Life is Good

I totally fell in love with Lawn Fawn's Life is Good set when it came out.  It took me while to get some ink to paper, but I finally had the chance:

Discovery: Bazzill Orange Peel paper works great with water colors.  Since I could not find my stash of watercolor paper, I decided to give it a try for the background.  I also purchased the dies that accompany this set, and die cut the hammock, the trees, and the flip flops.  The hammock and trees are adhered with SU! Dimensionals.  The flip flops are simply adhered and layered.  I colored the pieces with Copics, and inked the images with Adirondack ink.  This was made for a friend who was hosting a pool party at her home.

Wedding #2 of the Summer!

You know what that means!

Outside: Everyday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink), Stampin' Up!/Sizzix embossing folder, Stampin' Up! flowers, Simon Says Stamp bling, sheer ribbon

Inside: Stampin' Up! Congrats

Happy Father's Day!

This year's card had a springboard from my good pal, Karen.  Since I screwed up her awesome card, I did some craftiness and created this version:

The striped cardstock is a sampling of Stampin' Up!'s new InColor colors.  I honestly did not pay attention to the companies who created the sentiments I used.  She had a lot out for me to choose from.  I think the inside is a PTI set.

Happy Father's Day to all dads!

Happy week!

My old man is turning 49 tomorrow...a card was needed!

A little Papertrey (Wonderful Words Additions), a little Stampin' Up! patterned paper from forever ago and some SU! striped satin ribbon.  I used the reverse side of the patterned paper for the "happy" die, and popped it up with two other layers of the die cut.  I also used Glossy Accents to give it an epoxy feel.  Stampin' Up! ink was used for "birthday."  Sounds easy enough, but I was tormented a bit with the die cut.  Not sure about color or positioning, but it turned out well, in my opinion.

For our anniversary card, I used some PTI and some Simon Says Stamp.  A shout out to Jennifer McGuire, whose video definitely inspired this card (in fact, it inspired the purchase of the die!).  I also used a scrap of patterned paper!  I KNOW, RIGHT?  This was an old scrap of SEI paper that I just love.  I went over the hearts with Glossy Accents and popped them up with SU! Dimensionals.  I used SU! white craft ink for the sentiment.  Ca-yute.

Rocking the Wedding Card

My nephew's getting married this Sunday.  Wait, I didn't say that with enough panic: MY NEPHEW'S GETTING MARRIED THIS SUNDAY.  I recall spending all of the month of June in, hmmm, I think 1983 with my sister-in-law waiting and waiting and waiting for Clint to make his entrance into the world.  When I finally went home (they lived a bit away from my hometown at the time), he decided it was time to arrive.  Some quick medical issues and surgery later, a scary time for all, we had the newest Paul grandchild, named after his father's favorite actor.

Clint is now, obviously, grown, and is a member of the band Men and Whales (Clint's on the far right...dude with the cat on his shirt).  So, when their Save the Date card came and it had an LP on it, I knew this wedding card needed to share that rock and roll theme.  

I found this file through Silhouette's site.  With some strategizing, what I call the "Mix Tape Card" was born.

The alphabet I used was Mini Monograms from Paper Smooches.  The letters lined up beautifully on an acrylic block (I used Martha's "Small Footed" blocks).  

I decided to be a bit grungy with the inside, which is good because the black ink and I kind of hated each other tonight.  I kept thinking I had a stamp with "You Rock!", but could only find the "Dude, You Rock!" and "Girly, You Rock!" from this favorite set.  Then, out of nowhere, a set I won years ago sat there with a "You Rock!" sentiment just staring at me saying, "You really have too many stamps."

I just love this card.  I love that he will remember and appreciate cassette tapes.  I hope he understands the love that went in to the card.  He's a great young man, and I am so happy to see him happy.

Stick a fork in it!

The New York album, sans journaling, is FINISHED!  Pardon my unsteady video hand, but here is a video showing the pages and giving bits of insight.  Easier than trying to write it all out.  ENJOY!

{inter} National Scrapbooking Weekend

What a great {inter}National Scrapbooking Weekend it has been.  I participated in the fun at Big Picture Scrapbooking, where many a wonderful scrapbooker presented inspiring videos throughout the day.  BPS is trying to get 10,000 layouts uploaded to Instagram.  With my crafty busy-ness, I was able to get this one done and up.  You might recall this layout, which remains one of my all-time favorites.  Like, ever.  And not just because I have an inappropriate crush on Jon Bon Jovi.

I completed this for the Ali Edwards Hello Story class I was taking (well, I still AM taking it, technically) at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  For my recent layout, I (unintentionally) gave more space to the written area than to the photo area.  I used the same basic idea, though. Here are some closer shots at some areas that excite me:

Love these sparkly Dear Lizzy Thickers!

My own swirly cursive, inspired by Kristina Werner's work.

I also used a new Sharpie white pen today.  It worked fairly well.  I guess no matter what white I try to use on patterned paper, it will soak in and I will need to go over it more than once.

Because BPS wanted us to upload these publicly, I started a different Instagram account, as my personal one needs to remain private.  I am now jpkrafty if anyone wants to follow my crafty creations on Instagram.