little bits of love…

Valentine’s Day. It’s almost here! I love seeing all the heart-themed, love-inspired crafts people make this time of year. We’re not big on celebrating Valentine’s Day here at our house, except for the few fun treats I buy for the kids throughout the month. Just because I love any excuse to do something a little special for them. Eric and I usually buy each other a card. Sometimes a small gift, but we aren’t big on the commercial side of the holiday. After all, shouldn’t love be demonstrated and celebrated each day of the year? But then again, I suppose one could voice that same argument for Christmas. And I love Christmas and everything that goes with it. I guess Valentine’s day just never caught on as much around here. Maybe I should be the one to change that. After all, in the midst of every day living, sometimes I forget to adequately show my husband and kids how much they really mean to me. And I guess Valentine’s Day is a great reminder to take the time to shower love on the people we care about and let them know that they rock our world!

I could bake some cupcakes, or buy some from my favorite cupcake shop. And stick some fun little love notes on top! We love cupcakes!

 

 

Or I could write a mushy message of love on the bathroom mirror with lip stick (for Eric, of course. The kids would think that’s gross!).

I could tuck little love notes in their lunch boxes or briefcase.

I could scatter tiny hearts everywhere for them to find!

 

I could give an extra dose of hugs and kisses, like I did this morning. Or squish their cheeks and tell them they’re amazing and loved beyond measure.

Or take the time to do some fun crafts with them, like making some Valentine cards to hand out to class mates.

Or buy a bag of conversation hearts and place them in strategic places!

How about a bottle of your favorite wine to share with your spouse sometime after the kids have been tucked in bed. Cuddling along with the wine is really nice too.

Now I’m really excited for February to get here!  How about you? How do you celebrate this month of love?

Hearts and pennants are new items in my shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

Market Street Stamps sneak #3

Good evening! Thanks for joining me for another round of sneak peeks from the January release from Market Street Stamps!

Tonight’s stamp sets were also designed by Samantha Casey. These two sets they are such cute  stamps that coordinate with each other so perfectly for lots of fantastic options. You’re gonna love them!

I made this card with the city scape scene from one of the sets.

The hearts are from the Birds of a Feather set that you got a peek at on Monday evening. The sentiment was pieced together with a few stamps from Simple Joys.

I also made a page this time. The colors are a bit off on this page. I took the photo late at night with light from my white lights in my craft space after all bits of natural light had already gone for the day.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the sneak peeks this week! Don’t forget to stop by the Market Street Stamps blog tomorrow at 7 CST for the full reveal!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Market Street January Sneaks!

Hi there! It’s sneak peek time again with Market Street Stamps. The sneak peeks began last evening on the Market Street Stamps blog. Go check them out if you haven’t seen them yet. Last night’s sneak was of  a super cute bird stamp set illustrated by Tifany DeGough and Angelica and it also coordinates with the January Market Fresh Kit! How cool is that?

Tonight’s sneak peek is of one of my favorite sets for this release. It’s adorable, and it’s the first stamp set released that’s been designed by Samantha Casey! I loved getting to use it on this fun mini album, which would be perfect for a mom/grandma brag book, a little travel album, or a just as a fun place to store a collection of some of your favorite photos.

This is an eclectic mini album with pages of varying heights and widths and lots of fun elements here and there, such as tags and transparencies.

The pages are bound together with baker’s twine. Isn’t that little camera just the cutest thing?

Lots of favorite papers used in this project, plus stickers with fun sayings.

This project is just so fun! I love paging through it and seeing all the different sizes of pages with elements like the tags included. It’s like a fun surprise with each turn of a page.

I will be posting this mini album up in my shop later this evening, so check that out if you’re interested in purchasing it for yourself. I’ll be away from my computer while these sneaks are happening, but will post it in the shop just as soon as I get back.

For the sake of time I did not post a supply list. I might try to post one later as time allows. If you ahve any questions at all about any products used, please feel free to ask in the comments.

Be sure to head on over to the Market Street Stamps blog if you haven’t done so yet. The projects from the rest of the DT girls are out of this world!! Really fun stuff!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy birthday, Angelica!! {blog hop}

Today is a special day because we’re celebrating the birthday of a very special woman!! Today is the birthday of Angelica Suarez, owner of Market Street Stamps and marketing/social media coordinator for her mom’s company, Peachy Keen Stamps. I have been so honored to have been able to get to know and work with Angelica in the past few months and can say that she is an absolute gem! Angelica and her husband, Jorge, are some of the most generous, kind people I know and they are a delight to work with! In honor of Angelica’s birthday, a few of her Market Street Stamps and Peachy Keen Stamps friends have gotten together to surprise her with a fun birthday blog hop. If you’ve already been hopping you should have come here from ERIN’s blog. Hop along  and celebrate with us and wish Angelica a happy birthday along the way! I wanted a soft and feminine card for Angelica, so I went with some soft silvers, lavenders and corals and the butterfly image from the Believing Butterfly set for this card. Happy, happy birthday, Angelica!! I hope your day is filled to the brim with all kinds of wonderful things and special blessings! And, in the midst of the busyness of preparing for CHA, don’t forget to take time to celebrate you! And now, hop on over to MICHELLE’s blog. Thanks so much for stopping by! Blog hop line up:

Kathy-http://www.peachykeenstamps-kathy.blogspot.com/

Amanda-http://amandascraftsandmore.blogspot.com/

Amy Crockett- http://www.scrappingmommy.com/

Cristina Garcia- http://www.craftingwithcristina.com/

Lauren Brewer http://www.laurenscreative.com/

DoBea Alberts- http://www.dobeaalberts.blogspot.com/

Raven Baca- http://www.Love4stamps.blogspot.com/

Jennie Garcia http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com/

Heather Hoffman - http://housesbuiltofcards.blogspot.com/

Lorie Souther- http://thethinkinspot.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Muzzulin- http://www.handmade75.blogspot.com/

Erin Schreiner - http://www.erinleecreative.com/

Brenda Weaver- http://www.sweetpapertreats.com/

Michelle Criswell- http://www.scrappinwithmybug.com

Michele Gross-  http://studiomsg.blogspot.com/

Leanne Garner - http://www.createdbyleanne.blogspot.com/

Tifany DeGough - http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com/

Samantha Casey- http://samanthacasey.blogspot.com/

Nikki Foraker- http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/

Heidi Anne Giebel - http://gotscraps.blogspot.com

Glorajean Beardall - http://www.glorascrafts.blogspot.com

Vivienne Holden - http://www.craftinghaven.blogspot.com/

Janice Wilson  http://stampingwithjanice.blogspot.com/

Saundra Rega http://luvscrappingtogether.blogspot.com/

Julie Day - www.daydesigns.blogspot.com

Lisa Buttafuoco - http://our2angelsinheaven.blogspot.com/

Kristi Bennett - www.littlepapersprinkles.blogspot.com

Mel Haas- http://doxiemeldesigns.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Washburn- http://sweetstephcardcreations.blogspot.com/

Kim Score -http://www.paperpunchaddiction.com/

Emma  Aguilar -http://www.creativetimeforme.com/

Papertrey Ink card stock- white	patterned paper- SEI, Silver valley collection	clear stamps- Market Street Stamps	clear stamps- Market Street Stamps
ink- Stampin’ Up! Basic Black	embellishments- SEI, Sundries, Promise Me collection	platinum shimmer paint- Stampin’ Up!

InLinkz.com

also used: card stock: Stampin’ Up! (Pale Plum- discontinued) ink: Stampin’ Up! (Pale Plum, Cameo Coral- discontinued) pink embroidery floss decorative pin: Making Memories

King of the Hill

On Wednesday I was able to spend the ENTIRE day scrapbook with a group of women and it was wonderful! I scrapbooked 11 pages in all, and that felt really good! I have one of them here to share with you today.

This page is pretty simple and easy. There’s nothing too fancy about it, but I ended up really liking the simplicity of the design.

One of my favorite things about this page is the photo cropping. I’m a big fan of white space on my pages. A place for the eye to rest and keeping things from becoming to overwhelming. When I have multiple 4×6 photos to scrapbook I run into a dilemma because I rarely ever do a double page layout. Most of my pages are single pages and I try to get all the photos from one event onto a single page. Unless it’s an important event. Then I’ll sometimes do a two-page layout if I have lots of photos from that event.
But these photos were just taken on a day when my boys were playing on the huge pile of wood mulch in grandma’s back yard. They had fun that day, but the event wasn’t important enough to warrant a two-page layout, but I still wanted to include all four photos on my page somehow.
I wanted to convey the idea of height, so I kept all the photos 6″ tall and cropped the excess off the sides, leaving each photo measuring 2″x 6″. Then I was able to place all four photos onto a mat, still leaving plenty of room for white space on the finished page. The little cloud accents further convey the idea of altitude.

A circular cut out makes a fun place to add a piece of flair, while the three red accents add a visual triangle, which directs your eye around the page. Most of my pages have a definite visual triangle too, without me realizing I’m actually doing it. I like visual triangles!

Did you know that it’s almost time for a new stamp set release from market Street Stamps? The sneak peeks begin next week! I’m so excited! Want a tiny sneak peek at a sneak peek? You do? OK, here ya go!

Does seeing layers of pretty paper like that make you happy too? (sigh)
Of course I can’t quite show you the stamps yet, but I had such a blast working on this project and I can’t wait to share it with you. This is going to be one super fun release and I don’t think you’re going to want to miss it!

Have a great weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

white card stock- American Crafts	patterned paper- Basic Grey- basic manila collectionpatterned paper- Basic Grey- basic manila collec	patterned paper- My Mind’s Eye- Lime Twist collection	card stock- Stampin’ Up!
flair- American Crafts	cloud embellishments- Buzz and Bloom (Studio Calico Kit)

InLinkz.com

Also used:
star accent- American Crafts
chipboard alphabet: Making Memories
alphabet stickers: Webster’s pages

It Takes a Lot of Love!

Brrrr…is it ever cold here these days!! The ground is white with frost (but, sadly, no snow!), and the kids look round and plump in their heavy winter coats as they head out the door for school. I’ve been staying inside as much as I can, except for when I have to venture out to do crazy things, like grocery shopping, and even crazier things like running!

With all this frigid weather sometimes it’s nice to turn to warmer things when it comes to crafting. I’ve got a bright and sunny card to share with you today that reminds me of summertime and drinking glasses of ice cold lemonade at the pool.

As I sat down to create my project for posting on the Market Street Stamps blog I asked myself how I could push myself to step outside of the box a bit and do something with a stamp other than what I normally would do with it. I chose to work with the “It Takes Love” stamp set this time. See, normally I would think of that globe stamp as a focal image stamp. But I thought to myself that it would be a fun change of pace to use it to make a background instead. I know this is not ground breaking. It’s been done lots of times before. But my point is to stretch ourselves to look beyond what we normally do and do something a bit different. In so doing you may even come up with something that’s never been done before!

Some tips for making it easier to line up stamped images like this? First and foremost, use a stamp block with grid lines on it. You can use the grid lines to make sure your stamp is correctly lined up and to evenly space things out. I also like to keep a grid-lined paper underneath my project when I’m stamping. I find that it helps me to make sure both my card and stamp block are perfectly straight and lined up as they should be.

Thanks so much for stopping by and joining me today!!

clear stamps- Market Street Stamps, It Takes Love	Papertrey Ink card stock- white	card stock- Stampin’ Up!, Very Vanilla	ink- Stampin’ Up!, Tangerine Tango
ink- Stampin’ Up!, Daffodil Delight	ink- Stampin’ Up! Basic Black	twine- The Twinery, Caribbean	heart punch- Martha Stewart Crafts

InLinkz.com

Also used:
card stock: Stampin’ Up! (Crushed Curry and Bermuda Bay- discontinued)
ink: Stampin’ Up! (Bermuda Bay- discontinued)
tiny safety pin

January Paint the Town color challenge with MSS

If you’re like me you love a pretty photo to use as inspiration in your paper crafting. And the photo inspiration for this month’s Paint the Town challenge is just so pretty!

I decided to make a scrapbook page for this month’s color challenge.

I know this looks like a fairly simple page, but I can’t even begin to tell you how long it took me to complete it. I started out with and idea, but then didn’t like how it was turning out and kept on rearranging and shifting everything over  and over again until I came up with this. Sometimes you just have to go with what’s in your heart and not what’s in your head. Ha!

The sentiment on the banner and the globe stamp are both part of a set from Market Street Stamps just released in December called It Takes Love. The canvas heart can also be purchased here in the Market Street Stamps marketplace.

And I really hope you’re not getting too tired of seeing mist and/or paint on almost every layout these days. It took me a while to get into the misting fad, but now I’m afraid I just can’t help myself! It’s just too fun! And I’ll let you in on a little secret. But don’t tell anyone, OK? Punched paper hearts can cover up a lot of misting mishaps. Hee!! Now I know I shouldn’t try a new misting technique on a completed page. You just shouldn’t. Take my word for it. But I did, and let’s just say the misting was much “bigger” than I wanted it to be. Big black splotches weren’t exactly what I had in mind. To make matters worse I seem to always, always forget that mists take a while to dry and I inadvertently smudge the inks. Smudged inks just don’t look as pretty. That’s where some punched paper pieces and/or other embellishments can come in real handy. They cover a multitude of misting sins. Hee! It’s good I ended up really liking those hearts there when it was all said and done.

And now it’s your turn! You can make a paper crafted project using these yummy colors and link up on the Market Street Stamps blog. You could be lucky enough to win a fabulous prize. But if not, you still got a great looking project out of the deal, right? Right!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

card stock- Stampin’ Up!	white card stock- American Crafts	patterned paper- My Mind’s Eye	patterned paper- Studio Calico Autumn Press
clear stamps- Market Street Stamps, It Takes Love	ink- Stampin’ Up! Basic Black	canvas mini heart	die cut card stock embellishments- K&Company
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist	White mist- Studio Calico

InLinkz.com

 
also used on this page:
foam alphabet stickers: American Crafts
clear embellishments: Making Memories

Market Fresh Kit Club- REVEAL!

It’s time!!!!!  The time we’ve been waiting for! Time to share the brand spankin’ new scrapbooking and paper crafting kit club from Market Street Stamps with you! We’ve all been SO excited to bring this new kit club to you. We’ve had such a fun time creating the projects for this kit and I know I can speak for Stephanie and Jinny as well when I say we could hardly wait for you all to see the kit too.

Are you ready????

Check out the papers:

and the embellishments:

Don’t you love it??  I think Stephanie’s done such an awesome job coordinating this kit for you. The papers and embellishments come together effortlessly.

More about the new kits from the Market Street Stamps blog:

When was the last time you used stamps in your scrapbook layouts? Do you find it overwhelming (and expensive) to purchase all the elements in a paper collection only to find everything starts looking the same? When you want to showcase the perfect picture, the perfect smile, and the moment that you never want to forget, wouldn’t it be awesome to have it all in one convenient kit with TONS of possibilities? 

Or maybe you just make cards. Excellent! In each kit, you will find a stamp that Angelica has illustrated that is exclusive to our Market Fresh Kits. The stamp is sized to fit a card or to use as an embellishment in your layouts! The possibilities are truly endless, and it takes the guesswork out of creating gorgeous art!

KIT CLUB DETAILS:

• Monthly Papercrafting Kit coordinated by Stephanie Washburn containing 12×12 patterned papers, cardstock and coordinating embellishments
• Each Kit contains one exclusive stamp illustrated by Angelica Suarez
• 20% Discount on any Market Street Stamps (stamps only) for the months you are a kit member
• First 50 Kit Club Members receive a FREE stamp set!
• Choice of a SINGLE purchase ($31.99 + $8.50 shipping), 3 month ($29.99 + $8.50 shipping/month), 6 month ($27.99 + $8.50 shipping/month) or 12 month subscription ($24.99 + $8.50 shipping/month)
• Shipping cost is based on US Domestic Shipping Only. Canada/Mexico Kit Members will be billed $24 for shipping and International Customers will be billed $33 for shipping. Orders may be combined so everything ships in the kit box. You never pay more than it costs to ship. Our cart software uses a USPS calculator to estimate your shipping charges. In the event you are charged over the actual cost of a shipment, we will refund you automatically.

Go here to purchase this beautiful kit for yourself!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Market Fresh Kit Club premiere kit sneak peek- the cards!

Hiya folks! Happy Monday to you!

I’m so excited that the new Market Fresh Kit Club will be revealed in its entirety tomorrow!!! Woohoo!! So exciting! I hope you’ve been enjoying the sneak peeks you’ve been seeing so far.

Tonight I have two cards to share that I made using the kit. Just to show that the kits can most certainly be enjoyed by scrapbookers and card makers alike.

LOVE BIRDS card:

This card gives you a glimpse of the exclusive stamp that comes with the kit. Isn’t it cute? Great for both cards and pages.

The only thing I added that does not come with the kit is the small piece of white card stock I used to frame the focal image.

HEAD OVER HEELS card:

I saw this cute idea that someone had pinned on Pinterest to add banners along the side. Theirs was used on a scrapbook page but I thought it would be just as cute on a card. I’m still in love with banners.

I just think the collection of patterned papers in this kit are so beautiful! My favorite is that blue chevron print.

The sentiment banner you see here was cut from the bottom of one of the patterned papers. It’s part of the little info strip along the bottom of the sheet that tells who manufactures the paper and the name of the collection, etc. It works well as a sentiment too!

The only item I used on this card not found in the kit is that same silver paint you saw me use on my layouts. I think I may be addicted! I love paint and silver is just subtle enough to use just about anywhere without being overwhelming. Plus, I’ve taken an interest to metallics lately.

Be sure to stop by Stephanie’s blog and Jinny’s blog to see what they’ve come up with in the way of sneak peeks this evening. And don’t forget that the kit will be revealed and available for purchase tomorrow at 7 pm central (That’s 8 pm for us Easterners)! See all the details on the Market Street Stamps blog and keep up with all the fun kit club happenings over at the Neighborhood!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I’ll see you tomorrow evening for the big reveal!

Market Fresh Kit Club premiere kit sneak peeks!!!

Hello, hello!! I have been sooo excited to write this blog post! If you’ve found my blog via  the Market Street Stamps blog, welcome!! I’m so happy to have all of you here!

Today’s post is one I have been so excited about sharing with all of you! I have been having such a great time working with the first ever monthly scrabooking kit from the brand new Market Fresh Kit Club! I know you’re really excited to see a little of the kit, so I’m just going to get right to it.

HEARTS page:

 This first page showcases one of the super fun papers in the kit that has the banners on it. I cut them out for a fun new way to use the paper. Everything you see on this page is from the kit with the exception of the spray inks.

Isn’t that banner fun? And the alphabet stickers that come in the kit are fabulous too.

These photos were taken on a day last February a few days before Valentine’s Day. the kids had been playing in the snow and found these huge chunks of snow that resembled hearts. They would lay them by the front door and ring the doorbell and run away so tht I’d find the hearts when I opened the door. So sweet! Made me smile for sure!

The You Make me Smile ticket on this page comes in white, but I gave it a spray with my glimmer mists for a quick color change up.

LOVE the doily papers that come in this kit. They’re yummy!

LOVE page:

I just want to point out that this next page is actually 8″x8″.

That’s me and my handsome guy!

Again, some pretty doily paper and other fun stuff. I cut the LOVE letters out of the back side of one of the papers to use here.

I made this polaroid print on Polaroin. You can turn any photo into a polaroid looking print. It’s fast and it’s free. I added the text in Picnik.

Gray on gray makes me happy! Love the colors in this kit! And everything you see on this page is entirely from the kit.

MINE page:

I saved my favorite for last! I love the papers and embellishments and adore those faces! That photo of my kids was taken several years ago and I just can’t get over their cute mugs!

I did add a couple of things to this page that don’t come in the kit, but I wanted to try to only add things that most scrapbookers would probably already have on hand. I added some white card stock, white vellum, a white paper doily, and some silver paint.

The hearts are cut from the back side of the same paper that I cut the LOVE words from on the previous page. The “Love Me” is from the info strip along the bottom of one of the papers.

I haven’t used nearly all of the kit. There are some papers I haven’t even touched and I know I can get a few more projects out of it. I had so much fun making these projects. I know you’ll love the kit as much as I do!

Please  be sure to stop by Stephanie’s blog and Jinny’s blog to see the fabulous projects they’ve made also with this kit. Also, be sure to stop by the Market Fresh Kit Club group in the MSS neighborhood to join in on the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and don’t forget that the new kit will be revealed in its entirety on Tuesday! Yippee!!