Gingerbreads E'rywhere!

Hey friends, how are you?

 We have been invited to our son's in-laws for Thanksgiving - our two girls are spread out and our youngest daughter will be traveling with her in-laws, so it's a quiet time for Jim and I...and top it off, I will be dog sitting. 😀 BUT, if it works out, we will join them for a bit.

I wanted to make a gift for our hostess, something she could use - at home and for the holidays, so I created 8 gingerbread tags - 4 girls and 4 boys, paired with a gingerbread mug and tea towel. And when the to/from tags are cut off, the gingerbread all become ornaments you can place on your tree or use for decorations!

Everything on the gingerbread tags comes from Pretty Pink Posh (Gingerbread Holder and Christmas Holder Additions); I then finished them off by adding holiday greetings and to/from tags using The Greetery's Tear Strip Tags (I've owned this die and stamp set HOW LONG, and just used them for the first time 😁).

The final picture shows the large mug and a hand towel tucked inside; I think the set will make a nice gift showing our appreciation for the invitation and the work that goes into feeding a large group of peeps!

  

Two girls / two boys with tags 

 

Two girls / two boys without tags

 

 

Two girls / two boys with tags 

 

  

Two girls / two boys without tags

 

 Gingerbread mug and matching tea towel

 

Love to Scrap - Anything Goes

And…he’s married! 💍✨

Welcome back to another post for Love to Scrap! The timing couldn’t have been more perfect—our son tied the knot at sunrise on 08.17.25.

Yes, you read that right…SUNRISE, 6:30 a.m.! Which meant my wake-up call was 3:15 a.m. so I could meet my stylist at 4:00 for hair (and a little makeup help). Totally worth it though—the photos are going to be LEGIT! 📸

This is the card I made for their wedding (their colors were pink and orange). I tried out one of Jennifer McGuire’s techniques—definitely not as flawless as hers, but for a first attempt, I’ll take it. 😉

Now, confession time: as I type this, I’m dog sitting, and for the life of me I cannot remember which flower stamps and dies I used. 🙈 I’ll check when I’m back home in early September and update. Promise!

On the inside, I added a LOVE die from Pretty Pink Posh. I didn’t snap a picture because I had to “make it work” after a little card mishap—but that’s crafting for you, right?

Thank you so much for stopping by! I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite wedding photos. (Yes, the first time his groomsmen tossed him in the air, I screamed. By the second time, I was just trying to get my phone to record video! His wife wisely put a stop to it after his hand grazed the lights. 😂)

Come join us over at  Love to Scrap—we’d love to see what you’re creating!

Mix It Up Challenge Blog - Fun Fold

Boy, how’s the empty nest life supposed to go? Because somehow, I’m busier than ever! 😅 Between dog sitting (hello, pocket change), our son’s recent wedding 🎉, new responsibilities at work, and a longer commute to our new building…life is full!

BUT…thank you so much for stopping by! This round at Mix It Up, we’re featuring FUN FOLDS. I’ll admit, I usually forget about this option—layering is my go-to—but I’m so glad to have been nudged in this direction!

This fold was inspired by one I saw Jennifer McGuire create (you can find her YouTube video here), so I gave it a try using these festive holiday images. The set was a limited-edition collab between Simon Says (SSS) and Pink and Main, but it’s very similar to THIS stamp set by Pink and Main!

For my card, I started with a kraft base and stenciled white snowflakes, then added a splatter of watered-down white gouache and a mist of glitter. (Hard to capture in photos, but so pretty IRL!) On the white panel, I used a pierced slimline die from The Ton. I stamped and colored various images with Copics, blended with Distress Inks, and finished with embossed, sparkly snowflakes.

Thanks again for stopping by—I truly appreciate you. 💛

And of course, we’d LOVE for you to join us over at Mix It Up!

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog

Hello, friends! I hope you are well!

Thanks for joining us on the Love to Scrap Challenge Blog!

This is the card I made our youngest daughter for her birthday. Both my girls like coffee, and this daughter likes PINK, so there is LOTS of pink on this one. 😉 I have really enjoyed seeking color inspiration from Pinterest, and this is no exception. When you see the inspiration, you'll understand the blue in the background. 😃 I used new cardstock from Concord and 9th, my first time using their cardstock and I really like it! Lots of pink options that all go together well, I appreciate that!

I die cut all the pieces and more from the Cup of Kindness set. I made a card similar to this, HERE, and used the same background (Spellbinder's Candy Stipes die, not sure it's available any longer, sorry), I loved it so much!

I die cut the lid components and wrapper from white and added some shading. I also added shading to the flowers and leaves and have tons left over for another card in the future. The other cup has a heart swirl stencil in white, then shifted slightly and blended in a bright pink. 

The heart on the 'floral' cup was embossed with Spellbinder's Tufted 3D embossing folder. Then I lightly swiped white ink over the top before adding glossy accents.

A bit of blue in the background to go along with the color inspiration photo, finished it off with some silver half back pearls. They really added the perfect touch!

Trying to capture the dimension - hopefully you can see it!

Can't wait to see what you create for Love to Scrap; we enjoy seeing your creations!

MIUCB - Layers

Hi friends! I'm finishing up posting the last of my holiday cards and how fitting, as this month at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog we're focusing on layers (or anything goes)! And if you've been around for any length of time, you KNOW I love me some layers - lots and lots! I'm not so good at Clean and Simple, ya know!! 😉

Along with my love for layers, is my love for Pretty Pink Posh products - always fun, whimsical and oh so cute!!

This Big Christmas Cupcake die set was released last year - just in time for the holidays. I had so much fun cutting all the little pieces, making  packages, a big ole bow, snowflakes and some adorable scallops for my tree - in sparking white cardstock of course! The candy cane comes from the Winter Mug die set. I pulled out the Winter Words stencil for the background and some peppermints from the Peppermints Clay Confetti pack to add some fun dimension to the tree. 

Lots of ink blending, some additional stamping on the tree, splatters and the wonky rectangle dies to wrap up my sweet little cupcake!

Hope you will pop over and join us at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog - we love seeing what you create!

Happy Holidays 2024 - Green Candy Cane?

Hi friends!!

Hands down, I believe my most favorite holiday set is a die cut set from Honey Bee Stamps - Lovely Layers: Candy Cane.

I have used this set on so many cards, I love adding 'snow' and 'glitter'; love the different ways you can do the candy canes. I really love cutting the pieces from colored cardstock and adding shading - FUN!!

This card also uses a die cut from Pinkfresh, Rounded and Braided Rectangle, the pattern paper has been in my stash for...um...we'll leave that right there. lol

The greeting is from Waffle Flower - quick and easy!! Most of the cardstock comes from Taylored Expressions. 

Thanks for popping in, wishing you and yours the happiest holiday season!

Mix It Up Challenge Blog - Paper Piecing

Hi friends - I hope this note finds you doing well. How's your weather? Ours is cooling off a bit and I am LOVING IT! I'm a 75 degree girl all the time; thankfully, we get to experience all the seasons, but Spring and Fall are definitely my favorite!!

At Mix It Up Challenge, we're playing with paper piecing, but we always allow Anything Goes too! And that's what I did for this challenge...Mixed Media with all the Tim Holtz Sprays and some sparkle!

The stamp set and dies are from The Greetery, BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden and Bountiful Wreath (no longer available). I had these toadstools left over from another project and taking inspiration from Kelly Lunceford is how my card was made. 

The background is the Square Dance die, also from The Greetery; I cut it from Lawn Fawn's textured pink cardstock. I used Pawsitively Guava ink around the edges. 

All images were sprayed or dripped with a mix of Peppermint Stick, Frozen Fog,  Sparkle spray and white gouache. 

This was a really fun card to put together; it took forever to create - lol - but I love the final product!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you are inspired to join us with either paper piecing OR anything goes; we enjoy seeing your creations!

3D Balloons with lots of Bits and Baubles

Hey friends - how are you doing? We are having some beautiful weather of late, mid-high 80's, low 90's; I'll take that over the 100+ days ANY TIME!!

Friday and Saturday, I judged at our County 4H Fair - always fun, and long! 😊 Friday was Food and Nutrition (definitely out of my league, but I try my absolute best); Saturday was Visual Arts and that is much more in my wheelhouse. The kids are always fun and the learning experience is probably unmatched in the real world. They need to speak up, make eye contact, be able to explain what they made, HOW they made it, etc. I saw some incredible creations!

Anywho, onward we go to this card. I took all my inspiration from Lilybean Paperie; I absolutely love everything Melissa creates! This was so much fun and a whole lotta work. lol

I die cut the balloons from Tim Holtz watercolor paper and heavily shaded with Distress inks, then splattered with water, dried those drops and splattered some watered down white gouache and distress spray strains to each balloon. I cut the strings from mirror cardstock and set everything aside. 

I then die cut lots of little bits and baubles from the Hey Honeycomb Flower Power dies and Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Mug Additions. Some of the pieces I had cut previously and was able to use - can't beat that.

The sentiment is from the Four Square Birthday Tags stamp set, it's ombre - which I love. I assembled all the pieces; the balloons were mounted with foam squares, most of the bits and baubles were adhered directly to the balloons. Then I got out my white gel pen and added ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS, love me some white gel pen! 

The background is two different Bitty Bit Raspberry Fizz papers from Papertreyink. I added some shading to the top layer, and in between those papers, I added a scalloped layer of vellum, all these were cut with The Ton Nested Slimline dies (stitched and scalloped).

I sent this card to someone I love dearly for their birthday; I hope it touched their heart!

And thank YOU for stopping by, I appreciate your visit and hope this spurs you to create and mail your cards!

Have a great day!

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog - July 2024

Hi there, friends. I hope you are doing great and gearing up for the holiday ahead (for those in the US)!

It's time for another challenge at Love to Scrap; won't you join us, our theme is always ANYTHING GOES!

I made this card at a stampaway a few months ago and I love it! I probably love it most because, as you can see, the outside says "Let's Celebrate" and the inside says "your existence" and I think that's perfect for anyone's birthday!

I stamped the candles repeatedly and had fun coloring them. I added glitter to the flames, blended some purple around the edges, added some star stamping, second generation, stamped my sentiments and I was good to go! Of course, I needed to add some bling! 💗I do believe this stamp set was either limited edition or is retired, sorry about that - but I try to keep stamp sets I really love and know I will use repeatedly and this one has great images!

Thanks for stopping by; hope you will join us at Love to Scrap!

Color Throwndown 793

Hi friends!

How are you? I hope you are enjoying some longer days of sunshine; our weather has been beautiful!

I saw the Color Throwdown (photo below) challenge this morning and decided to play along. I used lots of products from The Greetery and a cover panel from Papertrey Ink. I used inks from both Taylored Expressions and Simon Says Stamp; the SSS stamps are super juicy, so my detail layer lost a bit of definition, but I still think the purples look good together. The orange is Sherbert from SSS, love that color!

I used the 2nd and 3rd layers of the Sprinkled with Kindness (watering can) from The Greetery; love how it turned out! The flowers are from Budding Beauties and Mimosa Musings (one of my absolute favorites). I also used the jar fillers in the background after I had smooshed on some purple ink. I blended gray around the bottom third of the main panel to ground the watering can.

Everything was mounted with foam (watering can, flowers, main panel) on the Papertrey Ink Lots of Dots. I added clear wink of stella to all the flowers and tied on a little twine to finish it off. 

Thanks for stopping by; I appreciate you!

CHALLENGE:

  CTD793

Love to Scrap Challenge Blog - May 2024

Hey friends, thanks for stopping by!

This round at Love to Scrap, I used this insanely fun Cup of Kindness stamp and die set from Concord and 9th! I die cut 2 of the large cups, 'wrappers', and lids for the cups. Before putting the cups together, I used a couple stencils to accent the base of the cups. For the pink cup I used the sketched lines from the PTI A Little Sketchy set; for the aqua cup, I used SSS XL Rose Bouquet (all inks from Taylored Expressions).

The background is a, new to me, die set, Spellbinders Candy Stripes, in which I die cut two pieces and flipped one over to create the criss-cross pattern. I lightly blended some blue on the background before adhering everything together. 

I love how this turned out, the colors are so happy and if you're a coffee lover like me, it speaks to your heart!  😂

Stop by Love to Scrap and grab some inspiration, then join us. We love seeing your creations!!

Donut Worry, Be Happy!

Good ole quote, but seriously, if you can eat all these donuts with zero impact, so worth it, am I right?

I thought the Color Throwdown 786 (ctd786) was the perfect challenge for this card. The stamp set is from Taylored Expressions, Donut Days, it's a cling and clear set, also has an individual donut die, and the cutest donut mini strip sentiments! The little clay hearts are from Trinity Stamps.

Remember, sprinkle kindness everywhere...even on your donuts. 😉

Thanks for stopping by!