she art and punky sprouts for the win

I finally get to share the project I put together using the fabulous "she art" line from Pink Paislee and the new "tutu" album from Punky Sprouts! Yay! I used lots of inks and mediums to make this fun book - and I'll be posting a video tutorial on how to create that washed background that I've been using on so many of my recent projects. I'm a little nervous about sharing my first video, so hopefully you'll be gentle with me, ok? Ok.

For a complete list of the supplies, check out the post on the Punky Sprouts blog.

Have a sweet and awesome Monday!

seeking timeless

We've had a bit of a rough start to our year. I'll be completely honest. There's been lots of good mixed with the not-so-good, so I'm not complaining. It's just hard not to question things that happen sometimes. But we're getting there. And I'm happy to say that I'm truly happy with where I am in life.

Anyway. I created this album to put down a few of my thoughts... To see more info on supplies and a little write up, check out the Punky Sprouts blog. I wanted to show the softer side of orange in the album - the side that Suzanne Collins uses her character Peeta to describe it as "the orange of a sunset..." in Catching Fire.

The crochet flower on the cover is from my friend, Lacey - she has an etsy shop that you can check out here.

Other supplies: album: punky sprouts, velvet flower and leaf, foil embellishments: making memories. papers: The Robin's Nest. Buttons: Webster's Pages, butterfly, orange button, label stickers, and stamps: jenni bowlin, letter stickers: kaiser craft, chipboard flowers: sassafras lass, rose trim: american crafts, inks: tsukinecko, ranger, journaling sticker: martha stewart, date label and pearl brad: my mind's eye.

Thanks for looking!

Punky Sprouts and Crafter's Workshop

I share a layout on the Punky Sprouts blog today featuring a page from a Punky album, and some stencils from Crafter's Workshop! Stop over and take a peek!

Happy leap year day!

just because you're a rock star - new Punky Sprouts Challenge

Punky Sprouts is starting a monthly challenge, and this is the first one! A color challenge! Be sure to stop over at their blog and check out the details to play along and win a set of Punky Embellishments! :)

{gallery posting with supply list}

Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's ok to take the time to take care of myself, too! I tuned in for a photography seminar last weekend, and one of the things they repeated was, "you're a rock star!" to their clients. I couldn't help it... this is what I ended up with!

hello photo

I'm up for a mini album this month on the Punky Sprouts blog, and this is what I put together! Sometimes, I really enjoy just spending the creative time to play and put supplies together in a way that I love, and then add my photos in when I'm finished. You can see my post on their blog here.

This is put together with the Sprout Sprocket album that you can see here. And I'm so excited that Shelly will have a new website coming very soon where you'll be able to view the products individually, and purchase them if you'd like! Punky Sprouts albums are great to work with since they're already a mixture of the corrugated cardboard, chipboard, canvas, and acrylic pages. It gives you so many options for different looks throughout your album with paints, inks, stamps...

The theme this month is "kraft", so I chose to use a few pieces of the MME line left over from my December JBS kit, and mixed it up with a bunch of my favorites from the American Crafts Chap and Amy Tangerine lines, with a bit of Jenni Bowlin, Hambly and Fancy Pants thrown in for good measure.

Here's a peek at the rest of the pages:

{for this page, I dabbed on the fountain pen paint from Jenni Bowlin, then spritzed with the silver sprinkler ink from October Afternoon, and wiped it with a paper towel. I love the opaqueness of the ink, and how it softened the black.}

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful Wednesday! Hey, we're halfway to the weekend! Woot!!

measure success

Journaled some thoughts on how everyone is constantly sizing you up. Whether you drive the right car, wear the right clothes... it can especially be hard when you're a stay at home mom who's building their own business. I don't really have measurable things like awards and a great salary and benefits because I do what I do. But I love it. And I know it's where I belong!

Here's a peek at the journaling:

{view gallery post for supply list}

And, um yeah. That's the first photo that I've taken since I've really been working at getting in shape and I've dropped about 20 pounds. I couldn't believe my own face? That's exciting for sure...

Loved using these Authentique papers. I was pleasantly surprised by how well they fit together. I was also given a few products from Copics to try out, and I liked how they worked on canvas! I outlined my canvas punky sprouts banners and I liked how they didn't bleed...

And I used their glitter marker on the wings to add some details, which are just really tough to see. LOL

I loved adding a leftover page from my teeny beanie halloween book that I had painted with chalkboard paint, too. I like the lift it gave the upper part of the layout. Anyway! Enough about that!

Have a wonderful Friday!!

haunted mini with punky sprouts and pink paislee

Sharing my punky sprouts project today! I've never been a HUGE mini album person, until honestly, I gave the idea of creating the mini ahead of time a shot. I LOVE putting together the creative side, and then just printing and adding photos later.

I put this one together to share our pumpkin carving/pumpkin patch photos this year and I can't wait! We have so much fun with the whole thing, from hitting the pumpkin patch together, scooping them out, and carving fun facing! Did I mention that I also have an olive green satin witch's hat with black feathers that I always wear?

I used the teeny beanie punky sprouts album, and the phantom line from pink paislee, along with a few extra things from Jenni Bowlin, Maya Road {I used one of the envelopes to create an extra page with a pocket to add a journaling card}, Prima, and inks from American Crafts! The sheet music is vintage. I loved the idea of painting the pages with chalkboard paint, and stamping with the pigment inks!

The photo mats are cut to fit 2"x3" photos!

This is the front and back of the envelope page - created by stitching a strip of patterned paper to the envelope so that I had a good place to punch the holes!

Have a lovely Wednesday!! I'm so looking forward to our Halloween activities this weekend so that I can add those photos!

punky sprouts and paper trunk

Punky Sprouts has teamed up with Paper Trunk for a fun product swap! Girls from both teams got to exchange some products and made some really lovely projects! They're sharing them all throughout this week in daily posts on their blogs. Each day they share a word to create a phrase for you to unscramble for a chance to win!

Today's my day to share! And be sure to stop by the Punky Sprouts blog to grab the word of the day!

I happened to snap these photos of my husband and our youngest son one Sunday. I love that my husband shares this part of himself with our boys. The rockabilly line from Paper Trunk was a fun way to showcase these sweet photos! I decided to stamp a vine across a strip of the lil' stems as a nice way to divide the page where my two patterned papers meet. I also created the flower by stitching along on edge of a strip of lil' stems, pulling the thread to gather, and rolling it into a flower...


Paper Trunk Supplies:

Rockabilly Paper: Creepers

Rockabilly Paper: Cherry

Rockabilly Paper: Daddy-O

Rockabilly Paper: Rockin'

Rockabilly Flair

Rockabilly Chipboard Shapes

Carson White Alphabet Stickers

Punky Supplies:

Teeny Beanie Sprout Album

Lil' Stems

Good luck and hope you enjoy a great weekend!

here comes trouble

I recently wrangled our boys into some decent clothes to take a few portrait style photo for a gift for my mom's birthday. I love how the photos came out - it was a rainy, stormy day, so even though I would have loved to take the photos outside, I settled for leaning them up against our bedroom wall...

One of my favorites was this photo - and I have to admit - it brings to mind thoughts of mischief. lol

Have I ever mentioned how much I love our oldest son's amber/light brown eyes? Yes. They exist in real life.  ^_^ Stop by the Punky Sprouts blog to get the deets on how I used their fun canvas accents {the banners and  rolled flowers}as fun dimensional accents.

best creations + punky sprouts = lots of fun

Stopping by for a quick vacation post! Not sure if it's really a vacation all this week as it's pretty much hubby home hanging out with us, and in between trying to run a bunch of errands and catch a bunch of appts. lol But we did have a great time last weekend!

I did want to share a quick post with my latest project for punky sprouts. Shelly {the owner} sent us some fun papers from Best Creations to use as well this month:

I also used lots of fun goodies from American Crafts and Fancy Pants! I can'tn wait to add photos of our summer fun!

Dynamic Duo Blog Hop

Happy Monday everyone! Starting off the week here with the blog hop featuring goodies from TaDa and Punky Sprouts!

Today I'm sharing a simple layout I put together using papers from TaDa and and the canvas flowers from Punky Sprouts:

{paper supplies: sizziln' summer from Ta-Da Creative}

Here are a few tips on dip dying the canvas flowers:

Start by pouring out some ink on to a flat tray {or plate, in my case!}

Dilute with a bit of water:

Pull apart the canvas to form the flower:

Roll the precut canvas to create the flower:

Glue with a good fabric adhesive {I use fabritac}:

Lay the flower face down in the ink. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to soak up a bit of the ink:

Remove from ink:

Dry with a heat gun, and attach to your layout!

Here are the official rules to play along for the blog hop:
Don’t miss out on the Dynamic Duo Blog HopA TaDa Creative Studios and Punky Sprouts Mini-book Bonanza
May 16th-27th

Rules for a chance to win FREE productsEach day go to the following 2 blogs: 
http://tadacreativestudios.wordpress.com/
http://getpunkysprouts.blogspot.com/ Post comments to show your participation. New inspiration will be posted daily. At the end of the 12 day hop, please go to each manufacture’s blog and post a comment telling them your favorite album style and favorite paper collection used in the samples shown during the hop. Your name will then be entered in a drawing to win both! 3 winners will be picked!

Good luck!

TaDa Creative Studios & Punky Sprouts


AND, since blogger ATE all of the comments on my giveaway post {there was something like 20 at one point...}, um, please feel free to comment! I'll leave the comments open until Friday. {eye roll}