thanks and GIVEAWAY reminder :)

call me spoiled, but whenever i have a giveaway whatever prize i'm giving away i have to get one for myself too. because then i don't feel bad parting with the prize. (it's really sad-i know)

my current giveaway is for american crafts vera thickers! and i thought i'd brake out mine, and have a little fun with them.

i decided to do a long card, this is 8 x 3 1/2, and the designer paper's are from cosmo cricket's joy ride collection. i love the lined paper, it looks like the paper they gave us in kindergarten when we were learning how to write our abc's.




i used fiskars scalloped border punch. then i wanted to tie ribbon around it. to find our how to big to make the slit i used a pencil and marked how wide the ribbon was.

then i used my t-square ruler and craft knife to put a slit in the fold of the card. then tied the ribbon.in all the years i've been scrapbooking, i've often seen people use brackets around sentiments or titles, and i've never tried it before. but i decided to use them on this card, and i love the way it came out. and i added rhinestones to the thickers to give them a lil bling.


then i thought the card needed a little bit more character. so i pulled out hero arts tree's birds and messages stamp set.

i stamped and paper pieced the bird.
then i added glossy accents, and put a rhinestone on his eye.

want more info about the giveaway, check out the details HERE.
thanks for looking
blog ya later.

i just love you

happy monday!
my inspiration for this card came from wanting to finally use the k&company serendipity die cuts i purchased months ago. it's a really beautiful die cut pack, with flowers and butterflies, and just look at that cute blue bird-beautiful, right?!


i started with a standard sized (5 1/2 x 4 1/4) white notecard and cut 1/4 strip off of the front of the card.
i used the fiskars scalloped border punch on the designer paper, and adhered to the front of the card. sassafrass lass's marmalade collection is so bright and quirky, and it felt like just the right complement to the die cuts.


then i arranged my die cut pieces. gluing the pink flowers directly to the card, and using both pop dots and martha stewarts foam adhesive to raise the blue and yellow flower die cuts at different heights on the card. the martha stewart foam pieces are thicker than the pop dots so they pop the images up higher on the card.


the sentiment is from technique tuesday's loving words by ali edwards. (LOVE this stamp set). i wanted the words to be stacked instead of in a straight line, and i also wanted them in two different colors. so i used colorbox cats eye chalk ink. the shape of the small stamp pads makes it easier to apply to just the part of the stamp you want inked. i did partial inking and stamped it twice.

after i'd stamped the sentiment i adhered the butterfly with martha stewarts foam adhesive. and added three turquoise rhinestones in the top corner of the card to give it a little sparkle.



this card is super quick and simple to make. the longest part was figuring out which die cuts i wanted to use, and how and where to place them on the card. :)


thanks for looking
blog ya later.

bring on the cake

now this is my kind of card. cake! yum, and not just any cake but cupcakes! double yum :)
the stamps i ordered from two peas huge stamp sale arrived thursday, and i had so much fun breaking them out and getting to use them for the first time.

for this card i started with black cardstock, cut to a standard sized card. 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. the designer paper is from basic grey's indian summer collection. i used martha stewarts border punch to give the paper a scalloped edge, then adhered to the cardstock.


i used black ribbon and wrapped around the card. making two loops where the ribbon met.


then i took my paper piercer and punched through the ribbon and put two making memories pink rhinestone brads through the ribbon.


i keep a lot of my small embellishments (brads, snaps, small chipboard alphas, etc.) in my making memories organizer.


then i cut a strip of white cardstock, and stamped the hero arts sentiment with colorbox chalk ink in black and pink. i use color box cats eye chalk inks, the shape of the ink pad makes it easier to use multiple colors and get the ink on only the part of the stamp you want it on.


the felt sticker cupcakes are by k&company. i used fiskars corner rounder to round the edges of the card. i finished the card with a white gel pen adding faux stitching around the edge of the card.


thanks for looking!
blog ya later.

two birds with one card

today i'm killing two birds with one stone, or in this case one card.
the incredibly talented jenn mcguire's hubby is stuck in germany because of the volcano in iceland. and skrappergirl invited me help give her a darling surprise. posting cards on flickr just for jenn to add a lil sunshine to her day.
if you'd like to play along, just make and post a card today on hero arts flickr group with the tag 4u2010.

the second muse for this card: kristina warner's make a card monday one layer challenge. for more info and to participate in the challenge check out the details HERE


so for this simple card i used white recollections cardstock, folded to a standard sized card 5 1/2 x 4 1/4, and a bunch of hero arts stamps sending happy thoughts, JS142 clear design borders (this is an older stamp set i'm not sure if they still sell this one), and (jenn's favorite butterfly stamp) the heart winged butterfly.
i inked the border stamp with ranger distress ink in spiced marmalade.




for the heart winged butterfly and sentiment i used colorbox queue ink in moss green.


then added rhinestones to the center of the butterfly.


very simple card with just stamping, and i had tons of fun making it. thanks for looking!
blog ya later.

"just saying hello" card

happy monday!
for this card i used navy blue bazzill cardstock, cut to a standard sized card 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. the designer paper is from basic grey's lime rickey collection. i used fiskars scalloped sentiment punch to make the scalloped border.


the mushroom & frog are from hero arts sending happy thoughts stamp set. i stamped the mushrooms directly onto the white cardstock colored them with just regular makers, and then used rangers glossy accents to give them a little bit more interest. (i tried to zoom in on the mushrooms but i still think it's very hard to see the glossy accents in the photo. looks super cute in person though :) i stamped the frog on green cardstock, cut him out and attached to the card using pop dots.
the buttons were purchased at wal-mart. with embroidery floss threaded through the button holes and knotted. and adhered to the card with glue dots.
the fun for me came with the faux stitching. i wanted to do a double faux stitch, which was the concept that i started with when i began making this card.


thanks for looking!

april's a year in cards class

as a scrap-a-holic, no word excites me more than the word SALE! and right now two peas is having an amazing sale on stamps. i'd been wanting more sentiment stamps so this sale was absolutely perfect! i purchased 3 stamp sets: technique tuesday's loving words, hero arts essential messages, and hero arts huge hugs stamp set. now i just have to wait (im)patiently for them to arrive.

ok, so on to this months a year in card class. i've seen every single episode of a year in cards (multiple times, thanks youtube) but this is my first time actually playing along and making my own version of the cards. i had so much fun, i'm sure i'll be playing along next month as well.
this months theme was mother's day and feminine cards, you can watch the video HERE.



for the first card i used die cuts with a view designer paper on kraft cardstock. as usual i didn't measure the strips of paper, i just cut them to the width i thought would look cute. i adhered the strips of paper to the cardstock and did a faux stitching line with my white gel pen.

for the heart, i used cricket's george and basic shapes cartridge to cut out a heart on white cardstock, and a shadow version of the same heart in the designer paper. i used ranger distress ink in worn lipstick with my inking tool to ink around the edges of the heart. then i inked the swirl stamp from hero arts trees birds and messages stamp set to put swirls on the hearts.

i did all of the inking on my kraft sheet, which i love because everything wipes up easily from a kraft sheet.


the second card was very simple, but instead of using a lot of different paper i used a lot of stamping. for the background stamping i used glitz gal's distress background stamps, and ranger's ink blending tool to sponge around the edges of the card for both the background and sentiment piece of the card. to soften it up, and give it a more feminine feel, i used the hero arts swirl again.



the sentiment and heart stamp used on the card is from hero arts trees, birds, and messages stamp set. i added glossy accents to give the heart a little shine, and rhinestones to add a little bling to the card. :)



for the final card i cut a 1/4 inch off of the bottom of the cardstock, punch a scalloped border with fiskars border punch, and adhered it to the card. i cut a strip of designer paper to tie the card in with the other two cards. and punched butterflies with martha stewarts 3 in 1 butterfly punch. i punch out two butterflies and glued them together. to prop the wings up, i rolled mini glue dots and tucked them under the wings. then added a little faux stitching, a flower, and american crafts thickers.

i had so much fun, i can't wait till next month.
thanks for looking, blog ya later.

blog-warming party plus a GIVEAWAY!!

i'm having a blog-warming party!!!

to celebrate the creation of my new blog
just your average scrap blog
i'm having a GIVEAWAY!
i'm giving away one of my favorite embellishments, American Crafts Thickers!
they're cute, fun, and perfect on scrapbooking pages, cards, and more.

what do you have to do to win?
just become a just your average scrap blog follower and you're entered.

want to double your chances?
post this contest on your blog and leave a link in the comments below.
and i'll count your entry twice.

the contest will be open till the end of the month. i'll announce the winner on april 30th.

clips n cuts blog hop

clips n cuts is having a blog hop. sounds like fun, so i'm hopping along. can't wait to see all the blogs and hopefully make a new friend or two. :)

Here is how it works:

1. Click the blue frog below to add your blog.

2. Copy the script below and put it on your blog post while in HTML view.

This will make the thumbnail collection appear on your post as well and be available for your readers too.

3. Provide the code on your blog for others to grab. Just mention to paste it on HTML view when blogging.

4. Ask your readers to add their blogs on the list and also copy and paste the script on their blog as well!

This will make a thumbnail collection that will grow on everyones blog and we can meet each other! I’ll be moderating it so no worries. It will be updated on everyones blog when someone enters a new link.

"special to me" card

i love scrapbooking, and i love SHOPPING for scrapbooking supplies as much as i love making cards/layouts. there's nothing better than finding a great deal on products, so i thought i'd make a card using some of my "bargain" supplies.


I started with a white card base using recollections brand cardstock (purchased at Michaels- it's cheaper than my favorite cardstock bazzill :) the yellow printed paper is from cosmo cricket's earth love collection. the green leaf paper is from recollections birdwatching collection. (Michael's was having a sale 4 pieces of designer paper for $1-amazing savings!)


i turned the paper over and traced a sloped line for my grassy hills.


for my second grassy slope i wanted it to stand out from the back layer so i adhered it to white cardstock, and cut a small boarder along my slope. i used martha stewart dimensional adhesive (purchased at big lots-my local big box store for $1) to give dimension to the grassy hills.


the palm tree is a sticker from doodlebug's jungle stickers. i honestly don't remember how much i paid for these. but as you can see i've used this sticker collection quite a few times and in my book the more that you use something the better because it means you got your money's worth, right? right!
the giraffe and elephant are from a crayola brand dimensional sticker pack that i purchased at target again for only $1. the ribbon at the bottom of the page was purchased from big lots (you guess it-$1), and it was too wide for the part of the card that i wanted to apply it to. so i folded it in half and tied it around the card. i was SO surprised that it actually worked.


the last thing i did was stamp the friendly sentiment from hero arts stamp set.
thanks for looking!