It's Freezin'!

I'm not talkin' about outside...actually it's not that cold out right now.  I'm talkin' about the project for my class tonight.

I'm talkin' about a super fun project.  I'm so excited and thrilled with it that I could squeal.  Well, I may have squealed a bit when it was finished...but nobody heard me, so you can't prove it!!!

Isn't it fabulous?!?!?  I love, love, love how it turned out.  Looking at it makes me shiver a bit!  I started with a Crumb Cake base and stamped it with the Serene Snowflakes set with Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Whisper White ink.  The letters were cut with the Simple Alphabet Dies from Whisper White cardstock.  All the blocks with the letters are Marina Mist, stamped with snowflakes and matted with Whisper White cardstock.  Here are some of my favorite elements of the project!

The sparlky icicles!  I *heart* the icicles!!!

The icicles are made from Crystal Effects.  You put a piece of waxed paper on your work surface.  The draw a line of Crystal Effects (use quite a bit) and pull parts of it down like icicles.  Then you glitter it with Dazzling Diamonds so it sparkles and shines!  Once they're dry, you can easily peel them off the waxed paper and glue them wherever you want.  I peeled them off, cut them to size and glued them on with a thin line of Multi Purpose Adhesive.

Check out the mittens!

The mittens are a Wide Oval, Small Oval and Word Window.  I sponged around the edges of the mittens to help them stand out a bit.  The Word Window makes the cuff.  It was punched out of Whisper White and I crimped it...just for fun!  I love how they are attached with the Clear Tinsel Trim and hung off the "e"!

I love the embossed snowflakes.

The snowflakes are embossed with the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder on a piece of Vellum cardstock.  I gently sponged over the snowflakes with Marina Mist ink and then added some bling in the middles courtsey of some Rhinestones!!!  Notice the "brrrr" at the bottom?  That's stamped with the Just Perfect Alphabet and Marina Mist ink.  Love it!!!

I glittered my own DSP too!

I took a square of Bashful Blue striped DSP (you can find it in the Subtles Patterns Pack) and sponged around the edges with Marina Mist ink.  Then I took my 2-Way Glue Pen, glued some of the stripes and glittered them.  It's a fantastic effect!

And finally, check out this snowman...or snowgirl?

I saw this kind of snowman in an issue of PaperCrafts Magazine a while back.  Since then, it has popped up all over the web in lots of different projects!  I started with a 3 inch circle (one of the new dies!!), punched a 2 1/2 " and 1 3/4" circle to finish it off.  They are roughed up around the edges and were shimmered with a mixture of Frost White Shimmer Paint, water and rubbing alcohol.  Actually I used the same shimmer for the letters too.  In real life they look like freshly fallen snow!

The arms are Chocolate Chip snowflake punches, the eyes and mouth are the black rhinestones from the Holiday Mini and the carrot nose is hand cut from a scrap of Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  The bow is a piece of narrow Grosgrain Marina Mist Ribbon.

Here's the whole project in it's frame.

I *heart* the way this project turned out.  So what do you think?  Do you love it as much as I do?

ETA:  I entered my project in the Create with Connie and Mary challenge CCMC131.  The challenge was to do a project that celebrated snow.  Now, I'm not one to "celebrate" snow, but I do think it's pretty when HUGE snowflakes are falling...it always looks so peaceful, especially at night.  I also LOVE the way snow sparkles...hence all the sparkle and shimmer in my project!  Maybe I'll be in their top three picks! 

Have an inspired day!

Tick, Tock...

...check out my clock!

I absolutely love the picture on page 21 of the Definitely Decorative catalogue.  I love the way the mirror looks hung over the Medallion Decor Element.  I had the perfect place to put a Medallion, but I didn't want a mirror, so I went on a hunt for the perfect clock.  And, I found one when we went down to Kalispell in November (I can't remember if I got it at Costco or Target).

The Medallion I used was the Large, Chocolate one (121843).  It went up fairly easily, but becuase of where I put it, I needed a tall helper to make sure the seams lined up correctly.  Enter Kevin!  He's a great "Decor Elements Hanger Upper"!!!

Now, check out what I made the other day...

Santa brought me a Bread Maker this year and I was super excited!  We've made about 5 loaves of bread and then I had to try Cinnamon Buns!  The recipe is from here and I frosted them with a basic Cream Cheese Frosting.  They were sooooo good...notice I said "were"...they didn't last long!  The recipe is a keeper (but I will double the filling next time, and put less in the pan so they have more room to rise and expand during baking) and my family can't wait for me to make more!

Have an inspired day!

Simple Valentine

Happy first Sunday of 2011!!!  For the first Simple Card Sunday of 2011, I'm going to share a fabulously simple valentine!

This card was one of the cards from my downline Shoebox Swap last week.  It was designed by Heather!

The base of the card is Crumb Cake cardstock.  There's a piece of Real Red Grosgrain ribbon tied around the card.  With the use of some punches (1/2 inch circle and the circle from the Itty Bitty shapes Punch Pack) and some stamps (the set that goes with the Itty Bitty punches and buttons and the Teeny Tiny Wishes set) you have a great and quick card!  There's only one color of ink...Real Red.  And, did you notice the little button on the middle circle?  It's one of the Bitty Buttons.  You can get these buttons FREE when you order the Filled with Love bundle (available until Jan 24).  Check out the details by clicking on the Filled With Love link to the right.

Well, that's all for me today!  Have an inspired day!

Love is in the air...

I'm so done with Christmas stuff and so happy to move on to the next holiday...Valentine's Day!

Last night I did a Shoebox Swap with some of my downline.  I think I've talked about these swaps before and how fun they are!  We always have a theme and this time around is was Love.  I'll share all the projects from the swap in the coming days...or weeks!  Today, I'm going to share the card I designed!

I'm not going to give you a list of supplies for this one...there's 4 stamp sets alone!  I will tell you that I used Regal Rose, Basic Gray and Very Vanilla.  I chose one of the new Valentine's sets you can find in the Occasions Mini (the xoxoxox, Hugs & Kisses and small heart images are all from that set).

There's a lot going on with this card.  I couldn't stop adding layers of stamping, paper, embellishments...ya know!?!

I do want to make sure you see the dimension and the piece of Hodge Podge Hardware.

The little heart is punched out and then popped up with a Stampin' Dimensional.  And, that hardware!!!  Oh, the hardware!  It was too perfect when I originally put it on the card, so I roughed it up a bit with a sanding block.  It takes a bit of muscle, but it sands nicely.  I love the look of the raw metal peeking through the vanilla finish.

Have an inspired day and Happy New Year!

Photo Blocks

I have a new obsession...Photo Blocks!

So cute!  Here's what you need to make these little beauties.

You can find the blocks in the Definitely Decorative Catalogue.  They come in a pack of 4 and have so many possibilities!  Here's more shots of the winter one I did.

Did you notice the white edge around the pictures?  I'll wait while you go look again!!!  That's done with the white StazOn pad.  You just gently rub the ink pad around the edges of the pictures.  It's the "Direct to Paper" technique, only on pictures.  You need to use the StazOn ink to do this on pictures.  The Classic and Craft ink will smudge and won't dry on the pictures.

There are only pictures around the four sides.  The top and bottom are covered with Night of Navy cardstock which was stamped with the snowflake from Jolly Bingo Bits (with Night of Navy ink).  Because the top is out there in the open, I embellished it a little!  I used the mittens from Jolly Bingo Bits, Marina Mist cardstock and ink, Night of Navy ink, Whisper White cardstock and some circle punches.  Here's a closer look at the top.

The snowflakes are punched from Whisper White cardstock and hung off the block with some Whisper White narrow Taffeta Ribbon.

I made another one with a soccer theme to showcase some of my kiddos' soccer pictures.

And a closer look at the top (the bottom is done the same way).

I'm lovin' these!  My Scrappy Hour Club did these the other night at our workshop and they were lovin' them too!  These blocks a fun and different way to "scrapbook"!  Check out Sherri's blog to see her gorgeous creation with her wedding pictures.  It is stunning!

I totally think I'm going to do a block for each of my kids and then stack them on the mantle or something.  They would make a great gift too!  I happen to know a certain grandma who would probably love to have something like this on her desk!

That's all for today.  Have an inspired day!