Sophie Sunday- Halloween Edition

Halloween?  In March?  Well, today's page is a photo of me and Sophie in our matching bumblebee costumes from Halloween 2013, so yes.

Since I had this super fun yellow pawprint paper from the Dog Days kit, I decided to use it as a background.  Usually, Sophie's pages end up having browns as the neutral, but for this page I decided to go full on bumblebee and pulled out every black embellishment I had.

I liked the title on the vellum piece because really- what's LESS bad to the bone than a lady and her dog dressed up like bumblebees to hand out candy for their first Halloween in a neighborhood?  I adhered it with Queen and Co washi tape, one of my favorite tricks for vellum.  Since I had this super cute Project Life 3x4 card, I decided to round the corners on the vellum and the picture too. 

Next I added the little sticker in the bottom corner.  I'm sure it's something similar to what my husband was thinking when he saw me coming down the stairs with my homemade bee antennas. 

For the last touch, I felt like there needed to be something breaking up the darkness between the photo and the Project Life card, so I cut out a yellow dog tag from an embellishment page and tucked it right in there.

Die cut station

I'm back with an update on my craft room organization!  I've been having some trouble adjusting to my schedule with my new job, and it's been making it difficult for me to create anything.  I'm hoping that once the weekend's here the inspiration will strike.  Anyway, until then, here's what's new in my room. ;)

The number one thing that I wanted to change about my new craft room from the set up at my old house was that I wanted a die cut station.  I knew that I would use my Cricut and my Cameo both more often if they were out, plugged in, and set up rather than having to get them out, make room on the table, and set them up every time I needed them.  I spent the whole summer that we were in the apartment scouring Pinterest getting ideas.  I found ideas using tables, using desks, using old dressers.  All I knew was that I wanted it to be long enough to fit both machines and the laptop in the middle, and that it needed to be deep enough that I could cut without the cutting mats hitting the wall.

             
If you check out the pictures I previously posted, you'll see that I was using a long folding table with piles of things underneath.  That was only temporary, as the table had to be taken out and dragged downstairs every time we had a family gathering at our house.  Plus, it looked janky to have piles of things under a table.

So, my super awesome husband took me to Home Depot, and a few short hours later....Voila!

They're two kitchen cabinets that he hooked together...somehow.  I think it involved a power drill. I may have fallen asleep on the floor snuggling with Sophie.  He put on a white countertop and some nickel hardware I picked out.  We haven't put the white toe-kick on yet, or the white covers for the ends of the counter.  That's a project we're saving for some weekend when we are too busy to tackle any bigger house projects.  But it's functional, and it's organized, and it's just the right height that I don't have to bend over to use my cutting machines, so I'm happy!

Sophie Sunday

Today's scrapbook page is one of the most hated by dogs- a trip to the groomer!  I tried out various groomers when we moved up here, and one of the ones I tried texted me these pictures to make sure Sophie's length was right.  How cute is she up on that little grooming table?

I used some plain cream cardstock for the background- one of my favorite backgrounds because it gives me so much freedom- and layered on some patterned paper from I believe the Imaginisce Good Dog line.  The orange title block and the orange journaling block are from the same line.

The green polka dot paper is from DCWV, and green sticker is from Reminisce, and the enamel dots are probably MME.  The little felt bone at the bottom is from Queen and Co, I think. The problem with picking up any dog themed scrapbook supplies you find is that you tend to forget who made them!

Silhouette Challenges #11 "Create you Own Scene Card"

It's the time for another challenge over at

Ch# 11 Create you Own Scene Card

Begins: Saturday, March 1

Ends: Monday, March 31

A blog dedicated to the Silhouette Cutting Machines.

You MUST use a Silhouette somehow in your project.

Sponsor this month is:

My Crafting Channel

Tiny Tags Metal Dies by My Craft Spot

When I thought about a scene card, I immediately decided that I wanted that to include some printing and cutting to make the background.  I started by drawing a rectangle in the size of the mat I would put on an A2 card and filling it with blue.  Then I drew an oval (for a hill) and filled it with green and overlaid it over the blue.  I knew that I could cut it down with my trimmer after it was printed, so I didn't worry about the part that was bigger at the bottom.  Next, I used a title and a castle from the Lettering Delights Once Upon a Time SVGs.  

Next, it was time for the prince and princess.  I used the yellow dress princess from More Happily Ever After and the prince from Happily Ever After, both from Lettering Delights.  I re-colored the princess' dress to pink, because that's what I wanted it to be. I included a screen cap of the way my mat looked once it was ready for the printer.

After it was printed, I cut it with my Cameo.  Then I layered the prince and princess in front of the scene (confession: they were planned to be farther over, but my printer was being a jerk and made a big smudge both times I printed in the same place so I just used the prince to cover the smudge.  Flexibility!)

I also inked up the edges of the sky and grass using some Distress Inks.  I used some stickles and a gem on the princess' dress and also a few gems off to the side of the card to make it feel more balanced.

I really hope you'll all take the time to join us and play along with our scene card challenge at Silhouette Challenges!

Hop on over and link up your project today.

CLICK HERE

Welcome Little One

When you're my age, you tend to get invited to a lot of baby showers.  Here's a cute card I made using the Baby Steps Cricut cartridge and a stamp by Jaded Blossom.

To get full glitter coverage on the baby's onsie and bow, I ran them through my Xyron for adhesive.  Then I just glittered them up with American crafts glitter!  Easy peasy.  I love to use this cut with glitter.  I've done this on the boy cut from the same cartridge, with blue glitter, as well.

The cheeks were cut in peach and have pink chalk on them.  I could have cut them out of pink paper, but I had just picked up a set of chalks and wanted to try them out.  It was pretty fun!

The border running up the left side is from Doodlebug Design.  I have 4 sets of borders that I bought for some scrapbooking projects and I also use them on cards, on occasion.

I'll be entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Glitter it!

Sophie Sunday

Today's scrapbook layout was a fun one for me to make.  It wasn't so fun for Sophie to experience, I don't think...so I guess that's the day I became one of those scrapbooking moms whose kid (or furkid) is in distress and stops to take a picture before helping.  Sophie had managed to sneak behind the gate and into our bedroom while I was gone, but then couldn't get back out and ended up trapped in there for a few hours until I got home.

I started with a simple piece of blue cardstock.  Since I had the really cute Bella Blvd chipboard that said "trouble maker,"  I decided to use that to dictate my color scheme.  I found this ribbon border in my stash and ran it along the top and bottom of the page.  I also found a project life card that was perfect for the colors, so I added that next to the photo.  I don't do regular project life pages about Sophie too often, so I like to be able to use these cards on her traditional pages too.

I had the little sticker about forgiveness that I added directly on some dead space on the photo, and after I added my journaling at the bottom I still felt like something was missing, so I added this little guy from Imaginisce's Good Dog collection on foam dots.

Doily card

It is Thursday already?  This week has flown by!  I'm getting prepared to start a new job (I guess I've started, technically, but I don't get paid for the work I'm doing this week) and with all of the trips back and forth to my new office to get everything set up, I'm getting all discombobulated.  I had gotten used to all my time in my craft room.  I'm sure once I get used to living on a schedule again everything will calm down, but until then I'm happy I managed to snag a little while to make this card.

My mom's birthday is coming up so when I saw the challenge at Simon Says Stamp for a card for a special lady, I thought it was a great time to make her birthday card.  I wanted to use some new supplies, so first I pulled out the Maggie Holmes embossing folder and embossed some white cardstock.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of the look of embossed white cardstock.  Next, I put some gold washi tape along the middle of the card.  I used We R Memory Keepers gold, and layered the two slimmer tapes in a row of three.  When I saw that the gold washi tape had arrived at my Local Scrapbook Store, I hustled right over there and bought them all (...and possibly a few sheets of the gold vellum from that collection...and a ton of other stuff too.)

The doily that's on top of the washi tape I cut with my Cameo.  It's a file from Echo Park (Design ID #32385) that I bought from the Silhouette Online Store.  I removed the cuts in the center of the doily so it would have a solid center.  The shadow was cut on white cardstock and then sprayed with Heidi Swapp Gold spray so it shimmers.  Then I stamped the word "Mom" from an AmyR stamp set in gold ink.  I put the whole thing on a piece of kraft paper.

In person, the gold colors match a lot more closely.  I can't figure out why all of my photos made the stamping look so yellow, but I'm going to blame it on the lack of sunshine to photograph by, because that's what we blame everything on around here right now.  ;)

This card is being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Mother's Day or Special Girl challenge.

Sophie Sunday

Happy Sunday!  Today I have a fun layout about Sophie riding in the car.  I was feeling kind of minimalist the day I made this layout, but I still think it came out well.

I used a simple piece of DCWV paper for the background, and then cut the pictures down so there would be a border around them.  I also cut two pieces of blue paper from the Deja Views Dog Days scrapbook kit for the other two squares.  I embellished each of the pictures with some stickers from my stash, and called them done. 

On the top blue square I used a piece of vellum from the Dog Days kit with some Queen and Co washi tape holding it in place.  Then on the bottom square, I did my journaling and then used another piece of the washi tape for balance.  I added a little circle I punched from green paper and put an epoxy circle over as my embellishment in that square.

Rainbow tag

I've been so inspired lately by Kristina Werner's recent videos using her Distress Inks to make watercolor backgrounds (you can find her YouTube channel here if you're interested).

Even though it was kind of out of my norm, I thought it was so beautiful that I decided to give it a try.  I made it pretty simple, since it was my first attempt.  I was kind of afraid I'd mess it up, so instead of stamping and embossing the images first, I did the background first.  When I was happy with how the background looked (and I was sure it was dry!), I stamped a cupcake from Jaded Blossom's "Hey Cupcake" set and the sentiment from The Stamps' of Life's "birthday4cookie" set.  I heat embossed them, and then I added a couple of white pearls on the top. 

I punched the bottom with a border punch for a little interest.  I wasn't 100% in love with it for some reason, so I sprayed it with some Mr. Hueys Shine.  It gave it a little shimmer, added a few splotches that I love on the ink, and really brought out the color in the background.

My last step was that I added a multicolor ribbon at the top.  As I look at the picture, I realize I don't love how the ribbon matches the tag in the image, but in person I'm really happy with how it looks.

It was fun to try something a little different!

This tag is being entered into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- "Tag It." 

Special Challenge- Use a Sketch File

"Special Challenge - Use a Sketch File" over at

This is in addition to our regular monthly challenge.

DT members were not required to participate.
We have 8 participating.

Sponsor is:

My Crafting Channel

Winner will receive:
Silhouette Printable Clear Sticker Paper

For your inspiration I created this

Welcome to our special challenge!  I've had the sketch markers for my cameo for awhile- I got a few in the package when I bought my Cameo and my husband got me another pack for my birthday last year.  I used them once to see how they worked and then they got stuck away, which is so sad because they're really fun.  That's why I was so happy to see that we were having a special Sketch pens challenge!

For this challenge, I decided to use this beautiful tulip I found in the Silhouette Online Store.  It was an extra challenge for me, because I realized I wanted to use two different pens and had no idea how to!  I’m sure there’s a very easy way to do it, much easier than what I ended up doing.  I ended up using the Divide feature to split the image.  Then I grouped the pink part and grouped the green part.  Then I moved the pink part off the mat, drew the green, moved the pink back into place and the green off the mat, and drew the pink part.  Like I said, I’m sure there’s an easier way- but this way worked!
After that I just cut the white cardstock down, cut some green patterned paper to go behind it, matted it on the pink card, and added the gems.  So easy, but so cute!

If you have sketch pens or have been wanting a reason to buy them, join us in this special challenge!  There will be more special challenges periodically throughout the year to help us use up those Silhouette goodies that we get and then forget to use, so keep an eye on the blog!

Now hop on over to see what my DT sister have created for you inspiration and to link up your Sketch File projects.

CLICK HERE

Birthday Chick

Howdy!  Today I've got a card that's going into my ever-dwindling "birthday cards" stash.  This time of year I use up almost all of the birthday cards I make all year long!

It's an A2 card with some patterned paper from a DCWV stack.  I layered a heart doily on top of it and used a piece of washi tape (over white paper so you can see the pattern) as an accent.

The bird was cut from Create a Critter 2.  The Create a Critters are my favorite series of cartridges because the cuteness is just the type of style I love to create with!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Fantabulous Cricut- Pick a Holiday
Bitten by the Bug 2- Your favorite cartridge
Craftin' Desert Divas- Birthday

Sophie Sunday

Today's scrapbook layout is one of my favorite pictures.  My husband says it makes Sophie look too mean, with her teeth out and her talon-like toenails holding on to her rawhide, but I still like it.

I used a piece of paper from my very first dog themed scrapbook supplies- the DCWV dog kit.  I layered a simple piece of blue cardstock over it for some vertical balance.  Along the bottom,  I tucked in a polaroid from Dear Lizzy's Neapolitan collection. The heart next to it is a wood veneer by Studio Calico, which I colored red and then covered with red stickles.  Since I used that heart, I wanted to make sure every embellishment area had some red in it.

The journaling circle is from Imaginisce's Good Dog line, and the little red paw print below it is a die cut from Paper Smooches.  I used a sticker from a Paper Studio sticker set and a felt hydrant from Queen and Co at the top.