It's 25 days away from Valentine's day...

and I'm already half done with my Valentine's cards. Quick, simple, easy. Here are some girly ones:

I just used my silhouette to cut out my file, then I cut a piece of 3.5" by 5" paper and backed the die cut with it. I switched it up by using some scraps. :)

And just because I love you, here's the file link:


Be My Valentine Freebie

I have it in Illustrator, SVG, and PDF formats, but let me know if you would like it in a different format, let me know.

It's nice to be ahead of the game for once.

Love.

Brit

It's like Christmas...

Looking at all of these CHA- Winter peeks is making me so excited to see these items in stores. Here are some that have me absolutely giddy:

1. New Martha Stewart Punches? That's exciting enough. But this design made me have to catch my breath. I'm going to use this on evvvvverything.

2. Cosmo Cricket. The Material Girl collection uses all of my favorite kinds of colors and patterns:

And the Garden Variety collection is going to be wonderful for summer pages:

3.Dear Lizzy + American Crafts. I love the style of this collection. So. Much.

4. Sassafras- the Cherry Delicious collection is also very cute. I want!

5. Studio Calico- Anthology Collection. I love the vintage look and muted colors.

I hope this has got you as excited as I am! Leave a link to your favorite sneak peak if you want to share. :)

Love.

Brit

Simplicity is the theme of the week.

I've never considered myself an "embellished" scrapper per say, but this is a whole new level of streamlined for me. For some reason, it's just how I'm feeling lately. And I like it. I like it a lot. (My silhouette helps too... such pretty letters!)

1. Minnesota Football 2009

Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Kraft) and Papertrey Ink (Summer Sunrise and Vintage Cream), Patterned Paper- October Afternoon, Digital Cutter- Silhouette SD, Thread- DMC, Corner Rounder- WRMK.

2. One Two One Seven Five-Hundred: It's an inside just between my dad and myself- I was playing a computer game when I was seven or eight and asked him to remember my score, which I read as "One two one seven five-hundred. He said, "okay, I'll remember it forever." My dad has a quirky sense of humor, so when he said forever, he meant it. It's our running joke (or rather an understanding) that I'm supposed to ask him what the number is when he's walking me down the isle on my wedding day so that he can show me that he truly remembered it forever.

 

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (White and Green), Archiver's (Teal), and Papertrey Ink (Spring Moss), Digital Cutter- Silhouette SD, Patterned Paper- Making Memories.

3. We Live for the Weekends: a layout about my friends and our various crazy college weekend activities.

Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Black) and Archiver's (Pink), Patterned Paper- Sassafras Amplified, Digital Cutter- Silhouette SD, Corner Rounder- WRMK.

Speaking of simple, my Project 365 Photo for today is the simple, delicious dinner I made tonight:

Potato Soup.... Yum! Here's the recipe (but really, you could add whatever you want. This is just what I had in my fridge.)

4 slices of bacon, raw

1 half of a large yellow onion, chopped

4 Medium to Large Yellow-Skinned potatoes, Cubed into big pieces (mine were about 1" by 1" by 1/2")

1 C. baby carrots

1 Large (16 oz.) can Chicken Broth

2 C. Water

2 tsp. beef bullion granules

1/4 tsp garlic salt

Directions: Cook bacon in a large pot (the same one you'll be making the soup in) until crisp. Remove from pan and set aside. Save the bacon grease in the bottom of the pan. Add onions, cook until translucent. When the onions are translucent, add potatoes, carrots, chicken broth, water, beef bullion, and garlic salt. After everything comes to a rolling boil, turn the pot down to a simmer and add half of the bacon, crumbled. Simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender. Serve with crumbled bacon on top. Yum!

I'm off to have a relaxing night in. I may be back at college, but I have no desire to go out when all my best friends aren't back yet. That's for next weekend. :) Have a great evening!

Love.

Brit

Always in the mood for a challenge.

This last week has been full of various kinds of challenges, but two stick out for me today:

1. Dawn McVey's Challenge #21- Love these colors:

My take:

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist), Ribbon- Papertrey Ink, Sentiment Stamp- Papertrey Ink (Autumn Abundance), Woodgrain Stamp- Hero Arts (S5208), Ink- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream) and Colorbox (Brown), Border Punch- Fiskars (Apron Lace).

Another version I did. I don't really like this one for some reason, and I don't know why, but one of my roommates fell in love with it, so I figured I'd share it anyways:

Supplies: Cardstock- Papertrey Ink (Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Vintage Cream), Ribbon- Papertrey Ink, Sentiment Stamp- Papertrey Ink (Autumn Abundance), Ink- Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Button- Papertrey Ink (Aqua Mist), Thread- DMC.

 2. My second challenge was definitely skiing yesterday. I think I fell about two dozen times (I'm not even exaggerating... you can ask my friends. Ha.), and I was pretty much terrified the whole time, but I did it! As it turns out, skiing is a heck of a lot easier when you're in sixth grade and only weigh 70 pounds... That was the last time I skied. So today I'm in recovery. Pretty sure every muscle in my body hurts- oh dear! Here was me skiing yesterday (happy because I finally knew how to turn and stop after an hour on the bunny hill):

Seriously, I wish somebody videotaped the wipeouts I took. Painful for me then, but I have a suspicion they would make me roll on the floor laughing today...

Back to work on a few more card while watching some guilty-pleasure American Idol. Ohhh yeah. Have a great night!

Love.

Brit

P.S. Hehe and no, I'm not engaged. Maybe sometime in the next few years, though. :) I do have a lovely "I love you" ring from my boyfriend that I wear on my right ring finger that was purchased from Modern Meets Whimsy on Etsy. :)

What's Inspiring Today

Here's a list of 7 things that are inspiring me today:

1. Crate Paper's New Pink Plum and Brook lines. They're so bright and happy!
Pink Plum Favorites:

I looooove the yellow dots from Brook:

2. Today's Date. 01.11.10. I need to do something with this...

3. Making Papertrey Ink wishlists :)
Lemon Tart Buttons:

Cream Button Twine:

Kraft A2 Envelopes:

(and a tonnnn of paper. I'm running out of my sampler pack that I bought.)

4. Origami made from the leftover Netflix flap. I always feel bad wasting them, so this is a really cool idea.

5. Nichole Heady's blog and the rest of the Papertrey Ink Release countdown blogs. This is my favorite part of the month- new stamps and a million ways to use them.

 

6. Home libraries. I want a full, beautiful one some day:

(source)

(source)

(source)

7. Wedding cakes. Because I'm a girl and I can't help always thinking about my future wedding... :)

(source)

(source)

(source)

Or maybe some mini cakes...

(source)

Or cupcakes. Yum! I like those a lot. :)

(source)

Alright, so now that I'm in a wedding mood, I'm off to go oogle at dresses, shoes, and rings. Ha!

What's inspiring you today?

Love.

Brit

I'm feeling very masculine...

Well, at least when it comes to making birthday cards. It's always so hard for me to make cards without something girly on them, but I have just as many guy friends as girl friends, so it's important I keep quite a few on hand. So without further ado, the birthday card obsession continues along with a couple tricks for making your own masculine cards:

1. Blue- I found that by choosing one color as your main focus for the card and adding neutrals and maybe a touch of one other color, it becomes easier to stick to your masculine theme. I like to think of it this way: if my dad would be okay with his office being painted in the color, it can be easily used for a masculine theme.
Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (Grey) and Papertrey Ink (Cream and Aqua Mist), Buttons- Papertrey Ink, Thread- DMC, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey June Bug, Ink- Tsukineko, Corner Rounder- WRMK.

2. Use two favorite colors. When my friend, Shishira, asked me to make a birthday card for her best guy friend, she also told me his two favorite colors- green and black. It's a perfect starting point.

3. Buttons are always the perfect accent on a card for a guy. Using buttons helps me restrain myself from using flowers as accents. :) Here in this card, the buttons are the star:
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Kraft) and Papertrey Ink (Cream), Ink- Tsukineko (Black) and Papertrey Ink (Vintage Creme), Circle Punch- EK Success, Stamps- Papertrey Ink (Polka Dot Basics II) and Hero Arts (CL340), Thread- DMC, Buttons- Papertrey Ink (New Leaf and Spring Moss), Corner Rounder-WRMK.

4. Incorporate food. I don't think that requires any explanation.
Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (teal and green) and Papertrey Ink (Cream), Stamps- Hero Arts (CL340, CL168, CG113), Buttons- Papertrey Ink, Ink- Tsukineko, Corner Rounder- WRMK.

5. It's okay to be a little girly. You're a female. They'll understand.
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Kraft), Archiver's (Green) and Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Patterned Paper- Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Stamps- Hero Arts (CL340) and Papertrey Ink (Background Basics: Diamonds), Circle Punch- EK Success, Ribbon- Papertrey Ink.

I hope you've enjoyed this foray into masculine territory. What's your favorite tip for making masculine cards?

Love.

Brit