May 2010

Have you ever had one of those months where everything happens?? Well, I did!! May 2010 was such a fun and crazy month for me!!! From my oldest daughter getting married, to my sister graduating from college, and my youngest daughter graduating from high school to my birthday... and everything in between... this month had it all!!! I wanted to create a special mini album documenting and highlighting everything we did!! My album base was Maya Road Chipboard album, the papers and index tabs used were all 7Gypsies, and my journaling tags and calendars were Jenny Bowlin.  It was enjoyable to make it all about this month and reflect on just how special it was for me!!

I embellished by using EK success large butterfly punch, Basic Grey rub ons, Tim Holtz metals, tape, charms, tiny attacher and keys, twine, Jenny Bowlin tickets, Maya Road chipboard flourishes and Prima flowers.  I used American Crafts ribbon on the rings.  

Each photo was 5 x 7 to keep it uniform, and I added 7Gypsies numbers on each photo indicating the day of the month! 

Happy Halloween ya'll!!!!

I just love Halloween!! For this card, I used My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found Halloween" line.  After using Bazzill's Kraft cardstock for the base, I created my "flower by cutting 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares and rolling one corner over, creating a tube.  Then just adhere using a bit of liquid adhesive (I used Scotch's quick dry adhesive) to hold together.  I used EK success's large banner punch (seriously, one of my favorite tools right now!) for the tag at the bottom of the card and adhered several sticker phrases.

Baby Zeb!!

Ah, my new great nephew, Zeb!! He's just so sweet and cuddly!! For this entire layout, I used My Mind's Eye "Boy Crazy" line and Deja Vu clear word stickers.  I love this line!! I have used it one so many layouts!!! Sometimes, it's nice to have an entire line of paper and embellishments!!!

Always use your imagination!

After a baby shower for my niece, I took a break to play with my grandson, Easton.  My sister and brother in law have an elf house in their front yard.  Story has it that elves only set up house at good boys and girls' homes.  So no surprise that we found one in their front yard!!! Easton was so curious!!! Of course, the elves must have just left right before we arrived!!! We were soo close!! I'm sure next time we'll be able to see them!! I hope he never loses his sense of wonder and amazement!! Everything I used on this layout was from Webster's Pages.  (One of my favorite companies!) I used the 'girl land" line, including the journaling tag, velvet ribbon, and paper line.

Cooper-Young Arts Festival

September is one of my favorite months of the year!! Not only is the weather getting cooler and the trees are changing colors, and college football is back on, but all of the arts and crafts shows are popping up here in Memphis!!! And each one is different from the other!! Cooper-Young Festival is one of my favorite!! The Cooper Young area in Memphis is very eclectic, therefore offers a very eclectic array of booths, vendors, and of course people!!! I wanted to show off the vendors, as well as the people walking around.  I had fun layering and mixing different embellishments!

 From the original art work/graffiti on the walls, to the vendors, to the restaurants,there's always so much to take in and see!!!

 I die cut a fence from an old pair of jeans, using Tim Holtz's fence die and my Big Shot!! What a fun way to use those old jeans and add a little bit of flare (get it??) to your layout!!! I used Prima architecture corners and tiles, Tim Holtz's fragment tiles, Ranger Alcohol inks (blue, green, purple), the Paper Studio's spare parts flowers, Maya Road denim trim, recollections adhesive backed ribbon, Tim Holtz calendar tabs, Basic Grey paper ("June Bug" collection), Tim Holtz clock, Recollection pointing finger embellishment and October Afternoon tiny type alphabet stickers.  

Beautiful butterfly

My dog, Chloe was barking like crazy the other day, so I got up to see what all of the commotion was about.  What I saw when I reached the door was such a beautiful black butterfly! And big too. He was so neat looking! He was black with blue areas on the bottom of his wings, then underneath, he was black with orange areas!! Of course my dog chased him all over the back yard, but he continued to come back and dine on our verbenas!! 

 

This was such a fun layout to work on! It seems as of late, all I do is create layouts for my grandson, so I miss using gemstones, flowers, etc.! So naturally, I used them a ton on this page! I used the EK large banner punch and butterfly punch here.  

Other supplies used were Maya Road chipboard flourishes, Prima tiles, Colorbox ink (black), October Afternoon spray paint (All Aboard), The Paper Studio (Spare Parts) Bright 3D flowers, Websters Pages calendar journaling cards, Basic Gray's Lucky Line (Karma), Basic Gray's 6 x 6 Kioshi paper pack, and Heidi Swapp Specialty cardstock (background).  

Birthday Mania

After getting away to my parents' lake house in Heber Springs, AR with several of my wonderful and creative friends for the weekend, I am feeling so rejuvenated and ready to create!! After finishing up my Christmas cards (wahoo) I began working on birthday cards... I just never ever seem to have enough of them when I need them! Especially for all of the men in my life! Here is one of the cards I created with a few color variations.

My new favorite stamp sets these days has to be the Birthday Blue prints from the Tim Holtz Collection and Stampers Anonymous.  There are so many uses for the stamps.... (I'm already thinking Christmas cards 2014 using the present stamp!!)

Once again my Copic markers came through for me! (They rarely let me down!!) For these cards, I used YR07, R27 and B69.  And I used Basic Grey's offbeat paper line for the backgrounds.

Have you discovered Glossy Accents yet?? Love this!! Once dried, it give your image an epoxy feel and look.  It just adds a bit of dimension to it as well.  You can even use it as adhesive, especially when you want that adhesive to be invisible... picture acetate, vellum, clear buttons, etc.  Sprinkle a bit of glitter on top, and voila.... instant bling!! And who doesn't love that?

An ink that is a must around herein Studio M is Memento dye ink.  I stamp with this on almost every project. It's quick drying of course, but I always get a very clear image when using this.  Actually it's recommended when using Copic markers, because it doesn't react to the alcohol used in the markers... so no bleeding!!