Handmade Sweater

My grandmother made this sweater for the boy. It's the cutest thing with little primary color car shaped buttons. And of course I love it a little extra cause it was handmade by her. :)

The page is an adaptation of the September sketch from Kitchen Keepsake. The papers are mostly Momenta, the letter stickers are old K&Co and the rest is just what nots from my stash. 

Nothing super spectacular for my first day back in months, but tomorrow is a fun Halloween altered inspired by Pinterest. :)

thanks file card

I don't know about you, but I am always in need of thank you cards. I go through them so quickly that I pretty much make one whenever I sit down to make cards. This one is a little different as it's made from a file folder.

As with most of my cards, I used scraps from my drawers. The pink paper is from Momenta and the black cardstock is American Crafts.

Hello Diploma

There are quite a few of our friends and family whose kids are graduating from high school this year (or already have at this point actually). A bit funny considering we just went this morning to look at a preschool for our oldest.

At any rate, I remember being that age. All I wanted to do was get out of the grasps of my teachers and parents. Like graduating high school was the all important factor in becoming an adult (ha!). Little did I know. I recently posted on facebook that I think 30-40 is the perfect age. You know why... cause I'm old enough to be able to laugh at the stupidity of 20 year olds, yet young enough to still maintain my sanity. And I'm going to stick by that.

So I did this card with a 'funny' attitude. Definitely not your traditional 'congrats grad' card, but I have a few of those I'm going to be sharing as well.

The papers are Momenta, flags are Nikki Sivils, diploma is Jolees, transparency from Rusty Pickle, metal tags are DCWV and the flowers and button are from my stash.

Most of this stuff is old, old, old as I'm working on cleaning out some of my stash. I think we are going to have to do some major design and reconstruction work in our basement and the less I have to move, the better!

eccentric

Not sure how, but again I missed blogging on Monday. Ooopsie! Today I'm sharing that paper layout I kept telling you was on my desk. And my prediction was right, I just gave up and left it as is. I really do think it needs something else, and eventually I'll figure it out. This was done based on a sketch from Scrapbooking From The Inside Out.

The papers are from Momenta and the red is a scrap I had in the drawer. The picture makes me laugh, he put his dad's socks over his pajama pants and thought he was awesome! There is no doubt that this boy is eccentric, and I do love that about him!

On a non scrapbooking note, I bought a desk last week to turn into a play kitchen for the kids. I've been on the lookout for a piece of furniture that would work, but unlike normal places, our thrift stores out here in the boonies have next to nothing. I'm so jealous of the people who share all these great thrift store finds. So I've been working on that and I hope to be able to share it soon!

Thank You Cards from Grayson

With a little help from Grayson, we managed to get the thank you cards for his birthday together! I asked him to draw a picture for the cards. He was more than happy to comply since he loves to draw and color. I suggested he draw a picture of himself opening the presents. And you know what, it doesn't look half bad!

I scanned in the picture and printed copies for the cards, matted them, added some extra embellishments and called them done. It probably isn't what you would consider a paper crafted card, but I really wanted Grayson's artwork to be the focus. :)

The patterned paper is from momenta and the cardstock is some extras I had in my stash. I even used up some shaped buttons. Way out of style, but I think they worked with these.

And here is a larger version of his picture. It is him holding heatwave (a transformer rescue bot), then of course his bike, a remote control monster truck (blue present) and his other monster truck (green present). Not too shabby for a 4 year old! I did dot out the letters for him to write and reminded him he had to connect the wheels on his bike with a bar, but the rest was all him.

Altered Wood Box

Tuesday is here and today I'm sharing an altered wooden box I made for Braelyn's room. I'll put my complaints about the IVP at the bottom so you can easily ignore them! ;)


The wooden box is actually from Melissa & Doug - a playdough set. I love their toys, and so do the kids! :) The box was cumbersome to store the supplies in though, and I knew it would be perfect for altering. I just didn't know what. LOL!

So I painted the box white and it suddenly dawned on me that Braelyn needs some extra stuff in her room. Since Grayson already has his name in his room (and various other stuff) I decided to do something fun for Braelyn.

I have these huge letters for years, so I figured that would be a great way to use one up. The papers are from Momenta and go perfectly with the color scheme in her room.

So after the wooden box dried, I cut the background paper and attached it using the xyron 900. I also ran the B through the 900 and attached it to the paper. After I trimmed and sanded the B, I wrapped some beading cord around it for dimension.

Next thing was putting the name on there. I decided not to center it since the big letter wasn't going to be centered.

Since I didn't want the B flat against the back, I used helmar liquid glue dots. Not the best picture, but hopefully you can see what I mean in this picture. I let that sit overnight (I am notorious for putting my fingers where I shouldn't and squishing that to nothing).


The next day I added some layered flowers, a flourish and some random gems around. Nothing too much though because I didn't want to overpower the emphasis on the huge B. And if I'm being completely honest, it means more to dust.



So that is it - cute project that came together quickly. The only thing left right now is to get it hung up. Wonder how long that will take me?!



Now, in case you are at all interested in my kidneys and IVP I had yesterday... feel free to read on. The IVP wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. It took a little over an hour and I didn't have to be completely still, only while they were actually taking the x-rays (huge plus). The original girl who tried my IV (notice I said tried, LOL) completely missed the vein. Now I'm not afraid of needles, and I'm completely willing to let people learn... until it hurts! Thankfully another girl stepped in and got it sorted out. And she wasn't lying when she said I would get a warm feeling in my throat and then in my bladder. How does that happen, you would think it would flush through my veins but it doesn't.

So I finished my exam and had an appointment with the urologist yesterday afternoon. Turns out I've managed to form another kidney stone. That makes three right now. The only good news, they are small and if I can get them to move they should pass without problems. Getting them to move seems to be the problem though. So I think total I'm up to 14 now, all in the past few years. I have to have some more lab work done in a few weeks to see if the new meds are working... it is possible this stone formed prior to me starting it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday! See you tomorrow - and I plan to share some of the things I've done from my pinterest boards. :)

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

I know there are tons of fun things happening around the world for scrapbookers today! Hope you all enjoy the celebrations. :)

Momenta has a sketch challenge on the new blog, so be sure to check it out! I decided to go with a digital page using the Sweet Talk collection.

Here is the sketch, by Design Team member Sherri Thompson (do check out her blog, she is super talented!)

And here is the page I created. Braelyn's first spoon feeding of oatmeal cereal. :)


Happy NSD to my fellow scrappers! Enjoy the day!

Making Flourish Stencils

A really quick and easy tutorial today about making your own flourish templates using Momenta's blank stencil sheets. I love doing this, and they don't even have to be perfect - which makes it so much better! The supplies you will need: hole punch blank stencil sheets (I'm using 4"x5") sharpie flourish pattern

For this first stencil, I made a copy of a set of crystal flourishes I purchased - this isn't the first time I've used my copy either. 1. Place the blank stencil sheet on top of your flourish and use the sharpie to dot where the crystals would be.

Here you can see that I didn't copy all of it - just the parts that I wanted to use.

2. Use your hole punch and punch holes where you placed the dots. They don't have to be perfect either - you can fix that when you use them on your page.

Here is my punched out stencil. You can see in the upper left corner where my holes got a bit crooked.

Now take your punched stencil and use it on your projects.

You can use a pencil to make dots on your project for places to put gem stickers, dots of glitter or just to go back and add a bit of a doodled flourish to your page.

And I wanted to share, you don't have to do this solely with a copied print. Here is a photoshop brush that I printed off to do the same thing.

I told you - super easy! And you'll get much more mileage out of the stencil than your purchased gem flourish. :)

And just as an example, here I used the new One Fine Day line from Momenta and used Dimensional Pearls with my stencils to create the flourish.

CTS Challenges

Over at Citrus Tree Studio, I will be posting a new challenge every Monday during the month of April! You have until Midnight EST the following Sunday to upload your creations to the gallery for a chance to win the prize. And the prizes are rockin'! I posted the first challenge this morning - to create a page using 2 of everything you choose to use!

Here is my example. I used Momenta products to create this page with 2 pieces of cardstock, 2 pieces of patterned paper, 2 blue crystals, 2 white crystals, 2 blue acrylic bubbles, 2 chipboard hearts, 2 pictures and 2 flourishes.

If you have a few moments, definitely stop by the message board at CTS and check it out. And while you are there, check out the details about the Design Team call going on right now!

My Kids Define Me

My kids do define me - and I am okay with that. As a matter of fact, I absolutely love it (most days). The only thing I can confidently say I hate about being a mom is tripping over toys, especially hot wheels. Those things are evil and I know I'm going to land in the ER with a broken ankle one day.


So I joined the Tally Scrapper Survivor Challenge and the first challenge went live yesterday. I had a lot of fun creating this layout - and it makes me happy!



My Kids Define Me & I Love It!

Part of the challenge was to use recycled scrapbooking package. My package recycling is the acetate from some Momenta rubons previously used. They leave a little edging, so I just cut out the flourish shape and stapled it to my layout. I thought it was creative - and you can see it better in the second picture.

Supplies: Bazzill & Momenta Cardstock, Carolees Alphabet Stickers, Old Dictionary Pages, Nikki Sivils Flag & Burlap Buttons, Martha Stewart Garden Labels, Pink Paisley 365 Degrees Flip Notes, AC Thickers, Twine & scrap paper from stash (reminisce I believe)

Valentine Card & Bag

This is a super quick & easy project. It came together in about half an hour (and that includes interruptions from the 2 year old - LOL). All supplies are from Momenta - including recycling the package from the card pack to create the bag.






Supplies:
Card Pack (NC-1271)
Occasions & Celebrations Paper (PA-1992)
Foil Flourish Rub-Ons (RO-1895)
Black & White Gem Stickers (ST-3056)

I know it will be warmly welcomed, just because of the treats on the inside of the bag! ;)

Moxie Fab World Cameo Challenge

I created this card for the Cameo Challenge at Moxie Fab World.

I found the cameo image online and cut it out with my wishblade, cut the frame with my wishblade and put it all together. All supplies are from Momenta. I really do LOVE these card packs from Momenta - they make card making super quick and easy!!



Supplies:
Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)
Occasions & Celebrations Paper (PA-1992)
Card Pack (NC-1279)
Foil Flourish Rub-Ons (RO-1895)
Chipboard Buttons (EM-1409)
Earthtones Alphabet Stickers (ST-3209)
Pastel Gem Stickers (ST-3031)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day and spending it with the ones you love!!

Design Dollies Feb Color Challenge

I decided to participate in the February Color Challenge over at Design Dollies...

The colors were Purple, Green & Ivory... perfect colors for the little girl in my life!

This picture was taken just the other day. I can't believe our little girl is 2 months old already!

To create the polka dot background, I dipped the cap of my pen in ink and dotted it onto the textured cardstock. Super easy and I love the effect b/c some areas are heavier and it really gave it extra texture.

Supplies:

Momenta Pure Cardstock (PA-1036)

Momenta Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)

Flutter Stickers (ST-2855)

Flower Doodle Rub Ons (RO-1566)

Silver Crimped Alphabet Stickers (ST-1988)

Silver Foil Flourish Rub Ons (RO-1895)

Acrylic Craft Paint

Paper Doilies

Prima & Silk Flower Leaves

Valentine Card & Tag

Just a quick share of a valentine card and tag I created for challenges over at Tally Scrapper and the New Beginnings Crop. I used mostly Momenta supplies.

It felt really good to create something again! I can say I have the bug again and hopefully I can stick with it and get lots of projects done this month!



Supplies:
All Through The Year Papers (PA-1991)
Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)
Primary Cardstock (PA-0658)
Black & White Gems (ST-3056)
Flourish Stickers (ST-2841)
Black & White Alphabet Stickers (ST-3190)

Supplies:
All Through The Year Papers (PA-1991)
Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)
Primary Cardstock (PA-0658)
Black & White Gems (ST-3056)
Black & White Alphabet Stickers (ST-3190)
Brass Template (FS-1034)

Momenta Stencil Storage

Today I decided to clean up my printer table. It was overflowing with crap - piles of clothes to be refashioned or mended, scrapbook supplies, paperwork and all kinds of other junk that has collected over the past couple months.

Some of the things on there were the big border stencils from Momenta. I love them, however I have storage issues with them. They are long and don't fit in my cart or on my bookshelf (which is full of paper anyway, not that I should admit that) so I really haven't known what to do with them. I decided to alter a cardboard box to house them on my table - so they are still at arms reach, but they won't be falling off when I stack my junk (not that I'm admitting to that either).

So here ya go... what started as a simple cardboard box, but is now a little more eye appealing. :)

And I have to say, it felt great to be creative again! Now I've got the bug and I want to create a bunch more stuff!!


Supplies:
Relaxed Cardstock (PA-1035)
Flutter Paper Pad (PA-1563)
Flutter Rubons (RO-1849)
Flutter Stickers (ST-2855)
Graceful Stencil (BL-799)

Part of the Family

This was another simple page I did for my dad's Christmas album with Momenta supplies.

He loved his album and was very happy to open it and see all the animal pages in there, even though he knew it was coming. I left quite a few blank pages in the back too... so I can add to it whenever the mood strikes!

Don't forget to enter my CSN Stores giveaway, the winner will be drawn this weekend!

A Couple Momenta Projects

Here are a couple more projects done for the crop at Citrus Tree Studio this weekend. These pages were both done with mostly Momenta supplies.

Supplies:
Black Tie Papers (PA-1952)
Gold Metallic Papers (PA-1161)
Pure Cardstock (PA-1036)
Black Tie Chipboard Stickers (ST-3087)
Black Alpha Stickers (ST-1814)
Black & White Gem Stickers (ST-3056)
Silver Foil Rub Ons (RO-1895)
Puffy Alpha Stickers (ST-3190)
Puffy Flourish Stickers (ST-2841)
Prima Flower, Misc Ribbon

The cool thing about this page (other than the picture of my husband, which I dearly love) is the clear background. Some of the Momenta paper packs come with a clear sheet under the cover - so what better way to use it than as a background paper?! It isn't as stiff as your standard acetate, but they work great for a background!



Supplies:
Family Ties Paper (PA-1486)
Primary Cardstock (PA-0658)
Family Ties Chipboard Stickers (ST-3264)
Pastel Gem Stickers (ST-3031)
Glitter Glue

Star Boxes {neighbor gifts}

I've decided this year that I'm not going to do as much baking as I normally do (it kills my back to stand in the kitchen these days), but I still wanted to give my neighbors a little something. They are really great people and always friendly with us (and they don't complain about our unkempt lawn in the summer - huge bonus points!!).

So each of them is getting a holiday mini loaf full of pumpkin raisin bread and an origami star box full of candy. The star boxes are made from Momenta All Through The Year papers. I cut an 8x8 sheet and used this video for help on folding them.

After I got them all folded up I simply glued some ric rack around the edges. Super easy and they hold quite a few pieces of candy since they flare out at the bottom.



So next time you need a quick gift, grab a sheet of patterned paper and a bag of chocolate - you can't go wrong!

Momenta Explosion Box

We have a few people that we are giving gift cards to this year. I hate to just stick them in a card, so I thought it would be fun to do an explosion box for one, if not all of them.

I love these and they are so easy to make - plus you can embellish them however you want! This is created with all Momenta supplies.

Supplies:
Primary Cardstock (PA-0658)
All Through The Year Papers (PA-1991)
Shooting Star Brass Template (GS-164)
Pastel Gem Stickers (ST-3031)

I have plans for a few more (they are great for things other than gift cards too) - so keep your eyes peeled cause there should be a tutorial on the way!!

Stay Warm Card {Momenta}

It should be a relaxing Sunday around our house as we are putting up the big Christmas tree in the living room (we've been waiting to see if we could find a new one, but no such luck) today and watching the snow melt. Maybe even with a warm mug of hot chocolate!

Due to our wintry weather and the chill in the air, I thought it fitting to share this card I created using Momenta goodies and some flock & glitter.

Hope you are staying warm and enjoying your weekend wherever you are!

Momenta Supplies:
Silver Metallic Paper (PA-1160)

Primary Colors Cardstock (PA-0658)

All Through The Year Papers (PA-1991)