SNR Feature

I had the honor of being a Featured Artist for Scrapbook News and Review Ezine. I wrote an article about making the time to scrapbook yourself. You can check it out on SNR's website under Fun Stuff.

I created this All About Me layout for the feature and also added a few older layouts, too.

Close-ups of the tissue paper flowers


Here's the step by step instructions for creating those tissue paper flowers seen on the layout:

Step 1: Gather your supplies {Heat tool, Luminarte Radiant Rain shimmering spritz, Metal dies, Die cutting machine, adhesive squares, flower center, gift wrap tissue paper}


Step 2: Use metal dies to die cut several different size circles. (I used the 3 smaller circles, but die cut 2 of the circles twice for a fuller flower.)

Step 3: Spray each circle with Luminarte shimmering spritz.

Step 4: Very gently crumple the circles and dry them with a heat tool.

Step 5: Very gently un-crumple the circles and dry the centers if necessary.

Step 5: Apply adhesive square to the center of each circle and layer in size order, with the smallest on the top.

Step 7: Add flower center and then attach to the project.


Want more ideas for using Luminarte paints? Check out the blog!

52 Week Project - February Photos

So February is over, thank goodness! I am so not a winter person; the winter blues kick in and I want to do nothing but hibernate in the cold weather months. All of the snow and rain that we've had has kept me buried in the confines of my home...not to mention the fact that I've been bumming it. I'm so glad that Spring is on it's way!!

I'm still chugging along with the 52 Week Project. I'm not all that thrilled with my self-portraits this month. Like I said, I stayed in a lot which didn't allow for very much optimal light or creativity. But it's all good...it's all part of the process! The important thing is that I stuck with it. I have issued myself a challenge for the month of March. At least half of my photos have to be taken outside.

Here are my photos for weeks 5-8

Week 5-- 2/5/11 I like to call this one "...out, out, damned spot!"

I often find myself looking down at that hideous spot that decided to take up residence on my face last summer. I finally went to the dermatologist a few weeks ago to get it biopsied. It turns out that it's a pigmented solar keratosis--or pre-cancer as the Physician's Assistant explained to me.

The irony of this is I've always (since my early 20's) been a big sunscreen advocate. I slather myself and my kids and get on my husband for not wearing any, especially when we're going to be in the sun. I can't tell you how many times I told my friends and family "Black folks can get skin cancer, too. Don't be fooled by the melanin!" From what I've read it can be caused by overexposure to the sun from as far back as childhood.

Thankfully it's not harmful to me in any way since it was caught early. I just have to use a chemotherapy cream for a few weeks until it goes away.

Week 6-- 2/12/11 making shower favors for my friend's sister's baby shower-- I love being creative!

Week 7-- 2/18/11 This is how I spend most winter weekends...huge sweatshirt or sweater, flannel pajama pants, (ahem, hair undone) and connecting with my cyber friends on my laptop.

Week 8-- 2/25/11

Can't Get Enough

...of the Little Boy collection from Echo Park! I love it when I find super fun and colorful products for little boys! I mixed in some of the Mr. Boy collection from Bella Blvd to scrap one of my favorite photos of my boys. These 2 collections compliment each other so well!

How true is that sentiment? My boys know they have me wrapped around their little fingers! LOL!

Multiphoto Birthday Layouts

Happy Monday everyone!! Today, I'm sharing 2 birthday layouts that I created about 2 my boys using Cheery Lynn Designs dies and a mix of patterned papers from Bella Blvd and Echo Park Paper Co. I tell you, I can not believe that my older son turned 7 just 3 weeks ago and my baby will be 3 in less than 2 months!! They're getting old...I'm not, just them...LOL!!

Side note: I absolutely love how usable Echo Park's packaging is! I cut a 4" strip from the packaging paper and was able to incorporate 18 different patterns without overwhelming the design of having to cut out each individually! Love that!

OK, back to the layout...

I wanted to add just a touch of texture to my background, so I sandwiched the paper between the Desert Floor Embossing Plate and an embossing pad and used a mallet to bang the texture into the paper since it was too big to send through my embossing machine.

I also added some sparkle by applying droplets of Key Lime Luminarte to the background.

Cheery Lynn Designs has a wonderful array of 2" x 3" layered dies that allow you to create the perfect little embellishment for any project. I used the Index Card here to highlight part of my journaling as well as add another red element to my layout.

I am all about incorporating texture onto my layouts! I love how the Piercing Plates not only add texture, but allow me to add perfect stitching (in the case here, faux stitching). All of the holes are pre-punched for you, all you have to do is stitch! How easy is that?

I created textured journaling border strips by die cutting the smallest of the XL French Flair dies and embossing it with Desert Floor. I cut the piece in half and aligned it next to my photo.

On this next birthday layout, I'll show you how to change up the look of a couple of the dies by using small pieces of them.

I added a fun playful look to the Coved Rectangle dies by making them into "tickets". I achieved this look by cutting them half, inking them and then adding a rub-on and pen work.

The XL French Flair die becomes a journaling spot that houses my title. Again, I cut out the die and trimmed off the piece that I needed and saved the rest for another project.


The Dimensional Star Buttons were used as is, but the addition of some colorful baker's twine help to take these over the top.

A plain black circle cut using the Classic XL Circles is used to mat the bowling ball making it pop right off the page!

I hope this post has inspired you to pullout your die cutting machine a go to work!!

Until next post, have a great day!!

My Family's V-Day

The boys were both so excited about Valentine's Day, especially Donovan. All week he kept exclaiming that he COULDN'T WAIT until Valentine's Day. He even helped me out by writing out all of the cards for his and Xander's classmates. They both came home with a bag full of cards and little treats.

I surprised all of my guys with a sweets table filled with their (and my) favotite treats, including red velvet cake, strawberries, twizzlers, lemonheads and appleheads, and peppermint patties, cards for everyone and balloons for the boys. Troy sent me a pretty bouquet of pink, white, and red tulips and chocolates and I made dinner for everyone. All in all, it was a very sweet day!

Hope you had a LOVEly day!!

Valentine's Day Cards | Cheery Lynn Designs

Happy Valentine's Day bloggers!!! I am sharing a load of Valentine's Day cards that I created using Cheery Lynn Designs dies. I just love how versatile the dies are; they can be used straight forward or changed up to create an out of the box design.

I made this set of mini cards to go along with some goodies for my niece and nephews using XL Nested Scalloped Circles and Little Stackers Coved Rectangle. As you can see here, I used the scalloped circle as and embellishment on one of the cards and as the base of the other.

I created this next card for my sister's Valentine. Since the card is for a guy, I wanted to make it as masculine as possible. I achieved this look by adding a lot of texture. I cut the By The Sea Frame from patterned paper and chipboard and then used the Cement embossing plate from the grunge series to emboss it.

The frame actually cuts several pieces at a time, I just wanted the outer shape and the inner circle to create the faux scalloped border, so I put scotch tape around the parts that I didn't want cut out.

Here you can see the cement texture on the frame

I remember when the Heart to Heart Doily arrived at my house. I opened the package, but instead of seeing a heart, my mind's eye saw half of a butterfly wing and from that point, I couldn't wait to create a pretty butterfly with it. See I told you the dies are versatile! I used the Dots/Lines embossing plate to add some texture to the card base.


Here's a close up of the wing (err heart).


Below is a list of the supplies used on the cards. Click on each photo to find it in the store.









Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!

Gnomeo & Juliet: Review

I had the opportunity to take the boys to a pre-screening of Gnomeo and Juliet this past Tuesday. I have to admit, this was one of the most adorable movies I've seen in a while!! I enjoyed the storyline, which is a twist on the story of Romeo and Juliet and I have a feeling that this movie is going to turn into a classic as well. It was fun, colorful, and most definitely funny. Donovan and Xander giggled through the entire movie and have been going around the house and singing some of the songs.

I don't want to give away too much of the film, but here's a clip for your viewing enjoyment. Gnomeo & Juliet opens in US theaters on Feb 11th. It's a wonderful family film!

Pink Paislee Featured Artist

I had the honor of being the Featured Designer over at Pink Paislee this month!! OK, so we all know how much I LOVE this company, so getting to be featured is a dream!! (you can see the post here)

I received a box of the sweetness collection along with some Parisian Anthology embellishments and this is what I came up with.

I created this first layout using self-portraits that I had taken just days before I gave birth to Xander, almost 3 years ago. This is the third time (1st and 2nd) that I've scrapped this photo...yeah, I guess you can say I kind of like it...LOL! Pregnancy has been on my brain recently because Donovan has been asking for a baby sister. It would be nice to have another female in the house to break up some of the testosterone, but I'm not beat for that. Xander is completely potty trained and I don't think I can go through with morning sickness again. Sorry Donovan!!

supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, rub-ons, stickers- Pink Paislee; luminarte paint, spritz- Creative Imaginations; doily die- Cheery Lynn Designs; ink- Clearsnap; pearls- Kaisercraft; kraft cardstock- Bazzill; thread

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This card was just pure fun to make. I mean who doesn't love pin wheels? I added texture to the polka dot paper by embossing it and layering 2 hand cut strips from patterned paper to create the lacy trim.

supplies: patterned paper, stickers, metal badge- Pink Paislee; ribbon- Making Memories, cardstock- Bazzill; brad- K&Co

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This next layout was created using self-portraits that I took on my 36th birthday. I incorporated lots of hand cut elements here.

The background was a blank piece of canvas that I painted and spritzed with Luminarte. I also broke in my music sheet stamp!! I used the Parisian Anthology chipboard elements to create the masking. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I hand stitched around the butterfly in the top left corner after I cut away the canvas and adhered a piece of patterned paper behind it.

I machine stitched around the canvas background and the frayed the edges. The foam alpha were originally white; I stitched them to the layout, colored them with a yellow pen and then added yellow stickles so they'd match the layout better. I created a visual triangle with words and numbers for "36".

supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, rub-ons, stickers, canvas borders- Pink Paislee; luminarte paint, spritz, canvas sheet- Creative Imaginations; ink- Clearsnap; flower- Prima, lace transparency- Hambly; thread

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I just HAD to create a love project, I mean this IS the Sweetness collection after all!

I used the clear cards in this collection for the front of the card and for the heart window on the treat container. I inked the white foam alpha and then coated them with silver stickles.

supplies: patterned paper, metal badge, clear cards, stickers- Pink Paislee; ink- Clearsnap; stickles-Ranger; die cut- Cheery Lynn Designs; border punch- Fiskars; ribbon

Thanks so much Pink Paislee for the feature!!! It's been so FUN creating with some of my favorite products!!

New PetalooCHA-W 2011

New Color Me Crazy flowers--honeysuckle spray, wildflowers, and flowers from the 60 piece value pack. I drizzled some Creative Imaginations Radiant Rain shimmering spray to add color to the flowers.




This next layout was created using Pink Paislee's new line called Soiree and Petaloo's new crocheted trim and brighton flowers.

Petaloo's new trims come wrapped on a pretty dress form which I repurposed here. I painted and sprayed a wide piece of ribbon with luminarte and then scrunched it up and hot glued it on the dress form to create a personalized embellishment for my layout.




Both layouts are 8x8