Delicious Washington Apple

One of my favorite new SU paper packs is Washington Apple!! I love the patterns AND the colors! Here are a few cards I whipped out today... soooo simple!!

All of the cards use the Washington Apple DP paper and the same basic color combo of Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, and Basic Black. I used the stamp sets Absolutely Fabulous, Wow Flowers (new) and Cute and Curly (with the new bracket punch that comes with the set - LOVE it!!!). I also added some Basful Blue grosgrain to the first card layered over some Basic Black CS that I trimmed with the Scallop Border punch. The other 2 cards both use Riding Hood Red ribbon. The 3rd card uses the Scallop circle punch and 2 of the circle punches. I love how these turned out. Seriously, these new paper packs make quick, clean cards like this soooo easy! And the nice thing is that by changing paper packs and color combos but keeping the same basic design I get a whole new card!!!! So what do you think?

Sugarplum Challenge

Hey all you digital scrappers...want to win a Sugarplum gift card??? Well, here's your chance!! Crystal is this week's challenge hostess over on the Sugarplum blog and she's cooked up a great scraplift challenge for us. Head on over to this post and check it out. You have until Sept 5 to upload your layout for a chance to win!!! I'll be playing along this weekend, so check back later to see my layout!

SU Gift Set

I made this cute little "Good Luck" gift set for my blogging buddy, Nancy Riley, who recently started a new job. I wanted to wait to post it until I knew she had received it so I didn't ruin the surprise!
I used SU Summer Picnic DP, Real Red, Old Olive & Bashful Blue CS. The little notebook was made by covering a couple of coasters and cutting several sheets of Whisper White CS for pages, then binding with my bind-it-all. I think the giant paperclip bookmark think is self-explanatory - I used the new SU set Wow Flowers and added some Bashful Blue grosgrain. For the card, I got to try out my new Top Notes die in my new SU Big Shot machine - I love this die!!! I first cut the Real Red CS, then cut a piece of the DP that has the polka dot bashful blue print. I but the piece of printed blue in half. The sentiment on the card is from Short & Sweet. I used the same papers and again the Top notes die to make the little goodie bag topper - I just folded the bracket shape in half and added my scallop, circles & sentiments (which was from the One of a Kind set). Oh, and those are some yummy Maui Caramacs in the goodie bag!!! - Chocolate & Caramel covered macadamia nuts ---mmmm!!!

SU Altered Composition Book

I just love these altered composition books!!! This one is a full-size Comp book, unlike this post, which was a mini book. Once again, I used the new Washington Apple DP from SU - all of the new paper packs are so yummy!!!! I added a strip of Baja Breeze that I had trimmed with my Scallop border punch and some Baja Breeze ribbon. I used SU's stamp set Think Happy Thoughts, stamped in Basic Black and Riding Hood Red on So Saffron CS, punched with a circle punch and layered on top of Baja Breeze circle and Basic Black textured scallop circle. So simple and so cute!!! This will make a really cute back-to-school gift I think!!

Elegantly Simple CASE

When I saw these cards by Becky Carafa of the Lakeshore Stamper, I couldn't WAIT to get my new SU goodies so I could CASE them!!! They are so simple, but so elegant. As with all of Becky's cards, so much WOW factor there I think!!!
My cards are different only in that I used a smaller notecard (3.5x5) size and rounded my bottom corners. Other than that, they're almost identical!! I used Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze ink and ribbon and also Close to Cocoa ink. The stamps are from one of my favorite new SU sets, Pocket Silhouettes.

Sugarplum Paperie Goodies

First, off, head on over to the Sugarplum Paperie blog and check out this post - YAY ME!!! I can't tell you how happy I am to have joined this fabulous team! It's only been a few days and I feel like I've known some of them for years! What a great group - I'm so fortunate to be a part of this team. I'll be adding a new blogroll in the right column of my fellow hybrid team members' blogs, so you can check out all of their cool projects too! And how lucky am I to get to work with Nicole's TOTALLY AWESOME digital goodies!?!?!? WOW. She is absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!!!

Anyway, here are a few projects I was working on today with the new Mango Sorbet collaboration with Andrea Burns, which will be available tomorrow (Thursday, Aug 27) at the Digichick. (AND it's 20% off Thursday only, so hurry!!!!) It is such a cool kit - I have so many projects planned for this weekend, so be sure to check back to see what else I have in store with this kit!!

This first card was a special request for my Mom, who needed a 50th Anniversary card for some friends - she is CONSTANTLY asking me to make her "Hawaiian-loooking" cards, which is very hard because there aren't that many cute Hawaiian / Tropical kits out there (hint hint hint Nicole if you're reading this!!!!!) :-) Well, that super sweet swirly flower image reminds me a lot of a ginger blossom for some strange reason. And aren't these colors GREAT?? The flower image, the striped paper, the peachy colored paper strip, and the plum paper with the "50" (which is from Nicole's Clear White Alpha) were all printed on SU Whisper White textured CS - which turned out surprisingly well!! I sponged all of the edges with Chocolate Chip ink, used my nestabilities dies to cut out the "50" circle and a Chocolate Chip scallop circle, and added some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. Finally, the sentiment is from Verve's Anniversary Birds set, stamped in chocolate chip ink on the printed digital paper. So ya see - traditional paper crafters CAN go digital!!!!!!

This next project is also for my Mom, mostly to get her off my back about those damn "Hawaiian-looking" cards she keeps asking for!!! :-). This is a set of 6 notecards (3.5x5 inches) - soooo simple - just printed on white CS and folded in half. Really, that's IT. Then I printed out some more of the Mango Sorbet papers, adding a bracket box thing from Twitter Blossoms with the word "Aloha" for the box top, and put together a very simple box to hold the card set in. Now hopefully my Mom will leave me alone for awhile!!!

Another Set of Altered Onesies...

Ok, these onesies were just too adorable and way too easy - I couldn't resist making another set. Besides, I had another idea for packaging the gift I wanted to try out. I think it turned out great. All digital elements from the Queen of Hearts kit by Sugarplum Paperie.

Once again, once I was done sizing and arranging the individual digital elements for the onesies, I printed them on Avery 3302 Stretchable Fabric Transfers and then ironed them on according to instructions (however, do NOT let it cool before peeling off the backing - you want to go ahead and peel while it's still VERY hot - believe me).

I rolled up the finished onesies and stuffed them into cleaned out baby food jars that I had altered with bits of printed digital papers from the same kit. After printing, I used matte mod podge to coat all of the papers, both to seal my printer's ink and to give the paper a little more ooomph! I used my SU circle scallop punch and circle punches for the jar lids and my SU scallop border punch for the striped paper border at the top of the box. I added some Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon as a handle, threaded through a few jumbo eyelets. I hand-cut the heart (I added the text "Congrats! Love, the Taplers" to the center of the heart before printing), punched a hole and used some hemp twine to hang from the handle.

OK, here's my sorry attempt at a tutorial on how to make the box. This box will hold 2 of the Step 3 Earth's Best Organics baby food jars. Score lines are shown in black, cut lines shown in red.

I'll be back tomorrow with another hybrid project and a few cards with some of my new SU goodies!!!!

Altered Baby Onesies

OK, last post with Twitter Blossoms today!!! I couldn't resist trying my hand at using the Avery 3302 Stretchable Fabric Transfers for Inkjet Printers with some of the super cute graphics from Nicole's kit. I think they turned out pretty awesome!!! I also printed out a "belly band" to trim the gift. The left onesies says "100% Natural" under the leave sprig and flower stems. The right onesie says "hi." next to the little birdie. So what do ya think? Cool gift idea, huh? And soooo easy!!

Altered Frame

Here's another Hybrid project I did using digital elements from the Twitter Blossoms kit by Sugarplum Paperie, available at the Digichick.

The 8x10 canvas frame is by EK Success. I printed out the finished digital project, then handcut the hole for the pic. Then I converted the picture of Season and Sophie to a nice sepia tone that matched the Twitter Blossoms brown, printed it, and slipped it in the frame - and yet another Twitter Blossoms item to add to Season's big box of gifts!!!

Altered Mini Composition Book

Here's a cute little Mini Composition book & large paper clip I altered using some of the new SU paper, Washington Apple - I LOVE this paper!!!

The book measures 3.5x4.5 inches, so it's pretty tiny, but this was super easy to cover! Cute little gift.

REALLY REALLY REALLY Excited!!!

I have been walking around in a daze all day today - I am so excited!! Nicole Seitler, owner of Sugarplum Paperie, has asked me to be a member of her Hybrid Creative Team!! YAY ME!!! Can you believe it?? I don't even know what to say! I love love love Nicole's digital kits and I've already made several projects with them before getting this great news. I'll have lots more to share with you in the future!! Now, I realize that right now the majority of my blog readers are "traditional" papercrafters, but not to worry - I'll still be doing my "regular" stuff. And the great thing about hybrid projects is that they can easily be done old school style with whatever tangible products you already have. But, who knows...maybe some of you will be inspired to try your hand at this new SUPER fun Hybrid thing!

So, to start things off right, I thought I'd share one of my first projects as a member of the Sugarplum Paperie Creative Team...

I keep a little notebook on my desk that I jot down my creative ideas in. I also write down things I need to remember: where I purchased a particular digital element, measurements for a card sketch I really like, ideas for card sketches or scrapbook layouts, etc etc etc. Well, my little notebook is full and getting pretty worn out. I figured as a new, important DESIGNER, I needed an official "Book of Ideas". I used one of my favorite of Nicole's kits, Twitter Blossom, to make this cover for a plain old composition book. I used Mod Podge to attach it to the front cover. I also made a matching pen cover!! Oh, and because it doesn't really show up in the picture, the quote on the cover reads "The world is a canvas to the imagination - Henry David Thoreau". Hope you like it!!

Another CD Magnet

Last hybrid project of the day, I promise!!! I enjoyed making the cute little CD magnet for my friend Rebekah (here) so much, that I decided to make one for my friend Brandi as well. I used these adorable pictures of her son Balin and one of the templates from the Cuddlebug CD Album from the Shabby Shoppe - once again, soooo easy! So when I was finished adding the images to the digital template, I printed it out on HP Premium Soft Gloss photo paper, cut it out and glued it to an old CD using Mod Podge. I added a few adhesive magnets to the back and it's done - such a cute gift!!

Another Hybrid Mini Album

Are you getting tired of my mini albums yet?? Or of my friend Season and her adorable daughter Sophie? You see, I only have Dean (a boy) and there are so many cute girlie digital kits out there that I just couldn't resist making another little album for Season.

I used the Twitter Blossoms digital kit from Sugarplum Paperie to create the pages, which fit the Cosmo Cricket Jack's Blackboard album perfectly! Here are a few of the digital images of some of the inside pages...

I wanted to add a little depth to the finished project, so on a couple of pages I added some buttons and a few of these little half pearls.
And here's the back cover....

Hybrid CD Magnet

Here's another fun hybrid project I did this afternoon. This was a super easy, super quick little project. This could easily be done with "regular" paper for all you traditional papercrafters out there! I made this cute little CD magnet for my friend Rebekah's oldest child, Cameron, who started preschool this month. I used the pics she took on his first day of school.

The digital portion of the project was done in Photoshop Elements 6. All of the digital elements were purchased from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I used one of the templates from the Circle Brag Book by Darcy Baldwin and used clipping masks to add my digital papers and photos to the template - SOOOO easy! The paper, word blocks, & paperclip are from the Build a Dream kit by Traci Reed. I used fonts School Script Dashed and Rough Typewriter, both downloaded for FREE from dafont.com!! Once I was finished with the digital layout, I printed it out on HP Premium Soft Gloss Photo Paper, cut it out, and used Mod Podge to glue it to an old scratched CD. Finally, I attached some adhesive magnets to the back and it's done!

Hybrid Clipboard

I made this cute little clipboard and matching pen for my friend Season. You might remember the little mini album I created for Season's adorable baby girl, Sophie, a few months ago. Well, Sophie is growing like crazy and as you can see, getting cuter by the day!! I've been wanting to try this hybrid project for awhile and I downloaded this beautiful Flirty Skirty kit from Sugarplum Paperie earlier this week and it was PERFECT!!!

I converted the picture of Season and Sophie to black and white in Photoshop Elements 6 by first creating a new Adjustment Layer for Hue/Saturation and moving the Saturation slider all the way to the left. Next, I created another new Adjustment Layer for Levels and adjusted the highlights, lowlights and midtones until the photo really popped (it was such a great picture to start with, it really didn't need much adjusting - thank you natural light). I then flattened the image and saved it as a black & white copy, keeping the original for later use. All of the digital elements for this project are from the Flirty Skirty kit from Sugarplum Paperie. I especially love the scalloped border and the vintage layered frames!! I also printed out a small strip of the green patterned background paper, handcut and used it to wrap the inside of a clear pen. Last, I tied a few pieces of coordinating ribbon to the hole in the clip. Here's a closer view of the Beautiful Season & Sophie (oh, and the pen)...
Now, what does someone actually DO with a clipboard like this you might ask??? Well, I figure a new Mom like Season could put it to good use in Sophie's nursery. I remember the early days of diaper counts and keeping track of feedings. If Season's anything like me (and since I'm officially her personal scrapbooker, I'm hoping she is!!!), she could also use it to jot down all of Sophie's little accomplishments and amusing antics for future journaling. When I was still breastfeeding Dean, I used to keep a small notebook next to my "nursing nest" and while he was eating, I would write him little notes or journal about all of the amazing feelings (both positive and negative) I experienced as an amateur Mom. So those were my thoughts when creating this little clipboard for Season. I'm sure she'll find something to do with it. If nothing else, grandparents LOVE anything with a photo of their only grandchild!!! :-)