Christmas Tree Handmade Holiday Parade

Hello friend, I'm so excited that you're here! Today I have a fun project to share with you featuring a few Scrapbook.com exclusive products. I'm thrilled to be participating in their Christmas Tree Handmade Holiday Parade over on Instagram. Scrapbook.com sent me their Nested Fir Tree die to create a mini album with. 

*Supplies are listed and linked below*

This was such a fun project! 

Over on Instagram, I'm sharing all the information about the parade!

Supplies (affiliate links used where possible)

Nested Fir Tree Die

Pink Fresh Studio Holiday Magic

Nested Tag Die

Little Specialty Envelopes Die

Little Envelopes Die set

Merry Little Christmas Die

Peppermint Cardstock

Sherbet Cardstock

Peppermint Sticker Book

Beautiful Family Sentiments

Uptown Number and Alpha Dies

Downtown Alpha Number and Die set

¼” adhesive tape

Mint Tape

¼” foam tape

Smart liquid glue

Titles Die Cut into the Background

Christmas preparations are in full swing at our house, that's why it's been really quiet here on the blog. We're running from school events to church events and doing a little bit of shopping here and there. (I'm *almost* done shopping...not even close on wrapping though.) I'm looking forward to having the kids home from school for a while throughout the holidays. We're going to spend lots of time baking, reading, watching Christmas movies, and spending time with family. Now, if only my Mr. had a few extra days off work... 

While I taking it easy a few days ago I was very slowly working on some projects for Elle's Studio (they were supposed to be revealed on the 10th, oops!). For my last month working with Elle's Studio I decided I wanted to do my three projects with my titles die cut right into the background of my pages. This technique works best when you have a title that isn't very long and you use a blocky font.

 I cut "Cowgirl Princess" out with my Silhouette and outlined it with a black pen. I then placed a piece of red patterned paper behind the white cardstock...and I had an easy peasy title!

This next project is a little bit different because I used 2 fonts. I used a script font for part of the title and I used a blocky font for the main word in my title.

 If you're going to use this technique with a script font make sure the title is short enough that you can cut the letters in a large size.

 Instead of putting one solid sheet of patterned paper behind the "ROLL" portion of the title I put several strips of patterned papers behind the white cardstock.

 This last project was the most difficult. I did a lot of welding and very carefully placed the words in the title on this one. I wanted to make room for the embellishments on top of the white cardstock. I used a script font and a blocky font on this one too.

 Isn't that an adorable little tree? It's a cut file from Elle's Studio. You can find it HERE. I cut the tree out of green patterned paper and added a few enamel dots to make ornaments.

I love how my background die cut titles turned out. It was an easy (and inexpensive) way to make a big impact using only patterned paper and cardstock. Do you have an easy way to make your titles stand out? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies

Have you heard of Top Dog Dies? Honestly, until a couple of months ago, neither had I. After browsing their website I was so excited to start working with their products.
Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including Little B, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.
I was given the Butterfly Finishers Die Set to work with. There are so many cute wafer-thin dies and a huge steel-rule die that you can use for a mini album. I used the large die to create this mini journal for my little girl to keep track of all the books she's reading this summer. (You can find a full tutorial on this project on the Top Dog Die blog.)

I also created a layout using all the butterfly shaped dies in this set. By cutting several butterflies from white cardstock and then adhering them to white cardstock I created a fun textured background.

I used lots of fun elements from American Crafts and Imaginisce on this project as well.

Don't you love the background? It makes the layout so much more interesting than if I had just used one plain piece of cardstock.

Top Dog Dies is also doing a fun giveaway for you, as a reader of my blog. The winner will receive $50 worth of exclusive dies from Top Dog Dies (your choice!) You can enter that giveaway HERE  The Deadline to enter will be Monday, June 30 at midnight Central Standard Time. Hurry, you're almost out of time!

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Die Cut Background {Bella Blvd}

Recently I was given the challenge to create a die cut background for a Bella Blvd assignment. I started searching for a die cut background, something with a repetitive shape (similar to the one I used HERE on the Christmas Nerds layout) but I didn't find anything that gave me the itch to create. Then I came across THIS cut file. I immediately knew I wanted to use this cut file.

I love the look of subway art and I thought I'd try incorporating it into my scrapbooking. I thought by cutting this very large title out of white cardstock and adhering different scraps of patterned papers behind each word I would have an adorable unique die cut background.
With such a large title I kept the embellishment clusters down to two.

Previously when I've browsed through the Silhouette Store I've passed by the larger cut files. I've started to pay a little more attention since I created this project. I'll be using larger die cuts for my backgrounds in the future. 

Have you used a large cut file for your background? I'd love to see it. I've been pinning a few ideas. Leave a link in the comments, I'll make sure to pin yours!

Teacher Appreciation Gift Idea

Next week is Teacher Appreciation week. (Here's your reminder if you're like me and you forget stuff like that.)  I'm room mom for my little lady's classroom. I don't get to spend enough time with her class so I wanted to show her teacher how much I appreciate her taking care of and teaching all the little ones in her class.
Here's what I came up with for a gift for her teacher:

 I kept this project super simple, all I did was cover the box the soda came in with patterned paper by tracing the box, cutting out the patterned paper and adhering it to the box with double sided sticky tape.

I die cut the "thank you" part of the title with my Silhouette and finished the title by adding thickers. I added a little bit of texture with a ribbon wrapped around the middle of the box and topping it with a button.

 I created an accordion flower and added a sticker in the center.

What have you created for your special teacher? I'd love to see it. Leave a link in the comments!
Have a great weekend! :)

American Crafts Valentines Blog Hop

 Happy Valentines Day!

Welcome to my blog for the American Crafts Blog Hop! I'm so excited to share a project about LOVE with you today. It's about love for shoes! I used the Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party collection for most of this project.

 I've been anxious to try die-cutting some of the transparencies with my Silhouette. It worked amazingly well! The little hearts are adorable. I hand stitched with red thread around them to make them stand out against the white background.

 And here's the final project! I simply adore how it turned out! Now, even though my little lady's shoes are gone we'll have the memory documented in her scrapbook.

Now you're off to the amazing Ashley Horton's blog. I know she'll have something incredible to share with you today! Thanks for stopping by! Please click the blue button to the right that says "join this site" so you won't miss any blog posts!

 {here's the full list of the hop so you won't miss anything}

Paige Evans

Meghann Andrew

Katie Ehmann

Patricia Roebuck

Lilith Eeckels

Becki Adams

Ashley Horton

Heather Leopard

Elizabeth Gardner

Gina Lideros

Diana Waite

Janna Werner

Jill Cornell

Erin Stewart

Angie Gutshall

Madeline Fox

Allison Waken

American Crafts

Have a wonderful day!!!

 

Love for Little Critter

My little man loves little critter books. I mean he loves loves loves them! We check them out at the library, we buy them whenever we see them, we watch Little Critter You Tube videos, and we download Little Critter Apps on the ipad. When my mom told me that she found him a stuffed Little Critter for Christmas I knew it would be an immediate favorite!
When I sat down to create a layout with this photo I knew I wanted to make a big impact about how much this little man loves Little Critter.

 I created this layout for Elle's Studio. The "love" stamp is a January exclusive. I stamped it with versamark ink and embossed with gold embossing powder.

Do your kids have a favorite storybook character? I'd love to hear about it :)

Dream

Who doesn't love photos of their sleeping kiddos. There's something about a sleeping baby. It melts my heart. I have plenty of photos of my little guy, I chose a couple of these photos with a book laying on his chest while he is fast asleep.

 I cut the title for this project with my silhouette from an American Crafts file I bought in the Silhouette store. You can find it HERE

On a side note I had this layout sitting on my desk ready to put into an album...then this happened...

My nephews came to visit. I LOVE them so much!! He's only 1 and he was so excited to see a photo of his cousin he couldn't help but play with the layout. After I picked up the pieces that were scattered all over the house my husband said "I'm proud of you, you didn't even freak out" I just laughed. I'll put the pieces back together and put it in my son's album with a bit more journaling about the tattered papers. It will make me smile!