We had a great time!!!

Can you guess where all of these awesome ladies are from? Our October bus trip! Bright eyed and bushy tailed we all met at Picture This early in the morning for breakfast,shopping, and make-n-takes. Then off we went! First stop Rochester and then onto Bloomington. Each store had great stamp and scrap goodies to check out, yummy food, and fun make-n-takes for us. We had bus games and entertainment from some of the ladies on the bus. Who would of thought we would remember so many words to different songs. The weather was great and the ride was relaxing. I had a great time and want to thank all of you! Let's do it again!!!!!

Fab Five Day 5

Good morning everyone and TGIF! As you have seen all week we had fun with the Spellbinder pendants. Today I have two cards because I have a guest -Amy. Amy has been working at Picture This since April. I can't believe how fast the time is going!

This month I decided to do a Christmas card using the Just Rite snowman stamp in the center of layered pendents. I added a little bling to the card with Stickles, a snowflake brad on top of a snowflake sequin. I colored the little guy with Copics. I just love this stamp as he reminds me of Frosty the Snowman. (And I will admit I have all of those great Christmas specials that I watch every year.)

Amy's wedding card is done with one of the pendent dies accented by pearls. She also used the little green awesome machine, the Cuttlebug, to emboss the red background paper and the champagne glasses. The tag she put the glasses on was also cut from a Spellbinders Labels. Awesome Amy and thanks for being my guest!

I GOT TO PLAY AND PLAY ALL DAY!

I got to play, play, play all day yesterday! Even though the store was closed a couple of us were at the store creating! We were getting ready for the Fab 5, our Christmas Card Marathon, some fun classes, and our first annual Bus Tour. Whoo hoo! Then when I got home I made this flower arrangement since fall is around the corner. The vase is a wedding gift my sister and her family gave us years ago. I still have to add a few more things and straighten it out on all sides, but it is almost done.

I finally finished putting together my Dreamweaver's embossing paste and stencils class that I promised a few post back. Check out the store's web site under classes to see one of the cards we will be making with embossing paste and Metallic F/X.

Well, I worked all weekend and I was able to do some demonstrations and one was with our mighty little green machine-THE CUTTLEBUG! I know several of you have it, but I was surprised about how much misinformation is out there about what it can do.

Did you know this great little machine can cut and emboss Cuttlebug products, Spellbinders dies, the thick Sizzix dies (think of those new Tim Holtz dies), various other embossing folders and plates, and flat metal stencils. Yup, you heard me right-your flat metal stencils! No more light box, stylus, and wax paper. Well, maybe occasionally.

You would not believe how happy I made some people! I heard "I don't use them anymore.", "They are too much work.", " I gave all of mine away." and "I was getting ready to sell them at my yard sale." So now some people are going to go home and give them a try again.

Speaking of those metal dies, I also demonstrated how to use them with Dreamweavers Embossing Paste. This paste will add a whole new dimension to your paper crafts. The dragonfly with the lilypad above was done with the black embossing paste, then Metallic F/X was applied. So don't give up on your stencils!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

P.S. Several people were interested in the Dreamweavers so I will try to put together a class in the next 6 weeks for those interested in learning.

Awesome Metal Boxes

I found these awesome metal boxes at a local thrift store! The one on top in the left picture holds my Cuttlebug embossing folders and the bottom box hold my Spellbinders dies perfectly. The top box even has the letter dividers so I can put my folders in alpha order. But they are so bland! Well as you can see by the sneak peek on the right I am going to alter my wonderful finds so they look a little nicer and less industrial. I bought some Graphic 45 papers to add the much needed color to these poor little guys. Can't wait to finish them up and show you how they turn out.

Out for a ride

My husband and I decided to take a country drive the other day. It was nice to get out, relax, and ride around. Summer is definitely in full swing. I took quite a few pictures and figured I would share some with you. The apples were looking really good, not too much longer to enjoy some yummy apple turnovers!

I think Queen Anne's Lace is my favorite wild flower! The remind me of a firework of flowers. Have you ever seen ones with a pink hue? I haven't seen any since I moved to Wisconsin.

The sunflowers were so beautiful! I only had my camera with a small bit of zoom. I am going to try and go back and get some closer pictures with my other camera.

We didn't see any animals besides the cow and buffalo on the farms. It was too hot and I am sure they had found a nice cool spot to relax in. We did see a lot of Cabbage Butterflies and a few Monarchs. Several birds also flying around enjoying the nice day too.

I hope all of you are enjoying the summer!

Fab Five Day 5

I can't believe how fast this week went! Today's challenge was the trees from Spellbinders. I haven't done a pop-up card for the Fab 5 and that is the first thing that came to mind to do with the trees. I hope everyone had fun this week looking at the ideas we all came up with.

Stamps: Amuse

Die cut/punch: Spellbinders and Paper Shapers (EK Success)

Paper: Cardstock, Jute cardstock, Bo Bunny

Brads, and Tattered Angels for misting the trees and background

Ink: Memento, Copic, and Martha Stewart

Fab Five Day 4

Good morning! Well, as you can see by my late post I did not want to get up this morning. With the sound of the rain I wanted to be a bum and sleep in a bit. Today's challenge is the die cuts from My Mind's Eye. My granddaughter and Jessa was born less than a year apart and since both of their parents are friends they girls spent a lot of time together. Well, Jessa recently moved to another state and my granddaughter really misses seeing her. So this page is for my granddaughter's scrapbook. I left the card blank so she could fill in what she missed about her friend. I think I may go back and change the format and font of the words. To me they are missing something when I look at it. I played with it several times, but I just haven't found the right look I want yet. I am design challenged right now.

We are hoping to get the girls together next year to take on vacation with us and go to the Jersey shore with all of my family. Most years on vacation the gals out number the guys, but I think we really entertain them with our craziness.

Paper and Die Cuts: My Mind's Eye and Meadow Lark line
Cuttlebug words
Stickles

Fab Five Day 3

I can't believe it is already Wednesday, this week is flying by. Today's challenge is the rub-ons from October Afternoon. I just love these beautiful rub-ons as they are so versatile. Actually, I even have the matching stamp set! I made a sympathy card for today keeping it very simply. I rubbed Remember and one bird on the outside. Then on the inside I rubbed the flowers above the sentiment. Hope your day is wonderful!

Paper: Cardstock, Best Creations
Rub-ons: October Afternoon
Stamp:Impression Obsession

Fab Five Day 2

Today's challenge are using a great set of acrylic stamps called "Time Flies." There is such a variety in this pack. This card is larger than an A2 as the stamp is a good size. I think this little girl is just adorable, seeming so content to just sit and pick flowers. It would be nice if we could all slow down a day and just do something that makes us feel so content and have no worries. Hopefully, everyone will have a day like that this week. Though you can't see it I added a white writing area inside and added a border of flowers.

Stamp: Penny Black
Punch: EK Success (flower border on inside)
Flowers: Got Flowers
Paper:Fancypants, cardstock, Fancy Papers
Ink: Copics and Memento

Fab Five Day 1

Good morning! I had to try two passwords to get in this morning. That is not a good sign. For one, it means I have been neglecting my blog! I know I promised to update my blog better last post. Time is just flying by..... Then I was sick for a week, got a bit dehydrated, and had to go in for IV fluids and such. And though I feel 100% better this week, I would not want to relive any of that experience! Second reason I forgot my password, or so I like to think, is I need a relaxing vacation ........hehe.

Did everyone make it to A*Amuse*A*Palooza? I just love their stamps this year. I think the tree branch with the leaf on the side is already sold out!

Well, today's challenge is the GCD paper with the flowers on it. I thought it look nice and bright to send to someone I was thinking of. I cut out the butterfly and pop dotted to the card so he floats. Hope all of you have a great day! Off to work for me......

Paper: GCD and cardstock
Punch: Fiskars
Stamps: Stampendous and Great Impressions
Ink: Memento

Updated Blog

Well,I have started to update my blog a bit. I like this new background, but I am not sure if it is really what I want. I am working a getting a few projects on here that are long overdue. Then I have already started thinking of my ideas for next month's Fab 5. I have one of my days pretty much wrapped up. YEAH!!

So did anyone do a different project with the same things we used last month? I would love to see others takes on the different papers. That is one of my favorite things about Fab 5-seeing all the different things we think of even though we all work together.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer so far. See you soon!

Paula

TGIF!!! I hope everyone has had a great week! Todays challenge was the pretty ribbon. I thought it looked great with the House Mouse stamp. Those stamps are one of my favorites! I tried to capture the fold in the picture so you can get a good idea of how it was done. But as always everyone's Fab Five designs will be on display at the store, so if you want to see up close come in and take a look. My background papers are My Mind's Eye. I colored the little cuties with Copic Markers.

Hopefully this month I am going to revamp my blog a little and get some long awaited fun altered projects I did on here. My husband will be working on his pages too and I will have them up so everyone can check out his military pages. I am working on him to do his pages towards the altered Tim Holtz look. Needless to say he always gives me this look like I am crazy! Have a good one everyone!

P.S. Don't forget to comment on any of the blogs to be in the drawing to win the prize package Leann put together. And I don't know how many of you know we are on Facebook! Last week Leann sent out a message to the first one to respond got 40% off the new Dot Matrix embossing folder from Tim Holtz. I was so jealous! ALSO, next week is Customer Appreciation week and there is something fun and special every day!

Fab Five Day 4

I hope everyone is getting some great ideas from the challenge. Today's paper is a pretty peach paper from Dream Street. I punched the one butterfly into the patterned paper. The other butterfly I punched from two scraps of coordinating card stock and adhered them next to the flower. Since this is a punch that lifts from the paper itself I had to cut out the two other butterflies. I folded the wings of the peach butterfly to give a bit of dimension, adhering the teal to the paper for a shadow. Stickles was added onto both butterflies to add a touch of shimmer. I thought the sentiment inside was very fitting for this card. This was a paper that you could do simple and take advantage of the beautiful pattern or dress it up, either way it looks good.

Paper: Dream Street and cardstock
Ribbon
Punch: Butterfly (I can't remember, but we do have it at Picture This), border punch Martha Stewart
Ink: Memento
Stickles
Stamps:Unity Stamps

Fab Five Day 3

Already half way through our challenge week...where is the time going? Here is my granddaughter and my niece at the water park. Aren't they the cutest bathing beauties you ever seen? My daughter and I are trying to catch up on all of our pictures and I thought I would use this one for my challenge. I cut the shells out with Spellbinders and airbrushed the color onto them with Copic Markers. If you click on the picture you will see I used VersaMark to stamp shells onto the background cardstock.

If you like this layout there will be a limited amount of page kits on hand at the store. The kit even includes the shell stamps! See you there!

Die Cuts: Spellbinders
Paper and Tags:Scribble Scrabble Waves, My Mind's Eye, and cardstock
Ink:Copic, VersaMark Watermark
Stamp:Inkadinkado

Fab Five Day 2

Good morning! So today you get two cards because I got a little carried away with the baby idea. Both cards were fun to make. I got help on my second card from my dog Wayne. He always wants to be getting loved on or wants to see what you are doing. So on the flap card about the time I was going to stamp is the same time he decided he wanted to see what I was doing and got half way up into my lap. Hence the smudged ink. BUT that is the beauty of stamping! I am going to cut a coordinating piece of paper and put it on that side and stamp again....instant fix! As you can see I made that card a baby announcement and it has a little pocket to slide a picture into. This is another one of those great versatile basic card patterns that can be made into an announcement, note card, or invitation-just change it up a little bit to fit your occasion. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Paper:American Craft patterned paper, DCWV, plain cardstock
Ink: Memento and Copic
Ribbon
Stamps: Hero and Fiskars
Spellbinders

Fab Five Day 1

Here is a little card I made with out first challenge paper. I always enjoy seeing what we all come up with. If you want to enter a challenge don't forget our Bo Bunny customer challenge is this month.

Stamp: Hero Arts
Embellishment: Me & My Big Ideas
Paper: TPC Studios: Woodland Whimsy "Save the World" stripe, Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey, card stock
Ribbon: green ric rac
Punch: EK Success
Color: Copic

My awesome husband!

My awesome husband made this page! He has been deployed twice,once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. (These pictures are from his first deployment to Iraq.) He placed stars next to the bases he served on while there. The medals are three of the many he has earned. He knew exactly how he wanted the page to look and went to work. Now he is ready to make another one, as he has told me he has two more layouts in mind. He purchased everything at Picture This except for the map and the medals. Which cutting those little medals was not his favorite part. He was working on the page in the classroom and another one of the store's customer/friend was busy trying to finish a scrapbook she was making for a gift. She told him welcome to the world of scrap booking as he was talking about getting those medals right. I think it is awesome when the guys come in and buy things to do their books and invitations. (We do have a few!) So keep checking back to see what he has created! Maybe some of your husbands and boyfriends can join together with my husband?

Paula

Fab Five Day 5

Hello everyone! Today is our last day and I hope you have found something to inspire you to make something fun. My creation today is a cute little gift card holder. Upon opening you will see you have room to write a little note and on the opposite side is the gift card holder. This holds a normal sized gift card and can be used for all types of occasions. Think of weddings, birthdays, graduations, thank-you, confirmation, and the list goes on. Just change the design and off you go. Lacey I and have a class making graduation cards in which I teach this technique. Check out the class page for all of the upcoming class dates and times. Hope you have a good day! See you soon!

I found the directions for this cute little box on Splitcoast. I thought it would be cute to make it a gift for my granddaughter when she moves up to forth grade. She loves chocolates and they would fit very well. The box also will hold 3x3 note cards and envelopes. I used both sides of the My Mind's Eye for this paper. The second layer on the top was a little tricky, but I think it turned out very cute! Have a good day!

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Co'ordination, WorldWin
Punch: EK Success
Tag: ? it was in my stash of stuff
Flowers:Prima

Fab Five Day 3

Hi everyone! Well we are already half way through our week. I hope you have been having fun visiting our blogs. To me it is always fun to see what we all come up with. Today's paper challenge is the green floral pattern.

Paper: My Mind's Eye, WorldWin, Co'ordinations
Ribbon: green flower from store
Cut and Emboss: Spellbinder and Cuttlebug
Bling: Hero Arts
Flower: Mulberry Street from Petaloo
Stamp:Inkadinkado
Ink: Memento, Copic Markers
popdots

Fab Five Day 2

Today we are using My Mind's Eye Penny Lane collection. A ready thank-you card always comes in handy. The embossed flowers are done on the back side of the patterned paper. My Mind's Eye papers are fun to work with because they have matching double sides and the papers match within the collection line-some even interchange nicely between collection line. Have fun checking out the other blogs!

Paper: My Mind's Eye, WorldWin
Dies and embossing folder: Cuttlebug set With Gratitude, Spellbinder
Gems: Hero Arts
Punch: Fiskars

Fab Five Day 1

Hi everyone! It has been so long since I have posted! It has been a wirlwind of a month. After my trip to Delaware to visit my mom, dad, sisters and family it has been non-stop. My husband came home from Afghanistan in April...YEAH!!!! Then my daughter, son, granddaughter, and her friend came up to visit for a week. The girls and I had a good time at the last scrap to midnight making some pages. I try to get them posted in the next couple of days. They are very proud of thier pages.

Well, this week's challenge is with My Mind's Eye. One of my favorite papers in the store! Our paper today is the pretty pink flocked paper from the Lush collection. I stenciled the roses on the side with the lightbox since I placed them at different angles. But don't forget Dreamweaver stencils work great in your Cuttlebug. After I stenciled and inked I dusted a little Dreamweaver's metallic powder for shimmer. I hope you like my creation and it inspires you to make something for someone special to you.

Paper: My Mind's Eye Lush Collection, WorldWin
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet, Martha Stewart (green)
Ribbon: cream satin
Shimmer and stencil:Dreamweaver
Punch: Martha Stewart

My Guest Hayley

Today I am posting a scrapbook page made by my niece Hayley. She had a Pinewood Derby race on Saturday and won most original car. So off to the local craft store in Delaware. (Not nearly as stocked at Picture This.)She had a good time making her page and is excited to share it with you.

Fab Five Day 5

This is my granddaughter holding an adorable Wallaby named Noah. We had such a good time out west! The challenge paper today was from Scrap Works. I kept it simple by adding coordinating papers. I hope everyone enjoyed this months challenge papers. Good luck on winning! See you soon.

Paper: Scrapworks, WordWin
popdots

Celebration of a very cute toddler!

My friend has the wonderful and blessed opportunity to adopt a precious little boy. This is a page I gave as part of a gift. Unfortunately I forgot to write down the materials, but I did buy everything at Picture This.

For Hayley

Here is the last card I made for the Girl Scouts class I am teaching on Wednesday.

Paper: WorldWin, Core'dinations, BoBunny
Ink: Memento and Copics
Die Cut: Spellbinders
Emboss: Cuttlebug
Stamp: Me&My Big Ideas