A scrapbook page done!

For those of you who know me best know that I don't often scrapbook.  It takes FOREVER, where a card only takes a few hours! 

But.....  I was inspired by Swirlydoos' Sketch last month for the Vintage Fae kit, and decided to work on it!  I started it before I left for the beach, which was around the end of July.  So.... I've been working on this for 3 weeks give or take!  And now I have finally finished it!  I had to tweak it a little because I'm not at the Swirlydoos level....yet!  And also, I am LOVING all the delicious Prima flowers that come in the kits, but I'm totally hoarding them!  I can't part w/ them!  Even if it's for my own scrapbook!  Instead of Prima's, I stamped Kitchen Sink Stamps Hearts and Roses roses.  The rest I'll tell you about after the pictures!

 Here's a closeup of the roses and the pics of my kids.

Ok, here are the details:
Paper: Apricot Appeal, designer paper from PinkPaislee Butterfly Garden; and a random mossy green from the kit, Vintage Fae.
Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps Hearts and Roses; alphabet and numbers from Inkadinkado's Somerset Alpha.; little swirl under the numbers is from Cloud 9 Design's Simple Thoughts - Travel.
Embellishments: the swirls are punches; the huge semi circle was cut using my Cricut; the word panels are Labels 8 spellbinders; the filmstrip was also cut using my Cricut.  I hand cut the butterfly from another dp from the kit; the ribbon is twill from Amuse Art Stamps.

I'm back! And I've been busy!

I'm back!  This summer has been quite crazy!  We just came back from a wonderful vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC!  And now that we are back, and aren't planning on going anywhere soon, I can get back into stamping and hopefully scrapbooking!  We'll see what happens!

Anyway, so while we were on vacation, we had some terrible news about two deaths in the family.  So, as soon as I got home, I got to work on some sympathy cards.
Then, my sister asked me to make a baby shower card for a friend of hers.  And lastly, I visited a friend this past weekend that was in town that I had not seen in several years, and they had just recently moved into a new house!

So, here we go!
First up, a sympathy card for my great aunt.

 Stamps used: Kitchen Sink Hearts and Roses and Big Leaves.  Sentiment by My Favorite Things: Clearly Sentimental about Sympathy.

Next is a sympathy card for my cousin.

 Same sets used from the first card.

 Here's the inside.

This is the baby shower card for my sister's friend!

 Stamps used: Kitchen Sink Stamps Multi Step Baby.
And this is the front of the envelope, using the same KSS set.

 And lastly, my friend's new home card.  I looked at her pictures of the inside of the house and I chose Sage and Brown.

 Stamp set used: Fifth Avenue Floral by Stampin' Up!.

And that's what I've been up to this last week!
Have a great day!

Kitchen Sink Goodies! - a public service announcement to multi step stampers

OMG, I just HAVE to share!  Kitchen Sink Stamps has come out w/ some VERY awesome stamp sets and a new way to store those awesome sets!!!!  You have to check them out HERE!!! Such fun sets that you cannot live without!  And the cases are perfect!  You can fit 4 small sets in one!  Or a large set, and two small sets.  Or 2 large sets.  Or, 2 medium size sets and a small set.  Or....... Think of all the possibilities and SPACE you'll save now!!!!  And your collection will be so nice and organized!
AND, if you go to one of the design team blogs, they have a code that you can use and get 10% off!!!!  Even MORE incentive to stop over at the 'sink and grab up some goodies!!!!

Have a great day!
Now back to your regularly scheduled program!


This is not a Kitchen Sink Stamps promotion.  This is purely my own doing, based on the enthusiasm that I hold for Kitchen Sink Stamps!

A VERY Belated Father's Day gift!

As you've probably guessed from recent posts of mine that I'm ALWAYS behind the 8 ball!  Well, just recently, as the summer picks up w/ stuff going on, trips to take, and the ever pressing swimming to do!  ;)  So, the crafting takes a back seat.

I had a shadow box in my hoard of alterables for quite a while now.  Just waiting to be used.  I looked at it one day and decided I was going to use it for my dad.  On Father's Day, we went over to my parents to swim, and before we left, I took a picture w/ him w/ each of my kids.  I FINALLY got the pictures developed and then they sat!  Finally, I had enough time to at least get started.  Just around that time, SVG Cuts came out w/ 3-D letters.  I'm ALL about 3-D anything, so this was totally up my alley!  And it was the perfect thing to add to this shadow box!

On a recent trip to OH for Stamping Around OH, my friend Wendy and I stopped at Archiver's and Hobby Lobby where I stocked up on Graphic45, Crate Paper, Bo Bunny, etc.  All vintage papers!  I was, and still am, in heaven!!!!  And I figured out that it's cheaper to get the individual sheets as opposed to the kits that you get.  Because I don't do stickers, and all the other stuff that they put in there.  I just want the paper to do w/ what I want.  I really did well that trip! Money wise!  I even had money in my pocket when I got home!  RARE!  Let me tell you! 

Anyway, so I used some of my new papers in here!  The calligraphy that you see at the top of the Time Book sheet and the ticket saying "Happy Father's Day" is my own.  I listed each one of my children, and then put a check mark under the appropriate number that reflects their ages as of May, 2011.  (In June, they all had a birthday!)  I did a little stenciling (never done before!) to add some graphics and spice it up a bit!  I'm not as good as the experts, but it's my first time!  And now I know I need to start looking at purchasing more stencils!  LOL!  The hardware is all from Tim Holtz.

And here's a closeup of the letters so you can see how they really POP!

I can't wait to give this to him!  He's going to love it!  (He's a huge fan of my work!)  My husband loves it so much that HE wants one for his office!  Better get to work now, or he won't get it til next summer!!!!  Hahahaha!  ;D

Sketch Challenge - MFT

Hi there!  Back again w/ 2 cards that I made for this week's sketch!  The first one is a birthday card, and the second is my anniversary card to my husband.

Here's the first one.  I was experimenting w/ some Graphic45 paper I received from my Swirlydoos kit this month!  The kit is Vintage Fae and there's lots of vintagey goodness in there!!!  You should definitely check it out HERE!  The sentiment on this card is actually from Clearly Sentimental About Happy.  Well, that's what I'm calling it.  I received it as a free gift when I purchased a couple (ok, a TON) of stamps from MFT when I was at CHA last summer!  Oh, and the flourish die on the bottom right is also from MFT, along w/ the scallop border in the middle!

This card was fun to make because it is for my sweetie!  We celebrated our 9 year anniversary on July 5th! 

I purchased this set only a few weeks ago, but even when it first came out, I knew I would use it for an anniversary card!  I got the idea from Jodi Collins' card here!  I, of course, had to change mine up to fit the sketch, but the basic idea is the same.  Thanks Jodi!
My faces are colored SO much better now that I know what I'm doing!  And what colors to use!  I watched Sherrie Siemens' video on skin and hair (still struggling w/ hair!  Don't judge too harshly!) that you can find here.

The reason the card ended up being pink and black is that those are our wedding colors! I know it's girly for a guy to get a pink card, but oh well!  What can you do?!

The set that I used is a Flapper Doodles set called I Love Us (appropriately named!).  I used several MFT Die-namics on here.  The open bracket die, the flourish die, and the flower in the middle.  W/ the open bracket, I cut as normal for the pink c/s.  For the black behind it, I wanted to create a background, so I just embossed it and then hand cut it around the edges.  For the ring around the couple, I drew lines w/ my Spica pen, and then in the spaces that I created, I stamped a heart (part of the set).

Have a wonderful day!

Happy 4th of July!

I'm sure you're wondering if I'm off my rocker!  I'm not!  I promise!  I misplaced my memory card USB, and I finally had a chance to do some uploading, therefore, I'm a little late!  But I hope you all had a nice 4th of July!  We did!  LOL!  We came home from Gettysburg on the 4th and went over to my parents' to swim and have ribs for dinner!  OMG!  YUM!!!!

Well, MFT had their monthly guest designer contest that ties in w/ their monthly (really bi-monthly!) release.  The challenge was to use texture!  I had to participate!  I LOVE adding texture to my cards and creations!  And layers and embellishments and ....  You get the picture!

So, this is what I created.  It's a pennant card and I gave it to my mom and dad for the 4th just because.  I normally don't give cards just for the heck of it, but I felt like this was a perfect opportunity!  And guess what?  They actually received it ON the 4th!  Imagine that!  ;D

Isn't Fred Bear SO cute?!  Ok, the texture parts are the stars (embossed) and the corregated Crumb Cake panel w/ white paint splotches.

Here are the details:
Paper: Night of Navy; White; Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Fred Bear Well Done; Mini Banner Alpha.  (both My Favorite Things)
Ink: Copics (variety of colors); Cherry Cobbler, Memento Black, white paint
Embellishments: pennant die - SVG Cuts; Simply Scallops die-namics (MFT); stars - star punches (SU!); mini banner - Mini Banner Die (MFT); Stars Border- (MFT); Maraschino Twine - The Twinery, sold by MFT

I hope your 4th was a fun day!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday!  AND my daughter, Olivia's!  How awesome that my daughter was born on her grandmother's birthday!

I wanted to participate in My Favorite Things' weekly sketch, but....I was too late.  :(  This week has been so crazy w/ us celebrating all 3 kids' birthdays on Sunday at a local park, and then going to a kids theme park the next day w/ friends.  

I went online this afternoon to find out the deadline for this week's sketch, thinking that it would be 10pm, and sadly discovered that it was 12pm.  Darn it!  It was already 2pm when I checked! 

But, I had to make a card for my mom, anyway, so the sketch still worked for me!  I opened up a new pack of paper from a stack I got when attending Stamping Around Ohio called Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket.  What a fun stack!!!

I softened the picture because the metallic on the bowl made the picture so bright!  

Have a wonderful day!

THE Farm Book!

I have taken on a pretty large project over these last two months!  And I am here now to say that it's done!  Whoo hooo!!!  Do the happy dance!!!!!!!  It was a pretty daunting task, I do have to say!  I was asked to create a scrapbook for a baby nursery that is a farm theme!  And it should have gotten to the baby BEFORE the baby was born.  But, since life has a way of interrupting even the best of intentions, well.....it's a bit late!  But, still within the month he was born, so not TOO bad.  But still.  Not quite good enough. 

Anyway, it's done!  And I am VERY proud of the way it turned out!  I just hope the mother who will be filling it up w/ baby pictures will love it as much as I do!  I mailed it off today, and I wanted to keep it for myself! 

 The project, when looking at the whole picture, should have been easy.  Create a scrapbook, farm themed, for a baby.  There aren't any pictures, because the darling baby wasn't born yet.  And leave pockets throughout for advice cards to slide in.  Ok, easy peasy, right?!  Well, when you're Erin Smetak, that's not the case!  I don't do easy.  And I don't do fast.  And I don't do sloppy or simple.  I take time to research the project, I pay attention to detail, I'm all about color combos, and I like to work outside the box. 
That being said, I had an absolute BLAST working on this book!  I drew quite a few things free hand, and was pleased as punch w/ the results!  I used my Cricut A LOT!  And lots of paper!  Lots and lots and lots of paper! 

Ok, let's get on w/ the show!  Just a warning:  This is a LOOOONNNGGGG post!

 The cover!

 Page 1!  Why not start out w/ cows in the pasture?  And a sweet message to the recipient!

 Pages 2 & 3!  The farm! 

Page 2:  I found a picture of a waving OH flag, and printed it out and attached to a flag pole that I made and colored.  The chickens and fence were cut w/ my Cricut.  The green panel is for a 4x6 picture.  I have these on every double page layout, just so you know...  The clouds I drew, cut out and sponged.  The grass was sewn along the edges for some detail.

 Page 3!  I drew (w/ my ruler) this silo.  Behind the silo is a hidden pocket for advice cards!  I made the sign using Spellbinders dies.  I drew the chickens and wrote the welcome message.  The fence was cut w/ the Cricut.  I sewed the edge of the grass on this page too.  To match.  And the clouds are the same as the first page, and will be the same in all upcoming pages!

 Page 4:  Who doesn't like pigs?!  Especially nice and clean ones?!  That's a rarity, I'm sure!  The heading, so to speak, is made into a swirl to mimic the shape of a pig's tail!  I wrote, "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home...."  I layered it w/ a scallop circle cut on my Cricut, along w/ those cute piggies, and then created another pocket!

 Page 5: And here we have some very dirty piggies!  I reversed the c/s when cutting the piggies and put Crystal Effects (liquid glue from SU!) that once dried, it gives off a nice shine!  I drew the flowers along the back edge of the muddy pond and colored w/ Copics.  The fence was cut w/ the Cricut.

 The double page!

 And the closeup of those bad little piggies swimming in the mud!!!

 Here's page 6 w/ rows of corn stalks ready for picking!  When brainstorming what each page would be featuring, I HAD to add corn to the list!  What's a farm book without it?!The corn stalks were all cut w/ my Cricut!  I tore Chocolate Chip cardstock and sponged the edges to make it look like it was just watered or it had just rained.

 Page 7 features a cob of corn (hand drawn and colored w/ copics) and the title for the layout cut w/ my Cricut.  The wonderful thing about the internet is that I found free fonts to add to my collection and was able to download/upload them to my cutting software and what you see above is how that idea turned out!  LOVE IT!

 Pages 6 & 7 double page layout!

 Page 8 we travel to the barn!  This barn is one of a kind, as it was hand drawn and colored w/ Copics.  The hay bales and barrel of apples are courtesy of Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The horses are from My Favorite Things.  The "B" stands for the last name of the family receiving this, and "F" for Farm!  The chicken in her nest at the top of the page is cut from my Cricut.

 Page 9 continues the horse theme w/ a great quote that I found online!  I used the Bleeding Cowboys font for this.

 

 Pages 8 & 9 double page layout.

 Page 10 brings us back out to the field toiling the soil!  When I created these pages, I felt like conveying the message, preparing the soil like you're preparing your home for a new baby!  However, I just couldn't make it work.  So, I'm stating that here on my blog!  Haha!

 For page 11, I mimicked the background paper and created large flowers grown from the newly toiled soil where the recipient can include circle pictures in the middles of the flowers!  Oh, the tractors were cut w/ my Cricut!

 Pages 10 & 11 double page layout.

 Page 12  we are grazing w/ the sheep!  The sheep and windmill were cut w/ the Cricut.  The grass was die cut using my My Favorite Things grass die namics.  The sentiment was die cut using Spellbinders dies.

 Here's a closeup of the quote.  I found this quote, which was quite lengthy, and tweaked it and made it my own. 

 Page 13 I wanted to use a LARGE sheep to drive that sheep theme home!  Think I succeeded?!  LOL!  I cut it out w/ my Cricut, which was nice, because this same sheep is what I used on the page before, I was just able to make it larger!  I LOVE that versatility!  I stenciled the Baaa! and then created a talking bubble and cut it out.

 Pages 12 & 13 double page layout.

 Page 14 is boring!  I know, I dropped the ball here!  But, I just wanted at least ONE page that didn't have anything other than a picture here!  I found this shape that I cut w/ Marina Mist cardstock, online, and thought it would be perfect as a layer behind the picture!

 Page 15 is a little more lively!  But not much!  LOL!  I used the same shape, w/ the same Marina Mist c/s and used that to create my little scene!  The lambs shown here are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The sun is a My Favorite Things Die namics, as well as the sentiment panel.  The grass was hand cut, and I sewed the green beads to the bottom to add a little detail.  It looks like food for the lambs, right?!  I did a little research on lambs, to get the coloring and find out a few facts, and I learned that they like to eat grain, and grass.  Well, brown beads just didn't look right, so I went w/ green!

 Here's a closeup of the sentiment panel.  I wrote out the first stanza of "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

 Pages 14 & 15 double page layout.

 Page 16 is going in a completely different direction.  I really wanted to incorporate some sort of flower in this book.  I decided on sunflowers, because they are mainly grown in fields in the midwest.  I know Kansas is the Sunflower State, but, why not have them in OH?!  The sunflowers are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The tag w/ a sun quote was cut w/ the Cricut after printing the quote out.  I sponged the background to make it look like a harvest sky.  I wrapped rafia into a bow and around the page.

 Here's a closeup of the quote and a sunflower.

 Page 17 continues the fall theme w/ pumpkins and fall leaves!  I drew and cut out the tree, and then embossed it w/ a woodgrain embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  The grass is the My Favorite Things Dienamics.  The pumpkins are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I sponged the background to match the opposite page.  The leaves are a Martha Stewart oak leaf punch.  I sponged choc. chip ink around the edges, along w/ the tree to highlight the embossing.

 Pages 16 & 17 double page layout.

 Page 18 I bring another animal to the book.  Sweet little rabbits!  What a cute little family they make!  Just like the family who is receiving this book!  The rabbits and grass are from Kitchen Sink Stamps!

 Page 19 I made a little plate of vegetables!  The carrots are hand drawn, and colored w/ Copics.  The lettuce and tomatoes are from Kitchen Sink Stamps!  They won't be released until next month!  You should have come to Stamping Around OH!  You could have gotten them a month early!  The peas are a 1 3/8" SU! punch, and sponged.  The pod is drawn to fit the peas, and sponged as well.  The ladybug is cut w/ the Cricut.

 Here's a closeup of the vegetables and quote from Shel Silverstein!  I wanted to end the book w/ something humorous!

 Pages 18 & 19 double page layout.

 Page 20!  The last page in the book!  I made this SUPER simple so that there's LOTS of room to journal!  Since I didn't leave a whole lot of room to journal throughout the book, they can journal at the end.  The gardener is from Can Ya Dig It WTG from My Favorite Things, along w/ the new plants!  I drew a line of soil for the plants to have a base.  I went w/ this image of her planting new plants, because to me, when you have a baby, you're planting new life, just like she's planting new plants!

Here's a close up of the bottom!

Thanks for traveling through this farm w/ me!

It has been a joy to work on this book!