QuicKutz Latest Release

Hello Everyone!

Happy Wednesday! And Happy QK Release day!!! I'm so excited to post the projects that I did for the design team!!! Yeah! I loved using the Birds and Bee's Release, I loved the silhouette shapes that they did for the flowers and branches - those are my favorites!!!

My 2 favorite projects that I completed for this release were Adam's "In the Garden" page and Emme's "Sweet" page! They're both very simple layouts, but once you add the QK die cuts, they turn super cute but still easy!!! Let me know if you have any questions about any of the projects - and I hope that you enjoy!

Have a great rest of the week!
Andrea

I've been working...

Even tho I have very little to show (yet!), I've been working hard and having fun!!! QuicKutz has sent their latest TOP SECRET release to me and I've been cutting and gluing and having a blast! Unfortunately, you'll have to wait to see my samples until QK reveals the release but I have to tell you that you won't be disappointed! I feel like QK took a step back to where they were before - making shape dies instead of the large Epic Dies (not that I dislike the Epic Dies, but I LOVE shapes!!!), and I've enjoyed playing with these dies! They're perfect for your spring and summer pictures/cards!

I do have a sample of a stamping page that I've been working on... I keep trying to think of ways to incorporate different tools into scrapping so that you can get your monies worth and I think that stamping, masking and misting are great ways to stretch your tools and dollars!!! I used very little patterned paper on this two page layout, an eraser for the dots and a Sassafra's group of Cling Stamps that worked great. Ignore the pencil lines, they'll be erased as soon as I put pictures of the layout! So please, use your supplies to keep going! Don't give up on scrapping or card making because money might be tight, but try to use what you have to get you through!

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Father's Day!!
Andrea

Stella's Garden . . . In bloom!

Happy Friday!
I am sooo happy! And super relieved because "Stella's Garden" is done! Yay! And 1 day before the shower - nothing like being a Last Minute Lucy! But I absolutely love it! And I hope that Baby Stella and her beautiful Mommy do too!

I do have to give credit to 2 wonderful ladies that I owe a HUGE thank you too! My Grandma Grace and our great friend Vickie W.!! My Grandma came over on Wednesday and helped with cutting the binding and showing me how to do the corners and Vickie quilted the "sky" for me and offered me tons of free quilting knowledge! And you can barely see any of my "miss-sews" because of the quilting! Thanks Grandma and Vickie!

Also, I'm posting a few pictures of the baby shower's "Thank You" goodie bags. I made this super yummy and super easy popcorn-candy mix that we filled clear cello bags with and I made bag toppers that match the colors of the shower and the theme of the baby's room. The toppers were super easy, I used the Martha Stewart Butterfly border punch, the fiskers eyelet border punch, some off white Prima flowers which I chalked in Lavender and butterflies using my QuicKutz and Sizzix die cuts! All my paper is Bazzill (solids) and Basic Grey's Kioshi line. So easy, simple and cute!

Please let me know if anyone would like a tutorial on any projects that I've posted. I'm more than happy to try my hand at them!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Andrea

Stella's Garden

I know, it's been FOREVER since I last blogged... but I have a great reason and it's called "Stella's Garden". Some of our best friends are expecting their first baby and it's a sweet little girl! I've been inspired by some other applique quilts that I seen so I decided to go ahead and try my hand at it. The result is very cute (although the technique leaves a LOT of be desired!), and here's a picture of it sans binding! My Grandma, who is a wonderful quilt maker is coming over this afternoon to help me with the binding. Anyways - I just wanted to show you guys what I've been doing so that you don't give up on me! I've been consumed with finishing the quilt since the baby shower is on Saturday!

Please, leave me any questions or comments that you have. I do have to say that I used the Sizzix Butterfly die from Stamp'in Up and the QuicKutz Butterfly 4x4 Die, the QuicKutz Paper Doll clothes for the clothesline and I just free handed and made my own patterns for the clouds, flowers and mushrooms. I still want to add some ruffles to the grassy hills but we'll see if I have time for that!

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!
Andrea

Fathers Day Card

Wow, 2 posts in one day!!! I must be feeling better!!! I've been sick for a little over a week so my "work" has lapsed a little... at least that's what I thought until I looked at all the posts that I've done! Looks like I need to be sick all the time to get my stuff done! Not really, I guess being sick stops me from Disneyland trips, Target trips, Park time so I have a little more time to work on my samples, but I definitely don't want to be sick any more!!

I just wanted to share with you a Father's Day Card that I just finished. I used the Crackle Paint from Tim Holtz, the Distress Ink from Tim Holtz and the Measuring Tape from Tim Holtz and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in black... and I really like it! It's a very cool, manly card that I can't wait to give to my Dad or Husband - hmmm, maybe I'll just make two of them and give them both one!

The Crackle was super easy to use, you just paint it on (the thicker the better) and let it start to dry. Once you see it start to crack you can use a heat gun on it to speed up the process, then take your distress ink and smear it all over the paint so that it settles into the cracks and gives them a little more definition. I also used my QK Blossom font and cut out D-A-D from chipboard and placed those in the bottom right hand corner with a little repositionable adhesive, then I sprayed the card with the Glimmer Mist and once it was dry I removed the letters leaving the negative space to spell out Dad. I then used Diamond Glaze to make the letters pop a little more, but I don't think that I would do it again, I think that I'd just leave it - it looked cooler the other way. I then glued two pieces of the measuring tape to the card, punched a couple of holes and wrapped the twine around the center of the tape. Very easy, very cool, very masculine!

I cannot wait to get my hands on more of this crackle paint - if you used white on a skeleton it would look amazingly spooky!

Please leave me a comment if you have any questions!
Happy Cutting!
Andrea

My Scraffice

Hello Everyone!
I wanted to share a little about my office/scraping room, the room that we refer to as "Mama's Scraffice". I LOVE my room, and while there's still a lot of little personal touches that I want to add, I can work in here and feel free to be creative and messy (or neat) without worrying about people dropping by and being embarrassed about my ongoing projects. I do TRY to keep the room somewhat clean, it's difficult, trust me, but I've really been trying to clean up after each project, if I just stack up the project on one corner of my desk, at least I try to have all the main surfaces fairly clear. I got most of my storage solutions from IKEA, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Ikea! I don't think that their name is so close to idea by accident! I used a lot of their kitchen solutions for my storage, spice racks, spice jars, hanging baskets for my scissors, pens, glue. I use their spice jars for my buttons and the large mason jars for my flowers. I also have a wall mounted magazine rack that I keep the majority of my idea books in along with tons of boxes and baskets from Ikea that I hold embellishments, stamps, sewing stuff in on my bookcase. My wonderful Husband made me a built in bookcase and die cutting station so that I can keep all of my work surfaces organized. If I could paint this room all over again I'd probably paint it pink or lime green or a cheery yellow, but since we painted before we moved in we just painted it with left over paint from another room. All in all, I love my room and wouldn't change much about it! I'm looking for cute and fun decorations for the walls, I have a lot of ideas but a little less time to complete my ideas! Please, let me know if you have any questions about anything that you see here!

Andrea

Heat Wave

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely feeling like summer is just around the corner! It's getting warmer and warmer here, we're about an hour away from the beach and it's been in the mid-90's this weekend and it looks like we're going to stay there for the rest of the week. Part of me is loving this, but I know that we'll soon tire of the heat and crave a cool down in the fall. I am looking forward to beach trips, hunting seashells and camping. So, in the spirit of summer I made this fun and easy card.

I was thinking that it'd be perfect for a gender neutral birthday card or even just a note to say hello to someone that you've been thinking of. I used my Silhouette SD to cut the wave and the sun and used the Aquarius Font from QuicKutz for "Surfs Up". I used Liquid Applique to create the crest of the wave (which I LOVE!) and painted with white paint around the edges of the card and wave and oval (cut from my QK nesting ovals). I hope this card gets you in the mood for a little summer lov'in!

Happy Sunday, Everyone!
Andrea