April and May Pubs! For Real!!

Hello blogging friends! Wahooo its Friday! I thought it would never come. My kids are going camping without me, so I am planning a relaxing weekend of cleaning and scrapping. Maybe I can talk hubby into going to a movie :)

I realized I had not yet shared my April pub so here it is ...

I first made this Christmas ornament when guest designing for Little Yellow Bicycle for their Once Upon a Christmas collection. Cricut Magazine published it for a Butterfly and Birds call. The body of this bird is an ornament shape turned sideways. I cut sixteen of them, scored them down the middle and adhered them together to make it 3-dimensional. The feather trim is my favorite part :)

This Imaginisce layout using the Childhood Memories collection appeared in the May Scrapbook Trends Magazine. I love these pics of my daughter. Boy, did she love to swing. Do you think?

This anniversary card I made for my hubby (our 30th anniversary!) appeared in the May Cards Magazine. I used the Quick Quotes Dusty Rose collection and Cheery Lynn dies. That gorgeous ribbon is from an Etsy shop call Prairie Bird Boutique and the bling is from Want2Scrap.

I kind-of stole this card back from my hubby after I gave it to him, Shhhh.

Hope you have a greate weekend!
~Marcia

Hoppy Easter Banner - Imaginisce inspiration

Hello blogging friends. All week long Imaginisce is featuring Easter projects for you. I love the Welcome Spring collection. It is like a breath of fresh air after a long, cold winter (which is still trying to hang on here in Minnesota. More snow expected this week!)

I thought I needed more Easter decor in my house, so I wanted to create a banner. The die cuts from the Welcome Spring collection make it so easy to embellish. Add some May Arts Ribbon and some of this fabulous colored burlap from Celebrate It and voila....

Sorry, I am not showing you my banner hanging in my house, but it was just too dark to get a decent photo.
Here are some detail shots.

Supplies:

Imaginisce: Pattern Paper, Die Cuts (Welcome Spring), Foam Tape

May Arts: Ribbon

Cricut Expression

Cricut Cartridges: Art Philosophy and Birthday Bash

Adhesive: Tombow Mono Liquid Glue

Celebrate It: burlap

Be sure to check out the Imaginisce blog all week long for more Easter inspiration.

~Marcia

No Foolin' - March Publications

Hello blogging friends! I thought I would quickly share a layout and card that were published last month by Northridge Publishing ... and this is no April's Fool joke!

First up, a layout created with the Vintage Bliss collection by Simple Stories ...

I LOVE this collection. Those colors are fabulous. Here are some details...

and here is a card I created with the Quick Quotes Pattern Perfect collection that was published in CARDS. I just love how it was photographed in the magazine...

If you have a subscription check out the April magazines (Yes, I have 2 more pubs in there!). No Foolin'!
~Marcia

Family Hike - Imaginisce Perfect Vacation inspiration

Hello blogging friends! I hope you got outside yesterday to enjoy the balmy temps. We are expecting upper 50's here in Minnesota! Take that snow! I did get out myself. Some girlfriends and I took a little road trip to Pine City to visit the awesome scrapbook store there. We had lunch in a local cafe and visited a few antique stores :) I'll be playing with some new papers here soon.

Today, I am sharing a layout I created with the Imaginisce Perfect Vacation collection. I LOVE the colors in this collection. These papers could be great for those lake photos (In Minnesota, we are the home of 10,000 + lakes). I am using it for this photo of my Naomi and Trenton hiking around the base of Devil's Tower. One of our favorite vacation destinations, but it has been a while since we last visited. My oldest, Naomi, was always so good at watching out for her little brother. Still is, lol.

I love the map paper in this collection, and the compass elements in the collection were so perfect. The die-cuts even have this trendy geo tag :) I love the journaling pads too. These would work so well for pocket pages too.

Supplies: Imaginisce Perfect Vacation Pattern Paper, Journal Pad, Die Cuts.
Maya Road: Paper Clip, Studio Calico Cork Arrows, October Afternoon Stickers,
American Crafts Cardstock, Sukara Micron pen in black,
Cricut cartridges: Boys Will Be Boys (font), Gong Places (compass), Art Philosophy (banners)

Now I am going to get to some Spring cleaning. Thanks for stopping by,
~Marcia

It's Bunny Time - Imaginisce Welcome Spring Release

Hello blogging friends. Can it be Spring yet? Here in Minnesota they are saying its been the 5th coldest winter on record, and it isn't over yet. 50 days below zero! I am so ready for Spring.

It helps that I have this fabulous Welcome Spring collection from Imaginisce to play with. It is perfect for Easter and so much more. It's rare that we can hunt for eggs outside here, usually there is still snow on the ground. I couldn't resist using it to scrap these Easter pics of my daughter Naomi. These pics were from a year where Easter must have been later... Spring jacket versus Winter coat. Check out this layout ...

I am swooning over the cute little bunnies...  and the coordinating snag 'em stamps are so adorable. I used the song bird stamp, paper piecing it together for my layout.  

Did you know Imaginisce is giving the Welcome Spring collection away to one very lucky person. Hop on over to their blog to check out how you can enter to win.

Supplies:

Imaginisce : Pattern Papers (Welcome Spring), Die Cuts (Welcome Spring), Dimensional Stickers (Welcome Spring), Snag 'em Stamp (Welcome Spring), Foam Adhesive, 

American Crafts: cardstock

Gesso, white gel pen, StazOn ink, Sukara Micron pen in black, sewing machine, Cricut, Ranger Distress Ink

Thanks for stopping by. I hear the temps here are finally going to get above freezing maybe by this weekend. Yeah!

~Marcia

Bear Country - Imaginisce Scrap Lift

Happy Wednesday! It's scrap lift week at Imaginisce and designers are having so much fun lifting eachothers layouts. I decided to lift Jodi's Wilton's Snow Kisses layout.

I really loved how those photo corners framed in those adorable photos. I have not used my Cricut in a long, long time. So, I decided to dust it off and give the Cricut Craft Room a try. This was prompted by my New Year's resolution... Embrace new technology, and by the fact that I didn't have the Cricut designer software on my new computer. I welded my title together and also used it for my banners and corners. I thought it was very user friendly. A step up from their software version released years ago. Here is my layout created with the Perfect Vacation papers ...

Those are my kiddos enjoying Bear Country in the Black Hills South Dakota. They really enjoyed the petting zoo there. I just love this Perfect Vacation collection. Did you know that all the Imaginisce collections come with coordinating stamps? I used the compass stamp on my background. 

Thanks for stopping by,

~Marcia

Root, Root, Root - Quick Quotes Inspiration

Hello blogging friends!  Quick Quotes is providing some scrappy masculine inspiration all week in preparation for Father's Day. I decided to do a sports page since my daughter and her boyfriend went to a Minnesota Twins game recently and gave me their ticket stubs and this photo to scrap. Can you tell my daughter Naomi doesn't like her picture taken, lol.  So I made due with what I had and used the ticket stubs. The ticket stubs have great pictures on them so I used them in my negative strip SVG die cut. This left a little space that was perfect for my title placement.

I am mixing papers here from Just Jackson, Summer Samba, and Be Bold. I needed the red, white, and blue colors to match the team colors. Lots of the Quick Quotes collections can be mixed, many coordinate together so well.

Quick Quotes Supplies:
Just Jackson 200, 400
Summer Samba 400
Be Bold 400
Powderpuff Chalk Ink in Maraschino Cherry, and Biscotti

Other Supplies:
Cricut cartridge - Base Camp and Sports Mania
SVG negative strip file from SVGcuts Football Party
Bazzill cardstock
October Afternoon Mini Market alpha stickers
Imaginisce foam tape

I hope I have inpired you to scrap some sport pages too :)
~Marcia

Memorial Day Quick Quotes Inspiration

Hello Quick Quotes friends.  Since its Memorial Day in the the United States I wanted to create a patriotic card. I am using one of the quotes from the Holiday Quote Bundle. The Just Jackson papers go so well with it.

Quick Quotes Supplies:
Just Jackson 200, 400
Holiday Quotes Bundle
Powderpuff Chalk Ink in Blue Moon and Bloody Mary

Other Supplies:
Cricut cartridge - A Child's Year
The Twinery - bakers twine in Denim and Maraschino
white cardstock
Imaginisce foam tape
Tinsel garland
Fancy Pants button

Here is a little Memorial Day trivia.
The first Memorial Day was in 1868 and was called Declaration's Day. While it was originally dedicated to honor Civil War soldiers, it is now dedicated to all who fought for and defended our right to freedom. It is a day of remembrance for those who sacrificed and died in our nations service. All gave some... Some gave all. RIP

Thanks to all our brave service men and women.
~Marcia

For the Grad - i-Bond Candy Bouquet

Another busy blogging day.... scroll down to see my Quick Quotes card.

Hello my friends. I made an awesome candy bouquet with my  Imaginisce i-Bond!

I made my first candy bouquet last year for my son's graduation party. It was a huge hit! So now that my nephew is graduating I needed to make another one. I used packaging tape on the first. From the front it looked great. From the back it looked a tad tacky. I thought the i-Bond could much improve that. It worked great to glue my candy to the sticks as well as that 3D grad cap. I know what you are thinking, won't the hot glue melt the chocolate? No, the i-Bond is a low temp glue gun. I applied the glue to my stick first and then to the candy. So much nicer from the back than the packaging tape, see!

 and another plus, there is no cord to get in the way. The i-Bond is cordless!
Candy bouquets are great for teacher gifts, as fundraisers for school boosters, get well gifts, and so much more!

Supplies:
Imaginisce: i-Bond glue gun, glue sticks;
Core-dinations: black, white, and purple cardstock; Svgcuts: Graduation cap; DMC floss in white; Provo Craft: Cricut cartridges George and Basic Shapes, and Everyday Pop-up Cards; Assorted candy bars; tin bucket (handle removed); Ephiphany Crafts: star punch; tissue paper; dowel rods; floral foam square; Scotch 3M quick drying glue.

Have a great weekend!
~Marcia

Be Afraid - Quick Quotes / Xyron Blog Hop

Quick Quotes and Xyron are having a blog swap all this week (With Prizes!) I am featuring the new Quick Quotes Halloween papers and chipboard and the Xyron 2 1/2" Create a Sticker machine.

What is it about boys and blood? My son thought this was the coolest costume ever. With a squeeze of his hand he could make fake blood ooze from the chest cavity!

I love to finish my chipboard with crackle paint, but then it does this...

Difficult to keep glued to the paper until the glue is dry! Not anymore. I put that chipboard through my Xyron 2 1/2" Create a Sticker Machine!

It worked great!!!

I also used the Xyron Create a Sticker Machine for some of my Cricut cuts...

 Really great for larger more intricate cuts like this one...

I hid my journalling on a tombstone....

Xyron was nice enough to give me a glue stick to try out too.Thanks Xyron for the awesome new tools!!

Quick Quotes Supplies:
Halloween pattern paper
Be Afraid Bag o' Chips
Powderpuff Chalk Inks in Midnight Confessions, Biscotti, Limeade, Very Berry, and Mango Mai Tai

Other Supplies:
Xyron 2 1/2" Sticker Maker
Xyron Glue Stick
EK Success fibers
Tattered Angels silver glimmer mist
Tattered Angels chalkboard white glimmer mist
Ranger Distress Crackle paint in pewter
Martha Stewart wax dripping border punch
Cricut Expression
Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge
cheesecloth
font - Halloween Mirage

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out the other Quick Quotes Halloween / Xyron projects this week! There are awesome prizes up for grabs ;)

For the Grad!! - Party Decor

It's the first of the month and that means another challenge at The Paper Variety!!

I knew right away that I wanted to make something for my son's graduation party for this challenge. I can't believe my baby is graduating from high school!!! Where did the years go. Anyway this is what I came up with...

Isn't this candy bouquet fun!  Here are some more pics...

The star was cut with George and Basic Shapes, the Congratulations was cut with Everyday Pop-Up Cards.

The 3D grad caps are an svg cut file from SVGcuts and are actually little boxes. I am making several of these to place on the tables at my son's grad party.

Our Prize for this challenge is this Crate Paper Pretty Party collection!
 

This is my last Paper Variety post :(  I am scaling my DT work down a bit so soon you will just see Quick Quotes and Artful Delight posts from me. I want to enjoy my kids before they all leave me in the fall to return to college. I have truly loved working with my fellow designers. They have been so inspiring.

There is a new DT call open at The Paper Variety. Abby and Suzanne are the best to design for! You have until June 8th to apply.

I am linking my project up with
Die Cuttin Divas
Celebrate the Occassion
My Paper Craft World

Christmas Ornament

Shop Pumpkin Spice is having a design team call, so I thought why not give it a shot. I have used Pumpkin Spice in the past to order my Pink Stamper stamp sets. I love using Pink Stamper stamps on my cards. But Pumpkin Spice has lots of other things too like my favorite My Mind's Eye and Echo Park products and so much more. Check them out. Shipping is really fast too! I normally do scrapbook layouts or cards while crafting so I thought I would try to stand out with this Christmas ornament I made using Echo Park's Seasons Greetings paper, Little Yellow Bicycle stick pin, and Tim Holtz Baubles, and some gorgeous red satin ribbon. I am giving this ornament away as a gift this year.....

Out for publication!! Look for it in the Oct 2012 Create Holiday Issue

And just because some of my other favorite blogs are having challenges, I am entering this in The Paper Variety Anything Goes challenge, and Really Reasonable Ribbon Anything Goes + Ribbon challenge, and finally Fantabulous Cricut Rolling in Ribbon challenge. I used the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge to make this. I cut 16 of the <Bulb 1> using the shadow feature at 3 1/2". Scored each one down the center and then glued them all together. I inked the edges of mine also. The string to hang the ornament can be strung down the middle, attaching a gorgeous bauble to dangle on the end. There is still time for you to make some of these as gifts too. 1 week til Christmas!!!

All I Want

Here is a layout for the latest Sketchabilities challenge. I took a few liberties with the sketch as I did not want to cover up my Santa on this gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Christmas collection! 

These are older photos with a glossy finish so they did not photograph well, sorry.  I used hidden journal tags behind the photos for the one toy each of my kids asked Santa for. Rapunzel Barbie was actually what my son wanted that year! This is what happens when a boy has older sisters, lol.

 I cut this sleigh and reindeer image using my Cricut and SCAL software.

 I layered a few old fashioned toy stickers on the banner for dimension. The poinsettias were also cut with my Cricut. I dabbed some pearl finish acrylic paint on the flowers and the metal title.

 I couldn't cover up the Santa on the paper, so I fussy cut around him and tucked the photo underneath.

Here is the sketch ...

I hope you like what you saw!

Spooky Halloween Lighted Glass Block

The theme for the current Challenge (RRR32) at Really Reasonable Ribbon is Autumn. So many cards are posted for the challenge that I had to buck the system and be different. I made a lighted glass block decorated with vinyl and wired ribbon. By the way, this is my cat Spook posing for a picture. And what a coincidence that the theme at My Craft Spot  for their latest challenge is ribbon! Here is my project ....

 and the back side ....

Its a little hard to see, but there is ribbon wrapped around the sides of the glass block. The bow is attached with velcro. This makes it easy to store off-season inside the block. I adhere vellum inside the block to diffuse the light and hide the electrical cord a bit. I cut the images using my Cricut and the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. These glass blocks came with a hole already, so I did not have to drill it. These are really lovely decorated for Christmas too! I hope you like what you saw.

Let's Bee Friends

I made this card for the My Mind's Eye Card Challenge. I used the Lost and Found Two Sunshine paper collection. I love these papers! They are easy to ink, distress, and the colors are just my style! Here is my card....

 I used the McGill Star Lily punch to make the Sunflower and added some Gold Glimmer Mist to give it a little shine. I also used the Gold Glimmer Mist on the Maya Road Chipboard piece.

 The Bee was cut using the Pooh and Friends Cricut Cartridge. Isn't he cute! The challenge requirement was to use a friend theme. So my card is titled, 'Let's Bee Friends'.

Here is the My Mind's Eye sketch it was based off of.

I hope you like what you see!