Scrapping the Little Things

Welcome to Monday, Scrapping the Little Things, with the My Creative Time team. Today's layout (pardon the odd color change - that happens when I scan something lumpy) is a fun camping page. This was Grace last summer. Who would have thought she would blend into the forest so easily with all that war paint and dirt by the end of the week! LOL

Along the top of the page I added a banner because I like banners. :) Hee! This is made using the starburst die from the Build a Banner kit by My Creative Time. Folded over the twine, they make perfect little banner flags! Also, notice the sign in the picture. Love!

I love how the title turned out! The signs and letters are a Quickutz die. They are perfect for this fun title treatment. Bamboo skewers (a staple in my craft room!) make the sign poles and the grass clumps at the bottom are another Quickutz die--not grass either. I used the small leaves from the bamboo die.

She was so clean and sparkly when she left for camp..... LOL But check out my border. Isn't it cute. These are from the You Are Here set from the latest release. The camping tent is actually the sailboat from that set.

Product List:
My Creative Time, You Are Here stamp set
My Creative Time, Build a Banner kit die
My Creative Time, Stitched Mini Frame and Arrow die
My Creative Time, Chocolate Greetings flag die
Quickutz 2x2 bamboo die, 4x6 Tiki alphabet and sign die, ovals
BoBunny, Camp a Lot 6x6 paper pad
Bamboo skewers, twine, ink, brads, button

** Birthday Bash Blog Hop **

Welcome to another fabulous hop and GIVEAWAY with My Creative Time. You are in for an awesome treat so I suggest you grab a cuppa yer fave bev, and start hopping for your chance to win a complete Project Life prize package!!!! All righty let's get to details....

BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY ALERT!

How would YOU like to be the LUCKY winner of this FABULOUS  Project Life COMPLETE Scrapbook Kit BLUSH EDITION?  Yep, Miss Emma had ordered an extra one to giveaway for this special day! ;)  All you have to do is leave a comment at EACH stop in this hop.  For additional entries, become a follower of this blog if you aren't already, and spread the word on facebook to all of YOUR friends! Once you do that, visit My Creative Time Facebook page HERE and let Emma know you did. 

This is a FABULOUS prize!! 

Good Luck!

***SALE ALERT***

In addition, for THIS WEEKEND ONLY, please use this code: BDAY42  at checkout to get 20% off  your purchase! You can start shopping HERE! This sale will end at midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, May 12. As a birthday present from ME to all of YOU, I am giving away this ADORABLE stamp set with orders placed THIS WEEKEND ONLY! *$20 minimum order required to receive free stamp set.

  ***All orders from this sale will start shipping Monday, May 13th*** 

Emma's mom will be OFF and enjoying her Mother's Day weekend :)

What's a party without cupcakes, right!?? Isn't this a cute little mini party! I made a balloon flag "centerpiece" and cupcake topper flags. This was so much fun. The hubster loves it when I do 3D projects because they often times involve food, generally sweets, and he gets to eat them after I get all my blog pics. He enjoys it so much that if he questions anything "extra" that goes in the shopping cart on grocery day I just tell him "it's props" and he doesn't bat an eye. HAHAHA!! But I digress....let's get this party started, shall we. :)

Happy Birthday flag using large tag die

Cupcake picks using Chocolate Greetings flag die, curly label die and stitched curly label die.

 

I love the idea of individual 'cakes' so I came up with this fun little idea for cupcakes. {Which I later saw on a baking blog and thought to myself how clever I am for doing this all on my own! LOL} This is great if you have a kids' party and have leftovers to send home. This makes it easier for transport without it getting too awfully squished along the way. 

Gusset bag mini-tutorial:

Also, if you don't have gusset bags, you can easily make your own from flat bags. This works especially well with long bags as this will leave room for tying ribbon to close the top. 

Add a piece of double sided tape along the bottom of the bag, on just one side, end to end. (fig 1)

fig 1 

Remove the liner from the tape and fold up a couple of inches - the higher you fold, the bigger the bottom of the bag will be - press to adhere. (fig 2)

fig 2 

Open up the bag and flatten the bottom. (fig 3) It's not easy to see here as the bag is clear, but I've added arrows to the photo to show the bottom....hopefully that helps you 'get' how it will look.

fig 3 standing bag

And there you have it! If you aren't excited about this hop by now, I don't know what to do with you!! Hahaha!! If you started at the beginning you will have arrived here from Ruthie's blog are right on track. Up next is Tracy.

We also have a guest designer joining us today--our former teamie, Trell came to our party!! YAY! So happy to have you with us today, Mr. Trell!! 

Blog hop line up:

Emma~ http://www.creativetimeforme.com/ 

Amy ~ http://www.scrappingmommy.com/

Cassandra ~ http://www.ctimz3.blogspot.com/

Cathryn ~ http://inthepinkcathryn.blogspot.com/

Cheryl ~ http://dragonflydesigns58.blogspot.com/

Cindy B. ~ http://www.cindybcreations.blogspot.com/

Courtney ~ http://courtscrafts.blogspot.com/

Glora ~ http://glorascrafts.blogspot.com/

Katie ~ http://www.craftingwithkatie.com/

Kim ~ http://www.scrapinmomofoneinspiringlittleboy.blogspot.com/

Leanne ~ http://createdbyleanne.blogspot.com/

Liz ~ http://www.lizspaperloft.com/

Micia ~ http://yellowbirdcreation.blogspot.com/
Nancy ~ http://scrappingoutofcontrol.blogspot.com/
Nikki ~ http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/
Rosy ~ http://sweetdelightspapernmore.blogspot.com/
Ruthie ~ http://septemberninth.blogspot.com/

YOU ARE HERE ~ Shar ~ http://scrapendipity.blogspot.com/

Tracy ~ http://tracyscricutcorner.blogspot.com/

Veronica ~ http://www.vkcreate.blogspot.com/
Guest Designer Trell ~ http://polkadotsandpaint.blogspot.com/

Product List:
Dollar Store wedding and party supplies:
clear cups, clear shot glasses, curling ribbon, balloons, bamboo kabob skewers
My Creative Time dies:
large tag, curly label, stitched curly label, chocolate greetings flag
My Creative Time stamps:
Here's Lookin at You - stars from the necktie
More of My Favorite Sayings
It's All About You
We are Family - tiny heart
Celebrate Good Times
Other:
treat bags, ink, glossy accents, glitter, double sided tape, quickutz candle die, polka dot paper by October Afternoon

Thrifty Thursday....

or...what's the haps with the scraps!? ;) Welcome to thrifty Thursday where we use up scraps and/or items that would typically be tossed in the round file! For today's card, I've used paper scraps from the MME Fun Day Happy Days collection.

I wanted a simple background but plain white was TOO simple. So I used a polka dot stamp in a shade to coordinate with the blue/kraft.

The only part of this card that is not a rescued scrap of some kind is the card base.

The hot air balloon, you may recognize as a My Creative Time die....BUT it is not the hot air balloon die! For this card, I wanted a small balloon so that I would have room for the banner across the top. I used the new release LIGHT BULB DIE for this balloon!!!! The basket can be cut by hand, but I used the basket from the hot air balloon stamp and trimmed it smaller to fit the smaller balloon. Love it! The flower is merely a rolled circle. Easy peasy :)

Product List:
My Creative Time, You're Brilliant light bulb die
My Creative Time, Chunky Jar Accessories tag dies
My Creative Time, Vintage label and banner die
My Creative Time, Fly Away With Me cloud dies
My Creative Time, Fly Away With Me sentiment stamps
My Creative Time, Teeny Tag Greetings tag die
My Creative Time, Chocolate Greetings tag die
My Creative Time, Fun Stitched tickets dies
My Creative Time, Fun Tickets sentiment stamps
Peachy Keen, PK-103 extra small polka dot background stamp
My Favorite Things fishtail tag die
My Minds Eye Kraft Fun Day Happy Days 6x6 paper pad
Twine, circle die, MS hydrangea punch, bling, ink

Jump Up - it's 3D Wednesday

Welcome to Hump Day, the day that takes us over the hump to the weekend! Yay. Today is also the day we share 3D projects at My Creative Time. This variety of little teensy pansies is my favorite. My mom had these in her yard when I was little. This variety is called Johnny Jump-ups. I've always loved these pretty little flowers and the name was just cute to me.

Ok, so this is how my project started. I wasn't sure it was going to work out, but I decided, in case it did, to get pics of the process. I pulled out a few of the papers I wanted to use and got to work.

This is not all the paper I used, I needed quite a few more scraps, so I pulled out some different shades of green for more natural looking foliage I planned to create. Not every leaf on every plant in nature matches the others exactly anyway.  I ran the green through the crimper to soften the paper and make it more pliable for my leaves. After I crimp it, I sort of roll out the crimps with my fingers and smooth the paper a bit before cutting my leaves. The circles are 1/2 inch and I did nothing extra to prep those; just punch. You'd be surprised how many little circles you can get from scraps! For each flower, I cut 4 vanilla (one of these will be the base onto which you'll attach all the petals) and 2 eggplant.

Forming the pansies is pretty simple. Let me tell you, I've been struggling for months to find the perfect way to make these flowers and couldn't come up with one that I was pleased with. Until now. Simple as can be -- circles! Pppfftt!!! Well all righty then! Simply glue the two purple circles to the upper half of one of the vanilla circles overlapping each other. (I think you can see that ok in the pics, right?) Then on the bottom half of the base circle, do the same with two of the vanilla circles, but not overlapping each other. They will however, be overlapping the bottom half of the purple ones. Does that make sense? Again, I think it's pretty easy to tell in the photo how they are applied.

To finish the flower, I used TH Distress Marker, Dusty Concord, to draw veins in the vanilla petals, including the petal that is not yet attached. On the final petal I used TH Distress Ink, Wild Honey, to add color just to the upper part where the veins are, then I pinched it together just at the top. Now I glue it to the flower using Glossy Accents or other semi quick drying glue. (Because I am impatient when working with flowers and when I get this close to finishing, I don't want to wait for glue to dry before I can move to the final step. LOL) After it dried thoroughly, I then added a dab of Glossy Accents to the fold of the pinch (that sounds weird, doesn't it) and placed a yellow bead. This is extra, you don't have to add that, but I liked it and I had them, so I used them.

Once I had cut a big pile of leaves, I inked them with TH Distress Ink peeled paint, then went over just the outside with walnut stain. I always use these two colors on all my leaves for all the flowers I make, no matter what shade of green the paper is, by the way. With a tweezer or your fingers, pinch together where the stem meets the leaf, as you can see below.

If you're following along with me, now all that's left is to glue the leaves to the back of the flowers and use them on your project! I used mine in this tiny little flower pot I picked up for 25¢ I attached the flowers to toothpicks back-to-back with hot glue, and stuck them into a small styrofoam egg I had left from an Easter project which just so happened to fit perfectly into the tiny pot!

I continued to add flower stems as needed until I had the look I wanted to achieve. Then I made the cute flag from bamboo skewer, the little window card using the new mini frame die, and added the ribbon to around the top of the pot (in the first pic). I wish it had photographed truer to the color though...it's a perfect match to the color of the flower petals but looks more blue on my screen. I hope you can see it more purpley!

Thanks for coming by for 3D Wednesday. Be sure to check out the other designer blogs as well for their awesome projects today.

Product List:
My Creative Time, Mini Frame die
My Creative Time, It's All About You stamp set
My Creative Time, Bloom Where You are Planted stamp set
My Creative Time, Vintage label and banner die
TH Distress Inks, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain, Dusty Concord, Wild Honey
TH Distress Marker, Dusty Concord
Circle punch 1/2 inch, leaf die, beads, dragonfly charm, grosgrain ribbon, paper scraps, styrofoam egg, bamboo skewer, round toothpicks, tiny terra cotta pot

Happy National Scrapbooking Day

I decided totally last minute {meaning about the time I should have been getting to bed} to make a special NSD project for the blog. I planned to make a tag. But as you can see, it sort of took on a life of it's own and became a tad more. I do like it!! Have a crafty day, my friends!!!! ♥

Product List:
My Creative Time:
Large Tag die
Stiched Mini Frame and Arrow die
Capture Frame and Arrow die
Camera Shy stamp set
Stitched doily die
Stitched ticket die
Vintage label and banner
Chocolate Greetings banner die
Build a Banner kit
Quickutz tiny camping people dies
My Favorite Things fishtail tag and camera dies
Simple Stories 24/7 paper pad, 6x6
Twine, loop brads, ink, buttons

Are you up to the challenge?

Today is Designer Challenge day with My Creative Time. Design Team Member, Glorajean has challenged us -- and that includes you! -- to make a set of four 3x3 cards. And if that isn't enough of a challenge for you, use an animal theme and add critters! What a fun challenge!  I really enjoyed using some of my super oldie moldie Quickutz farm animal dies for this challenge. Let's go see how it turned out.....

Didn't these turn out so cute. The papers were so easy to work with -- all the patterns and extras are part of the pattern. All I added were the animals, their mud, grass and scratch, and the sentiment tags.

I even used the leftover paper to adorn the envelopes. left is the back; right is the front with cute tab for adding a name.

The sentiments are from the newest release, You're Brilliant.

Here are the cards and envelopes bundled with twine. I thought the "I have an idea" sentiment was the perfect for lead-in to each of the card sentiments in the set. This challenge was so much fun. I hope you'll join us and link up your project at My Creative Time. You could be a winner of delicious My Creative Time yummyness!!!

Product List:
My Creative Time, You're Brilliant stamp and die set
My Creative Time, Vintage Label and Banner die
My Creative Time, Chocolate Greetings die
My Creative Time, 3x3 Fancy Envelope die
My Creative Time, Slider Treat Box die
Quickutz double-kutz dies: 0069 (pig) 0178 (lamb) 0272 (chicken) 0523 (barn)
Simple Stories, Summer Fresh 6x6 paper pad
Twine, buttons, raffia ribbon for the hay in the barn, Distrezz-it-all distressing tool

It's 3D Wednesday - and a tutorial

Happy hump day! Today for our 3D Wednesday projects we are to use at least 3 flowers. Well, hello!!!! :) I got this! I made this magnetic bookmark and matching birthday card for my daughter. Both my girls have always loved reading and have been doing so since the ages of 2 and 3. Their love of books and reading continues and they, like their mom, are hardcore, real pages, book readers--no kindles for us, thank you. Let's hear it for real books with real pages!! :)

Bookmark Tutorial
I've had several requests to do a tutorial for the magnetic bookmarks I posted last week. They are so easy a tutorial isn't really needed, but since you asked I'll share how I made mine.

*Start with a piece of paper or cardstock the size you want your bookmark, plus 3 inches for foldover. Depending on the weight of paper you're using, you will decide if you want to use chipboard as a backing. For the first ones I made, I added  chipboard (cracker box) to the back of the paper just to make it sturdier, but for this one, the paper was plenty heavy enough AND double sided! *BONUS* 

*For the magnet on the long side, I punched a 1/2 inch circle from an advertising magnet (those that come on the phone book, or in junk mail etc.) and adhered it with Glossy Accents. 

*To line up the other magnet for perfect placement, place it on the magnet dot you adhered (after it's dry) and add a substantial dot of Glossy Accents right on the magnet. Now fold down the back piece (the foldover part) onto the magnet and glue, and place a stamping block or something not too heavy on it while it dries. 

*I found that two of the thin magnets weren't a sufficient hold so I wanted something stronger. I found tiny button magnets in the craft section at Walmart that work perfectly. I imagine you can get these pretty much anywhere, but shopping is limited here so Walmart it is for me. LOL And that's pretty much it!!! 

*Decorate how you wish, add a monogram or initial, or whatever you like!

Here's the back, with the magnets adhered in place. I find that Glossy Accents is a more sturdy hold than a liquid glue, and grabs better than hot glue. 

Flower embellishment on the card. That makes 4 flowers total for my project today. Yay for flowers! Leaves and branch-thingies are Spellbinders and My Favorite Things dies. Banners are also from My Favorite Things. Doily die by My Creative Time.

 Sentiment and tag die by My Creative Time.

Finished card by itself. Love these papers. They are from the MME Fun Kraft Happy Days 6x6 paper pad.

Thanks for coming by this 3D Wednesday. I hope my quick tutorial is helpful. Be sure to stop by the other designer blogs today as well to see what awesomeness they have created for your viewing pleasure!

Product List:
My Creative Time, Stitched Doily die
My Creative Time, Chunky Jar Accessories die
My Creative Time, More of My Favorite Sayings stamp set
My Creative Time, Fun lowercase alphabet dies
My Creative Time, leaves
My Favorite Things, stax fishtail tags and leaves
My Minds Eye, Fun Kraft Happy Days 6x6 paper pad
Spellbinders, foliage die
Quickutz, nesting circle dies
Ink, ribbon, lace ribbon, string pearl beads, magnet buttons

Bri turns 2!

Hello Monday! And hello again Scrapping The Little Things. Today we're creating scrapbook layouts and smash book pages. 

Quick happy birthday to my daughter, Sally today also! ♥

I haven't done a two page layout in eons but I thought these pics of my sweet little niece, Bri needed their own pages, so here we are. :) 

Sweet banner using My Creative Time, Fun Alphabet lowercase dies and the treat slider box.

Chunky Jar Accessories die - love this crown and the details cut out beautifully. I used a paint chip samplefor the crown.

Sentiment from My Creative Time, Wow So Many Candles stamp set.

Sentiment again from Wow, So Many Candles, label from the Treat Slider Box die set, and adorable ice cream cone die from Celebrate Good Times. Journaling lines are a stamp from the Cherish This Moment stamp set.

Page 2:
I'm not really sure why this looks so totally crooked here...honestly it doesn't look like this in real life. LOL Weird. She's still cute though and that's what counts. ;)

Banner on this page using Build a Banner dies and, again, the treat slider box die. Sentiments are all from Celebrate Good Times stamp and die set.

Again, Celebrate Good Times sentiment and treat slider box label die.

Flower here is made up of three dies. Scalloped circle die, flower petals die, and stitched buttons die.

Product List:
My Creative Time, Celebrate Good Times stamp and die set
My Creative Time, Wow, So Many Candles stamp set
My Creative Time, Chunky Jar Accessories dies
My Creative Time, Treat Slider Box die
My Creative Time, Cherish This Moment stamp set
My Creative Time, Build a Banner kit
My Creative Time, Scallop circle die
My Creative Time, Flower petals die
My Creative Time, Stitched Button die
October Afternoon pattern papers
Quickutz notebook edge die
Fishtail flag dies, twine, ribbon, paint chip samples {purple}, ink