Bright Christmas

Another card using dies from The Stamps of Life. Love Stephanie's creations. This one is from candles4birthdays. I have given myself a little challenge to use non-Holiday stamps in a new way. The sentiment is from last year's holiday set called lights4Christmas. The papers are from a DCWV stack. The little mistletoe is an old Quickutz die from my Vixen set. The wonky rectangle die is from Papertrey Ink's recent Stamp Affair 60's set. Thanks for bringing your sleigh by my internet home.  

Retrocentric - Story Stamps

This is my first layout for the new Ali Edwards online class called Story Stamps. This month's stamp selection is called Prompts and features a sheet of stamps which are exactly that. Prompts for Story Sparks (as Ali calls them). Love This is an appropriate stamp for these photos of my little sis at a Retro photo shoot this year. I think she looks totally glamorous so I used the perfect papers from DCWV paper stack called Mod Retro. Not much else going on on the layout. The photos and stamps say it all. I am also using this for the monthly sketch challenge over at Paperartistsonline. Thanks for looking.

Mad About You

Today was the 42nd anniversary of the day I met my hubby. I just had to make a card for him with a stamp from my newest set of stamps from Prickly Pear purchased during Scramp Camp in Fairfield. The set includes four freaky cats and I see many cards in the future for my DSD. This one represents the Cheshire Cat with the sentiment Mad About You. Isn't he cute? Paper scraps were still on my table from a layout I had just finished. So I was pleased as punch that I was using the stuff around me rather than digging for hours for that "perfect" piece of paper. I was also pleased to use my newest Spellbinder Nestie die set which had just arrived the day before. Papers are from the DCWV Mod-Retro stack. Hubby was very touched by the card. Thanks for looking.

Benicia Road Trip

Working on Week Ten of Hello Story. This week we were challenged to use the 5 W's as our story structure. Back to the basics in journalism. My layout is another direct copy of Ali's sample. Stamps are from Club Scrap's Road Trip (gifted by Squirrel Nancy). Paper is from DCWV Seaworthy stack. The shapes provided by Ali in this wonderful class were cut on my Silhouette. The photos were taken in Benicia earlier this year on a little day trip with hubby. I've lived here 39 years and had never visited one of the early capitals of California.  I'm cheating a bit but the journal notes are on the opposite side which will be a pocket page. Thanks for looking.

So Totally Different...

Yes, I know. It's embarrassing to still be working on this class. But that's how I roll. This layout is from Week Eleven of Ali Edwards' Hello Story class at BPC. I love this layout and the Silhouette cut, supplied by Ali. I asked Mallory to provide the journaling for this one, the differences between her and fiance Jeff. I blurred the text since it's not really my story to tell. This couple are engaged and will be married in March. This will be interesting for her to look back on in ten years. The photo was taken at Seaside Beach in Mendocino County and edited in Lightroom. I used my new Seaworthy stack from DCWV and stamps from Unity KOTM Spirit of Summertime. Thanks for looking.

Hello Story Weeks 3 and 4

A little break for a birthday trip and now I'm back, hard at work on Weeks 3 and 4 of Hello Story from Ali Edwards over at BPC. Week Three was about direction in our life. Week Four is about the passage of time. I think I covered both topics on this two page layout about my 6oth birthday and the things we did to celebrate it. Papers are from the Snapshot Stack from DCWV. Digi elements are all from class materials from Ali. I am pleased with the result. Even if, as usual, it took much longer than it should have. Thanks for stopping in.

The Love Lasts Forever

My hubby's good buddy Ed was celebrating his 44th anniversary of marriage with wife Karen this month. Another card was requested. This one uses my favorite stamp set from mine from Papertrey Ink called Shutterbug Special. I guess you can deduce why I love this stamp. Papers used are from DCWV. The card allows for an interactive pull tab to include a greeting. Hubby requested the 44 in the corner. I think I could have been happy without it. The couple loved the card. Thanks for stopping by.

Another Snowflake Flip-It

Back to that Flip-It from Stephanie Barnard. And the same DCWV Merry Christmas stack. This time the patterned paper is a red theme. The snowflake was cut from glitter paper using a Spellbinders die set. Can you tell how much I adore these Framelits. Thanks for taking a look.

Happy St. Nick's Day

Still playing with that Flip-It from Stephanie Barnard. And the same DCWV Merry Christmas stack. The snowflake was cut from glitter paper using a Spellbinders die set. Sorry to be repetitive but I adore these Framelits. Thanks for stopping by.

Rudolph Flip-it

Back to my beloved Framelit Flip-It from Stephanie Barnard. Love it. So simple to put together a card with a big impact. For this one I used a past Merry Christmas stack from DCWV and my old Vixen Quickutz die to paper piece Rudolph. So adorable. 

Double Take Sketches

I recently participated in an online class called Double Take at Big Picture Classes along with my friend and fellow Squirrely Girl Nancy. The class started before my trip to Kentucky but I wasn’t really able to participate until it was completely over and I had returned to my scrap cave. These first two layouts were created with the Double Take sketches. As always, I was multi-tasking and made them to suit some other challenges at PaperArtistsOnline.

This first one is from Week One, Sketch 1. It covers a recent visit to Lancaster, Ky, where I spent my first summer out of high school volunteering for three months with the Christian Appalachian Project. I was a tender eighteen year old and stopping by this place where I spent so much time was a touching experience for me. So much had changed and yet so little. It's a small town of 4,000 now so it was probably a lot smaller in 1972.
Supplies used:
Cardstock: DCWV from Mariposa and Immortal Love stacks
Flower cut with Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die on Cuttlebug
Tape strips from Heidi Swapp
Butterfly border strip from Martha Stewart Punch
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Garden Fairy
Button from Eddie Bauer
Doily and twine from Michaels
Computer generated journaling
CAP title is Ranger Distress Ink over a sticker which is then removed

This second layout is about visiting the levee in Newport, Ky, where I grew up and taking in the view of majestic Cincinnati across the river. My sister Chrissie and I are pointing at the buildings where we work/worked (I left in 1974).
So with the PAO Croptoberfest Challenges, I have been inspired to get out my sprays which I love collecting but rarely use. On this one I went crazy by spraying just about everything in sight. The page on the left was yellow American Crafts cardstock when I started. Love that Orange Juice. There wasn't a cloud in the sky that day but I added a few to fit the challenge on PAO. I think it works.
Supplies used:
Cardstock: American Crafts yellow, Wordsworth Tangerine Wash patterned paper
Cloud shapes and letter circles cut on Silhouette digital cutter; inked with Weathered Wood Distress Ink
Memories Mist Orange Juice used on white cardstock along with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink
Computer generated journaling