May Flowers! TPV

 Happy May!!


There's a new challenge at The Paper Variety ! :)

I love finding new ways to make paper flowers! For my project, I created this bouquet of blooms using Echo Park "Dots & Stripes" 6x6 pads.

These flowers were really fun to make. All it took was some simple folding and then I glued the pieces together. I think they're super cute! :)

TPV has a great prize for the randomly chosen winner...
For joining the challenge, you could win...

I hope you'll find some time to join us!

Have a great day!

PDCC127 "Happy Birthday" card & TPV tutorial

It's my turn to provide a tutorial for The Paper Variety today :) so I created this card and video which features a simple masking technique.

I also followed the challenge at The Play Date Cafe..

This week's suggested colors are...
Daffodil...Hydrangea...Kiwi...Cherry 
I used all suggested colors (similarly) and also added brown and white as neutral colors. I love primary colors so this challenge was a must do! :)
Thanks for visiting!

Boys Rule projects :)

Today I'm sharing a few projects I made using the March and new April Boys Rule kits :) The projects were posted at the Boys Rule blog, but I forgot to post them here as well - bad Abby! lol Better late than never, I say :)

My first project is the current sketch challenge at Boys Rule.. it's a great sketch! You still have time to enter so I hope you'll play along with us!

This is my nephew, cruising along on his lil Harley. I kinda went circle crazy with this layout but I really love all the color I was able to jam in there - love color! I used the Echo Park "A Boy's Life" collection which was included in the March kit. Also created with the same kit is this fun inspirational card..

I love to toot my son's horn whenever I can lol - He was chosen for the honor roll again this quarter so I made this for him. The prior few years he had been struggling in school (3rd-5th grades), but now he's in 6th and he's doing sooo much better! All As and Bs.. I'm sooo proud of him! This card includes patterned paper, cardstock stickers and some doodling.. easy peasy!

Those projects above were made with the March kit which is now sold out.. but the April kit is now available for purchase. Laura Lee had some unexpected delays in collecting all the items for the April kit, so our DT boxes were not complete... yet. Right now I just have the papers, some stickers and a few embellies.. but the rest will be here really soon! Woot! I am already loving this April kit.. it's Awesome! And I mean that literally lol It includes papers and embellishments from the Simple Stories "Awesome" collection. Gorgeous!! Here are a few items you can expect in this great April kit...

Loooooove love love!!! But there's so much more that will be added to it.. I can't wait to show you the complete kit.

With the items I have so far, I created this photo frame for my son.

All items I used are in the kit except for the twine. And I don't have the sprockets in my kit yet, so I made my own with my Spellbinder's dies. I love this photo of Braydon, he was only 11 y/o here, but he looks so grown up.

There's going to be some "Awesome" projects created and shared with this kit this month at Boys Rule!! Be sure to visit and be inspired :) I'll be back later this week with the next Boys Rule sketch challenge.. fun!

Have a great week!

Boys Rule March kit projects :)

Today I'm sharing a couple projects I've created with the March Boys Rule kit. This is such a great collection kit, loads of fun! :)

First is a birthday card which includes that awesome jean pocket. How cleverly creative of Laura-Lee to include this embellie in the kit - it's such a fun addition to your boy projects! 

And next is my example of the March 16th sketch challenge...

This is a great sketch! I had so much fun using the stencil to create the round outline :) I really love that this kit has pushed me to use stencils and coloring with markers. It's not something I had ever added to my projects before this month, and I'm so glad I have lately - it's alot of fun and it looks awesome! :)

There's plenty of time to create and enter your layout following the sketch. I hope you'll join us and link up! :)

Thanks for visiting me today! :)

2 Boys Rule layouts :)

Tonight I'm sharing 2 pages I created using the Boys Rule March kit. I've been having so much fun with this kit! All the colors, fun designs, doodling with those fabulous markers.. love it all!

My first page follows the March 2nd challenge sketch. :)

 This was a great sketch to create with! Everything shown is in the March kit, except for the gear diecuts. How cute is that lil derby car!? As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd use these photos of Braydon and his Uncle Rick at Kennywood.. Score! :)

And my 2nd layout is something I whipped up..

I really wanted to feature the Momento markers on this page, so I did a lot of outlining and doodling. I love these markers and think I'll be getting a few more colors :)

This "Play Time" sheet is my favorite of the kit. I cut out a few of the images and added them to my layout. They looked really nice with the marker doodling. :)

Stop by Boys Rule to see more great projects using this awesome kit

Have a great evening! :) 

New TPV challenge :)

This February gives us a leap year for 2012, and the challenge at The Paper Variety celebrates by giving us an inspirational photo. I've been a fan of Amy Adams since I saw her on The Office several years ago so I was looking forward to seeing her in this movie, Leap Year :) I finally saw it last year on HBO.. it was a super cute flick, a lot of love and laughs.... and Matthew Goode... Mmmmm.. I'd love to be locked up with him in a room just listening to him all night long.. reading a phonebook. lol His voice/accent.. So hot! ;)

There's a lot of inspiration you could pull from this movie poster. The colors, a couple, a wedding proposal (she's holding an engagement ring), use a movie title/sentiment, even something froggy and more.

For my project... When I see green and gray, I think masculine. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't stop ogling over Matthew the entire time I was deciding what to create lol So it's no surprise that I went with a masculine card using the poster's colors. 

I found that my Echo Park "Times & Seasons" kit includes green, red (her hair), black and a grayish blue... Score! And I absolutely love the mustache paper and stickers! I was stuck for a bit on what sentiment to use, but I decided on using "good luck" since the movie was set in Ireland :)

We hope you'll join us for this fun challenge! You could be the random winner to receive this awesome prize donated by our sponsor, Apron Strings Designs...

Isn't it lovely!!??

I hope to see your project linked up at TPV! :)

I'll close with the movie preview for Leap Year. It really is a cute movie, I loved it. I think I'll rent it and love it again :)

Thanks for visiting me,

New challenge at TPV! :)

 Happy February!!

There's a new challenge at The Paper Variety.. it's a fun sketch! :)

I made this layout featuring my nephew, Drake :) 

My page follows the sketch almost exactly. It's rare that I do that lol. At first I thought it looked too crowded and too busy.. but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it as is. My nephew is such a cutie, he makes any page look great lol ;) I used Echo Park "Little Boy" - an all-time fave!

TPV welcomes a new sponsor, My Scraps & More!! I love that scrappy store!

For joining the challenge, you could win...

And a $10 gift certificate to My Scraps & More!!

Also, there's an awesome TPV reader only discount to the store! Visit TPV for the code! :)

I hope you'll find some time to join us!

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

So I was blog surfing today and came across the latest Sparks Challenge at Paper Smooches. I LOVE Paper Smooches stamps, they're sooooo cute!! I have a few of their sets.. but I've never joined in on one of their blog challenges before. I thought I'd give it a try today :)

Here is the prompt, a photo inspiration....

I love the rainbow colors and black & white (gray) combination on projects. It really makes the color say "Hey! Look at me!!" Here is my take on the sparks challenge...

I have 3 PS sets: Sentiment Sampler, Word Up and Surf & Turf... and I used all 3 on my card. I popped up the "I love you" and the special fish for dimension and also added some black & white twine. The rainbow paper is from Echo Park "Summer Days" 6x6 pad. :)

I'll be giving this card to my son. He's always showing what a special kid he really is and I think he'll love it. :)

Click here to see more of my cards using Paper Smooches stamps.

I'll be back Sunday with an Artful Delight project using the January kit, and also a project for Paper Variety as we resume challenges for 2012!! And please join me on Monday when I share my first DT project as a designer for Imaginisce 2012! I'm so excited!! :) :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy New Year!!!

Bad, Good & Great News.. plus some projects :)

So the bad news is my hard drive crashed recently. I lost so much data and so many precious photos that I had taken in the last year. I was so heartbroken. I've always known the importance of having back-up files, but I never took the time to make sure I was covered. Something so horrible could never happen to me, right? Wrong! No one is ever safe, so PLEASE make sure all of your photos are saved elsewhere! I'd hate for that to happen to my friends, too.

A few pieces of good news.. I saved my hard drive so if I win the lottery someday, perhaps my photos can be saved. I decided it was cheaper to buy a new pc than try to have my old one fixed. So a new pc is on it's way! Yay! And my sister, Jessica, has kindly loaned me her desktop to use until mine arrives in a week or so. Yay! Also, Jessica has many of the same photos I lost that she will share with me. Yay! I lost alot that she doesn't have.. but at least it's not a complete loss.. I'll still have some. Thank goodness! :)

So that was the bad and the good.. next is some GREAT news! I'm soooo happy to share with you that I was chosen for the new design team at Boys Rule Scrapbook Kits!! Woohoo! I'm sure you all know that my son and nephew are my most favorite people to scrapbook, so these awesome Boys Rule kits are PERFECT for me! The monthly kits are full of all the boyish goodness that we, mommies of boys, love!! And they're very affordable for all the product that's included. I honestly can't wait to get started! My term begins in January :) Yay!! Check out the Boys Rule blog here.

And lastly, a couple layouts I've made..

This one features my son, Braydon, back in 2000 when he was just 18months. Love these photos :) I used the new Echo Park "Winter Park" collection - so cute!! Lots of dimension on these :)

And the next features my nephew, Drake, last year at Christmas time. I love Echo Park collections and with this layout I used "Holly Jolly Christmas" :)

I joined 2 challenges for the top layout :)

• Scrap it with a song - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
• Lasting Memories - Winter Wonderland

Oh! I also wanted to mention.. The Paper Variety is seeking 8 new designers for the next DT term! Woot! See here for all the details.. I hope many of you will apply! :)

Have a great Monday!

TPV Challenge & some Bella too! :)

Today begins another new challenge at The Paper Variety :) It's super easy, super fun, and our sponsored prize will get everyone scrappin! Woot!

This week we're sponsored by 

Burlap & Buttercups Scrapbook Kit Club! 

Rachel has gorgeous monthly kits and she was so generous to offer one for our challenge winner this week! See what you can win....

Yes, I'll take two, please! lol Join us at TPV for your chance to win it! :)

I have several Halloween collections with pumpkins, bats, spiders, ghosts.. but the more I looked through them all and thought about it.. I decided to just go with a simple card with traditional colors. The pattern is from Echo Park "Apothecary Emporium", matched up with some Bazzill and sheer ribbon. CAS!! :)

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Last week I came across a couple layouts that I forgot to post on my blog. I love Bella Blvd products and I applied for their team back in September. I didn't make the cut obviously, but I did create 4 layouts to add to my albums :) I think I already shared two of them, but here are all 4 together...

All layouts were made with just about 100% Bella product. I had alot of fun making these and I was a lil sad I didn't make the team.. but the designers that were chosen were soooo good! The competition was fierce! It's a crazy scrappin world out there! lol :)

Thanks for visiting!

And don't forget to enter your Halloween project at The Paper Variety! We'd love to see all your cute and spooky projects! :)

Abby

Miss you

This week at The Paper Variety, the challenge is all about anything nautical. The ocean, sea, lighthouses, the beach, sea life etc :)

I made this card for my sister Sarah who is currently on the other side of the ocean serving with the Peace Corps in Rwanda. I miss her a lot, but also I'm so proud of her for fulfilling her life-long dream with the PC.

I used some EP "Splash" paper and also Paper Smooches stamp sets, "Surf & Turf" and "Sentiment Sampler".

If you join me in this challenge, you could win this beautiful kit from WeSCRAP!

Just load your project here before Tuesday at noon est!

Thanks for visiting!

Abby

Artful Delight Sept kit projects :)

Hello! It's sooo good to be back! I was without internet for a bit over a week, very frustrating. But now everything is working alright and I'm so glad to be sharing the projects I've made these past couple weeks. :)

Last weekend was the big Birthday Bash celebration at Artful Delight. I'm so sad that I missed it due to no internet service, I was really looking forward to participating. Boo hoo! Artful Delight celebrated Leeanne's birthday, hosted a great blog hop, introduced the new design team and also offered three great challenges that give you the chance to win AWESOME prizes! The Grand Prize is a 6 month subscription to Artful Delight monthly kits!! Fabulous!! Good news! There's still ONE day left to participate in these challenges and win!! :)

The first challenge is this sketch....

Here is my take on it using the Artful Delight Sept kit...

 This is my son.. he's growing so tall, so fast!

The 2nd challenge is this Tic Tac Toe board. Choose any 3 in a row, down, across or diagonally :)

Here's my project.. I chose the bottom row across, kraft, fall theme and border punch..

And the 3rd challenge is to use the colors.. Kraft, Pink & White :) Here is my project...

I know this is super short notice for my blog readers.. but I REALLY hope you can quickly get these challenges completed and entered HERE before midnight EST tonight! You don't want to miss out on your chance to win that 6month kit subscription as well as many other random prizes. See here for all the details! :)

I have a few other projects to share also :) These layouts I put together with the Artful Delight September kit.. and what a great kit it was! I'm so sad to see it all used up lol ;)

My sister, Sarah, and her boyfriend at Roscoe's in Hollywood, CA :)

My sweet little son back in 2000. He still has that precious smile :)

My son and my nephew looking as cute as ever! :)

Thanks for visiting me today! I'll be back tomorrow with another layout to share :)

Have a fantastic weekend!!

-Abby