Friday!

Hello, again! Woo-hoo! It's Friday - I've got a workday - and it's time for the festivities to begin!

So, were any of you as surprised as I am that Mothers'  Day is a week from Sunday? Seems early. I think the way-cooler-than-average weather has messed up my concept of time - that, and for the first time in years and years, I don't have to care about state testing. Strange.

Anyway, Unity has this oh-so-cute image, which I got on sale last winter, and for which I paid a grand total of $6, including shipping. Scooore! I told you Angela has some good sales!

Anyway, using a sketch from the Mojo Monday archives, I popped together this:

DP is Basic Grey, CS is Bazzill and the ribbon is from Ellen Hutson (my fave online store!) The image are heat embossed with  Zing! powder. A MS edge punch to give a little texture, and there we go!

What a week! Thank  you so much for coming by! Up next week, Paper Addict Catherine! She's got some great work - fun and unique - already on her blog, and I'm looking forward to her Growing in Unity week!

Find her at: http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your weekend!

Elizabeth

Butterflies for Thursday

Welcome back, Unity friends! Today I've got a 'something old, something new' going on using one of my favorite Unity sets, Butterfly Beauty.

Here's my something new! I used a Nestie to cut the scalloped square and set inside of it a piece of 'lace' paper from K&I. Underneath that is a piece of PP from Anna Griffin. It's all layered on Bazzill CS and topped off with a heat-embossed butterfly. 

Now, something old - I did this for the challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You last week, I think. It's actually a couple of posts back, but I've added a couple of Prima flowers since that left corner just felt naked. This butterfly is heat-embossed with Tinsel. The center of the white flower is a purple crystal brad from Making Memories (It didn't show up in the photo well. I sooo need a better camera. Not likely, but just sayin'...)

Anyway, with National Scrapbooking Day coming up, I'd like to try to get a LO done. We'll see.

Thank you sooooooo much for visiting today!

Elizabeth

Well, it's Wednesday!

Usually the scary day of the week, since my kindergarteners have no special classes today, but with the teachers' meeting after school canceled, hey, things are looking up!

For my Growing in Unity post today, I'm sharing a card I made for the SCS Try a New Technique a little while ago.The technique is called brick wall - here's a link to the tutorial. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/brickwall It was a little time-consuming, but I really like how it turned out.

The Unity stamp is "My, What a Beautiful Tree!" I really do love it. It's really versatile, and I use it a lot. The cardstock is  Coredinations, which I sanded with 120 grit paper. CS is Bazzill, the sentiment is something I had lying around cut and embossed with a Nestie. The button's from Oriental Trading. The image is stamped with Staz-On.

Sorry the picture is so shadowy. It's been a little dreary around here lately.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I really appreciate comments and links!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Elizabeth

A Template for Tuesday

Today for my Growing In Unity project, I've quickly popped together a set for a baby shower. The little pocketbook is a template and tutorial I found on one of my very fave blogs, Mel Stampz. http://www.melstampz.blogspot.com/
She's got tons of really cute freebie templates and a bunch of technique tutorials. Kind of a one-stop, everything you needed to know, cornucopia of crafty knowledge. She rocks!

These images come from Unity's Little Me set. Used the CB to emboss the paper for both of them. The DP inside the handle is Cosmo Cricket - Girl Friday Collection. The little bellie on the flap is K & Company, the buttons are Oriental Trading. I hand-stitched the sides of the handles with pink  DMC floss and inked the edges of the tiny tag with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

I'm still having a lot of fun playing with the scoring board. I could never have made this work without it, but this was really easy-peasy!

The white-on-white just didn't photograph very well. It's sooo time for a camera that does a better job on these close-ups. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and a link so I can come visit you, too!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Elizabeth

Score!

Yep. I can do that now! I'm so excited! The Michaels in our end of the world are finally, finally carrying the Martha Stewart scoring board! I had been wanting a Scor-Pal for the longest, but at close to $60, it's just out of my price range. With my 40% off coupon, I picked up this bad boy for a measly $12.98. I'll say it again - pun intended - scoooooooore!

Welcome, my Unity peeps! This is the first of my Growing in Unity posts. Can I gush for just a second? Unity and {Ippity} are an incredible value. My mom is one of those "if it's good quality and has style, it's an investment" people. Unity stamps fit that perfectly. While I do live on a shoestring budget, having qualtiy stamps and ink make a huge difference in how projects turn out.  And Angela does run a mean sale from time to time.

Anyway, I got the chance to work with a sketch I saw last week at Get Sketchy. Couldn't do it then, since I would never have gotten the flaps to work without the scoring board. No such limitations today.

I started out by cutting a 6x6 piece of DP. All of these are from Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday collection. I used the Cricut to cut two hearts at 5 1/2 and 5 inches. The other papers were cut, and I inked up these images from Ippity's Straight from the Heart set. I deckle-cut and Distress-inked the edges of the bottom sentiment. Popped a Making Memories velvet brad into a Prima flower, and scored the outside edges of the hearts.

I attached the heart pieces and the grossgrain ribbon to the back and covered them with  a piece of cs that won't show. I colored the tree with Copics,  popped most of the red hearts up on pop-dots, and used a bit of cheap Studio G chalk on a Q-Tip to shade the grass and sky.

Here's a better look at the inside, though I'm not wild about the picture. It was a fun project!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and a link so I can visit you, too!

Fluttering By...

Wow! The work being done for the Flutter By Wednesday Challenge is amazing! I'm definitely going to have to up my game, but that's what challenges are for, right?

Therefore, my feeble attempt:

The butterfly is heat-embossed in  Ranger Tinsel, and I promise, it's quite sparkly - just doesn't show well in the photo. Something else at which I need to improve...

The letter of the week at Something Completely Different is B. Sorry to go with the obvious. With any luck, I'll get a Bella at the Beach done.

I'm also working with the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. Love what they do, too! Without sketches, I wouldn't get much done, and these folks really do them well.

Thanks for letting me learn from you!

I'm so glad you stopped by!

Elizabeth

Quelle Fete!

Love, love, love the April in Paris release at Shirley's 2 Girls! I thought I'd play along with their Twisted Thursday Challenge this week, and using the SCS sketch this week, came up with this:

The paper is Cosmo Cricket, lace is from the scrap pile, and the 'merci' is a SU I had lying around, The embossing folder is a quickutz run through my CB and then the fram is inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

One of the many things I love about digi stamps is the versatility. I could size this to work with the frame, easy peasy! I even just used Word, not the PSE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Elizabeth

White? Before Memorial Day?

Definitely!
I'm lovin' the new challenge blog at The Shabby Tea Room! This week, Debbie (just up the road in Chapel Hill) challenged us to create using white and/or cream and only one other color. The DT's samples were amazing! Using the Sweet Sunday Sketch, and with the challenge at Something Completely Different in mind, I gave it a try:

Recipe:

Image - Rusty Pickle Digital Images

Paper Piercing Pattern - Fred, She Said

Cuttlebug folder

Martha Stewart punch

Making Memories Flowers

Buttons - Oriental Trading

Ribbon to make the tutu - from my scrap pile

I swear, the buttons match the tutu, but they look orange-y, no matter what I do with the PSE.

*Sigh*

SHOESTRING ALERT - The pattern for the paper piercing was a freebie from the Fred, She Said blog!

Thanks so much for these challenges, ladies! They really do push us to try new ideas!

I'm so glad that you stopped by!

Elizabeth