30 Days of Inspiration- Day 27

Happy Saturday to you! :) I had such a GREAT day. I scrapped all day long and laughed with some friends. Laughter is so good for the soul. A little break from all the stress was just what I needed.

Okay, so onto the 30 DOI...I was reading THIS post by Dawn the other day and she enabled me...lol...I mean inspired me to purchase some of those Martha Stewart lace tags and play! So here is what I came up with...

A fun card set with a different opening than "normal". I dry embossed a small white card, embellished with the lace tag and heart and then attached it to a FLAT notecard so only the white part opens. Just mixing it up.

I used LOTS of distress inks to color the lace tags and hearts. There is just something special about distress ink mixed with Hero Arts goodies. :) I also sprayed the hearts with pearlized water. I love that look....

Here are the distress ink colors I used...

First Card: Lace-Tumbled Glass, Heart-Wild Honey

Middle Card: Lace-Chipped Sapphire, Heart-Barn Door

Last Card: Lace-Faded Jeans, Heart-Shabby Shutters

First Card: Lace-Shabby Shutters, Heart-Broken China

Middle Card: Lace-Scattered Straw, Heart-Dusty Concord

Last Card: Lace-Chipped Sapphire, Heart-Spun Sugar

Well, I hope I inspired you to do some creative play. I'm off to spend some time with my son and hubby. Have a great weekend!

30 Days of Inspiraton- Day 26

Back today with a treat for you! The super sweet Erin Clarkson agreed to join in the 30 DOI fun and I can't wait to show you what she created. I'll let her tell you all about it. Take it away Erin...

"I was so excited when Heather asked me to be a part of her 30 Days of Inspiration series. I have always enjoyed searching through websites and magazines to find unique color combinations. I found this shot from Traditional Home and immediately fell in love with the colors and stripes on the pillow. I knew it would be perfect for a layout"... "I used light and dark gray cardstock for my page background--inspired by the pillow. I wanted to bring in the bold stripes somehow, but I wasn't sure of a way to incorporate them. I basically moved on to other projects and left that in the back of my mind for a few days until I spotted a Victoria's Secret bag in my closet one morning. Perfect"... "Once I figured out that portion of the layout, the rest fell into place easily. Here is the completed page:" "I removed the ribbon and trimmed a strip from the Victoria's Secret bag, then placed it on my layout (as shown). I used an anywhere hole punch to cut through the gold circles (on the strip from the bag), then tied the ribbon back through them. The title is created using various sticker letters, and I printed my photo in B&W with a white border. I added patterned paper over the chipboard swirl to tie in the gold toned color seen on the pillow, and I added a strip of decorative tape along the right-side edge of the photo.""The journaling describes the ways in which I'm not a typical "Girlie Girl", because I don't like roses, fancy jewelry, or romance movies." ;o)"Here are the supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper (light and dark gray, lavender)Patterned Paper: Bella Blvd. (yellow/gold paper covering swirl)Stickers: American Crafts Thickers (blue foam brackets), Chatterbox (green and orange "?"s), Fancy Pants Designs (pink "girlie"), Michael's Stores (white foam/glittery), Pink Paislee (B&W artisan tape)Chipboard Flowers and Swirl: Making Memories Adhesive: Scrapbook Memories small adhesive squares (behind the blue flower)Hole Punch"

"Thanks again to Heather for inviting me to participate in the challenge, and have a great day!" ~erin

Thank you Erin for sharing your talent with us. I joked with Erin in an email asking her if she could bottle up some of her creativity and send it to me. lol I think it's a great idea...wouldn't you agree? :)

Be back soon...

30 DOI- Day 24 & 25

Sorry I've been MIA lately. This past weekend I had a crop that I set up shop at and taught some make-n-takes and it took up a lot of my time. But I'm back today with two inspiration projects. The first one is inspired by Nichol Magouirk. That girl is super talented and I really liked THIS card set. I love how Nichol uses Copics and the Cuttlebug to emboss backgrounds, so I did a spin on that to create a simple set...

a closer look...The next card was inspired by the product I used on it. Quite often the product itself will get my creative juices flowing like this ribbon card set from Making Memories...All the ribbon looked so pretty lined up one right after the other so I did the same thing to the bottom half of my card. :) And I love how the butterfly turned out...To create this butterfly, I cut three butterflies out of white cardstock using a Stampin' Up die. Then I inked each one with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink by swiping the pad across the image. Then I sprayed with pearlized water to give it some shine. To finish it off, I ran the top butterfly through the Cuttlebug and embossed it. I layered them together (putting some foam dots in between to add dimension) and added some Hero Arts green gems to the center for the body.

So, what inspires you? I would love to see. Live a link to a creation inspired by a picture or one of the inspiration pieces shown and you'll be enter into a drawing for a chance to win a prize at the end of the 30 DOI. Can't wait to see your creations!

Be back soon! Thanks for stopping by!

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 23

Two posts in one day! What is going on!? ;)

As I mentioned in the previous post, I signed off and went to work on some more inspiration projects and completed one that's so fun that I couldn't wait to share.

My mom's birthday is coming up and she is a frog lover. I was searching on Etsy and this caught my eye...You think it will fit my mom? LOL No, it caught my eye because it's ADORABLE! I've been wanting to have a baby for some time and I think that just pushed me over the edge! :) You can see more shots of this cute hat HERE.

It inspired me to make a frog birthday card for my mom...Some more shots...
The reason I love this card so much it's an interactive card. The frog is attached to the inside of the card with a small spring...so when my mom opens the card, the frog will jump out at her! ...
I typed out all the directions...you can find them HERE. Please leave a link to your creation in the comments section if you feel inspired!

Off to bed...goodnight!

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 22

Hi! Back today with another project. Remember THIS project? Well I still had some vinyl left and it inspired me to use it in a different way. I recently purchased some of THESE in hopes of organizing some pictures on my computer.

I decided to take all the pictures from the Winter Rising (Alex's band) photo shoot and make some copies for each of the band members. I used my Slice machine and cut guitars out of the vinyl and attached them to the front of the CD sleeves...

I also cut some headphone images (all images are from the just chillin' teen card) to use for some music I downloaded....

I finished it off with some tiny alphabet stickers from Making Memories. I wanted them to be pretty simple...they are for teenage boys! :) But you could add patterned paper to the front and embellishments! These would make great party favors!

Okay, off to work on some more inspiration projects. Be back soon...

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 21

First, thanks for all the sweet comments from my last post. You guys are the best! I love reading your comments. Makes me smile.

Switching gears....I've been shopping online trying to come up with some storage solutions for my jewelry and came across this image...I was inspired by the hanging jewelry and thought, "I can translate that onto a card!" (Yes, it's scary how often my mind shifts to this hobby!)

Here's my translation....Both cards have gifts on the front. See that flower on the left card? It is a hair barrette made by attaching a shrinky dink flower (made from a large HA flower stamp) to a bobby pin. The card on the right has a pair of earrings hanging from the border punch I used.

*TIP-Border bunches are GREAT for hanging things like these gifts. It works well because the recipient can just pull the gift off without having to fight glue! :)

Some detail shots...I threaded the bobby pin through the border punch for easy removal for the recipient. Also, the label die-cut behind the yellow border was swiped with Spun Sugar distress ink and then sprayed with perfect pearls mixed with water. (It's really pretty and shiny in real life.)

Wanted to show how I hung the earrings from the border punch...the recipient can just pull them out...no messy glue to deal with!

Leave a link to your creation inspired by any of the inspiration days. Would love to see your translation!

Thanks for stopping by!

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 20 and Distress Ink Storage

Hi! Welcome back to the 30 Days of Inspiration. Today is Day 20 and I have a card set to share inspired by these.... A few bags of my buttons. I store my buttons in these clear bags that they came in when I purchased them. They came all mixed up but I've found it's so much easier to sort all of my embellishments by color. It really makes creating go faster. I'm no longer wasting time looking for the right color in a sea of other colors.

I was inspired by the grouping of each color and wanted to do something monochromatic, all one color tone. I decided to make a Congrats Card Set...
Some more shots...
I created each card by stamping THIS stamp in VersaMark ink and embossing it with clear embossing powder onto a 4x4 sheet of white cardstock. Then I took various distress inks (Dusty Concord, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw, Spun Sugar, and Tumbled Glass) and applied on top of the embossed image. I distressed the edges, added a sentiment, and finished it off with some pearls and then attaching each square to some Hero Arts Notecards. Next, I thought I would show you how I store and organize my distress inks. I have them in this clear shoe box that I purchased from Michael's (came in a pack of 4)...When you open the lid, you see my distress ink tool, a distress ink pad, and room for me to buy more inks!! :) They are sitting on a clear/frosted hard plastic that my sweet hubby cut down for me to create removable shelves inside the box-he is the best!

(ETA: I've received some emails and comments about what kind of plastic that was used to cut the "shelves". It's a hard plastic that was scrap from my husband's work, but you can use plexi glass, that can be found at any hardware store)
When you remove the top "shelf", it reveals the next shelf of ink pads and underneath that, is the final few rows of inks...So in total you can fit 24 distress inks in there!!

And here is a picture of what I do with the sponges that is used with the applicator tool. I store them on the bottom of the ink pad with velcro so I never have to search...Here's how I did it....Super simple! I've seen many people label the sides of the distress inks with the names but I want to see the color! So I swiped ink on sticky, blank address labels and cut a strip to adhere to the side, like this...

Here is a shot of the inks INSIDE the clear box. I can see exactly what color I am looking for...
Okay, gotta run. Getting ready to go to dinner with my mom and sister. Olive Garden. Yum. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Let there be light...

I mentioned on my last post that I went on an Ikea run to find some new lighting for my scrapbook studio. I was fed up with not being able to see what I was creating!

I wanted to take a before and after picture but Ted had already taken the ceiling fan down. So just imagine this picture with a ugly white ceiling fan...hee...(sorry for the not so great pic...I had no light! lol)

(BTW-If you are trying to figure out what is on that second shelf, under the clear jars, that is a small collection of Pez dispensers. I collect them and thought a small display of them would be fun in this room! They make me smile.)

I think another reason I was afraid to change lighting is my studio is a room on top of the garage. It was converted from a screened in porch from the previous owner so no ventilation. It gets really warm in the summer and cool in the winter, so I thought the ceiling fan was a necessity for cooling it down...but I decided to get an air conditioner just for that room. Problem solved.

Here is the after...

Here are the fixtures with the lights off...

I already worked in there a little tonight and I can't believe how much light makes a difference!I love it now! This has motivated me to share the whole room with you guys soon.

Have a great weekend. I'll be back soon with more projects from the 30 DOI...

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 19

I'm going to keep this short because I'm on my way to Ikea to get some lighting for my scrapbook room. I finally decided to take down the ugly ceiling fan and get some modern lighting. I'm so excited! I'll have to share what it looks like when it's all done.

I'm also excited to share a project from another fabulous guest designer. Jenn Biederman was nice enough to play along with the 30 DOI challenge too and I just love what she created. Her work always blows me away.

Her inspiration picture (Source HERE)....Loving the neutral tones. Here is her card inspired by the picture...
Wow. Jenn always gives a warmth to her cards and this is no exception. Thanks Jenn for sharing with us.

I'll be back tomorrow with another inspiration piece. Hope you can play along...just leave a link to your creation in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

30 Days of Inspiration- Day 18

Back today with another inspiration piece. This time from my sweet and super talented friend, Jana. If you haven't checked out Jana's blog, you must! It's packed full of inspirational cards. Check out what she made just for the 30 DOI....

Her inspiration came from Pottery Barn towels (that I really want now...thanks Jana...did I mention that she's also a very talented enabler?! lol)

and her incredible card....

Love those reverse image stamps. Thanks for playing along Jana. Feeling so blessed to have made such great friends with this hobby.

Off to get some things checked off my to-do list. Have a great day!

My Top Five Picks...

Hello! I've decided to extend the sale over at Scrapbook Bakery through tomorrow. I've received many emails asking what would be some of the products I would place in my cart, so I'd thought it would be fun to share my top 5 picks with you. Here we go...

1. Love these....Boy and Girl chipboard albums

2. Anything and everything POLKA DOTS! I can't seem to get enough polka dot paper. It's a GREAT staple to have in your collection...HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE

3. You know that I love Hero Arts products and I'm proud to say that the Bakery carries these high quality stamps. THIS set is one of my favorites. I recently used some of the sentiments on a set of cards that I'm giving as a gift....

You might also like THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS from Hero Arts. Don't forget to grab some ink too HERE.

4. I love KITS because everything is coordinated. I have some of my favorites back in stock, like THIS one that Laura Vegas worked with. You can find her projects with it HERE.

5. Spring is in the air and I love it! Here are some happy products that remind me of spring... THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS

Happy Shopping. I'll be back soon. Hope you had a great weekend!