Batter Up!

Both of my older boys play baseball in the spring league here in Lethbridge, which runs from April through the middle of June. My older one was in his first year of Coach Pitch this year and my middle son was in his first year of T-Ball. On their last day in June, they have a mini tournament. After a cold, rainy (and even snowy) season, their last day was the perfect baseball day! It was a clear, sunny and hot day and it was perfect for taking pictures. I took about 100 pictures that day...in fact, I filled our smallest memory card for our camera! I chose my favorites and did up some scrapbook pages for their albums.


My pages this week are the ones I did of my middle son's T-Ball games. Let me tell you, the difference in attitude between Coach Pitch and T-Ball players is hilarious! The Coach Pitch kids are much more serious about the game. The T-Ball kids spend a lot of time picking grass in the outfield, digging in the dirt and all running after the ball. It's cute to watch! On their mini-tournament day, they all got to sit in the dugout. It was a HUGE deal for them!


Supplies: Just Baseball, Calendar Alphabet & Varsity Alphabet sets; Real Red, Basic Black & Kraft cardstock; Real Red & Basic Black Classic ink; Real Red, Creamy Caramel & Whisper White Craft ink; Stampin' Dimensionals

I chose the colors for this page based on his uniform colors...red & black. I tried the page with some white, but it was too stark, so I threw in a little Kraft for some mounting and the title! Speaking of the title, I chose the Varsity Alphabet (again...next week I will do a layout with a different alphabet, I promise!). I stamped my letters with Basic Black ink on Kraft and cut them out. Then I glued them on the page above and below my focal point picture. I *heart* this picture of him! He looks so cute sitting there in the dugout!


To finish off the focal point of the page, I used the Just Baseball set and stamped the images with Craft ink (Real Red, Whisper White & Creamy Caramel) on Kraft cardstock. After they dried, I cut them out and placed them on the page with Stampin' Dimensionals.


To add a little interest to my background, I did the Faux Tearing technique along the strips of pictures. It's pretty subtle, but adds just the right touch to finish it all off.


As always, any of the products I used to create this layout can be ordered through my website or by contacting me.


Until next time my friends!

Santa Clause is Coming...

Hello! It's the Eleventh Week of Christmas and I have an awesome, quick and easy last minute gift packaging idea for you.


Ever since I went to my last upline meeting, I have had a small obsession with Santa Belly projects! I totally blame my upline for this because she had some ca-ute Santa Belly projects. What can I say...she totally inspired me!


Supplies: Whisper White, Basic Black & Brushed Silver cardstock; 3/4" Square Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch; Ribbon-Whisper White & Real Red Narrow Grosgrain, Whisper White Taffeta, Real Red Wide Grosgrain, Real Red Striped, Real Red Polka Dot, Whisper White & Real Red Satin, Real Red Gingham, Real Red Double-Stitched, Whisper White Organza, Mistletoe Ribbon Originals


I found some cute little paint cans at my local dollar store quite a while ago and, of course, had to pick up a few...or a lot! They had a variety of colors, and I've had them sitting on my desk for a long time just waiting for them to inspire me. And, what do you know, it happened! I choose a red can for this project...and then made it into a Santa belly! Love it!!!

It was so easy to do. I took two strips of Whisper White cardstock and tore them, then attached them around the bottom of the can with Sticky Strip. Then I took a scrap of Whisper White and tore it down both sides, and stuck it at the top of the can. And, finally I made a belt by taking a Basic Black strip of cardstock and wrapping it around the middle of the can. The buckle is Brushed Silver cardstock punched with the 3/4" Square and then the 1 1/4" Square.

I thought the handle needed a little pizazz! So, I opened my ribbon cupboard and cut pieces of every red and white ribbon I had and then tied the ribbon all around the handle.

Watch for more little paint can projects, because you know I bought all the colors! *wink*


As always, any of the products I used to make this project (except for the can) can be ordered through my website or by contacting me.


Also, watch for the Twelfth Week of Christmas project a little earlier next week. It's a great project that you can do during the Christmas break.


Until next time my friends!

Dancing Birthday Alien

So, two of my boys had birthday parties to attend yesterday. I figured to make things easier, I would just do the same card for both the birthday boys. And, it was a super simple card so I was able to quickly get both cards done in the morning (yes, I procrastinated making the cards!!) and have plenty of time to get the kids fed and ready to go to their parties.

I bet you want to see the card, eh? Well, here it is...

Supplies: Greeting Earthling & All Holidays stamp sets; Kraft, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip & More Mustard cardstock; Watercolor Paper; Jet Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, More Mustard, Dusty Durango & Creamy Caramel ink; Chocolate Chip Corduroy Button; 1 1/4" Square Punch; 3/4" Square Punch; Aqua Painter

Isn't it cute? I used the set, Greetings Earthling, which I received at Convention last summer. Funny story...I was at Convention with some of my stamping friends. While the other girls we were with went to get their bags, my downline Tara and I went to drop off a project I brought for a display board. When we went over to that area, some very nice Stampin' Up! staff asked if we would like to get a free stamp set? Huh? Yes, that's right, we could have a free set if we stamped a card for the display board. Well, we weren't going to pass that opportunity up, so said YES!!! And the set we each got was Greeting Earthling. We were super excited...like kids in a candy shop with all new stampin' stuff to use!!! Here's a picture of us stamping our cards and a picture of me with the project I brought to display and the card I made.


Sorry, I got a little side tracked there! Back to the card. I used a super neutral background, Kraft, for the base of the card. Kraft makes me happy!!! I used a scrap of Dusty Durango, a piece of Old Olive punched with the 1 1/4" Square Punch, and a piece of More Mustard punched with the 3/4" punch.

I stamped the little Dancing Alien with StazOn Black ink on Watercolor Paper. Then I watercolored him with an Aqua Painter and Old Olive, More Mustard, Dusty Durango and Creamy Caramel ink. When I was done, I mounted it on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I love watercoloring because you can be messy! It's ok to go a little outside the lines and it's ok to not totally color the image when watercoloring. For me, it's a quick way to color in a line art image!


For a little interest, I stamped the More Mustard square with the little spring image from the Greeting Earthling set with More Mustard ink. The Old Olive square has one of the Chocolate Chip Corduroy Buttons on it and I stamped "Happy Birthday" from the All Holidays set with Chocolate Chip ink on the Dusty Durango piece.

Just to finish everything off, I stamped that same little dancing alien with Dusty Durango ink on a Kraft envelope. I hope the two birthday boys liked their cards!

As always, all the products I used can be ordered through my website or by contacting me.

Until next time my friends!

Piggies!

It's Scrapbook Saturday and I'm so excited to share my layout today! It's a great layout, but first a little background. Did your kids suck their toes? All three of my boys did! I have a great page with my first son sucking his toes. When he was little we always did the "This little piggy..." rhyme with him. Gosh, it seems like it was just yesterday...and he's almost 8! Anyway, we did the rhyme so much with him that according to him, he didn't have toes, he had piggies...and he was quite adamant that they were piggies! I was sad when my first stopped sucking his toes, but tickled when each of my other two sons sucked their toes. I *heart* baby feet! Such great memories! The whole piggy thing is what inspired me with this layout. So, without further adieu, I present a piggy page for you! That yellow post-it on the right hand page isn't part of the layout...it's a reminder for me to do a bit of journaling...so just ignore that!

Supplies: Just perfect Alphabet stamp set, Night of Navy, Dusty Durango, Basic Black & Pretty in Pink cardstock, Pretty in Pink & Night of Navy Craft ink, Pretty in Pink Classic ink, Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Ribbon, On Board Lots of Letters chipboard, Stampin' Dimensionals, assorted punches

As you probably can imagine, with three boys I don't use a lot of pink in my projects! But, with the piggy theme I had going on here, I thought pink was a must! I paired the pink with some masculine colors...Night of Navy and Dusty Durango and threw in a little Chocolate Chip! I was a little aprehensive about the color combination, but becuase of his navy and orange shirt in the pictures, I think it all came together and worked really well!

Here's a closer look at the piggies. Warning...they are DARN CUTE!!!

I used Pretty in Pink cardstock for the piggies and I sponged around the edges of all the punched shapes with Pretty in Pink Classic Ink to give my little piggies some depth. The bodies of the piggies are made with the 1 3/4" Circle Punch, and the heads are made with the 1 1/4" Circle Punch. Their little heads are attached to the bodies with Stampin' dimensionals. I used the 5-Petal Flower Punch for the ears, the Crop-A-Dile for the eyes. The tail is a swirl cut free hand and the little piggy noses are buttons. So cute! *grin*

The title is a combination of stamping and chipboard. I used the On Board Lots of Letters set for the words "piggy" and "perfect" because I wanted those words to stand out a bit more than the rest of the title, which is stamped. The chipboard letters are inked with Craft ink and a Sponge Dauber. I chose to do the title in two colors based on what color cardstock the words were going to be on.

There you have it! A page that brings back a fond memories of mine and hopefully will help you relive some happy memories from when your little ones were younger! As always, any of the supplies I used to make my layout are available to order through my website or by contacting me.

Until next time my friends!

The Tenth Week of Christmas-Glorious Gift Bags

Hello and happy Friday! For my Tenth week of Christmas, I have some glorious gift bags for you.

Each of these gift bags are made with two sheets of cardstock or DSP (Designer Series Paper) as well as some embellishments of some sort.

Supplies: Merry Moments DSP, Whisper White cardstock, Real Red Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch


This is the first one I made. I kept it pretty simple both because it was my first one and because the DSP I chose is a pretty busy pattern! The great thing about using our DSP is that it's double sided, so you get a pretty pattern on the inside of your bag...kind of like a fancy lining! I used whole sheets of DSP and scored them at 2 inches on the sides and the bottom. Then, this is important...you MUST use your bone folder to make sharp creases on the score lines. If you don't do this, your bag won't be as nice and square. So, please, please, please use your bone folder to crease the score lines when you make gift bags or gift boxes!!! I'll get off my soap box now!!! Once I creased my score lines, I folded each piece of DSP into half a box, then stuck them together. To finish it off, I punched a strip of Whisper White cardstock with the Scallop Edge Punch and stuck it around the top of the bag, Then I punched some holes with my Crop-A-Dile and tied some ribbon through to make the handles.

Supplies: Kraft & Not Quite Navy cardstock, Serene Snowflakes stamp set, Not Quite Navy ink, Versamark ink, Champagne Mist & Frost White Shimmer Paint, Whisper White Organza Ribbon


This is the second one I did. I chose Kraft cardstock as the base, and in this case I started with 8 1/2 x 11 pieces, scored at 1 1/2 inches on the sides and 2 inches on the bottom. I stamped my cardstock with the snowflakes and Not Quite Navy ink, Versamark ink, and 2 colors of Shimmer Paint. It's gorgeous and I wish I could get a picture showing all the shimmer!!!


I finished this one off a big differently. Rather than punching holes and using ribbon for handles, I used a piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock and folded it over the top, pinching the top of the bag in. Then I punched some holes and fed some Whisper White Organza Ribbon through the holes, tying it in a bow to hold the bag shut.



Supplies: Whisper White cardstock, Soft Suede Textured cardstock, Merry Moments DSP, Sleigh Bells Ribbon, Real Red Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, Antique Brass Jumbo Brads, Crop-A-Dile, Jumbo Snowflake Punch, Linen Thread

And, finally, my favorite one! I used textured Soft Suede cardstock for the base of the bag. Around the top of the bag, I used some strips of DSP, which I tore before sticking them around the top edge of the bag.


The handles are my favorite ribbon from the Holiday Mini, Sleigh Bells! I fed the ribbon through some Jumbo Brads and tied a little piece of red ribbon around the Sleigh Bells ribbon to keep it from pulling through.



To finish it off, I punched three snowflakes from Whisper White cardstock, punched a small hole in each and tied them to the bag handle with Linen Thread. So pretty!


There you have it, some glorious gift bag ideas for you to use when packaging those special little gifts this Christmas! All the supplies for each bag are listed under the pictures. If you would like to order any of the supplies used for these projects, please log onto my website or contact me.


Until next time my friends!