Happy Birthday Princess Layla!

Today is my niece's 12th birthday. She's grown up so much in the last few years, and had lots of changes at home this year. I figured she needed some girl time with her favorite aunt. I flew up to see her in NJ this weekend so we can celebrate her special day. Today is her party and tomorrow we're doing something together - just the two of us. She's such a sweet girl and doesn't get a lot of time to just be a kid.

Here's the card I made for my little princess. I used vintage sheet music, scraps and stickers from Cosmo Cricket. I made the pink felt flower and added a Prima flower with rhinestone center.

I'll miss her when I have to head back home on Monday.

Valentine Inchies

Earlier this month, I shared the inchies I created for a swap. I've received all my inchies from the swappers, and they look awesome! Such variety in techniques, styles, and products.

Here's a photo of all of them together.

Aren't they unique and fabulous?

Since I have to worry about my little kitty getting into everything, I needed a safe place to keep these. I made this Valentine box last year, and it's the perfect place for all the inchies.

Take a peek inside:

My Etsy Shop Is Up!

A year later, I am finally getting some things posted for sale on Etsy. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to do this and who have offered to buy so many of my projects in the past. Now you can!

My camera battery died on me when I was taking photos of my trims, so not everything is up yet. It is definitely a work in progress.

But, there are a few things there now with the promise of more to come soon. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

We added a link to the sidebar so you can access my shop anytime!

Creative Treasures Kit Sneak Peeks

The first kit from Creative Treasures will be on sale in early February. Here are some sneak peeks of what's inside:

That paper and trim look so soft and lovely together. And the Jenni Bowlin buttons and cards... How about that border stamp? Oh, I can hardly wait! Be sure to check out my creations from this kit that will be posted on February 8, and be sure to purchase your own kit to get creative!

In Love with MOSD

Today is my monthly post for Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs. Please stop by and leave me some love! Speaking of love, here's a Valentine project that I put together using one of MOSD's Perfectly Shaped Circle Scallop build-a-book pages.

The scalloped edges give another layer of ruffle to my project, and the chipboard makes a sturdy base for all the layers. First, I covered the chipboard with patterned paper. Then I adhered a ruffle of dress pattern paper to the back. Of course, I added Diamond Stickles to the edge of the tissue paper to give it a little sparkle.

I cut out a heart from vintage sheet music and added stitching around the edges, using my new sewing machine that Husband bought me for Christmas. I cut out another heart from pink paper using scallop-edge scissors and adhered it under the sheet music heart. Under these layered paper hearts, I added a ruffle of vintage edging.

To give the piece the color it needed, I added a Fancy Pants rub-on rose and Thickers glittered alphas to spell "love."

I've been busy getting some Valentine's projects complete, and I'll share more next week.

Vintage Thank You

I made this card a while back, but never got the chance to share it. This little lady from an old French postcard was just begging to have something to carry. So, I made her a "Thank You" banner to grace the recipient with kindness.

I wrote the letters onto an old book page, cut them out individually, then strung onto blue baker's twine. The little banner was then adhered between little missy's hands. The postcard is adhered to a scrap of Basic Grey paper, and then layered onto a bright and busy piece of another pattern from Basic Grey. I tucked in the little stamped postcard at the bottom.

Amy's Creative Treasures Design Team

I didn't think I'd be able to share this news until next month, but Amy has already announced her design team, and I was selected!

Amy's Creative Treasures is a new monthly kit club. The first kit will be available on February 8. I'm excited to be a part of her team, and can't wait to see what goodies are in the kit! I'll post more details as soon as I have them, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

Soft and Feminine Cards

I made a few cards using some paper scraps, leftovers, and vintage images. The overall look is very "pink," but that's what makes them so soft and feminine.

This card was inspired by the quote that I used from James M. Barrie: God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. The words conjure such lovely thoughts. I used an image from Crafty Secrets, K&Co paper, vintage sheet music, Prima flowers, ribbon scraps, and some bling.

This card uses another image from Crafty Secrets, Basic Grey paper, a vintage book page and other paper scraps. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

Here's a closeup of that sweet birdie:

Finally, this card features a stamped image as the focal point. The lady and "vintage" are two stamps I bought at Big Lots months ago. I stamped them onto cardstock, and then colored in the lady. I layered a piece of soft pink vellum on top of the image to mute it even more. The background is a collage of pink and vintage paper scraps. I created a layered flower, tied on a ribbon scrap, and put in a pearl stick pin.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that winter is being kind to you!

Vacation Layouts

I am so far behind on my scrapbooks. I'm still working on our Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland and the Grand Canyon from 2005! I put this album aside months ago to work on other projects and have never had the motivation to get back to it. I think it's because I can't use pinks and flowers for Grand Canyon photos.

I completed a few layouts this week. It took a bit to get back into the swing of things, but I have a couple pages that I like. Here they are:

This double page layout uses papers from Pink Paislee, Basic Grey, and Melissa Frances. The cardstock is Prima and the flowers are Prima and Petaloo.

Here's my favorite page:

For the boarder on the top, I layered fabric strips, vintage lace, and flowers. I added stitching over the lace and paper for another texture.

For this double layout, I used Jenni Bowlin and Daisy D's paper. The long photo that spans both pages is a series of photos that we took one at a time, moving the camera over for each. It was a great way to photograph this entire portion canyon, and not try to squeeze it into one photo.

Vintage Valentine Swap

I'm participating in a few Valentine's swaps this month. One of my projects is a vintage style hanging.

I used one of the Jenni Bowlin Valentine Bingo cards as the base, inking it with Distress Inks to tone down the white. I used my new sewing machine to stitch a sewing pattern tissue ruffle, which I adhered around the card. I cut out the vintage image and added a small plastic flower to her headband, along with white Pearl Accents and Diamond Stickles.

Since I called this one "Love Letters", I needed a little pile of them. I tore and folded pieces of vintage book paper for the bottom layers. The top layer is a piece of a vintage letter. I tied the stack with red and pink baker's twine and adhered a pen nib. Before adding the letters to the base, I adhered a piece of tea-stained cheese cloth under them for more softness and texture.

I layered some Prima flowers and a velvet leaf and attached them to the ribbon hanger, adding a large adhesive pearl to the flower center.

I'm making a couple different varieties of this hanging. I'll share them as soon as I have some time to get them done!

Pet a Baby Kangaroo...Check

Here is what I did yesterday:

Yep, that's me petting a baby albino kangaroo. She is just the sweetest little thing. Six months old with fur as soft as mink.

One of my husband's colleagues volunteers at the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch in Pilot Point, TX. Each spring, they bottle raise a baby animal. This year, it's an albino kangaroo.

After a little while, she got tired from all her visitors and hopped into her pouch for some rest.

Couldn't you just take her everywhere?!

Time to Get Romantic

Of course, my husband will have something other than cards in mind. Now that the Christmas decorations are away, the house looks so bland and empty. Time to fill it up with soft and romantic touches for Valentine's Day.

I made this card for a friend of mine who sent me the most lovely Christmas gift, which included lots of Webster's Pages supplies.

I used Webster's patterned paper and a Fabric Fancy. I layered on vintage sheet music, lace and ribbon, Bazzill and Prima flowers, and vintage millinery posies and leaf. I added some sparkle to the Fabric Fancy with a glitter pen.

Valentine's Day Inchies

Before Christmas, I saw some bloggers already posted Valentine's Day projects. That was a bit early for me, especially since I still had Christmas projects to share. Now that we've gotten past New Year's, I'm ready for the next year of holidays.

I did a swap with a few friends for Valentine inchies. If you don't know what an inchie is, cut a piece of paper to one-inch square, decorate it, and now you have inchie!

I'm still waiting on most of the inchies to come in, but here is a sample of the inchies that I created.

After cutting my paper, I realized that one inch is not a lot of real estate. I covered a piece of cardboard with a square of vintage sheet music. Then I cut out red hearts from cardstock. I wanted them to be asymmetrical, so I cut them freehand. After adhering the hearts, I dry brushed white paint over the entire inchie and then used a swirly stamp and pink Distress Ink to give the background more pattern. I glued on a little heart confetti and wrote "LOVE" on each heart.

This is the first inchie I've ever created. I think making these with a holiday theme helped my creativity a bit more, because I love making holiday projects. They have an obvious theme.

To Etsy or Not to Etsy

One of my goals for this year is to FINALLY get my etsy shop going so I actually have a reason to create more stuff. One question I have is - What does anyone want to buy? Should I start making jewelry? Cards? Altered pieces? Sell some things from my stash?

If you would be so kind as to leave a comment with what types of items you'd be interested in purchasing, it will help steer me in the right direction to get started. I'd love to get this going in the next month, but with my current work load and travel schedule, it may take a bit longer.

Vintage Inspired Jewelry

For this past Christmas, I made a few pairs of earrings for gifts for my mom, my aunt, and my MIL. Each one is different, but the basic techniques are the same.

This pair uses Swarovski crystal beads, and some other exotic looking beads that I had in my stash. I wired them on 14K gold plate findings.

This next pair is all sterling silver, with amethyst beads and pink quartz beads that I bought in Sedona.

Finally, this pair uses vintage pearl beads and minty green beads for a fresh, feminine look.

My husband gave me this necklace that I spied at an antique sale that we went to back in October. She used an old watch casing for the frame. Those are real diamonds around the bezel. She used a vintage dictionary page for the background and then added vintage rhinestone beads inside and a vintage rhinestone bead to the chain. It's so cool and one of my favorite pieces.

Happy New Year!

How has 2010 started out for you? I enjoyed a few more days off from work, visited a great scrappy friend, and now I'm back to work.

Are you making any resolutions? I usually don't, but some friends and I made some scrapping resolutions. I really want to get back to my scrapbooking. Last year, I started making cards - and I love it! I also made several altered art pieces, and started making ATCs. I branched out and tried new things, which I will continue with. But now it's time to get back to making some layouts so I can get our vacations and photos scrapped from the last 4 years (yes, that's how behind I am!). I think I'm feeling overwhelmed because there is so much to do.

Once I get back on track, I'll start sharing some of my layouts. I made a few pages for our Grand Canyon trip (from 2005), but nothing spectacular.

I hope 2010 has started off on a positive note, and wish you great creative endeavors for the year.