bloom & grow.

Today I'm sharing a pillow box I made for my project at Joy's Life this week. There are tons of templates out there for how to make your own pillow box but Joy sent us some so I just used it as a template & traced around it onto patterned paper.

The stamp is from Tag You're It - set two stamp set. I used Stampin' Up "poppy parade" ink. I just love the color. The papers are from Studio Calico county fair kit. I thought the flower design was pretty & went perfectly with the stamp choice.

Don't forget - Joy's It's all Fall puns starts shipping this week! Lots of cute stamps in this set!

Citrus Twist winner!

Citrus Twist announced my layout won their sketch challenge! Here is their sketch & my layout.
Now I'm off to pick out my prize! :)
 

Goodwill and garage sale finds.

We love to go to Goodwills & local antique/thrift stores to look around. Almost every Saturday in the summer, we hit up garage sales. We went to a Goodwill Wednesday evening & spent $60. I got some clothes, which almost never happens, & we got several books, which are hard to pass up at 99 cents for paperbacks & $2.49 for hardbacks. Plus, I do paperbackbookswap.com so that's a lot of fun.

Anyway, some of the things we found.

50 cents. Thought it would look cute spray painted. Maybe bright red?

$3 or $4. No idea what to do with it, but we both liked it.

I found this adorable vase that I loved & it was only a couple dollars. I'm going to spray paint it. & when I turned it over...

it's Crate & Barrel!

The bottom one I found at Goodwill for 99 cents months ago. The top one I found at a garage sale a few weeks ago for 25 cents! I looove these.

Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl.

exciting news...

Some exciting news to share today. One of my favorite stamp companies has offered me a guest design team position! 

You can read about it here. Look for that to becoming this fall.

Right now, 4x6 stamp sets are only $10 with the coupon code JN04. You better believe I ordered this set:

For the big release, there's a huge prize package & two ways you can enter early. Go check it all out!

my blog winner for July sketch challenge...

Your layout is super cute - I also love your commitment to our 4 legged friends. Here is my link for the sketch challenge. http://tee-myspot.blogspot.com/2012/07/crafting-family-july-sketch-challenge.html Tee 

Tee, please email me your mailing address so I can send out your prize!

well done.

It's back to school week at Joy's Life & I did a layout based around my high school graduation. 

 The stamp I used is from Yummy Puns stamp set.

Rhinesstones are Studio18, cardstock stickers are from Cosmo Cricket.

This is based on a sketch I found:

via

Also, Joy is releasing a new stamp set just in time for fall. It will be available August 9.

isn't it the cutest?!

July running stats.

Run Distance: 2 miles 

Run Time: 22:06 min 

Total Time: 22:06 min

2.

My birthday weekend is coming to a close (I turned 28 yesterday) & so I thought this layout would be appropriate :) 

 I used American Crafts Letterbox from Crafting Family. Such pretty colors!

I also used MME follow your heart decorative buttons,  Jenni Bowlin & Hambly rub ons, corrugated chipboard shapes from Jillibean Soup, & Making Memories love notes die cut tags.

28 in my 28th year.

1 visit a pumpkin patch & bring home a pumpkin
2 go on a hot air balloon ride
3 take a vacation to the east coast
4 get another tattoo
5 pay off my car
6 run in another race
7 take a wine tasting class  
8 take Bentley on an overnight stay somewhere (scheduled to go to New Buffalo MI August 3-5)
9 cut back on cussing
10 finish the Catcher in the Rye
11 paint the living room
12 paint the entryway/hallway
13 visit a new zoo
14 go to a ballet
15 see Chicago at Christmas time
16 stay in a cabin in Tennessee in the fall
17 donate blood again
18 set up the basement for emergency preparedness
19 get my teeth bleached
20 buy something at a farmer’s market
21 go to the tulip festival in Michigan
22 learn to use my pressure cooker
23 learn how to use Photo Shop
24 ride my bicycle more
25 be published in a magazine again
26 attend church regularly
27 be a nicer person
28 fix the patio doors

you're one of a kind.

This week I got out the popsicle puns set & found a stamp that was perfect for a quote from our vacation last month. You're one of a kind. Our nephew is six & he says the funniest things - without even meaning to. He constantly cracks us up.

So I'm not sure if you can read the journaling but TJ & I were getting ready one evening & I had a Captain/Diet on the bathroom vanity while I was fixing my hair. Q walks in & looks around, looks at my drink, wanders back out to the room & I hear him say to TJ: TJ, why do you have a girlfriend who drinks alcohol?

Cracked me up.

 I also used Studio Calico County Fair & some Jenni Bowlin rub ons.

50.

Today I wanted to do a layout for just me. I have so many papers & embellishments I want to dig into but I've been kind of limited lately with my design team work. So I found this sketch: 

via

 & I also tried to incorporate the color inspiration from this challenge to use brown, coral, and sage. Here's what I came up with:

The papers are Ocotber Afternoon and Kaiser Craft. Also used some Thickers, Sass flowers, SEI & Jenni Bowlin rub ons, Glitz cardstock stickers (for the journaling, which I messed up, so I had to re-write it on plain paper and adhere over it), and some self adhesive ribbon trim pieces from here.

This photo was taken before our night out (me, my brother, my boyfriend, mom's boyfriend) in Indy with my mom for her 50th birthday! (April 26)  We had dinner at PF Chang's - no one else had ever eaten there but everyone loved it. Thank goodness. Then we went to Howl at the Moon for drinks. I think it was like $10 to get in, so we didn't want to leave. We had a good time there & my brother's ex was a server so she brought us some drinks/shots. it was a good time! can't believe my mama is 50!!

 

May 1986.

I broke out some old school photos for my layout this week. These were taken when I was almost two years old.

I used Nostalgia by My Mind's Eye which you can find at Crafting Family.

I also used some Jenni Bowlin rub ons & embellished butterflies & chipboard from Pink Paislee Fascinating.

Don't forget about our July sketch challenge! It's due July 31. You can see my take on the sketch here  as well as details about the giveaway I'll be doing!

tin of memories.

This week at Joy's Life, we're working with our tins. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this tin I had. I wanted to make a little storage piece for all of our ticket stubs (concerts, games, first movie date, etc). 

doesn't it look cute with my mini albums?

 I traced the tin onto patterned paper and cut it out. Then applied stickers from Pink Paislee and punched out some circles for variety. I stamped my image using Joy's Life Sweet Popsicle Puns and punched it out with my circle punch.

 Waa laa!

blog hop winner announced.

I'm a day late picking the winner from Joy's Life blog hop and I apologize.

The winner that random number generator picked was...

Blogger TeresaK said... I may just need to try out your cookie recipe! Love your cute recipe card! New follower! Come visit me too at www.createenjoyshare.blogspot.com Teresa 

Teresa, please send me your mailing address so I can send out your package!

Thanks to all who participated! :)

sweet little angel.

I cannot work with sketches! I tried to explain this last month. I don't know what my problem is. I get off focus and I totally lose sight of the sketch. Even though it's sitting right in front of me. This sketch even appears to be for an 8.5x11 scrapper like me. Anyway, here's our sketch:

I used the MME Nostalgia papers and the "sweet little angel" embellishment, which I adore. You can find these HERE.

Everything else is mine. Jillibean buttons, Heidi Swapp labels, Cosmo Cricket rub ons.

Have you ever seen such a precious face? I doubt it.

So I've talked before about how we rescued Bentley & the wonderful organization he came from & how we still volunteer with them & foster when we can. I've also talked about the high euthanasia rate of black animals in shelters. We love our B boy & we've been blessed to be a part of saving several dogs lives since we started volunteering in September. 

Pleasepleaseplease spay & neuter your animals. Research breeds. Adopt. Don't support puppy mills. Donate to your local animal shelters.

via

via

Also. I'm doing another random giveaway this month. When you get your project done using the sketch, post a link to it in the comments on this post. Deadline is July 31. I will announce a random winner on August 2.

Don't forget to check out the other girls' projects on the Crafting Family blog!