Back, finally!!

All right, I'm back and hopefully ready to roll! I had a CRANKY teether for about a month so I got very little done...you should have seen my house, ACK!!! (actually it's better you didn't!). I am so excited because, the little brown truck stopped and dropped off my new Stampin' Up! goodies a day early and this package contains the all new My Digital Studio!!! I wanted to jump right into it the moment I had the chance, but I've decided to be a good little blogger and post something for you first. I know, I'm sweet! {goofy grin} I have been creating up a storm over the last couple of weeks to try and catch up from the recent stamping hiatus.

Here are a few of my creations. (I won't have the time to put recipes up for these but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to post me a question) This first image is of the scrapbook frame I made for my brother's birthday. I love making these frames I think it's a great way to capture a special moment and share it with someone who doesn't scrapbook themselves. I did use retired colours on this page but, felt there was no better colour than Kiwi Kiss to capture my brother's wacky, vibrant personality. What do you think of the frame? I thought it was funky but, apparently not everyone agrees because the whole line was being cleared out dirt cheap at local craft retailer!! Oh, in case you don't understand French the journaling simply says Gabby and Uncle Alex...I'm sure you guessed.

Next up is a very simple thank you card I made for my recent Stampin' VIPs, I really like this colour combo and loooooove the fact that we have the in-colours in marker form now!! Hmm, I wonder what the chances would be of SU! coming up with a 'Retro' marker pack with all the past (or at least best of) in colours? Bands do comebacks all the time why not colours eh?

This next card is a Birthday card for someone special. I finaly inked up my Jardin Botanique set, which was on my must haves list the moment I saw it. I did a few different things on this card, the ribbon is actually our white satin ribbon coloured with a Sahara sand marker, it really changes the feel of the ribbon. It makes it much less "bridal". The second thing I did was use some of my Very Vanilla Hodge Podge hardware (I tend to hoard these!). Before attaching the hardware piece I antiqued it a bit by covering it with choc. chip craft ink then buffing it off with a tissue. The elegant eggplant rickrack is found in one of our current Ribbon Originals packs, for some reason I LOVE rickrack...a touch of whimsy perhaps?
Ok now this card was a real stretch for me but I think I like the end result. My SUO bloggers group, the design divas challenged us to use buttons on a project and this is my attempt. This card is actually going to be the 'WOW' card we will be making at my October workshops. (have you booked one yet?) The biggest step out of my comfort zone on this card was to use Crushed Curry cardstock...I really hated this colour....I'm still not luvin' it but, now I see that it really gives great punch in the right combinations. The ribbon is actually our organza ribbon (white again) coloured with pumpkin pie ink and then scorched with a heat gun. Be very careful if you do this at home. It doesn't take much to have a melted mess!

My final project was a gift for my daughter's new Preschool teacher. I am going to have to search through my blog subscriptions to find out who first posted this cute project. I had originally wanted to make one of those adorable paper schoolbags with a coordinating stationary set but, I had to find something less ambitious and this hit the spot. The basic pencil shape was made by adhering a Hershey's kiss (or Hug in this case) to the end of a pack of Rolos using mini glue dots. The first pencil I made I just wrapped in the summer sun cardstock but, it seemed to be missing something so, I made another one which I scored lines on using my bone folder and paper cutter, I think it made all the difference. Two other things that I did to add realism were to add a punched pink circle with a heart stamped on it to the eraser end and to scallop the writing end with my square scallop punch. Then of course I had to eat the first one to hide the evidence {grin}. Here's the pencil:
here it is in her schoolbag:
and here is my little school girl:

and since his sister can't steal the whole spotlight, here is a recent pic of the little teether himself, Kaleb:
Well I'm off to play with My Digital Studio!! (the kids can feed themselves right?)
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stampin'!!