Backyard Butterfly

Hello and Welcome!

Monarch butterfly populations have been going down drastically, partly because of their diminished habitat. I have been planting butterfly friendly plants and was overjoyed to see this playful little one:

Recently, at the Rubberstamp Expo, I discovered amazing pattern papers by Dare 2B Artzy. Everyone kept asking me where I got them! The papers are from Dare 2B's Summertime Petals and Fields Of Joy collections. Aren't they beautiful! The butterflies were fussy cut from one of the pattern papers.

I also added Robin's Nest drops and Thickers for the title. (Just for the record, I know surprise is not spelled with a "z," but I was short an "s.") This page is based on a sketch from Rochelle Spears blog and inspired by the song "September."

This page is entered in:

• Rochelle Spears' September Paper/Sketch Challenge 

               

• The September Song Inspiration Challenge at Scrap with Stacy

• The September "Favorite Color" Challenge at Dare 2B Artzy

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Conserve Water...Drink Wine!

Hello and Welcome!

My friends and I enjoy drinking a wonderful wine called Sogn Blush from the Cannon Valley Winery. I grew up in Cannon Falls, MN so this wine is extra special. So I thought it would be fun to send my friends this humorous card:

The French Hen is from SugarPea Design's "Every Day Is Christmas" stamp set (which is so versatile!). It was colored with Copic markers. This card is also based on a sketch from the SugarPea blog. The leaves were die cut into the tag and the shaker was filled with  Kat Scrappiness' Going Batty Halloween Sequin Mix.

This card is entered in:

• SugarPea Designs Mix It Up Challenge #47 

• The "Wine Not" September Card Challenge at Kat Scrappiness

• The "Anything Goes" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The STAMPtember Exclusive SugarPea Designs challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Birthday Card

Hello and Welcome!

I wanted to make a special birthday card for my husband. His big day is Friday. So I pulled out all the stops and created this fun card:

This card was made with Art Impressions' "Birthday Circlet" set, which comes with stamps, dies and instructions. I stamped the top panel, colored it with Zig Clean Color Markers and die cut the center. Pretty Pink Posh sequins and washi tape were also added.

I lined up the second panel stamp (having a MISTI really helped) stamped, colored and die cut it. I also added yellow Stickles to the flames along with washi tape.

The third panel was stamped and colored as well.

This is a really fun card to make, the Art Impressions' instructions are easy to follow and the end result is AMAZING! Can't wait to see my husband's face when he sees this card!

This card is entered in:

• Art Impressions Challenge 241 "Circle Elements" 

• The "Anything Goes" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The August/September Work It Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The STAMPtember Exclusive Art Impressions Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The STAMPtember Exclusive Pretty Pink Posh Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Stencils and Strips with Quick Quotes

Hello and Welcome!

My son is visiting colleges all over the mid-west in a quest to find a good fit for next year. It is great fun traveling to these schools and Quick Quotes Far and Away Collection is perfect for scrapping our adventures!

I started this layout by stenciling Sky Blue PowderPuff Chalking Ink on white paper, not all over but just a little here and there.

Next, I cut 2 strips each of Far And Away 101 and 104, edging them with Sky Blue or Island Orange PowderPuff Chalking Inks, and adhered them to the top and bottom of the page. The wonderful quote strip, from Far And Away Quotes and Phrases, was edged with Island Orange PowderPuff Chalking Ink and added. I love how these travel phrases work so well for my son heading off to a new phase of his life. Finally, silver thread was wrapped around the center of the page.

The Photos were matted with Far And Away 105 and edged with Sky Blue PowderPuff Chalking Ink. The square quote from Far And Away Quotes and Phrases was popped up. The title was die cut from Far And Away 105 and edged with Sky Blue PowderPuff Chalking Ink, then coated with Glossy Accents. To finish it off, journaling was added.

 

Quick Quotes Products:
Far and Away Paper Pack
Far and Away Quotes and Phrases
PowderPuff Chalk Inks: Sky Blue and Island Orange

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Tyler's Birthday

Hello and Welcome!

My little guy is now 30! Whoa! Mom, Jeff, Aaron, and girlfriend Shara were all there to celebrate with him at the Melting Pot.

I am loving this layout as it has lots of fun energy, but is not cluttered nor overly embellished. I used Pebbles' "Happy Hooray" papers as the accent pieces and Simple Stories' "Let's Party" as the base. The fun word banners on the photos were fussy cut from the Pebbles paper and blinged up with Hero Arts gems.

The balloons are a Mama Elephant stamp, colored with Zig Clean Color markers & Wink of Stella and then coated with Glossy Accents.

For the title, vinyl Thickers were used. The gift is a Die-namites die cut. Silver thread was wrapped around the base to tie things together. This page is based on a sketch from Sketch N Scrap.

This page is entered in:

• Sketch N Scrap #161

              

• The We Love Mama Elephant STAMPtember challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "It's a Wrap" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Bling It On" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The August/September Work It Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

The Art of Time

Hello and Welcome!

Grandpa Dave's hobby is fixing beautiful, old clocks. So when we discovered the amazing time piece in front of Orchestra Hall (Dave was there to watch grandson Aaron perform), I just had to get a photo and document Dave's craft.

I hit a creative block when it came time to make this layout - masculine pages can be difficult. But after seeing Kasia's wonderful layers video on KaiserCraft's blog, this page came together easily. I mostly used KaiserCraft's Factory 42 collection papers and collectables, but threw in papers from KaiserCraft's Barber Shoppe and 75 Cents collections and added some gems.

The intricate compasses (inspired by CE's mood board), chipboard pieces and clock flair button are from Creative Embellishments.

Gold thread was wrapped around the photo. I used Thickers for the title. The background is Dreamweaver's silver embossing paste applied with Tim Holtz's clock stencil.

This page is entered in:

• The September Challenge at Creative Embellishments

• The "It's A Wrap" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Bling It On" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The Layer Upon Layer challenge at KaiserCraft

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

That's Talent!!

Hello and Welcome!

Aaron is a very talented trumpet player. He plays with his high school marching, pep and concert bands and on Tuesday evenings he plays with the exclusive GTCYS orchestra. Here he is performing at Orchestra Hall.

I used DCWV Performance Stack with worked well with this theme. It even came with vellum paper embossed with gold musical notes. For a clean design, the photos and journaling were placed on a grid pattern.

The stars are die cut by CASual Fridays cut from silver glitter paper. The instruments are die cuts by Cheery Lynn Designs and are popped up with 3L Foam Squares.

This page is based on a sketch from Sketch N Scrap.

This layout is entered in:

• Sketch N Scrap #160 

              

• The September Stash Challenge at Scrap Our Stash

              

• The "Pop It Up" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Fall Fun with Quick Quotes

Hello and Welcome!

Today I am up on the Quick Quotes' blog with a cool, crisp autumn card.

Fall is in the air with cooler temperatures and the leaves turning all those beautiful colors. I find the autumn colors perfect for making masculine cards, so here is one I created for my husband using Quick Quotes' Spring Showers Collection.

I love the wood grain paper, Spring Showers 102, in this collection, but wanted to give it a more fall feel by darkening it. I used Kokomo and Mocha Mama PowderPuff Chalking Inks. These inks are translucent so the wood grain still shows through.

The leaves were die cut from the flowers on Spring Showers 100 and edged with Terra Cotta, Berry Jam and Seafoam PowderPuff Chalking Inks. I love how the floral patterns give texture and interest to the leaves.

To finish off the card, the sentiment was stamped with Mahogany PowderPuff Chalking Ink and twine was added.

 

Quick Quotes Products:
Spring Showers Paper Pack
PowderPuff Chalk Inks: Kokomo, Terra Cotta, Mahogany, Berry Jam, Seafoam, and Mocha Mama

Other Products:
die cut leaves by The Cat's Pajamas
sentiment stamp by Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping today!
-June

Orchestra Hall

Hello and Welcome!

We are so proud of Aaron, he is a "bandie," but also plays his trumpet with GTCYS (Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony). This year his group got to play at Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall! They sounded amazing and the large auditorium was sold out. Dad, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma were all there to support him and enjoy the beautiful music! Here is a layout from that wonderful day:

I used older pattern papers by Bobunny and Best Creation. The musical instruments are die cuts by Cheerylynn Designs, cut from silver glitter paper and popped up with 3L Foam Squares. I used black ink with musical notes stencil by Echo Park.

The title was created with Thickers and the large trumped die cut is by Ellentina.
 

The stars were created with Dreamweaver's Silver Embossing Paste and a Heidi Swapp stencil. The "music2 my ears" and "just a note" stamps are by Simon Says Stamp as well as the black Circle Loops die cuts. This page is based on the JumpStart sketch from The Scraproom.

This page is entered in:

• The September JumpStart Sketch Challenge at The Scraproom

              

• The "More Than One Stencil" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Pop It Up" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Merry and Bright Xmas Card

Hello and Welcome!

Kaisercraft has a fun challenge to make a Christmas card out of your favorite Kaisercraft papers. I must admit I have been hoarding the fun Gingerbread collection for many years. Here is the card I created from this line:

What I like about Kaisercraft's Gingerbread papers are the cute journal panels that can easily be made into cards with just a few embellishments.

The gifts are preprinted on one of these journal panels. I outlined them with a black pen to give them depth. The adorable stocking were fussy cut from another paper, from Kaisercraft's Santa's List collection. The sentiment and bunny were stamped from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day set. The gold glittered stars are Simon Says Stamps Large Holiday Shapes die cuts.

This card is entered in:

• The "Show Us Your SPARKLE" challenge at Kaisercraft

• The STAMPtember Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Stamp It On" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The "Stamp It for STAMPtember" Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp

• The August/September Work It Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Thanks for stopping by,
-june

Tennessee Travels with Quick Quotes

Hello and Welcome!

My husband surprised us with a trip to Nashville this summer and got us tickets to see Paul Simon! Quick Quotes' Far And Away Collection was perfect to showcase this fun adventure.

Quick Quotes has gorgeous papers and fabulous inks, but did you know you can find hundreds of vellum quotes covering almost every subject imaginable in our shop? You can find them here. I used the vellum quote called "The Journey" on this page. I love how it brings a heartwarming feel to this layout.

 

I really love how the Far And Away papers match the photos. Depth was added to the papers with PowderPuff Chalking inks in Cool Gray, Tropical Punch and Sky Blue.

To embellish this layout, I fussy cut the suitcases from Far And Away 105. The title and musical notes were die cut from Far And Away 101. Glittery stars and black splatters were also added.

Quick Quotes Products:
Far and Away Paper Pack
Vellum Strip: The Journey 
PowderPuff Chalk Inks: Cool Gray, Tropical Punch and Sky Blue

Other Products:
title die cuts by Cheery Lynn Designs
star die cuts by Simon Says Stamp
music die cuts by Paper Smooches

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy checking out all the great vellum quotes.
-june