30 Minutes or Less

I've got a post up at Simple Stories with a quick and easy page you can make in just 30 minutes! Check it out!

Mother's Day

Hi all! Have you been busy putting together Mother's Day cards? No? Well you still have time! Get to it!
I finished these a few days ago but have yet to get them in the mail- that's always my problem. Better late than never though! First, one that started with Papertrey Ink's Rosie Posie set. I stamped them and then used a dark red copic to give the flowers some depth.

 The next one is my favorite. I used Studio Calico's City of Lights kit and added a few bits from my stash- the Basic Grey brads, the label is from a very old October Afternoon sticker sheet, and the flower is a flattened SC notions flower.

 I made the last one with the doily I used as a mist mask on my Mother's Day page from last post. It was still a bit soggy so it tore a little bit with I was adding adhesive but it works!

You can see I used the same pink washi for all three cards but they each have a bit of a different feel. And, apparently, I only have this single mother's day sentiment in allllll the stamps I own so maybe I need to fix that for next year!
Anyway, thanks for coming around today!

Bad, bad blogger.

Sorry friends, life has been one hell of a rollercoaster lately, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that. With summer coming up fast, it seems like the perfect time to tackle those projects that have been on the backburner but somehow I've managed to try all of them at once. It's not working out! haha
Anyway, this week on the Pebbles blog we're celebrating Mother's Day! Here's my contribution- an ode to my ma.

I really love these pink colors against gray- they really shine! I mostly used the Country Picnic line for this page, which you can now buy directly from Pebbles' new and improved online store! You can also shop all of the American Crafts brands- which include Crate and Studio Calico.
And here are some cards I made last week that I forgot to share:

I cut the circle and girl with my Silhouette which made for a really quick and easy way to drop a line to a friend!
Thanks for dropping in!

Organize!

I just got around to thinking about organizing my house- my scrap room needs some help in that department especially. So, with that on the brain, I received my goodies from Simple Stories and pulled out these little gems:

And the first thing that came to mind was to use them to help keep all our paperwork in one place at all times. So, I combined it with the Awesome line and came up with this:

Now when we bring home the mail it can go in its designated spot instead of on my kitchen counters! Ladies and gentlemen, I call that success. You can see more over at the Simple Stories blog, along with more great work by the other designers and your chance to win the new Summer Fresh collection!

List of Favorites

This week on the Pebbles blog we're highlighting our favorite things. I decided to do a quick and easy list format of some of the first things that popped in my head- you'll see the list is pretty simple and a bit random but I guess that's me in a nutshell!

I cut banners out of various Hip Hip Hooray papers and then used them horizontally. I love that the space in between the pieces creates a little chevron pattern.
I've had the craziest past few weeks and it doesn't show any sign of letting up but I'm trying my hardest to get working on some things to share with you, thanks for being patient!

Inspired

Have you seen this video over at PaperCrafter's Corner? Watch it. It might just change the way you look at scrapbooking.
First of all, I'm not much for layering. I'm always afraid of "overdoing it" so I tend to get the jist of my page down and then leave it be- afraid that adding just one more thing might push it over and make it a mess. But, after I saw Corrie Jones go through her entire process in a fast-motion video, somehow layering just clicked for me. She builds from the top going down which puts her photos center stage (which is how I prefer) and then adds little things here and there underneath them so they don't overpower them. For some reason when I thought of layering, I thought working from the bottom up, maybe that was why I was so afraid of it?
As soon as I watched the video I HAD to scrapbook, it was so inspiring. And this is what I got, arguably my most layered page ever.

I love everything about this page. You can see that I stuck pretty close to how Corrie laid her page out (I am sorta new at this, after all). I used my March Cocoa Daisy kit and then pulled a few older bits from my stash, just tucking in bits here and there until I was happy with it.
Another thing I got from her video was the multitude of different types of product she pulled from. She used lots of rubons (which I have a lot of but tend to just sit in the basket), she laid down gesso (for all you messy gals), etc. I have enough product to open my own scrapbook store so this is great to use more on each page.
I will definitely be incorporating layers a lot more now- no more flat pages for me! =)

Mustache March and Manly Cards

I have come to dread March every single year. Why? Mustache March. Have you heard of it? Well, starting March 1st with a clean shaven face, men grow their 'staches out through the end of the month. In my husband's case, the guys from his shop are holding a contest with categories like "Burt Reynolds", "creepiest", etc. Personally, I don't think any man is attractive with a mustache. Unless you're this guy:

And even then, Tom's bad-assery might have something to do with it.
So, for a full month, I get to kiss a hairy face (I might be spoiled- my husband has to shave every day being in the military) and witness all sorts of guys think they're Tom Selleck when really they look like peeping Toms.
Anyway, I made a few cards last night in honor of this event. Okay, really I was just trying to come up with some cards for guys and it happened to work. =)

Same for each, except one has the textured woodgrain pattern- which gives it a lumberjack feel. And that makes me think of the Brawny man. Which is strange because the Brawny man with the mustache doesn't wear plaid... And what the heck is up with them getting rid of the 'stach for the new guy??

He just doesn't seem as manly.
Okay, back to cards.
Here's a really easy-to-put-together boy card using Echo Park's Little Boy collection. Seriously love this card because it took 3 minutes.

  

And have you seen this card by Nichole Heady? It is GENIUS. Seriously. One of those cards that make you say, "AH! Why didn't I think of that?!" As soon as I pulled out the plaid paper from above I knew I wanted to try it out with a more "relaxed dad" feel to it.

Please, if you pin this photo, be sure to credit Nichole Heady for the original idea, found here: http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c64e753ef016302abd97f970d-pi

I added some Pebbles candy dots for "buttons" and scored the pocket for a seam. My favorite card ever. Thanks Nichole!

And that's all for today- I might be back later in the week with some more cards... I'll surprise you.