Happy Birthday Waltzingmouse Stamps!

Waltzingmouse Stamps is turning ONE! I found Claire's little blog in September and have been a great fan ever since. I know I'll be anxiously awaiting the May release, will you? With EIGHT, yes EIGHT, stamp sets being released tomorrow there will be something for everyone. I already know of some sets I hope to add to my collection. :) And of course, all eight would be nice...

Claire has even offered up a little challenge to win all eight of the new sets. How generous! One lucky Waltzingmouse fan will get a great surprise! In order to be in the running a card was to be made with the sketch below as inspiration:

And here's my take:

For this little card I used my new Faux Fun Circles set and again a sentiment from Say It With Style. I don't know why I took so long to get out that fancy vintage circle from the one set. It was the reason I chose it and stamping with it is such a breeze. Ok, so my image isn't a perfect, crisp impression, but I think that adds some character to my card. I added a bit of distressing here and there to go along with it.

I even brought out my new sewing machine once again (thanks for the early birthday present, hubby!) and tried my had at a straight line stitch. Easier said than done, but I think it worked pretty well. Finally, added a scalloped oval cut with my Nestabilities and two soft flowers to complete the sketch.

Hope you like it! And now be sure to join me and all the other fans of Waltzingmouse Stamps at the release tomorrow!

DETAILS:

Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart)

Stamps - Say It With Style and Faux Fun Circles (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Embellishments - Flowers (Petaloo), Brads (Recollections), Ink (ColorBox & Studio G)

Tools - Sewing Machine (Janome), Scalloped Oval Die Cut (Nestabilities) with Cuttlebug, Distressing Tool

Been Busy

To make up for my lack of posts last week, I've sure been busy this week. Today I'm posting a project that I completed for a birthday gift. There's a lot of birthdays that I have to be ready for around this time of year and each time I hope to be more on top of things, but I still get behind.

I really wanted to try my hand at altering a word art item. It's easier said than done. First, you have to figure out how to get the pieces apart. Yay for a tip from searching the web that vinegar helps separate wood glue! Then, I painted. Then, I traced. Luckily I figured out that I needed to trace individually (almost did two of the same) so I could do each side of the word. Then, it was sanding! I didn't have sandpaper on hand so I resorted to a nail file. It did a good job, I think, and it did make getting into the tight spots alright. Finally it was time to put it all together...I even had DH help out to drill the holes for the metal pieces as I had filled them up with paint from a previous step.

So here's the before:

And here's the after:

Hopefully it's a hit! :)

Peruvian Hairless Dog

Yet another Peru page done! There's still a little pile of pictures on my desk, but it is going down. :)

Thought I would just have some fun with this page. The picture is from our Cusco city tour. We went to an alpaca textile factory as part of the tour. With so much wool around, it was strange to see a dog with no hair. He was one of those Peruvian Hairless dogs. He had his own alpaca sweater even!

To keep with the fun of the picture, I went with bright colors. I thought these Thickers in this fun font worked perfectly too. The sketch is one from Creative Scrappers #97. I had a little fun with my white gel pen too and doodled a bit. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (Colorbok), Solids (Martha Stewart, Stash)
Embellishments - Flowers (Prima), Brads (Recollections), Alphabets (American Crafts - Thickers), White Gel Pen (Sakura), Corner Punch (EKSuccess)
Sketch - Creative Scrappers #97

Lake Tahoe

Here I have a layout from a trip to Lake Tahoe last September. DH and I went up there the weekend after Labor Day as a way to have a last hurrah of summer before he would have to start work. Going after Labor Day proved to be quite nice because it was after the rush of the holiday and everything was winding down to settle for winter. The weather was still pretty nice for us, though. We did some biking and camping...water was a bit cold for swimming, but there were some braving it. It's nice to have such a place not too far away, but here we never did make it there in the winter or since yet. Someday...

Anyway, this layout follows the sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays this week. I really liked the blocks that made up the sketch, but modified it slightly to accommodate my pictures, so my photos became 3x4's. I knew in my stash that I had the perfect letters for the title. I love these big distressed letters. It was merely a bonus to find the intricately die-cut leaves in my stash. Both were a random box of scrapbook stuff purchase from eBay a few months back. Kinda fun because some of the stuff falls into the category that I wouldn't necessarily buy it directly, but having it now, I'm finding fun uses for it. Brings me out of my comfort zone too. I'm working on trying to embellish more on my pages. :)

And finally, the twine was just a fun added thing I thought I would try. I'm really liking it! I hope you agree.

Thanks for looking!

DETAILS:
Paper - Thatched (Fancy Pants - Celebrate - Jubilate), Green Leaves (Adornit - Carolee's Creations - Forest Leaves)
Embellishments - Sticker Letters (Mustard Moon), Leaf Die-Cuts (Stash), Twine (Stash)
Sketch - Sketchy Thursdays

First Sewing Project!

Here's my first attempt at putting stitching in my scrapbook layouts! It was quite fun! I tried my hand at the zig-zag stitch on my new little machine. I did do the cheat where pieces were already glued down and then did the sewing. I'm not that talented to actually adhere it with the stitching.

This page is about one of our tours of Cusco. At one point we had a great vantage point to see a good portion of the city in its valley amongst the mountains. What a view, eh?

This layout also follows the sketch over at Creative Scrappers exclusive for their challenge with Scrapbook Nook. It's been a fun month over at there as they celebrate their birthday month throughout April. Not too many days left to get in the action, so be sure to hop over there for some great scrapbook inspiration!

One element I like about this layout is the chipboard braces. I decided to do the little trick that I had done back on this page with some more chipboard. This time I did the same paper as my background paper for some tone on tone action. This goes along with the altered embellishment challenge over at Creative Prompts.

I think I'll see some more sewing in my future for my scrapbook layouts. :) What a great early birthday present! My DH is the best!

TIP: To get an uppercase letter out of a set of Thickers that are all lowercase, consider using the numbers. Here I used the zero for my capital letter!

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:
Paper - Patterned (Blue - Pressed Petals, Green - American Crafts A La Carte), Solid (Martha Stewart)
Embellishments - Chipboard (Stash), Border Punch (Fiskers), Distressing, Alphabets (American Crafts - Thickers), Ribbon (Target)
Sketch - Creative Scrappers

Where have I been?

Sorry for the lack of posts on my blog lately. I am still here but I'm finally starting to work on a coding project with DH. We've got this great idea for an iPad application that I'm working on now. And we have the upcoming release of the iPhone application called RunMonster coming soon too. I've dubbed myself head of marketing on that one. :)

Anyway, on the craft side of things, I recently got one of my birthday presents a little early: a mini sewing machine! I plan on trying it out today yet. So a project with some sewing is in the near future!

Finally, I'm putting out a little plug for Waltzingmouse Stamps. It's WMS's birthday in May (what a wonderful month for a birthday, right?) and Claire is celebrating with the release of EIGHT sets! The sneak peeks look great. I can't wait for the release! In the meantime, Claire is hosting a little giveaway to help spread the word about the HUGE May release. Just go leave a comment on this post, but also be sure to say that I sent ya! Then we are both in the running for a stamp set, including one of those eight in the May release! How great is that? Regardless, be sure to check it out!

In the meantime, off to play with my new present! Hope to be back soon with a new project to share. Take care!

Congrats Graduates

I recently got some random events' pictures printed, including DH's graduation from June. From inspiration of the sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays for the Spring Challenge Hop and the pennant banner I had gotten for the occasion, seen in the first picture, I thought his graduation was only fitting. And while I kept the original pennants, they didn't quite work with what I wanted for this particular page.

So here's the sketch:

And here's my take:

A fellow scrapping buddy (hi, Steph!) got me the great Stanford paper pack for Christmas knowing that I would be doing pages for this event eventually. I used the 12x12 scaled down of the patterned paper and the little logos on the pennant are from a border sticker included in the set. That little banner was made by yours truly. I'm really liking how it came out!

Pictures are of DH and his Computer Science partner in crime, who was our Best Man in our wedding in July. I'm pretty proud of DH for getting in and graduating from Stanford!

Thanks for stopping by today! And thanks all that leave comments. I sure enjoy them. :)

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (Sports Solutions), Solid (Martha Stewart and DCWV)

Embellishments - Stamps (Heidi Swapp - Handwritten Alphabet), Ink (Colorbox), Stickers (Sports Solutions), Run On Letters (American Crafts), White Cord (Joanns), Photo Corners (Heidi Swapp)

A Little Hello

My third post today! I wanted to get another Spring Blog Hop challenge card posted. I wanted to give some love to 365 Cards. :) This is my first time doing this challenge blog's challenges...and these white space challenges make you think definitely! I went with the one I found the easiest, but I hope I'll be able to try the others from this week yet.

No stamping or anything this time. It was kinda nice to just use my circle punch and a little chipboard embellishment for this simple card. I took inspiration from the chipboard embellishment for my color palette. The circles were punched from scraps, always good to use those up!

Challenges for this card:

365 Cards: Day 47 Sketch - whitespace

Little Red Wagon: Dry Embossing

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Solids (Wausau Papers & Stash)

Embellishments - Chipboard Embellishment (Stash - eBay Win!), White Gel Pen (Sakura), Cuttlebug Circles Embossing Folder (Provo Craft)

With Love Card

I'm continuing my challenges for the Spring Blog Hop with a card that satisfies a few challenges in one and for one particular challenge, that was the whole point! :)

I needed to be inspired by a sketch, so I added in the challenge over at 2 Sketches 4 You, Kazan's Sketch 50. I haven't made many taller cards, and it was kinda fun. I pulled out my Waltzingmouse Stamps - Labels 1 and Say It With Style for the focal point. I love pairing up these two sets. And I'm finally using my Nestabilities more (I have only 2 sets, but Labels 1 is finally getting some love..now to just figure out where to use my Oval Scalloped set.)

But I digress....this post is about the card! I enjoyed using the bling and trying a different style of bow for this card.

This card satisfies the following:

2Sketches4You: Sketch

Practical Scrappers: Spring Blog Hop Bling Challenge

The Cuttlebug Spot: Spring Blog Hop Bling Challenge

Pile It On: Spring Blog Hop "Say It With Words" Challenge & as many other challenges :)

Creative Belli: Die Cuts Challenge

Hand Full Of Stamps: Special Someone Challenge

Stampin For The Weekend: Ribbons & Bows Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart), Patterned (American Crafts - A La Carte)

Embellishments - Stamps (Waltzingmouse Stamps - Labels 1 & Say It With Style), Ink (Colorbox), Ribbon (Target), Border Punch (Martha Stewart - Lace Heart), Rhinestones (Studio G), Dimensionals (3M)

Waltzingmouse Stamps April Waltz - Mother's Day Cards

It's the 17th of the month and that means another Waltzingmouse Stamps blog waltz! For the month of April our task was to create Mother's Day cards. This time my arsenal of stamps includes the Say It With Style set, my favorite set to work with right now, so I was able to do the challenge with ease. I'm not sure what I would have done with only Sewing Box Christmas...lol!

Anyway, I used the bigger flower included in Say It With Style and with the inspiration of quilts, I decided to paper piece it. I challenged myself to only use patterned papers from my scrap stash...so except for the card base, no new sheets of paper were used in the making of this card. I had not made an easel card in a while either, so that seemed like a good idea for this card too. Here's my final result:

Faux stitching was done throughout this card. (I just love how easy it is to do with a white gel pen!) I wanted to continue the quilting theme on the base of the easel, so I made 1"x1" squares of the same paper for a little quilted effect. Finally, I used a Labels 1 dotted stamp and Spellbinders die to my sentiment place card. This also helps hold up my front without anything extra.

I wish to thank you for stopping by today. Make sure to check out all the waltz links at the Waltzingmouse House Forum for more great projects. I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Celebrate!

Finishing up the pages for the wedding I went to in Peoria, I decided to use the Scrap and Stamp Saturday sketch challenge. I had a lot of fun with this particular sketch. I took a few liberties with it, but I don't think they will mind. :)

Here's my take:

Here's the sketch:

Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Die Cut Shape (DCWV - Holiday Die Cuts)

Embellishments - Thickers (American Crafts), Stamps (Autumn Leaves - Swirls), Chinese Peoples (Memorabilia - Couple's Invite)

Love, Honor & Cherish

A wedding layout today! I think this is probably the fastest I have ever scrapped something after it happened. Just three weeks ago I was in Peoria, Illinois, to witness two good friends of mine get married and I thought it would be the perfect subject for a few challenges. I also had the memorabilia from their ceremony and reception that I didn't want to lose, so scrapping this sooner than later was probably a good idea. :)

For the main aspect of this layout I did the latest Sketchy Thursday sketch:






I found this sketch fun to use and added a little more bling and embellishments than I usually do on my pages, but actually enjoyed it! I was very glad to find the perfect color flowers to go along with this layout theme. So, here's my take:

This layout also incorporates bling (both the scrapbook kind as in purple rhinestones and the wedding ring kind - this was from the couple's program, just cut with a Nestability Labels 1) for the challenges over at Practical Scrappers and The Cuttlebug Spot. 

I also decided a wedding layout was the perfect way to incorporate the poem inspiration at Scrap That Poetry's latest challenge. The lines "The thought of Love Immortal blends / With fond remembrances of friends;" spoke to me because this was a wedding of two good friends I met while living in Peoria.

If you're wondering why I'm targeting these specific challenge blogs, it's due to their great challenge blog hop going on this week. Be sure to check it out at each of these blogs mentioned, or specifically here.

Now I just need to work on a few more challenges for Pile It On and 365 Cards. This blog hop makes you work!
Thanks for stopping by!
DETAILS:Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart & DCWV), Patterned (Provo Craft - Lilac Basket)Embellishments - Stamp (Inkadinkadoo), Ink (Colorbox), Border Punch (Martha Stewart - Heart Lace), Flowers (Hero Arts & Prima & Stash), Brads (Recollections), Rhinestones (Studio G), Nestabilities Labels 1 (Spellbinders), Insert (Wedding Program Memorabilia)

Scraplift Challenge @ Scrap Our Stash

This month's challenge over at Scrap Our Stash is to scraplift a page that has been posted on the blog before or use a sketch. For my take on the challenge I looked through many of the wonderful pages that have been done by the Scrap Our Stash Design Team and came across this one by DT member Danielle:





I loved the way that she had used strips of patterned paper to make an interesting background to her main images, all while using a neutral paper as the base. For my patterned papers, I tried to bring out the teal, purple and brown found in my photos. This layout is about the train that goes between Cusco to Aguas Calientes, the town near MachuPicchu. The train ride was a great way to see some of the countryside, mountains, and the river flowing by it. We rode the train to a from MachuPicchu on our trip with our trek group.

There's definitely time to do your own scraplift for the April Challenge! Head over to Scrap Our Stash for all the details. There's a guest DT spot up for grabs!

DETAILS:
Paper - Solid (Martha Stewart), Patterned (Daisy D, K&Co)
Embellishments - Buttons (Stash), Marker Border, Letter Coins (Making Memories)

Mojo Monday Card

Just a quick little post. I decided to do the Mojo Monday challenge today for a birthday card I will be needing in the near future. I took the Basic Grey papers as my inspiration to go along with the sketch.

DETAILS:

Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Patterned (Basic Grey Ambrosia)

Focal Image - Stamps (Waltzingmouse Stamps Say It With Style & Labels 1), Label 1 Die (Spellbinders), Ink (Studio G)

Embellishments - Rhinestones (Studio G), Ribbon (Pebbles), Corner Punch (EKSuccess)

I'm back with a Christmas page?

Wow, it's been way too long since my last post! And while it is a bit late now today, I wanted to get something up that I had just finished. I'm really proud of this page. Slowly my pages are starting to have a few more elements...swirls, photo corners and four different patterned papers! oh my! But a Christmas page in April?

Thursday I was busy making Walgreens collage prints with my photos instead of scrapping. As they were having an 80% off sale of their collage prints, I just had to try them out. :) I ended up making about 6 of these prints and you'll probably see them in my next pages. I decided to keep this particular grouping together in the original 5x7 print. It tells the story of our finding, buying and bringing home of our little Christmas tree. We found a nursery selling them two blocks away. And while we were in the car (having done a few other errands before stopping) it was much easier to have DH just walk the tree home rather than have pine needles all over the car for the two block drive.

For this layout I used a past sketch used at Practical Scrappers. I recently found this wonderful blog that has challenges on making use of your craft supplies. I saw this sketch and decided I wanted to try it.

And here's my take:

So with that, I hope you enjoy my little page. I hope to get back to posting on a regular basis again. Thanks for stopping by!

DETAILS:

Paper - Patterned (Deja Views, Making Memories - Mistletoe)

Embellishments - Swirl Die Cuts (Sizzix), Thickers (American Crafts), Photo Corners (Heidi Swapp)

Sketch - Practical Scrappers

Cheers!

Carrying on with the Peru book I finished another page today. This one features a picture of DH and I with our strawberry daiquiris the other members of our trek group got for us. It was super nice of them to chip in and help us celebrate! Once they learned of our trip also serving as our honeymoon, some wondered if I had lost my mind to want to "work" instead of relax. But I think they also were a bit jealous of having such a cool honeymoon too. Some were touched that we would want to spend it with our misfits of Sexy Llamas (what our guide eventually dubbed our tour group).

Here's the sketch:




Here's my take:

For this page I used the Sketchy Thursdays Second Chance sketch. The challenge has a great sponsor of Lawn Fawn Stamps too. These stamps are so cute! I incorporated some stamps in my page: the circle border is one from JustRite and the martini glasses are Studio G.

DETAILS:
Paper - Solids (Martha Stewart), Patterned (K&Co)
Embellishment - Thickers (American Crafts), Border Stamp (JustRite Stampers), Martini Stamp (Studio G), Border Punch (Fiskers)

Swapping Sistahs!

We're at it again! Stephanie was our kit supplier this month. (Check the sidebar for more of our Swapping Sistahs adventures)

This month Stephanie challenged us all with two 6x6 pieces of wood paper and a sketch for our projects. I had seen the wood on the MoxieFab World blog a while back, but didn't know what I would ever do with it if I had some to use. So when I opened my envelope with this month's kit I was stumped. (haha...sorry, didn't mean that..and it's late so forgive my humor)

When I finally thought of something, birdhouses came into my head. Armed with this fun little pattern, found here, I proceeded to make the biggest of the three birdhouses with the wood papers. Except then I remembered that we had a sketch! Good thing I had scraps! I then proceeded to make the littlest birdhouse for my card. :)

So here's the sketch:






And here's my take (I flipped it since my birdie was flying to the right):

Joining this project up with the Everything But The Kitchen Sink Challenge (use string), I made my little birdie scene. I thought this stamp was so cute in the $1 bin at Michaels a while back and now I finally got to use him. Isn't he cute? I also wanted the focus to be on his little heart/flower so I colored that red. Finishing off the card was done by using my "Just A Note" sentiment from my Waltzingmouse Stamps - Say It With Style set. I really do love this loopy font.

Well, there you have it. A little late on the Swapping Sistahs posting, but now complete. Thanks for stopping by my little blog. Be sure to check out the other ladies in our little group (see sidebar).

DETAILS:
Paper - Wood Papers (Stephanie Supplied...lol), Blue Solid (Martha Stewart)
Embellishments - Bird Stamp (Studio G), Ink (Studio G), Black Floss (Stash), Just A Note Stamp (Waltzingmouse Stamps - Say It With Style)

Blog Candy Winner!

As promised, I am giving away my blog candy today!

And the lucky winner....

**Ronnie**

Thank you for helping my celebrate my 100th post. Ronnie, I will be emailing you to get your address so I can send you your goodies!