Did I promise you another Bag Tag?!!?

Here it is!! This one is for my son who will start first grade this year. I intend to put his contact information within the tag so that if he (or his backpack) get lost, he is identifiable! Hopefully, it'll never be needed!

Anyway, this one is made using the new Clear Dollar Stamps crayon stamp. I actually flipped the stamp over and used the WRONG side of the stamp to stamp the light "colored in" part of the crayons (I know you love all these technicaly terms! LOL) I actually "stamped off" first, so as to not use the ink at full strength. I then turned the stamp over, and stamped the right side of the stamp full strength to give you the details of the crayon! I love the effect! Almost like I can't color inside the lines!! (I love the pun there!) I again used my Clear Dollar Stamps Silly Alphabet (again, only $7.99 for 99 pieces) to stamp my son's name on the tage. Ribbon is again from the stash!! Can you tell we like orange around here?!?!?!

Anyway, thanks for visiting, be sure to check out Clear Dollar Stamps (www.cdstamps.com) tomorrow so you can purchase these great stamps I have been showing you for the past couple of days for yourself!!

See you soon!!!!

A trip to the Aquarium...

It just so happens that I recently purchased a membership to the New England Aquarium in Boston. You may have seen some pictures of my daughter and her friend playing in the fountain in the middle of Downtown Boston earlier on this blog (if you didn't see it, go check it out - the pictures are hilarious!)

Anyway, right outside the New England Aquarium is their seal tank! You don't even have to pay to get in to see these guys! My son LOVED them. As you can tell, he was literally glued to the tank watching them! I had actually selected this stamp from the Design Team previous, prior to this picture being taken and I wasn't thinking about the stamp when I took the picture either! You just have to love it when fate steps in! And I just ADORE the way the layout came out.

I started with white cardstock and I used my adorable little seal stamp to make my background paper. He's stamped in CTMH Crystal blue. Then I trimmed and layered my photo and added a little bit of ribbon. Then we get to the stamping at the bottom of the photo ~ those little seals were just stamped on white cardstock and cut out. But aren't they just the CUTEST!!! New England Aquarium 2008 was stamped once again with the Clear Dollar Stamps Silly Alphabet (which is available right now for only $7.99).

I just love the way this came out!! Thanks for looking and thanks to the gals over at Clear Dollar Stamps for creating this little seal! Be sure to get over there on August 1st to get him for yourself!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for my last sneak peek!!!

Birds of a feather...

flock together!! As did the little birdies on this card! (Great segue, huh???) This card is using another Clear Dollar Stamps set that is being released on August 1st. It is called Designer Garden and it is a set of 28 stamps! (Yes, I said 28). There are birds, and flowers, and pots and....you'll have to check it all out on August the first over at Clear Dollar Stamps (www.cdstamps.com).

Now onto the details: The card was made on white cardstock. I used the Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder on the front. The ribbon is by American Crafts (I think). The cardstock and brads are CTMH. I only used the two little birds from this set, so there are 26 other images that I am not even showing you!!! You have just got to get this one!

It's a simple card, but I really love the way it came out! Hope you do to!

See you tomorrow, for yet another Clear Dollar Stamp Release!

You're One in a Melon!

Thanks for stopping by again! Today I am going to show you a card made with the new watermelon stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps. This again will be a single stamp purchase. (Love that!)

The card was made by using the large Long Rectangular Nestabilities die. You would need to fold your paper in half first and NOT cut on the fold line. Papers are CTMH. Brads are Sugarcoated Doodlebug, ribbons are from the stash. I again used the Silly Alphabet from Clear Dollar Stamps. You can't loose with this one - you get 99 stamps in this set and it's only $7.99!!! Now that's a DEAL you can't live without!!!

I can't take total credit on the silliness of the phrase however, I have seen it before! But it just went so well with that adorable little watermelon stamp!

Thanks for stopping by! I will have more Clear Dollar Stamps for you tomorrow.

Did you see an Elephant?!?!!?

Hello everybody!! Glad you're visiting my blog!! Here is my first sneak peek for the August releases for Clear Dollar Stamps. You will definitely need to RUN over there are on the first - these are some of the CUTEST stamps and most of what I will show you in the coming days are sold individually!!!

This one is Ernie the Elephant. I made him into a bag tag (inspired by Jen del Muro). Love the purple and it happens to be my daughther's favorite color AND she has a purple weekender bag as well, so I assume you can guess this tag will be hers once I am done showing it! LOL

The stamps are obviously from Clear Dollar Stamps (http://www.cdstamps.com/). The polka dots are also made with Clear Dollar Stamps Ribbon Factory stamp set (which is not new, so you could go buy that one now!) Because the stamps are clear, they lined up really easily for me to do the background. My daugther's name was stamped in the Clear Dollar Stamps Silly Alphabet - now that alphabet is a deal! The brads are Doodlebug sugar coated. All ribbons came out of my stash. This Bag Tag is made from a vertical badge holder from an office supply store. The big ring can also be found at either an office supply store or a Target, Walmart type place in the stationery section.

I have made several of these bag tags lately and I just love them and so does everybody who sees them. Check out some of the older posts here and you will see some of the others I have made recently. And you will probably see another in the next day or so with another Clear Dollar Stamp release.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see more!! And don't forget to check out the rest of the design team. Their links are to the left.

As always, thanks for visiting!!!

It's Halloween ~

Or maybe not! LOL If you read my blog on any kind of regular basis, you know that I subscribe to Aprong Strings Designs as my club kit ~ and I LOVE their kits!! Anyway, this particular layout is for two different Apron Strings challenges.

First, it is Sizzing Summer Challenge #4. This was to use holiday papers on a non-holiday photo. The picture is my daughter and two of her friends doing a "spa day". Thought it was perfect for the Halloween papers I used which came from my Smaller Than a Bread Box October, 2007 kit. (http://www.apronstringsdesigns.com/). So, as points go for the challenge, I would get 10 points for the layout and 10 points for using and ASD kit!

Second, each month they have Sketch challenges. Layout, based on a sketch, followed by a card made from the scraps of the layout, which is then followed by a layout Altering the original sketch!! LOTS of fun ~ challenging too! So I used this for my Altered sketch. I kept the basic layout the same, grabbed some of the circles, but not all! LOVE the way it came out!! I really love challenges as they push me out of my comfort zone, and I think we all need a little push from time to time!!

Be sure to come back tomorrow as I start the sneak peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps!

As always, thanks for visiting!!!

Buttons or Flowers?!?! Maybe both....

I made this card as part of a design team application and realize that I never posted it and I LOVE IT!! I searched for a stamp that said "scatter joy" for a while and found it at Addicted to Rubber Stamps. It's by Daisy Bucket. The flowers are by Prima. The buttons were in a stash, the ribbon is from Savvy N Sassy and the swirl that makes up the card holder (like it's in a bouquet from the florist) is a QuicKutz die.

I think it came out great myself! As you read this post, I will be on my way to Gillette Stadium to work the Country Music Festival in order to send my daughter to Florida to a cheerleading competition! Hopefully it'll go really well!!

Don't forget to check back on the 28th for the start of my Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks!!

Thanks for visiting!!

Anything But a Card...

This week at All That Scraps...the challenge is to make anything but a card! So another bag tag it was! I think this one will actually be mine!

This is one of the lovely Glam Girls from CC Designs and she was paperpieced. The brads are sugarcoated Doodlebugs and everything else was from the stash!! I do love how she turned out though.

Thanks for visiting!

Triple Play!!

How, you may ask, do you get a triple play in paper crafting...you make one card to conform to THREE challenges.

Here's my Triple Play:

1. Mojo Monday - Sketch #47. Although it is obviously a very LIBERAL interpretation as I saw the sketch and printed it, however, I missed the whole rounded corner thing, but I still LOVE the way it came out.

2. TCP Tuesday - Color challenge of pink, orange and chocolate brown. Thanks to Katie for this AWESOME color combo. I probably never would have put it together on my own.

3. Our Creative Corner - Dry Embossing - It was perfect, gave just the right amount of texture. This is something I usually miss. I get my card altogether and feel it's missing something.

Okay - onto the details - Brown & pink cardstocks are Bazzil, orange & white are CTMH. Pink ric rac and chocolate brown brads are also CTMH. The stamp is by Impression Obsession. I saw the stamp on Carol B's blog (Mother's Little Helper) and fell it love with it! I just had to have it. The sentiment "Take joy in the Little Things" is by Verve.

Thanks for visiting! Be sure to check out all my bag tags that I have created lately and please remember to check out the CropStop Design Team call. Just click on the little stop sign at the top left.

See you soon!

The squeaky wheel....

As the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil! My friend Haylie Jo was WHINING (yes, I said whining) because she wanted a bag tag after I had shown her the others I had made. I actually had to reprimand her like I do my children and "threaten" to send her to her room! Can you believe it?!?!? A grown woman!

Of course, she ended up with a bag tag before I made one for either myself or my six-year old son! My poor little boy is bag tag-less but Haylie has one!! She'll love this post! LOL

Anyway - the details - all papers are CTMH, flowers are Prima, brads are CTMH, ribbons are CTMH, MM and a few from the stash! Letters are made from the Boss Kut Totally Tall alphabet, which are on sale at http://www.cropstop.com/!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Altered Deck - MORE

Here are a couple more on my ongoing altered deck....evetually I figure I will finish all 52, but I think I actually have two partial decks, so there could be more - or less - LOL!!!


POP - I just love color and this is all this one is saying. Background paper is doodlebug, ribbon and paper for letters is from thh stash. Letters made with Moxie QuicKutz alphabet. Brad is by Making Memories.

CB QK BK - My die cut addiction at work - I just LOVE dies! I have four binders almost full of them. Luckily I work for Haylie who provides my salary in scrapbook supplies. Needless to say, they have been mostly dies, and I am NOT complaining in the least! Anyway, back to the card - the letters are: CB for Cuttlebug, QK for QuicKutz ad BK for Boss Kutz. The alphabet is Cuttlebug's Olivia. The large heart is a Boss Kut die. The little rhinestone flowers are from CTMH.

Thanks for visiting once again - and don't forget the design team call - click the little stop sign to your left!

JAR SWAP

I found this blog called Say It in Scrap. Actually found it on pub calls and I have completed one of their challenges! Anyway, this led me to a lovely group of ladies (like my wording?!?!?!) on another blog called WE SCRAP BETTER, where I joined their jar swap. Here is mine:

It's supposed to be a largish jar of whimsy ~ inspiration type thing. Mine is going to Kelly. Hope she likes it! I am only showing two of the four sides so she can't see it all!!

Thanks for visiting!!

Another Bag Tag!!

Okay, so these little tags are addicted! And I still haven't made one for myself (I have a bag from work that I carry to work daily and you guess it - everybody has one) and I need to make one for my son's back pack before he goes back to school.

I made this one for the woman I work with. I had brought one into work (can't show you that one yet though) and she thought it was the cutest thing. She's not a scrapper but was going to try to make one. So I told her how to make it, but made her one anyway! LOL

This one was done in CTMH papers - Paper Garden is the name of the paper packet. Sweet leaf textured cardstock is the base with buttercup brads. The letters are made from a Boss Kut alphabet (great sale at http://www.cropstop.com/ - more than 50% off MOST (I think it's really all, but just in case I am wrong, I will say MOST - LOL)). Daisy and stem are also a Boss Kut die. The center of the flower is a Dew Drop - from the hyacinth bottle! (also from http://www.cropstop.com/) Ribbons are from the stash - most from Michael's.

I am really liking it - if I do say so myself! LOL

Thanks for visiting!

BAG TAG

Hello!! I know it's been a couple of days since I posted, but I wanted to let the design team announcement stay at the top. If you don't know what I am talking about, click the little stop sign to your left, and you'll get the post!!

On to some creations!! I have discovered the invention of the BAG TAG!! (thanks to Jen del Muro). It is the neatest little creation and I am loving it. This is a tag I made for my daughter. She's a cheerleader and when they go to competition, all the bags look the same. So - BAG TAG!

It's in her school colors and was done entirely in QuicKutz dies! Unfortunately, I believe the cheerleading uniform and megaphone are both retired. The alphabet is Moxie (the smaller one) and the pom poms were made with the four petal flower. The scalloped edge was made with the new 12" scalloped border dies - all of which I purchased here: http://www.cropstop.com/.

Thanks for looking! And don't forget about the DT Call! I'll be looking for your applications!

CROPSTOP.COM DESIGN TEAM CALL!!!!!

Exciting Exciting News!!! CropStop.com’s FIRST EVER Design Team Call is now open! Submissions will be accepted from July 15th through August 10th. You will be notified on or before August 15th if you have been selected. Design Team will be announced on both the CropStop.com Store Front and here at www.paperhugs.blogspot.com. We welcome applicants from all countries.

Here are the details:

We are looking for 3 Designers to work with our Paper Craft Kits. Since the kits will be made up of 6x12 and 12x12 papers, we are looking for people who can demonstrate their talent to work with these sizes to make cards, scrapbook pages, and altered items.

There are 3 positions open: we are looking for one designer for scrapbook layouts (6x12 and 12x12 layouts), one designer for cards, and one designer for altered items.

Term will run four months - October to January. Your first kit will be mailed at the beginning of September. Items should be completed by the 23rd of the month, ready to post on the first of the following month.

If you will check out http://www.cropstop.com/ (if you haven’t already) one of the main products is dies for die cutting machines. You could be asked and possibly provided with dies and/or embossing folders to use on a project.

Please provide the following information to DTC@cropstop.com

1. Name, address, telephone number and email address
2. Your order of preference, if any, as to what position you are applying for
3. A short bio about yourself
4. Blog address
5. Please submit to us what you feel your three best pieces are – cards, layouts, altered items. They do not have to be new. Please submit written instructions to recreate on one of these items (This will be a design team requirement each month)
6. What die cutting machine(s) do you own?
7. Are you on any other design teams?
8. What boards are you active on? What is your user ID?
9. Why do you want to be on the cropstop.com design team?
   

Our Design Team members are expected to:

Create the items specified below with their monthly kit each month:

• Scrapbooker – 2 layouts and 1 other item of your choice
• Cardmaker – 4 cards and 1 other item of your choice
• Altered – 1 altered item and 1 other item of your choice
  

Provide detailed written instructions on how to recreate one of the items you have created per month which could appear in the store and/or upcoming gallery and forum with the item or by link to the item.

Be active on our upcoming message board – 15+ posts per week average active in challenges and contests on the message board

Post your layouts in the upcoming CropStop forum and on blogs and other online galleries, promoting and crediting cropstop.com whenever possible.

DT Members will receive:
1. One kit each month
2. A discount at cropstop.com for any purchase you make in the store

I look forward to working with you as the Design Team Coordinator and can't wait to see all the entries!!

Altered Deck - Yellow & Mom

Here's more of my altered deck...


YELLOW: My favorite color - not sure of the paper brand, several different ribbons, Heidi Swapp flowers and a couple of CTMH brads...simple "statement" - just my favorite color! Letters are QK Zoe alphabet.


MOM - again, pretty self explanatory and part of who I am! The letters at the bottom are my children's first initials in order of birth - Amanda, Riker and Devin. Making memories brads, QK letters - Olivia.


Sorry for the short posts!! Hope you like these and I will be back tomorrow - with more altered deck and AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Thanks for visiting!

More of my altered deck...

***EDIT*** I have been asked if I write anything on the back -- some have writing on the back and others do not...some of the cards are more self-explanatory than others. As the deck is really my own "personal" piece of art, sometimes it's just a catch phrase that may not mean anything to anybody else, but I know exactly what it means and why it's in the deck.

Okay - here are a few more...I am going to show you a picture today of how it looks when it's all together because it looks quite CHEERY!

COVER: QK Blossom Alphabet, in the background is my name stamped with versamark using the CTMH Rustic Alphabet.

FUN: QK Moxie alphabet (can you tell I am addicted to alphabets), Doodlebug flowers and MM Flower brad.

I love the way a lot of these cards have stuff that hangs off them, as you can see in the full picture! As I said in yesterday's post, this deck is relatively personal to me...some simply how I see myself (self-assessment type stuff), you'll probably also learn my favorite color, my lucky number and other stuff you probably never wondered or wanted to know about me! LOL

Thanks for stopping by and again - BE SURE TO STOP BY ON THE 15TH!!

Challenge for SAY IT IN SCRAP

I was on the Pub Calls website the other day, and I found this blog called Say It In Scrap. They had a challenge - I know - just the word gives me goosebumps and sends me running for paper and brads! LOL

Anyway, here was the challenge:

Challenge #5 is to create a layout with something you haven't seen before. Something Say It worthy. Is it an emotion you've never seen portrayed in a layout before? Maybe it's a subject you haven't seen before. Perhaps it's an emotion or a subject you've seen, but you just haven't yet ventured out to scrap it yet. Or maybe it's something you've seen and thought to yourself, I could so do that better.

I recently started an altered deck of cards, and although the challenge says layout, this is what I am submitting as my entry. I feel the cards are personal to me and together they make up a little scrapbook of their own.

For this particular challenge I am going to use several of the cards, but I will be showing the others soon as well. (you'll probably see more tomorrow!)

I can't give you a lot of details on these, as most of the papers were in my stash -

Here's what I can tell you:

Lost Chances - alphabet is QK Olivia, ribbon is Heidi Swapp - this is about not taking a chance when it's available and then having to learn a HARD lesson from it.

Cranky - alphabet is QK Blossom, dandelion is a Cuttlebug 3x3 die - we all get cranky whether we want to admit it or not

No Reins - alphabet is QK Zoe, flourishes are QK revolution - No Reins is a song by Rascal Flatts - it's about leaving a relationship and being better for it, about re-finding yourself.

Failure - alphabet is QK Lemonade, tab is QK revolution. The note on the tab (I don't think you can read it) says "Learn From It". I think this one is relatively obvious - learn from the mistakes you make. Don't keep repeating them.

As these are the more serious/meaningful ones, they aren't as decorated and happy as the others! Tomorrow I will show you the "FUN" ones...

And I don't know what's going on with the spacing, because it doesn't look like this in my preview!

As always, thanks for visiting!!

The Mosy Scrapper - My First Challenge

If you read my blog regularly at all, you will know I love a challenge! In this particular case, I was challenged to scraplift something out of the Mosy Scrapper Gallery. Here is a link to the card I chose to "scraplift" or "CASE" - whichever term you prefer. http://themosyscrapper.forumakers.com/gallery/Card-creations/Happiness-pic_356.htm

The cardstock is Bazzill for the red and CTMH for the black. PP is Sandylion. Ink is CTMH and stamps are by Clear Dollar (www.cdstamps.com). Figured I would use theirs as I am a July Guest Designer! Dew drops are from www.cropstop.com out of the "Hydrangea" bottle. Although being on red paper, I am sure any of the red dew drops would work.

I love the way my version came out - I did actually have the yellow flowers as well, however, I didn't want to get too close to hers...at least not for the challenge. I might sometime REALLY soon though!!

As always, thanks for visiting!

Apron Strings Designs Bonus Challenge #1

We got a BONUS!! And I mean a bonus challenge - no money involved! LOL

You see...there was this sketch...and I saw it...so I HAD to run with it!! What was a girl to do? Just leave it there, uncreated?!?!?! I couldn't possibly do that! That would have been terrible!

Here's the deal - I get 5 points for doing the sketch! Then if you used an Apron Strings Designs kit, older than January, 2008, you get an extra 5 points...guess what??? My kit was from March of 2007!! Another 5 points! WOOO HOOOO

So what details can I give you - I believe the papers are by We R Memory Keepers. The white pen is by Ranger - I didn't use anything else - with all those flowers (which were cut out by hand - yes I am a glutton for punishment) I just felt it was too busy! There were brads and rick rack in the kit, but I tried different variations, but decided to go with just paper (and a couple of pop dots) - I was actually relatively impressed with the whole thing! Please excuse the slight glare on the picture - I like to get my items posted ASAP, and I always seem to scrap at night so I can't always get the best lighting...but I am still learning.

As always, thanks for visiting...and please stop in again soon - like say on the 15th!!!!

Love Your Life

Every month, Apron Strings Designs has a card sketch - you are supposed to make a layout - which I did (see below) and then use the scraps (before they hit the garbage can) to make a card - based on a sketch. I am not overly happy with the picture, so I will try to get a better one up here ASAP.

My version is above. I did find out that the papers are from We R Memory Keepers (I think that's right). The butterfly and petals were cut out with Cuttlebug Duo dies from www.cropstop.com, the sentiment - Love Your Life - is from CTMH June Stamp of the Month. The flower center was cut out using a circle nestability die, also from CropStop.com. I inked the edge of the butterfly in Dutch Blue CTMH ink to give it a nice outline. The cardbase is from DCWV.

As always, thank you for visiting and be sure to stop by again soon - REMEMBER - BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ON JULY 15TH!!!

I've Been TWEAKED!!

Okay - so it's not a total tweak - just a watermark (and my siggy of course)! I have finally conquered my watermark!! It's the small things...I had to figure out how to size my watermark! But Sara, at Tweaks & Designs by Sara, was the BEST - as usual!!

So if you look on the corner of my picture - you will see my adorable new watermark, which matches my little birdies up at the top! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! And the cuties in the picture - Amanda, Devin & Amanda (yes - 2 Amandas)

Thanks again Sara!

And to everybody reading this (yes I mean you) thanks for visiting!