Beautiful VERVE...

Hi guys! So, I am completely OBSESSED with this new stamp set, BEAUTIFUL YOU, by Verve Stamps.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a quote gal. I love collecting stamps w/ different, meaningful quotes and feel they make the perfect sentiment for greeting cards and scrapbook pages alike.

When I saw this Anniversary set, I ordered it the minute I saw it. Not only do I LOVE the quotes in this set but the flourishes and fonts alike. Ok, and would you check out this GORGEOUS flower? I've never had so much fun coloring with chalks before!

I used Chocolate Chip paper from Stampin Up! along with their Afternoon Tea DP. Love the blues, greens and browns in that particular paper pack. I also used Pool from the Truly Yours stationery line from Archiver's as the solid blue strip above the DP (scalloped w/ my Fiskars rotary trimmer). The satin sheen ribbon is from American Crafts and is my favorite brown ribbon to use. I love the pearlescent sheen and it's a relatively stiff ribbon so it cuts really easily.

Using my Nestabilities die cuts, I scalloped a large Chocolate Chip circle and also embossed the Pool colored paper circle, but you can't see it unless you click on the pic and look up close. For the last few finishing touches, I used my pearlized chalks from Pebbles, Inc. to add some brown and blue shading to the unique flower from the Beautiful You set. I used a pearl brad for the center of the flower along with three tiny accent pearls for the bottom of the card. The quote is from the set and was stamped in Dark Chocolate Palette Ink from Papertrey Ink.

Enjoy and as always I so appreciate your looking and commenting. It means the world to me. Hope your week is going well. It's back to school here and wow is it a whirlwind!!!

Til next time,

When It's JUST RITE, you just know :)

It's not too often in this craft when we make a few things for ourselves...right? Is it just me? I almost feel guilty making a card designed with ME in mind as opposed to its recipient. Does anyone else ever feel like this? I mean, sure, we design what we like, but sometimes, we don't fully put "ourselves" into the card. At least not as much as I'd always like to? Anyway....

I have been dying to purchase the do-it-yourself Monogram Stamper from JustRite for a while, now. I've been ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it for weeks, actually. I finally purchased this last week and I have to say, I've only used it a handful of times but I LOVE it!

It's really user friendly, and with interchangeable borders AND letters, what could be more personalized? You can even change the color of the ink you want to use with additional dry pads that you can ink with any color. The whole concept is pretty cool...and can you HEAR the Christmas gift wheels turning? Personalized items make the perfect gift for so many reasons, don't you think?

To make this little stationery set scream "jess", of COURSE it had to be pink :) I used Sweet Blush paper from Papertrey along w/ Berry Sorbet and also the Pink Patterns Designer Paper. Butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart crafts. I also used a flower from Papertrey's Floral Frenzy to stamp inside the monogrammed area. It's a nice way to tie the pink into the monogram, especially since I'm not sure what I think about the black ink next to all that pretty pink ;) It's definitely fun for a first project though and a great excuse for pink AND butterflies!

I'm sure you'll be seeing/hearing more from me using this cool new "toy" from Just Rite. Be sure to email me w/ tips and ideas for those of you that just got on the JustRite bandwagon long before I did. Also, head on over to Katie's blog, My Paper Haven, to check out the ADORABLE projects she created with her JustRite stamper as well! I'm lovin' the pencil holders!!! After all, it's back to school next week!

Have a great day and stay tuned for tonight's winning blog candy recipient! Thanks everyone for reading!!!

UPDATE: Congrats to IamDerby, the # was 2, so you won the blog candy this evening :) Email me your address when you get a chance and enjoy the journal. Thanks for playing everyone!!!

Digital Scrapbooking...Whew! QUITE the adventure! AND.....1st EVER Blog Candy!!!

Ok, so most of you know what a see-saw ride it's been for me regarding ALL things digital. If you don't, let me just start by saying that I'm a camera snob. So, when I was given my first 35mm Canon Rebel for my birthday a few years back in 2004 I swore it would be the only thing I'd EVER use.

Eh-hem...fast forward to present. Ok, so most of you know what a camera SNOB I am. If you didn't, you read the first paragraph of this entry and now know. So, needless to say, when i was given my first DIGITAL Canon Rebel XTi for Mother's Day this year, I swore it would be the only thing I'd EVER use.

I will admit that it's been a few months since I have owned this incredible toy and have yet to take it where I want to go, you know, that place, not too far off in the distance, called "The Land of Untapped Potential?" Ay-yi-yi. SOOO much it can do, sooo little time it's neglectful owner has had for it.

Anyway, stay tuned as I have now challenged myself, by sharing with you, my loyal readers, to learn more about this wonderful little giant of digital photography. I will definitely be back with tips and ideas. For now, I leave you with a few product suggestions as well as my VERY first digitally created scrapbooking page.

I purchased Memory Mixer on the recommendation of a few friends who have been scrapbooking digitally for much longer than I. It's a pretty cool program, easy to use, allows you to save and use purchased digital papers and embellishments (some of my faves are from Weeds & Wildflowers-check 'em out!), and other non-Memory Mixer items easily without compatibility issues. It also is extremely user friendly and runs with an affordable price tag (about $80 retail for the newest version).

Anyway, check them out. The other handy dandy little tool I played with was Photoshop Elements v.6 from Adobe. I am OBSESSED with photos that black and white out everything except for a focal point or two. My first order of business was to play with this feature, experimenting with "layers", "backgrounds", "brush tools", etc. Ok, SOOO far over my head at first, but I had figured it out within an hour or two. After all, frogs kinda HAVE to be green, right? My son was ECSTATIC when he saw this page. That made it all worth it.

What is your opinion on Digital vs. Traditional Scrapbooking. "Hybrid" scrapbooking? Leave a comment and you'll be automatically entered to win a FREE handmade Journal! (see top corner photo). Winners will be chosen by Random.org and announced on Friday, August 22nd in the evening. GOOD LUCK and thanks so much!

Cupcakes & Bling...two of my favorite things!

I had been waiting so long to give this card to it's rightful owner as a surprise that I almost FORGOT to show you guys:)

As this special recipient is a subscriber to the blog, you can see where my dilemma started.

Anyway, the time has come LOL. Ok, can I just say that I don't even know where this obession with cupcakes began, but it's almost as bad as my love of butterflies now!!! The only thing I can think of is back in April when we were in Charleston, SC on vacation and I stumbled upon this absolutely ADORABLE little bakery in downtown Charleston on historic King Street. The name? Appropriately titled "CUPCAKE". Oh my gosh, you HAVE to check them out as I give them MAD PROPS for being totally natural, homemade, and so stinkin' cute I can't even stand it!!! Hence, my love of cupcakes, already in the works, was officially "born".

Here we are a few months later, and my obsession grows stronger by the hour it seems! So, needless to say when I saw this stamp from Stamping Bella, I couldn't resist. I LOVE Bellas. It's just too bad they are out of the country, because postage can be killer. There was no saying no to this "Cupcakeabella", though, as I'm sure you can see why!

To make this card, I stamped the image w/ black StazOn. This also comes in handy for the sentiment (bottom right corner) as the bling paper can be tricky w/ regular dye based inks. To make this card super girly, I used HELLA bling LOL. Pearls and rhinestones from Hero Arts. I, of course, had to top off the "frosting" with Stickles. I believe the color shown here is Fruit Punch. The little flower blingy things were given to me by a VERY generous ATC Swapper that I hosted a few months back. Was very cool of her and I am going to have to find out where she got them as I'm almost out :(

To color in Bella's dress, I used metallic pigment ink w/ a dauber. However, I must show you my amazing find from Pebbles Inc.! They now make SHIMMER PEARLESCENT CHALKS, and it's rapidly becoming my new favorite for all things coloring! The best part is the no-fuss little "pom poms" that come in three sizes w/ this awesome and amazing little "crocodile teeth/grippy tool" (yes, I am a bit challenged in the description zone tonight...it's been a LOOOOONNNNGGG week!)

So, I will leave you with this cutie cupcake Bella and also, speaking of Pom poms....


This is my girl on her first Pom performance day last Sunday. I definitely had one of those proud "mom" moments this past weekend...magnify that 16X as I am not only Mom, but "Coach" for the next four months of our lives and so that pride was definitely carried over to ALL the girls when I saw how well they did. I think it's gonna be an awesome (and crazy!) season.

I have to say, though, I just beam over her. Over all of the kids, of course, but this was her day so I'll leave you with this.

Gotta go for now...unfortunately there have been SEVERAL new releases from some of my favorite stamp companies and it's causing quite the hole in my wallet...
so I better get to work on a card order I have tonight LOL! Take care and thanks for reading as always!



P.S.

For the question of the week, what is your favorite dessert or baked good?
Recipes encouraged :)

Stay tuned as my next post will have some "Blog Candy" for the VERY FIRST TIME!!! Can't wait!!!

I am also updating my "quote arsenal" and will be posting new and cool quotes after each post. Feel free to send them in and I'll send you a shout out!

"Making the decision to be a Mother is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone

The Birds and the....BUG?

So, I saw this stamp set by Inkadinkado a few weeks ago for the first time at Archiver's.

I was impressed by the fact that it wasn't just "another one of those bird sets" in my mind, rather a prettier, more decorative take on a theme that I'm normally not that into. My Mom really likes birds though, and I like owls. While I wait with anticipation for the Wise Owl release from Papertrey Ink, finding this "Birds Galore" set at Jo-Ann yesterday will satisfy my craving for now...

What's more? Well, I got this little green thing called the Cuttlebug a few weeks ago for my birthday. For those of you who are just as new to the die-cutting/embossing/nesting phenomenon as I am, you'll feel my pain. There is SO much to be done with this little guy and I am reeling in the downward spiral of untapped potential mixed with a healthy dose of NO TIME. Anyway, there is much to be learned and even more to be done, but for now, I have mastered the embossing technique with both nesting dies and embossing "folders".

The folders are a breeze. Sold seperately, they are the perfect "A2" size (standard handmade card size) and you literally just put your cardstock in the folder, roll in through the die cut machine, and presto! All done.

I believe this Cuttlebug pattern used above is called the "Textile" embossing folder, which produces a pretty, damask type pattern. I thought this was the perfect embossing folder to start with to be used with my new bird set. The "Just because" sentiment is from the new Floral Frenzy stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

Anyway, enjoy! Oh, and a question for today: For those of you who own the Cuttlebug, what is your favorite thing to do with it? Hit me up with a comment or two if you feel like it. I'd love to hear from you!