friday...AWDML Crop

I love crops and I hope you do too! I want to invite each and everyone of you to join us at A Walk Down Memory Lane Birthday Crop from Friday March 4-8th. AWDML is turning EIGHT!


The DT will be hosting games, challenges and many PRIZES will be given throughout the Crop weekend! Join us in the Birthday Crop forum for a weekend of fun and games!

monday...trailmakers love song challenge

"Endless Love" by Lionel Ritchie is one of my favorite songs! So it was only fitting that I used it as the title for my layout for the Trailmakers Challenge -to use the song, or part of the song, in your layout.

Here's my layout:

Supplies: cardstock: Gemstones; patterned paper: Pink Paislee, DCWV; embellishments: Jenni Bowlin Studio Buttons; Prima butterfly; flowers: Prima; ink: Tim Holtz; stamps: My Pink Stamper

I cut up the Pink Paislee die cut, distressed it a bit on the edges and used two pieced of it in this layout. I also glimmer misted it to give it some bling! I used a white cardstock as my base which I further layered it unto a black and white My Mind's Eye sheet of paper that I had in my stash. I wanted to keep the background as neutral as possible to make the picture and the red die cut the focus of the layout. I distressed and inked a left over piece of Pink Paislee paper from the The Paper Trail February Kit which had some pinks and greens and fit perfectly there to add some colors to balance the red die cut paper.


I actually used two stamps by My Pink Stamper, our February sponsor, to make the small saying (Love you) next to the Prima flower. Because the stamps are clear, I was able to stamp the word 'you' and then the word 'love' on top to make the new phrase 'love you'.


I handmade my own flourishes using my own tutorial but instead of using the 3D paint directly on the layout, I used a transparency and cut it after it was dry.

I'll leave you with one more close up picture of my layout:


Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today! I appreciate it!

saturday...Best Creation paper used for Diaper Cake

Who says that scrapbooking paper is only for scrapbooking/cardmaking? In this next project I used Best Creation paper to make this diaper cake for a friend of ours.


Supplies: patterned paper: Best Creation Inc.; Other: Martha Stewart butterfly punch, ribbon

I found the instructions for the cake on the web (sorry, I deleted the link from my favorites). I used green baby items (socks, bibs, burp cloths, etc.), tied them with white ribbon, and attached them to the pink strips of paper. I used Martha Stewart butterfly punch and punched out mini butterflies and covered the pink strips with them. I think they add softness and a feminine touch to the cake!

Here are a few more close up pictures of the cake:




Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

tuesday...AWDML Magnolia Feb. 15th reveal!

Today is the 15th, which means that I get to share with you projects featuring Magnolia! Remember that this month featured manufacturers over at A Walk Down Memory Lane are Imaginisce and Magnolia which means that throughout the month you will be able to purchase any (or both!) of these manufacturers and you will receive a 25% off your purchase! Yay for discounts!

12x12 Layout-happy birthday to you!

Supplies: cardstock: Bazzill, Colorbok; patterned paper: DCWV, Imaginisce; Flower: Imaginisce; Stamp: Magnolia Tilda; Other: handmade bling using the i-Rock, handmade thickers

Who said that Tilda stamps are only good for stampers/cardmakers?


I used the Circus Tilda in my birthday layout and I think she looks beautiful in her red dress! I used Diamond Stickles to highlight some parts of her dress, bow and shoes. I made 2 copies of the stamped image and used the second one to layer onto the first one to give it more depth. I have to admit that I freaked out a bit when I heard that I had to work with stamps as I am not a stamper but I'm so glad that I did since I've always wanted to play around with a Tilda stamp. They are so pretty!

ok, going back to the layout...I used some Imaginisce paper here too (recognize the black and white strips of paper?) so I get double browny points for using BOTH of this month's featured manufacturers! LOL

Sorry! Now, going back to the layout...(for real this time!). The red background paper is from DCWV Mariposa Stack (from my stash) and I chose it because my grandma loves red and the pictures are of her birthday! This layout is based on my sketch (sketch_19) and I didn't change much of it.


The circle photo mat I made using a Martha Steward corner punch The journaling strips I designed in Photoshop and then printed them out. The rhinestone flourish is actually done with Imaginisce's i-Rock. Let me tell you, this tool is awesome! For those of you bling lovers out there, this tool is a MUST HAVE!


I cut out a few presents from Imaginisce's Birthday Bash paper and pop dotted them. On one of them I strategically placed Tilda so that it looks like she is sitting on the present. The flowers are also Imaginisce's Bitty Blossoms from their Basic Collection. I cut out a circle, made smaller cuts (5 total) into the circle, stickled the tips, turned the circle into a flower and used this to layer on the Imaginisce's flowers. I also made a tiny rose to layer on the white flowers.


Of course, I handmade the title using my cuttlebug and glittery foam. It's so much cheaper than buying Thickers!

TIP: To make sure that your long title or quote is straight, place the title on the tip of a transparency sheet and then transfer them to the layout.

12x12 Layout-surrounded by Nature

Supplies: cardstock: Bazzill; patterned paper: Basic Grey Curio Collection; letter stickers: Basic Grey Curio Collection;
chipboard: Thickers; ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo; pens: Sharpie; Stamp: Magnolia Tilda

This layout is all about me and how much I love to be outdoors and of course that I used my favorite color combination-green and brown! I got to play with Basic Grey Curio Line and let me tell you, if you thought that it looks good on the screen, it's gorgeous in person!


For this layout I also used the Circus Tilda stamp but this time Tilda is in a blue dress. Doesn't she look sweet? I also layered her and stickled her dress. The orange flowers and vines around her are actually from the patterned paper. I hand cut and stickled them too.

TIP: Before I cut into a new design (flowers, butterflies, leaves, etc.) of pattern paper, I scan the sheet or the piece with the image that I like. That way, I can still keep it in my computer ready to print in case I want to use it again!

Before I forget, this layout is based on a sketch by Lucy which I followed pretty well. The only changed that I made was that I traded the vertical strips of paper on the left side for the flowers and vines.


I distressed and inked the rectangle in the middle which actually acts like a big mat for my pictures. I also distressed a bit more than normal the darker brown paper behind it. I printed the tiny butterflies in semigloss light weight photo paper, cut them out and stickled them to add some bling.

TIP: The lighter brown rectangle is actually the middle of the darker brown rectangle that I cut out. It's the same pattern paper that I just cut out and turned it around. Saves money and paper and you get to see both sides of the patterned paper!

Card-Mother's Day

Supplies: cardstock: DCWV; ink: Tim Holtz; stamp: Magnolia Tilda; Flowers: Imaginisce; other: lace from stash

It's never too early to work on Mother's Day cards so I started early this year and used my little Circus Tilda stamp, dressed in red again, in a Mother's Day card.


I stamped Tilda twice, cut up a few pieced and layered them using pop dots. For the flowers, i cut out some die cuts (sizzix) and layered them with the Imaginisce's flowers, finishing them off with a rhinestone for a center. I added miscellaneous laces and placed Tilda on top of them, as if she was sitting on them. I made the white mat of the circle using a Martha Stewart corner punch. I ran the inside of the circle through my cuttlebug with an embossing plate to emboss it. I then, lightly, ran the Tim Holtz's ink pad on it to distress it a bit. The leaf flourish, as well as the sentiment, are handmade by me. This card is 6"x6" and is ready to give to someone on Mother's Day.

All of these above mentioned items are available from AWDML's store unless stated otherwise.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a wonderful week!

saturday...Best Creation GDT work travel collection

Another project that I made using Best Creation's Travel Collection is an altered picture frame/album.

Here's the before:


Not too bad for a store bought frame but being a scrapper, I had to make it great!

and here is the after:


The paper, chipboard, letter stickers, and arrow are all from the new Best Creation Travel Line. This will house my one year anniversary pictures!

here is a close up of the cover:

Don't forget to check out the other altered projects by the Best Creation DT. They range from paperbag albums to bookmarks to cards!

Thank you for stopping by today!

thursday... Best Creation GDT work travel collection

As the guest designer for the month of February I had the privilege to work with the new wonderful Travel Collection by Best Creation Inc.

Here's my first double page layout:

Supplies: cardstock: DCWV; patterned paper: Best Creation Inc. Travel Collection; embellishment: Sizzix die cuts; Flower: Prima, Recollections; chipboard: Thickers; ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo; Other: handmade butterflies and pearl bling

For my first project using this new line, I made a double layout. I loved the blues and greens and the deep red/brown was perfect for this layout since it matched my husband's shirt in the picture. The pictures are of us leaving Port of Miami on our first year anniversary cruise. When I do double pagers, I like for them to flow so for this layout I used vertical pictures and 1 horizontal picture, all the same size.


I added two embellishment clusters on opposing sides, on the top left and bottom right. I used the wonderful chipboard that it's included in this Travel Collection. It's a great weight and adds a lot of dimension to the layout. I also added some flowers, sizzix flourishes and my fave, handmade pearl flourishes. The travel line paper is so beautiful that I didn't wanted to cover it up with more layers so that's why I kept the background simple. To dress it up I did some machine stitching on it.


The Best Creation paper is a great weight for distressing and fuzzy cutting and best of all, it comes pre glittered! The luggage image on the left side and the compass on the right glittery are very glittery. You can even see it in the picture even though glitter is hard to photograph!

My next layout using this line was a bit more my style.


Supplies: cardstock: DCWV; patterned paper: Best Creation Inc. Travel Collection; embellishment: Prima Die Cut Felt Art, Sizzix die cuts; Flower: Recollections; letter stickers: Best Creation Inc. Travel Collection; chipboard: Best Creation Inc., Making Memories, Thickers; ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo; Other: handmade fabric flower, bling pearls

This is a picture of me in one of the cruise line's private island-our paradise for the day! I shaped the blue die cut paper and distressed the edges with a pair of scissors. I matted the picture in brown and the over a piece of the Best Creation Travel paper which I distressed with water. I added a Prima felt art die cut behind the picture and a Prima packaging piece of cardstock which happened to go perfectly with this line!


Again, I used Best Creations chipboard (tag and flower center) from the Travel Collection which are just marvelous! I embellished with flowers, the white fabric one was handmade by me, some chipboard flourishes by Making Memories, fuzzy cut leaves, camera sticker from the Travel Collection.


Last but not least, I finished it off with a handmade butterfly and pearl flourish.


For the title I used Best Creation's letter stickers, which I hand-stitched a line through it, for the word paradise and Thickers for the word found.

Thank you so much for taking your time to stop by my blog today! Have a wonderful rest of the day and week!

monday...trailmakers recipe challenge

Well, today is my first post over at TrailMakers Challenge Blog! If you haven't checked out the new challenge, I recommend you do because it's so much fun!



We also have a new sponsor for the month of February! My Pink Stamper will be sponsoring us this month and throughout the month you will see the how the DT used My Pink Stamper's stamps in all the projects and layouts featured this month.





I just LOVE recipe challenges! They are one of my favorite challenges and isn't the February Kit just to die for!? I had so much fun playing with the yummy papers by Pink Paislee.
Here is my layout for the LOVE LETTERS recipe challenge:


Supplies-cardstock: Bazzill (from my stash); patterned paper: all Pink Paislee from the Trailmakers February Kit; embellishments: Pink Paislee metal badges from the Trailmakers February Kit; flowers: Prima flowers from the Trailmakers February Kit; Chipboard: Thickers (from my stash); ribbon: white and yellow ribbon from the Trailmakers February Kit; ink: Tim Holtz (from my stash); pens: Sharpie (from my stash); stamp: My Pink Stamper-Everyday Life; other: 3D paint, leaves, pink ribbon, glimmer mist, Diamond stickles, butterfly and bling all from my stash

For this challenge I chose to include Lace in the form of a doily paper. I cut up the die cut lacy paper that comes with the kit and used the smaller doily. I used a bit of glimmer mist to give it a little shine.


A distressed Tag which even though its hidden, you can still tell it's there because I used one of those yummy Pink Paislee metal badges that also come in the kit along with a piece of the beautiful soft yellow and white Ribbon, also from the kit.


Finally, I used one of the Stamp sentiments from our sponsor this month, My Pink Stamper, called Everyday Life. The sentiment reads "Bloom where planted" and I thought it went perfectly with my picture in a tropical garden!


Here are two more close ups of my project:



Aren't these badges by Pink Paislee absolutely gorgeous!? I used most of them in this layout alone!

Have a wonderful day!

sunday...creative scrapper sketch

Good morning everyone! I'm writing from Washington state right now as my hubby and I are visiting his brother and sister in law.

Today is reveal day at Creative Scrapper and guess what? My sketch is up this week! Like I said before, I'm a sketch artist for Creative Scrapper from Feb-April and here is my first sketch:

If you use this sketch , remember to upload it into Mr. Linky at Creative Scrapper to win a price from their sponsor Just Imagine Crafts. You just need to complete at least one layout from sketches 141-142-143-144. The deadline to submit your layout is Feb. 28th at midnight.

tuesday... trailmakers feb kit debut

I can finally share with all of you what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Today is the The Paper Trail February Kit and let me tell you, Karen outdid herself with this gorgeous kit! Don't forget to check out what the rest of the DT did with this kit!

OK, without any further ado, here's my debut layout featuring The Paper Trail February Kit:

Supplies-cardstock: Bazzill (from my stash); patterned paper: all Pink Paislee from the Trailmakers February Kit; embellishments: Pink Paislee metal badges from the Trailmakers February Kit, doily from the Trailmakers February Kit; flowers: Prima flowers from the Trailmakers February Kit; ink: Tim Holtz (from my stash); pens: Sharpie (from my stash); stamp: My Pink Stamper-Everyday Life; other: stamped flourishes, Diamond stickles, handmade thickers, and pink flower all from my stash

I actually squealed when I opened by The Paper Trail February Kit! The Pink Pailsee's papers are to die for! The pinks, blues, and greens are always the perfect shade to do a softer layout or even a distressed layout, as I have done here. I distressed all of my layers (various pieces of Pink Paislee papers) to give it an aged look. I also wanted to showcase the gorgeous flower print in the corner of this paper so I cut around it so I could layer it over my pictures. I felt like that corner wasn't strong enough so I stickled all the flowers and greenery there. This did it as now that corner is balance by the opposite corner in weight and color. I also pop dotted a small rose bud to make it stand out as I am holding one in the picture.

In the opposite corner, I added a light pink Recollections flower from my stash to balance all the pink in the layout. The two smaller yellow and blue flower are from the Trailmakers February Kit. I clustered the flowers on a doily, also from the kit. I added a stamped quote by My Pink Stamper-Everyday Life that reads 'When I count my blessings, I count you twice". Remember that My Pink Stamper is our sponsor this month! Check out the Trailmakers Challenge Blog for a chance to win some free stamps! I also distressed this quote so that it would fit in with my layout. Their stamps are great and very easy to work with. Finally, I handmade a small tag to go behind the pictures. I used one of those yummy Pink Paislee metal badges and a small ticket, all included in the kit, to make it stand out.

Here are some close ups of the layout:









Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Don't forget to check out the Leave a Paper Trail February Kit-it's filled with gorgeous papers and embellies!