tim holtz 12 tags of 2014 -- may

it has been a couple of months since I have participated in the 12 tags of 2014. as I was going through my stash of goodies I was really drawn to things with bright, cheery colors. I decided to do something along the lines of spring / summer. things that make me happy. here is what I came up with:

I used picked raspberry, salty ocean, and squeezed lemonade distress paints for the background. then I used those same colors in ink for the edges of all the collage pieces. most of the pieces are stickers. the deer and the cupcake are the puffy stickers which I love! both of those images make me smile! :) hope you enjoy. thanks for looking!
check out tim's 2014 may tag here

emma's first year

one of my soon-to-be sisters-in-law is a soon-to-be mommy and today was her baby shower. unfortunately, we do not live close enough for me to go but we sent her gifts (of course!) and one was a handmade album for Emma's first year. there are 12 pages that each hold a 4x6 photo and feature a different animal from the create a critter cart. there are also pockets on the inside of the front and back cover, as well as slide outs between the pages with more pockets and little journaling cards. this was so fun to make and I hope Emma, and her parents, love it!!!

 I put little sticky tabs so it is easier to add photos. just peel of the blue pieces and stick them on! :)

 the pieces that overlap the photo mattes are not glued down so the pictures can slide right behind them.

here are all the pullouts with pockets. some of the journaling cards say things like "the things I love" and "remember when..." for the last page so they can reflect on the first year of Emma's life!

The End.

birthday cards!!!

every time I make a card / project I take a picture of it with the intention of posting it for all to see. So far this year I have made quite a few birthday cards and have yet to post any so here they all are:

 for my fiancé's mom. the inside says: "another year wiser".

for my fiancé's stepdad. really like this bird embossing folder!

for our nephew conner -- love that monkey background paper -- they have boomboxes :)

 this was for my aunt -- made a fry box instead of a card and filled with dove chocolates and a starbucks giftcard.

this card was for my sisters bday. I love that stamp so much so I used it again for my friend (and maid of honor!) Amanda who's birthday was just a couple of weeks later.

 

  this card was for my dad. the inside says: "when we were all a little younger...and TV was free".

 birthday card for friend and coworker. has a pocket on the inside to tuck giftcards in to.

birthday card for friend and design team member desiree. I used my distress ink pads with a paintbrush tip to color in the stamp. so fun and whimsical!!

 

happy valentine's day!

this is our first and only year as an engaged couple so every little holiday and event is exciting! but planning a wedding takes a lot of time and money so we decided to not give gifts this valentine's day. WELL ~~ I saw the CUTEST thing on pinterest the other night and I KNEW I had all the supplies needed so my sweetheart got a little gift after all! <3

i painted the heart red and then used fine red glitter to cover. i also covered some areas in red stickles then glued it to the chalkboard which i painted white and then teal and sanded. i used my distress paint dabber with alphabet stamps for the "i love you because..." so now we can just fill in whatever we want with chalk. like this:

 and wouldn't you know -- he did a little something for me too! flowers and a card. happy valentine's day!

this was my inspiration:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/74590937552685668/

what does the fox say?

so, have you heard this song? have you seen the video? after I heard it for the first time I had to share with my fiancé, and he had to share with my mom. now, it is a fun joke between us all resulting in many a text between my mom and I asking one another "what does the fox say?" which we follow up by answering in a slue of jumbled (and unreadable) letters....and now, a birthday card (happy 60th birthday, mom!) based on the whole things because, hey, why not?

and HERE is a link to the video, just in case you haven't seen it -- or you have gone a whole day without having it in your head. thanks for looking!

happy halloween!

oh, I love Halloween! I love crafting for this holiday, too. I made a few things this year as gifts and it was really fun! so, first, for my October made with love (and paper) design team project I made pumpkins from strips of paper.

I made 8 of these and filled them with candy. 6 were sent to our nieces and nephews, plus one for my aunt and one for my fiancé!

 along with the pumpkins for our nieces and nephews went these Halloween notecards. they were simple to make and turned out so cute!

finally I made 2 Halloween cards - one for my mom and one for my fiancé. they were really fun to make and I think I might use this layout for our Christmas cards this year! hope you had a happy Halloween!

weekend!

this weekend could not have come fast enough! it was much needed after a very long work week. plus my hunny and I actually got a day off together!!! AND we had a couple of fuzzy guests - my mom's dog and my kitty that has lived with my mom for the past 11 years!!  it was really nice to have him around. I get to see him often but we haven't spent time like this together. he is so sweet!

 because we have 2 cats of our own we had meegs stay in my craft studio to keep from any wild cat fights. my cats love to help me craft and meegs was no exception. he was a major help!

although I didn't create a whole lot I did make a couple of little things. one was a cute little tag for a jar of candy I have on my desk:

 this stamp is so cute -- you just write in whatever you want on the top line!

hope you all had a lovely weekend like I did!

12 tags of 2013 ~ October

oh it feels good to craft again! it feels good to have the time to craft and to use my creativity!!! I have missed the last couple of months of 12 tags and I really wanted to create this Halloween project. tim offered some great inspiration this month. check out his tag here.

this was the first time I got to use distress paints! I used them along with distress stains that way I could use more colors (I don't have very many of either product). I liked the way the background came out. I used the cindy loo cricut cartridge for the frame and some chunky purple glitter. the moon, bat, and cat are cut from the paper doll dress up cricut cartridge. I used a silver pen and sharpie to highlight some areas on the cuts and then also some stickles for the kitty eyes and other little accents here and there. thanks for looking -- hope you like!