Happy Birthday, All Star!

Hi there!  Wow, it HAS been a while since I posted!  I have been so busy playing with the Creative Memory Storybook Creator as I try to catch up with scrapbooking my family's pics.  But more on that on another post.  Today, I am sharing with you all a birthday card I created for my nephew's 10th birthday this Wednesday - and yes, he plays baseball!    I am linking this up to a couple of challenges, which are ending soon (better late, than never!) (1) Going Buggy [kid's birthday theme], and (2) The Cuttlebug Spot [easel card].   This is actually my first time making an easel card and it was fun! 

This card is roughly 6 x 6.  This is the side view of the card.

The mitt and the ball were from the Boys Will Be Boys cart.  I started by welding the shadows of the images on my Gypsy to create the card base.  Then I cut the welded images in black, and an extra shadow layer for the ball, also in black, as you can see below.

I then folded the the welded circle in, to create the easel effect, as you can see below.

I then assembled the top layers.  I embosssed the mitt with the Tiny Bubbles CB folder and did faux stitching around the images with a white Sakura gel pen.  The "10"  on the baseball and the "All Star" on the inside of the card (as well as their shadow layers) were cut on the Cameo, using the Broadway font.  The "10" was embossed with the Swiss Dots CB folder.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was also cut on the Cameo, using a pre-welded image from the Silhouette Store. 

Here's a close-up of the inside of the card.

And here's the card folded up.

Hope you liked my project for today.  Thanks for looking! 

Turn your umbrella upside down

My SIL's birthday is this Friday so I thought I'd get started on her card early.  I am also entering this card in a couple of challenges this week, (1) Polka Doodles [Pretty in Pink Challenge] and (2) Fantabulous Cricut [April Shower - umbrella, clouds, or rain challenge].  This card is an A2 sized card. 

Here's a side view of the card:

For the front of the card, I cut the umbrella from the American Alphabet cart that came in pre-loaded on my AE2.  I cut the blackout and the top layers two times and put them together using foam mounts for depth.  I attached a strip of ribbon in the middle of the top layers.

The three rolled flowers were from the Art Philosophy cart.  The presents were cut free-hand from my stash of scraps.  I used one of the border folders from the  With Love CB border folders for the flowers on the side of the front and Swiss Dots CB folder for one of the presents.  I used twine for the presents.  I also used a doily MS puncher and Recollections rhinestones. 

Here is a look at the finished inside of the card - I used the same MS doily puncher for the matching cardstock. 

The sentiment on the outside and the inside of the card were printed and cut using the print and cut feature of the Silhouette Cameo.

I sized a box cut line for the inside sentiment by 4.125 x 5.375 inches, then wrote my sentiment inside this box cut line.  The sentiment in the front of the card is seen on the bottom of the screen and it says "Yep, better keep that umbrella turned upside down..." using the Abbeyline font.  The sentiment in the box that will go inside the card reads "...'cause you're bound to be showered with gifts today" , and "Have a wonderful Birthday" using the Harrington and Before the Rain fonts, respectively.   I did not put a box cut line around the sentiment for the front of the card because I thought I had a die to cut it with but ended up cutting it with a pair of scissors. 

Thanks for looking! 

My first paper-digital hybrid LO

Hi there!  Today I'm sharing with you a 2-page 12x12 LO I created using the Creative Memory Storybook Creator 4.0 I recently purchased through a Creative Memory Consultant Diane Campbell Payne.  She is also a very talented crafter who has a blog called Capadia Designs, which some of you may already be aware of.  She took the time to explain to me (I love that about her!) what this digital scrapbook software can do and gave me the link to download the 30-day trial version.  Not long after that, I purchased the full version as it is on sale till the end of this month.  I also downloaded the free trial of the Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 about a week before I downloaded the Storybook Creator but to me, the Storybook was easier to navigate.  Maybe I'll invest in the PSE software someday, but for now I am really liking the Storybook software.

I would also like to link this project to the Bugbyte's April Blog Hop Challenge, which started today.  I just finished hopping and let me tell you guys, there are a lot of inspiration along the way!  So glad to see lots of scrapbook LOs on this hop. 

 Below are screen shots of the two page LOs I created using the SC software.   I am slowly learning the fun ways of layering the different elements on a layout.  It is so much fun! 

After I was happy with the way my two pages look, I sent them to print on matte/lustre 12 x 12 photo paper through my local Costco.  I made sure to save my pages as a .jpg images before I sent them to Costco.com.

A few hours later, I was so excited to pick up my scrapbook pages!  This is how they looked like.  So very impressed with the quality of print at Costco!

Since I love some kind of texture on my LOs, I knew I wanted to jazz these pages up.  I took the hint from my blogger friend Sabrina over at Sabriolet Designs when she posted here about how she can import .jpg images onto the Silhouette Studio to plan her scrapbook pages.   Genius I say!  So, I imported the .jpg copy of my scrapbook pages to the Silhouette Studio and planned my paper elements to embellish my pages. 

The only cut I really wanted for these two pages were borders on the sides of the pages.  The border is one of a set of four purchased through the Silhouette Store, and is by Samantha Walker.  I ungrouped the four borders in the set and deleted all but this one border I wanted to use. For the purpose of showing you the image on screen, I flood-filled the border images with the color purple.  I used the offset feature for the shadow layer of the borders, then cut the borders and the shadow layers using my Silhouette Cameo. 

After assembling the borders, I added some Card Candis and then adhered them to the pages using foam mounts. 

I then added some green sticker gems to the butterflies and half pearls to the lace . 

can you believe this lace is digital? 

I had so much fun putting these pages together using my new digital scrapbook software.  I have already collected (hoarded, is really the word I was looking for LOL!) tons of FREE digital elements and papers it's slowly becoming overwhelming.  But hey, at least they are not on my craft table for my hubby to complain about ;). 

Until next time!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Easter Baskets

Hi there!  I hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a wonderful time with their loved ones.  Ours was good.  We had an impromptu gathering at our house for the first time on Easter (I normally don't like hosting family gatherings at my house because I hate cleaning up before, during and after LOL!).  Today I'm sharing a couple of Easter baskets I put together for my kids' teachers. 

The baskets were cut using the Silhouette Cameo, and are both cut designs by Samantha Walker, purchased through the Silhouette Store for 99 cents each.  Each basket was cut using an old double sided 12 x 12 K & Company cardstock I have had for a long time.  Below is a picture of the baskets before I decorated the outside with some K & Company butterfly die cuts and some Prima flowers and brads.

 
And this is how one of the baskets looked after I cut.  I love how the Cameo cut the little details! (I'm using a 12 x 12 Cricut mat on the Cameo as I find it more forgiving than the Cameo mat). 

Inside the baskets, I put three paper eggs and stuffed them with some chocolate eggs.  The paper eggs were also designs purchased from the Silhouette store for 99 cents each (I used 2 different designs), again by Samantha Walker. 

I wanted to thread some twine to close the top of the paper eggs so I added circles  to the paper egg design, as you can see below.

And here are closeups of the paper eggs.  I strung some beads to the ends of the twine.  I believe I was able to stuff each paper egg with 7 chocolate eggs.  Yum!

BTW I may or may not be back for a few days.  I have been stuck in my craftroom for the better part of the last five days learning the ways of digital scrapbooking.  I am trying to get a handle of the thousands of digital pictures I have taken over the past  4 years.  I have downloaded the trial versions of the Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and the Creative Memories Storybook Creator 4.0.  I have finally decided on the CM software as it is more intuitive IMHO.  I also know I will continue to love the texture paper scrapbooking provides, and therefore will most likely do digital and die-cut hybrid pages.  I just sent in my first digital 12 x 12 scrapbook pages to print at my local Costco and will show you guys how they turn out - I'm so excited! 

Until next time.....thanks once again for stoping by!

Polkadoodles Easter Blog Hop Entry

Hi there!  I can't believe Easter is almost here!  I put together a bunch of Easter goody bag treats for my kids to give out to their classmates this Thursday (they're off for Good Friday).  I am also linking this project for the Polkadoodles Easter Blog Hop going on now through this Sunday noon, with the Easter theme. 

The goody bags were each filled with three different "eggs" treat containers I purchased from Walmart.  A few containers were actually shaped like cupcakes.  We (my kids helped, of course) put together a total of 35 bags. Here's a closeup of a couple.  The ones with the green tags are for my DS's class and the ones with the yellow tags are for my DD's class. 

The tags were created using an image from the Silhouette Store, cut with the Cameo.  This particular image is one of a set of four by Jamie Koay.  The image was cut using the print and cut feature on the Silhouette Studio because I wanted to put "Blessed Easter" and my kids' names on the tags. 

Here's a screen shot of the tags in Silhouette Studio.  I used the Angelica font, and flood-filled the font with black ink before sending the page to print in my printer. 

 This is how the page looks like after printing.  The red marks shown in the screen above did NOT print because they are cut lines.  (yes, I am using a 12 x 12 Cricut mat on my Cameo because you can!)

Since the Cameo knows that this is a print and cut job, it will look for those registration marks on the page before cutting.  I did not want the letters cut out, just the tags, so I made sure I deleted the sentiments in the Silhouette Studio before I loaded the mat and hit cut on the Cameo.

So this is what the tags looked like all cut.  Again, the yellow tags are for my DD's class and the green ones are for my DS's class.  The tags were cut using yellow/gold and green Recollections cardstock from Michaels.

 

I used the Off-set feature on the Silhouette Studio to create a shadow for the tags and cut those with a K & Company double-sided cardstock.  I wanted to put a button in each finished tag before I thread a strand of twine on the back but the holes on the tags were too small for the back of the buttons to slip in nicely, so I used an old Fiskars hole puncher I have had for years.  This particular one is flower shaped.

Now the back of the buttons fit nicely onto the tags.  I threaded the twine onto the buttons through the back of the tags and voila!  Hope you like my project for the Polkadoodles challenge hop - that was a fun one!  I'll be back in a few days to share with you all the ones I've made for my kids' teachers.  Have a pleasant day!

Marissa's 18th Birthday Card

So I was commissioned to make an 18th birthday card for my SIL's niece who just turned 18 over the weekend and this is what I came up with.  I know of this young lady and wanted to make a special card befitting her sweet personality.  This is a roughly 4.25 x 9 inches card.  The base of the card was cut with the Cricut using the Art Philosophy cart.  The image is another digi stamp from Scapper's Delights which I colored with Prismacolor colored pencils, then cut with a Nestability scalloped oval die.  The doily mat under this image was an image from the Silhouette Studio Store, and was cut with the Cameo. The envelope is from the Wild Card cart. 

Here's a few closeups of the card.  Doesn't this image look so sweet?! 

I added some glittered glue to her dress.  I embellished with some Prima flowers, half pearls and swirly pearl stickers by Recollections, a home-dyed crinkled ribbon and a home-made stick pin.

I so adore this glass bead!  If you click on the photo you can see

that there's images of pink roses inside. 

The inside of the card was left blank so that my SIL can write her own birthday wishes for this young lady.  I did use a swirly flower stamp in one corner using an Inkadinkado stamp.  All patterned cardstocks used were by K & Company. 

Hope the birthday celebrant liked the card.  Thanks once again for stopping by.