Monday, March 31, 2014

a butterfly “hello” card…

Mother Nature plays this mean trick every year – you’d think we’d remember, but we seem to forget, so we fall for it – year after year.  You see, she gives us a day or two of sunshine and warmth, and then she teases us by sending a few days of wind, rain, and snow!  Back and forth, back and forth, warm then cold, sunshine then clouds, over and over again – and then, suddenly, it’s July and we’re blessed with day after day of super high temps and the A/C running 24/7.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  Let’s just enjoy Spring – whatever form it may be taking today…and today, that form is clouds and cool – so instead of feeling sad and missing the sunshine, I’ll just stay inside and craft up some Spring for myself!

Today, I’m doing just that with this fun little butterfly card.

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I used a brand new die set by Top Dog Dies called “Butterfly Finishers.” fb-newdies-april2014It is not available quite yet, but will be coming soon to their store – check in on Friday or Saturday!

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I folded over a blank card (from Pebbles, Inc.) and placed the die right on top before running it through my Cuttlebug – that left the creases on the top intact for a fun, butterfly shaped card – super easy!  Then I just added a few extra die-cut pieces and it was all done!

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Those cute little butterflies on the side are from the same set – wouldn’t they look cute scattered on a shelf or a table-top?!?

How do YOU bring a bit of “Spring” into your home this time of year?

supplies2

American Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - Cardstock Stickers - Accents and PhrasesAmerican Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - 12 x 12 Paper PadAmerican Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - 5.5 x 8.5 Cardmaking Paper PadAmerican Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - TulipAmerican Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - DaffodilAmerican Crafts - Pebbles - Garden Party Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - PetuniaAdvantus - Tim Holtz - Idea-ology - Tiny Attacher with 100 Tiny StaplesSakura - Quickie Glue Pen - Pinpoint Roller Glue

a brand new nephew and a fun little project…

We’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this little guy and we were so excited to find out he was REALLY coming yesterday!  My brother and sister-in-law are now the proud parents of four super cute kiddos – one girl and three boys, just like us! 

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In honor of little Beckham Cy’s BIRTHday, I thought I’d share this little baby boy gift bag – can’t wait to fill it with a little surprise or two and deliver it to my sweet new nephew! :)

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I used Pebbles, Inc. Special Delivery products for this quick and easy little gift bag – you can see the products by clicking on the images below. :)

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Monday, March 24, 2014

how to make a bunny basket marker | top dog dies…

Good Monday morning!  St. Patrick’s Day is over and I’m ready to move on to the next upcoming holiday – Easter!  I’m going to start by sharing my latest project – some bunny basket markers I made for Top Dog Dies.

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Are you wondering what the heck I mean when I refer to these tags as “basket markers”?  My guess is that if you have more than one child, you probably already know.  You see, with four kids, and four identical (or very similar) Easter baskets, we need to make sure the Easter Bunny knows which basket belongs to which child.  Some years I’ve made cute tags with their names or initials to tie on the baskets.  Some years, when we were feeling less creative, we’ve resorted to sticking a post-it note on the basket…I know, it’s not very fun, but it gets the job done!  This year we decided to create some disguised bunny tags. Each child chose the “props” from the Photo Props Die Set to disguise their bunny – then we placed each bunny on a colorful tag.  We’ll tie the tags to the baskets before the Easter Bunny comes, then, on Easter morning, everyone will know exactly which basket full of treats belongs to them!

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Creating four unique bunnies was easy – and a fun project for the kids to help with!  We started by cutting the bunnies (using the Bunny & Eggs Die Set from Top Dog Dies) from this fun “crushed velvet” textured cardstock by Doodlebug.  Next, we cut the pink inner ears and the cute brown noses from some of the “petite prints” papers, also by Doodlebug.

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Now the personalization could begin.  Using the “Photo Props Die Set,” we cut out a few pairs of glasses, some ties, mustaches, and even a string of bright blue pearls – and started dressing up the bunnies!

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Each bunny is unique and fun!  We cut the tags using the “Mixed Media Tag” die from Top Dog Dies – we just trimmed the bottoms to make the tags shorter and added a strip of coordinating paper across the middle. :)

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I hope the Easter Bunny is impressed with our creativity…maybe he’ll even leave an extra bag of black jelly beans for me! ;)

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supplies1

 

 

Doodlebug Design - Petite Prints Collection - 12 x 12 Paper AssortmentDoodlebug Design - 12 x 12 Crushed Velvet Cardstock Assortment

Doodlebug Design - Doodle Twine - LadybugDoodlebug Design - Doodle Twine - LimeadeDoodlebug Design - Doodle Twine - Swimming Poolbumblebee doodle twine use twine to package your baked goods and other ...

American Crafts - Ribbon Value Pack - Baker's Twine - 24 SpoolsDoodlebug Design - Springtime Collection - Doodle Twine - SpringEK Success - Foam Dot Squares - White - 1/8 Inch Thick - 198 Count

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

lagoon park | bella blvd…

It’s been almost a year since our family visited our local(ish) amusement park, Lagoon.  I took a bunch of photos and still hadn’t gotten around to printing them out – when I got the assignment from Bella Blvd. to create a “project life” inspired layout, I thought the papers and embellishments from the Family Forever collection would be a perfect match-up for my Lagoon Photos.

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I printed all of our photos – a few 4x6, but most of them are 3x4.  Then I started putting together some fun little cards to fit in the pockets:

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The “Candid Cards” and “Die Cut Pieces” make it so easy to whip up some extra fun little pocket fillers.  Of course, you could totally use them “as is” and not embellish…but I really like to make them my own!  Up close:

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Here are the two “embellished” pages I created and shared yesterday over on the Bella Blvd. blog (here):

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What you don’t see here are all of the extra photos that are filling the backside of each pocket.  I love using pocket pages to document activities and events where I took a lot of photos.  I still get to be creative, but I do not feel obligated to create a dozen pages just because I took 50 photos! :)

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Bella Blvd - Family Forever - Candid Cards - Die Cut Cardstock CardsBella Blvd - Family Forever - Paper Pieces - Die Cut Cardstock Pieces