We are Cropping! Hard Core, Baby!

Yeah! We are having so  much fun cropping away over at the Core'dinations Hard Core Crop!

There are tons of giveaways up for grabs..over 15 packs of cardstock that value over $300!

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

And all the challenges are posted here, too! AND you can check out my challenge here. It's a good one but you only have until tonight ;)

This layout was Gail's challenge to create your own grid background:

And as you can see I cut two "love" titles from my Silhouette..one was way too big so I figured why waste it!

This one was for Suzanna's 12 DIFFERENT types of Core and I did it! :):):)

Gemstones

two kinds of Vintage

two kinds of Black Magic

Spotted

Whitewash

Core Impressions

three kinds of Core Essentials

a Core Tag 

Glitter Silk

Cricut Cards

Good Morning!

I got a happy box already this morning!!! 

I had two cards picked up for this issue. Both use loads of Webster's Pages and Core'dinations.

The ribbon is May Arts striped twill. One of my FAVES!!!!

And this one...

with a MyStampBox stamp...I still use these stamps over and over again!

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!

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).

YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I am a May Arts Finalist!

Wahooooooooo!!!! They are posting them all week long so if you

feel like voting??? {wink} {wink}

You vote here.

And my video and the project are here.

You should check out the other projects...there are some amazing things you can do with ribbon!!!! Some seriously crafty people out there.

I created this weaved ribbon cover for a mini album...

The binding and butterfly are Core'dinations Cardstock.

And here is the video!!!! I have to tell you. I am loving making videos these days. Well, for those of you that know me I like to talk so being able to combine that with crafting makes me happy!

C-A-R-D-S!

I have loads of cards to share today. I got happy with the Core on this post ;) These are a few cards from some of the Moxxie Fab Challenges that I did early this year. So fun!

Make sure you check out the Core'dination's Blog here for more details. I cannot say enough about this company. SUPER generous, awesome to work for and just plan FUN!

So these cards have a whole mix of Core'dinations....Whitewash, Core Essentials and the NEW Glitter Silk.

I just love this Butterfly Die Cut from Kreaxions! I love it embossed, too. I use some SRM stickers on here as well.

Lots of Whitewash....

Lots of embossing and punching on this Monochromatic card with some more SRM Stickers.....Core Essentials and Whitewash....

Loved this challenge for some jewel tones. You will love love love love love love love love this Glitter Silk from Core'dinations. It cuts like butter, doesn't shed glitter all over your desk, folds brilliantly with NO tearing. I highly recommend it.

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!

It's a Snow Day!

Edited: I changed my blog header last night using some Echo Park goodies in honour of us getting MORE snow ;)

WAhoo! The great wet kind that you can build a hUgE snowman!!!! So I got my scrap on this weekend. Everyone took a nap here on Saturday so I thought it would be a great time to jump on some challenges over at Scrap Attack Scrapbooking.

Here is a layout I did using the word "love" in the title and/or journaling. Papers, embellies, chipboard numbers are Sassafrass Lass, chipboard hearts are Maya Road using their mist, too, and Cardstock is Core'dinations Core Impressions Cosmo Cricket. Not sure if you can notice but I cut the flower patterned paper in an asymmetrical shape for something different.

I love running outside (not to be confused with the dreaded treadmill, LOL!) And for the "1"...I ran out of chipboard number 1's so I used the negative space from the package and then cut my own ;) and then ran it through the Cuttlebug.

And this paper comes with stitching images so I randomly stitches some of them around the page...

Next up is a card for the Elephant challenge over at the Nook. This little guy makes me smile. I just love this MME Alphabet soup line!

Hello Saturday.

Hello nothing to do. Hello Henry's Birthday :) Hello Saturday.

So, CHA knocked my socks off! I got to meet so many friends!!! The amazing Anabelle O'malley, Lucy Edson, Dena Coe, Brandin O'neill, Natalie Kalbach, Bonnie, Kiki, Julie....who am I missing????? I have emailed and chatted with these guys on the phone for so long, it feels so good to finally meet. It was the hardest I have ever worked but the funnest ;) AND MISS LYDIA JACKSON....need i say more about my roomy??? She was awesome and funny, too. Her quote of the week, "Good job, Ellen. We are almost on time tonight!" Oh, too funny!!! Can you tell I am late a lot???

I can't wait to go again, LOL! Though I did have a sappy moment on the plane on the way home where I shed some tears b/c I missed my boys {shhh...don't tell brain that ;}

And let me say, the people from Core'dinations and Darice that I worked with ARE THE BEST! I mean, great people with HUGE hearts and THEY LOVE CORE! :) The fact I only get to see them a few times a year makes me sad. I can't believe that I get to do what I love and get paid for it. BLESSED.

Speaking of blessings.....

So today is February 5th and it is Mr. Henry's birthday! My sweetie pie, lamb chop, monkey buttin' snuggler :):):) The little man that melts my heart every. single. day.

In honor of the Super Bowl tomorrow, I will share with you this photo, my favorite of Henry over the last few months (let me remind you I am an Eagles fan ;)

And it wouldn't be a post if I didn't have some scrappy stuff! Here is a layout I did for the crop over at the Nook a few weeks ago of our trip to NYC this fall.

House Cleaning!

I don't know what got into me yesterday but I have completely gutted my scraproom from ceiling to floor! I went through bins of old stuff, ALL of my stamps and cleaned them, went through some drawers and bins. Re-Sorted my patterned paper and cardstock....hmmmm...Oh I organized my shelves that have my paint, mists and punches and some other things here and there.

PHEW! I sat down to do some more projects for Core'dinations for CHA next week and owen came in and asked me if he could help me clean and organize my room. ARGH, I guess that isn't a good sign, is it? I did get his stamp of approval today. He came in and said he was glad I finally "got around" to get things organized around here. SO 24 hours later I am done.

Make sure you check out the link on the right hand side of my blog!!! ANOTHER Cored'inations give-a-way! 40 packs of Tim Holtz cardstock!!! They were designed to match his Ranger and Distressed lines perfectly :)

And did you see??? The new DT was posted over at Webster's!!! It's going to be a great year. Last year was awesome being on the team and I am looking forward to some DT alum stuff. I am excited for change and some new adventures this year. I have been a part of the Ning site over there since I met Terri two years ago and it is still a home away from home for me. I go there everyday with my coffee, LOL!

Here are a few cards that I created for The Color Room Shimmerz Palettes. I love playing along with these since I have a lot of these colors.

I used my Kreaxions butterfly die (ran it through my Cuttlebug, they work beautifully) and then covered it with crepe paper and lots of shimmerz! Cardstock is Core'dinations.

And another one for The Color Room. I used Core'dinations Whitewash (from the Jenni Bowlin Core Impressions line) and loaded it with Shimmerz paints. I love using these on my Core!!!! It's pre embossed so you don't have to do any texturizing.

Magistical Memories Sketch

Hello Wednesday! The weeks just keep sneaking up on me. It is almost Friday so make sure you click the link on my sidebar for the Core'dinations Contest!!! You could win one of the BRANDNEW releases debuting at CHA!

So I wanted to share a layout I did for the Magistical Memories sketch challenge this month. When I saw the sketch with all the photos, I knew I wanted to scrap these. I have been holding onto them since this summer but I didn't have any MM chipboard that fit. I used my myStampBOX stamps (this cloud set is the cutest!!!) on some scrap chipboard with white craft ink (my FAVE technique!!!) and then cut them out and layered them where the cloud was on the sketch.

Patterned papers are Prima, cs is Core'dinations Cardstock Stacy Julian (it's not pre-embossed but in that collection you get core'dinating colors that are not embossed) and the green cs is gemstone. I also used quite a few SRM stickers.

a close-up of one of the SRM stickers. I matted them on white cardstock and use this fun AC button as the "point" in the exclamation.

Have a great week!

Happy Tuesday Morning!!!

I am just checking in with a quickie post...the kiddos are off all week so I am soaking up as much time as I can with them and doing some catch up.

Don't forget about the Webster's Pages Design Team call. Only a few more days left! I cannot say enough about this amazing company.

And here is the next big event happening over at Core'dinations!!! :) :) :) :) :)

SEE YOU IN A FEW DAYS!

Christmas Is Blooming!

Have you guys been over to the Core blog for the 12 Days of Techniques? Core is showing off their favorite ways to use their paper AND most days there is a sponsor give-a-way, too!

AND we have a fun even coming up with Helmar in January. The first scrappy even of the New Year ;)

Now on for some BLOOMERS!!! You know I LOVE my Webster's Bloomers with my very sou ;) And I was psyched when these were featured yesterday over at Two Peas for the 20 Days of Holiday sharing. These little trees were super easy to make! I purchased two 6" Styrofoam trees from the craft store (with some help from Andrea at Michaels's ;)

First, wrap the tree with Webster's Patterned paper because some of the Styrofoam will peak through and since they were white it was very noticeable. I used Helmar adhesives and it worked well.

Next, wrap the Bloomers from Webster's Pages around the tree starting at the bottom.

Some Tips: Use push pins to adhere the bloomers because liquid glue gets a bit messy. The pins will also help the patterned paper stay attached to the base.

The final step is to embellish. I used the Webster's Pages Flowers and the fun tinsel trim which I think is so festive!

I chose to do a traditional tree and a more modern looking one and I really like the look of both.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!

Mornin'

Well, I guess it isn't the morning anymore. We are a bit behind today. We had to make a trip to the doctor this morning. Pink eye has sprung in our house just in time for Christmas. Henry's eyes were pasted shut this morning and owen has it in is one eye. And or course, my eyes feel all itchy, LOL!

Here are a few cards from the weekend. The first one is featuring Core'dinations Core Essentials and the outlining technique. The 12 Days of Techniques is going on over there so make sure you check it out! Give-a-ways EVERY DAY!!!!!


I used a myStampBOX stamp for the sentiment.

Here is a gift card set that I made over the weekend. I just love these canvas flowers from Jillibean Soup. I cannot get enough of them. I used my Jillibean Soup Unity stamps, too. I cut out a "faux" gift card to give you an idea where you can slide it in.

And a little card to go along with it. I just love Jillibean Soup packaging so I used it on this card. Cardstock is Core Impressions Jillibean soup.

Have a great weekend!!!