You Shine!

Just wanted to share my first layout for the Sketches: Creatively Yours blog.  Be sure to check out the blog for all the inspiration this week!  My daughter has entered into her teenage years, and sometimes struggles with self esteem issues that many teens face.  I wanted to create something to remind her of how beautiful she really is and how her beauty shines brightly to those who know her.

Here's a closeup of the chipboard heart shape on the left side:

This started as a Heidi Swapp red chipboard heart reverse shape.  I used an embossing hammer to distress the chipboard as well as the glossy red exterior.  I painted over it with gold metallic paint, then used distress ink to accent the crevices.  And since this girl truly has the key to my heart, a metal key and heart lock pendant added the perfect symbolism.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter and got to spend time with family and friends.  Here are a couple of cuties I saw this weekend.... lucky me!

Check it out

Be sure to stop by the Sketches: Creatively Yours blog to check out the April guest designer.  She's none other than Noella Arsenault, founder of the Sketches: Creatively Yours site!  You'll find a great new sketch designed by her, great for either cards or layouts.

Just a quick card to share.  With Spring and the Easter season quickly approaching, this card is cute and simple to make.  To create the chickie, punch or cut a large circle from cardsock.  The feathers at the top are the tops of punched heart shapes.  To make the beak and wing, cut a punched heart in half.  The bottom half becomes the beak, and top is used for the wing. Add a button eye and thin cardstock strips for legs.  So easy!

Woo Hoo!

I was very excited to learn I've been selected as a new Design Team member at Sketches: Creatively Yours.  What an honor to be chosen amidst the talented designers who post their sketch interpretations each month! Below is my interpretation of the design team application sketch.  It features sweet photos of baby Jonah and the new Basic Grey Origins papers. Be sure to stop over at the S:CY blog to check out the other design team members' amazing projects!   

Keys to a happy home

Just wanted to share some tips from a recent mini album, "Keys to a Happy Home."  The cute Maya Road key album was a great way to showcase family photos and also serves as a reminder to myself of what's really important in our family life.  In the process of creating it, I discovered some new ways to stretch my ever-growing stash of letter stickers... an added bonus! 

I had some black American Crafts chipboard "Thickers" but they just didn't match the color scheme I had chosen for the album.  So I peeled off the top layer of the chipboard letters:

Then used an acrylic paint dabber to paint the plain chipboard white:

Once the paint dried, I spread pink Stickles glitter glue on each letter:

The final result was completely different than the original black letters:

This page used white American Crafts foam thickers letters inked with green chalk:

The next title combines the two techniques above.  I used pink chalk on white foam letters, then used Stickles glitter atop each letter:

Here are a few of the finished pages:

Paper flowers

Lately I've seen so many beautiful handmade paper flowers on scrapbook websites, I just had to give it a try myself.  So much fun!  For each flower, I punched two flower shapes from a five petal flower punch.  On one punched shape, I lightly curled each petal downward.  On the remaining one, I pinched the center of the flower, forcing all the petals to point upward. Then I gently manipulated each petal to create the flower shape shown.  I adhered both flowers to the page with liquid adhesive, then added a button to the center of each.  I love the results and it is so easy once you give it a try!

Another layout using the same flower technique with a different patterned paper:

For a friend

I have a friend who introduced me to wildlife photography several years ago. There is a wildlife refuge near where we live, and I'll admit... when I'd been there in the past, I thought it was B-O-R-I-N-G!! She kept telling me how she and her husband would get up at 5 a.m. on Sunday mornings to drive slowly through the refuge to snap photos of whatever happened to wander out of the woods. I thought she was crazy. Until one weekend, I asked my outdoorsman 13 year old if he'd like to go with me just to see what the big deal was. I was instantly hooked! I am notoriously NOT a morning person, especially on weekends, but it was so peaceful there. And it was a great way to connect with my son. For my friend's birthday, I wanted to create something special, something that would make her feel like she was there. I took some of my own photos, collected twigs and brush from the roadside there and created this mini album for her. After almost five years, she still displays it in her office. The album itself is a bound chipboard book. I inked the outside cover with brown ink and tied wood beads to it with twine to give the album a natural, outdoors feel.

My friend driving through the wildlife refuge. She hadn't realized my son snapped this photo of her!

Pull out photo flip book using found twigs:

A liquid adhesive was used to attach fabric directly to chipboard page:

Right side flips up to reveal more photos. To make the flap sturdier, I printed journaling on a transparency and folded it over cardstock. The transparency is attached to cardstock using brads in each corner:

Under side of flap:

Okay, I'll explain! :-) The water is very shallow here and the geese dive down to eat whatever yummy thing they can find on the bottom of the pond. It looks so hilarious when their bottoms are pointed straight into the air!

He's here!

After a long difficult day for his mommy, little Jonah arrived last week safe and sound. Seeing my cousin in labor made me realize how glad I am to be past "all that"! And what a cutie he is.
Today's blessings:

• I am employed in a challenging job I love
• Great coworkers
• Friends who listen
• Healthy kiddos
• Another safe driving day for my 17 year old
• Our heat pump is fixed...warmth--YES!
• It was 67 degrees outside today
• Daylight savings time doesn't start for another week