All sorts of love.

I've got lot of different types of love for you today. Some Papertrey Ink love, some Ikea love, and some crafty love... just to name a few. I'd better get started! :)

Papertrey Ink Love

I finally had the chance to sit down and play for a while with my new Papertrey Ink order. Holy wow- everything is so amazing! I'm in awe of the quality of all of the products that I recieved- the stamps, the paper, and the buttons are all wonderful. Here's a card that I made while playing around last night:
I can't wait to spend more time playing around with everything. Love the tone-on-tone look with clear embossing powder and the Polka Dot Basics II stamp set. Wonderful!

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Vanilla) and Unknown (blue), Colored Pencils- Prismacolor, Ink- Tsukineko, Stamps- Papertrey Ink (In Bloom and Polka Dot Basics II), Embossing power and ink- Ranger, Dimensional Adhesive- EK Success, Buttons- Papertrey Ink, Thread- DMC, Ribbon- Martha Stewart for EK Success.

Ikea Love

Since I'm moving into my apartment in less than 48 hours (holy cow! Time's moving so very fast), I've been doing a lot of prep for the big move. We still have a ton of things left to buy for our space, so we're turning to Ikea for a little help. So inevitable- they have everything there. Here are a couple items that I think we might need to pick up:
Love. This. Comforter. The orange is one of my favorite colors, and I think it would go perfectly in our room. Best part? Only 14.99. Perfect for my minuscule college budget.
Super simple bath rug. I think I love this color for the bathroom. Nothing like a bright green to wake you up in the morning, eh?
These fabrics match absolutely nothing any of us own, but I love the simple patterns and shapes. This is total scrapbooking inspiration at its finest. Now if they just made this in a lime green/ orange color scheme, I'd be all over this.

I'll definitely keep you updated on what we end up getting. All at once, this is so exciting and overwhelming. I feel like there are five thousand things I have to do, and I don't even know what half of them are yet. I need to make more lists.

Crafty Love

So in my massive pile of things to do, I keep adding on with things that are completely unnecessary but oh-so-fun... like this project that I found this morning.
It's simple- you just cut down the center and around the collar of a t-shirt, sew a simple hem, thread it with ribbon, and tie. My sewing machine is totally calling my name right now! (Full, simple tutorial here.)

Copic Love

Copics are all the rage right now in the scrapbooking world. Over at two peas alone, there are a ton of threads started about them. The other day, Jennifer McGuire posted this awesome link on her blog. Soo much information about copics, including recommended colors for getting started. I need to use what I have for now, but I can't wait to start collecting copics when the time is right. (Like when I "need" them for a design class I'm taking...) I'm in love with the quality of the colored images. Amazing! Oh, and here's a reference sheet of all of the Copic colors that might come in handy. I may or may not have printed one off to circle my favorites. Maybe.

Cat Love

I stumbled upon this cute cat article yesterday named "Guidelines for Cats", and it gave me a good laugh. If you have cats (or just are a cat person in general), check it out- it's hilarious. One of my favorite parts:

"The humans would have you believe that those lumps under the covers are their feet and hands. They are lying. They are actually Bed Mice, rumored to be the most delicious of all the mice in the world, though no cat has ever been able to catch one. Rumor also has it that only the most ferocious attack can stun them long enough for you to dive under the covers to get them. Maybe YOU can be the first to taste the Bed Mouse!"

Our youngest cat has a habit of jumping on my mom's toes in the middle of the night, indubitably waking her up in a state of alert and confusion. My cat's crazy. :)

Okay, I'm all loved out for now. I should probably get back to packing my endless amount of things... sadly, I think today's the day for putting away the scrapbooking stuff. Sigh- see you again soon, creativity.

Love.

Brit

A cupcake garden.

All I want to do is create, even though I know I should be packing. It's a double-edged sword, though. If I get things done and pack, that means all of my scrapbooking things will be put away. I guess I can manage for a few days. I guess. :)

I finished this card today for the Hero Art's weekly challenge to bring out the colors and start adding to project with colored pencils, inks, and other mediums. I love coloring stamped images with colored pencils, so I couldn't wait to try something new with this week's challenge. Here's what I came up with:

Here are a couple of new things that I tried out on this card that you could try out on your next project:
1. Use a background stamp (like this one- the cling I used with all the cupcakes) and cut out all of the images individually after coloring them in.
2. Clear-emboss a pattern on the background cardstock for added interest, even if it's where the "sky" should be.
3. Ink up a sheet of white cardstock (a la Jennifer McQuire) with distress ink, flick little droplets of water on it, and then trace and cut out leaves in varying sizes for extra interest.
4. Adhere tons of items with various levels of foam adhesive- it adds so much dimension and life.
5. Use the same colored pencils used for coloring to write the sentiment- it'll tie the card together.

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Light Blue), and The Paper Studio (White), Stamps- Hero Arts (F5158, S5208, CL231, CG110), Colored Pencils- Prismacolor, Ink- Tsukineko (Black) and Tim Holtz for Ranger (Shabby Shutters, Broken China, and Peeled Paint).

Thanks for stopping by, loves! Hopefully I'll be back once more before I move, but if not, I'll see you in a few days from a whole different state. Minnesota, here I come (againnnn)!

Love.

Brit

Vlog- A.K.A.- Me being really excited about stuff I just bought. :)

After seeing Courtney's second vlog the other day about stuff she picked up recently, I thought it looked like a lot of fun, so I decided to give it a try. I did a little shopping today to make my wisdom teeth feel better... haha. I totally giggle a lot in the video, but I'll blame that on the pain meds. Ha! I might be a little quiet, but I was trying not to wake my family up. Hehe. Without any further ado, here's me talking about lots of random fun stuff. It's yummy, I promise!



Haha. What did you think? Can you hear my Wisconsin accent?

Thanks for stopping by. <3

Love.

Brit

P.S.- I'll add links in the morning. I'm super tired tonight!

Today's card.

I love these colors for challenge #15 from Dawn McVey. These PTI colors are some of my favorites. I can't wait to get my order from them in a couple of days! Everything on this card was more or less an experiment, from the inking the edges white to seeing what color would happen when I clear-embossed the pink paper. I think I'll have to try another one for this week's challenge, though, just so I can get the colors perfectly right. These seem a little off to me. Regardless, enjoy! Thanks for stopping by. :)


Supplies: Cardstock: Archiver's (Pink), Bazzill (Green), DCWV (Melon) and The Paper Studio (Creme), Border Punch- Fiskars, Corner Rounder- Fiskars, Embossing Powder and Ink- Ranger, Ink- Tim Holtz for Ranger (Shabby Shutters) and Tsukineko (White Brilliance), Stamps- Hero Arts (K5175 and CL231), Thread- DMC, other- Buttons and Ribbon.

Love.

Brit

I {heart} scrapbooking.

It's been a while since I've scrapped, but I've cranked out two layouts in the last 24 hours. I just had to let everything go- I can't be afraid to use or not use something. Just do it. Just tell the story. I like this feeling of freedom. :)

Layout #1: About the Twins game I went to in May. This one only took an hour and five minutes to complete, from start to finish. I'm so proud of myself- I think this is the quickest layout I've ever done, and I love it. This is my interpretation of Ali Edwards' style. Super simple and beautiful.. (love her!)
My favorite part:
Journaling (almost always handwritten, because I like the memories...):
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, White Pen- Signo Uniball, Foam Letters- Thickers by American Crafts, Corner Rounder- The Paper Studio, Thread- DMC, Other- Buttons.

Layout #2: St. Patrick's day (I miss my college friends so much... only 9 days left until I see them again!) This started out with me not wanting to fuss over the photo arrangement, so I just plopped them down at different levels. I love this look. :) Then, everything just kind of evolved from there. I had no idea what I was doing when I first looked at the photos, but everything just happened. The journaling is around the outside, because I felt like it. Ha. This one only took my an hour and a half. Sooo quick today!
Dimension is my favorite:
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey (Argyle and floral) and October Afternoon (green polka dot), Letter stickers and "remember" sticker- October Afternoon, Pen- Signo Uniball, Circle Punch- EK Success, Corner Rounder- Fiskars, Dimensional Adhesive- EK Success, Ink- Tim Holtz for Ranger (Shabby Shutters), Thread- DMC, Other- Buttons.

Everything's changing around me, but now I'm ready for it. Bring it on. :)

What do you think of the layouts? I forgot how much I love scrapbooking- it's so rewarding. Thanks for stopping by, loves!

Love.

Brit

Growing up.

Today, I have:
bought textbooks
started to pack
looked at student loans
applied for three jobs
looked for a replacement cell phone

It's like I'm growing up or something. :) It's so weird to think that in two weeks, I'll be in a completely different place and be completely on my own. The feelings of reality are coming slowly, though, and I'm grateful for that. I'm ready. I'm ready for this.

The last week has been very interesting- lots of ups and downs- but I'm much happier now. It's all getting better. (I have very wonderful friends.)

Here are a couple of cards to share with you. I have all of this creative energy, but lately I just sit at my desk staring at all of the pretty things I want to use. It's like I don't know what to do...

This is one I finished a little while ago- I love the untraditional pink and green colors for Christmas, but this card would really be suitable for any occasion. I like versatility like that.

Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's (pink) and Bazzill (white swiss dot and green), Patterned Paper- Basic Grey, Embossing Powder and Ink- Ranger, Black Ink- Tsukineko, Stamps- Hero Arts CL232, Green Ink- Tim Holtz for Ranger in Shabby Shutters, Border Punch- Fiskars, Thread- DMC, Other- Buttons.

Here's one from yesterday. I love this June Bug paper from basic grey, along with the butterfly stamp that I can not get enough of. Oh, and white gel pen. Love. Love. Love.
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey, Embossing Powder and ink- Ranger, Stickles- Ranger, White Pen- Signo Uniball, Ribbon- Offray, Circle Punch- EK Success, Thread- DMC, Stamp- Hero Arts F5158, Corner Rounder- Fiskars.

Lastly, I find this absolutely inspiring. I got an e-mail from Toms yesterday, and I thought it was gorgeous. I've been obsessed with weddings lately (they're so beautiful... I would love to be a wedding planner), so this goes right along with my dream wedding (for today at least). I'm such a girl. Ha!

(click to enlarge)

That's all for now. I'm hoping to get a couple pages cranked out tonight- the first in sooo very long. Life just gets in the way too often. ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Love.

Brit

Therapy.

Yesterday was the worst day I've had in a long time. I'm now convinced that it doesn't matter how they have you convinced, because all boys are stupid. Really, really stupid. I've been crying a lot lately, but this is healing. I've been listening to music nonstop and feeling its therapy. I'm currently in love with Adele. Especially this song.

I meant to have a card to share today, but I couldn't get it to look right. That'll be for another time.

I need time to heal.

Did I mention that boys are stupid? Yes, boys. Just because you're 19 or 22 doesn't make you a man. It's how you act; how you respect others.

I thank God for this girl:
I love Sara very much. :)

We went to the state fair a couple days ago. Here's a brief recap:

We ate Cream Puffs:
We tried chocolate-covered bacon:
It was absolutely disgusting:

Haha. Thanks for stopping by today. Eventually I'll be back with things to share, but I'm going through a pretty rough time right now. I know it'll all be okay, but right now, my little 19-year-old world feels like it's upside-down.

Love.

Brit

Embracing life.

I honestly haven't felt like blogging lately. I've been creating a little, but as I see summer starting to slip away, I don't want to spend time doing anything that I can do in a month or so. For me, blogging tends to fall in that category. As move-in date comes closer, the to-do list grows infinitely longer, so excuse my blog if I take unannounced leaves of absence. I'll be around and I'll be creating, though. Promise.

I have a couple cards to share with you today using my new Hero Arts clings stamps. They're sooo yummy! It's going to be hard to stop using these anytime soon.

1. Inspired by Kristina Werner's Finally Friday video last Friday, I set out to use this new "Write Your Own" stamp and some of the ideas that she uses in her video. Here's what I came up with:
Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (yellow) and The Paper Studio (kraft), Patterned Paper- Basic Grey (Blue) and October Afternoon (Yellow and Creme), Black Ink- Tsukineko, Stamps- Hero Arts, Gemstones- The Paper Studio, Corner Rounder- Fiskars, Pen- Signo Uni-ball.

2. I love the Antique Brocade cling stamp. It's versatile and perfect for backgrounds. Here, I used clear embossing powder to create a tone-on-tone look for the background. Love it!
Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's (Purple) and The Paper Studio (Kraft), Stamps- Hero Arts, White Pen- Signo Uni-Ball, Thread- DMC, Corner Rounder- Fiskars, Embossing Powder and Ink- Ranger, Buttons.

3. I love this card as well. The Antique Brocade looks so elegant- I could definitely see making a set of these to give away as a gift. So cute!
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Kraft) and DCWV (blue), Stamps- Hero Arts, White Pen- Signo Uni-Ball, Rhinestones- Basic Grey, Corner Rounder- Fiskars, Embossing Powder and Ink- Ranger, Ribbon- Offray.

Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again sooner rather than later. :)

Love.

Brit

And yes, it was epic.

The concert was phenomenal. Seriously, I can't stop thinking about it. Blink-182, you rock. :) I'll put a recap at the end of this post, but for now, here's some scrap-related goodness:

My shopping spree. Here's what I bought:
Yup, that's right- three sets of Hero Arts Clings, some Basic Grey goodness, and a full set of Prismacolor pencils for art school (and, ehem, scrapbooking too), plus a clearanced set of Martha stamps, some Alcohol Ink mixatives, a 1" hole punch (gotta love those 40% off coupons), and a new camera case.
I can't wait to use these stamps on EVERYTHING.
Adorableness for 1.99 each at Archiver's. :)
These are going to come in handy. Love it!

I had a little time to play on Tuesday before leaving for Milwaukee, so I created this cute card:

Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey, Stamps- Hero Arts, Ink- Tsukineko (Black) and Ranger (Broken China), Colored Pencils- Prismacolor, Ribbon- unknown, 1" Circle punch- EK Success.

What do you think? I punched the cupcakes out of the new cling stamp. I have a feeling there will be lots of cupcake cards coming up soon.

Now, on to the concert. It was amazing. I've wanted to see Blink-182 in concert since I was about five, so this was a dream come true to me. (Granted, some of their humor definitely isn't good for anyone under 18... ha.) First, however, there were the opening bands. My favorite was Fall Out Boy. I've A. Listened to them for 4+ years. and B. Have had a massive crush on Pete Wentz for 4+ years. Let me just say that he is even better in real life. Yum. :)

My friends were also awesome. I can't imagine being there without them. I went with my best friend Sara, her twin brother Adam, and my ex-boyfriend-but-still-friend Greg. (Uh yeah, that happened recently, but no worries. It's for the best.)
Sara and I like to be silly. I love her very much. :)

Our seats were pretty good- two rows up from the back of the VIP section and really close to the middle. Regardless, I could've been 400 feet more away and still been completely in love with everything that happened that night. In. Love.

First, they came on stage.
Second, they played some awesome songs. AWESOME. Like one of my favs, "I miss you"- the screens were really cool on this one.
They sang and talked. And joked. And were awesome.
(Mark)
Travis (My favorite!) and Tom
Then, they "ended" their show. The crowd screamed for what seemed like an hour, and then they came out for their encore.

And then Travis Barker did a drum solo.

In mid-air.

While rotating.
Epic.
Here's a video of it. I swear it was even more awesome than this.


Then they sang some more. Then it was over.

Best. Night. Ever.

I'll be back with more scrappy fun tomorrow. I have some new goods to play with. Thanks, as always, for your wonderful comments on the post from a few days ago. Y'all are so sweet!

Love.

Brit

AHHH! Excited. :)

This is going to be a super quick post, but I'll tell you why. I'm going to see Blink-182 tonight. I seriously feel like a giddy, immature 5th grader when I think about how excited I am. I keep squealing- literally! Yeah, it's intense. Trust me, I'll be back with a full recap of how that goes.

I'm. so. freaking. excited.

I'm also excited because I went shopping today. Hellllo new Hero Arts cling stamps. I just had to have three packs. :) I also picked up a 48 piece set of prismacolor pencils and some other things for going back to art school. I start in a month- woah. I'll share my full set of goods tomorrow, but for now I'm going to go pack, look at my new shopping finds, and probably scream a lot for the rest of the night. Have a good one!

Here's a peak of a card I'll share tomorrow using one of the new stamp sets:
Oh, and I know it's blurry. It's a cell pic. My camera batteries are charging for tonighttttt. :)

See you tomorrow, loves. Thank you for all of your sweet comments on my last post. You're amazing!

Love.

Brit

Hello world, it's me again.

I just noticed that this is my 100th post. Awesome!

You may have been wondering why I haven't posted in, like, eight years (or a week and a half). Let me give you a brief recap of the last week:
1. I worked 64 hours.
2. New friends.
3. Old friends and catching up.
4. Waking up at 6 am. (I have no idea how people do it every day.)
5. I didn't sleep enough
6. I broke my phone.
7. I talked in Spanish a lot.
8. I went camping.

So uh yeah- kinda busy. There were some days that I totally just forgot to eat. You know, when you're working 16 hours in a day and still want to sleep and shower, something's got to give. Thankfully, this week will be a little bit easier. I'm still in my pajamas, and it's definitely 4:30 pm already. I. Love. It.

Some upcoming major things:
8.3- Roommie meeting
8.4- Blink-182 concert
8.5- work for 4 days straight
8.15- move in to my new apartment back in MN
8.18- come back from MN to work another week in WI
8.26- Move up to MN for the next year of my life.

It's all happening soooo fast. Crazy!

Now I have a couple shares for you. Let me know what you like! I'm absolutely in love with this layout using the October Afternoon Road Map Collection about my first full day in Minneapolis about a year ago:

Journaling reads:
I remember you, Minnesota, when I had unpacked my bags and boxes. I remember you when I realized that this is my new home. I remember you when I suddenly felt like I didn’t know anything about where I was. It was like being in a country where you don’t speak the same language. Scary, but exciting. As I sat in Convocation on move-in day and listened to the Minnesota rouser, I realized that I had never heard the state’s song. I could sing Wisconsin’s song without hesitation, but I wasn’t in my home state any longer. Introductions to locals were interesting. Noting any place besides Minneapolis or St. Paul as a hometown in Minnesota was useless to me. Mankato? What’s a Mankato? No matter how many times I told myself, I still let a “bubbler” slip when talking to some Minnesotans on the third day, and they were wowed that I called a water fountain a bubbler. They had never eaten cheese curds that were not fried. Half of my new acquaintances were (gasp!) Vikings fans. Vikings fans! What was I doing in this crazy place? Over the year, I learned where the major cities were, I remembered to call it a water fountain (most of the time), and I can even speak in a Minnesotan accent. No matter how much I grow to love this state and its wonders, however, I must declare that I will never be a Vikings fan. Amen.

Supplies: Patterned Paper- October Afternoon, Cardstock- Archiver's, Foam letters- American Crafts, Black Ink- Stazon by Tsukineko, Paint pen- ZIG, Chipboard- Basic Grey (corner and bracket) and Maya Road (flowers), Date Sticker- October Afternoon, Thread- DMC.

The first card inspired by this gorgeous one here:

Super simple, and I'm in love.
Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's, Pen- Signo Uni-ball, Buttons- assorted, vintage.

Second card- one that was kind of just stretching my creativity after almost two weeks of creating nothing using this week's 2S4Y sketch:

Supplies: Cardstock- American Crafts, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey, Chipboard- Basic Grey, Flowers- Prima, Ribbon- The Paper Studio, Metal Dots- Colorbok, White Pen- Signo Uniball, Ink- Tim Holtz for Ranger (Broken China and Shabby Shutters).

That's it for now- I have to get running to another whirlwind week, but I do want to share a couple favorite pictures from last week at EAA:
Left to right: My new friend Alejandra from Peru, Jeb, Jeb's girlfriend- Panda (Amanda), and me. We watched the Airbus land and watched the air show together on Tuesday. :)
The airbus- this is a beast! More than 800 passenger seats. It was absolutely awesome to see it flying around. Maybe I'll post the video tomorrow. :)

The airshow was awesome (as always).
The OCD in me loves the awesome formations that the planes make. I think these are P-52 Mustangs (I have very little plane knowledge... haha).
The helicopter in the foreground- the red and black Redbull one- was in the air show. That baby can do flips and fly upside- down. Helicopters should not be able to do that! I have a video of that to share with you later, too.
Okay, honestly, I don't really like how I look in this picture, but it's one of the only pictures I have of me and my new friend, Kayla. We worked together every day this week and became friends on pretty much day one. She's one cool chica! :) This was us on our lunch break at a Wii Sports Resort promo tent. We wanted the blue leis to match our uniforms. Ha!

Thanks for stopping by today! Sorry I've been MIA lately, but I promise that I'll make it up to you.

Love.

Brit