My FIRST album

Good morning, Bloggy Friends!
Yes Yes, I am still here... but with the 'lil ones home for summer vacation, time on the computer is a precious commodity! Today, I have a few pictures to share that are really exciting to me!
I have never made an album of any sort. I have about 300 files on my computer with templates and tips and tutorials and I have just never done it... call me chicken, I suppose...
But Dardi, from DtsArt threw down the gauntlet and challenged us to create an album using her "Growing Pedal" album... who am I to refuse a challenge?
And believe it or not, once I got started, I had an absolute ball with this project!

A good friend of mine is having a baby (she's due in August) and this album is going to be for her. We know it's a girl, but they're keeping her name a secret!

I have used Dardi's "Pedal Growing Flower Album" SVG for the entire album... there are THIRTEEN pages altogether! Each page adds one petal, so at the end the last page has petals all the way around! It's a cute concept and one I haven't seen before!

To decorate the pages, I have used a variety of SVG files from DtsArt, Lettering Delights and SVGCuts.com.

Bath Time

Each page has a "Theme" with space for photos or journaling, whichever Mommy-to-Be decides to do.

I have not yet finished all 13 pages, but I'm going to show you a few of the pages that are my favorites so far!

Since I took these pictures, I have made a few structural changes and when I get it ALL done, I'll post final pictures. 

Sleepy Time

I added eyelets on the holes to give it more stability and because my eyelets are too small for the book rings in these photos, I have had to come up with another ring system. I found some thin hoop earrings in the jewelry-making section of the store and tried those, but they're a little small, so the album doesn't quite close flat, so I'm still looking for a ring that's thin enough for the eyelets and big enough for all the pages.

Any suggestions?

Daddy Time

This is my favorite page so far! Daddy-to-Be is a professional pilot and flies private, chartered flights for the rich and famous! When I saw the Aviator Bear in the Jonathan's Bears collection from SVGCuts.com, I knew  it was going to be included in their album, for the "Daddy Time" page. I love her pink outfit and the little pink "wings" on the photo page!

I included this photo, even though it's very similar to the first, because it shows how each page progressively has one more petal... with thirteen pages, that's a LOT of cutting! I cut the base out of a giant white poster board then cut 2 of each page in my pretty papers... and of course now that I want to tell you where I got the papers, I can't find the package it came in!

Overall, this album is a fun project and as each page comes together, I love it just a little bit more!

Yes, it's pretty time consuming to do the base and pages, but once it's decorating time, it's a BLAST!!

From the Smallest Packages come the Greatest Miracles

We are already up to the ninth challenge at The Stamping Boutique Challenge Blog! This week, we have been asked to create a project using NO designer paper! We had to create our own background!


I used the "Curiosity" image from The Stamping Boutique and doodled my background sparkles to mimic the doodles in the image. The sparkles have "Creative Inspirations" paint, so they are quite shimmery up close and personal! I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils, cut the leaves and vines from MyScrapChick and used "Breezy Backyard Lever Cards" from SVGCuts.com for my card base. The seam binding ribbon is from JLJ Designs and is available at her shop for only $0.99 for THREE YARDS! (that's NINE FEET for only 99 cents!! The papers are all from a pack of colored cardstock in my stash (no labels??)... 

The acorns were "picked" fresh from my back yard by my boys. They seemed appropriate since the theme of the image seems to be the focus on the miracle of growth! It truly is amazing, how Mother Nature works!! From tiny eggs and seeds come the most wonderful, beautiful birds and trees and all things awesome!


As I was browsing Blogland, seeking inspiration for my TSB DT project for this week's challenge, I came across The Stamping Sisters in Christ and the quote for inspiration this week was a basis for the whole theme of my card!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

There are a few other challenges this week I'd like to submit my card:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Fairies
One Stitch at a Time, Things with Wings
Stampin Sisters in Christ, Card you Doodle On
Craft Catz, Fancy Folds
Delicious Doodles, Things that Flutter
Polka Doodles, All of a Flutter
Simply Create, Fly with Us
Papercrafting Journey, Our Feathered Friends
By the Cute and Girly, In the Garden
Creative Craft Challenges, Make Your Own Background
A Spoonful of Sugar, Ribbons and Bows




and last but not least:
The Latte Lounge June Monthly Challenge:
the third requirement is to Add an Object from Outside!


We would LOVE for you to join us at the "Lounge"!!


The Monthly Challenge is SUPER-FUN and the 
KID'S Challenge (Dreaming of a Sunny Day) has really gotten some very creative entries!


I'm so happy you decided to stop in to visit today and hope to see you over at the "Lounge"! 

Ready for a Luau

This card was so fun to make.
The stamp is from Fresh Brewed Designs.
Her name is "Luau Girl" and you can grab here at the shop by clicking HERE.
The shaped Tropical Drink card was designed with Inkscape and cut with Make the Cut on my Cricut. 


If anyone is interested in this file, I will zip it up and share it on my SVG files page.


Challenges:
AiFactory Challenge, Summer Fun
PaperPlay, At the Beach
The Rubber Cafe, Summer has Arrived
Crafting for All Seasons, Summer
For Fun Challenges, Wow, It's Finally Summer
Little Darlings, Summer Theme (this is their FIRST challenge!!)
Simply Scrapping Crafts, June 15th Challenge, No Sentiment
Your Next Stamp, Seeing Shapes (I"m really crossing my fingers for this one, because I LOVE the prize: Rock Star Phinn and would REALLY love to add it to my collection!)
Get Hippity with Ippity on SSC, Tooty Fruity- Another one with a great prize that I"m hoping to WIN!! (-: LOVE Aletha's Shop!!
My Partner in Crafting Crime, Tutti Fruitti

Stand Still and Consider the Wondrous Works of God

... and the Wondrous Works of Tracey Malnofski, from The Stamping Boutique!

This image is called "Girl Walking on the Beach" and from the second I saw it, I just knew that we were made for each other!

I colored the sunset with Oil Pastels

and cut the shape from SVGCuts.com Memory Garden Collection.

The corner swirls are from Stampin' Up

and I made the sentiment in Inkscape.

The June Month Long Challenge at the Latte Lounge 

is in full swing and the theme is 'Nature and Outdoors'.

Every week of the month, we add a new "twist" 

to make it a little more interesting.

The "add-on" this week is: Add BROWN!

At the end of the month, we have a drawing from all the entries 

and hand out prizes from ALL our sponsors!

So far, this month, we have FOUR sponsors.

That means four drawings and four WINNERS!!

Come over to the Latte Lounge and join us!

You can win prizes from:

The Stamping Boutique

Digi Design House

Stampin'with Brenda and

In a Scrap Creations

All you have to do is post a picture in the Challenge thread

(we don't use Linky-things or anything like that...)

We try to keep it simple because we have so many 

other things to do at the Lounge!

There is a spectacular photo gallery for inspiration!

Lots of Groups to visit 

and some of them have challenges, freebies and events.

We also have a Kid's Challenge, 

where we love to see work from our Junior Crafters!

And our Discussion Forum and live Chat window

are just great places to hang out and chat with friends

over a nice cuppa latte!

Hope to see you there!

Latte Lounge Kids' Challenge Reminder

Our Kid Designers have been hard at work this week!

There are LOTS of new entries in our

KIDS' CHALLENGE

We decided to keep the freebie there for you!

Grab the Angel Cake Sunny Day image

and create a project with her.

You will get another free image emailed to you!

Plus, you are entered for a chance to win a prize from

Fresh Brewed Designs

Our Sponsor!!

We're all Dreaming of a Sunny Day!

Let's see your  projects!!

Enter our Challenge TODAY!

Just click HERE and post a picture!

Digi's with Attitude! Challenge #30

We are starting Challenge #30 at the Digi's with Attitude! Challenge Blog today!

Happy Father's Day:

show us your Dad's Day Cards!

You can use any masculine image and do not have to make a card for just Dad. We would love to see any Manly Project!

It is not required you use a Digi's With Attitude! image however, there's always a FREEBIE at the DWA shop!

Our sponsors this week are Digi's with Attitude! and Stitchy Bear Stamps. Winners (one for every 25 entries) will receive A $10 Digi's With Attitude Gift Certificate* and one randomly selected winner will receive a $10 Gift Certificate for the Stitchy Bear Stamps Shop.

For my card, I used Napoleon, which you can get at the Digi's with Attitude! Store by clicking HERE! The papers are from JLJ Designs Dad's Day Digi Paper Pack. Where else can you get 12 sheets of color-coordinated papers that you can print as many times as you would like for only $4.00? The more I play with Digi Papers, the more I LOVE them!!

I actually sewed on this card, too! Can  you believe it? I have a sewing machine and I DO know how to use it, but it's not something I do on a regular basis... I have a counted cross stitch project I was planning to give my parents for their 25th anniversary. Last October was their 40th!! So, I guess I'm not much of a "stitcher"! Every once in a while, I'll pull it out and blow the dust off the box, but at this point, I'm wondering if it's a little hopeless!

SO! If you're a regular follower of my blog, you might remember that I mentioned a special project I had made for Heather, at Fresh Brewed Designs, using her newest release "Daisy's Recital". You can read all about it here if you missed it!

Well, I told you that I was holding off posting pictures of my "other" project until I was sure the Mail-person had delivered it.

I am happy to announce that it has arrived safely into the hands of it's new owner!

So now I can show you!

It is impossibly difficult to take a good picture of etched glass.

I tried different background colors, different lighting set-ups, different things inside and behind the glass... no matter what I tried, this is the best shot I could get of the curved glass vase!

I made this for Heather's DD, who is having her first dance recital this weekend! She has been working really hard and I can't wait to see the pictures!

Daisy's Recital

WOW! This is my THIRD post for Fresh Brewed Designs this week!

I am so happy to be the featured designer 

for day 3 of our 5 day blog hop. 

This hop is a little different from the rest. 

This hop will involve two stops every day until Saturday.

 On Saturday all of the new images will be in the shop 

and there will be a special post for you to comment on. 

If you participate every day and follow the rules, 

you will have a chance to win all 4 digis that are being released!

Here is where you can read all about Day 1.

You will find the link there to follow the hop!

If you missed Day 2, you will need to go HERE 

and leave a comment  

and then hop to the Designer's blog post who is linked there.

The rules are simple: leave a comment on the 

Fresh Brewed Designs Blog

AND

leave a comment on the blog of the Designer-of-the-Day!

You will find the Designer-of-the-Day

at the Fresh Brewed Blog

I would REALLY like to see one of my followers and friends

win this awesome set of four new digis!

So far, we have seen a pirate and a hula dancer!

Today I bring you the third new member of

our family of Elephants!

Her name is Daisy and she is prepping for her Recital:

Little Daisy has been practicing all year and it is time for her big debut!
Her recital is just around the corner and 

she is ready to show off all of the techniques she has learned:

Plié, Pirouette, Arabesque, Relevé, and Chassé

In just a few years, she just might be ready for her Pointe shoes!!!

Isn't she just beautiful in her flowing dress and floral headband.
I know her mom is so proud!!!

Now to complete your hop today, all you have to do 

is leave a comment here and stop by

the Fresh Brewed Blog 

to leave a comment!

You will be entered to win ALL FOUR 

of these adorable Elephants...

They're not even in the Shop til Saturday

so hurry over to be the first to get your hands on them!!

I have made another, very special project with Daisy,

but until Mr. Postman makes his delivery

I will not be posting that picture.

I hope you'll stop back tomorrow

to see exactly how special Miss Daisy is to me!

WOW! That sure is bright!

There! I saved you the time... you won't have to write a comment about how bright this card is! But looking at this photo, you better bring sunglasses!

The new challenge at Fresh Brewed Designs is: "Lots of Yellow".

Here is our Inspiration Photo:

Some might say I was inspired by this project!

Other will probably agree that I may have gone a little overboard! (-:

Whatever your take on it, this sure is a happy, cheerful card!

I swear, it doesn't make you blind in real life! (-:

This image is "Angel Cakes Beach Days" from Fresh Brewed Designs!

Those awesome, happy papers are from the 

"Pretty Tough" digi papers from JLJ Designs!

If you have kiddos that like to craft, 

you can grab this image FREE at the Latte Lounge Kid's Challenge! 

And if your kids make a card with this image and post it in the challenge, 

two things will happen:

1. They will be entered to win a great prize from our sponsor: Fresh Brewed!

2. They will receive ANOTHER FREE Fresh Brewed image 

to work on for next week!

Fresh Brewed Designs is almost everywhere you look these days!

And if you missed the first day of our week-long Release Hop, you'll want to pop over to the challenge blog and read all about it.

It's a new type of hop: visit the Challenge Blog to find out where to go 

to see the newest digi. 

Leave a comment at the Challenge Blog 

AND 

at the Designer's Blog who is featured that day... 

we're already on Day 2, so don't miss out!

Pretty easy, really... two comments a day for a chance 

to win the ENTIRE SET of NOT-YET-RELEASED digis!! 

There are 4 brand new Baby Elephants coming out this week... 

they won't be in the store til Saturday... 

so it's worth making 2 comments a day for a chance 

to get your hands on them FIRST!!

I am scheduled for tomorrow so 

you BETTER come back and leave me some love!!

Booty Call and Beachy Fun

The One Stop Blog Hop at The Stamping Boutique was a fun one this time. We got to use the Summer Laundry Line image!


All the votes were placed in the comments section and the winner was #2, Kecia!


This is MY card for the Hop. The swimsuit is actually painted with Creative Inspirations paints and is quite shimmery and pretty, but it doesn't photograph well.

 Now we are on to Challenge #8 at
The Stamping Boutique Challenge Blog.
The theme for the challenge is "Guy Cards". With Father's Day quickly approaching, it seems to be a pretty common theme that should get LOTS of entries!
Every body is making cards for their dad...
I used "Princess Jennifer Latte the Pirate" from The Stamping Boutique and no, I don't suppose this one will go to my dad. But it's DEFINITELY a "guy" card!

Here's a close-up of Miss PJL!
I do all my coloring with Prismacolor pencils and for the background on this one, I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink and a paint brush with lots of water. After my image was colored, I ripped the edges of the paper, inked with Walnut stain and put big drops of water in the ink and basically "spread it around" to soak in.
I'm really happy with how shiny her black books look... getting that look with pencils was a little challenging but I LOVE the end result.

And my third project for The Stamping Boutique this week features the "Coeopsis" image. 
I made this one for the June Month Long Challenge at the Latte Lounge.
Our theme this month is "Nature and Outdoors".
I love the challenges at the Latte Lounge because every week, we add a new "Twist" to keep the challenge fresh and interesting!


The papers in the background are digital papers from JLJ Designs, in the brand new "Back to Nature" pack.


It's been a busy few days, but I've had a blast working with all these images!


I hope you'll get a chance to stop in a see the "Guy Card" challenge at TSB and the "Nature/Outdoors" challenge at the "Lounge!"
I'll be lookin' for ya!

HUGE MyGrafico Giveaway!!

MYGRAFICO JUNE MEGA GIVEAWAY

*** 1 NEW Silhouette SD Cutting Machine
*** SCAL3 Cutting Software that you can use with your electronic die cutting machines

*** 3 SVG Cutting Set Templates from MG Designers
 

*** 3 ROLLS of Adhesive Vinyl - Create your own wall art and more!
*** 50 Piece Paper Pack from American Crafts

DETAILS AND HOW TO ENTER

MG FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191921117525703

It's Mocha Manic Monday: MMMMMMmmmmmm!

Have  you ever challenged yourself to do something, 

just to see if you could do it?

I was cooking supper the other day and while it was in the oven, 

it occurred to me that my card for the 

Mocha Manic Monday Fresh Brewed Designs Freebie was not done!

I only had about 20 minutes on the kitchen timer 

til my Pavlov's dogs heard the bell ring!

They're so well-trained: "DING" and they show up at the table! (-:

I pulled up the image (this YUMMY ice cream cone) in Paint.NET 

and colored it with about 4 clicks.

Printed my image, the sentiment, 

and a really cool template I snagged for free 

from Lettering Delights last weekend!

I cut out the ice cream, added some Glossy Accents to the Cherry 

and stuck it all together!

In LESS THAN 15 MINUTES, I had made what actually turned out to be a really cute card! I think that's a land-speed record for me!

I TOTALLY love that sentiment!

And it's FREE!!

It's a Two-fer Mocha Manic Monday!!

TODAY ONLY!

Jump on over to the Fresh Brewed Designs

Challenge Blog and read all about it!

Our team has made some YUMMY treats

and you'll want to check them out!

I haven't worked my corned with the Ho's for awhile, so I decided it was time to get back to workin' it!

The challenge at the "Crafty Ho's" is "Summer, let the fun begin"!

How much more fun can you have than screaming for ice cream?

One Stop Hop: Vote TODAY!

Today is the day!

We're having a "One-Stop" Blog Hop

at the Stamping Boutique!

Many of you might remember the one we did like this in February.

It was a LOT of fun, so we're doing it again!

This month, the Design Team was challenged to use

Tracey's FABULOUS new summer digis.

We all created special projects that I'm not allowed to post 

until the end of the Hop.

It's a fast and easy hop, that won't take all day!

Just visit the Challenge Blog to see all the projects

in one place!

Leave a comment to vote for your favorite!

The Team member who gets the most votes

will win a prize!

AND there will also be a random drawing 

from all the comments.

So you can WIN great TSB prizes!

Just for looking and voting!

Voting closes Sunday night at midnight

so hurry up... get over there before you forget!

One Foxy Lady with 'Tude

It's Time for a New Challenge at
Digi's with Attitude!

Challenge #29

Let's Get Sketchy

(use the sketch at the challenge blog and show us your interpretation)

Here's mine:

I used 'Grandma Gertie". One of the new Wrinkled Attitude Collection!

She's so sassy and sexy!

Check out the store to see what this month's freebie is!!

It is not required you use a Digi's With Attitude! image however,

we always love to see what you do with our digis *grin*

See our challenge guidelines here

Challenge #28 winners will be posted this Monday

The Card of the Month Winner is posted this Monday too! (If applicable)

So make sure you check in to see if you have won!

Winners (one for every 25 entries) will receive

A $10 Digi's With Attitude Gift Certificate* 

and

one randomly selected winner will receive

3 images of their choice from Chi Chi Memories

Challenges:

Aud Sentiments (which is sponsored by Digis with Attitude! this week): Sentiment or card for a male

Papercrafting Journey: Anything Goes, use your Favorite

Some Odd Girl, Manly

Stamp Insanity, Anything Goes

Scrapbook Sisters, A Man's World

Scrapalicious, Card for a Man

My Time to Craft, Very Funny