My First Blogging Award!!

Wow I was surprised by a comment left for me today.  I was awarded the Stylish Blogger Award.  Thank you Michele for the honor.  Michele was also awarded this honor.  Go check out here blog here.

Upon receiving this award I must…

1. Thank the person who gave this award to me and link back to their blog

2. Share 8 things about myself

3. Pass this award to 8 other individuals that I have recently discovered

4. Leave a comment so that they can pass along the recognition.

8 things you may not know about me:

      1. I am happily married to my high school sweetheart.  We will celebrate 15 years of marriage this year.

      2.  I am the mother of two wonderful children, who constantly keep me going.

     3.  I live on a small farm in the quite little town of Lafayette, AL.  Between work and kids, we manage to keep up with cows, chickens, and our three labs.

     4.  I teach Statistics and Algebra 2 at the best high school in the world, Opelika High School!!  I love my job!   

     5.  I am a huge college football fan.  WAR EAGLE!! I live, eat, and breathe Auburn University.

     6. I absolutely love crafts.  If I am not scrapbooking or making cards, I am handsewing christmas stockings.

     7.  I cannot resist dark chocolate.

     8.  I love life everyday. 

Now go visit these amazing and talented crafters that I have passed this award on to.

Maria- Mayi Cards

Patty- Patty Creates

Selene- Stamp 4 Fun with Selene 

Kendra- Kendra's Creative Corner

Marlene- Hands On

Craft-n-Corner- Craft-n-Corner

Maria- Scrap Love Create

Twila- Stamp a Little Longer

Thank you all for visiting and thank you Michele for the Kudos.

Click HERE to enter my online shop to purchase any of the supplies seen here in the post or browse for the many other supplies Stampin' Up! offers.

My First Blogging Award!!

Easter Mosaic Scrapbooking Page

So bouncing off of my last post on the mosaic technique, I thought I would show you the layout of my daughter's Easter page. (Yes I am playing catch up on some old pics.)

Do you like the jelly bean border?  Here is what I did to get it.  I poured a bag of jellybeans into a pan and took a close up picture of it.  I used it to frame the focal pictures in the layout.  Cute, cute, cute!
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Easter Mosaic Scrapbooking Page

A Different Scrapbooking Technique - Mosiacs

As a math teacher, there is one type of scrapbooking that intrigues me... MOSAICS!!  I love the geometry and measurements in it.  Mosaic scrapbooking takes a lot of time.  One page takes at least two hours to layout, but to me it is so worth it. 

I love how I can take pictures that we probably would not normally use, like these aerial shots, and use them as accents on the page.



 You can also easily incorporate your stamping and journaling into these pages.  This was a double page layout from our spring break trip last year to the Talladega testing day.  Notice the symmetry in the second page, it is so easy to do with this technique.



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A Different Scrapbooking Technique - Mosiacs

I Love my Dogs!

So I had to take my chocolate lab "Hoby" to the vet yesterday and he has to stay the weekend.  We are a very animal oriented family on our little 40 acre farm.  We have 3 labs, one of each color, and we love them dearly.  So when anything happens to one of them, we worry so much about them.  I though I would share the scrapbook page I did of our dogs(well only 2 of them, we did not have the third one yet.) and our son as I sit here wondering how he is doing.  We love our doggies!

Update: Hoby is doing great, up and running around like nothing ever happened.

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I Love my Dogs!

A New Saturday Sketch

Here is the newest layout for this weeks challenges from Stamping 411 and SUO Challenges.  A good friend of mine who happens to be a coworker was my inspiration for this card.  She is our ELL (English Language Learners) teacher, and a super great person.  She works with a large population of Hispanic students in our school.  Well, one of the things that I love about Stampin' Up! is that their products come in multiple languages, and this weeks shows with my birthday card being completely in Spanish just for her.

The sentiments read Congrats Enjoy Celebrating, with the designer paper reading Celebrate Party Dream Wish.
Paper:  From the "Lo Mejor De Todo" Simply Scrappin' Kit, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Red Riding Hood Red, and selected designer series paper from the kit.
Accessories:  Pearl Accents, Whisper White Ribbon, and Eyelet Border Punch
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A New Saturday Sketch

Starting with Challenges

I have been told that a way to get one's creative juices flowing is to participate in challenges.  This week I am  participating in SUO Challenge 14: Favorite Retired Set and Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #195.  My favorite SU set of all time is the Fire Brigade set, probably because my husband is a volunteer fireman.

I kept this a clean and simple card.  It utilizes the colors daffodil delight and cherry cobbler.  I added a touch of authentic detail by literally setting the edges on fire and letting it get a burn effect with a little smoke.  This will make a great little thank you for the men and women of the fire department that do so much for our community.
Click HERE to enter my online shop to purchase any of the supplies seen here in the post or browse for the many other supplies Stampin' Up! offers.

Starting with Challenges

Easter Pocket Card

Here is a fun little pocket card that I came up with for Easter.  It features the Eggcouragements stamp set and the scallop edge border punches.  I like to use the color purple alot during this time of year, and I found some designer paper I had stashed back that brought the colors together for me.

This is just a quick, clean little design.
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Easter Pocket Card

A Springtime Thank You

I came across this card and nugget box on Sarah Wills site, and just knew I had to try making it. I wanted it to have a spring feel so I went to my color coach and found my spring colors: Marina Mist, Pretty in Pink, and Daffodil Delight.  I love that little coach.  This will make a great thank you for those who place orders at the Open House.

Those 9 little nuggets fit just so perfectly in there.
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A Springtime Thank You

Need help using the new punches - - Here it is!

With the transition over from the old whale punch style to the new punch style, some might have questions about how to correctly use the new punches.  Here is a video released by stampinupvideo that might answer your questions.  Popular Stampin' Up! presenter, Bonnie Thurber, discusses the many benefits of Stampin' Up!'s new, sleeker punch body style.  Enjoy!

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Need help using the new punches - - Here it is!

Playing with 3D

    Ok I have to admit I am enjoying my spring break week off work.  I have been busy prepping for my Open House this weekend, and playing with all of these 3D project tutorials that I have found online.  I have been an avid scrapbooker and card maker, but the 3D side of me is just coming out.  I got to thinking what could I make as door prizes at the Open House.  Here is the first item I came up with.  I came across this 3x3 notecard box on splitcoast, and I cased this note card from Dawn Griffith (her blog is amazing, go visit).  As for the envelopes, I just started cutting and scoring until it came together.  There are probably some templates out there for them, but I just haven't gotten that far yet.

The Three Little Words set just worked so well with these notecards and box.  I also love the masked scallop edge punch on the sides of the cards.  It just gave that little amount of extra zing that was needed. 

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Playing with 3D

Getting in the Easter Spirit

      Today I decided to sit down and decide what I was going to do next month for my son's class for Easter.  He is in kindergarten and I always make a little treat for everyone in his class for the holidays.  Of course, they have to be Stampin' Up! originals.  The kids always love it.  Well, since it is Easter, I figured little baskets filled with treats would be great.  I remembered seeing at one time a tutorial on splitcoast on making a basket out of a 6x6 piece of cardstock.  So I went to work and here is what I came up with.

Isn't that too stinking cute!  I am thinking of adding some embellishments, just not quite sure what yet. 
         I started with 6x6 piece of cardstock scored at 2 inches all the way around and rounded the corners.  Then cut to the intersections on the two score marks on the left and right sides of the square.  The handle is a 1/2 by 8 inch strip.  You then just fold at the score lines and attach the sides and handle with a brad.  I used the paper piercing tool to help get through that thick stack of cardstock to get the brad in.  As for the "grass" in the basket, I took a piece of lighter colored cardstock, ran it through the crimper, and the through a cross cut shredder.  Presto!  Homemade easter grass.  Of course my son has informed me that I must make some that are not pink for the boys.  Hehe!
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Getting in the Easter Spirit

This Month's Meeting Projects

We have just a week until our monthly meeting.  Here are the projects that we will be completing.  My goal is to show everyone the versatility of the stamp sets, to show ways they can make cards as well as scrapbook pages with a common theme.

The first card scrapbook page combo features the stamp set Happy Everything, Sprinkles, Sweet of You and the colors Pacific Blue, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, and Pumpkin Pie.

The second project set features the stamp sets Simply Circles and Full of Life with the color combination of Baja Breeze, Whisper White, River Rock, and Chocolate Chip.  I just love that color combo.

I can't wait to see everyone next Sunday.
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This Month's Meeting Projects

My First Attempt at a Stationary Box

In preparation for my Open House in a couple of weeks, I wanted to make some 3-D crafts to have set out to show the versatility of Stampin' Up! materials.  It can be more than just cards and scrapbooking.  So I decided to make a stationary box to display as a gift we could make for someone.  Here is the box that I managed to put together.

I was amazed at how it turned out.  I used two 12 by 12 sheets of heavy double sided designer paper that I had.  I adorned the box with a monogrammed R in Melon Mambo with a matching scallop punched also from Mambo Melon.

For the card and envelope, I stamped with Melon Mambo using stamps from the Merci set and Live,Laugh,Love set.  I used whisper white card stock layered on the designer paper with a white envelope.  The card is the basic 4.25 inches by 5.5 inches.

I also added into the set some 3 inch by 3 inch note cards made from crumb cake card stock.  I used the flower stamps from the Define Your Life stamp set.  The outer flower edge is stamped in Melon Mambo while the inner flower is stamped in Regal Rose.  It is stamped again on whisper white while layering it on the designer paper.       

The last item that I made were just some simple small 2.5 inch by 3 inch tags. I used the flourish stamp also from the Define Your Life set.  It is stamped in Melon Mambo on Crumb Cake Card stock and layered on the designer paper. 

I have to say it turned out real cute.  Now if I can just figure out how to get my pictures to turn out better when I am taking them to show the color better, so that I can post quality pictures on my blog.  Until then, bear with me and enjoy.
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My First Attempt at a Stationary Box