Cards from World Card Making Day

I realized earlier today that I never shared the cards I made for World Card Making Day. Are there any other card makers out there? Did you make some cards for World Card Making Day as well?

I love card challenges and it is always so much fun to participate with a bunch of other card makers. Everyone did such a great job following along with the Studio Calico challenges. Without further ado, these are the cards I made this year.

Happy Birthday-this one if for my best friend (hope you don't see this Natalie, if on the off chance that you do, just don't tell me okay?)

Products Used:

• My Mind's Eye chalkboard paper
• Polka dot paper and gold dots from Studio Calico Antiquary card kit
• Happy Birthday to You sentiment Studio Calico Antiquary card kit
• Green seam binding ribbon
• Hero Arts mid-tone shadow ink in tide pool and grape juice
• Colorbox white frost ink

Anniversary Card
Products Used:

• White watercolor paper and watercolors to create the ombre 
• Stamped pears, sentiment, and green patterned paper-Studio Calico Antiquary Card Kit
• My Mind's Eye red enamel dots

 Thanks-this will end up going to Isabelle's music teacher
Products Used: 

• Patterned Paper, gold dots, and button- Antiquary Card Kit by Studio Calico
• Thanks gold rub-on by Pebbles
• Twine-stash

Thank You Teacher-this one will also go to Isabelle's 4th grade teacher
Products Used:

• Patterned paper, pumpkin and sentiment stamp-Studio Calico Antiquary Card Kit 
• Chalkboard paper by My Mind's Eye
• Ink-Colorbox white chalk ink and onyx black Versafine ink for pumpkin outline

Call Me Maybe-I will send this to a friend, to remind her to call me, subtle huh?
Products Used:

• Studio Calico Bubblegum September add-on card kit
• Pebbles From Me to You Chips
• American Crafts glitter thin glitter tape in brown sugar

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I appreciate you being here and leaving a comment. What have you been creating lately? Anyone else getting excited to start holiday crafting and card making? I sure am and forcing myself to hold off until after Halloween. 

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

Layout Share: Using Old and New Supplies to Create a Cohesive Layout

I was very inspired by the recent Glitter Girl episode "The Retro Revival" which discusses using old and new products together. I just loved this idea, and decided it was time to peruse my scrap basket to find some hidden treasures. After digging through papers for awhile, I decided to purge some I knew I would not use again (despite best intentions,) and I began pulling out papers I loved. It was very interesting to find that so many different companies have papers in the exact same colors, specifically a nice aqua blue, a golden yellow, and a true red color.  I am really enjoying this color combination together, and kept a bunch of the extra scraps I did not use in a Ziploc bag, so that I can use them again for another layout. These colors are a good transitional summer to fall palette for me and I encourage you to try them on a future project!

Supplies Used:

• My Mind's Eye-blue felt banner from Kraft Day, enamel dots
• Studio Calico-sun mask, yellow star paper, red/white striped paper, and "You are Here" stamp
• American Crafts Amy Tangerine Cut and Paste-red dot paper and shipping tag
• Glitz-arrow roller stamp
• Freckled Fawn-Weather wood veneer set, red woodgrain washi tape
• Heidi Swapp-Color Shine in Sweet Cherry and Mustard
• Pebbles-Hello clothespin
• Faber-Castell-blue gelatos
• Hero Arts-Shadow Ink in Butter Bar, Wet Cement, and Cup O' Joe

Let's talk combining older and newer products...is this something you do on a regular basis? Are there any tips or tricks you would like to share. What about color combinations, are there any that you are especially loving right now? 

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I appreciate you being here. I will be back tomorrow with some more progress on my Project Life pages. I would love to see you again.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

I Am Now the Parent of a Teenager

Today my sweet boy Elliot turned 13. At 1:22 am to be exact PST. He was brought into the world after over 22 hours of labor and 3.5 hours of pushing. 21 inches long and 8 pounds 4 ounces of the cutest baby boy ever. I am now the parent of a teenager. 13 years. 13 years. 13. Years. Gulp. Big Breath. 13. I just cannot believe it is already here, I cannot believe he is almost done with seventh grade, is now just barely beginning to get pimples, and is just eating, constantly eating. I think another growth spurt is coming on. 13. 13 Years Old. Sigh.

I wish I had all of my layouts photographed (that is something I just started doing in August of 2012, even though I started scrapbooking 17 years ago. My first few months of photographing layouts are not very good, I was learning and using only a camera phone. I am in the process of re-shooting about 60 layouts that I have already photographed now that i have a descent camera and photoshop, as well as slowly photographing many other layouts that have never been photographed. At this rate, it might take me a year to get it all done, but it will be someday. Probably more like 2-3 years with the amount of albums I have. It is nice to have a digital copy of all of it, just in case anyways. ;-)

Today I thought I would share some of my favorite layouts of my son at various ages, ( at least of the one's photographed) so let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? I am also writing a letter to Elliot that I am sharing with you.

 The Early Years:

 Preschool:

Grade School:

Middle School:

My Dear Sweet Elliot,

I Love You. Thank you for being my son. You are the greatest kid in the world. To me you are perfect just as you are. Because of you, I have become a better person, an advocate for others, and I greatly admire your ability to live life without concerning yourself with what other's think . You are so smart, quirky, hysterically quick-witted,  and you are a momma's boy (in the very best sense.) You have an empathetic and kind heart and truly want to always believe the best in people. You always strive to do the right thing and have no problem admitting your wrong and saying you're sorry. You are a great friend and brother. Everyone that meets you becomes a better person just by knowing you. You are amazing. You inspire me each and everyday. You are fabulously different in the most amazing ways. You make me laugh harder, smile bigger, and learn not to take things so seriously sometimes. You have also reminded me the importance of deep breaths and slowing down before you react. Your love of books and knowledge astound me, you have a such a great memory for all kinds of details that most people forget. You have some of the best one-liners in the history of the world. I love how involved you get in the things that interest you. I love that you research things you want to know more about. You never stop asking questions. You always want to know more, understand more, be more. You are nothing short of my everything. I am so incredibly, monumentally, indescribably proud of you. There is not a day that goes by that I do not thank God for you.

Elliot, you rock!

Mom

Thanks for stopping by today. I will be back tomorrow with a Project Life share, plus lots of other goodies all week long.

Happy Scrappin'

xoxox

Toni

My Mind's Eye Challenge 32: Cards

Cards. They are always so much fun to make. What I really enjoyed about making this card was how many scraps I was able to use from my scrap basket. It is so great to not waste this beautiful paper and accessories! I combined my love for three of my favorite collections from My Mind's Eye, "Follow Your Heart-Be Amazing," "Kraft Funday-Bright Days, as well as "Miss Caroline-Dolled Up." I have not seen these collections combined yet in any online format and I had a great time figuring out a way to make them work together. I also found that the extra buttons and brad with the "Follow Your Heart" and "Kraft Funday" collections coordinated quite nicely. As an added bonus I even used a stamp from a different collection. The sentiment "You are the best friend anyone could possibly have" comes from another collection "Miss Caroline- Dolled Up," I also used the flower stamps from that collection. The only non-My Mind's Eye product used is the base blue cardstock and the small portion of orange cardstock in the flower.

I hope my bestie enjoys receiving this thank you card / your my best friend card. Thank you My Mind's Eye for the great card idea, I am going to be busy in the upcoming week making more thank you cards following this layout idea.

The challenge: Design a card based on this fabulous sketch and use the theme “YOU” on the card (sketch by Anam Stubbington).



This is what I came up with:



What are you creating lately based on sketches? Are you combining different and unusual patterned papers and collections? What are some of your favorite paper combinations? How do you feel about using the 6 x 6 paper pads on your layouts? Do you combine those with 12 x 12 sheets?

Happy Wednesday!

Toni