Sites of the week

Happy Monday All! I hope you all survived your own families or your in-laws this past Easter. I have already heard some horror {funny} stories. LOL!! We stayed at home. Tony continues to work on the patio and I was in my jammies all day long doing cleaning and laundry. For our fancy schmancy Easter dinner we had Stouffer’s lasagna. Aren’t you impressed? HA!! Last night I finally got some stamping done…YAY! For this card, I used the PaperTrey Ink cardstock in Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush. The DP is from PTI’s Pink Patterns Patterned Paper Collection {say that five times fast!!}. I love the smaller scale of their 6×6 pad. This is definitely my favorite pattern in the whole pack!! Isn’t it darling!?! For details, I stitched the edges of the DP and the bottom portion of the Sweet Blush is embossed with the Cuttlebug embossing folder, Floral Fantasy. I also pierced around the bottom portion of the main panel.
The main panel is stamped with Eloise the Fairy from Stamping Bella. I used a couple of different methods to color her. I knew that I wanted to have the skirt softly colored. On the green portion, I took my PTI Spring Moss Palette Ink pad and tapped it a few times on an acrylic block. I then used my aqua-painter and picked up the ink from the block and colored in the green portion of her skirt. I used my Copics and Copic blender pen on the rest of the coloring. Several portions of the fairy are outlined and filled in with my Sakura Stardust pen.

COOL TIP ALERT: I like the subtle look of my clear Spica pen, but I find it difficult to work with most of the time, especially over larger areas. I love the glittery effect of the Stardust pen, but don’t like that it leaves such a harsh line. Well, last night when I had my Aqua-Painter next to me, a little lightbulb went off! I took my slighty wet Aqua-Painter and pulled in the glitter, eliminating the line of the glitter pen and filling in some of the spaces with a super glittery effect!!! YAY! I’ll be using this a bunch!! Just be aware, that it’s not like using the Copics where you can blend over and over and not damage your paper. It’s using water, so if you do it too much you can ick up your paper.

Have I done enough yapping yet? Here’s my card…

Here are some pics from Easter morning with Ellie…

Trying to open her egg that had M&M’s in it…

Mom, will you open this?

Walking around with her new toy in her basket and her new shoes on her feet…

Have a great day!!

I’ve had my eye on GLUE products for a while now. In January, I was lucky enough to meet Kelli and Vicki {the GLUE girls} at the scrap and stamp show that Susan and I went to in January. I love their products!! The quality is outstanding {and you might now that I picky!}. I picked up the 3 tier cupcake stand and a 3×3 vertical album. I finally got my 3×3 vertical album finished…YAY!
Before I get into the “how to” details, I have to tell you that I do not scrapbook. I made our wedding album and have not scrapbooked since. The idea of scrapbooking seems glamorous, but in reality it is tedious. Granted, this is just my opinion. I do realize that many find great joy in it, as I do stamping and paper crafting. So, this is the scrapbook/album for all those un-scrapbookers, like myself, out there.
To start the project, I painted the wood with white acrylic paint. I added Bella Baubles and {cheapo}Michael’s baubles to the bottom edges. I attached the ribbon with the thinnest red line tape I have. The bling on top of the ribbon is Heidi Swap Flower Jewels {loooove these!}. I created the pages with my scallop rectangles Nestabilies die and then layered paper and pics.

The vertical album and the “cover”…

The quote for this page was found on the internet and printed out. I covered the chipboard heart with pink polka dot dp and then piled on the Diamond Stickles.

The first of the photo pages…

The pic that I used for that page is when Ellie sat on the countertop and helped me make brownies. I love how she is so proud of herself helping me stir the batter. Too cute!!

Welcome to DAY 5 of this week’s Anything But A Card posts. I have had so much fun doing this and have had such a wonderful response I have decided to dedicate a day each week to Anything But A Card {ABC}. From here on out, Fridays will be know as ABC Friday. Consider your self warned! I’ll be including all different kinds of projects, some commentary and, of course, Ellie pics. Speaking of my very sweet Ellie…we got her most recent professional pics the other day. When we were picking them up the lady asked if I could sign a copyright release so that they could display her pictures in their book AND in a frame in the studio!! Of course I said YES! This is actually the SECOND time that they have asked to display her pictures in their book, but the first time she is getting a spot in the studio. Can you say ‘PROUD MAMA’!?! So on Fridays, you may have to deal with a little doting as well. Again, consider yourself warned.
Today is Stamp Camp and we are focusing on Valentine’s projects. I’m a little Valentined out, so I am pressing the fast forward button and temporarily moving onto East projects. Tony got up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday and got me a Cricut. So far I haven’t used it too terribly much, but I can say that I absolutely ADORE the Bags, Tags and Boxes cartridge. This project is made with the nut cup {that’s just plain fun to say!}. I used the Good Egg set from SU! and added some bling bling {who me??} with Swarovski crystals and Making Memories rhinestone brads. The ribbon is from SU! and ribbonsandbowsohmy.com.
I’ll be back tomorrow with another project and of course my Sketch For You To Try. I am doing my best to comment on everyone’s cards, but am a little behind. I assure that I have looked at all of them and love what you all are doing with the sketches!!

Here’s Ellie playing a little Peek-A-Boo from inside her very own kitchen cabinet…you know the one that’s filled with all the tupperware and whatever other toys find their way in their via kid.

And, a few of her with her Sunday donut {or “doh-doh” as she says}.