Straight to my Belly! - mambi

Today I have this clean layout over on the me & my BIG ideas blog.  Ok, so when I saw the sticker "You Know the Way Straight to my Heart," I HAD to use it.  Once I chose my photo and papers, I decided to alter the sticker by trimming off the arrow and the word Heart.  I added my own ending, BELLY, with mambiCHIPS.  Keeping my layout clean and crisp to make sure the focus was on the amazing title and photo of my favorite boy and sister.

Please head on over to the blog and see what other DT members have be been 

creating with mambi product.  See you soon.

FISH kiss - A Flair for Buttons

Good Morning!  I have this fun layout over on the A Flair for Buttons blog today.  It is of my boy and I doing fish kisses.  His interpretation of a fish kiss varies a bit from mine!  lol.  Shelley recently sent me a bunch of flair and I was dying to use some of them up.  I love "word" flair, black flair and colored flair.  Can go wrong with simple patterns either.  For this layout, I used a black background to help emphasis my enormous title and my choice of flair. 

The papers I used are from February's Studio Calico kit.  The only additions are my spectacular flair, enamels, black tag and pink paint.

To see more closeups of this layout, head over to the A Flair for Buttons blog.

For the LOVE of Kittens - The Rubber Cafe

Hi folks!  Just check out these super duper cute kittens.  I will take one of each please!  I am over at The Rubber Cafe today with another card.  Starting with an A2 card base of the shimmery pink, I added two other papers slightly smaller to the front of the card.  

I cut the white shimmer cardstock to a 3 1/4 x 4 1/2.  Setting the card aside and using only the white paper at this point, I masked the dog and balloon stamp so that I would only utilize the balloon.  I stamped gray ink and used silver embossing powder and set with a heat gun.  

Sorry for the bad picture!  After embossing, I colored my balloons randomly with a touch of Faber Castle Gelatos.  I used a blender pen to color these it to get the watercolored effect. The pink and red turned out to be too stark so once they dried, I reapplied white to the top to lighten the underneath colors a bit.

Once it dried, I backed it with foam and added it to the front of the card. I added my paper layering to the center of the card backed with foam again.  Colored and fussy cut my kittens, added a heart to the tush of one and I was done!  I did color these cute creatures with colored pencils.

I hope you have enjoyed this card and I will see you again really soon.

CLOSE - The Cut Shoppe

Today, my CLOSE layout is over on The Cut Shoppe Blog.  

I want to share a sweet photo, 

beautiful papers and one amazing cut file.  

Don't underestimate to closeness of my boy and his Tea Gram.  

When together they have rituals.  Visiting their favorite places alone, on a date, 

drinking tea together and learning a new craft.  

He calls her often and misses her greatly when she hasn't visited in a while.  

Check out close ups of this layout over at The Cut Shoppe Blog.  See how you can get your hands on this Rosey Posey Cut File!

XOXO - Paper Camellia

When is too many sticker and tags too many?  Not sure you can say that about these uber beautiful items included in this months kit over at Paper Camellia this month.  Everything is truly spectacular standing alone.  Add them all together and I think it makes it that much better.  I am sharing my second blog post for this month over at Paper Camellia today.  Like my last post, I did not focus on my one true Valentine but on both of my important boys.  Anything that said Valentine, I covered with wording from the paper included with the kit.  Lets take a look.

Ok, thanks again for stopping by.  I really do appreciate your visit.

My Favorite Show! - Paper Issues

Hello!  I am sharing my third, yes THIRD, layout using the new October Afternoon's Saturday Morning collection that has been re-stocked HERE in the Paper Issues shop.  I fell in love with the color scheme and all of the little bits and pieces that this collection had to offer.  

I often find a collection I want to work with, then, dig for a photo!  Many people do it the opposite.  Share in the comments how you choose, I would love to hear!

Here is a close up.  After that, you need to head over to Paper Issues to see more:o)  Be sure to tell them that you love me but don't mention that you are my family)  hehe

Paw Prints - The Rubber Cafe

Go over to The Rubber Cafe today to see this card.  Also check out what the other designers have been creating with this months Creative Cafe KOTM.  

Outside - mambi

Hi everyone, I am so happy you took time to stop by my blog today.  I am excited that I have another layout over on the me & my BIG ides blog today.  Please head over and take a look.  

Oddly, I chose a piece of paper from the Encouraging words paper pad.  It was a 12x12 sheet with an inspiring quote with leaves.  Because of the glows and the white polka dots, I decided to trim this paper down, turn it on its side and highlight the glows with vellum and snowflakes and turn it into a winter layout.

Well thank you for stopping by.  I am grateful for you.  

Happy Valentine's Day - Paper Issues

Today, Paper Issues is doing what they call a Product Spotlight.  When Sherri asked which product I might like to use and if I wanted to participate with her on this project,  I was totally on board.  I love Kiss Kiss by Crate Paper and had plenty on hand to create a fresh project.  I took a look back at all of my past Valentine's and don't have very many photos.  It really doesn't matter though, I have plenty of people and photos of people that I love.  This is perfectly suitable for that.

Under the photo and all around the page, I doodled with a gold marker.  Created little hearts and doodles to help emphasize my gold accents.

Ok, so three was a little stretch but he was still 3 for two more days in this photo!

If you have been inspired by this project, head to the store and use my code: Mary-Ann to receive 20% off your entire order any time on anything.  It is a pretty good discount.  Thanks for coming by.

Pawesome Pup - The Rubber Cafe

Today I am over at The Rubber Cafe with this cute card.

Funny how sometimes when I am creating, I take a break, come back to what I need to work on a create something very similar to what I just created.  I want to share with you that sometimes it's ok not to re-invent the wheel.  If something works, why not do it again.  Here is my last post....

See the similarities???  Changing out the stamps and adding a triangle banner makes this card completely different with the same 'bones' if you will.  Kinda like creating off of a sketch.  Did you guys see Karen's card sketches?  Go HERE to check those out.

Now, the only major difference for this card, is that I cut and piece the house and the dog.  Stamping repeatedly and then fussy cutting the pieces I needed for layering.  The house - that was little different.  I stamped the house out of red, backed the open space with acetate, backed the edges with foam and then added the black behind.  This gives it a flap for the dog to enter and keep warm.  The stunning heart embellishments from Doodlebug, that are included in the kit, helped highlight the house and my title.

Here you can see the layering of the house and the dog.  

Here is the banner.  I rolled my ribbon so that it would be thinner and with a Tiny Attacher stapled both ends.  

Here it is again.  Go ahead and give repetition a try but vary your papers and stamps and see how easy it is!

Chow,

Live. Bark. Love. - TRC

Hi friends, today I have this adorable card over on The Rubber Cafe blog.  

It is from the February's Creative Cafe' KOTM - "Love, The Most Wonderful Feeling."

I used ONLY the stamp set and product included in the kit.  

It contains beautiful papers from Doodlebug Design - "Love Bugs" and coordinating embellishments from them as well.  Wait until you see how cute everything is.  

Here is the card that I created....

Yup, not he world's best colorer but the stamp is still pretty darn cute!

Thanks for popping in today.  

Hello Love! - The Cut Shoppe

Today I have a layout over at The Cut Shoppe.  I used a great big cut file as a frame for my photo.  Just take a look at how cute this photo is!  I adore how tiny my boy was and the handful of dandelions in his right hand.  

Thanks for peeking!

Love - Paper Issues

I am super honored to be playing and designing for my second month over at Paper Camellia.  February is full of love and all things pink.  This kit will not disappoint.  Be sure to head over to see what the other members of the design team are creating, using the same product as me.  I based my layout on one of the four card sketches that are available HERE. 

Check This Out! - Paper Issues

Over at Paper Issues, they have a link called:  Sketchy Saturday Link Party.  It is pretty cool.  Anyone can participate and upload their layouts or creations based on the sketch, 

to the link (HERE) with an opportunity to win a $10 gift card to the Paper Issues store! 

They will also share Design Team inspiration to help you get motivated! 

Here is what I created from the sketch:

Here is the original sketch!

Here are a few close ups of my layout showing you the details.

So, you probably want to know what product I used on this layout?  

Not sure I want to tell you because I want to hoard it all to myself, but, it is 

October Afternoon's newest line, Saturday Mornings.  

It takes me back to my childhood.  You can do so many different things with this collection.  

Click HERE for a completely different looking layout with the same paper line.  

You can go HERE to the Paper Issues store, if you must, to buy it for yourselves.  BUT, don't forget to use my code:  Mary-Ann to get 20% off your order.  

Anything that you order.