Thursday, September 23, 2010

Crazy Hat Day

Just had to share this fun pic of Maggie before school this morning!
It's "Spirit Week" at her school this week & today was "hat" day. Maggie doesn't own too many hats other than her dress-up costumes, so this is what she picked...
Ain't she cute?!!!
Happy Thursday to y'all!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Perfec Pair! A CC&M Blog Hop with Clear & Simple Stamps

Hi everyone! I am posting here again with another hop!!
Welcome to the Perfect Pair Hop with some great stamps from Clear & Simple Stamps & fabulous die cuts from Creative Cuts & More!! 

This should be a really fun hop to follow because not only will you find ideas from the Die Cut Diva team, but the Clear & Simple Stamps DT (CSS) is using the same stamp sets & dies!  Each team member was given a different stamp set & then we were paired with the CSS DT using that same set! Should be fun to compare the 2 ways each set was used! The challenge was to use the stamp set & dies assigned to us to create 3 projects with one of those projects submitted to CSS for their iPhone App (HERE).
And what would a hop be without some CANDY???
There will be 2, yes TWO! prizes (from CC&M and CSS) given away to 2 (TWO!!) lucky readers EACH day!! So be sure to leave a comment as you hop along to all these wonderful sites over the next TWO days!!

So, settle on in & hop along with us. Hopefully you started at the beginning & hopped along to Eva's post over at CSS (She has some beautiful work!!) to get here. If not, you really don't want to miss what all these designers have done for you today! So start HERE & work you way back to me!

Ok, so I had this fun little "Summer Sand" stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps:
 This was a FANTASTIC stamp set for me to work with since we travel quite a bit to sandy beaches!! And, here are the dies I had to work with:
Box with Handle & Layer

Small Window A2 Card (I used this one for my iPhone App)


One of the suggested dies was unavailable, so I chose to work with this Peek-a-View box instead
When I was playing around with the Box with handle, I immediately thought of a sand bucket!
So I stamped the adorable sandcastle from the set on cardstock & cut it out. Then I used the "sand" stamp to layer "sand" all over the castle in 2 ink colors - brown & black, but I stamped over & over before re-inking to get some faded stamping too. (I repeated this process around the box & it's layers too!)
Then I stamped the titles "Life is better" & "at the Beach" on red Glimmer-Misted paper & cut them out like a little flag & banner. I put the "Life is better on a toothpick to make the flag, glued it to the back of the castle before popping it onto the front of the box.
Then I pulled out an old roll of artistic wire & started making swirly ends to hold photos of my daughter playing in the sand last year in Maui...

I stamped the little seashells on some Glimmered paper & cut them out to put on the corner here.
Castle Die in Cappuccino Curious Metallic paper.
I used more of the stamp phrases on the red Glimmer-misted paper again cut them into banner-type pieces & made a little crown for my "Queen." I used a pen to ink the edges of the castle so it would stand out more (not perfect, but it works!) I crossed out the word "castle" from the stamp because she was "Queen of the Sand" that day, with no castles to be made!
I then put a small cube of florists foam inside the box to stand all the wired up in. And added the info on the back.
I just love the whimsey of it!!


Next, I played with the Peek-a-View Box & I have to say it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites!
(We're even doing one in a Halloween kit to sell next month on Etsy!!)

Again, I used the "sand" stamps in brown & black to create the sandy look on the castle die. I stamped a bunch of the seashells on glimmered paper & cut each grouping out. Then I stamped "at the beach" onto the front of the lower part of the box. I scored the castle so it would bend around the corner of the box once I put the bottom of the box together with Killer Red Tacky Tape (CC&M really has THE best prices!). Scattered the seashells around the bottom edges too...
 For the inside of the box, I simply adhered a photo of Maggie at the beach onto a piece of cardstock, stamped the upper/bottom portions with the "sand" & "seashell clusters" & lightly tacked it inside so that it stayed in place. (The acetate piece is so simple: fold at scored lines & tape along one edge before you insert it.) For the top of the box, I simply stamped the "Life is Better" phrase on the center front edge & sprinkled glitter around it before I used the killer tape to adhere it all together. (I also used a little more of the tape along the inside bottom to tape the acetate to the bottom of the box to keep it from falling out with the weight of the coral, but the top can be opened.)

Filled it all up with the coral Maggie collected that year & violla!
Instant, adorable keepsake!

Thanks for stopping by!
Now it's time to hop on over to Jenyfur's blog to see what she's created for you!
OH! Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win some BLOG CANDY!!
TTFN!
Becky, a Scrap-a-Teeny Girl

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Cancer Awareness - CC&M September Blog Hop


Welcome to the September Cancer Awareness Blog Hop for Creative Cuts & More from my personal blog since Kim is on The Scrap-a-Teeny Girls' site today! You are in for a GREAT treat! Our Designers are very excited to share some beautiful projects created with the Awareness Ribbon products from CC&M.
 
Don't forget on the NEW website have over 100 NEW Die Cuts AND a NEW section called GREAT DEALS!

Once you are finished HOPPING along the Blog Hop, you will have an opportunity to win an assortment of Awareness Ribbon goodies! (including an Awareness Ribbon Album & cards!)

You will find the instructions for ways to win this wonderful prize at the end of this post...

Hopefully you are joining us from Melisa Waldorf's beautiful blog! If not, you'll want to hop from the beginning at the Die Cut Diva blog so you don't miss any of the amazing creations we all have in store for you!!
(*If for some reason one of the links is broken along the Hop do not worry, HOP back over to Die Cut Diva where you will find the complete list of all our bloggers!)

When I was told that we were going to do a Cancer Awareness Hop, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do! I haven't done just a layout yet & I have a very close friend who is a 2x SURVIVOR of Breast Cancer. So today, I will share 2 completely different layouts I did with her as my inspiration!
I had emailed my friend's husband in the hopes that I could keep this little project under radar to get some photos from him, but Kathy saw the message & I am soooo glad she did! Although Tim (her hubby) sent me some nice photos of her, the one's she sent were much more inspiring to me!!
 This one is actually the most recent photo (2010) I received & I decided to play a little bit with it in Photo Shop Elements because the colors didn't work with what I had in mind. I think the image turned out kind-of fun & dreamy.
Since I plan on framing these layouts & giving them to her, I thought it might be fun to attach this one on something different first. So I took a piece of corrugated cardboard (roughly 12x14) & ripped it up a little bit & inked the heck out of it.
I used a piece of edge-torn & inked 12x12 paper from Shabby Green Door on the background (available in our Etsy shop) & attached it to the cardboard with decorative brads.  
 (White scallop circle in background)
To create the layers under the photo, I first cut a Scalloped Circle not quite in half, layered on top of torn pieces of more Shabby Green Door paper, an embossed piece of cardstock, another piece of cardboard & finally, just under the photo is 1/2 of a Awareness Ribbon Card.  I inked up everything to keep it shabby, added the lace, flowers, tag & a butterfly (all punches I own, but you can probably find the equivalent at Creative Cuts & More or ask about something similar that might not be on the site yet).
I love the way it turned out & really hope that Kathy does too!

The other photos that she sent me were from the first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure they did as a family back in 2005 - not too long after she went into her first remission. These photos warranted a more fun & youthful layout for me to play with...
I started with a piece of black cardstock & used another Awareness Ribbon Card as a mask with a silver paint Dauber to "stamp" the ribbons all over the background. 
Once that was dry, I cut out the image of Sabrina (Tim & Kathy's adorable daughter) & gave her WINGS made from another 1/2 of the Scallop Circle. I "daubed" more paint on the edges & added some Bubble Gum bling dots to them. Isn't it great!!

For the photo of all 3 of them, I simply layered together the other half of the Awareness Ribbon Card (w/o the cutout), some flowers cut in different colors of felt & a few embellishments from my stash (a Jenni Bowlin "Live" bingo card, a giant pink paperclip from the office supply & an old Making Memories "Journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" metal statement.) Added to that a couple little felt hearts & I was done!
You are probably wondering why I didn't journal anywhere? Well, I knew that I was giving these to her & I felt that her story isn't really mine to tell. So I left off all my thoughts of how amazing she is & how much I admire her determination & strength as she travels down the road to recovery! She'll get all that in a card!

NOW for the Blog Candy!!
Here's how to enter to win the Awareness Ribbon Assortment:
RETURN to the Die Cut Diva site then:

(A) Leave a comment on the DIE CUT DIVA post. (This is limited to one per person unless you meet the criteria of B, C, and/or D below.)
(B) Leave one extra comment if you've posted a link to the Die Cut Diva blog candy on your own blog. Make sure to include a link to your specific post in your comment.

(C) Leave one extra comment if you become one of the Die Cut Diva blog followers. See the right-hand navigation column to follow us.

(D) Leave one extra comment if you click over to our new page on Facebook and become a fan of Die Cut Diva.

(E) Leave one extra comment by commenting on ALL of our talented Designers in our Blog Hop!

(F) Leave one extra comment by another chance to win subscribe to mailing list at www.creativecutsandmore.com

Thanks SOOOOO much for hopping along with us today! As a special way of saying thanks, Creative Cuts & More is donating 20% of all sales of Awareness Ribbon products in September & October to charities. They will be splitting the proceeds with half going to the American Cancer Society & the other half to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We hope that you will help support these wonderful charities by visiting CC&M today!!
Next you will want to hop on over to Steph Zerbe's blog for some truly inspiring work!
Enjoy the hop & see you soon - you won't want to miss out on our BIG 2-DAY HOP with the talented designers at Clear & Simple Stamps on Sept. 21st & 22nd! We are teaming up with their designers to create some fun combinations for you!! 
So be sure to come back soon!


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Tomatoes, Shmomatoes!


 Well, we know once again that our garden location is optimum for cherry tomato growing!
This is my THIRD bucket of tomatoes 
this season & there are still MORE on the vine! 
I have given a ton away, but they seem to multiply when I do that! CRAZY!!!! 

In the meantime, I am looking for any recipes where I can use these yummy little gems!
Any suggestion?!?!?
Cheers!