stamp set...another one of my favorites. I just love little houses. I used Stars & Stripes Pennants (G2315) rubber stamp for my "banner". These little pennants are so popular. I stamped and cut out the letters for "home" with Typewriter stamp set.

I used October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, Making Memories flower and Granny's Doily Journaling Tag from Elle's Studio. The frame card shape is from The Cutting Cafe'.

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

***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 non-rectangular 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.

Project 365 - week 50.

12.7 - playing music...notice the Halloween shirt?

12.8 - taking a photo of the first ornament he put on the tree.

12.9 - decorating the tree.

12.10 - posing for Christmas card photo.

12.11 - trying daddy's shoes.

12.12 - rolling around.

12.13 - my clean scapbook room, finally. More photos here.

{ Inspire Me 2010 - week 2, My Scrapbook Nook, Robot Party }

Here is my ATC for Inspire Me week 2. Fun technique with tissue paper. I pretty much did it just like Rhonda, with my own twist....and I used Shimmerz. Licorice Shimmerz Spritz for the bottom layer then I painted the tissue paper with Lilac Shimmerz. The little house is sprayed with Chickadee Shimmerz Spritz.

I used Happiness Is stamp set from Impression Obsession, Elle's Studio journal tag, Maya Road chipboard house, Prima flower and Basic Grey rub-on. The house is sprayed with Chickadee Shimmerz Spritz and lots of glitter. I am still creating with My Scrapbook Nook January kit....Pink Paislee Cupid collection. This kit is sold out. Sign up for a six month subscription to the Nook kits receive a credit of $20.10 to your account. Today is the last day!!!
Don't forget the Design Team Call - you have until January 30.
I used December Sky Shimmerz Blingz and Sea Foam Shimmerz Spritz for the chipboard butterfly.
Alex's Robot party was a success. I had issues with the cake frosting, but it turned out OK. We made the robot and the idea came from here. Betty Crocker Robot Cake.

Birthday boy!

{ The Cutting Cafe' giveaway winner! }

The winner is....... Congratulations Regan! Email me so I can send you your files!!! Thanks everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment.

{ Happy Birthday to my sweet boy }

Alex is 2 today!!! Do you remember these photos? He was so little. We are hanging out at the house today and going to dinner. Tomorrow is his little party. It's all about Robots.

Photo of him just before Christmas. Such a cutie. A layout I did for Bella Blvd with some fun summer photos. ***Don't forget all the giveaways below.

{ Elle's Studio: Love is in the air and blog challenge }

All new items are in stock at Elle's Studio. Come and check out all the new Valentine's Day goodies, journaling tags, mini papers, cut outs, mini Valentine's, and more! In addition, there is a HUGE sale on all Limited Quantity Items! Everything in this section is 40% off for the month of January. You must HURRY! Sets are very limited and won't be printed again once they sell out! I didn't get a chance to use any of the new items for this challenge layout, but I will have something for you soon. The journaling that sums up our holiday season is tucked inside this little kraft envelope. I used Vintage Moments at Christmas tags to write down all the fun things that happened. I used front and back, but you can tuck several of these inside. The photo is layered over Holiday Paper, Vintage Christmas flash card, Peppermint journaling tags and another Vintage Moments at Christmas tag at the bottom. I stamped snowflake from Let it snow stamp set on my paper background and kraft envelope. I added Holiday Vintage Snowflake tag to the corner of the photo. I love the little Date and Place strips in black, for the date. They do come in different colors, too. The Webster's Pages background paper is sprayed with Bed of Roses Shimmerz Spritz and I added Babys Breath Shimmerz Spritz to the envelope. The chipboard house is painted with ivory white paint and Mossy Stone Shimmerz paint. I used mini comb for the house texture. Create a layout with journaling that sums up your holiday season, upload it to the web and post your link Elle's Studio blog, in the comment section OR email us a photo of your layout. Make sure you get them in by the 25th. Everyone that does will be entered into a drawing for a $30 gift certificate to the shop! Winners will be announced on the 25th.

***You do not need to use Elle's Studio products for this challenge.

{ The Cutting Cafe' giveaway }

I created this little set for someone special. I used Heart Bag Cutting File/Template. The bag is open at the top and comes with additional files to print a handle. I used ribbon around the top to close it. I left the heart opening the way it is because I will slip a clear bag with candy inside. I used Pink Paislee patterned paper from My Scrapbook Nook. I used Martha Stewart punch and added glitter to the cut out flower. For the card I used All About Valentine's Day printable stamp set. And this file is loaded with phrases and images. I printed the sentiment on Pink Paislee journaling note and I colored the hearts with a marker.

Make sure you visit the store and see all the new Valentine's Day printable stamps and ideas.

To use these files all you need is a computer and a printer.

****Regina is hosting a giveaway and both of these files are up for grabs: Heart Bag and All About Valentine's Day. Leave me a comment and I will draw a winner on January 18.

{ Inspire Me 2010 }

I found something else to keep me occupied this year. In addition to taking daily photos, again, I am joining Ronda Palazzari and doing weekly ATC cards. She is posting wonderful techniques and word prompts.

How fun are these little cards! I sprayed the background with a light coat of Vintage Hymn Shimmerz Spritz. Then, I applied white branch rub-on. I sprayed over that with Ruby Shimmerz Spritz and stamped polka dots with December Sky Blingz. Pink Paislee cherub stamp, Chick note stamp from Elle's Studio, paper clip and bakers twine from Making Memories and One Bright Spot flower. A while back I found these ATC cards at Michaels, dollar bin, and bought several packages. Didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time, but how perfect are they now! I am so excited. Week 2 is posted, I better get started on that. I wanted to share Alex's birthday party invitation that I made. The little robot stamp is from Michaels. I colored him with Prismacolor pencils and gemsol. Other stamps used: Hampton Art, Sassafras Lass and Impression Obsession. Can you guess what the theme is? One of my favorite projects is published in CardMaker January 2010 issue. It's a tin with a set of four cards using Basic Grey stamps and Pink Paislee patterned paper. Two full pages, 18 &19. If you ever want to check out my publications, I have updated photos here. >My Scrapbook Nook blog hop and giveaway is still going on in the post below, make sure and leave a comment for a chance to win.