Happy Birthday Laura Ann Tomaino Williams

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU LAURA!!!

And a Happy Anniversary to you and Eric today too!

Here's a picture of the day you met my dad, Grampa Grumps when you were just a baby! LOVE IT!!!

Happy Birthday Laura and a Happy Anniversary to you and Eric.

grow. . .breathe. . .enjoy!

Hello! Hello! Happy Thursday! Today's card is a bit larger than I normally work - 5x7. But this big wonderful tree just didn't want to be cropped or cut apart, so I used a larger format. These stamps are from Grown With Love. (There's another really cute sample from the catalog, if you click on that link to the stamp set! Seeing that card, makes me want to go play with this some more!) I also used Twitterpated paper and matching Dimensional Elements chipboard buttons.
There are some great polka dotted circles in this stamp set, but to make the circles on my tree, i just punched out paper, and then added some buttons. The leafy trio is also a stamp from this set, as are the little words scattered around - grown, breathe, and enjoy.

TIP: to create the brown background layer, I cut a rectangle, and matted my image. Then I used a circle punch, slightly larger than the buttons, punched out four brown circles, and matted them behind the rectangle.

Thanks for stopping by today!!!! Can you believe it's almost MAY!!???

Happy Birthday to him!

Gotta a little boy? Or a big guy? Here's just the card! I stamped the images on three squares, and then stamped them again and cut them out, adhering them with foam tape. (I added faux brads using my tip from a few weeks ago. . .the period from an alphabet set!)

These fun "boy" stamps work great for a little boy (like one of my little guys) or for a teenage guy, or even for a Father's Day card!

Thanks for stopping by today! See you next week!

(colors: Dutch Blue, Outdoor Denim, Citrus Leaf/stamps: Playin' Hard, Dainty Thoughts - sentiment)

Be Yourself

Wow! It's Thursday again! Today I have two new cards for you, using the set Be Yourself. This set was a Stamp of the Month a while back, and now it's in the brand new summer catalog. I am THRILLED, because I LOVE this stamp set!!! It always works well with the bright, bold color schemes I like to use! This color combo is Outdoor Denim, Bubblegum, and Kiwi. . .and I must admit, Kiwi is not available anymore, and I try not to use product that isn't available - BUT. . .I ADORE kiwi. It is one of my most FAVORITE colors ever. So my dear mama, and favorite CTMH consultant helped me stock up on it before it was gone!!!! But you could easily substitute Citrus Leaf, and it would probably look JUST ABOUT as good!! ;)

This second card I put together using scraps sitting on my desk from the first card. (The first card is based on Tami Mayberry's sketch for next week at Card Positioning Systems . . but shhhh!) I hope you like them both! And if you give this (or a similar) color combo a try, leave us a link! My mom and I would both love to see what you create!

See you next week!

TIPS: use your scraps and make a second card, while all of your supplies are out!

Sand the edges of cardstock (especially textured cardstock!) for an easy finishing touch.

Topstitch Baby cards

Happy Thursday! I'm back to share some more goodies with you today . . .I created two baby cards using Topstitch paper, and the Love You Forever stamp set.On this card, I paired the little birdie from Love You Forever (C1398) with the Congratulations sentiment from Forever In Love (B1345) ( it's a great little set of sentiments and flowers. (You'll be seeing more from me with this set soon!)

TIP: I was running low on ribbon, and I didn't have quite enough to make a bow. Instead, I folded the ribbon over, in the "shape" of a bow, and used a piece of twine to tie the center together. I kind of like the way it looks!

And on this card, using stamps from Love You Forever, I got crazy with the distressing. I used my little scissors, and my fingernail to really rough up the edges of this patterned paper.

TIP: No brads handy? Use the period from an alphabet set, to stamp faux brads in the corners. (I used Friendship Alpha small -C1401- to do mine.)

Thanks for stopping by to see me today! I hope you had a terrific Easter week! We are Spring Breakin' it up around my house. We've had a couple playdates, and yesterday we went to paint pottery. Hopefully I can occupy my little man with a nice long movie soon, so I can try to find some more STAMPING TIME!!!

See you back here next week, but in the meantime, come by and visit me at my blog too! Have a terrific weekend!

A Miracle Awaits You! Special

This beautiful scrapbooking kit is available beginning April 15 through May 31. You can order it outright for $19.95, place a minimum order of $40 and purchase the kit for $10.00 or place a minimum order of $60 and purchase the kit for ONLY $5.00.

The kit has all the supplies to create four 12 X 12 layouts. Not a scrapbooker? You can use the kit to create over a dozen cards! The cards I created using the kit are posted below.

Dream Big!

Hello, hello! I am so happy to be here to share a bit of what I'm up to, using some fun Close To My Heart products!

This is a clean and simple card that I decided to duplicate and try with a few different color schemes and stamps. (This first one is my favorite though!) I stamped the flower patterns using stamps from Dream Big, onto white cardstock squares. (I used Crystal Blue and Sweet Leaf on this first card.) I did some layering, and sanding and added a sentiment from Say It With Style. (This is one of my all time favorite and most practical stamp sets in my stash!!)

I'm looking forward to sharing my cards with you every week!!! I'll be back next Thursday with another card! (or maybe two!!) Happy April! Have a terrific Easter weekend!

Tip: Use a piercing tool to pierce a row of holes to finish off edges.

Stamps: Dream Big, Say It In Style