{graduation} srm

I'm up on the SRM blog today (with Aimee) with some graduation projects!  I found some pre-made sparkly graduation cap shapes at my local party supply store. I mounted the invite sticker to a piece of cardstock and adhered it to the cap for a simple party invitation.

I cut off the "tassel" that was on it, traced it onto some gold glitter paper, fringed the ends, added the stickers and placed it on the cap.

I dressed up a gift bag with a pretty bow decked out with graduation sentiment stickers.  SO easy to do and I just love how it looks!  I covered the party horn in glitter paper and added stickers to it for a table top decoration.

You could use this technique on bows for weddings, baby and birthday gifts!

 



My final project was a chalk board painted message board for friends and family to write notes to the graduate.  For this project I did a mini one.  It was actually a large  unfinished picture frame I picked up at Michaels.

I used a tube to hold the chalk. I adhered it to the board with velcro.

I have one more year before I get to put these projects to good use, *sniff sniff*. 

I hope you have found some graduation inspiration with these projects! Be sure to check Aimee's projects for even more inspiration! 

Happy Tuesday, friends and thanks for stopping by!

{pun-ny love}

I love puns.  I think they are, for the most part, clever and witty.  :)  If I can make a card and include a pun, I'm a happy girl.  I made this card for Paper Crafts Gallery Idol.  Today is the last day to enter a card and the 20 who will compete will be announced Friday.  With over 1500 cards (and counting!) it will be tough to get noticed.  I love seeing all the different styles of cards in the gallery, there is a lot of inspiration to be found!  Anyway. This sentiment popped into my head and I knew right away I could make a card with it.

Be Outstanding in Your Field



I absolutely {adore} those Studio Calico Potty People!  They make me grin. :) I'm pretty sure I used MME paper from 4 different collections on this card.

Here are a couple close-ups:

I used my favorite "grass" technique again.  :) Adds a little dimension to the 'field".

I layered a couple different patterns for the clouds and added that happy polka dot brad for the center of the sun. 

Wishing all of my friends good luck in the Gallery Idol competition!

Happy Memorial day, it is good to remember those who have served and are serving our wonderful country!

{OWH} sketch blog hop

Operation Write Home is having a Sketch Blog Hop today! They have a fabulous, and might I say extensive, sketch collection!  SRM is happily taking part for this worthy cause!  If you have never heard of OWH check them out here. 

I used this sketch:



to make this card:

and this sketch:



for this card:

There is a lot of inspiration from the designers over on the SRM blog and 3 lucky commenters will receive this awesome prize!

Happy Saturday.  While you go about your day, send a happy thought to a soldier you may or may not know who is serving our county, or better yet, make a card and send it to OWH so a soldier can send a happy thought to his loved ones.  :)

(cards) happy birthday

Just thought I'd share a couple of the birthday cards I made for a swap I'm doing with my MSW friends!  Went with what was on my desk, lots of MME and SRM!



I didn't have a piece of ribbon wide enough so I used 2 pieces of a smaller width to create the background for the sentiment.  To get a good clean cut on grosgrain ribbon I always use Strano Designs Ribbon Stiff before I cut it.

Another simple card, I love the colors.

I layered a couple flowers together for some pretty texture.

Happy Friday!  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

{trendy} woodgrain

Playing along with the 3 cool chicks of Let's Get Trendy has been a lot of fun!  Amy, Julie and Yvonne gave us 5 days of trendy scrappy goodness.  Day 5's trend was wood grain.  I made a simple birthday card for a card swap I'm in.  Lucky for me, My Mind's Eye has tons of wood grain papers to pick from!  :) 

Happy Birthday



All I did was fussy cut (what?!) around that ticket shape to make it look like I added it to the card.  :)  So simple!

Only one more challenge for me to complete; confetti.  :)

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I hope happy finds you today!

(the studio} favorites

It is all about favorites this week at The Studio Challenges!  The challenge is for you to use your favorite product(s) and technique(s) on your layout! 

SRM Stickers and My Mind's Eye papers and embellies have been my favorite products to use for well over a year.  I don't see that changing any time soon.  I cant help myself!  :)  With that said, I have to admit this layout got away from me a bit.  I'm happy with the results though, because it fits Brenden's (my oldest and said 17 year old!) personality - colorful and loud.  :) 

Birthday Boy

My favorite technique is to sew on my cards and layouts, either by hand or with my machine. This time I used my machine to sew down the pennants.

We have a wonderful sponsor this month, Crafty Templates is offering up this Quirky Kit. Upload your projects for both of the May challenges for a chance to win.

  Be sure to check out the blog to see the team's favorites!

While at my desk, I used some scraps from previous projects to make a quick Father's Day tag using twine (Let's Get Trendy) and flags (MSW - Lisa's Flag Card challenge).

#1 Dad

I just adore this tiny twine from May Arts!

These little flags were so easy to make, all you need is a toothpick, a glue dot and some scrap paper!

Happy Sunday, friends! The heat has arrived in the Midwest in a big way. Air conditioning is my friend.  :)





{invite-july4th} srm

It is my turn on the SRM Sticker blog today!  I got to play with the You're Invited Blank Invite.  Let me tell you - the possibilities with this invite are endless! 

I had this little flag left over from a previous July 4th celebration and I had just picked up a spray of glittered red, white and blue stars from Michael's.  And as Gru from the movie, Despicable Me would say, "light bulb".   :) 

I cut the invite apart and laid each strip carefully on the white stripe of the flag. (you would want to fill out the invite prior to adhering to the flag)

I measured a piece of patterned paper and placed it in the tube and decorated the outside with some red 4th of July Stickers.  I drilled 2 small holes in the top of the tube and stuck the flag and spray inside.  I added some patriotic ribbon to the outside of the top to finish it.

My neighbors will be surprised when they find this invite on their porch this year!

Thanks for stopping by today, friends! I hope happy finds you in the best way today!





{jumping in}

I'm getting my feet wet and jumping into the Gallery Idol pool!  :)  Gallery Idol is a card making contest Paper Crafts magazine hosts.  Open auditions have started and run through May 28th.  Make an "encouragement themed" card and upload it to their Flickr Gallery. 

Here's mine: Bee Happy

 

Paper, Chipboard Accents, brad: My Mind's Eye, Sentiment: SRM, Doily: Little Yellow Bicycle

 

I love how the SRM sticker just pops off those chipboard hexagons!

 

The use of the doily was prompted by day 2 of the Let's Get Trendy workshop!

These girls are rocking some trendy inspiration!  Yesterday was all about confetti and today is trendy twine! 

What about you?  Will you make a card for Gallery Idol?  Good luck to you if you do!

Happy Thursday!



{card sketch} msw

Lucy has made us another beautiful card sketch this month!  Please visit the My Sketch World blog to see the Design Team's take on it!  Visit the message board for lots of fun card/layout challenges and to meet some of the nicest crafters on the planet!

May Card Sketch by Lucy Chesna

{be} happy

I used both machine and hand stitching

I added that little SRM bee sticker to make the sentiment read be happy

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Wednesday and {bee} happy!  :)









{cool chicks X 3}

Amy Tsuruta, Julie Tucker-Wolek and Yvonne Yam are 3 friends who met online.  They are offering a free workshop this week with projects using all the current hottest trends!  Take a look here if you would like to sign up! 

Yesterday's trend was banners.  I {love} banners.  They are so fun and can be used easily on both cards and layouts.  The girls offered up some awesome inspiration!  I used a sketch from Elle's Studio and a border trick from my friend, Val and made this layout. 

We're His Humans

a close-up of the border

and the title, aren't those tiny potty people cute?

Today's trend is doilies, cant wait to see what the girls have created!

Happy Tuesday, friends!



{lift me up}

Virginia Lu's cards are always uplifting and inspirational!  Her work with SRM is stellar.  She rocks Hero Arts stamps.  She combines the 2 beautifully!  She is a card making machine.  :)  Visit her blog and you'll see what I mean. 

Today, I am lifting this beauty: Life is Good by Virginia Lu



Life is Good by me



I'm not a stamper, so I layered a cut out from a Hambly Transparency onto a tag made from a KI Memories Sheer Delight. I added the same SRM Sentiment.

I continue to love making these little bows, and of course I had to include a My Mind's Eye brad:

Thanks Virginia for being a creative inspiration to all of us card makers!

Happy Monday. friends!  I hope happy finds you in your little part of the world!

{mother's day}

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one. -Jill Churchill

A big thank you to these 3 boys for making me the momma I am today.

I am blessed beyond measure.

Thinking of my mom today.  She passed away from early onset Alzheimer's Disease 19 years ago.  Since I was the youngest child and she had me later in life, she was gone before I had my boys.  She would have loved them, this I know. 

Happy Mother's Day, friends.

{pinwheel wedding} SRM

When I think wedding, I don't think long white dress and tux, I got married on the beach in my bathing suit after all, so I made these bouquets and boutonnieres with a somewhat low key whimsical wedding in mind.   Something out of the pages of Country Living.

 Grassy field, barn, picnic tables, mason jars - that sort of wedding.

The girls will carry these:

I found these pinwheels at the Dollar Spot at Target.  I wrapped the handles in twine from The Twinery and added some twill ribbon.  The SRM stickers from the Forever We've Got Your Sticker sets worked perfectly! 

The boys will wear these on their linen suit coats:

The Bo Bunny dotted paper matched the Prima flowers perfectly!  I added a little "celebrate love" flag with a heart pin and called it a boutonniere!

The bride will carry this:

I added a paper doily, because every bride, traditional or not, needs a little lace and some extra stickered grosgrain ribbon for her bouquet.

Like I said, it isn't for every bride, but for one who wants a simple whimsical wedding, these would work.  :)

Happy Wednesday, friends!



(studio challenge) sketch

It's time for another challenge at The Studio!  The best part of this challenge?  It is a sketch!  And not just any sketch.  Val created a wonderful sketch from one of Jules' layouts!  Here it is, wonderful - right? 

I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  I swapped out the little banner for an over-sized wooden banner that I just love!  I thought it might need something in the upper left corner, but everything I tried seemed too big or too small so I left it.  :)

Count Your Blessings

We have a wonderful new sponsor this month, Quirky Kits, has donated a lovely prize. Link up your creations this month and you have a chance to win.  So easy!

Here is a close-up of the banner. To use the brads on the wooden banner I snipped off the closures and glued them down!

I love how versatile the SRM Sticker Sentiments are, this one happens to be from the Fall sheet.  :)  The May Challenge over at the My Mind's Eye blog is to use brads in a creative way so I'm going to link this layout up.

Happy Sunday, friends.  Be on the lookout for happy today, I hear it is on a mission to find you!