Madalyn Mae...Precious Gift

Alrighty then another Friday reveal @ SOUS. I'm headed out of town to the Oklahoma Aquarium and Tulsa Zoo, we have a long weekend from school, yeah! I am so happy I get to share this post before I leave...
This is my sweet new grand niece....isn't she lovely...she was born on the 16th...another precious baby girl to bloom on our family tree!
This weeks sketch by our lovely Aymee Gandy. The background paper is from Fancypants....a gift from a dear friend. The other papers are some pink card stock and My Minds Eye.

This beautiful butterfly heart is from Love Struck...I added some xtra butterflies from Sentimentals and lots of stickles.

I used alpha beads and wire for precious and Lyrical letters for the rest of the title...a little pink heart paperclip just for fun. I adore this sheer ribbon, I added some heart beads to gather it in three places.
Some more wire, ribbon and a couple of tags.

I love, love, love the butterfly on Sentimentals...isn't it just the bomb...some bling and stickles to add a little glitz!

This fancy little square cut is from Sentimentals as well....I added another bead, a little charm and some more ribbon to the corner of the frame. The frame and scallop squares are all from stamping. I also added some dimensional paint to the title.

I threaded some beads onto a straight pin and stuck it through the ribbon. Hope you like....and hope you will have a chance to check out the rest of the DT's fab projects @ SOUS...maybe even show us a little something of your own.....cya later!

Expandable Photo Box & Cut File

Hey Hey Hey!!! Okay, here I am with the project and cut file I promised earlier this week. This is a photo box that the lovely Marion Smith created. I found this tute while visiting her blog, A Piece of Craft. Marion is simply amazing and if you have never paid her a visit I hope this encourages you to. To find the tute for the box click HERE for her blog...then got to kit boutique and then to videos....look for the expanding photo box, it is a two part tute. I am including a cut file for my cricut friends so all the measuring for the box and the papers are all done for you. I would like to give a big shout out to Judy for helping figure that out...check out Judy's awesome blog candy....click on the link on my sidebar. One cut file will be the box only and the other will include the box and the cuts for the flowers and some of the other embellishments I used on my box.
The front of this memory box is embellished with a button closure...Heritage for Memories, offray lace, and some fun beaded trim.

I used my K&C0 Life's Journey stack to create my box...just love those papers! I adore how the postcard paper looks for the expandable sides.

another view....

This pic shows the top inside of the box where I added some lace ribbon and this also gives a view of the dividers and tabs.

I decided I want to embellish my tabs and have not had time to finish them...but did not want to put off this post any longer.

Just some pics of what I have done on the tabs so far. The corner flourish is from my new Heritage cart...this is the first project I've used this wonderful cart on.

Thank you Barb for using vellum for your butterflies...it inspired me to try it again~These are cut from Sentimentals and then the edges are sponged with gold acrylic paint.

The flower was created with several cuts from plantin.

These cuts are also from Heritage....so much fun!

More of the Tim Holtz roses....click HERE to see how fun and easy these are to make....

My larger flower is the Tim flower with the xtra heart cuts from Home Decor as the bottom layer...all on the cut file. The wonderful flourish again Heritage. I am not sure if I want a pic or a quote in the K&Co frame...so it is empty right now.

My pink flowers are accented with Frosted Lace stickles while the newsprint roses have accents of Scattered Straw distress stickles. I also found this fab stem @ M's and knew it had a home on the top of my box.

Here are the cut file links....first time I've done this...hope it works!

Expandable Photo Box with flowers and flourishes

Expandable Photo Box

Some more sunshine to spread and a little peek!!!!

Hi everyone.....I started the coolest project yesterday and wanted to give you a little peek....I'm lovin it....I have an awesome tute to share that I found on the net from an amazing artist....I am also trying to figure out how to share cut files for DS so I can share this with my cricut friends...it makes the project so easy and relatively quick to put together....can't wait to finish and post!

If anyone has any how to tips on the cut files....please leave a comment and let me know...I've never done it before.

I also want to spread some more sunshine.....My original post for the Sunshine Award follows this post....I was so excited and touched to see that Kaye has passed me this award as well....I think that means God wants me to spread a little more too....so 6 more friends to share with.

Sandi....an amazing artist and wonderful encourager

Judy...xtra talented and so generous to always share her files with everyone

Damaris....cheerful and full of talent, she shares some awesome inspiration on her blog

Kelly....makes the most amazing cards...always super cute for the little girlies in her life

Margie....super inspirational and very talented

Leanne....such a sweetie and another awesome paper artist

I'm going to sneak one more to my kiddos at school....you may know they started a blog in class and I think they would be tickled.....

ESOL Cool Kids....because they bring a ray of sunshine to me everyday!!!

Thanx for helping me spread some more love Kaye!!! Please hop on over to Kaye's blog and check out her awesome work!!!!

Spread The SUNSHINE!

I am so blessed to have received this award from not just one but three of my blogging buds. Nanne , Debbie and Aaron have all shared this wonderful Sunshine Award with me and I am so very touched. All of these ladies are so sweet to me, always leaving thoughtful comments that are such a great souce of encouragement, true rays of sunshine in my life. I could pass this to all of you as each of you, my friends, bring such light into my life with all the love and wonderful inspiration each of you share with me. It's so much fun to receive these and see how they spread through the blogs...we are all like a little family...always there to give each other a little boost!!!! I thank each of you so much for that!

the rules for this award....

place the award in your post or within your blog

pass this award to six of your followers

link the nominees to your post

let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog

share the love and link to the person you received the award from

so my six

Monique....she has just started her blog and is an amazing artist...get to know her if you don't already, she is a sweetie

Brenda....I dub Brenda my all time encourager....I think she left the first comment on my first post when I first became part of the cricut mb

Sheila....she is so kind and so willing to share her wonderful creations and techniques...her blog has taken off like a rocket

Terry...she is an wonderfully talented in both art and sharing her sweet, sweet spirit

Kim...her work is amazing, she always shares so much of herself and her family in her projects

Dawn...she is also one of my first inspirations and cribut mb sisters....she is so very talented and juggles her family and her crafting so well

As I said....I could pass to all of you....you are all such a blessing...thanx for all the wonderful encouragement each of you provides....it means so much....hop on over and visit the ladies I mentioned...you won't be sorry!

Is it really Friday again???? New SOUS challenge!

Hey everyone.....hope this finds you all well....this weeks submission for SOUS...S(NO)W ANGEL...
I loved this fantastic Liz Qualman sketch so much I had to turn it into a two page layout. The pictures of Mcauley during a recent snow were just perfect for the pages. I adore the large photo...such an ornery look on his face....hence the title. Liz created this wonderful sketch as an original design for the SOUS challenge blog....what an honor to have a sketch created just for us!

I really love blues and browns together and really like these papers by Deja Views 'Home' collection....all the papers came from this stack. My photo frames and flourish are from Sentimentals....the marquee border is from Home Accents..the winter cuts and the font are all from Winter Woodlands except for the smallest snowflake which is a MS punch. The circle and the () are from Lyrical Letters. I also added some heart doily's I picked up on sale after Valentines day. Lots of distressing with some cherry craft stain and special touches of blue and white pearl paints.

I used both my swirl and swiss dots embossing folders to accent some of the cuts.

I could not resist adding these butterfly wings (Sentimentals) to my fun little snowmen. I used buttons and bling to give them some character as well as a little toothpick painted orange for the nose. I had some fun metal emblellies in my stash...the carefree tag and the word 'fun'....I love these little mini calendars to help preserve the date of the event.

A heart bingo card by Jenni Bolin, a little badge and another metal embellishment 'cool' on this page as well.

Just another look at the other snowman.

I found the little snowflake buttons during the holidays....

I did a dictionary look-up of memories and impression....printed on off white paper...distressed and then added some tiny hinges to hold this one to the page.

I just love the font on Winter Woodlands.

This is another really fun week @ SOUS...we have another talented guest designer and this fabulous sketch....hope you will hop on over and check it out. Speaking of hop......we have a DT blog hop in the works for next week.....so stay tuned for that!

Thanx for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comments....you have no idea how much your encouragement means to me!!

Treasure This

I really must begin my post with an apology. I have not been out and about this week at all!!!! I have missed all of the wonderful blog posts and hope to catch up on some this weekend. Along with 'normal' life I had the flu last weekend and it seems to have taken me all week to get back in the saddle.
Of course Friday is SOUS reveal...we have a really beautiful Liz Qualman sketch and a challenge for Valentine colors. I used DCWV for the background and the bright pink papers and of course had to throw in some K&Co with the floral! Several weeks ago I won a wonderful punch from Judy and finally had an opportunity to use it on this project, I love it!!!! Thanx again for that wonderful blog candy Judy!

The oval and frame are cut from Home Decor, I added the cut of the Sweehearts heart in DS, embossed, inked, layered and filled with buttons and beads. You can see the hearts from the cut in the left hand corner. I added some silk flowers, ribbon, metal embellies, more buttons and the tiniest of flowers.

This paper flower was created with layers of one of the Sweetheart flowers...I crinkled, inked and stickled. The butterfly is one from the January 1st tutorial I did on SOUS.

This flower was made with another Sweetheart cut, wet down, crinkled, layered, inked and stickled.

This is a closeup of the center of the layout. This is not a fantastic picture where quality is concerned but it is a very special treasure to me. It is the last photo of my mom with myself and my siblings....she looks so happy. We truly were everything to her and she reminded us of that up until the very end. She was such a blessing.
The font is cut from Plantin and placed inside of little metal adhesive tags. I also cut some paper circles for the larger metal tags, added some ribbon and placed them along the side of the photo. A few drops of pink pearl paint finish it off.

We have a special Guest Designer, a blog candy winner to announce and all the other creations from the awesome DT.....so hope you will head on over to SOUS and check all that out!

Heck With LOVE....I'd Rather Fall In Chocolate!

I just love Friday....the day of SOUS reveals and the beginning of the weekend...what could be better? We have a fun sketch from pagemaps this week.
You just gotta love K&Co....how delish are these papers...just over the top gorgeous...love them! I used some snacky pix.....cocoa and brownies...Mcualey and I enjoyed them on a cold winter afternoon. I chose to enhance the photos in a sepia tone, add the color to the berries and a lens enhancement to the center photo as well....just to add some sparkle.
My squares are cut with Stamping, the icons are from Sweethearts and Home Decor....all were cut @ 2". I embossed the brown patterned squares and the icons. The little 'stamps' are actually cut from a 12x12 card stock. The large LOVE is from Plantin Schoolbook, chocolate is cut from a yummy bronze metallic card stock by Recollections using Opposites Attract. I also added some lace layered with ribbon to the Right side of the page.

This gives you a better view of the lace and ribbon...along with my handmade rose....just lovin these roses right now....I especially love the look of this one cut from the K&Co newsprint paper.

Heck with and I'd rather fall in are all computer generated on cream paper, I have also distressed them a bit. I adore the script embossing folder I used on the icons....just so much fun....the patterned brown squares are embossed with a swirl.

Just another view .....I had these frosted lace stickles that I had decided I did not like.....that is until I used them on this layout....I love the way they look with these distressed papers.

A close up of the embellishment cluster shows off some of the detail I had so much fun creating! See the tiny little key resting on the lace? How fab is that?!!!! It came in a pack of tiny embellies from Recollections....I adore it. There are some bits of lace, a button, a small silk rose and my fun handmade flowers....I know I already said it but I'm just lovin these roses....so simple to make and the look is right up my alley....I added some frosted lace stickles to them as well. The greenery is from my Lyrical Letters cart and is much more delicate than a full leaf.

Well, that's my take on the sketch this week...can't wait to see what you come up with....Oh did I mention CANDY....yes, we have some!!!! Hop on over and check out the DT creations and your chance to win some scrappy goodness provided by our sponsor, Generations Crafting!

Thanx for taking the time to stop by today....and I really do enjoy each comment you leave...they bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart...thanx for that!

I'm On A Roll!!!!

Okay....I'm on a roll....LOL....lovin the TP albums so much this is my second in as many weeks....So with some empty tubes, paper, stash finds, and my cricut....here is what I came up with this time...
The papers are the Debonair stack by gcd studios. I've distressed them as well as the tp tubes. The butterfly is from Stamping, lots of fiber and ribbon and some garland. The word Memories is from Graphically Speaking....I've embossed with swiss dots and added lots of stickles. My flower is 3 layers @ 1 1/2 and is from the Sweethearts cart.

The marquee is from Stamping and I've added a small Love embossed die from my Cuttlebug...the heart is from Sweethearts and has a very subtle 'Adore' stamped in off white and a couple of buttons.

Faith is from Home Accents, the heart border Stamping. Bling ribbon and some buttons~

Again, a border from Stamping and some more Stamping butterflies. The small tags are cut from Sweethearts and are embossed with ribbon added. The small silk flowers are from Modern Romance.

Live, laugh, love all from Home Accents and the Gratitude is stamped onto lined paper.

On these two pages I've used Stamping for the circle, hearts, butterfly and marquee along with some bling and silk flowers. Sweethearts for the corner and Home Decor for the bird.

Another tab, a paper clip....imagine is from Home Accents. I've added an additional Sweethearts flower and a stamp that says memories and milestones.

The back of the book has another Home Decor bird and some of the garland and silk flowers.

This is a close up of one of the file tabs, I really love the look of these added to the tags. The words are computer generated and say....remember this....all we need is love....a special day and a moment in time.

Just another angle....glad you stopped by today.......Thanx for taking the time to leave all the lovely comments...they mean so much to me! Hope you have a great day