SFTIO DT Reveal #2

Mornin' everyone! I have my second DT Reveal for 'Scrapbooking From The Inside Out' to share with you today, but FIRST, I have to wish my Mom, Carol, Happy Birthday!!!! She is 50 today and just as beautiful as ever! If yall don't already know, my Mom is my very best friend in the whole wide world and is just an amazing person! She is a loving mother and wife, a spectacular school teacher, and a wonderful scrapper! I wish I could be with her today on this special day, but sadly, I can not. But I hope she will know that today, as always, she is in my heart and my mind. I love you Mom and I hope you have the most awesome day ever! I will come to see you soon!!! (actually...going to see her in November and guess what guys?!!! We are having an all night crop! Whoo Hoo!!!!). I hope November comes quick!

Now, onto scrappy stuff. Yesterday I blogged about this month's kit and theme at SFTIO: enlightenment. For this page, I scrapped about the one thing most dear to my heart....scrapbooking! I just love to scrapbook! It is my true passion in this life. Scrapbooking has not only brought me joy, but has brought so many amazing people into my life. The girls and guys in the scrappy world are just so amazing and the nicest people you will ever meet! It is such a blessing! I will never forget when I discovered scrapbooking. From that first page, I was in love. I plan on fully 'cultivating' that passion to the fullest and learning all I can. This page is called 'Cultivate.' I used some 'enlightenment' artwork on this page that was posted on the SFTIO forum. I used blue and silver bling from my own scrappy stash around the circle. The alphabet stickers are American Crafts and I made the flowers myself.

I made my own journaling card to slide down into this pocket that came into the kit. I wrote on the front:
and on the back:

The flourish is cutwork from a piece of patterned paper that came in the kit. I used Helmar Zap Dots to pop it up a tad. The butterflies are American Crafts.

I made these flowers myself. Sometime this month, the tutorial for them will be posted on the SFTIO message board. These are so easy and quick to do. If you are interested, you can check that out on the message board. I'll do my best to put a link for yall on my blog when it goes up if I remember to. I used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to adhere these flowers and the 'leaves', which are a metal embellishment that I cut in half. The wax seal is included in the kit also.

Thanks for visiting my blog! I'll see ya tomorrow for reveal #3!

Happy Scrappin'!

This Month At SFTIO: Enlightenment

Hey yall! Happy hump day! Can you believe it's Wednesday already?!! I can't! Another week just flying by! I hope each of you are having a spectacular week so far! Today, I wanted to blog about one of my favorite kit clubs and who I am so lucky to design for...Scrapbooking From The Inside Out aka SFTIO!!!! SFTIO is all about scrapbooking emotion. Each month, they offer a fabulous kit themed around one particular emotion. This month's topic...enllightenment. This month's kit is stuffed full of goodies from Bo Bunny, Core'dinations, The Paper Company, Hambly, American Crafts, Basic Grey, Maya Road, Prima, and so much more! I'm tellin' ya, it is AWESOME! Here are some pix of the kit so you can see what I mean:

Love these butterflies from American Crafts! They add such yummy dimension to any project! Also the swirly looking stickers from Bo Bunny....oh my....I was in heaven with those!
Lots of yummy bling and embellishments!

As always in the SFTIO, the flowers were stunning!!!

Some awesome 3-D brads too and check out the ribbon/chipboard! How cool is that!

More of those yummy flowers. This kit also came with some super cute little pockets for journaling.

Now, each month the DT is responsible for 5 layouts each using the wonderful kit. Can I just say how much I enjoyed this one?!!! I don't usually use the colors orange and blue a lot, but this kit made me fall head over heels for this combo! It's so soothing and just exudes 'enlightenment' to me. We each were to scrap about what 'enlightenment' means to us. I had to do some research and do some serious thinking about this topic, but I really enjoyed scrapbooking about it. So today, I will start my DT revels for this month. I will post one layout a day starting today.

First up, I tried something new....a 6 x 12 inch layout. I see this size of layout all over the scrappy world and am always in awe, but was a little intimidated. But this month I decided to just go for it and am so glad I did. This size is gonna be addictive I think! LOL. This first layout is entitled 'Awareness' and is about how I need to be aware of how fortunate I am. I know it's bad, but I am so prone to getting into those 'woe is me' moods. I sometimes feel like things in my life couldn't possibly get any worse and I just want to give up. But then I think more about it and kick myself in the rear because I am so fortunate. I know life is hard, but it's not only hard for me, it's hard for all of us at one time or another. I need to be more positive and remember to count my blessings.

Here is my page: (if you can't see this small picture, click on it and it will come up bigger, then just hit the 'back' button.)

I used a Martha Stewart Crafts border punch on some of the embossed white cardstock that came in the kit. I love the soft effect this cardstock gave my layout. Also, I cut this tag out using my Cricut Expression. I used a 'gelly roll' pen (also included in the kit) for my journaling. Of course, you know I used my favorite Helmar Adhesives on this project! I used the Quick Fix Adhesive Runner, Helmar 450 Quick Dry, Helmar Zap Dots, and Liquid Scrap Dots on this page. Yall know how I love me some Helmar! Tee Hee! :)

Love these brad looking embellishments!

I told yall the swirly looking stickers in this kit were fabulous! I love them! I used them as inspiration for my curved title. I also added a little butterfly.

I jazzed up the little pocket that came in the kit using some leftover cardstock, more of the Bo Bunny stickers, and bling that came in the kit.

Thanks for taking a moment to drop by my blog today! I hope you will join me over the next 4 days as I explore 'enlightenment' even more with this luscious kit! Have a fabulous day and take care!

Happy Scrappin'!

Boo To You!!!

Hey yall! Happy Tuesday!! I have a new post going up on the Helmar Blog today and wanted to share it with you. If you would like to, head on over for the full directions for this project! I used the Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner, Helmar 450 Quick Dry, and Helmar Zap Dots for this project.

Here is the pix for you to see too! This idea was lifted from a craft book that I found in my local library. It's a Halloween treat bag made from a basic brown paper lunch bag. I filled the bag with candy corn. I am going to give these to my neighbors for Halloween.

I did use my Gypsy on this project as well. I used it to cut my windows and door. They are from the 'October 31st' cartridge. The ghosts are from 'Paper Doll Dress Up' and the phrase 'Happy Halloween' is from Wild Card. All papers are from Jillibean Soup, as are the alphas and the ribbon. The pins are from Maya Road. The journaling card that I stamped with my personalized stamp is from Elle's Studio. I also blinged it up with some Stickles Glitter Glue, pearls, and bling.
Up close of the windows, door.

I used Halloween border punches from EK Success and Martha Stewart Crafts. Also added in some ball fringe from my own scrappy stash.

Here are the pins from Maya Road....LOVE these!

Back of baggie...

This stamp was made just for me by Cri-Kits. They can make any personalized stamp you need! I love mine!!! It stamps great and I use it everywhere!

Thanks for stoppin' by my blog! I hope you have enjoyed this project and that you will give it a try. It really was so simple and most of all, FUN! Have a fabulous day!

Happy Scrappin'!

Witch Boot Shaped Card & RAK Winner!!!!

Hey yall! Happy Sunday! I hope you are enjoying a peaceful day today! I have a quick project to share with you today....super simple and super easy. I found a tutorial for making shaped cards using your Cricut Gypsy on Sheila aka SassyLady's blog and knew I wanted to give it a go. Let me tell you...so simple to do!!! I used my Gypsy and the Happy Hauntings cartridge to create this card. I think I had the whole thing designed, put together, and embellished in like 20 minutes. That's fast for me! LOL. Of course, I used my favorite Helmar Adhesives on this project. I used the Quick Fix Adhesive Runner for the majority and then the Liquid Scrap Dots to adhere the ribbon. I also added some black pearls to accentuate the boot laces. Here is my project:

Just a little dimension...

AND....today is the day I announce the winner of my RAK of Imaginisce goodies!!! I put all of the names into a List Randomizer at Random.org. The first name pulled was......Debbie10!!!!

Congratulations Debbie!!!! If you can send me your snail mail addy to aymee810@yahoo.com, I'll have your prize out to you asap!

Also, thank you to everyone who played along in this RAK! I promise to have another one again really soon!!!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a beautiful day and Happy Scrappin'!

Gypsy Challenge & A RAK!!!

Hey yall! Happy Thursday to you! I hope you all are having a fabulous week!!! I finally am back home in PA and am working on getting back in the scrappy groove. We drove home on Monday and it took 16 grueling hours! I think I will never get into another car as long as I live! LOL. But I did play with my new Cricut Gypsy (her name is Esmerelda....tee hee....goofy I know, but so am I) on the way home!!! I was able to design a few Halloween cards and a idea for a Thanksgiving altered project. Well, when I came home and hopped on the Cricut Message Boards under the 'Gypsy Chat' section, I noticed that SassyLady had posted another challenge for us!!! How awesome is that! These challenges are helping me immensely!!! It is really encouraging me to pull out my Gypsy and learn all that I can. Fun times!

Anyways, the challenge, if you want to play along, can be found HERE. If you want to play along, the due date is 9/15!!! I hope you fellow Gypsy owners will join us...it's fun!!!

The challenge requirements are:

1. Project must be done on Gypsy-check

2. Project must be a Halloween theme-check; I made a card.

3. Project must use 2 separate welds-check; I welded 9 spiderwebs together to make a spiderweb mesh and I also welded the shadows of 2 of my spiders together.

4. Project must use 1 stretch-check; I stretched my 'Happy Halloween' title.

5. Project must use 1 flip-check; I flipped 5 of the webs in the mesh and I also flipped one of the spiders.

6. May use any cart-check; I used Happy Hauntings, Pumpkin Carving, Doodlecharms, Home Decor', and Lyrical Letters.

Now, I wanted to try to explain the 'spiderweb mesh' in the background. I used the 'Pumpkin Carving' cartridge for this one. I took 9 of the 'spiderweb circles' and welded them together to form a mesh. Now, instead of cutting the mesh, I decided I wanted to 'draw' it. I had not designed anything to draw using my Gypsy yet, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity. I used the Cri-Kits pens in 'Black Glitter.' I was so pleased with how the mesh came out!!! I love those Cri-Kits pens!!!!

Oooh, and what is a project without my favorite Helmar Adhesives!!! I used the Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner, Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, and Helmar Zap Dots on this card.

Here is my card:

For this card, I decided to dig in my scrap bin. I found the patterned paper in my 'fall' scrap bin and tried to pull the colors for the card out of it. I stretched the 'Happy Halloween' seen below. I also added Stickles Glitter Glue to it for some bling. And of course...some pearl bling.
I hope you can see the mesh that I drew in this picture below a bit better. I used my Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser Tool to distress the edges. I hope you can tell that I flipped some of the spiderwebs. I used Stickles on the 'Creepy Crawly' title as well for some bling. The spiders 'eyes' are leftover bling from a kit.

AND since I haven't done one in a bit, I am hosting a RAK (random act of kindness) for all of you fabulous crafters out there! I am going to be giving away some rub on's, a stamp, and ribbon from the Imaginisce 'To Love & Cherish' Collection. Here is a pic of the goodies....

All you have to do to be entered in the RAK is leave me a comment AND tell me what your favorite Halloween candy is!!! :) Please leave me some way to get back in touch with you in case you are the winner!!! I will use the random generator at random.org to choose a winner on Sunday!!! Good luck!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Scrappin'!!!

Another Gypsy Project...

Hey guys! Well, I had so much fun playing with my new Gypsy earlier this week that I decided I had to pull it out and play some more. As some of you may already know, my mother is a 5th grade teacher. She has been altering these wooden letters for each of the teachers in her grade. She is decorating each of them in a coordinating theme to the teachers room. So, long story short....she let me decorate one. I chose to decorate one for Mrs. Mayfield. Her room is decorated in a pirate theme. I used my Gypsy and the following cartridges for this project: Paper Doll Dress Up, Happy Hauntings, Doodlecharms, and Life Is A Beach. I did a little tinkering with the Gypsy on the 'skull rock' and the 'waves.' I used my Gypsy to flip one and stretch another. I used a cloud patterned paper on the letter. I also added some blue swirly looking paper for the water. I added Glossy Accents to the top of that paper to give it a wet look. I then added some sand paper for the 'beach.' I cut 'Mayfield' out using the Happy Hauntings cartridge. I covered those letters with Glossy Accents as well. Here is the altered letter:

I cut this treasure chest out using 'Life Is A Beach.' I filled it with some rhinestones to give some dimension.
I used Paper Doll Dress Up for both the ship and 'skull rock' in the background. I'm not sure if that what it is supposed to be in the Cricut booklet, but that is what we saw. LOL. It reminded me of 'skull rock' from Peter Pan. I shaded it with some chalk.
A little pirate girl and pirate boy from PDDU. I added Glossy Accents to the little boy's pirate hook to add stability.

To show the dimension of the rhinestones....

Hope you all have a great day! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a wonderful Labor Day holiday tomorrow! Happy Scrappin'!

My First 'Gypsy' Project!!!

Hey yall! Happy Thursday! As you may already know, Mom and I are proud new owners of our own Cricut Gypsy! We each bought one and they arrived on Tuesday....after an all day wait I might add! LOL. The UPS man did not come until like 7 pm!!! I was ready to pull my hair out by that time. I was like a kid at Christmas and getting very impatient!

Of course, I had to immediately pull out this wonderful new toy and play. So I decided to join in on a challenge that is being held on the Cricut Message Board under the 'Gypsy Chat' section. I am a newcomer to this section of the message board and already feel so welcome. Everyone over there is so nice and it is a great place for any information you might need to know. So if you own a Gypsy and want to play along, HERE is the link to the challenge for ya!

The specs of the challenge are:

1. Create a project either for yourself or something you have wanted to try but not had the opportunity to-check: I decided to alter one of those wooden letters that you can find at any craft store. I have been wanting to alter one of these forever. The letter is for myself, so I guess I chose to do both something for me and something new. This letter was purchased at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 (can't beat that!). I bought a letter 'G' since that is the first letter of my last name. And with the Halloween season coming up (and yall know how I LOVE to decorate), I decided to create a Halloween themed letter to hang on a door inside my home.

2. Project must be done on Gypsy-check

3. The project must include one old and one new (to you) Cricut cart-check. For my old cart, I used 'Pooh & Friends' and 'Plantin Schoolbook. For my new cart, I used 'Happy Hauntings,' Pumpkin Carvings,' and 'Forever Young.'

4. Project must include 1 weld-check. I welded the shadow of my 'moon' and 'bat.' Being a newbie, this took me a while to figure out how to do on the Gypsy. But I am so glad that we were challenged to do a weld because now I know how to.

5. Project must include a flip OR stretch of any kind-check. I flipped both the dressform and the witch hat on my project.

6. Have fun-check, check, check! LOL. I had SO much fun creating this project. It took me about 2 days to complete it, but it sure was fun!!!

Now, on to the details of the project.....

I decorate my home in black, purple, orange, and green for Halloween. I also use a lot of spider themed decor, as well as a few ghosts, bats, pumpkins and witches. So I incorporated all of those into my project. I began by covering the letter with a spiderweb printed patterned paper. I then scraplifted an idea I had seen on the Cricut message board (from 'Timm'). The idea was on the cutest card. The artist had cut a dressform out and put a big bow on it and topped it off with a witches hat. I used the 'Forever Young' cartridge to cut out the dressform and this was flipped. I then used the 'Pooh & Friends' cartridge to cut out a witch hat, this also was flipped. I used the 'Pumpkin Carving' cartridge for the 3 big pumpkins behind the cat.. I used 'Plantin Schoolbook' for the moon and 'Happy Hauntings' for the bat, title, and the cat. I added purple ribbon to act as a hanger. I took this picture on our neighbor's old shed. I just loved the crackle of the white paint...it just looked creepy. (If you want, you can click on this pic to make it bigger and then come back to the post. It might help to see it better.)

I used 'Glossy Accent's on the witch hat and on the bat to make them glossy. The ghosts are a 3D sticker I found in my Mom's scrappy stash. I just love this dressform cut. It is so girly and so me! Tee Hee! I tied a bow to the 'waist line' of the form.

I used the Cuttlebug 'Spiderweb' folder on my moon to mimic a spiderweb reflecting under the moonlight. The spider is a little piece of confetti. I used Stickles glitter glue to add shimmer to the web.

See the glossy accents? It really helps it to shimmer. I gotta get me some of this stuff!!! I borrowed my Mom's for the project.


I cut the 3 bigger pumpkins in the background behind the cat out using the 'Pumpkin Carvings' cartridge. The smaller pumpkins with the pearl bling in the centers are stickers.

Here is a view so you can see how I welded together my moon and bat shadow. I then cut out a moon and a bat a bit smaller to overlay on top. As the 'Glossy Accents' dried on the bat, it turned the wings up nicely. I like the dimension it gives.

More dimension....

Thanks to 'Sassylady' for hosting this challenge also!!!

Well, that is all from me today. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I should be back some time next week. I am making the 12-13 hour drive back up to PA on Sunday, so it's 'on the road again' time for me! LOL. As always, thanks for stoppin' by my blog! Happy Scrappin'!

And go buy yourself a Gypsy! You will love it! Wink Wink!

I need turkey themed creations!!!!

Hey yall! I was wondering if I could ask for some help. If ya don't know already, I am a features writer for the online scrappy e-zine called Scrapstreet. I am working on a turkey themed article for the month of November and am looking for some turkey themed cards, layouts, altered projects, etc. If any of you have or would like to make a turkey themed creation and would like to submit it for possible publicataion, let me know. You can email any submission to aymee@scrapstreet.com.

Thanks so much! Happy Scrappin'!

Check It Out: September 2010 Issue of Scrapstreet

Hey guys! I wanted to hop online and blog right quick this morning. I am still in AL enjoying time with my family, but will be making the loooonnnnnggggg 12-13 hr. drive back up to PA this Friday....keep me in your t's and p's that day if you could. I would sure appreciate it!!! I hate driving alone for that long, but it has to be done. So I am trying to get all the time in with my family that I can. Mom and I are playing with a new toy....the Cricut Gypsy! We both got one and I must say that this thing is the bee's knees!!!! Tee Hee! Maybe I can squeeze in a project with it today to share. Then hopefully next week I can get back in my scrappy studio and start creating on a regular basis again.

But, the main reason I wanted to blog today was because I wanted to share the link for this month's issue of Scrapstreet! Now, I know I always say it is so awesome, but believe me...this month is even awesomer (is that a word?! LOL)!!!!! This issue is like 70-something pages long and is stuffed with all sorts of neat scrappy ideas!!!! My article is in there too...hint hint! BUT you must check out the very last page of the magazine too because there are some yummy calls up for the month of December!!!! I hope all of you will submit! We'd love to see your creativity! My call is Call #1: Sugar and Spice. It is a call focusing on 'gingerbread' themed creations. Mom and I both just adore anything gingerbread....so I am ecstatic over this call! I hope yall will send me some super cute stuff! But check out all of the other calls while you are there! Going to be another great issue!!!!

If you would like to check out the mag, go HERE. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did this morning!

Have a fabulous rest of the week and weekend! I'll see yall next week! Happy Scrappin'!!!!

A Kit Giveaway!!! Check It Out!!!!

Hey guys! You have just got to hop on over to Donna Downey's blog today!!! Why, you say?! Because she is giving away one of the 'Scrapbooking From The Inside Out' Discovery kits!!!!! It is awesome! I worked with that kit earlier this month if you remember. It is stuffed full of all sorts of scrappy goodness!!! Go HERE to check that out!!! Good luck!!!

Have a beautiful day and Happy Scrappin'!

Managed To Squeeze Some Scrappin' In....

Hey yall! Happy Tuesday! Well, even though I am taking a break for a while, I managed to squeeze in a few very simple, very basic cards while I am in AL visiting my parents. Life has just gotten in the way and I needed a little break. But while Mom was making some altered projects, I decided to sit and make a few easy cards using some new Cricut carts. So I thought I'd snap some pix and share with yall. First up, I created these 2 cards using the Cricut 'Happy Hauntings' cartridge. I have fallen in love with this cartridge. Ever since I bought my first Cricut a little over 2 years ago...I have always hoped Cricut would make a Halloween only cartridge. Now, they have like 3!!!! I bought this one a few weeks ago and Mom just got in the 'Pumpkin Carving' cartridge...another I can't wait to play with.

For each of these 2 Halloween cards, I started out with a simple cardstock base. I cut the frame out at 4 1/2". I then cut the letter 'F' out using the Vampire Font that is on the cartridge (the first letter of my Mom's last name.) I love this font! So cool!!! I thought she could use this simple card as a thank you card during the month of October. I added Stickles glitter glue and Glossy Accents to the letter. After adhering everything down, I added some pearls to the frame.

Next, another Halloween card using Happy Hauntings. I love the witch boot on this cart! Cute Cute CUTE!!!! I used Glossy Accents on the frame....am so loving that stuff right now! The little spider is from a Halloween Confetti pack. I added some Cuttlebug embossing to this card also.

Can you see the Glossy Accents on the frame?! I love this stuff! I've known about it for years, but do not own a bottle at home. So I had to dig into Mom's stash while I was here. I love how it stiffened up my frame and gave the card a glassy look.

These next 4 cards are all very simple. I started out with a pre printed cardstock base from My Mind's Eye and embellished. I am so lovin' this Create A Critter Cartridge as well! It is just beyond adorable!!!



Hippo Card

Up close of my hippo...


Deer Card

Aren't they darlin'?!!!

Apple Card

Used Stickles and Glossy Accents on the apple...tied a bit of twine to the top too.Tree/Owl Card

Love how this tree cuts!

I hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful week! I hope to be back to my norm in a few weeks.....just need some time off. But if I do scrap with my Mom while here visiting, I'll be sure to share with ya! As always, thanks for visiting my blog! Happy Scrappin'!!!