Catching up.

Here's a new layout featuring Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird Line. I like it a lot. :)
My cute kitties in stamp form:
Close-up of one of the flowers:
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (White- journaling and photo mats) and unknown (tan), Patterned Paper- Cosmo Cricket (blue) and Basic Grey (distressed tan), Stamp- Hero Arts, Ink- Tim Holtz Walnut Stain, Thread- DMC, Flowers- Prima, Chipboard Letters- Heidi Swapp, Marker- ZIG, Colored Pencils- Crayola, Font- American typewriter.

Here are a few 52 cards- I really want to get caught up, and this is a start. :)

Week 10:
Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill, Patterned Paper- Basic Grey, Border Punch- Fiskars, Embossing Powder and Ink- Ranger, Fabric Number- American Crafts, Font- American Typewriter, Ink- Tim Holtz (Broken China and Shabby Shutters) and Tsukineko (Black StazOn).

Week 11:
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, Patterned Paper (dragonfly)- Basic Grey, Pearls and rhinestones- The Paper Studio, Embossing Ink and Powder- Ranger, Silver Ink- Colorbox.

Week 12:
Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's (purple) and Bazzill (Kraft), Patterned Paper- October Afternoon, Paint Pen- ZIG, White Pen- Sakura, Font- American Typewriter, Ink- Black StazOn.

Week 13:
Supplies: Patterned Paper- October Afternoon, Ink- Tim Holtz (Shabby Shutters), Flowers- Prima, Pearls- Hero Arts, Paint Pen- ZIG, White Pen- Sakura.

A couple things on my mind-

This stamp is back in stock here. Ohhh I think I need it. :)
I made it into the spotlight on Dawn McVey's blog for Raspberry Suit Challenge #9! I'm so excited. I really do love this card that she picked that I made:
I can't wait to start on this week's challenge now. :)

I really like my new haircut:
Please excuse the scary pic. Ha. The new shorter 'do is definitely perfect for the 95 degree weather we had today. Ew.

Thanks for stopping by! See you tomorrow. :)

Love.

Brit

Feelin' Summery.

The sun is shining, the ceiling fans are on, and everyone's getting ready for the holiday weekend. It's feeling like summer around here.

Finally. :)

I made another card yesterday for the challenge at Card-A-Licious to use stitching, flowers, and stars and incorporated it with this color challenge from Moxie Fab World:

Here's what I did. I really, really like how this turned out.

Close up- I use too many foam adhesive squares. :)

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (Both Greens), The Paper Studio (White), and American Crafts (Yellow), Stamps- Hero Arts (Very Small Flowers) and Autumn Leaves (Everything else), Acrylic stars- Heidi Swapp for Advantus, Embroidery Thread- DMC, Black Ink- Tsukineko, Foam Adhesive Squares- EK Success, Paint Pen- ZIG by Ek Success, Colored pencils- Crayola, Rubon- Pebbles, Inc.

Next, here's a really quick journaling card for 52Q- What was the last brave thing I did? I was trying to come up with a way to use this Making Memories Just Chillin' Boy Collection Paper, and although I'm not too crazy about how this project turned out, I think it would be perfect for a Cards for Heroes card, so I'll work on that.

Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (Kraft) and American Crafts (Grey), Patterned Paper- Making Memories (Just Chillin' Boy and Girl Collections), Ink- Tim Holtz for Ranger, Marker- ZIG.

Look tomorrow (or maybe later today) for a post for the Cards for Heroes bloghop. For more info, check it out here. (There will be prizes!) I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Love.

Brit

Shares. :)

I've been creating, and I love it. :)

I signed up for the Cards For Heroes blog hop. Check it out and see if it's something you're interested in. If not, stop by this weekend and take a peek at some the the fabulous blogs that will be part of it.

1. The "Go Green" challenge this week at Hero Arts and the corresponding Flickr Pool really inspired me to create something. Here's an altered mint tin that I finished this morning:

Front view:

Side View:

Supplies: Stamps: Hero Arts, Paper- The Paper Studio (white), Patterned Paper- Daiso Japan (from this etsy seller: JapanKawaiiYa), Ink- Stazon by Tsukineko and Colorbox Chalk, Embroidery Thread- DMC, Colored Pencils- Prisma, Glitter- Art Institute Glitter, Diamond Glaze- Judikins.

Recycled things and notes:
-The pink backround is actually 5 to 6 layers of recycled tissue paper, then covered in Diamond Glaze for more shine and strength.
-The flower was simply sketched out on newspaper in 6 different sizes and then cut out. I inked the edges, covered every other layer in the Houndstooth stamp, and stiched the six layers together with a button and thread.
-The tin is from mints from Disney World and is the perfect fit for a gift card. Needless to say, this will go to use shortly, I'm sure.

Now, two more weeks for 52Q. I'm determined to catch up... eventually. (One of my cards was featured on her blog the other day- exciting!)

1. Week #7: What if you knew you could not fail?

Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's (Blue), The Paper Studio (Kraft) and DCWV (Green), Patterned Paper- Making Memories, Paint Pen- ZIG, Ink- StazOn by Tsukineko.

2. Week #8: What is the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

Supplies: Cardstock- Archiver's (Green) and The Paper Studio (Kraft and White), Patterned Paper- Making Memories, Ink- Tsukineko, Border Punch- Martha Stewart, Foam Letters- Thickers by American Crafts, White Pen- Sakura.

I figured I'd share what I wrote on the back (it's not pretty, it's more about getting down the idea on the back for me), so I'll type it here:

"Last night was the finale of American Idol Season 8- Adam Lambert versus Kris Allen (Kris won! :) ) I laughed until I cried on just about a half dozen occasions, How ca you not giggle when Adam sang with KISS in super-high platform shoes? It was awkward, startling, and absolutely PERFECT."

Thanks for stopping by today- I'm glad you did. If you feel up to it, leave a comment telling me about what you're doing creatively this week. Did you do the green challenge for Hero Arts?

Love.

Brit

Another Monday, another to-do list:

It's okay, though, because I had a really exciting weekend. Not only did I celebrate National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday, but I went out to dinner with some fun girls and even experienced my first Twins game. First, here are the two projects I finished yesterday. I started them on Saturday, but I wasn't feeling the mojo. I'm planning on finishing a couple cards today to show you tomorrow. :)

1. A layout about this last fall's homecoming. I love this layout more each time I look at it. Maybe that's just because yellow makes me happy.
close-up of the title using various letter stickers (in order to qualify for a Two Peas challenge) it's nice to use up some of that stash:
My beloved butterflies- I covered them with adhesive using my Xyron "X" and pressed the glitter onto them. That technique worked surprisingly well. <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMflyuYLCrvgVspual4iKR7q6apKc6iht9LlcoLqvmdMSQ2hZaO6w2flo88XuCwTIWU44PeQLDcp4v2oJX2Y2li9VXCj6hXDdTZWDMEOLnLioQUoEVRMxFZo2Io-ZmORGrkRYyXrljLhmw/s1600-h/05-03-09+Homecoming+2.jpg">Steps:
1. Mount scalloped cardstock on yellow background, making sure that it is centered.
2. Crop photos and arange on background in an "L" fashion, making sure the spacing matches on the top and right as well on the bottom and left sides. Adhere to page. Add silver photo corners to the top left, bottom left, and bottom right corners of the photo block.
3. Draw lines for journaling using a T-Square (a ruler that keeps everything perpendicular to the side- check out the drawing or architecture section in your craft store to buy one). Pencil in the desired journaling to get an idea of spacing.
4. Arrange various letter stickers on a clear ruler to fit in the space about the journaling. When the stickers have placement to your liking, push down on the tops of the stickers and carefully remove the ruler.
5. Make any adjustments to the journaling needed as you trace over the pencil in a journaling pen or marker. Erase all pencil lines when the ink is dry.
6. On grey cardstock, stamp the Hero Arts border stamp of your choice using StazOn ink. Make sure to keep the lines perfectly straight, as you have to stamp multiple times across the 12" width of the paper. Make two sections of border- a 12" section and a section using one stamp (about 5.5"). Cut out the border strips very carefully with scissors, leaving a slight border around each edge.
7. Adhere the scallops across the top and to the right of the bottommost photo, trimming off all excess.
8. Punch out butterflies using a punch, run them through a xyron filled with Permanent adhesive, and pour glitter onto the tops of them. Press glitter into the adhesive, and shake off excess. Adhere the butterflies to the layout by applying adhesive to only the middle section of the butterfly for dimension.
9. Using a ruler, punch evenly-spaced holes under the title and then hand-stitch through them using black thread.

Supplies: Cardstock- Bazzill (Yellow and White Scallops) and American Crafts (Grey), Border Stamp- Hero Arts, Thread- DMC, Marker- ZIG, Butterfly Punch- EK Success, Glitter- Crafts, Etc., Letter stickers- American Crafts ("h", "c", "o", and "g"), Scenic Route ("M", "e", "m"), and The Paper Studio (all others), Photo Corners- 3L.

2. 52Q Week 6:
I hand- doodled the "do it all over" for an extra handmade touch. This was really just an experiment with placement and handlettering...
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, Patterned Paper- Sassafras Lass (grey) and My Mind's Eye (flowers), Border Strip- Sassafras Lass, Stickers- American Crafts, Pen (used for "do it all over ..." and the star)- ZIG, Thread- DMC, Ink- Tsukineko

This from the weekend: :)

This arrive from Moxie Fab- thank you for the awesome prizes!
We five girls devoured this big-as-your-head burrito at Chino Latino's downtown :)

The Twins game was a blast- and we were even more stoked because we got free hats, hot dogs, and a soda. It's almost like we saw the game for free :)
Cute group shot. This needs some photo editing, but I'm lazy this morning (and might be late for class if I don't post this soon...)

Thank you for stopping by today! Hope you all had wonderful weekends and feel inspired to create something today.

Love.

Brit

Cards <3

Two cards to share with you today... Enjoy!

1. Happy #50, Color Inspiration Challenges! Kristina Werner is awesome :)

Here's mine:

Love it! Supplies: CS- Bazzill (brown and turquoise), American Crafts (Yellow), and Archiver's (red), ribbon- Offray, Thread- DMC, White Pen- Sakura, Letters- American Crafts.

2. Cute card for the Cupcake Challenge #65


Supplies: Stamps- Hero Arts, Colored Pencils- Crayola, Patterned Paper- Making Memories, Ink- StazOn by Tsukineko, Diamond Glaze- Judikins, Chipboard Bird- Maya Road, Pop dots- EK Success, Cardstock- Archiver's.

3. 52Q Week 5

Supplies: pp- Making Memories Just Chilin' Girl, cs- The Paper Studio (white) and Bazzill (yellow), Embossing Ink- Ranger, Embossing Powder- Ranger, Scallop stamp- Hero Arts, Pearl- Hero Arts, Clear Glitter Diecut- Making Memories Noteworthy, Marker- ZIG, Paint- Rheotech, and Thread- DMC

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you like them or if you want to know about some of the techniques I used. :)

Love.

Brit

How many times do I have to tell you?

Time: please slow down. I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

And yes, I know. I'm sitting here making a blog post when I could be working on the seven hundred million things I have to do, but I need my creative time, darn it!

So yesterday on my way back to Minnesota from Wisconsin, my mom took a wrong turn and we ending up going by a Tuesday Morning. Thanks to this post, I knew they sold scrapbooking stuff, so I asked if we could stop. We did, and I spent tooooo much money. Disclaimer: If you know what's good for you, don't go to Tuesday Morning.

Regardless, here's what I got- I was pretty impressed with the great bargains I got:

An AMM Tote 3 Shoulder bag: Sooooo many pockets, the sides are sturdy- this is going to be wonderful for crops and just bringing scrapbooking stuff places where I want to work on a project. My mom loved it, too- she said she was going to steal it. :)

Original Price: 44.99
Tuesday Morning Price: 17.99

AC Pattern Paper Celebrate Collection (because I need more paper... ha.) Well, I already have lots of AC cardstock in these types of carriers, why not have more?

Original Price: 19.99
Tueday Morning Price: 5.99

AC Cardstock in Blueberry- 25 8.5 by 11 sheets. Any ideas for how to use this? I'm thinking mini album...

Original Price: 5.99
Tuesday Morning Price: 1.99

Scenic Route Salem Product Kit- 20 Patterned Papers, 1 sheet of diecuts, 1 sheet of Alpha stickers (the real reason I bought the kit, admittedly), 1 sheet of accent stickers, 2 sheets of printed chipboard, 20 paper leaves, and 20 black brads. Of course, it's halloween-themed, but what sold me is the paper that doesn't have a theme- mostly stars and circles. Oh, and the price.

Original Price: 34.99
Tueday Morning Price: 2.99

Okay, so maybe I wasn't that bad... I got some really great deals.

A couple other things:

I got a Hero Arts order in the mail yesterday- yum! And I love the arrow stamp they included as an extra gift. I can't stand behind Hero Arts enough- their customer service is top notch, and so is the quailty of their products. I would buy every single one of their stamps if I had the money just to support such a great company.

By the way, I wanted to again mention how much in love with the BG Wisteria line I am. Give me a million packs of that, and I'll never buy patterned paper again. Seriously. (Okay, maybe not...)

Here's another 52Q card that I finished this morning- I really like it.

Supplies: CS- Bazzill (blue and white) and The Paper Studio (Black), PP- Basic Grey, Vellum- The Paper Studio, Markers- ZIG

That reminds me- one of my goals this week (or soon) is to go through all of my posts and add tags so that you can see all of my like projects in one place. I think that would be nice.

Now, for some links that have been open in my browser forever that I can't just seem to close:
1.This dress from Anthropologie... I hadn't really looked around the site until yesterday, and now I'm seriously considering only buying clothes from Anthropolgie for the rest of my life. Seriously.
2. Label Tulip's blog... I've noticed lots of postings from the Label Tulip DT on various websites, and I'm so impressed. Very inspiring!
3. This sketch website... absolutely to die for- even though I have no idea what they're saying.
4. Another sketch website... this one's in English, but the amazing inspiration just as high-quality. I love how they incorporate many different ways of using a single sketch.
5. I would love to do this... I'm really going to start applying to design teams soon. It's my personal goal to be on one- I think they would be super fun.
6. A year in cards- April... Kristina Werner rocks my socks off. Enough said.

That's all for now- thank you very much for stopping by! Leave a comment with your favorite link that inspires you and I'll add it to my next Links post along with a link to your blog. :)

Love.

Brit

Happy.

I'm happy today. Want to know why? A list of top ten things why I'm happy:

1. It's supposed to get up to 68 degrees today. And sunny. :)

2. I didn't wear a jacket or a sweatshirt allllll day yesterday.

3. I drew outside for three hours in drawing class. I even got a little sunburnt, but it's more a novelty than a pain.


4. Those cell phone pictures turned out pretty nicely. :)

5. I got my first sunburn of the year. Ohhh pale me (I'm seriously practically albino.)

6. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for my McNeal Hall drawing- the drawing that every design student need to complete before they pass portfolio review. A 100+ drawing... pretty much my life lately.

7. I had a goal to wake up before 8:30 every day this week and have been sucessful thus far. I get so much done when I wake up and hour and a half before I have to leave!

8. I'm going hooooome this weekend!!!

9. I still have 40 minutes before I have to leave for class.

10. I have things to share with you. :)

First, a layout. I wrote this poem after eating lunch in the university mall last Thursday afternoon, and I really wanted to make this layout. Now that I'm done, I realize that this might have been better as a 6 by 12 layout, but it is what it is. Scrapbooking is about process, right? :)

Close-up of the journaling that I wrote: (click to enlarge)
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (white) and Bazzil (Green), Patterned Paper- Deja Views (multicolored stripes) an American Crafts (pink lines), Ribbon- The Paper Studio, Flowers- Prima, Brads- Queen & Co., Border Punch- Threading Water by Fiskars, Letter Stickers- American Crafts, and Staples- Unknown.

Second, I have two more cards from the 52Q project by Emily Falconbridge. I love this, because it's all about playing. For example, I never would've paired all of those patterned papers together on my week 2 card on a layout, but I wanted to try it on this smaller scale. There's really no failure when it comes to this, just learning. Love it!

Week 2:
Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio, Patterned Paper- Scenic Route (multicolored arrows), American Crafts (pink and orange scallops and Pink Lines), and KI Memories Love, Elsie (embossed arrows background) and Basic Grey (blue), Chipboard- Making Memories, Paint- Liquitex, Brad- The Paper Studio, Flower- Prima, Marker- ZIG, Ink- StazOn by Tsukineko, Dimensionals- EK Sucess.

Week 3:
Cardstock- The Paper Studio (white and vellum) and unknown (gold butterfly and purple), Glitter Paper- Doodlebug (second layer of butterfly), Pattern Paper- Basic Grey, Butterfly Punch- EK Sucess, Corner Rounder- The Paper Studio, Chipboard Frame- Scenic Route, Heart Ghost Shape- Heidi Swapp, Puffy Paint- Duncan Crafts, Pearls- Hero Arts, Rhinestones- The Paper Studio, Fairy- Own Design, Colored Pencils- Crayola.

Oh, and a few more happy things:

11. The fact that I was a winner on the Moxie Fab Blog yesterday for my card with stitching on it. :) (Toot!)

12. Did I mention that it's gorgeous outside?

Love.

Brit

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