party! Artful Delight

(this is my 2nd post for the day. Scroll down to see a card I made for the current TPV challenge)

Happy Sunday! 

We're enjoying our 4day weekend though it's been spent mostly at home. We had a snowstorm come through Thursday night, dumped alot of snow and caused us to lose power overnight. Friday was spent getting the house (and ourselves!) warm again. So this weekend we've been house bums lol Braydon has kept busy drawing, watching movies etc and I've been scrappin alot. It feels great to be able to start and finish a project in one sitting than to do a little bit at a time over the length of a few days :)

Today I'm sharing a card I made using the Artful Delight January card kit. 

I'm having alot of fun with this kit, loving all the kraft, colors and designs. I know I say that every month, but it's really true! lol

I love how this card turned out.. such bold color and contrast. And I really love those cotton candy and ice cream cone stamps.. so cute and fun! And of course I had to add a lot of doodles lol :)

The Artful Delight team and special guest designer, Suzanne, are creating awesome projects with the January kits! If you have some free time, you should definitely visit the AD blog and check them out. Lots of inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

so happy for you - Artful Delight

Today I'm sharing another card I created with the Artful Delight December card kit. The card kit is now sold out (Yay!) but there are a couple scrapbook kits left which include the same as the card kit, just on a bigger scale and a few more items added. Hurry to purchase here before they're sold out, too! :)

So here's my card...

I really love how it turned out. This card design was inspired by a card from Kristina Werner that she created last year. I love Kristina's cards, I get a lot of inspiration from her blog (if you haven't noticed already! lol) 

Is everyone ready for Christmas!?!? I am! Well sorta.

All of my shopping, decorating and planning is finished. But this is the first year in probably 15 years that I didn't send out any Christmas cards. *GASP* Not even any store bought ones. December went by so fast and I lost track of time and then it just became too late to send any out. Maybe I'll send out some Happy New Year cards instead lol. I feel so bad about forgetting, I'm sure my family is probably thinking I must be ill or something. lol Nope! Just got busy and forgot. I'm human. :)

Hope you all are enjoying your week. Only a few days left till Santa comes! Yay!

TPV Challenge and Blog Hop winner! :)

Hi friends!

Today there is a new challenge at The Paper Variety and it's a real simple one so I hope to see everyone join! :)

The challenge is to use stickers! Flat stickers, chipboard stickers, cardstock stickers.. whatever type of stickers you have!

Our sponsor this week is SRM Stickers and they're offering a great prize package to the randomly chosen winner :) SRM Stickers sooooo kindly provided the entire TPV DT with stickers for our projects. Yay! Here are some cards that I made using SRM Stickers...

Also! Thanks to those of you who celebrated with us last week at TPV for our Blogaversary Celebration! We had so much fun and we're looking forward to many more great years at The Paper Variety :) And thanks for all your comments left during the blog hop, sharing your favorite online scrappy stores! I found so many great new places to shop! Woohoo! :)

The winner of my blog candy is...

 How cool is that? That rarely happens lol

Congrats Jessica! 

Please mail me at oceans972 at yahoo dot com with your address and I'll get this in the mail to you before the end of the week :)

Hope to see everyone's sticker projects at TPV!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Abby

Supplies Used:

TPV Challenge - Polka-dots!

I LOVE polka-dots! I don't think I know anyone who doesn't. They're always in style and I love seeing them on projects, fashions, home decor etc. This week at The Paper Variety, we want to see lots of polkadots! :)

And if you're chosen the lucky random winner, you can pick your own prize with this $25 gift certificate to The Paper Trail! Woohoo!

I'm a big fan of Melinda Spinks, she's so super talented. She's a designer for several of my favorite companies, I just love seeing her projects in so many places. Last Fall, Melinda created the most adorable doggy treat bag found here on her blog. I've been wanting to make one too, lifting her fabulous design and I finally decided it was time. :)

I really wanted to use Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" because I LOVE the warm colors and fun puppy/kitty designs. But I didn't have polka dot paper in the collection, just dots... well, dots it is then :) Isn't it cute? Thank you for sharing your project, Melinda.. inspiring me to create one, too :)

Our Cooper is a beagle/bassett hound mix that we rescued from the shelter last October. He's the most loveable dog, always wanting to cuddle and drench our faces with kisses... we're so fortunate to have found him. We've definitely had our issues, though - but one PlayStation2 connection cable, THREE phone chargers, one lamp cord and countless legos later - he's still a keeper!!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Abby

LTNS layout!

It's been 2 weeks since I've created a layout..

and hmmm maybe 2 years since I made a 2pager! It felt so good

to put the cards aside this week and get back to my

original passion, scrapbooking :)

I was super lucky a few weeks ago to win some blog candy from
Bo Bunny. They gifted me their new Winter CHA
release, "Blast Off!" I was sooo excited!

Here I decided to try a double spread. It's been years since
I've made one, and I must admit it was alot of fun. I might even
make a few more in the coming weeks. I used Basic Grey's
"Wander" for these photos of a trip we took to Pittsburgh
last summer. I really like how it turned out except for the
"pittsburgh, pa" part - I might go back and raise that a little,
it's too low in the spot. Picky, picky, aren't I? lol

Thanks for stopping by!

-Abby

The Paper Variety Challenge 11!

Christmas is coming! Santa is coming!
Our Christmas tree is already up in our home and
pretty soon I'll be shopping for gifts to put under it's
branches! That's why I'm super excited about this week's
challenge at The Paper Variety!

Sounds fun, eh? I loved creating projects for this challenge!

First up is a gift bag using Basic Grey's Jovial collection.
This line is sooo gorgeous, I can't wait to use it again!

I've been seeing a bunch of these cute little
gift boxes popping up on blogs everywhere, so of course
I had to make some too! :)

This one includes Echo Park goodies from their
Everybody Loves Christmas collection.
LOVE!

And I made this one with Crate Paper's Snow Day!
Also LOVE!

These boxes were super easy to make, and I even made the
bow myself using strips of matching paper in the collection.

We really hope you'll join TPV's challenge this week..
we'd love to see your projects! I'm hoping to be inspired by
entries so I can create some more gift wrappings. :)

Scrappy Jo's is our sponsor and here's what you could win....

Sweet, huh? Indeed it is!
Hope to see you soon at The Paper Variety!

-Abby

The Paper Variety Challenge!

I'm so thrilled about this week's challenge at The Paper Variety! I get excited about all the great TPV challenges, really. :) This week TPV challenges you to create a layout, card or other paper project using this photo as inspiration...

Isn't it great!? Lots of possibilities!

Our sponsor this week is Apron Strings Designs, an awesome scrapbooking kit club! Just look at what you could win...


Fabo, right? I'm just lovin ALL those collections!

For my project, I decided to create a layout. It follows the block pattern and distressing. And I think the Basic Grey "Wander" collection matched the colors perfectly!


Thanks for looking and we hope to see you join the fun!

-Abby

The Paper Variety - Challenge 3!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post. Time has flown by! I've been keeping busy with home stuff, and also preparing for The Paper Variety challenges as well as DT projects for both Party Time Tuesdays and Cardabilities, which will be coming up soon!

Today begins The Paper Variety's new challenge! It's a theme challenge with many many possibilities! Here's the challenge...

Super fun, right? I love it! Here is my take on the challenge...

I used my new Basic Grey "Wander" collection for this layout. It features my son and nephew at Kennywood amusement park from our Pittsburgh trip this past summer. We all had a blast!

I hope you'll join us for this challenge. The Scrapbooking Cottage is sponsoring this week! You could win this awesome new kit collection...

Fabo, right?? Give it a try! :)

-Abby

It's a Party Time Tuesday!

This week is a special one at Party Time Tuesdays! It's Kristie's birthday! Yay! Kristie is the founder of PTT and also a great scrappy friend.

Happy Birthday Kristie! :)

This week's challenge is to create a birthday card using Kristie's favorite color combination - pink, brown and white. I hope you'll join us in celebrating this special birthday by creating a birthday card using these colors and sharing it with us on the site - don't forget to include a greeting on the front :)

Our guest designer this week is Kristie's friend, Danni! Be sure to check out all of the design team's cards, too, as it's always a beautiful collection!

Here is my card for Kristie!

Card Supplies: Basic Grey "Sultry" paper,
Stampendous "Agapanthus Long" stamp, AmyR birthday
sentiment stamp, Colorbox chalk ink, braiding cord and cardstock.

-Abby

Cards 4 & 5

Sorry I skipped yesterday's post- I was feeling a bit under the weather. But, I did create a card! :)

Thursday's card was made with Basic Grey's "Kioshi" I tried to create a winter wonderland effect by using the soft blue, purple, green and yellow. I love when people use non-holiday paper collections to make holiday cards. I also clear embossed some snowflakes. :)


Today's card was made with Cosmo Cricket "Jolly by Golly". I love these papers and they're so fun to work with. I'm not liking the brown ink, I feel maybe I should've used black- but that's okay, I'm still very pleased with it :)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! See you tomorrow! :)

-Abby

Day 3

Wow.. what a day! I was so preoccupied today, I almost forgot to make my day 3 holiday card! Fortunately this card came together pretty quickly. Usually my quick cards make me think "ehh", but I really like how this one turned out! :)

Card Supplies: Basic Grey Basics paper, Fiskars border punch,
Martha Stewart snowflake punch, polka-dot wood block stamp,
Daisy Bucket greeting clear stamp, braiding cord, cardstock.

-Abby

EDCC day2

One of the card challenges in Scrappin-n-Chattin is to use a transparency sheet. Something I've never used before, but I had fun with it. :)

For this card, I used Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses collection. I love how the snowflakes and greeting sort of "float" on the transparency.

I created a video tutorial with this card- it's on YouTube.

Also, I'll be posting about my big news a little later, so stay tuned :)

-Abby

Sweet 16

Sorry so late with this post, my internet dumped on me again tonight, blah. But to the rescue came my friend, Suz, and her super tech savvy computer geek hubby who helped me out! Thanks Dave and Suz! I would have literally gone bonkers had I not been able to get back online. Thankfully, we avoided that unpleasant episode lol.

Well today was the last day of the EDLC in Scrappin-n-Chattin. It's been tough at times, but I'm so happy I completed the goal of 30 layouts in 30 days! And I have so many awesome layouts to now add to my albums. Woot! Congrats to all of the gals in the EDLC this month. We rock!!
A winner has already been chosen. It wasn't me so I'm a bit bummed lol But I'm also super excited and happy for the winner. Congratulations Sandi!! I can't wait to see all the prizes you've won! :)

My last layout was a very quick one. I was really tired tonight and just wanted to finish it so I didn't do anything extravagant- just a simple layout of my sister on her sweet 16th. The challenge required using those cute retro smiley faces- and I was so happy to find this photo with her smiley face cake!

Layout Supplies: Basic Grey "Lime Rickey", Thickers, brads and cardstock

I want to send out a huge thank you to all of you who joined me this month in my first ever blog celebration!

THANK YOU!!

I had alot of fun and I'm so happy that so many of you came back day after day to be a part of it all. Thank you so very much!

I'm probably gonna lay low for a while, that EDLC really wore me out lol. But I'll still be posting every week for the fabulous Party Time Tuesdays and also any challenges I participate in with all those great sketch sites out there in the blog world :) I'm pretty sure I'll be doing more giveaways here and there, cuz lets face it, those are so much fun! :)

Oh and a heads up, friends! Several of us gals from Scrappin-n-Chattin are planning a blog hop in August where you'll be able to win LOTS of scrappin goodies! So be sure to check back for deets about that! You won't want to miss it :)

Don't forget to send in the secret word before Friday for that awesome $25 gift certificate! And you can still enter to win this giveaway before Friday too! I'll announce the winners of both the Secret Word game and the giveaway on Friday morning!

Thanks again to all my readers this month. I had a blast, I hope you did too! :)

Happy Summer! :)

Down by the creek

Wow.. this day flew by! I can't believe it's 11pm
already. I thought the days were suppose to be longer
in June? Blah lol

My day 15 layout features my son at the park
last month. He LOVES to go there and throw rocks
in the creek, he gets all excited about the "kerplunk".
Those poor fishies! But- boys will be boys!

I used Basic Grey's "Origins" and I love the way it
turned out. However, I couldn't get those foam alphas
to set straight. Curses! Oh well, I'm still happy! :)
The design was lifted from Southernbellescrapper.

Layout Supplies: Basic Grey "Origins", Basic Grey "Offbeat" chipboard
shapes, foam Thickers, Martha Stewart circle cutter, WRMK corner
chomper, Distress Ink-walnut stain, Jenni Bowlin tiny alphas.

Happy June!

Cheeky Love & Re-Giveaway!

Todays layout features my son and me a few years ago.
I just love that silly smile he has. He's such a cutie!

The design was lifted from Amy Oxford, her creations
are fabulous! Love her blog. I used Basic Grey's "Lime
Rickey". I love how the vibrant colors really
pop from the black background.

Layout Supplies: Basic Grey "Lime Rickey" 6x6 pad, Basic Grey
Basics label sticker, Thickers, American Crafts chipboard accents, floss.

Also.. it's been well over 48 hours and the winner of
the Jillibean Soup corrugated alphas hasn't contacted
me yet. So, per rules (gotta play fair), it's a re-giveaway!
Rather than pick another name from that particular
post's comments, I decided to do it all over again.

Just leave one comment on this post and I'll
randomly choose a winner Tuesday morning, along with
the winner of the Crate Paper giveaway. See here to
enter the Crate Paper giveaway.

So now there's gonna be two lucky winners
on Tuesday, Yay!

Please remember, only 48 hours to claim your prizes.
So don't forget to check back to see if you've won! :)

Happy June! See you soon!

Easter baby

These late posts are becoming a usual thing lately.
Oh well, at least I'm still posting layouts- that's an
accomplishment in itself lol. Todays layout features my
little nephew at the Easter egg hunt this year. I wanted
to title it "egg hunt" but I didn't have any Gs lol.

Layout Supplies: Basic Grey "Green at Heart" papers and
cardstock stickers, Martha Stewart "Loops" border punch,
Thickers, yellow cardstock, ribbon, floss.

I'll be announcing the winner of the Jillibean Soup
corrugated alphas in the morning. There's still time to
enter the giveaway by commenting here. I'm also going to
have another giveaway tomorrow! Woot!
Friday is going to be a good day!

Want to win some items from the new
Bo Bunny "Sun Kissed" line? There's still time to enter
my challenge! See here. I'm so happy to see several
beautiful layouts entered already...
Sooo Awesome!

Happy June! See you soon!

Friend or Snack?

Another late post tonight. I have good reason,
though. :) Today is my son's 11th birthday!
Happy Birthday, Braydon!! We had a fun day
together, but no party. We're having a party on
Saturday. He can't wait, nor can I! I love parties :)

Todays layout was put together rather quickly. It's
been a busy day so I didn't have alot of time to work
on it. But I think it turned out really cute. Featured
is our cat, Logan, and her love/hate relationship with
our fishie, Beethoven. I'm really surprised we've had
Beethoven this long lol.

Layout Supplies: Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" papers
and die-cut shapes, The Paper Studio white foam alphas, red
ric-rac ribbon, Bo Bunny red alpha stickers, EK Success
border punch, beige and teal cardstock

Happy June! See you soon!

Card 5

Do you ever shop at the cheap stores and find great scrapbooking supplies? I did. I found this butterfly at Dollar Tree- a package of 3 for $1! They had pink and blue ones, too. They're so cute! I love the gem as the body and the glitter on the wings. This purple one looks really nice with Basic Grey "Kioshi" in the background. TFL!

I'll be closing the Material Girl giveaway comments in just a few minutes and announcing the winner in the morning. Thanks everyone for entering and good luck to you! :)

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. My son and I are enjoying the day at home. A bit later we'll be making some cookies, but otherwise no special plans. We have one more day of holiday break. He returns to school and I to work on Tuesday. This vacation went by too quickly!

This morning I made a Spring-y card using Basic Grey's Kioshi and my American Crafts Sentiments clear stamps. I scraplifted a design by Kristina Werner. I often lift from Kristina, she's one of my favorite card-makers.Happy Easter! :)

Cards 26 & 27

Today was a good family day. I took my son and 1 y/o nephew to the city Easter Egg Hunt. Thank goodness we had nice weather for it, a nice cool breezy day. I was able to get several colorful photos and I'm looking forward to crafting layouts with them. I can't believe Easter is next week, it snuck up on me!

For card #26, I used Basic Grey's Indian Summer paper. It's more considered an Autumn collection, but I think the reds and pinks look great with any project.
I've been holding on to this butterfly 3D sticker for a while. So pretty but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I think I made a good choice by adding it to this birthday card for #27.
Only 4 days left till the end of this month long daily card challenge! I'm thrilled at the amount of cards I've made! Now I just have to remember to send them out! lol

TFL! :)