Back to the Grind

Welp, our long weekend at Aunt Amber's is over. Why does it go so fast???

We had so much fun! Anyone else a day behind? I can't seem to get it straight. I did some cleaning today and was so excited that I cleaned on a Monday. OOPS! Well, still impressive for me on a Tuesday ;)

I wanted to share a tutorial with you that I created for the Scrapdango newsletter. You know me and my wax paper! It seriously is a staple in my scrapbooking arsenal of tools. I use it for so many things, especially for my Cuttlebug.

So..what do you need?

Alpha stickers

Wax Paper

Embossing machine & folder

{click on the images to make larger}

Place the letters you want to use in your title on the wax paper....

And run it through your embossing machine....

And here is the layout,. I used lots of Studio Calico goodies and how much do you love this color combo????? I was inspired by one of their challenges over NSD.

It was perfect for these Easter photos.

{click on the image to make larger}

Have a great week!

Let's get this week started!

GOOOOD Monday Morning!

I hope everyone had a GrEaT weekend. We sure did. Our local winery (which we support very heavily, LOL) had their annual Blues Fest and it was a blast! I got to hang out with some work friends, too, and I just love that I get to be surrounded by such amazing people all the time.

I wanted to share some layouts I created with the May Spice Kit over at Scrapdango. I can't stop making these ribbons and the fun felties in the kit were so perfect for one on this card.

And next up is a layout I created about life right now. Remember in Sex in the City when Charolotte doesn't run when she is pregnant? She talks about being so happy that she is terrified of losing it all? That really struck me when I watched in watched it the other night. And it's so true...but that is no reason not to do what we love, to not be happy, and to not celebrate.

So this layout is about Happiness: a Destination. Something that I am always on a journey to achieve.

Have a great week!!!

Some Cards on Friday

Happy Friday!

I have been a busy beaver this week. Work. Work. Work! But I managed to squeeze in some time over the weekend before a wedding to scrap some cards.

This first card is for the Papertrey Ink weekly challenge to use re--inkers in a creative way. I used two Tim Holtz re-inkers (Copper and Walnut Ink) and a Stampin' Up! one (green).

The car is a Papertrey Ink die. How cute is it??? I added some pearls. Cardstock is a combo of Core Chocolate Box and Core Pearls (yellow). I love this new cardstock!

Patterned Paper is Simple Stories from the Scrapdango Spice Kit.

This is an interactive card that I had a lot of fun with. These super cute envelopes come in the kit and they are FUN!

Patterned Paper is Simple Stories from the Scrapdango Spice Kit.

LOVE this May Arts ribbon that came with the kit, too!

This is for my Card challenge over at Scrapdango this month....to create a ribbon.

3+5 =

Thanks so much for all the Happy Birthday Wishes. You guys are the SwEeTeSt!

In celebration of a milestone, um..... 35 yrs old is a milestone, right? I want to do a post about 35 things i love. Not in any particular order (& for the record not my personal idea but i like it ;) see my new fellow Core teammate april's list here.

1. brian. ack. i love a boy and he loves me even though i pushed him away toooo many times.

2. owen. gosh that kid. total handful. what's not to love about that? i love handfuls of all sorts of things...quarters, peanuts, swedish fish....

3.henry. my buddy. laughter.

4. max. the lover. we rescued the loudest, hungriest lab in the history of the world.

5. chase. the jumper. the crazy dog. the gasiest dog in the world!

6. sushi. YUM!
7. my job. i love love it. i have two. and i couldn't put one above the other.

8. naps.

9. knowing that karma is a serious bitch. it comes back. trust me ;)

10. my camera.

11. core'dinations.

12. brushing my teeth in the shower.

13. espadrilles. ok. shoes in general!

14. swimming. wanted to be a Mermaid when i was little.

15. playing baseball with the boys. mom's can play, too!

16. SCARVES!

17. pizza. for some reason....even bad pizza tastes good!

18. Wine! DUH! that should be at least in the top 10.

19. My NEW wine fridgey that i got for my birfday :)

20. SCRAPBOOKING!

21. cloud hunting. with the boys. on a blanket. in the backyard. our backyard.

22. Adele. Rolling in the Deep.

23. my laptop.

24. henry's laugh. he sucks in! i swear it, LOL.

25. chips & dip.

26. Chelsea Lately. Laughing!

27. coffee. cream no sugar.

28. pottery. esp. one day if i can throw on my own again.

29. sleep overs with owen in the living room.

30. hugs and kisses from my boys. ALL five of them ;)

31. running. but only when i want to.

32. FrIeNDs. and Lots of them.

33. deodorant.

34. flowers. tulips especially. and hanging baskets on my front porch right now.

35. me. being happy. and realizing that it is OK to love your life and be Proud of it.

and.....36. Passion. just for good luck ;)

Have a beautiful week everyone!

Scrapdango Blog Hop

Welcome to the Dango Girls' Blog Hop. I'm so glad you hopped on over to my pad. We've got a lot of fun coming your way for the weekend and through the week. If you just happened to hop on over here and didn't know about this blog hop, then hop on over to the Scrapdango Blog where you should start this hopping good time. Okay, enough with all the hopping. Let's get down to scrappiness.!!!

We have a brand new DT over at Scrapdango, and this blog hop is a way to introduce everyone. You will learn a little about each of them, and they will each post a challenge. You have until next Friday the 20th at midnight EST to post comments on each blog and to complete the DT challenges. There will also be other ways to earn draws, and one lucky person is going to win a fantastic prize of one of Scrapdango's fabulous kits chock full of scrappy goodness. Here is the breakdown of how you can earn draws:

--1 draw by posting comments on each DT member's blog (must comment on all blogs to get the draw)
--1 draw for each challenge that you complete. Please provide a link to your challenge in a comment.
--1 draw for becoming or already being a Scrapdango Blog follower
--1 draw for becoming or already being a fan of Scrapdango on Facebook

--2 draws for correctly answering quiz questions on the DT members. The quiz can be found on the Scrapdango forum here.

Here is the order:

Scrapdango Blog
Heather's pad (get it...it's a hop :):):):):)
Laura's pad
Celeste's pad
Megan's pad
Ellen's pad----->you are here!
Vanessa's pad

Soooooo.......Here is my challenge for you!

I love love to stamp and I like to stamp on my layouts, too. Using white pigment ink is one of my favorite techniques and it looks so good on colored cardstock

SO....my Challenge to you is to stamp your own background on a layout on a non traditional color! Yes, you guessed it...your background cardstock or pp must not be (any shade of) white or kraft. You must use patterned paper (yes stamping on pp looks cool!), black, gray, or any other color.

heehee...I love this little guy. I cut him out with my Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug die. That is the new Glitter Silk from CORE! It cuts beautifully.

Ran the cardstock stickers through the Cuttlebug, too.

And a close up of the stamping.

Okay...a little bit about me for the quiz ;)

I live in a very small town in Northeast PA about an hour from Hershey, PA...YES! Where they make the delicious chocolate. I was born in Allentown, PA and just love this state. There are so many great places that we can drive to in a weekend it will be hard to move from here.

I am very forgetful and quirky, LOL! So I do silly things like brush my teeth in the shower b/c I am always late.

I am married to a wonderful guy...we have two boys...owen and henry and we have two dogs, too....max (our big beefy lab) and chase (the quirky boxer). We travel a lot and love hanging out with our family and friends. We stay active and exercise together almost every day. I mean...if I played field hockey for 13+ years than I can at least get a run in every day.

I am so so excited to be part of this team. I love the community and of course, the kits!!!

You will be able to tell my favorite color from this layout!!! (It's the color of the Core'dinations Cardstock).

NSD Hangover!

So how much did you get done over NSD? I had an absolute blast working and getting time to scrap all day Saturday. The best part is, is that owen and henry hung with me in my room all day, too, so we got to spend some fun time together.

I joined in some challenges over at Big Picture Scrapbooking and ACOT and FTLOA.

Here are two layouts I did this weekend.

The first one is with a photo from our weekend at Philly watchin' the Phils

spank the Mets ;)

Here is a close up of the Glitter Silk Core'dinations. It punches like a DREAM!
And I ran it through my Cuttlebug for the star. Love it against the wood veneer from Studio Calico.

And a lo about me. I was inspired by Stacy Julian so I had to use her Core'dinations Core Impression line! And do you like the martini glass? YUM! I used my Cricut and some more Core.

This cute little stamps is from Gel-a-tins. Loads of My Mind's Eye on here from FTLOA.

AND DON'T FORGET TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!!

Embossing Tutorial

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be this month's guest designer over at 3 Scrappy Boys.

I have a tutorial on embossing to share wit you using theMay Kit and Gel-a-tins SCENTED embossing powders. YUM!!!! I love techniques and embossing stuff is no exception.

I used it on two layouts from the May kit (full of tons of BG :) with the fun Maya Road chipboard pieces. Here is the one from my previous post.

And here is another one:



and a close up of the technique:

Start by using your chipboard and Versamark. Again, I am using Gel-a-tins SCENTED powder. It is delicious! I like this color yellow, too. It is very opaque.

Cover generously with embossing powder.

And begin to heat it with your heat gun.

Now start adding layers of embossing powder.

I find the best way to do this is to dip it back into the powder while the chipboard is still warm. This way the powder will stick to it.

Keep repeating until you get the layered look you are looking for. I like might nice and thick.

Then splatter painting it is fun, too! or you can leave it as is.