Cardabilities Reveal #18!!!

Greetings my favorite bloggers!

First of all, I have to apologize that my Cardabilities post is a day off.  We have had sick children here and are now moving into day four.  I'm really hopeful that all will be better soon and that you do not have this at your house!!! 

Without further delay, here is the sketch that our wonderfully talented Karan Gerber created for us:

My interpretation of the sketch using some Basic Grey Jovial and Fancy Pants from the Back Porch Memories December Medley kit.  I had the honor of being their Guest Designer for December and want to say thank you to them. 

Don't you just love those felties?! I couldn't resist and used the snowman and added that little package to layer him.  The scallop border, those are all Fancy Pants trims.

I hope whatever you are doing this evening is delightful and that you bring in the New Year with peace and happiness and of course safely!!!  Thank you so much for popping over and spending a moment with me today.

Have a Super Scrappity Day!!!

Imagine That!

Happy Thursday to you my dear friends!!! 

It's a really BIG day today!  You have no idea how excited I am to have the honor of posting this on my blog now....  

Imagine that!!!  I am so honored and excited to be a part of this fabulous company and their Design Team for 2011!  They make the most amazing products and I am a huge fan of my i-top and i-rock! Click here to see the announcement.

I really needed to channel my nervous energy while waiting to be able to share this.  What's a girl to do?  Well, create something of course!!!

Last year while shopping at Michael's with my sister-in-law, we happened upon the cutest little Colorbok chipboard mini's in holiday shapes at the dollar bin in Michael's.  I thought the shapes were so adorable and seriously, how can you argue with $1?  I'm a deal hound like that. 

Part of my holiday tradition is to get one new dated ornament each year (usually Hallmark), that captures an important milestone or captures the personality of the past year.  Now that we have two little boys, I include them in the tradition as well and get dated ornaments with their age on them.  This year I have not been able to get to the store to get theirs, so I decided to create something of our own.

I chose the mitten shapes as they were just perfect to capture little handprints!  (I still have to get the baby's when he wants to cooperate, ha!)  I used the Imaginisce Christmas Cottage papers, chipboard, acrylic snowflakes and ribbons, Spellbinder's Labels 4, AC Thickers, Cosmo Cricket stickers, Martha Stewart bakers twine and some Maya Road stick pins.

Gee, can you tell that the middle ornament is mine all mine?!!   I just had to benchmark such an exciting day!!!  I'm going to journal on the back of it later when I can truly gather my thoughts.

My hair stylist was so kind and gifted me some vintage music paper that she had and wasn't going to use any longer.  Can you believe that fun Christmas music printed in green?   I couldn't resist using it here. 

Thank you so much for stopping over today and sharing in my excitement!   Have a super scrappity day!!!

Simply Renee - Beyond The Page!

Happy Holiday Greetings to you on this fabulous Wednesday!

Today I'd like to share with you another part of my crafty side.  I had a lot of fun with this project that I'm going to share with you, but first, do you remember this?


















I love my Clip It Up Floor Model and it worked out just perfectly to store my fabric projects on my extra bonus tier for me! If you are like me, sometimes we end up with more projects than time. Having my fabric staring at me every time I walked into my craft studio was a huge motivator to work on this project!

As you know, I love to scrapbook and to create cards! I also love to sew every once in awhile and when I saw that cute Toy Story fabric, I just knew my boys would love a quilt out of it.

The initial inspiration for this Rag Quilt came from the Samantha Walker Blog. Once I saw the simple instructions I knew that even with my novice quilting abilities, I could create this from start to finish, without having to hand it off to someone for decorative quilting.   Would you like to see what it became? 
**No Toy Story toys were harmed in the photo session for this post!**





















Helpful hint:  Make sure you use a spring loaded fabric scissors for the fringing process.  Your hands will thank you kindly!  Also, when sketching out your design, crayons work in a pinch! 

The back, which is flat.

Of course, I had to try and create a little pillowcase too. My next one will have the pattern going in the right direction, but it still works well enough for my little guy to be happy. For instructions how to create the pillow and for a moving story about Benjamin Smiles, click here.








As I said, I'm a novice and this was a great fun project!  It is really easy, super cute and very rewarding when you complete it.  One nice thing about this style quilt, it is forgiving and perfect to try out for your first project!  Just be sure you get 100% cotton fabrics, as blended cotton/poly ones won't "rag" as well when washed. 

I am so excited about giving these to the kids! Yes, you heard correctly, I am busy making another one for the baby.  Both my boys are crazy over Toy Story and I know they will enjoy their quilts and pillowcases.

By the way, you can also use the Clip It Up to store your quilting squares as you cut or build them!

I also created a fun little holiday card to share with you today.















This is just a kraft cardstock base, and some really sweet Basic Grey Jovial papers and embellishments. I had the honor of being a Guest Designer over at Back Porch Memories and created this card using their Medley kit. I used Wonky Squares from Spellbinders, added a little Martha Stewart twine and Fa-la-la!

Thank you so much for spending a few moments with me here today!  Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season filled with magic and love!  Have a super scrappity day!!!

~Rhonda

Happy Monday!

Happy Holidays to you my friends!  

I thought I would take a little breather from all of the Holiday hustle and bustle and create a sweet little birthday card!  It's nice to switch things up a bit, don't you think?

So, here is what I created using the "Birthday Bash" line from Imaginisce!   Have you seen this?  Do you know how totally cute the candles are that accompany this one?  They had me at 'hello'!  : ) 

I did a lot of machine stitching on here, but isn't it fun?  I think the colors of this line work so well for a young boy's Birthday celebration or memories!  I used my EK Success big scallop circle border punch, then cut out the letters to fill in the word "Happy" and adhered them from behind.  







 













Next, I cut out the banner.  Then, I used the ribbon trim from the Apple Cider line on the interior border to help the scallops "pop".  The balloons were fussy cut, then I tied some thread bows on them and pop dotted the red balloon for interest.  The finishing touch on here are some I-Rock glam rocks in a variety of colors on the present.  I couldn't resist!  I am in looove with my I-Rock and my glam rocks, they come out on almost every project! 

The white rub on sentiment is Pebbles, the cardstock Bazzill and everything else is Imaginisce.

Thank you so much for stopping on over!  Oh, and I have one more goodie for you today...    There is a giveaway over at this blog:  http://beckyconley.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-2nd-chance-blog-give-way.html?spref=fb for a Cricut Expression!  So stop on over and check it out!

Ok, that's all for me today!  Have yourself a super scrappity day!!!

Cardabilities Reveal #17!

Can you believe that we are officially less than two weeks until Christmas?!!  I sure can't!

Since today is the 15th, it's time for Cardabilities reveal #17!  Here is the super fun sketch that Karen Lancaster created for us:

Here is my 6"x6" take on the sketch:

I love banners but for this card, I really liked the "Compliments of the Season" sentiment.  I decided to use it instead and crumpled it up a bit and angled it to get the effect that I was after. 

Ingredients:
Graphic 45 'A Christmas Past' papers
Bazzill cardstock
Prima flower and leaves
Jenni Bowlin stick pins
Spellbinder Nestabilities Circles
Ranger Stardust Stickles
Ranger Crushed Olive and Barn Door Distress Inks
Musical Notes Embossing Folder
Doodlebug Frosted Brad
Thread and Jute

Thank you so much for stopping on by!  Please be sure to link up your creation if you are inspired by this sketch too!  We would love to leave you a little blog love!

Have a super scrappity day!!!

Beyond the Page with Bella Blvd!

Today's post is all about going beyond the page!  When Bella assigned this project earlier this summer I had a few ideas in mind, but this was one that won out. 

I've thought a few times back to my childhood about what some of the fun crafty things that I used to enjoy. I'll probably date myself a little bit here by sharing these, but that's OK, we're all friends, right? I loved puffer paints, latch hook and Shrinky Dinks! I thought to myself... hmmm, I bet Shrinky Dinks would make a really cute embellishment on a card or really anything scrappy!

I picked up some shrink paper in matte and used my Cricut and the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge to cut out a tree and a Rudolph. *Note, you need to use the deep cut housing.*  I do not own one, and ended up having to trim mine using my scissors. (Yes, you know what is going to go on my Christmas list now don't you?! - ha!)

After this, I put down my splat mat and got out my trusty alcohol inks and inked up my tree. Helpful hint, do not worry if your colors are not deep enough at this point. As your decoration shrinks, the colors will appear darker.

Be sure that you punch any hole that you desire to attach the embellishment now, before you shrink it. I used the 1/8" on my Big Bite II.

Follow the manufacturers instructions to shrink the material. I set my oven at 300 degrees and because these pieces were larger, I let it go for 4 minutes. I did use parchment paper underneath and over the material to prevent it from touching itself and sticking as it shrinks down and warps.

I will be honest, at first I was surprised at how dark my tree came out! I added some Ranger Holly stickles to it and fell in love with it! So now the big question, what to use this cute little tree on?

I decided to make a fun little gift box out of the December Details Bella Christmas papers. My handy dandy Martha Stewart Score Board has the instructions for how to make boxes on it. (The link will take you to Martha's instructions, see pages 1-12 for the How-To.) 

The cute little tag is a Sizzix die that I found at our lss garage sale this summer. Isn't it fun on there? The poinsettia's are Prima and the border punch is Martha Stewart's ribbon loop.

Are you inspired to play with some shrink paper or create your own gift box?  I'd would love to see your projects, please share them!

Thanks so much for spending a few moments with me here today, have a super scrappity day!!!