Dear Pebbles

You might have seen these on the Pebbles, Inc. blog a few days back but I thought I'd share them here, re-photographed so you can get a better view. I made these simple, graphic cards with a little help from my Silhouette, along with the bright & sunny patterns of the Hip Hip Hooray line:

 I love how the colors in this line contrast against bright white...

...and how this cursive font (Lollipop, downloaded from the Silhouette store) works with the overall feel of this line:

You can see a complete list of the Pebbles, Inc. products I used right here, along with some pretty cards by Kim Kesti. Oh, and check out the work of guest designer Laura Vegas - post a comment on the blog by Monday and you could win a prize pack of Pebbles goodies!

Now I've got a few hours to work at my desk and I plan to make the best of them. Hope you are having a great weekend!

SRM & The Twinery

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What a perfect combination!

A major perk of being part of the  SRM Stickers design team was getting to play with a gorgeous stash of colorful baker's twine from The Twinery.  Featured today (and yesterday) on the blog, is a great collection of projects made by the design team with this winning product combo. The team did a fantastic job and I'm always amazed but the multitude of uses for baker's twine.

Today I'll share my projects. The Twinery sent us a generous selection to play with and I was particularly loving the sunny/beachy colors. The title is a combination of a die cut word and a part of a sticker:

 Yes, more confetti. I apologize - I'm addicted to this stuff and the movement it adds:

 I added the stitching in and around the circle background & stickers for texture:

 The little sunburst in this detail inspired the card below:

Here's the card. For the focal point I scaled up the size of the little sunburst seen above. Simply a circle cut from the card base. I stitched around it (with twine) with the help of a Bazzill circle stitching template. I die cut more circles from the patterned papers (Pebbles, Inc.) cut them into pie shapes and glued them down. I stitched the rays around the orange papers:

You'll definitely want to stop by the SRM blog to see what the design team has made and also to comment and win an SRM prize pack! 

Back tomorrow with some Pebbles, Inc. cards - hope you have a great day!

The Crafter’s Workshop/Balzer Designs Blog Hop

If you have arrived from Julie's blog - welcome!

I am so thrilled to be a part of Julie Balzer's blog hop to showcase her new line of stencil designs for The Crafter's Workshop. I've been using Crafter's Workshop stencils for a long time and loving them. Julie's designs for them are fantastic and feature her signature patterns and style.

Here's the stencil I got to work with; the Wedding Ring stencil:

I loved this pattern as soon as I saw it. It's traditional feel of a classic quilt pattern mixed with Julie's modern, graphic patterns is a perfect combo. You might recall a post from the holidays in 2010 where I made some cookies with stamped images for Julie's Handmade Holidays blog hop. Well, she asked if I might be able to employ this stencil on a cookie project and I was happy to oblige!

I started with my favorite shortbread recipe cut into some simple shapes I thought would complement the pattern in the stencil - circles and squares:

I iced them with a base of white royal icing then I amassed my supplies. I tried a few different techniques before I realized I got the best results with the 'spray mist' technique.

I filled some *clean, *unused Ranger Mini Misters with some super concentrated food colorant and a small amount of water. I arranged the dry iced cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment and covered them with the stencils. Then I sprayed them with the food color spray. The less spray, the more defined the pattern. The more spray, the more slubby and 'imperfect' (I prefer the imperfect ones, personally.)  Here are some photos of my results - I piped on the white accents after the spray color had dried & really like how they turned out:

I loved working with this stencil to make these cookies. Typically, iced cookies take a long time - the reason I haven't been making very many of them lately. But this stencil was such a great alternative to my traditional method & a huge time saver. Looking forward to making lots of these this summer.

Now there is plenty more to see! Julie has organized a very creative group to share more projects with this cool stencil - and if you leave a comment on her blog you can win one. Here's the list in case you've lost track.

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Valerie Mangan (you are here!)

Jennifer Mason

Christine Urias

Michelle LaPoint Rydell

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

** Important Note: When using craft supplies for food projects, please make sure they are new or unused. The chemicals is inks & paint can be very harmful if ingested even in small amounts. Better safe than sorry - use brand new!

More Elle's Studio...

One last Elle's Studio page to share today from the April inspiration gallery. This is one of my faves. I took this picture of my daughter, from the seat behind her on an amusement park train ride, a little before her 7th birthday. I remember seeing her through the lens that day and realizing she wasn't a baby anymore. sigh.

I used the current Studio Calico kit for this one as well, along with a mix of Elle's Studio tags and journaling cards. The little '7' is a new item from Elle's and it paired nicely with my die cut script title:

Here I used some of the Elle's Studio packaging to back the stencil 'M' from a Jenni Bowlin die cut sheet:

You can check out the full inspiration gallery right here. That team sure does know how to put together some amazing projects!

Happy to say I am almost in the clear of a week loaded with big crafty deadlines. One more project and I can breathe a little sigh of relief before the next wave - which also includes the final design project for my class as school. I think I'm in good shape - I just need to carve out the time and get drafting!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day here on the old blog. I'll be part of a very cool blog hop with the awesome Julie Balzer, and also participating in a cool SRM Stickers/Twinery event too. Would love it if you'd stop by. I've got some fun projects to share!

Elle's Studio Inspiration Gallery

The new inspiration gallery is live at Elle's Studio and wow! It's a great one. I'm going to be so sad when my time on this team is over. I am so loving being a part of that gallery each month. (And if you haven't met her, online or in person, Elle is awesome!!) Today I'll share layout #2  for the gallery (accidentally shared that first one a little prematurely ;)


I loved the Studio Calico kit from last month. I picked up one of the add-ons, too - so I've got a lot of kit to work through still. I used it for this page:

I don't usually like to use a bright solid color for the background (I've been on a white kick lately) but this teal felt kind of vintage to me and it was great with the yellows in those photos. Here's the title - I took apart the Jenni Bowlin perforated sheet from the kit and tucked the pieces under the circular title tag:

The rest of the projects I made, along with the design team gallery (which you don't want to miss) can be seen here. Did you get your new Elle's Studio kits yet? Hoping mine comes today! I could use a pick me up on this dreary Monday. 

It's going to be a busy week on the blog. Thursday in particular - so I hope you will stop by again. I'll be back tomorrow with project number 3. Hope you have a great day!

Elle's Studio April Gallery

Today I get to start sharing all the projects I've been working on - beginning with my Elle's Studio projects for April. Did you know Elle's Studio is about to launch it's new website? I'll let you know when it's up and running - in the meantime, you can view the design team inspiration gallery in it's usual location. So here we go - the first of three pages I made for this month - going to kick it off with my fave:

I love the neutral mix of paper on this page with the contrast of green and blue -courtesy of the current Studio Calico kit & Elle's. Here you can see 2 of the Elle's Studio tags I used - along with the date stamp:

I used the grey letter stickers from the kit and punched my confetti with a small circle punch I picked up from Stampin' Up last year. I seriously love the confetti trend (in case you hadn't noticed). It gives a more controlled & ordered 'splatter' effect than mist or paint, which I have never been able to master. I also like how it fills white space without cluttering up the page or adding thickness. Trick is not to over-control it. I start by just throwing the little circles in the general vicinity of where I want them then tweak them slightly. I use a glue pen to stick them down. Tedious, yes - but worth the effort I think.

And here's a close up of the stencil sheet - which I cut up to use as initials:

Also, on the topic of Elle's Studio - have you seen the new kits? One of each of these is on it's way to me and I can hardly wait. I love the product mix and the special edition tags are amazing. And have you seen the stamps?! Elle's Studio really makes fantastic stamps.  Here's Everyday Moments:

and Here & Now:

Get them while they last because I'm sure they won't!

So here in the Northeast we are covered with a blanket of yellow/green pollen that is making my life pretty miserable. I wish the leaves would do their thing already because my eyes seriously can not take it anymore! Hope you are in a less pollinated area & enjoying the spring weather (or early Fall for you folks in the southern hemisphere!)
Happy Friday!

Elle's April Sneaks

Been busy on the crafty front but nothing I can share officially yet. I do have a few Elle's Studio sneaks though, just to keep things colorful. For this page I used the Studio Calico March kit. (Almost have that one killed!)

I used the April Studio Calico kit for the 2 pages below. I thoroughly enjoyed working with that Jenni Bowlin stencil sheet that was included - here I backed the 'M' with Elle's Studio packaging (which I realized comes in lots of pretty colors).

 and I've got a little crush on the confetti trend too:

I'll share them as soon as the gallery goes live - which will also coincide with the new Elle's Studio web site. Can't wait to see how Elle has redesigned her site.

and did you see this....

yipee - a new Elle's kit! This sneak looks great - can't wait to get mine!! (Word on the street is there will be an add-on, too.) Keep an eye out for it's release 9 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday!).

It's been feeling like summer here in New Jersey. It feels like school should be out and the pool should be open but not quite. I am so ready!  I worked on some cards for the Paper Crafts Holiday Cards issue over the weekend while I was sweating at my desk. Definitely not feeling in the holiday mood but somehow the mojo was in full effect. What a relief - it's been a while. For the first time in a long time I ran out of hours to work before I ran out of ideas.  Now hopefully, the magazine editors will want some of my cards. Anyone else make anything for that call over the weekend?

Sunday at The Studio

Today's challenge at The Studio is to make a page inspired by a song.  So many possibilities here but for my project I chose one of my favorite old songs from the 70's - Beautiful Sunday by Daniel Boone. (Whenever I hear that song I thing about being in the car on the way to our family summer vacation in Pennsylvania - amazing how a song can take you back...) It's a happy song and  I thought it suited the pictures on my page below: 

Lots of  Pebbles, Inc. here. I used a Fresh Goods kraft for the base and a mix of the 2 new lines (Hip Hip Hooray and Country Picnic). I used most of the pattern in the punched circles to make the scallop border. 

The sun is a Silhouette store die cut (I use that sun a lot). I printed the word beautiful right onto the patterned paper for that little banner:

I hope you will play along this week. The design team has put together a gallery of projects sure to inspire. And be sure to link up your project at The Studio for a chance to win the prize for our sponsor Craft Island!

Busy week ahead. We got away easy last week with the kids and their activities all on spring break. Tomorrow it's back to reality and our full, heavy schedule. Counting down the days until Summer now - especially with high 80's predicted for NJ tomorrow.

Hope you've had a great weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Elle's Studio Sketch

Got to play along in the Elle's Studio sketch challenge this week. Which also meant breaking into the current Studio Calico kit. My crafty time has been extremely limited lately so it felt good to get back to the desk. I don't know about you but when I don't make anything for a week I start to feel like I forgot how to do it. All the materials on my desk start to look foreign to me. Thank goodness for sketches and kits! Makes the whole process so much less intimidating. Here is my page - inspired by a sketch of a Kim Jeffress page:

I did not stray far from the original sketch, which you can see on the Elle's Studio blog today. I angled the main element cluster so I could fit those large pennant shapes on the page. Also added a few extra layers near the photo. Here are some details:

So much good woodgrain paper out there these days, no?

I get to share the blog space today with the extremely talented Meghann - who has made one of the most gorgeous pages ever! You check out her page and the sketch on the blog today.

Here's a list of the Elle's Studio items I used on this page:
Bright Vintage Pennants
One and Only Large Journaling Tags
Lil' Snippets (Saturday)
Collected Cutouts Tags

Remaining items: Studio Calico City of Lights kit

Off for a couple of days to spend some time with my little people who have been on a '10 day weekend' as my son describes it. Happy to catch a little time off with them. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Happy Easter!

I'm cooking brunch for my family today which includes an egg hunt for the kids. I spent most of yesterday cooking & baking - which felt really good. I haven't baked in ages. I made a pizza rustica (aka Italian Easter Pie) a blueberry crumb cake and some currant scones. This morning I've got to cook all the breakfast food that can't be made in advance, plus a ham and a few other items I prepped yesterday. Brunch is hard because it's so early in the day but I prefer cooking brunch as opposed to 'dinner' food.  It just feels less formal and there are way more baked goods involved. I have to remember to take pictures. I always get too distracted to take photos of my hard work.

Before I get pulled into the day, I wanted to share this Easter page I made for the Pebbles, Inc. blog last week  - featuring a photo of my little boy from a few years ago:

With the exception of the aqua letter stickers, this page was made entirely with the new lines: Country Picnic and a little Hip Hip Hooray:

I am in love with the sequin candy dots. I've already blown through my supply. I'm also in love with that printed kraft in the background. I'm going to be stockpiling that pattern. The print is little flowers but I love how subtle it is. Again, used those ovals from the Silhouette store.

It was Easter week on the Pebbles, Inc. blog - hope you got to check out the amazing projects. There were plenty of them!

Now it's time for me to get back to the kitchen. If you are celebrating today - I hope you have a lovely day! As always, thank you for stopping by!

Be @ Home

Very excited to be featured at Be@Home blog today!

If you're not familiar, Be @ Home is a great resource for everything you need to make your house a home. Each week they have a 'Best of the Web' feature where they share blogs they think might be interesting to their readers.  That's where I come in, featured in 'Best of the Web' for this week along with some other amazing blogs. I've had a great time exploring the other blogs. What a great resource! You can check out the post right here. 

It's Easter Week at the Pebbles, Inc. blog . I will have a page up this week but today I'd like the share the 'B' page - the page I didn't submit. (sometimes the 'B' page never sees the light of day but I thought I'd share this one). I used lots of Country Picnic for this project, along with a little Hip Hip Hooray, too:

I downloaded that shape from the Silhouette store - it's from a set of stitched shapes. I used the oval to make the 'eggs' then stitched around them. (The oval is my least favorite shape. I never use them and I had a hard time finding an oval that was not 'so oval-y' - these definitely fit the bill.) I splattered some Mister Huey and yellow paint to drive home the 'dye' theme. The orange tag is Elle's Studio.

I framed the vertical photo block with strips of pattern then stitched around them.

I'll post the official page here soon - so stay tuned. Definitely check out the Pebble's Inc. blog - the projects are so beautiful!!

Thanks for stopping by!