Blinging in the New Year!

I hope everyone is having some nice holiday time with their loved ones this week! We had a lovely Christmas weekend with family. The kids have been very busy playing with their new games, LEGOs, crafty things, and reading their new books. It's a huge blessing that, even though I have to work this week, working from home means I still get to watch them play and eat lunch with them and hubby too.

My family is so sweet to spoil me with tons of crafting goodies every holiday. (Yes, I received Copic markers for my fifteenth wedding anniversary!) This Christmas was no exception, so I will have lots of new things to share with you here, including the patterned paper I used on today's card.

This week I'm hosting the last Crafty Secrets challenge for 2010. We are "blinging" in the New Year with all kinds of shiny, sparkly, glittery things on our projects. Here's my sample card:


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Images booklet
Patterned Paper - DCWV - Natural Mat Stack
Glitter Glue - Stickles - Copper
Organza Ribbon - Paper Wishes
Vintage Button - courtesy of my antique dealer dad (Thanks, Dad!)

BTW, have you seen Crafty Secrets new Web site yet? It's not quite done yet, but you can already see that it's beautiful and much easier to navigate. Be sure to go over and take a look!

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!
Hugs,
Marcy

Christmas Critters

One of the things I love about card making is finding just the right images to use for the card recipients. Here are some Christmas cards I made recently using images I think the recipients will love.

This card is for my daughter's second-grade teacher. This soft-spoken, wonderful lady is so sweet and so dedicated to her job. She has two pet bunnies at home, so I made her this soft, sweet bunny card.

Details:
Stamps - Stampin' Up! - Forest Friends (bunny)
Cricut cartridge - Winter Woodland (tree)
Patterned paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Gina K. Designs - Pure Luxury Cardstock (white); Bazzill (blue-green); Core'dinations (brown)
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (Stardust); adhesive half pearl - unknown

Here's a card for my best friend who loves her black lab. The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil. Maureen Manning is an amazing illustrator, and her whimsical images are pure joy to color!



Details:
Digistamp - Mo's Digital Pencil - Christmas Lab
Stamp - Papertrey Ink - Mixed Messages
Ink - Versafine black
Cardstock - Gina K Designs - Pure Luxury Cardstock (white); K&Company - Fresh Paint (red)
Patterned Paper - Provocraft
Markers - Copic Sketch

This next card is for my boss and her family. I'm always on the lookout for images that play on the name of our company, and this squirrel image from Mo's Digital Pencil is too sweet to resist.


Details:
Digistamp - Winter Delivery - Mo's Digital Pencil
Stamp - Stampin' Up! - Favorite Teddy Bear
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - Darice (white); K&Company - Fresh Paint (red)
Ink - Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso
Ribbon - Paper Wishes
Markers - Copic Sketch

Thanks for taking time out of your Christmas preparations to stop by today!

Hugs,
Marcy

Vintage Santas

Growing up the daughter of an antique dealer/collector, it's no surprise that I have an affinity for most things vintage. I especially like using vintage images in my paper crafting, and these vintage Santa images from Crafty Secrets (check out their wonderful new Web site!) are particularly fun to use.

Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Art Studio set
Sticker - Cosmo Cricket - Just Your Holiday Type
Patterned Paper - DCWV - Recycled Stack
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Ink - Versafine; Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (Platinum); 3-d Crystal Lacquer - Sakura; edge distresser - Tonic


Appropriately, this one was hand delivered to my Dad today!

Details:
Main Image & Calendar - Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Calendar Creative Scraps
Sticker - Cosmo Cricket - Just Your Holiday Type
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - K&Company - Fresh Paint (red); Core'dinations
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; SU! Cherry Cobbler
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (platinum & stardust); seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; vintage button (from my antique dealer Dad & his friends - thanks!); edge distresser - Tonic



Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Patterned Paper - unknown
Cardstock - Core'dinations; K&Company
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; ink daubers - Memories Direct (green & gold)
Accessories - holly punch - Martha Stewart; markers - Copic Sketch; white gel pen - Sakura; seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday!
Marcy

Medallion for Music Teacher

In between nursing sick kiddos (they are both on the mend now), work, and all of the special events that happen this time of year, I've still managed to get some Christmas crafting done.

I made this paper medallion for my daughter's music teacher this morning, while Shannon was getting ready for school. I think these will be my go-to gift this year for all those special people I want to give a little something to along with their Christmas cards. Some will be Christmas-themed, and some (like this one) will be geared to the recipients' interests. For instructions on how to make these medallions, check out Lisa Zappa's fabulous blog, here.



Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Birds & Botanicals Images & Journal Notes booklet
Patterned paper - K&Company - Life's Journey
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Altered Art set
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories - Scor-Pal; seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; scalloped circle punch - Martha Stewart; eyelet - Making Memories; sponge - Darice

Hope you're able to slow down a little today and appreciate the season!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Little Birthday Goose

Well, you've heard of Christmas goose - how about a little birthday goose?

On the Crafty Secrets member forum this week, Lori Lynn is challenging us to use musical elements on our projects. I love this quirky goose image from Crafty Secrets' Wacky Animals Creative Scraps. I think she's perfect for singing "Happy Birthday" to my mum, who has a pond full of ducks & geese at her house.


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Wacky Animals Creative Scraps
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Sweet Kids (sentiment)
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen & Tea Dye
Accessories - trim - Wrights; musical ribbon - unknown; vintage button; Pop Dots; glitter glue - Stickles (burgundy)

Wishing you a lovely, inspired weekend ahead!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Purrr-fect Birthday

The Pink Stamper has a challenge this week to make Cricut birthday cards, which happens to coincide perfectly with my dear sister-in-law's birthday today! Hi, Megan! *waves* Hope you have a wonderful day! :)

Meg loves pink & cats, so that drove my inspiration for this card. The images are from the new Wal-Mart-exclusive Cricut Lite cartridge, Four-Legged Friends, which has so many great animal images on it and is perfect for pet lovers.

Sorry about the photo quality. We've been dumped on with lake-effect snow here in Western Pennsylvania, and the available light in the house is pretty dreary. IRL that ribbon is not red at all but the same burgundy as the cardstock.

I do love how the patterned paper looks like a linoleum tile floor!



Details:
Cricut Cartridge - Four-Legged Friends
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Patterned Paper - Chatterbox
Stamps - Word Stamp Kit - Magnetic Poetry
Ink - SU! Bravo Burgundy
Pearlescent Chalk - Pebbles Inc.
Ribbon - Offray

Thanks for coming by today! Stay warm!

Hugs,
Marcy

Northern Hearts Redwork Card

I am so pleased to share this card with you this morning! Every year my husband asks me to create a simple Christmas card that he can hand out to all of his associates on various boards, committees, etc. on which he serves. This is the card I've designed for this year.


It is a CAS (clean and simple) design, using the Stampin' Up! Northern Hearts hostess set and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages set. I'll tell you what CAS card designs are not for the faint of heart. You have to be very confident in your stamping abilities because mistakes are easily noticeable and hard to cover up. The only thing I typically measure is the card front and some mat layers; otherwise, I eyeball everything. Measuring kind of takes some of the fun out of card making for me. For this design, I just ink up the stamps, take a deep breath, and start stamping!

Hope you're having a great day today, and thanks for spending part of it with me!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Santa Medallion & Christmas Mice

It's been quite busy at our house during the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to squeeze in some crafty time this weekend.

I was so excited to try making these paper medallions that Lisa Zappa showed on her blog: http://shabbychickjunk.blogspot.com/2010/12/crafty-secrets-december-guest-designer.html
They looked much more complicated than they are and are so fun to make!

Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas & Journal Notes booklet
Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Core'dinations & Bazzill
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; SU! - Early Espresso
Glitter glue - Stickles

Here are a couple of Christmas cards I made for Shannon's violin & music teachers, using Crafty Secrets' Mouse Party set. Looks like these sweet mice are getting ready for their Christmas concert!

I hope in the busyness of the holidays that you are able to take some time and enjoy some quiet moments too!

Hugs,
Marcy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! For all the many blessings God has provided, may we be truly thankful.

Marcy

Playing with Cricut & Gypsy

Last month I was fortunate enough to have won a Gypsy courtesy of Provo Craft and Michele Kovack's wonderful blog. Michele is a consummate papercrafter, and her designs and attention to detail are always inspiring.

I really have enjoyed getting to know my Gypsy over the past few weeks, planning projects while waiting at parent pick up at school, and exploring the features on my cartridges. A few of the functions I like best about the Gypsy is the ability to work with several cartridges at once on the same project, the ability to search for images in the cartridge library (even ones you don't own), and the ability to see the exact measurements (height and width) of the images you are using.

This week, I am hosting the Crafty Secrets member forum at Splitcoast Stampers. We are playing with shapes this week - die cuts, punches, templates, stencils, etc. For my Let It Snow sample card, I cut various snowflakes on my Cricut Expression using the Winter Woodland cartridge.


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes booklet
Stamps - See D's - Flurries set
Ink - Memories Direct - Ink Dauber - Orchid
Cardstock - Bazzill & Core'dinations
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Snowflakes - Cricut Expression & Winter Woodland cartridge
Accessories - trim - Wrights; half pearls - unknown


I designed the card below on my Gypsy while waiting at parent pick up at my kids' school. I made several of these for my daughter as birthday thank yous for relatives. I love the simple, bold design on this with the bright colors and sweet little hedgie - as my dh said, "It's so very 'Shannon!'"

Details:
Hedgehog - Cricut Create a Critter cartridge
Sentiment - Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge
Cardstock - Bazzill (pink & blues); DCWV (red); Gina K. Designs (white)
Patterned paper - K&Company (Berry Sweet)
Accessories - brads - Making Memories; Pop Dots; pearlescent chalk - Pebbles Inc.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Marcy

Tree & Mouse

I stopped chasing dust bunnies at my house long enough to play with this sweet, little mouse from Crafty Secrets' Mouse Party set. This week on the Crafty Secrets member forum on Splitcoast Stampers, Darlene challenged us to use lace on our projects. My daughter, Shannon, suggested I flip the lace with the scallops up, so that the mouse looks like he's sitting in the snow.



Details:
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Mouse Party
Cricut cartridge - Christmas (tree)
Patterned paper - DCWV - Berry Street Farmer's Market
Cardstock - Core'dinations; Gina K. Designs (natural)
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo & Tea Dye; SU! - Cherry Cobbler
Accessories - lace; Pop Dots; markers - Copic Sketch; paper fastener; tinsel glitter - Martha Stewart

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
Marcy

Christmas Crafting

Although I don't want to skip Thanksgiving crafting altogether, I do know I need to start my handmade Christmas items sooner rather than later. So I've been squeezing in a few Christmas projects here and there in the midst of this beautiful autumn weather.

Here are a couple of projects I did this weekend:

Details:
Main Image: Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Stamps: Crafty Secrets - Snowbunnies set (snowflake); Anna Griffin (sentiment)
Ink: Stampin' Up! - Cherry Cobbler & River Rock
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! - Deck the Halls
Cardstock: Core'dinations
Accessories: edge distresser - Tonic; branch punch - Martha Stewart; glitter glue - Stickles (Stardust & Burgundy)

A lunch bag gift card holder:

Details:
Main Image: Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Images booklet
Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Too Terrific Tags set
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Patterned Paper: SU! - Deck the Halls; DCWV - Rustic Stack
Cardstock: Core'dinations
Accessories: ribbon, brad, & eyelet - Making Memories

Wishing you all a lovely fall day!
Marcy

I love it when a project comes together!

I am just so tickled with this project that I couldn't wait to share it with you!


I definitely needed some crafting therapy this week, and this project just makes me smile. It was so much fun to make - one of those rare flurry-of-activity crafting moments when I can't get the supplies in my hands fast enough. (I'm usually a very slow, methodical crafter.)

Details:
Santa on a Scooter image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes booklet
Kids with Tree image - Crafty Secrets - Calendar Creative Scraps
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Snowbunnies (snowflake); See D's - Nightingale (flourishes)
Vintage flash cards (courtesy of my antique dealer dad - Thanks, Dad!)
Ink - SU! True Thyme & River Rock; Ranger Distress Ink - Fired Brick
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (Stardust); ribbon - Michaels; eyelets (Making Memories)

Thanks for stopping by today!
Marcy

Thinking of You Times Two

This week is my turn to host the Crafty Secrets challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers and in the spirit of the Hope You Can Cling To campaign SCS is sponsoring I decided to go with a "thinking of you" challenge - with a twist.

We are making two cards/projects this week - one for a friend who could use a smile & one to send to patients at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. So the idea is to make the card for your friend, then before clearing off your workspace, use some of the same supplies to make a second card for HYCCT.

Here are the cards I made:


Details:
Main Image & Sentiment - Crafty Secrets - Vintage Photos Creative Scraps
Patterned Paper - K&Company (blue); DCWV - Rustic Stack (beige)
Cardstock - DCWV
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Tea Dye
Accessories - rick-rack - Offray; embroidery floss - DMC; sponge - Darice; brad - unknown


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Little Blessings Creative Scraps
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - A Couple of Cuties (sentiment)
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Patterned Paper - K&Company (blue); DCWV - Rustic Stack (beige); pink script (unknown)
Cardstock - Bazzill (pink)
Accessories - corner punch - Fiskars; glitter glue - Stickles (Stardust); ribbon - unknown

Thank you for stopping by today!
Marcy

Greetings & Kind Thoughts

Sending you all greetings & kind thoughts today!

Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Birds & Blossoms Creative Scraps
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - DCWV
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Forest Moss & Tattered Rose
Button - Jenni Bowlin
Ribbon - The Little Pink Studio
Embroidery Floss - DMC
Glitter Glue - Stickles - Stardust
Sponge - Darice

Turning Eight!

Our dear girl turned eight this weekend during what could basically be called a three-day extravaganza. Lots of good times with family & friends. She cheerfully reminded us that she's now "half-way there!" to driving age. {insert bittersweet sigh here}


Hugs,
Marcy

Little Blessings

Over the weekend I made a couple of cards using Crafty Secrets' new Little Blessings Creative Scraps. To me, these are the perfect blend of sweet images and uplifting sentiments. This is why I love to make cards. At a time when most communications are so, well, wired, making & sending handmade cards feels more personal, more heart to heart. To the recipient, I hope it is a little surprise, a little pause for breathing room, a little art & beauty added to his or her day.

This card is for a card shower that Darlene & her daughter are organizing for a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer. If you would like to participate, I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated. Read more about it here on Darlene's blog.

Details:
Main image: Crafty Secrets - Little Blessings Creative Scraps
Patterned paper: K&Company - Life's Journey
Cardstock: Core'dinations - Nostalgia collection
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Brushed Corduroy
Accessories: ribbon - Basic Basic - Simply Satin; vintage button; crocheted flower - unknown; embroidery floss - DMC; sponge - Darice; corner punch - Fiskars

This card is for my daughter's 8th birthday. The image reminds me of card images & illustrations that were popular when I was a little girl in the seventies. So sweet!

Details:
Main image: Crafty Secrets - Little Blessings Creative Scraps
Stamps: Crafty Secrets: Fairyland (mushroom); Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit (butterflies)
Patterned paper: K&Company
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Forest Moss
Seam Tape Ribbon: Rebecca Sower Designs
Eyelets: Making Memories
Distressing tool: Tonic

Wishing you a lovely day!
Marcy

Saturday Shopping (on Sunday): Custom Crops

Yesterday we spent the day doing what should be done on a beautiful, warm fall day in Western Pennsylvania. Our day was full of parade fun, hayrides, scarecrows, face painting & games, and yummy fall treats.





All that to say that I didn't get around to writing my Saturday Shopping post. Today I want to tell you about Custom Crops. For scrapbookers, cardmakers, and papercrafters, Custom Crops is practically a one-stop shop. They have a great selection: Cricut machines & cartridges, Flower Soft, Grungeboard, and even my all-time favorite stamps, Crafty Secrets. Custom Crops has particularly good prices on Cricut items. This is where I purchased my Expression and many of my cartridges. They frequently have sales and specials on shipping. I really appreciate that they post customer reviews of the products they carry.

Hope you've had a relaxing weekend, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Marcy

Fall Thank You

In the past week, a dear friend of mine & her daughter have treated Shannon to a trip to the apple orchard for cider & ginger muffins with cinnamon cream cheese filling (yes!) & a (very grown up) trip to the local coffee shop for scones & hot cocoa (with "lots of whipped cream, please!"). So I made this little thank you card for them:


Details:
Stamps - Stampin' Up! - Give Thanks; Heidi Grace (thank you)
Patterned Paper - K&Company - Wild Saffron
Cardstock - K&Company - Fresh Paint (red); Gina K Designs (natural); kraft - Value Pack cards
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Accessories - circle punch - SU!; leather twine - unknown; markers - Copic Sketch

Thank YOU for coming by today!
Marcy

You are Precious!

During the month of October, Splitcoast Stampers is sponsoring Hope You Can Cling To, a card drive for breast cancer patients & their family members at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. There will be all kinds of challenges all month, including challenges in the member company forums. For this week's Crafty Secrets challenge, Lori Lynn challenged us to use pink on our cards. I used the new Poppy set from CS to make my card. We have real poppies in our yard every year that bloom this beautiful tea rose color.


Details:
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Poppy
Ink - SU! Cranberry Crisp; Ranger Distress Ink - Tattered Rose
Patterned Paper - K& Company
Cardstock - Core'dinations (deep red); Gina K Designs (natural)
Accessories - markers - Copic Sketch; lace overlay border - Hambly Screen Prints; glitter glue - Stickles (chocolate & stardust); edge distresser - Tonic

Wishing you all a lovely day!
Marcy

Spy Party Preparations

Shortly after Shannon's seventh birthday, maybe even before, she announced that she wanted to have a spy party to celebrate her eighth. After much thought, preparations are now well under way. The invitations were created over the weekend and are being hand-delivered with much excitement at school today.



I created the invitations in Word using various fonts and printed them in mirror image, so the recipients will have to hold them up in the mirror to read them. I tucked the invitations & directions in these 6 x 9" clasp envelopes from Wal-Mart and sealed them with this cute disguise stamp from High Hopes:


We've ordered or purchased all of the spy-type items for the goody bags: funny nose & glasses for disguises, top secret notebooks & pens, magnifying glasses, and flashlights. The games have been decided, and now I just have to gather some props and order a cake!

Thanks for stopping by today ~ your visits mean a lot to me!

Marcy

Saturday Shopping: Stubby Pencil Studio

I spend a lot of my crafting time creating for & with my children, who are five and nearly eight years old, so today I want to share with you one of my favorite online stores for children's art & craft supplies: Stubby Pencil Studio.

This wonderful store offers a wide variety of eco-minded products for kids. Some of our favorite products can be found there: TRIMAX colored pencils, sturdy & whimsical sketchbooks, cards to color, and some of our all-time favorite stocking stuffers.

Pop into Stubby Pencil Studio sometime, pick something up for your kiddos, and maybe even treat yourself to something fun!

Have a happy Saturday!

Marcy

Just Hanging Around

I'm hosting this week's Crafty Secrets member forum challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, and I've chosen "Just Hanging Around" as the theme.

We're making things to hang around the house, around our necks, on presents, and on cards. I made this fall decoration as my challenge sample:


It went together very quickly.

Details:
Stamps: Crafty Secrets - Thanksgiving set
Main Image: Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Images booklet
DP: DCWV - Rustic Stack
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Accessories: chipboard - Vintage Postcard Kit - Crafty Secrets; ribbon - Offray; markers - Copic Sketch; clear glitter pen - Atyou Spica; copper glitter - Martha Stewart; eyelets - Making Memories; distressing tool - Tonic; sponge - Darice

Thanks for stopping by today!
Marcy

Saturday Shopping: The Little Pink Studio

Finding quality crafting items online with reasonably quick & affordable shipping options is rarely an easy task, so I thought I'd start a blog series called Saturday Shopping to share my favorite online stores with you. With Christmas around the corner, I hope this helps you check some items off your shopping list!

The first shop I want to share with you is a gem of a place called The Little Pink Studio. The owner, Cerri, just revamped this fabulous online store and has added some great new inventory and features, like whimsical Crafting with Children items and an Inspiration Gallery. Cerri has impeccable taste in embellishments and stocks her store with scrumptious ribbons, gorgeous glitters, and funky vintage finds.

You can't help but be inspired when browsing her shop "shelves," and it's so tempting to say, "One of everything, please!" I recently ordered the Wild Things rubber stamp set for my daughter's stocking. I have a feeling I'll be borrowing it, though; it's too cute! Oh, and one more thing, she has gift certificates!

Here's a card I created this week, using ribbon from The Little Pink Studio:


Details:

Stamps: Crafty Secrets - Couple of Cuties (image); Sweet Kids (sentiment)
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo & Antique Linen
Patterned Paper: K&Company
Cardstock: Gina K Designs (ivory); K&Company (butter & pink)
Ribbon: The Little Pink Studio
Markers: Copic Sketch

Hope you have a great Saturday and happy shopping!

Marcy

Eat, Drink, & Be Scary!

This is the time of year when it gets a little tricky to be a crafty blogger. I'm making things, but I can't always post them because they are gifts for Christmas & upcoming birthdays.

Well, here is a project that I can post. These are photos of a Halloween party Shannon went to with her classmates last year. I embellished the layout with images from Crafty Secrets' Halloween Images and Journal Notes booklet, added some glitter here and there, and voila! an easy-peasy, practically instant multi-photo layout!



Details:
Images & Journal Blocks - Crafty Secrets - Halloween Images & Journal Notes booklet
Stamps - See D's (spider webs)
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen & Black Soot
Patterned Paper - unknown
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles; ribbon - Offray; border punch - Martha Stewart

Here are some close ups of some of the embellies:



Witchin' you all a wonderful day!
Marcy

Inspirational Journal

Yesterday I had a wonderful time having lunch out & shopping a bit with two of my dearest friends, Karin & Jeannie, celebrating Karin's belated birthday. I made this altered composition book/journal for her as gift, thinking she could use it for her Bible study notes. I love how this one turned out, so soft & shabby.


Details:
Paper - K&Company - Life's Journey (multi-floral); Anna Griffin (striped & pink floral)
Journaling Block - Anna Griffin
Stamps - Papertrey Ink - Everyday Blessings
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Tattered Rose & Antique Linen; Stampin' Up! - Cranberry Crisp
Ribbon - Basic Basic - Simply Satin
Binding Alteration - Gesso; Ranger Distress Crackle Paint (pink); Copic Sketch Marker - Dull Ivory
Fabric Sentiment Sticker - unknown

Wishing you a wonderful Friday!
Marcy

Bookmarks for Butterfly Experts

My daughter's second-grade class has been studying the life cycle of the butterfly, so I made these bookmarks for them over the weekend. Shannon handed them out today, and they were a big hit.
Details:
Cricut Cartridge - Everyday Paper Dolls
Patterned Paper - K&Company - Hopscotch
Cardstock - Bazzil; Core'dinations; Darice
Ribbon - SU! (chocolate); Cosmo Cricket (red twill)
Markers - Copic Sketch (cheeks - Pale Cherry Pink); Sharpie (olive green)

Wishing you a lovely evening!
Marcy

Altered Composition Books for the Kids

I had sooo much fun making these altered composition books for my kiddos.

For Shannon, a notebook to keep track of the chapter books that she's avidly reading:



Details:
Patterned Paper & Chipboard Elements: DCWV - Green Stack Recycled Collection
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Paper
Rub On Letters: Making Memories - Simply Stated Alphabet
Ribbon: Michaels - Basic Basic Ribbon



And for Ronan, a place to keep track of the tall tales he likes to make up:


Details:
Patterned Paper & Chipboard Elements: Basic Grey Archaic Collection
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo
Alphabet Stickers: Making Memories
Rub On Letter: Making Memories - Simply Stated Alphabet
Ribbon: unknown

I plan on spending a lot of time messing about in the craft room today. Hope you have a super day in store too, and thanks for spending part of it here!

Hugs,
Marcy

Back to School!

It's been a busy week here in our household! The kiddos started school on Monday, and my dear hubby started teaching a new class on a new campus Tuesday. I haven't quite gotten used to the new routine yet. Those first few mornings were almost too quiet. I actually had trouble concentrating! :) This morning was quite productive, though, so I'm looking forward to settling into the new schedule.

Here are a couple of cards I made for the kids' teachers:
Details:
Stamps - Imaginisce - Show & Tell Collection
Patterned Paper - K&Company - Carolyn Gavin
Cardstock - Gina K. Designs (ivory); K&Company - Fresh Paint (red)
Accessories - markers - Copic Sketch & Sharpie; Pop Dots


Details:
Stickers - Crafty Secrets - School Time
Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - DCWV
Accessories: border punch - Martha Stewart; ribbon - Foofala; Pop Dots

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Marcy

Altered Composition Book & Porch Project Sneak Peek

Lately on Splitcoast Stampers there has been some buzz about the availability of cheap composition books at big box stores thanks to back-to-school sales. These notebooks are quick & easy to alter and perfect for journals, organizers, etc. The clever crafters at SCS have shown that there really is no end to the usefulness of these books.

I picked mine up at Wal-Mart for 25 cents each and altered mine to keep meeting notes and reminders. I used the Trend K&Company Scrap Pad to Go to alter it, which was great because it had all sorts of useful coordinating elements, like the tabs, frame, mini file folders, etc.



Back view:

I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time here with my journal:


Yep! Remember that porch project we started last year?




We're coming down the homestretch now. Just some touch-up staining on the balusters, staining the ceiling, and some finishing touches here and there - and we're done! I'll definitely share some full-view photos with you when that happens. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,
Marcy